Jay Jay, CEO of Ace of Spades PR Agency | How To Get Featured In Forbes, Huffpost & Inc

Welcome to success story the most useful podcasts in the world. I'm your host Scott DeClaire today I'm sitting down with JJ. Jay is the founder and CEO of Ace of Spades agency He helps businesses and personal brands become credible experts in their industry He gets them PR so Forbes huff post business insider. He gets them placed in very notable publications He himself is no stranger to PR. He has over a million Instagram followers. He has over 60 million YouTube views. He has an incredible amount of experience in building a name building a brand He did it for himself. Now he's doing it for others We spoke about we spoke about content. We spoke about how to create content that resonates We spoke about figuring out who you're speaking to on social. We spoke about how to build your own brand How to tell your own story how to find your creative angle We spoke about how to get stories about you Published in these in these articles and these in these mediums and these outlets What do they care about how are they going to interpret your story in a way that's going to get you published so that you can get the exposure you need and then also How do you distribute? How do you build relationships with journalists? How do you even know when it's right to start a PR campaign? We went into all this stuff and he broke it down He's an expert at this it was a really eye-opening conversation on modern PR and how a lot of PR traditional PR Is broken and how JJ does it and how he works with clients He's truly disrupting the PR industry and hopefully you'll get some value out of it Okay, the further ado let's jump right over this is JJ from Ace of Spades agency. You had to sweat, man Because you know, yeah, you had to be people drop off. Yeah, yeah, because people drop off stuff to do that's the same thing Do people go how did you build 57 million views? I'm like three videos a week eight years straight. Yeah, oh I'm like great You Welcome to success story. I'm your host Scott DeClaire and today my guest is JJ the CEO and founder of Ace of Spades He's helped businesses and personal brands become known as credible experts in their industry He's gotten impressed in Forbes Huff post business insider and tons of extremely notable publications He has a whopping 15 years of experience in marketing brand building social media He's also a renowned speaker and he's spoken in over 30 countries starting a YouTube channel Starting off as a magician He grew his channel to over 57 million views with an additional one million followers on Instagram and Facebook He's taking what he's learned through building his own brand. He started Ace of Spades He worked with high-level CEOs entrepreneurs companies To help them achieve massive success and notoriety through social media and PR JJ. Thank you so much for taking a second sitting down Walked me through your origin story. Yeah, man. Well, I'm standing up today It's not sitting because I stand up the success as I call it Scott's like I could stand up. I said dude. I'm a speaker man. I gotta stand up for it and I'm I'm on Today, so listen man, you know, and I appreciate you having me appreciate you You giving me a chance to share a couple of things today Scott with your people and and before we even get into a Scott one thing I'm always big on like it's not it's not about you today It's not about me. It's about just your guests and like if I can just share some moves that have helped me and help some of my clients Like get to the next level with their personal brand and they can implement it then that's success to me That's a win for me today So I just want to I think it's a win for everybody But so and and the reason why the reason why I love your story is because it's so unorthodox So a lot of agency owners they come from this is a gross generalization But let's you know, I've worked with not being jillers. They come from a career working in PR marketing. They start their own agency You go to your YouTube channel. You are doing street magic and you're teaching street magic So that's obviously not a a common a common you know Initial out of university job the people go into that eventually dovetails into PR firm So what's what's your origin story? How did you come to where you're at today? Yeah, man look to 16 years ago I wanted to do two things right stand on stage and tell the world who I was what I do and how I do it I started doing that as a magician. That's right in addition. So like contracts stealing people's watches bringing people's minds You know, and that took me to the ability to travel to all these countries and share my story, right now today 34 countries in 57 million views later You know my job now and what I do is but people people is everything for me How I've been out we connect with people and throughout that time the one thing that I really understood was it wasn't the best Magician it wasn't a guy with the coolest tricks or the cool test W Australian accent. It was the guy who actually was leveraging the media and having the most attention Who was the one that got chosen and constantly got chosen for? geeks and shows and Throughout that time I had the transition from magician to online YouTube to speaking TV host and Then now today running a PR agency But throughout that time that message in my mind of like how am I promoting myself today? How am I getting the media today? How many people are seeing me and talking about me was like constantly just like on top of my mind? So you you even though you're building a following you still saw more leverage from traditional media than just building out an incredible social media following in terms of booking work Doing whatever you it is you wanted to do and that's what prompted you down this rabbit hole of understanding PR Understanding how to leverage it understanding how to do it properly, but also from a human Perspective and personal perspective. Yeah. Yeah, yeah people up on the part they're buying you right and and you know like they want They want to get to know the man the man behind the brand one of Jeff Bezos's highest search terms is like What does he eat in a day? Why do I care? Right? But because people want to know what the