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Conversations about marketing and business. Hosted by Dave Gerhardt (Founder of Exit Five, Former CMO). Join the top community for B2B marketers at exitfive.com
Dave [0:00:00]: You're listening to B2b marketing with me, Dave Gerhardt.
Dave [0:00:03]: Hey.
Dave [0:00:17]: Welcome to The Dave Gerhardt Show.
Dave [0:00:18]: I got
Dave [0:00:19]: my sunglasses on.
Dave [0:00:19]: On this episode, just a solo pod with just me.
Dave [0:00:22]: I'm talking about everything we did in November at Exit Five our trip to Arizona.
Dave [0:00:27]: Five timeless marketing lessons that you need to cut through the noise and get rid of all that Ai s in your life.
Dave [0:00:34]: These are the things that will help you stand out and be memorable, and we'll stand the test of time no matter what happens if Ai takes our jobs or not.
Dave [0:00:40]: These are the principles you need to study, plus, share a big promotion announcement at Exit Five, and I give you a bunch of books that I read in November, and an update on something in my personal life.
Dave [0:00:51]: So I hope you enjoyed this episode, more solo pods, more sunglasses.
Dave [0:00:55]: Enjoy this episode.
Dave [0:00:57]: Of The Dave Gerhardt Show.
Dave [0:00:58]: It's my podcast.
Dave [0:00:59]: I hope you listen to it.
Dave [0:01:00]: Okay.
Dave [0:01:01]: Hey, everybody, Dave here.
Dave [0:01:02]: You know, I always wanna do a podcast, like, I see these people, I see comedian doing podcast podcasts with sunglasses on.
Dave [0:01:09]: I don't know if it's because everybody's high or something, but it really, maybe a Casey Neistat that can do it.
Dave [0:01:16]: Right?
Dave [0:01:16]: I decided that I'm gonna start podcasting with these sunglasses on because it makes me feel makes me feel safer.
Dave [0:01:22]: It's an emotional comfort thing.
Dave [0:01:25]: So please don't don't roast me online.
Dave [0:01:27]: This is a real serious thing for me.
Dave [0:01:30]: I've been podcasting for ten years, and it causes me a lot of stress.
Dave [0:01:34]: And so I figured I would just keep the sunglasses on for this.
Dave [0:01:37]: And, also, really, I just fig...
Dave [0:01:39]: I just learned that if I wear things on the podcast podcasts, people are much more likely to...
Dave [0:01:43]: I'm just bullshit.
Dave [0:01:46]: Oh, by the way.
Dave [0:01:47]: But people are much more likely to, like, take screenshots and and share photos of it.
Dave [0:01:51]: And like, I wore tu one time and and it was great.
Dave [0:01:54]: So I'm just testing this out today.
Dave [0:01:56]: Let's let's see.
Dave [0:01:57]: And, actually, my main goal this is really just a troll to be kind of a troll because sometimes it's fun to do that.
Dave [0:02:03]: I'm am hoping that someone sees this and and gets really up set and talks about how arrogant I am and, like, who does this guy think he is and data da it does.
Dave [0:02:12]: So I'm wearing my sunglasses today.
Dave [0:02:14]: But I'm also fully on brand.
Dave [0:02:16]: I got the Exit Five Exit Five shirt on and then also, I just I just found this in my office.
Dave [0:02:22]: Anybody that has has children, your kids kinda like, just make a bunch of mess in the office and it takes me so long to get ready for these podcasts because every time I come back to the office, like, something is missing something has changed.
Dave [0:02:35]: And, anyway, this is...
Dave [0:02:36]: I I found this in here that says room rules.
Dave [0:02:39]: It says room rules, Annie is the boss.
Dave [0:02:43]: That's my daughter.
Dave [0:02:44]: Number one rule, Annie is the boss.
Dave [0:02:45]: Number two, no screaming, Number two, no fighting, number four, listen to the person who's talking, Listen is spelled l I s s I n.
Dave [0:02:54]: And then number five, no grown up.
Dave [0:02:57]: No, and that's g o, g r o n u p.
Dave [0:03:00]: So no grown ups.
Dave [0:03:01]: Well, they're at school, and I am a grown up, and this is my office.
Dave [0:03:05]: And so I thought it's the beginning of December.
Dave [0:03:08]: Team is on to be making more podcast podcasts, and I've I've had this.
Dave [0:03:11]: I just had this hip surgery, which I'll talk about and I've been a little bit on the sidelines.
Dave [0:03:15]: Haven't been able to make a podcast in a minute it.
Dave [0:03:17]: So you know what?
Dave [0:03:18]: I'm figuring...
Dave [0:03:18]: I'm feeling really good today.
Dave [0:03:19]: I'm feeling better.
Dave [0:03:21]: I'm ready to do this, and so I spent this morning, arranging my office, getting everything set up, and I'm gonna do a little, solo pod today.
Dave [0:03:29]: So I have a bunch of things I I wanna I wanna cover.
Dave [0:03:32]: Just really talk about...
Dave [0:03:33]: Talk about the last month.
Dave [0:03:34]: Talk about November.
Dave [0:03:35]: We got through Thanksgiving.
Dave [0:03:36]: Talk about what's going on talk about a x Exit Five team went to Arizona.
Dave [0:03:40]: I'll recap that.
Dave [0:03:41]: I did a poll about thanksgiving and Exit Five community?
Dave [0:03:44]: I wanna talk about that.
Dave [0:03:45]: I'll tell you a little about my hip surgery that I got.
Dave [0:03:48]: People, people are giving me a hard time for this They're like, man, how old are you?
Dave [0:03:52]: And I'm I'm like, no.
Dave [0:03:53]: It's actually because I'm such an athletic freak that I had to get this fixed up, and I'll...
Dave [0:03:56]: We'll talk about that in the second m thirty eight for the record.
Dave [0:03:59]: But I do have some...
Dave [0:04:00]: I wanna start with some marketing stuff because I think, you know, people come for the marketing, stay for the other stuff.
Dave [0:04:06]: And so I wanted to cover, like, there's so much happening with Ai right now and Ai sla is everywhere.
