Welcome back to Branded: your comprehensive guide to creative branding. On this episode, we're answering a single question: is it worth it? As business owners, we spend a lot of money on tools, subscriptions, and services we think will be a game changer for our businesses, but often they fall flat and we're stuck with the bill. Now, we're looking at a few of the things we've recently paid for and giving you our honest opinion on whether or not they were worth it. We're talking about tech purchases like the Tourbox, iPad, and Kindle Scribe, office buys like business cards, and the always annoying auto-renew subscriptions. Hopefully this episode is worth the listen and maybe it will save your brand a few bucks. Key takeaways:

1. Navigating Subscriptions and Renewals: Larry recounted his surprising experience of being unexpectedly billed for a forgotten Trello subscription, shedding light on the potential financial impact of overlooked renewals. Sara also shared her hacks for managing and canceling subscriptions, emphasizing the importance of staying mindful of these recurring expenses.
2. The Value of Business Cards: We discuss our distinct approaches to business cards, debating the costs, features, and impact of their designs in networking efforts. From QR codes for easy digital connection to incorporating writable surfaces for better recall, they offered intriguing insights into the functionality and impression of business cards
3. Weighing the Investment in Technology: Sara shares her initial hesitation about investing in an iPad, highlighting the convenience and functionality it ultimately brought to her work. Larry also touched upon the benefits of the TourBox, a product that significantly improved his editing process, providing a case for the worth of certain technological investments.

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Larry Roberts [: 00:00:09

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

Sara Lohse [: 00:00:12

And I'm Sara Lohse, and this is Branded, your comprehensive guide to Creative branding.

Larry Roberts [: 00:00:16

And on this episode of the podcast, I had a question for you.

Sara Lohse [: 00:00:21

What's the question?

Larry Roberts [: 00:00:24

Is it worth it?

Sara Lohse [: 00:00:25

Is it?

Larry Roberts [: 00:00:26

I think it's a question that we all have to ask from time to time because I know me personally, Personally, I'm constantly and a lot of it's advertising, honestly, but I'm constantly hearing about all of these things that are gonna make me A better business owner. It's gonna make my advertising more effective. It's gonna make me more efficient in my My workflows, it's gonna change the way that I do each and everything that I do each and every day. But Is it really worth it?

Sara Lohse [: 00:00:58

Yeah. We're gonna look at some of the things that we have spent money on, and we're not really sure whether or not they're worth it. So we'll have a few that we think are, a few that we think aren't, and a few that we are in disagreement about. And this Take it as it's our opinion. Take it as you will, but maybe we'll save you a couple bucks on things that we definitely don't think were worth it.

Larry Roberts [: 00:01:21

Well and I think that this was driven home so much for me, especially because it's January. Right? Mhmm. January, you have those because I'm the kind of guy where you with Whatever it is, whatever platform that they're hitting you up for, you can either sign up for typically monthly, fees or you can pay for a year at a time. And with that year, you typically get a, I don't know, 15% discount ish somewhere in that neighborhood. Yeah. But all of that comes to roost in January, And you start getting ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping on your debit card so much so that even just last night, My bank reached out and said, hey. This company tried to charge this amount to your debit card. Did you approve this charge? And it didn't look legit until I looked at it a little bit closer, but, regrettably, I didn't look closer until after I said, no.

Larry Roberts [: 00:02:13

That's not legit. So I locked up my debit card last night. Yeah. Just because of all of these different type of software, these different applications, and the different organizations that you sign up for that sound like, man, they're just the next wheel.

Sara Lohse [: 00:02:28

Yeah. And I mean and a lot of them, it's like your gym membership. You stop using it, but you just don't think about it again, and you're paying for it month after month. And then suddenly you're like, oh, I've spent $1,000 on the software that I haven't used in 8 months.

Larry Roberts [: 00:02:42

No. No. No. No. No. Thousand no. I would I would have been fine with 1,000. I've had Several 1,000 come out of my account this month, January 2024, and I go, oh, oh, oh, Oh.

Larry Roberts [: 00:02:54

Oh, yeah. Yeah. I did I did buy that. Oh, I forgot I was subscribed to oh, I don't even use that anymore.

Sara Lohse [: 00:03:01

We're gonna have a conversation after this.

