Hello and welcome to the top floor, the podcast where Charlotte area CEOs get to tell their leadership journey. My name is Jeff Cass. I'm an executive coach and leader of a peer advisory group for CEOs and business leaders here in Charlotte and I'll be your host today. I'm happy to have Jared Pontiatowski who runs New Age Marketing with us today. Jared, welcome to the show. I appreciate you having us on, Jeff, thank you. Yeah, and it's interesting you were talking beforehand, you and I are both from this small town in Erie, Pennsylvania, and we ended up in Charlotte together here. That's awesome, small world. It is. Yeah, yeah, much more sun and much less snow here, which I think we both like, right? 100%. 100%. Yeah. So all right, so New Age Marketing, we were talking a little bit. It's 10 years old, you found it at 10 years ago, and they were named or you were named the Marketing Company of the Year in Charlotte in 2022. So tell us about the business. Yeah, so we've been working, you know, expanding for the past 10 years. We have national retail, direct sales, direct marketing company, right? So what we do is we develop leaders for Fortune 500 clients. We work with like Apple, Samsung, Google, AT&T, some home improvement companies, leaf filter, Sunpro Solar. So basically any company that's Fortune 500 or above and then national retail. We partner them with national retailers, Costco, Sam's Club, BJ's wholesale, Target, and those businesses, you know, it just provides extra stream of income, an additional revenue stream to those retailers, but it also helps, you know, branding, sales, marketing for the actual client, right? And when you have a client the size of, you know, an AT&T, you know, multifaceted company, they want to be in as many retailers as possible because it's a lot more lucrative for them, rather than building a, you know, $2 million AT&T store, they can put a $80,000 kiosk inside of a Costco and do nine times the volume. You know, so definitely win-win. So you set up these connections with the large companies, you know, to put some kind of in-store kiosk or set up inside the bigger box store maybe. Do I have that right? Yeah, and then we train the representatives for in-store marketing and promotions and our management training program allows us to, you know, expand our business as well as AT&T's business or that client's business at the same time throughout the national retail channel. Okay, so how do you get started in something like that? Well, I was working for critical path resources through Duke Energy and, you know, that wasn't really what I wanted to do. I wanted to, you know, be in business for myself. I applied to an ad for a company Supreme Management Group. It was one of my mentors in the industry and I worked with him until for about a year and a half until he retired and the suggestion from him was to open new age marketing and, you know, do it on my own from there and, you know, it's been great because I've had a lot of mentors in the industry and, you know, the network's been amazing to talk to a lot of other CEOs out there that do similar work. Okay, okay. So would you say that he was one of your most influential mentors or coaches along the way? Yeah, absolutely. You know, definitely someone who empowers people and, you know, I felt like other positions that I had, you know, within the sales and marketing, you know, industry, I didn't get quite the opportunity that I was given when I was working with the markets, so. Okay, okay. So how did you meet that coach? Because I want to go back to one thing because I think I read that you were an athlete along the way. I mean, and I'm just wondering if, you know, you know, the coaching that you received then and kind of being used to being coached on many things impacted you when you got to business and how you met this person. Yeah, so I was a swimmer and water polo player. And in high school, I went to St. Bonaventure University and also Gannon University, SWAM. But, you know, I felt more in love with the business classes than I did working out and being in the pool all the time. Okay. And it was just one of those things where I needed, you know, I stepped away from the position working with critical faith resources. And I needed, I just needed money at the time, right, to be honest with you. And I got into working with Supreme Management Group. And I thought that I was just, you know, it was going to be a short temporary thing where, you know, I could do sales, I could do some marketing and get involved in that at the entry level and kind of work my way up possibly. And, you know, I just had the right coaching and right development, you know, not just from working there, but I latched on to other industry leaders. Zach Schook is one of my most influential mentors in this industry. He's in Raleigh, North Carolina. He runs a company called Aquire. So I've been really latched on to him. And he's, he oversees program rollouts on a national level, right? So he oversees close to, I'd say about 2,000, 3,000 representatives in the industry. He's a big time leader. And I think, you know, I probably call a network with him more than anybody else in the world, you know, so he's been my rock, I guess. Yeah. So you, it sounds like your mentality was already there to find a mentor and to reach out to people. You, you actively sought that out. Not everybody does that. I mean, I can tell you that, you know, my experience, I mean, do you see that with a, you know, your business that not everybody necessarily wants a coach or or is actively seeking coaching? I can agree with that. I think for the most part, when it comes to networking, I don't, I think it's just no one's been like a lot of representatives are entry level. They don't know how to network. They don't know how to seek out and be a seeker of knowledge, right? So I always wanted to, to, I was always a craver of knowledge. I always, you know, not so much in high school, right? So if there's any of my high school teachers out there, they're like, he does not crave knowledge, trust me. Right. But, you know, in college, you know, when you're paying to go to school, it's a lot different. And, you know, when you're in the business world, you have to think of that as, you know, you're getting paid, you know, especially