Intrapreneurship: The Best of Both Worlds? with Mickey Anderson

[00:00:00] Hector: N Y p famm, We are back with another episode, and today's episode is a little different because it's actually not necessarily about podcast hosting or being a host or hosting a show, but it's actually about being a great guest. And one of the reasons that I wanted to have this guest on the show was because, To this day, being a guest on other shows is still one of the best marketing tactics and one of the best ways to grow your show.

[00:00:25] Hector: And so I wanted to have someone come on and talk about not only how to actually get appearances booked, but then when you actually show up on those shows, how do you actually convert them? And what's fantastic is this guest took. Company or a business or a product that is not, people wouldn't typically think that you would sell through podcasts, which are are meat sticks.

[00:00:46] Hector: And he's been able to grow a business almost exclusively off the back of podcast guesting. And so Dustin Reichman is our guest today. He's someone who's become a good friend of mine And recently he's come on some of the other shows that we produce here at Amplify, and all of the other hosts have been equally blown away by the value that this guy is able to bring.

[00:01:03] Hector: So as always, get your notebooks ready, get ready. Listen to this episode multiple times, And after the episode, come find us on LinkedIn and let us know what you thought. Without further ado, let's get ready for today's episode with Dustin.

[00:01:16] Hector: dustin, welcome to the NYP show man. Thanks for being here today.

[00:01:19] Hector: I'm very excited to be here, Hector. Thanks.

[00:01:22] Hector: So Dustin, you are, one of the few guests who are not podcasters here. And, you are in, great company though. and the reason I had you on was two reasons. The first was followed up and I said we're not having guests on right now. We're gonna have some guests on. Very few people actually follow up.

[00:01:38] Hector: So you followed up and that either says that A, that you're. Tenacious as hell, and so that. Or b, there's something about the universe so

[00:01:45] Dustin: I'll,

[00:01:45] Hector: yield to the universe in those regards as well. The second thing though is actually right around the original date of that recording were headed out to meet with some really cool people and I'll let you share as much as you can about it, Reason I wanted to have you on was you're doing something really cool, which is growing a real life brand a physical, tangible product. Right. it's not quite direct to consumer, but you have very. Consumable brand that you're selling through podcasting.

[00:02:09] Hector: And so I thought that that was just a very interesting approach. And so I wanted to give you a chance to come on and, share a little bit about what you're going on. So thanks again, Dustin. And, and why don't you us a little bit about that story and tell us what you got going on and share a little bit about the brand and the business.

[00:02:22] Hector: So yeah, I appreciate being on. I do not have a podcast, at least not as we sit here today. However, I think a lot of the story and a lot of the marketing lessons will definitely apply to people looking to grow their shows using some of the same methods and some of the same frameworks that I've used to grow my brand.

[00:02:37] Hector: Fire Creeks, snacks. The story picks up for Fire Creek in summer 2020. It's covid times. Brick and mortar has been evaporated in my home state of Illinois, everything was shut down. And I've got this snack brand that was largely dependent on wholesale, you know, brick and mortar business. And so to clarify, we do have a direct consumer, Part of our business, but it definitely wasn't an emphasis at that time.

[00:02:58] Hector: So I didn't really know what to do and I was locked at home with my kids and my wife said, Well, I guess I'll reach out to someone that was kind of a, Facebook friend level. And got on a show and we did a podcast and just told the Fire Creek story, like how I got involved with it, why we care so much about the brand and like how it's just different and how we're affected by Covid.

[00:03:15] Hector: It really resonated, you know, it was like a medium size show, I would say. And we made a call to action at the end, and lo and behold, we sold a significant amount of snack sticks, to a non targeted audience. It's basically a business show. And I was like, Wow, that was really interesting. so I reached out to another show, and another show, and I ultimately ended up reaching out to 12 podcasts in, that second half of 2020.

[00:03:34] Hector: All. was relatively cold pitch emails, but had some kind of special sauce to them because all 12 said yes. And the, and some of these are pretty large shows, including the Shopify podcast and a Bigger Pockets podcast. yeah, so that was where all that momentum went with Fire Creek and the brand and have continued to do that.

