Rogue Creators

Welcome to another episode of Rogue Creators!  This week, we have a big announcement!  We will be taking a break for Q4 as we transition to a new and improved format.  In January 2022, we'll be back and better than ever.  We look forward to talking with creators that have paved their own paths as photographers, videographers, designers, and more!  We'll be diving into their content together to break down the stories and processes behind their creative work.  We are so stoked to start this new series, and we want to know who you think we should invite to join the show!  If you're a Rogue Creator, reach out on any of our social media platforms so we can hear YOUR story!  See you all in January!

Are you looking to grow your podcast’s listener base?  Check out this episode of Rogue Creators!  Caleb Talley and Jeff Amerine joined Bryan and Loren to celebrate reaching 100,000 downloads on the Startup Junkies Podcast.  Caleb and Jeff co-host the show each week and talk with founders about the stories behind the businesses we love.  On this episode, they chat with Bryan and Loren about creating the Startup Junkies Podcast, preparing for interviews, maintaining relationships with guests, and much more! 

Shownotes

(2:11) What are you obsessed with?

(8:07) The Creating Startup Junkies Book

(9:31) The Inception of Startup Junkie

(13:26) The Startup Junkies Podcast Origin Story

(20:30) Tips for Growing Your Podcast

(24:28) Using Your Podcast to Build Relationships and Make Connections

(30:23) 1 Million Cups

(34:51) What’s Next for Startup Junkie?

(40:24) Wrap Up

(42:00) Rapid Fire

Links

Bryan Fittin

Loren Lewis

Caleb Talley

Jeff Amerine

Startup Junkies Podcast 

The Grand Biocentric Design

The Place We Find Ourselves Podcast

Creating Startup Junkies   

Quotes

“One thing led to another because there was a need in the market for the mentoring, counseling, training, the kind of start up support stuff that we do.  And now, we probably touch 1,200 entrepreneurs a year through one-on-one counseling.  And in normal times we put on 250 events, and all that stuff, thanks to the hard work of Caleb and the whole crew, is now virtual.”  (10:46) 

“We decided, let’s give the Zoom platform a shot, as far as recording the podcast.  I think that really opened it up for us where we weren’t just having local entrepreneur guests on.  It gave us an opportunity to expand out and invite people that we otherwise would not have been able to invite on.”  (16:26)

“You can be more conversational if you get a sense for the types of things that people are going to want to hear about.  How’d you get started?  How did you raise money?  How do you deal with building the team?  What kind of challenges do you face?  That sort of stuff.” (24:53)

“[Matthew has] kind of streamlined the process for bringing [guests] on and getting them scheduled.  Part of that is getting some seeds of fun facts.  He’s got a questionnaire of some things to kind of pull from them that we can throw out during the podcast.”  (25:32)

Summary
In this episode of Rogue Creators, Bryan Fittin and Loren Lewis talk with Josh Fedie, the Founder and CEO of SalesReach.  Josh is a huge advocate for integrating video into your sales strategy, and SalesReach helps you accomplish that with ease.  Bryan, Loren, and Josh talk about jumping in front of the camera, providing value for your prospective customers, and why keeping it short is best.  You don’t want to miss out on this value-packed episode!

Shownotes

(2:31) What are you obsessed with?

(7:21) Introducing Josh Fedie and SalesReach

(14:43) How does video close sales?

(21:48) Content creation generating leads

(29:30) Advice for integrating video

(36:20) What’s next for SalesReach?

(43:31) Wrap up

(45:41) Rapid Fire

Links

Bryan Fittin

Loren Lewis

Josh Fedie

SalesReach  

Quotes

“If you don’t feel comfortable making videos, I promise you, if you just start, you’re going to find that it’s a lot easier than you ever though it was going to be.” (16:15)

“The more deliberate you can be about explaining, here’s what I need you to do next, and here’s how easy I’ve made it to do that next thing – That’s where you’re going to really start winning and getting the responses you want.” (18:23)

“Once these other customer-facing teams are engaging with these prospects and customers, they need more help to keep bringing more value throughout.” (23:52)

“There’s so many ways to do this stuff more effectively.  It’s not the tool, it’s you.  You just have to be willing to be more creative in your process – and lucky for most sales professionals and other people in a customer-facing role, being creative is something that a lot of highly successful people in that space are actually good at.”  (35:28)

“I think the second we start really, truly thinking about what experience am I creating around this sale for my buyer – if we really think about that, that’s when we start really, truly refining our process and getting out of the things that we did 12 months ago that were successful but aren’t anymore.”  (35:54)

Summary

This Rogue Creators episode was stoked to have on a special guest from Harvest Group! Bryan and Loren were joined in the studio by Ella Jane Dantzler, their Senior Marketing Manager. Harvest Group is a full-service retail growth agency serving Walmart, Kroger, and now Target. By word of mouth and social platforms, we have been able to see firsthand how the healthy company culture is pushing Harvest Group to new heights. You will want o to hear how people like Ella Jane are creating a company all of us would want to work at or with!  Check it out!

