#386: How To Survive the Harsh Alaskan (Advertising) Climate w/ Mary Ann Pruitt
Sweat Equity is chewing the cud on entrepreneurs’ self talk, media strategy in omnichannel digital marketing, routines, habits, Generational Marketing, Remote Workforces, Change Management, targeting audiences, personas in demographics, the worst generation is Gen X, Alaska, and how our guest wanted to be in advertising at 10 years old.
Mary Ann Pruitt, the CEO and President of Mosaic Media, is our guest zoomin’ from Anchorage. She won the 2020 Top Woman in Media award from Cynopsis Media.
Mary Ann has helped develop effective marketing strategies for agencies of all sizes, small businesses, service businesses, private educational institutions and legal and professional services businesses along with many others. She is passionate about passing on the experience that she has gained onto eager professionals looking for actionable marketing tips.
Mosaic Media: a collection of media buying experts and creative strategists who negotiate, purchase, and monitor advertising space and airtime.
Episode sponsored by SQUARESPACE create a customizable website or online store with an all-in-one solution from Squarespace. Choose a website template and start your free trial today. https://squarespacecircleus.pxf.io/sweatequity
Sweat Equity 🔗s
Hosts’ Eric Readinger & Law Smith 🔗s
---
Wanna help Sweat Equity without spending a dime? Sure, we’re the #1 business comedy & comedy business podcast on earth, but we can always practice Kaizen, aka continuous improvement. Please? We’ll be your BFF! Hook us up by
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ REVIEW
WRITE a quick hitter sentence in the review
Smash SUBSCRIBE
SHARE with friends, co-workers, acquaintances, family members you love and the fam you don’t like talking to
#comedy #business #girthyroi #sweatequity💦 #69b2b #entrepreneur
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
alaska, people, entrepreneurs, media, meeting, intentional, entrepreneurship, habits, generation, good, productive, watch, check, longer, routine, communicating, read, juneau, big, find
SPEAKERS
Speaker 2 (51%), Law (44%), Eric (3%), Speaker 1 (1%)
Law Smith
0:00
Okay, thanks. And then we just kind of we kind of just roll right into it. Sounds good. And I'll ask at the top just to give you a plug. Is there anything you're promoting? Just because it's every time we try to do it like a professional Phil. There's always something. There's like a best
0:19
effort. I'm here to have a conversation.
Law Smith
0:21
Yeah, that's that's how we look at it. Yeah. We've got our producer in the house today so this is
Eric Readinger
0:37
good. Intro thingy, sorry about all that we'll do that after
Eric Readinger
0:50
right. Oh, anything about headphones? Maybe wasn't muted. I can see the top right
Law Smith
1:03
we're using gateway computers. Over here. Oh.
1:09
Little delay.
Law Smith
1:12
Yeah. Right behind where your screen is we have a bunch of equipment. Or we can see while we're looking here we're talking anyway, but I want to
1:27
get her get in contact.
Law Smith
1:29
Check. Check, check. Check from
Eric Readinger
1:31
you from her. Can you
2
Speaker 2
1:32
check check? Can you hear me? Check one, two. Check.
Law Smith
1:36
You can't hear her. I can't
Law Smith
1:51
we're very professional with our finest tank tops for love it.
2
Speaker 2
1:57
Absolutely love it. I wish I could in this weather. I live in Alaska. So it's a little cold. Ryan,
Law Smith
2:03
I got along. I got a lot of Alaska questions. All right. I mean, poorly written down but I guess it's all good. You know, we'd like to shoot from there. If
2
Speaker 2
2:18
it's more fun that way. Yeah, the best stuff comes from improv.
Law Smith
2:22
Same. I agree. Robot DSM theory did you were you able to watch an episode or listen to an episode before coming on? Oh, okay. Wow. So a lot of our guests don't do that. Oh, really? Okay, come in. They come in real cool. Oh, ah. Oh, I'm on board.
2
Speaker 2
2:46
We'll be good. But I will say I mean it was a while ago that I watched it but I like what I saw. So works, not much
Law Smith
2:54
has changed. We, we our core values are you know, she come through entrepreneurship, kind of being resourceful and generous. So okay,
3:06
we will be fine.
Law Smith
3:09
All right. Probably like two more minutes.
Law Smith
3:32
Check check, check and check settles civil Sibilance. Me I can honestly take better sound settings on the on the desktop. I mean Yeah. Check, check, check. Check, check, check, check.
Law Smith
4:10
Is there other pyramids in Alaska? The pyramids? Audio is something
2
Speaker 2
4:18
retired ignorant questions but that one that one's a first.
