May Professional Networking

In this week’s Exit Your way Roundtable Episode, our guest speaker was Josh Curcio. Josh is the COO and Partner at Protocol 80. His company is an inbound marketing agency that drives results from B2B clients online. Josh helps people understand CRM advantages and practical uses.

Areas / Topics, Business Round Table, Ecommerce, Industries, Leadership, Live Stream Shows, The Business Round Table

Business networking is always a challenging job especially if your business is in its initial stages. Our today’s episode targeted all these challenges and how to overcome them.

This week’s Exit Your Way Roundtable Episode was dedicated to May Professional Networking. We invited all our regular guests along with a few new ones and discussed how they are helping out the people around them.

The conversation started with Damon introducing the rules of the episode and then calling everyone one by one. Firstly Jeffry Graham joined the stage and shared that he helps scale ecommerce companies. Moreover, he helps companies go through life events and overall his work is very dynamic.

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After this, Damon asked the question of the day. The question was that what is one thing that you want to accomplish this summer? Answering this Jeffery said he wants to restore his jeep.

Continuing the conversation, Ajay joined the chat. He shared that he works in the staffing industry in India. Ajay’s answer to the question was that stay home, stay safe! After this, Bernie Fussenegger joined the show.

Bernie is a digital marketing specialist. He worked at Papa John’s International for about 20 years and is now looking into where he wants to direct his energy to. Answering the question, Bernie said he wants to spend more time with his daughters this summer.

Do you want to know if your business is ready for your exit or what you should do to prepare? Learn this and more with our business exit assessment here.

Moving on Dennis Bolger joined the show. Dennis is an insurance agent. Further, answering the question Dennis said that he wants to take a vacation and spend some time with his family. Moreover, he is building a play yard for his grandkids and he wants to complete that as well.

Further, into the business networking conversation, Grant Mathis joined the show. Grant said that he works for getting contaminants out of the human experience. Then, answering the question, Grant said he wants to get his wife to the beach more.

Moving on, Jacob Warren shared that he helps people in taming technology. This means that he helps them on how to secure technology. His answer to the question was that he wants to accomplish all the tasks on his wife’s to-do list.

Get the most value for your business by understanding the process and preparing for the sale with information here on our Selling a Business page.

The conversation on business networking then shifted to Mark Scrimenti. Mark is a fractional COO and he works with CEOs in the social entrepreneurship space. Moreover, Mark’s answer to the question was the same that he wants to spend time with his family.

After this, Marty Vondrell joined the conversation. Marty said that he helps clients get vision, traction, and healthy. Moreover, Marty also shared his challenges in business networking. Marty’s answer to the question was the same as Bernie and Mark’s.

Shifting the conversation to Michael Gidlewski, Damon asked him about business networking. Michael said that he helps business leaders in leadership development and skills like these. His answer to the question was to pre-boot himself in the mountains on a 9-day vacation.

The business networking talk then shifted to Ron Higgs. Ron said he recently joined a creative agency as the CEO. Ron’s answer was that he just bought a yacht and he wants to spend some time there with his wife.

By the end of the conversation, Damon and Andrew also shared their answers to the question as well.

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57:35

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

people, andrew, helping, companies, summer, awesome, good, bernie, big, clients, business, hear, question, day, house, talk, build, jacob, linkedin, important

SPEAKERS

Damon Pistulka, Marty Vondrell, Andrew Deutsch, Grant Mathis, Dennis Bolger, Ron Higgs, Ajay, Jacob Warren, Andrew Cross, Michael Gidlewski, Mark Scrimenti, Jeffry Graham

00:00

All right. Ah.

00:03

Ron Higgs, no, no.

Damon Pistulka 00:04

Yeah, Ron had see rod see later, is standing meeting that he has every every Thursday at 8am. So he can’t. So we’re gonna roll the video on on LinkedIn and get rolling get going there

00:21

lose jobs.

Damon Pistulka 00:28

Alright everyone, Welcome once again to the Exit Your Way Business Roundtable. So happy to be here. I’ve got Andrew Cross partner in crime on stage with me, Damon Pistulka. We’re going to get going today, this is our May professional networking event. If you’re listening live on LinkedIn, go ahead and share where you’re listening from, tell us what you know, make comments, do all that kind of stuff. Because we’re going to be looking at it we’re going to be interacting there. If you’re in the room and you haven’t connected with everyone in the room, drop your LinkedIn link in the in the comments here or in the chat skews me and go from there.

So we’re gonna start this things off like we always do. We’re going to do some introductions, we’re going to get people on stage, you’re going to get a chance to go, Hey, this is what I do this song. I’m helping people. We’re going to talk about a few things and then we’re going to ask the question of the day, which is what we’re going to be doing it’s going to be you know, we do it every week. Come up with a different question. We’re going to get going from there. So I gotta go. Without further ado, we got on the stage, man. He’s like you do you’re coming up first.

Jeffry Graham 01:40

I knew Andrew is gonna do that.

Damon Pistulka 01:43

Good stuff, man. Good to see you today. We were talking earlier. So Jeff, tell us how you’re helping people what’s going on in your world today?

Jeffry Graham 01:53

Um, you know, it’s just another day in paradise. Sunny out and Colorado not rainy in Washington. So yeah, no complaints there. Yeah. You know, been working on building this cooperative is going really well. I used to work with these two crazies right here. Miss it every day. I love love these guys. But yeah. Yeah, essentially, we help scale ecommerce companies and help companies go through trainings and live events and things that that you can’t get said the speed of e commerce versus the speed of education. So yeah, it’s it’s very dynamic. Very interesting. It’s e commerce. mgmt.com is our website and or e commerce. edu.

