Is PAX West Great for Nerdy Businesses? - Talking Nerdy 34

Show Transcript

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Chris, what are we talking about today?

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PAX West,

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the reflections and experience

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we had there just a couple of weeks ago.

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Yeah, we spoke to a bunch of different

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Nerdpreneurs at their booths,

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and we got five minute interviews with them,

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and we're going to be

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releasing that content bit by bit.

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It's really good stuff,

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and I kind of want us to just dive into it.

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What would be your number

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one takeaway from those interviews?

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One of the consistent things I heard

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from each and every one of them was,

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you really need

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to understand the business side.

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Nerd passion isn't just enough. You know,

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one of the things that they all said

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was they figured out, you know, their passion.

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They loved this hobby,

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they loved this thing that was nerdy.

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But then when they got into it,

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they realized it was all the

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business stuff that was holding

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them back from success as a business,

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and they had to go to work on that,

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not only on that problem,

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but also themselves to be those entrepreneurs

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that actually could succeed in business.

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And so it was a lot more than

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just passion and being a nerd

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that allowed them to be successful.

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That was the biggest takeaway, I thought,

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from the whole event.

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Who is someone that said that?

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Who's someone that stands out

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to you as really championing that point?

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Well, you know who it is. Chris. Like,

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it was Chris from.

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And that's not me, by the way.

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I know my name is Chris,

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but we met another Chris from Tinkerhouse, who,

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on his video,

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he definitely talked a little bit about that.

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But then it was like he took us back

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behind their booth and we chatted

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with him for another 20 or 30 minutes

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about his entrepreneurial journey from, like,

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years of back selling. Like various. Like,

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he was in liquor sales for a while,

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he was in other import business type stuff,

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and he was.

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He recommended to

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not get into the liquor business.

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Yeah, yeah, exactly right. So there was a lot

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of things that he had in terms of experience

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around business before he wound up in

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Tinkerhouse doing the thing that he does now,

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which is create terrain for tabletop

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war games and now Tabletop RPG's as well.

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So I think he was

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the one who exemplified it the most.

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Cause we got to spend the most time with him,

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and he really talked a lot about it.

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I could tell he just had a passion,

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a serious passion for business,

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not just nerdy tabletop stuff.

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Yeah. Chris was a wonderful

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person to speak with, and he also.

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One of the common themes I

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noticed from everybody we spoke

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to was everyone was kind of tired. I mean,

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it was the second day of Pax,

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day two of four.

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And these kind of conventions,

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for people who go to conventions,

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they know, like, it's exhausting.

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Even just being at a booth, especially,

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you're there constantly talking to people,

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saying a lot of the same things.

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And even though these

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people that we spoke to were tired,

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they were still very

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passionate about what they were doing,

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and they were really happy to talk about it,

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even if you could see on their face, like,

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sometimes it seemed, you know,

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we spoke to many worlds,

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many worlds tavern founder Andrew,

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and he was, he was,

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he was a little worn out.

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He had a big team with him.

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He had a lot going on,

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but he still even gave good advice about,

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if you're going to start something,

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just be aware of what you're doing.

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And this point

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you're talking about with Chris, you know,

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even though he was tired,

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he still was just so

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happy to help and talk about it.

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Everybody was really nice.

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Everybody was very warm and

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inviting and excited to

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talk about the idea of nerdy business.

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And I think that they were also

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surprised that we're kind of the first

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people to really take interest in, like, how

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do you be successful in this nerdy business?

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So I want to know, like,

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what was your number one takeaway from

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this pax event and the interviews we did?

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Frank Ooh.

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Along the same lines of what

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you said about knowing the business side,

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except it's more so knowing your capacity,

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knowing your fortitude, like,

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what are you capable of?

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And knowing that you

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need to be capable of a lot. And Patrick,

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from lethal shadows, minis,

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he elaborated on it really nicely,

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but you need to be prepared

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for what it's going to take. It's going, he,

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he laid out for himself. He said,

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we've been at this for five, six years,

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going really strong.

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I haven't had a vacation in that time.

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My family knows that.

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If you're going to want to hang out with me,

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you either come to a convention,

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you come to the shop,

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that's where you find me,

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that's where you spend time with me,

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because I'm working so hard on this.

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And people who want to start their

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nerdy business need to be ready

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to spend that kind of commitment.

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And it's an extreme example in some ways,

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because there is, you know, this is,

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I think there's a spectrum here of how much

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you want to commit to your nerdy business.

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But he is bringing this

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all in or nothing mentality.

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And I think it's good to hear that, because

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there are some nerdpreneurs that are nerdy,

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believe it or not.

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And nerds can get very committed.

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They go all in on this thing.

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I want to push back on something here because

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I think it's interesting what you said around,

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or maybe just have a discussion around it,

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because what you said there was that people

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have to really know their capacity or

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they have to know what it's going to take.

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And I think, yes,

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in some capacity you do. I agree. However,

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I want to push back on the idea of knowing

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what you can take because I think vastly,

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people underestimate what

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they're capable of most of the time.

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And I think also that when they jump

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into something like this with real passion,

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they should expect to have to

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sacrifice certain things for sure time.

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And sometimes they might have less

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time with family or loved ones or to

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play the game that they actually love. Right.

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How many times have we heard from

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people who are nerdpreneurs who are like,

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I don't play much d and D anymore,

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or I don't really do a

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lot of video gaming any more products.

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For it, but I don't play very much.

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Yeah. So I think that is something

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that people should be aware of, is

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that you do and you should expect to sacrifice,

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but that's not why they're doing it.

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And I don't want people to listen to what

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you just said there and think, well, then, man,

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I'm better off being

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a nerd instead of a nerdpreneur.

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Because I think that when they hear that,

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that can be very,

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that can be jarring to people who

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are thinking about actually doing this. Like,

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and I don't think that

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that's why you're listening to this.

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You want to hear, oh,

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it's going to be hard.

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It's going to be like,

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it is going to be hard, sure.

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But everything is hard. So, you know, things

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that are worthwhile are hard and challenging.

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And I want to say that there's

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a lot of reasons why people

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who are there are doing it. And, yeah,

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some of them were tired at the con,

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but also they weren't, like,

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collapsing and terrible.

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Like that guy we met with.

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At the end of the day,

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he was tired because it was

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literally end of a twelve hour day.

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That was the only time we could get him.

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Yeah. And I weren't disheartened.

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They were just,

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their energy levels were low.

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They were still very passionate.

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Yeah. And the other thing, too, is like,

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they're sacrificing because

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of their passion for the hobby. And, you know,

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it was Patrick. Right,

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you were talking about. Mm hmm.

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And Patrick is so passionate about

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bringing great models to his game.

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And the way he talks about it

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is that we deserve this in our hobby.

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So there's a reason that's driving

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him at that level to go that

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deep and do what he's doing because,

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and also he's doing very well.

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I want to put that in there, too,

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that you might say, wow,

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it's going to be a lot of work.

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And like that he's not

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just scraping by a little bit.

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I think he's probably really crushing

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it right now as a nerdy entrepreneur,

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and he sees the vast and important opportunity

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in front of him that he has an opportunity

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to seize and he's going after it. So, yeah,

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it might be hard,

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but it's a sacrifice he knows he's making.

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I think he would agree with me is that

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he's making so that he can have that

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freedom and that positioning and that

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incredible part in the market down the road.

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Yeah, there is some of that.

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I will push back that they are saying to

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don't get into this if

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you're not willing for the sacrifice,

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if you're not willing to make the sacrifices,

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if you're not willing to

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really go in it for the long haul. Now,

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a couple things on that,

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going back to Randall at Catalyst game Labs.

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He was saying when you asked him about

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what would you tell people who are looking

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to work for their dream company? He said,

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I would say don't run as far as you

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can as quickly as you can, was his response.

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And then he followed up with,

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but if you don't run

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away and you really want to do it,

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then I will help you.

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I will do my best to help you, but

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it is a lot of hard work. And I think, I mean,

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he said he's been doing it since the nineties,

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so we're talking 20 years. Uh,

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20 plus years, actually,

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25 ish and 25 plus.

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And he was very supportive,

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but he'd seen a lot, I think.

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I think he'd seen a lot of people.

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He's been on a small team, small company,

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and they have probably

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seen a lot of people come and go.

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It's a bit of a revolving door.

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And I think that also Patrick,

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in the same vein,

273
00:09:57,800 --> 00:09:59,200
has seen the same thing, because

274
00:09:59,270 --> 00:10:02,440
he was talking about what's really important.

275
00:10:03,140 --> 00:10:05,280
What's really important is

276
00:10:05,310 --> 00:10:08,270
for people to stick to their word.

277
00:10:08,460 --> 00:10:09,990
Don't go into this

278
00:10:10,060 --> 00:10:12,970
nerdy business idea and think that, oh,

279
00:10:13,010 --> 00:10:14,810
I can treat this nerdy business

280
00:10:14,890 --> 00:10:16,960
like I treat my nerdy hobby.

281
00:10:17,070 --> 00:10:18,750
That's the same genre.

282
00:10:18,900 --> 00:10:19,920
If you play

283
00:10:20,030 --> 00:10:23,220
any tabletop role playing games, dear listener,

284
00:10:23,310 --> 00:10:24,490
you know that sometimes

285
00:10:24,530 --> 00:10:26,350
people just flake on showing up,

286
00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:27,400
and it's like last

287
00:10:27,470 --> 00:10:29,350
minute and it's super frustrating,

288
00:10:29,480 --> 00:10:31,520
and they don't take it very seriously.

289
00:10:31,670 --> 00:10:34,790
But that's what Patrick was warning.

290
00:10:34,980 --> 00:10:35,720
He was saying,

291
00:10:35,790 --> 00:10:37,530
if there are people

292
00:10:37,650 --> 00:10:38,990
who want to start a business,

293
00:10:39,120 --> 00:10:41,390
they can't treat it with the same mentality

294
00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:43,470
that they treat that nerdy passion.

295
00:10:43,520 --> 00:10:45,450
They need to be reliable,

296
00:10:45,570 --> 00:10:49,000
they need to be helpful. And furthermore,

297
00:10:49,070 --> 00:10:49,670
he was saying,

298
00:10:49,720 --> 00:10:51,000
when you get into it,

299
00:10:51,150 --> 00:10:52,910
you really got to know your goal.

300
00:10:53,060 --> 00:10:54,630
Why are you starting?

301
00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:56,670
Why are you starting this business

302
00:10:57,490 --> 00:11:00,190
and plan to get there?

303
00:11:00,940 --> 00:11:03,880
One of the reasons we're doing what we're doing

304
00:11:04,460 --> 00:11:07,490
is so that those of you who are looking to

305
00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:10,810
do this don't have as hard a time as these

306
00:11:10,880 --> 00:11:15,030
pioneers in the nerdpreneur industry. Yeah,

307
00:11:15,160 --> 00:11:17,730
I've seen it in other business that the

308
00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:20,610
people who are in business for five years know

309
00:11:20,680 --> 00:11:23,150
more than people who are just starting off,

310
00:11:23,320 --> 00:11:25,280
and people who are in business

311
00:11:25,350 --> 00:11:27,130
for ten years know more than

312
00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:29,080
those people who are five years in.

313
00:11:29,270 --> 00:11:30,500
There are these people who.

314
00:11:30,620 --> 00:11:32,240
There are people that you learn from,

315
00:11:32,350 --> 00:11:33,520
who become mentors,

316
00:11:33,610 --> 00:11:35,450
or that you hear what they've done,

317
00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:38,080
or you model their success and it shrinks

318
00:11:38,110 --> 00:11:40,870
the amount of time you need to get to that

319
00:11:40,920 --> 00:11:43,080
next level or to have the success they had.

320
00:11:43,170 --> 00:11:46,620
They're not any different in terms of anything

321
00:11:46,660 --> 00:11:49,910
but their capacity or their strategy. You know,

322
00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:51,510
if you're not getting where you want to be,

323
00:11:51,640 --> 00:11:52,710
there's something

324
00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:55,320
wrong with your strategy. Right. Or

325
00:11:55,330 --> 00:11:57,440
there's something wrong with your methodology.

326
00:11:57,610 --> 00:11:59,210
And so when people decide

327
00:11:59,260 --> 00:12:00,760
to look deep into what it

328
00:12:00,770 --> 00:12:02,550
is they're going after and look at, well,

329
00:12:02,590 --> 00:12:04,930
it's working for them over there, right?

330
00:12:05,020 --> 00:12:06,000
There's two tea companies

331
00:12:06,050 --> 00:12:07,440
here that were successful, right? So it's like,

332
00:12:07,450 --> 00:12:08,630
if it's working for them,

333
00:12:08,750 --> 00:12:10,340
something they're doing is working.

334
00:12:10,450 --> 00:12:12,540
I bet I can go do that same thing, too, if I

335
00:12:12,570 --> 00:12:15,170
wanted to get my own nerdy tea company, right,

336
00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:16,490
or nerdy coffee company,

337
00:12:16,620 --> 00:12:18,700
somehow they figured it out.