in sales and marketing, right? So, there's a way, really hourly wages, you know, a form of payment. So I'm trading hours for, for money. And then there's salary. I'm trading a week for money. And then there's sales and commission of all marketing, right? The commission of the, the transfer of knowledge for money, right? So the more your knowledge about products and services, the better you'll be at sales and marketing. Same thing with leadership. Leadership's also a skill. So when we're building leaders in our industry, the more they know about leadership, you know, to be a really good leader, you know, it's a skill. You know, I don't think there's natural born leaders at all, Jeff, right? I think that people that want to become leaders that, you know, follow other people, you have to have a mentor in leadership, right? But I think it's just, people have to come out of their shell a little bit and want coaching. Yeah. It's always had a great coach for, for swimming in water polo. He'd tell me, you'd be a straight shooter and tell me what I needed to hear. Not necessarily what I wanted to hear, you know. I think those are the best types of coaches. And, you know, we need to need to humble yourself enough to accept a constructive criticism because it's coming from, it's coming from a good place, you know. Yeah. Okay. So you've kind of adopted some of those things that you've learned from others. You're straightforward. You know, you're teaching them all those things that you've learned, I guess, or that you value. Yeah. Absolutely. Okay. Yeah. And I can relate, you know, certainly being a lifelong learner myself, I think once you get into business and you feel you get excited about something, you want to learn more about it. So it sounds like that's kind of where you are, right? I mean, you may not have had that in high school, you know, it's more general studies, but it absolutely is hit you here. Yes. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, any time that, you know, you're going to, I think a lot of it comes from, you know, the empowerment of that leader, right? So people always want to pat on the back and, you know, that's always a good feeling too. So when you're rewarded for your good behavior and you're checked on the bad behavior, I mean, it goes with anything, whether that's sports or, you know, general studies or your, you know, your willingness to learn business, you know, it's just, you know, you have to be a seeker of information. Yeah. Yeah. Good point. Okay. So since we're talking about leadership, talk about your leadership style. I'm very much straightforward, right? So I don't like to beat around the bush. If I see some of the people in the office, I mean, we have probably 60 representatives that work here. I try to do as many one-on-ones as possible. I have to be on a personal level with my team. You know, we were on team nights once a week every single Wednesday. We did a book club. It was just a quick Zoom call last night that was 21-era field of Allah as a leadership, Allah, the lid, John C. Maxwell. And we read the first chapter. And then we pertained it to, and related it to the rest of what we're doing in the office, you know, in today and the next upcoming weeks. And really just, you know, if you don't, if you don't spend time with your people, on a personal level, it helps break down the barriers and the invisible wall from that knowledge to transfer over. So the more you can empower your people, but at the same time, you have to reward them. And, you know, you have to call them on their shortcomings too. I think that if I was never told, if I was never made aware of a shortcoming, I think I would lose respect for that leader that allowed it to continue to go on and on and on. Be higher entry level into management, right? So if I just let people walk in late and I'm okay with that, they're going to think that that's okay, right? Hey, their last employer may have allowed that, but, you know, they need to know the why behind that, even something as small as that, you know, from an entry level. Or somebody who has more leadership experience, a little bit more game, you know, and they have a bigger team. If they're not spending time with their people, right? You know, that's where you lose people, right? And you lose in the business and it's not a good thing. So being able to, I think that's one of the hardest things for leaders to do as well, is to call someone on their shortcomings, you know, because that's not a comfortable conversation to have with somebody, but it is a necessary critical conversation that must be had. Well, how you, excuse me, how you do that, I think is very important, right? So it sounds like, you know, I wrote down a couple of things to describe you engaging, empowering, direct, and maybe blunt, maybe earlier in your career, somebody might have said you were blunt. So talk a little bit about how that's evolved to be able to give constructive feedback to folks that, as you described, needed, maybe. Yeah, so it's just a system. It's, we call it build, break, build, right? So, you know, people, you have to get the information across, but you have to remain empathetic, right? Because if you're not empathetic, it's not, the information will never be received while, right? So, for instance, I'd probably, if there's a, you know, entry level representative that comes in here and they're late, I'm not going to just call them out for being late. I'm just going to say, hey, how's everything going on? You know, you say it's you at home that you want to talk about, you know, obviously in a private area, not in front of other people, right? So, and just sitting down and taking the time to do that can fix so much. It could be that, you know, they were in traffic and that's not really an excuse here in Charlotte. There's two and a half million people here and we all drive, right? But, and we could make light of that. Well, during the break, right? So, but I'd say, hey, maybe his name's Bob. Hey, Bob, you know, I see that you're, you know, you're doing really well, right? Your product knowledge is up to par. All the leaders in the office respect you seem like a great guy, you know, today, you know, you walked in a little bit late, right? How would you feel if you were running the