Damon Pistulka 02:39

So awesome. Awesome.

02:40

What’s the question?

Damon Pistulka 02:42

So the question of the day, what is one thing if you accomplish or do this summer this summer? We’ll make it we’ll just make it a great summer for you.

Jeffry Graham 02:55

Oh, start restoring that Jeep in my garage. There you go. You know that the 73 commando probably started doing that. Yeah, if I can if you know now that the weather’s better. You can you know work on things in Colorado gets like warm one day cold the next. But yeah, yeah. Good to restoring that puppy. Yeah, next project. And once that’s done, oh, all you know, enjoy it and then tell it What year is it? To 73 commando three, it’s got original 304 numbers matching. Very rare car. They didn’t make very many. And you can’t find one in the United States for sale. So yeah, they’re they’re super super rare.

Damon Pistulka 03:38

Yeah. So yeah, car guy. Oh, there you go.

Jeffry Graham 03:45

Yeah, all 99 98% of the cars there. So it sat in a field in Idaho for 20 years. And it’s dry they’re mostly you know, and where it was so it didn’t take any damage. There’s a rust is nominal. I mean, it’s mind blowing. How old the car isn’t nice, how good conditions and good stuff.

Damon Pistulka 04:09

Good stuff. Well, here we are. Next Andrew. Joe. Great to see you. Yeah. Damn GMT.

Jeffry Graham 04:16

I’ll talk to you soon

Damon Pistulka 04:17

education for for ecommerce. businesses. There you go. Couldn’t get it out. Finally did

Jeffry Graham 04:26

coming up saw the tagline but

Damon Pistulka 04:28

yeah, we’re Yeah.

04:32

There you go.

04:33

Yeah. AJ, how

Damon Pistulka 04:35

are you doing today? Glad

04:36

to see you. Great. Great.

Ajay 04:38

Get over you guys.

04:39

Awesome.

Andrew Cross 04:42

Are you safe

Ajay 04:43

in India? So the city which is live it’s a completely locked in for 10 days. Oh, here.

04:51

No, okay.

Damon Pistulka 04:55

No one on the streets can’t go out for 10 days. That’s probably Good, that’s probably good. I know when we did it here it was it was quiet, quiet quiet. But it did make a difference. It did make a difference. So AJ, how are you helping people? Let’s Let’s introduce to the group and the people on LinkedIn live here

Ajay 05:15

to everybody. So this is AJ. Well, I’m from India. So I went to the staffing industry, I work as a business development manager, recruiter. So mostly in for it sectors like it positions like developers, DevOps, Salesforce, and all these kind of stuff throughout the US.

Damon Pistulka 05:32

Okay, very cool. Very cool. So you’re helping and when we had talked before, I believe you you work with a lot of manufacturing companies and a lot of industrial kind of companies because they need more it people generally.

Ajay 05:46

Exactly. So it’s not about like, industries and everything. So everybody who needs it kind of people. So I help those kind of people. So the biggest advantage for me is this, I come up with a background with a mechanical engineer. So when the some manufacturing companies try to get asked me about these kinds of equations, I can easily understand their requirements. Okay.

Damon Pistulka 06:08

So your engineering background allows you to understand what your IT people that you’re putting into a company can really, really mean. Okay, it’s actually a really good

Ajay 06:18

first starting of the year, I work for the manufacturing companies as well. So like a brief period of five to six years. Yeah. So they know those terminologies and what they need and all this kind of stuff.

Damon Pistulka 06:31

Great, great. Well,

Ajay 06:34

I get make, I mean, manufacturing and it. So I have both of these in a

Damon Pistulka 06:40

yes. Yes. Good stuff, I think well everyone on stage now I know Andrew Deutsches work in manufacturing and Andrew Krause and I you know, we’ve been here a long time. Andrew Andrews family cross his family has been in it since you know, the early days of automotive in Detroit. So we had a deep manufacturing backgrounds here on the on the stage for sure. which is which is interesting and cool.

So, you get this person is very different to you. Because what what is one thing if you accomplish or do this, someone will make it for you. It’s a lot different in India now because of the fact that it was the COVID. But what what is what would you like to see if there’s one thing that you could accomplish or do this summer? What? What would you hope it to be?

Ajay 07:30

Actually, can you just ask the question again, so I was not able to hear clear. Yeah.

Damon Pistulka 07:34

Okay, so what is one thing if you can accomplish it this summer? We’ll make it a great summer for you.

Ajay 07:42

Stay home, stay safe.

Damon Pistulka 07:44

There you go. That’s, that’s good. And do that and do that. And you know, I will tell you from ours with our kids, our kids are a little bit older than than yours, but it’s a lot of game nights. A lot of games you have to play a lot of schoolwork yet to work with, you know, and that kind of stuff. So it’s really good. Great. Well, thanks AJ for being here. Awesome.

Ajay 08:09

All this basically we all here.

Andrew Cross 08:12

Good. Take care. AJ be safe.

08:14

You guys,

Damon Pistulka 08:15

Andrew. fangled tech.

Andrew Deutsch 08:19

Can I can I ask you to pull someone else up on the stage and get me at the end of the list? Somebody just showed up at my front door. Okay, kidding. actually happening.