Law Smith
4:22
Oh really? pyramids that was a new one for me too. Favorite Alaskan movie with what do you got?
2
Speaker 2
4:36
Favorite Alaska movie? Yeah. Well, right now everybody's watching the Alaska daily the new TV show. That's on ABC. That's the one to watch right now. All right.
Law Smith
4:48
I'm a fan of insomnia. OH, INSOMNIA.
2
Speaker 2
4:50
So I'm gonna go for the heartstrings and save big miracle. Big miracle is a pretty good one to actually filmed here too.
Law Smith
4:58
So are you okay, yeah, okay. How many what's good, what's population size of Anchorage?
2
Speaker 2
5:07
Anchorage is about almost 400,000 where the majority of the state
Law Smith
5:11
that's the biggest city right? It is. Yeah.
2
Speaker 2
5:14
What a regulation statewide is a little over 700,000
Law Smith
5:18
My college roommate from Juneau which is odd because I went to Auburn. And so he made it to believe standout students, Middle East Alabama, or the Hartford, Middle East Alabama. Well,
2
Speaker 2
5:33
at least you're somewhere up there and Middle East Alabama. It works. But yeah, southeastern Juneau is the only capital in the United States that you have to fly to or take a boat to you can't drive. You can't. You cannot.
Law Smith
5:46
If I was trying to go
2
Speaker 2
5:48
on an island. It is not an island but you have to take a boat. There is no road to Juneau.
Law Smith
5:53
Oh, really? I didn't know that. You mentioned that my old roommate
2
Speaker 2
5:57
saying you have to fly or take a boat. It's the only way to get there.
Law Smith
6:01
Tell Blair my old roommate didn't tell me a whole lot about Alaska. You probably don't get
2
Speaker 2
6:06
to learn more today about Alaska than you did then. So
Law Smith
6:09
when we were roommates, we did have one of those big peace pipe communal fights that you can smoke tobacco.
6:18
Tobacco.
Law Smith
6:20
Yeah. So six packs
6:22
of soda.
Law Smith
6:24
Right, Tommy Boy. We're rolling and we're keeping that all in all. Very and through it. Why don't you give everybody your plugs where it finds you if you're promoting anything in particular,
2
Speaker 2
6:42
so we don't mess it up. Yeah, Marian, with mosaic media. We are a collaboration of media's finest when it comes to negotiating and putting together your paid media plans. If it falls under that umbrella, that is us. You can find me on Twitter, at media maps. And you can also if any point anybody just wants us to talk about media or has questions after we go through this interview. They can always reach out to me at Mosaic dot agency forward slash contact and it comes straight to me. I'm always about having a conversation and helping people with their media plans and even auditing and looking at what you currently have.
Law Smith
7:18
Yeah, we you know, Eric and I are kind of cut from the same cloth. I feel like what will kind of try to help anybody? Yeah, because there's so many. I'll classified under digital, but there's so much just
Eric Readinger
7:35
snake oil here say nice.
Law Smith
7:37
Yeah. You're out of Alaska doing all this work? Yeah. So
2
Speaker 2
7:41
I live in Alaska. We have teams and offices in the Pacific Northwest in the south. So in Midwest as well as East Coast. So we cover all 50 states. I just happen to have found it and live in Alaska. So I founded the company in Alaska. I live in Alaska, but now less than 5% of our work is in Alaska. It just happens to be my home. Yeah,
Law Smith
8:03
I want to ask you about the remote workforce kind of foundation you set up but first, I want to ask our question we asked every guest the first time they come online. What advice would you give your 13 year old self
2
Speaker 2
8:17
13 year old self is don't hesitate and go for the things that you want to go for? Don't I think and I maybe this is for me, coming from a young entrepreneur and a female young entrepreneur is Don't second guess yourself, know your gut. And I think that's every entrepreneur we all have to look at it as your gut will tell you a story and follow that and listen to that gut and it's okay to check that every once in a while.
Eric Readinger
8:44
Rockin the quickness for don't hesitate. Did out.
Law Smith
8:48
Well, bam. I can tell she's good at what she does, because a lot of this work a lot of your work is planning. And it seems like you've prepared for this interview
2
Speaker 2
8:59
you would think like I like I like like impromptu. I love impromptu. I do have a little background knowledge of Me. There's a little theater that I had backgrounds. So I think a little impromptu is always good.
Law Smith
9:14
Yeah, I can tell you're very present but also, before the mic. Sinopoli. You said you've listened to a couple episodes, which is unusual for most of our guests. Okay, well, I've heard that question ahead of time, but that's no actually
2
Speaker 2
9:29
I mean, I probably heard it but that doesn't mean I was even thinking it through. So there you go. Okay. Okay. Yeah,
Law Smith
9:36
well played very pumped. Isn't that good? I'm just until you get to be one of the top women in media 2020 award that you failed to humble brag at the top. So you started use so I want to I want to ask you about was there a time growing up where he didn't have the intuition where he talked yourself out of things?