Shownotes

[0:48] Introducing Ella Jane Dantzlerand Harvest Group

[1:32] What are you obsessed with?

[5:10] Harvest Group… Everyone wants to work there!

[6:27] From NYC To Senior Marketing Manager

[10:08] Awards and Recognition with Harvest Group

[10:42] Culture at the heart of Harvest Group

[13:00] Authenticity on social media

[17:40] Creativity withing rebranding

[21:25] Imposter Syndrome

[25:03] What’s next for Harvest Group?

[30:14] Wrap Up

[31:28] Rapid Fire 

Links

Bryan Fittin

Loren Lewis

Ella Jane Dantzler

Harvest Group

Quotes

“I think we could all kind of look back and say, ‘thank you’ to our first boss who hired us. Like, why did he hire me? I no clue.”

 (7:05) - Ella Jane Dantzler

“I think harvest and the founders really were intentional about the values that they chose and carrying those forward. And 15 years later, we're still talking about those same values.

(11:29) - Ella Jane Dantzler

“Our clients often comment on our culture and how you want to work with somebody who you like.” 

(12:09) - Ella Jane Dantzler

“[On documenting, not creating,] And I think that you've done that through a lot... rather than like, Hey, we need to make a social media post. What can we do? And what can we come up with? It's like, I'm just going to document what we're doing and we're just already doing it.”

(12:35) - Bryan Fittin

Culture Creation as Content

This Rogue Creators episode featured Ella Jane Dantzler, Senior Marketing Manager of Harvest Group. Bryan and Loren were stoked to have her hang out and discuss how creating a stellar company culture is synonymous with creating good marketing! 

Harvest Group is a full-service retail growth agency serving Walmart, Kroger, and now Target. Harvest Group's track record consists of Entrepreneur Magazine's 2018 Top Company Cultures, Forbes 2019 Small Giants, and Inc.'s Best Workplaces of 2020. Ella Jane has four-plus years of experience in marketing and content management, specifically in the shopper marketing and social media industry. She has experience ranging from social media, public speaking, and editing, companies such as Collective Bias, Stone Mill Bread Company and now Harvest Group.

By word of mouth and social platforms, we have been able to see firsthand how the healthy company culture is pushing Harvest Group to new heights. You will want o to hear how people like Ella Jane are creating a company all of us would want to work at or with! From culture-building to leaving space for creative side projects, we hash it all out on this episode. 

Authenticity on Social Media 

Harvest Group has taken considerable measures to use social media authentically. We are not all hoodwinked into dismissing the amount of curating and crafting that goes on for a typical companies post. Harvest Group wanted to create a culture that could be documented at any time and continue to push forward its values as a healthy, thriving, and fun company. 

With that being said, there still needs to be a strategy; you cannot just throw things out there. Where is the line of between high quality and accuracy without being posed? 

A key ingredient for Ella Jane is to ask herself if the post would be adding value. Would it add value to the team, to the client, to the person scrolling?

"if I'm scrolling through LinkedIn, Actually learning something, or if I'm not learning something applicable about my business, I'm learning something about harvest group."

(13:46) - Ella Jane Dantzler

Although Ella Jane's background was in curated photography flooded feeds, she is helping shape Harvest Group as using the platform to tell who their people are. In some ways, it is a more journalistic approach. Then by telling the story of people's heart for their clients and positions, it can give actual value rather than being a feedback loop of self-promotion. 

​​" Social media presence gives you a chance to kind of get to know who they are and their personality a little bit more than those other venues."

(14:55) - Ella Jane Dantzler

Bringing Creativity into B2B

Over the past year, we noticed a change in Harvest Group branding and learned Ella Jane got to head up that mission! Bringing thier own creative flare, she was able to take charge in starting up a noticeable change in the content designs for social. Little did we know, she was pregnant at the time, and during the final days of deciding on the logo concept, she ended up having her son. 

