EPISODE 31 - The Seb Rusk Show : Roland Frasier - Speaker, Serial Entrepreneur & Marketing Expert.

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey friends, Sebastian here. Want to let you know this podcast is brought to you in part by my friends at DigitalMarketer.com and their annual traffic and conversion summit 2018. Now, this is by far my favorite event that I get to MC every year, and I want to see you there this year. It all goes down February 26th to the 28th in beautiful downtown San Diego. I mean, come on, is that not reason enough? Now listen, this event sells out every single year. So don't delay. More information and your tickets at traffic and conversion summit.com. Oh, and tell him the guy with the bow tie sent you.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Are you ready to know what you don't know about social media? And now here's your host.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

What is happening, everybody? Hey, welcome to the show. Really excited for my guest this week. It's my friend and MC client, Mr. Roland Frazier, uh, partner and principal at digitalmarketer.com. He's had quite the business journey over the past 25 plus years. We had the opportunity to sit down and have breakfast a few weeks back when I was in Southern California, and I proposed the idea of getting him on the show and helping us better understand what that business journey has been all about and getting some solid nuggets from a successful business individual like Roland. So without any further introduction, friends, can you please help me? Welcome to the show. Ladies and gentlemen, Roland Frazier. What's happening, buddy?

SPEAKER_02 1:51

Hey, just uh hanging out in beautiful Austin with uh a nice view of the river and the bridges over it. It's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:58

I thought you were gonna say beautiful San Diego, uh, which is the norm, but I'm not surprised. You're always somewhere at some point.

SPEAKER_02 2:05

You know, aren't we all always somewhere, Sebastian?

SPEAKER_00 2:07

Well, you see it's been it's been quite the uh uh travel year for you. Of course, you're you do a lot of traveling, but as far as like documenting and really like tapping into your community and sharing the experience, I mean I felt like I went to several countries with you just via Facebook this year.

SPEAKER_02 2:24

Yeah, absolutely. It it has been a busy year, and uh sharing the adventure on on the Facebooks has been kind of cool. It's been been fun from uh like having it to look at and see all the things we've done, and then taking the time to be intentional about um about really connecting with the people and places that I've gone in terms of documenting it has has caused me to appreciate it more than just having it kind of fly by. And that's that's been kind of a cool side effect of doing that as well.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

It really has. And we're gonna talk more about that here in this episode about how you've decided to experiment with social media, but it's just so crazy. I'll never forget uh Gary V talking years ago about how important it was for him to document um and archive his life for his kids and his grandkids and generations to come because we did that through photo albums um, you know, up until about 12 years ago, and now this whole thing has changed. So it's really exciting. It is. So you and I got a chance to meet through uh you guys bringing me out for traffic and conversions uh three, I think it was three or four years ago. I sent Ryan Dice a tweet randomly. I Ryan and I had not met before. I didn't know who he was, and uh he replied back. And next thing you know, I had the opportunity to come out and uh and help you guys out with some MC duties. And uh we we really got an opportunity um to connect and have a conversation last week, though, when I was in when I was in um Southern California. Um and I appreciate your time and we had it we had a really great conversation, and I left extremely encouraged, as you know, um with what the future has to hold with what I'm doing with my MC business. But um so much is going on at these events, it's always busy, so there's a lot of high buy and it's a lot of just production conversations. So we didn't get a chance to connect, and it's taken us almost three years to finally be able uh to do that. So we got a chance to do that, and I got I I feel like I got a um a peek into your world a little bit. You got a lot going on uh in the in the world of business, and as far as what everything you've got on your plate. How did this entire thing start? I mean, I I did my research on you. Uh you went you you you did the uh air quotes normal thing, got out of uh school, went to college, got a law degree, uh, and then did some things in that process. So, but how did you really start in business? Where you said, you know what, I know that I've I've I've I've got I've majored in something and that my field is in fact law. I'm doing more things above and beyond that. But when did you really realize that you were in fact a businessman and really started to um venture out into the business world?