Damon Pistulka 08:30

All right. I got on stage. He said he’s like, oh, not kidding. Bernie. How are you doing today? Bernie fuson agar, good. Scientist, Mark. Man. Tell us how you’re helping people give. First of all, Bernie, your your I don’t know, you may have been here once before, or you’re fairly new to the group. So it’d be great to introduce kind of a little bit about your background. And then how you’re helping people today because I think your background is fascinating. First of all, it just, it’s fascinating to me, and I think it’ll be helpful for everyone that they can hear it. Yeah, um, yeah, thank

09:08

you. And welcome, everyone. I’m glad to be here. Glad to share. So I spent a 20 year career at Papa John’s International, the number three pizza chain in the world. And a lot of my responsibilities there was looking at customer data and then building omni channel marketing programs around that data to then you know, bring consumers into the brand, promote promotional items and basically, you know, sell people in our services.

So my stint there ended back in March so it’s given me the time to really step back as a person professionally and personally to say okay, where do I really want to focus my energies and my time and then you know, over the course of that is you know, I have a business that up for me to the seven and a lot of my main focus now is I’m helping brands reach To regain and retain your consumers with omni channel marketing with a main focus on restaurants on retail on, you know, QSR bars, any, any industry and or category that has loyalty programs, programs where you create an account, you download your app,

because once you have that you have a plethora of data, that then you can use to then set up strategic programs to bring consumers back into the brand to retain those consumers with, you know, drip campaigns or campaigns based off of the order history or based off of customer behavior. And because you know, the data, you know, when those consumers are also leaving your brand, so you can reach back out and pull them back in. So you know, the over the course of the last three months trying to, you know, refine what it is that I want to offer as a brand.

This is the one area where you know, I can stand out with my 20 years of experience running successful programs to rely back on and then you know, work with the programs and those categories to truly engage and increase. And the big thing with any of this, you know, you can do cool stuff, but how are you increasing their sales, their transactions in their comps. And that’s the big thing.

And that’s what he’s really geared up to is we want, we want sales, persons and you’ve got customer data, and this is how you’re going to use it. So it’s a lot of strategy. And it’s a lot of recommendations. I don’t come in and replace anybody. But I look at their programs from afar, and then offer the omni channel recommendations of how they should be running their programs.

Damon Pistulka 11:33

Awesome. Awesome. I do have to ask, how did you come up with your company name B to the seven? Um,

11:41

I get that quite often. So b is Bernie. Yeah, that’s a tough one. And I was born on April 7, so there’s your seven. And then you know, just a little bit different.

Damon Pistulka 11:50

Ah, there you go. There you go. Good stuff. Well already.

11:54

So for another day, I do have another LLC that we formed called three ring circus. And we’re working on the logo, the website with that. And that is actually a social media, stock animation creative company that we’re forming that I’ll be sharing some elements that we’ve done once we’ve gotten to the point where I feel like we can share that, but it’s awesome. It’d be something that’s fun.

Damon Pistulka 12:18

Good, good. Well, that’s cool stuff. Bernie I’m glad you’re we’re able to share your experience because I just think of the Papa John’s experience for you starting with them as is the prize they were and coming to the size they are now and and that that experience going from an hour’s talk marks committees on the call to when you when you take these companies through a doubling, tripling quadrupling of size, the data handling the structures for the people, everything changes so much.

And I and I really value those people’s experience that have gone through that because we deal with it a lot in our clients, because it’s typically what we’re doing is really grown them aggressively. And in only people that have really gone through it. And experienced the thing like you probably saw were where you know, your data handling systems were awesome one day, and then all of a sudden, they just crapped out because they couldn’t take you just couldn’t take it or we’re giving you what you wanted. And you have to start over again, which we hit

13:22

data in 15 different spots. And how do you pull that together to get the come? Yeah,

13:27

you have the consumer

Damon Pistulka 13:30

probably saw we’re, you know, your data handling systems were also one. And then all of a sudden they get crapped on feeling that you just couldn’t take it or we’re giving you what you wanted. And you have to start over again,

13:42

which is

13:44

in different spots. And how do you pull that together to

Damon Pistulka 13:54

the Andrews got it on LinkedIn. Sorry about that. Yeah, if you put me on LinkedIn, if you put LinkedIn up, Andrew, we got like a five or 10 second delay.

Andrew Cross 14:05

I’d Yep. I saw that. I thought my mic was off.

Damon Pistulka 14:09

There we go.

14:11

We just thought that point was very important. We went Yeah,

Damon Pistulka 14:13

I made the point again, but but it is cool. So thanks for being here today. Bernie. So what is one thing that you want that if you can accomplish or do this summer, it will make it a great summer for you? That’s the question of the day.

14:25

Great question. I’ve got two daughters, one that’s 16 one that’s 11. And you know, at this time, two more years of high school, so as much time as possible with my girls, to where we can get out do things and be together before she goes off to I mean, girls, they’d like to do their own thing like the state of themselves go up to the room, but you know, being able to pull her out and you know, spend some time is the one thing that you know, I’m going to cherish the most and of course, you know, continuing to grow my business but you know, the family aspect?

Absolutely first and I hope I do believe we’re actually going to take somewhat of a vacation this summer. So that’s going to The he knows a little change from the last year and looking forward to

15:05

Good,

15:06

good stuff.

Damon Pistulka 15:07

Good stuff. Well, great to have you here. Awesome. I’m glad we could share your experiences with everyone. Make sure to connect with Bernie if you haven’t already. Have a great day, Dennis Bolger. How are you today, sir?

Dennis Bolger 15:19

We’d be doing good. I Mike and I got any kind of an echo by any chance? No, yours clean, clean, clean now.

