Ryan Alford [00:00:39] Hey guys, it's Ryan Alford. Welcome to News flash, a special edition of the Radical Marketing Podcast. In all seriousness, we will move it along. Keeping things real. It's got to be I'm going to call it six feet of social distance here. Yeah, it feels like six feet. I'm joined by a good friend and one of my co-founders with Gvl Hustle, Tyler Harris. It's good to be here. I'm running out of adjectives for you, man. Influencer, entrepreneur, CEO. Oh, whatever. I know. You got your hands on a lot. The modern man extraordinaire. What are we calling you? Sales wall? We're the agency, but you're the marketers. 

Tyler Harris [00:01:35] I'm trying to get out of the jack of all trades, master of none. That's not the intent.

Ryan Alford [00:01:42] But thrilled to have you, man. And, we're going to talk break down. It's been interesting. The last couple of podcasts we've done have been about marketing amongst the Covid-19 situation, which is we're still in the middle of hopefully on the back end soon. No one knows. That's part of the uncertainty is what's kind of, I think, crushing everyone right now, like an hour by hour. But, we've been talking about and telling brands that we work with to pivot and to think about other ways they can be out there, but to not be separating themselves from their customers or their people. And there's going to be reflection back on what action or inaction you had in this period. But I think it teed up perfectly for us with what we established with Gvl Hustle. Being a platform that we developed a couple of years ago and I know we're both proud of where it's gone. And we've been on a little bit of a hiatus with our events. We were looking forward to kicking that back up in April. But I think social distancing rules aside, we might have to put off the event. But I am excited about where we've kind of pivoted to. We've got the website up for those watching the video, but we've launched a bunch of new merchandise and we wanted to find a way to give back to the community in a way, with everything going on you want to impact that everyone out there is struggling. But, I think local has been important to us. And how could we make an impact and do something? You can't get out there. We've both taken pride in getting to events and sharing knowledge and being a resource for people. But in absence of that personal connection, though, you can still do it with Zoom beforehand and other things. But in absence of that, what could we do? Been really proud of where we've taken the hustle. And, I know you're proud of what we've done with it. 

Tyler Harris [00:03:45] I mean, it was really our goal from the very beginning was to make an impact in Greenville and really give back to the city that's given so much to us. And as we were kind of going to that process of figuring out a way to do that away pretty much presented itself in this crisis that we're in. So, I mean, it's something that's, it's great way for people to come together. It's a great way for people to support a great cause, but then also get some great stuff that they'd be proud to wear. It seems like there's more shirts coming out every day. There's new designs. Every time I look at the website, there's a new shirt on there. And so and the price point is great and it gives people the opportunity to to feel like they're a part of something bigger than themselves. And I think ultimately that's what we wanted Gvl Hustle to turn into was something that people didn't just come to network and meet somebody new, that they really wanted to become a part of something that was bigger. And this is a great way to do that. 

Ryan Alford [00:04:39] Klauer and have both taken maybe a little bit of heat that neither one of us really gave a shit about, to be honest, but about the word hustle and maybe a third. Yeah. And I think, quite frankly, it's coming full circle because, there was a little bit of the wear out of. So this means you're overworking people and you're doing all this and, I think, quite frankly, we both always were just like, you hustle and you are getting ahead and now full circle, I think we can all agree it's going to take some rolling up the sleeves and some good old fashioned grit to get out of this mess. 

Tyler Harris [00:05:18] Yeah, I think there's this connotation as though Hustle only applies towards, like, your business or whatever that is that you're pursuing in your business. But I mean, you can hustle with your family. You can hustle in getting in the best shape of your life. Like hustle is just an adjective, an extreme adjective, but just an adjective that goes towards whatever in the world that you're doing. But you're right. I mean, we are in a situation where people are going to have to step up their game to get back to where they were and to move forward. I don't really know another word to use other than they're going to have to hustle. And we may get into this in the podcast. But I mean, there's things that people can do to start that hustle now. But really, for us as a group and as a community of people, we wanted to give people something that they could do tangibly to feel like they're contributing and helping. And that was our heart from the very beginning. And it just so happens that they can do it by hustling and hustle to the website. Hustle dot com. 