2
Speaker 2
9:58
You know, I think human nature is to talk ourselves out of things and not just have that faith that yeah, we can we can do this and take that leap. A look through it's funny when I got into advertising and actually eventually I had a career in media before I found this firm, and went through that process and worked at some of the largest firms in the nation on the media front. But what's interesting is when I founded this firm, my mom sent me a snapshot, I have to find it somewhere. But she sent me a picture of a letter that I wrote to myself in fourth grade, saying I want to work in advertising, and this is why I want to work in advertising. How creepy is that? Like that's kind of creepy, right like that fourth grade. Maryann was I want to work in advertising. And I completely forgot about it. So that intuition and that instinct is in us if we just channel it, but as children we're less afraid to say no. Like, we're just like, This is who I am. It's okay. I think children don't have that fear filter yet. We haven't been taught completely that you got to keep things at arm's length or push back or you know, test everything out and be safe all the time. It's our job to test things when we're kids. And you know, fast forward now it's like okay, I took that leap. But could I have taken earlier are there other things that you know, you go through it you learn something every year in life, no matter how old you get, and but that instinct and the intuition of young listen to that earlier and that's in you, and that's in all of us, but it's human nature to want to push back.
Eric Readinger
11:41
Yeah, tell my kids all the time. If you do an adult who says they know everything lying to your face?
11:47
100%
Law Smith
11:49
I don't know. I say all the time to my kids. I don't know. I know that. Yeah, I tell my kids. I don't know. I don't know a lot of things. Let's look it up. Let's see if we can figure it out. But also, I'll make mistakes a lot of the time and even to what you're saying the kind of the self talk aspect of being an adult and being an entrepreneur. You know, we talk a lot a theme of this show is entrepreneurship is isolating. It's very lonely. Especially in Alaska. You know, most of your workforce is outside of the area.
2
Speaker 2
12:27
Well, I mean, I am on an airplane for probably half of the year not here because of clients not being in Alaska, but at the same time, like just entrepreneurship as a whole is so lonely at times because you you know everything and then you know your fears on top of that, right. And that's just being honest as an entrepreneur, you know, all the behind the scenes, you know, everything that's going on in your company. And you have to be honest with yourself of everything that's going on. Otherwise, if you're pulling the wool over your eyes, then you're not you're not doing your best due diligence in your company and as an entrepreneur, but then we add fear to that and that self talk like you just said, is so important of okay, what are the next things that I can do? I've overcome this before, or I've done this before, or you go back and look at it through the things that you have survived. And none of us know everything. Reach out to people. It's okay. I think right now in entrepreneurship. We're at this peak, amazing time of collaboration. Work with people, we have so many experts. And now we have so many ways to connect where we haven't had that in the past and COVID change that COVID made it where it's way more acceptable for us to all reach out to each other and brainstorm and think things through and collaborate and partner together more finding good partners and finding good people to work with where your expertise may not be, is exactly how entrepreneurs should be moving forward in today's world.
Law Smith
13:56
Yeah. Know what you don't know is a big thing. Yeah, that's an easy that's the ego death mushroom trip. You got to figure out the other thing I want to touch on is you know, we have all these methods of communication. Yet we I think we're atrophying I think I think we're we're not we have more ways and more access to communicate and get information. But I think we all suck at it as a whole. Yeah,
Eric Readinger
14:27
emoji everything.
Law Smith
14:29
Well, that you can get. I've been trying to add a bit about what if you've used emojis in real life? How creepy would that be? Lovely. I'll come over for that booty call. We got
2
Speaker 2
14:41
it. We're also like going totally back in history. Like you just said hieroglyphics. Like, are we going back to keep writing? Is that what we're that's how we're communicating. Yeah, these
Eric Readinger
14:50
are the universal language.
Law Smith
14:52
I mean, it's the one that all most more people on earth understand. Because it's just tired. It's like the tablets the oldest to newest thing at the same time.
15:03
Exactly. That's exactly
Law Smith
15:04
what you know, but I think we're worse at and this is someone who can't read out loud reading comprehension, like reading, reading, or writing a text with you know, there's no nuance in it. I'm going backwards and I'm, I find myself calling more people now.
Eric Readinger
15:22
Yeah. nuance in the texts,
Law Smith
15:25
or what's the worst is like trying to text someone or email someone that it takes so much longer just to do it than if you just call them up? Yeah, and you get that mode because we hide behind keyboards with a lot of our wealth.