15:26

Yeah, I

Dennis Bolger 15:26

figured out what was wrong. I had a I had the wrong mic was turned on. And it was feeding back through my speakers. So anyway, I, Dennis Bolger and I’m an I’m an insurance agent. That is non I’m kind of practicing, but yet I’m not. I’m supporting my son and his business. And we’re building that business as we go. The important thing that that we do is is like we had a customer that came to us yesterday that had been a customer of ours in the past. And he said, hey, how do I take care of this problem, because the city dumped a bunch of water against the against the my basement wall. And now my house leaks all the time. And, and the city won’t pay for it.

And so we’re we’re helping him come up with a solution that maybe we may be able to help him move on and take care of his, his home and his family and everything else. great people and we love being able to, to interact with folks and help them create solutions, no matter whether it helps us or not, it helps them. And that’s what we do. And we’ve got a great trap line of people that we can call on including some of you guys, that we can push out to them and help them get from point A to point B. So there you go. Awesome.

Damon Pistulka 16:55

Awesome. Well, Dennis, great that you could be here today. And I know that you’ve been able to get your your, your your camper out a little bit this summer already. That’s good. I’m sure this is going to be a good question for you. If so what is one thing, if you can accomplish or do this summer, I’ll make it a great summer for you. Well, we

Dennis Bolger 17:17

had our first two week vacation, my wife and I, together months before in the month of April. And that’s the first one we’ve had in four years. I want to get another two week vacation in. But the big thing we’re working on right now is is we’re putting together a play yard for my grandkids next to the house. And I want to get that done so that we can sit out there and watch and sit in front of a fire and watch the kids out there playing on their play or play structure and see him run around and grow up. That’d be fun. Oh,

Damon Pistulka 18:03

awesome. Stuff that that’s golden man. Golden, that good stuff. So that’s great. And I’ll ask you one last question quick. So where did you go when you’re when your last night when you did your two weeks, where we got

Dennis Bolger 18:18

our two week was over at the ocean to a place called Greenland. I mean, if you go to Greenland, don’t try to do it with T Mobile and try to talk to anybody on the phone because it doesn’t work so well. But T Mobile works perfect everyplace else. My tower didn’t work my. And so it was truly putting your feet up and relaxing, which is very hard for me. And so it was it was a good time away.

18:48

That’s awesome. Service sounds like a plus.

18:51

Yeah,

18:51

it was a big plus.

Ajay 18:52

Yeah,

Damon Pistulka 18:53

that’s good stuff. Awesome. Dan. It’s great to be here today. Grant. How are you today? Sir?

Grant Mathis 19:00

I’m doing very good. Thank you for asking Damon.

19:03

awesome to see you.

Grant Mathis 19:05

Thank you. Getting into it. I i one of the things that I was impressed with his his the the level of conversation that goes on with this, this meeting and I thought to put out there that I’m looking for Well, what we’re doing to change things I mentioned before is getting to the getting contaminants out of this human experience. And so we’re working on on skincare, but that has led us into environmental engineering.

So we’re working on a bottle and my big ask is and I’m connected with Andrew about this, but maybe there are other folks that that have some idea. I’ve learned total manufacturing, toll it they do a part of the process. And we may have a bottle but we need to get it filled and packed and shipped and so if anybody knows somebody that that does All those things, I’d love to hear it. Okay. Well, that’s that’s

Damon Pistulka 20:05

Yeah, I will I will connect with you after this because the the event that we have tomorrow with manufacturers in it and in the depth that we can go into manufacturing places that could do that. Yeah, well, we’ll help you do that we can find somebody that can we can get connected up for that, because that is that is fairly, fairly common. They just have to have the right the right certifications and stuff to do it for you. But yeah, yeah. Yeah. There we go. But I think I think actually in your state, too. So it’s, it’s closer and, and you know, so you get that as well. So awesome. Well, this is, this is great.

So we just want to make sure people understand. So you’re developing a clean skincare line. Right? And then you’re also you also are, this clean skincare is one part of it, because you’re taking contaminants out of that. And the other part of it is you’re putting it actually in a container that will break down anaerobically in the landfills. Bam, there we go. That’s the thing that I think is important about what you’re doing is you’re taking the contaminants out of skincare, which, you know, I use skincare stuff every day, not on my face. But lotion. Yeah, I wish Yeah, I should because you know, I get that.

But it’s important because you look at all the things that I mean, if you’re sitting watch TV at night a little bit, you can see how many times does it come up that some product now has caused cancer and people you know, in late in a lot of a lot of this talcum powder stuff has come out and some of these other things.

This is the end, you’ve just looked at your bottle of lotion that you put on and go, how many of those things can I even read first of all, and what do we know they’re about? It’s a big deal. It’s a big deal. So good stuff, Grant. I think it’s awesome what you’re doing. And I’m going to ask you the question. So what is one thing that if you accomplish it this summer, we’ll make it a great summer for you.

Grant Mathis 22:07

Get my wife, she’s, we’re transitioning your firm, transitioning her from her other business. We’ve got a month this summer for her to relax. So I want to get her down to the beach. Hopefully there’s going to be nice weather. It’s It ain’t so great in Southern California lately. So if the weather can improve, I want to get her down to the beach more.

Damon Pistulka 22:30

There you go. There you go. Awesome stuff. And the beach is always good, man. There’s nothing like it to just sit there. And even if you’re not seeing it, you’re just hearing it and feeling the wind off the off the water is awesome. So good stuff. Glad you could join us today. Grant. See you later.