338
00:12:18,810 --> 00:12:20,220
Now, the one thing he did say was,

339
00:12:20,250 --> 00:12:21,810
don't ever start a coffee shop.

340
00:12:22,750 --> 00:12:23,770
And I think there's something

341
00:12:23,820 --> 00:12:27,360
to that in post Covid retail. Right, like that.

342
00:12:27,390 --> 00:12:28,820
There's a lot of people who are like,

343
00:12:28,870 --> 00:12:31,650
don't do this because of the really,

344
00:12:31,730 --> 00:12:34,560
really hard last few

345
00:12:34,630 --> 00:12:36,900
years that brick and mortar has had.

346
00:12:36,990 --> 00:12:40,120
So I can absolutely appreciate where, you know,

347
00:12:40,150 --> 00:12:40,950
many worlds tavern

348
00:12:40,980 --> 00:12:42,960
was coming from in that moment.

349
00:12:43,110 --> 00:12:45,570
Yeah. I think there's a common thread of,

350
00:12:45,690 --> 00:12:46,220
if you're going to

351
00:12:46,230 --> 00:12:47,400
have a brick and mortar location,

352
00:12:47,470 --> 00:12:48,390
make sure that you have a

353
00:12:48,420 --> 00:12:50,750
good online presence to support that.

354
00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:52,520
And not a lot of people really talked

355
00:12:52,550 --> 00:12:54,330
about having a brick and mortar presence.

356
00:12:54,510 --> 00:12:56,210
No, most of them do not. Right.

357
00:12:56,260 --> 00:12:59,100
There was candles who did? But, you know,

358
00:12:59,150 --> 00:13:02,030
and there was many worlds who also did.

359
00:13:02,140 --> 00:13:05,040
But most of these people were con heavy.

360
00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:06,220
And what I really liked about

361
00:13:06,250 --> 00:13:08,590
it was when I asked everybody, you know,

362
00:13:08,620 --> 00:13:09,470
how many cons they did,

363
00:13:09,500 --> 00:13:11,130
there were so many people who were like, oh,

364
00:13:11,140 --> 00:13:13,580
I've done, like, ten cons, 20 cons.

365
00:13:13,650 --> 00:13:14,720
There was even geekify

366
00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:16,660
who they did 30 cons in a year,

367
00:13:16,750 --> 00:13:18,240
and they've been doing it for years.

368
00:13:18,360 --> 00:13:20,350
So you start thinking about, you know,

369
00:13:20,390 --> 00:13:21,390
what is the importance

370
00:13:21,430 --> 00:13:24,010
of cons to certain businesses?

371
00:13:24,140 --> 00:13:25,370
There are many of them that

372
00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:27,770
were just focused on doing cons.

373
00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:29,710
They put it into their schedule,

374
00:13:29,830 --> 00:13:31,690
and that was how they ran their business,

375
00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:33,010
was they go there,

376
00:13:33,080 --> 00:13:35,010
they have three or four, five days,

377
00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:36,610
whatever it is, for the con, and

378
00:13:36,640 --> 00:13:39,280
they just crush it for those four or five days.

379
00:13:39,370 --> 00:13:41,770
And then they go out to. They come back,

380
00:13:41,800 --> 00:13:42,520
they make more product,

381
00:13:42,570 --> 00:13:43,570
and they go out to the next con.

382
00:13:43,600 --> 00:13:44,700
And it's just like that,

383
00:13:44,810 --> 00:13:46,660
their business cycle.

384
00:13:46,770 --> 00:13:47,740
And you know what?

385
00:13:47,770 --> 00:13:48,740
There's nothing wrong with that.

386
00:13:48,770 --> 00:13:50,440
It's a lot of work in certain times,

387
00:13:50,520 --> 00:13:51,860
but they're really serving

388
00:13:51,910 --> 00:13:53,820
their nerdy hobby and helping them out.

389
00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:56,220
Yeah, that reminds me, on a not

390
00:13:56,290 --> 00:13:57,900
at PAx was this brought up,

391
00:13:57,930 --> 00:14:01,220
but with Sienna Art Studios,

392
00:14:01,270 --> 00:14:02,380
who we have yet.

393
00:14:02,430 --> 00:14:03,650
Have not released yet.

394
00:14:03,700 --> 00:14:05,740
But we,

395
00:14:05,790 --> 00:14:06,620
when we spoke to her,

396
00:14:06,650 --> 00:14:09,050
one of the things that was brought up was

397
00:14:09,140 --> 00:14:12,750
cons and how she at, for a one, at one point,

398
00:14:12,820 --> 00:14:14,960
Washington going to all of these events,

399
00:14:15,010 --> 00:14:16,770
and it was just back to back to back.

400
00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:18,210
Just enough time for her.

401
00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:20,000
She said she didn't even have enough time

402
00:14:20,030 --> 00:14:22,380
to make the product in between the events.

403
00:14:22,420 --> 00:14:24,840
She just had enough time beforehand

404
00:14:24,870 --> 00:14:26,910
to make all the product and then put it

405
00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:29,010
into batches in preparation for when

406
00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:31,410
she would go to these events. She'd fly back,

407
00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:32,320
get everything she needed,

408
00:14:32,370 --> 00:14:35,000
go to the event, fly back, get more stuff.

409
00:14:35,150 --> 00:14:37,140
And you got to think about it like

410
00:14:37,180 --> 00:14:39,050
that when you have all these products.

411
00:14:39,180 --> 00:14:41,960
But I'm glad you went this direction,

412
00:14:42,010 --> 00:14:44,670
because all the people we spoke

413
00:14:44,710 --> 00:14:46,850
to were selling a physical product.

414
00:14:47,190 --> 00:14:48,890
Everybody had a physical product,

415
00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:50,730
and everyone said,

416
00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:54,620
these cons are so important for them.

417
00:14:54,730 --> 00:14:56,170
And Tinker House really.

418
00:14:56,240 --> 00:14:58,000
I think Tinkerhouse games

419
00:14:58,050 --> 00:15:00,970
really drove this point. Sorry, the terrain,

420
00:15:01,100 --> 00:15:01,930
Tinkerhouse terrain,

421
00:15:01,980 --> 00:15:04,500
they really drove the point home of this

422
00:15:04,530 --> 00:15:07,150
is huge for us because our shipping costs

423
00:15:07,260 --> 00:15:10,050
are kind of expensive because our product

424
00:15:10,130 --> 00:15:13,120
is kind of heavy. You know, it's. It's compact,

425
00:15:13,270 --> 00:15:14,870
but it's pretty heavy stuff.

426
00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:16,310
It's dense cardboard.

427
00:15:16,610 --> 00:15:17,910
And so shipping,

428
00:15:17,960 --> 00:15:20,590
it creates this barrier, this

429
00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:24,960
of a price point for consumers, for customers.

430
00:15:25,070 --> 00:15:27,300
So if they can see it, feel it,

431
00:15:27,310 --> 00:15:28,900
and look at the quality,

432
00:15:29,070 --> 00:15:31,050
it's much easier for them to buy it, especially

433
00:15:31,130 --> 00:15:32,670
because they're not having to pay for shipping.

434
00:15:32,700 --> 00:15:33,470
They're at the con.

435
00:15:33,540 --> 00:15:35,620
All they do is pay for it and take it.

436
00:15:35,800 --> 00:15:37,860
So I think cons are really good

437
00:15:37,900 --> 00:15:39,680
for people who have physical products,

438
00:15:40,260 --> 00:15:41,600
especially if your

439
00:15:41,630 --> 00:15:44,360
product heavily relies on touching, feeling,

440
00:15:44,390 --> 00:15:45,760
or even smelling.

441
00:15:45,790 --> 00:15:47,170
In the case of tea and coffee.

442
00:15:47,280 --> 00:15:49,700
There was a lot of con tips that we got, too,

443
00:15:49,740 --> 00:15:50,490
and I don't know if I can

444
00:15:50,520 --> 00:15:51,700
run through all of them that we got,

445
00:15:51,740 --> 00:15:53,960
but I thought it was

446
00:15:54,010 --> 00:15:57,000
interesting that for a lot of people,

447
00:15:57,420 --> 00:15:59,390
their advice was, yeah, try a con.

448
00:15:59,440 --> 00:16:00,900
It's a great way to test

449
00:16:00,940 --> 00:16:05,190
your market and confront your market, you know?

450
00:16:05,310 --> 00:16:09,270
So the idea of a first step for a nerdpreneur

451
00:16:09,350 --> 00:16:12,430
might be going to a con or picking

452
00:16:12,470 --> 00:16:16,390
a local small convention where, you know,

453
00:16:16,470 --> 00:16:19,240
your ideal client is,

454
00:16:19,410 --> 00:16:21,540
and just go, you know,

455
00:16:21,570 --> 00:16:23,290
you don't have to commit to a comic

456
00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:25,570
con or a pax west for your first con.

457
00:16:25,620 --> 00:16:26,790
Those are a little more expensive.

458
00:16:26,870 --> 00:16:29,510
But every city, you know,

459
00:16:29,580 --> 00:16:30,910
usually wherever you are,

460
00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:32,950
will be having some form of

461
00:16:32,980 --> 00:16:35,340
nerdy or anime or whatever type

462
00:16:35,350 --> 00:16:38,460
of convention where you can go and be,

463
00:16:38,510 --> 00:16:40,750
as an independent business owner,

464
00:16:41,690 --> 00:16:42,670
access your nerdy

465
00:16:42,700 --> 00:16:46,150
culture and confront it firsthand.

466
00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:47,480
So many of them said, yeah,

467
00:16:47,510 --> 00:16:50,750
just give it a shot and iterate. You know,

468
00:16:51,210 --> 00:16:53,560
when I was talking to the candle people,

469
00:16:53,670 --> 00:16:55,340
Dragon's den candlest,

470
00:16:55,380 --> 00:16:56,330
that's how they started.

471
00:16:56,400 --> 00:16:58,850
They just sort of did a very small

472
00:16:59,790 --> 00:17:02,120
con in their local area, New England.

473
00:17:02,210 --> 00:17:03,800
And this was actually the

474
00:17:03,930 --> 00:17:05,589
first time they'd ever been

475
00:17:05,630 --> 00:17:08,329
outside of New England for their cons.

476
00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:09,609
And so it was,

477
00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:11,650
this was a cool thing for them to be able

478
00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:14,970
to be in a place that wasn't their, their home.

479
00:17:15,160 --> 00:17:17,770
But they started with just a few candles.

480
00:17:17,900 --> 00:17:19,410
And then as they confronted

481
00:17:19,440 --> 00:17:21,030
and talked with their market,

482
00:17:21,200 --> 00:17:23,430
they gave them ideas of other things

483
00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:25,430
that would actually be something they want.

484
00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:26,680
And then they went to the workshop,

485
00:17:26,750 --> 00:17:27,690
built those out,

486
00:17:27,770 --> 00:17:29,750
and didn't move too fast.

487
00:17:29,900 --> 00:17:31,640
So I think there's a lot of.

488
00:17:31,790 --> 00:17:33,590
There's a lot of wisdom in that

489
00:17:33,620 --> 00:17:35,790
for a lot for newer entrepreneurs

490
00:17:35,900 --> 00:17:37,760
that are thinking like, well, should I?

491
00:17:37,790 --> 00:17:38,790
How would I even get started?

492
00:17:38,860 --> 00:17:40,290
How do I know if this is

493
00:17:40,330 --> 00:17:42,210
going to be a good thing or not? Like,

494
00:17:42,290 --> 00:17:44,170
you might have to risk a little bit of money to

495
00:17:44,210 --> 00:17:47,430
join a local con and just get enough product

496
00:17:47,560 --> 00:17:50,150
to go out there and do it. But like you,

497
00:17:50,320 --> 00:17:53,090
it's a great first step to get into

498
00:17:53,130 --> 00:17:55,260
your nerdy niche is go to a local

499
00:17:55,310 --> 00:17:57,950
con as a business owner and try

500
00:17:57,980 --> 00:18:00,040
to sell your stuff so you can confront,

501
00:18:00,110 --> 00:18:02,840
right face to face with people, what you do,

502
00:18:02,950 --> 00:18:04,170
how you want,

503
00:18:04,210 --> 00:18:05,540
how you can serve that community,

504
00:18:05,670 --> 00:18:06,590
and what kind of

505
00:18:06,620 --> 00:18:08,310
transformation you can make for them.

506
00:18:08,460 --> 00:18:10,370
Yeah, I'm so glad we spoke to them.

507
00:18:10,410 --> 00:18:11,670
Aaron and Corey,

508
00:18:11,820 --> 00:18:13,590
husband and wife duo,

509
00:18:13,660 --> 00:18:15,090
partners in crime.

510
00:18:15,250 --> 00:18:16,480
I'm so glad we spoke to them

511
00:18:16,510 --> 00:18:17,740
because they were one of the

512
00:18:17,750 --> 00:18:19,920
few people to really hammer that point.

