The Exchanges

Q Right. So who was your inspiration for getting started and how was it that inspired you? And I don't mean the newspaper stuff. I mean, Kind of more with Blue 16 Media.

A I think I came from a family of people that always had like be this side thing that you did. I think me seeing my mom start her embroidery business was huge because I remember, I think for Christmas, I got her like a business plan book and things like that. And I actually leafed through it more than maybe she probably even did. My granddad, he sold a lot of different things and it was just always in our blood, so to speak. Um, but I don't, I didn't know that anybody was really like going all in and trying to do it full time. So what you said kind of resonated with me because it was like seeing something and saying, how do I potentially do that full time and have a legit business?

AI assessment note: “seeing my mom start her embroidery business was huge”

Q that have the time to be your support network, which makes it even worse because the only people you find yourself wanting to know are other entrepreneurs. Because they're the only people who understand you. So entrepreneurship is a blessing and a curse on multiple levels. You have two podcasts. I've just started my first. It's hard. I'm doing it alone. Why the hell did you want to do two?

A So the, the first podcast that I had, it still is kind of going, it's not as regular as the daily podcast I have. Um, the CEO chat podcast was a podcast. I literally just started because I was interviewing entrepreneurs and business owners for the blog. I would listen to the recordings and then I would write up a blog post and then send them the blog post and they just have the recordings for myself. And I was listening to some of the recordings. I was like, Hey, this is like pretty valuable information. So that's really how that podcast started. Fast forward about two or three years. I had it up to being a weekly podcast, but one of the things that we kind of touched on in the very beginning that I love you did so well is that you get that opportunity to really build connections and relationships through podcasting. And it can, Blossom into other things and other opportunities. So I had the goal of creating a daily podcast, and I knew that the way that the CEO chat podcast was set up was not equipped to be daily. I really went back and I figured out what are the best questions? What are the most impactful questions? What questions can I ask consistently that the guests know what's to come? I know what's to come, but at the same time, it lends itself to be like kind of conversational. So That's the only reason I started it, because I always try to hold my why at the, at the fro…

AI assessment note: “I had the goal of creating a daily podcast, and I knew that”

Q Do you have people you're working with or you do it all on your own?

A Yeah. So I have an editor, um, and then I have someone that helps out in editing just the video part, the audio part, and then actually creating the blog post. So I'm really just, uh, doing some of the outreach right now. And even that I'm hoping to, to kind of delegate that out. One of my internships I had my, my boss said, don't let the perfect get in the way of the possible. And I tell myself that all of the time, because it's definitely an art and I appreciate my editor and the team so much because, um, I know that that wasn't in my zone of genius. And I know that the quicker that I, Unloaded that would allow me to kind of be present in, you know, interviews and getting the opportunity to really, you know, hopefully provide value a lot more.

AI assessment note: “So I have an editor, um, and then I have someone that helps out”

Q Let's go into this quickly. When did you become interested in entrepreneurship?

A I, uh, was the kid that, you know, sold potato chips on the playground. Um, I had a family newspaper when I was 10, so my dad went TDY, so he went to a completely different country. Um, and as a way to connect with him, you know, pre Skype, Zoom, all these kind of technological things that we have at our advantage to be like face to face with somebody. We used to just talk on the phone once a week. Uh, we would get emails through AOL, um, the whole dial up, and then we would send them care packages. So him not being able to know what was going on in the, in our family for that year or so that he was away, um, in the military, basically created this family newspaper. So I got all the news that was going on in our family. And then I basically just put it into a word document, got some fancy clip art, printed it out, and then would send it over to him every single month. And then I would sell the subscriptions to my family members and those that were close to our family. And that was like those things that I went back to when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up, that was like, okay, well, you seem to have some entrepreneurial tendencies, even though you probably don't even know what the word entrepreneur is at that time. Um, so fast forward a lot of years trying to figure all of that out. I started to really interview entrepreneurs and business owners bec…

AI assessment note: “I was the kid that, you know, sold potato chips on the playground.”

Q So what made you be interested in, in having a media company?

A It went back to the family newspaper. It was one of those stories that I felt was unique enough to where it might speak to who I was as an individual. And it just started out with writing and being interested. I always say I'm a journalist at heart and love to ask questions and hear people Stories. So it was just finding a lane that kind of resonated with me and minds end up being entrepreneurship and business. Um, but not to say that I'm not, you know, interested in other things, but I think that was the thing that just spoke to me at that time that I was trying to figure that out. And a lot of it was just discovery and understanding that this is what entrepreneurship means, but how really do you run a business and really asking those questions of people that were running businesses. Um, were really what kind of led me into that and, and building the media company. And then because of journalism kind of, I don't want to say crashing and burning, but kind of evolving and changing tremendously. Um, it was just one of those times where I, I really looked at an industry that had really been, you know, really, um, badly affected. How can I potentially create like some type of model or some type of change that can help out people in that industry, but also help People get the news that they want.

AI assessment note: “It went back to the family newspaper. It was one of those stories”

Q nothing and you feel nothing and you're just kind of in darkness with yourself, In a positive way is such an amazing experience because it's just quiet and we're so used to noise that this period of quiet is just so peaceful and amazing. It's like 30 minutes of meditation is like sleeping for several hours for me. I don't know if you've ever experienced anything like that. Have you?

A In my experience and kind of I think in alignment with what you just Like you said, there's so many things that are pulling from you and kind of getting you closer to the, you know, this is a gas tank analogy, but getting closer to E that a lot of times you don't have enough to continue on. So when we go to sleep, we're reenergizing ourselves. But I think when we're able to kind of just be, you know, quiet and have peace and not have things pulling from you, it also allows that opportunity to be able to do that. And I think that, uh, it's, it's so powerful. Again, I'm not, you know, 16 years in, but I think it's something that I've seen such a valuable Thing because my default was to get up and to start doing something every single morning.

AI assessment note: “In my experience and kind of I think in alignment with what you just”

Q Everyone knows that starting companies isn't easy, so I'm curious to know what was the hardest thing about starting Blue 16?

A A lot of times with running a business, there's so many different things that go wrong. There's so many things you don't know. You don't know that you don't know. Um, you feel like you're the only one that doesn't know, but in reality, you know, we're all kind of figuring it out, you know, and taking steps along the way. And I think that loneliness, while sometimes it allows you to be able to just chart your own path and choose your own lane and go with it, At times when you're unsure of yourself, unsure of what you're doing, and how exactly, um, the decisions that you make, um, will impact certain things, you're just confused, and you don't know. Set that environment that allows you to succeed is, is probably one of the, the biggest challenges overall, and I think that you have to be very aware of who you're surrounding yourself with.

AI assessment note: “Set that environment that allows you to succeed is, is probably one of the, the biggest challenges”