Dave [0:04:13]: That's kinda like the, you know, the troll take of just, like, Ai swap is everywhere dot dah.
Dave [0:04:18]: But then we're also using Ai in a lot of positive ways in our business, but I feel like we're missing across the world...
Dave [0:04:26]: Like, across marketing, like, an understanding of the fundamentals of the timeless stuff in marketing.
Dave [0:04:32]: And I made this list.
Dave [0:04:34]: And I I just wanted to talk through some of these things because I think it might be helpful and interesting to you.
Dave [0:04:39]: And so I also feel like there's a bunch of...
Dave [0:04:42]: You need to study the timeless principles in marketing and understand them because no matter what happens with technology and Ai, that stuff's gonna change.
Dave [0:04:48]: But people, as long as humans are the people that you're trying to sell to, like, humans, have not changed in hundreds of years, Go read, Sapiens by by Yu all noah a Har ferrari to get a better understanding of, like, you know, I guess, in the in the scheme of the the universe, fourteen billion years is is a lot of time, but in the past, you know, two, three hundred years, the the things that we care about from our from our brains and how we're kinda of biologically wired, that stuff doesn't change, and that's the stuff you need to understand.
Dave [0:05:17]: And so I wrote something this week, and I I I just wanna...
Dave [0:05:21]: I wanna go through some of it.
Dave [0:05:22]: So there five timeless principles that everyone should be thinking about when it comes to your customers.
Dave [0:05:28]: And really, the the overarching one is that, like, people don't care about your product.
Dave [0:05:32]: They don't care about that new integration you ship, they care about themselves.
Dave [0:05:35]: And so The more you can work backwards from understanding, like, why would someone...
Dave [0:05:40]: Let's use webinars an as an example.
Dave [0:05:42]: We do webinars at Exit Five.
Dave [0:05:44]: Think one of the things we think about all the time is, like, why would someone take an hour out of their day to actually go to this webinar.
Dave [0:05:51]: Having his discussion with somebody yesterday, they wrote in and said, like, hey, like, the webinar still work, and I said, yes, Of course, they still work.
Dave [0:05:57]: Like, what's really that different about it...
Dave [0:05:59]: Something...
Dave [0:05:59]: They said, oh, webinar seemed to be really outdated.
Dave [0:06:01]: And I said, well, not really.
Dave [0:06:03]: If you if you think about it, what's different between, like, what webinar and watching a video on Youtube or listening to a podcast.
Dave [0:06:10]: Right?
Dave [0:06:10]: Maybe the only difference is there's a live component.
Dave [0:06:13]: But then you could make the case that, like, you know, one of the biggest platforms in the world is Twitch.
Dave [0:06:17]: And people do Instagram live and Youtube, Like, there's...
Dave [0:06:20]: Live streaming does work.
Dave [0:06:21]: And so for me, it's not about it being a webinar.
Dave [0:06:24]: It's about, like, why would someone come and sit with you for an hour and take time out of out of their day.
Dave [0:06:29]: And so, like, I just like to work backwards from that.
Dave [0:06:31]: And, like, what's in it for me?
Dave [0:06:33]: Why would you give me an hour and listen to this podcast or whatever.
Dave [0:06:36]: You gotta work backwards from there.
Dave [0:06:38]: And so people don't care about your company.
Dave [0:06:40]: They don't care about your product and your features.
Dave [0:06:41]: They don't care about the new integration.
Dave [0:06:43]: They just ship.
Dave [0:06:43]: They care about themselves first.
Dave [0:06:45]: We're biologically wired to be selfish because for so long.
Dave [0:06:48]: In the course of human humanity, the number one job has been survival.
Dave [0:06:52]: And so it's not even an ego thing.
Dave [0:06:54]: It's, like, you know, quite literally my job is to think about myself and protect myself and make sure I'm okay.
Dave [0:06:59]: And then the rest can follow.
Dave [0:07:01]: And so there's really five things.
Dave [0:07:03]: So so number one is you can make someone focus on, make make someone look good.
Dave [0:07:07]: Right?
Dave [0:07:08]: Whether it's to a boss, their team or the industry, people are wired to care about status.
Dave [0:07:13]: So can you help them impress someone.
Dave [0:07:15]: Can you give them an edge?
Dave [0:07:16]: Can they copy and paste your idea and look smart?
Dave [0:07:19]: In the next meeting?
Dave [0:07:20]: I remember one of my first jobs I was working at a company called Constant contact and I was a junior product manager there, product marketing manager there.
Dave [0:07:28]: And, my boss asked me to make a marketing plan for this, like, little thing I was working on, and I was like, I have no...
Dave [0:07:34]: I've absolutely no idea how to do that.
Dave [0:07:36]: And I religiously was following Hubspot at the time and Hubspot had this amazing article on their site about how to create a marketing plan.
Dave [0:07:43]: And I pretty much copied the template made it my own and then put our stuff in there and showed to my boss and she was like, wow, this is amazing.
Dave [0:07:51]: Like, you did this.
Dave [0:07:51]: Like, this is super legit, and that moment was when I became a super fan of Hubspot because...
Dave [0:07:56]: They made me feel smart.
Dave [0:07:58]: Right?
Dave [0:07:59]: I wasn't even ready to buy their software.
Dave [0:08:00]: It had nothing to do with their software, but that made me feel super smart.
Dave [0:08:04]: Like, I I felt awesome for my boss to to basically because I copied this thing from Hubspot.
Dave [0:08:09]: It made me look good, and she was impressed.
Dave [0:08:12]: And so That's a perfect example of how you can build brand affinity by making somebody look good.
Dave [0:08:16]: Number two is save time.
Dave [0:08:18]: Time.
Dave [0:08:19]: Time is this constant we're...
Dave [0:08:21]: We're...
Dave [0:08:21]: Everyone is in a constant battle with time.
Dave [0:08:23]: It's the one thing that none of us have enough of.
Dave [0:08:26]: And so if you can help, someone do something faster with less friction, fewer steps, be more efficient.
Dave [0:08:32]: This is the way people will always pay for time savings.