513
00:18:19,970 --> 00:18:21,370
Home of engage

514
00:18:21,420 --> 00:18:23,040
with your audience and your community,

515
00:18:23,170 --> 00:18:25,750
show some early prototypes and products,

516
00:18:25,910 --> 00:18:27,050
get some feedback,

517
00:18:27,120 --> 00:18:28,620
and iterate from there.

518
00:18:28,770 --> 00:18:30,090
Erin even said

519
00:18:30,140 --> 00:18:32,550
that at one point she was, she was saying,

520
00:18:32,630 --> 00:18:34,990
she used the word iterate, I'm pretty sure.

521
00:18:35,150 --> 00:18:38,620
And that feels like a very startup

522
00:18:38,770 --> 00:18:42,210
kind of term to use of like, test,

523
00:18:42,950 --> 00:18:45,460
you know, prototype, iterate, you know,

524
00:18:45,490 --> 00:18:46,530
and then repeat.

525
00:18:46,950 --> 00:18:48,600
So I'm glad that we spoke to them.

526
00:18:48,650 --> 00:18:51,930
Another aspect along these lines,

527
00:18:52,120 --> 00:18:56,050
when we spoke to Diane at Arkon Games,

528
00:18:56,220 --> 00:18:59,500
she talked about the value of conventions,

529
00:18:59,610 --> 00:19:01,420
being the community,

530
00:19:01,610 --> 00:19:03,250
engaging with your community.

531
00:19:03,670 --> 00:19:06,090
And she had a unique perspective because

532
00:19:06,220 --> 00:19:09,170
she said that she was less of the

533
00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:11,530
business side of things. You know, she dabbled.

534
00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:12,800
Everyone wears many hats.

535
00:19:12,900 --> 00:19:14,740
But she said she started out as the.

536
00:19:14,830 --> 00:19:17,220
As like a graphic designer or

537
00:19:18,120 --> 00:19:20,340
a visual artist of some kind.

538
00:19:20,390 --> 00:19:21,980
I forget exactly what,

539
00:19:22,170 --> 00:19:23,620
but she started out as that.

540
00:19:23,650 --> 00:19:24,770
And she said, you know, it's important

541
00:19:24,820 --> 00:19:27,540
to get a business person to work with you.

542
00:19:27,670 --> 00:19:28,690
And a lot of the

543
00:19:28,700 --> 00:19:30,380
people on their team are artists.

544
00:19:31,120 --> 00:19:32,970
But she was saying that being able

545
00:19:33,020 --> 00:19:34,740
to engage with your community

546
00:19:35,280 --> 00:19:38,420
is really valuable at a convention.

547
00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:40,790
And they had a table in their booth

548
00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:43,600
area for people to test out the game,

549
00:19:43,750 --> 00:19:45,160
one of their board games.

550
00:19:45,700 --> 00:19:47,360
And I thought like, yeah,

551
00:19:47,410 --> 00:19:49,850
that's a really good point. You know, it's not,

552
00:19:49,960 --> 00:19:50,680
it's not the first

553
00:19:50,730 --> 00:19:51,690
time I think we've heard this.

554
00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:53,630
We heard this at Emerald City Comic Con, too.

555
00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:57,480
Just the value of being there to engage

556
00:19:57,530 --> 00:20:00,070
with your audience is a really great

557
00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:03,920
way to improve and to also just

558
00:20:05,070 --> 00:20:07,370
talk to humans face to face

559
00:20:07,420 --> 00:20:08,550
because you're going to get so much

560
00:20:08,590 --> 00:20:10,540
more from that interaction than behind a.

561
00:20:10,570 --> 00:20:13,370
Screen you just touched on.

562
00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:14,910
Something I thought was interesting as

563
00:20:14,950 --> 00:20:18,290
well is that she talked about her

564
00:20:19,470 --> 00:20:21,250
strengths in the business and

565
00:20:21,300 --> 00:20:23,010
weaknesses and knowing what those

566
00:20:23,060 --> 00:20:24,810
were and then partnering up with people

567
00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:27,650
that were strong in those areas. She was weak.

568
00:20:27,700 --> 00:20:30,130
And we heard that also from dragons,

569
00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:31,930
then candles with the husband and wife pair,

570
00:20:31,980 --> 00:20:35,690
because they also had strengths and weaknesses.

571
00:20:35,740 --> 00:20:38,230
We also heard that from Tinker House,

572
00:20:38,340 --> 00:20:39,840
and there was strengths and weaknesses

573
00:20:39,880 --> 00:20:41,950
there because they were a partnership. And so,

574
00:20:42,060 --> 00:20:43,620
and I don't know about you, Frank,

575
00:20:43,650 --> 00:20:46,580
but I feel like we also are a partnership

576
00:20:46,730 --> 00:20:50,300
where both of us have strengths and weaknesses

577
00:20:50,430 --> 00:20:54,620
and we try to aim to be working that way.

578
00:20:54,710 --> 00:20:55,780
So when you are,

579
00:20:55,810 --> 00:20:57,060
and no one was there alone,

580
00:20:57,110 --> 00:20:57,980
by the way, either, like,

581
00:20:58,010 --> 00:21:00,330
there was no solo people at a con

582
00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:02,200
doing this on their own because it's

583
00:21:02,210 --> 00:21:04,420
just too much for one person to handle,

584
00:21:04,530 --> 00:21:06,610
but understanding that there was a lot of

585
00:21:06,620 --> 00:21:08,780
people working in pairs or with a small groups,

586
00:21:08,810 --> 00:21:10,250
and they were working together,

587
00:21:10,360 --> 00:21:11,970
complementing each other. So when

588
00:21:11,980 --> 00:21:13,720
you go into business for your. For yourself,

589
00:21:13,770 --> 00:21:14,520
you're probably going to need to

590
00:21:14,530 --> 00:21:15,700
bring a few people along with

591
00:21:15,730 --> 00:21:20,080
you as employees or as volunteers even, who

592
00:21:20,090 --> 00:21:22,130
can be paid in product or something like that.

593
00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:23,720
A few people were doing that for,

594
00:21:23,770 --> 00:21:25,690
for people over the course of their,

595
00:21:25,740 --> 00:21:27,180
their weekend at Pax.

596
00:21:27,290 --> 00:21:30,790
But the idea is you know where your

597
00:21:30,820 --> 00:21:32,750
strengths are and try to focus on those.

598
00:21:32,780 --> 00:21:33,500
But if you know,

599
00:21:33,550 --> 00:21:36,930
one of your weaknesses is, for example,

600
00:21:36,970 --> 00:21:38,680
some of this business stuff,

601
00:21:38,750 --> 00:21:40,350
like you're not good at selling stuff

602
00:21:40,380 --> 00:21:42,670
or interacting with people at the booth,

603
00:21:42,740 --> 00:21:44,460
you want to bring people who are

604
00:21:44,510 --> 00:21:46,300
good at that because you need to

605
00:21:46,310 --> 00:21:48,150
have someone who's up and talking

606
00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:50,720
and interesting and engaging with people.

607
00:21:50,830 --> 00:21:53,730
And if you're hanging back and not doing that,

608
00:21:53,910 --> 00:21:56,110
it's going to be much harder for you to sell a

609
00:21:56,120 --> 00:21:58,760
lot of your product at the booth. For example,

610
00:21:58,870 --> 00:22:01,840
it could also be, you know, in my case, like,

611
00:22:01,930 --> 00:22:04,930
the forms you need to fill out the like.

612
00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:05,970
We heard about this from,

613
00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:07,920
from Chris as well,

614
00:22:08,010 --> 00:22:12,160
about how many various requisition type

615
00:22:12,250 --> 00:22:15,400
legal forms they had to do for 50 different

616
00:22:15,490 --> 00:22:17,490
states when they were selling liquor. Now,

617
00:22:17,520 --> 00:22:19,300
I know that's not a nerdy business, but

618
00:22:19,340 --> 00:22:21,530
it is something that's important to remember,

619
00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:23,720
is that if they didn't get that together,

620
00:22:23,850 --> 00:22:24,840
they wouldn't have been able

621
00:22:24,870 --> 00:22:26,900
to be successful their liquor business.

622
00:22:27,030 --> 00:22:29,460
And he had someone on his side that

623
00:22:29,490 --> 00:22:31,790
was really good at that and was willing

624
00:22:31,820 --> 00:22:33,960
to do all that work that he paired up

625
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:35,940
with because he was a logistics guy

626
00:22:35,990 --> 00:22:39,880
on how to get the products, like, manufactured,

627
00:22:39,960 --> 00:22:42,220
made and scaled up to the point

628
00:22:42,250 --> 00:22:44,960
where they could serve 52 states. But it was.

629
00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:47,370
He needed all that paperwork done.

630
00:22:47,460 --> 00:22:48,780
So knowing where your

631
00:22:48,810 --> 00:22:50,780
strengths are and weaknesses are,

632
00:22:50,890 --> 00:22:51,470
and you might learn

633
00:22:51,500 --> 00:22:52,500
this through experience, by the way.

634
00:22:52,510 --> 00:22:53,180
You don't have to know them

635
00:22:53,210 --> 00:22:54,870
perfectly before jumping into business,

636
00:22:54,940 --> 00:22:57,130
but knowing if you're weak in an area,

637
00:22:57,260 --> 00:22:59,230
you either got to work on getting better at

638
00:22:59,260 --> 00:23:01,340
that area or you need to get somebody who

639
00:23:01,370 --> 00:23:04,120
is good at that area to do it for you.

640
00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:06,540
Yeah, going in at a business in

641
00:23:06,570 --> 00:23:09,340
co op mode is really helpful.

642
00:23:09,430 --> 00:23:11,100
I'll say you know,

643
00:23:11,130 --> 00:23:12,470
not only from our experience,

644
00:23:12,580 --> 00:23:14,420
but from these people that we spoke to.

645
00:23:14,530 --> 00:23:15,680
And I kind of like this

646
00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:18,720
idea of co op mode business, you know,

647
00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:19,860
playing the game of business,

648
00:23:19,930 --> 00:23:21,070
but co op mode.

649
00:23:21,180 --> 00:23:22,050
Yeah, that's a good idea.

650
00:23:22,100 --> 00:23:25,560
I like that on a slight tangent,

651
00:23:25,590 --> 00:23:27,470
but related very much to what you said,

652
00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:29,860
a tangent from the Pac side of things. Chris,

653
00:23:29,900 --> 00:23:31,760
do you think it's more important for

654
00:23:31,810 --> 00:23:34,120
people to bolster their weaknesses

655
00:23:34,250 --> 00:23:36,680
or to bolster their strengths?

656
00:23:38,060 --> 00:23:40,280
Well, I think that they need to concentrate

657
00:23:40,310 --> 00:23:42,540
their time on things they're good at.

658
00:23:42,580 --> 00:23:44,200
Otherwise they'll burn out.

659
00:23:44,350 --> 00:23:45,410
So I don't know that what

660
00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:47,460
you mean by bolster exactly, but like, yes,

661
00:23:47,500 --> 00:23:49,500
you should improve. I mean,

662
00:23:49,530 --> 00:23:51,100
if you're good at something to begin with,

663
00:23:51,130 --> 00:23:52,530
it should be natural that

664
00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:53,940
you'll already be working on it.

665
00:23:53,970 --> 00:23:54,590
Most of the time.

666
00:23:54,630 --> 00:23:56,110
If people are good at chess,

667
00:23:56,230 --> 00:23:58,500
it's because they liked chess. Right. But

668
00:23:58,530 --> 00:24:00,930
they like chess because they were good at it.

669
00:24:01,020 --> 00:24:03,170
So they continue to practice and get better

670
00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:05,180
at it because they like it and are good at it.

671
00:24:05,210 --> 00:24:07,430
Right. So we generally, our strengths

672
00:24:07,470 --> 00:24:11,010
tend to get take care of themselves. However,

673
00:24:12,030 --> 00:24:15,490
if you're taking a lot of time

674
00:24:15,810 --> 00:24:18,510
away from doing the thing you're good at,

675
00:24:19,250 --> 00:24:20,940
to do all these things that

676
00:24:20,950 --> 00:24:23,430
you're bad at and suck your energy out,

677
00:24:24,130 --> 00:24:26,710
then it becomes much harder

678
00:24:26,860 --> 00:24:28,630
for you to continue to do the

679
00:24:28,660 --> 00:24:30,390
most important things in your business. Now,

680
00:24:30,460 --> 00:24:31,280
that doesn't mean

681
00:24:31,390 --> 00:24:34,660
you never make those, like, you know,

682
00:24:34,710 --> 00:24:36,770
everyone's got to answer some emails sometimes.

683
00:24:36,810 --> 00:24:37,570
You know what I mean? Like,

684
00:24:37,610 --> 00:24:39,370
both of us answer emails sometimes, right?

685
00:24:39,410 --> 00:24:41,010
It's just part of business.