Larry Roberts [: 00:03:03

Yeah. I've yeah. It is so bad. And I'm like, oh my god. I gotta get some invoices out to balance this out. But but

Sara Lohse [: 00:03:13

And with that, if you wanna work with us, work with Branded. New website is up.

Larry Roberts [: 00:03:19

Work with Larry specifically because You can charge him, and he'll pay you. It's great. Yeah. No. But, I mean, seriously, there's there's so many different things out there that either you hear about Or you come across in an IG ad or a Facebook ad, you go, oh, man. That looks really cool, and you kinda sign up for it. And there's so many different Things that I've done over the years that I have signed up for thinking it was gonna transform the way that I do my business only to realize that, Yeah. I used it a couple of times and then forgot that I even had it.

Sara Lohse [: 00:03:51

Well, let's start with some specifics. And what is the What is something that you did spend money on? You splurged a little bit, but a 100% was worth it.

Larry Roberts [: 00:03:59

One of the things that I bought recently, and it was really, really cool, and, yes, I did find it in a Facebook ad, but but it's called a tour box, And they don't sponsor our show. We've got no you know, nothing in this here, but it's it's a it's almost like a it's an editing type mouse. It's a device that plugs into your PC just like a mouse, and it has a variety of different buttons and wheels on it. And I'll tell you, man, That thing, I think it was about $250, and I bought it. And it's it just changed the way that I do all of my editing. And not just audio and video editing, but I use it for Photoshop. I use it in Wondershare because I'm a big fan of Wondershare Sara by Filmora. That's where I do my my video editing.

Larry Roberts [: 00:04:47

I use it in a number of different platforms Branded different applications, and I love that thing. It really did Saved me money, saved me time, and and streamlined everything, but that's one of the few that I have bought over the years where I went, oh, This was freaking cool.

Sara Lohse [: 00:05:04

Like, you were so excited when you bought it too, and I was really hoping their vehicle. Yeah.

Larry Roberts [: 00:05:09

So cool. Yeah.

Sara Lohse [: 00:05:09

I was really hoping it was going

Larry Roberts [: 00:05:11

to be worth it. No. No. Let's be honest. You weren't hoping. You were rolling your eyes.

Sara Lohse [: 00:05:14

Oh, no. I rolled my eyes for sure. God. I have no idea. Another Toy. I also thought it was gonna be way more expensive than you said it was. Like, I thought you spent, like, $800 or something. But I was like, I really hope this is worth it because he's so about it, and he's gonna be so sad if he hates it.

Larry Roberts [: 00:05:30

No. But I freaking love it. It's it's one of the best toys, and it is a it's a toy, kind of, but But it's a toy that that that really added a lot of value to everything that I do from a production standpoint, so that's one of the ones that definitely worked out really, really well.

Sara Lohse [: 00:05:44

Yeah. I recently got a new toy, and I am a little late to this party because I just, in January of 2024, Bought my 1st iPad.

Larry Roberts [: 00:05:58

Hold on. Hold on. Hold on.

Sara Lohse [: 00:06:01

Thank you. Thank you so much. I usually pause for applause, not laughter.

Larry Roberts [: 00:06:07

Well, that was supposed to actually be the applause button. No. That's funny. Oh, there we go. There we go.

Sara Lohse [: 00:06:14

You. There we go. I'd like to thank the academy.

Larry Roberts [: 00:06:17

Yeah. We got there. Sorry.

Sara Lohse [: 00:06:20

I was super hesitant about buying an iPad for so long. I don't even know why. I think I thought they were more expensive than they are because it's Apple, so it's most likely gonna cost the mortgage. But I had bought a Kindle scribe, like, a year ago because it's like a Kindle that you can write on. I know

Larry Roberts [: 00:06:39

you got that too.

Sara Lohse [: 00:06:39

Yeah. And I was super excited about it.

Larry Roberts [: 00:06:41

Yeah.

Sara Lohse [: 00:06:42

And but I wanted something that I could take notes on digitally and not have to waste paper and not have to carry around a notebook Lohse because I would bring a notebook for notes to every conference or every meeting and never look at it again. Yeah. So I was like, how can I do this where I can just, like, send it to myself digitally or download it or something? And I didn't wanna buy an iPad, so I bought the KindleScribe, And it does that. It does the thing I bought it for, but that's kind of all it does. It's just that, and then it like, I could read books on it. And it was only, like, 100 or $200 less than I spent on the iPad. So I was like, this was kinda silly. And so now I just invested in an iPad, and it can do everything I need to do.

Sara Lohse [: 00:07:26

And I can work from my bed and not have to lug around my giant, old, clunky, laptop that I hate having to bring Lohse. And Some of the apps that I use for work that don't work great on my phone work really well on the iPad. So I I'm sorry to the Apple people who I'm just like, it's not worth it. Don't get an iPad. Maybe get an iPad.

Larry Roberts [: 00:07:53

Dude, for you especially, definitely get an iPad because Yeah. Since you've got that iPad, I I don't know if there's been a day, And we will talk about how late in the morning it gets, but where I text you, do you go, still in bed, answering emails from

Sara Lohse [: 00:08:08

Okay. I'm still working.

Larry Roberts [: 00:08:10

This I'm like, this is this is the best thing Sara's ever bought.

Sara Lohse [: 00:08:14

Seriously. I And I'm I've I've always like, my dream for myself has always been to be one of those planner girlies. Like, actually use those pretty planners and make them all pretty. Use the stickers. Y'all ADHD people cannot use planners. They are not meant for us. But I've always

Larry Roberts [: 00:08:34

wanted to I'm gonna jump in there right now, and and and Branded, I've never been diagnosed, but and there's definitely a generation gap here, But I I don't know that I'm an ADHD person. Probably, if if I went to Sunblad, they would probably say, yes. I am. But even not being an ADHD official person, I can't do it either, man. I'm trying look. I I have it right here. Look. Look.

Larry Roberts [: 00:09:02

I have a leather bound planner right here.

Sara Lohse [: 00:09:05

I have a collection of them.

Larry Roberts [: 00:09:07

Oh, I do too. Yeah. I and oh, wow. Look

Sara Lohse [: 00:09:08

at that. Bound one actually got eaten by a puppy. Aw.

Larry Roberts [: 00:09:11

I have no idea what Why this was in there? There was

Sara Lohse [: 00:09:14

a dollar in your planner.

Larry Roberts [: 00:09:15

Nope. Actually

Sara Lohse [: 00:09:16

You were saving it for a rainy day.

Larry Roberts [: 00:09:17

Stop. I'm super rich. I have it's actually 2. Oh. I have no idea why there were $2 in there. But, yeah, it's the same thing. I I do the same thing. I have

Sara Lohse [: 00:09:26

Yeah.

Larry Roberts [: 00:09:26

A planner, and I can't Consistently use it.

Sara Lohse [: 00:09:30

I would buy them every single year, and I would go in. I would be product like, proactive. I'd, like, go fill in things that I already knew were happening. I if, like, if I didn't do the planner, I did the big desk blotter calendar.

Larry Roberts [: 00:09:44

Yeah. Yeah.

Sara Lohse [: 00:09:45

No. Never never use them again. So on my iPad, I have an app. I'm about to run up on my 2 free 2 week trial. So I'm still I haven't paid for it yet. I'm gonna see if I've last 2 weeks using it and then pay for it. Yeah. But it's, like, $45 for the year, But it's, like, does all of the things that integrates with my calendar.

Sara Lohse [: 00:10:06

I can draw like, I can write on it, like, with the Apple Pencil and but Talk about things that Sara are not worth it. Don't spend a 100, $200 on an Apple Pencil. They make knockoffs for $20 on Amazon. For the love of God, that is so not worth it. I've never used one to really know that for sure, but I'm pretty sure it's not worth it. But My iPad might let me live out my dream of being a planner girly.

Larry Roberts [: 00:10:32

From bed?

Sara Lohse [: 00:10:33

From anywhere. Anywhere. And I'm pretty sure I could download the same app on my phone and have the Same planner on my phone, and I'm pretty sure I already know I could do it as desktop so I can have it on my computer. And it even has, like, a little water tracker to make me drink water, which haven't used yet, but, you know, maybe something. So iPad, worth it. Apple Pencil, not worth it. Planners, we'll see.

Larry Roberts [: 00:10:58

There's water in the water, so I'll say that. But no. That that I mean, that's that's hilarious. And, you know, some of the things beyond that, though, Software. Software is so easy to get caught up in. You know, whether it's planning software because I know I subscribe to Trello. Frelo is a very popular software platform. I signed up to that, and I used it for a while.

Larry Roberts [: 00:11:20

I used it for a couple of Roberts, actually, and it it worked fairly well. But then I stopped using it, and I forgot I even had it until January of 2024. And they pinged me for a few $100 and said, oh, we just renewed your subscription, so that's cool. So I think that's something that we have to be really, really aware of is when we're going through these things, we have to make sure that While you're paying for, you know and, again, I signed up for a year because I'm dedicated to whatever platform it is or whatever device it is or whatever it may be, But I forget or I don't take into consideration the fact that they're gonna ping me again

Sara Lohse [: 00:11:56

Yeah.

Larry Roberts [: 00:11:57

In another year or at the start of the year.

Sara Lohse [: 00:11:59

So that

Larry Roberts [: 00:12:00

It it it can it can bite you in the backside. And if you don't have you don't have solid cash flow coming in Your business, it could cripple you. Yeah. It could really cripple you because, again and I know, Sara, you're gonna be pissed off, but that's fine.

Sara Lohse [: 00:12:14

Let me hear it.

Larry Roberts [: 00:12:16

This month, literally, I've had 1,000 of dollars worth of pings and multiple Words where I'm like, oh my gosh. I didn't even remember that I signed up for that. And it it it it can be devastating if you're not prepared for it.

Sara Lohse [: 00:12:33

Yeah. So cancel most of those, but keep the peacock because I used your account, and I've just started I just started SVU. There's 20 seasons. I'll be need that for a while. But Something that I discovered way too late in the game. So if anyone else is is gonna have a I was this today years old when I found this out. Yeah. If you go so I try to anything that's, like, a recurring thing, I actually try to go through Apple, like, through the App Store Get it? Because if you go into your if you go into the app store, go into your like, manage your apps and the there's a whole page of your subscriptions, and you can see what you're subscribed to, so you could just cancel it right there.

Sara Lohse [: 00:13:12

But the, like, life hack one is if you sign up for one that's, like, the free trial

Larry Roberts [: 00:13:19

Right.

Sara Lohse [: 00:13:19

You can go in and, like, cancel it immediately and still use your free trial so that it doesn't you don't forget, like, oh, I have to make sure I cancel this before the free trial, and then they bill me.

Larry Roberts [: 00:13:32

You can

Sara Lohse [: 00:13:32

do it immediately. So that has saved me a whole lot of money because I Yep. I'm not a planner girly, so can't put the cancellation date in my planner and just know.

Larry Roberts [: 00:13:43

Right. And I've tried doing that on my calendar, even putting cancellation dates on my calendar. And for whatever reason, know, they end up getting overlooked or something ridiculous, but what are some of the other things that you've you've signed up for that haven't necessarily came to fruition?

Sara Lohse [: 00:13:58

Oh god. I I was definitely paying because I also use Wondershare for some things, and I was paying like, I paid for the lifetime or something to use the software, but then I didn't realize that they were gonna charge me monthly for, like, the pro, And and that's to get all of these fancy things. I'm like, I don't do fancy editing. I only use this to make reels that you've already done the fancy editing for the episode for.

Larry Roberts [: 00:14:22

So I

Sara Lohse [: 00:14:22

went in and canceled that. And what is I canceled some oh, I canceled I was using the captions app for captioning the reels, But I discovered CapCut is actually less expensive and does a little bit more, so I invested in CapCut, did the 1 year thing so that it was, like, I saved a little bit of money, and then I was able to cancel the $10 a month subscription to the captions Options app.

Larry Roberts [: 00:14:48

Yeah. And I I love Wondershare. I got lucky because I I I started using Wondershare way back in the day, and I got grandfathered in to all the free upgrades. So I think For a it's like a buck and a half. I got a lifetime subscription to everything, so it was really, really cool. But that that goes to show you that you can start nickel and diming yourself to death Because, you know, I started using captions a little bit as well for our Reels because they have some really cool looking captions. But then you were talking about CapCut. CapCut, I started using that as well, but now CapCut's like, hey.

Larry Roberts [: 00:15:21

If you wrote the really cool captions, You gotta do this. Well, I already have a subscription to Wondershare, and I already have a subscription to captions. So now what am I gonna do? I'm gonna add a subscription to CapCut as well to get the same functionality with a little bit of a different twist.

Sara Lohse [: 00:15:37

Yeah. So The reason I chose CapCut over captions was because they have the desktop app. So I can they have the phone app and the desktop app, but captions, You can use it on their website, but the functionality is very limited. I don't know if they've changed it since, but it was like, It'll do the captions, but you can't edit anything.

Larry Roberts [: 00:15:58

Do that so funny because

Sara Lohse [: 00:15:59

is never spelled right, so I have to be able to edit

Larry Roberts [: 00:16:01

the captions. Yeah. Because you don't have an h and Lohse c is

Sara Lohse [: 00:16:05

It's I'd they don't need to try. Yeah.

Larry Roberts [: 00:16:07

Yeah. It's it's it's different. Yeah. But it's so funny to hear you say that you love the desktop version Because, you know, being in your demographic and me being in my demographic, us old folks, we tend to like desktop applications More so than we like the the mobile apps, but to hear you like captions because they have a desktop app App makes me feel so much So cap

Sara Lohse [: 00:16:31

cut, not captions.

Larry Roberts [: 00:16:32

Oh, so

Sara Lohse [: 00:16:33

It's the same it's because, like, if like, so I use a software to do all my Social media scheduling, another thing that, yes, I think is worth it.

Larry Roberts [: 00:16:41

Right.

Sara Lohse [: 00:16:42

I use Metricool, and it's not expensive. I think I had to upgrade to add more brands because I manage client brands too. So I Okay.

Larry Roberts [: 00:16:49

But let let me let me let me jump let me jump in there real quick because you go it's not expensive, And that's the mentality that we have so

Sara Lohse [: 00:16:57

many men.

Larry Roberts [: 00:16:59

It's not that expensive. Let me see.

Sara Lohse [: 00:17:01

Add up. But that is that is one that I am happy that, Like, that one I feel is worth it. Not maybe not Metro Cool itself for, like, everybody, but, like, having that scheduling tool, personally, I think is worth it.

Larry Roberts [: 00:17:13

Yeah.

Sara Lohse [: 00:17:14

But because I use that, I schedule all of my posts from my computer, not my phone. So being able to just do the captions on my phone and not have to, like, Download the reel that I edited on my computer, then send it to my phone, do the captions app, send it back. Like, that was a pain. And so that's why I prefer having that desktop app. And I will say I have not yet tried it on my iPad, but I'm I'm thinking it's probably gonna be pretty cool on there too.

Larry Roberts [: 00:17:40

It's it's just great to hear that you're old at heart. I just love it.

Sara Lohse [: 00:17:43

Oh, I'm I'm waiting for AARP to try to sponsor me. Like, mentally, I am 90.

Larry Roberts [: 00:17:50

You say that till you get that envelope in the mail. You're like, shit.

Sara Lohse [: 00:17:54

Curses 28 year old me. Now there's one thing end

Larry Roberts [: 00:18:01

up sponsoring this episode, but go ahead.

Sara Lohse [: 00:18:03

Know. There's one thing that we have a very different take on. Oh. And that is business cards. Oh. So I think what I spend on 500 business cards is what you spend on, like, 20.

Larry Roberts [: 00:18:19

It's probably not that severe, but it's close. Yeah. It's close.

Sara Lohse [: 00:18:22

It's close. Yeah. And, so why how much do you spend? Why? And is it actually worth it?

Larry Roberts [: 00:18:31

So for 1, business cards today and and and here's a fine example. I got this card yesterday, and I'm actually speaking at this conference in a couple of weeks on the 6th February. Wow? Wow. Yeah. It's a Wow conference here in Dallas, Texas. Their card, it's it's it's not terrible. It's not bad, but it's very average. Mhmm.

Larry Roberts [: 00:18:50

Very average thickness, very average, as far as flexibility goes, it's got a nice shiny finish on it. It's glossy. There's some, I don't know. Couple of QR codes on the back that I can't really make out. I don't even know if you could scan those because they seem so faint. But, anyways, This is what I try to avoid my myself, and I probably shouldn't say that since I'm speaking at their conference.

Sara Lohse [: 00:19:12

But We love you, just not your business cards.

