In this episode of the Amber Energy Podcast, we sit down with Jason Yormark, founder of Socialistics and author of Anti Agency: A Realistic Path to a $1,000,000 Business. Jason shares his journey from corporate life to building a successful social media agency, offering valuable insights on entrepreneurship, branding, and creating a sustainable business. We discuss the importance of building a runway before taking the leap, the challenges and rewards of running your own business, and the lessons learned from writing and launching a book. Tune in for practical advice and inspiration for your entrepreneurial journey.
🎙️ Episode Highlights:
- Jason’s transition from corporate life to founding Socialistics.
- The importance of building a brand and creating momentum.
- Key lessons from Jason’s book, Anti Agency.
- The challenges and rewards of entrepreneurship.
- Tips for writing and launching a successful book.
🔗 Connect with Our Guest:
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Jason Yormark:
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Socialistics:
About our Guest:
Jason Yormark is the founder of Socialistics (www.socialistics.com), a leading social media agency that helps businesses turn their social media efforts into real measurable results. He is a 20+ year marketing veteran whose prior work has included launching and managing social media efforts for Microsoft Advertising, Office for Mac, the Air Force and Habitat for Humanity. Jason has been recognized as a top B2B social media influencer and thought leader on multiple lists and publications including Forbes, ranking #30 on their 2012 list. He’s recently published the book Anti-Agency: A Realistic Path to a $1,000,000 Business, and hosts the Anti Agency podcast where he shares stories of doing business differently. You can learn more about Jason at www.jasonyormark.com.
📢 Topics Discussed:
- Leveraging a book launch to establish business expertise.
- The process of writing and marketing a book as a business tool.
- Overcoming the fear of failure and finding confidence in entrepreneurship.
- Building a runway for your business before taking the entrepreneurial leap.
- How Jason Yormark transitioned from corporate life to successful entrepreneurship.
- The importance of authenticity and personal storytelling in building a brand.
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#AmberEnergyPodcast #Entrepreneurship #SocialMediaMarketing #JasonYormark #Socialistics #BusinessGrowth #BrandBuilding #AntiAgency #Marketing #SmallBusiness #BusinessSuccess #BookWriting #Leadership
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Transcript
00:00:00:05 – 00:00:27:06
Hello, and welcome to the episode of Amber Energy, the podcast. Today I have my guest, Jason Yormark, who is the founder of Socialistic, a leading social media agency. He’s also an author of Anti Agency A Realistic Path to $1,000,000 Business. Hello, Jason. Thank you for being here today. Of course. Happy to be here. Well, aren’t you telling me a little bit how we know each other and a little bit more about socialistic?
00:00:27:10 – 00:00:53:06
Sure. Well, AMA and I work together at a company called Sports out about ten years ago, which we were reminiscing about. Seems like it’s been a lot longer than that. And we worked together there and then kind of had a little bit of a falling out for a couple of years, but then reconnected, I think when we both went down our entrepreneurial paths and certainly built a kinship around that and always stayed in contact together.
00:00:53:06 – 00:01:26:01
Since then, just because I think we see the world and see business similarly and always lean on each other for what we’re best at. So that’s how we know each other. As far as socialistic, I started that company in 2018. I think I was always an entrepreneurial, entrepreneurial, early driven, but for me later in life was when that really it just all clicked for me.
00:01:26:02 – 00:01:47:02
And it was a combination of just being fed up with corporate America, reporting to other people, and just this desire to build something and do something and not feel like my hands are tied and my last job petered out. And for me, luckily I had socialistic kind of in the background as a side hustle kind of getting started.
00:01:47:02 – 00:02:14:08
And I just took the leap finally full time, 100% mentally, physically and 28 or 2019, I think I could remember I was 18 or 19. I think it was 19. Well, I launched the brand in 2018 as a side hustle and then jumped into a full time and 2019 and I haven’t looked back since. That’s exciting. I remember when you did that fun fact you were at my wedding.
00:02:14:09 – 00:02:33:02
It was like, When was that? What year was that? I got I got married in September of 15. I was thinking I was like, I am pretty sure you were at my wedding. Yeah. No, I was there. That was a couple of years before. I mean, I’m sure I was still and I was at your bachelor ticket at night.
00:02:33:03 – 00:02:56:12
You were? That’s the last time I’ve ever thrown up from drinking. But I think 2020 shots will do that. And I remember it was a fun night. My goodness. Yeah. I have not gotten that ridiculous since then. Yeah. And I was like, You’re you and Molly’s wedding. So that’s how long we’ve known each other going on. Definitely a hard decade, which a lot has happened in a decade, which is amazing and beautiful.
00:02:56:13 – 00:03:15:07
A long time since sports are. So we had sports R and then we both, like, I went full time into my Amber design and 2016 and then you went full time in yours not too long after mine. Yeah, Yeah, you’re right. I think there’s something this we both work for A lot of, like, big tech in the greater Seattle area.
00:03:15:08 – 00:03:38:15
Yeah. Agency life. And I think we both had this, like, entrepreneur obviously entrepreneurial spirit to, like, not do that anymore. So, you know, I just think some people are just wired to, to do their own thing, to build things. And a lot of times corporate environment, it’s kind of, you know, hold that back or slow it down. And I think people like us get frustrated in that regard.
