#428 How To Make Money Playing Video Games w/ Atlas Reality's CTO/President/Founder, Beau Button
Beau Button is President and CTO, Atlas Reality, Inc., is Redefining Location-Based Gaming through Innovative AR Development | Future of Gaming Monetization through Entertainment-Oriented Financial Growth and a Computer Nerd
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New Orleans 4:06
Austin & ACL 9:13
Most mobile games are dealing with the privacy movement, and apple and Google are following suit. They are seeing lower PCMS on their ads, but their business models still work. 14:32
The importance of continuous improvement in software. 22:19
The enneagram personality test. 27:16
What is Adhd and how does it work? 31:13
The cheat code to life and how to get it. 36:34
Veganism. 42:10
Beau Button has been actively involved with software development since he was 11 years old. He got his start learning about computers around age 9, digging into the hardware side of things first, and eventually picked up software development at age 11. Having spent the majority of his career as a serial entrepreneur working in the government space Beau has now transitioned into the mobile gaming space through his company Atlas Reality, Inc. Beau has become a technology & automation enthusiast, even in his personal life. He spends a majority of his time outside of work building through 3d printing, and is very passionate about hunger/food scarcity, education and veganism.
Does Atlas Earth pay real money?
You can make money with Atlas Earth by renting out your parcels in the game, but the earnings are very low and it would take a long time to cover the cost of the land.
Guest's calls-to-action
AtlasReality.com
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Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 0:00
do sweat equity podcasts and streaming show the number one business comedy podcasts in the world also the number one comedy business podcast in the world. Because there's no one else in the genre. This is going to be a little acoustic version of the podcast a little MTV Unplugged Nirvana style. Eric, my heterosexual life mate and co host of the podcast guy COVID. The COVID. He is so he is listed as out on the injured reserve.
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 0:36
He will be questionable next week. But usually that means you're going to play in the game. I'm excited for football season. I'm excited for this episode I did with both button who is Atlas reality's CTO founder and president guys an extremely interesting dude. And we meander, but we talk a little business, it's all good. Hey, if you like this podcast, you know, tell someone that you love. Tell someone that you hate. Just tell anybody that we're on iTunes, Apple podcast, app, Spotify, anywhere podcasts are available. We're on it baby. And tell them to if you're listening to this in your earholes right now while you're doing laundry or you're running, give us a little five star take a second. Go over there. Give us a little five star you can write I'm a law is a duck butter champion. You can write whatever you want. We just want some engagement if you want to ask some questions to the podcast, sweat equity pod.com This episode is sponsored by Squarespace an all in one website builder get the hookup with the link in our description. Holler if you hear me, you get hooked up, we get hooked up. It's all good. Right there. Call rail if you want to track all the calls that get that you get on your website, or other entities out there. Your Google ads, your Facebook ads, your social media ads, any of it anywhere you want to have a lot of phone numbers to track. Everything call rail is the shiznit link in the episode description to get the hookup although Bigley sales is a lead generation. Let's call it a Swiss Army Knife meets wizard in your pocket. Using a lot of AI to get you those leads, you need high quality leads link in the episode description. And lastly, you want two months free of LinkedIn premium
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 2:45
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Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 3:22
Hit up the link in our episode description. And without further ado, let's get Johnny with bow button and I go in hard in the paint on some bromance cold sweat
Unknown Speaker 3:44
sweat equity, sweat equity. Sweat, sweat equity. You are listening to the sweat equity podcast. Hello, hello. Hello,
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 4:03
Josephus.
Beau L. Button 4:06
How are you doing sir?
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 4:08
I'm good. My co host has COVID and he's completely knocked out. So this is yeah. This new and I talking?
Beau L. Button 4:19
No or is no you would be or your co host forgive me. I'm terrible with names. It would be the fourth person and probably the last week that has come down with a serious case of knocking you're digging the dirt COVID
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 4:33
Yeah. And you know, he's kind of like, he's pretty resilient. So when he gets knocked out, it's like he's like I call him a spider monkey. Tree Frog. He's like, he doesn't get sick. He's got this West Virginia kind of linear immune system. Yeah, he's like wonderful world are the lights except not on painkillers. Yeah. And so when he gets knocked out I know it's legit. I Yeah. The other hand in the total First, and if I have a cold, I might have AIDS in my head.
Beau L. Button 5:08
I'm more like your partner. That's my wife knows if I get knocked out like he's sick. Normally I'll muscle through it.
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 5:16
No, I'll power through. Don't get me wrong, I had to get me bedridden is pretty tough. It's usually burnout, that I still struggle with a little bit every now and again. But it's one of those things where I will bitch about it to everybody that I've come across. If I'm like, I probably got the flu probably got Zika Yeah. Where are you doing this from? Because it looks like
Beau L. Button 5:43
it's different. Yeah, this is my apartment in New Orleans. Yeah, you could call it a bachelor pad, but it's not. But that's how it's set up because I have RC fucking airplanes, 3d printers and all kinds of gadgets behind me. But I split my time. If you recall between Austin and New Orleans, I've got three teenage kids here in New Orleans. And they live here with their mom.
