Open Mic: Getting Ready for a Radical 2021

 It has to start somewhere. It has to start some time. What better place than here? What better time than now?
 You're listening to the Radcast. If it's radical, we cover it. Here's your host, Ryan Alford.
 Hey guys, what's up? It's Ryan Alford. Welcome to the latest edition of the Radcast Open Mike edition.
 We're coming up with tons of additions here at the Radcast. We're getting closer and closer to a daily series here on the Radcast as we've grown.
 I am joined by two of our marvelous AEs. We'll stay away from, we've got a senior AE and an AE, whatever.
 Let's stay away from titles here, but actually employee number one at Radical, Alex Finley, cheers, claps, and arrays everywhere.
 And Kate LeBolder, good to have you both. Good to be here. Great to be here.
 I know. I hate that intro. I was just really as I was thinking of all your titles and all those things.
 And I'm like, employee, numero uno, ground zero on that. It's been a wild ride.
 It's been a radical ride. It's been a radical ride.
 Radical a few, a couple of years here. What were we coming up on? Was it, would be three years or two?
 It's been two and some change. Two and some change. I know it's all coming together.
 So I'm glad to have some ladies here, you know, on the, you know, we have Riley obviously producing the show and on it.
 But, you know, Josh, you know, Josh is an attention hogger. Let's be.
 Oh, yeah. Let's be honest. Yeah. That's celebrity nowadays.
 Yeah. He's getting this. It's not getting to his head is kidding.
 It's the furthest thing for Josh's head, but it is funny.
 He is becoming multi-faceted here.
 Multi-talented Joshua Hill man about town.
 I know. So how's holidays going, ladies?
 It was good. I hung out with family and everything,
 which was kind of nice to have that be the end of 2021.
 But like it was going to be a lot different, you know, this holiday.
 But I think my family did a good job still hanging out and making it feel normal, quote-unquote.
 Yeah. Mine was pretty chill relax, which like I said,
 was a nice little wrap up. And I mean, I think it was nice to just unwind for a little bit and not have to go through so much of the hustle and bustle of going from getting everyone to go to the houses.
 Did it feel like you, you could catch your, you know, 2020 has been a fucking wacky year.
 But is it, we're able to like catch your breath and it feel somewhat normal?
 It was relaxing. I think it was nice, like a nice little kick back for a little bit.
 Yeah. To not have to travel travel travel by everybody present.
 Yeah, it almost slowed down because of COVID.
 You know, like kept most nuclear families together, you know,
 versus going a million places or whatever.
 So I would hope that maybe it created some semblance of peace.
 Yeah, definitely good.
 And I think everybody appreciated just being together this year instead of like,
 what's under the Christmas tree? You know, it was like,
 okay, I got a gift card. Cool. That's fine.
 Yeah. It wasn't so much about presents and stuff.
 It was just lucky to be together, I guess.
 I have a lot of friends about it too, that really didn't post a whole lot.
 And I think that was, and I didn't.
 And I think that was kind of nice because then you're just in the moment.
 Yeah.
 And you're not, okay, let's do it for the grant.
 Like it's not all that.
 It's, okay, let me enjoy my nieces and nephews or my mom or whoever.
 So I, like, I enjoyed it.
 But even for me, as much as I post, like I didn't, I threw up stories,
 like a few things, like the kids got to the, you know,
 family that follows my stuff, like they'd see whatever.
 But I was pretty silent on that end as well, which was kind of nice.
 Yeah, same.
 We need, uh, so New Year's is coming up.
 This will, this will release on New Year's Eve.
 That's right, Riley.
 And, uh, so New Year's Eve.
 So, um, happy New Year's Eve for everyone listening.
 Yeah.
 Like, we always get in this mood.
 We made it.
 Stay safe.
 I know.
 Uh, I think we, we are having champagne at our, uh,
 one of our segments here soon.
 You guys will, like, missed it out by one or two segments.
 No, we're actually coming in on that one.
 Okay.
 Yeah.
 Yeah.
 Yeah.
 Yeah.
 Yeah.
 Yeah.
 Yeah.
 Any big New Year's plans?
 There's, again, kind of minimized a bit.
 I think minimized a little bit this year, but still hanging out with some people.
 Yeah.
 Trying to make the most of it.
 Ringin' in the New Year.
 I'll probably be asleep by 11.30.
 I already know.
 Like 30 minutes before.
 Yeah.
 No shit.
 Last year, Nicole and I, I am 99% sure we were asleep at 10.30.
 Yeah.
 So after you have a couple of drinks and you're like cozy and you're sitting and it's like,
 you're woke up and like, happy new year.
