You Are a Brand: What It Actually Takes to Get Hired by a Corporate Client with Scottie Rodgers

Episode Summary

Part of MMCB's ongoing Resources for Creative Entrepreneurs series, this episode brings in Scottie Rodgers, Vice President of Communications for the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, with over 30 years of communications experience and 32 years working in college athletics. Scottie sits on the other side of the hiring table from most of MMCB's audience — he's the person deciding which creatives get the contract — and he breaks down exactly what separates a creative who gets hired once from one who gets staffed in permanently: presentation, follow-up, business paperwork, and understanding that every piece of content is an asset with a value that has to be actively built, not assumed.

What You'll Learn (Timestamped)

00:00 — You are a brand as a creative. The episode opens on this line: Scottie explains why he actively avoids purely transactional vendor relationships in favor of "partners" — language and framing that changes how a relationship gets treated.

02:56 — Meet Scottie Rodgers. VP of Communications for the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, 32nd year working in college athletics, and a self-described "small town kid from Alabama" whose path into sports came through journalism, not athletics.

05:43 — His actual role is strategy, not creation. Scottie is upfront that he doesn't design, shoot, or edit — his job is recognizing creative talent and matching it to the right team, using a sports analogy: he's the GM, his content lead is the head coach.

08:54 — The three things he looks for before partnering with any creative: good follow-up, consistency, and knowledge of the space — talent gets you in the door, but these three keep you in the room.

12:50 — It's not just social media. Streaming graphics, internal company communications, YouTube channels, and owned platforms are all underexplored areas where creatives can get hired — most creatives only think about the external, social-facing side.

23:31 — What "follow-up" really means. Meeting deadlines is the floor — the real differentiator is checking back in after a project wraps, which is how one client turns into three through referrals.

26:25 — "Every creator is a communicator. Every communicator is a creator." Scottie learned this the hard way after years in a traditionally siloed college athletics communications world.

27:45 — You have to be able to sell your own work. Great content doesn't matter if it can't be packaged into a proposal that a VP can confidently take to leadership for budget approval.

33:48 — The hard skills creatives skip. LLC paperwork, W9s, clean invoicing, and professional-looking proposals are non-negotiable if you want a corporation's finance department to actually cut you a check.

39:21 — Presentation has to match the work. Ron shares his own story of a nonprofit losing credibility over a poorly branded folder — proof that packaging communicates value before the content ever gets seen.

40:26 — How contractors get staffed in permanently. When a company keeps coming back to the same freelancer, that's the exact moment someone internally can pitch creating a full-time creative role built around them.

45:34 — Content built around sponsors has measurably higher value. Scottie walks through a real example — a "Taco Tuesday" style content series built around a sponsor — that can directly justify a bigger renewal check.

52:47 — What he's had to unlearn. Scottie can't out-create most of the creatives he works with, so his real skill is scouting talent at events and pairing complementary skill sets, "Justice League" style, to win bigger contracts as a team.

56:26 — Community leads to collaboration, which leads to cash. Shy connects Scottie's team-building point directly to how MMCB itself was built — through a paid creative community, not a cold pitch.

Key Takeaways

• Talent gets you in the door — follow-up, consistency, and business paperwork keep you in the room.
• Every piece of content is an asset with a value you have to actively build.
• Presentation and packaging communicate value before your work ever gets seen.
• Being a "partner" instead of a vendor changes how a relationship gets treated.
• Complementary skill-pairing can win bigger contracts than going it alone.

Key Quotes

• "You are a brand as a creative."
• "If it's just transactional, then we ain't gonna get any relationship in it. So we want partners."
• "Every creator is a communicator. Every communicator is a creator."
• "No one's gonna know if you do your job well if you can't communicate."
• "Just because it's good doesn't mean it's good."
• "You might be Superman in your thing, but you might need you a Batman... y'all got to superpower this thing together sometimes to get the client."

Resources Mentioned

• Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic
• Medium Giant (creative agency partner)
• AT&T Stadium
• College Football Playoff
• Credit Savant (creditsavant.io)

Connect with Scottie Rodgers Vice President of Communications, Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic

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Comment below: What's one piece of "business paperwork" you've been putting off?

Tags: creative entrepreneur, get hired as a creative, corporate client, proposal writing, content strategy, college athletics, sponsorship content, personal branding, freelance to contract, Minding My Creative Business, Cotton Bowl, communications strategy

Closing Affirmation

"All it takes is intention, consistency, and laser focus to mind my creative business."

It all started with just that simpleness of being a creative and having a skill and having a passion for something. I'm just a small town kid from a little town in Alabama that's gotten lucky in my life.

Some business technical like some hard skills that people need to have. Like you said, putting together a proposal. Do they need to have llc? Do they need to have. They need to be able to send the invoice.

Do they need to have like what do they need to have the wire set up?

Creatives have to turn that passion into creative to presenting yourself. You have to present your brand to companies.

This position you in a place to where it's like okay, they're there to taking them serious. So I know they're going to take us serious.

If it's just transactional, then we ain't going to get relationship. There's no relationship in it. So we want partners.

Based on you listening to this podcast, you're probably a creative entrepreneur who's ready to stop hustling for clients and start building a business that runs on purpose, profit and peace.

If that's you, we want to invite you to join the Creative to CEO challenge. A five day live coaching experience designed to help you shift your mindset and develop the habits to turn your creativity into consistent cash flow.

It is all happening live on Zoom inside a private community of ambitious creative entrepreneurs just like you. People who are done guessing, done grinding and ready to build with clarity and confidence.

By the end of the challenge, you will have a crystal clear direction on your next 90 days. A profit plan that fits your lifestyle and the framework to start earning 10k plus months doing what you love without burning out or selling out.

So if that sounds like what you need, then tap the link in the description or scan a QR code if you're watching this on screen. And do not forget to upgrade to VIP for bonus coaching and behind the scenes Q A every day of the challenge with me and Shy.

We can't wait to help you unlock CEO mode and the freedom you've been looking for. Now let's get back to the episode. What's up and welcome to the Mind in My Creative Business podcast.