686
00:24:41,090 --> 00:24:43,230
Some of us are writing the emails

687
00:24:43,260 --> 00:24:45,450
and some of us are responding to them.

688
00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:46,270
You know, it's just

689
00:24:46,360 --> 00:24:48,780
we have things that have to happen.

690
00:24:48,940 --> 00:24:50,610
And if you're an army of one or an army

691
00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:52,600
of two or you're playing co op business,

692
00:24:52,710 --> 00:24:54,340
you both have to get those things.

693
00:24:54,380 --> 00:24:54,880
You can't always

694
00:24:54,910 --> 00:24:57,080
be the guy getting headshots, you know, but,

695
00:24:58,100 --> 00:24:59,480
but here's the thing.

696
00:24:59,900 --> 00:25:01,720
If the fact that you're, that

697
00:25:01,770 --> 00:25:05,120
you're doing all these emails is now, you know,

698
00:25:05,250 --> 00:25:07,700
you're getting so many emails that it's

699
00:25:07,740 --> 00:25:10,300
sucking the life out of you and that you can't

700
00:25:10,380 --> 00:25:12,800
have do the thing you're actually really

701
00:25:12,870 --> 00:25:15,800
good at or do the thing and spend the time

702
00:25:15,870 --> 00:25:17,270
on what's going to really grow the business,

703
00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:19,610
which might be getting new clients or

704
00:25:19,650 --> 00:25:21,420
engaging with your people or building

705
00:25:21,470 --> 00:25:24,190
out a new email campaign or whatever,

706
00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:25,270
or building more product,

707
00:25:25,340 --> 00:25:26,740
it might be that you really need

708
00:25:26,750 --> 00:25:28,680
to spend your time doing whatever it is.

709
00:25:28,750 --> 00:25:31,470
If these other things are costing

710
00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:33,510
you your energy to be able to do those

711
00:25:33,600 --> 00:25:35,480
really important things you're good at, you

712
00:25:35,510 --> 00:25:37,720
got to look at what's your strategy now? And

713
00:25:37,770 --> 00:25:40,410
are you going to delegate that or, you know,

714
00:25:40,460 --> 00:25:42,650
find a better strategy to

715
00:25:42,700 --> 00:25:44,650
be able to get those things executed?

716
00:25:45,030 --> 00:25:47,610
I bring this up also because I don't

717
00:25:47,660 --> 00:25:49,980
feel like we've spoken even in

718
00:25:50,010 --> 00:25:52,020
our interviews to people that just

719
00:25:52,090 --> 00:25:55,570
solely focused on one or the other. They

720
00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:57,800
knew that there were areas they weren't strong,

721
00:25:57,850 --> 00:25:59,860
and so they had to do some of it.

722
00:25:59,930 --> 00:26:03,740
Chris Tinkerhouse had mentioned the

723
00:26:03,830 --> 00:26:07,150
side of expenses and knowing that, well,

724
00:26:07,240 --> 00:26:08,830
it's not my strong suit,

725
00:26:09,290 --> 00:26:10,250
not the expensive side.

726
00:26:10,290 --> 00:26:13,970
He said manufacturing was something he liked

727
00:26:14,010 --> 00:26:15,950
and they had envisioned keeping it in house,

728
00:26:16,020 --> 00:26:17,260
but the demand eventually

729
00:26:17,310 --> 00:26:18,850
blew up and they couldn't do that,

730
00:26:18,890 --> 00:26:21,180
so they had to outsource to a manufacturer.

731
00:26:21,350 --> 00:26:23,360
And it's that idea of, okay,

732
00:26:23,550 --> 00:26:24,830
these are things that we

733
00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:27,040
want to do that may not be our, like,

734
00:26:27,150 --> 00:26:29,270
competitive advantage, our strengths.

735
00:26:29,410 --> 00:26:31,270
So we need assistance.

736
00:26:31,430 --> 00:26:32,910
We need somebody else

737
00:26:32,950 --> 00:26:36,070
to come in here and bolster our, or, like,

738
00:26:36,190 --> 00:26:38,440
what is it where I used bolster again,

739
00:26:38,530 --> 00:26:40,170
but to fulfill,

740
00:26:40,260 --> 00:26:41,620
to support us in areas

741
00:26:41,690 --> 00:26:43,850
that might be our weak spots.

742
00:26:44,150 --> 00:26:46,280
So the idea of if you

743
00:26:46,290 --> 00:26:49,090
have a weak spot and you tackle it, say,

744
00:26:49,220 --> 00:26:52,170
in the example of doing legal forms

745
00:26:52,320 --> 00:26:55,110
or fulfilling documents for various states,

746
00:26:55,260 --> 00:26:56,420
if that's not your strength,

747
00:26:56,470 --> 00:26:57,870
but it's got to be done,

748
00:26:58,060 --> 00:26:59,390
you got to do it.

749
00:26:59,930 --> 00:27:02,440
So that's a weakness, maybe for you,

750
00:27:02,510 --> 00:27:03,870
but you know that you got to do

751
00:27:03,900 --> 00:27:05,640
it versus the thing that you love

752
00:27:05,670 --> 00:27:07,630
to do of making whatever your product is,

753
00:27:07,700 --> 00:27:08,570
that's your strength.

754
00:27:08,650 --> 00:27:10,490
Sometimes you have to do those things.

755
00:27:10,570 --> 00:27:12,420
But I still think it's really

756
00:27:12,470 --> 00:27:14,830
important that the people we spoke to, my,

757
00:27:14,980 --> 00:27:16,750
my rambling is getting to the point

758
00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:18,750
here of I think it's important for people

759
00:27:18,780 --> 00:27:20,560
to understand what their strengths

760
00:27:20,590 --> 00:27:23,100
are and really continue in them. You know,

761
00:27:23,190 --> 00:27:25,030
outsource those other things,

762
00:27:25,140 --> 00:27:26,020
because that was one of the other

763
00:27:26,050 --> 00:27:28,930
things we heard a lot of was be ready,

764
00:27:29,020 --> 00:27:30,620
be prepared to outsource.

765
00:27:30,670 --> 00:27:32,550
We heard that from many world taverns. I mean,

766
00:27:32,580 --> 00:27:35,290
he had a big team there with him. He,

767
00:27:35,380 --> 00:27:36,850
I think at least had eight

768
00:27:36,900 --> 00:27:38,700
people working in the booth with him.

769
00:27:38,770 --> 00:27:40,610
You know, they're restocking. They're,

770
00:27:40,700 --> 00:27:42,340
they're working the point of sales.

771
00:27:42,410 --> 00:27:43,510
They're doing

772
00:27:43,580 --> 00:27:46,260
marketing at the same time. You know, his,

773
00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:47,800
I don't remember her name,

774
00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:49,360
but she was their marketing

775
00:27:49,400 --> 00:27:51,970
person and she was doing everything.

776
00:27:52,270 --> 00:27:53,910
And now that I know who it is,

777
00:27:53,950 --> 00:27:56,570
I see her in their content and I'm like,

778
00:27:56,720 --> 00:27:59,410
this woman is a

779
00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:02,090
one person army on the marketing front.

780
00:28:02,430 --> 00:28:05,090
So having people that you can rely

781
00:28:05,140 --> 00:28:07,950
on having people whose strengths

782
00:28:07,990 --> 00:28:10,240
are your weaknesses is fantastic. And

783
00:28:10,250 --> 00:28:12,840
it goes back to that co op business mode idea.

784
00:28:12,930 --> 00:28:14,540
So, Frank, I want to know, like, who did

785
00:28:14,570 --> 00:28:16,170
you find impressed you the most in

786
00:28:16,180 --> 00:28:18,210
terms of how they work together as a team?

787
00:28:18,590 --> 00:28:19,820
I would say Aaron

788
00:28:19,850 --> 00:28:23,490
and Corey at Dragons den Candles, they both,

789
00:28:23,830 --> 00:28:25,890
not only were they

790
00:28:26,190 --> 00:28:28,490
taking the time to be a couple,

791
00:28:29,510 --> 00:28:31,350
when we were recording and talking

792
00:28:31,390 --> 00:28:33,690
with them and even not recording, you know,

793
00:28:33,720 --> 00:28:35,040
they were affectionate towards one

794
00:28:35,050 --> 00:28:36,770
another while they were wheeling and dealing,

795
00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:38,610
they were very busy. Even

796
00:28:38,660 --> 00:28:40,550
when we were there first thing in the morning,

797
00:28:40,630 --> 00:28:41,850
they were very busy,

798
00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:44,630
but they were still happy to complement

799
00:28:44,660 --> 00:28:47,150
each other's strengths. She, I believe,

800
00:28:47,220 --> 00:28:49,190
was a bit more of the.

801
00:28:50,890 --> 00:28:51,550
What was it?

802
00:28:51,580 --> 00:28:52,180
She was a bit more

803
00:28:52,190 --> 00:28:55,160
of like the spreadsheet, structured mind.

804
00:28:55,270 --> 00:28:56,790
She was the frank of the.

805
00:28:56,960 --> 00:29:01,670
Yeah, and, and Corey was more of the sales.

806
00:29:01,740 --> 00:29:03,070
Sales and creative.

807
00:29:03,120 --> 00:29:05,120
And he talked about like, the candle sense. I'd

808
00:29:05,150 --> 00:29:06,990
always been really driven by this and when I,

809
00:29:07,020 --> 00:29:08,430
the one that I was drew,

810
00:29:08,770 --> 00:29:10,430
drawn towards of the candles

811
00:29:10,500 --> 00:29:13,990
was the frozen something I'm forgetting. Oh,

812
00:29:14,020 --> 00:29:14,860
it's right here.

813
00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:18,260
Frozen tundra, frozen north.

814
00:29:18,370 --> 00:29:20,420
Oh, almost, almost. I know,

815
00:29:20,490 --> 00:29:21,860
I knew it wasn't tundra,

816
00:29:22,010 --> 00:29:23,540
but the frozen north candle,

817
00:29:23,590 --> 00:29:27,080
I was drawn to it and he did the perfect

818
00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:28,820
salesman thing where he gave me the story

819
00:29:28,950 --> 00:29:31,450
and it really convinced me. He said, yeah.

820
00:29:31,580 --> 00:29:33,780
Reason that one came up was it's like you're

821
00:29:33,810 --> 00:29:36,500
out in the cold and you get a stuffy nose

822
00:29:36,550 --> 00:29:38,710
and you're just like freezing inside. Well,

823
00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:41,000
this has eucalyptus in it and some

824
00:29:41,030 --> 00:29:44,150
other like mint related botanicals in it

825
00:29:44,160 --> 00:29:45,880
and it just really clears up your sinuses.

826
00:29:45,910 --> 00:29:47,880
And I thought, God, that's really good.

827
00:29:47,910 --> 00:29:49,460
And it does kind of give

828
00:29:49,500 --> 00:29:52,480
this feeling of the cold space,

829
00:29:52,570 --> 00:29:55,160
the cold environment that you might be in.

830
00:29:55,310 --> 00:29:57,020
And I thought, man, okay,

831
00:29:57,060 --> 00:29:57,800
I was on the fence,

832
00:29:57,830 --> 00:30:00,000
but now I'm getting this. And so anyway,

833
00:30:00,030 --> 00:30:02,160
their strengths were really nice, I thought,

834
00:30:02,190 --> 00:30:03,030
and they complemented each

835
00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:04,850
other quite well as a couple too.

836
00:30:05,350 --> 00:30:07,290
Who do you think was having the most fun?

837
00:30:13,270 --> 00:30:15,140
That's a tough question because I

838
00:30:15,170 --> 00:30:17,010
think a lot of them were having fun

839
00:30:17,180 --> 00:30:19,060
in different ways because they

840
00:30:19,090 --> 00:30:20,810
were nerdy about what they're making.

841
00:30:23,230 --> 00:30:25,570
But I would say the most, like energy,

842
00:30:25,700 --> 00:30:27,460
the most enthusiasm I saw

843
00:30:27,530 --> 00:30:29,020
would probably be Chris at

844
00:30:29,050 --> 00:30:31,890
Tinkerhouse or Dragon's Den candles. However,

845
00:30:32,460 --> 00:30:34,640
I actually really think Randall from

846
00:30:34,690 --> 00:30:38,320
Catalyst game Labs has a lot of fun

847
00:30:38,940 --> 00:30:42,920
dealing in Battletech and talking about it.

848
00:30:42,970 --> 00:30:44,840
And I think he's still

849
00:30:44,910 --> 00:30:48,430
very passionate about that ip, even

850
00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:50,990
though he's been in it for like 30 years now.

851
00:30:51,120 --> 00:30:53,580
Yeah, I thought the couple, the other

852
00:30:53,620 --> 00:30:56,520
couple that we had at Hexwood Forge seemed

853
00:30:56,550 --> 00:30:59,420
like they were having a blast as well. And

854
00:30:59,530 --> 00:31:02,080
they also said that a con had been going well,

855
00:31:02,130 --> 00:31:04,000
which I imagine helps with having a

856
00:31:04,010 --> 00:31:05,730
good time is when you're selling lots of

857
00:31:05,780 --> 00:31:08,630
stuff and making money and, you know, working,

858
00:31:08,750 --> 00:31:11,030
working well with your, with your person.

