Creating a Brand Through Community with Alex Sanfilippo

To launch our 3rd season, host Eric Dickmann interviews special guest, Alex Sanfilippo. Alex is an entrepreneur who also works in the aerospace industry. While continuing his corporate work, he got into productivity and business startup coaching which led him to launch the Creating a Brand community and podcast. Most recently, he launched a new online service to help connect podcast hosts and guests called, PodMatch. Alex’s goal is to help others succeed in life and business.

https://podmatch.com/signup/virtualcmo

The Creating a Brand podcast is a top 20 entrepreneurship show where he interviews successful leaders and experts on topics that matter to entrepreneurs who want to grow faster both personally and professionally while saving time and money in the process. 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/creating-a-brand/id1470897857

 
Eric Dickmann can be found on Twitter @EDickmann and LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/edickmann and my website https://ericdickmann.com

Alex Sanfilippo can be found online at creatingabrand.com, on Twitter @creatingabrand and LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexsanfilippo

Episode Summary: The episode summary can be found at https://fiveechelon.com/creating-a-brand-through-community-s3ep1/

If you'd like to contact us with feedback or guest inquiries, please visit:
https://fiveechelon.com/podcast

For more information about Virtual CMO strategic marketing consulting services, visit The Five Echelon Group at https://fiveechelon.com
 
Episode #32

Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched!
Start for FREE

Marketing Automation with HubSpot
Try HubSpot’s all-in-one marketing software to simplify campaign management and drive new leads.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Transcript

Carla: [00:00:00]  The Virtual CMO podcast is sponsored by the strategic marketing consulting services of The Five Echelon Group. If you’d like to work directly with The Five Echelon Group and receive personal coaching and support to optimize your business, enhance your marketing effectiveness and grow your revenue, visit fiveechelon.com to learn more and schedule a free consultation.  

Eric Dickmann: [00:00:24] Welcome to The Virtual CMO podcast. I'm your host, Eric Dickmann. In this podcast, we have conversations with marketing professionals who share the strategies, tactics, and mindset you can use to improve the effectiveness of your marketing activities and grow your business. 

This week, I'm excited to welcome Alex Sanfilippo to the show. Alex is an entrepreneur who works in the aerospace industry. While continuing his corporate work, he got into productivity and business startup coaching, which led him to launch the Creating a Brand community and podcast. Most recently he launched a new online service to help connect podcast hosts and guests called PodMatch. Alex's goal is to help other people succeed in life and in business. And on a personal note. Alex is one of the people who really inspired me to start this podcast. So I'm especially glad to have him on the show today.  

Alex welcome to the virtual CMO podcast. So glad you could join us today.

Alex Sanfilippo: [00:01:24] Eric. It's an honor to be here. I'm really excited to be having a conversation with you here. 

Eric Dickmann: [00:01:27] You know, we're here in Florida. It's a scorching hot day. How has COVID  been for you? You're up in the Jacksonville area, right? How has it been up there is everybody just hunkered down inside?

Alex Sanfilippo: [00:01:38] You know Jackson is a funny place. They don't live in Florida. The listeners say, who are joining us from outside of Florida. You assume that we're all crazy and weird. Right? Well, Jacksonville is especially unique. so we, we did the whole, like, we're going to be one nation and Alcorn team together for about two weeks. And then it took away the beach and then we were bolted and, now we're back out by the water. So the only thing that's different right now really is most companies are still working remotely. And if you go somewhere public, you need to bring a mask. aside from that, everyone here in Florida or in Jacksonville, I'm sorry is still out there at the beach. Every chance they get that's about it. So.

Eric Dickmann: [00:02:10] It's surreal. It really is surreal. I mean, Florida hit the maximum number of cases, I think 15,000 the other day. And I think it was the same day that a Walt Disney World opened up again. it's just a strange reality that we're living in.

But I'm glad that you joined us today and I wanted to start off the podcast and just get a little bit of our, of your background for our listeners here. So I know that you're a certified management accountant and you also work in the aerospace industry. What was your career goal? Like growing up? What did you want to be? Did you want to be in aerospace?

