And lo and behold the latest news story is that paper straws are actually more toxic than plastic straws!
Before we keep banning things, we need a lot more curiosity – more research- and start asking why these things are happening.
According to NBC News “Scientists in Belgium recently tested dozens of straws from supermarkets, retail stores and fast-food restaurants in the country, and found that the majority contained PFAS — a family of synthetic chemicals used in the manufacture of consumer products because they can resist stains, grease and water.”
Here is one article : Warning: Paper Drinking Straws May Be Harmful to Health and Worse for the Environment Than Plastic Versions
After reading up on this issue, there is back-and-forth about degrees of toxicity – but there’s more!
DeArmitt says, according to scientific studies, plastics are usually the greenest option.
“They are better for the environment than metal, glass, cotton and usually paper, so replacing plastic harms the environment. Plus, getting rid of plastics would be terrible – no internet, no cell phones, no computers, no medical devices, no electricity to our homes, and so on.” writes DeArmitt.
“Most of what we believe about plastics and the environment comes from internet gossip, which is notoriously unreliable. Do you care enough about the environment to look at the peer-reviewed science instead?. The headlines and articles we read are not supported by science and evidence. “
Here are some Q and A highlights with Chris:
Q. Do plastics take 1000 years to degrade?
A. No. Plastics degrade just like all carbon-based materials like wood and leaves. Experiments prove that a plastic bag disintegrates in less than one year outdoors.
Q. Should we ban plastic bags?
A. No. Plastic bags are the greenest alternative (Check link in his book). Changing to paper bags means cutting down millions more trees per year, more carbon dioxide released & generating up to 10x more waste. A lifecycle analysis professional examined all 24 studies on bags and concluded:
“From all 24 reports and reviews assessed, the actual LCA analyses on grocery bags overwhelmingly point to plastic as the material with least environmental impact, both at single use level and multi-purpose.”
A. Does the USA consume 500 million straws per day?
A. No. That number was made up by a 9 year old schoolboy named Milo Cress. The press repeated it without thinking to check it first.
We definitely need more #CuriousMinds
We can also look at how as people we waste too much, we litter too much – and reconsider bans and instead ask if that’s the solution or do we need to get a lot more innovative and creative with solutions?
This one tool has a significant impact on your business and your ability to build on the know- like-[ trust factor.
A few things to think about for why Live Streaming is so valuable:
🔸 Build a Strong Brand Presence: Livestreaming offers an authentic and real-time platform to engage with your audience, showcase your expertise, share insights, and build trust. By providing valuable content through livestreams, you can establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry, strengthening your brand presence and capturing the attention of potential customers and partners.
🔸 Foster Business Growth: Livestreaming offers a unique opportunity to connect directly with your target audience. Sure you can promote your products or services but also SHOW not just tell people about you do or produce. It boosts customer confidence and can even drives sales. Son you can launch launch new offerings, put on virtual events, and best of all, generate buzz around your brand.
🔸 Amplify Networking Opportunities: This is my favourite reason – as networking and PR are at the heart of success with my clients and my own company. Live-streaming opens up a world of possibilities! You can meet people to invite on your show and also attract new people who stop by to watch and listen. You can host interviews, panel discussions, or Q&A sessions and connect with industry leaders, experts, and influencers. BAM! Opportunity for new connections and collaborations and also allows you to engage with viewers, receive feedback, and build meaningful connections.
🔸 Own your power and show your authenticity: With information overload, authenticity is a key differentiator. Livestreaming allows you to convey your brand’s personality, passion, and values in a genuine way. The unscripted nature of livestreams fosters spontaneity and creates an intimate connection with your audience, building trust and loyalty. By showcasing the human side of your business, you can leave a lasting impression and foster long-term relationships.
According to Forrester, users watch live video 10 to 20 times longer than on-demand content, making live streaming a powerful way to deliver interactive content.
AND – Consumers spend almost 83 minutes per day consuming digital video, growing to 92 minutes by 2020, according to eMarketer’s most recent estimates.
In Q1 of 2018, Twitter hosted 1,300 live streamed events, 80% of which streamed to a global audience. Consumers are 39% more likely to share content if it’s delivered through video.
And if that isn’t enough to get your attention, here are some other stats from https://livestream.com/blog/live-video-statistics-livestream
* 81% watched more live video in 2016 than in 2015. * 80% would rather watch live video from a brand than read a blog. * 82% prefer live video from a brand to social posts. * For 56%, breaking news is the type of live video content they watch most often. Conferences and concerts are tied in second place with 43%. * 67% of audiences who watched a live stream purchased a ticket to a similar event the next time it occurred. * 87% would prefer to watch online if it meant more behind-the-scenes content than a standard TV broadcast. * 45% of audiences would pay for live video from a favorite team, speaker, or performer. * 67% of viewers say quality is the most important factor when watching a live stream.
They also asked respondents to choose their favorite video platforms in order of preference: * Livestream: 45% * Facebook Live: 66% * YouTube Live:70%
Recently I was a guest on a show with Nicole Donnelly with Curt Anderson and Damon Pistulka √ – with the premise that we must “Stop Being the Best Kept Secret!”
Show link is here: https://youtu.be/Zdg2GcMZNfY
Growing Your Brand with LinkedIn Livestreaming – MFG eCommerce Success
Summary of Show: Highlights
* Happy Friday. 0:04 * Nicole’s favorite part of live streaming. 6:27 * The benefits of live streaming during the pandemic. * The power of living in the moment. * How live stream has changed gail’s business. * How live streaming has helped gail. * The importance of networking and social media. 11:11 * Networking is the foundation of everything gil does. * The importance of networking. * The panel is about starting those conversations. * Connecting with people on stage. * The difference between podcasting and live streaming. 14:50 * The advantages and disadvantages of podcasting vs live streaming. * Why authenticity is becoming more important. * Converting faces of business into a podcast. * Fostering business growth through live streaming. * Why do you want to be on twitter? 20:18 * Why nicole wants to be on Twitter and tiktok. * Prioritize time management. * Comments on authenticity and consistency in live streaming. * Gail robertson, building a strong brand presence. * What can a brand name do for someone considering ai? 25:28 * What brand name can do for those considering livestreaming. * The disruption with generative AI. * The opportunity for companies to get on mediums like livestreams. * Connecting with micro-influencers. * The affordable way for brands to increase their brand awareness. * Consistency makes it easier to practice. * Everything we do is about our brand. 30:46 * Consistency is important, but so is being consistent. * Experiments become experience. * Try some things and learn from them. * An example of a successful follow-up call. * How e-commerce evangelists can build trust. * People are searching for you. 39:13 * People are searching you. People are finding you. * Three points today, build a strong brand. * The importance of having a niche or local business. * Becoming a manufacturing champion. * The magic of the subject matter expert interviews. 45:23 * Nikolas is a painful introvert. * The content engine, a content engine. * The magic of subject matter expert interviews. * How guests have changed a life. * What is loved most about interviewing guests. * The power of curiosity and showing up. 51:52 * Transferable skills, curiosity and showing up. * The power of curiosity to change the world. * One person at a time. * The impact of being on the podcast. * Thank you from the bottom of her heart. * Best father’s day memory. * Gail’s favorite memory of Dad. 59:33 * Gail talks about her father and mental health. * Mental health is not an accident. * Favorite memory with her father. * Damon is a baseball fanatic. * Gail is a huge advocate for the show.
TRANSCRIPT FROM SHOW:
From Otter.Ai
(Direct transcription- non-edited version)
Speaker 1 0:04 All right everyone Welcome once again it is Friday and what does that mean? My friend Kurt Anderson How are you today? It is manufacturing ecommerce success time we’re ready to go
Speaker 2 0:17 yeah and that’s what I I’m already speechless I’d like I think we’ve already had like five like moments before. Why? Amen Oh my goodness gracious so guys happy Friday Happy Father’s Day weekend happy everything we’re midway through through June and then Bob feathers is in the house Steve are Chrysler’s here a little a little pressure here Dave’s in the house. So Dave’s OB says Happy Friday is
Speaker 1 0:45 right yeah Dave was here early to I’m pushing buttons here doing this not doing a good job of it.
Speaker 2 0:51 It looks like you might be somewhere a little bit different I’m not positive but I think you might Yeah, setting is that
Speaker 1 0:57 I’m on the road and it’s a weird feeling for me a don’t leave the house often.
Speaker 2 1:05 Same here the house your spend a little quality time with the wife so thank you tell the name we said thank you for that you’re hanging out with us. Hooligans, right, this little icon here. So man, we’ve got John McClane. Oh, we got John burrow guys. Happy Friday. Just a note. Let us know you’re there. Give a big shout out hello to our two esteemed guests. Let’s Daymond let’s just jump right into it. So man, I’m going over the border. Y’all now is in the house. Gail. Happy Friday. How are you my friend?
Gail 1:38 I am fantabulous. It’s a great day. Yeah, I’m doing great here up here in Canada actually, compared to though detroit michigan um, south of Detroit. We have to remember that a lot of candidates. So there we go. Perfect.
Speaker 2 1:55 How how’s the Canada thing? I have to ask like the air climate, the wildfires? How’s everything going in your last
Gail 2:01 that’s that’s gonna be some future stories of curious minds. Because, yeah, there’s a lot more to all of these stories than what we sometimes hear. So curious, ask more questions about what we are sometimes hearing reading about and what maybe also happening, but where I’m at it’s the air is pretty clear. I sort of worried when the media was saying, Oh, my God, and then Windsors, you know, shut your windows, don’t leave your house and I went out and clean that night and
Speaker 2 2:27 yeah, okay. Well, perfect. Alright. Gail, thank you for joining us today. And you know, the recovering journalist is in the house. So we have some stories on cover, we’re going to take a deep dive in a live streams. And boy, have we brought in an expert panel here. Yeah. Next, I’m going to slide over we’re going down to Washington, DC. So Nicole Donnelly from dmg digital, how are you my friend? Happy Friday?
Speaker 4 2:52 How are you? I am doing great. I am so excited because I get to see you in a couple days. Kurt. I’m gonna take on Windy City, Chicago, Chicago. And I can’t wait. We’re going to meet some of our amazing clients and people that we’ve worked with and I just I just there’s nothing like seeing people in person, you know, so I’m just can’t wait to to be there. And we get to we’re gonna meet Chris Harrington can’t wait to meet her. That’s going to be super fun. So anyway, it’s gonna be great. I’m really excited about that. So I’m all fired up. And I’m excited to be here because this topic is like, one of my favorite, favorite favorite topics. So it’s gonna be
Speaker 2 3:31 this is very juicy stuff. And as matter of fact, we’re gonna be live streaming in Chicago, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. So we’re hitting different manufacturers in a wonderful state of Illinois in Chicago land, working with iMac the Illinois MEP. So, Nicole and I are super excited look for that. But let’s go here. Damon Pustaka. You know what, dude, I want to kick things off with you. Okay. I think you’ve done a live stream or two if I’m not mistaken. Is that like,
Unknown Speaker 4:00 Yes, this is my second.
Speaker 2 4:02 This is your second. Probably half the crowd here again. Welcome to the program. We got the chat boxes already on fire.
Unknown Speaker 4:09 Yeah, well, we got kicked things
Speaker 2 4:12 off. What inspired you to start live streaming? What inspired you to start live streaming?
Speaker 1 4:21 I got someone told me that I should do it. And I was like, You’re crazy.
Unknown Speaker 4:25 Somebody do or do right. Who was just almost there. Me?
Speaker 1 4:28 I said, Look, you know, I mean, I had I talked to you. Mike O’Connor. Like in 2019. And Jacob Warren, they said listen, you need Jacob said it even before that. He said, You need to go on video dude, this hangout and talk with people. I was like, What do you mean? That’s just you know, I was just totally foreign to me. But yeah, and then I started doing it and you know, and honestly got got law luck in some respects, because when COVID hit, everybody was kind of stuck inside right for a while and, and we just we started doing it and learning about it and it’s it you know, like today we’re gonna be talking about growing your brand with LinkedIn live streaming. And it’s been very beneficial to be able to meet so many incredible people. I mean, I think that’s me it just I never realized how many cool people I was going to meet by livestream and Kurt, you know, you and I, how many people have how many just fantastic people on the screen here, just on the screen in the chat. I mean, so many fantastic people that you meet, and the things that you learn that you never would have learned before. It’s just been such a gift. It’s such a gift, we’ll do it. But that’s originally someone Someone suggested I do it and I said, Are you crazy? And then they convinced me to do it.
Speaker 2 5:55 Right. So now several 100 episodes later, you’re deep, deep deep in it. Gal. Let’s slide over to my friend. You’ve been doing gal now. We’re signing up. We’re suiting up. Man, just absolutely love that girl, what’s livestream meant for you done? I know, we’re gonna take a deep dive, you put out a fantastic post, and we’re gonna hit some of those points through the conversation. But just kind of share with folks like what’s live stream? You know, what? What inspired you to take the leap? What’s it done for you, your brand your business, let’s go there for a minute.
Gail 6:27 Well, like David said, I mean, during the pandemic was there was an opportunity number one and number two, because I do talk about sign up, suit up and show up, you know, what better way to show up than using video. And then the live part. What I like about it as a recovering journalist, too, is that it really fit into my personality to my strengths. I mean, I can think quickly. I mean, I often do like moderating panels, and I can, and one of the first things that people got back to me, they’re like, Wow, you can just like think on the spot, ask questions. And that’s sort of a strength for me for for livestream. Because I don’t like to one of the things when I was a journalist that I love doing the most with the interviews, I love going out asking questions, and I would have some questions. But one of the strengths again, is being able to go down a different road if your guest is going somewhere instead of saying, Okay, on the question for now. And he won’t. Yeah, wait a minute. I want to know more. Right. So Oh, yeah, kind of go with the flow. So for me, like and the other thing that I love about live streaming is that, you know, I often tell people ahead of time, hey, this is, you know, no dress rehearsal, we’re going this. We’re not editing we’re gonna now sometimes love but most of it, we’ll get to that later how I use live streams later. But yeah, it’s really about and I love living in the moment, you know, the power of in the moment, there’s a different energy when you’re talking to people live. And I found even when I do pre recorded versus live, I still I love live the best. There’s that. That excitement just before, you know, oh, my God, and I still get that my heart’s racing before I hit Live button. And then I’m like, Oh, so that’s why I love live. And it’s also helped me with clients to being able to ask questions and interview them. And they’re more comfortable than just shooting a video.
Speaker 2 8:19 Yeah. All right. Yeah, absolutely. Love that. Nicole, let’s slide over to you. What has live done for you meant to you that’s that’s what your livestream journey looked like?