Ryan Alford [00:06:23] Exactly. We wouldn't be good marketers if we didn't drop that. But it is a good hustle by lots of great new merchandise, which Howard mentioned. My teens had a lot of fun with it. A new design a day. I think The Stranger Things 80s version came out yesterday. So, hope everybody enjoys that. But, let's create a point of pride in Greenville, showing a lot of things have some kind of holding up their shirt here that backdrop or something like that. But, we're trying to keep that theme. But, I do think it can be a rallying cry for the community a bit. We did a radio station, 98.1. Appreciate Barbie and Rex for having us on. But, talking about the community aspect and and really just wanting to be able to contribute in some way. So I know we've got a couple who think we're doing another TV show next week on it. 

Tyler Harris [00:07:23] And we should probably talk about where the funds are going to. I really just realized we hadn't said that. The sounds like we're just trying to sell books, T-shirts. I even think I mentioned the price point, but we haven't actually talked about where it's going. 

Ryan Alford [00:07:33] 100 percent. There's not a penny being made here. It's actually a contributing factor with all the resources we're putting towards it, towards the United Way of Brainbow, they've set up a Covid-19 fund, specifically giving back to families heavily with families that have been impacted in the community. And so, we're not a nonprofit organization. We didn't want to get into managing. The funds are like trying to figure that out or anything. But so we found and partnered with them directly and excited. So you can look that up directly. And I think we feel me writing the first check. We're up to a thousand dollars. That's in three days. That's awesome. So, yeah. So United Way of Greenville and appreciate their partnership and everything they're doing for the community. We're just happy to contribute back and maybe before we pivot the conversation a bit. Just may be and you started to tee this up, but I'd love to just give everyone a little perspective back to the point of why we started Greenwall Hustle. 

Tyler Harris [00:08:38] Yeah, it's funny. There were conversations three years ago that Ron and I would have, and it was based around this idea of where do we find other people like us? And we were both extremely busy, whether you want to call it hustling or not. We were extremely busy. I was traveling a whole lot. I didn't have a lot of time at home. But looking at how do I find other like minded individuals, people that are trying to become the best versions of themselves, whether that's entrepreneurs or whether that's just someone that's reading books and listening to podcasts and watching the same YouTube series and people that were doing the things that we're doing. And I kind of exhausted all of the possibilities of where I would find those people. And so it just became this organic thing of, well, I guess we could create it. And that's how most great things are put together. And so really, it was just that it was a way to get like minded people together for me a little bit selfishly, because I didn't know where to find them. So it's kind of like if you build it, they will come and they did. And it's been just an incredible experience to bring people together. But I think for me, I despise traditional networking. Like for me to go to a traditional networking event where it's one of those you get your two drink tickets, you hand out 30 business cards, check a box and go home. I despise that. And I despise the shallow, small talk conversations of, hey, what's your name? What do you do? Great. And what's your name? What do you do? And it's just there's nothing that actually really comes from that. And so what we want to give you a hustle to be is a place where you could have more real conversations, that we could create a space for people to be comfortable having real conversations where it's OK not to be OK, where you can talk about hey, I'm struggling in this area, my business. And chances are there's someone in here that's really good at that. And let me connect you with them. And that authenticity and transparency, there's just a not there's not a lot of places you can go and experience that at scale. And so that really, for me, was what I was most excited about, is having a place where I could have real conversations with real people. And, three years later, so many of my relationships that I talk to on a daily and weekly basis now are people that I met at the events. And so I think seeing that come to fruition now and coming full circle has been super fulfilling for me. Whatever it turns into from here, it's kind of just icing on the cake. It's a lot of those relationships that have been built and built among other people within the group as well. I've seen it. I've seen so many people that are doing podcasts together and they're film and content together, just hanging out the mike. I remember when those two met. 

Ryan Alford [00:11:23] We may have single handedly started. Twenty podcasts. Yeah, I don't really or facilitated the idea. 

Tyler Harris [00:11:30] And that's, and that actually brings up one of the one of the greatest examples is we do a lot of Q&A at the events and people asking real questions. And I remember Philip Sessions was asking a bunch of questions about how I should do this, has to do that in regards to wanting to start a podcast. And I was like, dude, just frickin start it. Like, none of that stuff really matters. Just start it. We have our next Gibeah Hussle meet up. Thing is a month later and he stands up and he had like eleven episodes and the podcast was going great. And it was so amazing to see someone ask a question. Get feedback and actually implement it, like imagine that actually implemented it and he's still doing it, he's still doing podcasts every week. And so to see that is super, super fulfilling because that's ultimately what we wanted, was for people to not only gain knowledge, but have application of the knowledge that they gained. And I mean, as far as our desire to give back and pay it forward to the community, it's really giving back and pay it forward to individual people in the community and then just see what that does. As that continues to grow, it will only better the community, it would only better Greensville because of a group of people that decided to have these real conversations and actually apply what they're learning. 

