What The Funk?

0:00 We're back on what the funk with my good friend, Nicole Nixon, how you doing, Nicole? I'm good. How are you? I'm good. I'm good. This is fun to do this with you over video since truly you are

0:13 the first person that convinced me to start doing more video and we're a huge supporter when we were working together at W Energy Software of creating content and creating a new brand and getting in

0:27 front of the camera, which is not natural for everybody at first, but I loved it and this was kind of a strange time. It was during COVID and of course salespeople, good salespeople are big

0:41 networkers. They like to get out in front of people. That was completely stripped away. So then what? How do you still find a way to differentiate versus just being on phone calls and emails and

0:52 video calls and you introduced me to video art, which I still use. team still uses and has a lot of fun functionality, especially for a free app. So wanna jump into content and everything that you

1:10 do and how COVID had sort of changed the marketing landscape since that's your area of expertise. But before we get into all that, Nicole Nixon, tell the listeners of what the funk, who are you?

1:26 I am a marketer, but I really like to say that I love helping people tell their story. So I love working with sales teams, of course, marketing, but right now I am working with a partner, I'm

1:44 with Capital Raise Agency and we are helping companies tell their story to get investors and raise capital. So that's really fun 'cause I work with a lot of different brands, some of which are more

1:54 established than others My heart beats for companies and people. that have it all in their head, but maybe it's sort of a blank canvas to the world and kind of helping them put the pieces together

2:07 and tell that story. And that becomes really fun. So I do have experience and oil and gas, like you said, we worked at W together. That's really where I like fell in love with the industry. I

2:21 learned so much. I think that the people in the industry are really like just solid gold. So it was such an interesting time during COVID to work in oil and gas. You kind of got this crash course

2:35 of what it's like to be in that industry and sort of the ups and downs. And then prior to that, I worked in SaaS. So a lot of different things, but I like to move around and shift gears and it

2:45 really teaches me how marketing should change a lot. Sometimes when you go from industry to industry, you need to change tactics based on who you're trying to talk to. Do you think that. your

2:60 experience working in SaaS and other industries before coming into oil and gas, gave you a different perspective on where we were. And I already sort of know the answer, but one of the things that

3:12 you said to me in 2020 that stood out was you're like, Oh my God, like nobody uses video here. You guys don't send like video thank yous to your prospects after meetings. I'm like, Oh. You're

3:24 like, Oh, this is actually very common in other industries So I'm curious what that transition was kind of like. I think people view probably accurately, oil and gas is a little bit more

3:36 traditional, possibly a little bit more buttoned up. And then here you are coming in saying, No, you got to get behind the camera. We got to do video. We got to send like creative,

3:46 differentiating content to people. So tell me a little bit about how your background, working in SAS, and then coming into oil and gas, that gave you a much different perspective on marketing

3:59 Yeah, so with SAS, I was really focused too on who the consumer was, because a lot of it was B to C. So we're talking about who are these people, where do they want to engage with us, or where

4:16 do they even go to get entertained or look at content? And so coming to oil and gas, first of all, a lot of stuff was sort of Greek to me I really had to learn quickly, like business and what's

4:28 upstream versus midstream. But then more than that, looking at what everyone was doing, it felt really kind of stale to me or boring. And then when I started going to oil and gas events and

4:40 meeting people and really learning about the industry, I found it really fascinating. A lot of myths got debunked for me, and I was kind of perplexed, like how come this is the first time I'm

4:51 really hearing about how fascinating and valuable this industry is I was really like. put back by that. And I started really looking at what we were doing as a company and other oil and gas

5:06 companies. And I thought, Oh my gosh, like, this is really boring. It's really dry. And the people that I'm meeting at events are really fun. And people are people. And so I felt like oil and

5:17 gas was totally missing an opportunity to really like engage with the people that are in that industry. Right. So that was the biggest thing for me is like, people are people. Like who are we

5:31 actually talking to? And when we go to these events, I was like, man, like they're fun. They've got a lot of knowledge. They've been in the industry for a long time. They're super integrated in

5:42 the network. They are pretty relaxed, you know, and we're not talking to them like that. We are so buttoned up. Yeah, you can't even understand what some of the content is really saying. And

5:55 then And we're missing a huge opportunity for people who are younger. that are getting out of school, that are getting into first jobs, second jobs. And one of the people on our team, on my team,

6:07 was a girl that was straight out of college. And she came on board, graphic designer, super fun. And she even said, wow, I can't believe, I didn't know this. And so to be able to infuse this

6:22 sort of,

6:24 not just youthfulness, but really talking to people more conversationally and doing things that were fun, I think makes such a big difference, especially for the oil and gas industry where I found

6:39 that most folks in that industry that wanted to engage with that content had such a good sense of humor and no content in oil and gas really had that, except for maybe a couple of folks that played

6:51 in that space. And here's the, I love all that, Here's the thing about marketing. oil and gas. So the term marketing literally in oil and gas means the person at the oil and gas company that

7:08 sells their oil and gas to a purchaser. So the terminology even as a whole in terms of how oil and gas thinks about it, I think of that as sales, right? I don't think that is marketing, right?