 Yeah.
 Yeah.
 Yeah.
 I don't remember, like, we, I don't know why.
 We aren't big New Year's people anyway.
 Yeah.
 I don't know.
 I think it's a little, it's how, what they call it amateur hour.
 I don't know.
 And like, and then this year will be interesting.
 It's all the parties.
 Parties, even the ones that, uh, probably shouldn't be happening will hopefully be minimized,
 but I don't know.
 I'm interested to see, like, for some of the bigger parties that are happening,
 you can't serve alcohol after 11.
 Yeah.
 So how does that, like, what is that for New Year's, you know, when it's?
 Well, it's funny too.
 After, like, last year, we're not big New Year's people usually,
 but last year we did, like, the up on the roof thing, you know, went up there.
 10 people deep at the bar.
 I got to the front.
 I was like, I need a bottle of wine and two glasses.
 I'm not coming back through this line.
 No.
 So last year, we were like, we're definitely doing something next year.
 Like, we just need to buy the tickets and do it.
 And then 2020 happens.
 And it's like funny.
 That how life works, I guess.
 All right.
 So I guess everybody be chilling there.
 Home parties with, uh, limited gatherings.
 So I don't know what we'll do.
 We've got all the kids and New Year's day.
 All the bowl games, like Clemson and big Clemson fans.
 Sorry.
 There Alex, you know, South Carolina fan.
 But they don't, but they don't play until Saturday or, I guess,
 Saturday's, Friday's New Year's day.
 The whole Friday Saturday thinks throwing me off a little bit.
 Throw me off with Christmas.
 I thought Friday, Christmas day was Saturday for all the whole,
 I don't know why.
 But the, uh, most of the good games that I mentioned are all set on New Year's day
 itself.
 But we got all the kids and, you know, so we get kids under the age of 10.
 This New Year's is just kind of like, I don't know.
 Just grill out.
 Have some champagne.
 Call it a night.
 Sounds about right.
 And, uh, so we need to be a, uh, New Year's resolutions.
 Are we New Year's resolutions people?
 That's hard.
 I feel like I, you know, tried to and I was like, oh, I'm going to like work out
 and drink water, whatever.
 But it's just like, I feel like it's just a setup for failures sometimes.
 You know, because then you bog yourself down and you're like, oh, it's been two weeks.
 I can't do it.
 So it's like, I don't know.
 I start like every week off.
 Kind of would like, uh, here's what my goal for the week is rather than, uh,
 like, here's what I'm going to do all year long, because I don't know.
 I feel the same way.
 I usually pick, uh, like, do the one word thing.
 So try to pick a word that all of my decisions kind of go towards that.
 Like, this year was capacity.
 So just to kind of see what, like, how, how much can I take on and handle it?
 And so I'm still kind of thinking of my 2021 word.
 But it's, because I feel the same way of it.
 If I say, oh, water workout.
 Like, halfway through February, I'm off the, like, off the boat, a wagon, whatever.
 And then I feel like I failed.
 So I don't want to do that.
 So then it's literally just picking one word where that's what I'm doing.
 And all my, you know, choices go towards that one word.
 So still, you know, juggling which word it is.
 But, um, I like that.
 That's more like, you're just, I don't know.
 It's, I think something easier that you can do.
 And people, I've seen where people put it, like, on their phone background,
 or they put on their computer, or some people get, like, a piece of jewelry made to
 where every day they have a reminder of that one word that they're, you know, trying to accomplish.
 That's cool.
 Yeah, that's my, I like that.
 I'm doing my 2021 thing.
 I'm the anti-New Year's guy.
 You're either self-motivated or you aren't.
 And like, it's, and I like the start of the week plans, much more manageable.
 And like, I like just biting off what you can chew and being having, you know, like,
 you either take care of yourself and you're either motivated or you're not.
 You know, like, and that doesn't mean taking care of yourself means that you have a six pack.
 I don't have a six pack.
 Like, you know, like, abs and you work out 23, three times a month.
 And like, all those things, it's, you know, what does that mean for you in making, you know,
 lifestyle changes instead of, you know, kind of arbitrary goals that kind of come and go.
 But for me, ironically, I say all that, but I do let myself enjoy the holidays.
 So the way that coincides, I do typically kind of pick back up my normal routine the first week of the year.
 You know, and so like, it's not that I go completely in the dumpster.
 But like, I just don't, I enjoy food.
 I do things, you know, just to enjoy the moments of the holidays.
 So it kind of happens to coincide, you know, with that week, but it kind of, I don't know, all the New Year stuff.
 And, you know, the gym.