Ryan Alford [00:12:43] Yeah. And, just to tie a bow on that we've probably had 15, I want to say, total events over two years. We started aggressive monthly that turned into every couple of months. And, we facilitate the meetings. We'd have some of the best speakers that money could buy. But you didn't pay any money to attend, Dan Walsh, to name names, Rebecca Heiss. I mean, like some really big names in the speaker circuits out there. So we bring that value and then, a ton of great conversation and good venues. And, it was a lot of realness. And I think, it's become the most used business hashtag in the state, Gvl Hussle, hashtag Gvl Hustle on Instagram. And so, we're looking forward to picking that back up. We had some plans for APR's, but stay in tune for that. But, really proud of what we had built and then the natural, call it short term, maybe long term. I don't know. We make the rules up as we go. But with what's going on now. So Gvl Hustle dot com, check it out. And, I do want to transition a bit here, Tyler, again, I know you've got your hands in a lot of different things. And I want people to kind of hear your perspective like, with covid-19 going on. You post I mean, you're part of the top one percent of content developers. And so you've got the personal content side. And I know it all overlaps a little bit with business. But, talk a little bit about your perspective with both the personal and business side with the kind of environment we're in right now. 

Tyler Harris [00:14:31] Yeah, I'm glad you teed up for those two things, because there really are two. There's two different sides to it, but it's really the same premise. And that is just realizing the opportunity that we have in front of us. There's plenty of bad there's plenty of negative to talk about and whine about and to feel. And it's very real. And I don't downplay that in any way. I think there's people that are spending too much time on the negative, but with all the negative that there is, there's still positives out there and there's still massive opportunity out there. And the way I look at it is for the rest of you in my entire life, we may never have a period of time where the effort that we put in is so well received and so appreciated. And just as a challenge to those of you that our leaders that are listening, your people are going to remember how you responded during this crisis. They're going to remember how you showed or didn't show that you care about their well-being as a person, their family, not just as a spoke in the wheel in a business sense. And so you have an opportunity now just to be talking and reaching out to people and just literally asking them, "hey, man, how's it going in your world?" Everybody's city to city, state to state. It's so drastically different. Man, how are things going? What can I do to help? What can I do to support you during this time? And, a lot of times it's not going to be a clear cut answer of, well, I'm glad you called because I actually need this, this and this. But it's just the act of showing that you care, that you made that effort to reach out to them personally. That will bear fruit months and years down the road and the loyalty that can be created during that time, whether it's loyalty to your company, from reaching out to customers, clients, prospective clients, past clients, just to see how they're doing during this or its employees or its family members and friends that you haven't reached out to in a while. And so that's a good pivot point to the other side, which is, the reality for you and I. We've both got one small child. You've got a handful. And for the rest of our entire life, like from now until the day we die, we may never and probably will never, ever have this three, four or five, six week period of time where we can really invest. And our families really invest in our kids, and if you think about it, if you've got young children and you're listening to this like this is their 9/11, like five, 10, 20 years from now, they'll talk about this like we talk about 9/11. Like I remember where I was. I remember what we did. I remember how my dad reacted to it. I remember my mom's state that she was in during that period of time. And so that is a huge for me, a huge challenge to people to rise to the occasion because your kids are going to remember how you responded during this crisis. They're going to remember whether you were fully invested and present and available to them or whether you were frustrated and temperamental and trying to get out of the house like they're going to remember all that stuff. And so I think about my daughter. I think when she goes off to college, when she gets married one day, like she'll remember these weeks that we had to spend this quality time in the conversations that we had and just the time that we spent together one way or the other, good or bad, they're going to remember. And so I think that's a really, really, really big challenge for people to not see this as a frustration of trying to work from home. My kids,like may land had a Zoom call the other day with a bunch of people on art and just very, very concerned with making sure everyone knew that her poop was green over and over and over. And it is easy to get frustrated when you're trying to get stuff done and your kids are, all over the place. But really looking at the opportunity that you have to have some conversations with your kids that you may never, never have had before. I mean, what's the excuse that we all use for the things that we don't do that we don't at the time? Like? Oh, I just ran out of time. Well, that excuse is completely off the table for the majority of people right now. You've got more time than you've ever had before. And so the question is, what are you doing with that time that you have and how are you investing that time? And I just truly believe that there's going to be a lot of people years from now that are going to regret the way they spent this time. I regret the way they handled this period of time. And then there's going to be a lot of people that are just absolutely full of gratitude that they had those hard conversations, that they got to know what was going on with their kids, that they never would have known had they not sit down and just talk to him. So I think that for me it is both sides of the coin there. And we can kind of go a little further into that. But I'm really, really, really focused on the opportunity that we have. 