meeting and one of your people walked in late, right? How would that make you feel, right? So, then that little bit of sting there, right, that corrects the behavior. It's not as bad as just break, break, break, break, all make people want to leave your business. So, that we'll just go back to build, hey, how can we fix it? You need to go to bed earlier, you know, maybe that's the case. And then we'll probably set an alarm on their phone to go to bed. But I think that's the best way to go about it is just to build, break, build conversation. Okay. Okay. Interesting. So, did I also read that you have multiple offices or you've opened multiple offices in different cities? Is that correct? Yeah. Yeah. We just opened in Portland, Oregon, right? So, that's the furthest out. And on our West Coast, we're in Tacoma, Washington, Atlanta, Georgia, Raleigh, Savannah, Charleston, Wilmington, Myrtle Beach, right? So, New Brunswick and East Brunswick, New Jersey, right? So, we're obviously West Virginia too, because, you know, when I first launched and opened up, my first office was in Huntington. And then we trained and developed, you know, leaders to run the basically the whole state of West Virginia before I came down to Charlotte. Okay. So, leaders development is important for you, obviously, how you need people in each of those offices to run them. So, do you do all the leadership development for here in Charlotte or how do you do that? Yeah. So, my sweet spots coaching about, you know, six to eight, right? So, if I can coach six to eight leaders that can help train and develop six to eight leaders, right? Normally, that's someone's sweet spot. Our, you know, we have competitors in the industry that, you know, obviously in AT&T or, you know, a leaf filter, they want to use a competitor for staffing purposes to make sure that their brand is out there in the retail. Some of those competitors have failed in the past, and I think the biggest reason was they didn't have enough leadership, right? If your company doesn't grow leaders, your company's not growing, right? You're scaling, but you're not scaling with momentum, right? And leadership builds momentum in a business. So, we like to see, you know, our system, you know, creating leadership, you know, office managers, you know, within a six to eight month timeframe, right, to being able to expand into another market or another program. Okay. Okay. Interesting. Yeah. So, you've come a long way in 10 years then, it sounds like, you know, with many offices and, you know, do you see that continuing for the next 10 years or what do you see for the next 10 years? Yeah, the next 10 years, over 100 offices I want to be at. Wow. Right. And where are you at today? We're at 25. 25. Okay. Yep. And then our launch of Wilmington will be 26. AT&T is asking us to do a business to business program in Charlotte, right? Which, you know, we're not used to business to business because we're more retail based. But, you know, they think that this would be one of the best markets in the United States for that, right? So they're asking us to come out of our comfort zone a little bit to do that. So we're going to launch that. So that'll be 26. We also launched three businesses for Costco for car keys express, one of our other clients. I don't know if you're familiar with that, but they can buy and print off a key fob within 10 minutes in a Costco now. Right. Use your car key. You can get it replaced. That's been a growing program as well. So we'll probably expand on that. Hopefully we're at the goals to be at 35 by the end of this year, right? Okay. So all programs, you know, being able to expand. So we're really investing a lot of time, a lot of finance into the expansion this year and in the upcoming years. Okay. That's cool. I'm a huge Costco fan, by the way. You know, I tell you what, every chance I get that I go there, my wife doesn't really want me to go there because I always come back with way too much stuff. So you might be influenced me. You didn't even know it, but you probably are when I'm there. I love Costco. It's amazing. They were business of the year in 2022 according to Yahoo Finance. And they just appointed a new CEO, Craig Jelenek retired. And now it's Ron Blockaris. He actually started as a forklift driver for Costco 30 some odd years ago, I believe. Okay. That's a cool story. Yeah. We can learn a lot from, you know, even the retailers we work with. You know, I love talking to the general managers of those stores here in Charlotte because there's so much you can learn from, you know, even a general manager from Costco. I mean, not a lot of people would think, you know, they're much more of a leader than just a, you know, a normal, you know, retail manager or something along those lines. So they have quite the business sense and business acumen. So they're really great people. Yeah. I mean, all the Costco's I've been to, they're always packed, you know, you have to deal with that. It's probably a little bit different clientele. You have to have the right products. You have to be connected with your customers. So that's the leadership you're talking about, right? That's what they have to do. Yep. So we can, we learn a lot from the way they do things. I mean, there are some of the highest paid, you know, cart guys in the industry, right? Some of them are pushing carts in Costco. They have a master's degree, you know, and they're trying to just work their way up, you know, they develop leadership one from within and they're a great company to, you know, to model my business after because I, you know, they're just, they're doing everything right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of people have a hard time finding people let alone, you know, get somebody that maybe is way overqualified for the job that you're doing. That's what you're describing that people just want to be there. Is that it? Yeah. The company culture is amazing. We definitely try to model after that. You know, they do some great stuff, fundraising stuff for their play base. We, we do the same things here. So, okay, that's cool. That's cool. Well, let's shift gears a little bit here. I want to ask you about some of the challenges that you have in your business today. Okay. So, biggest challenge I'd have to say is just