Amanda Miceli - BOLD Marketing, Authenticity, Creative Art, and Dennis Rodman - Ep. #45

0:00 What's up, friends, Welcome back to Rooted Wisconsin. Thanks for clicking on another episode. Thanks for being you knee deep in the Wisconsin stream again. If you're on video, you can see catching these nice brown trout. Excited to share another episode with you. Amanda Maselli is our guest today, founder owner of the Bold marketing agency in Green Bay and I caught interest in her stuff because of her ability to grow her own brand. Unbelievable job she's done and and is doing so super fun conversation. We talk about her Dennis Rodman tattoo. We talk about how to build an authentic brand and be bold in your marketing strategies and really just authenticity throughout life and using that to build brands and awareness and create community and connection with people. So super excited to share the episode. We talked about marketing, we talked about music, we talked about her Dennis Rodman tattoo again and much, much more. Really excited to share it with you. Thanks for coming along.

1:11 Hopefully the ripples in this Creek weren't too loud for this video and thanks for coming along for another one. But first, how could I forget to mention our sponsors? They keep us going forward. Beverage Riverside Pizzeria of Green Bay, if you dig what we do, support them now. Here it is. Amanda Maselli. So have the ways we try to lift our neighbors. Where did the love go? Where did the talk end? We need to help to make this. I have been very impressed with your ability to build your brand.

2:00 Thank. You. It is. It is super effective, it's super authentic. And those two things in marketing don't always, they don't happen by happenstance, you know what I mean? Like you have to put a lot of work, a lot of people do one of those things well or the other thing very well, but not a lot of people can combine those two things. And that is what initially drew me in to your content and then I had a chance to come to a cool event that you put. Together that we'll we'll. Talk about a little bit later, but first I just want to, I want to hear it what, what are your thoughts around branding and how do you how do you do it so well? Oh, I love it.

2:50 So branding is always been my number one thing that I've loved most, especially within the business. And it's actually, it's a great question to start it off with because I, we hosted our own branding seminar actually like 2 weeks ago. And it was a fun time for me to have my own reflection because I taught all these people and was, you know, sharing all these things of what is all of this that goes into a brand and how much more. Like my number one question I love to ask people is what is a brand like? What is a brand to you? Like what's the first thing you think of? Brand to me is like is like that unspoken, sometimes spoken promise or expectation level to a consumer, like they to lower the barrier to know that this is what they expect from you because you are ABC. That's a brand to me.

3:41 Yeah. And it's so fun to hear such array of answers that people give. And a lot of the time it's like logo and colors and fonts and a lot more of the visual identity, which is that piece. But it's so much more than that. And people don't realize how to keep that consistent. And for me, the branding has always just felt very natural because for myself, like where I realized is my home, like my sweet spot 2 for it is personal branding because I like my personal mission in life is just to continue to support people and inspire people to be their most authentic self. And through people just genuinely being themselves and we take them as a human being of who are they psychologically on every level and get to know them. And then my creativity can come to life by making their personality into a brand is is where I know like my superpower is to be able to have that.

4:40 And there's something about just understanding the psychology behind it that helps me translate it into being able to have that. And then how do we consistently have this across the board and having it be that number one thing, like consistency being that key and how I can help people do that everywhere. And like show up of, you know, there's people that come to me and are like, well, randomly text me and send me pictures of red things because I've instilled red in their brains so hard. And they'll be like, here's a pair of red shoes. I thought of you and it's so cute, but it's like my one friend, what do I say? You're always on brand. Like literally you're always on brand. Oh, your, your shoes, they're on brand and it's just showing up as all the time, like I and just being that authentic version of you. And I love when I can help other people be that as well. Yeah.

5:32 Yeah. And I think that, I mean, why it's not just the logo, why it's not just the, the building, why it's not just the visual things is that takes away the most important pieces of the brand in a lot of aspects, which is like, you're, I mean, you've done a great job just incorporating the word bold into what you do. But it's those descriptive words like, you know, if I, I think of a, my personal brand per SE, like I want people to know that I'm going to be authentic. I want people to know that I'm going to be engaged. I want them to know I'm going to be curious. A logo is not curious. A logo isn't engaged but a brand is, and I think like looking at it from an external lens of someone who owned a marketing agency too.

6:17 I think if I'm a business looking for something and I come across yours, I know exactly what I'm gonna get before I even talk with you, right? Which is exactly the point. It's like, how can we say what our values are, what we believe in? Like I read my team and I, we read books together every quarter. And the first one that we ever read was a book called Stand for Something by Brian Burghart. And it was just this idea of like, why do we lead with what we do? You know, Oh, I own a marketing. Oh, yeah. Oh, I, oh, I run a podcast. Well, if we start with what we believe in and we shout it from the rooftops, then it automatically attracts those people that you want. Like I love to put in the perspective of dating, like when you're, if you were putting together a list of what are your absolute musts when you're looking for somebody and what are the things that are you got this.

7:04 It's a no, you know, it's the same concept. It's like, OK, what do we value? What what do we believe in and what are all those things? And how can we shell that from the rooftops? Because then people are automatically going to, Oh, I align with that. I also value those things. Oh, you put that first. OK. I wanna join your train. I wanna be along that ride. Yeah, Yeah. What are those things for you as a marketer? What? Are those things we scream from the rooftops? Overall, you've said it now a few times for us is authenticity just we, you know, I set it at the event that you attended to of just like we always try and make like we make life complicated. We're all just human beings and doing this thing called life.

7:47 Like when you really just think about every little detail of life, it's like, how does half this shit exist, you know? But everyone created something like this chair was creative. The microphone, like so many people think that just because you don't paint or actually put in like that visual sense, it's not creative. And it's so celebrating that creativity and that authenticity of that everyone is just, if we're all just doing our thing and we all can learn from each other is huge. So the curiosity as well of just continuing to, you know, except that we're not all going to agree. Like, I don't believe that we should all agree, but it's that I can sit down with anyone and have a conversation and we're not yelling at each other.

8:32 You know, we're not defensive. It's opening that space to just ask questions. Like why? Why am I being shunned for asking a question? I don't know the perspective. Like you're very different from me, whoever it might be. How can I learn from all the things that have you gone through in your life? Like you think the way that you do because you've been through such a different reality. And where does that come from? Like that's where I come from in that space. And I surround myself with other people who equally have that space of like, we can have any conversation with anyone about any anything. And it's not this, Oh, we have to argue or oh, as soon as I say something you don't agree with, I'm leaving the conversation. You know, so very much out of a space with that and just having grace that like there's in back to the human being. But like, especially with working with people of, you know, we all have families, we all have lives. Like I used to be more of that entrepreneur. That was like, I have to respond to people 24/7. I have to always be at my computer. I have to always be doing these things because that's what you do when the hustle, hustle, hustle, hustle. And I still hustle very hard.

