Ep. 61 - Digging Digital Trenches

Think your marketing problem needs more ad spend? Luke Eggebraaten argues it needs a better foundation. We dig into the exact steps excavation and utility contractors can take to get found, get picked, and get paid, without wasting cash on “magic” lead promises. Luke shares how he went from broad small-business marketing to serving the dirt world exclusively, why that focus matters, and how his team helps crews build a digital presence that matches the quality of their work in the ground.

We walk through the essentials: claim and optimize your Google Business Profile, build clear service pages that answer real questions, and make reviews a habit after every job. Then tie it together with short, authentic posts across Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and, don’t skip this, your Google Business updates. You’ll learn how Google evaluates authority, relevancy, and user experience in an AI-first world, and why strong content beats keyword tricks every time. Luke also tackles the biggest money pit he sees: paid ads without an operational or digital base. His rule of thumb is simple: build the fire, then add fuel.

This conversation goes beyond lead flow. We show how the same funnel that wins jobs also attracts better people: awareness of your culture, consideration on a clean careers page, conversion with a quick application. When you keep marketing during busy seasons, you flatten peaks and valleys and gain leverage to choose better clients and projects. Along the way, we swap practical tactics for consistent posting, talk through partner red flags, and share mindset tools, priorities, gratitude, and patience that keep owners from burning out.

If you’re ready to replace guesswork with a grounded plan, hit play and take notes. Then subscribe, leave a review, and share this with a contractor who needs a real marketing reset.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:09):
Hey guys, welcome to the Blue Collar Business Podcast
where we discuss the realest,rawest, most relevant stories
and strategies behind buildingevery corner of a blue-collar
business.
I'm your host, Sy Kirby, and Iwant to help you what it took
me, trial and error, and a wholelot of money to learn.
The information that no one inthis industry is willing to
share.
Whether you're under that shadetree or have your hard hat on,

(00:30):
let's expand your toolbox.
Welcome back, guys, to anotherepisode of the Blue Collar
Business Podcast, brought to youand sponsored by ThumbTack.
As you guys know, they havejumped on with the show and have
been our presenting sponsor forthe past month.
Can't thank them enough forjoining forces with us.

(00:50):
Tired of spending all your timesearching through week leads
instead of getting work done?
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You're ready to win.
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The success of pros on Thumbtacksays it all.

(01:12):
Want to grow smarter?
Visit thumbtack.com slash protoday to book your 101 strategy
session.
Guys, uh today is an episode.
I feel like I say this everysingle time, but truly we have
been working behind the scenesto get this one done.
Um it's been a year long.

(01:33):
Uh I think I reached out to himepisode number 10, but here we
are resting on 60.
But uh, this gentleman knows theworld about marketing, the dirt
world, and excavation space andwhere to spend your money, how
to spend your money to beeffective for your business
every single day.

(01:53):
Uh, this gentleman has wrote abook.
He's the author of The DigitalDirt World, founder and managing
partner at Phaser Marketing, andhis great team over there.
Shout out to everyone there.
Host of one of my favorites,just hit a hundred episodes.
Check out Dirtbags Podcast.
He's an agency success coachwith a seven-figure agency.

(02:15):
And of course, minority partner,Turf Wars Racing, none other
than the man the myth legend,Luke Egerbron.
Thank you so much for joining metoday, my guy.
Um I know the audience has beenlooking forward to this one.

SPEAKER_00 (02:31):
Dude, I am so glad we can make this work.
Thank you, and shout out to MissSam for continuing to pepper me,
making this happen.
Uh, couldn't have done itwithout her because yeah, it
really has been uh a tangle.
We tried to make it work gettingit out into Arkansas there, and
uh a year later we're like, weshould just rip one online and

(02:52):
then we'll do an Arkansas one uhnext year.

SPEAKER_01 (02:56):
Dude, maybe we can uh maybe we'll do a short little
junior epi at Der World Summit.
Shout out to you guys.

SPEAKER_00 (03:08):
Oh God.
Oh, I'm gonna win I I sorry tocut you off there.
We went to our first uh Arkansasgame last year in Fayetteville.
Okay, we've learned we learnedhow to call them hogs.
Oh yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 (03:28):
It's unbelievable.
Dude, it's so much fun.
Uh Fayetteville's such a goodenvironment.
It's uh Northwest Arkansas ingeneral, man, is just beautiful.
Uh truly, out of anywhere Icould have immigrated to, what a
spot, right?
But uh Fayetteville, naturalenvironment down there, and
great local economy for a dirtpipe contractor, you know.

(03:52):
Um, but yeah, the Whoopig Sueystuff.
I'm actually so funnily enough,um before we let you you go off,
I I'm kind of I'm definitely adiehard LSU fan.
And moving down here, I wantedto that's the game we went to.

SPEAKER_00 (04:09):
Yeah, and yes, really LSU Arkansas night game.
Yeah, dude, we that's the gamewe went to, and LSU absolutely
stomped them.

SPEAKER_01 (04:19):
Yeah, of course they did.
Go tigers.
But anyhow, uh I wanted to be alarge animal vet, actually.
That's that was the first dream,right?
And that got crushed after Ifigured out what uh tuition was.
But of course, I stuck with umbeing a fan tried and true, and
it just made me a little bitmore different of a red-headed

(04:41):
stepchild immigrant kid, right?
So, but man, I'm so glad you'vejoined us.
Your your experience in what notto do is so valuable.
And of course, what you guyshave been doing over there and
absolutely cooking uh withPhaser, hitting a hundred
episodes as a resource, liketake us back where all kind of

(05:04):
this started, my guy.
And why in the world you knowwhipped out a camera and started
helping uh the dirt guys?

SPEAKER_00 (05:13):
Yeah, yeah, man.
So I'd I'd definitely go back.
Uh so I'm from northernMinnesota, and if anyone on here
listening, a lot of you probablyknow uh his name's Luke Payne.
So the other Luke, he started acompany called Blackiron Dirt
and Demolition.
And so him and I went to highschool together in a place
called Detroit Lakes, Minnesota.
Um unbelievable up there.

(05:34):
It is so beautiful and smalltown, and I started Phaser
Marketing.
It was a marketing agency reallyfor small businesses at first.
That was in 2019, uh, October24th, 2019.
I got the papers.
And shortly after we got ourfirst client, which was in the
real estate space, our secondclient was Luke Payne with Black

(05:57):
Iron Dirt.
And at that time, I hadn't donemuch in the trades.
Um, but all of a sudden, gettingto work with his company and
getting to you know build hiswebsite, help people find him on
Google, run paid ads.
I started into this world of theblue collar space, but going
further, the construction space,and going even further, the dirt

(06:19):
world.
And uh shout out to Aaron Wittand those guys for really
coining that term.
So um, yeah, man.
Then right after Luke, uh, wetook on another client because
they saw what we were doing forLuke's company, and that would
be Three Forks Services, a bigoil field company out in western
North Dakota.
And I really just startedfalling in love with the men and

(06:40):
women that are moving thiscountry along, and uh especially
the utility side of things.
Uh so water lines, sewer lines,septic, I mean, because I think
there is this relation of whenyou just go, you flip on the
faucet, water comes out.
And if water doesn't come out,yeah, you gotta call somebody,

(07:01):
you don't know what to do.
But and then when you flush thetoilet, I say it all the time,
it just goes away nice andclean.
You don't even think twice aboutit.
So as I started working withthese men and women uh in the
dirt world and reallyunderstanding what they're doing
and why, uh, this was in 2019,2020.
I really started to develop uhmore clients in that space and

(07:22):
then said, okay, you know, ifwe're if we're gonna go far in
adding value to an industry, uh,we need to focus.
And so from it's probably early2021 uh or late 2021, maybe, we
said we're only gonna work withclients in the excavation space,
and is the best decision we evermade.

