May 6, 2025 • 52 mins
In this episode of The Voices of Business, host Joshua Maddux flips the mic on the usual host-turned-guest Corey Nathan, founder and CEO of Scan Media. Corey shares his personal and professional journey—from the theater world of New York to business leadership in Santa Clarita. As a seasoned podcaster and entrepreneur, Corey opens up about founding Scan Media, launching multiple podcasts, and navigating the evolving landscape of media, politics, and technology. This candid conversation dives deep into entrepreneurship, resilience through economic downturns, and the meaningful practice of conversations that count.
What You Will Learn:
- How Corey Nathan transitioned from stockbroker to theater producer to media entrepreneur.
- The origin story and mission behind Scan Media and its flagship podcasts.
- Strategies for navigating tough political and cultural conversations in today’s climate.
- How AI is transforming podcast production and business operations.
- Practical advice for business owners on managing change, team culture, and growth.
Episode Highlights:
[00:01:00] Corey Nathan joins as guest—tables turned from host to guest.
[00:03:00] From New Jersey to LA: Corey’s journey into media and entrepreneurship.
[00:08:00] Launching a headhunting business after working as a limo driver and messenger.
[00:10:00] Founding C Spot Go during the 2008 economic crash.
[00:13:00] Discovering podcasting and the birth of Trailer Geeks and Teaser Gods.
[00:20:00] The importance of civil discourse in Talkin’ Politics & Religion Without Killing Each Other.
[00:28:00] Business leadership lessons learned during COVID-19 and political polarization.
[00:36:00] Hard lessons from hiring missteps and what truly matters in business.
[00:41:00] Corey’s “chill out and follow the process” advice to his younger self.
[00:43:00] Joshua’s deep dive on how businesses can begin using AI today.
Featured Quotes:
"Engage today’s culture in conversations that count. That’s what it is for me." — Corey Nathan
"Decisions with good intentions don’t necessarily work out if the math doesn’t work." — Corey Nathan
"Dude, chill. Trust the process." — Corey Nathan
"Don’t do nothing. Do something. Start using AI in your business—even small steps matter." — Joshua Maddux
Resources Mentioned:
- The Second Mountain by David Brooks
- Creative Inc. by Ed Catmull (Co-founder of Pixar)
- Trailer Geeks and Teaser Gods Podcast
- Talkin’ Politics & Religion Without Killing Each Other Podcast
- More in Common – Hidden Tribes Study
Join Us:
If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, share it with fellow business owners, and leave us a review! Your support helps us grow the show and bring more valuable conversations to the Santa Clarita Valley community.
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The Voices Of Business:
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:08):
Welcome back to the Voices ofBusiness, a Santa Clarita Valley
Chamber of Commerce podcast.
Good to be with you.
I'm your host, JoshuaMaddux, my co-host today.
Well, today we're flipping the tablesa little bit on someone who's made a
career of asking the tough questionsand hosting shows like this, but
more about our guest in a minute.
(00:30):
The voices of business is where we talkwith business owners and leaders about
business here in the Santa CRE Valley.
Sometimes we don't just stick to business.
We talk about leadership managementand really wherever the spirit takes
us, please remember to subscribe.
If you haven't already, tell a friend,give us a good rating and review.
That really helps, uh, get the word out.
(00:50):
About this show and, uh, helps furtherconversations that we're having, like the
one we're having today with Corey, Nathan,who is founder and CEO of Scan Media.
What's happening, Joshua?
Thanks for having me, man.
Yeah,
I.
crazy.
So I'm, I'm like, you know, I'm goingthrough the script in my head of
(01:12):
like, you know, starting the show.
And, but now, yeah, like you said, wherethe tables have turned, haven't they?
In the, in the green room pre-show.
Corey is like, I'm lookingfor the guest notes.
And I'm like, Nope, you're the guest.
Damn.
Yeah.
Really putting me on the spot.
I know, I know,
I'm
I know.
Well, so two things.
One, I don't know if you realize this.
(01:32):
Um, we dropped the firstepisode about a year ago,
Yeah.
Yeah, it's been
which is, which is wildthat, you know, we're, we're.
About 20 episodes.
I think it's, this'll be like episode 19
Okay.
uh, yeah, it's, it's been awild journey, but good stuff.
So,
I've
well, let's, let's get toknow you a little bit more.
(01:55):
Um, let's talk about yourbackground and, and, you know,
what brought you to Santa Clarita?
Um, where'd you grow up?
What does that look like?
Sure.
So my family's all fromBrooklyn, the old country.
I, I mean, how, how much doyou want me to include here?
Yeah, that's true.
You host podcasts.
We'll be here for four hours.
(02:15):
yeah.
Um, no, we, uh, so I grewup more on the Jersey side.
Uh, if anybody remembers thatsong, my hometown, that's my
hometown, Bruce Springsteen country.
We had some of the same high school even.
He's like 20 somethingyears older than me.
But yeah, we still, some of theteachers were still, uh, teaching
at, at, uh, my high school.
And then, um.
(02:35):
uh, I started out professionally, Iwas a stockbroker during the day, going
to a theater conservatory at night.
And, um, I, uh.
I hated my life during the day,but I loved my life at night.
So when, um, I graduated fromthat conservatory, I quit my
job as a broker and I startedproducing theater in New York.
(02:56):
And not too long after, we did some coolstuff in Chelsea, like off off Broadway
size houses and some other bigger houses.
Um, and then a mentor of mine saidencouraged me to move out to la so.
Uh, I was already with Lisa, my, my wifeat the time, and, um, she's still my wife.
I, the time I was withLisa, who's my wife.
(03:18):
Still should be clear about that.
Uh, this is my first wife, Lisa.
Oh, is she your second wife too?
No, um, anyway, so we were together and,um, we had only been together for about
a year and I told her, yeah, so George,this, this mentor of mine told us, told me
to move out to LA and I really understandif he didn't wanna come with me, but.
(03:39):
I'm leaving.
So literally like three weeks later,um, we had a pickup truck packed
mostly with her shoes and her dog.
we were driving out to la we'vebeen here since, uh, 1995.
And my first job, I started from scratch.
I wasn't gonna be a broker, I wasn'tgonna get back into, um, that business.
(04:01):
So I literally started asa. You know, a driver, uh, a
messenger and worked my way up.
Um, but that was a greatway to learn the city.
And one of the, one of the chancedeliveries that I had, it was
a Friday afternoon and I had apackage to deliver what looked like.
Oregon.
To me it was beyond like the wasn't aThomas Guides guy, I was AAA maps guy.
(04:25):
'cause I liked the big picture.
And I had to go stop by AAA andpull out a whole new map for
this place called Santa Clarita.
You know, I had this,
Oh geez.
Valley, you know, but itwas a Friday afternoon.
So I called, she was still my girlfriend.
I called Lisa, I said, Lee, I,I don't know when I'll be back.
Do you want to come with me?
I mean, we will make awhole, you know, day of it.
um, it turns out that we got up.
(04:48):
To Stevenson Ranch in like 35, 40 minutes.
So traffic was a little bit different
Yeah, I was gonna say from where?
Like
from West
from West la.
So the traffic patterns weredefinitely different back then.
You can still do that.
It's just, it's just twoo'clock in the morning.
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
Um, so we got up here and.
(05:08):
I could, so Lisa from Alabama,she's used to open space and we were
living in this like one bedroom, if
Oh gosh.
it that in Santa Monica,
You.
and it was still, the sun was shining, itwas a cul-de-sac, and kids were playing
whatever kickball or soccer on the street.
And, you know, it was just, you know,I mean, you've seen the shows, you've
seen Santa Clarita diet, you've seenlike little, you know, uh, the, the,
(05:32):
the shows that depict Stevenson's Ranch.
And, um, I saw, look in my.
Lovely girlfriend, soon to befiance, soon to be wife's eyes.
That was kind of like a shark tastingblood and know, it's like I'm doomed.
And, uh, you know, it meaning that shereally, she just sensed something up here
(05:52):
that she really wanted to be a part of.
So
Yeah.
subsequent, I don't know, two orthree years, we moved closer and
closer to Santa Clarita and by 99 Ithink it was, we, we lived up here.
Um, and then, uh, during those sameyears I went from, uh, messenger to
limo driver to starting to producetheater and some independent film.
And, um, eventually started my firstbusiness out here, um, which kind of
(06:16):
grew out of my producing activity,which is a specialty headhunting in
mergers and acquisitions company.
Um, specializes inentertainment advertising.
Um.
And the, the connection there is whenI was producing film in particular, I
was typically the producer on the team.
That was like finding people,uh, and putting teams together.
And that's ultimately what I did.
(06:37):
Um, and it just, I, I. Uh, one thingled to another and I ended up finding
this niche within the entertainmentindustry of creative advertising.
So the people who make comingattractions and movie posters,
and now the digital campaigns.
And I still do that business andhave some wonderful, you know,
25 year relationships, which Ican't believe I'm saying out loud.
(06:58):
Um, and, uh, do you want, shall I go on?
I could
So that's, that's, yeah.
No, I mean that's, so that's thepath that really brought you.
To Santa Clarita.
Um, you know, obviously like some ofthe other conversations that we've
had with guests on the show, like verywinding road of, of what got you here.
(07:24):
Um, so you're in Santa Clarita, youknow, you have a few different job.
You know, uh, fields that you're,you're pursuing, um, what led you
to really taking the dive and,and looking at starting your own?
I mean, you, you touched on alittle bit of like, you know,
(07:47):
you've a head hunting company.
What was those other entrepreneurialaspects that you were looking at and, and
ventures that you were, were exploring?
Yeah, yeah.
So it, it is a long and winding road.
You know, once we moved up here,um, we were married in 97 and had
our first baby in 2001, uh, secondbaby in 2003, third baby in 2005.
(08:10):
And then Lisa finally figuredout what was causing it and
put a stop to that nonsense.
Um, but, but, uh, but it, my.
Order of priorities changed, you know,and instead of, um, feeling like I
had the luxury of pursuing pursuingpassion the, the job in the job.
really became a central focus.
(08:32):
Um, but despite that, life stillhappens and economy still happened
and the world still happens.
So, uh, we really felt, uh,we were starting to build a
life for us and our family.
And then 2008 happened.
Um, so.
My business was doing really well, uh,through 2007, but we started sliding.
We were, we, we were a lead and stillare a leading indicator of the economy.
(08:56):
So we started sliding in early 2008and we saw as much as a 70 to 75%
correction in our, um, revenues.
And I. Didn't know if wewere going to zero frankly.
Uh, but by then, you know, we had a houseand our kids were at Trinity Classical
Academy and you know, all this and payI payroll that I was responsible for.
(09:16):
So.
One of the results of that was Ineed me saying to myself, I need to
figure out how to create more revenue.
Um, whether it's thisbusiness or another one.
And we started CS Spot Go the windowcleaning, pressure washing company.
it was a business that didn't requirerequire millions of dollars to get into.