SPEAKER_02 4:57

I I started pretty early. Um I mean, depends on how you define business world, right? I did uh I did, I'm gonna make a confession that not a lot of people know. Uh I actually did magic shows when I was younger, much, much younger, pre-18, pre-16. But in the uh 12, 13, 14, I was uh I was doing magic shows. And we gotta get those back to TNC. Man, I tell you, if uh if uh if I only had the video from back then, it would have been pretty funny. But um, so I I've always I've always been entrepreneurial. So um, you know, so like what I would call the first business would probably be um uh playing playing music. I'm a musician, so I played keyboards, I put together bands, and we went out and and played around. I started playing in clubs when I was 15, and uh, which is kind of funny because you had to be 21 to get in the club, but I was playing and we'd like take a break and we'd walk out the door, and I couldn't get back in. I'd be like, I'm with the band, and they'd be like, Yeah, sure, kid, sure you are. And I'd have to go, no, no, seriously, go talk to the guitar player and tell him they'd be, yeah, he actually got to let him in. So that was uh that was pretty funny. So that was my first, you know, business thing, which was kind of interesting because it came with managing bookings and uh receiving money and paying band members and all that kind of stuff, and all the guys that I was playing with were older, but you know, but I was able to do bookings and stuff like that. So uh, you know, so I I guess I became kind of sort of the band manager informally. And then um my first what what I would say is traditional business deals started uh when I was 17 and 18. I started investing in real estate. I got my real estate license when I was 18 and um you know began uh doing that in in earnest, and that just kind of went into all the other things I've done, which I'm happy to tell you about, but it's a lot of stuff, so I don't know if you want me to.

unknown 6:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:56

So we'll we'll we'll do the reader's digest to to uh to um for for for time's sake. Reader's digest 30,000-foot perspective for definitely for time's sake here. So you mentioned real estate, and I did read in that. So so this was a simultaneous thing. This was go to college, get my real estate license, get a degree, but still keep that entrepreneur real estate investor cap on. Was that was it kind of a conglomerate of efforts from from your end?

SPEAKER_02 7:20

Yeah, um, I was I was playing music at nights and uh and doing real estate in between and then going to school. Um, and college is you know not the hardest thing in the world when you're in the undergrad portion. So it didn't, you know, it wasn't like it was taking a ton of time. So I was able to do that real estate, which didn't require normal hours, and then all of the music stuff was, you know, you play from nine to one or ten to two at night. So it was uh, you know, it it all flowed pretty well.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

It sounds like a lot of fun and time management at its best, right? Yeah, exactly. For the most part. For the most part. So um, so you if we fast forward and you you you get out of school, um, you start a uh an extremely successful law firm, and then when did when did it start to really um or was this happening simultaneously? Were you starting the law firm, seeing the success with it, and then getting into the buying and selling of businesses, et cetera?

SPEAKER_02 8:16

No, um my father uh uh still is a tax attorney who practices now, and so I had the benefit of meeting a lot of different entrepreneurs, and he was an entrepreneurial attorney. So he was doing deals and buying businesses when I was a kid. So he was my first mentor in that, and you know, and still is to this day, is just a brilliant guy. And so um I had the benefit of seeing him doing all that and decided that that was pretty cool, and I wanted to do that too. And he told me, you know, two of the greatest skills that you can have or or knowledge bases you can have are knowing how to read a financial statement and um knowing what the law is. So that that took me into getting a degree in accounting and going to law school, which I I wouldn't necessarily recommend that people do. It it's a great, it's a great base of knowledge that that helps me every single day. But the the skill of knowing how to read financial statements so you really can know how numbers work in deals is, I believe, a critical skill to doing deals well. And then knowing generally uh how taxes and um and those sorts of things work, or at least having a really good advisor that can tell you about them is is also a giant advantage. So those so I was I was basically doing um uh leverage buyouts with prudential securities and New York and and uh buying and selling companies while I was in undergrad, and then when I moved out to California, continued to do that while I went through law school and then eventually opened my own practice.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