Dave [0:08:35]: Like, I will always pay a little bit more if I can get something done faster.
Dave [0:08:39]: But here's the thing.
Dave [0:08:41]: This is one of those claims that everyone is saying, everyone is gonna say faster, cheaper.
Dave [0:08:45]: Right?
Dave [0:08:46]: And so you have to actually be able to prove this.
Dave [0:08:48]: It can't just be a marketing claim.
Dave [0:08:50]: You need data.
Dave [0:08:51]: You need stats.
Dave [0:08:51]: You need testimonials.
Dave [0:08:52]: You need to show the receipts if you wanna show someone how you can say them time.
Dave [0:08:56]: Number three is make me money.
Dave [0:08:59]: For all the things that I read online about how awful capitalism is, it seems to still be the best system system in the planet, that exists and so look, I I don't make the rules I'm I'm just observing them here.
Dave [0:09:11]: And so, it doesn't seem like anybody's created a better way so far than capitalism.
Dave [0:09:15]: And so this is something that you should lean into because money does matter in our society.
Dave [0:09:20]: And so, look whether someone is gonna admit it or not, your customers, the people are trying to sell to, they wanna make more money, they wanna save more money and look, they're all people.
Dave [0:09:29]: We we all we all do have an interest in money.
Dave [0:09:31]: And so whether directly or indirectly, people are are tuned into the Roi of their time and what they're doing.
Dave [0:09:37]: So if you can help someone drive revenue, get more leads, reduced churn, or even on a personal level, like, get a raise, get promoted, then you can get their attention.
Dave [0:09:46]: And now I think there's like, a completely in gross and douche way to, like, lead with money as the main benefit for your product.
Dave [0:09:53]: But I think if you can help show someone how you can help them achieve, more wealth, earn more status.
Dave [0:09:59]: I think this is a a value that you can really lean on.
Dave [0:10:02]: Again, Here's the catch and all this has to actually be believable.
Dave [0:10:06]: Right?
Dave [0:10:06]: Everyone's kind of bullshit meter is higher than it ever was before.
Dave [0:10:10]: And so you have to be able to back all these things up.
Dave [0:10:12]: This is why maybe at the topic for another episode.
Dave [0:10:15]: I think one thing I've learned in fifteen years.
Dave [0:10:17]: I've been doing marketing is, like, the product team, who you work with on that side of the company really does matter.
Dave [0:10:21]: And so, there's a lot that you have to be able to back up here.
Dave [0:10:25]: It can't just be a marketing claim.
Dave [0:10:26]: In fact, good marketing is oftentimes one of the fastest ways to put the company out of business if you can't back up the things that you're actually doing.
Dave [0:10:33]: So you gotta have proof.
Dave [0:10:34]: Number four is help me avoid pain.
Dave [0:10:37]: We are back to this whole theme about survival and our instincts.
Dave [0:10:41]: Right?
Dave [0:10:42]: We are all wired to avoid pain.
Dave [0:10:44]: There's a bunch of books on this.
Dave [0:10:46]: I feel like I I I can't cite one off the top of my head and one of my biggest Pep peeve about online creators is, like, there's just one guy in particular that I see online that basically, he just, like, recite everything that's ever been written by, like Neville or Stephen Covey, and, you know, kinda makes graphics and repurpose as his own and he's, like, built this massive massive account.
Dave [0:11:08]: So I I don't ever wanna be that guy.
Dave [0:11:09]: So, forgive me, but there's a bunch I've read in here, probably something in influenced by Robert Geraldine den, and I also think thinking fast and and slow by, Daniel Kahn is a great book on here, But we are wired to avoid pain.
Dave [0:11:22]: We would almost always rather avoid pain than get some type of gain.
Dave [0:11:27]: Because nobody likes to look stupid.
Dave [0:11:29]: We don't wanna feel behind.
Dave [0:11:30]: We don't wanna get in trouble.
Dave [0:11:31]: And so if you can speak to something that someone is secretly worried about a mistake, a missed goal, a clunky process.
Dave [0:11:38]: It's why we pay so much for things like safety and security.
Dave [0:11:42]: There's a huge opportunity here.
Dave [0:11:44]: To lean in and show them, like, a way out, show them how to avoid this pain, help me avoid this pain, they'll lean into your messaging.
Dave [0:11:51]: And then number five is help me reach the next level.
Dave [0:11:54]: This could be personally this could be professionally right?
Dave [0:11:57]: It could be, like, why do I take pre team gum?
Dave [0:11:59]: Well, because I wanna try to get more jacked or, why do I have a subscription to master class because I wanna get smarter.
Dave [0:12:06]: Right?
Dave [0:12:06]: Why do I spend so much money on books and audible because I wanna learn more.
Dave [0:12:10]: I wanna I wanna help...
Dave [0:12:11]: My I I wanna grow.
Dave [0:12:12]: Right?
Dave [0:12:12]: So help me reach the next level, great marketing often speaks to ambition.
Dave [0:12:17]: Right?
Dave [0:12:17]: Speak to the ambition of your customers.
Dave [0:12:19]: And this is what's really cool about B2b.
Dave [0:12:21]: Right?
Dave [0:12:21]: Where you're often sell...
Dave [0:12:23]: You know, you're you're always send that often.
Dave [0:12:24]: And you're always selling to someone who who is at work.
Dave [0:12:26]: Right?
Dave [0:12:27]: Who wants to do their job better inside of their company, so they can, you know, do all the things we talked about.
Dave [0:12:33]: They wanna save time.
Dave [0:12:34]: They wanna save time.
Dave [0:12:35]: They wanna make more money.
Dave [0:12:36]: They wanna help me avoid paying.
Dave [0:12:37]: They wanna look smart in front of their boss.
Dave [0:12:39]: And so How can you help people reach the next level.
Dave [0:12:42]: So that's make me look good.
Dave [0:12:44]: Save me time, make me money, help me avoid pain, help me reach the next level.
Dave [0:12:49]: Right?
Dave [0:12:49]: Notice how none of those I talked about Ai now.
Dave [0:12:52]: You could use all these things you could take the transcript of this podcast put it into chad Gp and like start to run your messaging through these things.
Dave [0:12:59]: These are some of the things that that you have to be wired to think about if you wanna understand, like, How can I get more people to read our newsletter?
Dave [0:13:06]: How can I get more people to go to our webinars?
Dave [0:13:08]: Like, why would someone show up at an event and actually stop by our booth.
Dave [0:13:13]: These are all principles that you can use that apply to that stuff.
Dave [0:13:16]: So there's a lot of noise in marketing right now, but I am bullish on, like, the more you can understand these things, then go figure out where the tech and Ai stuff fits in, you'll be in a better position to sixty succeed.
Dave [0:13:28]: So those are five timeless marketing principles.
Dave [0:13:30]: Obviously, I didn't make those up.
Dave [0:13:32]: I've been a student of this game for a while.
Dave [0:13:34]: These are things that I keep going back to, and actually, I'm glad that I recorded this because I wanna share this with our our team and Exit Five.
Dave [0:13:40]: Alright.
Dave [0:13:41]: So that's that's the first part.
Dave [0:13:42]: What else?
Dave [0:13:43]: Now let's get into fun stuff.
Dave [0:13:44]: So We spent November, so I'm recording this in early December.
Dave [0:13:47]: We'll try to turn this this around quickly.
Dave [0:13:49]: But November was a an awesome month.
Dave [0:13:51]: So we we did a couple things that at Exit Five.
Dave [0:13:54]: Number one is we we went out to Arizona.
Dave [0:13:56]: We wanted to do a team off site.
Dave [0:13:58]: There's seven of us on the team right now.
Dave [0:14:00]: And look, I'm very thankful to have a remote company to have the flexibility, especially at this stage of my life or a have young children to be able to work remotely.
Dave [0:14:10]: I think it's a huge benefit to us.
Dave [0:14:12]: We have somebody on the team as an example where before working in an to five.
Dave [0:14:15]: She had to do two hours of commuting every day.
Dave [0:14:18]: Now she's like, oh my god.
Dave [0:14:19]: Feel like I have my life back.
Dave [0:14:20]: I can I can work out again?
Dave [0:14:22]: I can, you know, be there in the mornings and at night.
Dave [0:14:24]: That's an amazing feeling, but I'm not gonna lie the in person, the energy and connection that you get.
Dave [0:14:30]: It's just...
Dave [0:14:30]: It can't be replaced, and I think it's more important than ever because I'm spending so much my time in my office.
Dave [0:14:35]: On Zoom calls, recording podcast podcasts talking to Chad Gb.
Dave [0:14:39]: And so I think the the more we can hang out in person the better it's the same way I've been on this podcast talking about the value of events, there's just no room for Nuance online, and I noticed that when you have a connection with someone online, and then you go hang on in person.
Dave [0:14:52]: It's so much better.
Dave [0:14:53]: You can laugh together, joke together, make eye contact a guy contact understand Nuance.
Dave [0:14:58]: And so it helps us work better.
Dave [0:15:00]: Right?
Dave [0:15:01]: You can understand the context of what someone's saying is so much better if we've hung out, then if you if you just read the things I say in Slack, you would think I'm the biggest dick in the world.
Dave [0:15:09]: Right?
Dave [0:15:09]: But if we can hang out together in person, and we can actually build chemistry build report.
Dave [0:15:13]: So we've kinda...
Dave [0:15:15]: We've been doing a bunch of events, I'm, I I sneeze this coming and I'm trying to fight it up.
Dave [0:15:18]: We've been doing a bunch of events with x Exit Five over last year, but a lot of times, we go to these cities and we only have time to, like, we're doing dinners We're doing this meetup up.
Dave [0:15:26]: We don't have time to hang out.
Dave [0:15:27]: So we wanted to do an off site where, literally, the goal was just to hang out.
Dave [0:15:31]: We didn't even have crazy, you know, planning structure to do that.
Dave [0:15:35]: We did about an hour or two of, like, kind of future thinking each day.
Dave [0:15:38]: But we went to Arizona.
Dave [0:15:39]: Dan Dan lives out there.
Dave [0:15:41]: My business partner.
Dave [0:15:42]: He lives out there.
Dave [0:15:43]: And so we all went out to Arizona.
Dave [0:15:45]: We got a nice hotel.
Dave [0:15:46]: We went to a bunch of nice dinners together.
Dave [0:15:48]: We went on a hike together.
Dave [0:15:49]: Another purpose for the trip was we're doing an event in March called the marketing leadership or retreat, which is for in house, vp vps and Cmos, a hundred of them in March.
Dave [0:15:57]: You can you can find that it's Exit Five dot com slash retreat.
Dave [0:16:01]: If you wanna check it out or just email me David x Exit Five dot com.
Dave [0:16:04]: We can we can send you details about that.
Dave [0:16:05]: But we want to discount the venue there.
Dave [0:16:07]: It's called Mountain Shadows, and so we went there for the day.
Dave [0:16:10]: And it was just awesome to have three meals together to work out together to hang out.
Dave [0:16:14]: I don't know.
Dave [0:16:15]: Maybe all in the trip cost us, I know, ten, probably ten to fifteen k to get seven people out to Arizona, all the meal, all the travel, everything.
Dave [0:16:23]: And we...
Dave [0:16:25]: Look, I'm at the stage now where if I'm gonna travel for work.
Dave [0:16:28]: On, respectfully, I'm not gonna stay...
Dave [0:16:30]: I don't wanna stay at, you know, some, like, gross gross motel.
Dave [0:16:34]: You know, on the other side of the country and so, like, we pick nice places.
Dave [0:16:37]: We had a really nice time with the team, and I think it's a perfect example of, like, perception is reality and how you treat people, like, trickle down to your brand.
Dave [0:16:45]: And so the fact that we had a nice hotel.
Dave [0:16:47]: We went to nice dinner.
Dave [0:16:48]: We did nice things together.
Dave [0:16:49]: I want the team to see that and feel that in it's important part.