richest man in the world eats like why there's such a funny thing Shouldn't we care about like what the latest Amazon stock is? No, right? We want to know what the richest man in the world or what who says the reason richest man in the world like what is he doing every day? What's this day of the day? What is he reading? What is he doing because we want to understand that because we can relate to people We can't relate to a water ball, you know, right? So Throughout the journey of always being in front of people's goal It's always like okay, like how am I connecting with more people? How more people getting to know me, right? And how do I do that through the best way possible me right my personal brand telling my story right and leveraging that on these big and media outlets? But you also I'm assuming when you built out your brand as a magician you are Extremely aware of people and how they react right how to communicate in certain ways because that is literally I was even Watching some of your videos in half of what a magician has a focus on is managing the crowd right and that's what PR is at a macro level And I just thought it was a very interesting point so yeah, yeah, so even even the so let's even talk about like the entrepreneurial step So you understand there's a you know, there's a need for proper PR you feel like you have a you've built out a strong following You understand that even though you don't come up from a traditional marketing background per se you're able to do this effectively How do you translate that into Ace of spades in your agency? What's the first step of you building that business that it looked like well first step was leveraging what I had was Result right and showcase sort of like that I've done it and I think Scott as you know There's all of this and people who are listening. I'm using my hand as like all talk Yeah, a little puppet. Yeah, I'm this I'm this I'm this like we need to see it You know, I did a story on my Instagram today about the reason I shop every day on my stories is not because of my ego On my face because I'm not people to see like that. I'm always here Then I know they know what I'm doing that that I'm active that I'm on top of it, right? And if you're the industry that I mean, which is my face selling you promotion telling the world, right? I want to be a I want to be able to Not just be talking to be showing you what I'm doing and what's working right now, you know So one thing I did when I started was like I need to be able to leverage what I've learned for last 15 years working with The biggest PR agencies myself working with a billion dollar company like MTV Working as a magician in working global like global because I don't think I'm myself as American I think of or Australian right it's my accent. I think like the world, right? What are people connect with what's working on a global level and then I'm like How do I leverage that and then incorporate that into the people that I want to work with today and the crazy thing is that We all need a personal brand today like every more I remember two years ago when people like add a need social media Remember you have with those conversations. That's not for me. Yeah, and now it's like I Need it. I need to do something people are annoyed, you know But you you you were you're ahead of the curb right like you were already you're ahead of the curb like you were building out YouTube When not everybody had a Well, not it's still not everybody has a YouTube account and and is focused on creating content all the time But still you were early on. I was 2009. Yeah, when I and the reason I did it is a mental came to me It says would you ever think about using magic to leverage your Brand to get more gigs. I'm like, of course I know that's whatever you magician wants to be booked in Vegas Then I actually leverage that and actually created a huge following in a tribe and I didn't understand about digital marketing or poppy writing or SEO or landing pages at the time And then I started to teach people something teaching I imagine you're showing them the result and then building that following but leveraging that in And to trouble around the world and speak to corporations and you know, just just do whatever I want really and and I think it's important to note that When you introduce yourself as as as a space and it's a PR agency well, you're like well There's you know, there's a lot of PR agencies. Well, yes, but not a lot of PR agencies have 57 million views on YouTube Not a lot of PR agencies are verified on Instagram with a million followers So there is a there's a notable difference in the way that you Present yourself, which I'm assuming that's how all great entrepreneurs who want to monetize their knowledge do they pass on what they've done for themselves onto businesses So what's a traditional PR agency? Why is it not hitting the mark? Why are you different? Listen, I'm some people gonna be like listen going like dude. I'll probably someone's listening this going I'm gonna get out of my PR agency after this phone call after listening to you right now listen He's the problem. That's what I want. I want to shake shit up because Yeah, yeah, I was gonna say companies don't know how to market they don't know how to run PR the companies don't have a million followers on Instagram But they have budgets 10x yours. So what's going on? Like that's that's what I want to figure out well Well, and I appreciate you mentioned what you said before about like I came to the market with what at least I can show everything in one go Like you I can't lie about 10 years of videos, right? You just can't like it's you can see my unless I had some kind of face changing app You can see that's only now. That's only now exactly So you can see that I've been in the game I put the runs on the board right and there's nothing even better for me when someone says to me You know what I was on the fence of working with you then I did a Google search of you one night and it completely changed because I saw I'm like that really means a lot that means that people are Googling you and wanting to know if they can trust you Right because that's one of the biggest things that we could talk about that later But the to your question. Here's the