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 6:02
Oh, I didn't know there. They were in New Orleans. I thought they were in Austin with you know,
Beau L. Button 6:07
they do come to Austin. They spent the better part of three months over the summer mostly with me. I did a little traveling abroad with my son. He turned 16. So I took them to Scotland for two weeks. But no, they live here in New Orleans.
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 6:20
Oh, man. You know, my record with New Orleans was I was like zero and 23. And then I had a friend of mine.
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 6:30
She's actually the producer of every e True Hollywood Story. name's Carrie Ainsworth. She's from there and showed me the like the New Orleans you want to see like, shoot, she took me to a brass band, you had to go through a false wall to get into.
Beau L. Button 6:46
It might have been there's a few places like a speakeasy style that are really fucking cool that are off the beaten path. There's a club on top of what's that goddamn bar slash event venue. It's called the foundation room. It's part of Goddamnit it escapes me anyhow, there's a lot of cool stuff. But if you just do what most people say they do when they come to New Orleans, I hate New Orleans and I was born and raised here. Like I'd rather be a tourist than a local resident. It's just a shithole politically, economically. But the food is amazing. If you live live, you like live music. There's a lot of real great places to visit. But like if you're here for more than 72 hours, you'll start to feel like a citizen and it's a shithole.
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 7:29
That's a good rule. Yeah, no, I'll go now. Now I get excited to go but I treat it like Vegas. I have a flight. I've got that 72 Hour Rule. And if it gets to 73 hours, I really messed up. It's only an hour flight for me. But it's still it feels like it could be far away that flight home from New Orleans is the same as for Vegas. Yeah, everyone's a little bit miserable. And there's always a group on the plane. That is still hyped from whatever booger sugar. They're there. And you're like, Yeah, you guys shouldn't be so excited.
Beau L. Button 8:06
Ya know, it's been a while since I've experienced New Orleans like that. But I've experienced Vegas like that in the last few years. But no, it's it's a good way to kind of compare the two I love honestly, I think it's because I grew up here. I'm biased. I've seen it all I know where to go. Like I love coming here. Obviously I come here I spent, you know, a week and a half with my children. But you know, after hours or when they're in school, I'll go to the places that I love about like the restaurants that I love the food I love. I don't really go live music. I'm not that kind of person. I do love listening to live music, but I don't go out and find it. But yeah, it's a cool city. But I'd rather be a tourist.
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 8:40
Is that a thing that happens to dads as you get older. I don't know if it's because I do stand up that I can't I can't enjoy a concert anymore. Because I just
Beau L. Button 8:48
never have I don't like groups of people and I don't like humidity. I don't like high temperatures. If I'm gonna go I'm gonna either have like a fucking VIP pass that's air conditioned or a tent. And to get that for jazz fest or to you know, there's a few other large music festivals like ACL and you know, Austin, I'm like, I'm not spending $2,000 I can watch the livestream on fucking YouTube and my boxers in my 71 degree house.
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 9:13
Yeah, and when you're not, I went to AC last time I went to ACL was probably 2010 2011 I can't remember but I definitely I went because a when you're younger, you're like, well, I'll, I'll do my best to try to hook up with a girl there. You know, like, and then the other part was like, oh, at one point, I was looking to my left, and it was Kanye. And to my right was Stevie Wonder. And I was like, this is pretty this is pretty great. And yeah,
Beau L. Button 9:45
I've gone to a few but yeah, I just I like to be comfortable. I like to like particularly like from a temperature and being in groups like I have a lot of friends from high school that were in these like death metal bands and I'd go to their local concerts are whatever the fuck you want to call them shows and they'd have mosh pits. And everybody was all fucking grungy and smelt like Bo. And I'm like, Hey, I love you, Justin. And I know you play drums really? Well, I'll just buy a CD and like, listen to it at the house because I'm not cut out for this shit, brother.
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 10:15
You're not down with the American History X. Kind of bad marshy,
Beau L. Button 10:20
man I do. And it was they were so like, violent and I'm like, What the fuck are you all doing, man?
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 10:27
Isn't that funny? The emotions that come out of playing music that like, you're such a badass, and it's like, no, you're literally just twiddling thumbs on thing. Like, you're not bashing anything. You know?
Beau L. Button 10:41
I nothing about that resonates with me.
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 10:45
Kind of like how I hate cool. Comedians, like guys are super cool. And you're like, No, dude, this is this is about the humility if it's about anything like yeah, you're going I got my dick sucked by this person and then hoping a stool it's like, dude, it'll get a laugh, but it's not you know, it's not good. Yeah, yeah. So I'm with you on that I sweat. I'm the sweatiest person I've ever met. So Florida is like right now September in Tampa is tough on me because my I have hyperhidrosis hands and feet. I you'll never see me in flip flops unless I'm on the beach. Because they're just there'll be puddles. Yeah, and
Beau L. Button 11:28
I might have something like that. But it runs in my mom's like, on my mom's side of the family. It's like right now it's 70 degrees. And like, I could sweat. Especially here where it's like 60% relative humidity. Like, if I were white, I'm fucking doomed. Like, I keep wearing like colors.
