Welcome to a very special episode of Branded! We're embracing the holidays in this episode and talking about the things we're thankful for that have shaped our careers, lives, and brands.

We each share an experience, mentor, and piece of advice we've received, the impact it had, and why it stuck with us.

As always, we're thankful for each of you for listening to the show and wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving!

Key takeaways:

1. Embrace the Power of Side Hustles: Larry shares his experience as an entrepreneur and the value of having multiple side hustles. Having different ventures allows for growth, flexibility, and the opportunity to bring everything together under your personal brand.
2. Find the Right Mentors: Sara highlights the importance of finding mentors who can guide you in your journey. Look for someone you respect, admire, and can learn from in the field you aspire to be in. Mentors provide invaluable insights and support that can shape your career.
3. Don't Let Work Define Your Mental State: Both Larry and Sara discuss the significance of maintaining a healthy work-life balance. It's essential not to let work-related stress impact your mental health. Remember, it's just a job, and focusing too much on work can hinder personal growth and well-being.

What is happening, everybody? I'm Larry Roberts. Hi, and I'm Sara

Lohse, and this is Branded, your comprehensive guide to creative branding.

And on this episode of the podcast, it's going to be

a very special episode because why? We're getting

Festive. We're getting festive. And what

what what are we what what do we have here? What do we have here?

Is that a Hand turkey? That that was my little hand turkey going across

the screen there. Yeah, man.

It It's 2 days until Thanksgiving, and

we wanted to talk about a couple of things that we are thankful for and

things that have been really impactful for us on our

career, professional, personal journeys, all that fun stuff.

Yeah. You know, one of our journeys has been a little bit longer than the

other, but I think we still share some

some, I don't know, some shared experiences. You know? I think we've experienced some

similar things along our our very different paths, And we

wanna take this opportunity to share with each and every one of you out there,

basically, the the things that got us to where we are today and

Why we're thankful for those experiences, those people,

and, last but not least, at least for me, maybe

that advice that helped guide us along that

path to get us here today talking to everybody on

branded. Yeah. So, Larry, why don't you start, age before

beauty? What is that experience

that you're really thankful for? The experience.

There's so many experiences, obviously, since, I've been here basically

twice as long as you have. Been around the block. Yeah. Yeah. There's

it's it's so funny, man, because when I talk to people, it's not

uncommon after they've like, if I meet someone and I talk to them, I don't

know, for a couple weeks, a month or so, And as they start to see

my experiences and the things I've done

and the people I've met and just the it They

go, dude, how have you done all of that in

your life? And it's kinda funny because I often refer back to

Forrest Gump. I feel like I live a very Forrest

Gump life, and I say that for for one reason. Because if you

watch Forrest Gump, I mean, the dude does everything. Right? He runs

forever. He he's super, super fast at running. He's amazing at ping

pong. He fought in a war. He he he started he

was a cofounder of Apple. I mean, he had his shrimp company. He did everything.

Right? And If you read the book Forrest

Gump, you would realize that he did even so much more in the

novel. I mean, in the novel, he also had a pet monkey. He also

went to space. I mean, he just did so much more. I mean, it's it's

ridiculous. I didn't even know it was a book. Oh, yeah. It was based on

a novel. So and and back when it first came out, I had to read

that. I used to used to do that all the time. I would always read

the novels that go with the movies, and I can think about doing that all

the way back to, I mean, one of my cult classic movies, and we're really

not talking about much about branding here, but, what This took a turn.

It's just kinda getting to know us maybe a little bit more, and we're thankful

for this opportunity to do that. But if you think all the way back,

one of the movies that I still cherish to this day was The

Goonies, and I remember Have you ever seen it? Oh my

god. It's one of the greatest movies ever. I mean, it's just a adventure

movie for kids. It's great. You know? Is that the one that you don't feed

them after midnight? Or No. No. That that's that's that's gremlins.

