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!

Go Rogue

Houston, We Have a Big Announcement!

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 FireLinksBryan FittinLoren LewisCaleb TalleyJeff AmerineStartup Junkies Podcast The Grand Biocentric DesignThe Place We Find Ourselves PodcastCreating 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)

The Journey to 100k with Startup Junkie

SummaryIn 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 FireLinksBryan FittinLoren LewisJosh FedieSalesReach  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)

Mastering The Art Of Sales Through Video with Josh Fedie [Rebroadcast]

Culture Creation As Marketing

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 LinksBryan FittinLoren LewisRogue Creators Episode 107: Ditch Zoom. Try Riverside or ZencastrRogue Creators Episode 107: Mastering the Art of Sales Through Video with Josh Fedie  RiversideSalesReach TransistorSendible   DescriptGrammarly  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)

September In The Know

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 FireLinksBryan FittinLoren LewisNichole HamiltonChiaroscuro HorrorDisney Native PodcastQuotes“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)

Designing a Great Presentation in... PowerPoint? w/ Nicole Hamilton [Rebroadcast]

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 FireLinksBryan FittinLoren LewisVal :’(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]

5 Reasons Why Video Podcasting Is Your New Best Friend!

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 KnowRapid Fire LinksBryan FittinLoren LewisHerding 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)

Creatives Go To Work

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 LinksBryan FittinLoren LewisCensus 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)

To Tik Tok or Not To Tik Tok

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 FireLinksBryan FittinLoren LewisVulture 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)

August in the Know

Shownotes(1:21) What are you obsessed with?(4:49) Do your research!(9:44) Stay true to your brand(14:26) Go for it!(19:38) Rapid FireLinksBryan FittinLoren LewisQuotes“There’s things that people do in their natural cadence of their voice that can actually be very off-putting for a lot of people.  And so it’s learning to identify those things and also make sure that you are going to really have your brand coming through the microphone.” (5:12)“Some people are just naturally gifted – they have kind of that radio voice, and they’re just a little bit more natural behind the mic.  And then there are other people that have to work at it a little bit more, and there’s no shame in having to practice your voice and really research that.  You’re just trying to do what’s best for your audience.” (8:41)“Make sure that your company, that you’re highlighting all the great things about your culture, so that way people can get to know you through audio format or video format.” (11:02)“Finding that voice in your own podcast, if it is very buttoned up and you want to stay on a script, that is ideal to make sure everybody is on the same page and it’s less conversational.” (13:01)“Make sure that your own insecurities don’t get in the way of people receiving that information or help that only you can give.” (15:49)

How To Find Your Podcasting Voice

Shownotes(1:34) What are you obsessed with?(4:35) What is podfade?(7:58) What causes podfade?(11:28) How can you avoid podfade?(14:41) Bonus tip!(17:04) Rapid FireLinksBryan FittinLoren LewisQuotes“There are some amazing podcasts out there, but finding 52 ideas if you’re a weekly podcast is really a log more difficult than you would think.” (9:07)“[Having a podcast] takes a lot of discipline and time-management to be able to record, to edit, to produce, and then if you want your podcast to be found, you need to produce content for people to actually find your podcast.  That’s a huge job.” (10:26)“[Batch recording] helps us stay ahead of the game, because guess what.  Even when you batch record, those episodes run out and you need to make sure that you’re consistently recording.” (12:13) “Do the fun stuff.  If you enjoy interviewing people, do that up front and then pay to have somebody else do [your editing].” (12:37)

Podfade... It's A Real Thing!

Shownotes(1:13) What are you obsessed with?(4:00) Quality vs. Quantity(5:46) Quality is subjective(10:31) Make analytics sexy again!(11:41) How to make quality content LinksBryan FittinLoren LewisQuotes“I feel like a lot of companies were doing anything and everything to get the content out there and it was content that didn’t matter.  And so, your feed was just clogged with stuff that you didn’t even care about.  So, I’m actually enjoying that they’ve prioritized in the algorithms more quality content and really been more about the viewer than the company.”  (5:09)“I think you just constantly have to be testing, you have to be serving, and you have to be listening to your audience.” (6:45)“[One piece of advice] that we give to companies that are starting out with their social media marketing is to choose two platforms that you believe your audience is on and really focus there instead of trying to do it all.  That way you can actually be consistent and you can also provide quality content because if you’re trying to do it all, a lot of times you’ll burn out within a month.” (8:11)“[The platform is] going to be pushing particular features, and so if you’re not using those features, that might be the first problem.” (11:49) “Don’t focus on your competition; focus on your consumer.” (15:54)

Content Quantity Vs. Quality when Achieving Your Company's Goals

Shownotes(1:09) What are you obsessed with?(5:10) Is Instagram getting rid of photos?(8:51) Pinterest Updates(13:19) Apple Podcast Issues(19:00) Rapid FireLinksBryan FittinLoren LewisTugboat Jack CNBC on Instagram Getting Rid of Photos?NPR on Pinterest Banning All Weight Loss AdsVulture on Apple Podcast Issues   EP 109 | Pinterest for Business: What You Need to KnowQuotes“Anytime [Instagram] makes an announcement like that, pay attention...It definitely means that any video content they’re going to focus on as opposed to a photo.” (6:23)“There’s a large chunk of Pinterest that is focused on weight loss, and if that disappears, what space will fill it?” (10:09)“What I’m really interested to see is how video is probably going to take over Pinterest.  It used to be stills – you did it for decor, you did it for recipes and everything, but with video, it really opens the door for a lot more opportunities.” (11:48)“If you’re trying to do marketing on Pinterest, you need to understand possibly that what’s going to actually get you the most traction is going to be video and eventually going live.” (12:42)“If you’re a podcaster out there and you see a decrease in your downloads, that may not be necessarily true to what is actually happening.” (16:29)https://www.goroguex.com/

In The Know: July Edition

Shownotes(1:54) What are you obsessed with?(5:14) Introducing Jessica, Jenna, and Beautiful Lives(9:18) Starting eCommerce in a pinch(13:55) Selling through Instagram(14:46) Giving back to the community(21:08) Handing exponential growth(23:31) What’s next for Beautiful Lives?(26:09) Advice for new eCommerce store owners(28:37) Rapid FireLinksBryan FittinLoren LewisJessica UrangaJenna CookBeautiful Lives Bentonville InstagramBeautifulLivesBoutique.com    Episode 80 with Jesse Lane from Branches Mission Lab Quotes“When I think about our online store at Beautiful Lives, there are two marketing characteristics – quality and creativity.” (10:31)“Doing those small things, I think that makes for longevity in the long run and keeps [the team] excited and gives them that vision.” (22:32)“[Running an eCommerce store] can be very repetitive, but keeping that creativity and passion alive – I think that the customer can really tell when you do.” (26:52)https://www.goroguex.com/

How to Go from Brick and Mortar to eCommerce Rockstars with Beautiful Lives Boutique

Do Marketing Differently. We dive into practical things you can do to build your brand by giving value to your audience.