Wow. So you've like it's been a real life shark tank, um, but you've been the shark um almost since before college, it seems. I have been the bait many times too. Well, I've been the bait. I was like, I learned a long time ago, you're either on the bus or under it, right? Right, right. So uh well, it's it sounds exciting to to say the least. It really wasn't. I maybe I chose the wrong phrase when I said traditional route on here, but you did in fact go to college, you did in fact get a couple of degrees. It just so happened that your entrepreneur um drive and your business knowledge really just led you into to what you're currently doing uh in present day. Um so by buying and selling companies um and and acquiring companies, helping companies restructure, et cetera, through that entire journey. How did you end up meeting Ryan Dice and and and starting off on the journey of internet and digital marketing?

SPEAKER_02 10:49

Well, um uh my my digital marketing and internet career took off a long time before I met uh Ryan or Perry or or any of the other guys I work with. I was um I was practicing law, and so things like that were starting to come across my desk, but I've I've always been very online oriented. So back in the days before there was anything but BBS's, I was on BBS's and Delphi, and um I started a channel on CompuServe and then a channel on America Online. So I've I go way back, you know, I got I don't even know how many years that is, probably 30 years at this point, uh, you know, when you were doing cassette tapes to do programs on computers and you were doing uh uh dial up at incredibly low, uh, what was it, 200 baud or something like that, speeds. So you, you know, you like like that's where I started. My um and so I did, I had the the businesses on CompuServe and businesses on America Online, and then as uh as the internet progressed, uh started doing several um, I had a photo school site online and um uh owned bits of online casinos and all kinds of different things like that. Uh so I was I was involved in it there. As uh as the internet progressed, and there started to be some really good people in the marketing. I was big on SEO, uh search engine optimization, but um as I saw, I started seeing people like Ryan Dice and um Jeff Walker and um those guys online, and I was like uh uh John Reese, uh, and those guys were doing really cool things. And I I thought of all the people that I saw marketing that that I really resonated with. Ryan uh Dice did this thing with a Mr. X called wholesale traffic system that was all about uh selling physical products uh using AdWords, I think it was. And um, and so I bought that program, and Mr. X turned out to be Perry Belcher, who was Ryan's partner at the time, and they eventually went on to form Digital Marketer, and uh they held an event called the Traffic and Conversion Summit. So I went to the, which which you have now hosted, um a few times, and um uh I went to the first one and was just blown away at the at the usable, actionable, detailed content, and took it, made a bunch of money with it, and uh went to the next one knowing that I wanted to get to know those guys and and work with them. And they had a mastermind, which they still have to this day that I now run called the War Room, and I knew that the best way to get to know them was to join that, and then I'd be close enough to them to you know to make an impression. So that ultimately led to me becoming partners with those guys.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

So if you're listening to this and you've been considering joining the war room, this may be the answer you were looking for, right? No, I hear phenomenal things about it. It's being involved with the community of digital marketer as a whole over the past uh three plus years. Um, I've been able to meet a lot of guys that are in the war room. And I think the common denominator that they get is number one, yes, you do, and this isn't a shameless plug for War Room, but it is because it's my show. Um, but uh what it does get you closer to the powers that be within digital marketer, but the networking is just absolutely hands down, one of a kind, from what I understand. So anyway, uh it's funny that you would I never knew this story. So again, that's what that's why we do fun interviews like this uh to to to know what we don't know. Um but essentially the the war room is what led you into the the partnership with which is what which is um today with digital marketer and now native commerce, correct?

