This show is sponsored by hive mind CRM. It is more than just a CRM. It is a real estate and business mastermind that comes with an all in one CRM, you can have unlimited websites and users, you can call text, RVM, and email all in one user interface, and you can set up custom automations. For any type and multiple businesses. 65% of companies start using a CRM system within the first five years of business. Once implemented, the hive mind will save you on marketing give you more time and make more money. One of our users had his first $100,000 month using our system in June, we want to see you automate and accelerate your business text us at 2109728 t 42. For future meetings. And of course, to get our $1 course on how to make more than six figures on one Landale, you can schedule your free demo today at hive mind CR m.io. Hey, welcome to say this episode, we're here with Steven Pope, Steven G Pope. We're going to talk about some business automation that the business automation, but social media automation, and we're talking about business too, because you bought and sold the business. So we're kind of talking about that, too. Yeah, that'd be great. Yeah. So tell us a little bit about how you got into entrepreneurship. Like, some people fall into it. Some people started at birth is different for everybody. Yeah, I think for me, it was really at birth. So like, I was always trying to design products and sell them to people. And of course, it's always it's always your family first, right? And like your I think the first couple sales you get is always like a sympathy kind of purchase. Right? So I created a paper computer. And my uncle bought it for 10 bucks. And yeah, so so like I said, it's sympathy, right? Like, who would need a paper computer, but they were just helping me out? Yeah. So you know, just like, I was always just interested in building things, and solving little problems. And then I was I just like made the assumption is like, well, if I solve this cool problem, then you must want this as well. When you get into the real business world, that doesn't always work out that way. It's a good thought, though. Yeah, but it's a good it's a good early thought to have the just everyone wants all your solutions, especially in the tech world, right. Because like I'm in the I helped a lot of startups too. And like, everybody has their brilliant idea. And like most of them go go nowhere. But But yeah, I mean, I think just, I was always just interested in, in selling stuff coming up with products. And then it just so happened like, after I, I got my degree in computer science, and went out into the job market after that. It was the first.com bubble. And I don't think I was trying very hard, but I couldn't get a job. And it just so happened that like a few a few people started reaching out, I was like, oh, you know, computers. I've been doing computers since I was a little kid. So like, for me, like there's all these separations of skills now, like DevOps, and programming and hardware. And so like, to me, it was all like, I just knew how to do all that stuff. And so I knew how to kind of piecemeal lots of things together, hardware software. And so like when I would go work with startups that worked out really well, because like, no startup, I can't say no startup, but a lot of the times you're kind of putting things together. And so then I ended up doing consulting, and then I was just doing good work for people, and then ultimately built that company up, you know, to a couple million dollars a year, I was thinking magazine's fastest growing companies and then and then I sold that. So my entrepreneurial journey has really just, you know, been from the beginning, I've only had a W two job like probably two or three years of my life. Now one of the things is vast readership is finding, finding that whatever that problem is, and it might, it might be a good idea to you, but it's marketplace, I'll tell you really quick if it's a good idea or not. Yeah, that is kind of the cool thing, too. But it's hard for people to take that leap. It's like you can get the marketplace to tell you things before you even build it. But it takes some restraint to do that, right? Like because like for most entrepreneurs, you get excited. It's like, the only thing you want to go do as soon as you have that idea is to go build it, and the thought of going out and just like just asking people if they want to, I think that all sorts of things get in your way. Like, you're afraid, they'll say no, like, maybe deep down, like they don't really want it or you have to go talk to people. So if you're introverted, and you're, especially in the tech space, you gotta go talk and that that can be nerve racking as well. So there's all these different things that kind of keep you because it because the interesting thing, there's a lot of entrepreneurs out there, I think this is more of the rare type, but they just, they don't like come up with any problems. They don't solve anything. They just go and ask people and then the people tell them and then they go build it. And they take the fast route. But I think I think those types of people are a little more on the rare side. And I like what you said like when you're growing company, you don't have you don't have all the answers or the people so you kind of have to depend on out resources outside of your scope just because you don't have it. You don't have all the answers and that's okay. Yeah. That's what's fun for me with technology. I always loved looking into one industry, seeing what they were doing and then looking into another industry. And like those, the things that I take are like commonplace in that industry. But like you bring, you can bring some things to another industry where it's like, nobody even knows it. And then if you take two existing ideas and put those together, it's like, you can make this hodgepodge. So there's like, when you're coming up with ideas, like there's a few different ways, it's like, you can have a purely original idea, which I think is more on the rare side. Yeah, or, or you're borrowing things from other industries, or you're combining different things, or you're just doing like a hodgepodge of all the above, I've noticed that it's crazy. I've not I've noticed that recently is that, like, there could be one, like you said, one industry like totally, everything builds out. And then he got to know