Um, but we knew how we knewhow to my brother and I did it
in Jersey when we were kids.
(09:37):
We knew how to.
You know, we knew what was requiredfor that business and we felt like
there's a lot of glass in Santa Clarita.
marina, could do it wecould do really well.
Um, um, one of the one ofthe best things that we did.
join the Chamber.
Um, immediately when we started thebusiness, and then directly as a result
of the chamber, we met somebody who'spart of the Santa Clarita Valley Business
(09:58):
Group, which we've been a part of.
Uh, ever since, it's been a great,uh, great run with both the Chamber
and the um, and the S-E-V-B-G.
Um, and it, it definitely enhancedour business right out of the gate.
We literally, by the end of the firstyear, had hundreds of clients as a
direct result of our affiliation with,uh, chamber and S-E-V-B-G, and I'm
(10:19):
not exaggerating, literally hundreds.
Um, so that so that was,that was refreshing.
Uh, you know, it's you know.
a business, so it wasn't like wewere rolling in in dough, you know,
we were still learning lessons alongthe way and, know, figuring out how
to run a profit, not just revenue.
Um, and that was helpful.
And then, you know, fast forwardto when our kids are getting older,
(10:43):
sometime around 2018, 2019, uh.
I, I appreciated havingrun these businesses.
I appreciated the appreciate thefact that the mortgage and well, you
know, with some bumps in the road.
Um, and I'm grateful I'm gratefulfor the lessons the way too.
but I realized that there was somethingreally missing and that it, that that is.
(11:06):
I was i as a kid, as a young manin the New York theater scene.
Uh, the desire to.
Tell stories and connect with a communityand breathe life into great literature.
Um, or just have conversations.
You know, there's, um,there's an expression that
another mentor of mine used.
Uh, he said, engaging today'sculture and conversations that count.
(11:27):
And that really resonated withme engaging today's culture
and conversations that count.
So right about that time, I read thisbook called The Second Mountain by
David Brooks, and he talks about thisstage in a stage a lot of types um,
where where whether it's financial,correction or divorce or a death in
(11:49):
the death of or a family, or you kindseriously fall mountain that you climb
and and you still still have lot.
and that drive that.
Got you to the first mountain you,so you, you can still climb another
mountain, but you climb it with theperspective of all that experience of
having gone through 2008, uh, in, inour case and, and all the stress and
(12:11):
lessons that we learned from that.
right about that same time I heard,I listened to my first podcast.
I'm, I'm like, I'm not cool likeyou, I don't have an iPhone.
I, I'm, I'm a Samsung guy, so ittook me a little bit longer to
figure out how to listen to po.
I've heard of these things,but I never listened to one.
And literally the first, it was, uh,I think it was a Mark Marin podcast.
I. A great interview, great conversation,and I felt like as a listener, I
(12:35):
was sitting at the table with MarkMarin and his guest, for an hour and
a half or two hours or however longthe interview was, and I fell in love
with the medium and my producer hat,like my producer brain kicked in.
I immediately started imagining whatkinds of cool conversations we could
have in this medium called podcasting.
within.
(12:55):
About six months.
We, we, we already, I was already indevelopment pretty early on, but within
about six months we were pro, um,releasing our first episodes of my first
podcast, uh, which is still runningcalled Trailer Geeks and Teaser Gods,
which not so surprisingly, is aboutthe entertainment advertising industry.
Um, and then about a year later iswhen we started talk Politics and
Religion Without Killing each other,or which is our, our big podcast now.
(13:17):
Yeah.
So Trailer Geeks.
Trailer Geeks was your first podcast.
one.
it.
Yeah.
Yeah, I know.
Um, yeah, you were makingfun of me with my iPhone.
Um, I, I had an Android for a while.
Okay.
Um, Motorola Razor before that, um,I had a Windows, I had a Windows
(13:38):
phone at one point, but thatlasted, I think, I think two weeks.
Um, after it kept basically factoryresetting itself every 24 hours.
I said, forget that.
Um, yeah, no, but yeah, Android,you know, had podcasts back in
the day, but it was, you know, alittle, little clunkier to get to.
But yeah, I, I know.
(14:00):
I started looking at into podcasts,you know, probably around the
same time, maybe a little earlier.
I don't recall exactly when, but likeI remember even on my iPod, like you
would download on iTunes and thensync it to the device to get the
latest weeks episode or whatever,
Right.
(14:21):
It was always a mystery of likehow, like I understand production
from like music and songs and, youknow, distribution of all that.
But then it was like, but anyrandom person could just grab a
microphone, record, 20 minutes ofsaying whatever the heck they want
to say, put it out there and find.
(14:43):
20 people, 20,000 people who also havethe same thought process and wanna
listen to somebody else talk about it.
Um, I'm that random person.
Yeah.
Well, and it's, it's, it's funny to mehow there's so many different directions
now that podcasts are, um, there's oneliterally this past week that I was.
(15:08):
Showing my son, like that's a dad andlike a 3-year-old that have a podcast.
Um, and it's these like 92nd littleclips of just the two of them
talking podcasts, you know, element.
And it is, it is funny just tosee how transformative the medium
(15:30):
has become and you know, where,where it has come to today.
Um, that's crazy.
It is.
Yeah.
Even in the time that I've been,I've been active six years,
I guess, uh, five, six years.
it's come a long way.
I mean, you
Yeah.
who's introduced me to a numberof AI tools that has really, uh,
(15:52):
ramped up and, and, and made more ofefficient ized, what's the word for it?
You know,
Yeah.
a lot of my work a heckof a lot more efficient.
There's, uh, man, just off thetop of my head, at least three or
four different ways that I'm usingAI tools, uh, in our production.
So it's really evolved where,where you interact with it.
This, this last year, for example,um, our, our big show we got in,
(16:15):
um, we started, I. Producing thevideo in addition to the audio on
YouTube and, and in other places.
Uh, we're also postingon, um, on Substack.
So video has become a big component of it,but we're still producing very much, uh,
very much the same way that we had been.
Uh, it's just that we understandthat our listeners have evolved,
so our or our audience has evolved.
(16:37):
So some of our listeners wannalisten to us on the audio platform.
Some wanna watch us on YouTube, uh, some.
Or go back and forth.
They, you know, they might, you know,have us on the big TV through YouTube
and then, you know, but still wantto listen to the show where they're
in their car walking their dog.
Well, yeah, so I'll saysomething to that because
(16:58):
there's something that I do when I drive.
Um, I. That I've said it a few times topeople and they're like, you do what?
When you drive?
Um,
you watch tv.
I, I play YouTube videos
I take a nap when I'm driving.
I don't know about
It, well, not everybody drives a Tesla.
(17:19):
Uh.
No.
So I am not activelywatching the video, no.
What I do is, there's a fewdifferent channels that I follow
that they are long form contentthat is 45 minutes to an hour.
That in reality, the visual elementis a guy sitting at a desk, um,
(17:42):
one of the ones, uh, legal Eagle.
Um, so his stuff is really, you canturn off the screen and you can gather
98% of the content just by the audio.
It's just him talking about it.
And so in reality, what Ido is I hit play on that.
My phone goes into the center console andthen I drive, and I just listen to that.
(18:04):
That media and I'm consuming,you know, like I said, 98% of the
content, do I need to see the screen?
Absolutely not.
And it's a 40 minute episode and I'mdriving 20 minutes across town, so
I'll catch the first half, then whenI drive home, catch the other half.
And so I think it'sinteresting to see how.
(18:26):
Some people are consuming it via videoor just via audio or a hybrid method
or, you know, whatever that looks like.
And I think it's, you know,evolved and continues to evolve.
Um, you know, as we go.
And I know with, so.
You've got the twodifferent shows primarily.
Obviously you know this one as well, andI know you're part of some other ones,
(18:50):
you know, from the planning stages orproduction or, or that type of stuff.
And, you know, scan media as a whole,as a production company, um, with
the talk and politics and religion.
Like I imagine there has beensome emotionally charged,
polarizing conversations.
(19:11):
Um.
And the, the title of the show is justgreat because it's, it's talking politics
and religion without killing each other.
Um, which I think is like,that's the key because
we are in a time right now, and I'mtrying to say this, like it, that
(19:31):
it doesn't matter what politicalor nonpolitical topic you bring up.
Find a room full of five people andthere'll be at least two in that
room that have polarizing opinions.
Um, you know, and so, and feelstrongly about it, and that's
(19:52):
fine, but how do we do that?
And then still live in thesame city, on the same planet?
And so I imagine that, you know,there's been some relatively
emotionally charged topics.
How do you prepare for some of that andlike, what do you do from a disarming.
Perspective to like, have you hadguests that are just like, you
(20:13):
are an idiot, and just go off onlike, what does that look like?
So we're, we're about 300 episodesinto that one, and I can count.
On one hand, uh, maybe.
I don't know.
There might only be one episodethat went entirely off the rails.
Um, and even conversations that I hadsubsequent to having a guest on there
(20:37):
where a guest would come on and I wouldhave subsequent conversations with
them off the air, I could still counton one hand how many times it really
went off the rails and it speed that.
That reality speaks to a larger reality,which a lot of folks have a misperception
about, and that is when you look at, whenyou look at the general population there.
(21:02):
There are only, uh, six to 8% of whatI, what can be defined as extremists.
Um, so self-identifying right wing or leftwing, or however you wanna call it, but
people who self-identify as completely inthe tank for the most, you know, partisan
(21:22):
version of the two major parties, or thetwo major, you know, uh, political lenses.
Um, but the perception is that.
It's a much more significantpercentage of people that are
very extreme in their views.
When it comes to actually havingthese conversations, uh, more in
common is a, is a great organizationthat's done some really broad studies
(21:45):
of this, uh, like it literally inthe tens of thousands of people.
Uh, one came out in 2019 calledHidden Tribes, and that's the,
um, that that was the study.
Where we learned about it's, it's about 6%on the right wing side and 8% on the left
wing side that are really in the extremes.
But a plurality, about two thirds ofthe population are what's considered
(22:06):
the exhausted majority that theywant to have conversations or be
engaged citizens, but they're justexhausted from all the screaming, and
there's built-in reasons for that.
You know, the algorithms and.
You know, there are businessmodels that know that
That.
instigate the anger and fearof an audience, it's literally
(22:27):
like giving them crack cocaine.
And I say literally, meaning, literallylike there's a chemical reaction in
our brain when we see something thatmakes us angry or see something, or
hear something that makes us afraid.
Our brain has the same reactionas getting ahead of crack cocaine.
And what do we do when we get thatcrack is we wanna go back for more.
So some folks keep on going backto whoever it is, the, you know,
(22:49):
I'm not even gonna get into someof the pundits that, that do that,
but that's their business model.
They know exactly what they're doing.
the truth is that, um, the sameorganization more in Common has
done another extensive study.
I just, and I just read the lateststudy actually, and, and she's
gonna be, the executive director isgonna be a guest on our show here.