Alex Sanfilippo: [00:02:42] Yeah. You know, it's funny initially. I didn't know what I wanted to do in business. I remember at one point I saw my dad at an office somewhere and don't ask me any questions about where or when that was or anything like this. But I saw him walk through the door and I was walking with him. And he had to clock in and he had papers handed to him. The second you walk in the door, somebody's like, Hey, they need you for a meeting in about 20 minutes. Hey, you have a phone call waiting for you. And just when we're looking at that and being like, man, I want that to be me one day, like that important. I want that. And so I didn't know, it would be aerospace, aerospace just with my age and a recession. It happened to be around the same time in aerospace. It would be like one of those Bulletproof industries at that point. So it made sense to go that direction anyway. I became one of those doing air quotes here, really important people. And I come to find out those really important people are called middle managers and they actually can't get anything done. They are slaves to the work, you know, and I felt that way. I remember walking into work and that very thing happened the day that vision came true. I realized I'll walk in the door. There were three fires that he get put out. There was a phone call waiting for me. I was already late for a meeting. All those things happen. And I just decided that, you know what, this was, this was my dream as a kid, I've always wanted to be in business, which sounds strange to most people, you know, most people want to be like an astronaut or a firefighter. I was like, I want to be a business guy, you know? And, but I decided, you know what, I need to find a way to work myself out of this. And that's kind of how I really made a name for myself. If you will, in aerospace, was that I figured out how to automate many different parts of the company. Fast forward years later, I ended up at a company. here in Jacksonville, Florida, this is one of our headquarters, but it's mainly owned out of Canada. So we trade on the Canadian stock market. believe it or not, that's a thing. for any of the Canadian listeners, you guys have that up there. but anyway, I worked my way up to the senior management level and I was my responsibility since then has always been to take care of the company's profit margins to make sure we're making money and then to implement automations and make sure that we're just doing things as effectively as possible. Because somehow was the guy who figured out at a middle manager level that you had to do that if you wanted the business to grow. So my background in business, it just kind of been school of hard knocks. If you will, I've just really throw myself into it and do my best to educate myself out where I could. through experience and through just leveraging other people's information, knowledge, and it's been a really fun ride. I thoroughly enjoy business still to this day. It's something that just love.

Eric Dickmann: [00:04:56] I chuckle at that story because my grandfather was also in the corporate world. And I remember at a young age feeling the exact same way. It's like, Oh, I want a job where I have I paperwork. I can't even imagine today, like wanting a job that has paperwork, but there was a point in my life where I thought that would be really cool. So at some point on this journey, you decided, Hey, I want to be a blogger. How did you start blogging? What was the initial idea behind writing a blog?

Alex Sanfilippo: [00:05:22] Well here, here's the funny thing. I'll kind of tie it into to business because it's very different. Right. And I mean, That's two very different things. But one day I hit the point where I had automated the majority of my job. I had great teams. Great, parts of the organization. And I got the point where I was working about 36 to 38 hours a week. But when I was middle manager on salary. I was working 50, 60, even 70 hours a week. So for me, going from a very, very. Busy schedule if you will, because it was busy, it wasn't important, but it was busy work all the time, you know, think even 60 hours a week. And then down to 38, I was like, I've got a lot of free time now. I realized I'm like, I got some free time. What are other passions I've got? I've always wanted to do. And I don't know what it was with blogging, but for some reason, When I saw that, I just wanted to give it a shot and I don't even know why, because in school, growing up, I was like, this is the worst. You know, English, I don't want to do this. but for some reason I saw it and I was like, I want to build a website. You know, use WordPress. So it wasn't like a custom builder and thought about it. I'm like, I want to build a website and I want to actually share some of my own thoughts. Maybe they're business related and maybe there's something else related. I ended up starting off with talking about my Christian faith, but I was like, I want to actually write something and yeah, so I sat down and it was because of the time availability that I've been had. I felt like I could, so I devoted a few hours every week to it and really learn to write well, really learn to enjoy it. And, the rest was kinda history and we can jump into more of that if you'd like, but that's kind of where I transitioned into it. It was something I was doing along the side. Just having a great time with.

Eric Dickmann: [00:06:49] So step one is really writing the content and step two is getting the content found by people right It's you've got to put something out there find it So you had to develop skills as a marketer as a digital marketer to help get your content found. So talk a little bit about that Was it just trial and error? Did you take classes? Did you have a particular guide? How did you get good at that?

Alex Sanfilippo: [00:07:14] Yeah. You know, that this is actually really funny because just, I'm not sure when this episode will come out, but I was listening to an episode. Do you recently released with Elizabeth Pampalone? She was the first person I ever sat down with and talk to in person about WordPress. And the sad part about it wasn't she helped me so much. I'll get to that in a minute, but the sad part, it was, it was two years after I started.