859
00:31:11,110 --> 00:31:13,290
But I thought they were having,

860
00:31:13,340 --> 00:31:14,370
they were in great spirits.

861
00:31:14,420 --> 00:31:16,250
They did a great interview and also

862
00:31:16,590 --> 00:31:19,270
were working together really well, having

863
00:31:19,350 --> 00:31:21,880
fun while they were selling all their stuff.

864
00:31:21,930 --> 00:31:24,490
So as much as we've said, oh, man, it's hard.

865
00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:26,720
I never saw anyone there that was like,

866
00:31:26,770 --> 00:31:27,730
seemed like they didn't want

867
00:31:27,740 --> 00:31:30,090
to be there except for that podcast.

868
00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:35,420
Don't go there and promote your podcast.

869
00:31:35,920 --> 00:31:36,880
Not exactly.

870
00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:37,250
Very.

871
00:31:37,300 --> 00:31:37,860
They didn't have a lot

872
00:31:37,870 --> 00:31:39,170
of physical products to sell.

873
00:31:39,220 --> 00:31:40,960
And I thought, you know, everyone

874
00:31:41,040 --> 00:31:43,070
else here is selling a physical product.

875
00:31:43,260 --> 00:31:45,690
Yeah, yeah. And they're also all masked

876
00:31:45,740 --> 00:31:47,850
up and kind of like standoffish,

877
00:31:47,900 --> 00:31:50,160
if I felt. And, yeah, I don't know,

878
00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:52,910
I just felt like they weren't really following

879
00:31:53,020 --> 00:31:55,650
the model for how to be successful at a

880
00:31:55,660 --> 00:31:58,910
place like Pax in the same way as many

881
00:31:58,940 --> 00:32:02,060
of the other people were. They also, you know,

882
00:32:02,090 --> 00:32:03,510
didn't have time for an interview right away,

883
00:32:03,580 --> 00:32:04,790
so it was like.

884
00:32:04,940 --> 00:32:06,350
But I get it because they were probably

885
00:32:06,420 --> 00:32:09,250
stressed out and a little bit, you know,

886
00:32:09,340 --> 00:32:10,640
concerned about how things

887
00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:11,640
were going and the investment

888
00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:13,220
they made and all that sort of thing.

889
00:32:13,250 --> 00:32:15,040
So I don't know. I don't know.

890
00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:17,170
This is the case and I want to just say that,

891
00:32:17,260 --> 00:32:18,890
and I'm not going to name them either,

892
00:32:19,020 --> 00:32:19,960
but I want to say,

893
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:21,350
just before you could jump in,

894
00:32:21,420 --> 00:32:24,140
there are people there that were not having,

895
00:32:24,320 --> 00:32:25,960
not having the best time.

896
00:32:25,990 --> 00:32:29,400
And it was an example of where your passion

897
00:32:29,510 --> 00:32:32,490
might have got ahead of you in your business,

898
00:32:32,680 --> 00:32:33,760
and you were like,

899
00:32:33,810 --> 00:32:35,850
I am so excited and I just need to

900
00:32:35,880 --> 00:32:37,530
follow this passion and I'm going to

901
00:32:37,560 --> 00:32:39,590
make this financial commitment and

902
00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:41,800
it's all going to just work out. And actually,

903
00:32:41,950 --> 00:32:43,440
that might been a,

904
00:32:43,510 --> 00:32:45,670
might have not been the best move for them.

905
00:32:45,760 --> 00:32:48,360
So it is possible to make

906
00:32:48,390 --> 00:32:50,580
the wrong move like that and not,

907
00:32:50,690 --> 00:32:52,410
and just follow your passion too far and

908
00:32:52,440 --> 00:32:54,060
not get to the place where you want to go.

909
00:32:54,130 --> 00:32:55,460
Not everything is sunshine and

910
00:32:55,490 --> 00:32:56,720
rainbows if you don't have

911
00:32:56,730 --> 00:32:58,790
the right plan or strategies in place.

912
00:32:58,950 --> 00:33:00,780
Speaking of plans and strategies

913
00:33:00,850 --> 00:33:02,700
and that interesting example you

914
00:33:02,730 --> 00:33:05,170
brought up of a podcast at a convention,

915
00:33:05,300 --> 00:33:06,840
a podcast behind a booth.

916
00:33:06,930 --> 00:33:08,490
I thought that was odd.

917
00:33:08,990 --> 00:33:10,780
And I think it's worth pointing out

918
00:33:10,810 --> 00:33:12,480
to somebody who maybe doesn't have

919
00:33:12,530 --> 00:33:15,830
a physical product to really show off. Sure.

920
00:33:15,900 --> 00:33:17,860
This podcast has a

921
00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:20,800
physical product of their podcast.

922
00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:22,790
And I think that it's fantastic that

923
00:33:22,820 --> 00:33:24,390
they're doing this and they're pursuing it,

924
00:33:24,420 --> 00:33:25,760
and they have some claim

925
00:33:25,800 --> 00:33:28,820
to fame for part of their show.

926
00:33:29,760 --> 00:33:32,000
But they went there,

927
00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:33,460
it sounded like,

928
00:33:33,610 --> 00:33:35,860
for outreach and awareness,

929
00:33:36,030 --> 00:33:38,380
but they were measuring their success based

930
00:33:38,430 --> 00:33:41,550
on getting net positive or even just like,

931
00:33:41,620 --> 00:33:44,350
paying for the expenses, which is,

932
00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:45,420
it doesn't align.

933
00:33:45,540 --> 00:33:47,320
It doesn't align. And also,

934
00:33:47,980 --> 00:33:49,570
they weren't selling anything

935
00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:51,300
that was really going to make a buck.

936
00:33:51,340 --> 00:33:52,800
They were selling stickers.

937
00:33:53,220 --> 00:33:57,010
They were selling patches and really low

938
00:33:57,160 --> 00:34:00,180
price point items that aren't going to

939
00:34:00,220 --> 00:34:03,160
easily give them quick kicks of revenue.

940
00:34:03,250 --> 00:34:04,430
It's only really going to

941
00:34:04,440 --> 00:34:06,090
be appealing to people who

942
00:34:06,120 --> 00:34:08,650
are already passionate about their show,

943
00:34:09,230 --> 00:34:10,530
which is not.

944
00:34:10,600 --> 00:34:12,590
Which also isn't aligning

945
00:34:12,750 --> 00:34:14,590
with your marketing efforts.

946
00:34:14,630 --> 00:34:16,270
So if you're like, if you.

947
00:34:16,310 --> 00:34:18,469
So I say this as if you are a

948
00:34:18,590 --> 00:34:20,639
brand that doesn't have a physical

949
00:34:20,690 --> 00:34:22,050
product or you do have a physical

950
00:34:22,080 --> 00:34:24,070
product and you're not bringing it, just don't.

951
00:34:24,150 --> 00:34:25,139
Don't get a booth.

952
00:34:25,290 --> 00:34:27,040
Don't incur the big expense of

953
00:34:27,050 --> 00:34:28,860
a booth because you're already traveling.

954
00:34:29,010 --> 00:34:30,850
You're already going to have to pay for food

955
00:34:30,900 --> 00:34:32,840
and other things at being at a convention.

956
00:34:32,949 --> 00:34:34,570
So don't add the booth expense.

957
00:34:34,719 --> 00:34:36,949
Yeah, do what we did, which is go there

958
00:34:37,070 --> 00:34:39,429
as a person who's going there,

959
00:34:39,550 --> 00:34:40,719
and then make content

960
00:34:40,810 --> 00:34:44,120
to bring awareness to your podcast.

961
00:34:44,860 --> 00:34:46,560
That's basically what we did.

962
00:34:47,900 --> 00:34:49,739
We went there knowing, like,

963
00:34:49,820 --> 00:34:51,540
at least this was my thinking,

964
00:34:51,580 --> 00:34:52,530
is that we would go there

965
00:34:52,550 --> 00:34:54,159
and meet directly with our market,

966
00:34:54,230 --> 00:34:55,909
which is nerdy entrepreneurs.

967
00:34:55,989 --> 00:34:57,600
And those nerdy entrepreneurs,

968
00:34:57,730 --> 00:35:00,950
they basically were everywhere around us,

969
00:35:00,990 --> 00:35:01,990
and we could go talk to

970
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:04,440
them directly and ask them cool, awesome

971
00:35:04,490 --> 00:35:06,780
questions about how they got to be successful,

972
00:35:06,870 --> 00:35:08,520
and we could create content that brings more.

973
00:35:08,560 --> 00:35:09,980
Not only do they now know about us,

974
00:35:10,010 --> 00:35:10,890
which many of them were like,

975
00:35:10,900 --> 00:35:11,580
this is so cool.

976
00:35:11,610 --> 00:35:12,770
We love what you're doing. Oh, my God.

977
00:35:12,820 --> 00:35:14,020
And we've got more followers

978
00:35:14,050 --> 00:35:15,330
and more listeners out of it,

979
00:35:15,380 --> 00:35:16,740
but we've also now got content

980
00:35:16,810 --> 00:35:18,580
to be able to share with other people,

981
00:35:18,630 --> 00:35:21,430
to let them know that there is this cool

982
00:35:21,500 --> 00:35:23,780
niche called nerd business that we're

983
00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:27,400
excavating for the world right now,

984
00:35:27,480 --> 00:35:29,980
to be able to find the diamonds and nuggets

985
00:35:30,010 --> 00:35:31,510
of wisdom that are going to help people

986
00:35:31,580 --> 00:35:34,330
build their nerdy business faster, better,

987
00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:36,120
and more effectively.

988
00:35:36,290 --> 00:35:37,800
Did you just become a dwarf?

989
00:35:37,850 --> 00:35:39,270
These analogies of, like,

990
00:35:39,320 --> 00:35:41,280
digging and gems,

991
00:35:41,700 --> 00:35:43,930
pretty soon you're gonna bring up mithril.

992
00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:46,540
Yes, we're going to find the mithril.

993
00:35:46,700 --> 00:35:48,670
Deep within the dark,

994
00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:54,040
dark caverns of Pax west. We mine. We mine.

995
00:35:54,230 --> 00:35:55,420
This is exactly how we do it.

996
00:35:55,420 --> 00:35:56,440
We're nerds.

997
00:35:56,980 --> 00:35:59,240
Yes. We mine for nerdy gems.

998
00:36:00,270 --> 00:36:01,250
I think that's good.

999
00:36:01,300 --> 00:36:04,370
That's exactly what we're doing, and we're.

1000
00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:05,460
The nuggets of wisdom.

1001
00:36:05,530 --> 00:36:06,740
The gems of wisdom.

1002
00:36:06,850 --> 00:36:10,200
Exactly. Exactly. I want to ask, what

1003
00:36:10,210 --> 00:36:12,570
was the most fun for you over the weekend?

1004
00:36:14,070 --> 00:36:15,420
I think you know the answer.

1005
00:36:15,490 --> 00:36:18,500
It was playing that Artemis game

1006
00:36:18,610 --> 00:36:22,220
up in the up. It was. So Pax has, you know,

1007
00:36:22,250 --> 00:36:23,970
those various games that you can play,

1008
00:36:24,040 --> 00:36:26,130
and I do have other nerdy,

1009
00:36:26,160 --> 00:36:27,170
business related answers,

1010
00:36:27,220 --> 00:36:27,950
but this one came.

1011
00:36:27,990 --> 00:36:30,050
No, no, no. Go into this. This is exactly

1012
00:36:30,080 --> 00:36:31,230
what I wanted you to go into.

1013
00:36:31,340 --> 00:36:33,930
Fun story tangent for a little bit.

1014
00:36:33,970 --> 00:36:35,590
But we were going up and down the

1015
00:36:35,620 --> 00:36:37,730
escalators at Pax. There's, like, four floors,

1016
00:36:37,770 --> 00:36:41,830
and we see this booth and assigned to a room,

1017
00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:44,300
and it says Artemis bridge simulator.

1018
00:36:44,350 --> 00:36:45,940
And I thought, bridge simulator? Like, why

1019
00:36:45,950 --> 00:36:47,710
do you want to simulate walking on a bridge?

1020
00:36:47,780 --> 00:36:50,250
We did not see this. Frank saw this.

1021
00:36:50,290 --> 00:36:50,680
Okay.

1022
00:36:50,750 --> 00:36:53,520
And immediately. No, no. I was.

1023
00:36:53,630 --> 00:36:55,730
I feel like I looked at it and was like,

1024
00:36:55,770 --> 00:36:58,240
what's a bridge simulator? And you're like, oh,

1025
00:36:58,270 --> 00:36:59,370
I want to do that.