9:37 But it doesn't always have to look like that, like somebody can wait a day for my answer because I'm spending it with my family. So working with other people as that. So that's another thing. I very much try and shout from the rooftop, Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And I think the the skill of being able to identify and then execute a brand is obviously it's why we exist as creators in our realm, right? But so useful in everyday life too. Like you mentioned personal brand earlier, even if someone's not, you know, opening a marketing agency tomorrow or, or something like personal brand in itself can open doors for you professionally, but also like help you navigate the world and communicating with others.

10:29 And I don't know, it's, it's a lot and some of it comes from like a lot of people and it's not their fault most of the time, like don't take the time to reflect on themselves and know what it is that drives. Them and learn more of those things and just be able to like I always ask people, I do you have a personal mission statement and 9 out of 10 people don't or even if they are an entrepreneur, then they align with what their business mission is and there's a difference. There should be a difference. You should be very aligned to what your business mission is because it is you. But no matter if you're, like you said, professionally or life, no matter what you do, if you're a stay at home mom or you work a nine to five in a corporate world, or you work for a small business or you own your own business, you should have a personal mission statement. And if your personal mission statement does not align with what you're doing, who you're around or what business you work for, then that's the number one thing of oh, then I'm, I should leave.

11:25 I should go find something that does align to me in that way, you know? That's where satisfaction comes from. Yeah, yeah. So awesome. Let's let's back it up with Cog. How'd you get into marketing though? Like how did how did marketing come about? Right, right. So I've always been an artist, always painted, always been an abstract artist in that way. And I actually was gonna go to a four year school for English. I, I loved reading so I always wanted to go to school for English and get more into the book world and whatnot and still have my art. But then about 3 months before I was supposed to go to college, I was like, why am I going to go get on all this debt? I'm going to stay home.

12:05 I'm going to go to GB and get my 4 year. And then about a month before that I was like, why am I going to go into all this debt? Again? I'm like, I'm going to go to NWTC and I'm going to get a degree in business and I'm going to, I'm going to get a degree that I can do anything with. And I'm going to learn all these, you know, different perspectives in the business realm and where that takes me. I can navigate from there and do what I'd like. You know, I've always had the sense of what I want to do and who I want to be. And it's always been a creative thing. It was never like, oh, I grew up and I was like, I want to do marketing one day, you know, but it was always I wanted, I knew I was meant to do something bigger within creativity. So then when I went to NWTC, one of my first classes was marketing. And instantly I was like, this is it. This is the way that I can be creative, but be in the business realm and under understanding that, like the art didn't have to be my business, which I'm really, really glad that I just saw that and realized that at a young age because I love just making my art for me, you know, and for the to put on my walls and to give to people.

13:13 I I'm glad I didn't monetize that because then it turns into having to create for money and and hustle to do those things. So yeah, I really was able to see that it's how I can combine, you know, more of the logistical side of my brain and the creative side and be able to take that psychology and and actually help other businesses in that realm. So then I I just kind of started it. I made myself a role. I worked at a pharmacy, Luxembourg pharmacy up closer by Door County. And I was working as a tech all through high school and in college. And I went to her and I said, can I be your marketing manager? Like I just asked. And she's like, yeah, OK 'cause I was kinda helping with some social media stuff anyways. And so started doing the social media and like, hosting some events and just overall marketing for her. So I was able to have a really, you know, casual way to learn and grow in it.

14:09 And then when I graduated college, I decided to move to Florida and I was down in Florida and still working remotely doing this marketing and then started just kind of picking up doing some freelance. I had this girl who was a bit of a mentor of mine that helped me, you know, understand that I could do this freelance. Like you don't have to have a whole business to do it. I can just casually, you know, word of mouth, meet these people. So I started to do that and then I was actually going to start my own clothing brand first, but I was 20 years old in a one bedroom apartment in Naples, FL, and that's not cheap. So I was like, where am I going to put these clothes? How am I going to pay for them? You know, I thought about the overhead, which was smart. And I said, you know, why don't I take my own advice that I give these these clients and start marketing myself. So that's how the Bold Marketing Agency came to be. Yeah, yeah.

15:02 Yeah, there's a nugget in there for a lot of folks that I don't want to go undersold. And it's when you asked if you could do it. Yeah, Yeah, that is the, that's a, that's a, a, a barrier that so many people allow them to not do something because like, sure. And maybe it's a little uncomfortable, like, yeah, depending on what you're asking is and what the ask is, it might be a little uncomfortable to do, but. What's the worst you're going to say? Literally. Yeah, that's it. That's the. Worst. Yeah, yeah. And I'll talk with people about career search sometimes and like finding an internship or whatever. And often times it's like I just can't find what I'm looking for, you know, and I'm OK. And then I dig a little bit, like, what are you doing? How are you trying to find it?

15:49 Right. Well, I find I've probably applied to 20 jobs on Indeed that I found. And I make my resume perfect and I write him a cover letter and I send it. And I'm like, have you ever, have you sent anybody a message on LinkedIn saying, Hey, I, I want to work for? You right. I just love what you're doing. Yeah, that's how I got my first employee that she is now going to be celebrating her one year. She messaged you saying she digs what you're. Doing she literally reached out. I've actually had multiple employees that way come to me and they just make the initiative. And that right there is almost like this secret, I guess not secret now, not to blast it, but that like that's kind of your first Test. Do you take the initiative? Like are you bold with it?

16:31 You know, if you come to me and you were bold in what you just asked and said, even if, you know, do I have if I have the role to fill? OK, yeah. You're probably one of the top contenders then because you took that initiative. But yeah, just just taking the initiative of like, you know, what's the worst they say is no. Your inbox is going to fill up now. Oh God. Literally, it already does. And I'm like, I'm terrible because I love, I love giving younger. I'm young, but like, I love giving younger people the opportunity for a job. Because in the marketing world, obviously we know so many places are like, you need five years of experience, you need this much experience. How am I supposed to have experience when I'm in college? Like, what do you mean?

17:12 How I haven't even been in the real world for five years? Like, what do you mean? And I feel so I feel so bad for that, that realm that like these, these, you know, college kids are trying to get these jobs and they really don't have sometimes the opportunity to do so. So I always want to be able to be that person if I can support it. But I also know that like, I'm a small business still and growing, but I don't want to have this giant team either. So I continue to navigate how I can still support all those people that do reach out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, but that's a nugget there like that just, you know, you can call it using a, you know, whatever, going the extra mile or whatever you want to call it. But no, but like just create the conversation, especially with yours, because there's so much like it makes sense with that being bold, reaching out too bold, you know, But yeah, I didn't want to, I didn't want that to go under sold because it's super, super important.

