Episode 1: What’s this podcast about anyway?

Welcome to Pros & Conversations, the podcast explores what it takes to be successful, whether you’re from the world of business, science of the arts. In this short intro episode, host Peter Reynolds and Damon Adachi talk about why they started the podcast and what listeners can expect from future episodes. 

Transcript

Peter Reynolds  0:04  
Hi, everyone. I'm Peter Reynolds. And welcome to Pros and Conversations, a podcast that explores what it takes to be successful, whether you're from the world of business, science, or the arts. But more than just a series of inspiring conversations, we're going to give you the tools to help achieve some of these things you might aspire to. Today, I'm joined by Damon Adachi, and he is a marketing consultant with Seven Fold Marketing. And Hi, Damon, how you doing? Good. How are you? Excellent, excellent. Well, I'm really excited to start this podcast. And for those people listening, the idea of Pros and Conversations was really to talk to interesting people, you know about the things they do, and really the things that inspire us. But too often, at least in my experience, when listening to podcasts, you get inspired, but the podcast doesn't give you any of the tools to achieve those things you might aspire to. And I think that's what is really going to be different about this podcast. Would you agree, Damon?

Damon Adachi  1:11  
Oh, absolutely. You know, I think that we have the benefit of our experience as entrepreneurs and as successful businesses, and we can pass on some of that experience and knowledge and insight to to others out there, and just the general listening public, and bring some great value.

Peter Reynolds  1:27  
Yeah, I think it's gonna be in a lot of exciting people to talk to, and a lot of really interesting information. So just to give you a little bit of background, I'm a video producer by day, I'm a children's author by night, and probably a podcaster by later night. And, you know, really, for me, a big sort of push for this podcast was a lot of the people I meet, in my everyday world, as a video producer, I'm meeting these really interesting people, but I only sort of scratched the surface. And, you know, I wanted an opportunity to talk to people in greater detail, and sort of learned the ingredients, you know, to their secret sauce, you know, what was making them successful, what was keeping them going. And so that was really sort of my, my motivator, you know, to kind of put this together and yourself, Damon,

Damon Adachi  2:24  
I'm just very vain and I like the sound of my own voice. So, you know, anytime I had the chance to be involved in something like this as a guest, I'll take it. But in reality, I love surrounding myself with successful people, I think that's a key in finding your own success. So I just, I'm really excited about the opportunity to talk to these people that we're going to have on as guests and pick their brain a bit and learn from them. And I think that makes for fantastic content.

Peter Reynolds  2:51  
So let's talk a little bit about what listeners can expect the so I know, you know, the sort of the first five episodes out of the gate, you know, we really wanted to get some information into the hands of entrepreneurs and wantrepreneurs, which is a great, a great phrase that I think you came up with. Tell me more about that.

Damon Adachi  3:13  
I didn't I didn't invent it. But I'm very familiar with it. Oh, yeah, there's there are small businesses out there that are running with, you know, partners, or solopreneurs, or people that are just thinking about it. Especially with the current climate in the business world with people working from home a lot. It seems like you start to think, can I do this on my own? Can I you know, develop a business and work from home. The thought of going back to an office nine to five is just soul crushing for a lot of people, I think so, you know, there are a lot of wantrepreneurs out there that are thinking, I know, something great, I have a great skill set, I could turn this into a consultancy, or, you know, contract service, or I'm just going to start making something and selling it and be either an online business or trying to plug my wares somewhere else. So I think there are a lot of people out there that are interested in being small business owners, and there are a lot of small business owners that are neck deep in it today and seeing the struggles. And then I think there's just a lot of people out there that are in business and realize they need to be on the pulse of whatever's happening as well.

Female Voice  4:21  
We hope you're enjoying this episode so far. Pros and Conversations is brought to you by For the Record Productions, providing video production services to corporate and nonprofit clients for over 20 years. To learn more about how we can help your business visit VideosThatMatter.ca and via the Business Alliance, a professional peer group that helps you grow your business through networking, collaboration and sound advice. To learn more about how to become a member visit JoinTheAlliance.biz

Peter Reynolds  4:53  
Yeah, I know that it's interesting because everyone is at a different level. There's there's the people with the idea, you know, and how I'd always sort of turn that idea into a reality. Other people who want to grow their businesses, you know, I know myself that I look at, you know, some people that have sort of made that, that leap from the solopreneur, you know, to having a staff of 10 or a staff of 20. And, and, you know, how did they make that leap? And those are the kind of things that I'm very, very interested in, but also the kind of the nuts and bolts I mean, things like, you know, branding and marketing and, and really trying to understand the difference, you know, and what to focus on, you know, I think,

Damon Adachi  5:34  
Let me ask you, how long have you been in business, Peter,

Peter Reynolds  5:36  
20 years?