problem with PR agencies This is sort of like the taxi to the Uber model kind of thing like this is what's been happening forever And I'm going to come in as the Uber strap the new thing PR agencies. You're paying to hope You pay money and they pitch you and there's no guarantee Most of it. We're going to pitch you and you know what we'll get some impressions Well, man, that's like me and you going you know what I'm going to take us to Disneyland It's going to be it's going to be $10,000 We're going are we going? Not sure maybe Maybe why am I paying for maybe I want to pay to know that we're going to get there on the right and And I feel like PR agencies the model that's been it's like we're just going to pitch you and hopefully one bites The one thing that I want to do differently was tap into all my contacts from when I was working with them or When I had them part of my team on bigger levels when I was a TV presenter, right? I was like how do I guarantee this? Because that's a strong word and we want guarantees now people aren't people are tired like maybes So I came in with two strategies one result that I've done it for myself and my and just so everyone's listening I focused more so on personal brands Companies I do help but I like personal brands reason why is because personal brands. It's them It's their story you're speaking to their heart and their soul Corporations you got to go through the ladder of decision-makers. We can't say this this will be bad Scott, I can say to you hey man shoot this video, you know, and you're like cool. I shoot it great Yeah, there's no I don't have to go through a committee Maybe a committee of your fears, but that's a different crata committee, right? So I want I wanted to come to people and say listen what you've been doing for the last so long Guess what I'm going to scrap all of that and now I can guarantee placement for you They're like well, how is that possible? I've paid a PR agency 50 grand and they have it well Guess what there's a new guy coming in game. There's a new wave and I'm going to guarantee placement because of the relationships So now what we can do is we can focus on the best thing It's messaging and articulating you We can really pinpoint you then we can go to the big boys like Forbes Good morning America, you know Any big podcast and say look we've got something powerful then then you will slip in perfectly and And and I feel like most PR agencies not all but most pure agencies are like Holding on to this last hope that people still don't know. There's another way It's sort of like the same thing the taxi model remember when taxi who became in and taxes are like We all never lose we're too big and then And I and I feel like the way I'm doing it is I'm coming in with more guarantee and I hit different angle Scott I hit Not everybody's meant to get in Forbes man Maybe you have to go more of a podcast angle. Maybe you're better just to articulate your social media messaging and you'll hit you'll hit the goal there So isn't just one way and and it's also we guarantee it and Also, you mentioned one thing that I thought was interesting So I've worked with PR agencies. I have worked with companies and over to PR agencies And it's the process that you just described which has always been my biggest issue with PR It's like you're gonna you're gonna pay a retainer and if we get a placement We do but you know don't expect any for six months and by then you're like 30 to 50k in the hole already and you and that's a very And these are the PR agencies that are working with some of the largest exactly people in the world I just want to take a second and thank the sponsor of today's episode gusto Gusto is the easy online payroll and benefit solution set up for small businesses So really gusto is payroll benefits onboarding HR all in one place and it helps you accomplish all of that But keep in mind it is built for the business owner It is a people first platform. 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Let's get back to the show And And I'm can I can I can I spits and can I reveal something you do I'm not gonna say names Guess who they sometimes call on the five-month-in me they're like Jay We need a win what you got for me and I'm telling you this straight because they know the industries check like they know that there's Someone's gonna get in a different way and sometimes I'm a bit of a lifesaver for some of these marketing appearances when they know they need to guarantee when because what's currently doing Just isn't there and they know that they either come by that new Ferrari if that retainer doesn't come through So, you know joke to decide, but that's the truth man. Yeah, I know it I've seen it before and there's no guarantee and it just seems like a lazy You know, I just thinking through all the companies that I've seen pitch and the and the fact that they have no social presence And they have no PR themselves and they have no website yet. They're saying that they're gonna figure all this stuff out for you Which is it's an interesting concept doesn't really work in a lot of businesses But for some reason seems to be an industry that has sort of escaped And it's a rational thought that maybe for the new entrepreneurs maybe for the new wave of all With the way and I'm not a I'm not a customer psychology like buy I don't understand how the customer psychology unbiased but for me I want to see result and I don't I want more of a hope Payment schedule. I want like I'm doing this. I want this right and I want it and I want to feel like I'm working with the right person And I think you know and I know now Scott It isn't just one agency anymore. Isn't just one restaurant you can choose from it isn't just one place you can work from I've got choice now. Let me let me hold my money Let me let me see before I jump in for the deep exactly and people and the thing is another thing is that people will pay People will pay a lot if they if you can deliver excellence if you can deliver the best possible product People will pay but now they have that option and you mentioned something else You're selective about who you work with and and I want to dive into Why you work with personal brands because that's a whole other concept that people really haven't