18:08 Fascinating how you end up on a marketing though. And but that's how a lot of people do it. You know, you, you do take one class, do 1 project and it's like, Dang, this is kind of, and I think part of that is because like there's so many realms within it that you can choose are yours. Like you can, you can be a brand person, right? You can be a product person. Yeah, if you want to, you can be a research and excel person. Like you can do all of these different things that are different people. Yeah, within marketing. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, I just, I just had to hear, had to hear your version of that, right. OK. So as you kind of navigated that you did what a lot of people do of like doing it without a without a presence first, like it was word of mouth, you got a couple clients do it up. When in that timeline do you say, OK, bold marketing is born? That would have, I don't know what I don't have a exact on. Like from the time I started kind of and asked for that job and then the freelance, but then the agency, I started thinking of the ideas.

19:18 Like I vividly remember being in my bedroom in Naples and like brainstorming names and whatnot. And that was April of 2022. And then I announced the the business on my Instagram on June 20th, 2022. So it took that time for development and then officially launched on that day. So I like to say my birthday is June 5th and the business is June 20th, and June 20th is the last day of Gemini. So we're both Geminis. So it's just my month. It is quite literally my month. Nice. Yeah, That's good. That's a good. It's a yearly reset for you. Yeah. And when you do what you do, your work becomes your life and your life becomes your work. So there's this.

20:03 There's not much space in between there anyway, so you might as well both have birthday. And then you can have the same parties. Yep. Oh, I no, I'm still ridiculous at that. I throw two different ones. We throw the the fashion show that we host, the bold fashion show is literally the birthday party, OK. It's the most over the top birthday party ever, and it's very on brand nice. Yeah, yeah. OK. So knowing you wanted to be a marketer, opening your business moving forward then and they're never going to stop. There's all of these little, there's all of these little barriers, these little tough points, these things that you have to work through and around and become persistent and tenacious in what you do.

20:48 It seems like you do that very well. How do you, how do you navigate those when something comes up where you're like, Dang, I didn't see this coming. How do you navigate that as a business owner? Oh God, that's a good question. I feel very the less that like naturally my like my parents are incredible and the number one thing that they taught us is to be an individual and like how can I support myself and and not in a way of like, oh, it's only you fend for yourself. You know, anyone is your support. Our support system is there whenever we need it, but that you know, how do you count on you to solve the situation like and be solution minded in everything. And I got taught this is actually not from my parent. This was from somebody else that they taught me. Give yourself a timeline.

21:39 Like I am very naturally more emotional driven emotionally. I'm Italian Gemini creative, like that's a lot going on in the brain. You know, that's a very out there personality and I'm and I'm more emotionally driven in that sense. So I had to learn a lot of ways to kind of armor up and be more of that like, okay, you can't just sit here and cry. And I got taught give yourself a timeline of like give yourself 10 minutes to go scream in a pillow, go cry, go punch a wall. Whatever you gonna do, get it out, feel it, digest it, understand it. Why are you feeling that way? And like what did happen and react to it. But you get 10 minutes and then 10 minutes is done. OK, what's the solutions?

22:26 Like, how can I get out of this? Or where can I go to make this better? And from your solutions, pick which one feels most aligned and stick with your gut of what? What it's telling you has been a huge thing for me. And just realizing that it all works out, you know, and it's all meant to happen exactly how it happens. I'm a firm believer in that and that every little thing happens exactly the way it needs to. And I don't I don't believe in the word failure or mistakes because it's just, you know, it sounds cliche, but it's all lessons. Like I've learned something from every single thing. Even if it was something that I look back like, Dang, that that was not ideal, you know, not an ideal situation, but I learned a lot from it and I went to I'm very, I learned from the experience of a lot of things, like school, for example.

23:17 School for me, I actually had a realization not that long ago. I was, you know, shower thoughts and I'm like sitting there like, oh, oh, that's what they meant by supply chain in school. And I didn't realize it until I was like actually doing the things. And I was like, oh, OK, that's how it actually works in real life. You know, for me, school was I have to have the actually real life thing going on for me to fully understand the picture. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, definitely the tough Italian skin and then learning the different things along the way to to armor up and continue to get through it all. Yeah, yeah. It's a it's a value, it's a moving target for a lot, but it's valuable, especially for an entrepreneur. Yeah, because those things are going to come up. Let's let's hang on the apparel thing for a little bit. Let's also have a.

24:05 Forward beverage, yes, let's do it, but. Let's hang on the apparel thing for a little bit is the Cheers person. Yes, Cheers absolutely is the is the apparel thing. You make your clothes right now a lot of the apparel that you wear? Yep. Do you have future thoughts for it? Is that is that going to grow? Yeah. So it's always been, like I said, kind of I wanted to start this clothing company 1st and realize, you know, maybe not the best idea at the moment, but I still have the branding for all of that. It's actually called Statements Clothing brand. And one day I do want that. Right now, I'm very glad. I'm very, very happy with where my kind of, you know, fashion design career is at of that I make things where when I feel inspired and how I feel inspired and I use the fashion show to be that cultivation of those things.

24:59 But for me, fashion is such a piece of that personal brand. Like I always like to say, you know, we're not judging a book by its cover, but we can give it an invitation. You know, like anybody picks up a book and is like, you may look at it and be like, this looks really boring. I'm probably not going to buy this. And if it's a little more pizzazz and fun, you're going to be like, I like this, I'm going to grab it. And but every person's different on which one they're going to pick up because of who they are, you know, back to the branding. There's a reason we judge books by the cover. Yeah, you know, and it's like, so how can I represent myself to show up as that authentic version of myself to give people a glimpse of the puzzle? Like I wear some wack ass shit sometimes. And it's like people either look at it like, what the hell are this chick wearing?

25:42 Those type of people are probably not approaching me. And those type of people are probably not the people that are gonna even like me. And that's OK. You know, they're not for me. But the people that come up to me are like even just my glasses. And it's such an easy conversation starter. Like it's so much easier to be like, hey, I really like your glasses or hey, I really like your shoes instead of hi, my name is Amanda. Like that can feel so awkward. I'm so extroverted and that feels awkward for me. So like introverts. Oh my God, they would they. That's such an anxious thing to do, but it's so much more. It's so much more inviting to just be like, Oh, I, I like what you're wearing, you know, and I put a lot of back to the statements clothing and I put statements on my clothing.

26:25 Like I, I love being able to, to have these inspirational messages that either I create or I find and I feel very inspired by and representing that at my clothes. People read it and, you know, they feel, they feel something from it. And the right people are going to feel something and either feel inspired and either come talk to me or they are going to just go home and, and maybe think about it. And I really like being able to kind of have that piece of the puzzle. But yeah, just having people encouraging other people to show up in that way of like, what makes you feel good, look good, feel good and that, yeah, it really can be that invitation to who I am, Yeah. Yeah.