"And he [her boss] was like, 'Is it gonna stress you out or make you feel really glad to see like these final concepts that came through?' I'm like, 'Yes, please! Oh my gosh, it would make me feel so happy!"

(20:43) - Ella Jane Dantzler

Imposter Syndrome Along the Way

"I think we could all kind of look back and say, 'thank you' to our first boss who hired us. Like, why did he hire me? I no clue."

 (7:05) - Ella Jane Dantzler

Ella Jane and many of us have similar stories of stumbling into the careers we have now. With her first experience to today, she was able to walk us through what her interaction with the dreaded imposter syndrome has looked like. 

Working with employers and colleagues who believed in her and her abilities made all the difference. Instilling confidence to take risks and own mistakes became a culture she wanted to multiply out.

"Having the learner mentality and having the vulnerability to, you know, both acting confidence, but also ask questions… but you can't just sit back and be like, let's just wait for it to sink in, but [you have to be] going after it and then giving yourself the grace to really learn before you act."

(22:43) - Ella Jane Dantzler

Ella Jane, A Rogue Creator

Initially, we were stoked to speak to Ella Jane on how she is considered a Rogue Creator when it comes to company culture, and then we found out she is a Rogue Creator on a whole different level as well! Ella Jane calls them doodles, but we have loved her art account on Instagram. Go check it out for some drawings, cards, jokes, and paintings under the handle of Ella Jane Illustrations.

Next For Harvest Group

As Harvest Group continues its endeavors to add value, you will be seeing more content like guides, perspectives on retail news and spotlights on the employees and clients that are the foundation of the company. Keep an eye out for Harvest Group and Ella Jane Dantzler; we are excited about what they both will be up to next!

www.RogueCreators.club

Shownotes

[1:26] What are you obsessed with?

[4:20] Riverside

[7:12] SalesReach

[9:36] Transistor

[12:38]  Sendible

[16:14] Descript

[18:21] Grammarly

[20:39] Rapid Fire 

Links

Bryan Fittin

Loren Lewis

Rogue Creators Episode 107: Ditch Zoom. Try Riverside or Zencastr

Rogue Creators Episode 107: Mastering the Art of Sales Through Video with Josh Fedie  

Riverside

SalesReach 

Transistor

Sendible   

Descript

Grammarly  

Quotes

“Riverside is a fantastic software that has really done a lot of things.  You can record 4k video. You can actually get separate audio and video tracks so your guests, so no matter what, even if the internet completely went down, it is still recording on the back end of you and your guests, so you’ll always have the interview.”  (5:02)

“One of the best features [in SalesReach] is that you can record your video, but it basically saves a GIF of the video that you can use in the email, so they can actually see it’s a personalized video for them.” (8:23)

“[With Transistor], you can see the most popular episodes and 30 and 90-day download numbers, and those can be really helpful to understanding your audience and what they’re actually listening to.” (11:30)

“What Sendible does that I absolutely love is that I can load a piece of content into the platform and be able to edit based on the platform while staying in the same post.” (13:35)

“What’s really helpful about Descript is the instant transcript that we get.  It identifies speakers and provides timestamps for us really fast.  For our writers, this has been so helpful to be able to quickly locate information, grab quotes, grab timestamps, and just understand the full body of a podcast.” (16:57)

Shownotes

[1:47] What are you obsessed with this week?

[6:46] Using Powerpoint for design

[12:25] Advice for people trying to do their own graphic design work

[16:06] The power of fonts

[21:16] Using tools like PowerPoint while staying modern

[27:04] Nichole shares tips for business owners who are creating content

[30:56] Wrap Up

[33:15] Rapid Fire

Links

Bryan Fittin

Loren Lewis

Nichole Hamilton

Chiaroscuro Horror

Disney Native Podcast

Quotes

“You can do more complicated fonts, but if you’re going to do that, you really need to do it sparingly, and your core fonts need to be very simple.” (19:43)

“That’s the case for keeping all design simple, is that it will stand the test of time much better.  If you are going to throw trendy elements into your design, into your branding, make it something that can easily change.  Like don’t make your logo super trendy and then have to change your logo. You know, maybe you throw in some trendy elements that can be refreshed in a couple of years.” (20:31)

“The whole point of a presentation is communication.  It’s not to be fancy.  It’s not to wow people with your artistic skills... If you don’t communicate the message, it doesn’t matter how pretty it is, you have not accomplished your goal.” (22:02)

Shownotes

[1:26] What are you obsessed with?