00:03:38:15 – 00:04:00:11
Really. We like to take big swings and take chances and allow ourselves to fail. And I think I always felt always held back a little bit in those environments and frustrated. And I unfortunately never really had a lot of great managers or mentors in my life. Actually, I would only look back and see one, which was time back at sports art.
00:04:00:13 – 00:04:27:04
Oh yeah. He was somebody that really influenced me heavily and made a difference. But yeah, I mean, I once I started the business and things took off, I have not looked back since and I never will. I just, you know, I feel fortunate and lucky and to be in that position, I remember one thing from Tom Aaron is I’ll never forget when you told us, you’ll never say no problem, or you always say My pleasure.
00:04:27:04 – 00:05:03:00
And for some reason that has always stuck with me in hospitality. My pleasure. His there were two things that he told me that have always stuck with me. One was a phrase that I’ve used religiously since everything Speaks, which is pretty self-explanatory, but ultimately everything you do contributes to how people perceive you. So everything from your website, your social media, all the way down to like your email footer, like everything that you do that you put out in the world that plays a part in how people perceive you.
00:05:03:00 – 00:05:34:14
So that’s always stuck with me. And then the other one was Don’t step over dollars to pick up dimes. What’s another one? Oh, I like that one. I never heard him say that before. Yeah. Which that’s, it’s always interesting and I’ve used that quite a bit in my travels of entrepreneurship, you know, making sure that you’re thinking long term and not being shortsighted about things, especially when it comes to financial investments or how you invest in your business and how you make decisions around who to work with.
00:05:34:14 – 00:05:57:02
And so those two things have really served me well. Then they came from him. He was an impactful person at that at that company. So yeah, that was a good one for him. Yeah, well, we’re going to segway in to all of those amazing learning things that you have as your experience. Obviously with 20 years of marketing experience that you’ve recently.
00:05:57:04 – 00:06:29:06
Well, I guess maybe not. Seriously, how many years ago did you release the anti agency book? I think it’s been 20. It’s been a year and a half, two years, I think, since I officially launched the book. So to backtrack a little, so I launched Social Socialists in 2018 and I think 2022. There you go. Yeah. So two years in 2021, So two roughly two years, two and a half years after going, it was two years after going full time.
00:06:29:07 – 00:06:52:09
I think in my mind, like I just had this vision of like, I want to hit $1,000,000 in revenue, you know, annual revenue. To me that what that was like. If I could do that, then, I mean, oh my God. And it always felt like like this crazy number, like to like, just like I just have always been very humble in who I am and what I’ve accomplished and more so than I probably should be.
00:06:52:12 – 00:07:28:10
So I just it just seemed like a crazy number. But as I continue to get closer to that, it really just became like this rallying cry. And, you know, we get close and then we take a step back. We lose a client. So it kind of retreated around it for a while. And I definitely remember that we landed this one client we that which officially put us over $1,000,000 and just like an emotional wreck, just like, you know, I’m not like, yeah, I’m like, not I’m not a big crier, but I shed a few tears in that moment just because, I mean, I grew up poor, paycheck to paycheck for the longest time.
00:07:28:10 – 00:07:52:12
So we’re talking about somebody that, you know, really appreciates what I have. It’s not lost on me. I’ve fought and clawed and scratched for everything I’ve ever had. So it was an emotional moment. I mean, my I just you know, I thought about my mom who’s no longer with us. I thought about her. I mean, we grew up poor and the sacrifices that she made to help me become the person that I was.
00:07:52:12 – 00:08:12:01
And I just lost a lot of weight, like, all at once. And I think it was like maybe, yeah, a couple of days after or a week after, I couldn’t stop thinking about, I God, if I could, if I could pull this off. Anybody can like I’m not I’m nothing special like me original, like rags to riches. You know, the American dream is what it is.
00:08:12:03 – 00:08:40:08
I mean, I just like, I know, I’m like, I did I pulled this off. I didn’t have a lot to start with when I did it. And I just felt like there is there’s a story here to be told that can help other people similar to me to find their freedom through entrepreneurship for real people. Like that’s why I say a realistic path to $1,000,000 business because you have so many, you know, con artists out there that are just trying to make a buck, trying to convince you that, Oh, you could just do this and make tons of money.
00:08:40:08 – 00:09:00:00
And I just like this buzz word click be bloggy. I want to I want to write something that told my story. And, you know, look, it’s you know, you put yourself out there like that and it’s it’s sometimes it’s hard because, you know, people are going to you know, no matter what you do, people are going to knock you down or they’re going to say that I don’t like this book or whatever, blah, blah, blah.
00:09:00:00 – 00:09:16:12
And I was like, I don’t care. I’m like, This is my story. The naysayers, you know, give you a little bit of gold, like proven to prove them right sometimes. Sometimes I put a little chip on your shoulder I think would put me over over the top and moving forward, like, I don’t care if somebody doesn’t like the book, because at the end of the day, I’m like, Well, this is what I did.
00:09:16:12 – 00:09:36:02
And it led to $1,000,000 business. So the proof is in the pudding. So I just felt like I have to write a book now because I was trying to make money on a book. And trust me, I haven’t not made any money on this book. It is just a means to an end. I put something out in the world I feel like I’ve given back, and since putting it out there, I really have.
00:09:36:03 – 00:09:54:01
It’s been great because so many people have read it and just told me, you know, thanking me, saying they loved it, they loved the way that it was written. It made an impact in their life. And that’s all I care about now. So now it’s just like an attachment for you, for them, for you, for them, for it.
00:09:54:01 – 00:10:09:09
Yeah. But it’s more for like, I accomplish a thing. It’s a big stinking deal to me. And I’m gonna write this book and I don’t give a shit about everything else. Yeah. So. Well, now, little did my audience know that. Actually, he’s a two time author. Is this sort of his first show? That was just this one thing.
00:10:09:10 – 00:10:32:14
This is a called mirrors. Yeah, That was fictional. Is this his first? His first book? So this is he’s actually a two time author. Look at this guy. He’s. He’s nailing it in life. Yeah, well, they’re. Trust me, they are. They are a grind. I had help on the second book a lot, so I had a ghostwriter that kind of helped me flat fill in, fill in the gaps, like I had the story in my head and I get a lot of it.
00:10:32:14 – 00:10:52:13
So but I needed somebody to help me kind of like thicken it up a little bit in terms of how to stretch it into like a book per se. So he helped kind of guide that across. And then I worked with a a kind of like a hybrid publisher who helped kind of make it look great and get it in the right places.
00:10:52:13 – 00:11:11:05
So I had help. But you know, a little bit more about some of those, like, I don’t know, couple to three things that would be like pinnacle pieces of a successful, I don’t know, writing and launch of a book. Yeah, I’m interested in writing a book. I like to learn more about that. Well, I think I mean, the first part is you have to what’s the why?
00:11:11:05 – 00:11:35:08
Like, why am I doing this if you’re doing this for for 99% of people, if you’re if you’re if you’re why is I want to make a lot of money writing a book? I feel like you might want to rethink that. I mean, the margins on them are so thin. So most people don’t make money on books. If your answer is more like I, you just have this weight of like, I have a story to tell.
00:11:35:11 – 00:12:06:05
You know, I have a story to tell and I just want to see that come to life and put it out in the world. That’s a good reason, you know, or if it’s going to complement, say, a business like I there’s a part of me that felt like, well, you know, this might open up some doors for or for socialistic makes you I like another thought leadership right Another proof point of why they would someone would hire socialist X over the next or or if you want it to open up doors for like speaking engagements and things like that.
00:12:06:07 – 00:12:23:08
So do some of that too though. Yeah. No. So if those are your reasons, then that’s those are great reasons to go down that path and healthy reasons to do that. And then the next step is like, okay, now that you’ve checked the box of the why, the why is right now you need to kind of like take a pass at an initial outline.
00:12:23:09 – 00:12:38:12
Do you actually have a story to tell? You know, kind of really just flesh out what’s the story, what’s the goal? What do you want the reader to walk away from this thing with? And is there enough there? And that doesn’t mean that you have to have like every chapter figured out or every single topic. Figure it out.
00:12:38:12 – 00:13:03:01
But is there enough meat on the bone where there’s something there? And then once you can check that box, then you have to make a determination around, okay, my wife is locked in. I’ve got a story to tell. Yeah, how am I going to do this? You know, most people some people can probably pull it like we live in a day in an age where if you’re driven and motivated, have the time and have the resources.
00:13:03:02 – 00:14:40:03
You can write a book and you can get it made and you can self-publish. I was certainly capable of that, but I couldn’t check all those boxes I didn’t have maybe all of the time. Oops, we lost them. That’s fun. They’ll come back. Hmm? Mm hmm. Oh, change. I don’t know what just happened. He’s back. I got booted out.
00:14:40:07 – 00:15:04:13
He’s the man. So are you going to be able to just splice these two files together? Yeah. Yeah. So we can just pick up where? Yeah. So tell me more about the how. So you hadn’t even, like, my time and self-publishing. You’re like. Yeah. So we checked off the why and you have a story to tell. The third is how are you going to get it done, which is basically some people can do that themselves.
00:15:04:14 – 00:15:25:13
They’ll have the time and the resources and the patience and the determination to see it through. And then most people that are doing a book that is complementing other things like a business or something, then you probably need a little bit of help and then it just comes down to do you are you willing and able to invest in that help?
00:15:25:13 – 00:15:49:00
So that can range from finding like a ghostwriter. When I say ghostwriter, that doesn’t mean the writing, the whole thing necessarily just means you have somebody in your corner that is not going to have their name on the book that’s going to assist you in fleshing out some of that book. And then so that could be a ghostwriter, that can be an editor.
00:15:49:02 – 00:16:11:10
So that’s that. Having that in your corner is really helpful. It makes the process much more realistic because it took what was kind of a great idea and made it real. And you know, now you’ve got timelines, you’ve got a schedule, you’ve got somebody typically that has experience in this sort of thing that’s going to help you think about things in a way that maybe you wouldn’t because you don’t have that experience.
00:16:11:11 – 00:16:35:11
So that made it real for me. And then, you know, usually those people are pretty well connected. So then the question becomes, how are you? Are you going to self-publish? Are you going to try and find a publisher again? Finding a publisher is not easy. I did go down that road. I had a little bit of interest, but ultimately, I think similar to my professional path, I didn’t want to be.
00:16:35:12 – 00:16:54:02
I just wanted to do my own thing because I wasn’t interested. I didn’t care about I knew I wasn’t going to make money on this book. So I’m like, Well, why do I need a publisher then? So I did The Hybrid Path, which was basically a company that and what hybrid means is I had to pay them, but they designed the book for me.
00:16:54:02 – 00:17:12:04
They help me get it made. They acted as editor, they helped me get it all set up on all of the books, you know, bookselling sites, Amazon’s and the Barnes Noble’s of the world and setting that all up, helping me market a little bit. So I had a lot of help in my corner to get this story out in the world.
00:17:12:04 – 00:17:25:11
And I needed it to in order to to do it within a realistic timeline, because for a lot of people, they’ll say they’ll have great intentions, Yeah, I want to do this. And then it just life gets in the way and then it just kind of takes a backseat and it just you never get it over the finish line.
00:17:25:11 – 00:17:55:08
So because I had that help I took, I was able to get this thing out in the world within, you know, a like a year under year, ten, 11 months from start to finish. That’s actually I think that’s I think for a lot of people, you know, they are. And intimidated by the idea, maybe overwhelmed at the idea of writing a book because I guess you you write a book, but an idea like how do you possibly know if you’re not a writer first, like me, like I’m I’m a designer first and I write words enough to be dangerous, right?
00:17:55:09 – 00:18:12:10
But I have no by no means a wordsmith. Yeah. And so the idea of writing a book can be slightly intimidating to someone like myself, who I think I have a great story and a wonderful thing that I want to share with the world. But the idea of like, okay, well, I’m going to write this thing. And then, oh my gosh, the idea of like, okay, I can design a book cover, hurray!
00:18:12:11 – 00:18:30:08
But I can’t get it published or marketed or whatever. All these things, these like all these, you know, checkboxes and the dos in addition to Oh, yeah, I run my own design agency and I got two kids, you know, and, and, and, and, and you’re like, Oh, how could you possibly get it all done? But I really want to do this thing.
00:18:30:09 – 00:19:13:00
Yeah, well, I mean, there are three elements that go into making it realistic. Time, talent and I would say resources, you know, you know, you have to basically determine of those three things. What is it that you have? I actually throw a fourth in there, which is determination, tenacity, you know, your ability to because writing is really I mean, you have to I’ve been told by a lot of successful writers that the key to getting a project like that done, whether it’s a screenplay or a book, you have to set aside like an hour or 2 hours a day every day, same time, and just write.
00:19:13:03 – 00:19:34:07
You need to turn off the distractions. Don’t allow yourself to look at the emails. Don’t allow yourself to get pulled on other things. That’s your writing time and it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter what you write. It can be horrible and you’re not supposed to get in your own way, like just write and that doesn’t mean everything that you put on the screen or on paper is going to be used, But it forces you to get into a rhythm and a routine.
00:19:34:08 – 00:19:56:09
And the what the volume of everything that you create in those time blocks will inevitably lead you to ultimately great things. So that’s tough. A lot of people don’t have maybe they don’t have the time, maybe they don’t have time. I think it’s about making time if that’s I mean, because people make time for things that are prioritized for them, right?
00:19:56:09 – 00:20:11:13
Sure. So people make time for a lot a lot of things in life. Well, it’s really about how you want to spend your time. You know, it’s like, well, do you want to do that? You do it. Do you enjoy writing like, what’s interesting and I’ll admit this, I’m not a big I don’t read books at all. Hardly.
00:20:11:13 – 00:20:25:12
I mean, every once in a while I’ll read a book. I’ll read like short form articles and stuff all the time. I consume a lot of that sort of stuff. But books, reading a book like laying in bed and reading a book, all I’m thinking about is, is this chapter almost over so I can go on to something else?
00:20:25:12 – 00:20:43:01
Like, I just I can’t. I can’t do it. So a lot of people are like, Well, if you don’t read like that, then how do you write a book? And there’s some truth to that. But that just points the picture of I needed help. Like I knew that I don’t know enough to do this the way that I want to do it.
00:20:43:01 – 00:21:00:15
So I’m going to pull in experts that are going to help me, you know, craft this in a way that makes it everything that I want it to be. And I needed that help. And I think it worked because I’ve never had nobody’s ever told me that it was bad or that they didn’t like it. I’ve got nothing but positive reviews.
00:21:00:15 – 00:21:21:01
And I think that’s because two things. One, it’s genuine and authentic to what I’ve experienced too. I it’s honest, it’s real. I have actionable things in they’re like, this is what I did. It’s personal. And then the third is I had good I had people in my corner to help me make it be great. So yeah, I think you nailed it right on the head.
00:21:21:01 – 00:21:42:13
It thought it’s an honest, genuine personal story and it actually happened, which is like the fun thing. It’s interesting that you say that because like my husband, for example, he will read every single night off his Kindle every single night to turn himself off, to put himself to bed. Yeah, right. And I’m just like my day. I have, like, exhausted.
00:21:42:14 – 00:22:01:00
I’ve been up since 5 a.m.. I’ve worked before the kids get up. I got the kids ready for school or daycare. I’ve gotten worked all day and get the kids home from daycares, preschool up and like I’ve done a kidnaping. And so by like 9:00 I’m like, I’m done. Yeah, put me to bed. I don’t have the patience.
00:22:01:01 – 00:22:15:11
I don’t have the patience to to do it so well, you asked me on a Saturday what I want to do. I’m like, Well, do you want to sit here and read for 2 hours or do you want to go for a hike for 2 hours? No, I pick the hike like every time. Yeah, there’s I can think of plenty of other things I’d rather do than you.
00:22:15:11 – 00:22:39:10
But every once in a while I’ll come across something that I feel compelled to read. Like there was a book about how to sell an agency or things that are really specific to buy world on those things aisle. And oftentimes I would say now I only read like things that are educational or like things that are that’ll help me live a better life personally or professionally, like fictional things.
00:22:39:10 – 00:23:12:10
I’m like, I’ll watch a movie. I’ll go watch a show. Yeah, yeah. I’m the same way. I’d rather learn something. I’m actually kind of actually, I like history. I like reading books that have like, like historical relevance to them. But as we’ve seen in the podcast, if I’m like, gosh, I’ll read some or listen to some like news podcasts, but then otherwise, if I’m like on a long road trip, probably something about a really cool historical character with a storyline you know, in there, like you maybe know this, this and this about this historical person or character, but then here’s like the full out, you know, historical evidence of the da da da da da.
00:23:12:13 – 00:23:38:12
And I find that really interesting to learn about. That’s why the podcast because podcast you can multitask if you’re driving and you’re going a long way, you can consume that while you’re kind of tied up, like you can’t do anything else. I know I’m driving a car to and from Washington. I just did that Wednesday night. I went, my husband and I, we drove tag teamed Port Orchard, Washington to Napa, Idaho, and like eight and a half to 10 hours.
00:23:38:15 – 00:24:01:06
And how long it took us, we get into to like midnight Wednesday night. But exactly this is the types of podcast to listen to when you got that time to kill when you’re on the road or maybe when you’re doing a lawn work or yeah, I’ll that’s the time. Or if you still commute, you know, some people still commute if they got in-person jobs or, you know, service type jobs like a nurse or something, you got to be in person for.
00:24:01:06 – 00:24:22:04
So many people still commute. So I don’t I don’t have a lot of passive time besides when I’m driving to and from Washington State or going to a national park was another one we went to recently went to Yellowstone in the Tetons. Well, the podcasts are great because you can when you go on those long trips or you just just listen while you’re driving and I can’t like, read a book or do anything else when I’m driving, right?
00:24:22:05 – 00:24:46:13
I get sick like a lot of people do. So I’m like, I’m literally sitting here. Oh, well, that’s why not only So when I did the book, I did it. I made sure that it was I actually the hybrid company that I work with connected me with somebody to create an audio version of it. So because I knew, like, you know, I wanted to sound like really good, like, Yeah, well, your voice.
00:24:46:15 – 00:25:01:12
Yeah, 20 or 30 people to listen to. And I picked like a thing and I was like, Why didn’t you do read it? I’m like, I don’t have the I don’t have a voice that anybody wants to listen to, you know, three or four or 5 hours. So not to mention like having to just read through that and get that.
00:25:01:12 – 00:25:15:03
All right. But yeah, they lined me up with somebody and recorded that and that’s cool. That’s just cool. So like, now if I’m on Reddit or if I’m just in any of these places and somebody says, Oh, I love to read your book, or I’m like, Oh, do you want do you want a hard copy? Do you want a digital copy?
00:25:15:03 – 00:25:35:02
Do you want an audio book? I just like, it’s good to have options. Super good. Yeah. I mean, I give it away more than anything. Like, I just, you know, any time somebody asks me that, you know, they’re interested in the book, I’ll be like, Oh, here’s you know, they want a hard copy. I’ll be like, okay, you can go, It’s cheap on Amazon, but if you want a digital copy or audio copy of this offer, yeah, I know for sure.
00:25:35:02 – 00:25:58:09
And I’m grateful for my copy. I love my side by side copy version, so I appreciate that. Yeah, I no. What would be some of the biggest maybe like one or two big things like learned about yourself or learned about the while you know your biggest takeaway from learning around writing a book and launching a book. Um, I think one thing about learning about yourself.
00:25:58:09 – 00:26:32:00
I’ll start with that one. Yeah. Um, I think that, I think that I think the biggest takeaway from me and in going down that path was just the realization of how much your fail, whether it’s your failures or just everything that you experience in your life, just kind of contribute to who you inevitably become. You know, I think a lot of people fear failing or, you know, like a great here’s a great example.
00:26:32:01 – 00:26:59:09
For the longest time, I always felt embarrassed by my track record of my career because I had a lot of jobs. Like if you looked at if I made a resumé from the time I was I graduated college to now, well, not so much now, but maybe, you know, seven or eight years ago, like there was like a lot of jobs, some I’d been fired, I’ve been laid off, you name it, like just a lot of movement.