Grant Mathis 22:49

Thank you,

Damon Pistulka 22:50

Jacob Warren, our resident beard expert. And it solution provider, Todd.

Andrew Cross 22:58

That looks a little trimmed up.

23:01

Let’s it’s not

Andrew Cross 23:02

as unruly as usual.

Jacob Warren 23:04

Well, speaking of products and stuff, I’m actually using the bearded brotherhood stuff, so it’s helping keep it a little bit. So it’s good stuff. So yeah, no, I

Damon Pistulka 23:16

have a bearded brotherhood today. Yeah. I always imagined Jacob waking up in the morning and chopping wood at his house.

Jacob Warren 23:30

Yep, I take off my, my, my bark blankets and send them off to the side and yes, get out. And yeah, yeah, that’s it.

Damon Pistulka 23:41

People today, Jacob,

Jacob Warren 23:43

I am helping people tame technology. So what that means, you know, everybody needs technology to work, right? They need to be secure. I help them do that. Awesome.

Damon Pistulka 23:55

Awesome. So I’ve got a real quick question for you. I read a little little ditty this week about Microsoft 365. business clients, you said 85% of those clients have been hacked?

Jacob Warren 24:12

Absolutely. Because the thing that that people miss out is they don’t put on the security layer. So Microsoft Office 365, or Microsoft 365 is the email application and stuff like that people buy it off the shelf, and they think, Hey, I’m good to go. No, you still need to put spam filtering and a whole bunch of other stuff on it. It’s just like if you had in your own infrastructure, and so a lot of small businesses think that, hey, we’ll just buy it. We’ll pay the 1250 a month and we’re good to go. Not actually accurate. So it’s not technically Microsoft’s fault. It’s everybody’s kind of Yeah. As a part of that one.

Damon Pistulka 24:55

So is it something that they just need to turn on like two factor authentication or is it Something that they need to add additional solutions

Jacob Warren 25:03

Did you need to. So Microsoft does have a solution, but it’s an add on, that’s an important part to look at. So the ideal thing is reach out to if you have an existing IoT provider and talk to them about email security, they can help you out. So that is one thing we do we use so foce line of products to in to help bring that layered approach? Yeah,

Damon Pistulka 25:27

yeah. I mean, I had an experience a few years ago, where a client got their email hacked, they didn’t know it was hacked, and they sat there. And they, someone watched emails until they made a big they. And they knew the money, how have they watched the money go back and forth in wire transfers between two owners of a business. And they ultimately emailed the owner that was transferring money to a supplier and said, Oh, we need to change our bank account. And then they went ahead and he wired the money to the wrong bank account.

He was lucky enough. I don’t know how the heck they did it. But they stopped the wire transfer in time, because it felt wrong. And he emailed somebody right after he did it. And it was, I don’t know how you can stop it. But it got it before it got transferred. But it was about $150,000. Yeah,

Jacob Warren 26:18

no, their cyber security is also the threats out there. There’s a lot of social engineering that goes into it now. So it’s not about the attack. It’s about the long term access that somebody can get to your system. without you knowing.

Damon Pistulka 26:34

Yeah, yeah. Cool. Well, this is a topic that I think we talked a lot about, and I feel sorry for the people on the east coast. Now with that with that ransomware attack on the pipeline. I mean, I hope, I hope I hope they crush those people that did that. But I don’t have very much hope for that.

Jacob Warren 26:53

Yeah, yep. It’s just, you have to, there’s the tools are out there to know exactly what’s going on. And so it’s just like anything else. If you have a crappy door to your house that you can see through, you’re probably going to get replaced quickly. But everybody forgets that same concept applies to cybersecurity is, hey, you’re only as good as the building that you’re in. And you got to make sure to inspect it. Everyone’s Wow,

Damon Pistulka 27:21

awesome. Awesome. So Jacob, Question of the day for you, dude. What is the one thing if you accomplish this summer? We’ll make it great for you. You’re from here? Yeah.

Jacob Warren 27:38

Yeah, no, I want to go from here to here. No, actually, I’m going to go with the wife approved answer, and I’m going to try to finish her honey do list. I have a ton of projects, gardens, everything. If I can accomplish 90% of it. I think I’m in good for a great winter.

Damon Pistulka 27:59

Awesome. Awesome, dude, that is always a good bet. I will tell you I’ve been married for 20 years or been with my wife for 20 years married for 12 or 13. Wherever the heck it is. But that has a solid bet.

Andrew Cross 28:12

It was my 32nd anniversary. No, you’re just

Damon Pistulka 28:16

that’s freaking awesome, dude.

28:20

Amazing,

Damon Pistulka 28:21

Jacob. awesome to have you here today. My friend. Always good to see you and your beard. Marks commenti. I’m still excited for our call or conversation that we had on faces of business last week. I think it was last week. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I had look the date it was 554 or five, five, we did it. Good to have you here today to tell us how you’re helping people.

Mark Scrimenti 28:44

Thanks, Tim. And yeah, that was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed that. And there’s plenty more we can talk about. Yeah, yeah, you probably get my follow up email with that. And we didn’t talk about this. But here’s here’s 1000 more thoughts on this. So I’m a fractal coo. And I work with visionary CEOs in the social entrepreneurship space or the social enterprise space. So these are this is the intersection of profit and purpose. And I help them to clarify their goals, develop a sales and marketing strategy and build out a scalable operation for sustainable growth and profitability.