Speaker 4 8:29 Oh, my gosh, that is such a man. That’s a lot to unpack. Yeah. I will say, live stream has changed just catapulted my business. I can honestly say today that my business grew 80% last year, and this year, I would Yeah, I mean, and I will say that over 50% of our business, I can attribute to a live stream where the client saw me on a live stream or, you know, and, you know, directly comes from from live stream and as a small business. That’s huge, right. And the great thing about it is that live stream is so affordable, you know, it costs me nothing, literally nothing but my time to go on a live stream event. So, you know, for one, it’s just been great from a business development perspective. But to to Damon’s point, just even more important than that is just the relationships that I’ve developed because of live stream and just the relationship I’ve had with you, Kurt. And you, Damon, and you, Gail, and all of the people that I’ve met through this show and all of the the episodes and shows that I’ve been on has just been to me the most valuable part of this platform is just what I’ve been able to learn from so many people. And I think I’ve just had the first livestream event I did with you and Damon was a year and a half ago. My gosh, and I think Kurt and I were watching it back the other day and I was like, Oh my gosh, it feels like he just felt like a ages ago, so much has changed. But I think that when you go on a livestream event, I can’t tell you how many people we’ve had on the show that were terrified to come on. And just utterly terrified, fierce introverts. You know, they come on and afterwards, they’ve just gained this whole new sense of confidence. And just, they just love it. I mean, just last week, we had the show with my colleague, Amy, who came on to talk about indigenous pets. And she is one of the fiercest introverts that I know. Wonderful, amazing, you know, lady, but she is such a fierce introvert and she just blossomed right on screen. And afterwards, he was just raving about what a great experience it was. So I guess can’t say enough about, you know, how great it’s been for me personally, professionally. And, yeah, my deep gratitude to this wonderful medium.
Speaker 1 10:52 Well, I think from your guys’s perspective, Gail and Nicole, do you think that the live streaming allows you to meet people that you wouldn’t normally get to meet?
Gail 11:04 Yeah, I know, I’ve connected with people as well going to other people’s live streaming events. So that’s important, too. It’s not only it’s like that engagement. So I’ve met people. Well, a good example, Jim, but offski, who I heard on your show, and I just You reminded me that Kurt because I was like, Oh, I met him through LinkedIn, but it was through your show. He was an IT. Anyways, I’ve since had him on my show. He’s ongoing on his show we’re actually talking about he might even be tuning in today. And so I’ve met Harry Moser who does, you know, a lot of the from Orisha. And that was all because I saw him on a live event. And I commented I followed up and then so when I went to go invited him as a guest. Now this again, goes back to my journalism roots is that I mean, I’ve asked a lot of people, and sometimes they say yes, sometimes I’m surprised, but sometimes I don’t hear back. But that’s okay. I’m I don’t give up. I’ll just circle back later. And so yeah, it’s Mitch Jackson has been another guest of mine, who, who I also met previously on another networking. So anybody that knows me knows that networking is the foundation of everything I do, because it is like it fans out like that web like. And so
Speaker 2 12:25 you know what, Gil? And let’s just sit that for a second. Because you are the networking Queen course, like we got them bigger in the audience here. So if you’re the networking queen, but just like, can you talk about like how important that’s been for your business, on networking just as a whole, and then just tying it in with live streams?
Gail 12:45 Yeah, networking for me is by far the best way to build your business. And it’s not networking only to get business. So I will say one of the things that I do, and it’s I guess it’s to me, it’s natural, because I love I even travel alone. And some of the reasons I like to travel alone is because that’s I know, I’m going to meet more people that when I travel with friends. It is about you know, starting those conversations, and there’s been so many times that I don’t think it’s work related, and it comes work late. So here’s one quick story yesterday I had I lost you in an interview with a former high school teacher. He’s the reason I got into journalism because he started this journalism class. He’s now 93. And I just found out he had a manufacturing background. So we talked about that. And I just posted a clip because he talking about things coming full circle. He’s he was one of the early, you know, started on co ops, and he told these great stories about students that were in Co Op. So yeah, you never know where conversations will go as well. So yeah, it’s keep on talking to people and it opens up amazing doors. Yeah. And
Speaker 2 13:59 I hate getting shot out to everybody here. So we’ve got Aaron Victor angers here today. Happy. Or Sarah Victor, Dan bigger. He’s here, guys, again, thank you drop us. You’re here. If you’re not already connected with folks on stage boy, please do connect with Nicole Donnelly, connect with Gail Robertson. Connect with Daymond Pustaka to connect with you as well. Nicole, let’s go here. You’ve started a podcast with your guys. So for this panel, I’ll start with Nicole. But okay, we could do you know, Daymond we’ve done tons of webinars, right? We get into live streams. Nicole, you started a podcast. So all these are different mediums of like how to get that message out there. Build your brand, once you talk about like, you know, podcasting compared to live streaming, and then we’ll dig a little bit into like webinars start with Yes,
Speaker 4 14:48 yes. I think it’s really important for folks to know the differences between them. They’re all very great, you know, mediums in their own specific way. But you know, understanding some of those new Juan says I think can help you decide what’s going to be the right plot, you know, medium for you to use for your business or personally, and just understanding going into it. But you know, podcasting, I think one of the great things about it is, is it’s a lot more produced, if you will. And in some ways, it can be a little bit more intimate. So you don’t have an audience watching you, you’re having like this one to one conversation. And but you know, some of the disadvantages of podcasting, I think, is you miss out on that engagement that you get from having a live audience, and you miss out on the ability to like, really hype it up beforehand, you know, you can really promote the live stream. And the advantage of the live stream two is you can repurpose that into a podcast, right? So after the fact you can repackage it as a podcast. So not only is it a live event that you can promote, and you get optics on, but you can also like repurpose it into a podcast later down the line. And you know, something I think that’s really interesting is authenticity is becoming so much more important for buyers today. 90% of buyers today have shoppers, they want to buy from a brand who’s authentic, right? 90% want authenticity in their brand. What does that mean? They’re not looking for somebody who’s like super polished and perfect. They’re looking for that organic, you know, experience, they’re looking to see Kurt’s gaffes on screen. They’re, you know, they want to have that like organic experience and live streaming. You know, as much as I love podcasting, I, you know, I think it’s a great vibe, obviously chosen to use that for my, you know, to for communicating. But live streaming is really the most authentic platform that you could use as a brand. And I think, you know, with AI and everything that’s happening with AI. Yeah, it’s just so important right now for brands to find opportunities to show up authentically. And live streaming, in my opinion is the is the ultimate, you know, most affordable way to do that. It’s much cheaper. It’s another point it’s much cheaper to live stream than it is to podcast. So anyway, yeah, that’s what I you know,
Speaker 2 17:04 be authentic. And then somebody’s a Peters here today. Peter says, Hey, we’re done. 90% come from and then the question is about the 10%. That don’t want to be.
Gail 17:15 Yeah, so I
Speaker 4 17:16 will tell you that 90% comes from a study by stack law. I knew someone’s going to ask that nice sta si que la. So I promise I didn’t make that one up.
Speaker 2 17:25 So thank you to both Jim. Thank you for being here today. Yeah. I’m sorry, Peter. And then Jim dropped a note here. Turn your live stream into a podcast by using the script. So as great back, Jim, thank you, brother. Appreciate you. Happy Friday. Great question. Damon, you’ve done so you, you do faces a business on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Many folks here have been guests on your show, or have caught your show. So you’re doing live stream, you’ve done tons of webinars, we’ve done like we were doing live workshops together a couple of weeks ago. So you’ve kind of done the whole gamut. you’re converting your faces of business into a podcast? What are your What are your take on like the different opportunities for delivering these messages?
Speaker 1 18:05 Well, I think that I, okay, I’ll back up. My mind got racing. Because I think I think I like live streams because I want to be authentic. I think it’s so much more fun for us, the guests than everyone else, right? I’ve never been the person if you’ve seen enough, I’m not going to, we’re not going to make the camera, right, we’re not going to because I think real life is real life. And we need to work in real life. I can appreciate the podcasts that are highly produced and the videos that are highly produced. But at the end of the day, I think people want authentic. And we’ve said it many times here today and you hear it every time and I don’t think there’s a better way to do that than be with a live stream and turning my my face as a business into a a podcast is pretty simple. I mean, we add a little bit audio at the beginning. And that’s it. There’s no fancy, I mean, we’re not cutting out you know, oohs and ahhs and whatever spaces there’s none of that stuff because we just want to be authentic. And you know, and that’s and it’s yeah, it’s not going to be the top 10 podcasts because it’s not doesn’t have all the fanfare and things but you connect with the right people because I I get people when people talk to you after doing live streaming and podcasting for a while it’s scary almost because the people that you really want to talk with they’re going to going to have listened and talk to you a long time. And understand you so Right.
Speaker 2 19:37 Absolutely. All right, perfect gal Let’s go here. So you dropped a great post this morning. You gave some three three tips or strategies of why and how to use live stream you know, for your business. First one was foster business growth. Okay, so say there’s folks out there like hey, you know, man, I’m you know, we came to this because I want to learn about let you know, we’re live streaming about Live Streaming. How about that? It’s like bizarro. But anyway. So we’re live streaming about live streaming. But you talked about fostering business. Let’s, let’s hit that first one right there. First point. For folks that are considering this. What advice tips go? Let’s go there.
Gail 20:17 Number one, I always say is why do you want to do anything? Why do you want to be? Why do you want to be on Twitter? Because a lot of times, like, I love Twitter, but that’s my reason that I use it. I use tick tock, but I use tick tock in a very special way. That’s just like fun. I don’t invest a lot of time, but I, I know people watch it. But because of the work I do, I’m in a lot of different platforms. But when I’m working with a client, I they’ll say, oh, we need to be on tick tock because they read some article, they need to be on tick tock. So I would say listening, you know, maybe live streaming is for you. But maybe it’s not because there’s there’s a finite number of hours in the day. And a great line I once heard someone said, it’s about priority management, not even time management. So you have to prioritize. Where’s your time? What are you going to? Is that a great one? I use that a lot now, because everybody says time management. But so what is your priority, and if so, for your business growth, it really has to do with now Nicole does a great job has stats, and she’s able to correlate like driving business. For me, it’s really more of a brand, developing, like getting my name out there for whether it’s speaking or in manufacturing, it gives some credibility to what I’m doing. And, and it also opens doors for me to talk to people. But I would say for anybody listening today, like really look at why you want to do live streaming, and, you know, one size fits all, there’s no such thing. There’s no such thing as that. So live streaming may not be for everyone. And I often spend time with people first digging into the why and asking those questions and deciding Is this where you want to like maybe they just need to start first on getting their LinkedIn together and getting out there. So yeah, sometimes if you start, you know, to do too much, and then on the other hand, I’m going to say this unless you do have to just start so and that’s where a strategist can come in and help decide. You decide.
Unknown Speaker 22:18 You do have to just start I like that.
Speaker 2 22:24 Multiple mic drops right there on gang. Yeah. They’re like, we might just take a moment to just like see her a little bit of that. Priority management. Apparently, maybe you’re hanging out with Dave Chrysler Mr. Man. Yeah. They like Dave rings in my head every day, being efficient with my time. But I want to Damon, let’s grab a few comments here. So hey, thank you for joining us. I love this app to Zoomer signs demand authenticity, they are suspicious of Polish in high production, man, they’ll resonate.
Speaker 1 22:53 And then the one from Peter Smith after Jim does this. Yeah, you can do this. I will disagree with Peter on this one. Because if you put enough live streaming, your self comes out. I don’t think you can hide it. Right. Maybe you can maybe you’re really good at it. But
Speaker 2 23:11 Amen. I hate that term. So I agree with Peter, you can be inauthentic. I have a confession. I’m making a confession right here in front of everybody. All my friends right here. I’m not really bald. I’m like, I’m not really bald. I’ve been. I’ve just been I just wanted to make a confession right here to everybody. Nicole, I just want to I just, I’m just letting people know. So anyway, so I’m talking about being an author. I’m just teasing. So priorities are huge. So guys, keep the comments coming in. We are here to have that authentic conversation. We don’t have to agree and
Speaker 1 23:47 anger. Anger has a good one here, too. This is another thing. We haven’t said it yet. But consistency in live streaming is, is there’s like anything with podcasting, right? Yeah, if you’re not doing it, there needs to be a cadence. People need to know if you’re gonna do it once a month on the second Tuesday, do it. It just like anything, you got to do it consistently. And that’s, I think that’s where I see people over time dropping off, right is they’ll they’ll do a live stream or they’ll podcast for three months, six months, whatever. And then they’re done because they don’t get the results they want. And none of this stuff. The thing none of this stuff is is going to come quickly. I mean, Kurt, we’ve got a few comments here today. And how many times did you and I go on we have for comments. General comments, how many years it was it was a long time. Mom to come on. She
Unknown Speaker 24:42 dropped some Yeah,
Speaker 1 24:43 yeah, I pay my kids for my profile or whatever, you know, but it was it was just like it was it just takes the consistency is so important. It does.
Speaker 2 24:54 It takes a consistency. So let’s go Nicole, let’s go here. So I don’t know if everybody caught it. So again, guys, thank you for Join us today Happy Friday. We’ve got Gail Robertson here. We’ve got Nicole Donnelly, and Gail jata. Fantastic post. Totally, man, encourage you guys invite you guys connect with these two amazing, incredible wonderful ladies. Thank us later, Gail dropped a great post this morning. So I’m going to post one of her comments, building a strong brand presence. Nicole, you’re great on branding, you’re working with your clients and branding. You did a whole rebrand with your company, which I think is just phenomenal. So we’ll talk about like, what live streaming, what that can do for folks that are like, hey, you know what I’m considering going this livestream route. Let’s go there talk about what can the brand name do for someone that’s considering going this route?
Speaker 4 25:40 Oh, that’s a great, great question. So I think that we have, we are in the middle of a massive disruption right now with generative AI massive that we fully don’t realize how this is going to impact us. But one thing’s for sure is we’re already seeing just an incredible proliferation of AI generated content. And the nature of AI, these these large learning models that have been built is it’s intended to basically be derivative content. That’s the whole it’s, it’s pulling, parsing, taking from whatever information that already exists. And using this algorithm to predict what the next word in a sentence is going to be. So it by design, these are based on creating something new from something that already exists. And so we’re, that’s only going to increase over time, we know that trust buyers have have just lacked so much trust, today, more than ever before. In companies, it’s it’s gone down significantly ever since you know, social media came into play. And now with AI and generative AI, that that is only going to increase, it’s going to become harder and harder for brands to build trust with buyers because of that authenticity, and the more and more people are looking for it, and trust goes down. And so I think from a branding perspective, the opportunity for companies of all sizes, is to get on mediums like this, where you put your leadership in front of a microphone, and you just let them share what they know their experience, you know, the highs and the lows, the goods and the bads, the ugly, all of it, like let them open up the kimono and share. And that is what people want. That’s what they’re craving. That’s what makes that’s what’s gonna build trust with buyers is when they can see the real people behind the brand. And those people really are going to show show up in that way. So and I think there’s a lot of ways that companies can do this, you know, we talked about, you know, you don’t even have to produce your own livestream show. You know, like, for example, in my case, what did I do, I first knew I wanted to very intentionally meet and connect with people in the manufacturing industry, because I wanted to build relationships and build my business there. That was my why. So what did I do, I started engaging with those people on LinkedIn, started commenting, liking, you know, sharing my experience, and immediately started connecting one on one with people offline. That’s how I got introduced to Kurt. And then what happens next, I get invited to come on his show. He’s a micro influencer in this industry, right? So you want to find the micro influencer, that’s in your industry, who already has a platform, and then you go be a guest on that show. And that’s how you start you don’t have to start by producing your own show, you can start small by just being a guest on someone else’s show, and start to get the optics that way start to gain the confidence, you know, start to really get increase your exposure to you know, people within that network. And that’s really I think, a really affordable I mean, it’s, it’s just time really affordable way for for brands who are just getting started to try to get an increase their, their brand awareness and there’s lots of things that you can talk about in a live stream, you know, product launches, you know, you know, new you’ve just did a you’ve got a new digital transformation and E commerce build right or, you know, maybe there’s an acquisition that’s happened or,
Unknown Speaker 29:11 you know, new employees
Unknown Speaker 29:14 customers, right.