Ryan Alford [00:19:28] And I think it's you teed up perfect. It's really easy to be negative right now. Oh, yeah. And I have compassion for it. I have a lot of empathy for it. But at the same time. I do recognize that this, too, shall end and really taking some moments to reflect on what you should be thankful for, what our blessings are, what I mean it. And don't get me wrong, some people. A lot of you are going to pass away from this. You don't want to, like, diminish that in any way. But thinking about what you should be thankful for. But then naturally, my brain and my wife Nicole would vouch for this at every dinner table at night. Now I'm going, we could start this now. You should start this. Now, she's in the school. She's the assistant principal in middle school. So it's as wonderful as it sounds. Oh, yeah. I was challenging in the South, but I think about all the opportunities and I know that's probably just the way my brain is wired. And that doesn't make that right for what's right for me is not right for everyone. But I think if people would look through that lens of optimism, I think if you can surround yourself with those people, tune out either the news or your parents or your cousin Eddie or whoever is feeding you the negative stuff, I think you can really turn a lot of this into opportunity, especially from a business standpoint, because if you can pivot from where you're at into something that that's going to take off, whether that's look, the social distancing thing is going to stick around. And I'm not saying like six feet and all that, but this notion of virtualness, this notion of on the go or I just think I wonder if travel is going to ever be the same again. I don't know. And so the people that can look at it through the lens of optimism and opportunity are the ones that are going to win. It's probably no different than any other time in life, but I think that's the key for people to be thinking about. 

Tyler Harris [00:21:34] Well, that's what's going to get us out of this as well. I mean, as cliche as it is, but the fact that it's not what happens to you, it's how you respond or how you react to what happens to you. There are going to be some parts of the country, parts of the world that it's going to take longer for them to get out of this because of the way the people are reacting to what's happening, period. And, that presents to me a level of responsibility for people like you could look at opportunity and responsibility. I kind of look at those as one of the same, but it's a responsibility as an American. And my responsibility is to make sure that I'm handling it the best that I can so that the people around me that see that can follow suit and the people around them. And it's just a trickle effect. And that's ultimately what is going to create the greatest opportunity moving forward, because I truly believe when this thing ends, whenever that is, I mean, you can get on the news and people will tell you it is going to be winter and people are telling it is going to be next week, who knows? But whenever this ends, I truly believe that it is going to be a launching pad for the economy and for the businesses that are started and for all of the development that happens when people do get back to the workplace. So what can we do now to prepare for that? And what can we do now to be a part of that? That's what I'm focused on. 

Ryan Alford [00:23:01] How do you balance Talor? Maybe we'll get some tactical advice here. How do you balance taking the time? Like you said, the family's taking advantage of those moments with also the work side of it, like business needs to go on. There's opportunities. You're thinking about opportunities as someone that's in that mindspace. How do you balance those two things right now? 