Damon Adachi  5:38  
Wow. That's impressive. That's very impressive. I've been running my marketing business for about 13 years, this year will be my 13th year, and it's a long haul, right? That's, it's a big part of your life. For a young guy like you, that's a really big part of your life,

Peter Reynolds  5:55  
you know, and it's sort of it is your life, you know, and it's crazy, because, you know, I'm so invested in it, you know, and it's become such a part of my identity, you know, that, that changing anything, sometimes I think, I'm so much better working with clients, when I recommend, you know, changes to their branding or changes to their messaging. When it comes to my own, sometimes I feel almost paralyzed. Because it's such a big part of who I am, that, you know, changing the logo, or, or, or making any sort of major changes is scary.

Damon Adachi  6:31  
I understand that. So you and I know each other through the Business Alliance, which is our peer advisory networking group, where we have connections to a wide variety of businesses in different sizes, and different industries. And that has kind of been the impetus for this whole concept, because sitting in that room with those people and all the knowledge and the wealth of experience in there, has made us realize, you know, we're sitting on a treasure trove of great stuff. And whenever you and I have those feelings of either being stuck, or not knowing how to get to where we want to go, we rely on that group. So we'll probably see a few of those familiar faces along the way, for sure.

Peter Reynolds  7:07  
Absolutely. I mean, they say, you know, you don't know what you don't know. And after joining this group, and I've been with you guys for a year now, I really realized how much I don't know, and how much I think a lot of us do this, you know, where we find ourselves reinventing the wheel, you know, and why reinvent the wheel, when there's people out there that have already done it before have already failed, you know, and learn from that failure and grown from that failure. And if they can pass that on, as we've experienced in the network in our network, you know, but if they can pass that on to the people listening, I think that's going to be be of great benefit.

Damon Adachi  7:50  
Yeah, I'm sure that both you and I have had our share of stumbles along the way in running a business. And when you look back on them, in retrospect, you realize what it is you did wrong, or where you were, you were unprepared. So if we could lend that time machine wisdom back to other businesses and other listeners, then I think it's just, you know, sort of our calling in that sense, you know, so I think it's, it's something we really are going to enjoy and be passionate about. And hopefully the listeners feel the same way.

Peter Reynolds  8:20  
That's great, that's great. Can you give the listeners just a little bit of an outline of what they might can expect from sort of the next five episodes,

Damon Adachi  8:29  
Right. So this is not going to be the overall focus of the entire podcast. But out of the gate, we're going to look at sort of the five pillars of small business success, recognizing that from our experience, you know, you get rarely really focused on what you're good at, in those in those areas of business. And when you're not busy, you start working on the business instead of in the business. And rather than getting out there and finding new business, you find yourself saying, Oh, I'm going to redesign my website, or I'm going to come up with a new offering. And you get sort of stale that way. So recognizing that there are those five basic pillars of business success being your operations, and most entrepreneurs are the resident expert in their business model. So they're the operations expert. But there are other subcategories of operations like technology and compliance and legal issues. The next pillar would be sales, marketing, finance, and then people. So understandably, these are the departments that big businesses have and as a small business, you should be operating along the same lines. And if you fall down in finance and run out of cash, your business dies. And that's just because you're not a finance expert and up to speed on how to make sure the lifeblood of your company is still flowing. So we're going to kind of pinpoint each one of those pillars have a have a resident expert guests come in and lend some experience in that we're going to pick their brains and some of the key factors for small business and medium sized businesses and uncover some real nuggets of wisdom.

Peter Reynolds  10:06  
I mean, that sounds great. I mean, I know I'm going to be learning from every episode. And it's because, again, they always say, you know, surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. And that has never been a problem. Never, never Damon. I know that might sound shocking, but that has never been a problem. 

Damon Adachi  10:24  
Give yourself more credit. 

Peter Reynolds  10:27  
I'm really looking forward to having these conversations with you, Damon and thanks for being part of the podcast. And we hope all the listeners out there will tune in for the next episode. Thanks so much for joining us.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai