AVL Biz Weekly — Apr 8–14: Dead Leads, Hello Dolly & 392 Cars

Welcome to AVL BIZ Weekly—your local cheat sheet for what’s happening in Asheville’s small business + creative scenes.

Each week: hand-picked events, marketing ideas that actually work, and a little local flavor to keep things fun.

My name's Jason and I'm writing this (connect with me here).

Hey friends,

If you've been sleeping on your follow-up game, spring is the exact wrong time to keep doing that. The phones are ringing, estimates are going out, and the leads you let go cold three months ago are about to hire someone who remembered to check in. More on that in Marketing Quickies.

On the fun side of things: Saturday April 11 is stacked. Kevin James at Thomas Wolfe, the Arbor Day celebration at the Arboretum (free trees!), a charity beer event at Highland Brewing, and Hello Dolly opening Thursday night at ACT with a live 12-piece orchestra. You will have to pick.

Plus — Working Wheels WNC is this week's Local Spotlight. They've helped 392 families get reliable cars over 11 years, and delivered 36 post-Helene replacement vehicles to people who lost everything in the storm. Amanda Murphy is the person behind a lot of that work. She's worth knowing.

Let's get into it.

📋 On Deck

• Business Events: AI hacks with NotebookLM, a craft guild workshop, and a mastermind for spiritually inclined business owners.

• Local Spotlight: Working Wheels WNC on getting reliable cars into the hands of people who need them most.

• Marketing Quickies: Dead leads, missed calls, and the simple follow-up systems that book more jobs before spring gets hectic.

• Fun Stuff & Live Music: Trivia, bonsai, Gatsby parties, improv, and who’s playing around town this week.

🙋 Want your biz featured in front of a few really smart AVL business owners? Email me for details

🗓️ Business Events

• 🗓️ AI Hacks and Hops: Building a Digital Brain with NotebookLM — Wed, Apr 8 · 5:30–7:30pm (One World West Asheville, 520 Haywood Rd)

  Speaker Brian Hickey shows you how to use NotebookLM to build a private AI assistant, create interactive knowledge bases, and generate AI-narrated podcasts from your own documents. For entrepreneurs, marketers, and anyone who wants to go deeper than ChatGPT. Free.

• 🗓️ Guild Application Workshop — Sat, Apr 11 · 1–3:30pm (Folk Art Center, 382 Blue Ridge Pkwy, Asheville)

  If you're a WNC craft maker and you've been thinking about applying to the Southern Highland Craft Guild, this is the one to catch. Step-by-step walkthrough of the jury process, Q&A, and bring three work samples. One-time event. Free.

• 🗓️ Tourism Cares Meaningful Travel Summit — Tue, Apr 14 · All Day (Embassy Suites Downtown Asheville)

  150+ travel and tourism leaders are coming to Asheville to talk sustainable travel and community recovery post-Hurricane Helene. Locals can grab a one-day pass ($150) for the Education Day and Networking Reception on April 14. If you're in tourism, hospitality, or outdoor recreation — this is the room.

• 🗓️ Business Mastermind for Lightworkers — Tue, Apr 14 · 6–7:30pm (Energetic Experiences, 81 Weaverville Rd, Suite 2)

  If your business strategy could use a little more clarity and a little less LinkedIn-core nonsense, this one’s worth a look. A free mastermind for spiritual entrepreneurs, healers, and service-based folks looking to tighten up their marketing, swap ideas, and meet people in a similar lane.

Hosting something cool?

📬 Hit reply and tell me what you think. Or share an event!

Local Spotlight

This week we're featuring a nonprofit doing work most people don't know about until they need it. If you run a local business or nonprofit and want to be featured, reply to this email. I'm building the list.

Working Wheels WNC — Getting Cars to People Who Need Them Most, One Referral at a Time

Amanda Murphy didn't set out to work in transportation equity. She was helping people coming out of prison find housing and jobs for Buncombe County when she first learned about Working Wheels through their referral partnership. After having a child and needing remote work, the timing was perfect when they posted an admin position. "I could do it, and I already knew the organization," she says.

Working Wheels operates differently than most car programs. They work exclusively through 18 partner agencies who refer low-income working families based on specific criteria. For $628, participants get a reliable car with a warranty that gradually shifts responsibility to the owner as they stabilize. The numbers tell the story: 392 cars distributed through their purchase program, 815 people served through vehicle repairs, and 2,146 adults and children helped over 11 years.

When Hurricane Helene hit, Murphy helped launch something unprecedented. They opened a replacement vehicle program directly to the public, using donated funds to buy $10,000 Toyotas and Hondas for people who lost cars in the storm. "I'm really proud of the way the community has come together to give people brand new cars," Murphy says. They've distributed 36 hurricane replacement vehicles so far, with a few more before the program ends.

Day In The Life

1. Favorite coffee or breakfast spot? At home, definitely at home.

2. Fitness routine — what does it look like and where does it happen? Chasing her four-year-old around the house.

3. What's a new local spot you'd recommend? Campfire Grill in Flat Rock — amazing atmosphere, incredible prime rib, and a great cheese plate.

4. If someone's visiting Asheville/WNC for the first time, where do you take them? The Blue Ridge Parkway, anywhere along it.

5. Favorite place to shop local? Madam Clutterbucket's Neurodiverse Universe in downtown Asheville — one of her go‑to examples of the many quirky, creative local shops she loves.

Want to learn more? Check out Working Wheels WNC on Facebook and Instagram @workingwheelswnc, or visit workingwheelswnc.org. Remember, they work through referral agencies, so contact your local social services organization if you need transportation help.

💡 Marketing Quickies

Spring rush is here. Your follow-up game either works or it doesn't. This week: how to revive leads you thought were dead, and why now is the right time to build the system.

1. The 9-Word Text That Wakes Dead Leads

Send this to any lead you haven't heard from in 30–90 days: "Are you still looking to get [service] done?" Nine words. No pitch. It works because it's a question, not a pitch — it gives them an easy out and makes it simple to say yes. Most respond either way. You can't close leads you never follow up with.

2. They're Procrastinating, Not Gone

Most dead leads aren't dead — they're waiting for someone to push them off the fence. Life got busy. The estimate sat in their inbox. They meant to call back. A single follow-up, weeks after you thought the deal was cold, often turns into a booked job. The 1-year Follow Up sequence runs this automatically so you're never the one who forgets.

3. Why Most Businesses Quit After One Follow-Up

Most sales happen between the 5th and 12th contact. Most businesses give up after one or two. An automated sequence handles the 3rd, 5th, and 8th touchpoints without you tracking any of it. This is what the Show Up and Follow Up System is built to do.

4. Spring Rush Prep: Build It Before You're Slammed

The biggest mistake small businesses make is waiting until they're buried to set up follow-up automation. Build it now, when you have a minute. Once the calls are coming fast, you won't have time to fix a leaky bucket. Set up the sequence, test it on a real lead, and let it run.

5. The Missed Call Is a Delayed Job, Not a Lost One

If someone calls and you don't answer, 67% of them go to a competitor — unless you text them back within minutes. An auto call text back that fires immediately after a missed call closes a shocking number of leads. "I just missed your call — when's a good time to chat?" Your phone rings while you're on a job. Without this, that job walked.

🎉 Fun Stuff Around AVL

• 🎉 Robert's Totally Rad Trivia — Thu, Apr 9 · 7–8pm (Taproom at Highland Brewing, 12 Old Charlotte Hwy)

  Weekly trivia night at Highland's taproom. Grab a pint, bring your best table, and see how much useless knowledge you've been storing. Free.

• 🎭 Hello, Dolly! — Opening Night — Fri, Apr 10 · 7:30pm (Asheville Community Theatre, 35 E. Walnut St)

  ACT opens its spring mainstage run with a live 12-piece orchestra behind it. Runs through May 3. If you've been meaning to get to ACT, opening week is a good time.

• 🌿 Art of Bonsai: Cultivating Your Appreciation — Fri, Apr 10 · 1–2:30pm (NC Arboretum, 100 Frederick Law Olmsted Way)

  A guided introduction to how bonsai are started, shaped, pruned, and wired. Even if you never grow one, this is a genuinely calm two hours inside one of the best venues in WNC.

• 🎉 2026 Tail Chaser 250 — Fri, Apr 10 · 4pm–Sun, Apr 12 · 10am (Camp Grier, Old Fort)

  A weekend-long adventure ride for motorcycle folks who like scenic backroads, camp vibes, and a good cause, with all proceeds benefiting local nonprofits.