27:06 So, so there are some plans there. There are some, yeah. I know it'll, it will come one day, but I want I really want to be able to have the agency running. I don't want to leave my agency like I'm not the business owner. That's like, oh, I want to build it, build it, build it and then exit. I want to be a part of it. I want to be doing those brand, those brands for a long time and always will, but being able to have the systems, the operations really, really running well. And we're in the midst of that right now of getting it really where we want it to be. So when when that's a little more like that and I can have more of that time to time in means to do so to just really invest and have it be more of that passion that like, I don't really want it to be this thing that's going to oh, I need it. I need this to survive, you know, my fashion. I don't want it to be that.

27:53 I want it to be where I create quarterly launches and lines that align. I really love the seasons and are more, you know, what am I inspired by throughout this quarter of life and go and bring that onto there where the brand is a little more simple as a whole, but then each line is kind of centered around something inspirationally because I'm. I love 10 million things. Like I me too. Yeah. Like I literally love so many different things and I have these weird, I remember like weird quirky facts about random things. Like most people look at me and wouldn't think I like basketball and I love basketball. Like I have fun little fact. I have a Dennis Rodman tattoo on my arm and like people are like what what they ask me about it, But it's like, you know, I love basketball and I I love all those things. They're like I have a guitar tattoo in my arm and even though I don't play guitar, I could literally tell you, you could set up five guitars in front of me. I could name every single one of them. Like no, tell you all the stuff.

28:55 So like I just have these weird little quirky things that I really get invested into in ways. So I I love the idea of having it be that quarterly way I can represent and talk to so many different audiences. That inspires more of that authenticity though, in every single one of them. So awesome. Yeah, and on brand. Right. Yeah. Yeah, producer Dan's ears perked up a little bit. He's a basketball coach. Oh, I love it. Yeah. That's awesome though, and that's so good. And and I think that'll allow you that, you know, that execution style will allow you to keep that feeling of like this isn't you're not bogged down by it being a job or how you. I always tell that with people about the podcast, like it's not, it's not how I eat.

29:42 So I get to, I get to do it how I wanted to do it. At one time in my life, radio was how I ate. And it changes how you communicate and it changes what it is. And it exists. Yeah. Yeah. And usually the things that are those passion things turn into where it does feed. Well, they're the best things anyway. Which is the agency, Like that's a form of the agency. But I knew the agency would be the way that, you know, it's always in demand. People don't need clothes, people need marketing, you know? Like they need clothes, not your clothes. Yeah, yeah. We're like, I'm not, you know, making the casual just T-shirts you're going to buy from Walmart, you know? So those are more things that it is the thing that are kind of that step up on the hierarchy of Maslow, you know, and all those things.

30:23 So it would be more of that art in that sense, yeah. Yeah, it's too awesome. I'm excited for that podcast episode that's existing. We'll talk about. Yeah. Cool. That's awesome. Yeah. Well, Speaking of the guitars, let's let's hang there for a minute. Yeah. I saw you at an awesome show the other day. That was. Yeah, that was beautiful. So that was my first concert series that I'd been there. I'd been there for ramen night before, but I'd not. I've been to a concert and I that was beautiful. Yeah, I hadn't. That was my first time at 335. Oh, really? Yeah, I had never been there. I had some previous guests that said I had to get Chris on the podcast. So I was, I was kind of, you know, half. I love seeing that's like, that's my type of music. Like I love songwriters.

31:06 It's my type of jam. And I've been working with Chris for a while to get a date for the podcast. And I saw that and I was like, well, I gotta experience everything I've heard about it. Speaking of a brand. Yeah. Like, I need experience. Yeah. I was like, okay, well, I need to experience this before I talk with him about who he is, because I think it's gonna be this glimpse of of the person. Yeah, but what a killer show. So that's the kind of music you get into too. You like songwriter type stuff? I definitely have a wide range of music, but of what I love pretty much like the only things I don't love is like heavy rap, like or really, really heavy metal and no diss to anyone who loves that. But like if I feel like it's screaming at me, I just kind of crawl away a little bit.

31:54 But some like my sister, I literally, she'll be like cleaning the shower and she's just listening to heavy screamo music. And I'm like, if that's what you're into, I'm really glad that you're scrubbing away at the tub with that like. Just taking it out on the tub. Literally, literally. But I love all different types of music, but folk and more of that is definitely my top three. I would say like rock, folk and like house music is my top three. That's. A good blend for life activities. Yeah, one for each little thing you. Do a little dabble of each. But the thing I love most about that show is just the creativity on every level of like the way that the that they shared their story of how they actually created the song and then sang the song.

32:41 And I was like the glimpse of the creative process is something you don't get from large shows. Like you don't really get that when you go to a big arena, you know, and listen to these big artists and in an intimate space like that, it was it was beautiful. Like you laugh one minute and then you cry the next. And it's like how how beautiful that these people are created this and now are having the courage to get up in front of people and share their art with the world that they randomly made a song about a dog or have made a song about their mom. You know, it was that was really beautiful. And I enjoyed that a lot. Yeah. Yeah, I think about that, like, especially after a show like that, I think about like every time they do that, they have to leave a little bit of peace. They leave a little piece of them behind with the audience. And that's why I love it so much. Back to the realness and authenticity, Like, yeah, the I've never heard anybody execute the in between songs quite like Lou Hazel.

33:42 Oh my God. I was laughing my ass off. I literally was like, I went up to him after I said you got to be making shit off. This can't be real. He's like, no, I swear to God, these stories are real. I was like, dude, hilarious. I went and bought a monster shirt. Yeah, I had to. Yeah, I wish I would have bought a monster shirt, but I didn't. But yeah, even that story was was so. Hilarious. He was funny. Yeah, but that like that scenario, were you at the, were you at the like food beforehand or did? You come from the concert? No, it just came from the concert. OK, really random how I came. My friend just was like, hey, I bought tickets a while back. I thought my boyfriend be able to come with me, but he can't do I come with? And I was like, yeah, hell yeah. So randomly we had dinner before and then came OK, nice.

34:25 So like even even from just the concert, I bet they were. But like the you said, you mentioned the experience thing earlier, like your wheels would have been turning the entire time you were there. Seeing how he curates this, this environment and like it's, it's all marketing without any of it being marketing. Literally, it's just like. And that's what we're aiming for, right? That's probably what you aim for with your clients. You want people to, you want it to be marketing without thinking it's marketing. Right. And just like the events too, with arts, like subbing out with having bold events now, Yep, like the way that Chris executes that, like we said, experience of that.