[00:03:50] Hector: And we basically try to have some kind of marketing partnership and it could be a podcast that it often is once a week and we run it as a system now, and it's a core part of how we do sell direct to. and it's turned in some really large opportunities on the brick and mortar front. that's how we got started. That's why podcasting is so special to me, even though I don't actually have one yet. but strategies work I think universally cuz I have, have other brands that we've grown this way too.

[00:04:13] Hector: Yeah, and it's interesting because I have a client they're trying to figure out their monetization strategy, and what was interesting for me is he said, I've never made podcasts. Work and what he meant by that was like he can never make it make money maybe make it as much money as he wanted to, but you've kind of found it seems like a way to be able to do that with A product that is not maybe typical, a lot of people think about well, I don't know. Why does it work for you? why have you found That it is something that you can make a system and make repeatable and kind of turn into this almost scalable process? Or hopefully you're moving towards, scalable process.

[00:04:46] Hector: It's a very scalable process. I basically show up and tell my story and we make sales on the back end and there's a virtual assistant who's handling all the stuff in between now. So it's definitely been systematized and scaled. And we teach to other people too. Right. So we've learned from a lot of other people's experiences, not just our own brand.

[00:05:01] Hector: Yeah. Our brand. I think it's, funny, it's like we sell meat sticks, on podcasts and we do sometimes have pretty targeted audiences. we have some avatars, like we call like the gluten-free mom. So, you know, there's certain audiences who are grocery buyers that have kids with food allergies.

[00:05:14] Hector: And by the way, Fire Creek is like a craft protein. it's a healthy meat stick. So it's a craft protein product and. We do have those opportunities, but I find just as successful as getting on business type shows or Shopify shows and talking about our e-commerce tactics. But in doing that, I think there's a few key things that anyone listening could use also to grow their own podcast or to sell their own products.

[00:05:35] Hector: I think one is always leading with a win. like looking for win-win win partnerships. So, you know, a podcast is a great example of what I call partnership marketing, where the brand owner has a win and obviously they're getting exposure to their target market. They're getting to tell their story and hopefully get some direct sales and we'll talk about how to leverage those appearances as well.

[00:05:54] Hector: That's like a very direct obvious benefit, to the audience. If guest is good and they're being educational, they're telling inspiring stories, they're relatable, well then the audience is winning. And of course, when the audience wins, the host wins because their downloads grow and their authority grows.

[00:06:06] Dustin: that's really important, and I think for everyone listening too. If you're running a podcast, of course that's the most obvious partnership, but there are lots of other forms of partnership marketing. It's the win, win win is, the main thing, and then it's really you leveraging other people's audiences and and platforms to grow your own brand and business.

[00:06:23] Dustin: So for Fire Creek, in conjunction with podcast guesting, those podcast guests appearance have started to spin up other opportunities for partnerships. One big one for us was subscription boxes. People had heard us on a show and they're like, Hey, we got this ketogenic diet box, or we've got we ultimately ended up in Snack Nation, which is a huge corporate, box.

[00:06:40] Dustin: And we're in a bunch of gifting programs now too. All of that came from podcast guesting, but those individual partnerships are where a lot of the dollar signs came behind our brand. So we go on a show, we might sell, $20 worth, we might sell a few thousand dollars worth of direct Shopify sales based on a coupon code.

[00:06:56] Dustin: So we know exactly where they came. But much more valuable to us has been the relationships that have grown out of those things. And those have happened both indirectly and directly. And by that I mean organically like. I'd say after about five or six shows I was doing it consistently and they were getting released, near each other.

[00:07:12] Dustin: I just started to get lots of cool people reaching out, you know, on LinkedIn or shooting me messages saying, Hey, I heard your show. I really like your story. can we chat? And then those were turning into referrals. They were turning into brand collaborations. But also we've kind of taken this to the next level.

