Building a Magnetic Brand Through Smart Media Positioning

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Back to another amazing episode of

(00:03):
Laquita's Toolbox. I am your host Laquita
Mondri and I'm absolutely excited to be
with you guys today. Listen, you guys,
those of you that are new to Laquita's
toolbox, welcome, welcome, welcome. Those
of you that are returning, you know the
drill. Get something to write with and
something to write on because you do not

(00:23):
want to miss any of the tools that Mister
Mitch Carson will be sharing with us on
today. Y'all. Y'all don't wanna miss this.
So make sure if you're in a place where
you can get something to write with and
write on, make sure you're taking copious
notes. For those of you that are on the go
and listening to this on audio or either
on YouTube, if you can't write it down,

(00:46):
hit the replay. It's a podcast, y'all. It
is a podcast. And this is going to be one
of those episodes where you wanna hear it
over and over again because my man Rick,
Mitch is an absolute phenom in his space.
And all of you micro business owners and

(01:06):
small business owners creators, you want
to make sure you're paying great attention
to what he says. But before we bring Mitch
on, let me take a moment to thank our
sponsors at Covenant Press. They are a
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(01:28):
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Don't click off of those pop ups too
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(01:49):
purchase with Covenant Press. Hey Mitch,
how are you? How are you? Welcome to the
toolbox. Well, I'm glad I don't know what
wrench I'm going to use, but I'll find
one. Laquita, thank you for having me.
Awesome. Awesome. Listen, I know you have
some great tools. When, when I was trying
to figure out what to name this, my son's

(02:11):
07:07 football coach. He knows our family
pretty good and he said, you modelies
always have a tool in your toolbox. You
guys always have something. And I was
thinking to myself, you know what? That's
right. We have tools in the toolbox. But
sometimes we need to know the right tool
to use for the right job to make that job
more efficient. And I couldn't think of a

(02:33):
better analogy really to explain what you
do in your lane of creating celebrities
that are on international stages. So for
those that might not know you, please take
a moment, Mitch, and introduce to us not
only who you are, but what it is that you
do well. Name is Mitch Carson. I have a

(02:56):
deep background in media. I was on live
television pitching products on home
shopping network between 96 and 98. I have
spoken on stages in 63 countries, have
been featured on television and all the
major networks worldwide that you would
know of. Some of you not heard of if this
is limited to America, but I had my own

(03:19):
show on CNN Philippines. I've been on CNBC
Arabia. I was just recently covered on
Channel News Asia, news eight in
Singapore. And I just came back to the US.
But I have my own show that broadcasts
here called amazing authorities on NBC. It
airs on AB NBC here in Las Vegas. So it's

(03:40):
only in the Las Vegas market throughout
Nevada. And I also get clients covered on
the network television shows here in Las
Vegas, guaranteed, within two days. Up to
four networks, up to four live tv. Wow.

(04:00):
Yeah. Wow. Wow. That's what I do. Wow.
Wow, wow, wow. That is, that, that's so
amazing. Absolutely amazing. Listen, I
know you guys were probably like, Mitch,
you do a lot international. Yep. I just
got back from three week tour in Asia. In
Asia. So you, you're, you are not only

(04:23):
doing what you love to do from a us
perspective, but you're able to help your.
Not only you, but your clients get to a
true international stage to be.
Absolutely, oh. Multiple times. So we were
having some really good conversations and

(04:44):
about, you know what, the power of pr, the
power of media. Why is it so important for
people that are in that lane of coaching,
speaking authors? Why is it so important
for those individuals to have good media?
Why is that, like the lifeblood of what we

(05:05):
do? Okay, I'll use a couple metaphors.
What's your favorite car? You know, most
people are going to come up with, oh,
Mercedes or BMW, but a fancy car, a nice
semi luxurious car like that, you know,
Bentley or what have you, gets up great
dressing on the outside. Without fuel,
it's not going anywhere. No, it's not

(05:28):
going anywhere. PR publicity is the fuel
that's going to make that prized car move
forward. It's everything. Yes. If you
don't have fuel, there's no fire. Right.
There's no oxygen. It's the oxygen that is
necessary to live and breathe in business.

(05:48):
The person that has the attention. You
know, there is an old expression, Laquita,
any publicity is good publicity. Now, it
may or may not be true, we could talk
about the current political environment,
and I don't want to go down that rabbit
hole, because that can create issues. But
let's just say they're both vying for
attention right now. Good press, bad
press. It's all about spinning. But you

(06:10):
can not have a conversation today without
mentioning Kamala Harris or Donald Trump.
They're in history and the Olympics right
now. We're during the throw of December
Olympics. Yes, there now it, if we were to
not have television, it wouldn't be
covered. There wouldn't be any interest or

(06:31):
be no emotion, no fuel to their political
game. If we go back to the years of the
early presidency, Theodore Rouse Roosevelt
and all of those presidents, early on,
George Washington was on horseback, for
Christ's sake. And then. And then it
evolved that they were the back of trains
in the caboose. They were in the back of

(06:52):
the caboose talking to a crowd without a
megaphone. Yes. They're just talking there
with their long mustaches and beards,
those presidential candidates, you know,
and they're in their pocket watches,
sitting right here pontificating. And it's
a live audience of people that are
gathered around listening to them. And

(07:12):
they're in the. They're in the caboose
going train station to train station
today. It's a caboose, but it's simpler.
It's digital. You can go in and get a lot
more attention faster. Everything is
faster today. Publicity is amazing. I'll
give you an example. Personal to me right

(07:33):
after 911, and I know you come from a
military family, there was the 911 event.
I was like any other red blooded American,
upset, wanted to enroll, you know, wanted
to enlist in the Marine Corps because I
wanted to go and blah, blah, blah with
those terrorists. You could fill in the
expletives. So I'll leave them out. This

(07:54):
is a clean podcast, okay. But I had those
feelings like anybody else did. But at the
time, I was way too old. I would have too
many injuries. There's no way they would
have taken me into account. So what was
the next thing I could do to help the
American Red Cross and the victims? I
felt. I felt compelled to give to these
people that had been victimized, the

(08:15):
families of the victims and the
firefighters. Yeah, yeah. All those people
that represent us in blue in New York
during that time of which. Right. You
know, we could get emotional about. It was
just sadeena. It's a sad event. Whether
the CIA was behind it or not. That's
another discussion with the sorrow that it