industry and like, they're totally missing that one key piece that can accelerate and make things better. And it's just not there. Yeah, just sitting in pitch it to that niche of fly. Yeah, especially like content, right. So like startups, there are understanding this kind of thing. Like they're like, startups understand content need to get my word out there organic content, like in the professional services realm, consultants, I mean, not to say that none of them know about that. But a lot of them are just stuck in the old school like traditional networking groups and not to, I always, I always want to make sure I'm not like bagging on traditional networking groups, a lot of people have made a lot of money and build successful businesses. But I don't think it's necessarily the future of like, just a few people in a city getting together and just getting their two minutes to give their pitch every every other week, there's a lot of ways to scale your business, and content is one of them. But like most, most professionals out there just don't. It's like totally foreign, even though like startups are just like, this is the best way to grow. It's like the phonebook. Everyone's like I want to get in the phonebook. Let's answer the phone, but no one has phone books anymore. Yeah, I mean, it's, we laugh, but it's like a lot of businesses, it's still the same thing. It's like they, they just don't, they don't I mean, they're experts in what they do. Right. So they don't have some of these, these common things. And like when you start to get on video, I don't know how you were but like, I was terrified to get on video. And yeah, and so like in your in, like marketing, like marketing strategy, like, it's actually not complicated. It's like one of the most like, if you just go to the Google and type marketing, go to market strategy and just read it for like, 10 minutes, you'll like, you'll be like, Whoa, that was so simple. Like, obviously who, what, why, where and how. It's like, it makes so much sense. But like, if you don't look at it, then marketing could be really foreign to you. And then then you're just like always trying to piecemeal things together. And like, you don't know why things work or why they don't and so like, you can just never figure it out. So what's something and I think I think homes, you operate your own business for you sold it? I think it was 12 years or so. Wow. 12 years? Yeah. So what is the question I like? Asked him for people uniform. How do you prevent burnout? over 12 years? Yes, I think partly? Oh, well, yeah, that's interesting. Like, I think for me, like, I've always had a certain resiliency. So like, I definitely would say I was burnt out at times, but I would just kind of like, check out like, I've always been able to recover from that kind of thing, because I just, but I do think it's like you want to reduce the number of things you're doing, you want to have focus, you want to be focused on making an impact with people, because it's really easy to get yourself into a thing where you're just doing stuff, and you've lost touch with the fact that you're supposed to be making an impact in people's lives. And like, impact usually comes from going deep on something not from doing a lot of stuff. And so I think kind of keeping a measure on on some of those things. And because, you know, you only have so much time and and you have to have fun with the process. You know, have fun with it, and give yourself some time off and spend some time with your kids if you've got kids and yeah, so you know, it's like, that's, that's probably the best advice I could give you is like, enjoy the process, I guess. Is it was there a point that the reason why you sold your product, your business was like, it was like, hey, there's a better bigger, better things was the money? Was it the freedom of not having to do that thing anymore? That one thing that took your time? What was the what was the biggest reason why you sold your business? I think ultimately I got I fell out of love for helping other people build technology. Okay, because it's really hard, and it was getting really competitive. And I didn't really want to niche down into something. So I think if you're gonna build a, like a software agency right now, like, probably your best bet is, like, I think there's only two directions you go, you're the cheapest on the market, and then people will pay you because lots of people need technology. So if you're cheap and you do semi good work, people will pay you for it, or you go kind of niche, right. And I grew up doing all sorts of stuff. So I didn't want to be niche. And I just got tired of and I'm sure like like I'm sure if I had the wherewithal at the time, I could have solved this like if I knew some of the things I know now about marketing and like niching down and but I didn't quite grasp all that like I do now. But I just got tired of like people not appreciating what I was doing. Like it was it was it was a funny thing. And technology was always like the hardest thing everyone thought was the easiest thing and the things that were The easiest, they were like, Whoa, that's incredible. And it's just like, with technology, it's like it usually, especially when you're like doing consulting, a lot of times, it just didn't go exactly the way I wanted. You know, I mean, we did a lot of kind of like making it sound real negative, we did a lot of great work for a lot of people. But I just got tired of some of that, that friction of like, Oh, we're over budget? Well, it's like, yeah, you're over by this technology. And it's like, it's always gonna go over budget, it never comes out the way you want it. And you know, and like that people would spend all this money on these, these startups. And like, we were talking earlier about, like product market fit, they didn't really have product market fit, they're building all this technology. And it would go nowhere. And you know, I just got, I guess I just got tired of that. spinning the wheels, you thought you wanted a greater purpose? Yeah, well, that's a funny way you put that because, yeah, it's like I wanted to tap into a purpose, I probably, like knowing some of the things I know, now, I could have probably applied some of that. But yeah, I wanted a purpose, I want to like make an impact on people's lives, I have a pretty specific purpose in life now, which is really to like, because this is