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 11:44
By the way, fun dad joke I do myself. If you're gonna go to the 70. Keep it at 69. And just do a little. Just just for yourself. That's why this what's my dad, but well, so we haven't talked to you in a while. How's everything going? You know,
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 12:01
how, how is this landscape with last time we talked? You were talking about the landscape of, as I recall, add inventory within? Not a Metaverse but your game. How's everything going with that?
Beau L. Button 12:16
Everything's going great. So our numbers, if you were to look at our competitors are continuing to climb primarily because we're off chain. We're not a cryptocurrency based game. We're completely independent. We pay out cash. I'm sure you're aware. That was the crypto winter crypto, like all of this shit. You know, there's regulations, there's uncertainty, but you really don't hear too much about web three anymore. And there's a reason
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 12:42
why is the most fucked out.
Beau L. Button 12:44
That's the thing. I'm very thankful for open AI and chat GPT and generative AI and LLM is largely language module. Models not module sorry, models, because it kind of just overshadowed this bullshit kind of movement. This web three movement. We're still if you're
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 13:04
hearing my my gay, I'm a gay dog. And he's He's peeking over here.
Beau L. Button 13:08
It's all right. No, I the house in Austin, I have four dogs and two rabbits. There's always some kind of bullshit going on. So no worries.
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 13:16
You guys coughing up something. And I'm like, where did you go last night? Both?
Beau L. Button 13:21
Yeah, our dog likes to eat the rabbit here when that's not good for dogs. So
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 13:27
I don't want to one up here, which is a one downer. He likes to catch it still. So
Beau L. Button 13:31
Jesus will our middle dog Lucy likes to eat real dog shit. Like I have to go out or cicadas shake these fucking things are flying around and we call them chips because they dry out and you can hear her fucking munching on and I'm just like, What are you doing? You're nasty fuck. But anyhow,
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 13:47
have you set a marker? So I've set a price? You got to do this. Apparently when the dogs get older. He's eight. What is the what is are you get ripped off by the vet? Because they're the new mechanics. What is the numbers that you will pay for like, whatever if something goes down, because right now
Beau L. Button 14:06
there is no number we spent about seven grand on our rabbit and unfortunately it passed because of a seizure. So like at that point. What?
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 14:14
Yeah, it sounds dollar rabbit.
Beau L. Button 14:17
Yeah. And we didn't even you know, eat it. Anyhow. Gold pellets? No, no, no, no, but it was a Rescue Rabbit. So it's the philosophy behind it. If I didn't have the cash to fund it, obviously I wouldn't but it was the right call. It was the right call.
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 14:32
I will dress up like a furry rabbit fly into Austin and be a pen, be it Yeah.
Beau L. Button 14:42
So no going back to that. So obviously, you know, most mobile games are dealing with this privacy movement. Apple started at Google's following suit. You know, the impact is we're seeing lower CPMs on our ads. So you know our ad revenues down but our business models still work. works. We've got a thankfully, because we were, you know, out of the gate, very thoughtful about putting all your eggs in one basket. And we didn't we have three primary sources of revenue, obviously ad revenues down. But our Merchant platform is doing remarkably well. And just original in app purchases, people are still just buying Atlas books to buy land. That hasn't slowed down, if anything it's picked up. But we are trying to maneuver like from an ad perspective, what can we do differently to generate more ad revenue? And I think we would, I think in the next quarter, we'll have that cracked. But right now yeah, we're just building out new features, not doing a whole lot different about how we market the game. We're just adding more to the game. So our existing customers keep coming back. And we can technically increase the LTV from those folks. Cost of user acquisition is where we want it to be. I mean, we'd love for it to be lower, but it's manageable. Now, it's just trying to generate more revenue from those customers. Well,
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 15:58
I mean, in the so gaming's not my I don't have like a lot of expertise. We have no
Beau L. Button 16:05
fear. Neither do I. I'm a software guy.