00:26:59:11 – 00:27:18:06
And I always felt like, oh, my God, like, who’s ever going to hire me? They’re gonna look at this and think that this guy can’t keep a job. And and it wasn’t until I really started to take a harder look at other people on LinkedIn and their history and what they’ve been through, especially specifically marketers or people that do similar like creatives.
00:27:18:07 – 00:27:41:12
And I think the realization that I came to, I’m like, actually that it’s pretty normal, like marketing and design and like it’s a flavor of the month kind of thing. And companies like to swap things out. It’s why agencies exist. So marketers don’t stay at companies for a long time. And I think once I saw that, wow, everybody else is kind of the same way, I realized that I didn’t really do anything wrong.
00:27:41:12 – 00:28:01:10
There was nothing wrong with me. It’s just the the industry that I was in and what I did for a living lends itself to a lot of revolving door action, which I, you know. So I got it that that’s but I didn’t like it, you know, I wanted to stick around for longer. But I think there’s a part of it too, that I get bored easy to like.
00:28:01:10 – 00:28:17:12
I don’t I think I like doing straight. Like there’s some industries where like some people stay like 20, 30 years, like they’ll stay at the same place and get their pension or retirement and like, have like these places where they stay for a long, long time and retire. My wife’s a perfect example that she’s been the same company for 30 years.
00:28:18:00 – 00:28:34:14
30 years. Like I can’t even fathom, you know, that that I’m the same with you. Like, I’ve been working a lot of design agencies. I’ve had a couple tours at Microsoft. I’ve been hired, fired, laid off, let go. I was a graduate during the recession by the recession of oh eight. Yeah. And you want to talk about grit and character building, baby?
00:28:34:15 – 00:28:52:12
That doesn’t do it for sure. Why? And so the want to loop it back to your original question was so and related to that, I always felt like I was always a breath going on. A depth guy. I like to do a lot of different things. I like to start a thing and I like it to have a finish line and then move on to the next thing.
00:28:52:12 – 00:29:10:05
I don’t like doing the same thing over and over and over every single day. That’s not how I was wired. I always thought that was a weakness. Like I was at Microsoft for five years. I was always afraid to admit that. And it wasn’t until later in life and kind of going through this process of writing the book and realizing like, No, that’s actually a strength.
00:29:10:06 – 00:29:31:12
There’s plenty of people. You need both. You need both kinds of people that have incredible depth and are willing to do the same sorts of things all the time. And you need people that can do a lot of different things and can go in and out of things. So that’s not a weakness, it’s a strength. And once you know, it’s just coming to the realization of like doubling down on what makes you who you are and why you’re good at what you do.
00:29:31:12 – 00:29:59:07
And everybody’s different. And so I think it was the combination of just finding confidence in things that I think earlier in my life I shied away from and going through the book and fleshing out these stories and talking about how I built what I built. And, you know, look, if I if I again, if I can do this, I feel like anybody can that that’s willing to put in the time and effort and has something you know, everybody has a superpower.
00:29:59:07 – 00:30:20:10
Everybody has something that they’re just naturally drawn to or are good at. And so that’s what you lean into, you know, and look, not everybody’s wired to be an entrepreneur, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Some people need structure, some people need I’m punching in and punching out. I need structure around my professional and my personal life. I need them to be completely separate.
00:30:20:10 – 00:30:38:15
And some people are like, No, I want freedom. I want to do what I want when I want. You know, those are the great things and the challenges are, am I going to get a paycheck this week, you know, and like losing clients and like, I guess I’m responsible for six or seven other people and their livelihood. So there’s, you know, there’s advantages and disadvantages to both path.
00:30:38:15 – 00:31:10:00
It’s just depends on what how you’re, how you’re wired, how that’s going to fuel your fulfillment I think also is part of it too. Yeah, working for other folk wasn’t fulfilling enough to me, you know, and I’ve gotten to the point now where I just I’m so far removed from it that the thought of it is just like, no way, you know, because I’ll say no to clients or I’ll say no to things, or I don’t want to even be in situations where I ever get a taste of that, like employee reporting to somebody type of thing.
00:31:10:00 – 00:31:31:00
Yeah, I’m like, I don’t want to be around any of that. And the idea of having like, be thumbed by a clock. Yeah, really? And like, oh, it gives me like, the heebie jeebies. Yeah, well, it’s funny. It’s like, even, like now that I’m so removed from a commute and traffic, anytime I get stuck in traffic, I’m immediately, like, livid.
00:31:31:00 – 00:31:50:14
Like, what is happening right now? Why am I not moving? Like, and then I forget my call. Remember? Like you did this for two or 3 hours every day and it’s just like you get so far removed from it. And then, yeah, I’m just like, What am I like, Why did I do this? I like I mean, look, some people have a choice, but it’s like when you you forget, you know, when you’re removed from it for so long.
00:31:51:02 – 00:32:15:02
It’s so funny. You know, I’ve been full time in my agency working from home since 2016, and my husband was working from home. He’s a regional sales rep now, sales director since 2013. He’s the one for his company. And so this whole like we’ve both been working from home for a pretty long time. So when it all went down, whatever happened in 2020 with the COVID thing, like real.
