Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Be the Show, Not The Commercial: Shawn Walchef's Recipe for Restaurant Success | Restaurants & Franchises Series

Transcript

Be the Show, Not The Commercial: Shawn Walchef's Recipe for Restaurant Success | Restaurants & Franchises Series · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of Inspired Stories, where leaders
0:07
share their experiences so we can learn from their successes,
0:10
how they've overcome adversity, and explore current challenges
0:13
they're facing. Welcome to another edition of
0:18
the Inspired Stories podcast where leaders share their
0:20
experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired
0:24
by how they've overcome adversity.
0:26
My name is Anthony Cotispoti and today's guest is Sean Walcha, a
0:30
man who wears many hats. He is the founder of Cali BBQ
0:34
Media, where he helps hospitality brands and leaders
0:37
tell better stories online. He's also the CEO of Cali BBQ, a
0:42
place where friends gather to eat slow cooked California BBQ,
0:46
drink specialty spirits, and cheer on their favorite sports
0:49
teams. They've won UT San Diego's best
0:52
brunch and best sports bar awards.
0:55
They were named the Small Business of the Year in 2016.
0:58
Sean also hosts his own podcast called Restaurant Influencers,
1:02
where he highlights top leaders in the restaurant and
1:04
hospitality industry. He's a prolific content creator
1:08
for Entrepreneur Media and Toast, and we'll hear more about
1:12
his LinkedIn Mastermind for hospitality professionals.
1:14
It's completely free and we'll hear how you can take part in
1:18
that. But before we get into all the
1:20
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1:23
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To find out if your company qualifies, contact us today at
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Add Back benefitsagency.com. Now back to our guest today, the
1:50
founder and CEO of Cali BBQ. Sean, I appreciate you making
1:53
the time to Share your story today.
1:56
Thank you for having me on. I'm excited to to share all the
1:59
all the mistakes that we made, so hopefully the listeners don't
2:02
have to. I love that.
2:03
Appreciate that. So you're start, you're involved
2:07
in several things, Sean, let's maybe start with the the media
2:10
company, Cali BBQ Media. Tell me how you first came to
2:13
start this company and then explain what it is that you.
2:16
Do for your customers. Sure.
2:19
So those that are listening, those that are watching, you
2:23
might be familiar with A Field of Dreams, an American classic
2:27
baseball movie with Kevin Costner.
2:30
That movie, there is a line. If you build it, they will come.
2:35
And somehow, someway, I don't know how, but it got into the
2:38
folklore of business professionals, entrepreneurs
2:42
that if you build it, they will come.
2:44
Now there's also a mantra, location, location, location,
2:47
real estate mantra, restaurant mantra, open up in a great
2:50
location and that'll solve all your problems.
2:53
Well, I went against the location, location, location
2:56
mantra and I went, if you build that, they will come.
3:00
And I opened in 2008. Bad time, difficult business.
3:05
Great Recession going on. And different location, yeah.
3:10
And because I, because we went there, we failed.
3:12
I mean, to be honest with you, we failed running our
3:15
restaurant. I couldn't get people to come
3:16
into the restaurant. We were trying to figure out
3:18
what was our menu, what were we serving?
3:22
And once we realized that no one was coming to tell our story, I
3:26
thought if we made great BBQ, if we provide a great hospitality,
3:30
that the local media, radio stations, newspapers, magazines,
3:34
I thought that they would start to care about what we were
3:36
doing. They would send people down,
3:38
reporters would come interview me, we'd have a full restaurant,
3:41
we'd be able to open up rest other restaurants.
3:44
The truth of the matter is no one's coming.
3:47
And I think that is the most powerful truth that we found.
3:51
And that's why we built a media company is because no one's
3:54
coming. And not only is no one coming,
3:56
but we also live in the greatest technological revolution that's
4:00
ever happened to business owners in the fact that we opened in
4:03
2008 and in 2007, the iPhone came out, the first iPhone came
4:09
out in 2007. Everything that's happened since
4:12
then, web two point O all of these apps, The reason why you
4:16
and I are having this conversation that it's going to
4:18
get distributed on YouTube, on Spotify, Apple podcast,
4:21
Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok threads, all of these different
4:25
places, all because of technology.