Damon Pistulka 29:16

Very good. Very good. So in your in your you’re doing something now with sports courts, and you’re helping helping nonprofits put them into

Mark Scrimenti 29:30

That’s right. Yeah. So we, we build these, we started manufacturing them. So that’s a whole other venture. But these little prefabricated soccer pitches, they’re, they’re about the size, it’s a five on five, so it’s like a football size field. And about the size of basketball court, you can drop them in a vacant lot in a city, and it’s really meant to serve the urban market, which is really underserved in the soccer space. People in urban communities tend not to To have access to those spaces or that money involved in clubs, sports, travel, sports, all that kind of stuff. But there’s a there’s a big demand for it in, you know, Latin Latin x communities, it’s taking off in other communities in urban cities.

So there’s a, there’s a mission orient oriented, there’s a mission, you know, to the business as well as, and we’re getting and here’s the things, we’re getting developers to pay for it. So developers have an incentive, you know, check some boxes and earns goodwill with municipalities and the communities and the all the people. And sometimes they have these green space requirements and affordable housing requirements. So it kind of fits in with that. Public amenity requirements.

Damon Pistulka 30:41

Yeah, I really like how you guys are doing that. And it is something because I know when you look at like, where where I live is not quite as developed in you know, we have the large soccer fields, but when you’re in the city, it’s hard. It would be you know, you have to drive a long ways or you just don’t have soccer fields. Right. Really cool. And, and soccer is such a popular sport, and it’s such a good aerobic sport for kids.

I mean, that is something that you know that basketball you know, these were they’re running around all the time lacrosse, those kind of things. They basketballs, a smaller court, but that’s the only one of them that you can do on a small space. So right, good stuff what you’re doing. So are you what is the one thing you want to accomplish to make your summer great?

Mark Scrimenti 31:24

Well, like Bernie and a few others here, it’s focused on family. My daughter’s graduating from eighth grade. We’ve been in house arrest for 15 months like everybody else. I can’t wait to get out of here. Take a little trip with her and do something outdoors. So camping, hiking, we’re in Chicago, so we’ll probably drive up to Wisconsin or Minnesota or Michigan, something nearby, but where we can spend a long weekend just together and outdoors having fun and connecting.

Damon Pistulka 31:51

Yeah, yeah, good stuff. That’ll make my theme going here. Good.

Mark Scrimenti 31:56

Yes,

Damon Pistulka 31:57

you’re right. Yeah. Get out, get out and breathe. That’s for sure. It was great having you here today. Mark,

Mark Scrimenti 32:06

thanks for being here. Thank you,

Damon Pistulka 32:08

Marty. Vendrell our resident EOS expert. How are you today, sir?

32:14

I’m good.

32:15

I’m good. How’s the sound?

Damon Pistulka 32:16

And it’s awesome. It’s awesome. There was a little bit of feedback, but when you turned it down, it worked. Awesome. So

32:22

okay, good. Yeah.

Damon Pistulka 32:24

So tell us a little bit about how you’re helping people, Marty.

Marty Vondrell 32:28

So if you’re familiar with the EOS mini us, implementer. And things are going well. We help I help clients get vision, traction and healthy. There’s Damon’s copy. They’re one of the you know, I’ve been through this with you guys many times. But if I help companies experience vision, traction, healthy, right vision from the standpoint of getting the leadership team 100% on the same page with where they’re going, how they’re going to get their traction, meaning more disciplined, accountable and executing on that vision.

And healthy meaning getting that leadership team cohesive, functional, open and honest. And as we do that, as good as the leadership team, so goes the rest of the organization. So yeah, I know, Mark, you’re kind of an integrator, I know you’re the title. Things are going well, getting a lot of good clients. If you guys come across people that are talking about traction, I’d love to talk to them. Because it’s a really powerful system. And it’s, it’s really working well for my clients. Things are growing like crazy. So a month can’t be better.

Damon Pistulka 33:33

Yeah. Awesome. Great here. So I know that you’ve been on a bit of a lockdown with us here in Washington. So what are you want to do this summer that would what is the one thing if you could get done this summer would make it great for you.

Marty Vondrell 33:47

It’s already scheduled we got a couple weeks separated by by some time, but I’ll follow Bernie and say my got my kids that are 12 and 14, and I just want to get some time with them and and spend at the beach. We’re going down to Oregon and and into the mountains. So it’ll be it’ll be nice. We can just do that.

Damon Pistulka 34:10

That’s awesome. That’s awesome. And it sounds like that your family in my family are planning the same thing because this afternoon I’m getting in the car and going to seaside and then in July we’re going up to Mount Rainier and staying in a place. So there you go. Yeah, good stuff. Good stuff. Well, that’s awesome. Marty. So great to have you here and just just wonderful scene. Yeah,

Marty Vondrell 34:32

yeah, good seeing everybody.

Damon Pistulka 34:34

All right. Thanks a lot. Thanks. A lot. Miko, good whiskey man. How are you today from the east coast.

Michael Gidlewski 34:41

I am doing fantastic. Damon every day above ground is a good thing for me.

34:46

Is Yes, it

34:46

Andrew,

Andrew Cross 34:50

I’m doing well. Good to see you.

34:52

Good. Good. All righty.

Damon Pistulka 34:54

So did you see in the comments we mark commented about your library. We always get comments in the library library. Awesome, dude.

35:04

I love it myself. I love it. Love it. Love it.

35:07

Yeah. So

35:09

before I die?

Damon Pistulka 35:12

Yeah. So how many books do you think you have in that library?

Michael Gidlewski 35:17

I have for over 4000

Damon Pistulka 35:19

Oh my goodness.