(08:37):
caused. It's doesn't matter who
orchestrated the event, the result is the
same. And that was devastation to the
american citizens and to the families of
the first responders and the employees,
government contractors and all of them and
civilians who are still exposed,
experiencing loss from their lost loved

(08:59):
ones. PTSD. Yes, absolutely. That's a real
thing. So, absolutely, I thought, how am I
going to give back? Some way I can donate
money? Certainly that's possible. I could
write a check. That's what we did back in
2001. You wrote checks. There was no
zelle. So I thought, okay, I'm walking up
the stairs in my building. I own an ad

(09:21):
agency in Los Angeles. That's where I
lived most of my life. And on the bottom
floor, as I'm walking up to my office
above the main floor, which, the showroom,
everything, I noticed a toilet paper roll
with the IR's 1040 form on it. And I
thought, you know what? Osama bin Laden's
face needs to be on a. I need to place his

(09:42):
face on a toilet roll so we can wipe out
terrorism and put his face exactly where
it belongs, in my butt. So I created the
toilet paper with Osama bin Laden's face
on it. That's on 912. Yeah. The next day,
I found a printer that could print these.
So I printed I don't know how many cases,

(10:03):
thousands and thousands of cases of this.
Wow. I hired a PR agent, and then there
were many copycats that came after me. But
I was first, and I hired a PR agent for
$10,000 a month. She only took me for
three months. She was honest. She said,
this will die out after three months, if
it even lasts that long. So I started
selling these toilet paper rolls to

(10:25):
military exes around the US. Overseas,
they would stock it. I also had t shirts.
It lasted more than three months. Well,
but I'm saying it was like a sky. I mean,
a rocket ship that took off. The phones
were ringing off the hooks. I fax
broadcast. That's the technology back
then. I fax broadcasted all these military

(10:49):
PBX was an order form because I had t
shirts with Osama bin Laden being chased
by the devil with a pitchfork. I had, you
know, I sold targets with his face on it,
golf balls with his face on it, with a red
x. I did all of this with Osama. He was
the man of the hour and the villain of the
hour, and I capitalized on it. And you

(11:10):
capitalized. Well, the profits went to the
American Red Cross. That was the way I was
able to make it. And I knew enough that in
order for me to get out there, I needed to
hire a professional. So 23 years ago is
when I launched my first foray into a PR
specialist. Now, the lady was great. She,
shortly after that, retired. The woman was
already about 70. She was done, and she

(11:33):
retired. So I couldn't hire again for
other campaigns because I saw the
incredible effectiveness. Now fast forward
the result. Immediately. I got interviewed
by Fox in LA. LA came out. They came out
with a crew and filmed me at one location,
a retailer that carried the toilet paper
in my showroom. And I also was covered on

(11:54):
CNN, Reuters, television. They came out to
record me. Then I was on radio stations
all over the world, and I got, I was on a
Sydney radio station, and the reporter
asked, is youre capitalizing on the losses
of others by selling your items? This was

(12:15):
a very adversarial conversation. Yeah.
From, from one of the radio shows because
you're an american imperialist. Oh, wow.
She called me that. I mean, Australia.
Well, reporters can be nasty. We see that
all the time. It's funny that you said
that because I, I have a podcast that I've

(12:35):
done not too long ago with the Canadian.
Yeah. And he wowed me. Did he get nasty
with you, too? No, he. So his just, his
opinions were really strong. He didn't get
nasty with me. I didn't agree with him.
Okay. I was just nasty. Yes. Like, how are

(12:56):
you this invested in what's going on here?
Yeah. I mean, it's almost like the hot
button of politics when you. Who you're
voting for. And I don't want to discuss
that because I only inflame some of the
listeners and viewers. And if I mentioned
that to one person, I said, well, I'm not
voting for this person. And he went crazy.

(13:18):
I started calling me names. Started
calling me names. I mean, my gosh, if I
were younger, it could have been a fist
fight. But I just, I just said, okay,
you're right. And I walked away. Didn't
get into it. So you got to be very
careful. But this lady assaulted me
verbally from Sydney, Australia, and she
called me an imperialist. She had no idea,
though. She didn't do any due diligence to

(13:39):
research as to your proceeds were going to
these very worthwhile causes that were in
support of military families and first
responder families. Well, she jumped, and
she. That was her style, you know. You
know, there are certain journalists in our
country who love to prick at people.
That's their way of garnering attention to

(14:01):
get a reaction out of people. And
sometimes you poke the bear and the
response isn't great. You know, I go back
to Mike Tyson being interviewed by, I
don't know if it was Don Lemon or somebody
else said, mike, you know, you're a
convicted rapist. And Mike went off on
him. He said, you're a piece of, you know.
And I remember that was a classic piece of
journalism. It's like, stay. You can stay

(14:22):
in your lane. You don't need to poke the
bear who want to piss off Mike Tyson for.
I wouldn't know. I wouldn't. If I had a
bazooka in my hand. That part. Yeah. You
just leave them alone. Leave the guy
alone. Leave him alone. He did his time
whether he was guilty or not. Another
discussion, but leave the guy alone. Yeah,
leave him alone. And these journalists can

(14:43):
be difficult, but you have to know how to
handle them. And you can either engage
with them. And I remember Socrates gave a
little bit off topic, but it's a great
takeaway. Socrates had a quote, if you
argue with someone, you've acknowledged
their worth. Come on. I like that. Yeah.
And if you're not going to argue with a
five year old, there's no. Not at all.