4:27
We don't have to go and build these platforms.
4:29
They're available to business owners.
4:31
And once I realized they were available to me.
4:35
So you started the restaurant first, you thought, I don't need
4:39
a great location, I'm just going to build it.
4:40
They're going to come to me. We're going to make great food.
4:42
People just start talking about it naturally on their own.
4:45
And you learn the hard way that wasn't true.
4:48
And so did you, did you actually have to shut down that first
4:51
restaurant or were you able to keep going and, and then sort of
4:55
learn and apply the the media lessons that that you were
4:57
picking up? Thankfully, we never shut down
5:01
the restaurant. We've been open for 16 years.
5:03
We've closed 2-3. We're closing our third Ghost
5:06
Kitchen location. So we tried during the pandemic
5:09
to open up micro mini restaurants, delivery and take
5:12
out only 200 square foot locations.
5:15
Those failed. And what we learned through
5:18
those failures is what we hope those lessons to apply to our
5:21
third location, which will be at the San Diego Navy base, which
5:24
will be opening in the middle of July 2024.
5:27
So what we learned operating a low labor model, a commissary
5:31
kitchen, slow smoking meats and then delivering them, we are
5:35
going to apply. But to your question, in the
5:38
beginning, we stayed open, thankfully, scratching, clawing
5:42
our way to figure out how to pay payroll, how to pay for food to
5:45
come into the restaurant, how to pay for insurance, how to pay
5:48
for lawsuits when we got sued. And then understand that
5:52
Facebook was available. You know, eventually Instagram
5:55
was available, Yelp was available, Google was available,
5:58
websites, e-mail marketing, branding, figuring out that if
6:02
we could learn how to use these tools, we could figure out how
6:06
to actually have a successful business where people came from
6:09
all over San Diego to come and see us.
6:11
So Sean, I'm curious, how was it that you ended up becoming
6:15
familiar with these digital tools that were available?
6:18
You weren't using them initially when you first opened the first
6:22
iPhone had only come out a year before.
6:24
How was it that you started to cut your teeth on all of this?
6:29
I think just out of sheer necessity, I made fun of my
6:32
business partner and best friend when we opened up the restaurant
6:35
in 2008 because he was on Facebook.
6:38
I thought he was just using Facebook as a way to find dates
6:41
or to look at women. And it turns out Facebook was a
6:45
place that you could claim a business page and not only claim
6:48
a business page, but you can talk about your menu, You can
6:51
talk about the events that you have, the local charity, things
6:54
that you're doing to support Little League teams and and
6:57
football teams. And once we started owning
7:00
Facebook, people started to take notice.
7:03
And I think so much of our struggle was understanding that
7:07
I needed to go in and learn how to use the tool that was
7:11
available. So if it was Yelp, a lot of
7:14
restaurant owners still don't like Yelp.
7:16
Why is that? Why don't you tell our audience?
7:20
Because no one likes to be told their food sucks.
7:23
This is our baby. Like this is the thing that
7:25
you've put blood, sweat and tears into.
7:27
And somebody comes in and they don't like it and they complain
7:29
and they leave a one star review, which affects your
7:32
overall rating, which affects your ability to drive in
7:34
revenue. It hurts.
7:36
It hurts. And instead of realizing that it
7:40
hurts, you could actually do something about it and respond.
7:43
And we started prioritizing how fast can we respond?
7:46
We will respond to every single Yelp review, every single Google
7:50
reveal, every single Facebook post.
7:53
And by doing that, we started owning our narrative.
7:56
We started owning our story. We did what other businesses
7:59
were unwilling to do. And that was back in, you know,
8:01
2008, 2009, 2010. It took to the pandemic for
8:05
people to wake up and go, oh, wait, the Internet matters.
8:08
I need to have a business that's online.
8:10
I need to care about my website. I need to care about my e-mail.
8:13
I need to care about social media.
8:15
I need to be on LinkedIn. Like, yeah, 100%.