Michael Gidlewski 35:21

I’m about 75% through reasonable.

35:25

Wow,

Damon Pistulka 35:26

that’s good. That’s cool. My wife leaves. We have a couple little shells for books. And she said, those are old books. You need to get rid of them. I’m like, No, I can’t.

Michael Gidlewski 35:36

I hear that all the time. Yeah.

Damon Pistulka 35:41

Yeah, good stuff. Good stuff. Awesome. So how are you helping people Michael.

Michael Gidlewski 35:47

So after Marty gets done with them and puts them through traction, then we work with those leaders who are moving in that direction who haven’t really you know, they’ve been doers, they created this company doing it, doing it doing it. So we help them go through leadership development themselves, we help them with the whole team develop that whole team. So they’re, they speak the same language, they have common tools, get the right people on the bus in the right seat. So making that trip to the vision a whole lot smoother and easier. Get Everybody rowing in the same direction.

Damon Pistulka 36:25

Yeah, yeah. And that is good stuff. And you know if you if you’re a gym con span you can you relate to house how important that is. But it is there is a distinct difference. You know, I I’m an engineer, I tend to, you know, go like the Marty Marty route, the EOS route, you go Pump, pump, pump, pump through these things and get them done. But the, when you have the people have the basic systems and processes in place. It’s like a like high level sport, just like anything, it becomes a mental game. And getting everybody working together really is important. So cool. Yeah.

Michael Gidlewski 37:01

Yeah, yeah, it’s so important to create that to help them get that culture get clarity around the culture and the core values and all. And they don’t, you know, I mean, I’m working with a team right now about 100 person, hv AC company. And the leader is a great guy, phenomenal guy, the owner, and he thinks he’s given like positive feedback to everybody.

But when I work with the teams in the breakout, they’re like, you got to work more with with our boss. And we’ve had those conversations, and he’s coming around, which is great, because he didn’t know guess, what do you know? And he’s a high D and the disc model. So that, you know, doesn’t help either. learning, learning the language learning those tools, learning how everybody communicates, and how everybody’s different. It’s okay. Yeah,

37:47

we weren’t we

37:48

weren’t different ideas.

Damon Pistulka 37:50

Yeah, yeah.

Michael Gidlewski 37:51

I get 12 people that think like I do. I don’t need 11 of them.

Damon Pistulka 37:55

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Good stuff.

37:58

Good stuff. Michael.

Damon Pistulka 37:59

What is the one thing you want to hear summer summer that you accomplish would make it a great summer for you? Well, I guess he’s on mute there.

Michael Gidlewski 38:12

Okay. So for me, it’s to pre boot myself to go on a nine day Silent Retreat up in the mountains in Pennsylvania, where there’s virtually no cell reception. check in and do probably do six, seven sessions of meditation a day in total silence.

Damon Pistulka 38:37

That’s it is incredible to me. It’s me because that that is that is really dedication to yourself and learning more about yourself.

Michael Gidlewski 38:45

Yep, that would be crazy.

Andrew Cross 38:47

Virtual practice. If you need a bare skin can talk to Jacob Warren.

Damon Pistulka 38:51

Yeah, he’ll get you a bare skin. Jacob will give you a bearish game you go. Good stuff. Oh, man. That’s great. And then I’m sure it’ll be interesting. So what are you doing that?

Michael Gidlewski 39:02

Trying to get it scheduled looking at schedule right now? July or August?

Damon Pistulka 39:06

Okay. Cuz I want to check up after that. Check with you after that, because that’d be cool. That’d be cool. Ron, friend, how are you today?

Ron Higgs 39:18

I am doing great. How about you?

Damon Pistulka 39:22

I have this incredible dude. Yeah. Yeah. So tell people man,

Ron Higgs 39:29

glad to be here. One. So my standing meaning that I have at eight o’clock on Thursdays was was canceled today. So I was able to come back because I was here a little bit earlier for the networking. So as most of you know, I’m, I’m two months into a new job full time job as a CEO of a creative agency, full stack, creative agency marketing, film and video production. Most of what we do film video production animation.

So if you’ve seen any, any Animated commercials for Starbucks, and Amazon, we’ve done those. We’ve done a couple of local car commercials for some car companies, Robin, Toyota was one we’ve done if you’ve heard of them, and done lumber, we do all of the marketing, on lumber. And we also shoot that they have a documentary series like a how to documentary series that we shoot, as well.

So pretty interesting. And to tag on to what Mike Michael was talking about earlier, I ended up getting this job because it’s a company full of creatives and the CEO. It’s like, Hey, we’re, we’re a company full of visionaries. If he didn’t use that term, I’m using that for Marty. But he’s, we’re a company full of visionaries, and we need an integrator. So on the leadership team, and so that’s me, and I’m glad he knew enough to hire someone that sorta was not like him. There are a couple of integrators in the company, but they’re not in positions to be able to do much, right.

So most of all of the leadership is visionaries except for me. Wow. So very interesting. so forth, a lot of parallels, believe it or not, in, in this creative space that I’ve seen with some of the engineering teams in the past, and this is a new, a new industry. For me. I’ve never done anything in this industry. So I’m learning a lot fast. In its typical challenges that this level, right personnel challenges, everything else. And it’s fantastic. I am learning as much as I learn something new every day, I’m learning as much from these folks as they are learning from me. So it’s been great so far. Cool. Awesome.

Damon Pistulka 41:39

I was looking up on my phone here while I while I’m thinking about it, there’s a guy by the name of Ricky or Donald, it’s Ricky, just like he think, oh, Donald, just like you think 79 on Instagram. Follow him and check out his studio. He’s a creative guy out of the UK. He’s got about, I don’t know, 2530 persons studio that they do some work for some bring brands like you guys are doing. But yeah, it’d be, you know, helping you and maybe it’s it, maybe it can, and I can introduce you if you want to.

Ron Higgs 42:11

Yeah, that’d be great. I will do that. But I love that introduction. The interesting thing is, I’m sure you know, here working with Microsoft, Amazon and Starbucks. They’re such big companies. You know what I mean, with so many different divisions that working with Amazon, I think we’ve worked with, I don’t know, five or six different divisions of Amazon who of course, don’t talk to each other.

Damon Pistulka 42:33

Yeah, no one talks the challenge. Same companies. Yeah, it’s like separate companies. Yeah. So. So what is the one thing you’re going to be doing this song? That will work in a great summer?

Ron Higgs 42:45

Well working, thank goodness. Right. So that’s number one. But you guys have heard me say this in some of these questions before I still looking to see the Northern Lights this year. Right. That is my deal. So I we have my wife and I have some friends that just bought a yacht. And so we’re hoping to get some time with them up in the sand once in Seattle, give us a little forbert north and a little closer to that. I’m currently in Arizona.

So the rules are a little bit different here. So I’ve been on some hikes. I’ve actually been to, you know, a restaurant with people instead of a bar and had a beer. So that part’s been great. Because it’s been too long since I’ve been able to do that. But still seeking the Northern Lights for the summer that will make it a great.

Andrew Cross 43:34

I think the best thing is is not to have a boat but have a friend who has a boat.

Damon Pistulka 43:45

I know that from experience. So Andrew Deutsch. Last but not last but not least we started out with you and you had somebody come to the door. So so it’s it’s great to see you, my friend. always doing stuff. You’ve been on a lot of podcasts this last couple of weeks. I’ve been enjoying them. And I

Andrew Deutsch 44:06

have it’s been it’s been nutty. I was just this morning on another one in England.

Damon Pistulka 44:11

Nice.

Andrew Deutsch 44:12

Yeah. You know, they speak English over there.

44:14

They do. Yeah.

Damon Pistulka 44:18

Yeah, funny accents, funny accents, for sure. All right. Well, a little bit about how you help them people, Andrew,

Andrew Deutsch 44:27

every day helping helping clients go back to their core to build a strategy to go to market and convert every touch to braces advocates for their brand. And also with my podcast, the fangled cast, which is getting more and more sort of traction in the little podcast world every every month. Lots of good stuff going on.

Damon Pistulka 44:48

Nice, nice. And our resident video expert. I mean, heck, when he does every minute every day, I’m still struggling to go through this class and figure out how to add Get a green screen yet which I need to but, but also it’s it’s a great if people haven’t done that they want to stand out on video, you know, talk to Andrew about the course it’s awesome sauce.

Andrew Deutsch 45:12

We’re actually this month we’re running until June 1 100 bucks off and of course with a little throw the link in the chat.

Damon Pistulka 45:19

Yeah, that’s fine. The videos are great. I mean I got the tablet to do it and then all the other the other you know inexpensive software to do and I’ve been playing with it I actually need to do it because for for me and what we’re doing like today you’re going to LinkedIn live from Remo I think it’ll streamline the process a lot and and Yeah, actually helped automate some things. So yeah,

Andrew Deutsch 45:44

I put AI in now. So when I when I you know, when I misbehave the actual software disciplines may teach

45:50

Oh.

Damon Pistulka 45:55

Yeah, yeah. Oh,

Andrew Deutsch 45:57

can we talk about the elephant in the room?

45:59

Yeah.

Andrew Cross 46:02

Andrew loves his job.

46:05

It’s Yeah.

Damon Pistulka 46:10

What is the one thing that you want to accomplish to make your summer great?

46:15

Probably

Andrew Deutsch 46:16

downsize. We’re in the process of doing final repairs to the house and getting it sold so we can get into something smaller. It’s very expensive to maintain this Hello, pad. Dammit. We just we’ve decided just the two of us now with all the kids grown and grandkids and otherwise we there’s too much space when you got to text your wife to find out where she is. It’s time for smaller house.

Damon Pistulka 46:38

Yeah, yeah.

Andrew Deutsch 46:40

Yeah, that’s our big goal is to do that and find something a little a little cozier to live in.

Damon Pistulka 46:45

You are a brave soul, my friend. You’re brave. So. Yeah.

Andrew Deutsch 46:51

Have you come by and help me move the fish tank? That’ll be fun.

Damon Pistulka 46:54

Okay. Yeah. Yeah, with my back. Awesome. I see Iris in the crowd to Andrew. We can bring him up then after Andrew. And I thought Troy was too

Andrew Cross 47:07

but I try was let’s see. Yeah, but I don’t see him. Okay. an IRA IQ let him on. I think he can just come up.

Damon Pistulka 47:16

Are you gonna be on be honest? Today?

47:19

There he goes. Yeah. Hey, guys,

47:21

how you doing today, man?

Andrew Cross 47:23

There he is.

47:24

I had to turn the mic on. Yeah, I still have admin

Damon Pistulka 47:27

role. Yeah, there we go.

47:29

I have to create a new profile. So I’m good. Good. doing very good.

Andrew Cross 47:34

Good to see you.

Damon Pistulka 47:35

So tell us how you’re helping people today, Ira.