(15:04):
They're not your equal. So if somebody
who's a numskull wants to pick a fight
with, you simply don't respond. That's the
best response. No response. Because that
is the response. Yeah. They're looking for
you to feed into that so they can go
deeper, give them no fuel. Right, right,
right. No answer. So I use that. I learned

(15:26):
a lesson from the 911 experience and what
I'm saying, the sales died off after about
six weeks. Okay. Yeah. There were no more
phone calls coming in. The PBX has stopped
reordering because the emotion, that's my
takeaway. I want to share with people. The
emotional buying is not permanent. There's

(15:49):
a difference between a trend and a fad.
This could have fallen into the category
of a quick fad. Fad. Shorter trends can be
much more extended. Right now we're in the
trend of AI. This is true. Yeah. So that
is a longer term capitalization of
piggybacking on that. It's called news

(16:10):
jacking. I jack the news. I piggybacked on
the news of 911 in order to profit, in
order to contribute. Why did I sell? Well,
I made it very clear profits went to the
victims of 911, of 911. So it made them
paying the price without question. Without

(16:32):
question. Because people want to support.
Well, they, you know, because you can buy
product a or product b, if one has, and
it's the same price, or maybe even if it's
slightly higher. And product a is
supporting the American Cancer society and
your mother just passed from breast
cancer, who are you gonna buy from? I'm

(16:53):
going to buy that times probably whatever
I can afford. Exactly. You're gonna buy
product a because it's supporting
something that's emotionally attached to
you personally. We always bring it back to
a personal level when we buy. And proper
pr can position us in a way that we become

(17:13):
the obvious choice. That's the key. It's
the obvious choice in the marketplace. If
you have enough credibility, like what
you're doing with, with your television
on, Roku and all these other things,
you've got the podcast doing all this.
You're the obvious choice for me. Why I
chose to invest in your podcast, because

(17:34):
you had it all well laid out, Laquita, and
thank you. Yeah, you did charge, but you
were very clear and specific about what
you offer, and I thought she could be a
good collaborator also. And then we've
discovered through our own discussion that
we're there and that comes through. Yeah,
your pr on the place that you posted was

(17:56):
great. You filled it out. You ticked all
the right boxes such that you got my
attention. And PR is about getting the
right attention. So, yes, with, with our,
with our, with content creators,
publisher, not, excuse me, content
creators, authors, speakers, coaches that

(18:18):
fall into that. Into that space. When you
looked at the things that I had laid out,
I've been in, I've been doing this for
quite. For a little bit. Okay. What is it
that, I guess two tips that you would give
to that community, to this community to
say, these are the things that you need to

(18:40):
lay the good groundwork, a good
foundation, so that then when they come to
you for pr work, they've got those
building blocks already there for you to
work with. Okay. Superb. Question number
one. It's about deleting. Okay? Because

(19:01):
here's what happens if I package you up. I
talked to Laquita. I'm going to use you an
example. You say, Mitch, I want to get on
tv in Las Vegas. I'm all in. I know the
value. I want to get on tv. I'm going to
look at all your social media because we
have to drive it. They asked for all those
links. Now why are they asking for all the
social media? Because before I get

(19:22):
confirmation that I can book you, after I
try to put you in a nice Tiffany box
that's all blue and white packaging,
you're you're looking the bomb. They're
going to do something that is important as
a verb today. It's called they're going to
google you. Yes. They are going to
investigate Laquita Manley in depth.

(19:43):
They're experts at journalism. Journalism.
Journalists dig. Yes. They are looking to
find reasons not to book you. That may
sound contradictory, but they've got to
find clean images because they don't want
any backlash later. Okay. Their job is to
find reasons not to book you. If you are

(20:04):
representing a christian ministry, for
example, I know that's something that's
important to you. Yes. And they go and
look on the, wouldn't be on your LinkedIn
necessarily, but let's say they go look at
your Facebook or your TikTok. If you had a
tick tock. I don't know if you do or not.
I do look. Okay. But if you are on tick
tock and Facebook, drinking alcohol,

(20:24):
drunk, slumped over, vomit is there, and
if you're tick talking, showing all your
body parts, let's say, in non respectful
ways, first of all, your husband would be
pissed off. Absolutely. Well, that would
go over well. You're, if you're not, if
you're not represented well on your
TikTok, which is public information
forever because people can screen capture

(20:46):
that. Yes. You don't have all of that.
Like I tell clients, delete all pictures
of you being drunk. Delete all pictures.
Unless you are a model and a swimsuit
model. If you're in a bikini and you're
bent over and they're taking pictures from
behind and you're bent over thinking that
that's cute and you're looking back

(21:06):
because we're seeing your butt crack.
Clean that off. Clean it off? Yeah, clean
it off because I won't represent you and
I'm not a square. I just know you have to
be a square in order to get on major
networks. Networks, yes. That's, that's
real good. Especially in this age of, I
think, misrepresentation of the word

(21:29):
authenticity, because being your authentic
self does not necessarily give to me, to
me. To me, it is not an excuse to be, I'll
use the word unseemly. Can I use that
word? Unseemly? Yeah, let's say lacking
self respect. How's that? Yes, that's real
good. That, that's real good. Because no

(21:49):
matter what my opinion is and what I'm
doing, there's, my grandmother taught me
that there's always a way to do anything.
There's a right way. And then there's
another way. Well, your grandmother's
right. She generally is. She generally is.
But, you know, one of the things I say,

(22:09):
Laquita, to people is, before you post
something, what would your grandmother.
Have said, that's real good. That is real
good? Will it. Will it pass the
grandmother test or some of the things
that I tell Yden, you know, young women,
when I'm talking with young women, is

(22:30):
especially young moms. I'm a mom, but my
children are adults. Right. Is this
something that I want that could
potentially come back and cause one of
your children to be ridiculed because of
something that you've said or done and put
out into these Internet streets that will

(22:50):
never go away? Yeah. Even my generation
there. If you had done a spread in some of
these magazines, that may or may not, or
if you were a stripper in a past life, but
today, if you are a stripper, you're.
You're doing nude modeling, or you've got
an Onlyfans. Good luck finding a

(23:11):
respectable husband. Good luck, lady. You
may be making big money. You have fancy
emblems on your nails when you get your
pedicures and manicures and facials. Yeah.
What happens when you are now 30 years
old, the clock is ticking, and you decide,
you know, I better marry up quick before
the Botox doesn't work anymore. There you

(23:34):
go. And then, you know, and the great
prospect is there that may be the guy that
you've been waiting for, the perfect man
that you could bring home to mom. Mm hmm.
And then he finds out you were on onlyfans
for two years with every Tom, Dick, Harry,
Bill, Sam, Steve. Get all the names of the
Alphabet in the. In the name game. How is

(23:57):
he going to do. How is he going to do
that? That he would have to be a type of
man that I've never experienced or the.
The gentleman that we know, my cousin, you
know, friends, family, loved ones that are
single men. That is not prospective wife

(24:17):
material. I could not agree with you more,
but we live in a time where we're told
that, oh, no, that's judgmental. I mean,
that person has a right to judge whether
or not they want to be with you based on
your past, present, and potentially future
actions. And that's what media outlets are
going to do as well, like your past,
present, and potentially future actions.