But gosh, like in the 70 to 80%range of people really want to be
(23:14):
able to have these conversations.
However, a majority of that 70%, so like35 to 40%, uh, people, maybe more, I.
Believe that folks that have differentpoints of view don't want to have it.
So we're stuck in our bubbles, eventhough we wanna reach across, um, whether
it's religious or, or socioeconomic, orracial, uh, or political lines, we want
(23:39):
we all, there's 70 to 80% of us wannacross those lines, but our perception
is the people on the quote unquoteother side don't wanna engage with us.
Yeah.
So I wanna, I wanna talk to you, but youwon't, you won't give me the light of day.
Right.
And that's a misperception.
So what the, the, the challenge is to,you know, what do, do it informally.
(24:00):
Like we all, we all joke about docshere, one, one of the bars here in
town, I love docs because it's mostrundown dives of dive bars in town.
But I love docs because it'squintessentially Santa Clarita, you
know, and I get to have conversations.
I.
our, it's all hours, right?
It's not, not, um, all our, butlike all of ours, I should say.
So I run into somebody who's wearing his,you know, cleanup on aisle 46 hat, you
(24:25):
know, meaning, you know, Biden or whateverhe's, and then there's the other guy who's
probably a, died in the Wolf Democrat, butthey're all hanging out at the same place.
And I love it.
And sometimes we explicitlyget into those conversations.
But a lot of times we don't get to thoseconversations until I've played darts
with them, until we've hung out and talkedDodgers versus Mets with them until we've
done all these other things and have allthese other connecting points so that once
(24:48):
we get to the election or politics or someof these charged things, we're already
buddies, we're already hanging out.
He knows that I like, you know,bullet bourbon and he likes.
You know, uh, Michelob, whatever,like the yellow backs or whatever.
So, uh, stuff like that, we'regetting into the practice and
it's the, the muscles of democracythat, that we're exercising there.
(25:10):
So some of so some of like that.
Some of it is it's.
City of Santa Clarita is doing by having,you know, music festivals closing downtown
new hall or having food festivals or.
Castaic days or any number of thingsthat bring the entire community together.
Just even, even food kitchens thatwere, you know, that, that we have
(25:30):
here in town, um, the various, uh,fundraisers that we have here in town.
That's how I becamefriends with both Demo.
Uh, the other day, hoing Garden Show,I saw Suzette s who I'm dear friends
with are Republican State senator.
I also saw a George Whitesides, theDemocratic US Congress member gave 'em
both a hug and they're, you know, like.
It's great.
I, that's how it should be.
(25:50):
Those are the musclesof democracy at work.
Yeah.
And, and that's.
It's interesting to think throughthe aspect of really those common
misconceptions of, I'm assuming you don'twant to talk to me, or I'm assuming that
(26:11):
your viewpoint is gonna be whatever.
Um, and really once you take aminute, play around the darts.
Watch a game, like just take a step backand really actually have a conversation.
That's when you really startto, you know, start to have
(26:32):
that, that really good dialogue.
So what would your advice be to likea local entrepreneur, a business
owner, someone who's like trying tonavigate tough, tough conversations,
you know, public workplace, likeany of those elements, um, you
know, how does that translate, youknow, maybe to a business owner?
In terms of talking politics
(26:52):
Politics and religion.
or how to build a
I mean, I mean, business owners talkingpolitics and religion in the workplace
might open up an interesting can of worms.
Um, no, I mean, I, I think justoverall, like, just trying to navigate
maybe it's tough conversations.
Um, you know, maybe it's not politicsand religion, maybe it's just, you
know, tougher conversations in generalor, you know, things that people
(27:16):
aren't maybe seeing eye to eye on.
You know, how does.
Uh, some of that, you know, disarmingtension type elements translate
so, so.
here's where it, I think a lot ofbusiness owners and business leaders
really did in, couldn't avoidpolitical or social conversations.
Stations starting, especially in 2020,um, where folks were bringing their
(27:40):
politics and their social concerns intowork because it was, it was pervasive.
It was our entire lives.
Right.
Um, so you have to discuss, um.
Initiatives.
Uh, you know, I, I, I learned the termhistorically marginalized groups, right?
And, and I, I'm a pretty well read guy,but I, start reading Ebra X Kendi until
(28:04):
2020 when a bunch of my friends were,were walking with, uh, with trauma, you
know, sort of social cultural trauma.
And I wanted to, I wanted to be goodfriends to them, even if I didn't
understand it, even if I. Um, e evenif I didn't relate to it directly, um,
I wanted to be a good enough friend tounderstand what they were going through.
(28:27):
And as bosses, as leaders,we want to understand what
our people are going through.
Now, at the end of the day, we stillhave to make business decisions.
So I'll give you, I'll give you onethat some folks might bristle at.
Um, we, the C Spot Go is a company thatgoes into people's companies and people.
People's places of businessand people's homes.
And a majority of our customers wantedsuper, super clean for various reasons,
(28:53):
for health reasons or whatever.
Um, 'cause we do morethan just clean windows.
We do pressure washing and, youknow, all, all kinds of stuff.
So they're, they were really concernedabout being clean, but at the same time,
they didn't want to be exposed to mytechnicians if they had really strong
feelings about not wearing a mask.
I said, that's cool, but there'sgonna be a limited number of
places that I can send you to.
Right?
(29:13):
Because my, my job isn't tolike, take some political stance.
Um, it's to serve my clients.
And if my clients are, um, they havehealth risks, uh, or for whatever
reason, they say, no, no, no.
This is the.
The guidance and we'refollowing the guidance.
So if you're coming into my placeof business, coming into my home,
we need guys wearing masks followingcertain pro health protocols.
(29:34):
Uh, so we decided as a company that we'regonna serve our clients in that way.
Um, I. know, and some folksobjected to it, and that's okay
that that's their prerogative.
And if, because our guys were wearingmasks in certain buildings and and homes,
they decided not to use us because theyhad a strong political opinion about that.
That's their prerogative not to hire us.
(29:55):
But we felt as a company, the bestthing that we could do is have
our guys wearing masks that year.
So how do you deal with it?
I think you have to deal with every.
Issue that arises on an individual basis.
Um, and really think about whatserves your, your, your employees,
what serves your company?
What serves your, your customersand clients, and what serves
(30:16):
your community the best?
And think about it according toyour own set of priorities, right?
That's
Yeah.
two is, and this is on a morepersonal level when you're
having those conversations, isto lead, um, with, curiosity.
Over contentiousness, you know, whenyou're getting into these conversations
or somebody that I really admire andrespect, he, um, uh, he, he led me to
(30:40):
a book called Creative Inc. Uh, and it,it's, it's about the story of Pixar,
the business side of the story of
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
And they had a, a, an expression loving,if I remember correctly, loving candor.
So being able to have hardconversations and being candid
with someone, but with love.
Right?
And the way that I approach that,the way it's kind of a compass
(31:02):
that I look at is, is my compasspointed towards the possibility.
if I'm having a difference with somebody,the possibility that I'll, I can possibly
arrive at a point that, where I, I'llsay, oh, I never thought of it that way.
does that possibility exist?
Yeah.
know, that that's,
Yeah.
Have you.
that I'm trying to, to follow.
(31:23):
Are you as a business owner, youknow, or, or whatever, going into
that conversation with the elementof, I don't have a predetermined
outcome of this conversation.
Like you walk into someone's officegoing, they're gonna be mad at me.
They're gonna yell at me.
This is gonna be the outcome.
Like, yeah, there's a much higher chancethat that's gonna be the outcome of like.
(31:46):
Then you're gonna be more combativebecause you walk in and you're
gonna be like, well, I know they'regonna yell at me, so I'm just gonna
start raising my voice already.
And that person's like, what is going on?
Right, right.
And, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Cur curiosity over contentiousness.
I think really, and the ironythere is that disposition, um,
allows you to be more persuadable.
(32:07):
I.
Yeah.
you, you still have to have your,your principles clear, uh, uh,
you know, and, and an order ofpriorities that are, that are clear.
Um, that, that's not to say yougive you, you seed certain things
that are important, like beinghonest and not stealing, and, you
know, doing things the right way.
You don't have to give that stuff up, but.
You, you can still be curious.
(32:27):
You can, you can lead with a sense of,um, humanity and seeing another human
being as opposed to, you know, gettingone data point about this person and
then going on the attack because youknow that they voted a certain way or
whatever data point you're going offof to create some sort of caricature.
That's not helpful.
And the beautiful irony in that isit leaves you in a, it, room for the
(32:52):
possibility that you could be persuaded.
But because you're in that disposition,because you have that posture,
you are also more persuade, likeyou can persuade others, right?
You're, if you're more persuade, in abetter, um, position to persuade others if
that's the direction that you want to go.
So it's, um, yeah, it's, I don't know.
It's a completely different approachthan Es especially how a lot of folks
(33:15):
approach their conversations online.
But that's, that's awhole different story.
I, I'm just talking about.
Whether it's meeting people at Docs Innor, or, you know, at, uh, the next city
council meeting or in my boardroom,you know, and, um, talking to people a,
around, uh, an important business issue.
So.
So Scan media, I wanna circle back tolike what you're doing there a little bit.
(33:37):
Um, you know, as we sort of start towrap things up here, um, obviously
I. You have the two podcaststhat we already talked about.
There's this podcast, which isin partnership with the chamber.
Um, you know, you've got afew other things going on.
What is your sort of bigvision behind Scan Media?
(33:57):
What's the direction?
What, what do you see?
Where do you see yourself in five years?
That's a big question.
So I, I go back
Or do you know?
well, I, you know, I engage today'sculture and conversations that count.
That's really what it comes down to.
but for.
uh, the second mountain clarified for me.
(34:19):
Certain gifts that I bring to the party.
Um, certain, certain talentsthat, that I have, uh, but
also what's meaningful, right?
So it's not just about doing thisthing and getting paid, doing
it, doing something that I enjoyand, and getting paid doing it.
It's about identifying in ourculture, identifying needs in
(34:40):
our community, meeting thoseneeds unique in, in a unique way.
That with something that I could conuniquely contribute and my team, the
team of people that I've built uparound us, um, can uniquely contribute.
Um, so talk politics and religiondot killing each other is
definitely a manifestation of that.
Um, I. So I, I wanna continue doingthat, um, while the, the medium
(35:06):
and the, the industry evolves.
Um, and I'm super
I.
to see how it evolves and how I can ridethat wave, continue growing and having
these really terrific conversations.
again, I circles back aroundto engage today's culture
and conversations that count.
That's what it is for me.
What, what are differentelements, you know, for you?
(35:27):
As you've had multiple differentbusinesses, multiple different, you know,
avenues and ventures, what is like atough moment, maybe a failed conversation
or business venture or something thatreally like taught you that that biggest
lesson or, or not even necessarilythe biggest, but like taught you a
(35:48):
lesson or an important moment in life?