 They're all ingrained to like, because ever since we were little, I mean, New Year's resolution, maybe even, you know, more so back when you were younger.
 Like, you hear your parents talking about it. So I think that's a normal.
 Yeah.
 Like, hey, I'm going to get fit, but also to, yeah, you get tired of eating all the like, I go garbage.
 I don't know.
 I drove the holidays.
 I'm like, well, I told the cold last night, I was like, is he going to stay a day before?
 It's like, I do feel like I'm ready for more whole foods right now.
 Yeah.
 Like, there's just so much.
 I just kind of gives up.
 Yeah.
 I need some lettuce and some like green beans.
 I don't know.
 Like, it can't run on this.
 Yeah.
 Yeah.
 It's a lot of process stuff here lately.
 And, you know, the Reese Cups don't help so much.
 Somebody gave me those for Christmas.
 Yeah.
 Just lay around that.
 There's always a limit.
 Yeah.
 Yeah.
 Yeah.
 Is that process?
 So that's a whole food.
 A Reese Cups.
 It's all true.
 Reese Cups.
 Yeah.
 There's peanut butter.
 You know better about it.
 Yeah.
 Yeah.
 I'm going to start that as a New Year's resolution.
 RC diet.
 Reese Cups only.
 Yeah.
 We have a day keeps the doctor away, right?
 Yeah.
 We were like 20 Reese Cups for me.
 Yeah.
 I think everyone has that one food that they literally cannot control themselves with.
 Yeah.
 Like, if you have it, it's going to, like, it's gone.
 That's how, I mean, I have like a couple more than one.
 Yeah.
 Where if I have it, it's like, it's all gone.
 Yeah.
 What's the, so you guys are both in account management.
 So we're, I think it's, you know, with the New Year's, you're just kind of like looking
 forward and looking back a little bit any, any best stories or as you reflect on the
 year that's been so crazy as COVID and everything like that, anything that's kind of like sticks
 in your mind from the year.
 So I think everyone had like a march that lasted like six months.
 Right.
 And I had a website that's lasted or like development that's lasted moment far longer than six
 months, but thought it was going to be great, get everything done and then site's live.
 Oh, let's make 10,000 changes, you know, or I wanted it so specialized to where coding
 was involved, but now I want to be able to update it myself.
 And I don't, I can't, I don't understand the coding.
 And so it's like that kind of fun.
 And you know what's interesting in being, you know, running an agency and doing what we all
 do, we're in client service, we operate to a service clients and to do marketing for them.
 And what people probably don't realize is any client that we get that lacks marketing sophistication.
 And that's not a knock.
 I'm not, I'm not ridiculing any client, but they just, they haven't been around it.
 They don't know it.
 They've started a business and they know they need marketing, but they don't understand
 it.
 You would probably think from the outside looking at it, that would be the easiest client to work
 with.
 It's the hardest client to work with because they don't know what they don't know and they
 can't, you know, we can only do so much because we don't, we don't own their business.
 We don't run their business.
 We don't know everything in their head.
 And so when they don't know what they don't know, it can make the process incredibly painful
 and long.
 That's where I'm at.
 That's where I'm at.
 How it all happened?
 There you go.
 Yeah.
 There's only so much shop if I can do.
 Right.
 Right.
 Right.
 I mean, yeah.
 There's not an app for that.
 Right.
 Not a plugin that works.
 But I want it.
 But I want it.
 I don't understand.
 Yeah.
 You know, so, but so that's been mine of just.
 So my never ending story is a movie, never ending website.
 Yes.
 Yes.
 Yes.
 No, that is always a never ending website.
 There's always one.
 Well, in two, I think people also don't realize that websites are never finished.
 They're always being updated.
 They always need tweaks.
 It's always, but it's like, oh, I thought you said it was done.
 It's like, it's a really good point and something that I think is a really great point.
 I would love for anyone hearing this.
 It's either working on a website or maybe a business that's listening to us.
 You have to realize that the evolution of your site never stops.
 You have iterations, one dot, oh, let's get a homepage, the core functionality, and
 the contact us done.
 And let's launch one dot, oh, one dot one can come 30 days, 15 days later.
 You don't have to solve every one of the world's problems in one dot, oh, right.
 And so, and that's the way most development thinks, but again, depending on the level
 of knowledge and sophistication of the client, you know, they're, they're thinking, how
 do we get done, and it's never done.
 Yeah.
 So, Alex, any big reflections on 2020?
 I think back to like the, the March, it was like the March that never ended.
 And I know that we started working at home, and it was kind of like, oh, we're only going
 to be gone for like two, two weeks, maybe.