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 16:09
Right. But I what I do know, I gave up the sticks a while ago, and I'm worried it's my son's seventh birthday, might give them an Xbox. And I'm worried like, I gave up the sticks, because I was like, wasting life playing games kind of thing. But I do know, but that's for me, right? I don't, I can't just play for a little bit, and then go, I'll get addicted, I have to beat the game. Or when you when you realize like, Oh, I'm doing fake. I used to love the NCAA football game. And I'm doing, I have so many different, I've been doing this so long in a dynasty thing, that all the players in the game, I've all graduated, I'd send away to get all the names put in, you know, you have to send the card out to get the card back for 50 bucks. So you can have all the college football players names on there. How do we get to the point where all the players are graduate, and I'm in this world where none of these players really exists now. Like it's not even like a fake Brandon Jacobs, the Auburn running back, it would be just all these different guys. And I'm like, I could have learned Italian. I couldn't. I couldn't I wasted so much of my life doing that. Yeah, I do know that with video games, because I hang out with a lot of comedians still. And so they're they'll keep me up to date on like, the biggest thing is what you're doing it sounds like a lot of games won't improve the the in from a marketing perspective, lifetime value of the game that builds like crazy loyalty, right? Like, like these games are getting updated? You know, I don't know how you all do it. But are these worlds or whatever you want to kind of call it? I don't want to call it a Metaverse or anything, but because that's technically a brand name of something else. But like, I, you can kind of fill in the gaps or what I'm saying like, I think you're rewarding the people that are there. And that no,
Beau L. Button 18:10
absolutely. I mean, we spent a long time trying to build something that attracted a specific audience to get them in. And then obviously, we have to keep them there. And we you know, very actively manage our online communities, we get a lot of feedback about what are we doing right? What are we doing wrong? Look, we haven't hit probably a single deadline. And to be quite frank, most most software projects don't I'm not trying to use that as an excuse. Like, at the end of the day, we we kind of steer based on input that we get. And I actually use this analogy when talking to my wife, it's like, you know, when someone changes their mind, sometimes there's like this negative connotation. It's like, I have inputs, I'm streaming data. And if I make a decision that is different than what I told you two days ago, it's not because I just felt like making the different decisions because I have new data, I have something else that steered me in the right direction. So it's hard to articulate that to players and
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 19:08
how well they go with the line. Because I
Beau L. Button 19:10
think she appreciated it, you know, and as long as I kind of explained it, what are you supposed to know the data
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 19:15
she gets to because No, no
Beau L. Button 19:17
women women don't operate the same way I operate like a computer maybe there's a woman out there that operates like a computer my wife does not operate like a computer. It's like chaos theory should just bouncing around and kind of work
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 19:29
on a bit that men get labeled the worst communicators and I'm like, I think women are the worst communicators. I think the fact that most women I've dated or been married to or whatever in my life, have told me how come I don't know what they're thinking. And I should have known that like Minority Report to make decisions ahead of time. Like
Beau L. Button 19:52
I've taken kind of like I always use this eight mile Eminem kind of analogy where you know, he came out on stage before his battle rapper opponent and just laid out all of the juicy details about himself like he's ahead of the curve. And that defuse the situation. It's tiring. And it's a full time job being ahead of somebody, but I try to stay ahead.
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 20:17
Yeah,
Beau L. Button 20:17
yeah, I just, I just I stay ahead of the curve. I try to read the environment, like I know what she wants. And I know what she likes. I know what she experiences during the day we share an office together, she's got her own private office, I'm adjacent to her. So yeah, I mean, look, you just have to be ahead of the curve. But like, it's a full time job it is. But we really don't bump heads very much.
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 20:38
No, I just always find that dynamic, especially when you're you're running, you're kind of a serial entrepreneur, as you are, you know, I feel like that that's the hard part. I just hung out with friends in Lake Tahoe. And I was, I hadn't seen her in, I don't know, seven years. Good friend of mine, I was just meeting her husband for the first time. And I, I was telling them, like, of all the entrepreneurial friends I have, I'm so happy to see they have a healthy relationship, that they've worked together with the business, and they've divided and conquered, but they've really set these guidelines to, to, to be gracious to each other. You know, I find that dynamic, very rare. And so I don't know, it takes time. Is your wife working with you? Or no,
Beau L. Button 21:26
no. So she she actually owns the office building, and I sublease an office from her. She has a commercial insurance agency. So we don't necessarily do the same thing. She doesn't help with what I do. Now, because I'm on the tech side, I absolutely help with what she does. I'm kind of her unofficial IT support person. But no, it just it works. Well. I mean, obviously, like any healthy relationship or in relationship, there are occasions where miscommunications occur. But no, I've just, I've always tried to be one step ahead of her. So there's nothing that she could say. And it works. It is, but it works. This is my like, so obviously, like you said, the people you've been married to, like, I've learned a lot in my we've been together for 10 years. But my first marriage it was, you know, childhood sweethearts, high school sweethearts. Like I was just complacent, kind of lazy. And, you know, looking back, it's like, yeah, I could have done a lot more. I have no doubt.
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 22:19
Yeah, it sounds like you do self assessment, which is Yeah,
Beau L. Button 22:23
on a daily basis. It's continuous improvement. And that's something we do in software. So I think a lot about how I look at relationships comes from my experience on how to build maintainable, reliable and stable software. So stability, reliability, and maintain maintainability is not just something you apply to bits, ones and zeros. It's like, this is good for humans to
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 22:43
Yeah, the cars in are okay, I don't know how to
Beau L. Button 22:47
pronounce it, either. It's. There's so many words in my head law that like, I don't know how to fucking say it. And honestly, when someone says it, I'm like, is that really how you say it? Like, it's insane?
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 22:59
Well, you're not gonna get any clarity for me, because I can't, I can't read out loud, I can read to myself, I can talk on stage. But reading out loud is like, I do a show almost every week, where you pick topics out of a bucket. I'm like, Okay, let's read this slowly. If I if I trip over this, I, and most of the time, if I can tell, you know, it's funny, I can tell the woman or a man that wrote it, because a woman's all bubbly write letters, and I can look around the room and be like, which one of the pitches about this? And the guy's looks like a ransom note every time. And so that's how my writing looks for sure. So I got it. But back to kind of like, I think you're doing the right thing of, you know, rewarding this crowd you have you've cultivated, you've cultivated this audience, right? And you're not just like, hey, we're just gonna turn on and make the next. The next thing. You're trying to make it a better experience. Can you?