The number one podcast for creative entrepreneurs to gain and earn and learn. And now strategy, structure and self development all in one place. Self development and sustainability. Really? This is the number one spot for that.

I am your co host Shy Speaks.

And I'm your co host Ron Ironically.

Jr and this is about to be good. This is part of a series that we have called the Resources Correct Right.

The resources for creative entrepreneurs right here provided on the Minding My Creative Business podcast. We bring in people who can literally be a resource for you. Like, this is. You really want to lean in and lock in.

So this is probably going to be one of my favorite episodes. I know I say it all the time, but I'm excited because we have have a very special guest here who is going to be. Oh, man. Ron, please.

So we. We have with us the vice president of communications for the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic.

How you doing?

Right.

How y' all doing? Glad to be here.

Thanks for having me, Rogers.

Thanks for having me. Happy to be here.

All right. And you're coming to us with over 30 years of communication experience. So that's how we would introduce you. Right.

How would Mr. Scottie Rogers introduce himself?

You know, I'm just a small town kid from a little town in Alabama that's gotten lucky in my life. You know, sports have played a major role in my life. You know, I'm five, six. I'm not very coordinated at all.

So my athletic career ended well before my high school even ended. So I had to find a different way to get into the world of sports.

And it started through journalism, and it ended up what turned out to be, what has turned out to be a career in communications that started going all the way back to my time in undergrad at the University of Alabama. And we can get into some of that. But, you know, life is funny sometimes because you just never know what you're going to end up in.

I didn't know I was going to end up here. I wouldn't end up. I would end up being here talking about this and having a career that's about to start my 32nd year working in college athletics.

So it's unbelievable. Some of the things I've been very blessed. You know, it's taken a lot of hard work. It's taking a lot of sacrifice.

I think that's one thing we can talk about as we go through this. As people are trying to. Trying to build themselves and build their brand and build what they're doing, sacrifice is a huge part of it.

And, you know, I've been very fortunate to work on a lot of different major events in and around the world of sports. And it's given me a knowledge and it's given me a perspective that I'm happy to share today.

Come on. Come on. Scotty Rogers is in the building.

32 Years on the collegiate level, really that, I mean, aka the pro level, because now this Stuff that's going on in college, literally.

That's a different podcast, right?

Right.

That's a whole different podcast in the waters. But, man, I want to hop in and run. You want to. Because I can get going in there.

And so what's like, okay, so we always tell people, like, I'm gonna be asking you some questions about typically about the how processes and all that kind of stuff go. And Ron is going to be asking you some other questions. But typically that's what we would do.

But since this is a resource episode, I want to get in and, and dig in for the creative entrepreneurs who want to know. Like, oh, man, he's a strategic communications. I want to get to him. He's at the Cotton Bowl.

That's one of the biggest, you know, I want to be a part of that. Like, I want, I want, I want them to get in early on. Like, I want to ask the questions that they would ask ultimately.

So, you know, the biggest question that I get. I'm a communications professional. I'm in my mid-50s, so I know a lot about strategy.

I know a lot about what I want to see when it comes to the content. But I can't do most of it right. I'm not a designer. I don't cut video. I don't shoot stuff. That's not what I do.

I set the strategy, I set the direction. I get the people and put it together.

So when you talk about the young creatives that are out there, people like me that sit in my role, I know that I don't have that skill, but they don't have my skill. They have the ability to create content. I have ability to make that content sing.

So my job is to recognize their talent and what they can do and match them up. It's like the world of sports. Like last year is a perfect example. We work with a.

We work with a company called Medium Giant that helps us on our creative side and on the content side. Last year I started using a very simple analogy. Everybody knows the world sports.

I'm the general manager of our content team, the person that serves our lead. She's the head coach. She's got two key people. I call them the coordinators.

And then what we try to do is put together the team, the team of creatives. Young, old. Some are more social centric. Some can cut more video, some can do more graphics.

And we try to put a collection of them together so that together they can put together the style of content. You put a great graphics person with a great video. Person, they can do something.

But if we got a bunch of video people and we can't put graphics on it, then it doesn't matter.

And if we create all this great content and we can't put the right words with it and tag it the right way on whatever platform, it's not going to go anywhere or it's going to. Or it's going to fall flat.

Yeah.

So it's always a. It is a. You got to play the whole thing as it relates to how you put your content out there.

I tell some young creators all the time because, you know, I don't say this the bash young creators, but a lot of young folks can't write. You need to learn how to write. You gotta learn how to write.

You gotta learn how to put your stuff out there in a certain way because your content could be fired. But then if you don't know the difference between it's an it so there and there, and you put it out there and it's raw, your content look bad.

Because people like me gonna look at that and be like, yeah, nice video. Nice graphic, nice, real. But, you know, can I trust him to put content on my platform and make it sing the way they need to?

Yeah.

I'm the wordsmith, so that's the role that I play in the strategist. So I try to try to teach the younger folks. You gotta be.

You might start as a creator, but you want to end as a strategist because that's where you got to go if you want to really be in a position to have entities like myself, whether it's a bowl game, whether it's a school, whether it's a conference, whether it's an organization, whether it's a special event, like a tournament or a championship event, and they're bringing in somebody they want to hand that over to somebody that can handle all sides of the creative side, not just one aspect of it.

So as you were talking about building out the team, right. You said, okay, I'm like the gm, right? So I know the pieces that we need. And you mentioned also talent. Right.

We're looking for talented people, but we know sometimes, you know, talent gets you in the door, but it won't sustain you. So outside of the talent aspect, what are you looking for when you're looking to partner with a creative individual or creative agency?

Like, well, give me, like, three things that you're looking for. It's like, okay, if we're going to partner with you, right. This is what you need to have.

In place you need to have good follow up, you need to be consistent and you need to be someone that is knowledgeable of the space.

Okay?

Because speaking knowledgeable space, you know, like I don't know the trends in social media, you got to come in and tell me what the trends are and then I got to tell you, okay, that's going to be something that we want to do or incorporate in the diversity of the content we're putting out.