 And I think we were lucky enough to like come back in pretty soon, but we also kicked
 off like four scan source projects at the same time.
 So I was like, woo, like coffee in the morning, I want to work in my PJs and stuff, but
 I'm like, what's that cat?
 Like, yeah, I think you're so tight because every morning, like, trying to work on four
 scans or projects at home and coordinate with everybody here.
 So that was a wild time.
 That was what, that was interesting because it's natural human.
 Mine was the same way, like, okay, you know, I mean owning the agency, like, but when
 we all go home, I don't know, we were working from home and like, what was going on?
 Like, there's this, you know, these so many more outside influences that you normally
 have.
 Yes, we all live in the role when we know that, but we're all kind of being impacted
 by the virus and everything.
 But yet the work was still intense and going and improving, which is, thank God, you know,
 like, it's a good thing.
 We all kept our jobs and I kept the business, but it's a good thing.
 Yeah.
 Yeah, me too.
 And so, but so we benefited in some ways from it, but it was like, okay, this isn't,
 again, not because even owning the business and being invested, like, it wasn't a break,
 you know, like, you naturally go home and it's a little bit like, okay, it's going to
 be not going to work, but like that was really all because it was a wearing sweatshirt,
 PJs, whatever.
 But it was still going and it was also like, while we were adding new projects, we were
 also having to basically completely redo all of our current clients because they all had
 to go online.
 They all had to update their website.
 They all had to figure out ways to do curbside pickup.
 They all had it, you know, so it was multiplied, you know, amplified that whole month, really.
 So, I know.
 It was interesting.
 It was kind of, I wonder what the, I don't know what the, like the memories, hopefully this
 all gets behind us.
 You know, like, there's this part of me that's like a free, like, like, look, being in South
 Carolina in a conservative state, we've been, you know, we were able to get back together
 using precaution that we have a very spaced out workspace here.
 So, we've been lucky in benefits, you know, some people have had a lot worse.
 Of course.
 But I do wonder, like, and, you know, I'm almost afraid, you know, the vaccine is going
 out and all this stuff.
 And it's like, but I'm almost like, I feel like it's just going to be COVID-24.
 You know, like, I like part of me, you know, it's like, it's like afraid to get excited
 about going back to football games in August, because like, you know, I want to be positive
 about it, but it's like, okay, when can you really go, all right, it's in the rear-view
 mirror.
 Right.
 I don't know if we'll get the, I mean, at the rate that they have to give out the vaccine
 and everything, like it's, it's a holding, holding your breath game a little bit, because
 you don't want to get too excited.
 Yeah.
 This is really a damper for the, we're releasing this on a New Year's Day.
 Yeah.
 By the way, yeah, well, but this is, it has to really hampered what I, I mean, I'm just
 we're living, we're working, we're doing like, it's not stopping anything, but it's like,
 it's obviously impacting stuff.
 So it's just like, how is 2021 really going to be, you know, as far as like some of our
 just normal freedoms or expressions of going out, like we're planning a family trip in
 March and it's like, I'm just tired of having to think about it in the back of my head,
 like, oh, really, can we just do normal stuff?
 Yeah.
 You know, I think like marketing wise, it's going to be interesting to see how many people
 are online, what they're able to do, you know, like user experience on their website too,
 like, how are you really going to keep people with everybody's online?
 You know, I think it's going to be interesting to watch businesses.
 I think that's absolutely right, because you know, in Josh and I, and Riley and I talked
 about this, like, that genie isn't going back in the bottle.
 Like the air, like a lot of people that maybe were slow to e-commerce or slow to online,
 you know, behaviors and stuff like that.
 They aren't going back.
 And so it's going to be crucial that the user experience kind of comes along with that.
 Because, and I said this on like, I'm going to post, I did it on LinkedIn a couple of
 days.
 It's like, most websites still suck.
 Yeah.
 Like, it's, or they just aren't good enough for where we are, I feel like, you know,
 it's kind of like, and again, is it, it's never done.
 But I, I think there's just a lot of ways to go with, especially like online shopping
 and stuff.
 And like we're a Shopify partner.
 We build a lot of Shopify websites and it's great for what it is.
 But we haven't quite found as I think just a overall development universe, like the perfect
 online shopping experience that brings in like AR and VR and like, like, yeah, you can
 kind of see what that dress will look like on you or that pair of shoes or whatever.
 It's kind of getting there.
 But I feel like there's going to be a lot of innovation as far as that goes this is the
 next year or two.
 I love on Amazon.
 I can like see what this little vase will look like in my living room.
 And you just like, you know, can do that.
 Yeah.
 But also love to like, how Instagram, like the shopping and just being able to literally
 just not have to leave, you know, it's just like, pink, pink, but then also my, I was just
 going to say my poor card.
 I have a whole five.
 Yes.
 Please stop.
 Please get her off Instagram because she is just buying everything.
 My ads are too easy because I just save all the stuff I want.
 They're like, oh, well, we know she'll like this.
 Yeah.
 I'm an easy target.
 You're raising your hand and then I know how this works, which is the side part.
 I'm still giving it.
 Yeah.
 Yeah.
 It's crazy.
 Any anything for 2021, like on your radar, I'm not you guys, both are kind of looking at
 trends and doing things like that.
 But I guess you keep being in the marketing vein or anything that's caught your eye.
 I think it's interesting to see and we've done this already, like starting out, you know,
 how direct male pieces are playing and how things that people can actually touch are
 really playing into it because people can't go out and shop as much anymore.
 You know, we've said that, but how can we still get product to people and make a difference?
 And I think it's going to be more of like the touch and the feel and like, you know,
 we're sitting out.
 We're working with a lot of fabric people right now is kind of what I'm thinking and it's
 how can we get samples in their hand versus them coming in for like conferences and that
 sort of thing.
 So just trying to find different ways of doing things that are still cool and innovative
 and people want to be a part of.
 Yeah.
 That's cool.
 Yeah.
 I think it's just expanding, like, I feel like I have to like release my mind and it kind
 of expand on like you said direct male pieces, like you think it's this one thing, but it's
 just kind of like, let me just relax for a second and let me think what else could this
 be.
 So definitely that for sure.
 And I think it's going to be key to keep pushing clients and like, you know, as we're
 kind of stewards of marketing innovation and like people telling them,
 recognizing that again, things have changed and like again, even what no matter what
 happens, you know, people are not going to be going to conferences in March.
 I think you know, like for the most part, you know, like, I'm not wishing that to happen.
 It's just reality.
 And probably not, you know, this year for the most part.
 So thus, you know, how do you think about how you interact with them and how you create
 those personal touches?
 I think it's going to be important.
 So on that end, I mean, you're both in account service.
 So, you know, we kind of reveal behind the curtain here with the agency like, and I mean,
 the whole agency is like, you know, they, you know, I joke sometimes like, well, we have
 account managers and creatives, but like, you know, we're serving clients.
 We have business because of clients.
 So the whole agency survives on client service.
 But what's kind of been your perspective of the job and how you feel about it?
 I like being able to be upfront and honest because for me, what comes up comes out.
 And so I like that of you, I mean, yeah, you do have to have those hard conversations,
 but I, to a degree, enjoy those just because you're dealing with real issues, but you're
 also like speaking of the truth as long as it's the truth, and, you know, so I, I enjoy
 that.
 And I like to be organized.
 So this is, as long as you're organized and your follow up game is good, like, you
 know, so those are, you know, things I enjoy about it.
 Yeah.
 No, I definitely feel the same way.
 I'm an organized person, but I like being the middle man in a way.
 I think like, I mean, being here in the beginning to like a war, a lot of hats.
 So I liked being creative and having like strategic ideas that are also kind of creative and
 getting in a room with like the creative team and kind of being like, here's what they
 want to do.
 Here's some options that I'm seeing other people do.
 You know, and it's not so much just, here's my AE hat and I have to write emails all day.
 It's kind of nice to work with a team that's small enough to have opinions that aren't
 just strategy, strategy, strategy.
 You guys both, I mean, in client service, you're kind of the, I call it the orchestrator
 of the business, like in a lot of ways.
 I mean, you either, I think you either embrace that or you shy away from it and the best
 account managers kind of embrace it because at the end of the day, you, you aren't, it
 doesn't, when you, I think when you're the orchestrator, it doesn't mean you're playing
 the best violin or the best singer or the best insert thing here, but you're kind of
 making it all go.
 I mean, is it something you guys embrace?
 I think so.
 I like it.
 I like it.
 This is going to sound so cheesy.
 I like challenges.
 I like playing up to people's like strengths and stuff and finding like the perfect thing.
 Yeah.
 Whoever, you know, like that, I feel like successful, you know, when I do that or like
 I like the challenge and I like having it all work out at the end or, you know, seeing
 something on paper that we've written out, like, hey, here's, you know, the landing
 page of the client once and we create the brief and the, the creative request and everything
 goes through and then you see it when it's done, like, I like that because I know I had
 a hand in each piece.