Eric Dickmann: [00:07:32] Oh my okay So you had a lot of content already

Alex Sanfilippo: [00:07:34] Yes. I had a lot of content. Cause I started off getting excited about writing. I was writing every day. They're terrible posts. If you can find them anywhere, I apologize for taking your time to read those. But you know, over time I learned a couple years later and that's when I decided like I needed something so I can remember. Realizing I was writing this stuff. My mom was reading it and maybe my grandma occasionally, you know, like, I don't know if anyone else was reading it or not. I didn't really do much on social media. I didn't try putting it out there. It was a concept I had never thought about it. Didn't have any background in marketing. I was a strategy guy for a business. You know, like the last thing I would think of was that, but remember the two year point realizing I posted something really good, like I looked at him like, this is incredible. Like, this is a really good post. How on earth do I actually get somebody to read it? Cause I think it would actually help them. And  that same, week I started thinking of this I was telling my wife about it I'm like I don't know what to do I was helping her find a meetup.com groups So she was on meetup.com looking for something And I saw a WordPress meetup group in my local city And I was like there's no way nerds get together and talk about this wordpress thing And sure enough showed up and it was like a workshop day. And Elizabeth was there sitting in a table for newbies. I sat down at that table. You've not had been using it for two years. And was like, how do I do this? How do I do that? How do I do this? She taught me for two hours and still this day I say this, she taught me more than two hours. I learned a new years on my own. And ever since then, I've devoted myself to education. It hasn't always been heard. It's been other people as well, but I've said, you know what? I need to invest in learning intentionally about this program. I spent money doing it. I spent time doing it, but it's always been so valuable. So from that point on, I was writing content, but making sure that it was going to be seen through different strategies that  I started using most of which were. Completely free and organic, which was nice.

Eric Dickmann: [00:09:10] It's so interesting because you know out there in the world today you've got mentors which I sort of look at as people who hold you accountable  for your vision and can help you get to where you want  to go. And then you've got coaches which can actually provide you the skillset that you need to get there. And so many businesses don't take advantage of either a they struggle they make the mistakes and they could be so much further ahead if they would just reach out to resources that could give them the knowledge that could help them along that path Have you certainly found that in your journey?

Alex Sanfilippo: [00:09:42] Yeah, 100% for awhile. I kept on telling myself it's funny when you even mentioned it, because I said, I need a mentor and I thought, I just need a mentor and your mentor. And I started getting mentors, but they weren't helping me grow my, my content. My vision was growing, but the way I was getting that vision was actually getting further and further. And that's not to say anything bad about mentors you should have in your life, but you've got to have a coach as well. You got to have somebody in there that can help, help fill in the gaps. You gotta have that right. A tribe, if you will. At times, for me, it's, it's often been community-based where there's multiple people that were all just pouring into each other, sharing our different feedback. And the different things that we've done to be able to actually fill in the gap from where we are today, to where we want to go with whatever it is that we're doing. And that's, that's been a big part of my life. It definitely has.

Eric Dickmann: [00:10:23] So you started the blog you got proficient at SEO and digital marketing through the help of  people like Elizabeth And then you sort of if I've got the timeline right you started to do some speaking some coaching and then you started a podcast Was that original podcast was that really focused on these same skills

Alex Sanfilippo: [00:10:42] Yeah. And you know what, it's, it's really, it's a funny story. You got a timeline. All right. But like, I didn't expect it to do that. I mean, yeah. SEO came really natural to me. I sat down with somebody, and I remember her name right now so I feel bad It was years ago but the first person I ever sat with I paid her for an hour and a half our time I'm like I just need someone to explain what on earth SEO even stands for Like somebody help me out here And she told me go read these blogs from now on Here's how you use you know Google analytics Here's how you do this all the basics the things I need to learn and who would Have known man if that was a subject in school but at ACE that all the way through for some reason SEO just makes great sense to me A through and through and I really understand how to filter good information from bad information because there's like the techno technical SEO non technical SEO Like I understand what you really need to focus on to bring in a result So I started doing that My blog like really took off I mean we went I went multi authored with it After that I had people asking Hey can I write on your platform It looks great because I learned a little bit about that as well And people can find it on search engines long fast forward today we have more than 130 people who write on that same original blog that I started and now I'm just I'd take a back seat I don't really I work on it maybe an hour a month You know like I don't really do anything with it anymore I have a team that runs all that I'm pretty hands off but around that same time was when speaking engagements are coming people were asking Hey would you talk about this And the first time I'm asking you to speak I'm like Really I was I was like I had never thought about I'm like me speak I'm like huh what do you want me to talk about They're like this And I'm like Oh well I can I can talk about that And they're like exactly what you do it So I was like sure So I was like I'll do this once I'll give it a shot I told my wife I remember right before I was walking up on a stage To speak She was there cause she's like Oh I've never heard you speak I'm like me neither You know So Right I would say just looking at him like how did I get here I'm like I don't understand how I'm here Like I'm listening to someone introduce me right now It was like a long introduction I'm like how like why am I here And it's one of those things that life really we'll we'll just take you places you know like things will just open up doors We'll continue to open as you as you devote to your your craft and the thing that you're passionate about and that you you love to do and devote your time to and I in love with speaking The first time I got on that stage I got on that stage and I had a line of people afterwards Tell me it was some of the best content they've ever had And I'm not saying that to be prideful at all to me it really, it, it was, it was humbling. Like, I, it brought me to like an emotional level. I haven't hit, like, I felt, you know, I was like, man, these people like really, they need any help. They were where I was for those two years before I sat with Elizabeth. Like they didn't know these things. And yeah. So I just, I started picking up more speaking opportunities and then people started asking me questions, more questions, and like, So I was sending a little voice memos and I was like, maybe this should be a podcast I've heard about these things. So yeah, my first podcast was just a very short, I called it digital coaching sessions, really short, little SEO, talks, little talks about blogging, just little tips and tricks, usually between five and 10 minutes. And that was it. And I got great feedback from it. And it was just, again, very organic was a natural flow from where I was going. If that makes sense.