(07:43):
And uh fast forward to today, uhPhaser Marketing has 80 clients
in the excavation space acrossthe US and Canada full-time.
Um we have 21 team members onour team, and it is a blessing
to get to do what we do.
We have a few of team, a few ofour team members are um digital
marketing nerds that are alsooperators part-time.

(08:06):
So it's it's it's built thisreally, really fun business
where we get to work with peoplewe truly care about and say yes
to the clients that we want towork with.
Um and Sai, you mentioned itearlier, but through that, uh in
February 2022, Luke Payne, whois our second client, we started
a podcast together called theDirtbags Podcast.

(08:28):
And so that was uh coming up onfour years ago.
Uh, we recently crossed ahundred episodes.
And um, if you if you jump inand you listen to him now,
you'll you'll see it's just mehosting.
And um, I did buy Luke out ofthe podcast last year.
Um, we're still great friends,he's still a great client.
He was just so damn busy, Sai,as you know, in the excavation

(08:51):
world.
So uh we're keeping it upkeeping it going.
It's been an absolute blessing.
And yeah, Sai, I just love whatI get to do, and it's been
really fun following you as welland just getting to see both
sides, you know, of what you'reinvolved in as well.

SPEAKER_01 (09:05):
Dude, you started talking about the utility guys.
That's uh literally after my ownheart.
There's there's not enoughpeople bringing awareness to
what, you know, not just theplumber after the meter.
Yeah, you got to call theplumber to work on your house,
but how do you who lays thewater main and brings the

(09:25):
service to your meter so he theplumber can do his job?
You know, who's who's that guy?
Who's the guy having to crawldown in the manhole or jet out a
line to fix a blockage at 2a.m.?
It's the guy that works for thesewer department, you know what
they deal with.
And you there is some they'reunbelievable people.
They're literally keeping theAmerican infrastructure network

(09:50):
alive from municipalities tocontractors.
Um, you did say it was the bestdecision you ever made to jump
into with excavation owners.
Do you think it's just thepersonality traits of kind of
who we are, or what what do youthink make makes it the best?

SPEAKER_00 (10:08):
Yeah, great question.
I haven't been asked that in along time, actually, and I
appreciate that.
Uh there's a couple things nowthat I'm reflecting on it.
So, like any industry, like anyperson, there are good and bad
people.
And we've certainly, and we'renot perfect either, but we've
certainly worked with our fairshare of people that just aren't
who we want to surroundourselves with.

(10:30):
But when I look at our currentclient base right now, they are
some of the nicest, mostrespectful, driven individuals
that I've ever seen and workedwith.
And I think there's probably asense of humility that comes
with working or with owning anexcavation company that they've
learned that.
And um what I've noticed too,Sai, is that and they can they

(10:55):
can sense bullshit, I think,from a long ways away and they
can smell it.
And I think when they see thatyou truly care for the industry
or for them, they will bring youinto their family, and
literally.
And uh the clients and reallythe industry as a whole has
really brought us in to thatbecause they see we are truly

(11:15):
trying to help and have beendoing it for the last six years,
but also they see that we'regonna continue doing this for
decades going forward.
So the I I would say it's amixture of those things, um, but
it hasn't come without, youknow, we definitely run into
some bad eggs, especially inother industries, um, not in

(11:36):
excavation, but it's just you'regonna find that anywhere of just
who do you want to surroundyourself with?
And there are uh what I alwayslike to say is winners like to
work with winners.
And so if you focus on that, ifyou focus on working with A
players, with like-mindedpeople, people that share the
same core values as you, um,you're gonna build something

(11:57):
much bigger than you're uh youcould ever build yourself.

SPEAKER_01 (12:00):
100%, dude.
I think it's also I think we'reall a tad bit crazy because
we're underground contractors,we show up to a job and dig for
a living, right?
We don't even know what we'regetting ourselves into ever.
Every single job's different.
And so I think we're all just alittle bit tad crazy, but uh we
definitely are all go-getters.

(12:22):
Like, uh I think you hit thenail on the head when you said,
when we find out that you careor you find out that we can
trust you a little bit, like,man, there's so many people
calling our phone all day longtrying to sell us everything
under the sun.
And when when these guys arenew, and when I was new, the
first one to three years, Imean, the Google calls even,

(12:43):
hey, your Google listing is bad.
I mean, they even got me becauseyou're you're a fearful
entrepreneur, you know, you'rejust trying to make sure you're
juggling all this stuff, and youknow, you can barely keep your
job together, let alone yourbusiness.
And um, you know, you learn thatthe freaking the hard way.
Um, but no, literally, man, um Ithink there's just a a tad bit

(13:06):
of crazy in all of us, but we'redecision makers.
We we don't sit around if it'ssomething after we feel like you
trust, built just a little bitof trust and you care about the
end result, which is hey,benefiting us, because we get
told that all day long, right?
But man, you're right.
We will absolutely invite you toto our family's table to eat,

(13:30):
man, because there's just notmany people you can trust uh
within the industry, especiallyas a market is starving like it
is right now across the US.
But um so you kind of coveredobviously the people, but Talcus
through just the first couple ofclients, like you're you're

(13:51):
trying to figure out obviouslydirt and digital.
Like yeah, you even wrote a bookabout it.
So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (13:59):
So the the nice thing is, and so I I'm a I come
from the business world first, Iwould say.
I I love business and not notmarketing, but I love business.
I love understanding businesses,I love talking to people, like
help me unpack your business,like what makes it operate
because business is simple, butit's not easy.

(14:19):
And really, when you get down tothe nuts and bolts of it, of uh
and especially as you it seemsway more complex as you're
scaling in the early stages, andthen as you uh break through to
these other ceilings, it it isharder, but it is actually
you're always trying to keep itsimple and you're trying to dumb
things down into SOPs.

(14:40):
And Cy, I know you're I lovelistening to you about the uh
operations and SOPs because it'sso important, but it truly is uh
when you're scaling, you'retrying to simplify things and
not make them more complex.
So um really the nice thing isis I'm in our mastermind group,
I'm exposed to some of the mostcomplex marketing campaigns out

(15:03):
there for some of the mostcompetitive industries.
But then when I look at our umour clients, you have to start
at the foundation.
And so really starting there isthe easiest place.
So when you look at a few of ourfirst clients, Blackiron, Three
Forks, um, you know, we theydon't even have a website.

(15:23):
And some of these guys are$800,000 a year company or$3
million a year company.
And easiest place to start,let's clean up your Google
Business profile, let's clean upyour website, uh, let's get some
reviews coming in uh because weneed to clean up your online
presence, and then we'll take alook, just some easy quick wins
here.
And for everyone listening, I Ihope if you haven't done this,

(15:45):
you can just jump in there now.
Just go through and audit yourGoogle Business profile, make
sure all the information iscorrect, add in your new photos,
take out any duplicates, uh, gothrough and add in the
frequently asked questionssection, add in all your
services in the description.
Uh, but then on your uhFacebook, Instagram, and
LinkedIn side of things, if youdon't have them set up, step one

(16:07):
is set them up.
Step two, just get a nice headerphoto that fits and a nice logo
that fits in that little circle.
Uh, it sounds dumb, but a lot ofclients we work with, it's cut
off.
There's white on the bottom.
And so just really setting agood foundation of okay, we're
gonna clean up your onlinepresence, but also we're gonna
build a website with what wewould call foundational SEO.

(16:30):
And it sounds a little fancierthan it is, uh, but really what
it is is um you want to makesure that Google can read each
page on your website.
So if you're building, let's sayour my favorite one-to-do size,
we take a look at an excavationcompany and we want to pick out
five main services.
So this could be excavation,grading, water line repair,

(16:54):
sewer line repair, and retainingwalls.
You know, throw your throw yourfive.
And then what we would want todo is make sure that the pages
are structured in a wayfoundationally that Google can
crawl them, but also read andknow what's on the page in order
of importance.
So that's where you hear likethe old days of keyword stuffing
where you just add in excavationcompany near me everywhere.