2
Speaker 2
15:38
Right? I've actually said this often. I feel like we're Wait Yeah, it's a control thing. And we're raising it completely passive aggressive generation. Like, you can't have a conversation and if you look at a lot of things that I teach on also is the generational habits that we're seeing. Because the first time in American history, we have five working generations, we've never had them before. And if you think about that, and that all the spending power and the media consumption and all the data that goes into that, but part of it is these habits that are very passive aggressive we have taught kids in generations to not communicate and not how and how to not communicate, they they think it's okay, you know, just send a text or whatever. We've heard horror stories of actually we had this where an employee's parents called us called in sick for them. They had a cold, it wasn't like they were in the hospital. Wasn't anything but their their parents called in sick for them as if they were going to school. Like things like that. Where? Yeah, yeah. By the way, cringe worthy moment, right? When people brag about adulting
Law Smith
16:44
and you're like, No, just be an adult. You like to be
16:47
the adult you don't have to brag about it, just do it.
Law Smith
16:54
It's, it's, but I get what it is. I can't because I all do the same in a different way. You want a gold star? You want like you want a little recognition. You want the thought in the bottom parts of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, you know, like, and I don't think a lot of people are getting those because attention spans are fragmented. Partly because we're bad at communicating.
2
Speaker 2
17:18
Well, and where did that is? Yeah. And going into COVID We were already bad at communicating. But then what COVID actually did was take the human interaction portion out of it. And now it forced us even more to be in that text mode or overconsumption of media as a whole. So overconsumption of communication over consumption of information. And if you look at media habits, and what people were we shifted and where we went to, like in a two week period, we saw an evolution that should have taken 10 to 20 years happen in a two week period. Like that's, that's significant, where we had older generations that were not using social media that overnight they're gonna be on social media. And think of that side of it. We went to this overconsumption we see this in American history and anytime there's anything catastrophic that takes place, people want to over consume information, then it correct,
Law Smith
18:15
right like it's a lot of overproduction. That seems like
2
Speaker 2
18:19
that's exactly the difference with COVID. We never came back down other catastrophic, catastrophic events. We came back down because the event takes place. Then we come back down, okay, I don't need to consume as much I consume a few things that changes some habits. COVID, I need to over consume, and we've continued to over consume the watch. Yes, well, there's more watch. We're trying to escape more than we ever have before because of the tension and because it's been so long and there's so many things going on, but then we're also trying to feed ourselves with enough information to make sure that everything's safe, aren't we created habits because it took it took so long? We actually created substantiated habits that took place and those haven't changed. So we've had we have a two to three year really experiment of what took place with the human brain of what we're consuming and how we're consuming it.
Law Smith
19:16
First thing like, my my favorite part about COVID and kind of a white collar work workspace was that they're like, oh, zoom. We can Yes, we work remotely and it's like it's just like, what? Just came out at the same time as COVID.
2
Speaker 2
19:35
It's so true. Everybody thought it was new technology. And it's like we've been doing this for years, but it allowed entrepreneurs it doesn't matter where you are in the world. Like I'll tell you, our sales have gone through the roof since COVID. And even before we were already in a growth mode, but once COVID hit, nobody cares where you are, they don't even ask
Eric Readinger
19:53
you to help normalize it. People who normally wouldn't be willing to jump on a zoom call, you know, that, you know, that was a huge portion of it, I think. Absolutely.
Law Smith
20:03
Very very salty hair executives are like zoom. This thing is amazing. It's like we've had to chat for like maybe 20 years, I don't know but like, this is how we should have been doing a lot of things anyway. And, and again, back to the kind of the communication aspect of it. A lot of people trying to do this hybrid workforce is coming back into offices a little bit. And they don't worry even if they just go fully remote. I don't think anybody's very like I think a whole a lot of people aren't very good at managing that remote. Yeah, force. How do you handle that?