8:19
I mean, you don't need to be. But if you don't, someone else
8:22
is going to be. And they're going to find much
8:24
better, deeper business connections.
8:25
I mean, I'm learning about you and what you guys do just
8:28
because you're willing to reach out and have a podcast.
8:31
And that's a powerful lesson to anyone that's listening to this.
8:34
Everyone's trying to go to a networking event, go to a trade
8:37
show, go to a conference, go to a golf outing, a happy hour.
8:41
There's deep ways to build deep connections, and their tools are
8:44
right in front. Of them, and so you just learn
8:46
by doing. Were there courses that you took
8:49
along the way? Were there people there, mentors
8:52
that kind of help guide you in this process, or you just
8:55
strictly learn by doing and bumping your toes?
9:00
I mean, obviously there's mentors.
9:02
I have lots of mentors. David Meltzer is one of my media
9:05
mentor. I've been working with him since
9:06
2020. Gary Vee is somebody that I've
9:09
never met, but obviously huge fan of the content.
9:12
I remember in 2017, which was the year that we officially
9:16
launched our media company, started our first podcast.
9:19
I remember sitting at my desk and getting a copy of
9:22
Entrepreneur magazine with Gary Vee on the.
9:24
Cover. And I was reading the article
9:27
about Vayner X and about what they were doing, and I couldn't
9:31
believe that someone in his position at his, you know,
9:34
running an ad agency believed so much in social media because
9:39
everyone else didn't care about it.
9:40
Anyone that was in building the significant business laughed at
9:44
YouTube, laughed at Instagram, you know, laughed at at Twitter.
9:47
Those are all just side benefits.
9:48
But he was using it as a primary communication tool.
9:51
I was like, maybe this is somebody I should listen to.
9:53
And I listened to his podcast, read his books.
9:56
And whether it was, you know, Gary Vee or Tim Ferriss or like
10:00
I said, David Meltzer, so many of those people I admire and
10:05
look up to that, that's the beauty is like, I don't need to
10:09
go to university to go sit and, you know, listen to Professor
10:12
Gary Vee. I can literally just turn it on
10:16
when I'm driving on my way. It's an amazing age that we live
10:18
in. So OK, so you started this
10:21
restaurant, ran into troubles, you're like, OK, we've got to do
10:25
something. We got to we got to change our
10:26
approach here. So you started to learn how to
10:28
use these digital tools. And then at what point did you
10:32
decide, hey, this is working really well for us and our
10:35
restaurant, which would later become restaurants that I want,
10:40
I want to open up a media company to offer these same
10:43
ideas and services to other people.
10:45
We weren't getting paid. I was spending my own money,
10:48
restaurant money on this crazy idea that having a weekly
10:52
podcast, weekly video podcast, long form content, short form
10:55
content, professional article, website, article, newsletter,
10:59
all of those things would pay off.
11:02
And I had people close to me that I love and care about and
11:04
respect that are like, Sean, like.
11:06
We can't keep. Spending money on doing this,
11:08
I'm like, this works like, well, what are the numbers?
11:12
What are the analytics say like, well, nobody's listening.
11:16
That's the problem When you first start, nobody's listening,
11:19
nobody's watching, nobody's reading.
11:21
And when that happens, it's a real gut check to the person
11:25
that's the actual creator to go, is this worth it?
11:29
And most people will quit. I mean, there's a statistic that
11:32
there's 2 million podcasts on Apple Podcast, 2 million
11:35
podcasts. 25% of those are one episode, meaning 25% of those
11:43
two 500,000 people publish one episode and go.
11:47
This is too much work. I didn't get all the benefits of
11:50
starting a media company or started a podcast or launching a
11:53
show. 60% of those people don't even make it to 10 episodes. 60%
12:02
of 2 million don't even make it to 10 episodes.
12:06
It tells me everything that I need to know, that if I'm
12:09
willing to consistent, persistent pursuit of the thing
12:12
that I believe in, of knowing that there's someone somewhere
12:15
in the world that's just as crazy as I am that loves
12:18
restaurants, that loves hospitality, loves technology.