at the core of what I'm good at, I've always been really good at like, seeing the potential in people. And if they're interested in hearing my perspective on that, then I'm good at helping them get the tools and the resources to help them reach their maximum impact. And so that's kind of like, you know, regardless of what I do now, or what I was doing before, it was always with entrepreneurs and business owners for the most part. And so like, I am tapping more into that now, like, how can I help these people and make an impact and help them make their biggest impact? I think I want to hit a point, though, that you just said is that you sell to people who want to be sold versus people that don't? Yeah. Yeah. Little little tricky there. But that's what you said. Yeah, well, cuz like, I have opinions on, like, if I got to know you better, I'm sure I would come up with all sorts of stuff like, Daniel, you could do this, you could do this, you might not care what I have to say. But so I've had to learn that as well. Like there are people that are really interested in what I have to say about their future. And then there are the people that could care less about what Stephen has, like, what Stephens vision for my life is, you know, it's like, it's just because I see something in somebody doesn't mean that's what they want, or what they're looking for, you know, so like, it's just something that I have, but it's not necessarily apply. It doesn't, it doesn't mean that it fits with everybody. I think that's, that's wisdom and your experience talking because a lot of people struggle with that early on, I think everybody and I have had the same issues. That's why I recognize it too. Because I'm like, I can help people, I can help people, I can help so many people, but nobody wants to listen to me. And I'm like, Well, maybe it's why I'm saying it. Yeah. And and then and then but also. And that's the interesting thing is like, you make that realization now now you have to make sure you don't go the other way, where you dilute yourself and you start telling yourself that nobody cares about this. Because there are people that do you just have to kind of find your tribe. And that's what's cool about the internet now is that you can find your tribe, like you have to put in some effort, you have to commit to them before they'll commit to you. But you can go out and find your like minded people, right? Like you, you came across a tick tock and you saw what I was doing. And you're like, hey, this, this guy is like, somehow we connected. And social media allows us to do that. And now here, I'm on your podcast, right? And I'm excited to be on it. Because we're like minded and we have similarities. You know, it's being consistent to find your tribe, because the tribe isn't everybody and everybody fits your fits in that box for you. So like, I'm not afraid to lose clients or customers on Saturday, like goats and Oh, could help them. But not everybody's a good fit. Sounds to be able to go. That's a really interesting point too. Because like I when I first started scaling out my business, yeah, I realized that a certain point, I was like, I'm taking on some clients that really aren't a great fit. And lo and behold, those clients weren't getting results. So especially when you're like doing consulting, like picking the right clients is like crucial, right? Because if your business is based off of getting people results, and you're taking the wrong people, then you're not going to get them results. And nobody's going to talk about you. And, and that's, that's critical. So I actually took a step back and I was like, Okay, I'm gonna actually allow my, it's hard to do this, like, I'm gonna scale I'm gonna allow myself to scale back down, and somewhat start, just make sure that I bring on the right people because I have to work with purpose driven people. i That's one. Yeah. Because like, because, like, I do live shows I do live I get on video, I'm like, spreading my evangelizing my word. Like, if you're just like, if you're just a practitioner of your business, and this, there's no judgement here either. But like, if you're just in, like, if you're just a practitioner, and you like to, you're running your business to make money, and you've got enough clients, like, you're not gonna want to do more. Right? And so, I realized, like, I looked back at my clients were getting big successes, and it was like, Oh, they're purpose driven. Like, they have a mission like then those people will never give out no matter what. And that's the type of client I need because like With a client like that, all I need to do is make a few adjustments. And although the ACT already, yeah, like I don't like, they'll just do it. And then then they'll like if they fail, like, it's like not like it's not, it's just like part of the everyone knows it's part of the deal. And then, whereas like if somebody isn't purpose driven, I can pour my heart, my soul, every resource every how to information, every little thing. And it's just not going to, it's just not going to do it. Yeah, that's a, that's a pretty good insight. That's pretty good insight. Because not everyone, everybody's gonna hear it. So what are the things are you looking for besides purpose driven? Because I think I think this is a good conversation to have. Yeah, I think purpose driven is number one. And then number two, like, I help people with content, so. And usually my clients as well are like, they sell advice. So they're a consultant, a coach, a professional firm, or an agency, because that's what I've really asked what I've been my whole life. And, and so, you know, usually I'm looking for that I do work with a few startups, tech startups, but like, right, when we met, I was like, hey, that this is, I can totally help you. But this is a little bit outside of the realm. And then usually people that want to do some sort of video, you know, they want to they, and that's part of my journey, as well as, like, I used to be afraid of video, I used to be afraid of public speaking. And so that was part of when I started my next company, I was like, I'm gonna overcome this, I want to go out and, like, get out there, like, Hold on all those back, like, so like somebody that wants to do some of those things. And I think those that's the core, the core of it, and somebody that wants to make an impact, right, so I guess purpose and impact kind of