 And I feel like you get to know like our team really well and you're like, that would
 be a great project for blank and they would really excel at doing this because, you know,
 so I think that's fun too of being able to, you get to know your team really well and
 their strengths and then you're able to, like you said, kind of combine all of that and
 get some shit done.
 What's the hardest part of the job?
 For me, delegating sometimes because I get like excited about like, I'm a weird and
 between of like creative and strategy.
 So it's me sitting there writing just strategy that I'm supposed to be doing, but being
 like, but what if we did this, you know, so it's kind of like I have to sometimes keep
 my mind just straight on one thing or else I get ADD and go everywhere, but delegating,
 I guess.
 Mine is the turn off, like not responding to that 930 email or that, like that's my struggle
 is, or I'll wake up in the middle of the night and I'm like, shit, I'm up.
 I could hammer out some emails right now and I'm like, no, Caitlin, it's, it's happened
 last night, 330, like lay back down, go to bed because you're going to be like tired
 and you know what I mean?
 So mine is definitely the turn off.
 I've seen that meme that's like the waitress that wakes up in the middle of the night.
 She's like, I forgot to bring just a table of 30s to do it.
 Like that.
 Yes, yes, I didn't send that email.
 Yeah, no, or I could just, man, can you imagine how much stuff I get done if I just
 hampted an hour of emails in the middle of the night, like, but what, like, you know,
 so for me, it's finding the work life balance and that shut off of.
 I have, I had to like, I used to like keep a pen and paper next to the bed because I
 wake up, I do the same thing.
 It's, I mean, I came up through account service in my original days and have the same
 mentality and it's hard to shut it off.
 And it's hard to, and I do feel like my best ideas are coming the middle of the night
 or in the shower.
 I don't know what that is.
 But, you know, like, it's like, do your only time where you're not like, yeah, we need
 an expo marker and we're waiting for you.
 But yeah, but it's hard to, it's hard to shut it off.
 And, you know, I remember, you know, and even now, like, I don't, not being in the
 throws of every single project, it's not as much as you guys, but I'll get those emails
 and like, everybody has a smartphone now and like, so it's like, you know, unless you've
 just put it away, but it put on silent or whatever, it's hard, really hard for me to kind
 of like, not, you know, but I also don't, you don't want to set that exp.
 It's like, you, there's this fine line of, look, and I think we're very available to
 our clients.
 You know, like, I think I've, I've beat you guys up well, I guess about it, but you're
 also naturally that way.
 Let's be honest.
 I don't want to, I'm not taking credit.
 You guys do great at it.
 It's, I think ingrained in, in our agency to be available and to provide great customer
 service.
 But at the same time, we're all out to have lives and it's like when, you know, and maybe
 in someone would say, well, it should never shut off, you know, like, but, no, it has
 to.
 It has to.
 You have to woo software.
 Like, I get home and take my watch off because I'll set my phone down, but I don't
 want to, like, the emails, like, yeah, at 730, I'm like, we're done.
 The phone's on silent, like, any, it's going to happen.
 And I try to not ping you guys too much.
 I do it to Riley, but, you know, but I don't know what it is, or maybe I'm in the night,
 but I'm, you know, but I usually go on Slack, which I think most people have silenced
 at a certain time, which I find with.
 I'm happy that that's that way.
 But like, it's more like documenting the thought that expect us to be answered in that
 moment.
 Oh, yeah.
 But we've all, I think, been trained of, okay, Ryan, respond, respond, respond.
 We got to respond.
 We got to respond.
 Right.
 It's all I saw.
 If you don't get slack, and then you can, you know, like, I don't text you, I'm like,
 if I send you a text, you know, like, I needed that, you know, but I don't think I play
 that part.
 Like, it's too hard.
 No.
 No.
 No.
 No.
 I think we're all like, yeah.
 Who's in the room producing?
 You know, throwing things at me.
 Yeah.
 But, uh, what, if someone, so someone's listening and like, they're trying to get into the
 ad agency business, or they're considering a chain to the ad agency, what, like, from
 with you guys role, would you tell people is like, you know, what would be the point
 of advice in consideration of this kind of role, like anything that comes to mind.
 Flexibility, flexibility, flexibility, multi-tasking, multi-tasking, multi-tasking,
 multi-tasking.
 Collaborate.
 That was.
 And then also, I think, not that you can't have feelings, but don't get your feet, like,
 you know what I mean?
 Because like, you said you like to be super creative, but when someone comes in and
 is like, that idea sucks, and you're like, all right, well, literally, I just spent
 30 minutes thinking about it and, you know, whatever.
 So, but I think it's that of like, put your big, real pants on and make it happen.
 Make it happen.
 Make it happen.
 Yeah.