12:21
That if I have great conversations, if I follow my
12:24
curiosity and bring on people that I respect and I admire and
12:28
ask them intelligent questions that I want to learn from, then
12:32
maybe they'll TuneIn next week. And not only maybe they'll
12:35
TuneIn, but maybe they'll reach out if they're in London, if
12:38
they're in Australia, if they're in Canada, if they're in Mexico.
12:42
And sure enough, now here we are seven years later, we've got a
12:45
community of people all over the globe that meet on a weekly
12:49
basis that connect, that follow me on TikTok, follow me on
12:52
LinkedIn, connect on Instagram. It's it's an amazing thing.
12:57
And why do people TuneIn, what can they expect to learn and
13:00
hear from you? So I think every show that we do
13:03
is different. We want to have specifics of
13:06
what, what does someone get to learn?
13:07
The Digital Hospitality Show, which is a show that we've been
13:10
doing for seven years, is much more focused on four things.
13:13
The 4C's, which is content, commerce, communication, and
13:17
community. What is the intersection of all
13:20
of those 4C's between content, between commerce, between
13:24
community and between communication?
13:26
All of those things, they all happen on a smartphone.
13:30
That's the magic. We have the greatest tool that's
13:33
ever been given to a business owner and we take it for
13:35
granted, all of us, myself included, and all I do is talk
13:39
about it, how powerful the tool is.
13:42
You know, I am, I'm a man that is the worst man there is when
13:47
it comes to, oh, go and fix the car, go and fix something in the
13:51
house. My wife has the toolbox, like I
13:54
can't fix anything. But my tool is a smartphone and
13:59
she knows that we make fun of each other.
14:01
We do it all in love. But I can do anything with a
14:04
smartphone. And why?
14:05
Because I use it every single day.
14:07
I use audio, video, words, images, I use all the apps.
14:10
I don't discriminate. I don't care.
14:12
I'm curious. I go down the thread of figuring
14:15
out how do I build community? How do I connect with people?
14:18
And because of that, we have opportunities to work with the
14:21
greatest technology brands in the restaurant space.
14:24
You know, we work with companies like Toast, Restaurant 365,
14:26
Seven Shifts, Uber, Yelp, I mean, we have a this laundry
14:30
list of the best in class of digital hospitality tools for
14:34
restaurant owners and they count on us to be part of their
14:37
content team. So when you were first getting
14:40
started on this media journey for your own restaurant, what
14:43
what were some of the biggest levers that you pulled that were
14:46
moving the needle for you? Video.
14:49
And what were you doing? What kind of video were you
14:51
creating and and where were you posting it?
14:53
How were you making use of it? The most important thing that
14:56
anybody that's listening to this, it doesn't matter what
14:58
business you're in, but the Internet wants a video.
15:01
I mean, we're in 2024 moving forward.
15:03
There's a reason why TikTok is as popular as it is.
15:06
There's a reason why Instagram's no longer a photo sharing app.
15:09
App, you go on there, it's all reals.
15:11
Facebook does the same thing. YouTube Shorts is as popular as
15:14
it is. Video is showing versus telling.
15:18
You know, we at Cali BBQ Media, we say be the show not the
15:21
commercial. You know, back to my children, I
15:24
have a 7 year old boy and a 5 year old girl and I remember
15:27
when they first started using a tablet and watching YouTube
15:30
Kids, the first digital button that they learn how to hit.
15:33
Do you know what it was? Tell me.
15:36
Skip. I've had enough of this, move on
15:40
to the next one. Huh.
15:41
Like they're watching a cartoon. You know, my son watching about
15:44
dinosaurs and then YouTube plays an ad about something, you know,
15:49
driven towards his audience. So it's not, you know, something
15:52
but it but his story is getting interrupted.
15:55
He doesn't want his story, his content interrupted.
15:57
So he learned how to hit Skip. My daughter watching somebody,
16:01
you know, a girl playing with dolls or playing with makeup.
16:03
Skip, we're adults. We still don't want to see
16:07
commercials. Yet here we are, you know,
16:10
advertising agency spending all this time to make commercials.