7:22 What are you marketing? There's always a buyer. So marketing has never really been from the traditional sense of marketing, the same thing in oil and gas. That's we have a product that we produced,

7:35 and I need to find somebody to sell this to, but you will always have a buyer. And in tech, it's different, right? You're trying to create and cultivate emotion in your brand. You're trying to

7:47 create this human connection, and that's just really foreign and oil and gas because there's always demand for the product. And to me, that's like, it took me a while to do where people were like,

7:60 oh yeah, we have a marketing group. I was like, really? Like to do commercials? Or like, no, it's just like someone who sells our oil to a first purchaser. Like that's not marketing. I think

8:10 a marketing like Mad Men, you know? Like we're going and doing these like really fun pitches wearing suits on Wall Street and trying to get people to think differently.

8:21 And that's not the case in oil and gas. So like that's deeply rooted in terms of like what marketing is, it's not the same as what it's like in the rest of the world. Yeah. And it's shifted a lot.

8:34 It's not. And I think that you really took to digital wildcatters right away. I even remember, I think it was Youssef Chaudhary to announce his podcast, he did a rap for oil money. And it was

8:51 like, it was like a 30 second rap to introduce this thing. And I remember you hitting me up and you're like, Oh my God, I love everything that these digital wildcatters guys are doing. Like they

9:01 just built a freaking wrap to like, announce a podcast. And that to many is like, whoa, these guys are so far out there, but to you, you're like, this is what you do. Like this is real

9:13 marketing. This is content creation. This is how you brand themselves. And I think that digital wildcatters has done an awesome job of injecting that youthfulness and that like, challenge to the

9:26 social norms. And it's part of what they were pushing me for so long to do a podcast. And I was like, about what? And they're like, it just, it doesn't matter. You know what I mean? Like the

9:36 key is it helps you build your persona. It allows you to connect with more people. And it starts to shift from this like buttoned up formal industry that we're in and actually makes people feel more

9:48 comfortable if you go in with a hat on backwards and you talk into a microphone and you get to know people 'cause otherwise we just sort of feel like suits. So they had a mission to challenge this

10:01 and they continued to lean into that and I love it. Talk to me a little bit about when you were first sort of exposed to digital wildcatters. Like what was it about them that you felt like a real

10:13 kinship and connection to as a marketer?

10:19 Yeah, so one of the things like, I remember when I heard that rap intro to that podcast and I was like, this is great because if this podcast, like if someone just laid out what the content was,

10:30 I would be like, I'm never listening to that, right? I listen to stuff like collard. Yeah. You please go out, right? And podcasts that will have like maybe a rap intro and like really like

10:39 playful stuff, right? And so when I heard that, and I started to listen to some of the podcasts there, I was like, this makes all the difference when you infuse that content in a way that is

10:52 conversational, and not just conversational, but makes it. feel not like not intimidating. One of the like gripes that I've always had was the content feels intimidating or condescending like what

11:04 makes you think that like people are going to want to listen to that. You're going to have a very like niche audience, right? And so I just really loved that about them and I remember thinking when

11:16 they're looking at their podcast collection, this is great, right? This is how you make really good content is that you say, you don't think about and this is what oil and gas I think gets wrong

11:27 sometimes and other companies. They think really hard on like, how what's so great about us and what do we want to say versus like just thinking about what kind of content do we want to create? How

11:37 cool would it be to create a podcast about this type of content that make it just like really fun and self-deprecating and our audience will find us, like the people that want to hear that will find

11:47 us and then they're going to be like those loyal like lifetime listeners, which is what brands like you look at some podcasts like Call Her Daddy and like her Alex Cooper's following, right? Oh my

11:58 God. And so you start creating content. Yeah, that's amazing. Like you start creating content that you're like, I'm gonna create this because I think there's a place for it. I think this is a

12:08 message that needs to be said in this way. And we're not gonna try to be something we're not. And our people are gonna find us. And that's what happened with digital wildcatters. Like love 'em or

12:18 hate 'em, you know? And I love what they're doing, but that's what they did And it attracted the audience. And now they have a growing audience, a growing community, rather. It's not even an

12:29 audience, it's a community. Which is even harder to do. A lot of companies are like, they speak to the audience and all that. But to create a community around that brand is really difficult to do.

12:40 Especially one that is so rooted, so loyal. And I think teaches their community like how to market by doing what they're doing. Um, they kind of lead that by example, which I think is really cool.

12:56 Yeah, that, that is, uh, there, there's so much there that I love. And I want to talk about call her daddy for a second. So, uh, for people that don't know, call her daddy was like one of

13:07 the most downloaded podcasts, bar stool sports acquired them. They had kind of a crazy falling out thing. I think they were acquired by Spotify and Alex Cooper has tons of money. Now, and a

13:18 massive following when it came on bar stool, which is more of like a bro site that I've been reading for the last 15 years. It came out of Boston and I always loved it, right? That the

13:29 authenticity is very real within bar stool. They don't, they don't mince words. But when I saw Color Daddy come out, I was like, who's listening to this? You know what I mean? Like this doesn't

13:41 resonate with me at all. Like I'm not the target demographic, but then I started following it on

13:49 Instagram. the 19 year old girls that live in my neighborhood, right? And 30 year old women and 13 year old girls. And they're the ones that are liking it. They're the ones that are resharing