bought into yet The personal brand the celebrity CEO that so let's talk about that. Let's talk about personal brand Why is it important why should an entrepreneur starting a company care about PR for themselves versus their business and and walk me through that and what you've experienced Okay, cool. Let me ask you a question name. What do you think of why does Gordon Ramsey and Jamie Oliver Makes so much money as a chef, but the guy at the local steakhouse awesome guy is making 80 grand a year when Gordon and Jamie are making 80 million a year. Why It's them. It's them. It's the celebrity brand factor It's they've been put a lot of marketing a lot of promotion into and they're built up now. They're the best chef No, are they a great chef? Absolutely. Are they the best looking guys? No Gordon Ramsey is definitely got a face For the kitchen, you know, he even says that are they are they the best spoken? No It's because they've figured out or a team is figuring out hey, how do we market this person? How do we take Gordon? How do we take Jamie Oliver? Right and amplify their message amplify them as the celebrity or the leading expert in their space And guess what they get all the choices Gordon Ramsey has restaurants around the world right because he's that fate He's he's the guy he's got influence and I think if people can understand it's okay To get some celebrity aspects to your brand without having to be the JJ or the Gordon Ramsey You don't have to go to that level right, but you can do it in your own space to at least be seen with more star power So that you get chosen over the next coach Over the next podcaster over the next guy selling real estate did I mean Miami? There's you know many realtors are in everyone's real Unlimited unlimited realtors everybody it the population of my amulet But the point is why these people getting chosen and not and I think everybody listening one because one thing I had to do is be okay With you go to take a rigo out of it and realize it's not the best. It's not the best website the product man It's sometimes it's the person it's constantly be seen the values promoting, you know, yeah And it's the human component right absolutely. Yeah, they connect yeah Well, you know the big thing that I do with the people I work with is listen we can get their attention Right, but how do we make them how do we keep their attention and how do we make them keep coming back It's like we don't want to give you the new plastic surgery look on your face with no personality Because you ain't picking up anyone at the bar right you look good Yeah, but where's the soul where's your personality? So back to your question. Yeah, it's really important that personal branding as people are really like gravitating towards people who can they can connect with And they want to know more than you're a great good-looking person with a great product What is he done his personal life? Is he married? Is your kids? How can I connect with this guy? Oh, he has a heart Now I want to invest with you. No, I like him And and he's and I know I can go on about this for ages scope, but and anyone listening ask yourself this When you make a decision on something you bought in the past maybe on my course or first you work with ask him Ask yourself. Why did you make the decision and then bet you you didn't go? Well, it was a really cool product You're probably like I like the post that he said why he's a family man. I'm a family man You know, or he went to you know, he went to the Maldives and I you know it could be something small But it personal brand has a really great way to connect with people and that's what we want to be a part of we want to be we want to be connected And and just to take it a step further If you are classically sales trained you will know the people buy with emotion and justify with logic, right? And how do you buy with that? How do you buy it? How do you build that emotion? It's with trust That's where the the face and the person and the founder and we're talking about real estate and we're talking about People that sell a variety of services online, but even you know you look at Elon Musk you look at You know Richard Branson you look at Gary Vaynerchuk you look at the people that are enormous business names, but they're You know you look at their followings even you know you can say well Tesla is recognizable But Elon Musk is the person people listen to if Elon Musk didn't exist You think people would care you think you think Tesla's stock price would be so volatile If they just followed the Tesla Twitter account and Elon never said anything no Because it's a it's a person that you're now Aligned with yeah But I think Scott is also to bring it back though for people to understand is and and this comes up a lot with new clients They go well, I'm not I don't want to be Richard. I don't want to be one. I don't want to be And I get it I listen I totally understand But what you need to do is be okay of understanding how you make decisions So make it relatable to the person go oh, I made that because of this great how do we use that same technique same principles and incorporate that into you as a coach You and I see so smaller level smaller level So bring just go up a go up a couple of notches man get into the press get get some authority about you Get some more testimonials social like third-body validation maybe get a Forbes right like if you had to make a decision for a house And there were two real letters on the table one guy was in Forbes one guy was it both looked the same both cool both like well put together You're probably choosing the you're more likely to choose to listen to the guy in Forbes Because our Forbes is for Forbes you must be someone Yeah, it's credibility here's credibility that yeah, yeah So what's this so let's let's talk about the strategy to get that story told right When you're when you're building so I guess it would start from Your story is an individual because that's what's gonna drive everything right? That's gonna drive the socials gonna drive the the BR. What's your what's your hook? We play this game I play games with my clients all the time when they come if you have come to my office got We do this game. We print out a big photo of your face when you