2
Speaker 2
20:39
Yeah, so we make sure to have interaction with each other on a regular basis, like management will come together and we're spread all out but we will come together once a month. And then we typically we make sure we haven't. Yet we make sure that we have an in person meeting management wise once a quarter at minimum. Typically, we actually tried to do a little bit more than that. But that's at minimum, and then we come together. And it's setting of that once a month for sure of making sure that we are communicating regularly and then we have little meetings here or there if we're working on big projects making sure so that's on the management level. But then what's important is a lot of people they started to lose culture of the company when they went remote or when they went to completely video that became early on when we saw okay, this isn't really going to slow down. This isn't a two week experiment. Then we all come back into the office and frankly it opened up a lot more opportunities of workforce and where we were able to go and being able to think okay, we don't all have to be in the same building. But you have to be intentional. That's probably the key thing is being intentional on culture. But the intentional on work product. What does this look like? How do we collaborate together intentionally via zoom via teams via whatever product you're using on it but making sure that you're intentional in that the right here's the one thing that I I see more and more, with brands and with agencies and with everybody across the whole of marketers and entrepreneurs is death by meeting, we all of a sudden thought that we needed to have more meetings, because overall working remotely, let's have five meetings a day to check in. We're going to do a morning check in a noon check in and an evening checking. We didn't do that in the office. Why do we need to do that? We don't need to do that. And then
Eric Readinger
22:29
working meetings let's do stuff that we could have done alone on our own time. That will include all these people in our suffering and make them go through with us and
Law Smith
22:38
I'm already have so much you have to work during the meeting, which defeats the purpose of being in the meeting. I'm like, I'll listen like a podcast I guess while I'm trying to do some of those things that are kind of brain dead but I read a thing from like a VC firm, and I'm wanting to make a table like that. For us. It looks like a good topic because they say any meeting that has more than seven people is worthless. And I I totally agree with that and some people's a lot but it's like a show. And then you know, I feel like it sounds like you're very It sounds like you're intentional and thoughtful proactively and I think you might have been dancing around being proactive in your work, then letting it just come to you and go Oh shit, I gotta get this done.
2
Speaker 2
23:24
Yeah, and you have to be right. You have to show that proactive and as leaders and entrepreneurs have, it doesn't matter if you have if it's just you, or if you have 4050 100 employees. It doesn't matter on that right. You have to be intentional. And you have to be proactive. You have to have that self discipline and I think entrepreneurs as a whole we're driven people, we are people that naturally have this instinct to be driven. We have a tendency to be a lot of us are accidental entrepreneurs, but we have that spirit within us right. And we lean into it. Me I don't think I was an accidental entrepreneur. I kind of I kind of landed there but not really it was like okay, no, I'm gonna take this faith and do it.
Law Smith
24:07
But I didn't know it. Until it yeah,
24:08
yes. You know, and
Law Smith
24:11
you have you got some vim and vigor and yet you're the crazy you've got some Yeah, we can tell you wants to be an advertiser. I know what, what ads were you saying that you're like, hell yeah. You know,
2
Speaker 2
24:22
and, you know, like my mom said, I used to rewrite jingles all the time. Like I would watch a TV. I don't remember doing this, but I read rewrite, and I would
Law Smith
24:34
figure out the you're good. No, I was gonna say I was. What do you got? Yeah, yeah.
2
Speaker 2
24:45
I knew you were gonna call me out on that. I'm trying to think of anything I would do. Like, I remember. Oh, I can't I'm trying to remember which jingle there was.
Eric Readinger
24:55
Why would I say that? We
Law Smith
24:56
are a heterosexual gay con. Yeah,
Eric Readinger
24:58
we are. I got the Willie.
Law Smith
25:02
Because it was the shortest one you can't really. But that's like an audio logo. That's not really a jingle.
2
Speaker 2
25:10
Yeah, I'm trying to think like, I remember trying to read make, like read word them so that they would actually be funny, as opposed to just whatever it was. Yeah, I'm trying to remember what was my lanta but I don't remember what jingle I did something with I don't remember. Anyway. I don't know why my Lancer comes to comes through.
Law Smith
25:32
Illegal that's the other that's it. You're gonna love that we're now movie on Roku by the way. If your jingle parody jingles Oh, it's best movie 2022 Yeah. Yeah, suck on that top gun, too. Yeah. And Elvis in fruity Elvis movie that I can't I can't get into every time I put it on.
2
Speaker 2
25:59
I gotta watch it and I can't finish it. Like I go to watch it. And the first time I'm like, I'm
Law Smith
26:04
my mom's like, you gotta go see in the theater and like it's not going to let's say own a theater goes to Black Panther in the theater. They do what kind of forever you know. But so I want to get back to this generational marketing aspect. You know, how do you what do you use to kind of for your research, are you I kind of start thinking lately I've really thought about marketing and media buying is part of that process. You know, on a strategic level as the scientific method, right? We think, or the client thinks they know who their audience is, right? So I like to ask upfront, and the discovery kind of call or, you know, Intro meeting and go, who, who's your target audiences, right? And then they tell me and I go, now, how do you know that? And they just go I know, right? And it's like, do you just know or are you are you going off of like data that you read from your CRM or something I'm not gonna go okay, I'm gonna challenge that. That's the hypothesis. Scientific Method. Let's see if we can break it. Right. So let's see if we're gonna break that idea. And not to be contrarian, but just to go. I'm in the part of it's kind of a hypocrite because I'm using my intuition to go over there's,
2
Speaker 2
27:34
like, a majority of brands are just guessing. They don't necessarily know and what is the substantiated data that's backing that up? You don't know. And they're guessing and they're saying, Oh, this is what I think. And I think as the older the brand, the harder it is for them to really figure that out and really dig into it deeper. But in today's world, and you guys know this.
Eric Readinger
27:58
I mean, the further it gets along, the more the more data they get from Yale, you know,
2
Speaker 2
28:03
they should, but that data tells a story, right? And if not using that story and using that information to really dig it. You have to get your to know your audience, far further than you ever have before. It's no longer a demo that we're targeting. Like when I started in media, it was What's your target demographic? Okay, we're talking adults 25 to 54. Okay, like that's what
Law Smith
28:27
we did. Yeah, why was advertising and TV always like, we got to get the legacy brands like Pepsi want to hear it on. They want to get the advertising, they want to get your 13 to 24 and you're like, they got no money. I want to. I want to work with clients and businesses that are targeting old people because the one predictor of wealth is age. That's it. That's I mean, I get it.
2
Speaker 2
28:51
Yeah, but you're, you're dismissing baby boomers who still have the most money expendable cash, they have $70 trillion as a generation. Like, why why have we moved on from them? They still have them. So we shouldn't right? They still have the most. It's an xers and millennials like they get this statistic. Gen Xers have 2.4 trillion and millennials have 2.5 trillion. Okay.
Law Smith
29:17
Oh, our Gen X. Yeah.
2
Speaker 2
29:21
You know, like Gen Xers are right there in the middle there. I always say they're the Forgotten generation because they have to fight for every scrap that they get. So they tell
Law Smith
29:29
everybody that they're the Forgotten generation so they're not forget Yeah, and remember, our friend of the program, Jean Akers likes to tell us Gen X is the worst generation because they don't have kids. They're they're not as entrepreneurial. Have you ever heard him talk about that? Did
Eric Readinger
29:46
you say based on what in? Oh, no.
Law Smith
29:49
He pulls like he'll pull like, census data or pull like factory like Okay, fine. No, you like I again, one of those things were self taught. I wouldn't be like he's not fucking right. And then everything a challenge minds to it. Right? I don't know. I do because he's been right about so many things that I'm like, oh, no, about that. And, and what's it called? He's our former boss. I consider him a mentor. And nowadays and everything he's telling us he's just kind of He's seven years old, trying to impart his wisdom on us. Yeah.
2
Speaker 2
30:24
Wisdom to listen to. Yeah, absolutely. But so fast
Law Smith
30:28
over knee jerk reaction going.
2
Speaker 2
30:31
Yeah, well, but that and what's fascinating is those that are in their 70s and even in the high end of their 70s are still working or mentoring or helping like that's different than past generations where they don't my father who's 70 He just turned 78. He retired two years ago, and then the next week he tells me Yeah, I took out a retirement project. It's the same type of job they had for 55 years. But now oh, I took out a retirement project. I've been trying to retire my project. That's a job. I've been trying
Law Smith
31:02
to get my dad to do. So he was an attorney, commercial real estate attorney for like, well, he doesn't they don't do that. Otherwise, it'd be awesome. I just been dealing drugs. But he, um, like, I keep going to my mom and like, can we find him like volunteer somewhere to help out or something and she's like, she had to like finally break it down. She's like, stop trying to pitch this because she's like, your generation is a lot different. He did the go watch generation, work in one place, you know, Secretary that do all that other stuff we have to do on our own as entrepreneurs in the beginning. We have to do all this admin and clerical and figure it out and all that stuff. And he was just so
Eric Readinger
31:43
went to law school and played in the NFL, so it's secretary. Yeah,
Law Smith
31:46
I don't even know if he wanted to do wants to do anything like that. I'm just like, I am to me. I feel like the guys that I just want to selfishly live longer. I feel like the guys that are working or doing something like that. They're more fulfilled on a day to day basis. Right. I think they like my parents like annoying each other all day.
32:08
Maybe that's their job.
Law Smith
32:10
That's your job. Your watch my nieces. Why would I do that? My dad, she's gonna turn him she's gonna drive him around like Uber announced.
32:18
I think that's a full time job just
Law Smith
32:22
because he's like, cool. He's like, completely out from the golf course. A team.
2
Speaker 2
32:29
Here's the thing, though to like, they're still active. They're still doing things like generationally. They're still doing things. Even if they retire. They're still doing things and that's where people are living longer. We see this like when it comes to your media planning, your marketing planning, I like how you said you know, as I look at marketing and media as part of that my media planning is part of that because marketing is this gigantic umbrella or bridge, right? And your media plan is a pillar of that bridge, holding that bridge up. And until like you're figuring that out as we're looking at media plans and how we're reaching that target demographic persona. I like to say persona as opposed to demographic, because that's who we are. That's our customer. That's that individual. If they're on the golf course, if they're expendable cash, like who are they? Where are they? What are they doing, we can target like this is this is a dream, if you would have told me 20 plus years ago when I started my career, that I can target ads like this. It's incredible. And you just have to not be afraid to look at it that way. And brands really need to just embrace this because the data is there more now and it tells
Law Smith
33:34
us a story. Yeah, and I thought you were gonna say persona for those reasons. But also you can meet them at the point where they need the product or service
33:43
right 100% 100%
Law Smith
33:47
behavioral trends and that kind of psychology. I'm getting a vibe you're very much into psychology is very much self analytical, which is something that I wanted to touch on earlier because I think we talked about entrepreneurs. They don't take the 10 minutes a day without the phone because you get in this busy hustle culture bullshit. And you never really analyze what you're doing, you know, on a daily basis or a weekly basis. A lot of the time you're just kind of constantly moving forward. You think
2
Speaker 2
34:22
you're gonna get your hamster in a wheel. What I find with myself is when I actually stopped thinking anything future most entrepreneurs, we're visionaries we are, we're not going to be the people that are the tactical necessarily the doers we can be but we're visionary. And what I find is kind of a red flag for me, is if I'm not thinking past a year, or I'm not thinking past a certain I need to slow it down. I need to take my time and be intentional with that 10 minutes a day of focus of okay, what is what is it that I'm looking at? I gotta get my brain into that recoup. And actually, I think a lot of entrepreneurs fell into this with COVID because things were just moving in a weird way and fast. That our brains never really got to recoup and they never got to regenerate anything that were those entrepreneurial thoughts of what's next. What's next. What's next because that's how we think that's how entrepreneurs are wired. And but you have to be intentional about it. Otherwise you will become that hamster on the wheel of I'm just busy. Well busy isn't necessarily productive.
Eric Readinger
35:24
Exactly. Yeah, I was gonna say you're not producing anything. You're planning for the future. Yeah, we're producing write it
Law Smith
35:30
down, but it is he busy feels productive, right. Look what I made and then you get a Peter though, and then you like to get a productivity Boehner out. Of like telling people how much stuff is done.
2
Speaker 2
35:44
We feel those affirmations of adulting right. If I'm busy, I'm busy. I'm busy.
35:49
I'm busy. Everybody's always the people.
Law Smith
35:52
In general, the people tell me that they're busy the most or I know they're not like I know they're not. That's why they don't like because I like we're what's listed dwindling. What's that? What's that schedule look like? I want to ask you actually, if we're anything on this show, on the on the entrepreneurship side, we try to have some pragmatic advice, some real, real talk and you know, we did the link in the LinkedIn feed is nice out there like motivational things and but I don't think it really helps anybody. It's like chicks on Instagram posting quotes. And stories. Yeah. Every every checking like oh, man, just, we talk. They need help. But what is your routine? Eric and I'd be waking up. Yeah. What's your breakfast, lunch, dinner with work? You know, give us the whole work life.
2
Speaker 2
36:48
And is it different in Alaska? Well, so a lot of our clients are on the east coast. So it is a little different. But when I I am big on routine, and I am almost religious on routine. I am very like strict like this is gonna happen. This is the way it is. So my day starts at 4am
Law Smith
37:10
Yeah, giacca wise.
2
Speaker 2
37:12
That's the way it starts. I usually start with some reflection time. Usually the first 10 minutes of my day is some reflection. Get kind of like just kind of what's going on in the day. Just look at things the night before I go to bed. I always check my calendar. So I already have I know what the day looks like ahead of time. But 4am Start a workout. I usually do my walk strength training. That's what I typically do. I get it out of the way. Then by 530 That's when
Law Smith
37:41
you rehearse feelings.