Eric Dickmann: [00:13:27] So Neil Patel stole the idea from you

Alex Sanfilippo: [00:13:29] Sure. Sure we can say that today.

Eric Dickmann: [00:13:34] No That's awesome you know I had a guest on the other day to and were talking about how they  design the job that they wanted and then they sort of reversed engineered it And to me when I hear your story, it sounds like the exact opposite of that. It sounds like all of these pieces came together Not necessarily with an end goal in mind but each one sort of developed, and as they started to develop you started to say Hey there's something here There's something If I combine these pieces There's something I can do with that And is that really how Creating a Brand was born, as all these pieces came together?

Alex Sanfilippo: [00:14:11] Yeah it kind of was you know like after that little podcast I started doing that that short one actually ended up closing it down not long afterwards Cause I had no clue what I was doing Same thing I didn't follow my own advice I didn't really give a lot of devotion to to understanding how to launch it and keep it going and things like that I'm usually a pretty strategic guy I think at that point I was just excited and probably bit off more than I could chew my wife would second that you know she's saying amen the other room I'm sure Like it was just too much at that time but I didn't know I wanted to help people And at that point again my my job I was still still as day thankful for that The the job I've had an aerospace like it's a great gig And it a lot of time though It's just the nature of the job So I started coaching at that point This was a few years ago and so I started just offering coaching and I just would sit with people for an hour and train them and teach them  And at first I was really loving it And I was helping a lot of people but I realized if I was ever going to make that a full time thing I was going to need to charge a little bit more And that's the nature of it Right And And that was going well But then one day I realized I w I wasn't helping the people I wanted to help anymore And this was probably the time where I realized I had something here This is when I realized the idea for creating a brand But I said remember I was talking to myself I was like you know what if you really want to help the people that you want to help you're going to have to find a way to do this more affordably You have to find a way to bring communities together and  to help you know to be all around helping each other Like that was the idea behind creating a brand So I stopped offering coaching I kept you And anything that had going on I continued and you know I  stayed true to that commitment if you will And then afterwards like when those things were all gone I just started doing creating a brand which is a community driven it's it's my podcast which I launched And I have been very consistent with his you know Eric I haven't Haven't any problems with that now that I I you know I knew what I was getting into and the community is just a free element that goes along with it where I'm just there to to help educate more of a facilitator if you will but I'll meet with people One-on-one any chance I get to jump on a zoom call And occasionally it turns in to money for me which is great but I always think it should be a byproduct So years ago when I started to do this I started saying this line to myself that Alex you are going to be a person of value not a person of profit A person of value not a person of profit And I've found that when you really are that person of value to other people where you follow direction that you see that you can help people The most profit does follow might take a little longer at times or might not come as natural but you will find a way to make that happen and that's way I've done this So creating a brand came very organically for me It's been very strategic since the day I launched but it did happen organically I kind of fell into that If you will

  Eric Dickmann: [00:16:32] Hey, it's Eric here and we'll be right back to the podcast. But first, are you ready to grow, scale, and take your marketing to the next level? If so, The Five Echelon Group's Virtual CMO onsulting service may be a great fit for you. We can help build a strategic marketing plan for your business and manage its execution, step-by-step. We'll focus on areas like how to attract more leads. How to create compelling messaging that resonates with your ideal customers. How to strategically package and position your products and services. How to increase lead conversion, improve your margins, and scale your business. 

To find out more about our consulting offerings and schedule a consultation, go to fiveechelon.com and click on Services. Now back to the podcast. 

 Well As I mentioned when we kicked off the show off air that you and I met at pod Fest when it was here in Orlando last year You gave an invitation after we had met to join this creating a brand community which I did And that was really one of the things that pushed me podcasting 

I really appreciate that And it is a great community What are some of the challenges that you've had building a community because I know that with anything that's community related right It takes a critical mass before there's engagement.  is it just simply getting the number of people into the community that you need to build that critical mass? How do you encourage people to be active participants?