Tyler Harris [00:23:32] So the biggest thing is that I'm so we've got insurance agents all over the country. And so these are the conversations that I'm having every day because we're like we're contacting them daily just to see how they're doing and how we can help. The biggest thing for me is just time blocking because there's no rules right now. Like there's no rules, there's no business hours. And so who's to say that you can't play with your kids and hang out with your family all day? But what are you doing from seven p.m. to midnight and with us and the calls that we're making in the context that we're making to our existing and potential customers, they're happening from seven to nine p.m. We don't know what they're doing during that time. But what we do know is that they're even going to be more appreciative because we're going above and beyond reaching out to them at that hour. They know that our competitors are certainly not doing that. And so we're reaching out and we're not even necessarily trying to sell something. If they buy, that's great. But even if they don't, they're so appreciative of us personally reaching out to them. And so I think it's just literally looking at establishing a routine, a routine in a time where routine seems like it's. Possible, but there are certain elements of time blocking that you can put in place based around things like bedtimes and nap times and things like that, and it all boils down to communication. Like if you are sitting your family down and saying, hey, from this time to this time, I have to get this done. But hey, when I get done, we're going to go do this. So now they're looking forward to, hey, at four o'clock, we're going to go to the park or we're going to go ride bikes or we're going to go play in the backyard, whatever that is, so that they know that during that time, like Dad's got to work. But when he's done, we're going to go do this. And I think it's just a lot of being open with that communication and establishing those boundaries, but being creative in the hours and being creative with the ways that you can do things that maybe different times than you normally would doing, especially if it's a lot of just work on the computer and answering emails and following up things like that. Like there's nothing they could do that laying in bed at 10:00, there's plenty of time throughout your day, even though it's now a little bit more chaotic. So I think it boils down to communication. 

Ryan Alford [00:25:47] What do you think, being someone that posts as much content as you do, that develops as much content as you do, both business and personal? I guess it's personal. I mean, it's all personal and it is all personal. 

Tyler Harris [00:26:03] The suicide note on that, if anyone, this is just a tip for everybody. What is the only time someone tells you, hey, man, this is just business. It's not personal when they're about to screw you? So the reality is it's all personal. But I know what you mean. 

Ryan Alford [00:26:18] Yeah. So how are you balancing, I know the content doesn't stop, but, maybe the lens of the message and are you thinking differently about your content right now? 

Tyler Harris [00:26:34] Very differently and just very more intentional with it. But I also think within that level of intention that there's this fine line of being perceived as taking advantage of the opportunity of the crisis, like I've been doing some live streams, but at the same time I'm also a little frustrated with how everybody is live, like every hour of the day and

Ryan Alford [00:26:59] My phone is lit up.

Tyler Harris [00:26:59] I just went live. It's like, my gosh, like. And so I think the reality is people know that people who are online and on social media more than ever right now because they're at home and they get going. And so I get that. And I'm also struggling. There's some friction within me about that, do I take advantage of that? Where is the line that you can cross with being over the top with it, but also understanding, like for me, the responsibility of the people that follow me? Do look to me for wisdom or for inspiration or motivation or for technical knowledge, and they need it now more than ever. And so it's not wanting to overload them, but it's also not wanting to neglect them during this time. So I think there's a fine line there. And for me, it's looking at a lot of the messaging, like if it's just a graphic post with some poppy, making sure that it's extremely empathetic to those that are in a dire situation, because you put something out there, there's a million different people with a million different situations right now. And so for me to put something out there right now that says, like screw excuses, do the work that's going to offend somebody, that right now, their grandfather just died and someone that's laid off in there. Yeah, they just got laid off and someone at their wife's work just got diagnosed and she's being quarantined. It's like, what do you mean screw excuses like these are real. And I think that's a big thing for people to understand. Yes, there's a lot of fear that's not that that is over the top, but fear is a very real thing and it's a good thing. Like if you get back to our caveman days, like fear and stress, like that's how you didn't get eaten by the lion or get eaten by the bear. And we've been through a long period of time where a lot of the fear was self-inflicted and not valid. But now there's a real fear out there. And so it's just being more cognizant of the fact that every person's story is different. And when you're broadcasting these messages out there, understanding how everyone is going to receive that. And so it's toning a little bit of the aggression down, but still being challenging in that, hey, OK, your grandfather did die, OK? You did lose your job. I promise you, sitting there doing nothing isn't going to help. And so it's like you want to nudge those people along, but you don't want to do it in a way that puts them on the defensive because that's not going to help anything. And so it's a lot of that. It's taking these core pillars that we always talk about, but in a little bit of a different light. And, for me, it's a lot of answering private messages, DBMS Facebook messages and being a lot more thoughtful based on not knowing where their situation is and asking, it's it's become kind of this just routine thing at the end of a live stream or at the end of a video to say, hey, if you need anything, as always, reach out to me. But now it's like when they're reaching out, it's like serious stuff. And I don't take that lightly at all. And so that takes a lot of time to do that. But I think it all boils down to having the right intent. 