(24:39):
What I hear you saying is they're going to
look at that 100% to say no. And if they
are looking at that and they see that you
have positioned yourself on with your
digital footprint. Your digital footprint
has now positioned you to be exactly who
you say you are. So that means in the

(25:01):
future, your probability of still
remaining that person is solid. So maybe.
Let me give you a chance. Yes. Keep it
clean. I think we both agree on this. Run
it by. Whether your grandmother's alive or
not. You remember her. She baked cookies,
gave you warm milk. Run it by. Would
grandma have approved this? Would she have

(25:24):
given. Would she have given you the stink
eye and the switch? Or would she have
given you a lovely lance? Yeah. Or. Well,
you know. Yeah. Yeah. When I grew up,
there was, go, Mitchell, go get the
switch. That I grew up just like that,
Mitch. Yeah. You can't do that today.
Can't spank your children. But my
grandmother, she shook me. Oh, yeah. And

(25:45):
you're. You're getting the belt. That was.
Yeah, absolutely. So we have to make sure
that our digital footprint is clean. Yes.
What is another thing that. That we need
to make sure that we have in place? Okay.
Digital footprint. Okay. Part of that
footprint, I'll get very tactical.
LinkedIn is critical. Yes. LinkedIn is
critical. Must have an all star profile.

(26:07):
Content needs to be somewhat regular. You
don't have to post every day, but that's
where people look. They look at your
Facebook, your personal and your business
page, if you have that, and your YouTube,
if your market is. You're the gaming
people. All right? You could be on tick
tock, but keep it clean. You know, just
use good discretion. Again, bringing in

(26:30):
grandma. And I think it matters. Social
media matters today matters. How many
podcast interviews have you done to prove
your expertise? That's. Yes. How many
radio shows have you been on in order to
prove your expertise? How many online
publications have someone written about

(26:50):
you? Have you been covered on to prove
your expertise? That's real. Yes. All of
that matters. Yes. All of that matters.
You're dressing these. Is your website
clean? Does it say 2022 at the bottom, or
is it up to date with 2024? Little hinges.
Swing big doors. I like that. Little

(27:12):
hinges. Yeah, little hinges. Swing big
doors. Take care of all the little hinges.
Make sure that they are greased and ready,
they don't creak, and they're tied down
and they're screwed down really good in
the door frame because that you want that
door to swing freely without any
squeaking. And if you've got nasty, nasty

(27:34):
stuff on anything, you're going to squeak
when that door opens. Right? You want to
avoid the squeak. Okay. And listen, guys,
ladies and gentlemen, the reason for the
question is this. I've been in the
coaching space for a long time. And what I
have found is a lot of people have the

(27:56):
financial ability to hire, but they
haven't done the groundwork. And when you
haven't done the groundwork, it doesn't
matter how super, fantastic and wonderful
your coach is, you put them at a
disadvantage with being able to help you
the way that they can to their fullest
capacity because you haven't done the

(28:17):
work. Unless you've hired a person as a
coach, that's going to be your
implementation coach to help you through
each one of these processes to make sure
you build up that good foundation. 100%.
Absolutely. So either way, you have to do
the work. We cannot do it for you. You

(28:38):
have to be willing to do the work even as
a doing implementation processes. Because
I believe, Mitchell, of some of these
things that we're talking about right now,
you do assist your client with helping to
put those pieces together 100%. Like I
helped them create the one sheet that's
for podcasting or other media experience.
It's the, it's their media balance sheet,

(28:59):
the media snapshot of what they've done,
what they offer. So look at it very
quickly. It's there. It used to be a big
media kit. Today it's a snapshot of maybe
links. For them to go and dig deeper of
all your media experiences. I think
that's, that's important. This is real
good. Like, and I really love that Mitch

(29:20):
is bringing up some of these points
because recently, just in July, I had an
in person event work, a conference called
the TV Media Tour. And that was the
purpose of the tv media tour. We had
subject matter experts that were teaching
workshops and the deliverables. What the

(29:41):
attendees received was a podcast interview
on my show that streams on the Roku, Apple
and Amazon. They received a professionally
written press release. They had a micro
photo shoot to where they got five poses,
you know, a couple of different headshots.

(30:04):
And so I call it three quarter from like
the waist up. What they need for their
media kit or for their one sheet? One
sheet, yeah. Yeah. And I, through all the
relationships and partnerships I have, we
were able to have a local media outlet
there and a local radio station as well as
an Internet radio station, so that they

(30:26):
could get the radio interview, the podcast
interview, and a magazine article written
for them as what they walked away with at
the end of that two day conference, had
numerous workshops, or at least eight
workshops, four workshops a day over the
two day period. And you really spoken to
all of those deliverables that what we

(30:48):
need. We even had a publisher on hand to
talk about the importance of publishing.
Yes. And why you need to write a book. And
I know that's something that you really
hone in on the importance of having a
book. Why is that so important? Because
many people graduate from college. I have

(31:08):
an advanced degree. I have an
undergraduate degree. Okay. That's common.
I am a much smaller group. I'm in as much
smaller, more established club or
fraternity of authors and authorship. It
also shifts the mind because my biggest

(31:31):
enemy exists between my right ear and my
left ear. And I believe I deserve to make
riches because I'm a multi book published
author. Yes. And when I wrote my first
book, my income went up 16 fold because I
felt I deserved. I believed I deserved. I

(31:51):
had done more than the other MBA that I
went to school with. And, you know, we had
this. The ceiling at that point in my life
was, oh, if I make six figures, that's
good, that's good. Peanuts compared to
what I then be allowed myself to earn.
Because I was a published author and as a
book author, and I've got a copy of it

(32:12):
right here. This was a self published book
that I wrote then. I was published by John
Wiley and Sons right here, called the
silent salesman. Once I did that and
became a published author, event producers
opened their doors to me. Yes. So those
were two big hinges that I greased up and
pushed open. They opened the door tenfold.

(32:36):
I was booked solid. And then with all of
my tv experience and the fact that I've
been. I'm a published author, I have never
had to market myself as a speaker.
Laquita, you're automatically a subject
matter expert in a lot of areas. Yeah. And
I would speak at a conference. Now, I will

(32:56):
say, I am a very skilled professional
speaker. I've been at this a long time.
I've honed my craft. I've put in the
necessary work to be effective on stage,
and I teach others how to work a room, how
to sell from the stage. And as a result of
me being on these stages, event producers
are sitting in the audience, they've

(33:16):
invited me to speak on their stage. And
then it snowballed. And it's continued to
snowball. To snowball. Yeah. And now it's
a virtual. These are virtual stages in
many cases, but it opens up. As much as I
have wanted, I've been booked. Wow. I
haven't had to submit my media kit like a
lot of other people, and it's necessary
now, if I'm to be asked by Joe Blow, the.

(33:40):
The producer of XYZ event. Hey, send me
your media kit. I can send it to them, you
know, because I've checked all the boxes,
I've got all the media, I've got books.
I'm already the expert that they need in
order to market to get butts and seats.
Because to fill events, you need credible
speakers that draw people in based on

(34:01):
their individual credibility and interest
level. Yes, absolutely. So you, like, you
produced this media event. What did you
charge for that? About five grand to come
in. So, no, it was my first event. And I
must admit the idea was great. The
overwhelm was greater. We priced our top

(34:23):
pack, our, we put one package and it was
$454,500 or $4,400, $450. You are ten
times off the market there. So I did learn
that in the planning as I went. Oh, my
gosh. As I went through. Yes. So I've done
events like this all over the world, and

(34:44):
I'm saying this from experience, but
people would speak at my speak in Dubai
event, they paid $12,000 and all those
deliverables to speak on the stage, get a
recording of their speech, to get branding
photography, three, four poses. And then
the upsell was more poses to then get
interviewed on a radio show, to be
interviewed by CNBC Arabia. All of these

(35:05):
were promised deliverables. $12,000. Wow.
So I did learn that after the fact, as we
were putting it, as I was putting it
together, as the ideas were coming and
putting it together, it's like, wow, this
is amazing. But you did the first one. I
did the first one. Now with the second
one, be priced at that. Absolutely not.
No, we will not. Not now that you met

(35:27):
Mitch. I'm gonna, I'm gonna push you. No.
Yes. Absolutely no. Way too cheap. And it
was. And I did not charge the speakers.
Yes. I learned a lesson. So here's the
thing for me, and what I like to encourage
the toolbox listeners is there's no

(35:47):
failure in trying. I've tried it. I
learned it. I learned what I needed to
know. And in that if we would call them
mistakes, those were just learning
opportunities. So now I'm right. And so
now I'm already planning the second tv
media tour. I started actually planning
the second one while, like, more than

(36:11):
three quarters of the way through planning
the first one. Awesome. About halfway
through, I realized I had done this all
wrong, but I had to finish it. So about
three quarters of the way, I started
planning for tv media tour number two. And
it's definitely different than tv media
tour. It's better it's better. I love the

(36:31):
podcast idea. Obviously it feeds in your
core competency. I love the photography.
Nobody has enough. You have a, you know,
person with a mustache there and an
earring that takes the photos. You, the
local media is there, and if they speak on
the stage and you give them a recorded,
you know, from a couple. From a two camera

(36:52):
shoot. Yeah, golden. And I mean, that's
exactly what happened. From a two camera
angle. Yeah, you were just, pricing was
too cheap, but it's not. You didn't make a
mistake. You learned from it. You said,
yeah, I learned everything. I learned from
that. And now tv media tour is going to be

(37:13):
fabulous in 2025. But in the. And the
point of me doing tv media tour is with
building the podcast and growing the
podcast and building and growing my new
network purpose place network. Where we're
bringing on other tv show host is this.
These are the deliverables that I know

(37:34):
that they need in order to be successful
at what they're doing. Because at the end
of the day, everybody wants to monetize,
as you should. But if we have not laid the
groundwork in doing these things to get
the media to get your one sheet done or
the media kit, you know, whichever one you
want to call it, then how can we monetize?

(37:58):
Because if I haven't done those things
that mean I'm not visible, I have no brand
recognition other than those who I really
know, who really know me and really trust.
But those are not your ideal clients. Your
ideal clients are probably going to come
not in your immediate circle, and that's
where your monetization is going to start.

(38:19):
And so we have to position ourselves for
that. And so that's where that idea came
from. I wanted to be able to show my
followers, as well as those that are
partnering with the network. This is what
we need from you guys. This is why we need
it. And to be able to have you here today
as a professional in this space is

(38:40):
phenomenal because I think we undervalue
it because we hear it so much. There's a
lot of white noise in social media about
all of these things, but the necessity of
it, I think people truly underestimated
the power of having these things done to
get in media, because we'll get, like you

(39:03):
noticed, my platform was a pay to play.
You understand this, the potential and
then value of it. So you did it
immediately, right? And so let's speak to
that, if you will, for a moment, because
you're getting people booked on these
stages and platforms, but how often do
they have to pay, whether it's paying the

(39:23):
platform directly or even paying the money
to get there? Well, they. But I. Here's
the challenge. As an event producer, I'm
not putting you on my stage unless you're
packaged correctly, because the hardest
job for any event producer is putting
butts and seats. That's expensive. That's
expensive. It's very expensive. And you
have to justify you first. You got to

(39:45):
bring people in. So let's say it costs
$400 if you run a ads on Facebook, $400 to
get a customer. So they're sitting in your
platform and they've, they've spent a come
to your event, you're 300. Negative 300 in
the hole right away. Customer. Yeah.
Without. And of course, the venue cost.
And if you're including any food. So let's

(40:06):
just say you're out $400. Mm hmm. For that
person to be sitting in your seat, taking
your goodie bag and taking your water and
sitting there, you now have an uphill
battle. Yes. You've got to sell them to
recover that 400. And optimally, you've
got to shoot for more than that so you can
make money. You're not in this for

(40:27):
charity. No. So sponsors come in as part
of the offset. When I've run events, you
got to have somebody and you got to give
the sponsor stage time, and they're
selling against you. So that's a model of.
Okay, they might be taking cash out of the
potential money that you're going to whack
their card for. Right. They might have a
$10,000 limit. And if the sponsor comes in

(40:49):
and their product or service competes with
you, you got to be careful of that. If
they're selling a $3,000 product, that
means the gap is only 7000 for you to sell
a high end product. If they're even
willing to give you that seven grand, some
people are going to say yes, some will say
no. You got to look at all those, those
elements. I mean, I I've been involved in,

(41:12):
in these events where I've certainly
offset the costs by gate charges and
bringing in sponsors. Bring photographer
that is there. They've got to come for
free. Yep. And they'll do the first three.
It's their job to upsell. And maybe you do
a rev split on the upsell. Yeah. You see,

(41:35):
that's how you help offset some of your
costs of putting butts in seats. And the
same with the radio show. You know, maybe
they'll get some advertisers. I mean,
there are ways of doing this. It's not
you. They're not privileged to come. Their
privilege is working with you with the hat
around. You know, you're not paying for a
photographer. You're giving them a

(41:56):
platform to sell services. They are not a
cost. They are not a cost. They're
investing. You're giving them a platform.
I mean, I know I negotiated, for example.
I made a big mistake. I had a partner in
my speaking Dubai event, and I ran seven
of those in Dubai. My partner agreed
without my approval because he, you know,

(42:18):
we didn't get involved in all that. I
thought he was a good businessman, but he
was crazy. He brought a videographer that
would create sizzle reels for people after
they spoke at my event for $3,000. It was
an upsell. Oh. He didn't negotiate for us
to get any part of that. Oh, wow. So he
got to scrape. He came over on his own
nickel. He got to scrape our clients for

(42:39):
three grand, and we got no money out of
that. Something's wrong with that picture.
Wow. Yes. Yes. Something's very wrong. And
he did that. And, I mean, that was a real
point of contention, because I had 38
people, everybody opted 38 times. $3,000.
That's a big number, and I didn't get a
penny of that. That's. Sorry, buster.

(43:00):
Yeah. Yes, yes. Sorry. You know, and, you
know, he's. He's. He really took advantage
of the situation. He should have charged
him. Yes, he should. You know, these are
sponsors to. But he didn't. My former
partner didn't see it that way. Now, the
clients got quality reels. I will say that

(43:21):
they were satisfied. He was a great
product. But there was no money for me, no
money for us. And we assembled all these
people, prime people, and they all came
through my contacts. And these are. And
there's a cost. There's a value in getting
customers. Right. You know, so it really

(43:42):
you. So you're probably. Did you draw from
all the people that were on your Laquita's
toolbox show? Yep. I drew from. I drew
from my LinkedIn followers, my podcast for
Laquita schoolbox followers, and from
ministry, to be fair, and from ministry,
because a lot of small, smaller

(44:06):
ministries, they need an easy gateway into
digital media in order to. Not just to
help to build their brand, like a lot of
ministries. That terminology scares them.
But a ministry is a business in order. And
the quite honest truth of it is the lie

(44:27):
that has been perpetrated, that. I have no
idea where it came from, that churches
steal from people, bad people steal from
people. Let's get that clear. Bad people
steal from people. But the vast majority
of people who are in ministry is not in it
for the money because it's not there.
People don't tithe. People don't give in
an average ministry, no matter the size,

(44:52):
5% or less, actually give tithe an
offering on a very regular basis. Oh, I
didn't know that. Okay. I saw Joel Osteen
in Houston. I wanted to see him because
he's got an $80 million ministry. Mm hmm.
I saw his merchandising operation was a
6000 square foot church. Oh my gosh.
That's the money. Oh my gosh. I was

(45:14):
smelling money. It went in my nose. It was
so stuck. And he is a master marketer.
Yes. Whether you like his message or not,
he is. Oh, he's a master. Or the people
that, I mean, he's the puppet. Yeah. His
staff that he's got, they are masterful.
Yes, master. You can have an argument

(45:36):
until the end of time on the validity of
giving a tithe. You can have an argument
until the end of time on the validity of
people giving in an offering. If they
don't want to do it, they're not going to
do it. No, I don't we, I don't even bother
battling scriptures with people about
that. If you don't want to do it, just
don't do it. But here's the thing. You

(45:59):
don't walk into any church and you go in
there and it's cold. If it's wintertime,
people come in the door and they expect
the heat to work in the winter. They come
in the door and they expect the AC to work
in the summer. And they want all of these
events for their children. You want events
for the singles, you want events for the

(46:21):
married people like as well as they
should. Church is supposed to be a
community builder, a people builder,
healer. But if we don't give, where is
that money coming from? I won't give you a
tithe or an offering, but if I like your
message, I'll buy your book, I will buy
your series wherever that series is, or
workshop or whatever workshop or what have

(46:42):
you like, I'll do that. But I'm not giving
you a top because I'm not paying for the
pastor's car. When actuality, a lot of
pastors have two or three jobs because
they have to pay the bills of the church.
So a lot of smaller ministries getting
into the digital space so that their
viewership impressions can increase. So

(47:02):
that if the pastors of these ministries do
have events that they're putting on and
they're ticketed events. You'll have
people that come, whether they're members
or not. If the pastor is, in your case,
have written books, right? If they've
written books, then we can sell the books.
You know those things. But if people only

(47:22):
in your local community know that you
existed or you're just streaming it to
Facebook or to YouTube, but you don't
understand how to make that, how that SEO
works to get a wider viewership, then it's
harder. And that's where we partner with
them to get these assets done and to get
them on a bigger stage, because you may

(47:44):
not be able to pay for to be on tvN or the
word network, but maybe your budget will
fit being on, on my network or other
networks like mine, where you're still on
TV, you're still on these stages, and
those opportunities open up even more.

(48:04):
Absolutely. Yeah. So this is, the media
space is for everybody. And I love that
you can guarantee that tv within Vegas
because they're radio. Show and
international syndicated radio show also

(48:26):
that is here. And national newspapers.
That's a big thing. Yeah, that, that is a
big thing. And what, and then I know that
you're teaching your clients, okay, now
that, you know, you're doing these things,
now, what do I need to do with them? Now
that I have these collaterals, I have the
article in the newspaper. I have the

(48:46):
interviews. I, you know, I've been on the
shows. Now, how do I make that work for
me? Well, let's just say you're a local
dentist, Laquita. Okay. There's a story.
They went to the same dental school you're
in. What city? In Texas? Killing. Okay, I
don't know where that is exactly. All
right, let's say Texas, about 45 minutes

(49:08):
from Austin. Okay, so they go to the same
dental school in Austin. You have Bob and
Bill. Bob and Bill are best friends. They
live next door to each other. Bob,
however, has got a keen eye for marketing.
Bob writes for the local newspaper in the
Austin market. He is also a guest when any

(49:31):
time the health month comes up on the
editorial calendar, he's brought in with
Bob the chiropractor who talks about
spines. Bob the dentist talks about health
oral care. And Bill is sitting at home
watching Netflix and eating bon bons. Who
do you think charges more money for drill

(49:52):
and fill dentistry, Bob or Bill? Bob does.
Why? He's put in the extra effort. He's
got a nicer car than bill. They're still
best friends on the weekends and they golf
together. Bob is the one that gets the red
carpet treatment at the country club
because he's the one that's on tv. He's

(50:13):
the one that's been on the radio. He's the
one that writes for the local newspaper.
And Maybelle, who's there is the wife of,
you know, of Humphrey. Humphrey says, bob,
I read your article in the newspaper and
Bill gets no attention. Bob, I'll be in to
get my teeth cleaned and get my wisdom

(50:33):
teeth pulled for my grandson next week.
Yeah. And they don't care about the price
because their Bob is in the newspaper.
They're not going to haggle over the cost
of an extraction. It's Bob. He's a
celebrity dentist. Bob is my friend. He's

(50:54):
rights for the newspaper. I get to read
about Bob. They get to brag about Bob, and
they make more money. Oh, and Bob's
written a book. Bob's been on Laquita's tv
show. Bob is all over the nation. He's a
local expert, but he has been on Mitch's

(51:15):
tv show. Oh, my God, Bill, what happened?
I guess I missed out. I got to work to 65.
Bob retired at 50. I wonder what happened.
One embraced media, one did nothing. Both
equally talented, went to the same school,
best friends to this day. But Bob couldn't

(51:36):
open up and invest because media is an
investment, not a cost. It's an
investment. An investment in yourself and
in the future of your business. Why do we
go to college? It's an investment for our
future. Yes. It trains us to think and
good social, but the original intent is
it's an investment in your future. You can

(51:58):
take a job as a plumber today, make good
money, an hourly basis, probably make more
money than the fresh college graduate. But
the first college graduate will make more
money in ten years then Steve the plumber.
It does because he invested early on and
it's paying off longer term. A plumber has

(52:20):
a ceiling in terms of what he can charge
per hour. Mm hmm. And whereas, and that's,
that's great. It's good living. I'm not
knocking plumbers, but it's, is it the
easy way or do you invest now and then you
profit later? Yeah, either or so. If you
have the, as the plumber, if you're. I see

(52:40):
it like the two scenarios. Am I the
plumber that wants to be the plumber, or
am I the plumber that's going to start a
franchise like Bing that still requires a
totally different level of thinking? Yes.
I'm the plumber that want. I love what I
do, and I'm going to build a team, and
we're going to have a franchise. And I see

(53:01):
my plumbing business in three states in
ten years. Like, yes, that's. That's the
difference. And you've also got to be
packaged up because you have. You have.
Paul the plumber and all of his plumbers
that work for him don't show their butt
cracks when they're hanging underneath the
sink. Okay. They pulled their pants up,
and they tied it off with the belt. And

(53:21):
they smell good. They don't come in
stinking. They don't smell like they're in
uniform because they're in uniform. A
clean uniform. Yes. They're in logo
because he's. He's seen the necessity of
packaging himself well, packaging his
business well. Just like the dentist.

(53:41):
Exactly. I. We have to put that. That
investment in in order to get the results
that we want. All this. Listen, I know I
have gone over my time with you, and I do
apologize sometimes. Oh, no problem. We
was good. We had a good time. We had a
good conversation. I would love to have
you back again on my live stream so that
we can have this conversation and get some

(54:04):
feedback from the audience. Okay. On, you
know, just what they're thinking. Get some
questions going and all these. All these
great things, because pr and making the
appearances is absolutely vital to the
small business owner. And I love the fact
that you use the dentist as an example,
because sometimes I found, even when I was

(54:25):
doing the tv media tour, a lot of people
who just happened by in the event center
would say, oh, I heard about this, but I'm
not a podcaster. I, you know, I have a
cleaning business. Well, you need to be
here. You know, I have this business. No,
you need to be here because it's

(54:45):
positioning. Have you positioned yourself
and your business in such a way that
clients come to you instead of you having
to always go out and get the clients? And
that's really, like, my biggest takeaway
from our conversation today. It's
positioning, 100%. Your investment into,

(55:05):
um. You getting the right positioning?
Yeah, it's an investment today. It's an
investment today. Will it roi? Yes, it
will. Not immediately, necessarily.
Sometimes, yes, but it's a process, and
you've got to pay your dues. You got to go
to college in order to get into the MBA.

(55:26):
In most cases, unless you're a unique
person like LeBron James or Kobe Bryant,
they jumped the ship. Michael Jordan went
to college. Most go that route. You gotta
invest. You gotta invest. I will even say
this, Mitch, with the work that you're
doing, I would say for someone, even what

(55:46):
I tell people when we're on our client
discovery calls for the podcast. Well, how
do you define Roi? If we only define ROi
in dollars and cents, then, as my husband
said, scared money doesn't make money. But
if I have different definitions of ROI. If

(56:07):
before, nobody in Vegas knew who I was,
but now they do because I've been on the
show in Vegas before, no one knew who I
was. Within the markets where your radio
shows reach, then my immediate ROI was. I
became visible to another audience

(56:28):
immediately. Immediately, immediately. My
second ROI on that is, Mitch is now going
to teach me how to use those appearances
in those markets and bring it into the
market where I am so that I look
wonderful, that I got to go to Vegas and
do an interview. You guys don't even
appreciate who I am. But I went to Vegas.

