A Look Back at 2024

Yeah, what did you mean? Like, literally, like, in a jar? Like, in a salt and vinegar bath. Yeah. Salt and vinegar. Do people do that, too, I wonder? I wonder if that's, like, a therapy. Like, I'm gonna go get pickled. And then they just lay in, like, a vat of pickle juice. You heard it here first, people. I do, I do enjoy a pickle.

Yeah, it's a pretty good dill. I make a big dill about a good dill. Okay, we were trying to make this funny. That is gold.

Welcome to the marketing team of one podcast, where we have conversations about the issues one person marketing teams face when trying to meet their goals with limited time and budgets. Now here's your hosts, Eric and Mike. All right. It's been a, uh, heck of a year, Mike. I mean, we started a podcast this year.

Congratulations. It only took us like five years to get it all together. But yeah, that finally happened. And, uh, I think what we want to do is just maybe go through, walk through history a little bit. I'm sure there's things. I know you don't listen or watch the podcast yourself, but is there anything? That sticks in your mind as far as like a memorable moment that we could possibly ruminate on, expand on, maybe there's a backstory the audience is just dying to know.

Oh, I mean, the things I hear most about, like from other people, like, I think that people think I hate everything. They're not far off. I do hate, that's pretty, let's be real. But, um, especially like WordPress. WordPress may be great for a lot of people, not for me anymore. Like I'm done. That's fine. You just put it out there.

Not everything can be for everybody and WordPress doesn't have to be for me. I've been from a few people been called, Oh, you're the guy who hates PDFs.

It's an important message for my kids school and they put it in a PDF and it's just annoying. I'm trying to read it and it's maddening. And what's maddening? The communication or the fact that it's a PDF file? The PDF. Ah. I think people reach for PDFs way too quickly. It's a problem. We're at a point in our digital maturity, out in the world, right?

That, that like, there are better ways. And I don't think we should just default to putting something in a PDF. There it is. Yep. Yep. Yep. Part of your personal brand. I want to clarify that I don't hate all PDFs. Sometimes you have to, like, be sensational to try and get an audience, right? It's showbiz. How's it going, Mike?

How you doing? What's going on here? Hat, sunglasses, Hawaiian shirt, candy, cigar. What's, what's your flavor there? Cherry? Cherry? L Bubble. L Bubble. Yeah. Maybe we could get them as a sponsor, huh? If I look back to generalize, the one, the podcast I've enjoyed most is when, um, you can Pull the cord on the side the side here and just let me rant about something.

That's that. I hate that's really fun That's your sweet spot. Hey, he's a strong word. Just get annoyed. Just annoyed About the people who have to fill out this form they go to a website and they click on a PDF thing It's downloaded it, you know that you need to download this thing. So you have a copy of that PDF fill out the form And then do you save over it?

Do you rename it? It's not like these are life threatening things that you hate. You know, these are website platforms, file formats. And a lot of it is probably classified as like user experience stuff. The way you've designed an interface type of thing, or just the kind of the application of what you've put out for people.

If you're making sausage, you're actively pushing. Things into the funnel to get it into a casing. Nobody likes to see that. Nobody. Nobody likes to see you making the sausage. I don't like the idea of the wording. We're moving people through the funnel. The customers are on a journey, and we're trying to meet them where they are in that journey.

I don't want to feel like we're taking a bunch of people and like forcing them through this thing that's constricting everything down and then just pooping them out of the bottom. We've outlined some of the things that stick in your mind as far as that. I mean, is there anything positive? I know that's a big leap for you, but is there anything positive that you can look back on and then celebrate maybe?

No? No. Yeah, no, I, I think we've had some really fun, uh, really fun conversations, and I think that when I look back at, like, I think that when I look back at, like, Even some of the ones where we came in here and sat down and went, Oh God, what are we doing? Where are we going? Like when we finished, we were like, wow, that was, Great.

It was like, it kind of lifted our spirits and kind of give us energy to tackle the rest of the day. Basically every interview that we did, I just came out of just, those have been my favorite to listen to and watch again and kind of, I don't care to hear my voice over and over again. I think that's what it is.