Ryan Alford [00:30:28] There's this fascinating push and pull going on right now for in general, to me, you've got the government that is trying to do right because I don't want a million people to die. Neither do I, by the way. So they want everyone to stop them. They want to stay home, do nothing. It shuts down the economy as natural Americans and the American spirit. We're doers. We have more time in a way, more of our own time that isn't controlled by maybe work or schedules, all that. And so you've got more time. But the government and science and nature tells you we got to stop. We have socialism, can't do anything. And the American way is to move and to develop and to do these things. And then you got to keep food on the table. So there's all this interplay of. Oh, I can go, go, go. No, stop, don't do anything, because if you go and do you create demand, if you create demand, you create activity. Government saying no activity, don't do anything. It's a weird intersection right now. 

Tyler Harris [00:31:38] And I think it just demands creativity. I mean, it demands thinking outside the box. There's a lot of virtual things happening that, quite frankly, they aren't as effective, but they're what we have. And so a lot of the stuff that we're doing is virtual. And you miss that personal touch of being in front of somebody. But it's the best you can do with the situation that we have in front of us. And but you're right. I mean, there's. Uncertainty is paralyzing to most and I think that's the problem is when you don't know what to do, you do nothing. Instead of looking at what's the one thing that I can do today to move the ball forward and just I mean, it's a simple process, but most things that are simple, it's easier not to do than it is to do it. 

Ryan Alford [00:32:29] Analysis from analysis. 

Tyler Harris [00:32:32] I mean, like I tell Tenison, they're like, man, I'm so glad you called because I'm sitting here and I'm just I don't I don't know where to start. I'm like, OK, well, what are your options? Well, I could do this. I could do that. I could do that. OK, what feels like the most important right now? Well, probably this sounds like a great place to start, but it's like it takes someone walking you through that process because the majority of people, they can't win. There's so much fear when there's so much uncertainty. Your brain becomes logical and that's the reality, and so for people that are out there right now that are listening to this and they're like, man, he's talking to me like I've allowed myself to become paralyzed. Like I've got so many things I can do that I'm not doing anything, that it's literally just taking one little step at a time like tomorrow. What's one important thing I can do offensively? What's one thing I can do defensively and once one important strategic move that I can make. And I completely stole that from Tom Shea's new book that's coming out in April. It's called Three Simple Things. And that was what it all boils down to. But it's literally just. Anything is better than nothing and any progress, even slow progress is still progress, and for me, like I'm addicted to progress. I think progress is what ultimately creates happiness and fulfillment. And in a time like now where you can feel like, well, I'm only able to do this when I usually would do that. Still, that progress is still progress. Like when you lay down to go to bed that night, you will still feel like you did something. And so that's the big thing is, is to do something that actually tease me up perfectly, because there's this quote that I've been saying and reading and sending to people that I think has never been more true. It's an old quote by Edward Everett Hale. And he said, I am only one, but still I am one, I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something I can do. So I read that again real quick, I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something I can do. And so there are so many people that are sitting there and they're like, man, like I there's so much that I need to do. Just do something like do something today, something productive. And for a lot of people, that's going to be difficult. But most things that are important are.

Ryan Alford [00:35:11] How are you feeling? A lot of people, if they haven't followed, you will go following that. Well, they'll see the volume of content that you're doing. Maybe, just as we start to close out a bit here, talk about maybe some tactical value of personal branding, anything in that realm. I've had you on before and talked down that alley and basement episode. I think your client base was Radical was born that week. And yeah, here we are all grown up in our studio and fastest growing agency in South Carolina. So shameless plug. But I don't know how fast anybody's growing anymore. The tagline might be the...

Tyler Harris [00:36:00] I made a phone call today. I'm the fastest movie entrepreneur and green dot.

Ryan Alford [00:36:06] But any tactical personal branding advice, both Covid-19 related and maybe just in general that now that you're I mean, don't know five plus years and ten plus years, Who can keep up but like now versus then in 2020. 

Tyler Harris [00:36:25] I think the biggest shift that I've gone through mentally in regards to the personal branding and just branding in general is I am far less concerned with growing the number of followers and I'm far more concerned with going deeper, with the deeper, with the followers that I have. I hate that. I just ruined that because it was a great quote. 

Ryan Alford [00:36:45] You had me hanging on it. 