1026
00:36:59,480 --> 00:37:01,730
You looked at me, you were like, you were

1027
00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:04,680
so much more excited about this. Pretty soon,

1028
00:37:04,730 --> 00:37:06,570
and this is early in the day, you're like,

1029
00:37:06,600 --> 00:37:08,200
I want to do this. And I'm like, okay,

1030
00:37:08,230 --> 00:37:09,600
let's do some work.

1031
00:37:09,650 --> 00:37:10,800
Stuff that we got to do first,

1032
00:37:10,850 --> 00:37:12,730
and then we'll come do that eventually.

1033
00:37:12,840 --> 00:37:14,470
And you're like, eventually, like, hey,

1034
00:37:14,480 --> 00:37:16,290
can we go do that? All right, let's go. Yeah.

1035
00:37:16,320 --> 00:37:19,580
So it was like five or 06:00 at this point,

1036
00:37:19,660 --> 00:37:21,830
and the floor had closed.

1037
00:37:21,960 --> 00:37:23,440
And we went in here,

1038
00:37:23,490 --> 00:37:25,600
and I kind of realized, you know,

1039
00:37:25,650 --> 00:37:26,410
you were telling the part

1040
00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:28,310
where I realized what it was,

1041
00:37:28,470 --> 00:37:30,610
and it was essentially like star

1042
00:37:30,740 --> 00:37:33,480
track bridge commander sort of a thing.

1043
00:37:33,530 --> 00:37:35,620
But we get in there, each

1044
00:37:35,690 --> 00:37:39,090
person gets a different position on the ship,

1045
00:37:39,140 --> 00:37:41,330
and everyone has to communicate. Well,

1046
00:37:41,830 --> 00:37:44,320
I was the science officer.

1047
00:37:44,450 --> 00:37:46,710
You were the weapons officer.

1048
00:37:46,830 --> 00:37:48,440
There was someone else who was helm,

1049
00:37:48,490 --> 00:37:50,050
another person that was engineering,

1050
00:37:50,120 --> 00:37:51,230
someone that was communication.

1051
00:37:51,310 --> 00:37:52,010
And then one of

1052
00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:53,480
the organizers would be the captain.

1053
00:37:53,490 --> 00:37:56,290
Captain, this was the nerdiest thing

1054
00:37:56,320 --> 00:37:57,350
I have ever done in my life.

1055
00:37:57,390 --> 00:38:00,220
I am just going to say. And, I mean, the

1056
00:38:00,250 --> 00:38:03,690
stench of sweat and people who had not left,

1057
00:38:05,230 --> 00:38:06,450
it was hilarious.

1058
00:38:06,480 --> 00:38:07,300
But we're all sitting around,

1059
00:38:07,330 --> 00:38:08,250
and here's the thing. Like,

1060
00:38:08,300 --> 00:38:11,170
I'm all for it if you're. If you're like. But.

1061
00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:11,700
But what we

1062
00:38:11,730 --> 00:38:13,940
were looking at was literally, like,

1063
00:38:14,010 --> 00:38:16,930
radar signals on screen. Like,

1064
00:38:16,960 --> 00:38:19,020
there was sometimes you could see,

1065
00:38:19,160 --> 00:38:20,440
you could see like the whole

1066
00:38:20,470 --> 00:38:22,000
ship kind of moving around in like,

1067
00:38:22,030 --> 00:38:22,960
what you would call a space.

1068
00:38:23,010 --> 00:38:25,340
There was some graphics and stuff, but like,

1069
00:38:25,380 --> 00:38:27,690
in each and of our individual consoles, to

1070
00:38:27,720 --> 00:38:30,110
me was just like radar symbols that I didn't,

1071
00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:32,360
and dots and that were red and green, and

1072
00:38:32,370 --> 00:38:33,970
I really didn't know what was going on at all.

1073
00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:36,960
It was very foreign in terms of how to

1074
00:38:37,010 --> 00:38:40,520
access this as a so and so quotes game.

1075
00:38:40,650 --> 00:38:43,970
And I remember I needed like,

1076
00:38:44,080 --> 00:38:46,660
every single step of the thing.

1077
00:38:46,700 --> 00:38:48,580
I was needing help, every single person,

1078
00:38:48,620 --> 00:38:50,600
I was like, what do I do? What is this?

1079
00:38:50,650 --> 00:38:51,640
Where is the game?

1080
00:38:51,690 --> 00:38:52,960
I don't know what this is.

1081
00:38:53,090 --> 00:38:56,520
And you fell into it seamlessly.

1082
00:38:56,570 --> 00:38:58,470
I thought I knew what to do,

1083
00:38:58,520 --> 00:39:01,800
because they gave these for the listener,

1084
00:39:01,870 --> 00:39:04,290
they gave these index cards, not index cards,

1085
00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:05,700
they gave full eight and a half by

1086
00:39:05,740 --> 00:39:07,840
eleven cards that had

1087
00:39:07,970 --> 00:39:09,920
everything explained for your position.

1088
00:39:10,260 --> 00:39:11,360
And I started,

1089
00:39:11,410 --> 00:39:12,480
at first it didn't make sense,

1090
00:39:12,530 --> 00:39:13,400
but I feel pretty

1091
00:39:13,450 --> 00:39:15,400
good about picking up games nowadays.

1092
00:39:15,520 --> 00:39:16,570
And so I looked at it, I was like,

1093
00:39:16,580 --> 00:39:18,330
what is my role? Understanding

1094
00:39:18,380 --> 00:39:21,860
how abridged simulator could work, I thought,

1095
00:39:21,950 --> 00:39:23,330
because I play Star Trek adventures,

1096
00:39:23,380 --> 00:39:25,460
and that's very much like what this was,

1097
00:39:25,530 --> 00:39:27,170
except instead of a TTRPG,

1098
00:39:27,220 --> 00:39:28,470
this was a video game.

1099
00:39:28,620 --> 00:39:30,420
And I start to pick up what I'm supposed to do,

1100
00:39:30,430 --> 00:39:31,740
and I'm like, I'm really curious. It says,

1101
00:39:31,770 --> 00:39:34,020
this interacts with the weapons team.

1102
00:39:34,150 --> 00:39:36,210
I have to feed them the frequencies

1103
00:39:36,260 --> 00:39:37,550
that their weapons should target,

1104
00:39:37,620 --> 00:39:38,220
so that they can

1105
00:39:38,250 --> 00:39:40,120
break through the shields. That's interesting.

1106
00:39:40,150 --> 00:39:40,990
We'll have to try it.

1107
00:39:41,060 --> 00:39:42,230
And we start it,

1108
00:39:42,340 --> 00:39:43,760
and we're going at it.

1109
00:39:43,790 --> 00:39:46,270
And I take on this character of, uh,

1110
00:39:46,320 --> 00:39:49,270
pretty much just, hmm, captain. I see,

1111
00:39:49,340 --> 00:39:50,660
I was trying to be spock,

1112
00:39:50,790 --> 00:39:52,830
and it kind of veered into

1113
00:39:52,900 --> 00:39:55,700
Kirk a little bit of interesting.

1114
00:39:55,790 --> 00:39:57,430
I see that their frequency

1115
00:39:57,520 --> 00:40:00,670
a is their weak point, weapons fire,

1116
00:40:01,010 --> 00:40:03,740
and I was taking the spock tone, but I.

1117
00:40:03,870 --> 00:40:05,970
And everybody started around me,

1118
00:40:06,010 --> 00:40:07,670
started doing similar things,

1119
00:40:07,720 --> 00:40:09,230
and I felt very out of place.

1120
00:40:09,320 --> 00:40:13,000
I was all of a sudden not able to, like, I was,

1121
00:40:13,030 --> 00:40:14,830
I was like, oh, man, I'm not, I'm not,

1122
00:40:14,900 --> 00:40:16,950
I'm not in Kansas anymore. This is that.

1123
00:40:16,980 --> 00:40:18,270
We're now on a starship.

1124
00:40:18,400 --> 00:40:20,670
And the guy next to me, who is communications,

1125
00:40:20,800 --> 00:40:22,570
he joined later, but he,

1126
00:40:22,650 --> 00:40:24,190
he would every now and then ask me like, oh,

1127
00:40:24,260 --> 00:40:26,700
what do you think I should say? And I said,

1128
00:40:26,750 --> 00:40:29,070
tell him to go kiss their ass goodbye.

1129
00:40:29,650 --> 00:40:31,230
And it was very fun.

1130
00:40:31,300 --> 00:40:33,010
I had a lot of fun. Meanwhile,

1131
00:40:33,090 --> 00:40:34,550
I'm just sitting there being like,

1132
00:40:34,600 --> 00:40:37,190
do I want to send a nuke at that space station?

1133
00:40:37,240 --> 00:40:38,100
That we're going to,

1134
00:40:38,150 --> 00:40:40,630
because I know y'all, like, everyone there,

1135
00:40:40,660 --> 00:40:42,150
was so excited to play the game

1136
00:40:42,180 --> 00:40:43,680
the way it's supposed to be played. And

1137
00:40:43,710 --> 00:40:46,230
that just made me wanna, out of hilarity, like,

1138
00:40:46,340 --> 00:40:49,750
nuke the actual space station, which

1139
00:40:49,780 --> 00:40:51,980
I didn't know if I was allowed to do or not.

1140
00:40:52,070 --> 00:40:53,730
But then also there's. There's like,

1141
00:40:53,770 --> 00:40:56,490
three other people around. Three. Sorry,

1142
00:40:56,530 --> 00:40:59,000
three other ships around of

1143
00:40:59,070 --> 00:41:01,060
people that are in the same game as us.

1144
00:41:01,150 --> 00:41:04,280
And I just felt like if I do this,

1145
00:41:04,310 --> 00:41:05,130
I'm gonna ruin, like,

1146
00:41:05,170 --> 00:41:07,680
the permanency of the game, and I.

1147
00:41:07,720 --> 00:41:08,860
I won't do that. Yeah.

1148
00:41:08,910 --> 00:41:09,780
Which would have been cool.

1149
00:41:09,910 --> 00:41:12,320
Maybe we'll just have to put you in the brig.

1150
00:41:12,480 --> 00:41:14,810
Yeah. Wow. It was the nerdiest thing.

1151
00:41:14,820 --> 00:41:17,690
I was probably the nerdiest ten minutes that

1152
00:41:17,700 --> 00:41:19,860
I have ever spent in my life doing anything.

1153
00:41:19,930 --> 00:41:21,590
But I'm glad I got to do it with you.

1154
00:41:21,740 --> 00:41:23,970
Yeah, it was very fun. I'm glad that

1155
00:41:23,980 --> 00:41:24,980
they let us play a second

1156
00:41:25,030 --> 00:41:26,260
time because there was no line.

1157
00:41:26,390 --> 00:41:27,320
I wanted to ask you.

1158
00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:30,740
There's a concept around when people

1159
00:41:30,810 --> 00:41:32,580
want to jump into starting a business,

1160
00:41:32,670 --> 00:41:34,120
how to do that, right?

1161
00:41:34,280 --> 00:41:37,430
Do people sort of burn the boats

1162
00:41:37,580 --> 00:41:41,410
and quit their day job and, like, dive in,

1163
00:41:41,580 --> 00:41:46,210
or do they come up with a couple ways

1164
00:41:46,260 --> 00:41:48,590
of doing it and test and kind of like,

1165
00:41:48,660 --> 00:41:50,320
slowly ease in and iterate

1166
00:41:50,360 --> 00:41:52,970
their way towards this goal of, say,

1167
00:41:53,020 --> 00:41:56,500
leaving their job and jumping into

1168
00:41:57,680 --> 00:41:59,580
their nerdy business full time,

1169
00:41:59,690 --> 00:42:00,520
but really getting

1170
00:42:00,560 --> 00:42:02,870
it up and started part time? And I'm curious,

1171
00:42:02,910 --> 00:42:04,260
what did you notice

1172
00:42:04,410 --> 00:42:06,170
from the people we interviewed?

1173
00:42:06,550 --> 00:42:07,660
Was the way.

1174
00:42:07,770 --> 00:42:09,330
Was the right way to do it?

1175
00:42:11,110 --> 00:42:13,300
Yeah, I like this question a lot because

1176
00:42:13,410 --> 00:42:15,590
it touches on what we talk

1177
00:42:15,630 --> 00:42:17,370
about in our interviews on the show.

1178
00:42:17,950 --> 00:42:21,770
But Randall at Catalyst Game Labs stood

1179
00:42:21,800 --> 00:42:24,790
out to me because his story was that

1180
00:42:24,870 --> 00:42:27,720
he started out just providing value

1181
00:42:27,810 --> 00:42:30,250
to the community of BattleTech with

1182
00:42:30,320 --> 00:42:32,380
volunteering to run these games and events.

1183
00:42:32,410 --> 00:42:33,940
And eventually people noticed him,

1184
00:42:34,050 --> 00:42:36,880
and I think he was dipping his toes in.

1185
00:42:36,970 --> 00:42:37,640
I don't even know

1186
00:42:37,650 --> 00:42:39,030
if it was intentional at the time,

1187
00:42:39,070 --> 00:42:39,750
because he was a.