Some of the content we're putting out is just simple blocking and tackling the simple information that we're trying to put out to communicate about our game. Some of it is going to be fun, some of it is meant to be engaging.

I want you to be able to bring all the different sides so that one minute we got a post and it might be just telling people what our fan fest is. Another post may be a social media trend that's just for fun, just to get people engaged.

Another post may be just a, a collage of video from, you know, Shaq performing in our pregame because we've had Shaquille o', Neal, AKA DJ Diesel perform our fan fest, you know, so it might be a different thing that you're doing, but, but then I gotta look at the big picture and look at it. Here's these five pieces of content. They're all very different, but they all fit within the range of what we want on our platform.

Because it's got to be different.

Because I'm trying to engage 8 to 80 on our social media platforms and what are we putting on TikTok and Instagram versus what we putting on Facebook and X? Because I'm a, I'm, I'm all about putting your content on all the platforms right now some people have abandoned Facebook.

And let me tell you young creators one thing. Folks like me, that's where we are. Folks in their 40s and 50s and 60s, we're still on Facebook. So don't abandon that.

As a creative, you may not understand the platform, but don't abandon it.

Right?

You know, X has got its issues because of things that are way bigger than the actual platform.

You know, some of us have looked at blue sky and looked at threads and looked at some other places to go, you know, and, but you still need to be on those platforms. And I think one of the things, like one of the simple things we did, you mentioned this off air before we got started.

We didn't have a brand on LinkedIn for the longest time. We just started building up. Now granted, LinkedIn is a different style of content.

You know, most of our videos that we do, we don't even put on LinkedIn because there's more the business, it's more of the simple up and down type things. But there's some certain things we do put up there just to let people know.

And I think you got to put your content where people are and don't expect them to come to the one platform that you think that's going on, especially when you're a brand like ours, which is a college football bowl game. We're trying to get people across all different platforms. We're trying to entice companies to be engaged with us, brands to be engaged with us.

You know, as far as the larger entity that we're a part of, which is the College Football Playoff.

So we are, we gotta make sure that we got our message out there so that hopefully at some point, whether a casual person, a fan or a rabbit fan, know when they come to our content, they're gonna get great content. They know what they're getting.

They, they, they can enjoy it because some of it's fun and they're meant to be engaged and some of it is meant to be informational and some of the informational about what we're doing and some of this information will teach you about our history and who we are.

Yeah, and, and I'm, I'm happy you brought that up because I was going to ask what are some of the things that you're strategically trying to communicate? Because right now you were talking about post and social media, you know, for, you know, as an example.

But I would imagine that as strategic communications in this creative team that you're building up, all these other creative agencies or creative individuals that are trying to get hired, some of them are not going to be on the social side. What are some other strategic communications like, what are some other areas where these, these creatives can be hired to do that?

I mean, obviously, you know, video and editing and social media content is one side. Or is, or is it all social media now?

You know, social media is such a key place to get your content and brand around. You know, people are not advertising in the newspaper as much as they once were or you know, it's obviously on their digital platforms.

And you got to find a place to put your content out on the digital platforms, whether it's podcasts like this one who may or may not have a space where you can promote on, whether it's the digital versions of, you know, media outlets or lifestyle publications or those that are Centric to, you know, whether it's talking about religion or education or business or is talking to a certain group of people, whether it's talking to black folks or people who are, who are Jewish or people who, you know, are part of the LBGTQ world.

You know, you gotta find the platforms, the digital platforms, that there may be opportunity to promote your brand based upon the content that you're putting out there and where you're trying to get your messages out to. You gotta just find those places and space and most of those are gonna deliver in a digital space.

In college athletics, so many schools and conferences are streaming their games of all their sports.

Well, streaming a game is just like what you see on tv, which means what happens when there is a stop in the action, time for a timeout, which means they have the ability to put commercials in there. They have the ability to do features at halftime. The. The Senior Spotlight presented by X Company, you know, the player of the game presented by X.

This graphic is presented by somebody. So those are opportunities where you can.

Where creators can help someone build those things out, help them find the other thing, because that's the other side. Every piece of content that's put on social media is an asset that can have a value to it based upon what you're doing.

You know, what I like to try to do, for example, is if I get a content and I got a particular thing to it, try to have a theme to it, try to create a catchy name to it, because then you can put a brand on it. One of the things we do on our platform is a perfect example. We do Cotton Bow Classic moments presented by Goodyear.

Goodyear is our presenting sponsor of our bowl game. So we present these moments sometimes. Most of the times they're 15 to 45 seconds, clips of moments that have happened in our game.

Something that happened on the field in a game. And it was a perfect example.

You know, I'll give you a funny example that has been put out there by the time this podcast come out, which is going to be funny.

So we did one of those moments in the early part of July where it was right after the World cup has happened and Messi broke the FIFA record inside AT&T Stadium. Well, our game is played inside of AT&T Stadium.

So what the post we did, you know, if you go back and look, we had a player a couple three games ago, Taje Spears tie our record for most running touchdowns and rushing touchdowns in the game. And so the post I put out was records are meant to be broken in at. And t's the stadium, see Messi with a little soccer ball emoji.

And then went on to have a quick sentence description about the video that was with our post. Well, we're jumping in on something that's not ours to get a little love. Because if I put Messi in our post, that goes real well. So you got these.

Sometimes you got to figure out ways in which you can grab on and collaborate with other things that are going on. And that was, you know, that was the idea that it came to me at probably one o' clock in the morning when I couldn't fall asleep.

It wasn't, you know, it wasn't something, you know, in some sort of brain session that came out, you know what I'm saying? We're sitting there and strategizing about. Sometimes it just comes to you because it just comes to you.

But when you're looking at things from a bigger perspective, as a creative who's creating content, you got to figure out where that content can go. I can tell creators one of the biggest place I can tell you. I'm sure y' all have talked about this a lot.

So I'm about to break this down because there are so many restaurants in this world that are begging for creatives to help them. Begging for their social media is terrible.