(17:15):
Uh that stuff doesn't work.
And it's pretty it's excitingnow because in the age of AI,
um, it's actually rewarding justgood content and educational
content, which is how it shouldhave always been.
So there's really no fancytricks for AI.
It's just making sure that thecontent you're putting in there

(17:36):
is answering the question ofsomebody that's on your website.
So, how much does a new septictank cost?
And answering that question.
That is what Google in the AIoverview and also Chat GPT
pulls, and it takes a look atyour website to make sure you
have the authority, therelevancy, and then what we
would call UX, which is a userexperience vibe of your website.

(17:58):
So, not to go too deep into thatbecause I can really dig a
rabbit hole here, but uh reallyit's just setting a good
foundation, and and this is howour business started, side is
what I want our clients to seeis different from what we see on
the marketing side.
So, what we see are thesemillion ping pong balls that are
juggling down and things thatwe're doing, and all these

(18:20):
things that we're levers we'repulling and doing all this, and
all the business owners see isphase one, we're doing this,
we're setting the foundation.
Phase two, we're growing ourbrand.
Phase three, we're gonnadominate our market.
And so part of that too is whatyou mentioned earlier is
trusting the people or theperson you're working with, and

(18:41):
that is the most important thingthat you need to watch out for
when looking for any vendor uhin any area, whether it's
insurance, legal, marketing, uhmaterials, you want to make
sure, hey, can I work with thisperson long term?
Do I want to build arelationship with them?
Because when you need betterterms or you need to trust them

(19:02):
that they're they have your bestinterest in mind, you want to
make sure that that rightperson's in your corner.

SPEAKER_01 (19:09):
No, for sure, dude.
Like, wow.
Great advice.
Great advice.
Like, heard it here first.
I tell you guys all the time,uh, relationships are
everything.
They truly are.
Didn't want to skip that note,but taking you just back just a
second to what you said, youknow, these blue collar guys,

(19:29):
they don't understand social,they don't understand where to
start.
And so I appreciate you breakingthat down very simply.
But hey, look, it it soundssuper hard, but it's not.
Set it up, take a picture of thelogo, make sure it's clear, make
sure it fits this, you know.
But then to go on to a littlebit further depth, like I had no

(19:50):
idea how Google worked.
Like, I thought you just, youknow, excavation company near
me.
Like, that's yeah, you when yousay that keyword stuffing, I've
never heard that term, but likeI'm not in the marketing world
as obviously as much as you are.
But at the same time, that'skind of how my pipe dirt brain
works.
Like, how do I get out in frontof them without paid ads?

(20:13):
Like, how do I structurallybuild?
Yes, if you guys understand,this is where a lot of guys and
a lot of CFOs hate marketingbecause it takes time to get to
results.
And you've got to be up front,and usually, don't get me wrong,
30, 60, 90 days, it takes acouple of cycles to figure out,
hey, what you're doing wrong,what you're doing right, and

(20:34):
then maximize on what's doingright.
But if you're not starting atthe basis of the website, a good
CTA or call to actions, pointthem somewhere and then tell
them what you are on thatwebsite.
But then start on the socials,get them set up.
But what Luke is referencing,guys, is that basically when you

(20:55):
type something in to Google, andcorrect me if I'm wrong here,
brother, but Google sends outbasically a big spider web and a
big cast net.
And if it goes to your websiteand reads storm drain, water,
sewer, and then it goes overhere to LinkedIn and there's a
blog post about this, and thenit goes to Facebook and it goes
to Meta and it goes to uhYouTube or a podcast, like all

(21:19):
of this.
If this is all casting the samemessage, Google likes that and
it will get past a few of thebots and and start recommending
you.

SPEAKER_00 (21:28):
It's a kind of correct absolutely so and I like
how you bring out the spiderwebeffect because some people think
uh it's just SEO or it's justsocial media ads.
And it's it's uh very dangerousto go down one of those routes
only.
And so, and w before I dive intothat piece, I would like to even

(21:48):
say, you know, if you'relistening and you're a startup
and you're even in the zero to500k revenue, most of these
things that you shouldn't hiresomebody for.
And that's just my opinion.
Uh, everything is free that youcan do.
And even if you don't have awebsite, let's say you're I just
want to paint the picture here.
Let's say you're busy right now,you're super busy with work, but

(22:09):
you want to make sure you're setup for the fall uh or the
winter, and you don't have timeto really build a website real
quick, focus on your Googlebusiness profile.
It's a free tool.
Make sure it's verified, makesure it's optimized, run through
it, and then just ask peoplequestions because um reach out
to me, ask me, you know, Luke,what are the things you would

(22:29):
look for on a GBP?
And those free things, and thengetting those Google reviews
coming in, that arguably hasmore juice from the zero to 500k
revenue stage than a fullyfleshed out WordPress website
will.
And and when you're in that nextstage, that's usually where
you'd want to graduate up to agood website that is performing

(22:51):
for you.
But don't be discouraged ifyou're feel overwhelmed.
And like Sai mentioned, postingon social media, don't have to
get too creative, just post onLinkedIn, Instagram, and
Facebook, just cross-post thesame post.
Uh, you don't have to, I don'teven schedule out you know,
three posts a week or anythinglike that.
I I just try and nerd out on mysocial channels because that's

(23:14):
what will perform well, and thenshow your face in the posts.
And then uh so when it comes tosocial media, uh be posting on
there.
And then I wanted to mentionthis side because one thing
people don't realize is there'sthat fourth social media through
their Google Business profile.
So they can actually postupdates.
So as you're let's say you'reposting about a new sewer line

(23:35):
you put in, or you'rehighlighting your team for a
team party, and you post on yourFacebook company page, your
Instagram, your LinkedIn.
Usually a post that shows yourteam is gonna do well.
That fourth platform you shouldpost that same post on is your
Google Business profile.
Um, I don't have it pulled upright now, but to get there, you
just uh go to Google, you go toyour Google Business profile,

(23:58):
and then there should be alittle button that says add
update, and then it has a spotfor a picture, it has a spot for
the caption.
And the really cool part aboutthat is now you're not just
reaching people, you're reachingthe search engine.
So the search engine is pickingup on these keywords of you
know, your team party, yoursewer line repair, the things
you're doing.
And like you mentioned, Cy, soperfectly, it spider webs out to

(24:22):
grab this other information fromyour blog post, your um Facebook
post, and then maybe thatwebsite that linked back to you
a year ago, seeing that thosesignals, and then oh yeah, they
did a podcast on this six monthsago.
That is all relevancy andauthority that'll bump you up
that list.
And it when I don't know if Iwant to get into this now, but

(24:46):
I'm gonna just touch on it alittle bit.
There's a shiny object syndromewhen it comes to AI, and I want
to make sure everyone's carefulwith that because Google right
now holds about 92% of themarket share when it comes to
search, and so like us, ofcourse, we're trying to optimize
for AI to make sure that we'reshowing up there, but you can't

(25:08):
like ignore the hand that'sfeeding you either.
So just being a little carefulof uh if you have a good
foundation with Google, keepdoing that and then try some of
these new platforms.
But if you're not on Google atall and you're just gonna go
through Chat GPT, I wouldn'trecommend that either.
So just making sure you have agood foundation of an online

(25:28):
presence, starting there andthen building up um from there.