(56:49):
They wanted me, like, you know, like, how
we position it. Well, exactly. And, you
know, there. I spoke to somebody recently
who guested on the podcast of
entrepreneurs on Fire, John Lee Dumas.
He's apparently very big in the space.
He's got I don't know how many millions of
downloads. I mean, he's one of the bigger
ones. You have to pay $3,500 to be on his

(57:09):
show. To be on his show. To be on a show.
Now it's bragging rights. Yes. And the
first metric was there's a new author
wanted to talk about his book. He sold six
books after doing the interview. Now, that
might. I don't know what the average is,
how many you sell with the podcast guest,
you know, experience or show, maybe, but

(57:31):
they're new people, and you don't know how
many books will be sold later when people
watch it later, that's an asset that
exists forever. It's evergreen. Yeah. And
yeah, because only six books at $20, $120
return on a $3,500 investment. But he was
on John Lee Dumas's, and that might enable

(57:53):
him to get on more big stages and all
this. And you said it very well. Is the
RoI immediate money, or is it also self
esteem? That part, that confidence
builder? It's on. On John Lee Dumont, his
podcast entrepreneur on fire. Do you know
how many times I would repurpose that? Oh,

(58:14):
yes. Got it. You get the game. You know,
Laquita. It's all in the back end. Yes.
It's all in the back end. Absolutely.
After the fact. Mm hmm. It's what you do
after the fact. How do you leverage that?
It's the l word. It's leverage. Leverage.
It's the l word. Love. Leverage. It's the

(58:34):
l. It's love. Leverage. Leverage. Love.
They work in tandem. The. That's what.
Yeah, so I. It's. Yeah, I mean, you get
it. Some people will just come get their
tv coverage and go home and go back to
Netflix and scrawl up into a ball. I did
it. It was great. I had the feeling. Where

(58:55):
are the customers? Where the. Buddy, you.
I gave you the winning hand. You've got to
walk to the cashier, take your chips and
cash them in. Right? You've got the chips
in your hand. That's all the media
coverage. You went through Laquita's
program, you went through Mitch's program.
You've got the chips, you've got to walk

(59:16):
it over to the cage and get the cash. Yes.
And what does that entail? Syndication of
content. Repurposing content. Yes. Using
it to then vie for speaking gigs, to open
doors for you where they'll pay you well.
But we're not going to do it for you. I've
shown you how to fish. Go fish, buster.

(59:37):
Yes. Go fish. Absolutely. I could not. I
could not have said that better. We
brought you. I'm not feeding you. I'm not
making your jaws move for you. Yeah.
Giving you the fishing pole. I've given
you the tutorials. I've shown you how to
pick it out of the pond. Now you got to

(59:58):
throw it in a second time. That part. That
part that. That's the key. Bingo. We still
have to take ownership of doing the work.
Yeah. Now there's done with you. There's
some people that need more support. That's
why you have coaching. Yes. And we need to
be paid for that because it's our time and

(01:00:19):
we deserve compensation. The results
improve and increase when you have
coaching, that's done with you. And then,
of course, there are some people that
require done for you. That's premium.
Premium pricing. Yes, it is. Okay. You
want me to call your guests and try to
provide a show for you and do everything,
fill an event for you? Pay me, pay me, pay

(01:00:47):
me. It is big bucks. Yes, yes, it is. But
some people want that. They're lazy. They
do. I don't care about how to fish. I want
the food put in my mouth, and you got to
move my jaws for me and shove it down my
esophagus. Okay. And then, you know, I

(01:01:08):
want you to poop for me. To everything. I
just don't want to move. I don't want
people. Yeah, they are. There are. But I
would prefer to teach them how to fish and
support them. Let's do this. This is how
you reel it in. Slowly dip it down slowly
a little more, little by little, and then
you'll have a flood of fish. That part,
that part. And you will not be hungry. No.

(01:01:30):
Because you won't have to depend on anyone
else. After I've learned that skill set
and mastered that skill set, I can move
forward. Exactly. Absolutely. Wow. Wow.
Mitch, this has been amazing, but I can't
wait for you to come back and do a live
with us because this has just been good
synergy in this conversation and the

(01:01:52):
analogies and the information, the wisdom
that you've shared has been phenomenal.
And I definitely look forward to us not
only just, you know, having another
podcast interview, but I look forward to
us being doing more collaborative work in
the future. Yes. Yes. You have truly
blessed I, the Laquita toolbox audience
today. And. But before we go ahead and

(01:02:14):
wrap this up and bring this podcast to a
close, I have failed to ask you, how can
people get in touch with you, and what
events do you have coming up next that the
Laquitus toolbox audience can tap into?
Okay. Get interviewed, guaranteed.com
forward slash meet with Mitch is my

(01:02:35):
giveaway for your people if they desire to
get on network television in Las Vegas. If
you're serious about it, let's have a
chat. I do not charge for this call. It's
not a consult per se about your business.
It's a consult about your media. What can
you do next? If you qualify to get into

(01:02:57):
television here, I will let you know. And
if you have a uniqueness, how do we do
this? That's my gift. I'm sure it'll be in
the show notes. Get interviewed,
guaranteed.com forward slash meet with
Mitch. That's where they get in touch with
me. It's it for if you're serious. If you.
Just because I'm handsome and you want to
ask me out for a date. If you're in Las

(01:03:18):
Vegas, we can do that, but it's not, hey,
I'm 63, you know, I'm past being accused
of being handsome. Unless you've got poor
eyesight. We can go back in time. Okay.
But to talk about your media interviews.
Thank you for laughing. Oh, that's
hurtful, I guess, to some degree, because.

(01:03:45):
Oh, my goodness. Listen, y'all get with
Mitch. Oh, thank you. All right, the
dating thing. All right, 16th. Get with
Mitchell. Sorry to make you laugh. Oh,
this is good. Okay. So your contact

(01:04:08):
information definitely will be in the show
notes. And so, guys, check the show notes.
Make sure that you are getting this
podcast out to as many people as possible.
Hit those like share and subscribe
buttons, not only so you can receive the
latest episodes of Laquita's toolbox as
they come out, but I shared this episode.

(01:04:30):
Yeah, we went way over. But I think it was
good. It was fun. We just flowed. Didn't
we float? We flowed. Listen, guys, until
next time, I am your host, Laquita Manley.
You guys be great and enjoy the rest of

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