go hand in hand. But you know, like, and, you know, and a lot of my clients they're trying to get trying to build freedom in their lives. So this freedom impact, you know, that kind of that, that kind of thing, there's a, there's a, there's a greater purpose that you can tap into, finds out their driving force, that's usually going to push them down to become successful, and use up and it sounds like you have to determine that even up front before you can be Manas client, because if they're not purpose driven, impactful, and willing to succeed, they're not going to where they put money or a lot of money or a little bit of money. They're just not going to do it. Because there's no there's no Inner Inner Fire. Yeah. And I think that in like, when I look back at my one of my one client is just very successful. She has this really clear purpose, and like, it's on her podcast, and this is like, you read the purpose. And you're like, dang, that's like, it just like even even though I like even though it's not like I'm not really in her sphere. When I look when I'm like, dang, that's a crazy purpose. Like, and it has, it has this big vision, right? It's like, it's probably like, it's even probably something that she might not be able to, like solve all on her own in her lifetime. Right? So it's big, it's even bigger than your own life. But you see how you're gonna fit in, in your journey. You're and maybe maybe in a few generations, this will come true. But that's what like, that's what I think a good purpose is right? It's like, the purpose is even bigger than you in your lifetime. How did you come across your purpose? I know it took you I mean, you've been onto it for so long. Was it something that you saw that you saw the thing that needed to be fixed and resolved as we kind of dove into? Or was it like it most of the time? It's just wisdom, wisdom and time, right? Yeah, I mean, I think I've always had it like, on my fingertips, I did end up hiring my own coach. And he was really big into the purpose thing. And he did help me kind of formalize it. So I had a little bit of help on that. It was it was right there. Like, it didn't take me a long time to kind of, but like I had somebody kind of just helped me kind of put it together and like, and also sometimes I think, you know, just a good coach will like, force you to do it, like make you like the like, this is important, man, like, I'm not gonna let you do anything else until you kind of like formulize this. And so I think that was helpful. Like, because here's the other thing is like, when I wake up every day, I look at that, and regardless of how that day goes, right, so it's like, or if I don't want to do something, I can look at that and say, Oh, I'm supposed to be contributing to this. And it does make some of these, these other things that you're doing a little more palatable, because you're serving something bigger. Because there are certain things I'm sure you wake up every day, there's certain things you don't want to do. There are certain things that I do that I don't like to do it like you have to kind of figure out something that's gonna get you past that. Because if it if you get real micro on some of these tasks, you might just quit. Yeah, one thing I didn't realize about this till a couple years ago, but how important is it to have a coach or mentor in business? Because in the end, like the regular world, everybody's like, How can I afford a coach or mentor, because their thing but within the business world, it's like I talked to a mentor of mine. He has a health coach. He has a business coach. He has all these different people that To help him become the best version of themselves in his personal relationships, health, like all these different people that influence him, right? So like, what how important is so expensive? Some are expensive. Exactly. Yeah, I think it's important, you know, and I look at coaches and mentors a little bit differently sometimes. And I don't know if there's a real line on here, but like I see mentors is a little bit more of like a friend, and maybe you're not necessarily paying them. And like, the conversations are a little less guided, I think a good coach, whittles everything down to like, the next most important thing you should be working on. Like, because that's what I think a good coach can do is like, there's all these millions of things, but like, what's the single most important thing that you have to solve right now? And then how do you solve it? But I think it's imperative, especially if I'm a coach, like, why would you hire me? As a coach? If I didn't have a coach? Like, it seems it would be? It would be kind of incongruent. Right? Like, hire me, man, like, and then he's like, do you ever coach not why whatever. Yeah, so I think it's important, like, the coaches, I think there are lots of bad coaches, you know, so you got to find the one that that fits with you. But I think it's important because it's, you only got one life and you want to, like reach, not everybody, but like you want to, you want to achieve certain things. And so why not? Why not have somebody that can like, just help you help guide you and help you stay focused? And if you get one, listen to what they say? No, otherwise, like, you know, otherwise, what's the point? Do everything they said, if the coach is where you want to be, do what they say? Because yeah, on that path. Now, in truth, like, there's no coach that's gonna be able to promise you something. So something might not go the way you want. But if you're gonna go if you're gonna hire him do it. Because if you don't do what they say, then either and there's a million reasons why you might not you might, you just might be don't want to do it. Or it's just like, you have to conquer some fear. But if you don't do it, you're never going to know, like, it's always gonna be this like thing that's like, were they right? Or it's just gonna leave them big, like some some sort of ambiguous nature to the relationship. I will 100% agree with that. Because it's should have Coulda, Woulda, yeah. Like, if I would have done it would work. But because I'm stubborn, and I realized I'm stubborn five years later, but what it worked five years ago. And it's, I mean, 20 passes hindsight, of course, you can't really rigid the decisions, but you always the bigger the bigger the decision that you didn't make at that time, you always feel