13:58 stuff. I'm like, oh, right. Like just because I don't get it, that doesn't mean that everyone doesn't get it. And clearly they're on authenticity, really played well with certain demographics

14:11 and made it one of the most downloaded podcasts by the fact that it came from like a bro site, which is really fascinating I think there'll be some interesting case studies about that particular

14:22 podcast and the monetization of it, because I do think a lot of people don't really understand, like, well, why is this so popular? It's like, well, just 'cause you don't resonate with it,

14:32 that doesn't mean that others don't resonate with it. It actually means something to them. And same thing with a podcast like this, like I've had my parents, I'm like, listen to this podcast,

14:41 we're like, we just don't get it. Like it's so industry-centric, then you use these terms, And like some of your episodes where you just go in and you talk about life and you talk about your

14:50 upbringing or you talk about sports, we can get behind that. But then you go into these like very specific oil and gas related things and we're completely lost and we tune out and we turn it off.

14:60 Like, right. But that's sort of the point, right? The best content creation is fairly niche. It's a specific audience that is extremely loyal. And it's important to lean into that Like, as much

15:15 as I would love to talk about other things, like I know who's listening to this, I know what the following is and where they obtain value from it. And I think digital logcatters understands that

15:27 too. While they've used the term energy and they've, you know, branched into Bitcoin a little bit, it's still an oil and gas marketing, content creation, creative organization. And that's where

15:41 the roots are and where they're always going to have deepest following because there's a real need for it. And I didn't even know if there was a real need for it when they decided to build the

15:51 company. But clearly, there is, you go to their energy tech nights and it's young, it's vibrant, it's energetic, there's no suits, there's no ties, there's no jackets. It's so much different

16:04 from any other event we went to that I've ever been to and I love it, I love it. I like the napes too, I like those conferences, I can get dressed up, no big deal But the digital wildcatters

16:15 stuff that they do is like, that's my core. You know what I mean? I could even probably say that digital wildcatters allowed me to be more authentically myself because it allowed me to be

16:31 comfortable in who I really was and not have to sort of play a role that I thought people wanted to perceive. The most positive things that have happened in my career, have happened since I leaned

16:45 into the authenticity of wearing hats and wearing hoodies and being more like a Chuck Yates type than having to conform to social norms. And that is an amazing attribute of what they've created.

17:00 Whether they realize it or not, it just allows a lot of people to feel comfortable. And that's a big deal. Yeah. Yeah. It is. And I really try to lean into that like with marketing too because

17:13 it's no small thing to be like, you know, my most authentic self, right? Because I think for so long and even with some companies, like marketing is such like, there's all this, you know,

17:24 smoke and mirrors and you know, like behind the curtain type stuff. And over the past few years, especially with like social, I think that like people are just too smart for that now, right? And

17:37 what the way that social is like, ends can get like. I mean, demolished in the matter of hours, with the wrong campaign, the wrong message. And I think that we really underestimate leaning in to

17:53 our authentic selves. Even you look at digital wildcatters. They are pretty unapologetic as a whole company and just individually. And it's not a bad thing. It's not a harsh thing. I love how

18:07 unapologetic it is, because it's like, that's how you find your true audience. The people that you want at your events, the people that you want buying your products. If you lean into that, the

18:18 more you lean into that, the more you're gonna find those true people. And that's what I love to tell sales, too. It's like, don't be afraid to lean into your most authentic self. You'll find,

18:29 don't have a scarcity mindset that like, oh no, but they're expecting me to be like this. I want people to find many clients or customers that will, you know, I'll resonate with. that's a lie,

18:40 like you will. In fact, you'll find more. Yeah, yeah, I completely agree, but that you're younger than me, right? So this is generational a little bit too. We were told to behave a certain

18:53 way, to dress a certain way, to be buttoned up and to not challenge what the social norms were. And then this younger crew comes in and they don't care. You know, it's like, well, I'm just not

19:05 doing that Which, and just questioning, well, why is it like that? And instead of just accepting, well, it is, that's just how it is, it's like, but it doesn't have to be. And it really

19:16 takes like, you know, somebody who can find their true authentic self to be able to do that. I wanna talk about a specific use case that has really, really been impressive to me. So Stephen

19:30 Hatcher, Good buddy of mine, he was on this podcast relatively early on We talked about all kinds of things from sobriety, to his career, to Minerals Guy. And to go back to sort of the root of

19:46 this, Steven came to me in like July or August. Wow, it's almost been a year. And he's like, I have this idea. I think there's a real opportunity. And with the knowledge that I have to create a

19:60 brand around being the Minerals Guy for everybody to go to and sell their Minerals to, market their Minerals to, and gain knowledge around Minerals. But I'm really worried that nobody is going to

20:15 listen to this. What if nobody watches my content? What if nobody listens to it? And I remember really having to talk him back on, okay, so say 15 people listen to, or watch each one of your

20:29 posts. That's a success, because that's 15 more people than we're listening to the idea that was in your head. that you've been ruminating on for years. And then I introduced you and brought you

20:43 into the fold. Talk to me a little bit about how you took what was in his head and helped create not only a logo, but a brand and videos and editing videos to the point where now he's getting

20:56 massive inbound leads

21:10 and traffic from his Facebook, from his TikTok, from Instagram, from LinkedIn, and really is the minerals guy and it didn't even take a year Like, how were you able to get in his head and turn

21:11 what was in his head into a legitimately cool and rapidly growing brand?