2
Speaker 2
37:44
Oh, okay. See, I think the most disciplined people just get it done. Just like get your stuff done that you need to get done. Usually, like
Law Smith
37:53
no one takes your mornings away when you wake up that early. And it took me a while to actually try it out. And I got more stuff done. And yeah, go ahead. It's
2
Speaker 2
38:02
amazing what you can get done between four to 8am. Yes. And how productive
Eric Readinger
38:08
at around
2
Speaker 2
38:11
8am Because you can be so productive in those four hours. I get my workout done. I started I probably rarely like by the time I get ready, I get ready like around 530 to if I need to be on Zoom or if I need to be on anything. And then from there. It is a very productive day. Like right now you know our meeting started at two o'clock Alaska time usually my days wrapped up by now because of the fact that I'm so productive in the morning. And by wrapped up means I can get whatever the other things that are going on in my life personal all the above. And it makes for that intentional time with my family so I can make sure that I have that balance there. So by seven o'clock, I am ready to go and everything is like that's when my first meetings usually start. Sometimes my first meeting I allow for a window I'm big on blocking my calendar. So I allow for a window of 6am forward of meetings because that helps for East Coast that helps west coast. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if you're international we can all have that done. And if there's any calls that have to happen that early in the morning, I'm already scheduled for an 4am Start. So I'm usually having breakfast and when everybody you know I'm having lunch when everybody else is having breakfast it's usually that's not an uncommon thing and I'm usually in bed every night by 830.
Law Smith
39:29
So yeah, Lucky hanging out with you. If you're a little later, like 10 but once
39:39
turned into a pumpkin if it is yeah, I'm a pumpkin at 10 o'clock.
Law Smith
39:45
Well I feel like I do it. If I get out of my routine like I had lately. I punished myself by waiting for until I don't have to anymore only because I can't keep I can't sustain that early because I'll do stand up shows. But um, but at the same time, I use it as a punishment to get my act together.
2
Speaker 2
40:06
Get it together. And so I have like Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. Like I have those block days I do it. I actually even have volunteer time that I schedule in there that I'm going to be helping in the community or whatever it is. It's always in the afternoon. And Wednesdays that is my I call it GSD get my stuff done day. And I just That's my day that I'm doing I'm being the CEO of our company, making sure that certain things are happening and making sure that I'm looking at all the financials and making sure everything's you know, what are we doing for business development, how are sales How are things going, how are you know, things moving? Make sure I meet with a trainer twice a week. I have those every tuesday thursday at the same exact time. So if you if you build a routine as an entrepreneur you will be more successful. A routine is something that actually it helps you so much more in staying on track and being intentional with every minute that you have because you have to be intentional with every minute you have
Law Smith
41:02
when people listening to that. They feel that would restrict them. And I'll tell you i was the same way like I was like I'm a creative guy I'm a vision you know, I'm a vision guy you know I get I hustled pretty hard but like, at the same time that feels constrained. That feels like handcuffs. It gives you direction but it actually what it does is it's that discipline is the ultimate freedom. Kind of thing. What it does is it frees you up to be you become efficient with your time you value time a lot more to because it is a commodity when you're an agency owner, for sure. And it's that thing of like, you know, it will allow your brain to breathe to be more creative. So anybody listening that's gone fuck that. I don't want to do that. I don't want to be in a military kind of thing. And it's like none enough. By being disciplined with those habits. You'll actually be better
Eric Readinger
41:54
at any use your brain for others, right creative.
2
Speaker 2
41:57
Because you don't you don't have to think about it. My routine is routine and habit now. I don't have to think about it. I know what the what my day looks like always. And it there's no question about what time I wake up and productive. There's no question. I know every day at 4am it does pure
1
Speaker 1
42:16
one of the best guests. We've had on the show will ended by our producers pulling up a picture of Sarah Palin. How many times do you get that? That would be Alaska, long hair and glasses.
2
Speaker 2
42:30
I've never been I've never been compared to Sarah Palin, but I just I that's all I get asked all the time about her or whatever. A lot of people think about Sarah Palin for Congress so we'll see. She's She will see it. We're not sure what's going to happen. The election results have not officially come in and they won't before Thanksgiving, so we'll find out but I
Law Smith
42:53
didn't know the I can see Russia from here was
2
Speaker 2
42:59
Tina Fey and you cannot like 100% It was not there. That said it it was 100% Tina Fey
Law Smith
43:06
Yep. Berenstein bears.
43:11
Bears.
Law Smith
43:13
Mandel effect. It's weird. It's just weird how we all kind of get that bias. All right. Well, thanks for coming on. We appreciate it and want to have you back on at some point. Oh,
43:23
I love it. I had a fun time. It
Law Smith
43:24
was good. All right. See ya.
43:26
Thank you guys.
Law Smith
43:34
We're out sincerely. Really, really great.
43:36
Thank you. Good. I'm glad. Let me know. I'd love to be on again. It was fun.
Law Smith
43:40
Yeah, well, if you want the video of this, like the file, we can send you a download file for you to use on your own for your own.
2
Speaker 2
43:47
I'll read it out for sure. All right. Cool. Thanks, guys. Every day bye.