their implications in the future. Yeah, and a good coach, I think most of the time is just giving you something subtle to do is the subtle shifts that usually produce the most results. And that's, again, why it's good to work with people that are aligned with you, because like, you're gonna get better results for your clients, when you can just give them subtle pushes and get them what they want. Right? Yeah. Because if you have to, like reinvent, like, the you have to do some crazy thing to get somebody a result. It's like, it's not gonna work. Yeah, that's, that's funny. Let's kind of pivot into content creation and your passion. Now. What are let's kind of delve into that. So what's your purpose and impact the tried to pass through to business entrepreneurs and coaches to make a bigger impact? Well, it's interesting to say that too, because like, content, really, and I had to analyze this a bit, but content has always been a part of what I do. So when I grew my previous business, it was all on like thought leadership, expert content, talking about innovation, I just did a live on this earlier, like, a long time, a long time ago, I did this blog about how JavaScript was gonna be, like, the biggest language out there, or one of them, and like, people will debate me. But it became that and it was like, that was one of my first blogs that went viral and on Hacker News and stuff. So that's always been something that's been a part of me. And then in this case, it just, it just kind of came down to like, so when I sold that previous business, I went to start the next one. And I started getting into content, and video and marketing and social media, and a light bulb went on my head, I was like, Man, I could have built the other business so much faster. And it was kind of funny, because I was building a different my second business was going to be different than what I have right now. But I wasn't really interested in it. It was it was but I would go to these lunches with all these entrepreneurs. And I would be I would actually get them excited about marketing and growing their business. And they were like starting to ask me if I can help them with that. And then the light bulb went off. I was like, Hey, I'm so I'm super passionate about this. And so all I do now is I make content around. I mean, I do make automation content, because I'm a tech guy. So it's like it just, it helps me cut through the noise a lot. But I'm just helping. I'm just creating content to help people build their business ultimately, and marketing and video creation and productivity automation systems. And then, like how do you make an impact in the world? And so that that goes to serving my purpose of trying to help people helping entrepreneurs, like grow their business. Yeah. So that's SGP labs.com Yes. SVP labs, one of the biggest things that a lot of people think that it's doesn't count for them, but I think it's for every business kind of talking about this is that most people think they shouldn't be concentration because they're too small. So let's kind of address that issue. Because for me in my head, I'm like, everybody needs to produce content, because the digital age we're in, yeah, you're small. That's what gets you organic traffic. But what's your? Yeah, I mean, like, you have this free traffic, basically. And you're able to, like we said, in the summit in the beginning, it's like, free traffic free eyeballs, at scale, helping people showing your expertise, making an impact. And I mean, like, if what one thing that I see a lot of is like, the people that are really using social media really well, it's like, it's all like the people starting brand new businesses, like young, like, it's a lot of times younger people. And then it's also like the big brands, the big brands get it, they've been doing this for a long time. It seems to be there's this portion in the middle. And I'm sure it's like smaller businesses as well. But I just think they're stuck in an old mindset. It's just like, like networking groups, and, you know, like, trying to do the pitch, once they like, get somebody in the chair. And it's like, the world has just shifted. And the funny thing is, as well, as he talked to most of those people, and most of those people have bought products from social media, they've either hired someone or bought a product from something they found on social media so that they're not even making the connection that they're, they're not participating in the thing that they use to make their own buying decisions. is a funny story with that. So my wife bought something online. And me as a marketer, I'm like, what was the page like, suddenly going through them going through the funnel? Because whatever, whatever sold her I want to see that because now my, my intuition is going right? I can copy that I can use that. Because if it works on my it worked on my wife, and it worked and somebody hasn't consumer, me as a producer and seller, I need to I need to figure out the angle. So it's a funny, it's a funny insight, you said, Yeah. And on that note, too, like we were also talking about, like testing your ideas, like that's how you can test them, right. So like, a lot of times, people when they when they hire me, they're like, What idea is going to be good? Or like, what's the best offer? And I'm like, I'll help you get that formulated as quickly as possible. But like, only the marketplace is going to tell you that. So like when you have these ideas. And this is the genius of like Tic Toc, at least right now is like, instead of like trying to make the perfect video, you just throw stuff out there. And it's like, did people react to it? Did they ask you questions? Do they ask for more? Like, I'm always surprised, like the videos that they do? Well, they're like, it's not the ones that I thought would do well, but then once I've done a few of them, then I can go back and say, Okay, I guess people want more of this. And that's why I keep making those automation videos, because they just seem to pop, and they cut through the noise. Because I think it's like the like, that's something that I can do that nobody else can do. Yeah, it's kind of funny too. Because if if you like you might only see that one video. But if you go to their count, like 10 videos about the same thing, and they just change one sentence and over again. And then like you see one stuck a little bit better and was