SPEAKER_02 14:32

It is and and you know that was intentional. I I joined that specifically for that purpose because I wanted to I wanted to uh get to know him, you know, I wanted to have the opportunity to um to to be close enough to talk to him. So I I joined not caring whether I got anything out of that experience. I ultimately made a ton of friends that are still friends even from the very first meeting and did a lot of deals with the people in there. So that also cemented it was my is that my first, yeah, that was my first real experience with a mastermind, too, by the way. And and if I trace back some of the biggest uh successes in my life, um I have to trace them back to people that I've met in masterminds, including uh one that I just joined this year, which is Joe Polish's Genius Network. And um it looks like that one is rapidly becoming also a major, uh, a major, really big step in the right direction in my life. So it's uh I just relationships are everything, man. As you and I discussed at breakfast the other day, it's uh it's all about the people that you meet. Uh, it's not about what you know, it's not about the content that you consume, it's not about sitting behind your computer and throwing up offers or whatever. You have to get out and make connections and add value and and plug into people.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

Absolutely. I couldn't agree with that more. Uh Roland, what would you say motivates you? And it's a two-part question. How do you stay motivated?

SPEAKER_02 16:05

Um, I I I you know I just seem to be motivated naturally, but um certainly what motivates me is uh challenges and learning new things, meeting new people, working with fun people. I've got a friend of mine um his name Mark Anthony, and Mark Anthony calls it PFM. He says it's people, fun, and money in that order. And and I'd say that's a really good overview because the it the people have to be people that are interesting and good people that you connect with. And if that's not there, then I don't go any farther. And then it's got to be fun, because if it's just boring stuff that I've already done or it's not, there's no challenge to it, there's no personal growth, there's no expansion of learning, understanding, knowledge, network, wisdom, then it's kind of just like just boring and not worth doing. And then the money is important. I I'm not trying to minimize that it's important, it's important in all the deals that I do. Um, but it's not important in all the relationships I have or all the things that I do in those relationships. You know, I do lots of things that um that are just to kind of help out people that I know. And I think that's that's super helpful. So what motivates me is working with great people while having fun and hopefully making some money along the way.

SPEAKER_00 17:30

Yeah, that sounds like a great formula. Um do you have any you said you mentioned and you're you're heavy uh heavily involved um uh in masterminds and have been and and you run uh War Room. Um do you have any mentors um that you look that you seek out for advice? I know you mentioned your dad being a huge influence in your uh in your life. Um has there been any other people?

SPEAKER_02 17:51

Um yes, there have been a few. Um I I would say like mentor, I it's interesting because um I I don't think I really have mentors as much as I have amazing friends and peers. And um like I I guess because I consider a mentor, I had a uh I had a mentor in my father, I had a mentor in my grandfather, I had a mentor in um an investment banking person at Prudential Securities that I met. And um and though, and I had a mentor in the dean of my law school was was super awesome. We hit it off, and he introduced me to a whole lot of people and got me plugged into the San Diego community. Pretty cool. And um, but but most of the people that right now is I have peer groups. So I have the people who are part of that Warroom Mastermind and the Genius Network and Um Flight Club and Boardroom, these are all masterminds I belong to. And the guys that run those, Joe Polish and um and um Kent Clothier and Glenn Leadwell, um, and uh those are all peers. Uh, I'm I'm getting to know Dean Graciosi better. I really think he's a super, super sharp guy. I'm really getting to know Joe Polish better right now. And um God man, I I I think it's all of those people uh are very giving, generous, sharing people. And um, and we all share, and of course, my partners, Ryan Dice and Perry Belcher, are also the same thing, just like very brilliant, uh, and and in different areas. So those are my friends, my peers, and my mentors all at the same time, if that makes any sense.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

It totally does. And I always ask that quite actually I added that question um to my list of interview questions when I had people on the show, and I got thrown for a loop when I had um Marie Folio on a few months back. In fact, I met Marie at Traffic and Conversions, not because I saw her walking around, but because we were on the same hotel floor room. I was headed to a production meeting, she was on her way to check out, and we've been trying to connect for several years now. So um the networking's phenomenal at TNC to say the least. But when I had her on the show, I said, Do you have any mentors? And her answer was no. And she had a very similar answer to yours too, which was but I have a lot of friends and people that I um trust and and and and seek out advice when needed. So if I have a problem, I know who to go to. If I have a challenge, I know who to go to. If I have an idea, I know who to go to. So I wouldn't say that I have any one specific mentor. I've just got a good, exactly like you said, peer group. Um, and I'd have to agree with that and be more along the lines of that. Sometimes people are like, you know, Tony Robbins is my mentor, or, you know, I had um uh Ivan Meisner on the founder of BI um a few weeks back. His is uh Jack Canfield, who's a good friend of his too, wrote Chicken Soup for the Soul. So it's been a mixed bag of variety, but I'm always curious to see um when we when we look outside ourselves, um obviously our peer group uh is relevant, but who our our actual mentors are.

SPEAKER_02 20:59

Yeah, and I will uh I I'll I'll give an active active networking thing right here. Uh if you had the chance to meet and get to know uh Marie Forleo, I would love to get connected to her. I know that she texted Perry for his slides after one of his presentations uh and that she was at TNC, but she's somebody that I think has done some really cool stuff. And if you have a connection there, I would love to get to know her.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

I'm 100%, I will 100% make that connection. She is um harder to get a hold of than um than I don't know who, but um I not not not not as far as not, she's just a busy girl. So we tried three years ago when I saw her in San Diego. Um I had an email address with her team, uh, got some dialogue back a few weeks later, and then like two months later, um, we get we're able to get her on the show. So it's it's quite the process, but I definitely have an in and one area there. So I would be more than happy uh to make that introduction. She she would uh yeah, she's a badass. I I never forget when she launched Beast Queen, I think it was about eight years ago. She said she put something like forty, forty one thousand women through that program in the past. It's just mind-boggling. And then the people that she's sitting down with and having conversations with, and the people that she's getting to actually endorse, you know, her brand and what she's doing is just a genius model. So yeah, that was that was a lot of fun. But I could not believe it. I walked out of my hotel room at 7.25. We normally meet at 7.30, and I'm like, I'm gonna be late. I need to run down the hallway. And I look out there, and sure enough, I'm like, she sure looks, that sure looks like Marie. So I kind of held, I, I, I, uh, I waited for just a minute. I missed the first elevator that came by because like, well, if it is her, I'm gonna at least say hello. And she came around the corner and I looked at her and I go, shut the front door. And she wasn't too surprised like Stranger Danger, because she had recognized me uh with my bow tie being on stage, and she said, Hey, you're doing a heck of a job up there on stage. I said, Thanks so much. It's finally great to meet you. And while I got you here in the elevator, uh, love to have you on the show. So it's just crazy how we connect these days. It really, it really, really is.

SPEAKER_02 22:52

It really is. That's cool. I uh I love stories like that. And it's amazing how many who did I bump into? Oh, at uh so at Joe's thing that it just was last week, the Genius Network event, um I met uh Dave Asprey, who I'd been trying to talk to about speaking at TNC from Bulletproof. And um and he sat down right next to me uh at the table that I was at before he went up to speak, and I had a chance to talk with him and connect, and uh, and I think he's gonna end up uh uh assuming his calendar works with it, coming to speak at TNC. So it's it makes sense to get out there. You met Marie because you went and you know, you were out there at in the world at uh a place putting yourself in the flow of meeting people. And I met uh Dave and several other people, by the way, Lisa Sassevich, who I hadn't really met before, and got to reconnect with JJ Virgin and some other people while I was there too. So it's like really awesome. And and if anybody's listening to this and they're going, well, that's great for you guys because you already know lots of people, and so you get introduced to people, you know, that's two perfect examples of bumping into each other and meeting people. And even if you don't have like a bunch of stuff going on that might cause those people to want to work with you directly right now, um, I will also say that uh from a mentorship standpoint, you mentioned Tony Robbins, who was a client of my law firm for several years. Um, I learned so much from Tony's book, Unlimited Power, and from Dennis Whaitley's um program on uh the psychology of winnings, you know, long, long ago when those things first uh came out, or at least uh the psychology of winning was new to me when I when it was in the back of my dad's uh uh car one day. And um, so those are mentors who are mentors without having to have a direct connection, without having to know them directly through their audio, video, and and book programs, right? So you don't like so from that standpoint, I think we've all had uh Bill Gates and Elon Musk and Steve Jobs. It's so cool to be able to tap those mentors through the media that's out there. And now podcasts um really get you so much closer to people who you might not otherwise be able to connect with. And and those are really, really valuable mentorships as well.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

They really are. Tony talks a lot. I'm a huge Tony Robbins fan, and I um I he talks a lot about people that are not who you're the people that are in your rolling university, i.e., your car that you're listening to on a podcast, are your mentors. Doesn't mean you physically met them or you ever will meet them, but they they speak in your life. And Jim Rohn was that for for years for him before he actually met him and did a lot of work for him from from what I understand he talks about. So yeah, it really, really there is a lot of valuable information out there to to mentor up with. Truly. Uh what what would you say uh the biggest lesson that business has taught you? I mean, I I know there's a uh there's there's a plethora, but one thing that really shows up when I ask that question.

SPEAKER_02 26:01

The the biggest lesson is that you're never as awesome as you think you are. Uh and you know, and uh and you're never as bad as people say you are. It's uh you're you're somewhere in between, and hopefully you're moving in the right direction for the things that you're not awesome at, and you're aware of your weaknesses and fallibility and and the things that you could improve upon, but you're not beating yourself up about them constantly uh because you are in fact trying to improve on them. And check yourself on the ego side because there's so many people who've gone before you, including me, who you know got full of themselves and you know got sloppy and lost a ton of money, or lost a really valuable relationship, or um you know, did damage to uh a relationship that that really you're you're you just gotta know that there's always somebody that's miles ahead of you in everything from money to relationships to sensitivity to changing the world. And and as long as you keep that in mind, I think you stay humble and approachable and and you don't get too cocky.

SPEAKER_00 27:19

No, you don't really, and that that is some of the best advice that I've I've received um or or actually just experienced through people. Um I've had the privilege of of knowing Gary Vanderchuk um ever since the inception, probably 2010, of me starting my brand when I read Crush It and the times that I've had the opportunity to interact with him and and and have conversations with him, the one thing I always got was was humility. And and it's crazy because that's not his schlick. That's not his what how how he rolls in his videos as far as energy-wise. Like he's getting a point across, he has a certain persona on that, and when you're having a conversation with him, the it's not the camera's not on with that. And I really learned that trait too. And it's not about being two different people at all. He gets people's attention because of how he rolls with the content and how he creates things. I get people's attention because I've got, I don't know, uh, I'm a tornado of enthusiasm and maybe the bow tie. But at the same time, um staying humble and always being uh being willing to have a conversation with anybody that's within reason, specifically at events and when people are approaching you or talking to you uh or and commending you. I I I I watched um when you guys had Gary out last year, I think it was last year, yeah, it was last year, and um the event team wanted to get a few security um as Gary um left the stage um so that he wouldn't get bombarded, and he insisted that there would be no security and that he would, in fact, get bombarded for pictures and questions and people kind of pushing through, et cetera. And I thought that was kind of neat because I've seen the opposite, and I'm sure you have too, Roland. You you you've experienced the opposite where you've gone from very, very humble, you've you've seen an individual go from very humble beginnings and then it goes to too cool for school real quick. And it's just it's not a number one, it's not a great interaction and experience to deal with people like that, and it's much more fun to deal with people that are that are humble, I would think.

SPEAKER_02 29:11

Yeah, I I I agree. And I think that that I've seen lots of speakers that do that, and I have been offered that as well. And the people who are nice enough to offer that because they don't want you to get bowled over, uh, have good intentions. But I believe that if you're speaking at an event, um you are there to serve the audience and the people who have been kind enough to have you there, and you should engage and learn. And and I'll tell you, I interviewed um Sarah Blakely, who was the founder of Spanx, who's I think the um the youngest self-made female billionaire that that is out there right now. And um, I was impressed by her saying that she worked and um and I and she obviously still does this. She, you know, maybe in a different form, but um, that she worked the floor when she was selling her spanks, and she went out and grabbed her lucky red backpack and went to England to expand internationally and cold called on people and you know They said, You're not traveling with that backpack, are you? Yeah, he's like, Yes, I am.

SPEAKER_00 30:16

Yes, I am.

SPEAKER_02 30:17

I love it. So, so I think, you know, I think that being being accessible to to people helps you stay connected and keeps you real. And I think that's great that Gary does that, and all the people that do. I think it's a mistake for folks that go up on stage or or host a group or or get introduced to people and and they disregard them or they're just trying to get out. And I I get it, you know, I get that it can it can wear on you. I I you know I've dealt with lots of celebrities that just get totally mobbed, and um, and I gotta imagine for them it it it would be maybe it's a different story just because it's just you to keep your sanity, you can't do it. But certainly for you know those of us who are mere mortals, I I think that you gotta you just connect with people, man.

SPEAKER_00 31:01

That's that's why we exist to help each other out. Oh, I love it. I can't, I can barely get through the halls now um at TNC without someone stopping, just have a conversation uh and say something, whether it's talking about a bow tie or talking about the event or whatever. And I I absolutely love it. Unless I've actually got to be somewhere, and that's the other side to the audience, the people that go to TNC. If I've got to be somewhere too, and someone comes up and I'm like, I would love to chat with you, I'll be here all week, I'll see you real soon. Everyone's like, no, but they're always open to that. No one's ever like devastated if you can't stop and have a conversation, but they're really stoked and very appreciative when when you do. So yeah, take time for people, I think the the lesson is, right? Yes, exactly. So you and I talked a little bit when we had breakfast last week um about uh you utilizing social media purely as a as an experiment um personally, just to see what type of engagement uh is created from that. What has been uh first of all, when when when did you start doing this as far as just this this this mini experiment, and then what has really come out of it? Um I was able to experience a little bit about what you've been doing, which is you have meetings with people, you have conversations, and whatever the biggest takeaway is from that meeting and conversation, you shoot a quick one or two minute video clip and you post it on Facebook and begin a conversation there. So maybe you can walk us through kind of how this started and what what it's actually what you found out thus far.

SPEAKER_02 32:20

What have I found out? Um, I've found out that that I can create content on a regular basis by uh that's video content, which is a bonus because of it being so engaging and popular right now, simply by pulling out my iPhone at the end at the end of each meeting that I've got and then talking about the really cool things that we talked about, or uh just interesting things. Like it's that and I also found that the things that people engage with the most are not business things. The things that people engage the most, and you know, I've I am an experimenter and a data guy, so I like to play with different uh types of posts and things like that. And so that the posts that most people comment on are my room and suite walkthroughs and upgrade strategies, travel stuff, you know, pictures from safaris and things like that that I do. They do they respond to those way, way more than they do to the business stuff. And then when you get to the business stuff, the strategic and mindset stuff, I'd say the mindset stuff first, the strategic stuff second, and the tactical absolute last seems to be what uh people are most interested in. I've I thought that was really interesting, but interesting because um when you go to a lot of the marketing events that I go to, people are always talking about very tactical things. But but really what people, what the broader world of people are interested in is you know, they just kind of want to connect with you and see what are you doing and who are you talking with, and what cool stuff are you talking about that's outside of business that's that's making a difference. And I think that's smart of people because those are the things that ultimately do make the biggest difference.

SPEAKER_00 34:06

I had a I had a buddy of mine that's a that's a local critic here and and and journalist, um, and his in his posts are hysterical, and he's very straightforward, and uh just a it's just really fun to follow. And a long time ago, I I said, uh I approached him and I said, you know, Dirk, your your content is hysterical. Um and I said, Where do you come up with this stuff? And he said, Sebastian, it's not a matter of coming up with anything. People want the truth. And sometimes the truth is just being, you know, good you know, uh um very, very candid about telling a story mainly local uh here in Miami and Miami happenings, etc. But it is true. People actually they they they they love the truth. The real cutting through. I I I did a post last week when I locked my keys in my car while trying to get it jump started because the battery was dead and in the Whole Foods parking garage. And um, I did a whole post about attitude because when I woke up that morning I chose a bad attitude, which then led, I believe, to this uh car fiasco at Whole Foods where where my entire afternoon was thrown for a loop on here. But that got a lot of engagement, it got a lot of shares, and it got a lot of feedback from people going, hey, you know what? Some days I wake up and my attitude sucks too. So yeah, I could not agree more that um the the the the biggest engaging content that I see on my side is when I post something about my daughter. Yeah. Or a picture or a picture. Yeah, pretty funny, isn't it? It really, it really, really is. Uh well, we're almost out of time here. I got um two more questions for you. Um the the first being, what is the best piece of advice you've ever received?