00:32:15:02 – 00:32:34:05
So I was all new to them. But for my husband and I was like, Oh, this is like every day for us. Like there’s no change. But I can’t. But prior to that, though, you know, I committed to sports. I commuted in Microsoft community to various agencies in downtown Seattle for the first seven years of my career. I did that.
00:32:34:06 – 00:32:56:15
And it’s I think it was obviously it was necessary. It was very necessary to get cheering, you know, Stars and Stripes and the design agency world to learn how it’s all done, to learn how to be, you know, a good designer amongst the crazy that is agency life in the greater Seattle area. I’ve had the opportunity of working with a lot of amazing, amazing, amazing agencies.
00:32:57:03 – 00:33:23:01
But they I learned a heck of a lot a lot by working for those folk and by working a couple of tours at Microsoft in, you know, working full time at sports, art and other places. You also going between full time and, you know, direct as a contractor and then through placement agencies, maybe at points in my younger career, you know, all of that led to learning an awful lot about how to go off and go do your own thing.
00:33:23:01 – 00:33:45:09
And so it was definitely invaluable to do it that way. I did not know that when I graduated Western that I was going to go off and go be an entrepreneur someday. That was not what I thought I was going to do. But once you get later in life, you know, you discover, you discover actually, this experience probably contributed to like me getting to where I’m at.
00:33:45:09 – 00:34:05:01
And that’s pretty common. Once you get older, you start realizing that, Well, it’s kind of funny. You said that earlier about the realization of your failures in life. I too am embarrassed for a moment in time of my track record. I remember applying to sports are, you know, I’m like, here’s my resume. Yeah, because becomes like my resume.
00:34:05:01 – 00:34:28:04
I was like, you know, all these different contract gigs sputtered in with maybe one or two employment gigs, but it’s also post-recession. So, you know, it was kind of doing this for, you know, the years leading up to getting employed at sports are in like 2013 or 2015. And so I remember like, here’s my resume. Yeah, I usually get pretty creative about like, oh, I wasn’t there long enough.
00:34:28:04 – 00:34:50:01
Let’s just yeah, I would say the leading theme massage, the dates between these two and we’ll like close the gap with everything that so much earlier in my career. Yeah. Oh my LinkedIn. It was just like my first like ten years of LinkedIn or after post Western Washington. Washington’s like, Oh my God, you ever keep on top of my consolidated for real?
00:34:50:02 – 00:35:09:01
I consolidated everything. If you look at my LinkedIn, you only see about five things, but I’m like, there’s actually like ten or 15 easily. Yeah, precisely. I, I mean, do you still get a job? I’m yeah, I have a job. Day is like, not like a real one. Like one where you can stay. I like have a steady paycheck and a pension or a for a1k matching year.
00:35:09:01 – 00:35:37:13
And I’m like, I, I don’t know if I’m built that way, Dad. Yeah, no, makes sense. But my dad’s been at a place, you know, two places for 25 years or 20 years each and finally retired this year. And that was the path you chose. Yeah. That’s, that is not common anymore. And I don’t think it ever will be I think No to a lot more thing perhaps think it’s a two way street a little bit perhaps of the loyalty going both ways with employers and employees.
00:35:37:14 – 00:36:02:02
There is a lack of trust between the two of them. Yeah, well, for sure. My goodness. Yes. So. All right, so you now have a book. You’ve been out for a couple of years, you’ve got a successful one, and you say now you said you should have rewritten the book to say a couple million dollar business. But you know, you’ve got a successful business and a book and a podcast.
00:36:02:03 – 00:36:25:03
Um, what else you do would be another, oh, maybe another tip or a success. One little nugget about your book, about how to build a successful business. Maybe that would be a nice little thing. Yeah, one of my favorite chapters, and I think one of the biggest takeaway is that people are getting out of this, what I call building a runway for yourself, because most people don’t have the means to just leave a job and start a business.
00:36:25:04 – 00:36:56:08
And that’s definitely not the direction that the book takes you. And I wasn’t in that place. So it’s really just about building a runway for yourself. If you’re if you’re truly entrepreneurial driven and you know, you can’t take that leap, you need that paycheck, then you need to kind of build some momentum for yourself, get the train rolling on the tracks, you know, figure out what it is that, you know, ultimately you want to build and do, whether it’s a marketing agency, whether it’s a service based business, whether it’s, you know, product, you want to start a restaurant, whatever that is, there is a path to creating that brand and that side hustle while you
00:36:56:11 – 00:37:29:01
hold on to that job, creating momentum for yourself, putting yourself out in the world, build a brand, build a website, start creating content, you know, start putting things out in the world. That’s what I did. I built socialist six, I put it out there. I started blogging, I started pushing out social media. I started taking on gigs for either like 50% of what I would normally charge or even maybe a free gig in exchange for their testimonials or their case studies, because I could do that because I didn’t need really the money from that any because I was still kind of had a job.
00:37:29:04 – 00:37:47:10
Yeah. So just getting that machine rolling, creating that momentum, getting into the Google sphere so that people start to find you when they’re typing in search terms that relate to what you do in the area that you do it in, you know, creating that momentum. So you kind of if you visualize it, it’s like that train starts moving.