[00:07:26] Dustin: Is we do direct outreach also when we get opportunities to be on podcasts. I'm happy to unpack that too. I tend to go on these, long uh, tirades cause I get fired up, I'm not afraid to jump in and, stop so don't, worry if, if you're going off the rails, I'll bring you back. But you're a freight trained, so a lot of times I just like where you're going. What's interesting is you seem to have a knack for making it a win-win.

[00:07:47] Dustin: And somehow I intuited that as well in the sense that there was going to be some sort of win-win for our audience. what's the key to that? Or if somebody, is not getting the responses that they want, I think that's a big part, is that they're asking too, I have this one guy on LinkedIn.

[00:08:04] Dustin: I won't drop the brand. It's actually a brand that a lot of people are very familiar with especially in the podcasting space, who is just going about it, the totally the right, wrong way. And it's because there's too much asking. I don't see the value there, but how do you present that?

[00:08:17] Dustin: And a lot of times, through an email or what are you doing to make sure that they know that there's something for them to get out of it as.

[00:08:24] Dustin: Yeah, I mean, and you and I met on LinkedIn and I've seen more frequently things are happening that way now where it's just growing out of. Other conversations that are happening, but for people who are like, I really want to be on this specific show, like how do I actually do that? I mean, I can walk through real quick.

[00:08:38] Dustin: We kind of have a three step, three piece perfect pitch email type of thing, right? So these are typically cold emails. A lot of times the people don't really know us. If it's kind of a higher value relationship, if you will, if it's kind of someone who feels kind of a reach that you would really be on their.

[00:08:51] Dustin: Then we'd recommend doing some other warmup and like getting to know them and all. This isn't meant to sound creepy. It's like legit, like get to know them, understand what they do on LinkedIn, comment on their stuff, connect, kind of basic things so that maybe in the back of their mind they have actually heard your name before.

[00:09:05] Dustin: But regardless, the cold pitch email. We basically don't make it cold. So there's three pieces, and I'll walk through what those look like, but number one's relational anchors. And then number two is What's the win for the guy receiving it, or are the gal receiving the email? And then number three is a really clear, easy call to action.

[00:09:19] Dustin: So the relational anchors are the real kind of art and science to this, and that is, to do some basic research. So the person receiving the email, Actually open it and you and I get pitched all day every day. We talked about it before we started recording. can smell 'em a mile away, right? I have three brands.

[00:09:34] Dustin: I get pitched all the time. But if I have a clever subject line or something that makes it seem like this isn't random, this is like person actually knows me. And then I open with some really important things, which are points of, commonality things again that make, you know, I'm not some random stranger on the internet.

[00:09:48] Dustin: I've actually like spent at least a few minutes getting to know who Hector is and what you care about and. Being real clear about those things that we have in common that would anchor us. So common examples that I've used would be, you know, if there's a podcast and it's a husband and wife du.

[00:10:00] Dustin: that's obvious. Well, I have a business with my wife, so it's a really easy warm opening. Hey, I love the rapport you have with your wife on the mic. My wife and I have, been in business together for, 12 years, whatever, I clearly know something about them. It could be as simple as, basic and simple as, listening to a few episodes, but not just generically referencing them, but like say, Hey, in episode two 12 when you're talking to Dustin, I took this nugget, I found it really useful.

[00:10:22] Dustin: I actually went and used it on LinkedIn the next day and I got this result. and you know, as a content creator, the best thing you can hear is real tangible results that people have got that, that you've helped them win. So that's relational anchors, right? Again, points that you have in common.

[00:10:34] Dustin: Ways that they've helped you. It's just a way to kind of warm them up, get them to keep reading the email and make them feel like this is a legit guy. That's, reaching out. Then the middle part, which is super important, is what's the win for the person reading this? And so if it's a podcast pitch, in this example, what I like to do, I know enough about their show And I know the, general subject matter I'm gonna cover, I've got four or five kind of magic bullet points, right? That'll end up in most of my emails like this. But they're customized to each show, and that's basically a show outline. I'm basically sending Hector, I've introduced myself, flattered him, , said, I really like your content.