Tyler Harris [00:36:46] So it's not looking to go wide. It's looking to go deeper. And, I think so many people that are out there, especially in those beginning stages of building a brand, but even years into it, you get so focused on all these analytics and all the data. And, we put this out at this time and it got this region, this engagement. We put this out and there comparing and contrasting. And you can drive yourself absolutely crazy. I just don't look at any of it anymore. I really don't look at any of it anymore. In my media team meetings, we don't talk about growth anymore. We talk about the impact that the content that we're putting out is making. When we meet every Friday morning at seven, when we look at the ROIC, I'm reading messages that I got from people and talking about that interaction and how powerful it was and life changing it was. And I talked about how we did that, you that created that graphic you created that copy; you did this, you did that, Like we as a team created that environment for that conversation to happen. That was very impactful for that person. And so that's what I look at as far as the R y so I think for the person out there that's got 100 followers that wants to have 100000. Well, what are you doing for the hundred? And in doing that and in going deeper with the way it'll grow and more pronounced the way to grow the right way. Right. And so I think for me, hopefully, this will be a shift across the board. But I am far less concerned. I think there's a shift from wanting to be an influencer to wanting to be influential. And it is a radical shift not to plug you there, but it is a radical shift because there's a lot of people out there that want to be an influencer. But aren't influential, and I can name a ton and we all know him when we see him, it's like they're putting out a lot of stuff and they're showing a lot of cool things. But, what's the intent behind it? Are they really making an impact? And one thing that not to drop Tom Shea's name again, but I was having an amazing conversation with him yesterday, and he really has this kind of like five point plan in the very last part, which would be, the least important is the why you're doing it. And it starts with B, which is who am I? So it goes from who am I to what do I need to the team, which is who do I associate with, then the action plan, then the why? It's my belief that the vast majority of influencers live in the action plan and action plan and whether it's Simon Sinek that started this or not, everyone follows suit and it's all about, well, why are you doing things to do? And start with why you gotta know why you're doing it. And then let's put an action plan for why. But if you don't know who you are. There's nothing else, yeah, so as a challenge to the people that are listening to this, that phrase I am blank and there's multiple is the most important thing that you can really get a grasp of and everything else will follow after that. So once you realize, like I am a creator, I am unbreakable, I am a leader, whatever that is for that person, then let's take a basic example. I'm a runner. Well, then, on the do. I run a train. And for it to be so dialed in and it's easy for athletes and for artists like I'm a painter. Of course I paint. If I'm a runner, I run. But to create that similar dynamic, when you ask a runner like you, why are you why are you doing all these crazy miles every week? Like, why do you do that? It's like because I'm a runner. Well, what does that mean if your sahdk is I'm a leader, right? What are those things that you do if someone asked you, a man, why did you spend six and a half hours till nine forty five pm last night, your office calling all of your agents because. I'm a leader, that's what leaders do, and then from there on to the people that you associate with, then your action plan and then the why, but the why ties back to where it all starts with who you are. And so I think that's a big shift because the influential people live in the B in the do influencers live in the action plan in the Y? And it is a drastic difference in the impact that's made when you unpack those things. And so to me, that's where a lot of my mindset is shifting. So as my mindset shifts, the constant shifts and the messaging shifts and it ultimately boils down to trying to be more influential than be an influencer. I don't really know what being an influencer means anymore because, 

Ryan Alford [00:41:34] Well, I think it started out as my analogy would be being the Super Bowl or being the cooking channel. The cooking channel got the ratings for the cooking channel extremely low. But the twenty thousand people that are watching it every night and I don't know these numbers and making them up, but they buy a lot of shit. And they are true loyal. And that channel is very influential there. The Super Bowl gets three hundred billion people watching it worldwide. If there's even that many people in the world, the. And it's very wide, but not deep. It's just an event, and so I think that's boiling it down a little bit. 

Tyler Harris [00:42:19] Yeah, and to take it a step further when you really when you come to that realization and I feel like if people will, like, literally pray, meditate, like spend some time like whiteboarding this out, just journaling it out of who am I, and they really get a hold of it. Like when you figure it out you'll know. One thing that I've always struggled with, with my personal brand, is when people come to your Instagram page. They should know what they're coming there for and what they're going to get. And I think a lot of my friction that I had with that, because I was putting out so many different things, all these different podcasts, different messages, different blogs and all this stuff was like I wanted you to get whatever you needed, like whatever you need today. Like, there's something there's something that is 

Ryan Alford [00:43:04] Something that is a dash of this. 