It's like, it's just a different voice. I don't hear my own droning on and on about things. It's mostly listening, which I like. I feel after that conversation about like How I helped you get here. I feel like I have helped in some sort of way, create this podcast. I'm very proud. You're welcome. I won't take credit for it, but I thought it was going to be on a true crime podcast.

So I'm already, I was here ready to solve. Mysteries and I feel like I've missed my calling Unless we're doing marketing crimes and then oh We could probably have a whole and i've changed your whole podcast now. There is a lot of designer ego though Like I have it Heck. Yeah, right. Like I mean, we're perfectionist It's a it's a thing I struggle with it.

We're we're design snobs. I mean, that's what makes us good designers. We're snobs Thank you have to be thank you. Hey, mike. Yeah You Can you say Swiss without a smile? Swiss. You're smiling with your eyes. The whole book's about me not falling. Rules and helping people do creative things outside of the rule.

It's not like we didn't break the rule. We did not break laws, but we did break the rules in order to succeed and survive. It's really, it should be called why Jake is unhireable, right? That's not true. Um, another positive. We got to look forward to the book. You're still working on it. I know it's not a lot of work, but.

How's that coming? It's a surprising amount of work to do a book with no words in it. Yeah. It's, it's harder though to express a book, write a book with just like sounds like grunts. Yeah. Words can mislead. They can. If I go, uh, it's like nearly impossible. It works better as an audio book maybe. It definitely works better as an audio book.

You know where I'm at. I get it. It's visceral. Yeah. Feel it. Yep. Looked into like a children's book type format with buttons. So you could like, Press the button. Well, we'd have to have a groundswell of interest. Haven't really gotten that, but it's got a niche market, but it's got a market. Caveman, caveman project management.

Look out for my new book coming out fall of 2025. I'm looking forward to it. What are some takeaways, like what, what do you look back on fondly or what did you, have you gotten feedback from people about that sticks out? Well, um, I think one of the, I cry a lot. I'm very emotional. Are you, you're not doing good or you're acting?

Mike, this isn't acting, okay? Please don't break the fourth wall. Tense situation in progress here. Eric, what is going on? I, I think I'll be alright, but, um, it's been, it's been tough. This is why I went to art school, Mike. To talk about money. To talk about money and spreadsheets and budgets and those kind of things.

Yeah. You know, if you succeed far enough in this business, Your life will be spent typing and doing math. You know, I have a very reserved presence. Most of the time when people experience working with me or they, I think they were surprised to see how much I cried and how much I got emotional and was, you know.

Broken down into tiers multiple podcasts, you know, not just one or two, but I mean most of the ones that I was It's the couch, you know, the couch brings it out for sure. Yeah, there's kind of you get a little possessed by it, right? There's a spirit here. It's a very sad spirit. It's like a scent maybe or a odor.

I'm, sorry. I'm, sorry

You look really Disturbs, what's, what's, what's, why are you so sad? Thanks for asking and noticing. I appreciate that. Well, you came in physically weeping, so I just, you know, I care what's going on. Thank you, Mike. I, I just, I'm reminded again of the pain and suffering that so many have gone through. In this career, the other thing that I realized was, um, boy, I'm a design snob and I think I really embraced that personality.

Once I kind of started to talk more and you unleash some things in me that I was a little frightened about internally, just, wow, I have a lot of energy around bad design. One of the main themes that we walked out of here with on many occasions was know your audience. Yeah. If we're going to make a t shirt for this podcast, that might be one of the t shirts we make, you know, your audience, super boring t shirt, but it is one of the things that we come back to all the time update.

I did go on a rant at one point about a brand, you know, I think it was a restaurant they invested, they redid a whole giant building. They I'm sure spent tons of money and then they pull up short on the logo. I'm like, hello. I'm never going to eat there. You will not be rewarded with my cash. You have obviously spent too much money on something that you think matters.