 And as long as in the end, it turns out great for the client and the client's happy, who
 gives a shit whose idea it was.
 You want to meet like, really?
 Like, it got done.
 It's done.
 Like, you know?
 Yeah.
 Kind of have to be a bull in a way.
 Yes.
 Yeah.
 Yeah.
 Yeah.
 Yeah.
 Well, whenever they get it to me, so you kind of have to be the bad guy sometimes, and
 you have to be okay with that.
 I mean, we're all friends here.
 I don't want to make it sound like we're like the bullies of the group for any of them.
 But like, it's, it's got you have to be able to go up to somebody and be like, Hey, I
 need this.
 And this was the timeline.
 Like, can we make it happen or not?
 Because I got to tell the client if it's not going to happen.
 Yeah.
 Yeah.
 Yeah.
 It would never get done if left to the creatives.
 And not because they don't want it to be done or whatever, but it's just not in their
 DNA.
 And most of the time to kind of have that, because it can always be better.
 I was just going to say they're perfectionists.
 They want it to be better.
 The idea can be better.
 Yes.
 Yes.
 And like, you know, like, my, am I saying this like, done is better than better.
 Right.
 Right.
 You can always be, you know, like, it's never perfect.
 Perfect.
 Yeah.
 But it's like, you have to kind of evaluate it.
 Did we hit the strategy?
 Is it doing, is it moving the needle or is best as we think you can for the objective?
 And then kind of roll with it.
 But yeah.
 I don't know.
 It's always an evolution.
 Mm-hmm.
 And nothing's ever done.
 No.
 No.
 And like, and that's the crazy thing.
 We talked about websites, but a lot of what we do with social media management.
 Get that post out and let's make a better one tomorrow.
 Yeah.
 You know, like, we're going to post four more times this week.
 Right.
 Like, it doesn't mean, you know, put something out that you don't feel good about or
 you're not like proud of.
 But they don't all have to be home runs.
 Yeah.
 Or they don't, they're just not all going to be.
 Right.
 And we don't know.
 Sometimes you don't know what's a home run when you think about some of the things that
 have been successful for some of our clients.
 Yeah.
 Like, yeah, sometimes we know it.
 We're like, yeah, we gotta get that out there.
 That's gonna be good.
 Yeah.
 Sometimes you don't.
 They're like, okay.
 That did better than I thought I would.
 Yeah.
 Like, what was the one video we put not to bring Josh back into when he's not, not to talk
 about Josh when he's not here, but when like radical we posted the video, I think of
 him doing a mic test.
 Yeah.
 And it is our most engaged piece of.
 Yeah.
 That's to this day.
 I think it's just day it might.
 It's like, because people just shared it and thought it was funny and stuff.
 So it's like, I think that's also another thing that I think our team does really well is
 kind of getting off the beaten path.
 Like, not everything has to have a message with it.
 Yeah.
 You know, not everything has to be like, come by for this burger or something.
 It can be a burger video that's just funny and people are like, yeah, I like that.
 Yeah.
 You know, that's getting helping with engagement without having people think about it.
 I like it.
 So what's your, um, is we kind of close out?
 What's your take on what's happening with TikTok?
 I know that was not in the show notes, by the way, but it just kind of hit me because it's
 been, you know, coming more and more to my radar is I begrudgingly, you know, I watch
 it, but like, I'm not engaged like as much as I am on other channels only from a client
 perspective because we're run a digital agency.
 So I know the platform, I'm understanding the platform, but my own personal interests
 in the platform.
 But how are you guys, are you guys getting more, are you guys more engaged in?
 Are you ignoring it?
 Other than when, if you have to do it for work, I mean, I'm engaged.
 See, I'm ignoring it.
 I'm in there.
 Yeah.
 I like it.
 I quote, I have a like a small dictionary in my mind that I just pull out weird little,
 you know, like, I'm the, I'm the person that remembers like little lines and stuff and
 like communicate with people that way, sometimes which could be annoying and I get that.
 But I also like going on there, I think I'm geek, I like a little bit of geek about
 it too, just because I know what we could be doing on there.
 So when I see ads that are, that I'm watching all the way through because I don't realize
 it's an ad, it's like a, it's just a different, different source there, you know, it's a different
 way of thinking about how we could be doing ads too because having people watch them
 and not realize that that's what they're watching or feeling like they're being advertised
 too constantly.
 And I think that's just the platform to do it on.
 Yeah.
 There's a formula to it though.
 Like, I'm the more I've been watching, it's like, and it's gotten, you know, obviously,
 it was, you know, it was what, 10, 15 seconds maximum length, and now that's extended or,
 you know, I don't know if it's a minute, minute now.