They may have great food, they may have great customer service, but when you come to a city and you go to their socials and the last post they put up was three months ago and their website is two months behind and things like that, now you got to figure out how, if you're a creative, you should put together a proposal to go walk into that, that restaurant and say, hey, for $1,000, I will do X for you. I will create this type of content and this post so that you can post it up.

And if you don't know how to post it on your platform, if you will give me access, I will do this for you and I will run all these things by you.

You got a book of clients that you're creating great content for, you're getting to show your skills and you're able to pay your bills, right?

So you gotta find those things in places and spaces where you can use your creativity to turn around not only to help something but, but also make money.

Right. And you, you, you answer a lot there. Even when it came to first of all, shout out to that gym you just dropped.

If you're somebody who's watching it and you are like, I'm really, I have the visual eye.

But it's like you have to think strategically on how can I, I need to get creative on how I can offer this to a business so that I can help them level up their output, how they commit, what are they communicating. Your food may be communicating excellent, but somebody got to get in there first.

So how do we communicate that people want to come in here and so I'm going to help you with that. And so you're basically telling them to.

You almost kind of advise them to almost shift themselves from just thinking about the visuals and the creativity of it all to thinking about how, how I can strategically position a business.

If you did it for a restaurant, if you can think like that, that is the type of thing that would help you be able to get hired by someone who's the VP of a Cotton bowl classic. Because we definitely you. It's not a struggling restaurant that doesn't know what he's communicating.

We know exactly what we're communic communicating and we know who we're communicating to. We just need to have people to help us do that.

The other thing I was asking about was with regard to is it just social media now you say it's a key factor out here, but also there's streaming, right? Streaming online.

So some people can say, listen, I'm not your social media person, but we'll create all the great graphics that scroll at the bottom of the stream. We'll create all your graphics that are your. We're on break for 15 seconds. We'll create those for you.

Our team, we're not, we're not really that great at just graphics. For example, another person can say, but we create great 15 second commercials that and we can position you guys here.

And so people can go out and set out to say here's some examples of. These are the type of 15 or 30 second commercials we create for your streaming side.

I know you got your social media side, but I'm presenting proposal because that's another place where your business is communicated. And then of course some people coming at you, coming at you about a lot of people are having YouTube channels now.

Absolutely right.

So your channel is its own platform. And so these are some of the things we can do for your channel. Or maybe some businesses have their own podcast or communication thing.

We're not going to be your social media person but we'll come in and help you produce your, your sit down podcast situation that specifically like there's a company called. I think it's. Is it. I think it's. Is it. I want to say it's Asana. They have their own brief of Slack. I'm sorry, Slack.

They have their own channel like their internal communications that they do to their team employees. But then there's like the network of people who use it And I think QuickBooks has something like that. If I may be getting the names wrong.

But I want to say there's their companies have their own communication tools that they. Platforms that they own. I'm saying we own the platform. Like it's not just a YouTube channel.

We own this five minute videos that we put out and it go out to all 50,000 of people who use our platform. And so maybe I'm a creative and I come in and I help you on that.

So you have to think about every, every area and every, every place that communication is happening and then turn around and say I want to propose to help you in that way.

So I think you not only answered how I can get to you, but you also answered help them unlock the idea for how they can get to some other entities as well. And I think starting with those other entities will be great. Some starter entities because that's how they're going to develop their own.

What you said consistency. What is your consistent output like you can't be doing say 15 seconds but now all of a sudden you give me a whole bunch of 10 seconds.

That's not what we said we were doing. Or the quality, the, the, the quality of the images are not the same and the quality of the graphics are dropping and so so forth and so on.

So you definitely answered a lot. You haven't it?

Yeah, no, because. And he mentioned it. So you, you mentioned the consistency. He did elaborate on that knowing your space piece.

But I wanted to go back and say when you say follow up, what do you mean? Right. Because follow up can be a plethora of things.

But when you saying okay, no, you have to be, you gotta master follow up, consistency and space, what did you mean by that?

Well, you know when you talk about follow up many times if you're gonna be working with a creative and you're giving them a project and you ask them to make meet certain deadlines, meet and exceed those deadlines, first and foremost, making sure that you communicate. And then when the project's done, just don't think it's done. They gave me a check and I'm moving on.

Follow back up with them, be like, is there anything else that you might need? And come back up to you. Because one thing we talk about a lot and we just kind of touch on it, it just came to me.

So I want to make sure to mention this point. Most of the time we talk about creatives and the content they create, it's for external output.

But when you talk about larger corporations, they do a lot of internal communication.

When they have several hundred people that are employed by X Company, there's a whole member, there's a whole group of their staff that are just creating content to talk to their internal employees. And someone needs to create that content. And that content has a different style than your external content.

So if you can help be a global creator for a company of that size that might need that, whether it's with their external content or their internal content, you can play both sides of that. And if you got a skill to do both of those things, I think that's really important.

And another place that you can showcase your skill and another place there are opportunities that you may not be thinking about as a creator.

That was the right word, that was the right words. I was saying earlier, there's external and internal. So I was saying some things is not just social media.

Sometimes these companies own their own platform that they're serving to their different stakeholders.

So these stakeholders are just, these are just employees or these are our users, but these are like our VIP users and we communicate certain things to them. And so now I'm creating. So all of these have a different strategic outcome that they're trying to do.

You're going to say something and I have a question about some like, like data and all that. So but go ahead.

But no, I mean him mentioning that, that internal thing, it just took me back and reminded me of like my first big check as a creative entrepreneur was from a corporation, right, that wanted to create something that was internal. They did not leave their, their facility.

It was something that they created specifically for the employees, something that they would use to motivate them and whatnot. And it was a big check, right.

And the beautiful thing of it, like you said, the follow up piece, they came for me that one time, but because of the follow up didn't allow for me to create some other things with them internally as well. So no, that's huge. I don't think a lot of times creative entrepreneurs are looking at that aspect of it. It's always that out facing.

But like, no, there's something internally that you can create for them that they're going to use constantly over and over again.

And what ends up happening is, and I'm sure y' all have talked about this before, the follow up happens when you follow up the next time.