come in the office Um because I used to be an entertainer right so I'm very immersed when I coach when I coach and teach so if anyone If you ever work with me anyone want to take a big photo of your face like print it and put it on the wall You come in you're gonna see it like okay, great. Who is this guy? First thing we need to do is break down like who you are what you do, but what's your hook? Right, so why if I was the owner if I was Oprah you play I'll ask you just Scott if I was Oprah for Ellen And I'm like no actually let me change it up for you if I was Richard Branson and I said listen Scott 30 seconds I've got a checkbook ready to write but you got to woo me you got to pitch me you got to what's your what's yourself That's gonna be your hook. What's the hook? That's a good one. What's your what's your personal elevator pitch? Yeah Exactly, but a lot of people don't understand that they're not just a business coach They're not just a realtor like what is the point of difference that makes you Different for the meteorites to choose you over everybody else And this is where you know my expertise comes in, but like that's one thing. It's really important You have to think of like well, okay You know that you're amazing your clients know that you're amazing, but the world doesn't And they just think you're another coach. They just think you're another guy So the first thing we try and do is like really quickly. How do we find that hook for you? Right like how do we like What why would Forbes choose you? What are they gonna do? What's your move here? You know and take some time So the first thing would be like figuring out that unique point of difference just something So that if there are 10 business coaches in front for Forbes to choose They're immediately going like that without without even knowing in your credentials Like that that pitch. Oh, that's interesting So for me when I was in magician, I'm not a magician. I thought I was cool enough being a magician. No The man from down under Steels watches from around the world. That's like one little week right or the 57 million viewed man Steels you know when I was doing stuff more for women like steals your heart and steals your watch. Oh, okay. I'll click on that So yeah, yeah coming up with the hook is is is a good start and move for for people just like okay How can I be a bit different here? And then as you as you build out that hook Can you give me an example of can you give me an so can you give me an example of Why Forbes would run a story based on a on a hook is that what they'd look for first is that the main thing that Drives their first decision like what's the what's the content? What's the what's the meat because everybody you know a real estate agent does so many things They sell homes whatever they show homes. They list homes. They sell homes. They all do the same thing, right? So what's the what do you what do you actually what's the content rather? I just want to take a second and think the sponsor of today's episode ladder now ladder Allows you to get access to life insurance, but I want to just give some context So I was excited when ladder reached out. 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Let's get back to the show You Right right so okay, so now we don't just want to be impressed with the story We want to be led with education and shows that wow like this person really knows so Forbes especially you Remember the publication is business Forbes isn't a Ted It isn't like the 517 minutes of like your unique spin on the world Forbes is like you business Education so to get into Forbes they are looking for a unique spin on how maybe you sell homes Right and it could be something simple how Gillian Garcia Right closes every deal in my army By the one postcard she sends out Okay, and here are three tips on how you can engage with your people more that's like an example, right? Yeah I know it's a lot for people to take on right now, but like every new media outlet They're always looking for an angle But they're looking for something that they can think about what are they once got they want attention They struggle with the same thing we need So the way to to wait it gives everyone some moves is like What do you do? Why what makes you a little bit different right and then how do you also put that out to the market and you do that through your personal brand to Like through social media as well because that's free and and then all these all these efforts they start to compound But even if you're just getting into the game Obviously, you know you can you can you can leverage a PR agency, but let's assume Even a PR agency isn't where you're at right now. It's maybe too expensive and you're just trying to yeah, don't I tell people listen, you don't need me, right? So how do you build those relationships? How the hell do I I don't know Forbes? What am I gonna do? You know go to their contact us like right that's not something that's doable for many Okay, he's a he's a great move, right? I don't tell you I'm all that moves, right? I want you to go to the places where you go every single day usually that could be a coffee shop Maybe a lunch place maybe anywhere you interact with someone else that has no emotional value on you Take your phone out and ask them hey Scott. I want you to be honest with me. What's up man? He doing blah blah? What looking at my work? What does it look like I do? And ask them this question and if it's not super clear, that's your first problem If your messaging is in clear What do you think the world is knowing about you? And I used to do that all the time when I ran around the world. I was traveling on hey, what do I look like I do? And when there was a when there wasn't a clear point of like, oh you do this They don't have to say you exactly do this like you look like this this Then I have to fix it and as you know, Scott and sale of confused mind is an assault line, right? It's the same thing with life if they're looking at you and like like I think he that's a problem And the way to fix that is get really pinpoint clear. I'm like Exactly what you do And exactly how you do it and who you help and that will help you And that's free doesn't cost you anything And then after after you figure that