35:06 It's just every point of the process of the moment. Somebody opens the door for you all the way down to having your name to to where you can put your coat to where you can sit and how people serve you and you know, create that how we said curate that ambience of it. It it's what those are the things that change people like literally to go home and feel something more and then carry that into their life is what's really beautiful to me. Yeah, absolutely. So how do you do that for clients? So honestly, we I'd say I do that more for ourselves when it comes to the events more so than our clients.

35:48 Yeah, It's really hard to do that with a marketing strategy because there's not enough touch points to, there's not enough. You try, we try to do that, but there's not enough touch points to like, impact or affect every single part along the consumer journey. Especially with content and social media, like it's so quick and it's like you kind of got to catch people to direct people and then that that call to action is the more. But like, I actually been wanting to get more into actually executing other events for people like that of like people will come to us and be like, hey, this is an event that I want to put on and thinking of every little detail, you know, like you came to our think outside of the box event. And I just want to continue to create these spaces for people to be very comfortable and not feel weird being really vulnerable.

36:44 And like how I said, we're all just human beings, you know? So how can we create that space for every little detail for people to not feel anxious? And where do I have to park? Where do I go in? What's going to happen when I'm there? You know, people are so naturally anxious to those things. And how can you ease that anxiousness before they even walk through the door? And then when they are in the door, how can you ease that and think of all those little details and just continuing to appreciate, like, thank you for being here and showing up and not only supporting my business, but like taking the time out of your evening to actually show up and be here and for yourself is awesome.

37:28 And then going home, Like I always, I always give a a little piece of art that I think of that's on brand with it, you know, for like the think outside of the box event, those little canvases that I wrote think outside of the box on with them and painted them all. And then for the branding event, I got a bunch of blank puzzles where I painted on them or I wrote like stable, they're like you're on a bold journey or something like that. But then I specifically gave certain people certain messages that I knew would resonate with them. And the idea was like, you know, building a brand is pieces of the puzzle. So they got to take this home and then they build this puzzle.

38:09 And but like the amount of people that have messaged me after that first event and every event that we do, and they send me pictures of these pieces of art where they have them in their home. And then they share like, thank you for this. You know, I shared it with my friend or thank you for this. I think about it every time I'm working. And that's the whole, like, for me, I realized that's a huge superpower of mine that like, I really, it's like the small gift I can give to the world of, you know, we all want to make the world a better place in our own unique way. But sometimes that feels very, the world's a big place, you know, like how, how do I make that difference? But just that little piece of like, I'm, I didn't even realize that I actually had this recent realization that like it's, I'm paying it forward without even realizing I was paying it forward of these people are going home and then sharing it and sharing it.

38:59 And then we continue to have that and just like, why do we gather, you know, if there's no reason for this event or this, this gathering of whatever it might be, then why are you if you don't have that purpose, then why are you doing it? Is it, is there should there be a purpose and you just don't know it or like genuinely, is this so irrelevant all the way down to meetings, you know, and distinguishing that to make it so much more intimate and relevant so that nobody feels like they went away wasting their time. Yeah, You know, it's almost like the concept of background TV. Yeah. Like you don't want to be background TV, you want to be either focused in on it or you like at least for me, I'm either watching it or like that's not in my purview, right, You know? Yeah.

39:47 And I guess I, I need to, I need to rephrase from earlier because I, I definitely know how we, we met originally, but I couldn't remember if I reached out earlier. And that your event was like I that like that stands out in memory for so many reasons because like I like had been watching you build your brand and then this event comes up that completely aligns with like authenticity is something I'm super passionate about. Two in like year and four at times. So like that was the first time we had met in person. Yeah. But yeah, sidebar, I just wanted to clarify that. In my mind, 'cause I think you were connected on LinkedIn for a little while because I saw that Sarah was on here on the podcast. And then so then I started following along. But then when you walked into the door, I was like, why does he look so familiar to me?

40:37 Like, why does he look so familiar to me? But I can't put my put it on. Like I literally like couldn't remember in that exact moment, 'cause I was meeting, having so many people come through the door. And then you came up to me after and I was like, that's how I know you. Duh. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, but that event like that is the the a shining example of that. It's the example of not doing something just to do something, but doing something with a purpose and something that matters to you. And given you're not always going to get everybody to open up, but you'll probably move everybody's needle like the the most introverted person there is probably not going to come in and tell me that the dog just died. But you might get them to a place where, you know, I'm not actually feeling that great today. Yeah.

41:23 And that's a move, right, For some people. And like, to feel like, oh, I don't feel alone, actually. And like that I'm going to have this conversation in front of people that it doesn't need to be weird to talk about life. Yeah. You know. Yeah, that puzzle idea has some legs. You could go a lot of different directions with that. Think about if you had like a networking event like that where the puzzle pieces somehow like you had to find the pieces around you to like build the bigger puzzle. Oh my God, I love it. That would be. Really cool, by the way. And then, like, that would have to be like, you'd have to talk to everybody because you'd have to find whose piece matches you're saying. Oh, OK. We're cooking. We are cooking. Write that down. Write that down. Yeah. Not the workshop, this or anything. But. Just for my mind went and I'm not the I envy people who can execute events well because I am not one of those. I'm I'm a brand strategy person.

42:14 I can curate a person's journey towards buying something really well. I cannot curate somebody like an event like 335 or your bold event. I cannot. I'm not detailed enough. Yeah. I don't think about like everybody's different perception in a different way, right? Or like the logistics that go into it. Oh yeah, it's just Yeah. Yeah, I definitely, my mom owns a catering company and I've been in the hospitality industry since I could have a job and like even before that. So I definitely know that it was very much rooted in that, that so much of it came from those understandings and just like subconsciously understanding those things without even recognizing until I was older and did it myself.

42:59 And I was like, yeah, that makes sense, yeah. Yeah, it's a tough thing to do. It's a tough thing to do. But is there like a, is there like a process to that or like is it repeatable in any way because events are so different, right? What's how do you how do you do it? So in some, some things are very repeatable and some things we can create those standard operating procedures around of like, you know, how do we set up the ticket sales? How do we, what, what timeline do we need to market things? You know, what timeline do we have to have this done and this done? You know, we always have to think about if people are having chairs or if they're not and all those things. But I usually start my process in like a brainstorming just kind of brain dump way where I brain dump all the big stuff, the overall. And then I after that, I let that sit for a little bit and then I come back to it on a second brainstorming and I go into the details.

43:58 Then, you know, the first round was like, OK, we need food, we need drinks, we need cocktails, we need chairs, we need tables. How many people do I think I want to have? Where do we want this, You know, kind of like that big dump. And then that second one is more of like, OK, where are we having it? Where is this venue? Do I have one option or do I have 3? Which one's the best? What for the actual food menu? How can the food play into the the event as a whole? Like right now we're planning stuff for the fashion show and I'm the the purpose of the fashion show is to celebrate creativity on every level of like that. How I said everything is creative. Every single thing that people do every day is creative, whether they think it or not. And how can the food also speak that message? You know, like that's something so little how you said the attention to detail, but food can also speak to our purpose and the cocktails, you know, what are we specifically going to have for that?