21:19 Yeah, so this was really, really fun and I will say Steven is like gold star, like with his content, but I remember he is, but you know, for me, it's really simple, like having a long

21:34 conversation Steven like upfront and. not being super formal about it, but just really digging into like, why is he doing this? Why is it so important? What does he want as the outcome? Not

21:47 followers, whatever, but what does he want? What do they want for the people that actually engage with this? And then kind of just like where is the authenticity? Where is your heart with this?

21:57 Where is this passion coming from? Why are you doing this? What do you wanna say to people? And how do you wanna be perceived? Who are you? And having that conversation with him and kind of

22:09 pulling that out and getting to know him is really how we wanted to make the brand the minerals guy, right? Because Steven is the minerals guy. So I didn't want them to be separate. I wanted it to

22:21 feel like it was just an extension of who Steven is. We kind of came up with branding for him. And then in terms of his videos, you know, talking about from a strategy perspective, filming

22:34 content like in his office or in his truck. talking to people like you're having a FaceTime conversation, right, and going through and explaining things. But then being able to give me that

22:46 footage and go in, and when we edit, like I will pull stuff in, I will pull out things that he's saying and maybe pull up an infographic or an icon or a word or whatever and try to make them feel

23:03 similar to how you would consume any other content online, or on social. And so it was really important for Stephen and for me that we made the content so you could watch it on

23:16 YouTube or Instagram or TikTok and have like a pretty similar experience with it and that it would feel conversational most importantly because while the majority of his like audience, ideal audience

23:28 is older, you know, my 60s, You've got also the kids of those parents that are gonna be looking at this. mom and dad have mineral rights. I don't know the first thing about them, but they've got

23:41 someone who is similar ages them, right? Talk similarly to them, and they're on a social platform that they're on like TikTok, right? And so I think Stephen, just being, have

23:57 from a script but really preparing himself and going through naturally has made all the difference and being consistent which is huge right like it's so scary because you think okay I'm posting my

24:10 first video what if I only get like one like and it's like you can't get to the 40th video where you have like you know 500 watches and likes or whatever if you don't post the first one so really that

24:22 first one is the hardest but then also Stephen was great at remembering this like everyone for the most part I feel like everyone wishes they could do what you're doing they see you posting content

24:33 they see you posting videos and they're gonna be supportive of it and they're gonna wish that they had something or they could be as you know confident or brave to post their content so I don't like

24:46 to think about it as people like judging or no one's watching it but rather like people your audience is waiting for this right they're out there, they're waiting and like now they're going to you.

24:57 But Stephen is a great case study for being himself and then making sure that he's consistent. That consistency I think has been really key. Like we have a series and in each series there's three

25:11 episodes and they go out on certain days. And I think making sure that people get used to that familiarity. Like when I get hooked on a podcast, like I will wait for that next episode If they're a

25:23 day late, like I might notice because I'm itching for it. And I think that's really important.

25:30 You nailed it right there. And a lot of people, a lot, a handful of people, maybe two handfuls, have come to me and been like, I'm thinking about doing a podcast. What advice do you have? How

25:44 do I do it? And my response is, I don't know the stats on this, but it seems like a lot of podcasts do about 10 episodes and stop. And it's because you had that initial excitement. And you have

25:57 all these like grandiose high hopes of what you're going to get from doing the podcast. And guess what? After 10 episodes, it doesn't happen. And you start to say, you know, maybe my time could

26:07 be invested better doing something else. Is this really worth it? Are we getting the effect that we thought we were gonna get? And they stop. So what I always tell to people is, look, you just

26:18 have to keep doing it. Like everybody, I think everybody, at least Tim and I did,

26:25 once you start a podcast, you get to a point where you're like, I don't know. Like we're investing a lot of time in this. What is our return? Because not everybody who listens to your podcast is

26:35 reaching out to you saying, awesome podcast, dude. They're coming up to you and saying, well, I listened to this episode, but you get enough of those things and you stay consistent enough that

26:45 then you start talking to people and they're like, yeah, I know who you are. I've listened to like a hundred hours of you talking into a microphone on a podcast You don't know who every single one

26:54 of your listeners is. eminently trackable right now. You have an idea, but it at least makes people feel some type of way about you and you need to be consistent. So yeah, one, get a good

27:09 microphone, but there's no barrier to entry. The biggest barrier is in your head. You just have to get past that like, oh my God, like, am I gonna be accepted for this? Are people gonna listen?