And maybe I don't have something, but I got a friend who needs a project and I'll be like, I just worked with such and such and they were so well, they did so well. Let me, let me send you over to him. Let me see you. My person that I work with. And then that starts picking up and they start.

Next thing you know, you're getting residual business you can residual. You're building your client base off of being good to one client is getting you three clients. So. And I think that's really important.

And the one thing I would say, because I think sometimes, you know, in college athletics, the whole creative side of, you know, the creative side that I call it, whether you're producing social video photo, that's the creative side. And the communication side has been very traditional. And so I really.

One of the things that I've learned, because I've had to learn this being older in the business, is that every creator is a communicator. Every communicator is a creator.

You gotta, whatever, whatever side you sit on, this thing you have to understand that you are, is a collaboration with the other.

Right?

And if you don't understand that as a creative in particular, that you are not. Well, I'm not a good communicator because I just like creating stuff.

Well, you need to change that because you're not gonna get anywhere because no one can know that you do your job well if you can't communicate it.

Wow. Yeah.

I'm sorry.

Wait a minute.

That's really good.

That's your camera. Say that, say that camera right there.

No one's gonna know if you do your job well. If you can't communicate. Communicate. You have to be able to communicate.

And I think what some young creatives don't understand, it's just not good enough to just put the content out there or be able to create the content. You got to be able to package it, you got to be able to sell it, you got to be able to put it in a proposal.

You got to be able to make it look good in a way that someone like myself, because here's the thing, I have to take that and say this creative is great, but they cost $10,000. I gotta go sell that to my leadership, to the folks that makes the decisions.

So I can't go there with some rinky dink looking email document proposal because I'm not.

Even though I think this person might be the greatest creator out there, but I can't put that in front of somebody and then get the approval that I need to, to, to move forward.

Right.

So it's all about the presentation of the content in addition to the content.

Right, right. It's all about. You're saying you even have to communicate to me so you can create. Right. So the creative entrepreneurs.

But even if you're not trying to say I'm not the communicator for, I'm not the person that write copy, that's not what you're talking about.

You're talking about even if whatever aspect of this, whatever space you sit in, you have to be able to take that and communicate to me as somebody who's a strategic communications, how this would best serve our company.

Without a doubt, it absolutely has to be. Because there are so many creatives that are out there.

As y' all know, it seems like young people these days, they, they are born and by the time they're 9, 10 years old, they can pick up a phone and they can create videos without somebody even teaching them one thing. They just innately know how to do it.

And then those that, that get into it and actually start using, you know, doing it as a craft and then they start playing around like you just said on YouTube, creating a channel for fun. And next thing you know, I just heard this story about these young folks that started doing that and they started creating movies.

And now I think one of them just created a, an actual movie that's in actual theaters that's, you know, that, that it took millions of dollars to create it and they're gonna making millions of dollars off of it. But it all started with just that simpleness of being a creative and having a skill and having a passion for something.

And I think creatives have to turn that passion into creative to, to presenting yourself. Because it's a brand. Yes, yes it is. You are a brand. As a creative, you are a brand.

And you have to present your brand to companies, organizations like mine, like so many others, and, and show them that your brand is going to match well with my brand so that together we can produce the content that will make us both look good. Because the other thing is, is that when you have a Great relationship with a company. You want to be able to co promote them at the appropriate time.

This content was produced by. You know, you don't do that every single time because you normally want to keep the parent brand is the main thing.

But at the appropriate times, you want to be able to celebrate that partner that you have with them because you don't want to necessarily make it always look like it's a business. I always like it in the right situation. I like to use the word partners because if we're partners, we're collaborating.

If you're a sponsor or if you're a vendor, that's. That's what it is. But if it's. If it's just transactional, then we ain't.

Gonna get any more relationship.

There's no relationship in it. It's all we want partners when it comes, especially on creative. Cuz it's about your brand. You're singing.

You're helping to sing the, the words and the. And the vision of our brand. So I need you to be a partner and not just somebody that just putting some stuff together so you can get a check.

Exactly. You're not just an entrepreneur, you're a creative entrepreneur.

Which means that your world of business works differently, especially when it comes to funding.

Okay, maybe you're bootstrapping, you know, injecting your own money into your passion or your searching for investors who all too often overlook your unique vision. Yeah, you've heard a little bit about business credit, but you don't know exactly where to get started. Well, listen, we've got your back.

We've partnered with Credit Savant to help creative entrepreneurs just like you get access to up to $150,000 in business credit. That's right, $150,000 to scale your creative based business into the enterprise that. You know that it can be me.

And trust me, they're not just going to throw information at you and send you on your way. They're going to walk hand in hand with you to help you get funded. Are you ready to take the next step? Well, head over to credit Savant I.O.

That's credit Savant I.O. And tell them MMCB sent you. Exactly. I'm happy that you asked that question.

That was really good because it pulled more out of you on what we mean by follow up because then you introduce something like proposal. So because what you originally gave was some of the, we would say like the soft, soft skills, which is like, you know, consistency and follow.

But then it's like I want to ask you about Some business technical, like some hard skills that people need to have. Like you said, putting together a proposal. Do they need to have llc, do they need to have, they need to be able to send the invoice.

Do they need to have like, what do they, did they have the wire set up? Well, like, what are some other things? Because I'm sure you're looking at that and it's like you're good but you don't have anything.

I can't, you know, so what are some of the other. Those are some values and ethics that they should have. What are some, like for real, get your business together. Right?

Yeah, you know what?

All of that, you know, you know when you have a question that's got A, B and C and D is all of the above, all of the above of what you just said, you need to be able to have that because when it comes down, if I'm going to bring you on board to do something and again, I got to take this to the leadership of my office and, and the CFO, you know, what's your, what's your W9, what's your, you know, how are we gonna, how are we gonna get information to you as far as, you know, exchanging, you know, financials. All that stuff needs to be very turnkey and very set up and very clean. You are a creative person. Your stuff's supposed to look good.

Everything needs to look good. You can't send it. You can't send a messed up looking PDF of your information. You got to make that look good. Even all your financials, your thing.