Speaker 4 29:17 Yeah, customer testimonials, right, you know, all of that so, there’s just a touch so much opportunity and live streaming has just increased so much like we’re seeing 2% year over year more and more people are watching wanting to see and be part of live stream so it’s only going to increase I think, Okay,
Speaker 2 29:36 that was a that was just that was what was was a grandma or was
Speaker 4 29:43 oh, Bart you’re so close and someday you’re gonna get it. It was rhubarb pie
Speaker 2 29:49 as I am BB strawberry rhubarb pie right there in the cold. That was just so good. But hey, again, guys. We’re coming over the top of the hour. We’ve got Jan, thank you for joining us today. Everything takes time. I like this comment here. People also need to realize consistency makes it easier practice, practice, practice. Right and as you can, less time per episode. Yes, this makes sense. I think they’ve Christ or jumped to another bombshell people always and my people buy from people, right. Like, you know, Hey, it’s b2c b2b, you know? And you know, Damon, we hear it all the time. It’s h two h, it’s human to human. And I don’t know if there’s any other. Hey, Whitney Houston is here today. So we’re so happy Friday, guys get dropped these comments in the chat box, we’d love to keep this conversation going. If you have any questions for these guys, please. Great time to ask these questions. Gail, I want to come back at you. You had again, wonderful post you put build strong brand presence? I’m gonna send question at you.
Gail 30:46 Well, again, it’s all everything we do is about our brand, which is about what they said. It’s about who we are. Right. So what’s interesting, I would usually recommend to people that go with, you know, like on a lot of platforms with their name. And the reason I’ve gone with Gail now is that’s become my brand. So when I walk into events now people introduce they go Oh, Gail now is here. So I’m friends with that. So I’m like my name Gail now and my son likes to say they tease me call me Gail. Now one because Instagram. Anyway. So it’s this joke that the kids have, right. But I did want to address something because I think when we’re talking about I agree about consistency. And sometimes I think for me right now I am being more inconsistently consistent or consistently, it gets it because I’m doing some testing as well. So instead of locking in, I didn’t show my show up with Gail now with every Wednesday, right? Well, now what I’m doing is I’m more doing some of my interviews, according to my guests schedules. And this had to do with some other things that were on my plate. So instead of kind of saying, Oh, well, I can’t do it every week, I now do it. I adjusted and I’m also using YouTube to a greater degree. So I’m doing it live. And I while I don’t have the same engagement in the comments, I’m still getting great content that I then use those video clips from. So for people out there, like kind of find your way and I do want to say another mic drop moment because this is from someone said this today on another call was restaurant said experiments become experience. Oh. Good. Okay. And the other day, I was doing a live stream. And we don’t know if we want to talk about products because I use stream yard. And there’s different things you can use. I’m going to be testing out e cam next because I read about that so much for that. But I was using stream yard and I wanted to live stream to Facebook, which I’ve never done before. So I thought well, I’m gonna try it so I tried it. Well, that got me down a rabbit hole and i i I’m not a big it was my personal profile because I was interviewing a former high school teacher, right. So I thought, Okay, I’m gonna do it on Facebook. Anyways, I asked Jim fuse who was in I think he was here who was also I learned so much from him. He was one of the first people that really helped with show I was doing and I found out finally I just deleted it because I it was such a mess in Facebook and live streaming from stream yard just seemed it was getting messy. So that was now I know, I don’t want to do that because of the new some of the changes in Facebook. And so just for people, but no one, you know, try some things I’ve tried many things didn’t work. And I’m so glad those things that I did because you learn and and that’s why I always say with livestream Hey, no dress rehearsal. Let’s just go and where are you? I did my show yesterday, I thought I was talking about these photos I was putting up except I wasn’t changing the photo screen. But I went back and said Okay, oops, that’s oops. But yeah, now I know to make sure I share the right photo screen so you wouldn’t know the photo I shared. No, I’m kidding. It wasn’t.
Speaker 4 34:10 And I’ll bet you that people will watching that. Just love that. That oops, honestly, yeah, probably. Because it’s so relatable. You know, like,
Gail 34:17 I I have got the most I mean, sometimes when you dropped the ball or mango say it can become funny if you embrace it. And I learned that from doing keynotes. Or something happens. Don’t pretend it didn’t happen. Just like no I had a bit of a wardrobe fail during a speech. And I just taught growth it was energy not that kind of work.
Unknown Speaker 34:42 Oh, I hope it wasn’t like Janet Jackson. We can’t go
Gail 34:51 any gap about that.
Speaker 1 34:55 That’s part of it, though. I think that’s the part of it that people enjoy and just think about This how many people watch reality TV?
Speaker 4 35:02 Right? It’s I mean, my daughter’s watched people play Minecraft and I’m like, what? I don’t you know? Yeah,
Gail 35:09 exactly.
Speaker 2 35:12 comments here real quick. So Jan I’m doing I’m doing the on podcast and in my message recovery from a stroke, if we just did just a few weeks ago with Katie McDermott and Nicole you Yep. Gary, my buddy in Rochester. My mother used to make strawberry rhubarb pie. Turtle Great to see you. Angered says hard to hire you know. So anyway, great comments here. Yeah. Okay, so let’s, man we got a we got a lot more to I don’t know, how are we doing on time? We’re doing good. All right. Yeah, we’re doing okay, let’s keep it going. Nicole. We had great comments here from gal gal. I’m kinda I’m like, I’m just I’m totally just blatantly plagiarizing stealing your posts, and we’re gonna go to awesome. You shared earlier like, you know, Boy, you’ve been very blessed, very fortunate businesses in growth mode. And I’ve watched it firsthand where like, you come on the live stream. And then we’ve taken these live streams, we share them with new prospects with new clients. We’ve invited them on the live streams, just talk about like, how it’s worked for you for business growth, or building those relationships on your end.
Speaker 4 36:16 I’ll give you an example. I think this is a cool example. So I have a partner who is a great he’s been he’s he’s just awesome. I’ve loved working with him. And he he said, Hey, Nicole, I’ve got this person I want to talk to you do you about I think this would be a really great business opportunity for you. So I meet with this woman, amazing woman, amazing, amazing woman. And we had a great conversation. And I said, Okay, well, let’s follow up. Let’s have a follow up call. Let’s go into more detail. I was it was a discovery call. Let’s have a follow up call. And I want to introduce you to my business partner, Kurt, Kurt Anderson. And she says, Okay, sounds great. So we scheduled this follow up call. And we get on the call. And no joke. She said, Oh, I watched you both on your LinkedIn live show
Speaker 2 37:01 that like in real quick. So what we do in this we did our SEO made simple for manufacturers. And I’m sorry, and we’ll talk about this in a minute. Like we were putting like we’re using SEO strategies in our headlines with our lives. We’ll save we’ll talk about that in a little bit. But Damon, we you so the three of us geeked out about SEO, we had Nicole on Monday, this call was on Thursday, three days later, Nicole told them and
Speaker 4 37:25 yeah, so first of all, we never told her about the show. We didn’t say anything to her. I never said to her Oh, check us out. We’re gonna be on the show. Nothing. All I did was say, I’d love to introduce you to my business partner, Kurt Anderson, and schedule the meeting, will she on her own volition. And this is a This just confirms how much buyers today are doing their homework online and researching you and you don’t even know it. Because we got on that call on Friday. And she’s like, Oh, I saw you on the show. And you were talking about spirit animals. And I’m a turtle, you know, too. And she had seen the show. And it’s like she already knew us. She already knew Kurt. And then not only that, she had chat GPT and Kurt and said, and I was trying to find out what an E commerce evangelist is. And so I typed into chat GPT what is an E commerce evangelist and Boo hoo comes up Kurt Anderson, and it was like blurt like everything is wet, you know? So anyway, so that is just like a perfect example. You just don’t know who’s lurking who’s watching who’s seeing you and it’s just a great opportunity to again get your authentic voice out there your brand voice in a great way and she is a wonderful customer we love working with her she she at the end of that call she had she said I’ve decided I want to work with you tell me which package I should use like she literally had so much trust that she told us you know she so anyway, so I think it just to me the proof is in the pudding like everything I’ve experienced just shows that this can be a really powerful way to build trust with people and all look good so that was one example I don’t know.
Speaker 2 39:06 Instead of moments of silence we might have moments of holy pauses it used to be a new
Gail 39:13 poll that is such a great I’m gonna pull that clip I think because I say this all the time. People are searching you people are finding it like we okay I said people do go search they and I don’t know do they think they’re the only people like to do it I go out some pretty people think that they’re in this like no one is searching about me but I’m searching what everybody else is you go search my friends often when it comes to even if they’re meeting someone or dating someone new they’re always like, hey, they call me first say hey, what can you find? The deep dogs that’s that’s a little side service. I do anybody. One thing that I I got connected in and I wanted to shout out to the manufacturing champions group because I was tapped by Jake Hall. And I remember the time I looked around, it was like me, like, they invited me. And it’s been really life changing to meet amazing people and be and I think I’m only one of those couple of Canadians. It’s, you know, it’s a very us focus group. But it was because I was showing up on LinkedIn, and I was commenting and participating in the conversation. So that’s another thing just like engaging in a you don’t have to have your own livestream. You can go in game, look at the some of the people commenting here, and I’ve found people to bring on my show through comments, and you know, people that get my attention, so, yeah. Y’all just, I know.
Unknown Speaker 40:57 Just savor the flavors. They,
Speaker 2 41:03 they think that people aren’t Googling them. Yeah. That’s like, that was like Chris Harrington. Right, David? Remember? UNIQLO? Remember that one? Like, people don’t want to call you about the O ring. Yeah, by all time, great quote, right there, man. They’re thinking that they’re not Googling them, so I don’t. Alright, so let’s go here. So amplify. So your three points today, were build a strong brand presence, foster business growth, amplify your networking opportunities. You know, you integrate, you just mentioned, I love to go there for a minute. Like you guys had the mastermind group, our mutual friend, Jeff Long is Chris Lukey. J. Cole. Megan was there. I mean, like, it was a powerhouse group of folks. Talk about, like, how that all came alive through LinkedIn, and like live streaming, just let’s go there. Share that with everybody, please.
Gail 41:55 Well, it was from, you know, like I said, showing up. I mean, you have to show up, even if you think you’re not ready, even if you think you’re not, you know, looking right, you don’t have the right background. I mean, I’ve had a few different backgrounds. But I mean, this is I use this was a pop up board that I used at a trade show, and then I decided, hey, I’m going to use it in my background now. Right? So it really is, you have to step out. And I often hear people go, Well, I don’t like it. I don’t want to do it, you know, and I’ve heard everything, but it’s like, in everything in life, like, do you want to move forward? So I often say to people they don’t want to do so shall I go? So do you have more business than you can handle? And it’s not answer isn’t. Like in 2023 and beyond, I don’t know how you can unless you have a very niche, maybe boutique tight local business that you’re handing out flyers. And I mean, there are places like that, right? If you want to actually open more doors, and have more business come your way. And just learn new things. It’s there’s so many opportunities. So yeah, the manufacturing champions has been like I still some days go, how did I ever get in this group? You pinch yourself.
Unknown Speaker 43:17 You’re definitely the cool kids there. Right.
Gail 43:20 One last thing that’s also I was I’m involved with PT Expo plastic technology expo because I worked in moldmaking work in the burger plastics. And the same thing they invited me a couple of years ago to be part of the circle of champions to help them promote the show. And it was a really brilliant idea what they did because they wanted people that were active on social to come out and, and I first I thought they meant like, because I was doing work with a client I think Oh, do you mean as the marketing for this client, they go no, no, no, Gail now we want you and that also is something that I tell other people you know, you can become a mark manufacturing champion or manufacture whatever, by showing up.
Speaker 2 44:02 So hey, Jan says I google myself to see what’s out there Jen? Great advice. Yeah. How are you? Are you sitting down gal? Are you ready for this comment? Yeah, there you go. There he is. If you wait to you’re completely ready, you’ll never start. And I’ve used this many times on the on the program demon. I think it was Reed Hoffman from LinkedIn. says if you’re not embarrassed by your first go around, you’ve waited too long. And trust me David, like I make like what’s the word you just use? Nicole? Get my gaffes right so my gasps my goose my mess ups I make they are very endearing. Were my MO right there. My mo Damon we were just up in Alaska doing live streams and puppy every day we can something a little awkward.
Speaker 1 44:50 But it was fun. I mean, that’s a perfect example though. They were horrible. I mean, there’s like this and you know like So we were talking about real people about real stuff. And that’s the thing that’s fun about live streaming. I mean, you can talk about people that are passionate about what their real life stuff, man, so cool,
Speaker 2 45:12 you know, and the thing is like entrepreneurship is lonely man, and it’s a lonely. Yes. And so the thing is, came and we were doing workshops at the Alaska MEP, we had a roomful of entrepreneurs. And just like, Mike, we’re going to do a live stream guys, we’re going to be over here, we’re not going to face anybody, we’re going to totally respect your privacy. If you guys want to come up, I would love for you guys to come up and do an interview with us. Almost every person like as mere fact that what like, you know, Nikola Tesla, like painful introverts. This one client candy, like total pain for an introvert, I’m like, Man, I don’t want embarrass candy. And she was like knocking people over, you know, to get up there on stage. And people just love to just have a moment to talk about themselves. They want recognition. So if nothing else, man shine a bright light. I’m like your, your clients, your customers. Clap, you know, collaborate like Dave and I aren’t the two smartest guys in the room. But boy, we’ve certainly feel smart when we’re hanging out with just amazing brilliance. And just soaking it in with everybody. Nikolas I know, like we need to probably certainly about winding down at some point in time.