Um, lesson lesson.
the first, uh, part of the twothousands, the early two thousands,
and and is is decisions with goodintentions don't necessarily work out.
Like if you make a makea certain decision that.
(36:10):
You pretty much know isa bad business decision.
Having good intentionsbehind it, fix the math.
You know, like it's, themath is still the math.
Your p and l is still what it is.
So you could, you could have all thegood intentions you want, but at the
end of the day, if the math, if itdoes, if the math doesn't add up,
(36:31):
it's not gonna work out for anybody.
Yeah, it.
one.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, what that looks like is I, Imade some, I hired some people,
uh, and they weren't right forthe jobs that I hired them for.
I. Um, I wanted to do 'em a favoror I thought it could work out
because they had good intentions.
I had good intentions.
(36:52):
And then it, when it came to liketime to reckon with, you know,
business gravity, like we still
Make payroll.
boom.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
That's exactly what it is.
I. So I learned that lessonthe hard way and probably had
to learn it a few times over.
As I say, uh, sometimes, well the,the expression is no lessons learned
(37:13):
in a second kick of the mule, butsometimes it takes a few kicks on,
you know, of the mule for me to learnthe fir the lesson the first time.
Um, that's, so that's.
But too, in the deeper one forme is I, gosh, I wish that, I
wish that I had stayed true.
To what, what I was describing beforeis what I could uniquely contribute,
(37:39):
what I was uniquely passionate about,and, and marry that with what I
know about business much earlier on.
You know, the sacrifices that we made made
the, the crap that we went through.
You know, when you really believein what you're doing and, and
love what you're doing and arepretty good at what you're doing.
(38:00):
You know, you're still you still.
but you're, you're facing it with asense of a, a different sense of purpose.
It's not just about surviving.
It's not just about closing a dealso that you can pay the mortgage.
And that's important, don't getme wrong, but when there's a,
a greater purpose to it, man.
It's the, these, the challengesthat we're facing today feel a heck
of a lot different than the onesthat we faced in 2008 and 2009.
(38:23):
yeah.
It's uh.
An interesting, interestingtime in business for sure.
Yeah.
If there was one thing you could go backand tell yourself as you were starting in
business, first year of business, like,um, you know, obviously we have to pick
one of one of the businesses, uh, whatwould, what would you go back and say?
(38:48):
The first thing that comes to mind is dude
You know, like, um, I think that in alot of my businesses, uh, and and other
life endeavors, I was consistentlyin such a rush, especially in my late
teens, early twenties, even going intomy late twenties and early thirties.
(39:08):
I was in such a rush.
Whereas I've come to really value.
The process I've come to really,like when I started this i.
I didn't say, oh, I'm gonnado this for five years.
I just said, this is something I'm gonnabe doing and I didn't need to have, know,
a certain size audience by a certain.
Day or month or year, I justsaid, okay, I'm gonna continue
(39:32):
to learn something every day.
And when I learn what's working,I'm going to make a make
commitment, example, example.
uh, one of the ways that we grew, what'snow the big show, um, the, we found a very
effective, what's called earned media.
Um, so there's paid mediaand earned media, right?
So earned media in this space is.
(39:54):
Getting the host or the mainpersonalities of the show on
other podcasts in that same genre.
So in 2021, I started bookingmyself as since I was the host
on other politics and religionshows, I just said, you know what?
All I'm gonna do is I'm gonna sendout one email along these lines
(40:14):
every day, five days a week, andlet's see where it goes from there.
It turned out that I was gettingbooked on about one or two shows a
week, so I had pretty good resultsfor those five emails a week I was
Yeah, that's really good.
One and five.
and I, I did it for six months and I didno other marketing, and our show grew by
a hundred and just over 130%, so it wasit like, I'm glad that we got the results.
(40:37):
But more, more thananything, it was the process.
I was committed to the process.
Um, we've done the same thing with paidmedia and found certain paid media that
really doesn't work, and then other paidmedia that works really, really well.
Um, so yeah, I, I would go back tomy younger self and say, dude, chill.
And follow the process.
(40:57):
I, I, I think that one, that's one ofthe ones that I want to, like, oh man.
I want to just sort of, you know,simmer on for a second is like, I,
there's so many businesses who I.They'll start doing something, they'll
start whatever that thing is they,it's a new project management system.
(41:19):
It's a new CRM.
It's a new marketingcampaign, whatever it is.
Especially when it's technology andit's a new software application.
It's like, oh man, it's takingour employees a little bit
longer to do this function.
I'm like, yeah, once they do itfor a week, then they're gonna be.
Twice as fast and nowit's gonna save you time.
(41:41):
But like day one, yeah, it'sgonna take a little bit longer.
Like you gotta trust the process, gottaget your reps in, you know, you don't
walk into the gym one time and all of asudden, you know, you have a, you know,
great body and muscle mass is great.
You never need to go back likethat doesn't work that way.
Um, so yeah, it's trust the process.
(42:05):
Awesome.
Well, do you have any questions for me?
Oh,
I mean, we flipped.
We flipped the script and wealready did me as an interview, so
Yeah.
that was episode five or something, but
Okay, so I. This, this mighttake a whole other hour.
I, I have a feeling
Oh boy.
this question, what would you tellbusiness owners that are not using ai, at
(42:31):
least that they know, that they realize?
what would you tell them?
I'll make this a specific question.
What would you what them to do asa good first step to start learning
AI in aI to, in order to find goodapplications for their business?
Yeah, so I'll answer that question,but first I'll preface something
(42:54):
I've have been saying for basically,as long as I've been doing this.
Your website can be the absolutebest employee or the absolute worst.
If you hired a new salesperson andthat salesperson told you, I will work
24 hours a day, seven days a week,365 days a year, and you say, that's
(43:18):
great, I don't have a training manual.
Go sit in the corner.
That is the absolute worst investment.
Like what are you doing?
But if you give them all thecompany training material, all that
information, and you let them runwith it, that is the best employee.
And that's the difference for mybusiness, like the difference between
(43:39):
a good website and a crappy website.
So now let's take that into ai.
Now you have AI that can.
You've, you've interacted with theAI stuff that we just did for the
networking group that you and I are in.
So we wanted to, my company runs all thesocial media for the networking group
(44:03):
that Corey and I are in, and my marketingdirector said, here's 10 questions that
I need everybody in the group to answer.
I put them together in asurvey form and we sent it out.
And two people out of 75 answered it.
And we sent it out again, we got nothing.
We sent it out again and we got nothing.
(44:23):
And so it was like two outta 75.
That's a terrible percentage.
So then we set it up as a phone call.
You can call in and the AI.
Asks the first question, you answerit, it asks the second question, you
answer it, it's conversation based,and it then takes all those answers,
(44:47):
puts in a summary, and then passesthat off to my marketing director.
So we have been having aboutan 80% completion rate.
On members that the system asksand sends a text message out to do.
So two things.
One, we went from a, I don't know,seven would be 10%, so we're like 5%.
(45:10):
We went from a 5% of the peoplethat we asked to fill it out,
actually completing it to aboutan 80%, and it's better answers.
If someone just said yes, then it wouldsay, okay, well what do you mean by that?
And so.
Mm, we have more information,better answers, and it's all ai.
(45:32):
So the process is one of the membersin the groups calls a phone number
and it says, Hey, I'm gonna ask yousome questions and walk through, you
know, basically information gathering.
So think about if you are a. I don'tknow, whatever the industry is, there's
some onboarding questions that you have.
There's 10 questions that are onboarding,and those need to be answered every time.
(45:55):
If you have a a form or a documentthat you have people fill out, that
could be easily converted into anaudio call, or it could be converted
into a text conversation, or it couldbe converted into entirely ran by
ai, which means someone can call.
Or do that conversation at 11 o'clockat night on a Saturday, and you
(46:19):
don't have to have staff for it.
That also means that instead of mecalling your business, uh, were you
there The Friday that I stood up andbasically acted like a voicemail.
Yeah.
At group I had called ahandful of local businesses.
Um, people had like actually reachedout to my business and said, Hey,
(46:39):
I'm interested in your services.
I called their phone number and itjust went to a, you know, 6, 6, 1,
blah, blah, blah is unavailable.
And then it said either.
A, the voicemail box has not been set up.
We're talking about a business phonenumber that's listed on their website.
Right.
the second thing was the voicemail's full.
And I was like, okay, if I wasa paying customer and I was
(47:02):
Google searching industry name,I'm hitting the second result.
And so, AI audio, um,AI handling phone, like.
That person could then, you know,the AI could pick up, could ask some
questions, get some qualification,say someone's gonna call you back, you
know, in the next 24 hours, whatever.
(47:22):
Put together some information,ping a staff member and sort
of give a summary and do thatcall qualification and I get it.
Phones now for businesses are OB soobnoxious because you get so many
people every day calling trying tosolicit use services or whatever.
Great.
Let AI handle all that.
(47:43):
And so getting back to your specificquestion about like, what would I say to
business owners who aren't utilizing ai?
Do something.
Don't do nothing.
So.
There are two first steps.
The first one is go to YouTube, putin your industry plus ai plumbing.
(48:08):
AI construction, aifinancial advising, ai.
Okay.
Obviously, some of the industriesmight get a little interesting, but.
You know, whatever your industryis, there's gonna be 85 videos,
probably a lot more on what peopleare doing in that space in your
industry with AI like this week.
(48:30):
And then the second thing is chat.
GPT.
Now download the app.
You can even ask it like, Hey.
What are 20 things you can dofor my business in this industry?
And we're not looking to revolutionize,you know, what you're doing and eliminate.
(48:50):
You know, if you're a 20 personcompany, you're not looking to
eliminate 20 people from the business.
You're looking to augment their timeand improve that productivity and
get rid of the stuff that is just.
Taking way too much time.
Perfect example.
(49:11):
We finished a project, we have 15hours of Zoom calls that my content
strategist is gonna go back throughto figure out what exactly all the
conversations were about to writethe final case study on this project.
A much, much better use of time is takeall those documents, give them to an
(49:33):
AI and say, go through all of this,and based upon our company template
of how we write case studies, producean outline and 80% of the document,
and it does in two minutes, and then.
A content person comes in and spendsan hour fact checking, cleaning up,
(49:55):
doing all that, not 20 hours or more.
I mean, we're talking about 15 hoursof content they'd have to go through,
plus writing, plus everything else.
I mean, you're, you're 20 to 30hours to write that piece of content.
Yeah.
we just took it from 30hours of work to two.
Yeah.
problem is, it doesn't matterthe industry, your competition.
(50:20):
Is starting to use this.
Right.
So that means if they can save 5%, 10%,20% staff time by utilizing AI to improve
their business, that means that theyare 10%, 20% more profitable than you.
(50:44):
How is that gonna work when you go tobid a new project and you're head to
head with that company, you're gonnalose unless you cut wages, cut corners.
yeah.
Yeah.
I could, like you said, I could talk aboutthis for the next, you know, three hours.