44:57 What other businesses can we have be a part of this? Like, I'm a huge collaborator of I, you know, people are like, oh, how much do I have to pay to be a part of it? And I said, pay what? No, I'm like, I just want you, you're cool. You want to be a part of it here, please. Yeah. Like, just come to hang out, please. And it's like, OK, how can you know who all aligns with those as well that it can turn into this awesomeness of just where so many people's connections and community come together and we can build upon that. So that's definitely kind of like that second level of brain dump. And then it's awesome because this year having my full team and my sister is actually my chief operations officer. And her brain, she is a veteran. She is project management, like her whole background. And she's a single mother.

45:45 Like her whole background is literally just like, organize, operate, efficiency. Yeah. And my brain is like, so she's helped me big time just understanding more of that and recognizing like where I can make those organizational operations. So she's then the third piece of the puzzle though, where it's like, OK, I just put down all these ideas now how do we execute this and how do we put it into our project management system that delegates it out to the whole team? Then like nobody's specifically hired for an event role, but everyone gets to just say, oh, I want to do this, or oh, I like this. Oh, this is something I'd be really interested in doing. So then we all get our piece of the puzzle to contribute to it and make a cool event.

46:30 And then, yeah, through there is the continued execution of those little things until it's game day. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then stress out on game day. They'll make sure everything goes out. Well, right. And thankfully I, I, I will say like knock on wood, I do a pretty good job of I think the week before is the most stressful the day of. I actually do a really good job of where like there's not too much I have to do. But the week before my brain goes into this mode of like, if you're not working on the event, what are you doing? Like, and that's not when I function my healthiest because I'm the type of person that like I've been so much better this year about, OK, you have the urge to paint, go paint something. It's OK if you don't work on this exact project at this moment. OK, you feel really inspired to create this whole branding project.

47:16 Do it. OK, you want to create content right now, like flowing, like my natural state is very good in my flow state of wherever I feel inspired. So the week before when my brain tells my flow state to like, not be that way because it's like, you can't usually just paint right now. You need to do this. You have 48 hours to do it. Like so that's the stressful week for me, but I'm learning. That's a moving target for anybody figuring out. Yeah, you know, I had a chance to. Do you ever do any, like, emotional intelligence work? You ever do do any of that stuff? Of like personality tests or just like from their development? Yeah. And then the stuff of it. So like recognizing where your reactions come from and you ever do that stuff? Yeah.

47:58 So one of my favourites is the Big 5 personality assessment and we're actually offering that now in our brand, like our branding packages, we have people go through this Big 5 assessment and then I'm also now featuring in human design. Have you ever had a human design thing done for? You no, I've so interesting. I only know enough to be dangerous even I just know like a little bit about it but. Yeah, I just my, one of my, I have a productivity coach and she did one for me and I got it a few days ago actually, and read the whole thing at like 2:00 in the morning. I was supposed to go to bed and I was like, what? This is wild. Everything about it was me to AT and it helped me better in ways of understanding.

48:41 They're like, yeah, what are those triggers? Or like my I need to stop yelling at that flow state because that's literally where my natural state works best. I don't work on routine and these other ways that typically maybe society says, oh, this is what you should do to be productive. Like, I'm not somebody. I'm never going to be that person who I shouldn't say never, but I don't get up at 5:00 AM. You know, people used to always say, oh, successful people get up at 5:00 AM. Hell, yeah, they do. But successful people also wake up at 10 AM or 8:00 AM. You know, like what works best for you and your body. Yeah. And and your lifestyle and the things you do. Yeah, because that changes. Like there was a point in time where I'd completely agree with you about just the timing thing. Like, I was not an early riser, right? I was more effective in the afternoon and evening. And now just by like what life demands and dictates and like weaves you into right now.

49:32 I'm an extreme to the extreme morning person. I'll I can wake up at like 4:00 and just start hammering stuff out, like and and then yeah. And it's just, you know, it's. It's, but you change and develop. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And I think, you know, reducing or minimizing some of those walls is a good thing. So hearing a little bit more about it, it is, you know, I did a thing called positive intelligence. So this dude, I think he, his name's Shahzad, I like. It. Yeah, Charmini or Harmini, I can't remember exactly how to what his last name is, but his first name's Shahzad. He's got an app along with a book that he wrote called Positive Intelligence. He was a teacher at like Stanford or something. I can't remember, but ultimately it identified what he called saboteurs and you, it's kind of sounds along the lines of what you're getting.

50:19 Like why do I react the way I do to certain instances? And then once it's in the air, once it exists, then you can work on it. But how are you supposed to work on it if you don't know? Like how are you supposed to be less mad if you don't know it pisses you off in the 1st place? Like that's not how it works. So I did this thing, got my results, whatever, and had a great opportunity to do this. Like it was like a long time. We did it for like 2 months or something where we'd meet in groups and talk about through these, these saboteurs and how we could be more effective. Just it was through the lens of work. It was my work did it. But really it was just as a human like I, I became a better husband, I became a better person because I realized some of these things that like there's no way I ever would have identified by myself.

51:07 And it, it was all about actually, I think you started off really our conversation talking about each person has this unique set of steps that got us to where we are today. And all those steps mold how you react to a situation. And I can't remember what all of the like stats are around it, but like there's a certain amount of time or or like space in which we react like we have no control. Over right and it and it's that natural state, yeah. And it's, it's the a lot of the saboteurs that do that. So that's why I ask. It's just fascinating work to think about it, think through that, growing as an individual and stuff. You'll have to send me that stuff because that sounds awesome.

51:50 I did. I was at the Women's Leadership Conference and then I volunteered for the high school Girls Leadership Conference this year. And Ali Starr, she is a basketball coach. Actually, I believe she's Lawrence's girls basketball coach. I believe. Don't quote me on that, but she is an energetic Italian woman as well. And she did an interactive like keynote where I got to experience it as well-being a volunteer with these high school girls of naming that saboteur. And you actually give it a name of like who you know, it doesn't it shouldn't be somebody you really like. It's somebody that's like, you know, who do you think of that kind of speaks that way, that reactive way that maybe isn't the healthiest parts, but who is it?