Unknown Speaker 46:16 Oh, man, I just want to keep going.
Speaker 2 46:20 Cool. Let’s let’s go clients. We’ve been bringing clients from IMEC cycle. We’re on site. We’re gonna be on site in Chicago next week. Talk about like what you’ve seen, like how white on Monday, what’s interviewed Mike on Monday, talking about what you’ve seen with like clients coming on? And how like, they’ve just really just, they’re glowing talking about their businesses. We had Alan, the hot sauce manufacturer last week. What are some experiences that you’ve seen?
Speaker 4 46:47 Yeah, I mean, it’s been really great. So you know, our company, we have what’s called a content engine. And so we help we help these small businesses just create their marketing foundation and just start to create ongoing regular content that answers their buyers questions so that it can build trust. And so we do that through blogging through video clips. And we do a lot of what’s called subject matter expert interviews. And those are typically privately recorded, we private record those interviews, and then we waterfall the content from there, we splice it up, get it out on social media, turn it into blog posts, and what I realized probably maybe like, sheesh, I don’t know, several months ago, happy I don’t remember is the magic of the subject matter expert interviews is in the full interview itself, not in these like little clips that we’re in turning it into a blog post, you know, there’s all value in that. But the true magic is the conversation that we’re having, where we get these, like experts on who knows. So like they’ve been in this what their industry for, sometimes decades. And they know so much. And like I get on the subject matter expert interviews, and I’m like, Oh my gosh, is mind blowing what these people know. And now we’ve got to turn it into a blog post and cut it up into these little clips. I’m like, I just want to share the whole stinking thing with the world. It’s so powerful. And so we started to just like, ask them, hey, what if we were to turn your make these private subject matter expert interviews live, we just do a live event? And you can, you know, we already know like, we have a content calendar all planned out strategy for like six months a year, what we’re going to say what if we just take that topic, and we’re going to broadcast it on a live show? And it’s, you know, they’re responding, you know, they’re like, Yeah, let’s, let’s do it, let’s talk about it live. And it’s been a really great opportunity for them to for, you know, for us to experiment with this as an option. And we’re seeing like, they’re, they love it, it’s, it’s been great, they build confidence they get to share their product and you know, their their their thought leadership and you know, all the great stuff, all the great stuff, all the great things. So it’s I think it’s just been a it’s a really another great way for them to, you know, brand them get their personal brand out there and their brand or their company and, and I’m starting to ramble, so I’m gonna stop. No, that’s
Speaker 2 49:02 fantastic. Hey, Damon, we got our buddy Mark hills there too, man, dude, Mark. Happy Father’s Day to you my friend. Great Father. Amazing guy. He’s out in Chicagoland. So Mark, Happy, Happy Friday. Happy Father’s Day to you. But Dave. Alright, let’s start winding down. And so I have my last question that I want to add. I probably have like five more. But last question. I want to ask you guys, as we go around, I won’t say like, who’s the top guests? Because like, we you know that, you know, I won’t ask that. Right. But Damon, we were you and I you Nicole and I were talking earlier this week of like, not necessarily the best guests because every single one of them is the best guests. Yeah. But talk about like, what how have these guests changed you? How have they changed your lives? Whether you know, it was like maybe you know, we landed a big guest all the way down to like, you know, you know, cheese, you know, didn’t expect a ton and just, you’re just blown away by anybody that comes on the stage, but just share a little bit of Like, what it’s done, how it’s changed your life, just interviewing these hundreds of people that you’ve had the good fortune of interviewing.
Speaker 1 50:07 I don’t even know how to describe it. I mean, because it’s just like, it’s like this, this. It when when people talk about gratitude anally some of these things, I’m just so grateful to be able to, to be able to talk to people and learn from them, and then build relationships with them. I mean, I never knew this was possible like this. And once you start meeting these awesome people, there’s so many awesome people to meet, all you want to do is meet more of them. And the people around you are going to think you’re absolutely freaking insane. Because you do it and you do it so much, if I could. And you know this for me, I would do this five days a week, I would do it from my box on the corner if I had to, because there’s so many cool people to meet and learn from and just Galle curious, right? How does it feed your curiosity? To talk to somebody that good at something you know nothing about and learn about it? Oh, my goodness. Right. It’s such a blessing
Speaker 2 51:12 it. Alright, let’s take them strawberry rhubarb pie. I was just that was fantastic. And that’s, that’s the thing is like just the amount of the opportunity to learn the opportunity to network the opportunity to just grow as a person talk about topics that maybe you didn’t know anything about. Talk about people that don’t look like you talk to people that you know, had a different upbringing, different walks of life, you know, whatever it might be gal, let’s go there for you. What have you know, some of the conversations, the mind blowing conversations, these relationships, the you know, we always talked about, like the emotional side, your curiosity, your journey like this ties in perfectly with your journalism hat. What’s it meant in done for you on that side of things?
Gail 51:52 Well, I am all about transferable skills and curiosity and showing up those are like three things I really strongly believe in. And because of the work I’ve been doing with my show, and when I had show up with Gail now I interviewed people that were showing up and sometimes in manufacturing, but sometimes outside manufacturing, and how could that help people in manufacturing? Right now my current show is curious minds with Gail now and it’s a bit of a shift. But it’s still talking about the power of curiosity. And I am I’m it’s also a kind of a combination part of a passion project. Because I really believe there’s a lot of stories that and perspectives that aren’t being told in our world right now. So I’m a big fan, too. I started listening to Joe Rogan. And not that I’m saying lines like Joe, but there’s a lot of judgment about him. And I tell people have you listened to some podcasts like setting aside wherever your political view go? Listen, because his podcast really is about curiosity. He has people on not everybody he agrees with but he there’s a discussion, it’s not an attack and and so my show curious minds now. And the same thing, what manufacturer we have to get more of these discussions, whether it’s about getting factoring, so it but it also ties into decisions being made, whether we’re talking about climate change, whether we’re talking about Evie whether we’re talking about, you know, political perspectives, it does impact manufacturing. So, yeah, for me, I’m now taking a bit of a different path. And my show is to to get more people to kind of say, hmm, I hadn’t thought of the world that way. This in that way. So I’m kind of this belief too, that we need, we have too many extremes. And we need to kind of bring back some balance in our world because we’re when I’m also a big fan of yoga, right? And yoga balance you have kind of because you can’t just do like I do a lot of cycling, I can’t only cycle so I cycling, drink training, I do yoga, because and anyway, so that’s my little preaching point about the power of using video and live streaming to also change the world. And that’s sort of my my ideal back in journalism school. We had shirts made out to change the world on deadline. I felt that I wasn’t able to do that in mainstream media. So now I’m doing it with curious minds.
Unknown Speaker 54:23 One, you know, just one person at a time
Unknown Speaker 54:27 and so much in there
Speaker 2 54:29 so much in there. And so I so I our comments are coming through on on here, but I’m so Jim says Bravo gals. We’ve got some great yeah, through on LinkedIn. So okay. My gosh, no, question. You, Nicole. I think you interviewed was somebody important this week? I can’t remember. Did you interview? Yeah.
Speaker 4 54:53 I interviewed probably my biggest marketing idol. And he came on my podcast. asked. And it was, it was literally a dream come true for me to be able to interview him. His name is Marcus Sheridan and he, his strategies that he experimented with at his own business, I was able to take to the company that I was working for many years ago and just completely anyway, I’m rambling because it was just such an incredible experience. Whereas I was looking for it. It’s called they ask you answer. Everyone should read this
Speaker 2 55:28 book even hasn’t read on his home. Right?
Speaker 4 55:32 And anyway, so I had a chance to he came on the podcast, and I immediately it was just incredible experience. He was so generous with his time, and just all my I’m, I’m speechless about it. And after the podcast, I got off, and I had a meeting with Damon and Kurt and I was just filled with immense gratitude, because there’s no way there’s no way in my mind, I would have ever had him as a guest on my show, had I not been on your livestream show a year and a half, there’s just no way I know it. So like, to me, I’m just so incredibly grateful for the chance that I’ve had to get to know you guys, and for the opportunities that you’ve given to me, that you, you know, allowed me to come on your platform. And I just think about, like all the other people out there who have been on your show, that we don’t even know about that have been so positively impacted because of what you guys are doing or what you’re bringing to this community. Like, I don’t think you could fully realize that I’m sure that they’re, you know, I mean, I know you hear some of it, Kurt, and people come and tell you, Oh my gosh, that was so amazing. But like the longterm downstream effect of what you guys have created here, is just really, really special. It’s really special. And I think that there’s opportunity for other people out there who are listening to us, Damon and Kurt and Gail as a great example of what you can create to for your business. Wherever you’re at as a leader, wherever you’re at, if the when you get your voice out there, and you really, you know, try to help people the way that Damon Kurt Gail, you guys have done, the impact that you can have is just so remarkable. And so I’m just so filled with gratitude that, you know, there’s just, it’s just been, it’s just kind of like come full circle. So thank you so much from the bottom of my heart, for what you give him what you do, it really makes such a difference. And I know, you may not see it now, but it does
Speaker 2 57:22 make back at you my friend. So I know. Like we could go all day, like we’re just flying right over over time. So why don’t let’s start winding down. And so I can say so first off for everybody in the audience. Thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I know Damon, I’m speaking for you, that says such an honor such a blessing and like you, you know, like, whether it’s five people, you know, two people on my mom and somebody else, you know, and 100 other people whatever, it just like you know, having that impact, you know and gal, you hit it on the head, you know, the curiosity to call we use the line, how do we teach? Yep. Competition? How do you teach the competition and so like, our goal is like, man, we want to have a lot of fun. We call it edutainment a little bit. But you know, bottom line, like we’re just trying to learn and like if we can get other smart people to come on the program. Because again, I’m gonna speak for Damon, I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed. But when we bring on smart people like Nicole and Gail, we can just you know, just man. And I think Jan dropped a comment. So when you said I want to change the world can said like, I’m just changing my little corner. So like, you know if we can corner and I’d say one thing that we always love to end a program and we’re not ending yet, so don’t go anywhere. Is you know, be somebody’s inspiration. Yeah. How can you speed some reason? Inspiration, man, was this so inspiring. I guys, let’s wind down. Damon, I’m going to come to you my friend. Father’s Day weekend. I know, you know you Your father was a total hero. We lost dad during COVID. Father’s Day, what the best best father’s memory to you.
Speaker 1 58:58 Wow. I don’t know. I just I don’t know, I’ve been trying to think of it. But, you know, I think that just the, you know, the lessons, the lessons. You know, even later in life two, that was a thing for me later in life too.
Speaker 2 59:15 And, you know, it wasn’t Mark Twain that said, he left us home at 18. He came back at 21. He was like, I can’t believe how smart my dad got in those three. All right, remember that story. So, Gail, I’m going to come to you my friend Father’s Day weekend. Best father’s best best memory of dad, anything that you want to share? Well,
Gail 59:33 mine is a bit of an interesting story. I’ll keep it quick because I’m in writing as part of ride don’t hide. I also do work, excuse me in the area of mental health from a marketing perspective, and growing up, my son grew up in an alcoholic home. So here’s the thing that I learned from my father is that, you know, he did the best he could and it was you know, I think there’s no I accidents in life. So, because of the work I’m doing and I’ve done in mental health, I’ve now learned that his drinking was really related very likely that was his way to medicate for mental health issues because in the end, he did take his life. But I don’t want to end this on a negative. What I want to say though, is that this is why I believe curiosity is so important because as I’ve gotten older, I now take that page from Ted law so be curious, not judgmental. So I have I learned a lot my father instilled in me the love of reading, there was many positive things I did a talk on my YouTube show where I talked about Rob during a Robbie Burns talk. And so I I wanted to bring up this story because you know, not everybody grew up with a wonderful way or a wonderful that their father was amazing. But maybe if you can step back and say what take the best leave the rest. And that’s what how I live my life right now. I focus on what is the best memories of my father and so I will raise a glass of cheer to him. Now on Sunday, so well
Speaker 2 1:01:13 you know, just went I don’t think you’d get like, you can’t see my expectations. You just go and smash them once again. Thank you for being vulnerable. Thank you for sharing what a wonderful beautiful heartfelt story God you just totally move me
Gail 1:01:30 to that’s the only thing that’s the other message too is that wherever you are, make sure because mental health encompasses addictions and grief and eating disorders. There’s so many support your local mental health association.
Unknown Speaker 1:01:43 Definitely.
Speaker 2 1:01:46 Gail, thank you more. More strawberry rhubarb pie right there. So send so much love for Gail Nicole. Can we can we do this?
Gail 1:01:58 Sweet. I know.
Speaker 2 1:02:02 You lost dad. Fierce, fierce entrepreneur. Manufacturer built amazing, incredible company. You know, really sad lost dad during COVID Your favorite memory of your father?
Speaker 4 1:02:15 Yeah. Well, first of all, Gail, I love everything you just said I think a lot of us have really complicated relationships with our parents. You know, I think that that’s, you know, and I definitely did with my dad, he was a force he was larger than life. And incredible person in a lot of ways. You know? And I would say like, probably, but he was also a very type a person, you know, very much. So really like when you mentioned some be curious, not judgmental. I love that so much. One of my favorite memories of my dad was when he came to visit, and I have many, many, many. But he came to visit me. She must have been like five years ago. And he was not a man who ever gave like words of affirmation. He wasn’t like someone who would give a lot of praise. Like you did a great job. Awesome. He didn’t do say Wowzers Wowzers like holy cows like Kurt does. So but he just he came to visit and he went to the store one day, and he went to the grocery store, just want to go the grocery store. He came back from the store and he’s like, Nicole, I got something for you. And I was like, Oh, this is little. Okay. And he had gotten me this mug from the grocery store. And it said on the mug, you are the best. I think you’re amazing. And I remember it was just like this very small, like little thing he picked it up and he had this big smile on his face. And I just it just melted my little I just gave him a big hug and it was that really small little moment that I will always cherish that he and he just was over the moon about this little mug and he’s like I just want you know how much I love you. And that’s a memory that will always just stick with me of him. Small not not anything bigger fancy but mentally.
Gail 1:04:00 He actually
Speaker 2 1:04:01 he was huge and I know right over your shoulder if you kind of go like this Nicole is and I think your father Jim used to play lead and music and he was a very theatrical very gifted music was music and so oh thank you guys for sharing my father. My he’s still my best friend and when I was a demon he would you know you know the old you know 12 hour days six days a week that it up but man when he came home at night we were in the side yard playing catch in AR 10 years old just like pitching the confidence that he built and me. I’m thrown as absolute as hard as I can in every night be like, Man, I’ve got to get a sponge for this glove because you are throwing so hard you’re hurting my hand. I’ve got to get you had me so convinced and I’m like I’m throwing the heat. You know like I’m an everyday man. We were out there didn’t matter what the weather was how tired he was. He was in a sigh yard we’re in. I’m a baseball fanatic to this day. So, man, we’re all blessed with just greats. Thank you for sharing those stories to each of the men so much, guys, I’m we’re gonna close it down. Yep. Thank you, Gail. Thank you. You’re such a blessing in your second year friend. I’m embarrassed that we have not met in person. Can we please make that an absolute top?