27:20 Like, I don't care. I don't even look at the downloads that I used to pour over my initial podcasts and sit on every word that I said and everything that Tim said, how do we react to it? How is my

27:32 sound? And now, I don't care. You know what I mean? If this content that I'm putting out can provide value for one person, for two people, it's worth it. It's totally worth it. And the fact

27:47 that I'm consistent about it, it transitioned from, oh, I gotta do a podcast and on this journey it turned into. This is one of my favorite hours of the week because it's one of the only times

28:01 that I actually put my cell phone down and I'm not distracted by anything unless of course my five-year-old son runs into my office, which he likes to do when I'm recording, of course, but you

28:11 actually get to authentically focus on a conversation and how often are you able to do that right now without the distraction of your phone or wanting to check your email? Maybe at a lunch, but even

28:22 then, your phone's kind of always right there, like, I'm listening to you and you're talking to me and you're listening to me. And that's rare now that this used to be how it is. And now it's not.

28:34 So I think people do enjoy that of a non-distracted, diluted conversation where, oh, I just got a text, I gotta go, I got a meeting, I gotta go. Now, and I think there's so much value in that.

28:48 There is, and I think about like the podcast that I listen to for the most part, It's just that. It's like, you know, two people like having a conversation. I know I bring up call her daddy,

28:57 but like she's literally setting opposite of someone else and they're just having a conversation. And so I think that we're really hungry for that, right? And it's uninterrupted. And also, I mean,

29:10 like we think too much about, well, what am I gonna do with it? How am I gonna promote it? Who's like, what's the outcome, all this stuff? But sometimes it's really cool just to do something

29:19 because you enjoy it, it's fun. You enjoy talking about that content and you think that other people will too We don't have to complicate it. And same with our setup. Like Steven used an iPhone,

29:32 like the first few videos that we did yet, like an iPhone, his own iPhone, and it came out great. Like I encourage everyone to go and like follow him and look at his content. But I wouldn't let

29:42 things like that be barriers, which we often do. We think we have to like get all this equipment. We have to have this huge plan for it. And sometimes the best stuff is just being like, let's

29:52 just like try it, put it out there and like keep going and. we'll learn and we'll figure it out from here. Yeah, yeah, you help me a lot with that, even just like, oh, hey, you're, I mean,

30:05 at first, you're like, great, like any content's good because you want to be supportive of it. But eventually you're like, hey, listen, like your lighting's kind of poor on this. So maybe you

30:15 should get a light ring or maybe you should do this outside with the sun at this point and then you start picking that stuff up and it gets better. And I always say that, I said that to Steven too

30:25 I'm like, dude, you're gonna look back on some of these initial recordings and you're gonna be like, this was so bad. But you don't think that at the time, right? You just have to kind of do it

30:34 and get through it. But if I listen to some of my early podcasts, like I had a lot of notes, it was like really scripted. I wasn't confident in what I was saying. I probably wasn't even reacting

30:44 to what the person was saying. I just had a list of questions I wanted to get through, you know? And eventually you find your niche, right? You find your comfort zone and it becomes a more

30:54 authentic lesson of all. conversation. I do have a question for you to kind of go back a little bit earlier into your career. Like, why did you decide to go into marketing, branding, content

31:08 creation, video? Like, what was it sort of about you that made you want to pursue this as a career?

31:19 And so it kind of happened by accident. I didn't go to school for it. I went to school to study religion and philosophy. And then like halfway through was like, I don't know. Yeah, I was like,

31:31 I loved it. I still do. And I loved like being a student of that. But then I was like, I don't know how to make any money. I don't want to teach. So then I started. So I was like, I'll just do

31:43 like communications. And so again, even then, I was like, I don't know what I'm going to do with this. But found myself like in a couple internships where I was doing like some graphics. design

31:55 and sort of learning about marketing and just really loved being creative. And again, looking at a message and figuring out how can we make this better? How can we tell a better story here? What

32:09 are people gonna enjoy looking at or watching or reading? And then found myself working for Dell in their brand department, which was really fun. So for all their XPS and Alienware, doing a lot of

32:24 their 360 brand campaigns. And that's where I really learned because I was in a, it was literally a studio that you had to have a keycard to get in, had a full video studio, graphic designers,

32:36 video developers, producers. And that's where I really learned. I was just immersed with highly creative people who had been doing this and had been doing it for tech products. And that was really,

32:50 really fun. And so that's where I've discovered I love this, and I don't only love marketing, but I love the whole 360 view a bit. I wanna do video, I wanna like the graphic design, I wanna do

33:03 the messaging, all of it, like social media. And I find that there's a lot of marketers and sometimes we joke because people that hire marketing people kind of expect a unicorn, like you can do it

33:15 all, right? Which sometimes you can. You can do a little bit of everything, which is cool Sometimes you're more like, I only do digital or whatever. But that's where I really found my love for

33:28 it. And then after that, just kind of kept working and marketing and trying to bring that same level of, there was a lot of playfulness there. It was like brainstorming and filming video on the

33:43 fly and things like that that I thought really worked well. And I wanted to bring that to other places that I went Man, this is really fun and look what we created and we just have this idea maybe a

33:56 couple of weeks ago. Some companies are more receptive to that than others. I find that smaller ones are. And so when I made my way to W after being an assas company, I was like, I don't know

34:10 anything about oil and gas, but I'm sure we can have some fun with it, you know? And we did And I think that oil and gas should do that more often because I remember a lot of it was myth debunking

34:23 for me. It just like blew my mind. Everything that I thought I knew about the industry and that it was sort of the big bad wolf just kind of like dissolved as I started to learn more, meet people,