Alex Sanfilippo: [00:18:01] Yeah this is one of those things where when I started this it was just what was it like a year and a couple of months ago at this point you know when I when I launched it so it's not that old or anything like that but I launched using a strategy that I had recommended to me from the platform provider I use mighty networks for the for the community building platform which I highly recommend I'm not saying that they didn't give me a good way to do it I back now I think that it could have been done differently and because of that whole reason it has a network effect right Anything has a network effect which basically means it gets more valuable The more people were on it Well when you launch it and you launch with a podcast as no one listening to it because when you launched everyone has zero listeners They know there's no downloads the day you launch your first episode when you hit button it says zero for everybody And we all work our way up I didn't have massive influence online So I had a handful of people join but the problem was it was really small numbers So if I were to go back now I recommend to anybody If their thing was starting community I would start with actually some sort of email or text opt-in saying Hey here is what we're going to do Here's some things you can do Till then So basically give them something for free Like if it's a little checklist on how you can prepare for this community this may be launching that way You can kind of build up a little of an audience before it launches So when you have a launch date You can have a hundred people on there are you know 50 people and whatever it might be but it's better than the one or two that joined her Like there's nobody here What am I doing here Right it  the reason that when we go to a conference there's a start date and time Right Cause people just filtered it whenever they wanted they would just turn around and leave because there's not anyone else there but you say Hey it starts Friday at 6:00 PM Be there Everyone shows up that time But I think that when we launch online communities we have is different mindset of we'll just open it up and people You know they'll funnel in over time but really the better way to do that as an initial launch is to get as many people in there as possible and have some good content planned and ready for them So when they join in and you got them all coming at one time they start sharing this is what I'm passionate about They'll all see it and be like Oh Eric really likes he wants to start a podcast I do too Maybe he'd be a good guy for me to talk I wonder where he's learned so far when or how he's editing right So much of your savings And I was like Ooh I'm an editor like that That would have been a much better approach I did not take that approach It wasn't recommended to me through the education was getting again different for everybody But I think if I were to go back that's the way I'd recommend to really get a network effect going from day one 

Eric Dickmann: [00:20:05] Yeah that makes a lot of sense It really does but I know you know the the community is called Creating a Brand and you've done a lot around creating your brand You're very active on social channels Everything always points back to the Creating a Brand community. Even your call to action within your podcast is inviting people to join the community And then once they're in the community obviously that opens up a lot of other opportunities Talk a little bit about how you have built your own brand and how you've been intentional with what you've done across your various channels. 

Alex Sanfilippo: [00:20:37] Yeah So like you're saying everything is a is a funnel back to the community I mean even the podcast is that's the free educational element that we that we love I mean creating a brand podcast is has just done amazing things I've had some really good success there It's grown a lot it's been and everything at the end of the day brings people into the community And for me I realized years ago Eric because going back to being like that systems and strategy guy right my aren't that great Just being real like my ideas aren't that great They don't bring in a lot of money Like I'm not I can tell you how to turn an idea into money but my idea is from a creative element aren't necessarily always the best I do have some good ideas here and there of course like all of us but in general I realized if I was ever going to succeed in business I can't rely on just me And when I had the realization that the best businesses In the world the ones that are the most successful we're not built off of an idea but instead off of a solution to somebody else's problem When I had that mindset shift that my idea has to come from a standpoint of what is somebody struggling with in can I offer a solution to that When I made that shift I started succeeding far more So for me the creating a brand community isn't even on people buying the courses internet or joining the pay groups or anything like that like sure That's all great Really it's can identify any trends of problems that this group of people is having They have trusted me To be part of the solution So I always engaging that and I had the idea of of pod match.com from the community I watched people continuously struggling with the same thing I said you know what I bet we could have an idea I bet we could offer a solution to that And so for me bringing everybody into the community making all my funnels come there is where I can begin to just filter out different ideas and ways that we can all help each other and offer true solutions Again going back to being that person to value I want to add value to their lives and somehow help them go further faster And that's that's been really been a great way for me to do that

Eric Dickmann: [00:22:23] Well you know you talked a little bit about this in that last answer but there's a big element of time management that goes along with everything that you're talking about here right? Because you've got your regular job you've got to edit podcasts You've got to interview you've got to be on shows, you've got to write social media posts and I know your wife helps you out as well. And I know you did I was either a YouTube video or a podcast episode itself I don't remember talking about time management and some of the things that you do or that the reason this triggered is because you talked about the ideas that you see when you're interacting with people within the community. And I know you've got that book of ideas That's one of your your tools Did you just give us the short synopsis of of some of your time management techniques. I'd really encourage people to go and watch your full episode to talk about that But 