like a little bit more than one blew up and you're like, okay, they literally do the same video over and over again. And it's rephrased it and then one did better than the other. And there's nothing wrong with it. Yeah, but I think most people would have a hard time. Even me sometimes like, I'll be like, Oh, I just made that video. And it's like, doesn't matter like, nobody, like people aren't going to remember it. Number one, the people that liked it will probably like it again. And like it's just like, people are not obsessed with us like nobody. Nobody's remembering what I do or what you do. And like, what I said yesterday doesn't matter. Yeah. And like, this is another thing that's a little bit of a tangent. But I think one of the reasons why mindset and all these like fulfillment coaches out there are coming out, like helping you live a fulfilling life is because life is changing really rapidly. And like these things like social media, and like there's benefits to him, but there's also like, some negative parts to him. And like people don't know how to navigate it. And it's confusing. It's uncharted territory that they've never been through. And if you walk through it blindly, you can hit it hard if it goes the wrong direction. Yeah, like, I mean, like, if somebody says something nasty to you, like it can like kind of affect you. Right? It's like, we're not like, I don't know. Yeah, I think if you have a good purpose, like you can that can help you go through that kind of stuff. But like, those kinds of things are kind of they can mess with you. Yeah. So that's a great point. Because there's a lot of trolls out there people just talking there, they'll never be your customer. So in your opinion, do you address it? Or do you let it go? Because some people like being abrasive to get more likes and followers and other people just let it go and not even address it. So what's your opinion on that? So the way I handle it personally, is I just had one of these like, I did an automation video and people didn't understand certain things. Yeah. They're like, Oh, you made this super complicated when it's so simple. And so I made a couple of videos responses, just just providing more value. Like one guy also said, great job showing people how to automate things, and actually giving them nothing tangible that they can use on how to create content. So I think it's here, come on. There's that too. But then I just made a video I said, Okay, fine. Here's a video on how to create content. I addressed that. What's kind of cool about it, too, is like I just addressed I didn't like address his comment, like, I didn't answer him, I wasn't talking to him. I just made a video on how to create content. And his little comment was sitting up there so that people could see it. And then at the end, I just said, Hey, here's how you, here's how you turn a negative comment into something positive. So I tried to do that. And then I feel a lot better too. There's a I'm gonna jump off on a tangent cuz my wife talked to me about this recently. Somebody, this is so celebrity celebrity thing. And I'm like, I'm not really into that. But there was a point. And I thought I'd never bring this up. But as crazy somebody in a family, some friend of a celebrity told some gossip around them. And a friend of hers is like, well, if it's already out there, use that gossip, and make money off of it, because they might have made a little bit of money. But you can turn this into a large revenue source. So it's one of the things where you can monetize even ugly or nasty comment, and make it into a revenue revenue source just by Yeah, addressing it right then and there. Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Like, I think there's no right or wrong, I guess, like, if you want to, you can approach it any way you want. But that's how I do it. Because it's just my personality. Like, I want to be a positive person. I don't want to, like if I if I go down rabbit holes with people. Yeah, like bad email threads, any of that stuff. I just feel worse, like, so like, I'm just going to return it with, like, with a positive response, and try to do good in the world. You know, that's, that's how I look at it. Yeah, no, I think I think it's a great point. I think I'm gonna address it more just because people that are nasty and rude in some cases just need to be addressed in general. But they need to be done. So in a, like, a patient way. Because, yeah, that patient way, is not fair responsive looking for. But it's response that it makes sense across the board. Yeah, I agree. And then also plus, like having a little bit of like, thick skin too, because there are some people that are leaving legitimate comments. Yeah, that are just kind of like, just very direct, and they're not actually being a troll. They're just saying, like, I think you're, you're full of it. Right. And they're not necessarily being like, I think there's a delicate balance between just having a different opinion and being very direct about it. As opposed to someone that's like literally trying to tear you down, right. And so like, you also have to see those and not like go off the rails. So this is why people have mindset coaches, right? Like, we're having like, we've never had to deal with some of these, these realities of life, either, right? You ever had to like, explain yourself to hundreds of people that you've never seen or seen or spoken to before? Yeah, I have a feeling things will change. Like, I think we're in a transitional period, where like, social media exists in a particular way, where all the major corporations control these little networks. And we're kind of all forced to just like, feast over all this organic traffic that just goes to everybody. But like, I think with the web 3.0 stuff, and like these little communities, I think it's gonna, I think I see that as like, the return to like tribal stuff. But using digital systems, right. So like, Well, I agree. Yeah. So we'll get back to the way it used to be, but in a digital way, where we can just hang with our tribe, and not necessarily have to like, exist in the social media space as it as it lives right now. And I'm, quite frankly, I'm looking forward to that. Because, like, I'm doing the social media game, partly because it just this is the like, you have to deal with certain realities in life, like this is how people buy right now. Yeah, I don't necessarily