00:37:47:10 – 00:38:07:11
So then, you know, whether it’s six months down the road or 12 months down the road, you know, at some point now taking assuming that you’ve created momentum for yourself and it’s headed in the right direction, look, life throws shit balls at you, you don’t know. And it happened to me, my last job. I thought it was going to be a great job.
00:38:07:11 – 00:38:37:04
But long story short, the owner of the company was having an inappropriate relationship with somebody on my team, which and I just and that was influencing their role. And I’m just like, I know I’m done. I’m out like, this is it like, I can’t do this anymore? And luckily for me, when that moment happened, that train was already moving socialistic, was already in motion, taking that leap into doing that because I had reached my threshold at that point, I’m like, I am done.
00:38:37:04 – 00:39:02:13
I am not working for anybody else. This clearly is not for me. Yeah, I had put in the time and the effort to kind of get that machine rolling. So then when I took that leap, it didn’t feel as scary, it wasn’t as risky. And I was able to then, from a mindset standpoint, go in fearless. And that is why it took off, because in my previous attempts I carried too much fear.
00:39:02:13 – 00:39:28:15
Oh, what happens if I don’t make enough money and this and that? And I think those feelings psychologically held me back. But in this case, I was ready. I lowered the risk. I had something in motion and I was able to enter it 100% confidence, not scared. And that, I think, was the reason why I finally put all the pieces together and it took off.
00:39:28:15 – 00:39:49:05
So creating a runway for yourself is the way to make it happen when you can’t just quit your job, when you don’t have tons of money or investments to throw at something from the start. And that pretty much defines the majority of people. And that’s who the book is for, is is those types of people? Yes, I know.
00:39:49:07 – 00:40:08:13
That’s why it resonates with me. Yes, yes, yes. It’s interesting that and I talk in the book and I’m going outside. Hustle. Right. I build steps that like these are the things I did tactically, Like I did this, I did this, I did this. I really try to make it actionable, reflective about your past, too. Like I kind of thinking back, I’m like, man sports.
00:40:08:13 – 00:40:22:09
That was also sort of my my launching point, and it was like a rip off the Band-Aid moment. And maybe it was like the best thing obviously is like the best thing that could have ever happened to me. But in the moment, it’s like hard to talk for Thanksgiving. I don’t have a job now. Like, this is awful.
00:40:22:09 – 00:40:43:05
I just got married. This is terrible, you know? And and but and but here I am. Look at me now, you know, here I am. You know, eight years later and it was a launching point. I remember asking my husband, like, give me like six months to do the thing. I’m going to go independent. Like I’m tired of not being in control of my destiny.
00:40:43:08 – 00:41:10:06
That’s it. I’ve had enough to go and go into business for myself. And away we go now, for sure. Yeah, it was fun. It’s been a wild road for sure. So no, I’m really grateful because it’s been fun to sort of, you know, we had our time at sports art. We went apart and then over the years, you know, we come back together, we kind of go off on our own tangents and then they probably come back together, know half a dozen times over the last eight years, at least throughout business.
00:41:10:06 – 00:41:31:06
I just it’s a beautiful thing. I love, love, love making connection and following up on connections and seeing how people are doing. And it’s fun to watch people’s careers. And, you know, you’ve been you’ve been in business longer than I. But it’s it’s funny, even just in the 20 years that I’ve been in business, to watch people grow and change and learn and try new things, it’s been a lot of fun to watch.
00:41:31:09 – 00:41:50:07
Yeah, I’m saving you as a colleague. Yeah, that’s how the podcasts like this where you just get to learn about people’s history and what got them to where they’re at. And I think, you know, even at my age and where I’m at, like, I’m still learning. I’m still I don’t, I haven’t figured everything out. So I think as long as you approach life that way, then you’re going to be successful.
00:41:50:09 – 00:42:09:04
Yeah, exactly. I think that’s a good note. Never stop learning. Keep growing, perfected a good notion. Anything else you want to kind of say to the audience before we wrap it up today about your book, Are you or we got going on? You know, I just think, you know, you know, that anything’s possible. You know, you just have to figure out what your path is.
00:42:09:04 – 00:42:36:02
And certainly this book is is designed to help people achieve that. And, you know, for those that are listening, like I said, I give it away for free. So if you go to my personal website, Jason, your maqam backslash free dash book, you can get a free copy. I have a cool video that I put. I spun together about it and you fill out a little form and it’ll automatically send you a free digital copy.
00:42:36:02 – 00:42:57:03
So they give it away. All I ask is people leave a review if they read it. But yeah, free of charge. I’ll thank you, Jason. That’s wonderful. So I encourage everybody to to download or download his book and I really thank you for your time. I value your friendship, your your really our relationship over the last eight years and I’m sure.
00:42:57:03 – 00:43:17:03
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being a guest today. Absolutely enjoyed it. Thank you. Wonderful. Well, thank you, everybody. Tune in next time for another episode of Amber Energy, the podcast. Cheers. So there you have it. All right. Stop recording. Cake? Yeah.
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August 15, 2024