Alex Sanfilippo: [00:23:10] Yeah Yeah I mean the Eric this is such a good topic I'm glad you brought this up It's a great question to to to bring up And I think it's really valuable for the audience because so many of us struggle with this right Like the idea of Oh my gosh this guy Alex has a full time job and he's doing a podcast Andy as a community Right I think most people's initial response to hearing that like Oh he's just one of those Jack of all trades or a guy who just can't keep himself grounded Like he's doing everything It's not true I'm actually extremely intentional  one of my biggest I think one of the things that makes me strong as an individual as a business person is my ability to be very intentional everything I do So at first when I started getting into all this like remember I had all that free time Once again you know I was working 40 hours a week at most And so I had for me what was free time coming off of working 70 hours a week So I had that but initially That that wears off and you're like Oh man There's there's  a lot to do and he can get really stressful Right You look at everything that you have going on here Like how how am I doing this And then Eric had this crazy realization And it's that there are 24 hours in a day And I didn't realize that and everybody has 24 hours in a day So anybody you see doing anything amazing in the world they have the same 24 hours a day that you do which I've always found You know when I had that realization my wife was like what are you talking about I'm like well I realize I work eight hours a day I sleep between seven eight Let's just say eight I'm there's still eight hours there What do I do with that time And she was like Oh that's a good question I don't know So I started doing what I just call taking inventory of my time And I quickly realized that there was three hours a day going to TV There was an hour and a half going to just scrolling on social media There was an hour that I can't even give accountability for I don't know what happened with it You know I started adding it all up I'm like Oh man I'm actually not living very intentionally is even though I believe I'm an intentional person So when I started doing is designed to actually monitor and time block So I started looking okay here's my inventory of what's important to me What can I remove was the first thing I did So I started just taking things out that were commitments that I didn't need any more that really had no value it like as simple as subscribing to a YouTube channel and I always want to watch their videos It wasn't somebody I knew it was something maybe made me laugh and I was like you know what I probably don't need to do this anymore you know and you take out 15 of those and it's like okay that's four hours a week that I just gained you know like things like that So I took inventory I removed things and then I figure out the things that really need to be there And then I time blocked those things And doing that has helped me so much In addition the last thing I'll mention is having a having a meaningful evening and morning routine is so important Making sure that you're really intentional with when you're going to bed with what you're doing before you go to bed and then the way that you wake up So for me I'm not going to get into the nitty gritty of it if you will but I make sure that an hour before I go to bed All tech is off TVs off I'm preparing to go to bed I'm careful with what I eat and drink every day I'm make sure I exercise I want really good sleep because when that alarm goes off at five 30 in the morning I want to jump right up and do those first seven things that are instantly important to me So I can jump right into my day and doing that has really helped me to maximize my time and and believe it or not I still have a lot of free time Like I'm not a guy who has every minute of every day just booked like last I went to dinner with some friends You know we were wearing mask of course but you know I still went to dinner with some people that I wanted to go dinner with And tonight is a free night Like I'm not gonna have anything going on for a few hours And that's just it'd be time that I spend my wife Right I hang out and just read a book or something like that And it's just because I've gotten really intentional with that 24 hours that I have every single day And really owning my time keeping it under control and making sure that I know that I'm in control of my time It's not in control of me is really been the big thing 

Eric Dickmann: [00:26:37] Can you talk just briefly about how you use your books Cause I thought this was very interesting that you're a believer in writing things down not necessarily using an electronic tool. But you've got your checklist right of things that you have to do. And then you keep your ideas separately I thought that was great.

Alex Sanfilippo: [00:26:50] Yeah You know a lot of this goes back to the GTD methodology getting things done by David Allen It's a very popular way to to kind of manage things and he uses an analog just I he just has like a little notepad that you can like rip note It's almost like you're getting a ticket on your car You know like the cop writes down and rips it off He's got something like that And I kind of implemented something similar So I have like a little checklist  I write everything down So my checklist is here's what I've predetermined I'm going to do today And then I have whiteboards which if you know I know you're watching the video I've got three whiteboards behind me right now and make sure to write everything down there And they've got a daily journal and everything is going into these and all filters into one inbox Where I then go back and review it I'm like okay this is something I wrote down Like Eric had this good idea I wanted to look at the editing software who's using I may go back to that tomorrow and look and be like you know what I'm really happy with what I'm using I don't need to do this and I will just throw it away I might do or might say you know what no this has merit because this way it actually saved me time on editing Potentially I need to actually look at this And then at that point it's ended up my calendar which makes ended up on my checklist and just making sure I'm being really intentional with it Again I think the reason that I got rid of So much of the tech side of things Cause I used to have it all on my phone was just I'm addicted to my phone If I can be honest with you like I am addicted to it So anything that keeps me away from it is healthy for me anything I don't have to do there is a good thing So I've kind put that off if you will I just make sure that I've got my different notepads and it's funny people that know me they called my little black book Cause I walk around with it everywhere and I'm like I write I just jot down little notes here and there but it's a lot to really keep organized and to keep really intentionally focused.