1188
00:42:39,830 --> 00:42:41,010
I think he was a teenager

1189
00:42:41,040 --> 00:42:42,880
at least when he started doing this.

1190
00:42:43,010 --> 00:42:45,090
I don't know how old he was when

1191
00:42:45,220 --> 00:42:47,690
he was brought onto the team permanently,

1192
00:42:48,150 --> 00:42:50,040
but he starts out just volunteering

1193
00:42:50,090 --> 00:42:51,630
and offering his time and providing

1194
00:42:51,670 --> 00:42:54,510
that value and being helpful and reliable,

1195
00:42:54,680 --> 00:42:57,550
and eventually it became a full time thing.

1196
00:42:57,930 --> 00:43:01,230
And, you know, asterisk here, it's a little

1197
00:43:01,260 --> 00:43:03,900
different in his case because he was hired.

1198
00:43:04,030 --> 00:43:05,730
He didn't start a business,

1199
00:43:05,890 --> 00:43:07,460
but I thought it was a good example

1200
00:43:07,510 --> 00:43:10,110
still of you try to bring some value

1201
00:43:10,890 --> 00:43:13,430
in whatever capacity you have at the time.

1202
00:43:13,500 --> 00:43:15,610
And then if you are

1203
00:43:15,650 --> 00:43:17,740
actually bringing value into the world,

1204
00:43:17,870 --> 00:43:19,710
other people will see that and

1205
00:43:19,780 --> 00:43:22,760
it will be noticed and appreciated,

1206
00:43:22,810 --> 00:43:25,050
and success

1207
00:43:25,160 --> 00:43:28,690
will take shape in various ways, I think.

1208
00:43:29,230 --> 00:43:32,660
Well, I think definitely people that we

1209
00:43:32,690 --> 00:43:34,960
talked to generally didn't burn the boats.

1210
00:43:35,130 --> 00:43:39,730
I think most of them started off with an idea,

1211
00:43:40,110 --> 00:43:42,110
and they went out and tried it.

1212
00:43:42,190 --> 00:43:44,140
Then they created various

1213
00:43:44,210 --> 00:43:46,810
iterations to get closer and closer

1214
00:43:46,840 --> 00:43:48,300
to the mark of what they want to do. So,

1215
00:43:48,330 --> 00:43:49,940
like the candle people, they, you know,

1216
00:43:49,970 --> 00:43:50,790
start with a couple cons,

1217
00:43:50,830 --> 00:43:52,170
and then it became their full time thing

1218
00:43:52,200 --> 00:43:54,370
once they got busy enough to actually do it.

1219
00:43:54,460 --> 00:43:56,560
And it was similarly, I mean,

1220
00:43:56,610 --> 00:43:57,850
we were talking with tinker toys.

1221
00:43:57,880 --> 00:43:58,620
They're very successful,

1222
00:43:58,650 --> 00:44:00,320
but they still had day jobs, actually.

1223
00:44:00,370 --> 00:44:03,290
They were just, you know, doing this because,

1224
00:44:03,400 --> 00:44:06,360
and creating this big business of terrain.

1225
00:44:06,410 --> 00:44:07,730
Because why not, like,

1226
00:44:07,840 --> 00:44:08,890
why not do it, right?

1227
00:44:08,960 --> 00:44:09,650
They love the hobby,

1228
00:44:09,680 --> 00:44:11,210
and it's making them great money. Right?

1229
00:44:11,240 --> 00:44:13,440
So why not do this, you know? And

1230
00:44:13,450 --> 00:44:15,660
I think that there was a lot of people that,

1231
00:44:15,820 --> 00:44:18,440
that I think are afraid of, say,

1232
00:44:18,900 --> 00:44:20,090
starting their own business because

1233
00:44:20,120 --> 00:44:21,830
they think it means burning the boats,

1234
00:44:22,000 --> 00:44:26,520
that they have to go off and quit their

1235
00:44:26,550 --> 00:44:28,590
job and just do full time and go all in

1236
00:44:28,600 --> 00:44:30,740
on this idea that may or may not work out.

1237
00:44:30,780 --> 00:44:32,720
And the thing about Tinker toys that was

1238
00:44:32,750 --> 00:44:34,910
interesting was that they had originally

1239
00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:37,920
started with wanting to create a war game. And

1240
00:44:37,930 --> 00:44:41,240
the war game was their own version of rules.

1241
00:44:41,270 --> 00:44:43,260
And it's kind of like what anybody

1242
00:44:43,360 --> 00:44:44,840
who goes into these games, it's like, oh,

1243
00:44:44,870 --> 00:44:45,700
what if we created a

1244
00:44:45,710 --> 00:44:47,300
war game that was just as good as, say,

1245
00:44:47,350 --> 00:44:49,360
warhammer or just as good as necromunda

1246
00:44:49,390 --> 00:44:51,650
or just as good as whatever d and d. What if.

1247
00:44:51,690 --> 00:44:53,190
What if we created that kind of game?

1248
00:44:53,280 --> 00:44:54,230
And that happens, right?

1249
00:44:54,260 --> 00:44:56,280
So many people go in with that intention, and

1250
00:44:56,310 --> 00:44:58,860
then what they found out was like, oh, well,

1251
00:44:58,990 --> 00:45:00,310
here's what we'll do for our game.

1252
00:45:00,340 --> 00:45:00,910
We'll create this

1253
00:45:00,940 --> 00:45:03,710
really cool terrain that'll actually, you know,

1254
00:45:03,740 --> 00:45:04,590
make us a little more

1255
00:45:04,620 --> 00:45:05,870
distinct and people will love it.

1256
00:45:05,920 --> 00:45:07,440
And then they realized that so

1257
00:45:07,470 --> 00:45:08,620
many people who were playing

1258
00:45:08,670 --> 00:45:10,550
Warhammer and Necroman and these other, like,

1259
00:45:10,600 --> 00:45:11,900
war games were like, this terrain.

1260
00:45:11,910 --> 00:45:12,730
Terrain is awesome.

1261
00:45:12,770 --> 00:45:13,930
Can we buy it from you?

1262
00:45:14,010 --> 00:45:15,990
And they just wanted to buy the terrain. They

1263
00:45:16,000 --> 00:45:17,810
didn't have any interest in the actual game,

1264
00:45:17,930 --> 00:45:20,130
and they realized that's where the market was,

1265
00:45:20,170 --> 00:45:21,680
that's where the money was. That's where

1266
00:45:21,710 --> 00:45:23,640
they could actually serve their community.

1267
00:45:23,790 --> 00:45:25,310
And what you just talked about there,

1268
00:45:25,360 --> 00:45:26,390
where it was like,

1269
00:45:27,090 --> 00:45:30,430
you need to add value.

1270
00:45:30,970 --> 00:45:33,450
And I think so many people will go

1271
00:45:33,490 --> 00:45:35,740
in and have be committed to their idea. It's

1272
00:45:35,750 --> 00:45:37,980
like the DM or the dungeon master who goes in,

1273
00:45:37,990 --> 00:45:39,870
who's so committed to their plan

1274
00:45:40,400 --> 00:45:42,700
that they don't shift it,

1275
00:45:42,730 --> 00:45:44,100
and they railroad

1276
00:45:44,800 --> 00:45:47,440
their people into, like, their idea,

1277
00:45:47,480 --> 00:45:48,670
and it ruins the game.

1278
00:45:48,780 --> 00:45:50,420
That's like those same people who go

1279
00:45:50,450 --> 00:45:52,190
into business and are unwilling to

1280
00:45:52,220 --> 00:45:54,370
adapt to what the market needs and

1281
00:45:54,420 --> 00:45:58,630
find where can they be adding value. And

1282
00:45:58,660 --> 00:46:01,070
so this is something that I pulled out of it,

1283
00:46:01,100 --> 00:46:02,860
and I've made a few memes about it since then,

1284
00:46:02,890 --> 00:46:03,780
but it's like,

1285
00:46:04,360 --> 00:46:05,900
you really shouldn't start a nerdy

1286
00:46:05,930 --> 00:46:08,110
business because you want

1287
00:46:08,120 --> 00:46:10,040
to make money in your nerd market.

1288
00:46:10,210 --> 00:46:12,790
You should start a nerdy business because

1289
00:46:12,840 --> 00:46:16,890
you want to serve that community and add

1290
00:46:16,960 --> 00:46:19,800
value to it at a whole different level.

1291
00:46:20,180 --> 00:46:21,580
That's what being

1292
00:46:21,620 --> 00:46:24,160
a successful nerdy entrepreneur requires,

1293
00:46:24,290 --> 00:46:25,760
is where's the gaps?

1294
00:46:25,850 --> 00:46:27,690
Where are the holes in value

1295
00:46:27,800 --> 00:46:29,570
and how can you do it better? I mean,

1296
00:46:29,600 --> 00:46:31,280
we talked to Patrick about that,

1297
00:46:31,740 --> 00:46:32,990
the minis guy, and he's like,

1298
00:46:33,000 --> 00:46:34,140
there was a huge gap in the market.

1299
00:46:34,180 --> 00:46:35,980
No one was making good minis at a good price.

1300
00:46:36,100 --> 00:46:37,450
I came in and crushed it.

1301
00:46:37,560 --> 00:46:38,550
That's what we did.

1302
00:46:38,640 --> 00:46:39,880
Same with the tinker toys. We

1303
00:46:39,890 --> 00:46:41,930
already talked about that. But then, you know,

1304
00:46:42,000 --> 00:46:45,500
you have people who were doing this for all of

1305
00:46:45,540 --> 00:46:48,600
these different nerdy businesses at the event.

1306
00:46:48,650 --> 00:46:49,720
They were all finding little

1307
00:46:49,770 --> 00:46:51,430
niches where they could bring in value,

1308
00:46:51,480 --> 00:46:53,940
and people were excited to buy from them.

1309
00:46:54,020 --> 00:46:57,090
The products that are being brought in reminded

1310
00:46:57,120 --> 00:47:00,070
me of how Hexwood also stood out in this way,

1311
00:47:00,160 --> 00:47:02,610
because we've seen at ECC

1312
00:47:02,800 --> 00:47:06,140
and at PaxNow and many other cons are,

1313
00:47:06,210 --> 00:47:08,770
probably have even more options of different

1314
00:47:08,960 --> 00:47:11,130
tabletop role playing game accessories,

1315
00:47:11,220 --> 00:47:14,250
dice towers, dice trays, dice holders,

1316
00:47:14,360 --> 00:47:17,270
dice themselves in many different forms,

1317
00:47:17,430 --> 00:47:19,330
mystery dice bags,

1318
00:47:20,670 --> 00:47:23,250
just anything you can think of.

1319
00:47:23,400 --> 00:47:24,510
There are people who

1320
00:47:24,550 --> 00:47:28,070
double down on one batch of just, say,

1321
00:47:28,180 --> 00:47:32,950
dice trays or just dice towers or just dice.

1322
00:47:33,100 --> 00:47:36,430
And I thought that Hexwood Forge did a super

1323
00:47:36,500 --> 00:47:40,470
good job of having a wonderful array of things,

1324
00:47:40,810 --> 00:47:41,910
and they were.

1325
00:47:42,970 --> 00:47:44,660
I don't know what their

1326
00:47:44,710 --> 00:47:46,960
process for making these things are,

1327
00:47:47,070 --> 00:47:48,470
so I can't speak to that,

1328
00:47:48,560 --> 00:47:50,630
but I just thought it was really impressive,

1329
00:47:50,720 --> 00:47:52,600
the array of selection they had.

1330
00:47:52,630 --> 00:47:54,100
They had spell templates.

1331
00:47:54,220 --> 00:47:55,480
That's one of the gifts, actually.

1332
00:47:55,530 --> 00:47:57,170
That is the gift they gave you.

1333
00:47:57,200 --> 00:48:00,970
And I were these like spell diagrams

1334
00:48:01,000 --> 00:48:03,740
to help players understand what is a cone,

1335
00:48:03,860 --> 00:48:05,010
what is a square,

1336
00:48:05,120 --> 00:48:06,700
what's a circle on, on the,

1337
00:48:06,740 --> 00:48:08,120
on the battle grid.

1338
00:48:08,820 --> 00:48:11,460
And very practical geometry. Yeah.

1339
00:48:11,540 --> 00:48:13,070
And it was very practical.

1340
00:48:13,160 --> 00:48:14,160
And I thought, oh, my God, this

1341
00:48:14,170 --> 00:48:15,880
is gonna be great for my beginning players.

1342
00:48:16,300 --> 00:48:17,200
And they had that.

1343
00:48:17,250 --> 00:48:18,360
They had dice trays,

1344
00:48:18,410 --> 00:48:20,170
they had other just nerdy

1345
00:48:20,240 --> 00:48:23,230
pretty things on leather. And I thought, wow,

1346
00:48:23,280 --> 00:48:24,920
they're really providing an

1347
00:48:24,950 --> 00:48:27,600
aesthetic value and a practical value,

1348
00:48:28,340 --> 00:48:30,000
and that was really special.