[00:11:06] Dustin: And then I have a easy transition to. I've been on several podcasts, and I would love to share this with your audience. And then put four or five bullets that are like unique things that his audience would actually find interesting. And him as the podcast host is he's like, Oh, this is awesome. Like, this dude's already outlined the show for me.

[00:11:21] Dustin: I need to show up and record this. This is great. And of course those have some chops behind them, so they're interesting curiosity inducing type of bullet points. And then call to action, which I almost always use, are you in. Dustin, no links. Like I'll put the name of the company I'm with some of my Fire Creek snacks, for example.

[00:11:37] Dustin: But are you interested, Is a really nice call to action because you're not committing to like saying, Yes, you can be on my show. Let's schedule a date. All I'm saying is, are you interested in all the stuff above? And it's a really easy way to get people to say yes and then enter conversation to go from there.

[00:11:49] Dustin: So that's the perfect pitch email. I know it sounds like a lot. The wonderful thing about it though is once. Craft one for your brand and one target market. So if I'm Fire Creek Snacks and I wanna be on e-commerce shows, well then 95% of that email is the same for every pitch. But critically, very top few sentences are not because they really need to be customized to each host and as much as possible customized the bullets, just a little bit.

[00:12:12] Dustin: So to get that something that you know would make their antenna raise. So is that.

[00:12:17] Hector: Yeah, I'm looking at his messages. I was like, How did Dustin get on this show? Because like I said, we don't let

[00:12:22] Hector: podcasters on here. So I'm like, Wait a minute, what happened? And he referenced another show that we, Produced for as well, which we chatted about before we started.

[00:12:29] Hector: And then somehow commented. I remember having an interaction on the comments. I don't remember what it was specifically, but then in the message he said, following up on our discussion and the comments, I think it was, you know, something regarding guests or whatever, and he said I'd be happy to join for an episode to teach about partnership marketing for growing podcasts.

[00:12:44] Dustin: And here we are. So no cold pitching over required, but it still falls the same process. Right? And again, this isn't at all meant to be manipulative. It's kinda like people hear me talk about it and they're, Wait, you used that on me? I'm like, I guess I did, But I'm, only doing it because I really do feel like this is something that would be valuable to your audience.

[00:12:59] Dustin: Right. but it's the same thing. I still connected with you and it happened to be on LinkedIn instead of an email, but I still commented on a post that you had commented on. I've hopefully added value to your comment and then I did some basic research and remarked that we had points of.

[00:13:12] Dustin: Commonality in that, oh, you, produce this show. I've actually, big fans of theirs. I have a certification from them. Well, that makes you realize I'm not, again, some random dude. I'm actually, the same people you know, which leads to you accepting me as a connection. And then we have a few dms back and forth, right to the point that.

[00:13:27] Dustin: I had to delay this recording and we can talk about why, but a very important meeting came up for me. And I think we had enough rapport that you weren't just like, Well, screw off then if you're not gonna come at the time. It's a fairly late cancellation that was outta my control. So that rapport, and hope, we obviously stay in contact beyond this too, and it's really about building real relationships.

[00:13:45] Dustin: But like, how do you do that strategically and in some cases, how can you have other people do some of that legwork? Because it's not scalable for me as a brand owner to, actually go out and create like a deep relationship with every person I'm ever gonna do any kind of marketing partnership with.

[00:13:57] Dustin: But you can use some tactics to kind of find out who that is pretty quickly. And then I do step in as like a real human and all my dms on LinkedIn for example, are actually me. That could be outsourced, but I choose not to. So that's cool though, that you're able to look back and see what I did to form the

[00:14:10] Dustin: relationship

[00:14:10] Hector: Well, yeah, totally. And I do get hundreds of these. it's cool to see it working right, and for people who are, trying to get on, bigger shows. I think it's great to see its effectiveness. Now there's two things that I think happen though, right There is.