Eric Dickmann: [00:28:15] And getting things done is a great methodology. I've I've read the book. The book is so jam packed with information but it's good information And it's a it's a great system. I want to switch back a little bit to talk about the creating a brand podcast because I know you've entered your fifth season now Congratulations on that That that's awesome How have you seen the podcast evolve If you go out and listen to episode number one compared to where you are and your fifth season, how have you seen the show really evolve?

Alex Sanfilippo: [00:28:41] Well, Eric, I'm scared to go back and listen to my first episode. I was so proud of it back then. It was, it was a year ago launched just over a year ago, launched on July 2nd, 2019. And,  proud of it Put a lot of work and do it A lot of great feedback but now I just know how much  polished I am if you will as an interviewer interviewee even And so I don't know what it sounds like but it has evolved a little bit initially when I was getting started I wasn't sure who my audience would be I thought maybe it would be people that are already established in business It's ended up being people that are really beginning stages of their  entrepreneurial journey And I made a couple of pivots along the way I made some very slight change you've got can listen to the first episode was just kinda like Hey it's your host Alex Sanfilippo You're listening to the creating a brand podcasts you know and now it actually goes in talking about helping people make that first or next step in business I have a little bit more of an intro it's longer or much different but I made some some serious pivots if you will in my mindset of who's listening to the podcast So the way you hear me interact with the audience when I'm asking the guests questions is different than it was a year ago And that's just a matter of really listening to people like Podcasting is a little bit one dimensional as you're not sure who's listening but there are ways becoming waste I should say Thankfully it's it's starting to evolve but you can see who's listening their age demographic and thanks to the creating a brand community that I can actually see Who's who's listening So I'm in Jacksonville Florida and we were having a thunderstorm This is every afternoon but here it is 

Eric Dickmann: [00:30:05] I heard that I heard that Can you give us a little bit of a preview of what's coming in season five ?

Alex Sanfilippo: [00:30:10] Definitely I mean I'm I'm so excited about this So this is the season that we've really  finished which is great It's fantastic We're done with the entire season So we're done through  and we just picked out guests are really going to help the audience continue to move forward So I actually got a little bit heavier into some more personal development type of things So there's still some business Of course there's always gonna be business involved but like the one that came out this was heavily talking about how to leave in the midst of uncertainty Like we live in in very uncertain times right now Right Like no one's sure if we're ever going to go back to work if you know what's gapping in election coming up like there's all these questions we have So we wanted to get into like how can we lead ourselves and our business as well And there was The other topic that really got into was I thought really important Cause I was realizing entrepreneurs is having this problem that when people are out and about with friends when I'm hanging out with family were wherever they might be they tend to be somewhere else Like you can look at their eyes and just tell Ah you know what They're not really here Like there They're talking to me but I can tell that their mind's somewhere else And so the whole concept of it dr Ivan Meisner the the founder of BNI the way he put it was be where your feet are And so I wonder I really wanted to drive that idea home a little bit with the audience was just Hey let's make sure that wherever we are we're living there at the fullest let's be where our feet are So again it's a little bit of a shift from like really heavy business and marketing topics to a little bit more of like how as entrepreneurs should we live our lives to stay healthy And in turn I believe that does grow our business 

Eric Dickmann: [00:31:34] I like the thunder and lightening It adds some real authority to what you're saying.  I think the whole presence thing a huge problem that we're facing in society right now And I even noticed it very clearly when I do things like these you know we're on a video conference and you can pay so much attention to people's eyes and where they're going because you move just a little bit away from the camera And you're no longer making eye contact with somebody but you've got notes and cameras and things like that But in person that same thing is going on, and too often we just lose that connection with people because you can tell they're looking at their phone they're looking at something else They're not present 

Alex Sanfilippo: [00:32:10] Yeah I've found it to be true And honestly I'm I've been very guilty of that Like if I'm going to be completely transparent As I've been growing the podcast especially initially when we started growing taking off I couldn't keep my eyes off of things like analytics which don't matter They really don't you know they're they're good for research and for data if you need to be there should just be intentional times You're checking with being glued to that And then thinking about if I'm going to land that next guest if I'm going to get that guessing slot on a podcast if Eric's ever gonna let me come on his podcast you know Things like that but but in all in all seriousness I've been guilty of this as well And I just see that it actually really it's very it's going your life long term I believe at one day you know we're all gonna pass one day I don't mean to be morbid by saying that but one day we're going to look back and we're not going to be like man Well Back in 2020 I had great analytics on my on my podcast You're gonna say man I really wish I would've given that friend more attention in my life I would have really poured into that relationship more And I've seen this happen time and time again with people that I even know that have passed unfortunately in all of them every everybody I've ever met they just say I wish I would have invested more where I was And you know it comes in form of of their friends their family whatever it might be And I just think that as entrepreneurs we have to remember that because the world around us tells us go faster You know go harder to keep on moving Don't stop Don't stop Like you can you don't have to sleep You know all these things And the truth is we have to slow down and really enjoy life And the things that really make it meaningful because at the end of the day if you achieve all the success in the world but you give up your own life what's what's the purpose of it right 