Dave [0:16:52]: Of our culture and I'm very thankful to be in a position where we can we can, like, spend money on those types of things because I think it really does make a difference.
Dave [0:17:00]: We just had an awesome time.
Dave [0:17:01]: The feedback from the team was awesome.
Dave [0:17:03]: We spend a little bit of time planning.
Dave [0:17:04]: Arizona is a wild place, man.
Dave [0:17:06]: I I come from Vermont.
Dave [0:17:07]: There's there's there's greenery.
Dave [0:17:09]: There's trees.
Dave [0:17:09]: There's seasons out there.
Dave [0:17:11]: It was like, it was just it's bone dry out there.
Dave [0:17:14]: It's crazy.
Dave [0:17:14]: Then Dan and I played T scottsdale for my golf people out There played T Scottsdale sale on Friday.
Dave [0:17:19]: As a way a little celebration for for him.
Dave [0:17:22]: It's been two years since we started working together two year anniversary.
Dave [0:17:25]: So we did that, put it on the ramp card because it's a write off, and and we had an awesome time.
Dave [0:17:30]: Then, The sad part is when we came back and the...
Dave [0:17:34]: I had to do the thing I've been dread all year, which is, I have this injury in my hip.
Dave [0:17:39]: I have a torn labor and a hip impingement and I've been basically dealing with it for ten years.
Dave [0:17:44]: Finally decided to bite the bullet and and get the surgery to basically, it's not a hip replacement.
Dave [0:17:50]: It's just like, a cleaning out and basically rest redoing the hip without having to take the hip out and it's like a three to six month recovery.
Dave [0:18:00]: It's...
Dave [0:18:01]: I'm on week three recording this right now.
Dave [0:18:02]: I'm off crutches trying to get movement in my leg back.
Dave [0:18:05]: I'm feeling better every day, but it's been a mental challenge for me.
Dave [0:18:09]: Now.
Dave [0:18:09]: I say to myself, like, I'm I'm very thankful that, like, I'm not I'm not sick.
Dave [0:18:13]: Thankfully.
Dave [0:18:14]: Right?
Dave [0:18:14]: I'm not sick.
Dave [0:18:15]: I have all my health.
Dave [0:18:16]: This is just an injury, like, this is okay.
Dave [0:18:17]: It's more of a challenge for me up here because I haven't been able to to do all the things I like to do hike run lift workout.
Dave [0:18:24]: And so, I'm just sitting here sending a thousand Slack messages a day right now.
Dave [0:18:29]: But good test of my mental state in one of my favorite mindset comes from Jo Willing, and he has this kind of video on Youtube It's like two minutes.
Dave [0:18:37]: And, basically, anything that happens in life, you...
Dave [0:18:40]: Your answers is like, good.
Dave [0:18:41]: Okay.
Dave [0:18:41]: So this whole thing happened to me.
Dave [0:18:42]: I can't run.
Dave [0:18:43]: I can't lift.
Dave [0:18:44]: I can't work right now Good, like, invest in the business, spend time, you know, read more books.
Dave [0:18:48]: I've read a ton of books this month.
Dave [0:18:50]: I finally got to watch some Tv.
Dave [0:18:52]: I don't watch a ton of Tv.
Dave [0:18:53]: I binge watch succession, which is I...
Dave [0:18:56]: I I turn into the character that, of the show or book I'm reading.
Dave [0:19:00]: So I've been joking to Dan right now that, like, and anything you're seeing from me, which is terrible.
Dave [0:19:04]: Anything you're seeing from me is based on succession right now.
Dave [0:19:06]: So send me a message if you watched succession.
Dave [0:19:08]: So I've been doing that.
Dave [0:19:10]: I said I would give you some book recommendations.
Dave [0:19:12]: So I try to, like, read one one book for work, one one book for life, and kinda not not always work, like, a marketing book, but maybe just like a business philosophy, kinda personal development...
Dave [0:19:24]: Mid book, and so the books that I read in November.
Dave [0:19:26]: I read strength to strength, by Arthur Brooks, strength the strength, finding success, happiness and deep purpose in the second half of life.
Dave [0:19:34]: Look, I'm thirty eight.
Dave [0:19:35]: I hope this is not my second half of life yet, but, this is a great book just about how, like, hey, your your potential...
Dave [0:19:43]: Like, your peak is...
Dave [0:19:44]: He used a great example of like, look, Nfl players and athletes like, they're done at thirty.
Dave [0:19:49]: Right?
Dave [0:19:49]: A lot of other creative professions, you know, the peak of your career might be happening right now in your thirty, you know, early thirties, early forties, but life goes on after that.
Dave [0:19:59]: And so you have to be able to, like, be prepared, be mentally prepared to to tackle that next chapter.
Dave [0:20:05]: And I I just love stuff like that.
Dave [0:20:07]: I'm a big believer in investing in yourself.
Dave [0:20:09]: I love this, one of my favorite, like, business and life philosophers of all time is this guy called Jim Ro.
Dave [0:20:15]: He had this book seven strategies for wealth and happiness that that I read a bunch of years ago.
Dave [0:20:19]: And he says that all leaders has this quote, all leaders are readers.
Dave [0:20:23]: I'm until tell my kids is.
Dave [0:20:24]: My kids are eight and six, but all leaders are readers, and it basically means that, like, leadership requires a commitment to continuous learning, and the leaders across all industries and fields are typically the ones that are committed to continuous learning their v readers who are seeking knowledge to grow and improve, and leadership, you know, in leadership, you have to be able to rise above the ordinary books are an amazing way to do that.
Dave [0:20:46]: All of the knowledge of the world is somewhere out there, and I...
Dave [0:20:50]: I have this feeling.
Dave [0:20:51]: I I don't know if you can relate to this or not where I'm like, I'm gonna die one day, and I'm only gonna have read, like, a tiny percentage of the books out there.
Dave [0:20:59]: And so I have a really low tolerance for if I'm reading a book and it's doesn't...
Dave [0:21:02]: It's not interesting to me.
Dave [0:21:03]: I'm like oh my god.
Dave [0:21:04]: This is such a waste of my time.