52:35 Let's give it a name so we can identify it and either talk to it and and understand those things that you said. Yeah. So that was a that was a fun process to be able to do it. And I love naming things, so I was all for it. Yeah. Yeah, nice. I you know, I can't believe I didn't go out, go more on it when you said it, but we end up going different directions. But I gotta go back. No, let's do it. The Rodman tattoo. How does how does that come into existence? Like how do you have a Dentist Rodman tattoo? So my dad, both my parents are from Chicago originally, but then my dad, his family at Brown Middle School, he moved up to there from moved up to Manaqua. So my family mostly stayed rooted there. But then my dad's parents got divorced. So my grandpa went back down to Chicago and when my dad was in his 20s, went back down, was living with his dad for, you know, that period of time.

53:28 And my parents met in Chicago in their 30s and whatnot. But so my dad was in his 20s when Michael Jordan was winning all their championships. So he went to so many games, was at the parades, like all the awesomeness of basketball, you know, like when it was that. And so he would always tell me these stories. He has the awesome memorabilia that are like one-of-a-kind things from people that he knew and people he would meet because he worked at Maggiano's too. So we would meet a bunch of people. And so he would tell me all these stories and I loved it. And I'm, I'm a, I'm an old soul in every way. So like, I just loved the nostalgia of it. And then the Last Dance came out and we watched it, binge watched it together. And he would just continue to share these insights that like the the last Dance couldn't provide. It would give me a glimpse at it and then he'd add on to it. So it was just this continued development that I loved of it, and Dennis Rodman in particular, talk about authentic dude is himself.

54:31 Like he broke every barrier ever. Like he just showed up as himself. And it made people think like, in a time that you didn't do shit like that, he was showing up with piercings in his face, the dyed hair doing whack. Shit, the wedding dress. Stuff, Oh my God, like just so out of pocket that it just made people sit there. But you loved him like you loved him and he was a part of this really, you know, masculine thing of basketball and Michael Jordan and all of them winning their championships and and this icon of an amazing basketball player. And also the fact that so I played volleyball, it was a libero my whole career. Defense, you know, I defense wins championships.

55:15 And so he has absolutely no points ever, but rebounds, rebounds, rebounds, like he is just all over the place diving into stands, you know, like that passion and that drive and that I'm getting the ball no matter what. That's how I played. Like I would dive into the stands. I literally dove on to people when I played and the passion that you see in that type of playing, I am such a passionate person that like, I loved it. And then, yeah, I loved how weird you would show up. Like what basketball player has dyed hair on the court? And it was just so always out of pocket and just authentic. And that's why I was like, yeah, I love it.

55:55 It's my mom's. She hates the tattoo, to be honest. The other day I told her I was getting, I actually am getting a tattoo removed that I don't love. And I was like, yeah, I'm getting my tattoo removed. And I'm like, I'm sure you can guess which one she's like. I have a feeling it won't be the one I'd like, but I was like, Dennis is staying there forever. Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Checks out. Yeah, yeah, he's certainly a fascinating human. There's AI. Can't remember if it's from The Last Dance or a different documentary. It's his own documentary. It was so good. Yeah, it. Could it was a one like a 30 minute? I feel like I watched that too, but I can't remember which one it's from.

56:36 But either way, like I I like Phil Jackson, like he was a maestro with people like navigating. And there's this really funny thing about Michael's in it. I remember that part. So Dennis decide like he's feeling stressed, he's feeling overwhelmed and he's like, I need a vacation. He goes to Vegas. Yeah, and he goes to Vegas in the in the middle and. In the midst of them. Yeah. And then they in the documentary, they cut to Michael and Michael's like what? You need a vacation and and, but everybody let him go. And Michael had to go get him though, Michael literally. Did you get the part where he's like, Michael had to go get him from Vegas, I think, or like from his apartment or something. He'd go pick his ass up because he was drunk or hungover or something.

57:21 He's like, you're coming to practice and, and he, Michael Jordan would say he could be out all night and then literally go to practice and he would still, like, outrun other people. Yeah. You know, there's a cool story about Michael. Somebody was golfing with Michael and said that they had been golfing all day and Michael drank like 12 beers or whatever, and they had a game that night and he bet him he was going to score so many points and then went out and did it. That's hilarious. Yeah. It's such a different era. Seriously. Yeah. OK. So yeah, I had glad we got back there because I had to figure it out. Yeah. Of how that goes. Is it his face? No, not his face. It's it's more of like a kind of patch graphic tattoo of like his jersey, the back of the jersey up.

58:06 So it says Rodman. And then like the top of his number with the stripes in red. And then I was very selective in which hair I chose. Yeah, right. So I always thought that it was the one that looks like cheetah print, cheetah print. And I always loved it the most. And then from the last dance, I found out that it was actually 33 sprayed all over his head because it was the night that Scotty Pippen came back to play from his injury. And I was like, oh, it's even cooler then. So that was that was one I chose. Which is, I think that's one of the coolest parts about the worm is that he like is wild and crazy and seemingly selfish at times. His stuff was like, nobody around him ever says that stuff about him.

58:49 Yeah, nobody around him ever says that. They they say that he's genuine and caring and like in that scenario, like he's supporting Scott. Right. And he made statements like he made statements with his hair in basketball, like it was just, you know, you have to wear a uniform. I just love the fact of like, in a space where you had to wear something specific, you have rules, you have these guidelines, you have this box that you are putting in a way in that role. And he said, OK, where can I step outside of it, though? And he said, OK, I can dye my hair and would literally make statements with what he would put in his hair for a game in a time that that didn't really happen, you know? So I I love that.

59:30 OK, cool. Yeah, I don't know why, but the first place, like when you said you had a Dennis Rodman tattoo, I just imagined Dennis's face. That would be hilarious though. Just Dennis Rodman's face on the back of my arm. Oh my God. And and face tattoos are tough. So like if somebody like would have not done like the greatest job, it would have been like, who is that? Is that Dennis? Yeah, yeah, that's one thing I wouldn't do is a face tattoo, but it's like a, it's a little graphic artsy one which is like the back of his head, but you know who it is. That's one of my Oh, there's one of. My favorite areas of like the depths of the Internet are like messed up face tattoos. Where are we going with this? I got scared like.

1:00:11 Oh God messed up face tattoos are the best. Yeah. Or, or like obviously misspellings and stuff, but like, yeah, oh, I could, I could keep, I could continue. I was like, what rabbit hole are we about to go down? Oh God. Yeah, well, yeah, that's a lot how I operate that just say, you know, hear about something and then it's like, man, this brings you to thinking about something just completely off the wall. But then it goes full circle. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Always. And then and then you end up, yeah. Is it figuring something out like one of life's problems that you never would have solved without talking about that? I love it. Yeah, So what? Like what? What are you, What are you passionate about?