piece at the last piece of the of the the press The press I guess distribution would be actually reaching out to the journalist. I'll give you a reading Yeah, yeah, I love these moves by the way. These are very good. So this is all great This is all very tactical stuff because I think the people just they look at PR is like uh I don't even know where to start and what I want to help people do with this conversation Is get their first piece and even any publication so that they can get their name out there close more deals build a business build a brand and then Sort of take take that and run with it Yeah, yeah, and let me tell everybody why the power presses important it gives you authority and it gives you credibility And it gives you attention and that's the party validation right and we do this a lot with clients It's like once they put a press article on there on their featured press article on their social media or email people go Oh wow congratulations, and that they elevated value just went up like their stock price and himself went up So here's a great move how you get it for free doesn't cost you any money just takes a little bit of time Google your city right and go local publications Okay, so let's say local publications Depending on what city you're in assuming that if you're probably in a major one go to the second page of Google Right because you're going to get the NBC ABC all the big ones the second page of Google they're going to have the local ones What do they need help with they need attention? They have journalists they have editors. They're going to be easy to get a hold of so this is what you do Right, this is really easy. I do this. I've been doing this for years and I still do it today We go to these people we find there are the editors name right and usually they're accessible because what do they need? They need to be the first one to scoop the story Yeah, so you go they want to be accessible Then they they need if they don't they're in trouble They're not getting that they're not getting to see your own experience right So they are either going to be accessible or linked in their Instagram If you can't get them get their head journalist the way to find the head journalist Look at the website look at who's writing the most it will say like buy this They're a journalist in their eyes. They're an artist. They want to be appreciated for their hard work of what they write So you reach out to them first thing you want to do this is like old school relationship want to want reach out to them and say hey Scott Love the article on this. Be honest. Don't lie Love the article on blah blah blah. Hey addic curiosity. How do you go about writing new stories? Hey addic curiosity Who in your department writes unique stories Two things is going to happen one thing and you're like oh wow right oh and by the way in your signature right Do not have please check out my work that don't be needy have like just your best link Just like Jay or your signature, but have your best link because of course if someone gives you a compliment Right they're like who you're inspired they're gonna go they're gonna look at you right They're gonna see your story minutes says hey who writes your best stories Then that was so either oh you can forward it to this person or of course you don't think they want the credit Yeah, you can talk to me. What's going on Then build a relationship from that I do that with all my clients and because remember there are lower tier publication They're gonna probably write about you. They're probably gonna be like oh this is a good idea right Cool look. I don't have anything now Scott, but maybe a month when we're doing this. I'm in a position at here or Now that you have been talking to you right now. There are big moments throughout the year you got Christmas Thanksgiving Right valentine's day beginning of the year of school season So if you can think and make their job easier for them and think of like how could you spend your story For a thing now you're giving them gold on a platter They're like great expert hearing those stuff He likes my work they write about you guess what ladies and gentlemen now you get a free press article You get a relationship with it with an editor and you get free SEO When they back links for free now now you do that with two or three people or you maybe build a relationship with them Scott we have a dating coach that works under like our agency right she's now writing as like the friday, you know the friday Best line of the column whatever she whatever you ever she loves it But I said to her listen. It doesn't matter palia. It doesn't matter about it. She's it's not unfolds I'm like it's not your place to have that yet Let's get 52 weeks of you on a publication. You're building it. You're building your authority You're building your writing you're building your expertise and you take that and you can go to now Maybe not fold is it yet? Yeah, listen. I mean writing on this 15 to two weeks They're like we're interested. You're an expert, you know And that's very fun. Yeah Now okay, Jay so one other one other thing that's in your ecosystem is social so now you figured out Uh, a solo printer how to build and get their first Build the brand get their first press release. How do you translate all that work Into an effective social strategy and I know that's I actually your agency focuses more on the PR side But I'm just asking because I know you've done it. So, so I don't even know Well, he's done it for yourself. We don't we used to do it, but it was too tedious We do it for like big retainer clients because we know that half the problem is time right no one's to sit on that roll day If I can give everybody a move It's not supposed to be overly complicated and I know everybody's like you got to post 17 times a day No, you don't you don't you just have to hit remember social is just another channel It's another tool for people to connect with you and learn about you So here are just three moves that work very well and you guys can implement this content So education right educational driven content so anything that shows you the expert So let's say Scott you're a podcaster right and you do multiple other things, but I know he's a podcast So you can go hey