Dave [0:21:05]: I wasted three nights reading this book, and it's it's not meaningful.
Dave [0:21:08]: And so, big believer in like, continuous learning.
Dave [0:21:11]: This is a good one.
Dave [0:21:12]: And I think it's important to have that intros perspective.
Dave [0:21:15]: Type of material sometimes to, like, to to help.
Dave [0:21:19]: So that was a good one strength the strength, Arthur Brooks.
Dave [0:21:21]: And then been reading a lot more fiction lately thank goodness for a while.
Dave [0:21:26]: I did, like, the ten years of, like, you know, only reading, like, the Simon Cy B Brown, Seth Code and Tim ferris, like that type of stuff.
Dave [0:21:35]: I've read them all.
Dave [0:21:36]: I've read every business book marketing book under the sun.
Dave [0:21:38]: I'm good.
Dave [0:21:38]: I got it yeah, from high output management to the hard thing about hard things to every marketing book I know it all.
Dave [0:21:44]: Like, I got it in my head.
Dave [0:21:45]: It's all in Chad Now anyway, I never was a reader in my life, but the last probably ten years I've gotten really into reading.
Dave [0:21:52]: And luckily now I've found like, fiction is fun.
Dave [0:21:55]: Fiction is fun to read, and it's really good for you.
Dave [0:21:57]: It's good for your brain.
Dave [0:21:58]: It's good for my creativity.
Dave [0:21:59]: I always noticed that the more that I'm reading the more creative ideas that I have coming out of me.
Dave [0:22:04]: It doesn't matter from I'm reading about murder or Harry Potter or that.
Dave [0:22:09]: So I read I read Project Hail Mary by Andy Ware, great book shout out to Jess on my team, who also talked about that book.
Dave [0:22:16]: If you listen to that, if you wanna listen to what the audio version is amazing, this guy Ray Porter is an incredible.
Dave [0:22:21]: Probably the best narrator I've ever heard on an audio book, He's, like, truly an actor doing impressions and accents, it's amazing.
Dave [0:22:28]: Project Hail mary was great.
Dave [0:22:30]: And then that's the same guy who wrote the martian.
Dave [0:22:33]: And then I read the fury by this guy, Alex, Mike el.
Dave [0:22:36]: It's a...
Dave [0:22:37]: You know, I don't know how to say his it's the last name perfectly.
Dave [0:22:39]: The book is called the fury my wife, Leah, she told me to read this.
Dave [0:22:42]: We were at the bookstore because I was being really grumpy after my surgery.
Dave [0:22:45]: I was feeling really depressed and sad for myself, and she's, like, we're were gonna get out.
Dave [0:22:48]: We're gonna take a trip.
Dave [0:22:49]: We're gonna get out of the house.
Dave [0:22:50]: We're gonna go to bookstore.
Dave [0:22:51]: And, she was looking for the silent...
Dave [0:22:53]: This book called the silent patient for me, but they didn't have it, but they had other book from him.
Dave [0:22:57]: The fury, really good thriller, murder mystery has nothing to do with business or marketing, but I I ripped through that, and it was a great read.
Dave [0:23:05]: And I also think right now it's really important to be reading because so much, you...
Dave [0:23:09]: You're probably like me if you're listening this podcast.
Dave [0:23:11]: So much of my time is like, Slack text message Instagram.
Dave [0:23:17]: Tiktok.
Dave [0:23:17]: Linkedin.
Dave [0:23:18]: Her meeting call chat that.
Dave [0:23:20]: It's insane.
Dave [0:23:21]: I'm really trying to, like, take time to slow down to, like, work...
Dave [0:23:26]: Your brain is a is a very important muscle, and it can be trained and you can learn.
Dave [0:23:31]: And I need to, like, slow down and learn how to just operate a little bit slower.
Dave [0:23:35]: I'm really trying to lean more into meditation.
Dave [0:23:37]: Nothing crazy just, like, ten minutes a day of just sitting and doing nothing, which is something I need to prove to myself I can do.
Dave [0:23:43]: And I also think reading is another thing here because how many of you like me, I feel like I've lost my attention span because I'm constantly context switching and multitasking, reading is an amazing way to rebuild that muscle.
Dave [0:23:55]: So that felt really good.
Dave [0:23:56]: Plus.
Dave [0:23:57]: I, like couldn't do shit.
Dave [0:23:58]: So I'm sitting on the couch and, like, I gotta read, and I can't watch succession all day, unfortunately.
Dave [0:24:02]: So, those are the three books that I got through in November.
Dave [0:24:06]: But I love getting book reviews.
Dave [0:24:07]: Or I I look I love getting book recommendations from people that I know and like and trust, that's the best, like good reads in real life like my guy Harry Drive messaged me last night and sent me a book review.
Dave [0:24:16]: So if you have a book you think I might like and you're listeners is pod, send me know Dave at x five dot com or just Dm on Linkedin.
Dave [0:24:24]: I always love getting book recommendations.
Dave [0:24:26]: What else?
Dave [0:24:27]: Oh, I'm also reaching we're also reaching a really cool phase of life with our children.
Dave [0:24:31]: They're eight and six, and they're both reading now first and third grade.
Dave [0:24:34]: Like, holy smokes.
Dave [0:24:36]: They come home and they just sit in front of the fireplace and they just read, and the house is quiet.
Dave [0:24:40]: And they're they're soaking in knowledge because all leaders are readers, and it's an amazing chapter of life and super cool to see my kids getting into reading.
Dave [0:24:50]: What else?
Dave [0:24:51]: Then we had Thanksgiving, American holiday in case you're not familiar of it.
Dave [0:24:54]: Matt on our team.
Dave [0:24:56]: He post he posts the same meme every year on Thanksgiving now because he's Canadian and it's what's his name Mil house from the Simpsons?
Dave [0:25:03]: He's thrown the Frisbee back and forth to himself.
Dave [0:25:05]: Which is amazing.
Dave [0:25:06]: Matt worked on Friday.
Dave [0:25:08]: Matt worked on Thursday and Friday after Thanksgiving.