So if there is a business that wantsto talk about it further, I'd love to
chat 'cause I totally nerd out about it.
(51:06):
So, and I challenge you, like Ia hundred percent challenge you.
If you're sitting there listening, going,yeah, AI wouldn't work in my business.
Great.
I'll buy you coffee orlunch and let's talk.
Um, 'cause yeah, so awesome.
Well, as always, uh,thank you for listening.
Please follow rate and review uswherever you get your podcasts.
(51:30):
Corey, how can people find you?
Easiest way to find me is I'm onall the apps, the socials at Cory
s. Nathan at C-O-R-E-Y-S, as in Sam.
N-A-T-H-A-N and we put all the stuff,uh, for the shows and scan media all
in my, uh, so, and it's like everythingSubstack and Facebook and Twitter and,
(51:51):
you know, blue Sky and Blue Grahamand Graham X. And, I don't know, we're
on all the socials at Corey s Nathan.
Awesome.
You can find the Voices of Businessat the Voices of Business on pretty
much most of the main social channels.
I'm Joshua Maddux on LinkedInand a few of the other ones.
(52:14):
We'd love to have your business,um, or other business leaders
from the Santa Clarita Valley.
Join in on the conversation ifyou're a Chamber member member.
Thanks again for listening, and we'll seeyou next time on the Voices of Business.
Welcome back to the Voices ofBusiness, a Santa Clarita Valley
Chamber of Commerce podcast.
Good to be with you.
I'm your host, JoshuaMaddux, my co-host today.
Well, today we're flipping the tablesa little bit on someone who's made a
career of asking the tough questionsand hosting shows like this, but
more about our guest in a minute.
(00:30):
The voices of business is where we talkwith business owners and leaders about
business here in the Santa CRE Valley.
Sometimes we don't just stick to business.
We talk about leadership managementand really wherever the spirit takes
us, please remember to subscribe.
If you haven't already, tell a friend,give us a good rating and review.
That really helps, uh, get the word out.
(00:50):
About this show and, uh, helps furtherconversations that we're having, like the
one we're having today with Corey, Nathan,who is founder and CEO of Scan Media.
What's happening, Joshua?
Thanks for having me, man.
Yeah,
I.
crazy.
So I'm, I'm like, you know, I'm goingthrough the script in my head of
(01:12):
like, you know, starting the show.
And, but now, yeah, like you said, wherethe tables have turned, haven't they?
In the, in the green room pre-show.
Corey is like, I'm lookingfor the guest notes.
And I'm like, Nope, you're the guest.
Damn.
Yeah.
Really putting me on the spot.
I know, I know,
I'm
I know.
Well, so two things.
One, I don't know if you realize this.
(01:32):
Um, we dropped the firstepisode about a year ago,
Yeah.
Yeah, it's been
which is, which is wildthat, you know, we're, we're.
About 20 episodes.
I think it's, this'll be like episode 19
Okay.
uh, yeah, it's, it's been awild journey, but good stuff.
So,
I've
well, let's, let's get toknow you a little bit more.
(01:55):
Um, let's talk about yourbackground and, and, you know,
what brought you to Santa Clarita?
Um, where'd you grow up?
What does that look like?
Sure.
So my family's all fromBrooklyn, the old country.
I, I mean, how, how much doyou want me to include here?
Yeah, that's true.
You host podcasts.
We'll be here for four hours.
(02:15):
yeah.
Um, no, we, uh, so I grewup more on the Jersey side.
Uh, if anybody remembers thatsong, my hometown, that's my
hometown, Bruce Springsteen country.
We had some of the same high school even.
He's like 20 somethingyears older than me.
But yeah, we still, some of theteachers were still, uh, teaching
at, at, uh, my high school.
And then, um.
(02:35):
uh, I started out professionally, Iwas a stockbroker during the day, going
to a theater conservatory at night.
And, um, I, uh.
I hated my life during the day,but I loved my life at night.
So when, um, I graduated fromthat conservatory, I quit my
job as a broker and I startedproducing theater in New York.
(02:56):
And not too long after, we did some coolstuff in Chelsea, like off off Broadway
size houses and some other bigger houses.
Um, and then a mentor of mine saidencouraged me to move out to la so.
Uh, I was already with Lisa, my, my wifeat the time, and, um, she's still my wife.
I, the time I was withLisa, who's my wife.
(03:18):
Still should be clear about that.
Uh, this is my first wife, Lisa.
Oh, is she your second wife too?
No, um, anyway, so we were together and,um, we had only been together for about
a year and I told her, yeah, so George,this, this mentor of mine told us, told me
to move out to LA and I really understandif he didn't wanna come with me, but.
(03:39):
I'm leaving.
So literally like three weeks later,um, we had a pickup truck packed
mostly with her shoes and her dog.
we were driving out to la we'vebeen here since, uh, 1995.
And my first job, I started from scratch.
I wasn't gonna be a broker, I wasn'tgonna get back into, um, that business.
(04:01):
So I literally started asa. You know, a driver, uh, a
messenger and worked my way up.
Um, but that was a greatway to learn the city.
And one of the, one of the chancedeliveries that I had, it was
a Friday afternoon and I had apackage to deliver what looked like.
Oregon.
To me it was beyond like the wasn't aThomas Guides guy, I was AAA maps guy.
(04:25):
'cause I liked the big picture.
And I had to go stop by AAA andpull out a whole new map for
this place called Santa Clarita.
You know, I had this,
Oh geez.
Valley, you know, but itwas a Friday afternoon.
So I called, she was still my girlfriend.
I called Lisa, I said, Lee, I,I don't know when I'll be back.
Do you want to come with me?
I mean, we will make awhole, you know, day of it.
um, it turns out that we got up.
(04:48):
To Stevenson Ranch in like 35, 40 minutes.
So traffic was a little bit different
Yeah, I was gonna say from where?
Like
from West
from West la.
So the traffic patterns weredefinitely different back then.
You can still do that.
It's just, it's just twoo'clock in the morning.
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
Um, so we got up here and.
(05:08):
I could, so Lisa from Alabama,she's used to open space and we were
living in this like one bedroom, if
Oh gosh.
it that in Santa Monica,
You.
and it was still, the sun was shining, itwas a cul-de-sac, and kids were playing
whatever kickball or soccer on the street.
And, you know, it was just, you know,I mean, you've seen the shows, you've
seen Santa Clarita diet, you've seenlike little, you know, uh, the, the,
(05:32):
the shows that depict Stevenson's Ranch.
And, um, I saw, look in my.
Lovely girlfriend, soon to befiance, soon to be wife's eyes.
That was kind of like a shark tastingblood and know, it's like I'm doomed.
And, uh, you know, it meaning that shereally, she just sensed something up here
(05:52):
that she really wanted to be a part of.
So
Yeah.
subsequent, I don't know, two orthree years, we moved closer and
closer to Santa Clarita and by 99 Ithink it was, we, we lived up here.
Um, and then, uh, during those sameyears I went from, uh, messenger to
limo driver to starting to producetheater and some independent film.
And, um, eventually started my firstbusiness out here, um, which kind of
(06:16):
grew out of my producing activity,which is a specialty headhunting in
mergers and acquisitions company.
Um, specializes inentertainment advertising.
Um.
And the, the connection there is whenI was producing film in particular, I
was typically the producer on the team.
That was like finding people,uh, and putting teams together.
And that's ultimately what I did.
(06:37):
Um, and it just, I, I. Uh, one thingled to another and I ended up finding
this niche within the entertainmentindustry of creative advertising.
So the people who make comingattractions and movie posters,
and now the digital campaigns.
And I still do that business andhave some wonderful, you know,
25 year relationships, which Ican't believe I'm saying out loud.
(06:58):
Um, and, uh, do you want, shall I go on?
I could
So that's, that's, yeah.
No, I mean that's, so that's thepath that really brought you.
To Santa Clarita.
Um, you know, obviously like some ofthe other conversations that we've
had with guests on the show, like verywinding road of, of what got you here.
(07:24):
Um, so you're in Santa Clarita, youknow, you have a few different job.
You know, uh, fields that you're,you're pursuing, um, what led you
to really taking the dive and,and looking at starting your own?
I mean, you, you touched on alittle bit of like, you know,
(07:47):
you've a head hunting company.
What was those other entrepreneurialaspects that you were looking at and, and
ventures that you were, were exploring?
Yeah, yeah.
So it, it is a long and winding road.
You know, once we moved up here,um, we were married in 97 and had
our first baby in 2001, uh, secondbaby in 2003, third baby in 2005.
(08:10):
And then Lisa finally figuredout what was causing it and
put a stop to that nonsense.
Um, but, but, uh, but it, my.
Order of priorities changed, you know,and instead of, um, feeling like I
had the luxury of pursuing pursuingpassion the, the job in the job.
really became a central focus.
(08:32):
Um, but despite that, life stillhappens and economy still happened
and the world still happens.
So, uh, we really felt, uh,we were starting to build a
life for us and our family.
And then 2008 happened.
Um, so.
My business was doing really well, uh,through 2007, but we started sliding.
We were, we, we were a lead and stillare a leading indicator of the economy.
(08:56):
So we started sliding in early 2008and we saw as much as a 70 to 75%
correction in our, um, revenues.
And I. Didn't know if wewere going to zero frankly.
Uh, but by then, you know, we had a houseand our kids were at Trinity Classical
Academy and you know, all this and payI payroll that I was responsible for.
(09:16):
So.
One of the results of that was Ineed me saying to myself, I need to
figure out how to create more revenue.
Um, whether it's thisbusiness or another one.
And we started CS Spot Go the windowcleaning, pressure washing company.
it was a business that didn't requirerequire millions of dollars to get into.
Um, but we knew how we knewhow to my brother and I did it
in Jersey when we were kids.
(09:37):
We knew how to.
You know, we knew what was requiredfor that business and we felt like
there's a lot of glass in Santa Clarita.
marina, could do it wecould do really well.
Um, um, one of the one ofthe best things that we did.
join the Chamber.
Um, immediately when we started thebusiness, and then directly as a result
of the chamber, we met somebody who'spart of the Santa Clarita Valley Business
(09:58):
Group, which we've been a part of.
Uh, ever since, it's been a great,uh, great run with both the Chamber
and the um, and the S-E-V-B-G.
Um, and it, it definitely enhancedour business right out of the gate.
We literally, by the end of the firstyear, had hundreds of clients as a
direct result of our affiliation with,uh, chamber and S-E-V-B-G, and I'm
(10:19):
not exaggerating, literally hundreds.
Um, so that so that was,that was refreshing.
Uh, you know, it's you know.
a business, so it wasn't like wewere rolling in in dough, you know,
we were still learning lessons alongthe way and, know, figuring out how
to run a profit, not just revenue.
Um, and that was helpful.
And then, you know, fast forwardto when our kids are getting older,
(10:43):
sometime around 2018, 2019, uh.
I, I appreciated havingrun these businesses.