34:37 talk to them. And I just became such a fan of the industry and I still root for it, even though I'm not in there, but I feel like, man, the playfulness and the conversational, like, way that

34:51 digital wildcatters markets, I wish that that would seep into other oil and gas companies because I think oil and gas needs, like they need younger generations to come in and work and market and

35:04 sell desperately. I feel like if that doesn't happen, to me it's pretty scary if that doesn't happen because those younger generations can tell such a better story than what's being told now A

35:19 hundred percent, and I don't know if you're on Twitter, but there's this like energy fin twit, and there's a lot of anonymous accounts of people who work in the oil and gas industry, in the oil

35:31 and gas venture world. And they don't want to put their names out there for good reason, but they oftentimes are just mocking the marketing and branding of these companies. It's like, come on

35:44 Chevron, like you couldn't be, any more creative than basically putting out the same ad that you put out 30 years ago. Like that doesn't resonate. Maybe you're resonating with my dad or my

35:55 grandfather, but like not me, you know? And because there's a product that people want and need, the industry will survive, but now there's this very woke contingent that's like, well, it has

36:08 to be cleaner, right? So some companies lean into that almost too much. And it's like, well, you still are in a mitter because by default, oil and gas companies will create emissions by pulling

36:21 hydrocarbons out of the ground. Like that's part of the reality. But it's a fine line, right? So I think that oil and gas companies think in general, well, the way we wanna market now is like,

36:30 we are a green company. It's like, but you're not, right? So you're still not gonna fool everybody, but it's sort of like that fine balance of like, we are this and we're staunch and we're gonna

36:41 defend ourselves at all costs like we are. someone who's an environmental company that cares so much about the planet. It's like, let's find like a balance here and be authentic in our pitch and in

36:53 our messaging. Maybe they should hire you, I don't know, or Donnie Davis or somebody like an advocate.

37:01 You like, and that like educates people, right? Like, I really didn't stop to think years ago. Like, what does green, what does clean really mean? What is actually clean versus what's marketed

37:13 as clean? Like, whoever is marketing, like, clean green energy is doing a great job because half of it really isn't, like, clean or green, right? And so I'm like, on the flip side, oil and

37:24 gas doesn't do a great job of marketing and really educating folks on like, you know, what is clean and what is green? And really, again, talking about the industry and the value of it and just

37:37 the, like, being realistic, right? Like, we cannot be 100, like, zero emissions However, like. let's talk about like what we can do, what's possible, why that's possible, like why the

37:49 world needs, you know, the oil and gas industry. And I feel like that message hasn't been super clear until you actually embed yourself within the industry, which to me was the problem. Like I

38:03 didn't know any of this until I started actually like talking to people that were in it

38:11 Yeah, the education piece where it's digestible versus like long form panels with very technical resources, I think is shifting and needs to shift more. And that's where it's like great to have

38:23 somebody like a Chuck Gates up there who can get as deep technically as you want, but can also just give you the brass tacks so that any level of expertise can consume that material. And I think

38:36 it's part of why people really enjoy him use the definition of authentic and authentic. I know you've got some work going on with him that we can't talk about yet, but we will. And I'm excited for

38:47 all that to come up. Love Chuck. Yeah, his podcast is also one that I listened to in like the very beginning of my time with W 'cause you told me you were like, I was like, how do I learn about

38:58 the industry? Like really quick, so I can start with it. And you were like, listen to Chuck's podcast. So I go on and listen to his podcast and I really enjoy it because I learned a lot He's not

39:10 condescending. Now that I know Chuck, like you could walk up to Chuck and say Chuck, you know, and you could ask him a very simplistic question about oil and gas, he would answer you in a way

39:21 that is just so warm and conversational. And then another thing is, is that he talks about like mental health. He talks about lifestyle. And for me, that was so interesting because again, I had

39:34 a couple of different viewpoints into the industry and a lot of it was like, Man, there's a lot of like, and I love good old boys, but there's like a lot of them, right? Like there's a certain

39:43 persona. And the fact that like Chuck openly talks about stuff like that and hit people are so receptive, it also gives you another viewpoint into the industry. Again, like people are people,

39:56 they're multifaceted, right? You can have certain personas in marketing that you think, Oh, this is the good old boy, and this is someone who works on an oil rig But people are complex, and they

40:07 have all different types of layers, and if you just speak to one, it's pretty insulting.

40:14 Yeah, I mean, that man has an absolute heart of gold.

40:20 Opening up his house for the crawfish boil when it was still like somewhat COVID times back in 2021.

40:28 Having me stay at his house when Tim was going through his health issues as well as for his funeral, you know, a half dozen times and just connecting with him as a person, like I've got a ton of

40:43 love and respect for that guy. And I think he's influenced a lot more people than he may even realize within the oil and gas base to feel comfortable in their own skin. And that's one of the things

40:57 that I want to emulate and do as well. Final thought on some marketing stuff. So when I think about like the best commercials, because commercials is like for very traditional market. Some of the

41:10 best ones that I've ever seen were more emotional. And if I think about like a Super Bowl ad from the Super Bowl, this would have been in February of 2010, it was a Google commercial. And it was

41:25 really simple. And it was basically they were showing the Google search bar and somebody typing in keystrokes. And it went from like, where to go on a first date, right, where to buy an

41:35 engagement ring, where, Where did it have a wedding? Where is the best place for a honeymoon? How to assemble a crib? You know what I mean? Like I get almost emotional just thinking about it.