So, Goonies is just a group of of kids that go on this

adventure, and, they end up firing finding some Some pirate treasure that's

buried, and they use the pirate treasure to save their neighborhood. And it's just it's

just a fun movie from from back in the mid eighties, but that's one of

the first movies I remember Watching the movie and then reading the novel,

and there were so many differences between the 2 that the novel

just really made it better. So, I ended up making a habit of of

watching movies and then reading the books that that coincide with them. So Yeah. I

thought I was the only one who does it in that order. I don't read

them first. I read them after. It's better to read them after because you get

so much more detail, and there's no room for ruin the movie. Exactly.

There's no room for disappointment. Right? If you read the book first, you're like, oh,

but they left out this, they left out that, and you walk away feeling disappointed.

But if you read the book, it's more of an enriching experience. And

we're talking about experiences right now, and that was always

an enriching experience for me. But the experience that I'm most thankful

for as I sit here today on this episode of the podcast is

the experience of being an entrepreneur, of having

that opportunity of living in a world where

it's a possibility. I've always this goes back to

my Forrest Gump isms. Always had no. No. I mean, it's just I've always

had side hustles. I've always even in my corporate career, I've

always had side hustles. Everything from yeah. You you I think you

have to. It's just fun. And, actually, I was I was in a mastermind

yesterday, and, I kinda got scolded a little bit Because I do have so

many side hustles that I have all these plates spinning in the

air, and none of the plates are getting the attention that they deserve. And, You

know, after getting that scolding, I was kinda kicking rocks yesterday a little bit, but

then when I thought about it, I go, that's just me. Mhmm. You know? I

don't have That gift of singularity. I

don't have that gift of having a single focus on one thing. My mind

is everywhere, and, yeah, maybe some people call it squirrel

or shiny object syndrome, but that's just me.

I have to have my hand in all these different cookie jars, or I honestly

just get bored. It doesn't matter what it is. I could be the most

passionate person about a particular subject matter, but

if I go all in on that subject matter, I burn

out. Yep. So that doesn't mean I don't wanna continue to love that

subject matter, but, you know, I I don't I don't want to get

into the minutiae of it. I don't want to dedicate every waking

minute to one thing. I just can't do it. So I'm

super thankful For the opportunity to be an entrepreneur

and have that flexibility and have that those

opportunities to spin All these different plates

and to continue to grow, continue to evolve, and ideally

do it all within a cohesive Brand.

So I'm gonna draw all this. I'm gonna bring it all back to to

branding, and that could be a challenge. And I know there's a lot of people

listening right now that are very similar in that regard, where they

they they have these opportunities, and they have these Ideas, and they they

wanna do this, they wanna do that, they wanna do this, they wanna do that.

And somehow, they wanna bring it all together and put it under the

umbrella of their individual brand. And that can

be a very, very big challenge, one that I

continue to struggle with each and every day, but once again,

Super, super thankful for the opportunity to do just that.

Yeah. I think if you as long as everything that you're trying to

do relates in some way, It's just a matter of, like,

what you give attention to at the time, but for me, my side hustles never

have anything to do with my actual like, I don't put it under My company

umbrella like, my side hustle right now is dog sitting just because I

love dogs. And if I can borrow other people's dogs,

I won't adopt 12. So, like, it gives my pop

a friends, and there's really not much more work that goes into taking care of

2 dogs as one. You just Put an extra cup of food out. So

I've got a big mastiff with me right now, and she is the

sweetest little monster you ever done seen,

And extra cash. So Yeah. It's nice.

For me, it's interesting because when I was thinking about what

Experience, I would say for this, it's actually

an experience that I don't usually talk about that fondly.

I've I really feel like that's been kind of unfair, and it's the 1st

job I had out out of college. And the only time I

ever really talk about it is in how I left, which

was that was the job that I got offered a different

position and was asked why would they want you. You're just a

copywriter. Mhmm. So it kind of

didn't end fantastically, but

the experience itself, I mean, I accepted the offer the

day before I graduated college. And in

that time, I learned so much. I was there for, I think, about

two and a half years, And I was learning from just

really fantastic people, really smart, really

strategic, and I just learned so much, and

I was able to it was my 1st agency

position and Kinda my last because then I went in house

with marketing and then launched my own. But being an

agency, I was able to have my hands in all of these different

industries and learn the ins and outs of them

while also learning some of the basics of marketing that I

wasn't familiar with because I Studied advertising.

I studied communications and psychology. Like, I didn't actually study

marketing until later in my career when I went back for

a strategy certificate. So When you went to Cornell.

Yes. I did. Thank you for bringing that up so I

didn't have to. Yeah. I know what you mean.

I did a digital marketing certification through Cornell's, like, online

school, but that was really the first, like, formal

marketing education I'd ever had. Everything that I learned, I learned from doing

or I learned from the people I worked with. And I really am

so thankful for that 1st job because of everything that I

learned, and it's starting to resurface with some of

the conversations that I've been having with prospects

because they want, podcasts to be launched

within certain industries, And I can actually say, like, oh, yeah. I worked in

that industry for years. I did this, this, and this within that industry.

Like, I know that this is a goal, and I can pull from that experience.

So definitely something that I'm incredibly

thankful for, and I never actually meant to cast a

negative light on that. It was just The ending was a blow

to my, confidence, I guess.

Handed me some imposter syndrome. There's plenty of that to go around.

I promise. Yeah. So the next thing that we're thankful of on this

wonderful episode, we're talking about a person

that impacted us and a person that we're thankful for. Sarah, you're on a

roll. Tell us who you're thankful for. Normally here, like I say, like, my

parents, which is the, you know, Cookie cutter answer, which is

true, of course, but I actually thought of

one of my professors from college. Her name was sand doctor

Sandy Nichols, and she taught introduction

to mass communications. And when I started

my major in mass communications, it was because I had no idea what I wanted

to do. I was a criminology Major. I was studying psychology and criminal

justice. I wanted to work for the FBI and chase serial killers

and all the stuff you would expect from me.

And I was I interned kind of with them

and realized this is not for me, and I was Just like, alright. Well, I'm

already a sophomore. What am I gonna do with my life? So I

found Mass Comm. It seemed to be something that was Could

be applied different places. Just learning how to communicate. Like, that sounded

good. So I took an intro to mass comm class. And

The professor, I mean, she was just a sweetheart in general, but one of the

things that she had us do was create a personal website.

Just set up, like, a WordPress and write a bio

about us, and it was just the way to learn basics of website

development with, like, plug and play websites and set it up

so that, eventually, if we wanted to make it into our portfolio, we would have

the framework. And we had to write our

about us, like, our about me bio page. And I wrote

mine. And then the next day, she puts it up on the board

and reads it to the whole class and then looks at me and says, you're

gonna be a writer. And I had never considered that. Like,

writing, I knew I didn't wanna be an author, which I I have a book

coming out, so that changed. But I never

I never thought like, I didn't wanna write novels, and

I just never really thought of writing being a career path

unless you were writing novels. But she said it, and I was

just like, okay. I guess that's what I'm gonna do.

And I got my 1st job as a copywriter, and I've been writing ever

since. And it's something that I

always was good at, but I never appreciated. It was like that 1

talent I ever had. And I don't know. Like, I

never really thought of it as being a career path. And

just her telling me, like, when I was kind of lost and not sure what

to do with my life, she just, You're gonna be a writer, and that's just

kinda clung to it, and here we are. So I don't know if she

realizes or even remember she ever said that, but Doctor Nichols, if you're

listening to this, thank you, and you are correct. I am a writer.

That's awesome, man. You know? And and it's when we were talking about this before

the episode started, it's hard to just nail it down to 1. You know? There

there's so many people that have So much of an impact on our lives

Yeah. That to just narrow it down to 1 is a massive, massive

challenge. And, You know, I actually gave you my answer before

we started recording, but in sitting here, my answers kinda

changed a little bit. Oh, yeah. But there's definitely some some, there's,

like, So many people that it it feels almost unfair to name just

1. Yeah. But in line with entrepreneurship,

which is, you know, what I had said that I was The experience that I

was thankful for, I'd have to go with the person that impacted me

the most in that arena would be Ray Nicholas.

And Ray Nicholas was the vice president

of the IT department at the company that I worked for for 21

years. And, I ended up in

IT because of Ray, honestly. I mean, I was in more actually, I was. I

was in HR, which That's gonna shock the hell out of a lot of people

to think that Larry was in HR.

But as a corporate training job security so HR Couldn't fire

you? Or Exactly. You know, and here's an even funnier

one. I was actually, maneuvering

for an HR management position at one time. So

I was leveraging my corporate training background to get into

HR. My ideal A position at the time was

to be HR manager over one of these distribution centers for the company that

I worked for, and I was actually told the position was mine.

And then they went behind me and filled it with, someone else, and that

bastards. That didn't go over very well. But, Ray

Nicholas was always there, you know, and and and Ray came in, and

he saved me from my HR position down in the distribution

center. And he recruited me into the IT department, And it literally,

that changed my life, and he changed my life. He introduced

me to, I'd say, structured entrepreneurship. I think

I've mentioned before on the podcast that I used to own a swimming pool company.

Mhmm. I owned a swimming pool, maintenance and repair company,

and Ray was my business partner in in that venture.

Ray also made it so that I could actually pursue that venture because,

yeah, he allowed me to work a schedule at work that would allow me also

to run the pool business simultaneously. So he taught me a lot.

And just outside of entrepreneurship, he taught me a lot about life.

He was, I mean, it was to the point that I even called him dad.

Many of us did. Several of us At work, called him dad because outside

of work, he kinda was a bit of a father figure. You

know? We we would all hang out at Ray's house. We'd all go camping together.

We'd we'd party together. We'd hang out together. We'd ride 4 wheelers together. We'd do

all that, and it was all really under the guidance of Ray, and he

was there if we were ever in trouble. He was there regardless.

It just didn't even matter. And, you You know, I don't I haven't talked about

my whole rehab. I don't think I've talked about rehab on branded, but for those

of you who don't know mentioned. Yeah. Well, Ray's the one that made that

happen. So, Ray made it very

easy for me to get into one of the premier rehab facilities in the

country. It it's an opportunity that I would not have had if it

wasn't for Ray, and he made it to where it was, well, some

somewhat affordable. It was still Pretty

painful on the pocketbook, but it it would have been out of reach,

otherwise. So from entrepreneurship to life and

literally everything in between, I gotta give it to Ray Nicholas.

I'm super thankful that he entered my life way back.

Shoot. What was it? 2000 ish, maybe 99,

2000, somewhere in that neighborhood, and he's been a part of it ever since. So,

Ray, if you're listening, which You're probably not, but but, Ray, I

appreciate you, man. Thank you for everything. I'm sure you'll send it to

him. Maybe. Hey, May.

Shout out to you, ma'am. Y'all need an internal podcast?

Hey. Here's our end. Hey,

Towson University. Would you like a would you like a podcast? They probably have

1. I don't know. Alright. So

rounding this out, What is the best

piece of advice you've gotten that you're really thankful to have

heard? Yeah. The piece of advice and I'll keep this kinda short because this has

been We we've been kinda long winded here today, but it goes

back to another, someone that could have been mentioned in

who I'm thankful for in my life, and it goes Way back. We're

going way back way, way back in the time machine to roughly

1991. I was not alive yet. Yeah. You were

not. And, I had just started selling cars,

and my sales manager's name was Gary Dunlap. And Gary, to this day,

still a great friend of mine, Amazing mentor, amazing

salesperson, and he we'll say he culturally enriched

me. He he he he made me grow up a little bit. He taught me

how to appreciate the finer things in life as well. But the one thing

that he said to me that resonated all these years later was that If

you want to grow and you want to evolve and you want to

mature, you need to find someone that you respect

that's in a position that you want to be in. And once you find

that person, plug into that person and learn from that

person. Watch what they do. Watch how they do it. Watch who they do it

with. Watch who they associate themselves with. So learn from

those mentors and grow from those mentors. And that was one of the biggest pieces