SPEAKER_01 (25:33):
And and just being organic in your posting, guys.
Like just like Luke mentioned, Idefinitely cheatered on this AI
line for just a second of hey, Iwant uh, you know, schedule some
posts, maybe take some off, uh,you know, but you've got to be
so incredibly careful because itI mean, it just your audience

(25:58):
turns off immediately.
Your organic, your rawness,whatever that may be, whether
it's from you know, whateveryou're posting about, I don't
care, but hopefully it's aboutyour business.
Like if it's organic and it'scoming from you in a personal
tone, it is going to always dobetter than any type of

(26:19):
subscription AI that anybody cansell you.
Uh, and I'm not a big marketingguru.
And when I I've just learned byexperience of doing things wrong
to this point to get where I'mat.
But that spider web is the onlyway I can necessarily make my
brain or the people in themarketing space that was helping

(26:41):
me when I was starting, like,hey man, look, you gotta
understand this is not just, oh,get all SEO figured out and this
will produce results by itself.
No, you need to do this and thisand this because they all talk
to each other.
Oh, and then Google goes andfinds all the same thing on
these, you know, it and I'm gladyou mentioned you don't have to

(27:04):
schedule a ton of posts.
If it's your social media, and Iby LinkedIn, I feel I my company
LinkedIn, not my personalLinkedIn.
By the way, Luke is great tofollow on on LinkedIn as well.
Um, but anyhow, on LinkedInspace, LinkedIn is totally
casting to a different group ofpeople that Instagram is seeing,

(27:24):
and they're they're alldifferent age ranges.
So yeah, you can cross-platformpost, but then from there, guys,
I know I'm kind of hitting on acouple of things he said, but
like I'm just trying to keep itvery simple, raw, organic.
I really enjoyed doing this job.
Here it is.
Hashtag construction.
Like you don't even need ahashtag, but like just start.

(27:46):
That's the biggest thing.
And if you got any questions,reach out to experts like the
man himself.
But no, since you already kindof commented on that with the
whole AI sector and big shinyobject, and uh, I mean, the
excavation guys were the worstabout that.
We want the nice newestexcavator with the new

(28:08):
technology, with you want to bethat guy, right?
And it's a little a little bitof an ego thing, but man, what
biggest, largest uh mistakesthat uh they don't even have to
be in even the largest, but themost consistent, I guess, is
where I'm going with that.
That uh the large variables ofthese gentlemen that are trying

(28:31):
to scale, push out into thebusiness.
What's some of these uh into themarketing world with their
business?
What are some of the mistakesthat you commonly see uh that
builds frustration and maybeturns them off from reaching out
ever because by the time you getto your hands on them, they're
so frustrated that they don'twant to put in any effort

(28:52):
because they've already, youknow, made this mistake or that
mistake.
Kind of walk us through that andmaybe some uh customer success
stories, my guy, from being atthat point and traveling back.

SPEAKER_00 (29:04):
Yeah, man, a a big piece of it is uh long term is
not three months.
And that goes back to myoriginal comment of working with
who you want to work with.
And so part of that too,especially in excavation, uh, if
you're looking to work withanyone, they the amount of time
you have to put into educatingthem on what you do is very

(29:27):
important.
And so if you have to describethe difference between a skid
and an excavator and how that'sgonna look and how that should
look, uh obviously I don't haveto tell anyone that big red
flag.
But you yeah, the amount ofeducation you need to do up
front.
So making sure you work withsomebody that'll understand uh
what you're going through, andalso um the biggest mistake I

(29:52):
see are is jumping from strategyto strategy non stop because
you're just never going to getthat traction, uh, even from
Myself in our business, I tryand give everything a year.
And so if I want to commit toit, that means I need to take it
seriously and say, you know, askmore questions, do a little more
due diligence, make sure thatthis is the right person or
right team that I want to bringon to Phaser.

(30:14):
And then if so, I'm going tocommit to it for a year.
And that just gives me we canwork out the kinks, we can work
with them.
And then if it doesn't work, itdoesn't work.
It's not a big deal.
But I think a lot of themistakes I see made is when
we're jumping and we want theget rich quick stuff.
And the I I wrote this down toobecause I didn't want to forget

(30:37):
to mention this, but the classicuh undersell, over deliver is
what you're looking for.
If the person has the best offerin the world and it's it's too
good to be true, as we all know,it probably is.
So um those scare me as abusiness owner, where it's like,
okay, what's the issue here?
There this seems too good to betrue.

(30:58):
And then you really startdigging in, and there's there's
reasons for that.
So I think just being a littleweary of really great offers and
trying to figure out why it's sogreat.
And uh as long as you align withthe person behind that and their
core values, I think it's great.
But if you don't, if you seethose red flags early on, listen

(31:19):
to your gut, it's probably not agood call.
Um, another thing, Sai, that issuper important, especially in
the in the marketing world, isburning money, especially on
paid ads, uh and SEO as well,without a good foundation.
Uh, the best analogy I like togive here is pouring gasoline on

(31:41):
a fire versus pouring gasolineon dirt.
Like what they're two totallydifferent scenarios.
The the dirt, I mean, it's it'sjust gonna be wet dirt.
You you have nothing.
And that is your dollars beingpouring onto this system uh
without a really good foundationlaid first.
And a lot of the things that agood foundation entails are free

(32:04):
to do.
And some people you can paypeople to do that, and that's
okay too, but you have tounderstand that there's a
process to like gettingyourself, getting your business
to a good place before dumpingfuel, which is money, into paid
ads.
And I see that as like probablyone of the biggest mistakes.
Uh, these companies that havejust started, these companies

(32:25):
that have no online presence, noreviews, uh things all out of
place, all out of whack, theoperational efficiency not quite
there yet.
Um, because that is how youstart getting the one-star
reviews, that is how you startgetting callbacks, that is how
people start leaving.
And so making sure that it's agood balance with a solid
foundation, uh, so you buildthat fire up first before you

(32:49):
dump money into an agency, intopaid ads, into SEO, uh, into
anything lead generation.
Uh, and then this stems off ofthat a little bit.
We use this in our own company,but building one fan at a time,
it doesn't always have to be aclient.
So anyone who is involved withyour business, anyone you see on

(33:11):
the street that sees yourtrucks, anyone at the parade,
anyone that works for you, anyclient that works for you, any
vendor you work with, you wantto make sure that you build them
into a fan of your company oneperson at a time.
And I think so often, us asbusiness owners, we want to cast
the wide net and bring in athousand people that love us.

(33:32):
It's like that's not gonna work.
And that's how things slipthrough the crack and and um
things get broken.
So making sure that you have theopportunity to make somebody's
uh perception of your company uhturn the turning them into a
fan.
And then once you have thosefans supporting your brand and
your business, uh you can getaway with mistakes.

(33:54):
Like if it's a true accident,it's a true mistake, they will
have your back and you can getaway with it.
But if you're built on uh justlike a fake following and you're
just skirting by by yourskinnier teeth, um you make an
axe or you have an accident oryou make a mistake, and uh
they're not gonna be there foryou.
So I think that's superimportant when building your

(34:15):
foundation is building one fanat a time.

SPEAKER_01 (34:19):
That's uh that's really really well said, my guy.
Um, no matter where you're at,whether you're your guys are in
the restaurant, um, big thingwith me, and uh, you know, my
guys is you know, we're inplaces, we got the logo on.
Like, don't let me get a phonecall, you acting up.

(34:40):
Okay, we better be holding doorsand sweeping floors, you know.
So um but dude, paid ads, itthat's that is so key, man.
If you don't have any type offoundational base and you hear
these, and I see them all daylong on Facebook running

(35:01):
sponsored ads to get in front ofmyself.
Hey, we can lead Jen all thiswork to you, and it's gonna cost
you this.
No problem.
Just start here.
And you you you run some paidads, and you're like, well, this
is frustrating.
I'm not getting any lead I want.
Well, you're not really tellingus what you are.