1349
00:48:30,130 --> 00:48:31,760
And I thought that that's the kind of value

1350
00:48:31,810 --> 00:48:34,200
that's going to help them continue to succeed.

1351
00:48:34,350 --> 00:48:35,930
Like, if you're in the dice market,

1352
00:48:36,000 --> 00:48:37,400
you're competing with everyone

1353
00:48:37,490 --> 00:48:38,920
else who's got trays and dice.

1354
00:48:38,970 --> 00:48:41,410
But then they had all

1355
00:48:41,440 --> 00:48:43,090
of these other things that weren't dice.

1356
00:48:43,160 --> 00:48:43,970
Like the templates,

1357
00:48:44,040 --> 00:48:47,720
like the tower things. What was it?

1358
00:48:48,030 --> 00:48:49,350
Oh, yeah, I was.

1359
00:48:49,430 --> 00:48:50,610
What were those called?

1360
00:48:51,710 --> 00:48:52,330
I forget,

1361
00:48:52,380 --> 00:48:53,670
but they're used for, like,

1362
00:48:53,710 --> 00:48:54,850
when your minis are flying

1363
00:48:54,900 --> 00:48:56,330
and you need to have them suspended.

1364
00:48:56,380 --> 00:48:59,010
So they're transparent acrylic stands.

1365
00:48:59,160 --> 00:49:00,800
Yeah. So they had stands like that. They

1366
00:49:00,810 --> 00:49:02,060
had all these sort of things that were

1367
00:49:02,090 --> 00:49:04,810
just sort of supplementary to your game,

1368
00:49:04,860 --> 00:49:05,800
but you wouldn't have seen it.

1369
00:49:05,810 --> 00:49:07,460
A typical dice thing. Sure,

1370
00:49:07,490 --> 00:49:08,350
they had some dice there,

1371
00:49:08,390 --> 00:49:10,490
but it wasn't their main thing.

1372
00:49:10,620 --> 00:49:12,260
And we also got to talking

1373
00:49:12,290 --> 00:49:13,550
to people about what their main

1374
00:49:13,590 --> 00:49:16,650
sellers were at each of these booths. So

1375
00:49:16,680 --> 00:49:18,330
I think that'll be really interesting content

1376
00:49:18,400 --> 00:49:20,880
for people to see as well as they, as they go.

1377
00:49:20,910 --> 00:49:23,360
Check out our insta and doing all that,

1378
00:49:23,660 --> 00:49:25,520
because as you go to various cons, every

1379
00:49:25,550 --> 00:49:29,590
con has slightly different groups and people.

1380
00:49:29,680 --> 00:49:31,210
And what we found by talking to these

1381
00:49:31,240 --> 00:49:33,380
people was that you learn what

1382
00:49:33,420 --> 00:49:35,470
kind of things sell at certain cons, right,

1383
00:49:35,520 --> 00:49:36,560
as you do more of them.

1384
00:49:36,590 --> 00:49:38,240
And so there's probably some wisdom

1385
00:49:38,270 --> 00:49:40,280
that people can garner from just paying

1386
00:49:40,310 --> 00:49:42,400
attention to what other people are selling

1387
00:49:42,430 --> 00:49:44,680
and what works at Pax west, for example.

1388
00:49:44,730 --> 00:49:46,430
And I can't wait to go to more cons to be

1389
00:49:46,440 --> 00:49:48,400
able to explore what are some of these

1390
00:49:48,430 --> 00:49:50,730
other experiences that people are finding,

1391
00:49:50,800 --> 00:49:51,970
and what is the wisdom that we can

1392
00:49:52,000 --> 00:49:53,490
garner for other people in the future

1393
00:49:53,640 --> 00:49:55,260
who might want to go to those cons,

1394
00:49:55,340 --> 00:49:57,880
what kind of products are selling big there.

1395
00:49:58,260 --> 00:49:59,670
So it was a consistent,

1396
00:49:59,760 --> 00:50:01,250
we heard from people was that like, you know,

1397
00:50:01,280 --> 00:50:02,310
you get to know these cons,

1398
00:50:02,400 --> 00:50:04,300
take a risk on them, but, like, pay attention.

1399
00:50:04,420 --> 00:50:06,220
Some of these cons might not work out as well,

1400
00:50:06,260 --> 00:50:07,040
and some of them,

1401
00:50:07,150 --> 00:50:08,430
you might sell something you

1402
00:50:08,440 --> 00:50:10,080
didn't expect and run out of things, right.

1403
00:50:10,130 --> 00:50:11,970
So it's like, wow, you know, we

1404
00:50:12,000 --> 00:50:15,510
really ran out of these templates really quick,

1405
00:50:15,550 --> 00:50:17,690
so we should bring more of them to packs.

1406
00:50:17,780 --> 00:50:19,930
And whereas we had tons of

1407
00:50:20,430 --> 00:50:22,490
stuffed animals and no one wanted them here,

1408
00:50:22,520 --> 00:50:24,290
whatever it is you're selling. Right?

1409
00:50:24,460 --> 00:50:26,090
Yeah. There's a lot of wisdom that we've

1410
00:50:26,120 --> 00:50:28,330
touched on over the last few months,

1411
00:50:28,710 --> 00:50:29,840
ever since we went to Emerald

1412
00:50:29,850 --> 00:50:32,930
City Comic Con and in our interviews,

1413
00:50:33,120 --> 00:50:34,490
our long form interviews

1414
00:50:34,520 --> 00:50:36,740
on the show about cons and.

1415
00:50:36,770 --> 00:50:37,990
And how people

1416
00:50:38,030 --> 00:50:41,050
can be better prepared for them. So, listener,

1417
00:50:41,100 --> 00:50:43,010
if you want more wisdom about

1418
00:50:43,140 --> 00:50:44,810
how to be better prepared for a con,

1419
00:50:44,880 --> 00:50:46,730
we have some content in the past,

1420
00:50:47,030 --> 00:50:48,880
and we will have more content

1421
00:50:49,050 --> 00:50:50,910
around how to be better prepared

1422
00:50:50,950 --> 00:50:54,210
because cons are a really lucrative,

1423
00:50:54,300 --> 00:50:57,390
rewarding opportunity if you are well prepared.

1424
00:50:57,430 --> 00:50:59,720
And that's what we saw solidified at PAX.

1425
00:50:59,770 --> 00:51:01,260
The people there were veterans.

1426
00:51:01,450 --> 00:51:02,540
Yeah, I had a blast doing

1427
00:51:02,570 --> 00:51:03,950
the interviews with you.

1428
00:51:04,090 --> 00:51:06,600
I know I was the one on camera for a lot of it,

1429
00:51:06,630 --> 00:51:08,920
but that was something that I had a blast doing

1430
00:51:08,970 --> 00:51:11,400
and was the main thing I wanted to get done.

1431
00:51:11,510 --> 00:51:12,730
And I appreciate you being the

1432
00:51:12,760 --> 00:51:13,850
person who was filming and

1433
00:51:13,920 --> 00:51:15,640
getting all the angles and everything. Right.

1434
00:51:15,710 --> 00:51:17,400
And allowing me to

1435
00:51:17,550 --> 00:51:20,240
be in the moment that I'm good at, which

1436
00:51:20,270 --> 00:51:21,570
was interviewing those people and getting.

1437
00:51:21,640 --> 00:51:23,300
And pulling out some of those great answers.

1438
00:51:23,420 --> 00:51:25,580
Yeah, you did great. Hearing

1439
00:51:25,620 --> 00:51:27,500
that you liked this so much.

1440
00:51:27,540 --> 00:51:29,000
What was your favorite part

1441
00:51:29,070 --> 00:51:31,240
about doing these five minute interviews?

1442
00:51:32,310 --> 00:51:32,830
You know,

1443
00:51:32,870 --> 00:51:36,650
when I thought about doing these interviews,

1444
00:51:36,780 --> 00:51:37,810
I had a series of

1445
00:51:37,840 --> 00:51:39,590
questions I wanted to ask people.

1446
00:51:39,750 --> 00:51:42,620
Some of it was around how many cons they had

1447
00:51:42,650 --> 00:51:45,020
done and what are some keys to success at cons.

1448
00:51:45,130 --> 00:51:46,890
I knew I wanted to ask that.

1449
00:51:47,080 --> 00:51:49,860
I wanted to ask people around what

1450
00:51:49,890 --> 00:51:51,780
are the big lessons they learned

1451
00:51:51,810 --> 00:51:53,950
in their first year or two of business. Right.

1452
00:51:53,990 --> 00:51:55,090
Some things to really pull

1453
00:51:55,140 --> 00:51:59,520
those nuggets out of for people. But I also,

1454
00:51:59,630 --> 00:52:01,380
while I was doing these interviews,

1455
00:52:01,500 --> 00:52:03,240
saw the joy that was coming

1456
00:52:03,290 --> 00:52:05,120
out of the people we were interviewing.

1457
00:52:05,170 --> 00:52:07,440
And I got to asking them,

1458
00:52:08,020 --> 00:52:11,260
what do you love about your life now

1459
00:52:11,380 --> 00:52:14,340
as a nerdy entrepreneur who's successful?

1460
00:52:14,500 --> 00:52:15,880
And I'll tell you, even

1461
00:52:15,910 --> 00:52:17,640
though some of them were tired and, you know,

1462
00:52:17,670 --> 00:52:18,920
they were going after

1463
00:52:18,970 --> 00:52:21,980
it for three or four days, I'm telling you,

1464
00:52:22,100 --> 00:52:23,830
every single one of them came

1465
00:52:23,880 --> 00:52:26,140
back with an answer that was like,

1466
00:52:26,220 --> 00:52:28,570
I love my life now.

1467
00:52:28,760 --> 00:52:32,170
I am so happy that I, you know, yeah,

1468
00:52:32,200 --> 00:52:34,120
I'm busier than I've ever been,

1469
00:52:34,290 --> 00:52:37,610
but I love what I'm doing. You know,

1470
00:52:37,640 --> 00:52:38,250
I remember

1471
00:52:38,400 --> 00:52:39,890
one of them, Corey, was saying, he's like,

1472
00:52:39,960 --> 00:52:40,800
I can take a nap in the

1473
00:52:40,810 --> 00:52:41,700
middle of the day if I want to.

1474
00:52:41,740 --> 00:52:43,820
It's on my terms. You know,

1475
00:52:43,940 --> 00:52:47,650
I don't have to go into an office or

1476
00:52:47,760 --> 00:52:51,410
deal with TPS reports or go and, you know,

1477
00:52:51,460 --> 00:52:54,010
be on some building someone else's dream,

1478
00:52:54,060 --> 00:52:55,740
someone else's vision.

1479
00:52:56,080 --> 00:53:01,220
It's my vision, my business, and my.

1480
00:53:01,410 --> 00:53:04,310
My will to succeed that's getting me further.

1481
00:53:04,380 --> 00:53:05,450
So I get to build it at

1482
00:53:05,460 --> 00:53:07,550
the pace that I want to as well.

1483
00:53:07,700 --> 00:53:11,340
And so many of them linked that to freedom even

1484
00:53:11,370 --> 00:53:13,540
though they're busy and they work really hard.

1485
00:53:14,760 --> 00:53:16,070
Almost every single one of the

1486
00:53:16,100 --> 00:53:17,550
people said they love the freedom

1487
00:53:17,580 --> 00:53:20,090
of it and that's the nerdpreneur spirit.

1488
00:53:20,140 --> 00:53:22,220
That's the other side of taking

1489
00:53:22,290 --> 00:53:25,550
that leap into a nerdy business.

1490
00:53:25,740 --> 00:53:28,400
And I think that we really got confronted

1491
00:53:28,440 --> 00:53:30,890
with that when we interviewed these people

1492
00:53:31,060 --> 00:53:34,070
face to face at an event like PAX west.

1493
00:53:34,220 --> 00:53:36,990
And to me that's why we're doing what

1494
00:53:37,020 --> 00:53:39,150
we're doing is to inspire people that

1495
00:53:39,180 --> 00:53:40,740
they can go out and make this happen for

1496
00:53:40,770 --> 00:53:43,140
themselves and get on the other side

1497
00:53:43,440 --> 00:53:45,890
of that leap it takes to start your

1498
00:53:46,000 --> 00:53:48,320
nerdy business and pursue that freedom.

1499
00:53:48,660 --> 00:53:51,620
So for our dear listeners,

1500
00:53:51,780 --> 00:53:53,490
if you would like to see those interviews,

1501
00:53:53,520 --> 00:53:54,400
we'll be releasing them

1502
00:53:54,430 --> 00:53:56,660
on our social media platforms, YouTube,

1503
00:53:56,740 --> 00:53:58,920
Instagram threads, even X.

1504
00:53:59,110 --> 00:54:01,680
And as always, Chris,

1505
00:54:02,780 --> 00:54:03,540
keep it nerdy.