enjoy every piece of it. I do enjoy parts of it. I enjoy creating content, helping people but there's other pieces I don't I think it's a transitional period, that will ultimately come to a different conclusion. When when there's distributed networks that people don't own, I really want to talk about this because this is that's such a key point. And a lot of people are missing this, right? I recognize the transition as well. And it's going to the Creator economy, where instead of Twitter, Instagram, and everybody else they're communicating with their tribe, and you can direct your tribe. So there's a lot of products coming out where you can build out your own social media app to control your own tribe. And you can connect with your own people directly. Yeah, and we're event we're definitely very early on with that. But if you want to monetize and build and capitalize on this transition, you got to start producing content now to actually build your tribe now because once the tribes are built, that's all I mean, it's gonna be harder to build find coordinate your own tribe, because they're already getting a secondary tribe right now, to the point where you can kind of catch people while they're listening in that stage. And a lot of people are missing that. Yeah, it's interesting. And this is like the world's moving a lot faster than most people can really grasp. So I don't really like from a technical standpoint, I actually kind of want from a technical standpoint, I do understand how blockchain works. But I think where a lot of people go wrong, is they see all the NFT stuff in the in like the Bitcoin stuff. And that's a distraction from ultimately what this is, which is just a distributed system that allows for trust, and no ownership. And if you understand the fundamentals, like that's huge, because humanity exists on trust. Like that's, that's what it's all about, like, whether you buy a $20 product, or like you need less trust. In order for someone to buy a $20 product, you need more trust in order for someone to buy $10,000 product, but it's still there's a trust involved. That's what these networks provide. And like people just they think of the NF T's and the bitcoins and stuff is like something silly. So they're now they're forgetting, or not paying attention to all the other stuff. So I don't like I'm not like in the metaverse or anything like that. I'm not sure I want to be exactly in the metaverse. But I understand the the core of what's happening. And so even though I don't, I'm not like participating in exactly I know what's happening and like, therefore, like my radar is out and I will be I will be navigating this as it comes out. Yeah, if that's right there. That's that's the key anybody that's in business or wants to be in business. It's not about making trends. It's about catching a trend. Right? Yeah. And that's why I worry about some of these people that are just still doing the networking group it's like, and again, not passing judgment on it. Because still a networking group is a great place to meet people in person and all that kind of stuff. But like, there's a whole world happening here. That's like, just vastly different and not that hard to understand. But like I Gary Vee talks about this a lot. Like he made a bunch of money off of the NF T's and stuff. And his basic pitch was like, Hey, I just took out like you can do you can do you can meet really cool people and network and make a lot of great relationships if you if you do it the right way. So connect and connect connections are exactly. Well, thanks for your time. Please check us out Steven G Pope on all platforms. Thanks, man. I appreciate you having me on, like 50 hours worth of my time and just like figured out what this was. And, and I mean, he has all sorts of help from people to help them with this stuff. And capital and but he just took a hit. But his main point, the thing that I took away is like, he took some time out of his life and read about what these things were. Yeah, well, yeah. But also to understand, right? The future. Yeah. And so like, like, instead of just getting caught up and saying, oh, Bitcoins, a scam, NF T's are a scam. Like, why would I buy a digital JPEG? It was like more understanding of like, oh, I need to understand what's happening underneath here. Now there's a there's a lot out there that's happening. And I think just keeping your eyes open, and not even like me, I'm not I'm like you, I'm not participating, because I feel it's too early. Like things will get easier as it progresses. But if you build up that I think this is such amazing that I think we're on the same page as community. Everything drives the community and everything that we go back to tribal fashion. So if you have products or services, that if you build trust with the community, you have, essentially clients for life. And I've seen it online already with some of my clients, they're really big on Twitter, and they have that community on Twitter that is so loyal to them that every time they release a new product or service, there's somebody there to buy, even if they don't even consume it, they're there to buy it. Because there's a trust factor there. Right? Yeah. And like, I guess a SaaS company is going to be a little bit different, like you need that you need hundreds of 1000s of customers, but like, if you're a consultant or a service provider, you only need like 150, you know, like, how many people do you really need to run a big successful business? Like I'm in a mastermind group, and like the guy that, you know, he makes seven or $8 million a year, and he's basically got, you know, 100 customers? I mean, that's, that's pretty cool. Yeah, those are numbers that most people can look at and say, Oh, I could get 100. I mean, that's, it's not easy to getting 100 customers paying a big chunk of change premium, but you have to target know, your audience and who your target audience is. So that makes sure that when you are talking or talking to your target audience, yeah. And then just realizing that like, I think a lot of us are selfish in a lot of ways, like, out of all of the followers I have on Tik Tok or whatever, I don't need them all. I just need a few trusted people. And I don't know, like, you know, it's just like, I think perspective plays a role in some of this stuff like because you can get kind of caught up in like, feeling like you need more and more