[00:14:22] Hector: Getting on the show and then there is actually showing up and delivering on the show is that something that you think a lot about too and, what are you doing when you get onto the recording that's actually gonna create some sort of conversion? Because I think what tends to be discussion is that podcasting are, Brand awareness

[00:14:42] Hector: ads, Or, they're great brand awareness, but the idea of them being direct to consumer or the idea of them being, conversion based or whatever, they're not seen in that light, but it seems that you've kind of challenged that a bit. if that's the case, how you've done that or how you approach, actually creating some conversion on the back end?

[00:14:59] Hector: A hundred percent. Yeah. And I think it might be easiest for people listening. I'll go through like a real quick, like five steps. It's like the framework that we use for our own stuff and when we help other people, cuz it's every point is critical to what you just talked about with conversion. So there are five P's.

[00:15:12] Hector: it's purpose, plan, pitch, perform, profit. Okay. So, but purpose is where this all starts. And that's saying for a given. Brand and for a given target market, why would I wanna be on this podcast this applies to all partnerships for podcasts specifically. So that's really important, right?

[00:15:27] Hector: Because the purpose of why you wanna do it is gonna then inform everything else, and that can be pretty much summarized in your call to action. the next step you wanna deliver to people. So that's purpose plan is the research, right? So now I know why I wanna be on the shows.

[00:15:39] Hector: Now I need to find the right shows, prioritize those shows so I know who I want to talk to and who I have a chance of actually, being on a show. So that's plan. Three is pitch. That's exactly what we just talked about a minute ago. So that's like, okay, I've got these three shows I really wanna be on next. Now I need to go create relationships and or write really good emails that are persuasive to get on those shows. That's the pitch. And then perform is what do you do on the show, right? Like if I was on here talking about Fire Creek and you were a. Ketogenic diet host. Then I would be of course talking about the story behind how it was developed, the health benefits, other ketogenic clients, because I'd have a really easy, strong call to action at the end to go get a special bundle or a coupon code or whatever, right?

[00:16:16] Hector: But the perform is what are you doing to prepare for the show? What are you gonna talk about on the show? Are there certain stories that you think that would resonate if at all possible, that's the best thing to do with that audience, and then have a really good call to action. and follow up with the host and like do some other kind of human normal things that people should do and just don't like, leave 'em an iTunes review, say thank you, like stay in touch on LinkedIn or wherever, wherever you met.

[00:16:38] Hector: And then the profit, step five, that's kind of the other half of everything, right? So like, I usually teach this in a 12 week accelerator and like the first six weeks is all the, finding the right shows. Know what you wanna talk about, doing some pitching and. Just as importantly, the other six weeks is like how to profit from these appearances.

[00:16:54] Hector: And that is multi-leveled in the approach. But I think in a really simple way, I'll just say, think of it in three layers, right? So layer one is what everyone thinks about, and that is, if I get on this show and it's got X number of listeners, How many snack sticks can I sell to them? Or how many people can I get to come subscribe to my podcast if that's the topic?

[00:17:11] Hector: And that's like the one to many. There's this people in the ether, we need some way for them to raise their hand and identify that they're interested in us. And that's cool. And that's the whole reason I started getting on podcasts is for that. What I uncovered in the process is like level two is what I would call like the peer to peer level, right?

[00:17:27] Hector: A lot of times a great relationship will be strong struck up with the host and you find that like, Oh, we could refer work to each other, or, Hey, you should be on this other show, my buddy, or Hey, I got a guess for you. That would be awesome. so that peer-to-peer with the host. And out of that one to many, like what I find is every decent size show I'm on, there will be several people that reach out, shoot me an email, shoot me something on LinkedIn, and they just wanna have a zoom call that where they're intrigued.

[00:17:49] Hector: They have a question they have their own brand and it's just peer-to-peer relationships that form. And then level three is kinda like the direct answer to your question, and that is direct outreach and like actually using a podcast as a place to create a pool of prospects.

[00:18:03] Hector: And then do like more of a lead nurture sales process that like most sales reps would be familiar with. Right. This might sound kind of weird. Let's say I'm a Facebook ads agency and I service e-commerce companies. A really great strategy for me would be if I have some cool special sauce to talk about the newest and greatest Facebook ads stuff.