1:00:52 What? What gets you up in the morning? My brain thinks 10 million things. Like, like I said, I'm very passionate about a lot of different things, but most overall like people. I would say, if I could sum it up into one thing, I'd say people in the sense of I, we're such enigmas and the psychology behind it of that plays into everything that I do with the marketing, with clothing. You know, just who are we and how do we continue to have those conversations that we keep talking about? That is literally this of, you know, let's sit down and just have a really authentic conversation and continue to learn more.

1:01:33 Because even if I see you again or I never see you again, you know, how many times do you have that with people? And but you walk away and there's stories that like you're still talking about 30 years later that my parents tell me of like this random person that this guy has, you know, there's this one about this guy. His name was Willy Boatman. Willy Boatman, for all we know is dead. He or he has no idea that he has been in our household for years, but how cool like an authentic, genuine story that was shared with my parents with this guy and and carries on of like, you never know where that is for you with other people. And that. Yeah, we're really just we're doing this thing called life, You know, we're all trying to find like this answer. And while yes, there's a lot of answers out there, it's also cool in that like and being very content with, we don't know, we have no idea how human beings are walking around in this little earth like where we sprouted from. You know, we have ideas, we have theories, we have all these things which are beautiful.

1:02:35 And in my opinion, none of them are wrong. Who am I the hell to tell you that? Oh, you know, that's not right, especially if maybe you know, religion as an example. Who am I to tell you that that's wrong, or that you're right or you're wrong? I don't. I am nobody to tell you that, you know. But like, why is it not all real? If collectively that many people believe in these things, it is real. It does not make it real. Yeah, it might not make it 100% true, but it makes it real. It exists right in this form of reality and it's like, you know, where do these things come from? And continuing to explore that and learn from it is awesome. But very much being like content and serene and knowing that just whatever it is, however we got here, I'm just really grateful that for some reason I was picked to be a human being that gets to consciously experience life, you know, and how cool that other people in my life get to do that too.

1:03:26 I couldn't agree more. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Paul, you never heard of a guy named Paul Thorne? He's a musician. He has a song called You might be Wrong. You'd probably dig it. OK. It's really cool. Whole concepts about how like, how, how is anything absolute because like, how do we know for certain, right? But yeah, I, I, man, I've never thought about it through that lens, but I hope to be that story in some people's lives at places. Probably are for random. People, yeah, probably I, the thing I have like and probably a lot of people have one that comes to mind when you hear that. And so I'm, I like to make Maple syrup or harvest Maple syrup, I would call it. And the first time I did it, I was my wife and I were living in the UP at the time, and she didn't know I was going to buy all this Maple syrup. So like, she'd show up with.

1:04:11 Yeah, I I drive. I drive to the middle of nowhere in the UP and I'll never forget this dude. His name was Hubie LaRue. And. And what a name. Yeah, I know. It's amazing. Yeah. And same thing, like, Hubie might be passed on to the next realm. I don't. He was pretty old at the time. And this was going on 10 years ago pretty soon. So like, I pull up to this dude's house. I'd only talked to him on the phone. My my day-to-day life was wild. At that time. I was hosting this really unique radio show that was like a talk show with people. So I was constantly connecting and like, having these cool experiences. Right. And I drive up to Hubie La Roux's house in the middle of nowhere. Hubie La Roux. Yeah. And I ended up there for like 3 hours. We were there forever. He fell down twice when when we were trying to pick up the stuff and like, we just meandered through his whole place.

1:04:57 And he pretty much like, it was like an episode of this podcast. He like walked me through his whole life. I love it. And he had done some really like successful stuff in business and he had made a ton of money. And he was just in the middle of nowhere. You'd be now just existing, just living. And he sells me this old like Maple syrup stuff. But that's one of those days where it's like, I'll never forget walking around with Hubie LaRue, like just 'cause he's a unique dude. It's. Like this long, unskippable cutscene. That in the best way though. Yeah, yeah. And you know, that's something I try not to take for granted with the podcast. It's part of the reason that I like do it 'cause like those. And actually, I think I, I posted this as a thread or something a while back about how like how lucky am I to get to do this, to get like an hour, 90 minutes of people's undivided attention, right?

1:05:44 Where they're willing to like open up, right, and talk and share and just explore what humanity really is, right? How lucky am I to get to do that constantly just because I have this goofy podcast that people listen to, right? It's cool. You know, it's really cool. Yeah. And I try not to take that for granted because like. People can then go listen to it, yeah, like in their car and learn from those things. You know what's cool about that is that's an angle I never thought about until I had Steve Brenzel or Ned the dead. I had him on the show and to this date, his his episode has the most listens watches of any of my episodes. It's like he's a fantastic guy. I love it. But afterwards, his thoughts, he he he made it a point to call me and thank me for what we did because now he had this thing that his kids could watch as he aged and like a glimpse at the person, you know. And.

1:06:40 And I never thought about it like that, especially through the lens of like Ned the dead were like, his whole career was him playing a part. Yeah. It was him doing something that. Yeah. He's very, very funny. He's very like jovial like that. He's like abrasive, kind of like Ned the dead. He's like he's there, but still Ned the dead wasn't him. He's Steve Brenzel and people see him as Ned the dead. But now he has this thing that he was happy about. Not because we shared about Ned the dead. And probably like he probably doesn't care about that anymore because it's in the past. But what he does care about was him and telling his story. And I had never thought about it like that. I had that shifted my perception of it, and that's along the same lens like those two things put together. I couldn't agree more.

1:07:32 That's what makes me wake up in the morning too. Or connect. I love it. I love. It. Yeah. And just sharing more of that, like how we said content, content can't give you a glimpse of that sometimes like in the way you write something or what it is. Like I was listening to the one with Door County Candle Company and I did not know any of that of her story. And I wouldn't have necessarily. I've saw all of her social media along the way. So it was cool to then hear the actual story of like where that all came from. And I wouldn't have necessarily gathered that just from reading. If she would have put that into a post, I would have never gotten the same effect or the same knowledge in that way, you know?

1:08:13 There's just not the space for it. Yeah, there's not the space to explore. We've had AI mean you've come to speak to my classes. We've talked to, we talked to at your, at your event. When would I have ever found out you had a Dennis Rodman take 2? A random summer day that you're like, what the hell is that? Yeah. When I ran across like a, you know, down whatever city deck or something like. Right. It's the best. Uh huh. Yeah, but that's a pretty good reason to wake up. Yeah, that's I feel. Very grateful. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that doesn't. And it doesn't matter what time that happens at. It doesn't matter if it's at 7:00 in the morning, 10 in the morning. Back to that, Yeah, I definitely it, it varies. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, well, it was awesome. Good to know you, Amanda. Thank you.

1:08:54 Thank you for sharing some of your story. Yeah, thank you. You. I would wish you good luck on bold, but you're not gonna need it you crushing it with what you do. Thank you, I appreciate it. Keep up the good work and share the stories that need to be shared. Thank you. You too.