Beau L. Button 24:03
Yeah, I mean, look, Sami, and I are genuinely committed to building a platform that allows gamers to earn passive income. This is not a, let's milk them for what they're like, for all everything that they're worth, let's just, you know, grain. They're like, that's not there's no satisfaction in that. I know, it sounds strange. There are a lot of serial entrepreneurs there. A lot of you know, just business owners like that's their modus operandi. Like, that's what they do. I spent a long time in the government contracting space built a very successful, you know, a lot. It was an online auction platform for distressed real estate. And it it's still in existence today. I sold out of it, and it's a very profitable business, but I left it because it was unfulfilling. We were actually liquidating properties where people owe taxes and if you ever speak to these people, if they owe taxes, it's not because they don't want to pay him it's because they can't fucking pay them. And that's a terrible place to be. So what Sami and I are trying to do is to build a platform that allows people to have fun, but also earn money. Obviously we have to earn money. It's not like we found this mysterious faucet that just fucking you know, spews gold, it's revenue share. And at the end of the day, we're just not greedy. We make money and we're looking at it like, Alright, we're going to share some of this back with the players that's going to attract more players that's going to keep our existing players and if they grind and play these games, like you said, you have an addiction. Well, maybe not an addiction. You didn't use that word, but like, I'm an obsessive compulsive person. Thankfully, I don't play games. I like to learn and tinker so lasers, CNC machines, 3d printers, RC aircrafts like I'm very fortunate. That's how I was like, That's my fabric, but a lot of
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 25:40
Iron Man if I'm doing
Beau L. Button 25:43
No, I wish I was fucking Iron Man. But
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 25:48
the what's the personality chart the nine personalities that they do by we did this by Marvel characters. Fear does that exist? Yeah. Screw the name of this the sight test. But the one that compare I'll look it up while you're shooting. Yeah, share it
Beau L. Button 26:06
with me. I've noticed I don't think I've ever done. I might have done one that my Jennifer my wife had sent me she likes to share those like what type of you know XYZ character are you but maybe not marvel. But no going back to like, what we've been doing and why we're doing it is we're we're genuinely committed to building a platform that allows players to earn passive income. And I'm not talking $5 a month, I think we have an opportunity between our relationships with brick and mortar merchants, which you're already going to spend money with them. We have folks that you know, they have a specific credit card that they use to rack up points or miles, we work kind of the same way. But we want you to be able to have fun play a game and then behind the scenes, we're gonna make you some we're gonna make us some money, which is subsequently gonna make use of money. But I would love to build a platform where people who are really into, you know, the roadblock type folks where you know, you've got this user generated content where you can build games in Roblox we're not there yet. And honestly, I don't ever want to compete with Roblox. They're just massive, but we've got a lot of opportunities for us to build out something just like that. And anytime we make money, we're gonna, you know, spread the wealth.
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 27:16
Yeah, the site test. So we love site tests on the show, especially business related, this one might actually helped with what you're doing, because I've heard this is kind of a good cheat, not cheat code, but kind of a good handy shorthand for writing scripts, movie scripts, and because characters change they can This is the only site test I've seen that you can change throughout like, I'm an E and F. J, I think, and that's pretty much stuck in stone but Myers Briggs isn't really the confidence rate on that isn't very good, right? We found after strategies has the best kind of personality tests for anybody in sales and marketing executives. That's the that's the most accurate that one nail both of us dead nuts on we're
Beau L. Button 28:08
going to take it if you don't mind share that with me. I wouldn't mind taking the Enneagram
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 28:11
test is I'm a seven with a six Wayne. But the way I got into this was finding the mark, they compare it to Marvel character. So there's nine personality types. This is why I went to it. Tony Stark is a three to tinker. He's, what do they call it opponent on the achiever? Right? You sound very project based, right? You're gonna Tinker you're gonna do this. And then you know on to the next thing, right? That's kind of how he rolls in Atlanta got it. I think you got Dr. Strange as an individualists. He's a four. I'll go through them all just for fun. Investigators rocket, the raccoon? It's funny. The loyalist is Scarlet Witch, which is if you've watched dr. strange too, that doesn't really make a lot of sense. The enthusiast is the Winter Soldier. That's what I have. Captain Marvel's The Challenger She's eight. The Peacemaker, ironically, is the Hulk. That's number. Okay. I'll go back to one and two. The reformer is that any gram one that's Captain America and two is the helper which is Black Panther. He was very interesting. And if you do have any dynamics of characters, this is why a lot of movie like a lot of writers use this as a way especially in a series because you can move from one to the other eventually, which is you know, we're I when I was younger I might have tried to be the you know, the captain america kind of reformer guy. And I realized my plates really more in this enthusiastic whatever I'm into I'm really into kind of thing good.
Beau L. Button 29:57
I haven't really spent any any Gian personality test Jennifer's baby. Yeah, no, I just I don't know, it's not something that's, oddly enough when we hire, the applicant tracking system I use has a test. I don't know if it's based on, you know, the same science as these tests. But it's helped me out because it kind of gives me just from like a graphical perspective, like, which way do these people lean? Just so I can get an idea like before I hire and what before I make an offer? Are they going to be compatible with the rest of the team?