everyone. I'm gonna teach today how to get to start your first podcast with a microphone From best buys for twenty nine dollars That is great content because it's like Okay, I don't need all this like these things that I see in front of you I can just start to know the best buying get a microphone for twenty nine dollars even if it's simple It just shows you that you know you know your stuff So educational driven content is super important with social testimonials You don't need video testimonials just as much anymore. They're powerful You could screen try to text message from a client saying hey, oh my gosh. Thank you so much blah blah blah You use that just edit out her name put that on your social media So an email screenshot from an email or video testimonial and the last one is personal brand So a personal brand show that was uploading a piece of content about yourself and having a caption Or a feeling story now you don't need to like share something that's really really personal But it could be the time when hey, this is the first day when I got married and half scared you were I don't know or you know what when I lost when I when I got screwed over by a business partner like reveal a little bit So people lean in and they're like oh my gosh, this guy's not like He's actually got a story or maybe if he's got like you know the moment when I Stuffed up, you know my first podcast or the moment when I stuffed up a huge guest like yeah, when you reveal people lean in Right, so if you guys follow that kind of three kind of content strategy over the month now you can do that with videos photos Those are like hitting a lot of the parts that you need to be seen as the expert in your space and you know It's a good strategy from that And I guess that that was all incredible One one last I have some rapid fire questions for you to hear but one last question on why everybody has to be You know building a personal brand What what is your Opinion or insight on the future of personal brand celebrity CEO everybody being a media company Where do you see this going? I believe everyone is going to want to know the guy or the girl behind the brand They want to know what they're about. They want to know what they can't roll They want to know what they value. They want to know that you care about them They don't want to they trust is the biggest problem in the marketplace And they want to feel like they can trust you when they trust you they like you and they buy from this Period I love it. All right Rapid fire questions at a rapid fire Let's roll rapid fall you take you take as much you want doesn't matter to me You can you can go quick. You go slow doesn't really mean you understood rapid Rapid is that's true. That's true. It's a good book. Listen you're you're standing up. You're ready to go All right biggest challenge in your career could have been during your agency Current present day or could have been before when you're trying to build out Your own brand. What was it? How'd you overcome it? Yeah One of the first thing that came us for a way is realizing you are not the perfect coach agency for everybody And taking my ego out of it as a man that I think I can close anyone and I'm the best No, they're not for me. Thank you next and and just choosing your battles like go into a situation when you know I'm gonna I'm gonna go 100% I'm gonna get 200% for them because I feel it and I just got instinct So that was the hardest thing letting go of the old one working with the best Good good advice biggest misconception about PR that you've seen in your time working in the industry That I am amazing Scott and people should just know me and write about me and I'm pretty and I should be verified because I'm someone Dude, no You sometimes it you organic and organic isn't the way to make it in line. You go to pay to play You go to pay you you want it you want to go to a fine dining restaurant? You don't get that for free and hope you pay. It's the same thing with your brand And what you mean by that is Yes, there's people that have accomplished a lot of stuff over their career and people write about them But if you want to get that press if you want people to look at you You're getting into publications. You're paying for eyeballs to expedite that process And that's what that's it. And and people are just in tight too many people are entitled and think that they Just because they've done something Interesting that people should give a shit and that's not the way the world works It's too much too much noise and I think that's something that you have to really come to terms with Dude attention is the new currency, you know, yeah, we just try to do no easy. I'm gonna listen to you It's like do I just have your attention at the moment, you know, so which is hard enough It's just hard enough man, you know, so it's like it's it's being okay with going hey I'm not buying my way into this. I'm leveraging to advertise and I'm leveraging this so that I have a chance to be seen One thing that you would tell your 20-year-old self The one thing that I would tell my 20-year-old self is it's okay To let go let go of what you don't know, you know, I in 2020 I lost all my confidence clarity and conviction because I was a speaker, right? You know, and I was you just You have to just be okay with like all right now. I just have to pick up and go again, you know so There were times when I was 20 thinking, you know, you know, it all I got it If we just dispute man, I'm just a student. I mean, I'm just a learning ninja, you know I know Very good um a book or podcast that you'd recommend people go check So again, sorry, I lost question. Oh, oh no, no, it's okay. I was like I've never heard of go ahead before That's it. I said a book or podcast that you'd recommend people go check out on my go ahead. I've never who's that by So you know what like I know people probably heard this one like look I like the tenix rule I like rant stuff, you know, I've read it again recently, you know I know that we all probably and probably people who said richest men about one or less I just think you know with with the way when you read that it makes you believe that you can do more And for me and I'm like it keeps you like thinking bigger like instead of like