[00:18:20] Hector: Be to get on podcasts that feature a lot of e-commerce brand owners, right? Because that's my target audience. So for one, they're listening, but this level three of this direct outreach, what's really cool is if in that scenario I can look at the guest list of all the past guests and it's evergreen, all the future guests and say, Hey.

[00:18:37] Hector: There's 50 of these guests and like I can tell publicly based on what they talked about on the show, their LinkedIn, their Facebook in this case, I can tell that I could really help 12 of these people. Well, those 12 actually then become a very targeted outreach. So I'm gonna connect with them on LinkedIn and be like, Hey, we were both on such and such podcast, so I got a nice warm relational anchor right off the bat built in.

[00:18:57] Hector: And then we're gonna have follow up conversations, invite them to listen to my. Et cetera. So you can see that this level three, which is high touch, high ticket type of stuff that you can absolutely do from podcast. that's something I hear almost no one talking about. And that's kind of become one of the things that, we've become known for when we help other people leverage and other partnerships.

[00:19:15] Dustin: it seems like people would be, Most confused or most uncertain about how to do that third part. Right? the first two make a lot of sense that third one, even for me, I'm trying to wrap my head around that. Can you go deeper on what you're looking for or how that might come together?

[00:19:31] Hector: let's use you as an example. So you do podcast production work, and so you've got a certain type of podcast that you know you could really help. you, you know enough about the metrics and the industry to kind of be able to feel out where that's at. So a great podcast target for you would be a podcast that interview.

[00:19:46] Hector: Podcasters of which a portion would be your ideal clients, right? And so your whole thing is to get on that show, showcase your expertise about why it's so important to outsource your podcast production, how it increases revenue, how you can make it up in ads Whatever you talk about, right?

[00:19:59] Hector: And now you've been on that show. And here's a really easy way to think about it. Every show that you're on, think about it like it's a pond, And in that pond are fish. And those fish are all the past. And all the future gifts of that show that continue to get stocked in this pond. And all we're gonna do is either I teach people to use a virtual assistant to do almost all of this, but give a very tight screening list of like, for this show, these are the type of people I wanna find in that pond.

[00:20:24] Hector: In your case, it's podcasters who've had 20 to 80 episodes who are doing it themselves, who have a lot of potential for growth, et cetera. I don't know what your actual criteria, but something like that. So now out of those, say a hundred fish that are in there and again, it's being monitored cuz there's, new ones every time there's a new.

[00:20:41] Hector: Pull out the 20 that actually fit your criteria. Put them in this other little pond. And that's like your nurturing pond. Now they're in your world and you're gonna reach out to them and it's gonna be really easy cuz you're gonna be like, Hey, I'm Hector. We were both on Joe's podcast recently. I saw you have a podcast. Congratulations. I'd love to connect. Then they connect with you on LinkedIn or via email or wherever makes sense for your. And it's just a human conversation, right? Like they're gonna respond back and say something like, Oh yeah, Joe's a great host. We had a lot of fun with that interview.

[00:21:07] Hector: And you're gonna, just have an organic conversation though. That ultimately leads to the question, Would you like help with podcast production? I'd love to hop on a call and help you with that. And then obviously they could hire you at that point. But does that kind of help you from picking a podcast all the way into like doing these basically a sales pipeline on the back?

[00:21:22] Dustin: Yeah, you're looking for who's your, client Connect with that person, right? that one step away, which I think is brilliant.

[00:21:28] Hector: and just real quick, because I know there's a lot of people listening here. Like, I just have a podcast or I sell meat sticks. that, what I described is like a really good for high ticket services Facebook ads podcast production, because it doesn't take many to make it really worthwhile.

[00:21:41] Hector: However, the parallel to that would be like a high ticket relationship. So if I work with an e-commerce brand like Fire Creek, I'm not looking to go sell 10,000 sticks to the person that I'm emailing, or messaging on LinkedIn. What I'm looking for are influencers brands I can collaborate with, people who can refer me to buyers at retail stores, so those are my high ticket relationships.