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 30:32
Index? Is that what it is?
Beau L. Button 30:34
I don't know, honestly, I don't think they advertise what it is, it's built into the software, I just have an option to send them one of these assessments. And it kind of gives me you know, an overarching view, it's a little bit more than just personality. It's got things like verbal comprehension, written comprehension, et cetera. But they give me this one kind of graph that says, Where does this person fall on this kind of like, spectrum, not like the autism spectrum, but like, or the average, above average, et cetera? And it's worked out really well for me, because the people I have hired, the test has been extremely accurate.
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 31:07
Well, you're in good company, because I'm pretty sure we probably both I know, I have been called on the spectrum a lot. So
Beau L. Button 31:15
I've never been tested. But I don't know there's I've got all kinds of like little pieces of every one of those disorders like ADHD, a DD, like I just all of that. Yeah. I don't know. Like I, the way I've described it, if I do have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is I work like a microprocessor. And most people like what the fuck is that? The most like? Well, like, it's like, seriously, it's like, look, you've got a machine that's in front of you that's doing 1000 things. And prior to multi core CPUs, it only had one quarry can only execute one instruction technically at a time, but how does it actually operate multiple, it spreads its time, it basically does pre emptive multitasking, where it just says, I'm gonna do this for half a second, I'm gonna do, I don't, I don't sit down and just finish it. And that's sometimes it bothers people, but I love to keep my you know, kind of my brain active across multiple projects. And sometimes, like, I have about a list of about 12 things at the house that are unfinished, they will always get done. And this is something my wife knows about me, they're always gonna get fucking done. But that's just how I work. And maybe that is ADHD. And I've just the way I've reconciled it is, is I just need to be entertained. And sometimes I sit in front of like, I have this four person arcade cabinet I've been building for four fucking years. Alright, it's run once, and then I broke it down, so I could paint it, it hasn't been put back together. But every time I do it, I make it better. Eventually, probably in 2026, it'll be ready to fucking play games again.
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 32:41
So two things that that's a men versus women married thing that men never fit, that's a trope, I've heard them stand up for 20 years, you know, just, I'm gonna get to finish in that kind of thing, ya know, gonna happen. And you're never showing them a project management chart. It's always like, I'm just gonna let you know, in passing. The other thing is that you don't have one of the two ADHD or ADD because you finish projects. The thing with one of those is you never finish and I got concerned with that and really try to go, Oh, I'm not finishing what I start. And this is it had cascading effects, you know, to other things. And so I really tried to work on that. But to me, all this stuff's kind of Ubik. Like, at everybody has ADD, everybody has ADHD. I think like, we're talking a lot about painkillers now that that series just came out. I think it's Adderall epidemic is gonna be the next kind of thing. We realized 20 years later, that yeah, oh, a third of every, every college kid takes it. I take it, you know,
Beau L. Button 33:48
but I've taken it. I don't take it now. But when I was in college, and there was a, probably six years ago, there was a period of time where I was like, You know what, I think I need to try it. It worked. It allowed me to focus, but I didn't like how I felt on that. But no, I had a lot of friends and I still have a lot of friends if it's not Adderall and Vyvanse or some other bullshit that's supposed to make you focus. But thankfully, if I'm doing something I love, which is not building or rebuilding the fucking pool pump that exploded on the side of the house, which is like that's one of my current projects. It's done I actually learned how to dismantle it, rebuild it, and I'm happy with it. But if I'm doing something I love you can't stop me like I literally I remember is even a teenager if I was in the backyard rebuilding small engines to put on dirt bikes, mini bikes, etc. I wouldn't think about eating and I was a heavyset kid. And that's how I know I'm into something for reals, but I'm not thinking about fried fucking food. Like if I'm hungry. I'm not into it. Like that's just how it is. But like, if I'm really deep into the weeds doing something technical and I'm not hungry, I'm doing what I need to be doing.
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 34:50
I'm glad you're not on ozempic It sounds like you'd be Oh, hey, look, I was no I
Beau L. Button 34:55
was and I'm off that shit because it was one of the it's a it's a Strange thing because the side effects are so severe, but I'm 224 pounds. Now, prior to being on ozempic, I was 242 pounds at my, my lowest on ozempic I was 208 pounds. The problem with those Empik is and it doesn't impact everybody this way, it destroys your GI system it fucking absolutely decimated like how it was bad Oh, it's
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 35:25
gonna be this is gonna have a real bad snapback. Like this is gonna, like,
Beau L. Button 35:30
I saw the writing on the wall. And then I was like, Hey, I felt that firsthand. My endocrinologist actually suggested ozempic Because he's like, look, you've come in here for for five years, I had thyroid surgery, he's like, you weighed the same amount. I'd like you to be, you know, basically 195 200 pounds. And I'm thinking, Well, why don't you go exercise for me? Because I'm certainly not going to go to the fucking gym. And he's like, are you interested in any kind of medication that could help you with it? I'm like, Who the fuck is it? Yeah. And then he said, Look, it's a small injection. And I'm like, I don't necessarily want to inject myself. He showed me the apparatus. It's a tiny needle, you stick it in your stomach. And I'm like, Why aren't why isn't everybody on this? About six weeks into it? I realized why everybody shouldn't be on this is it destroys you?