(35:21):
There is no foundation, there'sno website, there's no social
media base.
Like it can be one or the otherto start a great foundation,
guys.
You can have a small followingon TikTok and grow a foundation
off of that, but you have tohave some type of foundation
before you listen to one ofthese guys and jump into a

(35:43):
lead-gen system.
Don't get me wrong, there is100% purpose to it.
But I really appreciate yourwarning.
We're back to these guys andgoing, hey, look, a lot of this
stuff is gonna sound really goodto be true.
And they know from talking to ahundred and fifty of you guys of
exactly what point they were in,uh, so they know how to word it

(36:05):
to what point you're in.
So just be careful, heed thewarning.

SPEAKER_00 (36:09):
And if I could, I'd I'd love to add one more
additional point there ofcaution, too, because you know,
we've worked in this industry along time, that being digital
marketing.
And anytime there is a uh like aquestion of you know, how many
leads do you expect me to get,or how many qualified leads am I
gonna get, or what is my costper lead going to be, like I

(36:30):
can't answer that.
And so if if you're starting tosee that where you're getting
these guarantees, and Iguarantee you 50 qualified leads
by the end of the month, uh it'sjust watch out because it's you
don't know any of thosevariables.
Uh everything changes even everymonth, but by your city, your
population, your competition,what they're bidding on,

(36:50):
everything.
So it's if it's too good to betrue, it probably is.
And honestly, too, you know,reaching out to somebody like
Cy, like myself, like some otheruh maybe podcasters that have
talked to a lot of people, Ithink they'll shoot you a little
straighter and give you a morehonest answer because um it's
the people you just saw their adand it seems too good to be

(37:12):
true, and you don't know whothey are as a person.
Like that's something to watchout for.
So I always say too, you know,find people in your corner that
can be a good filter for you.
And so that would be somebodythat knows the marketing
industry that's going to be aresource for you first, somebody
that knows the legal industry,the insurance industry, and you
know those people that if youask them a question, they're

(37:34):
just trying to sell yousomething.
Get that person in your cornerthat's just going to educate you
so that you can make the bestdecision moving forward.
And uh those people stick out,and those people will be with
you for a long, long time.

SPEAKER_01 (37:47):
You know, the other thing I've I have seen that I
never understood with marketing,and since we're on this lead gen
topic, it's funny that I youwould probably agree with this.
Every single dirt contractor oryou know, blue collar-based

(38:07):
business, when they're out ofleads, that's when they're
coming to you.
And you're like, oh well, I haveno work, man.
Make it happen.
And you're like that's theworst.
That's the toughest.
Yeah, exactly.
And you want to help them asfast as humanly possible, get it
going.
But guys, what I'm telling youis you don't start marketing

(38:28):
when you need it.
It's easy.
You start marketing when thingsare up on top so you can keep
that consistent flow to build anext foundational stepping stone
to scale and grow.
That's how it works, guys.
And I want to, I wanna uh whileLuke is here, is uh there's a
cone in the marketing world,guys.
And the very top is I'm comingfrom the dirt guy here.

(38:51):
Luke will be here to to guideany points, but you've got to
build and cast this nest ofawareness and like who you are,
and you've got to spend sometime online, whether it's
organically and not costing youanything, or paying somebody to
build a presence that is whatyou want.
But you have got to buildawareness on the brand, who it

(39:12):
is, what you are, what you standfor, what the core value is.
And then about the time youthink they're tired of hearing
it, that's when they're startingto listen.
And so you cast this awarenessnet, and then maybe, maybe 10%
of those folks uh that you'rebuilding awareness are slip down
to this consideration stage.

(39:33):
And then that considerationstage might or may not build a
smaller percentage into the leadcategory, which is the very
bottom of your cone.
But like you have got to beconstantly why I brought that up
is to be building awareness, andthat can be video socials.
Like I've learned this by notdoing it, right?
And so I literally same sameexact thing, Luke.

(39:56):
When I uh got with my team, itwas I was at the bottom.
I'm like, what am I gonna do?
Let's start marketing, you know,let's let's just start doing
this.
I was I'm kind of a kind of apsychopath.
When like when it came to that,and I just instead of just doing
one foundational piece, I didall of them all together, all at
the same time.
And I don't recommend that toanyone.

(40:17):
Take your time, but if you startwhere I was going with that,
it's just never too late tostart.
Uh, and but do it when thingsare going good, when you have
that little small extra amountof time that you're kind of
like, man, things are kind ofgoing good right now.
And guys, I know you know whatI'm talking about because you
don't feel like that a lot ofpoints in every single year.

(40:38):
So during those times, that'swhen you pick up the phone and
go to the job and and get asmuch video content as possible,
or what's going on in theoffice.
But uh Luke, love to hear yourthoughts, sir.

SPEAKER_00 (40:49):
Yeah, I mean, you nailed it on the on the funnel,
uh, or the cone, as you'd liketo say.
The awareness cons no, I do.
I love the cone.
So awareness, consideration, andconversion.
Uh, same thing.
It's the top of the funnel is alot bigger, it's a lot wider,
it's a lot cheaper, of course.
That could be even somebodyseeing your truck drive by.
It's like, boom, there's alittle bit of awareness there.

(41:10):
Uh, they see the the logo onyour shirt, boom, a little bit
of awareness.
And then they see an ad onFacebook, and then they they
actually uh get a mailer, andthen they see the website, and
all of a sudden they start to goto that consideration stage,
which usually uh a really goodplace for this is the website,
and that's where you canconvince them and and show them
what you do and show them yourteam and how you were built and

(41:32):
your your values.
Um, and then of course, can'tever forget to ask the
conversion.
And what I wanted to mention toois this funnel or ice cream cone
structure here is doesn't justwork for leads for your
business, it works for hiring.
Like these, this, this uh funnelstructure is all the same.

(41:52):
So let's back it up.
Awareness.
Somebody sitting at home that uhthat has a job is seeing your
social media posts, they'reseeing your Instagram stories.
Oh, they just saw uh Cy at atthe fundraiser, like he was you
know meeting people and helooked like a good time, and
then you got to meet him, andthen all of a sudden, um boom,
they're hiring.
And it's like, okay, let me letme go take a look.

(42:14):
Let me take a look at the jobapplication.
Oh, the pay is actually not bad,and they have a 401k with a
match.
Let me dive in more and see whatwho's working with their team.
Oh, a bunch of young guys likemyself, and like, oh, I could
see myself fitting in there anduh yeah, let me let me dive more
into this, and then boom, thecall to action, apply now, apply
today, jump on a call, and thenthat is the conversion where you

(42:37):
ask for it.
And so don't just think that itis for leads for your business
to grow in terms of revenue.
Think of it.
I mean, marketing shouldencompass all aspects of your
business.
Uh, and as you grow revenue, youneed to scale your team as well.
And uh, one other thing I'm andI'm really glad you you're
talking about this side becauseit's so important.