I appreciated the appreciate thefact that the mortgage and well, you
know, with some bumps in the road.
Um, and I'm grateful I'm gratefulfor the lessons the way too.
but I realized that there was somethingreally missing and that it, that that is.
(11:06):
I was i as a kid, as a young manin the New York theater scene.
Uh, the desire to.
Tell stories and connect with a communityand breathe life into great literature.
Um, or just have conversations.
You know, there's, um,there's an expression that
another mentor of mine used.
Uh, he said, engaging today'sculture and conversations that count.
(11:27):
And that really resonated withme engaging today's culture
and conversations that count.
So right about that time, I read thisbook called The Second Mountain by
David Brooks, and he talks about thisstage in a stage a lot of types um,
where where whether it's financial,correction or divorce or a death in
(11:49):
the death of or a family, or you kindseriously fall mountain that you climb
and and you still still have lot.
and that drive that.
Got you to the first mountain you,so you, you can still climb another
mountain, but you climb it with theperspective of all that experience of
having gone through 2008, uh, in, inour case and, and all the stress and
(12:11):
lessons that we learned from that.
right about that same time I heard,I listened to my first podcast.
I'm, I'm like, I'm not cool likeyou, I don't have an iPhone.
I, I'm, I'm a Samsung guy, so ittook me a little bit longer to
figure out how to listen to po.
I've heard of these things,but I never listened to one.
And literally the first, it was, uh,I think it was a Mark Marin podcast.
I. A great interview, great conversation,and I felt like as a listener, I
(12:35):
was sitting at the table with MarkMarin and his guest, for an hour and
a half or two hours or however longthe interview was, and I fell in love
with the medium and my producer hat,like my producer brain kicked in.
I immediately started imagining whatkinds of cool conversations we could
have in this medium called podcasting.
within.
(12:55):
About six months.
We, we, we already, I was already indevelopment pretty early on, but within
about six months we were pro, um,releasing our first episodes of my first
podcast, uh, which is still runningcalled Trailer Geeks and Teaser Gods,
which not so surprisingly, is aboutthe entertainment advertising industry.
Um, and then about a year later iswhen we started talk Politics and
Religion Without Killing each other,or which is our, our big podcast now.
(13:17):
Yeah.
So Trailer Geeks.
Trailer Geeks was your first podcast.
one.
it.
Yeah.
Yeah, I know.
Um, yeah, you were makingfun of me with my iPhone.
Um, I, I had an Android for a while.
Okay.
Um, Motorola Razor before that, um,I had a Windows, I had a Windows
(13:38):
phone at one point, but thatlasted, I think, I think two weeks.
Um, after it kept basically factoryresetting itself every 24 hours.
I said, forget that.
Um, yeah, no, but yeah, Android,you know, had podcasts back in
the day, but it was, you know, alittle, little clunkier to get to.
But yeah, I, I know.
(14:00):
I started looking at into podcasts,you know, probably around the
same time, maybe a little earlier.
I don't recall exactly when, but likeI remember even on my iPod, like you
would download on iTunes and thensync it to the device to get the
latest weeks episode or whatever,
Right.
(14:21):
It was always a mystery of likehow, like I understand production
from like music and songs and, youknow, distribution of all that.
But then it was like, but anyrandom person could just grab a
microphone, record, 20 minutes ofsaying whatever the heck they want
to say, put it out there and find.
(14:43):
20 people, 20,000 people who also havethe same thought process and wanna
listen to somebody else talk about it.
Um, I'm that random person.
Yeah.
Well, and it's, it's, it's funny to mehow there's so many different directions
now that podcasts are, um, there's oneliterally this past week that I was.
(15:08):
Showing my son, like that's a dad andlike a 3-year-old that have a podcast.
Um, and it's these like 92nd littleclips of just the two of them
talking podcasts, you know, element.
And it is, it is funny just tosee how transformative the medium
(15:30):
has become and you know, where,where it has come to today.
Um, that's crazy.
It is.
Yeah.
Even in the time that I've been,I've been active six years,
I guess, uh, five, six years.
it's come a long way.
I mean, you
Yeah.
who's introduced me to a numberof AI tools that has really, uh,
(15:52):
ramped up and, and, and made more ofefficient ized, what's the word for it?
You know,
Yeah.
a lot of my work a heckof a lot more efficient.
There's, uh, man, just off thetop of my head, at least three or
four different ways that I'm usingAI tools, uh, in our production.
So it's really evolved where,where you interact with it.
This, this last year, for example,um, our, our big show we got in,
(16:15):
um, we started, I. Producing thevideo in addition to the audio on
YouTube and, and in other places.
Uh, we're also postingon, um, on Substack.
So video has become a big component of it,but we're still producing very much, uh,
very much the same way that we had been.
Uh, it's just that we understandthat our listeners have evolved,
so our or our audience has evolved.
(16:37):
So some of our listeners wannalisten to us on the audio platform.
Some wanna watch us on YouTube, uh, some.
Or go back and forth.
They, you know, they might, you know,have us on the big TV through YouTube
and then, you know, but still wantto listen to the show where they're
in their car walking their dog.
Well, yeah, so I'll saysomething to that because
(16:58):
there's something that I do when I drive.
Um, I. That I've said it a few times topeople and they're like, you do what?
When you drive?
Um,
you watch tv.
I, I play YouTube videos
I take a nap when I'm driving.
I don't know about
It, well, not everybody drives a Tesla.
(17:19):
Uh.
No.
So I am not activelywatching the video, no.
What I do is, there's a fewdifferent channels that I follow
that they are long form contentthat is 45 minutes to an hour.
That in reality, the visual elementis a guy sitting at a desk, um,
(17:42):
one of the ones, uh, legal Eagle.
Um, so his stuff is really, you canturn off the screen and you can gather
98% of the content just by the audio.
It's just him talking about it.
And so in reality, what Ido is I hit play on that.
My phone goes into the center console andthen I drive, and I just listen to that.
(18:04):
That media and I'm consuming,you know, like I said, 98% of the
content, do I need to see the screen?
Absolutely not.
And it's a 40 minute episode and I'mdriving 20 minutes across town, so
I'll catch the first half, then whenI drive home, catch the other half.
And so I think it'sinteresting to see how.
(18:26):
Some people are consuming it via videoor just via audio or a hybrid method
or, you know, whatever that looks like.
And I think it's, you know,evolved and continues to evolve.
Um, you know, as we go.
And I know with, so.
You've got the twodifferent shows primarily.
Obviously you know this one as well, andI know you're part of some other ones,
(18:50):
you know, from the planning stages orproduction or, or that type of stuff.
And, you know, scan media as a whole,as a production company, um, with
the talk and politics and religion.
Like I imagine there has beensome emotionally charged,
polarizing conversations.
(19:11):
Um.
And the, the title of the show is justgreat because it's, it's talking politics
and religion without killing each other.
Um, which I think is like,that's the key because
we are in a time right now, and I'mtrying to say this, like it, that
(19:31):
it doesn't matter what politicalor nonpolitical topic you bring up.
Find a room full of five people andthere'll be at least two in that
room that have polarizing opinions.
Um, you know, and so, and feelstrongly about it, and that's
(19:52):
fine, but how do we do that?
And then still live in thesame city, on the same planet?
And so I imagine that, you know,there's been some relatively
emotionally charged topics.
How do you prepare for some of that andlike, what do you do from a disarming.
Perspective to like, have you hadguests that are just like, you
(20:13):
are an idiot, and just go off onlike, what does that look like?
So we're, we're about 300 episodesinto that one, and I can count.
On one hand, uh, maybe.
I don't know.
There might only be one episodethat went entirely off the rails.
Um, and even conversations that I hadsubsequent to having a guest on there
(20:37):
where a guest would come on and I wouldhave subsequent conversations with
them off the air, I could still counton one hand how many times it really
went off the rails and it speed that.
That reality speaks to a larger reality,which a lot of folks have a misperception
about, and that is when you look at, whenyou look at the general population there.
(21:02):
There are only, uh, six to 8% of whatI, what can be defined as extremists.
Um, so self-identifying right wing or leftwing, or however you wanna call it, but
people who self-identify as completely inthe tank for the most, you know, partisan
(21:22):
version of the two major parties, or thetwo major, you know, uh, political lenses.
Um, but the perception is that.
It's a much more significantpercentage of people that are
very extreme in their views.
When it comes to actually havingthese conversations, uh, more in
common is a, is a great organizationthat's done some really broad studies
(21:45):
of this, uh, like it literally inthe tens of thousands of people.
Uh, one came out in 2019 calledHidden Tribes, and that's the,
um, that that was the study.
Where we learned about it's, it's about 6%on the right wing side and 8% on the left
wing side that are really in the extremes.
But a plurality, about two thirds ofthe population are what's considered
(22:06):
the exhausted majority that theywant to have conversations or be
engaged citizens, but they're justexhausted from all the screaming, and
there's built-in reasons for that.
You know, the algorithms and.
You know, there are businessmodels that know that
That.
instigate the anger and fearof an audience, it's literally
(22:27):
like giving them crack cocaine.
And I say literally, meaning, literallylike there's a chemical reaction in
our brain when we see something thatmakes us angry or see something, or
hear something that makes us afraid.
Our brain has the same reactionas getting ahead of crack cocaine.
And what do we do when we get thatcrack is we wanna go back for more.
So some folks keep on going backto whoever it is, the, you know,
(22:49):
I'm not even gonna get into someof the pundits that, that do that,
but that's their business model.
They know exactly what they're doing.
the truth is that, um, the sameorganization more in Common has
done another extensive study.
I just, and I just read the lateststudy actually, and, and she's
gonna be, the executive director isgonna be a guest on our show here.
But gosh, like in the 70 to 80%range of people really want to be
(23:14):
able to have these conversations.
However, a majority of that 70%, so like35 to 40%, uh, people, maybe more, I.
Believe that folks that have differentpoints of view don't want to have it.
So we're stuck in our bubbles, eventhough we wanna reach across, um, whether
it's religious or, or socioeconomic, orracial, uh, or political lines, we want
(23:39):
we all, there's 70 to 80% of us wannacross those lines, but our perception
is the people on the quote unquoteother side don't wanna engage with us.
Yeah.
So I wanna, I wanna talk to you, but youwon't, you won't give me the light of day.
Right.
And that's a misperception.
So what the, the, the challenge is to,you know, what do, do it informally.
(24:00):
Like we all, we all joke about docshere, one, one of the bars here in
town, I love docs because it's mostrundown dives of dive bars in town.
But I love docs because it'squintessentially Santa Clarita, you
know, and I get to have conversations.
I.
our, it's all hours, right?
It's not, not, um, all our, butlike all of ours, I should say.
So I run into somebody who's wearing his,you know, cleanup on aisle 46 hat, you
(24:25):
know, meaning, you know, Biden or whateverhe's, and then there's the other guy who's
probably a, died in the Wolf Democrat, butthey're all hanging out at the same place.