And really, and really make it simple. I'll give somebody a perfect example to the creators that I think that that's good.

If you send me an email, just, you know, just a cold email and you got your product that you want to show me and you're gonna put some quick visuals in it, be smart enough to go to the website, steal the logo, use our logo, use, read something about the company and use. Don't. You might want to send me a piece that you did that might have X company on it because it was really good.

But what might be better, that might draw me in is that you've replaced that. Change the colors and put my colors and my logo in as an example.

Don't spend a lot of time because you didn't, you know, because I understand creating that specific can be daunting, but do a couple little things to show. Well, I see that, I see they have a vision for my brain. Let me talk to them further.

Let Me get to know what they're going, oh, they went to our website and figured out our logo is blue and they use the right color gold. And they use this because they went and paid attention. There's some people that don't pay attention to the basics but they, yet they.

You don't know the basis of who we are, but yet you want me to give you money to create content for me.

Right?

Doesn't work like that, you know. And sometimes yes, I want to see some of the other examples or some of the other things done. Things you've done absolutely how they are originally.

But just given that a couple little teasing visuals will be helpful to just tip that email because you got to remember whether it's me, organizations like me, companies like me, we're getting multiple emails like that all the time. So what's going to separate you from the five other emails I got in the last week? Basically trying to get my business.

Yeah, I think that's really important. So really having your business structured down and in today's world it doesn't have to be overly complicated, you know.

No, we're not gonna pay your cash app.

We was coming. We was coming.

I want you to be clear because he said I need you to be able to send me a W9 pretty quickly. What are some payments? Like you said I was gonna ask you.

So give me an example of somebody who you want to work with but they're like I can't do business this way. And so now you just said I can't pay you like I'm paying personally. It's not me and you homie.

The homie, you know you can't do that. Look, look, we're still in a world where I might have to send your company a check. That's not.

There's nothing wrong with that, you know, but long as I got the appropriate documentation to be able to take to the, the financial leader of the office who's going to execute this on that end and he or she can. Okay, I have all the basic information.

I have your, you know, whatever, whatever documents needed and then I can properly cut a check, mail that check to you. You know, so many business corporations are built out of people houses now. So it is not.

You don't have to have some special mail address and PO box and things like that because look, the post Covid world totally change how people do business. You know, people's homes now are the office, the home, the club, the bar, the social outing place. It's the whole thing.

So you just Got to be able to know that when you are going to be dealing business with them, that it's coming in the right way. You know, when you send, you know, when you send something out and if it is, you know, whether it's a. A digital, you know, PDF of your.

Some digital version of your business is done nicely. Even when you send out envelopes, you know, or if you're going to be mailing stuff out, go get stuff personalized.

Go, go use that creative gene to be able to create something that you can print out that just looks good, that blends all together so that your brand, it looks good. From business to creative to content to proposal to presentation, all of that. And it's all. And it all looks uniform and it all looks. And it's.

To me, if you are creative, that's the one up you have on people, you can do that easier. You can sit down and do that. If you can create all this brand content for a corporation or why can't you do that for yourself, right?

And it helps it communicate the value and it helps to disposition you in a place to where it's like, okay, they're, they're taking them serious. So I know they're going to take us serious.

Yeah, right.

I remember when I worked in a nonprofit field, you know, we would go and do presentations to schools to show them the programming that we did, right? And we had these, these basic black folders and we just, we just put a sticker on the folder. It was, you know, it was, it wasn't good at all.

But one of the principals told us. He was like, man, I know y', all, so I know y' all do good work. He was like, but the presentation is off.

He was like, I had this other, I had this other program coming here. They gave me T shirts and they had branded folders and everything. You know what I'm saying? I left that meeting.

We instantly did a rebrand and from there I never had that issue again because they saw what it was that we were presenting and then we came in and did good work. So it matched. But like he was saying, it's like, you gotta, it gotta match.

You can't present me, like you said, a brown paper bag and it's like filet mignon that y' all delivering. It's like, nah, that's not, it doesn't.

Match well, it's so bad sometimes you're gonna be doing work with a creative was just a one off.

Yeah.

It may be just a single person who is not a business who just happens to be someone that does content. You don't have to be. Every single person you work with is not going to be some, some corporation or some llc, whatever case may be.

But when you are working with somebody, whether you're a single individual person that is just a person who's just doing it, or you have started to build this as a, as a company, you still need to present yourself well in the way in which you need to do it.

You know, a lot of times when it comes to companies, they are going to the individual person or a couple people because a, they're more accessible, be cheaper and see, they don't, maybe they don't have to go through some of the. Well, I can go, I can use such and such on the side here because I can pay them this way and I don't have to go through, I don't have to go through.

It gets me to where I need to go. And then you start doing it off to the side. And then over time, people's like, whoa, that content you've been putting out, who's.

Doing that right now? They want to kind of go ahead and staff you in.

And then they want to staff you in. That's what I'm talking about.

Because then what that person may end up doing, if that's just a contractor type situation and you don't have that role on your staff, then you can go as the person sitting in the department or in the office, you can say, you know what? You see the work that this person has done, like this.

Let me put a proposal to you to create this position that is director of creative, you know, content creative coordinator, whatever case may be. And we can bring that in house. And here's the benefit that that's going to bring to us.

Yeah, yeah, we can get our deliverables faster. We can, we can save. Actually we're spending this much money on this person because we keep contracting them in.

They will be more happy, they'll have a package. This is this, they have their benefits and we can get our deliverables and so forth and so on. I'll have to keep doing that.

It speeds up our lead time. All these things you can communicate as a strategic communications person on what you're trying to convey.

Man, that, that's, that's a really, really good tip there. I want to, I, I know I, I want to keep going, but I want to, I want to ask you a question.

Earlier you brought up like the strategic thinking of it you talked about. Okay, so here's an example, I'm looking for content because Goodyear is going to partner with us to present this 15 second thing or this whatever.

When someone is creating content where there's photos, videos, words, typography, whatever it is that they do, streaming, deliverables, however they, whatever they do, internal, external, all the things we talked about, should they be thinking about the data, some type of data or metrics that, that we know you're trying to hit, you know, so that they, they know how to like appeal to you more. So now we got your package together, we got your invoice together, W9 is on hand, we have your proposal, all that stuff is good.