trying to like I want to hit Miami Dude, I want to hit Singapore You know, it just it opens your mind it gives you the belief and I think we all need belief in ourselves to more belief I agree with that. I agree with that. I think that that's probably the biggest impediment For people to be successful in their career and their entrepreneurial journey, whatever it may be Right, just having like a little bit of like faith in yourself. Actually, I'll tell you one. I'll tell you a story I don't mean right a lot of stories, but one of the people always asked me what was the the one liner that You had on it like you know out of all your guests. What's the one thing that you've heard from somebody Some wisdom that really resonated and the one thing that I always talk about is when I had Anthony Scaremochi On the show and he spoke about how if he and if you don't know Anthony Scaremochi's a hedge fund guy investment, you know venture capital was Donald Trump's Direct communication for like 11 days. Got some notoriety through that But he said if I had to redo everything all over again if I was back in Brooklyn or New York whatever, you know Just like white, you know white t-shirt jeans in debt in a shitty apartment whatever and I had no money to my name no connections Um, I would feel confident in myself being able to do it all over again. Right and that is An exceptional amount of self-confidence But I think that that's what you actually have to have to do anything phenomenal in your life I think that that it takes that because as you know As everybody knows who's built anything you do a lot of shit building stuff It's a lot of a lot negative a lot of a lot of downsides right? You know, what does it say? It's a lot of assets dude to cut the Colonel the Colonel the Colonel Sanders started rocking at a 62 bad We got a few years. Yeah, we all good. Yeah, he did it like he didn't go from zero to chicken He you know, have you read his story like dude, he went no, I actually don't know his story. Yeah, he I think I think that photo of him looking so tight is like finally I made it after After 60 like you know, he's just like this like he's just hanging like yeah, like finally it was chicken that took off Yeah, I didn't know I'll have to read that but I know that he was late in the game that he was old. Yeah, he's older Yeah, when he started but when he was successful rather, but how did you do the hunt? I couldn't agree with him more and I know that confidence thing isn't a very sometimes a loose thing because you know No one wants to hear it. They want to hear hey, what's the next best header to take me to success? Nah, man, it's like yeah dude if you you know if you if you know that if you've done it once You can do it again like let's go, you know, it's like starts from such from here man Yeah What does success mean to you Doing what you want whenever you want however you want to do it. Yeah, I call it winning I'm winning within I love it a win with for me like it's not an external Telling me or what it is like we know that feeling like yeah, I'm on I'm that's it. That's that that's it Like no one's around you know you like You feel that you know Um, and then most importantly Where do people go connect with you social website all that. Yeah. Yeah, so you know hit ace of spades agency.com How it sounds ace of spades agency.com or at jj live Which is the best one because you see all my all my fun personality on there at jj live jay jay Y livi Send me a DM too if you listen to this. I always like to know like who's listening in and who's standing at the end So yeah, I like to know that too. I think I think uh the the metrics usually taper off around the 30 minute mark But you know that's uh that's it's important So I want people to reach out and I want people to to just consume yeah all of your content because I think that Even if you just totally dozed off for the last 45 minutes and you just follow what you've been doing on social right That's a good place to just learn from and start and that's that's my first impression of when when we first Connected so I think that's something to me. Yeah. Yeah That's and you know if I can give everyone everyone you move like you don't need to pay out like just pay me or pay other people Just start doing content. I'm a big believer of like leveraging a bad boy to start like like use it like it's free You can literally put stuff out there if you don't like it delete it And then you'd be surprised like Scott most people are impressed with you if you sharpen do content because in their mind That's if I can't do it. What's the number one biggest fear public speaking If you just get up and start speaking people go oh my gosh, I could never do that you just get brownie points You know just because dude you know much probably credibility You've got from doing a podcast and committing to those success that is being Because it's incredible and and now it's like it's right it is right now. It's just talking to awesome people for you know 45 minutes at the end of my day like how easy is that like who doesn't want to do that but to do it for you Yeah, you had your eyes right you had to sweat man because you know Yeah, you had to be cool people drop off. Yeah, yeah, because people drop off stuff to do that's the same thing Do people go how did you build 57 million views? I'm like three videos a week eight years straight Yeah, oh Like great come back at That's not a that's not a shortcut Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was just that was just click with Gary vantage up. It was so good This kid comes up to me. He's like hey man I'm really trying to sell my shoes And he's like really telling all the things he's doing and Gary looks at him and he's like How long you been doing a fool and the kids like three months? He's like get them out of here man Like I'm like I'm so true Do you know if he did it for 10 years he'd be successful. Yeah Come back at me after five years then we can talk like three months and I'm the worst of that too Like it's not working. I'm the one for like I mean four phone calls. Okay, make 400 then we'll talk. Yeah Yeah, yeah, all right man. That was awesome. That's good. That's all I it's all you got. I have nothing else. I was perfect. I'm out. I'm out