Tyler Harris [00:43:06] But when you really come to that realization of who you are, it helps you curate that content to where people know who you are. And again, back to the zaim of a runner, like if you go to a runner's Instagram page, like I'm going to go there to get motivated or to learn something about running or to get a new type of training that I can try like they know. And that's where that stickiness, I think, is created. And that's where ultimately all the engagement is created, because people know that when they see you pop up in the feed, oh, it's probably going to be about this. I love that. Let me go engage with that. And when it's just random stuff that's coming out and random quotes that are produced just for content sake, you lose that. And so I think that's a good tactical piece of advice for people just to look at their own social media presence and say like what do I get when I come here what am I looking for when I come here and put themselves in the shoes of the person that's following them or potentially might follow them and see how clear it is? And if it's not clear, then that probably is an indication of you don't really know exactly who you are and what you're trying to do. 

Ryan Alford [00:44:12] I think from there we'll close it out and I really appreciate you coming on the show, your partnership with Gvl hustle and your friendship. Yeah. Just keeping it real and being kind of a beacon of positivity out there for everyone and working. Everybody is listening. Keep up with you these days. 

Tyler Harris [00:44:35] Yes. Everything's at Tyler Jack Harris, you go to Tyler Jack Harris Dotcom. It's easier. I'm most engaged on Instagram, still bigger on Facebook. But Instagram stories are my favorite thing in the world. 

Ryan Alford [00:44:48] So you're definitely the king. The stories. Yeah, I've come around, but man, I like you. I see your line of Dallas. I'm like, oh, I think I have for today. 

Tyler Harris [00:44:57] I mean, I try to treat my Instagram stories like a blog, like I want people to get like the daily life like what we're doing and what we're up to. And to me, it's kind of like a little bit of a peek behind the curtain. Yeah. Because you got the highly produced content. But people really want to see the raw behind the scenes type stuff to where they can really get to know you as a person. Know. And so that for me is super important. So definitely engaging with you there. And like I said, when I say reach out to me if you need something like, I really mean that. Yeah. And I'm always going to respond. I won't I won't open it until I have time to think and thoughtfully respond. That's a big pet peeve of mine. I hate for people to see the scene. 

Ryan Alford [00:45:37] Oh, yeah. And then wait three days. People call me out on that because I see it. Oh, no no. 

Tyler Harris [00:45:43] I saw like I will not click it until I know. Because I know because I, I, I know what could be on the other side of that first little line that you see that there could be a lot more depth, there could be seven paragraphs underneath that. And I do not want to get caught in a situation because of the way I look at it. Is there are a lot of people out there that need help and maybe have reached out to people before or maybe the first time they've ever reached out to someone and actually asked them a real question based on something they're really going through. And if I chose to in that delicate moment, to not respond, that could literally be the nail in the coffin for them, literally, at times it's been that way when I've responded and it's been a positive thing. Hopefully this never happened negatively, but it could also be the nail in the coffin for them reaching out to anybody else, like while I reached out to Tyler, he didn't even he didn't look at it. And so I'm going to reach out to anybody else. And so I just take that really, really seriously. 

Ryan Alford [00:46:44] Well, cool, I really appreciate you coming on and 

Tyler Harris [00:46:48] And kudos to you. I definitely acknowledge you as well, because all of this Gvl hustle and the merchandise, I mean, this is I have had no part of it other than applauding it from behind the scenes. But it's really incredible. There was a period of time where, I mean, I was just stretched so thin and I told Rhino's like, look, I'll be at the events, but I mean, I just I'm at capacity. And so Ryan and his team have really I mean, they're the machine and the engine behind the hustle. I feel extremely honored just to be still a part of it, because it is something that I feel is super important and super needed. And I definitely want people to go to the website and buy some merchandise because it is going to a good cause. And it's cool stuff. Like I'd wear it every day. 

Ryan Alford [00:47:32] And shout out to my team. They've been great and it's been, I think it's been a healthy distraction for us a little bit. I mean our clients come first obviously. But some of our clients have, quite frankly gone away at least figuratively speaking. And so it's been a good distraction for them and they're behind it. And so I appreciate you saying that. And I appreciate my team when they hear this knowing everything they've put into it. And we hope to write big cheques every couple of weeks to the United Way of Greenville. But that'll do it for today's episode of the Radical Marketing podcast. I want to thank Tyler Harris for coming on and we'll see you next time.