But now they don't know how to create content that's attached to a strategy to help them with that.

Is it some type of metrics, is it some type of data, is it some type of something that they should be thinking about as they approach what they're doing? You know it. But is there something that can be thinking about that helps them more so get these contracts?

I think if they're going to be strategic, they need to go spend some time and look at the content that's being put out on that, that entity's platform and then figure out what's missing. Because what's missing could then be the key to helping to bring their overall numbers up okay on that platform.

So if you, for example, you know, one of the areas we continue to try to grow in on our platform is in that Instagram, TikTok hitting on those trends, you know, having that younger voice type content that are out there, that's a place that we always try to struggle and get to. And I'm sure a lot of brands try to do that.

If you have that in your skill set and you go look at a good, you know, collection of their content over three months, six months, and you see that's an area that they're missing on, then come with some ideas, one or two ideas on what they can do that then complements that content and then helps that will spark some probably conversation and then ways in which you can integrate that content with all the overall content and then that content starts playing off of each other.

And then some of your more stat, not static, some of your more consistent content you're doing may get a new life because that other content comes in and adds too because.

And I'm happy you went that way with, with your response, but I more so I want to push in a little bit further on. Like there are corporates like sponsorships and stuff like that.

That you're having to think through or is there some type of like, okay, so is there some kind of way to say, man, I see that you guys have this company, this company, this company and these sponsors. This is some, these are some ideas that we can do that can drive home that would, that kind of work, would that help you?

Like what I'm trying to say is they can create content that helps you either solidify your sponsors or renew your sponsors or make better appeal to your sponsors. So what are some things?

Yeah, oh yeah, I think it's, you know, you think about, you know, you have, and I'm just making this up off the top of my head.

So you know, if you see we have Taco Bell as a sponsor, well you could come up with a whole, you know, Taco Tuesday style content strategy where we're going to be putting out this fun piece of content every Tuesday that's going to be presented by Taco Bell. So that, then I know that's a great idea and we're going to do that over X number of weeks.

Well then we can, when we get in renewal time with Taco Bell and I'm just using simple money, say Taco bell's giving us $25,000. Well then we can say what we've been doing the ads and all the things.

Well then the proposal we can put to them is like, well, we're gonna do this whole content thing but the sponsorship package is now $50,000 because you're giving them more return on their, on their investment because you're giving them more brand equity, you're giving them more brand visual.

So you're able to do that because you got the right creative helping you to deliver more and make your content more value or create content that can then be used and tied to a sponsor. You know, some content is meant to be fun, some content, it's got to help you pay some bills.

Exactly right.

So you got, you gotta understand that there's a style to it. And if you put, I call a lot of that theme based content.

If you get some theme based content that is either co branded in a way that speaks to the, to the brand that's partnering with you like a Taco Bell and a Taco Tuesday because everybody use that Taco Tuesday type of thing.

Or if you got a, you just got a fun piece of content and you just want to, and a sponsor is looking to be more visual with you and say, well, we can make this presented by and then you can make sure that it's you know, you're tagged appropriately.

It's the collabs on Instagram, it's the tags on Facebook and the things like that that you can do and you can have some fun with it, or you can really drive home the relationship between the two brands. Your content, you got more, you got better content. Your content has value. You're bringing in more money.

And what happens when your content is more valuable? This is what creators sometimes miss. Then I can go and say, well, you know what?

To the powers that be and say, we need to give our creative X more dollars so they can get more equipment or update their equipment, or he or she might need an assistant at a certain period of time. Or we can go get this small group to help us for X amount of dollars for X amount of period of time so that they enhance our content.

Because we have now shown that our content has value. So we could, we can put more. The more money. We can.

Not that it becomes a cycle, but it becomes somewhat of a cycle because then you can show, you know, we're all, we're not only making money off this, but the reinvestment because of that money allows us to make better content.

I'm tracking, I see where you're going. I'm over here.

Because then, because what the ultimate thing is is that that's money coming out of new money and that's not money that's coming out of the budget.

Right, Right.

Because we've, we have, this is the thing, we have done this content so well.

We've communicated so well, we've generated new revenue, we've increased the overall value of the company, not just to turn around and spend it, but more. So we do have something to spend now so we can up level what we're doing. And I actually, I was tracking, I was like, boom.

But that's, that's what creatives got to understand, that content has value. You, but you got to help create that value.

Right.

Just because it's good doesn't mean that it's good.

Right? Right. Oh, so right there.

Just because it's good doesn't mean it's good. Right?

Yeah, that's good.

So this, this whole, this whole conversation has been good because we talked about some of the, what we call soft skill, hard skills with some of the values and some of the things that you just like on the creative side that you need, on the business side, you need marrying the two. Because at the end of the day, if you're a creative, you're communicating. If you're a communicator you're great.

Like, there's so many things you want to actually go back and watch this over and over. Some of you all are trying to think of you're already making money.

Maybe you're making 5,000, $10,000 a month, and you're trying to get to this certain point and you're, I need to get a good contract, but you can't get a good contract because you don't have some of these things in place that we're talking about and you're not strategically thinking about. Yeah, you got a good visual eye, but what are we going to do with that?

How is that going to create value for my company, for this brand that you're trying to work with? Yeah, you want to get that bigger check, but how are you going to help them get the bigger check?

So, yeah, this is what you really could have gained in this video. So I want to encourage you to go back and watch this. Oh, like, so many times. I actually have, like, another question I want to end with.

I know I have so many other things that we want to say, but we're running out of time, so I just want to say, like. Like, is it okay we ask you, like, one more thing? All right, so one more thing. Okay. What y' all want to know? I'm listening. Okay. No. Okay, so here's.

Here's a.

A question that's important because we want to come back to the man that we've had the opportunity to sit down with, Mr. Scotty Rogers, who's been in some of the world's, some of the best championships, some of the most coveted environments. Right. You're working with all these different creatives. You're building teams of teams.