finding quality people, you know, with the rising prices on everything and inflation, even ads, indeed, you know, LinkedIn last door, you know, to finding good talent. And, you know, I think I read a statistic, it was like one third of the US business population failed during the pandemic. So, you have a lot of new startups that are trying to attract talent to their business as well. So, it's been very competitive in finding the right talent. And, you know, I think that that's the biggest thing because our clients demand, you know, they want to be in, you know, leaf filter, for instance, they're in close to 40 lows, home improvements, retail stores in the country, they want us in 1200, right? So, the amount of growth just on that program alone, it's hard to find the quality people, right? So, you almost have to look at it as if, you know, you're going to do some legwork, right, developing people. So, you got to take a little bit more shots at the entry level on people who, you know, they don't have the resume, you know, or the master's degree, you know, but if they have, if they're determined and, you know, they're motivated, you know, they may not, you know, you'll do interviews via Zoom and you can't really tell a whole lot of just off the first round interview. When you get to meet someone in person, really, it's, you got to look for the character, right? I think especially in our industry, when it comes to customer service and you want to build a great foundation for company culture as well, to make sure someone fits in, excuse me, along with the, you know, what our company's, you know, shooting for is expansion, growth, leadership development, you know, and then there's people out there that want to get a job and just have a job, right? So, you got to be able to be adaptive to the changes and if you can't adapt, you know, it's going to be very hard to run a business and be able to scale. So, I think the biggest challenge is just be finding the right quality candidates for the position. Yeah, I would agree. And I think, you know, probably most business leaders would agree that that's probably the top issue that they've had for many years, because you've led through the pandemic. Did it get a lot worse immediately following the start of the pandemic or did it happen for you really from day one, because you were a growing company? I think the pandemic shifted for most people. And I think when a lot of people, it's getting easier now, actually, than it was, you know, and it just requires a little bit of extra time with people, right, to make sure they're taken care of. You got to think about, you know, as far as my business goes, I'd have to say, you know, before the pandemic, there was a lot more businesses just trying to grab, you know, people at entry level. The pandemic changed the way that we do business, right? So, you see a hotel, four or five people at the front desk at the Marriott, now there's two or three, right? So, I think a lot of businesses realized that they don't need a lot of what they had that they were paying for, and they made a decision to read more profits by cutting down the amount of employees that they have on the books. And that opened up for a lot of other things. A lot of people are working from home, right, throughout the pandemic. There's college kids, and they did not have the college experience that I had. I can tell you that, Jeff, right? Just being behind a computer screen. And I think these kids, you know, they want to be face to face. So, I think now, you know, four years, you know, well, not post-pandemic, but it is post-pandemic somewhat, right? And you have, yeah, and I think these people want to be out, they want to be face to face, they want to be back in the office, because I don't, or we're not built as humans to work behind a computer desk all day, or go to college behind a computer desk. So, I think they want the interaction, but I think they still want that home life, you know, and the option to be able to work from home to, right? So, I think you have to cater that to, you know, especially the young kids that are coming out of college, and then people that were out going, and they were face to face, and then they got stuck at home. Yeah, they would just want to be back out there. So, everybody's going to be different in the interview process, but I think we're going to see some uptick in the future of a lot of people that want to go back to face to face. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think they want that flexibility is what you're describing. You know, being face to face is important. I agree with you. You know, they were needed as humans, you know, to be together with people and interact, and but, you know, that flexibility for the home life is really important. One day, two days, whatever that is, I can tell you in my business, you know, when I was there, we had 1,000 employees going into the pandemic, we were at 910, you know, after the lockdown, and we found exactly what you said. You know, we found that, you know, there probably were things that we could do other ways, that we didn't need people, and that came from the necessity. We couldn't find people. We couldn't hire them, right? I mean, that's, you know, that was a real issue, and it continues to be an issue because the dynamic for people has changed a lot. And maybe you find, tell me this, do you find you said you had to get, you know, or try with some folks that maybe are first-time employees or new employees, you know, entry-level? Do you find yourself maybe recruiting at colleges or other places more now to get folks that coming from a, you know, a place that you know they've been prepared well? Yeah, I mean, call, I mean, well, if I'm hiring, we hire for two different things, right? So we hire for Direct Sales Direct Marketing, which is more of an entry-level position. Pretty simple, right? We're going out, we're talking about AT&T, you know. We can find a lot of people for that. A lot of people that have, you know, they were in a sorority, fraternity, sporting, you know, they were in sports, high school college. I think 80 percent of our employee base here played high school or college ball, right, at some level, right, of, you know, team building and stuff like that. So that's what I'm looking