Eric Dickmann: [00:33:33] Absolutely You know you mentioned earlier that one of the things that you do in the community use you look at the discussion you see where there's need you see where you can add value And you briefly mentioned it earlier that you've come up with this new solution called PodMatch up to really address this this sort of a problem of people Being able to find shows where they can highlight their expertise and for hosts to be able to find guests that are appropriate for their audience So is this now the Tinder of podcasting ?

Alex Sanfilippo: [00:34:05] I have not used those words but yes it is Well said 

Eric Dickmann: [00:34:10] Perfect Tell us a little bit about what you're working on and what this product is all about 

Alex Sanfilippo: [00:34:15] Yeah You know it's actually funny You say that I didn't I didn't download Tinder but I downloaded hinge I've been for almost years And my partner and this the guy who's helped me develop it He has been married for like 10 I think or something like that We were like I think dating apps have this I think they have that I think it works like this And finally I was just like you know what Jesse like one of us just needs to talk to our wives and downloading these apps and see what it actually does And he's like well I'm not doing that He's like for sure I'm not doing that I'm like alright So I thought my wife I'm like I need to get on a dating app You know of course I explained it a little different but long story short is I downloaded one of those apps and I just kinda got an idea for how it worked to see if it would actually be a solution to the podcasting space Because when I went to pot you know we both went to pod Fest in early 2020 and the community I've been able To filter there as well but I asked you but what are they struggling with And like the common thing was I can't find guests for my podcast on the flip side is I have a new book I just wish I could find them a podcast to actually talk about it at all So I was hearing things like that I'm like okay that's kind of like online dating It's usually the same thing I can't find a good girls I can't find the good guys Right So when I downloaded one of these apps and and started looking into it I was like this is this is exactly what we're looking for This is for sure the solution that's needed And so we yeah we built it out We found the need we started building out the solution and and since then it's been it's been incredible like actually truly matching people They registered accounts free and from there it's literally just saying okay you would like to talk about this Here is a You know some guests that will actually really go well for what that podcast that you're trying to launch or that you are doing And it's been great really has offered a good solution We've gotten a ton of good feedback We've done zero marketing We're starting to work on that now but we've had a few few hundred people joined without us even really talking about it I mean posted about it on my social media and we still had a few hundred people join already which is really cool to see that that that's that's that proves me as an answer to a problem that people have If they're showing up finding it seeking it out without anyone even talking about it so really good. It's been very fulfilling for me to watch something really help people 

Eric Dickmann: [00:36:08] It's a great idea It's a great solution to a problem I joined the beta group I've already found three guests from it and it's been a really positive experience  and I know with each passing release it gets better and better So I really wish you a lot of success with that product because I think it definitely meets a need in the marketplace today Excited to see it go full public

Alex Sanfilippo: [00:36:27] Cool. Thank you. So, yeah, I appreciate that, man. It means a lot to have your support in it.

Eric Dickmann: [00:36:31] Yeah well thanks for inviting me So Alex we should probably wrap things up for today This has been a great conversation but tell people how they can find you online

Alex Sanfilippo: [00:36:40] Yeah. The best thing to do is just go to creatingabrand.com. or interested in being a guest on a podcast are you about your have a podcast your own you're looking for guests and go to podmatch.com either love to meet you in the creating a brand community So again creatingabrand.com all the blue buttons on that website will take you straight into the community It's completely free. I just love to meet anybody who I've who I've helped impact or maybe he has a question about something I shared So Eric and I have been able to develop a great relationship and it's, it's been a lot of fun, but those are the two places that I'm really primarily at.

Eric Dickmann: [00:37:12] That's great. I will definitely have links to all of that in the show notes so that people can find it. Alex, this has been a great conversation. I appreciate your time today and appreciate all the valuable advice that you've given me is I've launched my own podcasting journey. So thank you so much.

Yeah. And our primary. Thank you again for having me. And by the way, you are a fantastic host. I'm so excited to able to share this episode when it goes live here, you're doing a great job here, man. Keep on adding that value.

thank you so much  Thank you for joining us on this episode of The Virtual CMO podcast. For more episodes, go to fiveechelon.com/podcast to subscribe through your podcast player of choice. And if you'd like to develop consistent lead flow and a highly effective marketing strategy, visit fiveechelon.com to learn more about our Virtual CMO consulting services.