You know, you've been holding all these trophies and just doing all this stuff. What is something that you've learned or had to unlearn about how to navigate the space you're in?

You're dealing with creative teams and company owners, and you're also dealing with corporate entities. I'm asking this question because we want to ensure that there's development that's happening within the person.

Somebody wants to be in your role or appeal to someone in your role. What is something that you've had to learn or unlearn to do what it is you do?

You know that most creatives are smarter than me when it comes to the creative space. They know how to create the content. They know how to make it. Look, they know how to make it. I don't.

I can't out creative Them, you know, but I can out strategy them and I can out. I can show them a way. And I think many times you talk about being at these events, many times what ends up happening is.

And I can't tell you the tens of times that it has happened.

I'm at an event, whether I'm working it or somebody else's event, and I happen to be there and I'm looking around and I'm at, you know, another football championship game or the final Four, and I'm seeing what somebody else is doing. I start seeing they putting out good content.

Well, then I'm gonna go find out who is that person, because might try to steal them from my event down the road or get that person's information so that I have them in my arsenal so that I. When something comes up and then a friend comes to me and say, do you know of somebody?

Hey, I don't know this person, but I saw them at X event and they were doing a great job. You might want. You can talk to this person about how he or she was doing the work, but here's that person's contact info.

So you can get with contact with them directly and y' all can have a conversation. And maybe there might be a match and maybe it won't. That's the. That's the thing that I definitely have to learn.

And I'm on a learning journey when it comes to that, because these creatives, they're getting that. They're so knowledgeable.

And I think another thing, not to get an aside, but I think another good point, some creators need to understand sometimes you gotta. You gotta do you. You gotta do things like the. The hall of Justice. You know, you might be Superman in your thing, but you might need you a Batman.

No, but you might need your Wonder Woman. Y' all gotta superpower this thing together sometimes to get the client right. So I might be the greatest.

I might be great at graphics, but I suck at video. And I might be vice versa. But we want this big brand and we want this big.

So maybe we go in and whether we're two different companies or we're two different individuals, we come together with a proposal that goes forward.

And then if you are together and aligned, then they're going to be like, well, I can get these two people for the price, for the price of one, because y' all got to figure out how y' all splitting that money. But then y' all get that big check, right? And you show them what you can do and you start, you know, it's just like, it's just like any sport.

You got to have a point guard and somebody that's down low. You got to have a quarterback and a wide receiver. You got to have, you know, you got to have a pitcher and a catcher.

You gotta have, you gotta have people with the different skills. And sometimes the benefit needs to be you gotta work together.

And I think that's really important for some young creators because sometimes they think, I'm so good, I can just go get it on my own. Maybe you can't. But if you look around and you use these forums and these opportunities.

One thing I love about creatives is that a lot of places like this is creating opportunities for them to come together for conversation and community. And between that conversation and community can come collaboration. And out of all that can come the other c. Cash.

Come on, come on. And I have to, I'm not. I'm gonna do a unshameless, you know, plug of our community that you're talking about.

It's called the Creative to CEO challenge. Right?

If you join this challenge, it's going to help you learn these tools to up level, you know, just go from that creative thinking and get into that CEO mindset so you can build out this business, get these contracts, all those types of things, get that cash. But you're, we really want you in the group.

Not just so you can make 10k plus months and all that kind of stuff, but more so we want you there so you can collaborate with one another.

Because in collaborating, once you're talking, you're in a community of people who are peers just like you other creative entrepreneurs, y' all might strike up a deal much like what Mr. Scotty Rogers just said, which is, man, we can partner together. Truth of the matter is, Ron and I run lives in Detroit. I live in Dallas. We met each other in a community and in some other group.

And we decided one day we're going to collaborate and do something together. And we're doing it right now. And that can happen for you. So please join the next Creative to CEO challenge that we're going to be having.

Go to the links of wherever it is around this video.

Get over there, get in the challenge, get in the room, up, level your skills and then be around other creatives just like yourself so you can get that collaboration. Popping, man, I had, I had to, I had to get that.

No, no, that's good. That was the perfect spot for it.

Excellent spot. Absolutely.

Sometimes we got to pay the bill. All right, well, listen, I, I want to thank you for. For tuning in so far, just.

Even for listening, just staying all the way through, if you haven't already. Just. It doesn't take you. It won't take you long. Just. Just. Just nudge your finger up and just click the light.

You know, I just want you to slide over, Boom, tap the. Tap the subscription. That's all. That's it. This is a simple ask. Okay. And. But no, seriously, I want to thank you. Thank you, thank you.

Thank you so much. And we want to thank you for coming here and being such a valuable resource, because you weren't just trying to tell people how to appeal to you.

You were telling them how to appeal to anybody that's in your position that has this. This corporate brand or this, what we can sometimes say, the larger brands. And how do I work with them? And so thank you so much.

You really share it so much here on this platform.

Yeah, no, this was a great conversation. Listen, if y' all don't do nothing, like I said, go back. Because it was some jewels that was dropped. Take notes.

Cause he's literally giving you information that's gonna set you up for success. Right? So I want for you to also share it with the creative entrepreneur.

If, you know, I know you got some other creative friends, share it with them so that they get this information as well. Don't just be hobbling and hoarding it. Right. We don't do that here. We share the wealth. Okay.

But on that note, like I said, it's time for us to say goodbye to all our creative friends.

Yeah. I mean, we literally giving you the game. Y' all see what I did?

I like that he give you a.

Lot of game analogies. We've given you the game. So at this point, we want you to say something back. We want you to talk back to us, and not just in the comments.

We want you to say something out loud. So what we do at the end of every. Every episode. Episode, we ended with a mantra where we're going to actually speak well over ourselves.

An affirmation that we're all going to say out loud. You. You ready?

I'm ready.

Okay, I'm gonna need you to repeat after me. Y' all ready? All right, let's go. All it takes. All it takes is intention. Consistency.

Consistency.

And laser focus.

And laser focus.

To mind my creative business.

To mind my creative business.

And on that note, we out.

Peace.

Peace.