And I love it.
And sometimes we explicitlyget into those conversations.
But a lot of times we don't get to thoseconversations until I've played darts
with them, until we've hung out and talkedDodgers versus Mets with them until we've
done all these other things and have allthese other connecting points so that once
(24:48):
we get to the election or politics or someof these charged things, we're already
buddies, we're already hanging out.
He knows that I like, you know,bullet bourbon and he likes.
You know, uh, Michelob, whatever,like the yellow backs or whatever.
So, uh, stuff like that, we'regetting into the practice and
it's the, the muscles of democracythat, that we're exercising there.
(25:10):
So some of so some of like that.
Some of it is it's.
City of Santa Clarita is doing by having,you know, music festivals closing downtown
new hall or having food festivals or.
Castaic days or any number of thingsthat bring the entire community together.
Just even, even food kitchens thatwere, you know, that, that we have
(25:30):
here in town, um, the various, uh,fundraisers that we have here in town.
That's how I becamefriends with both Demo.
Uh, the other day, hoing Garden Show,I saw Suzette s who I'm dear friends
with are Republican State senator.
I also saw a George Whitesides, theDemocratic US Congress member gave 'em
both a hug and they're, you know, like.
It's great.
I, that's how it should be.
(25:50):
Those are the musclesof democracy at work.
Yeah.
And, and that's.
It's interesting to think throughthe aspect of really those common
misconceptions of, I'm assuming you don'twant to talk to me, or I'm assuming that
(26:11):
your viewpoint is gonna be whatever.
Um, and really once you take aminute, play around the darts.
Watch a game, like just take a step backand really actually have a conversation.
That's when you really startto, you know, start to have
(26:32):
that, that really good dialogue.
So what would your advice be to likea local entrepreneur, a business
owner, someone who's like trying tonavigate tough, tough conversations,
you know, public workplace, likeany of those elements, um, you
know, how does that translate, youknow, maybe to a business owner?
In terms of talking politics
(26:52):
Politics and religion.
or how to build a
I mean, I mean, business owners talkingpolitics and religion in the workplace
might open up an interesting can of worms.
Um, no, I mean, I, I think justoverall, like, just trying to navigate
maybe it's tough conversations.
Um, you know, maybe it's not politicsand religion, maybe it's just, you
know, tougher conversations in generalor, you know, things that people
(27:16):
aren't maybe seeing eye to eye on.
You know, how does.
Uh, some of that, you know, disarmingtension type elements translate
so, so.
here's where it, I think a lot ofbusiness owners and business leaders
really did in, couldn't avoidpolitical or social conversations.
Stations starting, especially in 2020,um, where folks were bringing their
(27:40):
politics and their social concerns intowork because it was, it was pervasive.
It was our entire lives.
Right.
Um, so you have to discuss, um.
Initiatives.
Uh, you know, I, I, I learned the termhistorically marginalized groups, right?
And, and I, I'm a pretty well read guy,but I, start reading Ebra X Kendi until
(28:04):
2020 when a bunch of my friends were,were walking with, uh, with trauma, you
know, sort of social cultural trauma.
And I wanted to, I wanted to be goodfriends to them, even if I didn't
understand it, even if I. Um, e evenif I didn't relate to it directly, um,
I wanted to be a good enough friend tounderstand what they were going through.
(28:27):
And as bosses, as leaders,we want to understand what
our people are going through.
Now, at the end of the day, we stillhave to make business decisions.
So I'll give you, I'll give you onethat some folks might bristle at.
Um, we, the C Spot Go is a company thatgoes into people's companies and people.
People's places of businessand people's homes.
And a majority of our customers wantedsuper, super clean for various reasons,
(28:53):
for health reasons or whatever.
Um, 'cause we do morethan just clean windows.
We do pressure washing and, youknow, all, all kinds of stuff.
So they're, they were really concernedabout being clean, but at the same time,
they didn't want to be exposed to mytechnicians if they had really strong
feelings about not wearing a mask.
I said, that's cool, but there'sgonna be a limited number of
places that I can send you to.
Right?
(29:13):
Because my, my job isn't tolike, take some political stance.
Um, it's to serve my clients.
And if my clients are, um, they havehealth risks, uh, or for whatever
reason, they say, no, no, no.
This is the.
The guidance and we'refollowing the guidance.
So if you're coming into my placeof business, coming into my home,
we need guys wearing masks followingcertain pro health protocols.
(29:34):
Uh, so we decided as a company that we'regonna serve our clients in that way.
Um, I. know, and some folksobjected to it, and that's okay
that that's their prerogative.
And if, because our guys were wearingmasks in certain buildings and and homes,
they decided not to use us because theyhad a strong political opinion about that.
That's their prerogative not to hire us.
(29:55):
But we felt as a company, the bestthing that we could do is have
our guys wearing masks that year.
So how do you deal with it?
I think you have to deal with every.
Issue that arises on an individual basis.
Um, and really think about whatserves your, your, your employees,
what serves your company?
What serves your, your customersand clients, and what serves
(30:16):
your community the best?
And think about it according toyour own set of priorities, right?
That's
Yeah.
two is, and this is on a morepersonal level when you're
having those conversations, isto lead, um, with, curiosity.
Over contentiousness, you know, whenyou're getting into these conversations
or somebody that I really admire andrespect, he, um, uh, he, he led me to
(30:40):
a book called Creative Inc. Uh, and it,it's, it's about the story of Pixar,
the business side of the story of
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
And they had a, a, an expression loving,if I remember correctly, loving candor.
So being able to have hardconversations and being candid
with someone, but with love.
Right?
And the way that I approach that,the way it's kind of a compass
(31:02):
that I look at is, is my compasspointed towards the possibility.
if I'm having a difference with somebody,the possibility that I'll, I can possibly
arrive at a point that, where I, I'llsay, oh, I never thought of it that way.
does that possibility exist?
Yeah.
know, that that's,
Yeah.
Have you.
that I'm trying to, to follow.
(31:23):
Are you as a business owner, youknow, or, or whatever, going into
that conversation with the elementof, I don't have a predetermined
outcome of this conversation.
Like you walk into someone's officegoing, they're gonna be mad at me.
They're gonna yell at me.
This is gonna be the outcome.
Like, yeah, there's a much higher chancethat that's gonna be the outcome of like.
(31:46):
Then you're gonna be more combativebecause you walk in and you're
gonna be like, well, I know they'regonna yell at me, so I'm just gonna
start raising my voice already.
And that person's like, what is going on?
Right, right.
And, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Cur curiosity over contentiousness.
I think really, and the ironythere is that disposition, um,
allows you to be more persuadable.
(32:07):
I.
Yeah.
you, you still have to have your,your principles clear, uh, uh,
you know, and, and an order ofpriorities that are, that are clear.
Um, that, that's not to say yougive you, you seed certain things
that are important, like beinghonest and not stealing, and, you
know, doing things the right way.
You don't have to give that stuff up, but.
You, you can still be curious.
(32:27):
You can, you can lead with a sense of,um, humanity and seeing another human
being as opposed to, you know, gettingone data point about this person and
then going on the attack because youknow that they voted a certain way or
whatever data point you're going offof to create some sort of caricature.
That's not helpful.
And the beautiful irony in that isit leaves you in a, it, room for the
(32:52):
possibility that you could be persuaded.
But because you're in that disposition,because you have that posture,
you are also more persuade, likeyou can persuade others, right?
You're, if you're more persuade, in abetter, um, position to persuade others if
that's the direction that you want to go.
So it's, um, yeah, it's, I don't know.
It's a completely different approachthan Es especially how a lot of folks
(33:15):
approach their conversations online.
But that's, that's awhole different story.
I, I'm just talking about.
Whether it's meeting people at Docs Innor, or, you know, at, uh, the next city
council meeting or in my boardroom,you know, and, um, talking to people a,
around, uh, an important business issue.
So.
So Scan media, I wanna circle back tolike what you're doing there a little bit.
(33:37):
Um, you know, as we sort of start towrap things up here, um, obviously
I. You have the two podcaststhat we already talked about.
There's this podcast, which isin partnership with the chamber.
Um, you know, you've got afew other things going on.
What is your sort of bigvision behind Scan Media?
(33:57):
What's the direction?
What, what do you see?
Where do you see yourself in five years?
That's a big question.
So I, I go back
Or do you know?
well, I, you know, I engage today'sculture and conversations that count.
That's really what it comes down to.
but for.
uh, the second mountain clarified for me.
(34:19):
Certain gifts that I bring to the party.
Um, certain, certain talentsthat, that I have, uh, but
also what's meaningful, right?
So it's not just about doing thisthing and getting paid, doing
it, doing something that I enjoyand, and getting paid doing it.
It's about identifying in ourculture, identifying needs in
(34:40):
our community, meeting thoseneeds unique in, in a unique way.
That with something that I could conuniquely contribute and my team, the
team of people that I've built uparound us, um, can uniquely contribute.
Um, so talk politics and religiondot killing each other is
definitely a manifestation of that.
Um, I. So I, I wanna continue doingthat, um, while the, the medium
(35:06):
and the, the industry evolves.
Um, and I'm super
I.
to see how it evolves and how I can ridethat wave, continue growing and having
these really terrific conversations.
again, I circles back aroundto engage today's culture
and conversations that count.
That's what it is for me.
What, what are differentelements, you know, for you?
(35:27):
As you've had multiple differentbusinesses, multiple different, you know,
avenues and ventures, what is like atough moment, maybe a failed conversation
or business venture or something thatreally like taught you that that biggest
lesson or, or not even necessarilythe biggest, but like taught you a
(35:48):
lesson or an important moment in life?
Um, lesson lesson.
the first, uh, part of the twothousands, the early two thousands,
and and is is decisions with goodintentions don't necessarily work out.
Like if you make a makea certain decision that.
(36:10):
You pretty much know isa bad business decision.
Having good intentionsbehind it, fix the math.
You know, like it's, themath is still the math.
Your p and l is still what it is.
So you could, you could have all thegood intentions you want, but at the
end of the day, if the math, if itdoes, if the math doesn't add up,
(36:31):
it's not gonna work out for anybody.
Yeah, it.
one.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, what that looks like is I, Imade some, I hired some people,
uh, and they weren't right forthe jobs that I hired them for.
I. Um, I wanted to do 'em a favoror I thought it could work out
because they had good intentions.
I had good intentions.
(36:52):
And then it, when it came to liketime to reckon with, you know,
business gravity, like we still
Make payroll.
boom.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
That's exactly what it is.
I. So I learned that lessonthe hard way and probably had
to learn it a few times over.
As I say, uh, sometimes, well the,the expression is no lessons learned
(37:13):
in a second kick of the mule, butsometimes it takes a few kicks on,
you know, of the mule for me to learnthe fir the lesson the first time.
Um, that's, so that's.
But too, in the deeper one forme is I, gosh, I wish that, I
wish that I had stayed true.