But if you're a restaurant, isn't the brand like to attract people? Like, I mean, there's word of mouth. I get it. But if you're a new business, or a new restaurant, or something like that, and you've not invested in some, you know, the building was beautiful, I mean it's an amazing place. Here's the problem. I question their decision making, if that's what they're gonna put out there.

What other, where else have they cut corners? I think the whole idea behind a restaurant, especially a new one, is get people in the door first. Then it's, yeah, game on. But, if you're gonna start there. I ain't going. Drove by it the other day. Sign's gone. They're out of business. Really? That wasn't that long ago.

Yeah. Wow. Evidence. Just saying. I feel bad. I don't think that this podcast had anything to do with it. So, maybe we need to think about the power of brand and how much you invest in that and how important it is for your burgeoning young new restaurant. Just saying. I don't want to relitigate all this stuff, but I will say that, that podcast recording was one of the highlights.

Um, because I was egging you on big time and looking to get a reaction out of people. We had guests. I was poking the bear. Yeah, you were like taking red meat and putting it inside the lion cage. I had so much fun with it though. That's my mission, is to clean up the world, Mike. I'm not just talking about logos.

This is bigger than all that. This is a mission to make the world a nicer place to live. And part of the One pixel at a time. One bad logo at a time. That was one of those things where I pulled your ripcord and you just Yeah. I knew what buttons to push. That stayed with me. Not just even for that whole day, but weeks after that I was still It's been a, it's been a fun ride.

I like, I think there's some very unique things that have been captured by these cameras as we sit down. And what, what were some of those unique things? Like, what are you talking like unique things within you or were they unique things that are valuable to a marketing team of one? I was thinking mostly about some of these like non sequitur things that, Sometimes we put at the beginning of, of each of the episodes, or these little kind of diversions in our conversations where we kind of go off and that's the more humorous moments of it, of what I would think it just kind of tickles, tickles me a little bit.

I haven't used it. I wasn't even trying to be funny. I don't think I've used the word tickles for quite a while. That's, that's, I'm sorry, I don't mean, just a visceral reaction to the word tickles. Do you use that more with kids? Probably like younger kids, I guess. Right. It could go so many different ways.

I think there's a big difference between, and I phrase is tickles me. It says, I was tickled, right? Like, yeah, I usually refer to it as I'm the tickle monster. And I'm going to tickle you when you're a little kid, you know? Okay. That's a different, that I, yeah. Another thing I remember is we talked a lot about goats for a while there.

We were on this, you were on a goat kick. We talked about goats meaning, you know, greatest of all time, Tom Brady retiring. There was, yeah. Katelyn Clarke, um, but then you would always try to get me with my goat. You'd try to get my goat. Say, Eric, what's got your goat today? God. You can't just do that. You can't just throw me got your goat.

That was disturbing. I didn't realize. It's really funny because you own multiple goats now. Not just your one goat. Yeah. Yeah. What do you mean by that? Like, real goats? Yeah. Am I supposed to pretend I have real goats now? I don't know. I just Goats can be taken so many different ways now. It's such a Like, if I get your goat What's the entomology of that?

You A lot Yeah, we talked about this. Like Maybe I was a goat herder in the past lives or something. This is not the goat podcast, Mike. Oh, gosh. Isn't that our aspiration? Nice. Yes. Maybe we're already the goat. Because when you would say it, I was, I was completely off. How many people own just one goat, though?

Like, your goat? No, goats. Plural. Right. You get a herd of them. Yes. It could be five or six, but. Right. Yeah. There's a herd thing going on there. Yeah. Like got your goats. Doesn't have the same. See, that doesn't get me. Like when you say you get your goat singular, then I'm triggered. Yeah. Yeah. I lose control.

I think we all have other like kind of trigger words that kind of, that can really kind of get our goat in the middle of all this things. Knew I'd make you laugh with that one. Um. Just so out of the blue. It's shocking. It's just shocking. I wonder if I would laugh so much if I actually had a goat. Would it be more personal?

Yeah, you'd probably get pretty triggered, really. If I said, hey, I got your goat, you'd kinda like, whoa, dude, come on. Yeah. What do you have? What? What? Where is it? Where, can I, am I getting it back? Like I need that. Yeah. It's part of my dowry. Smash cut ten years from now you and I are both on our own goat farms.