[5:44] Make postable content

[7:28] Make your podcast stand out

[9:43] Room to experiment 

[12:26] Expand your reach

[15:09] Creating a brand

[18:59] Rapid Fire

Links

Bryan Fittin

Loren Lewis

Val :’(

Forgotten City    

Quotes

“If you have a video podcast, it obviously gives you way more opportunity to chop that up, make audiograms, make video clips, and do carousels and stories.”  [6:49]

“There’s a lot of things that you can do with [vido podcasting] to make it interesting and to drive traffic back to your website, your blog, the audio version of your podcast,  whatever you want.  You just have a lot more room to experiment and try different things to see what actually connects with your audience.” [11:45]

“We have all different kinds of learning styles and ways people like to do that.  The more options you provide, the larger your audience [can be], and it’s not just saying that only people who are auditory learners can listen to my podcast.” [12:57]

“When you’re able to have a visual element, you can kind of see more of the brand and you can feel more of it.  For instance, it can be the way that you dress, the studio setup, you can see our slides, you can see our colors.  There’s so many more elements that you can engage with.” [15:18]

Shownotes

(1:32) What are you obsessed with?

(6:06) You Need More than “Creatives” on a Creative Team

(11:17) Discipline & Creativity

(14:21) Become the Healthiest Creative You Know

Rapid Fire 

Links

Bryan Fittin

Loren Lewis

Herding Tigers: Be the Leader That Creative People Need  

Quotes

“As [a creative], you can kind of get in that mindset of feeling very alone, and so having somebody that can help guide you and direct you and your creative process is just a really good thought.” (6:55)

“If nothing’s written down, if nothing’s executed, that time was really wasted.  It’s just putting those ideas out into the air, and then they drop, and then nothing happens.” (7:33)

“Being a creative does not mean that you completely kick discipline out the window.  If you empower yourself to be a disciplined creative, you will be able to do so much more.” (11:28)

“It’s a very balanced road.  We want to make sure we learn from our mistakes, but we also don’t want them to hold us back.” (20:52)

Shownotes

(1:22) What are you obsessed with?

(4:58) What is TikTok?

(8:00) Beyond Gen-Z

(10:03) The 10 Rules of TikTok

(25:52) Rapid Fire 

Links

Bryan Fittin

Loren Lewis

Census 

Quotes

“I think something to remember is that a lot of times generations will shift platforms.  So, they’ll move off of one platform and onto the other.  You can’t just continue to say, ‘I’ll just always stay on this one platform for my audience.’ No, they might’ve shifted.” (9:14) 

“You’re starting to see more creators, who are a little bit older, who are creating amazing videos [on TikTok] and being able to express themselves and even be able to showcase products and different things like that.” (9:44)

“Not every trend is going to be in line with your business...But I would say, don’t take yourself too seriously in this space because it’s designed for entertainment.  If you take advantage of entertaining as well as educating and/or putting someone into your pipeline and driving them back to your website or another platform to engage with you, take advantage of that, but be a little more loose with it.” (11:47)

“Just like we’ve talked about on Instagram or any other platform, you have to be able to say, ‘This is my brand.  This is what to expect when you show up on my channel.’” (13:04)

“[TikTok] is such short-form content.  It is so highly digestible that you need to post often or your audience will get bored and moe on to somebody else.” (19:15)

Shownotes

(1:20) What are you obsessed with?

(5:29) Apple Podcasting Bug

(11:11) Spotify Podcast Ad Revenue Skyrockets 627%

(14:53) Twitter Testing New Shopping Feature

(19:46) Rapid Fire

Links

Bryan Fittin

Loren Lewis

Vulture on Apple Podcasts  

TechCrunch on Spotify's Ad Revenue 

JCK on Twitter's New Shopping Feature 

Quotes

“The big news is that Apple [is fixing] this [automatic download] issue.  So, if you are a podcast out there, you should be able to see your downloads increase again, as long as people are interacting with your show.” (10:13) 

“Spotify is stepping up its podcasting game, and they have made that pretty clear.  They’re not holding back.” (12:25)

“So if you’re a podcaster and you don’t have your podcast on Spotify, you really need to, because a lot of people are making decisions...on what player is the best.  And obviously, as we’ve been describing, Apple and Spotify have been battling it out, but Spotify has really been working hard to improve that podcasting experience.” (12:57)

“It is really cool to see how people...are trying to make your shopping experience not just like shopping on Amazon, but a lot more engaging, a lot more social.  And so Twitter is trying its hand at this.  It’s something to definitely pay attention to, especially if you’re in the eCommerce space.” (17:19)