Larry Roberts [: 00:19:15

Just not your business cards. But what I I like to go for because especially today, you know, there's a debate out there going, do we even use business cards today? Because if you look at my phone also, on my phone, there's a QR code. And a lot of times, I don't even have a business card on me. I just go scan my QR code, Connect with me on LinkedIn, and, we'll go from there. So in this environment that we're in, I think we're very much in the state where we have to make an impression, and my business cards are super, super thick. They're 3 layers thick, And if you've turned them on their side and you look at the layers, there's a white layer and then there's a dark colored layer which just matches the color of the card. There's another white layer, and you can actually see the variation of the thickness on the cards. And when you take my card, you can feel The it it almost feels like a little plank of wood.

Larry Roberts [: 00:20:09

It's so rigid and so, I don't wanna say aggressive, but you know you're holding Something of value in your hand, and people take note. And I hear that every time when someone takes my card, you go, oh, they go, oh my gosh. This is, this is a card right here. This is this is impressive. So I'm looking to make an impression, and my cards do that. And they do it because I spend just a little bit more money to, make sure that I have cards that leave that impression.

Sara Lohse [: 00:20:39

I just bought new business cards. Okay. So how much do you actually spend on yours?

Larry Roberts [: 00:20:44

My cards are about a dollar a piece. Yeah. They're about a dollar a piece.

Sara Lohse [: 00:20:52

That's insane.

Larry Roberts [: 00:20:53

Yeah. But that yeah. They're they're close to a dollar a piece. And I literally have and for those of you I don't know if we talked about this on a previous episode, but I I just got larryroberts.com. So I just got my own personal domain. Right? But at the same time, I just got a brand new box of business cards, And they have my old URL. Now granted that URL redirects to larryroberts.com, but they still have the old URL on them. And I'm sitting here going, man, Now I've got this new domain, but I got a brand new box of business cards.

Sara Lohse [: 00:21:27

For the record, I won't allow him to buy new cards. I I put my foot down and said no.

Larry Roberts [: 00:21:32

That's that's the only reason I don't have them is

Sara Lohse [: 00:21:34

Yep. Because that's just ridiculous. But I so when I first did my business cards, I first of all, I love my old old cards. I The same as you. Like, I got complimented on my cards every time I gave them to people. Did not spend nearly as much as you. Yeah. But what I did was I paid extra for the soft touch paper, so it has this coating.

Sara Lohse [: 00:21:59

And that is what made my Cards stand out, and, like, I loved it. It was super feminine, super, like so I loved my old cards, and the paying extra for the Soft touch, I thought, was worth it because of how much it stood out and how people complimented it. But on the flip side, Every time I would meet somebody, I'd give them my card. They would try to jot down a note on the card as, like, a way to remember me and remember why they wanted to reach back out to me. And the soft touch, you couldn't write on it. You needed, like, a marker and but a regular pens, pen wouldn't work.

Larry Roberts [: 00:22:34

Wow.

Sara Lohse [: 00:22:35

So I paid extra to have this soft touch, but I potentially lost revenue for people who couldn't remember why they wanted to reach out to me and, like, they could have been potential clients.

Larry Roberts [: 00:22:47

Yeah.

Sara Lohse [: 00:22:47

So when I redid my website a couple weeks ago, I redid my business cards, and I took the same, like, visuals of my website, so it's very cohesive for my brand. When I first did them, I also did not put a QR code. I completely forgot. So they had they they couldn't even just, like, save it on their phone or something, instead of being able to write a note. So now I do have a QR code, and I did not do the soft touch. But what I did was leave half of the back blank and even put a little note on it. Like, it Sara, notes to remember me by. So there's this place on my business card for you to write down why you are taking my business card.

Larry Roberts [: 00:23:32

Right.

Sara Lohse [: 00:23:32

Right. I'm not gonna lie. I'm a genius for that. Nice. That is, like, my most proud decision. Like, I I don't I I should patent that.

Larry Roberts [: 00:23:44

It it's definitely a good one for real, and and I think that's one of the things too is, you know, even on the back of my business cards, my QR code is there, And the QR code goes to my calendar. So they can always just scan it with their car with their with their phone and, and schedule a a meeting for us. So

Sara Lohse [: 00:23:59

Yeah. Mine goes to, like, a Linktree type thing so you can choose what you want, which I don't love because it's too many options, but at the same time, I want them like, I'll probably tell them, like, oh, scan it and then choose this or something. I feel like I'm I feel like it's gonna be useful.

Larry Roberts [: 00:24:16

Oh, it's probably very useful. Yeah.

Sara Lohse [: 00:24:18

Yeah. So I like having it, but I also part of me is like, I should just have it go to the calendar. I don't know. But I did I did cancel the outside service I was using for that. That was Linktree. And instead, it's built into Metricool, which I'm already paying for, so saved on that subscription.

Larry Roberts [: 00:24:37

There you go. And that that's what's so important. And, I mean, honestly, that that's the message of this this episode of the podcast is just kinda be aware of what you're Tried to it it can be very, very easy to get caught up in multiple subscriptions and oftentimes for the exact same functionality, just with a different brand on it. So Yeah. Be aware that, you know, these tools, they're very valuable. Business cards, I still think they're valuable.

Sara Lohse [: 00:25:02

Agree.

Larry Roberts [: 00:25:04

I think they still work very, very well. I I find sometimes that I feel like I'm coming up a little short just by having the QR code on my phone and not having a card to go with it. So, I will start carrying my cards again once I get new ones, once Sara forgets that I changed my URL and I can order

Sara Lohse [: 00:25:20

For the record, for 500 of mine, I spent $40, so I was not far off.

Larry Roberts [: 00:25:26

Mine was mine It was

Sara Lohse [: 00:25:27

$40 for 40 of your Cards.

Larry Roberts [: 00:25:30

For 500, it would come to, like, 4.88 or something like that, I think, is what the total was. It was insane. So I was like, well, We we gotta figure out something to do with these other ones.

Sara Lohse [: 00:25:40

Dollars. 500.

Larry Roberts [: 00:25:42

Well, you know, I like people to go, oh, wow. That's, that's wow. Oh, that's a cool card.

Sara Lohse [: 00:25:47

For mine, they're gonna go, oh, wow. There's a note section.

Larry Roberts [: 00:25:50

Yeah. Are they?

Sara Lohse [: 00:25:52

We'll see. We Everyone listening to this, that will that is at Podfest. Please please make Comments about my card. Anytime you see me, make comments.

Larry Roberts [: 00:25:59

Everybody make comments on Sara's cards. In the meantime, leave comments for us. Leave comments. Tell us if you found some value in this episode. And you did, do us a huge favor. Go ahead and smash that subscribe button on your favorite podcast platform, whether that's YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts. We don't care. We just love the fact that you're here, and we Appreciate every time that you listen to the Branded Podcast.

Larry Roberts [: 00:26:19

And with that, I am Larry Roberts.

Sara Lohse [: 00:26:22

Did did you really miss You're you're you're so good at the segues. You didn't say, like but we know this episode was worth it. Like

Larry Roberts [: 00:26:30

I thought I did pretty good. I guess I just dropped the ball.

Sara Lohse [: 00:26:34

I was just really expect I I you did fantastic, but I was just really expecting you to say, like, and if this episode was worth it Alright. But it's fine. I'm sad.

Larry Roberts [: 00:26:44

We don't know. No. No. No. No. No. We can't live a we get into the there. That's we can't do that.

Larry Roberts [: 00:26:50

So if you did find some value on this episode, and hopefully, we saved you a few dollars here and there. So I think there's some tremendous value For you and everyone listening in this episode, and with that, hi. I'm Larry Roberts.

Sara Lohse [: 00:27:03

And I'm Sara Lohse, and we'll talk to you next week. You didn't say it the 2nd time either. What am

Larry Roberts [: 00:27:08

I supposed to say, dude? I don't even know what the you're looking for.

Sara Lohse [: 00:27:12

The whole show was like, is it worth it? And, like, you didn't tie I thought, like, if this was

Larry Roberts [: 00:27:17

Oh, no. Okay. Here we go. Alright. So, hopefully, throughout this conversation, you have asked yourself, is it worth it? And our goal for this episode was to make sure that you know that it is worth it to listen to Branded each and every time. And with that, I Larry Roberts.

Sara Lohse [: 00:27:41

And I'm Sara, Lohse. I will talk to you next week.