Dave [0:25:10]: Like, was closing deals making things happen.
Dave [0:25:13]: I was, what did a genius move by us having a having a, you know, Canadian employee because we can we can keep the lights on, but that was awesome.
Dave [0:25:20]: So thanksgiving.
Dave [0:25:21]: And then I posted an Exit Five in our community.
Dave [0:25:24]: I posted, like, before thanksgiving overrated, underrated, tell me about your ideal, thanksgiving meal, let me read you the Ai summary.
Dave [0:25:32]: It's great.
Dave [0:25:32]: So everybody...
Dave [0:25:33]: Because my whole thing is, like, you know, if Turkey so good, and this is not my own number.
Dave [0:25:37]: Right?
Dave [0:25:38]: But my whole thing is like, if Turkey so good, why do we only eat it once a year?
Dave [0:25:41]: It doesn't really make any sense.
Dave [0:25:42]: Maybe maybe maybe you don't.
Dave [0:25:44]: Maybe eat all the time.
Dave [0:25:44]: I eat have a turkey sandwich, but not like this kind carving turkey.
Dave [0:25:47]: And so my answers were overrated turkey, And then my favorite, you know, underrated is I wrote pecan pie till the day that I die.
Dave [0:25:55]: That's a bar and a half right there.
Dave [0:25:57]: Then, somebody told me, you need to put chocolate chips in the pecan pie.
Dave [0:26:01]: So that's next level, but let me read redid the the Ai summary of this was This discussion centers around personal opinions on overrated and favored Thanksgiving foods with Turkey frequently cited as overrated and pecan pie widely celebrated as a favorite.
Dave [0:26:13]: Participants also share alternative dishes they enjoy including sweet potato casserole unique regional foods and variations on traditional sides and desserts.
Dave [0:26:21]: There's a mix of humor and nostalgia with some comment known non traditional or vegetarian preferences.
Dave [0:26:26]: So thank you Ai inside of Exit Five for giving us that summary The general consensus is though about my, my, me saying Turkey overrated is that we're just not doing it right.
Dave [0:26:36]: Basically, everyone who's ever deep fried or smoked to Turkey said that that is the way to go.
Dave [0:26:41]: So I'll have to explore that.
Dave [0:26:43]: But This is one of things that I love about our community is, like, it's not just marketing.
Dave [0:26:46]: We're sharing fun stuff in here.
Dave [0:26:48]: We're all humans, like, I love the venn diagram of, like, people come in because they're markers, but we hang out and connect is.
Dave [0:26:53]: As humans.
Dave [0:26:55]: So I posted that in there.
Dave [0:26:56]: You should you should go check it out a lot of love for pecan pie.
Dave [0:26:59]: I I see a overrated for Mac and cheese though.
Dave [0:27:01]: I'm not...
Dave [0:27:01]: I'm not gonna...
Dave [0:27:02]: I don't have the the time for that.
Dave [0:27:04]: So...
Dave [0:27:04]: And then November, we wrapped up.
Dave [0:27:06]: We just came back to to work this week.
Dave [0:27:08]: Somehow we got thirty ish days left in the year.
Dave [0:27:11]: You'll probably listen to this and they'll be less than that.
Dave [0:27:13]: We made a big announcement at at Exit Five, which is I promoted Dan to Dan our Coo and made the decision to promote him to Ceo of Exit Five effective December first, which is super exciting Shout up to you, Dan.
Dave [0:27:28]: Proud of you man, he's came here two years ago and just has absolutely kicked ass for us and and really helped turn this thing from Dave's solo project into a real company.
Dave [0:27:37]: We've doubled every year.
Dave [0:27:38]: We I, you know, I feel super confident saying we have the top community in B marketing, but don't even care about the numbers.
Dave [0:27:44]: I I really don't.
Dave [0:27:45]: The revenue is awesome.
Dave [0:27:46]: The the team is great, this is one of those things in business though that I can just feel it in my gut.
Dave [0:27:51]: And if you see...
Dave [0:27:52]: If you saw the messages that I get, the comments people send the Dm, like, we're we're getting, we're making a real impact on on people and getting promoted and growing their careers and just giving people this kinda...
Dave [0:28:03]: I love this concept of a third space where you have home, you have work.
Dave [0:28:06]: X Exit Five is at third space where marketers can hang out and talk to each other.
Dave [0:28:09]: Dan came in two years ago and was, like, my on...
Dave [0:28:13]: Honestly got my initial reason for hiring him was, like, I was just gonna treat this like an investment property.
Dave [0:28:17]: Dan was gonna run it.
Dave [0:28:18]: I was gonna go do other things, but he came in.
Dave [0:28:21]: He took a look at the business?
Dave [0:28:22]: He's like, dude do you have something amazing here.
Dave [0:28:23]: Like, and his energy has translated into my energy and now I'm working...
Dave [0:28:28]: I used to brag about how little I was working now I'm working.
Dave [0:28:30]: I don't...
Dave [0:28:31]: At twenty feels like every hour of the day, I'm working.
Dave [0:28:34]: I guess, like checking Slack all the time isn't necessarily working, but Dan coming into do that, gave me a ton of energy.
Dave [0:28:40]: We went from just the two of us and now we have a team of seven, we'll cross three million dollars in revenue this year.
Dave [0:28:46]: And I wanna keep going.
Dave [0:28:48]: I wanna Wanna do more, not just because I'm this evil capitalist and I want more and more and more.
Dave [0:28:53]: But I've seen how over the last two years that this whole entrepreneurship thing is a vehicle for personal development, and I wanna keep going.
Dave [0:29:01]: I think I've become the best version of myself over the last two years because we're working on this business, and...
Dave [0:29:06]: I wanna do more.
Dave [0:29:07]: So The reason we made the decision to promote Dan to Ceo.
Dave [0:29:10]: I'm not going anywhere.
Dave [0:29:13]: I'm the founder of the company.
Dave [0:29:14]: I'm the owner of the company, but I think my strength is in being the storyteller, the visionary, the creator, and I see this as creator led business.