of advice that resonated with me, Literally, for the rest of my life. In in

91, I was, like, 9 19. You know? I was, like, 19 years old,

and that stuck with me for well, still to this day. So

I believe in that wholeheartedly. If you if you're looking to grow, you're looking to

evolve, you're looking to round out your game, find a mentor and plug into that

mentor and learn from them. Good advice. So

mine is actually different than what I had planned on saying

too, and some Something in our conversation

sparked it, but I used to I mean, I

still I'm a very anxious person, which everybody knows.

I Deal a lot with anxiety, depression, all of

that fun stuff, just mental health in general. And

I used to Get really, really anxious

about things related to work, especially back when I

didn't own the company and I was, like, kind of held

to a standard or ex like, my actions would

impact other people. And it would be to the point that I would be

having, like, panic attacks because of just

a missed punctuation or something or, like, I read something in a certain

tone, and that's not how it was meant, but It's made

me spiral. And one of the things that I

was asked is, why Are you freaking

out like this? It's only work. That has really stuck with

me because It's so true.

Like, it's just a job. What like, even with my own

company, it's only work. If my company goes under, I

find something else to do. Like, nothing

work related is that serious in the

grand scheme of things. Like, you the priorities

that we really should be having don't really have anything to

do with that. And, of course, money is always important. We can't survive without it,

whatever. But, if you really, like, look at it,

why are we letting Our jobs

impact our mental health. And to the point

that I was, which was Actually, panicking in the middle of a Sam's

Club. Could be couldn't drive myself home Mhmm. Because I was,

like, shaking. And It

really made me realize that I should not

be this invested, especially in a company that I didn't own.

But There's no mistake that I could have made,

especially my position because I was just marketing. I wasn't doing

anything without, like, investments, anyone else's money. So what

mistake can I make that would be that impactful that

warrants this level of stress? Sure. And there is

nothing. Like, even with my company, I can make

mistakes, and I'd have to apologize and fix it, but nobody's gonna get

hurt. It's not going to ruin anyone's life. Like, it's

just not that serious, so stop

letting work have such an impact

on Your mental state, it's the best advice I've gotten.

It's good advice. Good advice. And and I experienced something similar to that.

You know, back in when I was in corporate even, I was responsible for all

reporting. So all from the executives down to

the Entry level workers that were looking at at at inventory

levels even, they always had to be super accurate. And if

they weren't, My direct report, man, he would just lose his

mind. I'm like, bro, it's 1 SKU out of we have like a

1000000 SKUs. It's 1. Relax. It was a mistake. I'll fix it.

But, yeah, it was super, super stressful, and I can totally

relate to sitting there on pins and needles just man, I

don't know. I've checked this report 18 times, but, man, I guess I should've checked

it 19 because I missed that one. So but, yeah, that's great advice right

there, a 100%. And, of course, I'm thankful for you

as my cohost, my business partner, and my friend. Well, I

am thankful for you as well. It's, You know, it's been an interesting year that

we've known each other, and I think we've grown exponentially in a

year. And, I hope that we have several more years where we continue to grow

together and we continue to have these amazing Thanksgiving episodes on

brand. And we are thankful to everybody who listened today.

Look at me doing the cool little segue. Man, that was smooth. That was

smooth. Right? Okay. Now you finish Alright. So if you are thankful for

anything, hopefully, you found something here that you're thankful for as well, and we're thankful

for each and every one of you for listening to every episode

branded. And if you found some value in this and you wanna say, hey. Thanks,

guys. Do us a favor and smash that subscribe button so we can continue to

bring you These amazing episodes each and every week. And until next

week, I'm Larry Roberts. And I'm Sara Lohse. We'll talk to

you then.