41:46 It was so simple, but it was so well done. And I still remember it now 13 years later. Do you have any things like that that stand out to you? I mean, of course, people remember like the GoDaddy

41:57 commercial where it's like, you know, playboy, you know, porn star type ladies, scantily clad. But I'm curious from you, like, is there anything that kind of stands out to you when you think

42:09 back to like all the amazing ads or commercials or things that you've seen that like really resonate with you? Yeah, that's such a good question. So

42:22 I will say like in terms of commercials, it's so interesting, 'cause I think that's also changed too because with streaming, right? Like you

42:31 know, like you'll probably gonna see more commercials on or ads, like on social. when you're scrolling. I will say that this is gonna sound super funny. There was a recent commercial and it was

42:46 for carry gold butter, but I loved it because again, it was emotional. Like this family, like they wake up at like 3 am. and like, Why are they waking up? They're cooking a meal like, of

42:57 course, super early in the morning and they set it out in the dining table and the older brother comes home. It was like in his 20s and he's like, Oh, you waited for me. It was like his first day

43:06 on the job as a chef or whatever, but like the emotional ones, like really I think still play so well for every audience, but like especially me, like I remember those a lot and it's just, it's a

43:22 butter commercial, like whatever. But I think that they, like I remember it, right? Like and I remember like the label of the butter and everything like that, but also to another thing has stuck

43:35 out to me recently. not even just recently in the past few years is how the landscape of influencing has completely like taken over and in terms of like ads and advertisements like when I was a kid I

43:52 remember seeing commercials and being like mom can we buy pop tarts because I saw a commercial for pop tarts right but now it's like you see stuff on like as I'm scrolling instagram or people I follow

44:04 and they're talking about something that they bought right and then you're like oh like she's my size she looks like she's my age and like normal and like that looks good on her that might look good

44:16 on me so seeing more of some of that now I think that influencing in some aspects is still a little bit like wild wild west right like we're seeing a lot but I think that in terms of commercials and

44:30 advertising I think influencing is really taking over especially especially certain demographics and with streaming, especially to, you just don't see, we don't have the same reactions to

44:45 commercials that we used to. And we can kind of pick and choose like the ads that we wanna see, like even on Instagram, I can say, I don't wanna see this anymore, it's not relevant to me. And I

44:57 can select who I wanna follow and they can influence me and they do, like to buy certain products So really influencing has been key and just in my own personal purchasing habits in the past five

45:10 years. And we've also seen like, they make a shit ton of money. Like if you look at what a lincer can make, especially given their followers and their engagement, they can make a lot of money.

45:23 And so I think companies are pretty smart, especially like consumer brands to partner with influencers versus putting dollars behind huge commercial ads. Yeah, it is a massive. shift in the

45:38 landscape. And I think it will continue to shift. Last question before we sign off here. So,

45:47 first of all, you were really supportive of me when I wanted to launch Funk Futures, that meant a lot to me. And in turn, when you evangelized the idea, like maybe I should go off on my own, I

45:55 really wanted to be supportive of you. Talk about your entrepreneurial journey, 'cause I know you were thinking about this for a while, that because you are a quick learn and you're a marketer,

46:07 you're a content creator, you're a brand curator, your best benefit is that you can work with a lot of different companies at the same time to give them value. Working with one company, sometimes

46:22 it can get a little bit stale, sometimes you sort of done your job and then it's like, all right, now what? Talk to me a little bit about your journey from going from an employee to being

46:32 effectively a marketing consultant How has that been for you? Are you happy that you made this move? Do you like this entrepreneurial outfit? Talk about maybe the loves and the challenges that

46:46 you've had in this process. Yeah, well, it was a very personal journey for me. To go back a little bit, I remember being in 20s late my and thinking, Okay, by the time I'm 30, I want to have

46:58 this title and make this pay. And I got there when I was 30. And then I kind of set another goal, and then I got there. And then I started to kind of look back, and I was like, I actually don't

47:10 care about that stuff. I

47:13 want to make a certain amount of money to be free, but I want to spend time with my family. I want to have low stress. I want to have good health, and I want to really enjoy what I do. But

47:24 outside of that, my value shifted from this sort of corporate ladder and wanting to have certain titles, it just kind of came crumbling down. And I especially with COVID even more. So I was like,

47:38 man, like, what am I going to be doing in 10 years? Am I going to be at a corporation that I may not care that much about, you know, doing something that I'm not super happy doing or I'm kind of

47:51 bored doing? What do I really want my whole life to look like? Not just my work. And I, my now business partner reached out to me. And at the time, I was like, no, I'm happy where I'm at.

48:03 Like, I don't want to leave And then we just kind of kept the conversation going. And I remember we had a specific conversation where he was like, you know, if, even if you don't come and like,

48:13 we work together, I think that you should work for yourself. Like, you can do it. And it just sort of hit me differently because that's what I've said all my life. Like, when I get older, I

48:24 want to work for myself. And then I was getting older and I was like, well, when am I going to do that? When am I going to actually, like, take that leap, right? How old am I going to be? So.

