Summary: Brand and Content Marketing Strategist Craig Stern paints a historic story of internships, content and brand strategy, entrepreneurship, and the 1balance of fun and business. Introductions and Updates In-Person Interview – Craig Stern (Content Strategist, Branding Consultant and Entrepreneur) Outro Song – "Be" - Common (2005) Send questions, comments, suggestions or love to podcast@owningyourown.com Episode 019 Nugs of Knowledge What is "Chock"? (1:04) Craig brought beer to the studio (Lagunitas IPA) (4:20) Started as a personal fitness trainer while in college in the Bay Area; worked at 24 Hour Fitness (6:20) Client feedback was the impetus for going private; working for himself. (7:30) "Hella Foggy" (8:50) Some days look amazing but we may not feel up to par, and strenuous days are amazing. (10:30) Was a server part-time but got a marketing internship that allowed him to leave the server job (13:15) The internship was a bit sketchy, so backed away with no back-up plan but took the chance (14:40) Found an ad on Craigslist that someone was looking for a Powerpoint presentation; basically what Craig learned in college. (17:00) The person he built the presentation for needed him to explain things so he brought him with him. (18:10) Are you the guy for the job? (18:40) What am I doing here? (20:15) Craig interacted with his mentor about food and basketball (23:00) SOLO Eyewear - The Story (24:20) SOLO Eyewear gives proceeds to give glasses or help with corrective surgery for those in need. Also made from Bamboo (25:20) Vision To Give (28:15) A guy that hired Craig was at an insurance company but was someone that worked with the NFL on marketing campaigns (30:10) Kickstarter project allowed them to make 30K in 30 days (33:10) No live Pandas were used, you can pay an adult in a Panda onesie (33:30) Emotional response gets people to share (35:00) 20% of the people give you 80% of the referrals (35:15) High quality content! (36:00) You are always better than you know (36:40) How to convince clients to believe in themselves (39:00) If you won an award, what would it be in? (40:00) Brand is about associations (41:20) Build Constellations - Touchpoints being consistent to form a shape or design (42:00) Has a tight team and forming his own consultancy agency. (45:00) Learned a few things from Brian Tracy. (46:40) Seriously Fun (48:00) Day rate - What is that? (50:40) Learning from Audi about branding. (51:20) Value shift - Following dreams is not the end result, it was the means to the end of building relationships (54:00) Finding balance with money and family (55:00) Trust factor is key for building relationships (58:00) Scarcity mentality can be inhibiting at times (58:30) The belief shift led to more referrals; power of belief was apparent (59:10)