Gail 1:05:21 I’m thinking, of course or maybe when is when are you in Chicago? What’s the date said? Monday? Monday. We could have we could have rideshare down there. But I don’t think well,
Speaker 2 1:05:35 we’ll make it happen. You’ve been a dear friend. You’ve been a huge advocate for our from day one. Like, you’ve been a huge advocate for our show. I cannot express my thanks my gratitude by making you you fill in as a guest, a host. It’s perfect. Gail, when you and I were hosting together. I just got an email this morning from Haley saying, Hey, can you send me that download because I’m going to pull out a bunch of clips from that. And that was you and I on stage together. Nicole, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for joining us today. I deeply appreciate you. She Nicole you still there?
Unknown Speaker 1:06:09 I’m here. Yeah. Thank you to do.
Unknown Speaker 1:06:13 Damon. Was this like, what was this? How was this for an episode?
Unknown Speaker 1:06:17 Is it a good one? Is it a good
Gail 1:06:19 one I streaming is it’s powerful. Yeah.
Speaker 2 1:06:26 Because I know we could go all day. So thank you. Thank you. Happy Father’s Day weekend to everybody. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for listening. Thank you for hanging out. Damon once you close this out like you always do, dude.
Speaker 1 1:06:39 All right. Wow. Thanks so much, everyone for being here today. Thank you, Gail. It’s always a pleasure to have you on and CO hosting and just appreciate the curiosity and you know, signing up soon suiting up and showing up is such a great example for us all your journalism background. Learn from it every time I get to be with you listen to you. Just thanks so much. And Nicole, the having you here having you on the live streams with us is so much fun because you bring such a great great vibe and emotion and just energy I should say that emotion but energy and it’s so much fun to have you around because you just you know really know what you’re doing as well too, which is fun. And in Kurt, it’s just if people are wondering about live streaming, they should just try it. Because if you know if Statler and Waldorf can do it
Speaker 1 1:07:55 if we can do it, we can do it. Anybody can do it. But I just want to say thanks everyone, once again for showing up for us. We’ve had a couple technical difficulties. We haven’t been able to see the comments for some reason and it’s been telling me but this is live streaming. Right. You’re gonna have problems. We just kept going with it. The conversation for Great. Thanks so much for everyone that was listening today. Thanks so much for the people that were commenting, and back again, and just we will be back again next week with another guest more shows next week is a big week. It’s like how many how many shows are going on? It’s like four or five shows next week we got going on? Yeah, it’s gonna be so much fun. Thanks, everyone. We’ll be back. Have a great Father’s Day weekend.
Tim Wilborne is an Industrial Automation YouTuber and a part of the Manufacturing Champions group on LinkedIn with GailNow!
He runs TW Controls with Amber, with whom he shares a passion for helping people reach their goals.
The mission of TW Controls is to teach people how to think, to work through problems AND to improve troubleshooting skills.
Tim also does in-person teaching and he has been tapping into the POWER of YouTube and he loves to share how to rock that platform – which was part of the interview with GailNow!
Tim and Amber work together, parent together and live together – and YouTube together!
YouTube is where Tim learned how to Show UP… with over 50,000 subscribers on YouTube!!!
He also wants to help others increase their skills, so that they will always be in demand.
In the interview, Tim talked about automation and also how he has leveraged social media – and beaten down a few trolls!
Tim also talks about the many JOB opportunities in automation.
You don’t want to miss this show!
Check it out!
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
Speaker 1 0:00 And really I always say I’m the accidental YouTuber because I, you know, really we we build ul 508 A control panels we do PLC training. And, you know, we used to sell some with some smaller products and you know, sometimes they were a little bit you know, just like everything tactical is a little difficult to you know, understand how to use so I started putting videos out there, hey, here’s how to use this device, the same product videos everybody does. And not only one day I was you know, I was looking because, you know, like I said, most people don’t realize Yeah, one I should back up a little bit everybody. First of all guys, I’m camera shy if you didn’t know it. If you don’t know what that you should just hit the record button I am camera saw. And so really, I was looking at it one day, I’m like, why are people watching this video? And it’s like, oh, well, this, I guess it was informed of, you know, nevermind, it was not a good product video, it was just, hey, here’s some good information about a product. And so I started just realizing, hey, you know, maybe I can carve out a niche and just giving people information, you know about automation? So that’s kind of how I stumbled into it. Or how do you want to go?
Gail 1:13 No, that is great. And I would encourage people to go check out some of Tim’s YouTube videos, which I have done. And I didn’t know exactly because, you know, we’re in a manufacturing mafia group. And I see Tim and that, but I didn’t really know exactly, I know you did something to do with panels and stuff. But I went and watched the videos, I’m like, Oh, it was really interesting. Because obviously, you do a great job on organizing your videos. And clearly, you’ve been doing this for a while to see you have your videos organized, you have great titles on them. So I was able to learn that they were to an engineer and a technician. That was fascinating, the car analogy. So I would encourage people even that are listening from the manufacturing world to go check out some videos. And because let’s just talk a little bit before we get into the YouTube side about you really talk about you know, the technician side, which is being a troubleshooter. Can you just talk a little bit about that for any of the operations people listen again? So
Speaker 1 2:12 yeah, the bulk of what we do is really field troubleshooting. You know, so we’re not as much, you know, we we will kind of design panels in some cases, but usually, somebody’s already engineered a panel, we’re building it, installing it somewhere. And then yeah, when it doesn’t work, we’re the ones they call to figure out why it doesn’t work. And yeah, that particular video there, I was trying, you know, and there’s, you know, talking about storytelling, we could probably go on a long rabbit trail about it is really, you know, I get so frustrated because people do well, we sent them to a programming school and they still don’t know how to troubleshoot. And I like where in that class that say troubleshooting. And yeah, so I do believe that is kind of the nice that we are in. So yeah, you have automation. You’re right. And you and I are both there. But yeah, we don’t we definitely are in two different lanes. But even then, yes, we’re into the control panels and all that. But even then, yeah, we want to help you keep your existing machines running. That’s kind of where we’re at. Okay, I
Gail 3:18 love that. And I love this is why I think you’re also doing well on YouTube, you are able to explain that so succinctly as to what you do, because, you know, people who have who have a niche, that’s also where they do really well. So congratulations on that. So I know a lot of people were getting a little bit of feedback. I don’t know if that’s me or Okay, anyways, well, since there we go. So let’s talk about YouTube. And you’ve been on YouTube for quite a while now. Can you talk about now we talked a little bit for and I know you’ve been on you started your first okay, we’ll just say you had your first video some back, we’re back around 2007. But really your channel started? When When would you say when you’re putting a flag in the ground of a date?
Speaker 1 4:06 Oh, well, with the channel that I have today. 2014 I did have a previous channel. And you know, it was one of those. It was a company channel and that’s what people did then. And I was a little scared at first I’m like, can I just make a channel just call it me. And really just build, you know, hey, and for a long time, all that video started. Hi, this is Toby but because it’s like I don’t want to be TW controls. I don’t wanna be any of that. I just want to be a guy that will help you out with with it. But as far as that that channel started in 2014.
Gail 4:40 Okay. US also said something really interesting there about just starting out as you and that’s how I actually started on Twitter. That was probably my first I started back in just around 2007 Eight on Twitter and decided yes, just and that’s how I got Gail now actually was I couldn’t think of a name and I said well I Need something now I was getting ready to go to a trade shows I said Gail now, and then I thought, oh, I can change it later.
So when you decided to go into So would you say YouTube was more just you kind of drifted into it as opposed to a business plan or how your
Speaker 1 5:22 business plan? I mean, no, it was absolutely positively there was no plan for it. I mean, people asked me, you know, what, you know, because that’s the firt. You know, YouTube has certain things, you know, you got to get to 100 subscribers, you got to get to 1000 subscribers, you got to get to 10,000 subscribers, 100,000 subscribers, we will Oh, how do you get your first 1000 subscribers? And I’m like, I don’t know, because I had about 4000 before I figured out where to go look at your subscriber account. But no, I mean, really, we were trying to sell products, like a lot of people are. And we just had some really horrible product videos. So just the product, and me talking through how to use that. That was really unsettled. We were we were probably into maybe what I was, say 2014. That’s kind of when all of a sudden I decided that. So the 2000 We’ll call it 2009 to 2014 was more of just a No, there wasn’t even a business plan.
Gail 6:23 So it’s testing the waters, I guess is Yeah, yeah. Now one of the things you suggested to me and I have started that, because I do believe that, you know, the best time to start is like now you just, and that was the firt that was one of the videos I did yesterday, is that the best time to start on anything? And often you have to start even before you’re ready. So you had suggested doing, I think you said 300 videos, just get 300 videos. Now, I know that might have been let’s talk a little bit about that. For people that are listening today. If they are thinking about YouTube, what would be the and maybe they have some other social media, let’s assume that they’ve got some of their social media under their feet, they’ve, and they’re ready to take it to the next level, what would you recommend?
Speaker 1 7:10 hit the record button? I mean, I know that sounds really simple, but really hit the record button. And necessarily, don’t don’t worry about the mic. Don’t worry about you know, the background, don’t worry about anything. Don’t worry about having the right camera, everybody has a phone, it has a record on it. Just hit the record button. And that’s I may have said 300 in really it probably is 100 at least but just start putting videos out because it’s gonna do two things. One, you know, I talked a lot of people about this. And probably 20 videos in a lot of people are going to sign this. This isn’t for me, because I think people think it’s just you magically posted and everything just happens. And it doesn’t really work that way. You know, also to hit the record button just because it got a gala, you can go to Easter egg. If you go and find my first video is still on YouTube, I will not tell you where it is. But um, I might give somebody a prize if they find my first video.
Gail 8:13 Oh, now you really made it a challenge. I know you say a prize, I think game on
Speaker 1 8:20 horribly awkward in it. And I mean, like horrifically awkward. If you look at me in 2009 I’m just as awkward, you know, because I’ve only put out probably 20 videos sets and you look at me even at you know, say 2013 It still is I mean, it’s you know, if I had just sit there and just drop video after video, you know, just whatever I know, well, what’s the word whatever, not whatever, but just started trying it. I could have honed all this in a whole lot quicker and when figured out whether what to do it or not. But also probably the more important one is figuring out really, what audience do you want to serve? Because you and I we’re in the same industry broadly. But obviously we’re in two very different narrow niches. And so you’ll start to define that and really, my my initial videos did not serve my audience as far as technicians and, and I wasn’t happy. I really wasn’t happy. And all of a sudden, you know, I found them when you know, I’m like, Oh, I found my people here this is where I want to be.
Gail 9:31 Well, it’s it’s much like anything else in networking or even. I mean even when you’re starting out in any business, right? You have to sometimes do some trial and error and throw some stuff out. Right? I mean it it’s very rare you hear that, you know work you did. Like I was a reporter in a past life. And if you went back and looked at some of my initial articles, I’d probably be horrified to write you know, it was like, Oh, that was a little news. Ooh, that was not a If that was kind of a, I mean, luckily, I always say, thankfully, in newspaper business, we had editors. And I still I bow down to editors because they, they do such a wonderful job and, and you know, I’ve been in an editing role too. So it’s always easier to edit someone else’s to a so in terms of now what you’re doing so for again, let’s go back you talked about you were just you were doing some videos did but you didn’t do very many videos in those early days was it?
Speaker 1 10:32 You know, and have to go back and look but my wild guess between 2007 and 2013 I’d say 75 to 100 videos, okay. So very sporadic. Very you know, I thought everyone had to be perfect. And Emily, it takes a long time to make perfect video, especially in our industry. I’m I don’t have your talent or gift, you know, as far as being in front of the cameras.
Gail 11:01 Well, I see now I look at you, I think you have great talent, I watch your videos, you’re entertaining, you have humor. So see, again, this is where I just did a video today talking about what can we learn from Ted lasso in manufacturing marketing, which is Be curious, not judgmental. And it’s not just judgmental of others. It’s we judge ourselves, like much more harshly than we’d even judge other people. We actually think oh, we don’t you know, look, right. Yeah, we No. Background is not good. Yeah, now we have let’s go to a couple of comments because we do have Yep, so we are, which is very I think LinkedIn this is all the universe is unfolding as it should because now we need to do more talking on YouTube. So everybody go to my YouTube channel and go to Tim’s today. It is funny that LinkedIn of all times today this is the first time my live I’d say that LinkedIn. So thank you. So yeah, oh, wait a minute. Katie says I can’t wait to learn more about you to me. I hope to be here one day, they
Speaker 1 12:11 go ahead and hit the record button as soon as you get off of here and just make a video.
Gail 12:15 There you go. Okay, what’s our next one is that now she wrote up GTG now Gee, I don’t know if that got Okay, gotta go but I don’t think so. No, she’s laughing then she says Oh, you can check out my first videos too. So darn embarrassing. I bet you they’re not I think they’re probably endearing. There’s a difference. I think it’s me that’s getting flat on I’m like getting
that’s good. I went on. There we go. Okay. Let’s go to sorry and girl snap. So I’ll let you so I just washed my feet geologists on YouTube yesterday where he talked about when he first went live and how things have changed and what a large audience he’s has checkout present there and then she said the prize gala had to go leave to
Speaker 1 13:28 impress to someone five. I’ve left it there and it’s one of those it’s like, Oh, wow. Have you know you’re talking about wind and I staked my flag in YouTube? Well, there you go. I could still say it was 2007.
Gail 13:45 Okay, well, and now you have a privacy now you created a whole buzz about this. Fun now you must fight and I bet you I bet you that I will find that it’s endearing. Not as bad as what you think because I have there was only once I remember having a I’ll just say there was someone that said they didn’t show up well on photos. And that was someone that I had worked for. And I looked at the photo after it came back was we were doing headshots and I came when I said yeah, no you don’t do you don’t look good in a photo and people say you said that to him. And I go Yeah, and I said that’s why after that he knew he could trust me because I wasn’t blessing him. I’m like, No, you really do and in real life he presented so well. Was that person didn’t didn’t look in photos. So okay, um, I’m going to Okay, let’s see. Okay, so that is all let me see. I’m going to check here. Okay, so anchor See, I’m having microphone issues. It says mic but the mic is plugged in.
Speaker 1 14:54 You’re good now that I think that was when all of a sudden you went quiet for a little bit when you’re moving?
Gail 14:57 Yeah. Okay, so I’m good now, but I hearing feedback, which is are you hearing any feedback?