[00:21:58] Hector: And like for a podcast, it could be the same thing, like people who know. Who are in a network that you wanna be part of, right? Someone who knows someone you want an introduction to. Like those are worth few messages on LinkedIn to connect and see if that's a reality for you. in a nutshell though.

[00:22:10] Hector: That's kinda that level three, which is definitely the most advanced of the three. But it can also be life changing. we're gonna run short on time, but like we got into

[00:22:18] Hector: Walmart because I was on a podcast.

[00:22:20] Dustin: Yeah, before you spill the beans, I would love for you to share how Leveraged this up, right? There's that famous story of, you know, kind of leveraging a penny up until like a paperclip into, kind swinging up.

[00:22:31] Dustin: Right? And so you've kind of done that all the way up to the biggest of big that when I searched Fire Creek snacks your website didn't come up anymore. Theirs did. And so I think that's a good problem. But can you share how you've kind of taken this all the way to the top?

[00:22:43] Hector: Yeah. and I'll do two really quick ones because the first one's probably more approachable for most people. So the first one was a company called Snack Nation. They've rebranded crew. Summer 2020. They had changed their whole business model cause they used to ship better for you snacks into corporate break rooms.

[00:22:57] Hector: Everyone was working from home. They were freaking out and I just befriended a guy on LinkedIn. I didn't even know he was a buyer there. He ended up that he was a buyer there and I gave him some samples. We were a very small brand at that time. He's like, You know what, we'll give you a shot. You have to donate 8,000 sticks.

[00:23:08] Hector: So we did. Then I leveraged that and said, Hey, I'm glad the test went well. I'd love to be on your podcast cuz they had a Brand builder podcast and they still do. So we got on there, We're on the podcast. Those were seeds that were plant. This is one way to think about that. I've planted these seeds.

[00:23:21] Hector: I didn't know what would ever be harvested. If anything, like 18 months later I get an email earlier this year from the Sharon who's like the new buyer there, and she's like, Looked at our customer reviews. I'm looking for unique brands and I listened to all the podcasts that are relevant to my category and I love your story.

[00:23:36] Hector: Can we purchase 550,000 snack sticks from you this year? I was like, Oh yeah, okay. So like that would be an example that it was like a high ticket relationship that was seeded, earlier. and then when I kind of spilled the beans I was on a show that stopped by Fire Creek and.

[00:23:50] Hector: Young guy reached out and we just started having a conversation on LinkedIn. He was really into real estate investing and it was something I was interested in, and as we were just talking, And it kind of dawned on him, like in our second conversation, he's like, Well, I work at Walmart, would it be helpful if I could find an introduction for you here?

[00:24:03] Hector: And he worked in a finance department. I said, Of course. he got me in touch with the lead meet snacks buyer. This was in late 2020, early 2021. I got a one hour zoom call with this guy. Learned a lot about what they're looking for and how the culture works and all that, and the process.

[00:24:16] Hector: And then he moved positions, . So I was like, Well, that was cool. What I did know is when he moved physicians, his replacement, he put in a word and said, You know, I've been talking to this brand. I think they're up and coming, something to keep on your radar. So then we had a Zoom call with her like 16 months ago, I guess.

[00:24:30] Hector: Something like that. And then, We got invited to Bentonville about three or four months ago to meet in person with her as a follow up to some ideas we'd given her previously and with changes in the economy and stuff right now, there was kind of a potential opportunity for us. And then we got invited back like a few weeks ago, and she basically said, You're in.

[00:24:46] Hector: I want that product that we had basically created for her category. And find out in a few months like what that means as far as initial store count. But like literally, I don't think we would've been on the radar had I not done that podcast, that some guy who sat in finance at Walmart heard and put in a good word, and I had a Zoom call and he put in the next word.

[00:25:03] Hector: So it's like the ultimate Planting seeds and reaping later, you know, reaping and sewing. I don't want people to take away from that is, that's what this is all about. Like those are the unicorn things that happen when you put in a lot of reps, cuz you don't know where these opportunities will come from.