To what, what I was describing beforeis what I could uniquely contribute,
(37:39):
what I was uniquely passionate about,and, and marry that with what I
know about business much earlier on.
You know, the sacrifices that we made made
the, the crap that we went through.
You know, when you really believein what you're doing and, and
love what you're doing and arepretty good at what you're doing.
(38:00):
You know, you're still you still.
but you're, you're facing it with asense of a, a different sense of purpose.
It's not just about surviving.
It's not just about closing a dealso that you can pay the mortgage.
And that's important, don't getme wrong, but when there's a,
a greater purpose to it, man.
It's the, these, the challengesthat we're facing today feel a heck
of a lot different than the onesthat we faced in 2008 and 2009.
(38:23):
yeah.
It's uh.
An interesting, interestingtime in business for sure.
Yeah.
If there was one thing you could go backand tell yourself as you were starting in
business, first year of business, like,um, you know, obviously we have to pick
one of one of the businesses, uh, whatwould, what would you go back and say?
(38:48):
The first thing that comes to mind is dude
You know, like, um, I think that in alot of my businesses, uh, and and other
life endeavors, I was consistentlyin such a rush, especially in my late
teens, early twenties, even going intomy late twenties and early thirties.
(39:08):
I was in such a rush.
Whereas I've come to really value.
The process I've come to really,like when I started this i.
I didn't say, oh, I'm gonnado this for five years.
I just said, this is something I'm gonnabe doing and I didn't need to have, know,
a certain size audience by a certain.
Day or month or year, I justsaid, okay, I'm gonna continue
(39:32):
to learn something every day.
And when I learn what's working,I'm going to make a make
commitment, example, example.
uh, one of the ways that we grew, what'snow the big show, um, the, we found a very
effective, what's called earned media.
Um, so there's paid mediaand earned media, right?
So earned media in this space is.
(39:54):
Getting the host or the mainpersonalities of the show on
other podcasts in that same genre.
So in 2021, I started bookingmyself as since I was the host
on other politics and religionshows, I just said, you know what?
All I'm gonna do is I'm gonna sendout one email along these lines
(40:14):
every day, five days a week, andlet's see where it goes from there.
It turned out that I was gettingbooked on about one or two shows a
week, so I had pretty good resultsfor those five emails a week I was
Yeah, that's really good.
One and five.
and I, I did it for six months and I didno other marketing, and our show grew by
a hundred and just over 130%, so it wasit like, I'm glad that we got the results.
(40:37):
But more, more thananything, it was the process.
I was committed to the process.
Um, we've done the same thing with paidmedia and found certain paid media that
really doesn't work, and then other paidmedia that works really, really well.
Um, so yeah, I, I would go back tomy younger self and say, dude, chill.
And follow the process.
(40:57):
I, I, I think that one, that's one ofthe ones that I want to, like, oh man.
I want to just sort of, you know,simmer on for a second is like, I,
there's so many businesses who I.They'll start doing something, they'll
start whatever that thing is they,it's a new project management system.
(41:19):
It's a new CRM.
It's a new marketingcampaign, whatever it is.
Especially when it's technology andit's a new software application.
It's like, oh man, it's takingour employees a little bit
longer to do this function.
I'm like, yeah, once they do itfor a week, then they're gonna be.
Twice as fast and nowit's gonna save you time.
(41:41):
But like day one, yeah, it'sgonna take a little bit longer.
Like you gotta trust the process, gottaget your reps in, you know, you don't
walk into the gym one time and all of asudden, you know, you have a, you know,
great body and muscle mass is great.
You never need to go back likethat doesn't work that way.
Um, so yeah, it's trust the process.
(42:05):
Awesome.
Well, do you have any questions for me?
Oh,
I mean, we flipped.
We flipped the script and wealready did me as an interview, so
Yeah.
that was episode five or something, but
Okay, so I. This, this mighttake a whole other hour.
I, I have a feeling
Oh boy.
this question, what would you tellbusiness owners that are not using ai, at
(42:31):
least that they know, that they realize?
what would you tell them?
I'll make this a specific question.
What would you what them to do asa good first step to start learning
AI in aI to, in order to find goodapplications for their business?
Yeah, so I'll answer that question,but first I'll preface something
(42:54):
I've have been saying for basically,as long as I've been doing this.
Your website can be the absolutebest employee or the absolute worst.
If you hired a new salesperson andthat salesperson told you, I will work
24 hours a day, seven days a week,365 days a year, and you say, that's
(43:18):
great, I don't have a training manual.
Go sit in the corner.
That is the absolute worst investment.
Like what are you doing?
But if you give them all thecompany training material, all that
information, and you let them runwith it, that is the best employee.
And that's the difference for mybusiness, like the difference between
(43:39):
a good website and a crappy website.
So now let's take that into ai.
Now you have AI that can.
You've, you've interacted with theAI stuff that we just did for the
networking group that you and I are in.
So we wanted to, my company runs all thesocial media for the networking group
(44:03):
that Corey and I are in, and my marketingdirector said, here's 10 questions that
I need everybody in the group to answer.
I put them together in asurvey form and we sent it out.
And two people out of 75 answered it.
And we sent it out again, we got nothing.
We sent it out again and we got nothing.
(44:23):
And so it was like two outta 75.
That's a terrible percentage.
So then we set it up as a phone call.
You can call in and the AI.
Asks the first question, you answerit, it asks the second question, you
answer it, it's conversation based,and it then takes all those answers,
(44:47):
puts in a summary, and then passesthat off to my marketing director.
So we have been having aboutan 80% completion rate.
On members that the system asksand sends a text message out to do.
So two things.
One, we went from a, I don't know,seven would be 10%, so we're like 5%.
(45:10):
We went from a 5% of the peoplethat we asked to fill it out,
actually completing it to aboutan 80%, and it's better answers.
If someone just said yes, then it wouldsay, okay, well what do you mean by that?
And so.
Mm, we have more information,better answers, and it's all ai.
(45:32):
So the process is one of the membersin the groups calls a phone number
and it says, Hey, I'm gonna ask yousome questions and walk through, you
know, basically information gathering.
So think about if you are a. I don'tknow, whatever the industry is, there's
some onboarding questions that you have.
There's 10 questions that are onboarding,and those need to be answered every time.
(45:55):
If you have a a form or a documentthat you have people fill out, that
could be easily converted into anaudio call, or it could be converted
into a text conversation, or it couldbe converted into entirely ran by
ai, which means someone can call.
Or do that conversation at 11 o'clockat night on a Saturday, and you
(46:19):
don't have to have staff for it.
That also means that instead of mecalling your business, uh, were you
there The Friday that I stood up andbasically acted like a voicemail.
Yeah.
At group I had called ahandful of local businesses.
Um, people had like actually reachedout to my business and said, Hey,
(46:39):
I'm interested in your services.
I called their phone number and itjust went to a, you know, 6, 6, 1,
blah, blah, blah is unavailable.
And then it said either.
A, the voicemail box has not been set up.
We're talking about a business phonenumber that's listed on their website.
Right.
the second thing was the voicemail's full.
And I was like, okay, if I wasa paying customer and I was
(47:02):
Google searching industry name,I'm hitting the second result.
And so, AI audio, um,AI handling phone, like.
That person could then, you know,the AI could pick up, could ask some
questions, get some qualification,say someone's gonna call you back, you
know, in the next 24 hours, whatever.
(47:22):
Put together some information,ping a staff member and sort
of give a summary and do thatcall qualification and I get it.
Phones now for businesses are OB soobnoxious because you get so many
people every day calling trying tosolicit use services or whatever.
Great.
Let AI handle all that.
(47:43):
And so getting back to your specificquestion about like, what would I say to
business owners who aren't utilizing ai?
Do something.
Don't do nothing.
So.
There are two first steps.
The first one is go to YouTube, putin your industry plus ai plumbing.
(48:08):
AI construction, aifinancial advising, ai.
Okay.
Obviously, some of the industriesmight get a little interesting, but.
You know, whatever your industryis, there's gonna be 85 videos,
probably a lot more on what peopleare doing in that space in your
industry with AI like this week.
(48:30):
And then the second thing is chat.
GPT.
Now download the app.
You can even ask it like, Hey.
What are 20 things you can dofor my business in this industry?
And we're not looking to revolutionize,you know, what you're doing and eliminate.
(48:50):
You know, if you're a 20 personcompany, you're not looking to
eliminate 20 people from the business.
You're looking to augment their timeand improve that productivity and
get rid of the stuff that is just.
Taking way too much time.
Perfect example.
(49:11):
We finished a project, we have 15hours of Zoom calls that my content
strategist is gonna go back throughto figure out what exactly all the
conversations were about to writethe final case study on this project.
A much, much better use of time is takeall those documents, give them to an
(49:33):
AI and say, go through all of this,and based upon our company template
of how we write case studies, producean outline and 80% of the document,
and it does in two minutes, and then.
A content person comes in and spendsan hour fact checking, cleaning up,
(49:55):
doing all that, not 20 hours or more.
I mean, we're talking about 15 hoursof content they'd have to go through,
plus writing, plus everything else.
I mean, you're, you're 20 to 30hours to write that piece of content.
Yeah.
we just took it from 30hours of work to two.
Yeah.
problem is, it doesn't matterthe industry, your competition.
(50:20):
Is starting to use this.
Right.
So that means if they can save 5%, 10%,20% staff time by utilizing AI to improve
their business, that means that theyare 10%, 20% more profitable than you.
(50:44):
How is that gonna work when you go tobid a new project and you're head to
head with that company, you're gonnalose unless you cut wages, cut corners.
yeah.
Yeah.
I could, like you said, I could talk aboutthis for the next, you know, three hours.
So if there is a business that wantsto talk about it further, I'd love to
chat 'cause I totally nerd out about it.
(51:06):
So, and I challenge you, like Ia hundred percent challenge you.
If you're sitting there listening, going,yeah, AI wouldn't work in my business.
Great.
I'll buy you coffee orlunch and let's talk.
Um, 'cause yeah, so awesome.
Well, as always, uh,thank you for listening.
Please follow rate and review uswherever you get your podcasts.
(51:30):
Corey, how can people find you?
Easiest way to find me is I'm onall the apps, the socials at Cory
s. Nathan at C-O-R-E-Y-S, as in Sam.
N-A-T-H-A-N and we put all the stuff,uh, for the shows and scan media all
in my, uh, so, and it's like everythingSubstack and Facebook and Twitter and,
(51:51):
you know, blue Sky and Blue Grahamand Graham X. And, I don't know, we're
on all the socials at Corey s Nathan.
Awesome.
You can find the Voices of Businessat the Voices of Business on pretty
much most of the main social channels.
I'm Joshua Maddux on LinkedInand a few of the other ones.
(52:14):
We'd love to have your business,um, or other business leaders
from the Santa Clarita Valley.
Join in on the conversation ifyou're a Chamber member member.
Thanks again for listening, and we'll seeyou next time on the Voices of Business.
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