 And but there's still some weird formula to it all, like I, like, I'll watch 20 videos
 and they'll be about completely different things, but it, but there's a formula to like
 15 of them.
 Yeah.
 Definitely a track and know what you're into or how long you watch a video determines,
 you know, if you start getting more videos like that or whatever.
 So it's very interesting.
 It's definitely a learning curve, I think, for a lot of people too to like realize what
 they're doing as far as advertising on that platform too.
 And I like to that they're doing a lot more, I think there's more opportunity for collaborations
 to there because while the ads not sponsored, so you're not just flipping through it, people
 are like, oh, here's this curling iron or whatever and they're using it and you save
 the video because you like the way that their hair turned out, whatever, like you're going
 to go back to that and see, okay, well, like that curling iron might just buy it, you
 know?
 There's a whole ADD to it all because like, I don't know, like, if it, because even myself
 who is ADD, we'll be watching it and if it doesn't get, like, I watch three videos and
 if it doesn't get to it in two seconds, like I'm gone.
 And like, so it's creating even more of that kind of intention, but all the videos that
 do well are like getting right at it.
 They're, you know, like even the informational ones, it's like, they've turned what was normally
 have been a five minute instruction video into 20 seconds, you know?
 Yeah.
 I've seen some information ones that have almost made me download the app and get on it,
 like just because I was like, oh, no shit, I had no idea, like let me just learn something.
 How many pieces that I'll watch on TikTok that end up on Instagram pages, you know, because
 they're just taking content from that too and it's really getting spread around, so.
 Have you, so you both admitted that I can admit we've bought from Instagram?
 No, yeah.
 Yes.
 Have you bought anything because of TikTok yet?
 I have not.
 Except cranberry juice.
 You have?
 I bought the cranberry juice.
 Oh.
 Oh.
 Speaking of curling iron, so I asked for one for good.
 Because that's the first thing I thought it was the curling iron, but I haven't tried it
 out yet.
 We'll see.
 I got for Christmas, but I saw a video and they had short hair and I was like, ah, cool.
 I'll try it out.
 We'll see how it goes.
 That was the first thing.
 That was the first thing I bought.
 You need to get started.
 Because that's one thing.
 I know they're wrong.
 I don't, I asked that question more to curiosity, but I know it's driving, I can see where
 it's going.
 I think the ad product's going to get better and some of that integration is going to happen
 and the e-commerce stuff.
 It's all coming.
 But I do think that most of this year, the platform was kind of evolving.
 And I think if you asked most people, it's probably like 20% it bought something from
 them.
 I think that's changing quickly as people get more and more engaged in it and marketers
 like us get better and better at advertising on the platform.
 Yeah.
 I think if it makes sense to sell on TikTok, then you should because it's kind of like
 why not?
 It's free.
 Like it.
 They're spreading it around.
 If you do the for you, it's going to end up on your for you page.
 It's just going to happen.
 And I think there's a lot of beauty bloggers that are making a ton of money on that thing
 right now because all they have to do is show, if they're on YouTube doing it, make it
 a TikTok.
 If you're already making the content, make it a TikTok.
 I think there's a big opportunity for brands there to work with people and collaborate
 to.
 I love it.
 Many final thoughts as we close up, open mic, it's been great having you guys on.
 It's been good.
 Yeah, it was nice.
 I wasn't so bad.
 No.
 I know it was.
 I was.
 I know.
 It's not too bad.
 I appreciate you guys in general and for coming on and we'll make it less than two years
 in between now.
 I know.
 Maybe I'll get a fight back after this.
 Or come on.
 Share a comment.
 Cool.
 Well, we appreciate everyone listening to this episode of the Radcast.
 You know where to find this, theradcast.com.
 You can find me at Ryanoffer on Instagram and we'll have the social channels for the
 ladies up on the produce show.
 If you watch this on YouTube, which you should be because Riley spends a lot of time producing
 the video content for this and it's a lot more engaging, adding context, everything
 that we're talking about.
 So stay tuned for the next episode.
 We'll see you next time.
 Yo, guys.
 What's up, Ryanoffer here.
 Thanks so much for listening.
 Really appreciative.
 Do us a favor.
 If you've been enjoying the radcast, you need to share the word with a friend or anyone
 else.
 We really appreciate it.
 And go leave us a review at Apple or Spotify.
 Do us a solid, tell more people, leave us some reviews, and hey, here's the best news
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 And you want radical or myself involved, you can text me directly at 864, 729-3680.
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 Let's get your business going.
 864, 729-3680.
 We'll see you next time.