[00:25:16] Dustin: I'm titling this How to Use Podcast to get your. Product in Walmart. That's when that's, I'm gonna title

[00:25:21] Hector: I'm sure they'll appreciate that title. Yes.

[00:25:22] Dustin: Dustin, tell us quickly about the snacks, cuz they look great. I try to be in ketosis, ketogenic as long as I can, but I'll tell you what big problem is.

[00:25:31] Dustin: once I start eating something, I've got some stuff that I can drink in the morning and some coffee that keeps me there. But once I start eating stuff, it all goes to hell. And so

[00:25:39] Dustin: you're talking to a, you know, a podcast who tries as much as possible. and I think it's great even

[00:25:44] Dustin: for just podcasts, there's,

[00:25:45] Hector: Yeah, no, and I'll send you some snacks for sure, Hector. And then you'll really be hooked. And then we'll really be

[00:25:50] Dustin: I appreciate that. I want to give some context really quickly though, in the sense that even for podcasters who are sitting at their desk, and I think that these types of snacks are so, powerful. give us the, one minute or however many seconds you can stay on and uh, give us what you know, what they're all about.

[00:26:05] Hector: Yeah, like I said earlier, craft meat stick. first and foremost, we're all about flavor. So like literally you'll rip open a package, you're gonna smell hickory smoke because most companies use liquid smoke. It's mass produced. We actually run things through a hickory smokehouse. My business partner in Fire Creek, I didn't ever mention, he's a third generation butcher.

[00:26:21] Hector: Like he created these things in a butcher shop and he made his own smokehouse. Now they're master, know, now we have a co-packer and stuff cuz of U S D A regulations. But anyway, that's the experience. Bold flavors, but very clean. So they have no allergens, no gluten, no msg. two of the flavors Sweet Heat, barbecue, and teriyaki have a little sugar.

[00:26:37] Hector: So Hector might wanna avoid those for ketosis. But original and kicker, which is our spicy flavor, both those have less than a gram of sugar and a, seven grams of protein, One out snacks stick. I don't have a podcast, but I'm on Zoom a lot or on Riverside a lot. I always have them handy. So that's, the brand. Fire Creek Snacks. So Fire creek snacks.com, you guys can check those out for. Yeah, and then like talking about opportunities. I was doing all this for Fire Creek and continued to do it for Fire Creek and people hearing me do that in public like every once in a while.

[00:27:04] Hector: How did you get on this opportunity? How'd you get on this show? How'd you get in this retailer? And so I've created a whole nother brand outta this whole experience too called Simple Success Coaching, where basically all I do is help people form marketing partnerships.

[00:27:15] Hector: And I have an accelerator program I mentioned earlier that basically helps people do this for their brand, their podcast, their product, whatever. And it's literally changed my life being a podcast guest because it not only blew up our brand in a good way, but basically created a whole different business.

[00:27:28] Hector: That's become my main focus now. So it's pretty, pretty awesome stuff. And all in the course of like two years.

[00:27:33] Dustin: That's so cool. Where can people get connected with that or where should people go and follow and get connected with you on social?

[00:27:39] Hector: Um, Pretty active on LinkedIn. if you can see my name, I'm gonna be the only one on there. , Dustin Reman. But a really easy way to get ahold of me is to shoot me an email Dustin, s t i n, Fire Creek Snacks. Com and if you wanna talk about snacks or partnership marketing or any of this stuff, love connecting.

[00:27:56] Hector: Obviously I love relationships and I really do try to, live by that ethos of serving first. So if there's anything I can do to help anyone, that's what I'm here for. So I appreciate the opportunity to share everything today, Hector. It's been awesome.

[00:28:06] Dustin: Yeah, this has been fun and, really enlightening guys. Thanks for hanging out with us. Go get connected with us on LinkedIn. Follow me on Twitter at Hector Podcast, and we'll see you guys on the next episode of the NYP show. Later, y.