Speaker 1 15:02 No, you sound great. Okay, with that it’s a good time to say, Hey, don’t worry about those little things when you know, it’s because, you know, I’ll tell a story of myself the first time I went live, because, you know, I am I am severely camera shy. I mean, people were surprised that but I had, I was all set up to do a quick panel build, I’m like, I’m gonna do live. And I sat there and stared at the button for an hour. What it’s like, well, what if this goes wrong? What is this? And I finally did it, and it went fine. And then so else, I’m like, Oh, well, this works well. So when loved the next time the power went out. So don’t worry about all these things ever, you know, you’ll find it? Well, here’s the most important thing, once you start really finding your audience, your audience is gonna mind this thing. So they appreciate what you’re doing, you know, and they appreciate the content that you’re providing to them. And, you know, if, if there’s, um, and ah, or, you know, you fumble through your words, as long as you are helping them, then they’re not going to care.
Gail 16:11 Yes, and one of the things I love about live is that things happen just like that. And the reason I do address it is sometimes I’m like, Okay, I want other people to know, it’s okay to do that, too. And it’s okay to just, you know, it’s almost like if something goes wrong, I’ve learned this from public speaking, like, say something happens in the room. Like, don’t pretend it didn’t happen, but you got to address it like someone’s FOMO. You know, umur is always good, too. Yeah. Now we have here someone I don’t know if this is someone you know, Devin Cortez. Thanks for doing this. I started in the food industry. And now I’m doing electrical engineering for the metals industry starting to learn PLC programming soon. Wow.
Speaker 1 16:52 Good, Devin. Well, we’ve got some helpers to help you out with that. So check them out.
Gail 16:57 Yes, I love that. You have videos that that are? Oh, thank you, manufacturing hype girl, your audience will understand even help out love is real life. That is for sure. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. In terms of how to let’s go back to those videos that people have to get started on or need to get started on now. What do you you said, have a phone, any any other tips you’d give to get started?
Speaker 1 17:33 I mean, really, just I mean, I can’t say it enough. But just hitting that record button is that and you don’t need you don’t need an intro, you don’t need a you know, totally. So you don’t need to spend your logo or anything really just just hit it and try to connect with the audience try to relay something to the audience. And you know, one, figure out whether you like doing or not, but also then, yeah, who is the audience and keep narrowing it down to till you find really, those specific people that you really enjoy making videos for?
Gail 18:13 That is great, what you said about your audience. And I can say this as someone who works on a lot of content development. One of the things that’s always recommended is make sure you’re answering the questions that your audience needs to know the answer to not just what you’re trying to sell.
Speaker 1 18:34 Yeah, well and also especially as far as you to don’t go searching YouTube and being like, Okay, I like doing this particular thing, but this looks like it get more views. One forget about views, views don’t matter or the views out the window. But really make sure you make what makes your you make it something that really you have a passion for because yeah, okay, there’s lots of audiences out there but okay, if it’s something you’re miserable doing, there’s no need doing it. But yeah, make sure that you’re making you know, that you don’t get don’t go chasing views, you know, Chase chase that Yep. But answering that one person’s question. I always Oh, it’s the most embarrassing video I have. Now, I do regret making it. But a little bit more about how I actually defined who I am and everything is we were making these really strict how tos. And then Foley on made a video kind of along the same lines. It was like okay, here’s how to use my product, but then they’re like, hey, well, where do I download the software for this thing that your product connects to? So I made a video on how to download that software. And then finally somebody sent me a message and they’re like, Hey, I loved your video on how to download this can you make a video on control panels that isn’t so boring? And yeah, you know our industry it especially in 2015 ish. Yeah, that no, there was no way I. And so I wanted to learn how I did not know how to clip I didn’t know how to move, you know, mix clips, or any of that stuff the time and it’s like, well, I’m gonna use this as an opportunity plus, part of it was I did have the opportunity, we had a panel that they had, we had built, and then the project stalled. So I pretty much had a $20,000 boat anchor sitting in the shop. And so I decided to make the video. And now everybody calls it the dancing lady video, but it was a mix, it was my attempt to mix humor, and how to, and it really read it defined the way we do our videos after that, because it you know, I don’t know how many it has now, but it has at least 300,000 views now. And it was intended for one guy and it was a joke. So but that’s goes back to record, you know, hit the record button first time. And I would if you’d asked me the day before that, you know, would you ever make a video like that? I’d be like, Nah, what for?
Gail 21:02 I liked that you said to you know, you made it one person. And you were having fun with it? Because those are the ones sometimes that will take off. And I learned that our tick tock,
Speaker 1 21:12 yeah, we have had some good discussions about tick tock.
Gail 21:16 And there is a bit of a correlation between tick tock and YouTube in the sense of sometimes you just have to hit record, I have a lot of videos in my drafts, because I start doing that I go low, but then later, I’ll post it. And this is this is a joke of people in tic tac toe, let’s say, Oh, I’m cleaning up my drafts. Right. So and the ones that are most natural, those do well on tick tock. But my goal on tick tock is different than my goal on YouTube as is the audience, right, the audience are different. And just like the audience on LinkedIn is different than audience on on Twitter. So yeah, it’s helpful to to know that. And I think when you’re looking at YouTube, one of the things that you do well, is the idea of education, as well as promotion. Can you maybe talk about that for people in manufacturing, they’re listening, you know, I work in mold making but as well as automation. So the educational side of things? How important is it to do that? And, you know, hitting that record button and then educating? Well,
Speaker 1 22:31 before that I was somebody else I was talking to about, I think I have three videos, where I actually say that I run a panel building company, and that is what we do. You know, you don’t necessarily have to throw a pitch into everyone. I mean, realistically, the magic rollin there is, since the magical is the golden rule they say is about 20% of them should be a pit. So you got 80% out there to really connect with your audience and give them some information to, you know, help them. I mean, we’re here live here. And yeah, there’s two traders in the background. It doesn’t does somebody can figure it out. Yeah. Okay, that is the company and you don’t need to do that. So then just start trying to figure out, okay, how can I help them? How can you know what is something I can teach them? And then for me, and I do think this is something that’s unique to me, I’m not saying it’s good or bad as I try to make sure I’m right on their level and learning with them. And so I just recorded a video on the strainer. That’s why it’s sitting here, and then how to do it when I hit the record button. So literally, it is me learning with you how to do something. And yeah, I leave it in there. I’m like, Oops, that didn’t work. But a lot of people comment on it. They’re like, Hey, thanks, I did the same mistake and your video helped me figure out how to fix my mistake. So try to be as genuine as possible and just help them you know, for us, our thing is helping you get to the next level as a technician and helping you become a better technician. So it’s just what can I do to help you to get to that next step?
Gail 24:16 Well, and as I said, What I loved about your your channel too is that even for someone like myself that works in marketing, so often I’m looking to learn about different aspects of manufacturing. And I learned some things from your channel and I think that’s also helpful because sometimes what I hear in certain areas when I’m talking about sharing content is they go well, everybody knows that. Let’s talk about that.
Speaker 1 24:47 I have a great series getting ready to come out and it does not fit now we’ve got a couple of posts about it but I was at Phoenix Contact the other week. And I I felt like I’m pretty a pretty good panel builder, but I learned so much up there. And really, and that was our big thing is, let’s break this down into some really basics that anyone can understand. And I mean, I mean simple things. It’s like a circuit breaker. It’s like, I thought I knew how it worked on, he got explained. And I’m like, Man, I just never. I never knew any of that. So never assume. And you do hear that in our industry? You know, as you already know, it’s like not to act like I don’t know, because then I found out, I guess I didn’t know this stuff.
Gail 25:37 And the same thing happens in marketing, you know, there is so much to learn. And it changes, you know, I find those things like, oh, wait a minute, you know, when I learned I follow course, we’ll do a shout out to Jay Cole, because we actually met through Jay Cole, and, you know, watching and learning from him. I mean, he is a machine like, and his generosity of time and sharing is just, it’s amazing. And so like you said, there’s Okay, let’s back up a step. When people are searching for things, and they’re coming to you to, it’s not only people that you may be selling to, can you maybe talk about that about who’s coming and how that is important to get also people that may be coming to learn other decision makers in the company, shall we say? Yeah,
Speaker 1 26:32 yeah, that’s probably the most important part about as far as why we at least initially started our hell to we’ll call it the How to videos, is no one comes to YouTube, and it’s gonna search and you’re gonna have the magic product that they’re looking for. People Search YouTube now? Well, in our industry now, yes, people searched YouTube to check out cute kittens and do all types of things that are industry for the most part, if they’re searching YouTube, they have a problem. And so my goal of mine is really, how can I help them with that problem that day? And I’m not going to get a sell out of that, you know, then they’re gonna search again. Oh, there’s that guy. Yeah. And he has the answer again, and then you’re gonna search again. And then my hope is that, they’re like, hey, you know, I need some better I need, I need some better skills, I’ve really got to up my game. Let’s go call that guy and see if see, we get in one of his training sessions, or, Hey, he keeps using the same device, and I’ve got my way that takes 10 times longer, I’m gonna go ahead and buy one of them. But yeah, it’s a lot. You know, it’s YouTube is a long game. And I think that’s why I think that’s why they’re going back to whatever, as throughout their 300 videos, 100 videos, is so important, because, you know, there is no magic return. And you’re gonna, you’re you’re talking sometimes years, you know, but now, I will say that. I would say a tremendous portion of the people that buy from us in some way have found us on YouTube, or I’ve seen us on YouTube, it’s probably the better term for. So I, and that’s where I don’t almost actually I was with, I was in a class not too long ago, trying to, you know, my YouTube game. And that’s one of the biggest critiques I had was you don’t have any sales videos. And they’re right, you do need a few. But for the most part, if you’ll help the person out, they’re gonna remember you later on. And if they go and they keep searching, and you keep showing up, then they’re gonna be like, well, let’s go check out this guy’s website. You don’t need to say, hey, check out my website. You know, I mean, actually, you don’t even need that. I know I shouted out the subscribe just because of like, Yeah, everybody goes to scrap because that’s part of what this is. You don’t need to shout subscribe, you don’t need to sit out all those things. You just need to help the whoever it is with the thing that they’re searching for.
Gail 29:02 And, and yes, I agree. If you’re going to err on any side more in the education and on the sales. And you’re right, people will, will come to you. But just what you said about YouTube, I think applies to pretty much all social media, but it also applies in person because you don’t usually just go knock on someone’s door. You don’t go to a trade show and automatically why especially with the long timeframes for selling, you know, in manufacturing, so it’s rare that you’re going to just go to one trade show post one YouTube video or 10 videos. So I think the same applies that it’s the long game. But I don’t think it’s any different on social media than in real life.
Speaker 1 29:47 I don’t either. I love that. You mentioned the trade show because it really bothered me. I was at a trade show not too long ago and getting ready to go to another one a few weeks. And I just really think Anyone working on a trade champion should have to go to some type of let’s call it trade show sales class before and even it’s a crash course because I would walk into one and two, I mean, I do I wear this shirt, you know, this is what I was wearing. And first, it would be Brand X. And they’re like, so do you have an upcoming application for Brand X? It’s like you just left yourself with just a strict no, you love yourself, no way to go anywhere. And then they’d be like, so what does TW do? Like? Well, it’s me right now I’m at a trade show. So like, yeah, you know, some of them, you just wish they would work. Think a little bit further into that there’s one that one guy did do it well. And he he had obviously seen a post I made on LinkedIn saying, Hey, I’m at this trade show. I’m trying to figure this out. And he came up to me, he said, Hey, I saw your post, and I saw you’re trying to figure this out. I think I have something that may help you. Could I get up five minutes of your time now and he didn’t have what I need, but you better believe I remembered him. And I’ve reached out to him several times, we’ve kept talking and it out. Now we are three months later all sudden, I’m like, You know what he was talking about? I think I have something I can use? Or you know, so that’s where we you had to whether it’s in person trade show, YouTube or any of them? Yeah, you got to think a little? Well, all you got to think long term.
Gail 31:26 Thank you for sharing that story. That’s a really good real life example of, you know, how it works in real life and on social and I’m someone who comes from a background of before social, I mean, I did a lot of my living. Before, there was all this social media, I was a reporter, where we had to do a lot of research before there was Google. And now, when I’m on social, it’s the same, the same rules apply. And I think this is what gets missed. And people think there’s, you know, the magic wand, and I have to say, there’s no magic wand. It’s not like, you know, in real life, you do this, oh, on social media, just do one post and you’re gonna get business and and I’ve talked to a lot of people on the show, they’ve talked about, you know, people still are doing emails and cold calls. And, and I said, if you’re doing email, or if you’re doing emails, unless you’re doing email marketing the right way. And again, very few people, right? I mean, how many emails I don’t know how many you get, like, I get swamped. And what happens is
Speaker 1 32:34 Wednesday, on Wednesday, I’ll get 900 emails. So you better have a really good email if you actually want to get my attention.
Gail 32:45 Now, let’s talk about why Wednesday because you have every third Wednesday, you do is that because of your third winds,
Speaker 1 32:53 winds, Wednesday just seems to be the peak for an industry. I mean, we call it hump day. And if you look at our, if you look at our volume, and everything Wednesday is kind of where it is. So that’s yeah. Yeah, if you want to get a hold of me, you may want to send me an email on Saturday. Yeah.
Gail 33:12 Well, you know, what it’s important to get creative about reaching out through this is another good tip, as well. You know, go to where people are at if someone’s not that much, or that, you know, they’re getting snowed under with email, find them, I found a lot of success on DMS on Twitter, if they have that little mailer, I reach people out with sometimes it’s a LinkedIn. And sometimes I’m surprised I’ll send a message on LinkedIn, and they have nothing on their LinkedIn page. And they get back to me, it was like, cheese. I don’t even know if they were ever on here.
Speaker 1 33:46 Yeah, I know, you. And these were different ones. I think, you know, going back to the whole target audience, you know, my target audience on YouTube is obviously helping technicians, you know, helping you become a better technician, kind of that nice. You know, for me, LinkedIn is meeting you. In a meeting Jay Cole meeting, you know, there’s a lot of people there. But really, that’s what I mean, I love making those individual connections. So that’s, that’s a very, you know, good point that you may be. I may respond a lot quicker on that.
Gail 34:18 And it’s also how you’re sorry, you just made that comment too. But someone came up to you and they saw something on LinkedIn, they had a connection, they didn’t come up and just try to sell you something that you didn’t need. They were they had a legitimate reason to talk. I’ve met amazing people to listen to people on podcasts. I was on a, an event virtual event. This was back at the start of the pandemic. And that’s how I became friends with hearing Moser was that it was like a live show. And I commented, and then I found him on LinkedIn. And I think it was like, wow, she was actually a key event in comments. And I followed up and I needed his help with something and he said, he goes for you Gail, anything and I was like, what Wow, you know that’s now for those of you don’t know Harry Moser a heads up the reshoring initiative in the States, but he’s a big supporter to have reshoring talking about Canada as well. So
Speaker 1 35:11 yeah, well, you and I think that’s an important piece. You know, as far as connecting with people, I try, I try to do I try, you know, we all have set aside time for stuff. One thing I try to always set aside time was to find people that are doing a good job and just reach out to them say, Hey, you’re doing a great job. No strings attached. I’m just like, you know, you’re doing a great job. Keep it up. I appreciate all your hard work. You know, later on, I think that may be how Jay Cole and I actually had together I’m sure I did. I know Chris Granger. That’s what I did. I sent him a message. And it was like three months later, but you know, all of a sudden, it’s like, Hey, I got a question for you about this. And yeah, it’s, we, we, I think we do push the sales way too, too far to the front of a conversation.
Gail 36:02 Right? And it is about, you know, showing up, you showed up, I can still remember the day I got an invite into the manufacturing market. And I looked around I was like, me be like, what, and I don’t even know what this was. I was like, then I went and looked at Chico, I had been following him on like, like, Jay Cole was just kind of like I fangirled a bit over like Jay Cole was inviting me somewhere. But
Speaker 1 36:27 I remember my first message to you is, you know, keep curiosity. Awesome. I don’t remember word for word. But I remember you were the chief curiosity. Officer, the officer and I’m like, Well, what a great title. My Hey, great to meet you. That’s I love your title. I when I think somebody just said something about to get to stop the scroll and stand out. I can’t find it now. But yeah, that is it’s you know, doing that little thing. You know, just to make sure it’s not, you know, we don’t need to be louder. Sometimes it’s just being that little bit of, you know, just quality.
Gail 37:01 And I love that you don’t like you’re more of like, shot you don’t like being on camera. And yet, all of us watching your I would say the one word typical. You You’re extremely endearing. Like, which is such a compliment. Because you come across as just like someone, i i right away, I liked you. And I’m like, Oh, I could so see heaven sitting down having a beer with you or drink and just like kicking back and like having a few laughs and we’re going to talk about trolls in a minute. But that’s not the segment of our comments.
Speaker 1 37:36 We have 900 emails, I’ll tell you, not all of our positive.
Gail 37:41 I well, I would guess that but that’s the other thing when you are out there putting your neck out. Okay, not everybody’s gonna like you. So that’s the other thing as in life, as in life. Not always gonna like you. So you kind of have to get over all of that angst about you know, and for some of us, I don’t like that. I was like, Oh, that person, why are they but you gotta get past it. So let’s go back to some of our comments. I don’t know if where we left off in comments. Oh, so Devin, thank you. We watch lots of Tim’s it was very helpful. Yes. I’m gonna say this, go subscribe on that channel, because they are cool, even if you like, just go get some ideas of and I always look to see you know, how many likes how many views because it is kind of cool videos that got a lot of likes, and but there’s someone that didn’t get as much but that’s also I want to stress. It may be that you get 30 views, but out of those, it really resonated. So thank you. Who else do we have in the house here? Thank you, everybody for commenting. Okay, let’s see. You know who takes great advantage of YouTube? Oh, Dave Chrysler, the king of process. Chrysler. He got to meet him. He does show up and he also is on Tik Tok. He uses video a lot. Really great guy. Thank you, Katie for a shout out to our man Jake. See? Yes, micro content is awesome. Maybe we’ll come back and talk a little bit about that about my growth content. Those short shorts. Okay. Just like the kale t factor in action, Tim? Yes. No, like thrust. so valuable. It is. Yes, the kale tea. That is something Inger talks about a lot too, when she’s working with people on LinkedIn is it’s not just about having to, you know, bare your soul. It’s also about just talking about things that are important to you. It could be a motivational quote, it could be something that happened to you that day that I mean, I just did a post about cycling and steps. And I correlated that too, because I know like it made sense to me when I’m talking to process and how I got into cycling. It didn’t happen over Night, I can now do you know anywhere from 50 to 70 kilometers on a ride. If you had said that two years ago to me, I would have went No way. I found the process things and how I can enjoy it.
Speaker 1 40:13 Yeah. When it is so important just to kick this a hit that again on the know, like and trust, you know, the one thing I will do somebody somebody reaches out to me and it’s, it’s more of hey, do you especially do you want to collaborate? Do you want? You know, there’s some where it’s like, okay, who is this person? Yeah, I’m gonna go look up LinkedIn. And I’m, I’m not looking for quality. I’m looking for human nests. In other words, if everyone here perished as a product, I’m not interested, right, we’ll move on. But you know, even if it doesn’t have to be that, you know, you love cats, it can be simply that you know, you, you make some type of human comments, there’s obviously some you’re not, they’re just using one of the automated systems to make posts.
Gail 40:58 Yeah, no variety and consistency. So the next comment we have, I think, is from Katie, if you can reach if you can just reach one person that person’s reached goes further than yours. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. That is, that is also important. I’m just gonna show that. And yes, Inger says, We must think long term, it’s always a long game. Yeah, for sure. And again, I can’t stress enough, just as in real life, it’s not that different. Katie did have to jump out. But I have to post that she said, Don’t be talking trash about email marketing. Now. Now, I was not not if it’s done properly. And Katie, we will have to talk with that. And maybe as a future guests will talk with email, because I do think email, there are emails I open up, there’s email, but not a lot of them like, Well,
Speaker 1 41:49 I mean, it’s something I can do, I need to do better. I know, I’ll acknowledge that part. You know, it’s, you know, I hear people all the time, all that, oh, well, you gotta grow your subscriber list. And like, okay, but when it gets I do besides just send out a bunch of emails. Go back to the, you know, if you can reach the one person, you know, if I could send an email to 10 people, and two of them, I could compare it to, you know, 10,000? Well,
Gail 42:16 again, it depends on your goals and who your market is, right? Because there’s, we could be doing so many things better. So and that’s, that’s, that’s the challenge. Yeah, I think that’s also important to address is that you can’t be everywhere, you can’t do everything. Unless you have a very large budget, a large team. And a lot of people think social media is free. But it’s not because it takes time. And I also heard something recently, they said, you know, YouTube isn’t so much a social media platform as a content platform. What are your thoughts on that statement? Um,
Speaker 1 42:52 I think it can, it can serve both audiences. Obviously, there are a lot of there. If you look at my daughter’s YouTube, the compared to my YouTube feed, she, you would look at hers. And absolutely, it is a social media platform. Everything you’d look at mine, it’s like, yeah, it looks pretty boring, and pretty hell too. You know, and it’s a content platform. And then we can mix it in shorts and long videos that are there to, you know, YouTube, but they have done really good at is trying to put the right video in front of the right person. And so if you’re, they’re looking for social type content, and you know, just continuously consuming that, they will feed that very well into you, you know, your recommended feed. Now, you’re using the search, you know, that’s what we’re of yes, at that point is a content platform where search works very well.
Gail 43:49 Yeah, no, it’s, it is it’s, you know, all of these various platforms, it’s all complicated. And yet, it can be simple. If we tend to overcomplicate things, I think that the other day, and I definitely find this in, in manufacturing, and I said that in my earlier videos that you know, the bar is set low, and that is not and I don’t mean that that’s not an attack or a hit or anything negative, it just means there’s so much opportunity to
Speaker 1 44:18 well, there’s there’s plenty of room for for more people, and I’ll say to help people, you know, the other product video on it, you’re gonna have another video with, you know, 20 views. That’s cool. But, you know, as far as really connecting and really helping people, there’s plenty of room to Vlad was soulless PLC, and I you know, we talk, you know, we obviously are both, you know, very parallel paths, but there’s room for both of us and we both actually serve a very different audience. You know, and that’s what I see. If our industry is yeah, there is a lot of room to hit, you know, a lot of different angles. And you know, and as far as you know, I do want to go to the bar are Canadian Bar commands to grip, the bar, the bar is either where’s the bar set in other cars you can that can be that can be interpreted several different ways. And what I see going back to me saying just hit the record button, I see too many companies trying to make the perfect Polish video. And again, that your human connection and has no human connection, you’re not going to connect with an actual human being. And so the bar is kind of set low, as far as don’t worry about to be imperfect, you know, I know honestly, I’m not a great editor. But also I leave mistakes in there, even as far as you know, you might see my hand here, and then you may see a jump over here. Part of this just so people want to see, you know, this guy’s human, he’s just sitting here. I mean, he didn’t know what I don’t have any others. My son helps me. You know, it is just me. Amber, do kids and Mary Bruce.
Gail 45:56 I love that. Well, we’ve talked today about we’ve definitely covered up the sign up, which is about mindset. And you know, what just decided you want to do this, the suiting up, which is the research and you know, getting comfortable, but really the showing up is that hitting that record button, and maybe you know, hitting that record button, even while you’re still doing some of the SUTA don’t wait until everything’s perfect. Let’s talk trolls though trolls are your specialty kind of covers so many stories, but and you know, because you have what, 47,000 subscribers, of course, you’re probably going to attract people who don’t agree with you. Can you have a favorite troll story?
Speaker 1 46:36 Well, before you have a favorite troll story that actually goes into my whole make 300 videos, because eventually the trolls are gonna get to you. And
Unknown Speaker 46:52 and I
Speaker 1 46:53 actually quit YouTube for a year, a lot of people don’t know that. But yeah, if you look at my video feed, there is a years gap there. And really, I didn’t, I’m one I am also soft hearted. I’m camera shy, and I’m soft hearted, which is a horrible combination for this industry. And, but really, they got to me, and finally was like, you know, it’s not worth making a video just to have, you know, it torn down. I mean, in really, you know, there’s a few I’ve got a couple, I’ve got a couple of posts coming where I’m gonna rip a couple people that are, you know, continuously doing it. Because, you know, people don’t realize even though, you know, a four minute video probably takes I mean, by the time I actually set things up and get ready and all that. I mean, you’re probably three or four hours. And, you know, it takes you 15 seconds that leave a bad comment. Yeah, and some of the comments come out so fast that I know that he makes a whole video. But, um, but anyway, the they did get to me and I really quit, you know, I quit doing YouTube. And when I got you know, every year we evaluate everything we do, I think it’s an important step. And, you know, one of them was on there as YouTube and I’m like, Well, I haven’t done this in a year. And really, I don’t see any value in it. And so it almost got deleted. And but I started reading through the comments and in there were a lot of bad comments, but there are a lot of good comments that really I had left hanging. And all of a sudden, I’m like, I forgot while while I was here. And that kind of got me the wheels rolling again and kind of okay, why am I here? What am I making videos for whom I’m making videos for? And, you know, so I started, you know, making some again, and kind of get back in the groove. And it was a really difficult haul to get the wheels turning on them again. And really, one thing I will say about trolls, first of all, there’s nothing wrong deleting a bad comment. I know there’s a lot of back and forth on that. And people are like, Oh, just ignore it. Well, that’s what I did. And you know, what I’ve learned is if you let trolls in, and invites more trolls, and more trolls, and I tell people all the time, I wouldn’t let you spray paint on the front of my house. Why would I let you spray paint on my on my channel? And so yes, for the most part, I do delete them, but also sometimes it’s just like, Okay, do you want to play that way I can play that way too. So I always take it you know, I always take it off you too. Usually you’ll find it over on LinkedIn and I’ll just posted I post them I also save a lot of them sometimes we do have a hater video and I just go ahead and read the hater comments and respond to them. But you know it goes back to why are you making videos and you know, and here’s where it gets really tricky because you know going through the phases first you’re gonna make videos just because you think YouTube’s fun and you know those first videos are really the kind of where that fun part out anyway and get you where you’re making videos for a target odd Yes. And then you’re you’re going to be making videos just because, okay, this is something someone asked for. And already, and at that point, you are inviting other like minded people who don’t like your videos. And so you’re gonna go through that. But I love that you’re the chief curiosity officer. Because if you ask me today, why do you make videos? Almost all my videos are something I’m curious about genuinely. And, you know, then that’s really, it happens to be that, you know, my audience, I am my audience I am I am just like them. And that’s where you get to end up landing is in that narrow, nice where your audience is? Really you to? Not almost say exactly you, but yeah, so really, someone asked me, in fact, this one hears about Modbus. I know, you don’t know what Botha says, but they were like, Hey, how do you deal with so Modbus? And like, well, you know, I have no idea. But I’ve always wondered that. And so then all of a sudden, it’s like, Ah, now now we’re ready to hit the record button. And so at that point, you know, I really enjoy video making videos, because hey, I’m learning something new. You know, it’s, you know, and yet I still do help someone with it. But the trolls, they never go away. And I’ll say they never quit hurting. And, you know, because I am, I’m soft hearted. So you’d never forgive him. But you know, I always I tell them ever all the time, I swear, it takes 10 Good comments to get rid of one bad one.
Gail 51:33 Tim, I’m so glad you shared that story. Because that is that is so heartfelt. And it really gives a good perspective about trolls, you know, and you know, beyond making light of it, it really is, it’s something and we have way too much of it now on social and that’s a whole other issues. I think people need to know that. You know, there’s ramifications when you’re when you’re mean, and just for like, because it’s sometimes it’s too easy to drop those mean comments. So I really would use sumo
Speaker 1 51:59 you, when I’m not not picking on manufacturing hype girl, but you look over that’s mainly hip action hype girl, that’s not a person. And you know, we do with the internet, all of a sudden, we have this wall where we don’t really you know, you gotta realize on the other end of every name, there is a person. I mean, even on the end of company X, you know, there is a person somewhere navigate in there that’s actually running that social media channel that’s having to deal with every comment that comes down. Right.
Gail 52:35 We’re coming up to the top of the hour. And thank you again for signing up suiting up and showing up. And one last question. How do you exercise your curious mind? Well, I guess I
Speaker 1 52:48 kind of just answered that. So yeah, I make YouTube videos.
Gail 52:55 Yes, I love that. Thank you, again, Tim, we might have to do a part two, at some point, getting into more some more tips on as maybe a follow up, we’ll do a critique of some of my videos after I’ve done it. And I would be open to that. Because I think it’s good to sometimes, you know, have a real live experience of I was going to show some videos today. But we didn’t have the time and I want to talk about the automation and the robots and others. There’s so much more we can talk about, but I’m gonna have you.
Speaker 1 53:27 I’m gonna make I want to make it up your way. We’ll get up either one of us to get across the border. And yeah, yes, we’ll have that beer.
Gail 53:32 Okay, I love it. Thank you, Tim. I’m gonna have you go to the green room. And I’ll do I’ll meet you in there in just a minute. Ah, what a great show today. I’m so happy that Tim Wilburn could be here and talking about YouTube. And I look forward to seeing you on my YouTube channel. So please go to jail now and I hope there were too many trolls. I hope we can just have some great comments, but I’m bracing myself now that you know as I get out there, I might have some trolls show up. And that might be okay, too. You know what sometimes we gotta take the good with the bad I guess. Also, I am on Tik Tok is Gail now and there’s all sorts of strange comments sometimes show up there. I’m on Twitter, and on LinkedIn. And where else can you go to my website so well, you can find me lots of places. But mainly what I’m most excited about every week on my show is bringing on amazing people with amazing stories and ideas to share. Tim is just one example of someone who’s doing that. So thank you, Tim. Thank you to the audience today for the comments for the networking. And we’ll see you next week.
Andrew Crowe knows how to #ShowUP in the world of recruiting in manufacturing.
He was a teen father, a felon, a drug dealer and lived on the streets. However he has turned that life around and knows how valuable opportunity can be.
With almost 3 million manufacturing jobs going unfilled by 2030, Crowe says the industry must look at non-traditional sources.
On the interview, Gail and Drew talked about that and also how he came to be recognized as a leader of The New American Manufacturing Renaissance!
Here are a few things he is known for:
– founded and booked a tour to bring access and awareness to Manufacturing
– helps companies with their community outreach
– helps shops with their recruiting and retention efforts
– consults the DoD on industrial policy
Drew’s impressive resume includes addressing the White House and Pentagon on industrial policy, a feature in Forbes Magazine in April 2022, and was voted Aerospace & Aviation Man of the Year twice.
Above all, he is well-positioned to lead minds and movers on the frontlines in the critical battle to close the workforce and skills gap in manufacturing.
Sign Up, Suit Up and #ShowUP and achieve greater success in manufacturing – and improve ways to build and retain a workforce.
There is a certain serendipity of striking up conversations with people from diverse backgrounds that can open doors you may never have even seen as opportunities.
According to LinkedIn, although 79% of professionals agree that networking is valuable for career progression, only 48% consistently keep in touch with their network.
Biggest reason given is time -or lack of it.
38 percent globally said they find it hard to stay in touch with their network.
The leading cause? Nearly half (49 percent) globally say it’s because they don’t have enough time.
Interestingly, despite the majority (79 percent) globally agreeing that professional networking is valuable for career progression, less than half (48 percent) globally say they keep in touch with their network when things are going well in their career.
It seems it is also the same reason we give for avoiding things we don’t like. And while some of us love to meet and greet- many do not.
And yet it is so valuable to business success and growth.
According to HubSpot, nearly 100% of professionals believe that face-to-face meetings are crucial to keeping long-term business relationships.
A study by Forbes listed the top benefits of in-person meetings as opposed to networking by technology. The top benefits were:
Building stronger, more meaningful business relationships (85%)
Better ability to read body language and facial expressions (77%)
Ability to bond with co-workers/clients and more social interaction (75%)
Allows for more complex strategic thinking (49%)
Better environment for tough, timely decision-making (44%)
Less opportunity for unnecessary distractions (40%)
Leads to higher-quality decision making (39%)
Easier to focus (38%)
Fewer disruptions and delays (23%)
AND …
According to a study done by LinkedIn in 2017, 35% of participants said a casual conversation through LinkedIn Messaging led to a new opportunity.
These opportunities could be jobs or career changes, sales leads, or business deals.
In fact, 25% of participants said that LinkedIn helped them establish a new business partnership. And 61% of participants believe that regular online interaction with their network can lead to possible job opportunities.
Another study by Forbes asked participants about the top benefits of using technology for networking.
The top benefits of online networking were:
Saves time (92%)
Saves money (88%)
More flexibility in location and timing (76%)
Allows the participant to multitask (64%)
Increases productivity (55%)
Ability to archive sessions (49%)
Less peer pressure (16%)
It seems that both in- person and online networking could be the answer.
Attending events, conferences, and meet-ups in person has a unique magic. That’s the beauty of in-person networking—expanding horizons and cultivating a diversity of relationships.
Online Networking also breaks down Geographical Barriers
In our hyper-connected world, the significance of online networking cannot be ignored.
GailNow understands this well and has built relationships in insurance, mold making, real estate, automation, mental health, theatre and that is the rich brew that makes her work in public relations so valuable.
Online platforms empower us to connect with like-minded individuals, irrespective of geographical constraints.
Here are some tips for introverts who may struggle with networking:
Try one of the tips below to begin developing your networking skills, according to Robertson College (No relation).
Ask Questions and Listen: Lots of people enjoy talking out loud, and savvy introverts can make this work to their advantage. People appreciate a good listener. Being an extrovert isn’t the only way to make an impression.
Try Online Networking Events: Online networking events are especially helpful for introverted people who are new to the experience. You can start online before trying in-person events. Use social media and event pages to discover opportunities for online networking.
Ask a Friend or Colleague to Join: You can easily bring a friend or colleague to these social events. Going with somebody you trust will make the experience more enjoyable.
Set Goals: Create a checklist of goals as part of your career development plan. This can be simple things like: go to a networking event; introduce yourself; ask somebody a question; and so forth. Having goals in mind will motivate you to try something new and improve your networking skills.
And finally, a few reasons why networking is important:
Knowledge Exchange: Networking exposes you to fresh perspectives and industry insights, enriching your understanding.
Collaboration: Unlikely collaborations often emerge from networking, fostering innovation and growth.
Career Opportunities: Whether it’s a job opening or a new project, networking opens doors to countless opportunities.
By far a hybrid approach to networking is the key. Blend the best of both worlds—forge connections in person to build trust, and leverage online platforms for scale and accessibility.
In the work of GailNow, Gail focuses on public relations strategy to work with clients to encourage them to share stories, to use their personal platforms and to build on that Know – Like- Trust.
Let’s keep the conversation going!
Share your networking success stories or tips in the comments.
Oh, Moldmakers, Moldmakers, you’re admired by all.”
You may have starting hearing the Matchmaker song in your head – and if so, that could also work in terms of matching more people in moldmaking; an industry that needs a lot more attention and respect!
And yet – as Lyn Caine says: “Surprised that Mold Making is still not yet a Red Seal trade.
Everything plastic that we all use DAILY are all Mold derived.”
As part of Bridging Skilled Trades Apprenticeship Service at Family Services of Peel, Caine is putting together a petition.
Nicole Vlanich, Executive Director at CAMM says her organization strongly supports and is also gathering letters and names to support this cause. You can email her at Nicole@camm.ca
“Mold making is a specialized craft that plays a crucial role in shaping various industries in Canada,” writes Vlanich, in a paper written for CAMM about advocating for Red Seal designation for moldmaking. The paper explores the statistical significance of mold making and emphasizes the reasons why it should be considered a Red Seal Trade.
“4 of the 5 largest mold makers in the world have locations in Ontario, Canada and Windsor, Ontario is known as a significant manufacturing hub for mold making. Canadian companies are significant players in the world’s mold making industry and it is important to the Canadian company that this remains the case. Canadian mold making needs to become a Red Seal trade to secure its position among world industry leaders.”
To read more about CAMM’s info on the Red Seal work go here.
There are 54 trades currently recognized in the Red Seal program. They include cook, electrician, machinist, welder, heavy equipment operator, millwright, and roofer.
And – here is another twist!
There are two types of toolmakers. Moldmakers and diemakers. Diemakers form steel and moldmakers form plastic. Diemakers are red seal, moldmakers are not.
Moldmaking needs to be part of the Red Seal Program: it will not only elevate the skillset of moldmakers but also boost Canada’s manufacturing sector as a whole.
Time to Sign Up. Suit Up. And #ShowUp!
“Everything we touch in a day contains components that were made with the moulding process: The computer you use, the plumbing in your house, the car you drive, the luggage you carry, the satellite orbiting the earth, the syringe used to administer medication, all are a product of a plastic injection mold,’” writes Tim Galbraith, a veteran of the moldmaking industy who knows all too well why getting a Red Seal designation for moldmaking is so important. He has written a letter of support on behalf of Cavalier Tool.
“It has taken way too long… Now is the time to act. With the growth of plastic injection molding and the demand for more mouldmakers, the CCDA needs to recognize the benefit to the economy of including mouldmaking in the Tool & Die Maker designation. “
Moldmakers aka Toolmakers play a pivotal role in producing high-quality molds and tools that drive innovation across industries.
And now we must advocate to encourage moldmaking as a profession – to empower skilled workers and help set a standard of excellence for moldmakers and for the end users.
The Red Seal Program is administered in each province and territory by the apprenticeship and certification authorities.
There are many reasons for why this is important. As a Canadian Association of Mold Makers board member in the world of public relations and marketing it is shocking that moldmaking doesn’t have Red Seal designation.
Where would industry be without the people who make the tools an that lead to so many vital plastic products.
🌟 Here’s why this move is vital:
1️⃣ Standardization of Skills: The Red Seal program ensures a consistent and recognized level of expertise. Including moldmakers will establish uniform skill standards, leading to higher-quality molds and increased efficiency.
2️⃣ Competitive Edge: Moldmakers contribute to various sectors like automotive, aerospace, and consumer goods. By being Red Seal certified, moldmakers can showcase their proficiency, giving Canadian manufacturers a competitive advantage in the global market.
3️⃣ Innovation Acceleration: Moldmaking is at the forefront of technological advancements like 3D printing and CNC machining. Integrating moldmakers into the Red Seal program encourages them to stay updated on the latest technologies, fostering innovation.
4️⃣ Workforce Development: As the manufacturing landscape evolves, it’s crucial to attract and retain skilled talent. Including moldmakers in the Red Seal program attracts more individuals to the profession and encourages their career growth.
5️⃣ Portability: Without red seal designation, a certified Moldmaker in Ontario is not recognized in say Alberta. ( Quebec does recognize ‘moldmaking machinist’ as a red seal trade)
Red seal designation may lead to industry growth outside Ontario and result in skilled trades growth across Canada in a growing industry.
Let’s champion this initiative to enhance the moldmaking profession, empower skilled workers, and propel Canada’s manufacturing prowess to new heights! \
Top tips for anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today
Ask for help. Look for people with common values to brainstorm with, to collaborate with, and to toss around ideas with. Learn about them first, and don’t ask them for things you can find through a search or reading their online profile and content.
Contract out work you don’t need to do – or that saps your energy.
Hire people to clean your house- do your bookkeeping- and manage your calendar or whatever are things that don’t energize you. Decide where your energy is best spent and focus on that.
Invest time in telling and sharing your story. Find a social media platform you enjoy using and tell and share your story. People want to do business with people they Know – Like – and Trust. So let the world know who you are. “One-to-many” communication vs. only “one-to-one” has great potential. I have met amazing people because of virtual and real-life networking! The magic happens when you connect both.
Gail’s first career was in journalism. She spent over a decade working at newspapers: The Toronto Star, The St. Catharines Standard, The Hamilton Spectator, and The Windsor Star. She then delved into a few different careers: Bed and Breakfast proprietor, fundraiser, advertising and promotions manager in the fields of insurance and technology – and now, an entrepreneur with GailNow, as CCO – Chief Curiosity Officer.
Now as a “recovering journalist” Gail helps people who struggle to have their voices heard and their stories told.
Her strength is in public relations and storytelling.
As a curiosity seeker, she also wants to uncover stories that may not fall within the mainstream narrative.
To read more about the GailNow story – head over to this link for the full story!
In today’s digital age, consumers are becoming increasingly savvy and can easily spot insincerity or lack of authenticity in a brand’s messaging.
This is why humility is becoming an important ingredient in a successful public relations and communications strategy.
Humility, in the context of branding and storytelling, means being honest and transparent about who you are and what you stand for as a brand. It means being willing to admit mistakes and take responsibility for them, rather than trying to hide or downplay them. It also means being willing to listen to and learn from your customers, rather than simply talking at them.
One way to incorporate humility into your branding and storytelling is to focus on your brand’s purpose and values. This means being clear about what you stand for as a brand and how you are working to make a positive impact in the world. For example, if your brand is committed to sustainability, you can share stories about the steps you are taking to reduce your environmental footprint or the ways in which you are supporting sustainable practices in your supply chain.
Another way to incorporate humility into your branding and storytelling is to be open and transparent about your brand’s challenges and setbacks. This means acknowledging and learning from your mistakes, rather than trying to sweep them under the rug. For example, if your brand has faced a crisis or setback, you can share the steps you are taking to address the issue and make things right. By being honest and transparent, you will build trust with your customers and show them that you are committed to doing the right thing.
In addition, it’s also important to listen to your customers and take their feedback into account when developing your branding and storytelling strategy. This means being willing to consider and incorporate their perspectives and ideas into your messaging.
For example, you can conduct surveys or focus groups to gather feedback from your customers and use that feedback to inform your messaging.
In summary, humility is becoming an increasingly important ingredient in a successful public relations and communications strategy. By being honest, transparent, and willing to listen to and learn from your customers, you can build trust and credibility with your audience and create a more authentic and impactful brand story.
According to Marketing Roar, “Humility in marketing doesn’t mean that you bow to your competition or market your brand in a self-deprecating way. It simply means that you’re upfront about what you offer, what you stand for, and in your relationship with your customers.”
As a lifelong learner and advocate for improving on personal and professional growth and an idealist for changing the world- I am constantly on the lookout for ways to expand my own knowledge and understand those around me.
One of the most valuable resources I have found in this pursuit is a new show called “Curious Minds” with GailNow – a talk show style format from the perspective of a recovering journalist immersed in mainstream, alternative and social media.
The show is launching on my YouTube channel in January 2023- along with some tips on how to tell and share your story from my experience as a Public Relations and Media Consultant.
Networking is a great way to meet people both in real life and online. My three step process is the foundation of my consulting and research work: Sign Up. Suit Up. SHOW Up.
The concept behind “Curious Minds” is simple yet powerful: to explore a wide range of topics and ideas through the lens of curious and open-minded conversation. Each episode features a different guest, who is an expert or thought leader in their field, and then allow for a free-flowing and unscripted conversation about their work, their passions, and their perspectives on the world.
What I love about “Curious Minds” is that it models the kind of curiosity and openness that I believe is essential for making positive change in the world. I want to listen and challenge my own assumptions and biases- and maybe others too.
The show will explore the complexities and nuances of different issues and ideas, and I won’t shy away from difficult or controversial topics; while also enjoying the fun ones too. These shows aren’t meant to be debates or doing battle on topics – it is about providing a platform for those ignored or maybe even villif
“Curious Minds” has reminded me of the importance of cultivating my own curiosity and open-mindedness on topic such as censorship, dating after 50, the afterlife, spirituality, health improvement, vaccine mandates, mindset, personal growth. It is sure to be thought-provoking and the premise will be to invite those willing to Be Curious Not Judgmental.
It has reminded me that making positive change in the world starts with asking questions and seeking to understand the perspectives of others. It has reminded me that the more I am willing to question my own assumptions and biases, the more I am able to contribute to a more just, equitable, and sustainable world.
It is not only a source of inspiration and learning, but also a powerful reminder of the importance of being curious and open-minded in our quest for a better world.