SPEAKER_02 35:38

The best piece of advice that I have ever received, it's really hard to pick it, but the first thing that jumped into my mind when you said that was uh my father told me that people uh often say things and do things when they are angry or emotional that they don't mean. That is great advice. And so what that has helped me to do is when people say things or or do things, when they're in an emotional state or upset or angry or threatened by some external thing, um, they and and usually by threatened I mean you know there's some fear, uh frequently artificial, then they will do and say things that that really aren't what their heart is. It's it's uh and and it really helps you to continue friendships and business relationships. If you can if you can acknowledge that and you can see past that and say, you know, I that they don't really mean that, or that's not I don't think that's what they really think, then it helps you to be open to continuing relationships and receiving apologies and forgiving people uh when things like that happen.

SPEAKER_00 36:55

Absolutely. I mean, I think it's uh one of those, you know, great grace is given, great, grace is received, grace is given. Uh, I think it works on both sides of the spectrum on there and really giving people the benefit of the doubt that, hey, maybe it's just an off day or an off time. Um that that's excellent advice. All right, as we wrap things up here, this is kind of off the cuff and uh somewhat comical on here. So if we hypothetically, uh one uh one of these years here at TNC, we get done, it's the last day. Um I go out with you um and and Perry and a few other people for a couple of drinks. It's the last night. We're celebrating another successful TNC, and and and you're you're about to turn in. Perry's about to turn in, but I I convince you to go sing karaoke with me at the hotel karaoke bar. What song would you pick to sing karaoke with a guy in a bowtie?

SPEAKER_02 37:45

Uh my go-to was always 867-35309 by Tommy Tutone.

SPEAKER_00 37:53

I'll uh I'm I I'm actually taking notes literally on that, so I would have went ahead and wrote that one down. Actually, I was thinking more like Islands in the Stream, little Kenny Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton.

SPEAKER_02 38:03

No, I got I go to the ones that were the most fun for me to sing and play when when I was playing in bands, and uh that that was always fun. And the other one is uh long skirt, short jacket by Cake.

SPEAKER_00 38:16

Hysterical. Well, hey, who knows? We may uh make that happen sometime in the near future.

SPEAKER_02 38:20

Actually, I think I'm sorry, it's short skirt, long jacket, right? That's I got it backwards. But yeah, yeah, that'd be cool, man. I I'm in.

SPEAKER_00 38:26

All right, good deal. Good deal. Well, hey, man, thanks so much for your time. Um, I really appreciate speaking of mentorship and advice and and uh just taking time. Um I appreciate you and wanted to publicly commend you for that. I know I've I've thanked you profusely for that, but I really do appreciate um you taking time to invest into um into conversations with me and interviews like this, and I look forward to continuing to grow and nurture the incredible relationship I've got with you guys and digital marketers. So um thanks again for your time, man. I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 38:52

My pleasure.

SPEAKER_00 38:53

Thank you. Thank you. Hi, friends, thanks again for tuning in. I really appreciate it. Hey, if you've been thinking about launching a podcast show for your business, well, the time is now. Earlier this year, I launched the podcastlaunchlab.com as a turnkey solution for businesses and brands just like yours to launch their very own podcast show in 60 days or less. My team does all the work, we get your first four episodes launched, and we hold your hand through that entire process. So if you've been thinking about it, it's been on the chalkboard. Should, could, would the time is now. Head on over to podcastlaunchlab.com for more information.