Dave [0:29:24]: No different than how many other creator led businesses, like, eventually hire a a Ceo to come in.
Dave [0:29:30]: Dan's already been doing this role for us as Coo.
Dave [0:29:33]: I think making the the title more official just gives us more structure.
Dave [0:29:37]: For the future.
Dave [0:29:38]: And I think the way that I think about this was is laid out perfectly in the book traction, which I have over there somewhere, but, in traction...
Dave [0:29:45]: Excuse me.
Dave [0:29:46]: In traction, they outline this entrepreneurial operating system.
Dave [0:29:49]: And they say that the the ideal pairing in the business is between the visionary, which is the founder and the integrator, which is the operator, and that describes the partnership that Dan and I have perfectly.
Dave [0:30:00]: So vision are, this is me, by the way, this is why you get to wear sunglasses and be on the on a podcast.
Dave [0:30:05]: Vision are creative, strategic, restless, full of ideas that's that's me.
Dave [0:30:10]: And on and honestly, a bit dangerous the remember reading this now.
Dave [0:30:14]: And honestly, a bit dangerous without the right counterpart.
Dave [0:30:16]: They are known to start fires and run.
Dave [0:30:18]: Guilty, guilty is charged.
Dave [0:30:20]: Integrator on the other hand, they bring structure and process, they turn chaos into clarity, they run the business, manage the team, keep the trains moving and allow the visionary to focus where they are most valuable.
Dave [0:30:30]: And so I really wanna continue to grow this business and to can you continue to work on it.
Dave [0:30:35]: I felt like, personally, the best place for me to be is to not be in one on ones, not be in budget reviews.
Dave [0:30:42]: You know, Dan's the Dan's on Dan's on calls with my accountant, the lawyer you know, he's bringing in ramp in fifteen five and structure and operations in the business.
Dave [0:30:51]: That's the best place for him to be.
Dave [0:30:53]: The best place for me to be is to be skating out ahead, creating having a vision for where we're going.
Dave [0:30:58]: Plus, I think the thing that I love most about my job is I get to be managing editor.
Dave [0:31:02]: I'm working on with our team on every podcast.
Dave [0:31:05]: Every email, every webinar headlines hooks all that stuff, and I wanna have more time to spend there.
Dave [0:31:11]: And I think it's just the perfect separation of our skills to work together for Dan to B Ceo and run the day to day business for me to be able to be founder, an owner.
Dave [0:31:21]: And so we're...
Dave [0:31:22]: We made that change heading into twenty twenty six.
Dave [0:31:24]: So if you see Dan give him a shout out, proud you man.
Dave [0:31:27]: You're doing an awesome job fun to be able to, like, promote somebody into that type of role and put us in a position to continue to grow and evolve our business.
Dave [0:31:37]: So that's it.
Dave [0:31:38]: I'm done.
Dave [0:31:39]: Thirty minutes in and out.
Dave [0:31:40]: I did it.
Dave [0:31:41]: I wanted to record a solo podcast I'll have to do this more, I think it'd be funded maybe do like, a a monthly recap.
Dave [0:31:47]: Thanks for hanging out with me and and listening to this episode of my podcast The Dave Gerhardt Show.
Dave [0:31:52]: By the way, the reason we rebranded it to The Dave Gerhardt Show as opposed to the Exit Five podcast is because in twenty twenty six, We have more shows, more podcasts, more stuff coming from x Exit Five.
Dave [0:32:02]: I see the future of our business as a multiple having multiple creators.
Dave [0:32:07]: We have Jess who's our head of marketing.
Dave [0:32:09]: She writes a newsletter called the prompt.
Dave [0:32:11]: Which is all about Ai, which is different from the newsletter that I write.
Dave [0:32:14]: By way if you're not on that newsletter, go to x Exit Five dot com slash.
Dave [0:32:17]: Newsletter to get my newsletter, and then I just wanna make sure the the prompt what do...
Dave [0:32:21]: Is it Exit Five dot com slash the prompt, the dash prompt.
Dave [0:32:25]: Let me check it out.
Dave [0:32:26]: It's x five dot com slash the prompt newsletter We'll fix that.
Dave [0:32:31]: That's gotta be shorter, But go check it at x five dot com slash the dash prompt dash newsletter, get on Jess Jess newsletter if you wanna learn, you know, specific tactical stuff every week about Ai or just check us all out.
Dave [0:32:43]: Exit Five dot com.
Dave [0:32:43]: You'll we'll see you there.
Dave [0:32:44]: Have a great day.
Dave [0:32:45]: Great week.
Dave [0:32:46]: If you enjoyed this episode and you want me to do more solo pods like this send me out David x Exit Five dot com or message me on Linkedin or maybe leave a comment on Youtube We got all of our stuff up on my Youtube channel now.
Dave [0:32:56]: And I'll see you later.
Dave [0:33:01]: Hey.
Dave [0:33:01]: Thanks for listening to this podcast.
Dave [0:33:03]: If you like this episode.
Dave [0:33:04]: You know what?
Dave [0:33:05]: I'm not even gonna ask you to subscribe and leave a review because I don't really care about that.
Dave [0:33:10]: Have something better for you.
Dave [0:33:11]: So We've built the number one private community for B marketers at Exit Five, and you can go and check that out instead of leaving a rating will review, go check it out right now on our website Exit Five dot com.
Dave [0:33:22]: Our mission at Exit Five is to help you grow your career in B2b marketing, and there's no better place to do that than with us at Exit Five.
Dave [0:33:30]: There's nearly five thousand members now in our community, People are in their posting every day asking questions about things like marketing planning, ideas, inspiration asking and getting feedback from your peers, building your own network of marketers who are doing the same thing you are so you can have a peer group or maybe just venting about your boss when you need to get in there and get something off your chest.
Dave [0:33:50]: It's a hundred percent free to join for seven days you can go and check it out risk free, and then there's a small annual fee to pay if you wanna become a member for the year.
Dave [0:33:59]: Go check
Dave [0:34:00]: it out, learn more, Exit Five dot com,
Dave [0:34:03]: and I will see you over there in the community.