Yep. Just wandering like shepherds. Yep. With that crook thing. Yep. A stick and I'm just like a loincloth Sure, that's that's a comment That's industry standard, right? Nothing's evolved since jesus I must have been i'm thinking like 50 generations ago. I was probably some big goat, dude so when I hear that now, it's like I Feel it like, you know genetically That's right.

We did talk a lot about goats. It's good. We've not talked about goats for a while Sorry to bring it back up again, but I don't think of goats now when people say goat. It's been I know totally Ruined there's one every year now. There was you know, there's way too many goats out there Kaitlin Clark No, go the goat game is back Definitely been elevated the past few years.

And now I'm reminded outside of this thing, didn't we buy a domain about goats once upon a time? It was like, um, we made up a fake brand to go with one of our educational things. Is it a goat? It was. It was like, bloated goat, goated bloat. Goated bloat. I think we still own that one. Um, so I think it's pretty clear.

There's at least, we, we either have to get some goats ourselves. Yeah. We've got a problem, obviously. Or an affinity. Right. Um. Some theme. Yeah. Maybe we need a little stuffed, like, you know, mini goat here. Oh, there we go. Yeah. A stuffed goat to sit right here on the couch. Oh yeah, we could like, cuddle around, like, hug it, and rock back and forth, like I tend to do.

Yeah, it's a good thought. We are looking for suggestions for the next season. Maybe that would be one of them. What what's what's deep inside you? What do you want to talk about? Very deep ready for the next podcast. Yeah Well, i'm i'm excited that the election season is over once the elections were over things were much more clear So that helped I think economically There's so much like the year of an election.

This is tough. It's just there's so much uncertainty and people waiting and You It's like there's this trepidation to move forward in any direction. Oh, we got to wait till the election's over. Yeah, I don't know what the economy is going to bring, but I'm not, nothing screams that things will. Yeah. Of course, we'll look at this six years from now and maybe laugh, but.

What about you? What comes to your mind as we look forward into 2025? Goals? Inspirations? Things you want to look into and learn more about? What, what do you, where are you thinking? Where are you going? I think I, I think what I'd really like to get done in 2025 is looking at the things we keep talking about all the time and trying to have more, um, More helpful stuff for people to use like so if there's so I mean we've done three freebies I think like if we can provide some kind of like guidance or help in a in a better way Or I think that's the kind of stuff I'd like to add on to this outside of the podcast itself So along with that it's been Inspiring to work alongside you on this podcast.

I've really enjoyed our time here too. It's been really fun. It's been the highlight of my Fridays Um, i've oftentimes tried to you try to get my goat and I try to do the same with you I try to throw you off the trail and mess with your mind as much as possible and you tend to bounce back pretty Pretty happy.

That's funny. I'm trying to do the same thing Like I think there when we can catch each other off guard is sometimes some of our our Funnier moments. Well, I, we look forward to, um, doing this again next year. I think we've, we got stuff in the can already ready to go for next year. I'm really looking forward to keeping this going.

And I mean, if people have questions or things that they want to ask or want us to cover on a podcast episode, I'm we're all ears. Well, it's been a great year. It's been a journey. It's been a journey. We're not even close to done. I'd say we've learned a lot, but I don't really remember anything that we've learned, so.

I've learned that you're a design snob. Okay. I thought you knew that, but not to the extent at which I think you kind of had a, like a sleeper cell thing going on there. And I think I've learned that you don't hate all PDFs and WordPress. It's okay for some, you could say that about anything though.

Really? I mean, yeah, it's just not for me. Okay. So Mike, am I going to see you in 2025? You're going to be back. You're going to be on the current couch next year. Yeah, I think I will. Take turns just as we always have I yeah going to 2025 strong. Hope everybody else will join us. See you then Thanks for tuning in for more information and other episodes subscribe to the marketing team of one podcast on YouTube Apple or Spotify Podcast networks.

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