for when I go to hire, right? People who want to be a part of a team, they want it, they think bigger picture, right? Leadership side of our business. And, you know, with the demand, you know, for what we have for our clients, we need to be, you know, be able to adapt and find the need to, you know, hire someone who just wants entry-level experience in sales, right? So we got to hire from a little bit of both and kind of get creative with those things. But, you know, a lot of, I'd say maybe 10 percent of our employee base is personal, recruited, right? College kids that, you know, found their, got their foot in the door at an entry-level position, they worked their way up into a leadership role. And, you know, they have some buddies that they played college golf with, right? Or, you know, their buddy that, you know, he's still, you know, bartending, but he wants to be in direct marketing, direct sales. And he just couldn't get his foot in the door anywhere else, you know. We even pay for relocation expenses for some of the employees because, you know, Charlotte's a melting pot. Everybody wants to be here in Charlotte. And, you know, we have guys from, you know, South Carolina, LSU, Ohio State, all over the map that relocate down to Charlotte for opportunity because it is a growing city. You know, so they're even personal recruiting. We've even offered, you know, to put someone in an Airbnb for a whole month to find a place in Charlotte just so they could relocate, you know. So, you just got to be creative with the hiring these days. And it's not going to come just from, you know, putting that on Indeed. And you hopefully get the right person in front of you because you'll spend a lot of unnecessary time filtering through interviews with potential candidates that aren't a good fit for the position, you know. So, you know, I don't really even think that most people read the entire ad. I think they see the headline of the ad and they apply based on the headline. They don't even read the rest of it. Right. So, but, you know, that's, that's kind of where we're at with that. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Any other issues that pop up that maybe, maybe aren't quite as big as finding and training the right people, but, you know, do you have other issues in the business today? The demand, right? So, we won, you know, best in class. You know, we, with Costco, we were part of the year with Direct TV back in the day in AT&T. And, you know, they want more from us. Right. So, and then there's always new programs. I don't think there's a company that doesn't want to be showcased in Costco. Right. So, there's always a list of clients that want to work with us and launch new programs. So, it's just going to recruiting that goes back to recruiting. Do we have enough people to roll out a program? Okay. Okay. So, yeah, if you do a good job, your clients want more. Is that it? And you find more clients too. They just, they're coming to us now as opposed to us going to them. Oh, well, that's fun. That's good. Good for you. Yeah. That's a good stage. A lot of people are struggling to, you know, find new business sometimes to grow. You're really not, sounds like you're not that stage. That's not you. No, not anymore. Not anymore. Okay. So, speaking of new business ventures, you shared with me that you're working on some other things. You have some other businesses. Are you, are you at Liberty to talk about that? Yeah, I could, I could touch on that. I dabble in, in, you know, rental properties, right? A little bit of that. That's kind of like a side hustle for me. Most recently, I got involved with a couple guys in voodoo brewing, right? So we're actually going to launch Charlotte's first voodoo brewery here towards the tail end of this year. So we're in the middle looking for spaces right now. And, you know, we're, we're in between Noda and, in, in South End, right? So we're, we're going to be in one of those locations. Hopefully we get to, you know, share that with you guys soon, you know, sooner or the better. We're excited. Yeah. Because voodoo is from Erie, Pennsylvania, correct? Yeah. So they brew in Meadville. They ship everything out. Erie's a big location for them. So, a lot of the corporate guys, you know, that, that own the voodoo brand, you know, they're, they're from the Erie area. So small world. Yeah, I know. And so they would brew up there and then bring it down here then. You would just say, you know, have a, have a place, you know, that you would put up here. Yeah. So there's, when it comes to like the breweries and things like that, I mean, that's a big business that changed during the pandemic too. It's expensive to brew beer, you know, but when you can have a great tasting beer that is, is, you know, not, not a huge brand, it's a small brewery that can be shipped and delivered. You know, everything's a QR code. So you scan a QR. There's not a whole lot of people that actually work inside there anymore. And, you know, the brew master's not cheap either. Right. So just, it's a great model. So we wanted to, to get involved with it. You know, we're probably going to launch two locations in Charlotte and hopefully one in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Oh, okay. Yeah. I mean, I was sharing with you, my wife and I, we enjoy beer. So we try and visit a lot of the brew pubs that are around and they're quite the gathering places now. You're right. I mean, that wasn't that way 10 years ago. And you see a lot of dogs there, pets, you know, even kids kind of hanging out, there's places for kids to hang out and have fun while their, you know, parents have a beer together. Yeah, that's awesome. Well, when we're up and running, Jeff, you got to come in, you know, I got a couple beers for you on the house, right? Definitely, definitely. I can't wait. I love to do that. Okay. So, so, all right, let me, let me ask a little different question here. I get a sense you like a lot about your business, but what do you like most about your business today? People. People. Yeah. Absolutely. The people I get mean, I was mentored and I had the opportunity to grow. And, you know, like I said before, I worked for other industries and direct sales and direct marketing before I started doing this. And I didn't get, I felt I didn't get the opportunity to grow. And, you know, now 10 years you fast forward, I run, you know, new age marketing. And now it's my turn to give, give those people that were just like me 10 years ago opportunity to, expand and grow and manage people. So, I loved it to see someone come in at the entry level and, and really, you know, give them an opportunity to grow and, and, and run their own office. So, it's been a, that's a, that's really the best, most rewarding part of the job. Yeah, it sounds like you have a cool culture. I assume once you find the right people that they generally stay a long time. Is that right? Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's the three round interview process. We're looking at resumes. We're looking at, you know, their Facebook and their social media to really gain somebody before we bring them in for even a third round interview. But, you know, the company culture is amazing. It's, it's tough to make a tough decision if, if someone's not a good fit, right? It's, it's really hard to, to have those types of conversations. And, you know, I think the company culture is amazing, you know, with, with what we've built here in the last 10 years, because, you know, people want to work. They want to come to work. They want to work on a weekend. You know, it's, it's, it's crazy to see it. Yeah. So, in the next 10 years, when you get to 100 locations, how many people would you see working for you then at New Age? 100 locations, probably five, 600. Oh, wow. Okay. That's a bunch. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So 100 locations, you would be in what every major metropolitan area in the country, is that, is that typically where you would be? That's the goal. You know, if Costco gives us 100 more stores, I want to run out all 100. Okay. They give us more low some improvement, you know, and they, that, that partnership goes a long way. Hopefully it does. They're a great company as well. You know, I want to be in every place in the country, you know, I want to go big for these, these, these clients, because they help us a lot, you know, I bet. We do a lot for us. Well, Lowe's is headquartered here, correct? I mean, so that's good for you. Is, where's Costco headquartered? I don't even know. Costco is, is it Kirkland, Kirkland, Washington? Oh, so that's for the question. I see. Okay. Now I get it. I didn't know that. All right. Well, they have boy, they'd have thousands of locations between the two of them around the US. So hopefully getting to 100 for you is very doable. Yeah, I can see it. Are you sure? Yeah. All right. So, so all right. So let's, let's talk a little bit about maybe your journey here too. You've talked a little bit about it, but I was, I was with a couple other CEOs here in the last couple of weeks, and then we talked a lot about kind of what they've learned. And it's interesting to digest that. So if you kind of look back on your career, maybe summarize for everybody what you've learned or some of the key points you've taken away from your career so far. Yes. That's a good question. And I think, you know, the biggest thing that I've learned in entrepreneurship and leadership development is if you're not striving to become a better version of yourself, your people aren't going to do the same, right? They need to see that. So the biggest things that really helped me is just finding a mentor, spending time on that really self development. Most people, when they come home, you know, they drive into the office, they, they listen to music, right? Which is okay, because that's the instant fix for, you know, just relax relaxation and things like that. But I'm huge on Audible, right? So I, you know, to get what is it? Three credit hours is three books in college, right? I think I go through three books a month. All right. Because I just find the time and it's all leadership development or something along those lines. Self-help books, you know, psychology, way people think, you know, emotional intelligence, you know, the HBRs, 10 best reads, those are a huge fan of those. So anytime I get to myself is, you know, in the car on the way to the office or the way home, there's always Audible playing, it's always, you know, something in, you know, just consuming knowledge. So if you're not trying to be better version, business should make you better for your spouse, business should make you better for your children, your parents, you know, your friends, your family, you know, so just being able to, you know, want to be better for other people. I think that's the biggest thing in business today, because you want to work for somebody who wants to grow themselves and become a better version of themselves. We tell all our new starts here, you know, we have one rule of business and that's if you're not becoming a better version of yourself, what are you doing? So trying to get you 1% better every single day is the goal and that inspires our leaders to grow and become better versions of themselves, you know, and that should spill over into your home life. Yeah, no doubt. I had a big sports background growing up in, you know, into college and I still can hear my coach, you know, walking around as we're stretching, you know, to get better every day, you know, and that get better every day was the same thing it rings in my ear, you know, or has rung in my ear since the day I got to the business, you know, I mean, so that's cool. I can certainly relate to kind of what you're saying. Now your role, I mean, because as you evolved in this, I mean, certainly as the founder has changed, how is that changed for you if you think back maybe to, you know, day one, you know, there's only a few people and to, and to today. I think, you know, I'm more of the mentor, I'm the go-to, right? So my name may be on the front of the check, but I'm not the boss, right? Have to go and do the entry level stuff. I think we're going to have major success in the restaurant industry with the brewery, okay, because I'm not afraid to go and scrub some dishes, right? I'm not afraid to go into Costco and sell a cell phone or go to Lowe's home improvement and be on the sales war, right? So I think just being a great example and, you know, being able to show the guys and gals in the office that I still got it at the entry level too, you know, so I think that it's a lot of fun, you know, it keeps me feeling young too, you know, so I'm turning 40 this year, so it's a milestone in itself, but you know, going to do the entry level to help somebody grow, you know, at the, even at the entry level role is what needs to be done, not necessarily what you want to do, but it's what you have to do to really develop people, because the person that comes in at an entry level role here, you know, they may not have a whole lot of sales or marketing or leadership experience, and if, you know, I'm the mentor and I'm the leader, I'm the person that is the go to, if I have to, you know, go spend some time with them in a retail store, that's what I'm doing. Okay, okay. Now think ahead, I mean, because when you get to 100 stores and you have hundreds of employees, can you still do that? I mean, can you, because you're going to have to be the man's on running the business are probably going to be bigger, much bigger at that point, I would think. So do you see that changing? Do you see that morphing? Yeah, it is now, I've been seeing it for the last two or three years, the infrastructure has to be built out, we need more administrators, more recruiters, we need, you know, more leaders, you know, better quality leaders and, you know, not, not to say that our guys aren't great quality, right? Right. But, you know, if it goes back to me just becoming better myself, right? If I can do that and uplift and empower our leadership core to step up and think bigger, right? I think, you know, getting to 100 isn't going to be the biggest challenge. I think the biggest challenge is internal, right? Become into better version. Yeah, always raising the bar, you know, kind of on what you are doing and what everybody is doing, frankly, right? That's good. That's a great culture to have. We built something pretty cool there, Jared. It seems nice. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so, so, so really just, I want to wrap up with this. I always kind of wrap up with this because I think it's good and it may take us a couple of different directions, but think about, you know, other people that might be, you might have been or will be in your position, you know, as they think about what they want to do with their career. And then, you know, what advice would you give them, you know, if they were a new executive, a new founder, or, you know, maybe they're taking over as a CEO of a larger company. What would you tell them? I'd tell them to be off balance. Yeah. If you're starting, if you're in a startup, you're in a big management position, you know, I always, you know, try to get as much done in a day as I possibly can. I'll, at the beginning of the week, Jeff, I'll take three main things that I want to accomplish during the week, right? If I can accomplish those three things, right, during the week, and I can do that over a six-week string, right? And be told, if I'm off balance, obviously I'm telling my wife that I'm going to be a little bit off balance and work in a lot more, right? But if I do that for six straight weeks, I've accomplished 18 major tasks in the business and pushed the business forward, right? So I don't really work on a schedule either, right? I work until I knock out those goals, you know? So I have three goals for the week. If I get two done at the beginning of the week and, you know, I'm focused ultra, blazer being focused on knocking out that third goal, you know, by Sunday. And if it takes till Sunday night to get it done, you know, that's what you have to do, especially with a startup, because your competition in business, when you need more employees, is every other business, right? So our competition here is in other marketing agencies, it's Wells Fargo. They want to hire great quality people, so does every business, right? So you got to get ahead of the game. So if that requires you to be off balance a little bit and more on the work side instead of the home life, you're going to have to do that, right? But you have to do things that you necessarily don't want to do to be able to enjoy the things, you know, after you accomplish those goals, you know, to the fullest. So okay, so by off balance, you mean, you know, that maybe work takes more of your life, work life balance than normal? Is that what you're saying by off balance? Yeah, I think, you know, with it, especially for the younger generations, I mean, you have crazy inflation, and you know, the rent's so high in Charlotte, and you know, the minimum wage hasn't even moved, right? You kind of have to be off balance, you know, until you can get caught up with things, or you're never going to get caught up with things, right? So, you know, set goals high, you know, you should always want to have some kind of savings every single week, whether you're direct sales, direct marketing, you know, you're in the tech industry, you still have to hit goals to, you know, to move the company forward. That's how you get a pay increase in corporate America, right? So if you want to climb the ladder to be in a different income bracket, you got to you got to be a little bit off balance, right? And a lot of people are going to tell you that's crazy. A lot of people are going to say, hey, no, you need to spend more time here, more time here, more time here. Jeff, I put in a lot of work and a lot of energy my first three years in business, and now that I have kids, I run new age marketing, all these offices, I'm opening a brewery, we have the real estate business on the side, but I still coach baseball for my seven year old, and still have time to do that now that I'm 40. And he's going to remember that, you know, and really this that that's the first thing is just be a little bit off balance. It's okay to do that, because as long as you're doing that for to provide for your family in your future, that's totally okay, you know, and then really the second thing is just be where your feet are. But when you are off balance, you got to be where your feet are. You can't go home to your spouse or your girlfriend or boyfriend and be conducting business at the dinner table, because to them, the business is more important than them when they see that. I'll never if I'm on the phone call and I pull up in the driveway, I have to finish the phone call before I open the door to my house, because if my kids see me on the phone, now business is more important, you know, to daddy than them. So if that means I have to cut my call a little bit short. Hey, guys, I got to hop off. I'll call you in 15, 20 minutes. But I got to be dad when I when I go home, you know, being where your feet are helps find the work life balance, especially when you have to put in all the energy into a startup or, you know, a new position. Okay, okay. Yeah, that's good. Any other advice? I mean, those two things be present, you know, be where your feet are. And you got to be off balance at times, you know, especially when you got big things to do. Yeah. And it's fine. It goes both ways. If you're at the office and your spouse calls, you got it in your in the middle of a training class, you got to finish the training class. I tell them even even an orientation, I still run orientations to this day for the entire organization, because I want to be an art of it, you know, and I don't want to be so high up at, you know, as a CEO one day, they don't have time for the for the entry level people. So I literally tell them, Hey, you know, I talk about work life balance, I talk about people where your feet are. And I say, Hey, if my wife calls me, I'm not going to answer the phone, because right now this is providing for her and the kids, right? And you know, they're like, Oh, okay, now they're understanding it, especially at an entry level. And, you know, but if she calls three times, I've put in enough work to have another leader finish the orientation. So I can take that call because it's probably an emergency if the phone rings three times. So yeah, if we're dealing with people, you know, at the entry level position in Costco, I can't be on the phone with with somebody, right? That doesn't pertain to business, right? Because that's what the most important thing is, is what's in front of me right now? Okay, okay, that's good advice. Yeah, it brings up another question, I guess. So I got one more for you, right? Because work like balance is a challenge. And that, you know, certainly, you know, I think all executive would say that, you know, sometimes they're out of balance. But for you, you've talked a little bit about it here. I mean, I would say how do how is that? How was that evolved for you, where you've been able to maintain it? So it's a good balance, you know, with work at times and at home with your wife and your kids and the family? I think it's totally situational. You know, if we're launching a new client, I have to have conversations with the family leading up to that. You know, I've even sent them on a vacation with their, their family to say, Hey, daddy's going to be gone for like, I'm going to be dialed in for two weeks here. You know, I may fall asleep at my desk. I don't know, right? So team meetings, I got to meet with clients and things like that. So maybe the best situation is just to send them to Disney or something like that. And I can focus on the business, right? That way, they still get what they need for me, right, which is they get a Disney trip. That may not be around for that one, but they're going to remember, you know, when they when they turn 18 years old and, you know, and they're then their 20s, 30s, what I had to do to get to where I was at. And I think that's important too. Right? Yeah. Okay. Even if it's, you know, you have that that's that's more of like the drastic side of things, right? But I think it goes back to just be where your feet are as well. You know, it's important to have a home life, right? Whatever that looks like for somebody, everybody's different. You know, I had a I had a gentleman who came in and worked for me and his wife couldn't work, right? But she wanted all his time. Well, they're not gonna be able to pay their bills if he's not working to make up for what, you know, so that was a conference that was a hard conversation to have. And, you know, he came to me, you know, months after we had the conversation, he's like, I'm so glad we had that conversation because now she knows I'm doing the business for her, right? I'm doing it to provide for the family. And, you know, this business is right in his wheelhouse. He's probably one of our top performers now, right? So it's really great to see, you know, that stuff happen. And then later down the line is when, you know, that that's gonna shift, you know, so, you know, startup, you know, you got to be off balance. It'll it'll make up for itself later on, you know, communicate when that situation changes. I think that's really good. And, you know, being able to recognize, you know, the example you gave with your employee, I mean, recognize, you know, how you can communicate that, because I think that's important. I think a lot of folks would be, you know, families and business folks would be, they'd be open to that thought that maybe you can't be there all the time one way or another, as long as you communicate why, and there is a fair balance, you know, somewhere along the way that kind of ebbs and flows. Is that summary of what you're saying? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, the conversation is the easiest thing to not have. Yeah, but it is necessary a preemptive conversation of, Hey, I got it. I have a client meeting. There's nothing that I can do about it. I mean, if Costco says you got to fly to Seattle, it's my life's birthday. I kind of have to go fly to Seattle, right? So there's not like, we can celebrate it. They're the it will celebrate it for six days instead of just one, right? We'll take the whole week, right? Maybe we'll go to Seattle, you know, right? But that that business meeting, obviously, there's other people on the end of that that work for whatever company that, you know, that that's the only time they can do it. So, yeah, yeah. Well, that's cool. Jared, look, I really enjoyed our discussion, and I can see why you've been successful. So good luck to you. And thanks again for being on the show. Excellent. Yeah, Jeff, thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Good to see someone from Erie, Pennsylvania, you know, that's that's awesome down here in Charlotte. So I really appreciate it. Looking forward to seeing it a lot, so.