and more and more 100% 100% We covered a lot in this conversation, and it's definitely not But what's normally covered on these types of topics cuz I'm sure you had this different conversation that you normally have as it is. Yeah, it is. It is. Definitely check them out tick tock YouTube, Steven G Pope. What is a quote? That is yours or somebody else's that you resonate with? Man a quote. Oh, Jesus is like what Sam Dyslexics i I'm bad with this kind of thing. I'm trying to remember like, like, I'm trying to be smart. And remember this Peter F Drucker quote, but it's like, up there. But that's why like, S has come up with this question, because sometimes it's like, I did, I did one yesterday, and you're like, Oh, I put this on every email. It's my body, my email. It's like something I like, believe to my core. And some people, it's just like, oh, I have a ton of them. And I can't think of more. And then there's other people, like, I got 10 of them, which one you want? And I'm kind of like the ones like, I'm not sure I have one. So I mean, we can make one up for you. I think it's something is being impactful. And making a difference. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, freedom, freedom, impact and purpose, maybe freedom impact on purpose. So now you got to make that the body your email, because now you know, somebody, somebody asked you what it was. And now you know what it is, it's fine to and I kind of came back to that same realization, just a few days ago, is like I was running around the track. Because you can lose touch with those things, especially if you're in tech, and you're doing automation and stuff like that, you can really lose sight of like, especially and I tell people this in my automation group, too. I'm like, make sure you don't start all this tech tech stuff before you like are just creating content and like you have a like, you have a workflow. So it's like, yeah, it's like freedom, impact and purpose. We will get to it eventually. We'll make it happen. We'll find it on the call. Yeah. That's amazing. Is there a book that you can recommend to our audience that changed your life? Again, I'm dyslexic, so I don't read as much. But there was a Peter F Drucker book that I did read, that was really, I thought it was really awesome. It was about about management. And that was a really great business book. And it's written by just like an old school guy. So it just has like fundamentals in there. And then there was actually another marketing book that I think really kind of opened my eyes, it was building a story brand by Donald Miller. And so I've consumed all sorts of content, like from video and stuff like that. It's a little bit more like on the personal side, and the personal development side. And, but like in terms of like business, and books that I've read, those are the two ones that like really stand out, because they, they were very tangible, and like actionable. So a lot of marketing books, they're kind of like, they're interesting, like they're like, but like, you can't really apply them all the time. And story, building a story brand by Donald Miller was like, Oh, I can just like I can almost just like, take this template and just like do something that evening and write something out that would actually be impactful for business. So that's what I would call out. So I think I have a new question to ask based on our dyslexic people, because now I've never had some of these people are really quick to answer those questions. So who's somebody that you recommend I should follow on social media? For you actually one guy like, because you weren't a software company, the SAS company. There's a guy named Chris Walker, Chris Walker, he helps like tech startups grow fast. And he's on LinkedIn. And he's one of those people that like I came across. And you know how, like, a lot of times people like on social media, they, they're there. It's like, teaser information. Yeah, just like, it just gives you enough to feel like you're not qualified. And then you hire them. Like, he gives a lot of his stuff away. He's one of those people that really understands marketing really well, and has a real, a real focus. And he's been like a real inspiration for me. And he's given me a lot of like, a lot of the things I say, they're like, almost verbatim, like, I've gone through them, but like, sometimes I just can't say it better than he does. So I just say it the same way. So no one knows. So it's yours at that point. Yeah, I've always like, I've always been a little sensitive with some of that stuff. Because like, like, I definitely don't want to be a stealer. But at a certain point, when you said it so many times, like how many times you're gonna keep telling, keep saying that you heard it from somebody, but I usually try to give him the credit because like, he's helped me a lot. And then I like Gary Vee. You know, it seems like he's a genuine guy. He's helped me out a lot as well. So those are two people that that I would I would call out. Well, I think those are great. So I'm, I've keep that I'm like, you have to keep that question handy for people that are dyslexic because I'm not a reader either. So I'm always like, I guess you'd be surprised how many books I've read. It's like it's it's very, I consumed my information through video and you know, what else through talking to people? Yeah, a lot of my best friends were like our intellectual types. And so I'll just sit there and I'll just like, they're my cliff note, basically. Yeah, and I'll just be like and that that also made made it made me A good interviewer in some senses is like, I know how to pull information out of people that I need I need I can just keep pulling it from you until I have the mental framework I need and then and then I can and then I can move with it so like that's that's been like a way I've kind of compensated for not being the best reader or writer I can read. It's just painful. It's not fun so I don't do it. I completely understand. I think we've covered a lot I hope you get a ton of value please check them out. Steven G Pope, pretty much all platforms. Thank you for your time this this has been awesome man and I look forward to helping you out in the community. And this is just a testament guys like we met on tick tock. This show is sponsored by hive mind CRM. It is more than just a CRM. 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