48:34 I just decided, you know what? I'm going to do it. And like, if I fail, I fail. I'm at a point in my career where I could, I'll find something and I'm just going to go for it. And I did. And

48:47 it's the best decision I ever made, not just for like my work, but my life as a whole. I feel like physically and mentally like the healthiest that I've ever been, which I think that we don't like

49:02 talk about enough when it comes to work. Like I've been in jobs before where I was fully unhealthy. And

49:09 that to me now, if I could give anyone advice that's younger is like, do not let anything affect your health that way, you know, or cause you to make decisions that are detrimental to your mental

49:21 health or even physical health, right? Protect that. And no job is worth your health And so I am super happy now. My business partner and I, we own capital raise agency. Like I said, we help

49:37 people raise capital and get investors. And what's super fun about it is I'm working with people that I truly love. Like have best integrity, the best character that I truly value as people and

49:52 respect. And then I get to work with a lot of different fun brands. Boxable, electric cars, we've done stuff for cannabis, we've done stuff for medical companies, entertainment production

50:05 companies that run sound stages. So just a lot of different things, real estate. And so you get to learn about a lot of different industries. And then as a marketer and as a creative person, you

50:17 never get bored because you're constantly like kind of going from one to one.

50:23 So it's really, really fun. Yeah, it's really, really fun

50:30 I knew you would crush it because you're. You're versatile and I think you're, I mean, what you can do in a short period of time, a lot of people would pay a lot of money to a large agency to do.

50:43 So you've been a godsend for me in my business when people say, hey, I really wanna do this level of marketing and I don't have that expertise that you do. So bringing you into the fold has been

50:54 awesome. Whether it's for Zeno, whether it's for Minerals Guy. And then certainly there'll be more down the road, but you do a great job of not only the content, curation,

51:09 video, branding, logo, website, you name it. But if you do it well, which you do, it actually builds confidence from the team. People wanna be connected and attached to the company and the

51:23 brand that they work for. And I've learned a lot from you in that process. And one of the things I do really appreciate about Unical, Just on a personal note is like. We can talk business, but we

51:34 can also talk for 45 minutes about mental health and feeling overworked and not exercising enough or making too much money and not having enough time, not making enough money and having too much time.

51:45 Like all of those things I value in our relationship and certainly would highly recommend you to anybody who's listening to this podcast. If they're thinking about creating a brand, if they feel

51:56 like they need a little bit of push on the marketing side, and I knew you'd be busy Like that was, at first, you're like, okay, well, I'm gonna do this, now I need some customers. And then

52:06 literally, six weeks later, you're like, I can't take any more projects. I'm like, well, I knew this was gonna happen.

52:15 You're so kind, thank you. Now, I remember I had lunch with Chuck right when I kind of went on my own, and he set a line that stuck with me. He was like, you know, if you wanna eat, you've got

52:25 a hunt. And that's exactly how I would describe, especially like. early days, you know, of kind of going out on your own. Is it such a shift from like showing up to work and being like, all

52:36 right, like, what do we have to do? This is not, you don't feel as much sort of ownership or accountability versus on your own. You're like, okay, like, I need to go out and get people. But

52:46 that being said, like, so grateful for you, like that you believed in me. And I remember just feeling like, okay, like, there's work, like, there's not a scarcity of work There's, I'm going

52:56 to get clients. And we did. So, so grateful for that because it is a little scary at first, because you kind of start out and you're like, okay, now what?

53:07 But as you get into it, and you have a couple of nights where you're like, okay, what did I do? But it's a, anything can be a roller coaster, right? And there's a risk with anything. And I can

53:19 overthink things. And I remember thinking, well, there's a risk with like, if I stayed at a certain company, like, they could let me go tomorrow, right? Like, they could shut down and, you

53:28 know, or I could do this and like I'm in that risk and I'm kind of more in charge or in control. So I think you just have to figure out like what risk do you really, there's risk everywhere? Which

53:42 one do you want? It's hard, it can be hard anywhere. Like choose your heart and choose what you really value. Like I valued like I want to like spend more time with my family, I want to focus

53:55 like on my health and just feel less stress and more joy, and I knew that this would help give me that which it did. So I feel like if I could tell anyone that, it's just like think about what you

54:06 want your whole life to be like, and titles and everything can feel cool, but they really, I believe, don't mean anything. No, they don't. And the most important title that you have is mom and

54:21 wife and all those things. And you know, for me, it's husband and dad and son and all that stuff, so that resonates with me big time. Okay, we're going to wrap this up, Nicole. You crushed

54:32 this podcast. I know you would You crush everything you do. Where can people find you? Social or websites or any of that stuff

54:43 Yeah, so you can find me here on LinkedIn Nicole Nixon And then you can also go to Capital raise agency you can shoot me an email there But if you message me on LinkedIn, I will message you back and

54:58 then we can we can email or talk a friend of Jeremy's is a friend of mine Nice. Well, thank you Nicole. Appreciate everybody for listening. Hopefully there were some good nuggets here on what the

55:10 folk