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 36:14
Right? Like you want to puke a lot. Like I didn't have any
Beau L. Button 36:17
vomiting. But I'm talking backed up like it was. It was not good. And one of the best feelings in life is being empty. Maybe not for everybody. But one of the best feelings for me personally, because I also had a weight loss surgery a very long time ago, a vertical sleeve gastrectomy. So I was almost 400 pounds. So like, I've struggled with weight, and that's why I was like, Yeah, another shortcut. I got I got the cheat code to life. You know, the vertical sleeve gastrectomy. I had no negative side effects. And if you're overweight right now, go to the fucking insurance company and get that surgery. There is no for me personally and for everybody that I know that have done it. There is no malabsorption of issues like with the bypass, you just go in, it's laparoscopic, you come out, you eat like a fucking bird for six years, you lose 190 pounds. That's
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 37:02
the the caveat to that, that people don't know, if anybody is listening and does go do this. You actually have to get your weight down to be able to get that right.
Beau L. Button 37:11
So this is this is a little different. So yes, so this surgery was actually created, or the reason why this surgery was originally kind of introduced was to help people who were too heavy for bypass, but they realized in doing this surgery that it was very effective at allowing people to shed hundreds of pounds so they could get down to a comfortable size. The issue was like your fatty liver, if you're really morbidly obese, they came and operate on you because you can't find your fucking stomach. But since this surgery, I didn't I didn't have a bypass I didn't want to bypass I didn't want to LapBand this was I was doing some research. And the surgeon said, look, there's this new procedure. It wasn't necessarily designed for, like just like a final solution. But in your situation. I was 390 something pounds. And I knew I needed to lose the weight. And I've gone to the gym, I lost 70 pounds naturally. And then I gained 50 pounds back I was like I'm going to struggle with this. But yes, you can't be 700 pounds and go in there. I'm talking. I have a cousin who's 400 and something pounds, maybe he's a little under 400 Now, and now that insurance covers this, it would be the best decision of his life. But he's one of these guys who's like, Oh, I'm gonna get to it. I'm gonna do it. I'm like, we've been talking about this for 23 fucking years, brother. Just go in there. And do I pay cash for it? It was I think it was like $16,000 like 15 years ago. So it was a huge pill to swallow.
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 38:31
But that's 2.2 rabbits. Yeah.
Beau L. Button 38:34
That is 2.2 bucket rabbits. But it's life changing. I can't describe what it feels like to lose 170 180 pounds, your knees, your ankles, your fucking back. So obviously when the endocrinologist said, hey, look, you want to lose another 60 pounds by just doing an injection. I said sure. But when I didn't ship for, you know, eight days, and I was sitting there thinking like, Yeah, I'm eating like a bird. I have no desire. I was just like, This is not life. So I got off of it. I gained 20 pounds back and I'm doing things the right way now.
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 39:06
Yeah. I mean, you seem like you have boundless energy. So, you know,
Beau L. Button 39:10
because I have like four quadruple espressos me right now. And I'm drinking something that has caffeine in it, but no, I do have a lot of I'm 40 I don't know how old you are. But like, I don't feel any different. I mean, to lose weight. Yeah, you're right behind me. But
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 39:25
I just turned 40 got COVID as a gift. Literally. Literally 44 days ago turn 40 And this was his gift.
Beau L. Button 39:34
That's his gift from the universe. But no, look, I I would not recommend it. I would love for a drug to exist that doesn't have the side effects to help people because it is a real problem. I have a food addiction. Even though I can't eat a lot right now. I still have a food addiction. There are days where I know I have leftovers in the fridge and I'm literally salivating on the way home from the office thinking about just fucking inhaling them and I know I can't eat them all. That's a problem and go into the gym obviously can help with that. But I love
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 40:05
the last seven minutes we've been talking, I'm like, I kind of want to go get a big fat bag of Doritos for the NFL game tonight. Yeah, I think that's gonna be another thing that's gonna be the new cigarettes down the pike too. I think that'll be another thing where you see how these things are constructed? You know, people are talking about social media and how they're their whole thing is to keep your attention span and how that's like psych ops and that's, that's, that's really done in a very kind of creepy kind of way, right? Just placating to people's weaknesses. With food so fucking good. McDonald's is
Beau L. Button 40:38
no, that's, you know, this is the one thing that and it's not a popular thing. It's not a popular lifestyle, especially in Texas. So I've been vegan for almost five and a half years.