(42:59):
Um we we like to so if you thinkof it, and I don't know if
anyone's watching or justlistening, but uh your your
business typically goes incycles, and so it goes up and it
hits the peak, and then you hita little valley, then you hit
the peak, and then the valley,but you're kind of always trying
to go up and to the right, likeyou're you're swimming up and to
the right.
What we like to do, or what Ilike to do, is try and flatten

(43:20):
those peaks and flatten thevalleys, so you're more of just
like slowly going more up tointo the right.
As much as we all want to hockeystick up, uh, it's not as ideal,
I would say.
No, you don't.
And so if we can flatten thosepeaks and those troughs or those
valleys out a little bit, andyou mentioned it, Sai, but that

(43:42):
is uh a lot of that can be doneby what we would like to say is
never stop marketing.
Like you're always marketingyourself, you're always branding
yourself, you're always puttingthe best foot forward.
And also, not only let's say youare busy, let's say you have as
as much work as you want.
Uh a lot of our contractors thatare at that point, they're like,

(44:04):
Yeah, it would be nice though tochoose which home builders we're
working with, and choose if wewant to scale up right now or
not, and choose um you knowwhich residential or commercial
or federal uh clients we want towork with.
And all of a sudden you're like,ah, I see how this could really
help.
Even though we are busy rightnow, it would be nice to have

(44:24):
more conversations and more workcoming in so that we can make a
decision, and all of a sudden,then you can start to work with
more of the people you want towork with.
And I think a lot of peoplelistening have that builder,
have that relationship thatthey're doing it just for the
money.
And if they had another betteroption that paid the same, but
it was they got along withreally well, they would much

(44:47):
rather take that.
And so, how do you, you know,start at the top of the funnel?
Awareness, consideration, andthen conversion.
But yeah, it's a really funconversation, side, and it's it
really is and I like how we'retrying to simplify everything
because it it is pretty simplein bringing in non-digital
marketing activities becausethat is so much more important

(45:11):
than the digital side, and thatis your foundation.

SPEAKER_01 (45:15):
Dude, couldn't say it best, but literally the one
word I think is the most fittingthing with marketing, and that
I've heard from you marketingguys, that could be such a
frustration point from owners toyou guys is just consistency of
content and like just get me thestuff and we'll put it together.

(45:40):
But like, guys, it's five-secondclips.
You don't even have to makethese mass productions.
Short clips do fantastic if youhaven't noticed while you're
zoom scrolling TikTok or the VRreels or whatever you get uh
stopped on.
But like literally, those dogreat.

(46:01):
All you need is five seconds,and then you can voice over it
if you want.
If you if you don't even wantto, you it's awkward to start
filming, but consistency is thelargest word that I have found
within our own marketingcampaign, whether it's
consistently producing andputting out a weekly podcast, or
it's weekly YouTube videos, orit's weekly LinkedIn posts that

(46:23):
I'm failing on miserably rightnow.
But like I set these consistencyparameters for myself to to get
from a dirt pusher to thismarketing umbrella that I'm I'm
now it's it's such it's so crazyto talk about the transition,
but that's kind of where Iwanted to go with you.
I know we've talked about a lotabout marketing, but um the

(46:47):
consistency with the dirt bagspodcast, dude.
A hundred episodes in.
Uh, we're we're racing you asfast as we can coming out
weekly.
But um, man, just how importantthese resources.
You know, you wrote a book, youyou might be working on another
one, you know, maybe a totalexclusive here.

(47:08):
But um, long story short, myguys, this gentleman uh was a
resource four years ago.
I went looking for theseresources, I found him back
then.
Like uh it's just crazy to fastforward the time.
And now I'm also putting my ownresource out there because I
couldn't find enough of it.
So, number one, thank you.
But number two, kind of talkabout the heightened importance

(47:31):
of getting into building up notjust you know your clients, but
other people out there in theworld just trying to do better.

SPEAKER_00 (47:39):
Yeah, I I I love that conversation so much.
And before I start on that, ifanyone's listening wants to
start a podcast, start it.
Uh, we're three and a half yearsin, and I still jump on Zoom,
hit record, and I just send itto our editor.
He edits it, and you can pay hima couple hundred bucks a month.
And it is not that hard.

(48:00):
And it is one of the mostfulfilling jobs and businesses I
own.
Uh, I now own it a hundredpercent, and it is unbelievable
what you get to learn, but alsowhat other like you're in this
whole thing together with allyour listeners, and and I can
feel that too with everyonelistening right now, uh being a

(48:21):
guest, is you're just talking toa friend and you're just
inviting friends to be on youryour show.
But what's really cool is as thehost of a podcast, uh you're
you're really not the expert.
So you're bringing on peoplethat are the experts, and so
that's the cool part.
And you just get to askquestions you don't know the
answer to, and that's what I doevery day.

(48:43):
It's just I uh I I saw you wereon Scott Pieper's um uh podcast
with mobilization funding.
He's one of my all-timefavorites.
I'll be at his office in Tampahere in a few weeks.
Um, but Scott was uh one of ourwebinar speakers.
But uh as an example, Scott iscash flow in construction

(49:03):
expert.
Like that is what his businessdoes, that is what he does.
King, baby.
Unbelievable.
Like if you're looking for acash flow resource and you're in
construction, I mean, he's theonly one I can think of,
honestly.
And so like when we bring onsomebody like that, like it's so
easy because I'm just askingquestions I don't know the

(49:24):
answer to.
And if I don't know the answer,there's likely most of our
listeners probably don't knoweither.
So they're just like, you know,Luke, keep keep digging, keep
digging into Scott's knowledgebase here.
Like, let's let's not just jumpto the next question, let's dig
deeper.
Hey, ask about that.
And so you really feel thisresponsibility uh running a
podcast, and especially the dirtbags.

(49:46):
It's it's um, I just feel soblessed that we started it for
one and that we kept consistentwith it.
We're now over a hundredepisodes in.
It's uh it's in 23 countries,all 50 states, and we get
dirtbags from all over the worldtune in and say, like, you know,
talk about their process and howit's different from American

(50:07):
dirt, and and then them ask,like, hey, are you gonna be at
Con Expo?
I'm like, hell yeah, I'll bethere.
And so just like theseopportunities that are among us,
and not just me, uh, everyonelistening too, and everyone
listening to this podcast, likethis is a huge community that
can get together.
And and I say this all the time,but if you're listening to Size

(50:28):
Podcast here, you're alreadyahead of 95% of people because
you are pushing yourself toeducate yourself and to engage
with others.
And then the next step, which isusually the toughest, is just
reaching out and going to a showlike Con Expo, going to a show.
Um, you know, I mean, there's somany nowadays, but uh just

(50:49):
reaching out to people andsaying, you know, hey, are you
gonna be there and making ithappen?
And then when you have thatconnection of knowing each other
through the internet or throughInstagram or through the podcast
and then meeting in person, it'slike you didn't even skip a
beat.
I mean, it's just so, so cool.

SPEAKER_01 (51:06):
No, dude, learning that's the biggest thing.
So the the whole reason, um notthe whole reason, but one of
many reasons was how was I gonnaconvince all these smart people
to spend an hour that I wouldhave to spend multitudes of
money?
A lot of people that have comethrough this show, like I am

(51:28):
blown away to just take an hourof their time, like prestigious
folks that are just teaching me.
That's all I want, you know.
And then all these guys that arehopefully sitting in a truck or
they're wiring a building orthey're running a piece of
equipment or driving their truckfor the day, whatever the case
may be, they're learning aswell.

(51:49):
And it's from a free resourcethat they can tune in every week
and they know they're gonnalearn something new.
And you're exactly right.
And that's what I had to figureout, especially back to your
piece about hiring, dude, likeYouTube.
I've hired more new guys off ofYouTube and they already know
what we are, what to expect, howwe do things.

(52:12):
I don't have to worry aboutfighting a guy about art ads
because if he watched oneepisode, he knows we don't get
out of the truck without an arthat on.
It's just small things likethat, right?
But you're always freakinglearning when you're sitting
down.
Dude, I've learned things today,and uh I get to meet all these
eclectic group of individualsthat I may or may not have ever

(52:35):
passed their path.
And here we are now having anin-depth conversation, learning
about whatever they're an expertin.
And I want to ask as manyquestions I possibly can for
myself and my team, buteverybody else's team and and
and for the folks that are youknow struggling, and that's why
they're looking for the resourcein to begin with.