• 🎉 Great Gatsby Party — Fri, Apr 10 · 6:30–9pm (Osceola Lake Inn, Hendersonville)

  A roaring ’20s–themed party with live jazz, cocktails, and vintage glam, perfect for anyone looking to dress up, sip something classic, and celebrate the Inn’s grand reopening in style.

• 🌳 Arbor Day Celebration — Sat, Apr 11 · 10am–3pm (NC Arboretum, 100 Frederick Law Olmsted Way)

  The Arboretum announces the 2026 NC Tree of the Year (Serviceberry), does a ceremonial tree planting at noon, and gives away free trees. Guided walks, conservation exhibits, family activities. Free admission, parking $20.

• 🍺 Thirst For Good: A Toast To The Trees — Sat, Apr 11 · 5–8pm (Meadow at Highland Brewing, 12 Old Charlotte Hwy)

  Charity fundraiser benefiting the NC Arboretum, hosted at Highland's outdoor meadow with live music from Tru Phonic and cold beer. Good cause, great setting.

• 😂 Kevin James: Eat The Frog — Sat, Apr 11 · 8pm (Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, 87 Haywood St)

  90 minutes of new material about family, aging, and everything that's funny once you stop pretending otherwise. No opener. The King of Queens shows up and delivers.

• 😄 Whose Live Anyway? — Sun, Apr 12 · 7:30pm (Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, 87 Haywood St)

  Ryan Stiles, Greg Proops, Jeff B. Davis, and Joel Murray do 90 minutes of improv comedy based entirely on audience suggestions. All ages. You might end up onstage.

• 🎉 The Misfit Improv Comedy Show: Long Form Night — Sun, Apr 12 · 6–7:30pm (North Carolina Stage Company, Asheville)

  A sharp, anything-can-happen improv show where Asheville performers build entire scenes and characters from a single audience suggestion, which means your Sunday night could get weird in the best way.

🎧 Bands on the Horizon

• Emily Scott Robinson w/ Admiral Radio — Tue, Apr 8 · 8pm @ Grey Eagle

• City of the Sun — Tue, Apr 8 @ Asheville Music Hall

• BERTHA: Grateful Drag — Wed, Apr 9 · 8pm @ Grey Eagle

• Missbliss! / blankstate. / Mascons — Thu, Apr 9 · 8pm @ Orange Peel (18+)

• Shelly Belly — Thu, Apr 9 @ Asheville Music Hall

• Sunnyside Duo (Patio Stage) — Thu, Apr 10 · 5:30pm @ Grey Eagle Patio

• Della Mae w/ Love, DEAN — Thu, Apr 10 · 8pm @ Grey Eagle

• The Emo Night Tour — Fri, Apr 10 · 7pm @ Orange Peel (18+)

• Goose — Fri, Apr 10 @ Harrah's Cherokee Center

• Jeremy's Ten: Pearl Jam Tribute — Fri, Apr 10 @ Eulogy

• Lucille Klement — Fri, Apr 10 · 7pm @ Highland Brewing Meadow

• Cameron Whitcomb (Sold Out) — Sat, Apr 11 · 8pm @ Orange Peel

• Randall Bramblett Band — Sat, Apr 11 · 8pm @ Grey Eagle

• Luna Social Latino — Sat, Apr 11 @ Asheville Music Hall

• Breabach — Sat, Apr 11 @ Wortham Center for the Performing Arts

• Tru Phonic — Sat, Apr 11 · 6pm @ Highland Brewing Meadow

• Hail The Sun w/ Foxy Shazam, Makari, Mella — Sun, Apr 12 · 7pm @ Orange Peel (18+)

• Asheville Jazz Orchestra — Sun, Apr 12 · 2pm @ Grey Eagle

• Firewater Tent Revival — Sun, Apr 12 · 2pm @ Highland Brewing Meadow

• Waxahatchee & MJ Lenderman w/ Brennan Wedl — Tue, Apr 14 · 7:30pm @ Harrah's Cherokee Center

Want your biz in front of smart AVL owners & creators? Reply with what you’re up to and we’ll see if it’s a fit.

Until next week,

Jason De Los Santos
Pixelated Stories Digital Marketing
(828) 585-4293