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 40:51
Oh, I think your time's up. So yeah, see, this is
Beau L. Button 40:55
now. Purple Doritos are technically accidentally vegan. That just means there's no animal products in it. So vegan. Yeah, exactly. I had some Oreos today on my almond milk ice cream with some almonds in it. But my goal is to be whole food plant based and I'm a science slash data different person. I've done it for several weeks. I felt like a million fucking dollars. Just eating what Mother Nature produces not drinking caffeine, drinking water, and just eating fucking vegetables. Obviously people are gonna say well, where do you get your fucking protein? The same place the fucking cows get their protein the same place you get your omega threes. It comes from a fish. Where's the fish? Get it from fucking algae. You can get it you just have to be smart and go out and get it. But the weeks where I was eating just plants I felt young and energetic and it's addiction. No, I can't not eat purple Doritos. I can't not eat fucking Pringles Great. One of my weaknesses are fucking corndogs and there's a company called Morningstar that makes plant based fucking corndogs and the minute I saw them in the Walmart, I was like, I'm dead. I'm going to need another fucking surgery they remove two thirds of it will look to remove the whole fucking thing and give me a colostomy bag or whatever the fuck I need. I don't know how it works
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 42:04
vegan in a Walmart grocery a super
Beau L. Button 42:08
fat tire. I'll have like pancakes on a stick fucking hamburgers, impossible nuggets incognito. And I'm like, Okay, this is bad. Well,
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 42:18
I don't feel blessed to live in a Spanish grandma neighborhood, the abuela apartments is I like to call it and most of our aisles are filled with Jesus candles, so I don't have to worry about that. I'll let you go. Before you go. Since you've already we already asked you what advice you would give your 13 year old self? I don't know if you'd have an edit to that to that answer or not.
Beau L. Button 42:41
I don't remember what my answer was.
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 42:44
Oh, well, usually, I would say the overwhelming kind of umbrella answer I bucket a lot of people under as they say, you know, don't worry about what anybody else says. You know, follow follow what you want. And
Beau L. Button 42:56
I would agree with that. I don't think that's what I would have said, Yeah. Britney, it's, I won't give up. I
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 43:02
refuse to go listen to old episodes because I don't want to hear Oh, good. It's so good. We drove but I'll give you another question. We've been asking people when they come back on. What is something and I'll give you a for instance for me
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 43:17
to give you a little time to think but you are a human computer. So you probably have some What is something you think you can do? That you have zero experience with? That people think you're crazy when you tell them you can do it. For instance, I think I'm a great, I will be a great racecar driver. I don't even know how to drive stick. But I know when I was younger, when I had an uncle that's kind of like you a lot like you like very much engineering but also creative to use a film director. He taught film at UT, Fort Worth. And then but he would also build a lotus in his garage. And he told me go karting and like I kind of there's only two sports if I had a natural like just was a natural at was surfing and go kart racing. I think my vision still 1521 I or 2015 120 20 in the other eye. It's
Beau L. Button 44:13
it's funny that you said racecar driving though? Yeah. Because that's probably what I would have said as well.
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 44:18
Because your add if you've ever been in a rush, like if you've ever driven anybody to the hospital, like I have I've done it a few times. I get there lickety split. Same for
Beau L. Button 44:28
people. Yeah, they don't like driving with me, but I have exceptional situational awareness. Right? Like I just I admit that people like Oh, you think you do and I'm like alright, I get to where I need to be I'm always on time I do drive I have a fucking Leadfoot I drive a V eight Infiniti like big giant fucking like people know what I'm on i 10 in New Orleans because I thought something silver fucking fly by must be Bo going to pick up his kids from school. Yeah, but no, I would say the same thing. I didn't race go karts, but I was really actively involved in building them and driving them not on a track. Same thing with like mini bikes, etc. But the pandemic in this drive to survive f1 series it's kind of like, um, like I told actually, just two weekends ago I was actually in Pensacola. We went to a motor speedway there. I forget the name of it. They had some really cool like it was 100 lap race. And I told my cousin I was like, Look, the barrier to entry here is probably what 100 grand. You could build a race car. You could come out here and Talladega Nights though and I'm like, when I exit when I have just like fuck you money. I'm gonna be out here with the guys with the mullets. I'm gonna be out here driving this motherfucker. Because I just feel like I can just drive I've never driven on a track other than like a track day. My wife has a little portion I used to have ironically, I had a Lotus Elise for a very long time. And I tracked it a few times, and I fucking loved it. So I would, I would, I would say the same thing. People wouldn't think it. But I feel like it'd be exceptional at
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 45:52
it. Two things in our future one, when you do the lower lower tier racing in Pensacola, or wherever it might be. Eric and I get to be in your pit crew. Sounds good, too. We'll have to do the Daytona there's a three date like Daytona Don Garlits. Kind of like you learn how to drive those cars.
Beau L. Button 46:15
And I'd love to do it. Yeah, I've looked at like driving schools. I've never done it but that is absolutely something that I'd like to do in the next four or five years. I would
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 46:25
like it my three year down the line plan.
Beau L. Button 46:27
Let's roll together we will enroll together law
Law Smith, Fractional CMO, Stand Up Comedian, Sweat Equity Host, and President of Tocobaga Agency & Advisory 46:31
they get to do burnouts and stuff I heard you like in three days you become so good with it because it's all you're doing
Beau L. Button 46:38
is driving. Yeah, taking off work for a minute. That sounds good. Hopefully in three years. I'm not doing this shit again. But we'll see. So look, it was a pleasure brother. Partner, I say I hope he feels better. Take care. See ya.