(52:56):
It's like, man, how do I getbetter?
And they're just wanting tobetter themselves.
And but you're right, when yousay fulfilling, I don't think
I've ever done anything in lifemore fulfilling than this, other
than being a dad.
Don't get me wrong.
Um, but this right here, likethe people and I don't know if
you saw the the the quickmini-series we did with me and

(53:18):
Sarah.
It was like a four-parter, butuh, I heard, I think, more about
that, about me and marriage andbusiness, which is obviously a
hot topic of nowadays, but likeputting ourselves out there, and
I've just was overwhelmed withthe responses from local folks
that I didn't even know werelistening to the show, to people

(53:39):
all across the stinking countryand world, and it was crazy, but
no, it is totally fulfilling,dude.

SPEAKER_00 (53:45):
Yeah, and on the the podcast side of things, uh I
can't remember who said this,but there's there's three
reasons somebody's going tolisten to this show or to the
dirtbags podcast.
And it's it could be a acombination of these things, it

could be all three as well: information, entertainment, and (54:00):
undefined
inspiration.
And so as as the host, Sai, I Iknow you've had episodes that
have been hilarious, like foryourself, for people listening,
they they feel that camaraderie.
Uh, they can also listen to theshow for uh information, and so
they're learning more about cashflow and construction, they're

(54:23):
learning more about switchingfrom residential to commercial
and estimating and what thattakes, and then also the
inspiration piece.
There's tons of people listeningthat need that pick-me-up.
There's tons of people listeningthat want to start a business
one day, and they look at you,or they look at me, or they look
at any of your other 70, 80, 90,100, 200 guests to come and they

(54:44):
might pull something inspiringfrom the podcast and something
that somebody said that inspiredthem to do something.
And that's just really, reallycool to me that a platform like
you have has the power to dothat.
And even if it's one person inthe 10 years that you're gonna
do this show, that that makes itall worth it.
So um, yeah, just even man, justeven to be a better man or

(55:08):
woman, or be a better husband orwife, and a dad or mom or
whatever it is, business owner.
Uh, if they're listening to theshow and one of the episodes,
they got something like, man,I'm gonna I'm gonna go hit the
gym after this, or I'm gonna goum, I'm gonna maybe give up
drinking for this month, and uh,or whatever it might be.
It's uh it's it's really cool tosee how a platform and a podcast

(55:31):
can do that, the either giveinformation, entertainment,
inspiration, or any combinationof those three.

SPEAKER_01 (55:40):
Dude, 100%.
Um last thing of the day, wementioned briefly in the intro
about agency coach.
Uh don't really know much aboutit.
We just talked about learning,so teach me and everybody else.
Uh what is that?
And basically what are you guysdoing with it?

SPEAKER_00 (56:02):
Yeah, so it's it's nothing that I started, and I'll
I'll start there.
I'll kind of go through quicklyhere.
But um, so I'm in a mastermindgroup.
When I started Phaser, what youknow, when we were had three
clients or so, I knew I neededsome good coaches and mentors in
my corner because I didn't knowwhat I was doing, and I still
don't, but I know more than Idid when I started.

(56:23):
And there's this, there's thisgroup, and there's groups for
every industry, right?
And so uh I came across thisgroup, it was called Seven
Figure Agency, and it is amarketing master it is a
business mastermind group fordigital marketing agency owners.
I'm like, sick, that's probablywhere I should be, right?
And like, who would havethought?

(56:44):
And so I show up there and theydo three intensives every year
in Miami.
So that's where everyone meets,they come together, it's a
two-day mastermind.
Like we he we have speakers, wehave coaches, we have mentors,
we have um, you know, theworkbooks where you're setting
your goals.
And uh that was four years ago Ijoined, and it's you know, we
were at$7,000 monthly recurringrevenue.

(57:07):
So that's how they measureeverything.
And then you kind of go throughthe stages, and their goal is to
get you um, and uh the reason Ilove it so much is why they do
it.
It's uh to treat your clients sowell that they don't churn and
don't leave, and that's one ofthe reasons, and so that you as
a business owner have more time,have more uh money, but have

(57:28):
more freedom to get to do whatyou want and help the people you
want.
And so uh kind of went throughthe the levels there over the
last four years, and now webecame a seven-figure agency
last year in March, serving theexcavation niche, which is an
absolute blessing.
And then um my wife and I wenton a a two-month sabbatical this

(57:50):
summer and uh adventure trip,sabbatical, whatever we want to
call it.
I went to four differentcountries and I uh we spent 11
days in the Dolmites on a hikewith no cell service.
And on that hike, I was I waspraying and I was reflecting and
I was like, you know, what whatis my next chapter in Luke's

(58:11):
life, in Luke's business life orin in my business?
Because this was such a big tripto kind of separate me a little
bit more as more of thevisionary of Phaser and less of
in the weeds doing everything.
And we just have an incredibleteam, huge shout out to them.
And I was like, what does itlook like when I come back?
And do I adopt all the littlethings I was doing, or do I what

(58:35):
am I gonna focus on?
So obviously the podcast, I'mgonna still podcast.
I love business, I'm gonna stillrun our business and run the
direction of it.
And and I I always BS with ourclients.
Like I love jumping on phonecalls at them, but it's less
about marketing.
And then what I wanted to fillmy time with is I'm gonna reach
out to our mastermind and say,you know, hey, I want to become

(58:57):
one of the mentors.
And it's like a free thing thatyou do and um you know, become
one of the member mentors andhelp others scale their agency
like we did, uh, but do itproperly and uh do it with the
right um the right intentions, Iwould say.
And sure enough, what I missedwas a message from uh Josh and

(59:20):
Asenia who who run Seven FigureAgency, and uh before the hike,
which is crazy, because we werepraying about it, we were
thinking about it, they hadactually reached out to see if I
if they could hire me as one ofthe coaches, and so um like a
paid role and getting to coachyou know the members, uh so

(59:41):
there's um getting getting to dothat.
And I just I looked at Olivia,my wife, and I was just like uh
do we have to talk about this orwhat do we think?
And we just we knew it was itwas the next best step for me.
Uh I just love people, I loveunpacking businesses.
With them.
I know the marketing agencyspace very well, but I'm also

(01:00:04):
always a student of the game.
And so I this is really helpingme keep my pencil sharpened and
work with people to go throughtheir personal goals, their
business goals, but also scaleproperly.
And yeah, man, it's it's justbeen such a blessing.
I've been doing that now.
If this episode comes out inNovember, I've been doing it now

(01:00:25):
since uh August.
And uh yeah, just lookingforward to keep um continuing to
be a good steward of what mypassions are and why I'm here.
And I think some of those is umyou know being a great husband
to my wife, hopefullypotentially being a dad someday,
and then being a great managerof Phaser and the dirt bags and

(01:00:49):
being a good steward of thosebusinesses I get to manage.
And then uh yeah, just gettingto help coach others to help
them find themselves, help themfind their passions, um, but
then be there with them for whenthey hit their successes and
also when they're in the dumpstoo, like we have all been.
But uh yeah, man, it's beenreally, really cool, and I feel

(01:01:11):
very grateful for theopportunity.

SPEAKER_01 (01:01:14):
No, dude, that's uh inspiring, I think is the word.
Um I share the same passion andobviously in caring about the
guys that face the samestruggles that you know myself
and Sarah faced growing thisbusiness to almost a decade now.
Um yeah, being a dad by far,coolest job on the planet.

(01:01:37):
I got uh three of them now, anduh, I'm not shy about that.
But um, dude, how cool is that?
God works wonders, man.
Right right before the decisionneeds made, uh, it gets made for
you half the time.
And and but truly, man, beingthere for other guys in the

(01:01:57):
exact same spot that you wereand helping them, I believe, is
uh probably one of the mostfulfilling and rewarding things
uh that I get excited aboutmoving forward in life.
Truly.
Like I want to help them.
I want them not to make the samestupid mistakes that I did to

(01:02:19):
wind up, whether it'sfinancially, whether it was how
I was supported my team, whetherit was the equipment I bought or
how I bought the equipment orthe work I jumped into, like all
of those things.
Nobody is, you know, likeyourself willing to put yourself
out there and expose yourself atthe same time, learn as much

(01:02:41):
knowledge and gain as muchknowledge for you, your team to
get better.
Because you know what?
As long as you don't quit, youkeep on freaking getting up and
and giving her every single day,man.
That's all you can keep doing.
And um, and learn, learn, learn,dude.
Seriously.
But blue-collar performancemarketing's passion is to bring
attention to the honest workdone in blue-collar industries

(01:03:02):
through effective results-drivenmarketing tactics.
They specialize in comprehensivedigital marketing services from
paid advertising on Google andFacebook to website development
and content strategy.
I started working with Ike andthe team earlier this year, and
they've had a huge impact on ourspecific marketing campaign and
trajectory of our overallcompany.
Their expertise in digital admanagement, website development,

(01:03:25):
social media, and overallmarketing strategy has been an
absolute game changer for oursales and marketing at SciCon.
If you're looking to work with amarketing team who does what
they say, does it well, and isalways looking for ways to help
your company grow, book adiscovery call with Ike by going
to bcperformancemarketing.combackslash BCB podcast, or click

(01:03:46):
the link in the show notes slashdescription below.
Thanks, guys.
Last last little question foryou.
If you're a fan of the show, youknow where we're heading here.
But uh, what's a takeaway forthe blue-collar worker who is
just plain sick and tired ofbeing stuck in the mud?
Whether that's physical, mental,emotional, they're at that point

(01:04:12):
and uh they don't know how tojust move forward.

SPEAKER_00 (01:04:16):
Yeah, a lot of times, and I I really appreciate
this question, a lot of times wewe feel stuck, and we'll say at
work or in business, and that'susually where it stems from.
Uh, and then we try and fix theissue, which we think is work or
business.
Um, but I always like to say,you know, working on yourself
first.
Um if you work on yourself whenit comes to the your uh health,

(01:04:41):
uh physically, mentally,emotionally, uh relationally,
maybe that's with your family,with forgiveness if you're
holding on to something with uhyour spouse uh spiritually, uh
obviously like I'm a Christianand that is my number one
priority.
It is not Phaser, it's not thedirtbags, it's not our clients,

(01:05:02):
it's not anything.
And sometimes that's hard.
And so for for this question,are your priorities in order?
I would take a look at thatfirst.
And if you see that um, like forme, it's what what it should be.
It's my faith, my wife, andeverything else.

(01:05:23):
And everything else falls intothat.
And if I had kids, they would goright in that number three, and
then business.
And uh you know, I think a lotof times too, we and that
especially if people have kids,and a lot of people listening
and yourself, Sai would knowmore on this topic, but I've
gotten to talk to a lot ofwonderful people, and a lot of

(01:05:44):
times too, they what they thinkthey're doing for their kids uh
isn't translating well to theirkids.
And um, so there there is thatfine line that is hard to
discern.
Um and I'm not saying that thereis a right or wrong, it's pretty
gray of you know, because wewant to build this business so

(01:06:05):
that you can see your kids andso that you can spend time with
them.
Um but I think a lot of it comesin the small details, right?
Of gratitude, of uh getting tomaybe see your spouse or your
girlfriend or boyfriend or yourkids or anyone even on your
team, you get to see them maybein a day, and just maybe taking

(01:06:26):
an extra second to be gratefulfor that and say thank you, and
just take that extra second tostop and uh think about what uh
what I what are you gratefulfor?
And I I gotta quote my goodfriend here.
He's actually out inFayetteville right now.
Um, Reed from Forged Branding.
He uh what he's been doing isreally cool.

(01:06:46):
He's a great follow on LinkedIn.
Uh, every day now on LinkedIn,he puts five things he's
grateful for.
This could be something assimple as, hey, my truck
started, um, I have gas in thetank, had a great breakfast
today, started a good book lastnight.
Um, I have great friends aroundme.
My church is awesome.
I mean, it could be anything.

(01:07:07):
And I think the more the thesmaller you look, the more
gratitude you'll find.
Because truly, we have so much.
Uh no matter what country you'rein, but especially if you're
listening and you live in theUSA, I mean, you are
unbelievably blessed.
And so just looking at thesmall, small details of what are

(01:07:30):
you grateful for in this momentright now, making that a habit
that can help get you out of abind a lot of times.
And then, like I mentioned too,just working on yourself.
Like, how can I become a betterman or woman than I was
yesterday?
And uh, that's hard a lot oftimes.
Uh, and I guess one quick bookrecommendation, I know Miss Sam

(01:07:50):
has to get going here.
Um, The Comfort Crisis.
Uh, it talks about you know thethings we do when we just want
to be comfortable, and that'syou know, obviously not going to
the gym, that's eating whateverwe want, that's uh having a beer
at the end of work and everysingle day, and whatever it
might be.
But it's it's a really greatbook to really it's very

(01:08:11):
convicting.
Uh taking the escalator whenthere's perfectly good stairs at
the airport right next to him.
Um, it's an unbelievable read.
So if anyone's listening and youhaven't read it yet, go give
that a read.
And uh it'll be very convictingin a in a very healthy way.

SPEAKER_01 (01:08:27):
Loving my guy.
Seriously, what an absolute unitof a show this was, dude.
Like I knew I knew for I was uhI was pretty ex uh ecstatic,
dude, when you were you werefinally responding.
Took a minute, but he wastraveling the world, and we we
finally got him nailed down herefor you guys.

(01:08:47):
I truly hope you had a littlebit of an insight into um the
marketing world and very simpleuh dumbed down, if you will.
I needed it dumbed down, notcalling anybody dumb, but a very
simple, non-complex of way ofunderstanding of just get
started and get consistent,guys.
But Luke has been uh a wonderfulum follow on LinkedIn.

(01:09:13):
Where else can we find you, myguy?

SPEAKER_00 (01:09:15):
Yeah, I'm just gonna toss my cell number.
That's the easiest way to get ahold of me.
Uh just shoot me a text.
I probably won't go through on acall, but 218-234-7345.
It's my personal number.
I think that's the easiest.
Uh, and then on any social mediachannel, uh Facebook, Instagram,
or LinkedIn, you can eitherfollow uh myself, Luke

(01:09:35):
Eggebroughton, Phaser Marketing,or DerpEggs Podcast, and I
manage all three of them.
So shoot me a message.
Uh, even especially if you gotthis far in the episode, would
love to hear, like if you didlisten to the episode, um, means
a lot to me.
And of course, Cy, it means alot uh to you that people sit
here and listen through theseepisodes.

(01:09:56):
And uh yeah, any kind offeedback, uh, if you guys did
listen to it and you had it, youknow, you liked it, you didn't
like it, just let me know.
I can take it.
And uh any of those threeplatforms and any of those
accounts I manage as well.

SPEAKER_01 (01:10:10):
Yeah, Luke.
Uh we listened to the you on theon that blue collar button,
whoever that Reddit got, man, hesucks.
All right, guys.
I really appreciate it.
If you have made it to this endof the episode, uh
bluecollarbusinesspodcast.com.
Hope you're watching orlistening straight from there,

(01:10:32):
or all of your subscriptions.
You can watch on Spotify aswell, guys.
So make sure that's unlocked.
But uh, guys, till next time,y'all be safe.
If you've enjoyed this episode,be sure to give it a like, share
it with the fellas, check outour website to send us any
questions and comments aboutyour experience in the blue
collar business.
Who do you want to hear from?

(01:10:52):
Send them our way, and we'll doour best to answer any questions
you may have.
Till next time, guys.