16:14
What we do and what we teach is use the tool that's in your
16:17
hand. If you own a restaurant, every
16:20
single person in your restaurant, yourself included,
16:22
has a phone, 4K minimum 4K quality phone that you can
16:27
publish. You can live stream to the
16:29
Internet to show. How do you make what you make?
16:33
Open up your kitchen. You know, if you go on Cali BB
16:36
QS, Tiktok or our Instagram, you'll see pictures of our
16:39
pitmaster making BBQ. Literally, I bring people into
16:43
the kitchen. I take my iPhone and I hit play
16:47
and I watch Bernice fabricate 150 racks of ribs.
16:52
No high editing. I I have the five.
16:54
I have multiple video editors, but that's not what I publish.
16:58
You know, we make all different types of videos, but the ones
17:01
that perform the best are just raw.
17:03
Bernice making it ribs. So you're just, you're showing
17:07
sort of the behind the scenes. Here's what's going on.
17:09
Here's how we do what we do and and then how are you getting the
17:13
eyeballs? You know, build it and they will
17:15
come. Doesn't always work online.
17:17
Like you've put, you've put the content up there and now how are
17:20
you putting it to work for you? I mean, I think that's, that is
17:24
how you put it to work by putting it online.
17:26
The problem is most people don't put it online.
17:29
So what we say is the the problem that most business
17:33
owners, myself included, is that we see the Internet, we want
17:37
quality, we want that commercial quality.
17:40
We see the people that we admire, the brands that we
17:42
admire and we go, I want that video.
17:45
The problem is that brand or that company or that creator,
17:47
they've spent thousands of videos before they made that
17:51
video. Go back to their first videos,
17:54
they were terrible. So the answer to quality is
17:59
quantity plus speed plus consistency.
18:03
Quantity, speed, consistency. You need more repetitions.
18:08
To get better, you need more shots on goal.
18:11
Yeah. And if you don't press publish
18:13
because of your fear of what is someone gonna think my kitchen's
18:17
dirty, the lighting's not good, The knife doesn't look right?
18:20
I didn't put my hair up. I don't like the way that I
18:22
look. I'm overweight.
18:24
Like all of those insecurities that every single human has,
18:27
including myself, prevents people from hitting publish.
18:30
I mean, what's the number one fear?
18:31
What's humans #1 fear? Failure.
18:34
Rejection. Speaking judgment.
18:39
People would rather be in the coffin than give the eulogy for
18:43
the funeral. I haven't heard it put like that
18:48
before. Human fear they would rather be
18:51
in the coffin than give the eulogy for the funeral.
18:55
And so you're saying that's what holds a lot of people back from
18:58
pushing? Records the.
18:59
Same reason on social. Yeah.
19:02
I do this all day long everyday. CE OS of publicly traded
19:06
companies, startup tech founders, people that are very
19:09
brilliant in sales, very brilliant in marketing.
19:12
But we all are humans and we're all scared of judgement, myself
19:16
included. I was terrified to go on the
19:18
local news. I once we started doing social
19:20
media and started posting on Instagram, doing videos, all of
19:23
the things that I wanted for our business started happening.
19:27
The local news, the local magazines, national news.
19:30
We had all of these different legacy media outlets reaching
19:33
out to us to do stories. And I was terrified because I
19:37
didn't want to sound stupid talking about barbecue in San
19:40
Diego on the West Coast. Why?
19:42
Because there's people from Texas, there's people from the
19:45
Carolinas, there's people from Memphis, from Kansas City, where
19:48
BBQ is religion. But what does this guy from San
19:51
Diego know? Anything Cali BBQ get out of
19:53
here. You got imposter syndrome.
19:55
It's very common. Yeah.
19:56
Yeah. And so you're publishing the
19:59
content. Are you running ads to it or you
20:01
just you're putting it up there and just kind of letting nature
20:04
take its course and hoping the algorithms shine brightly upon
20:07
you? We do both, so we test with ads,
20:10
but we are more focused on organic than anything, and we
20:14
care more about building an organic machine so that we can
20:18
find which type of content performs the best so that we can
20:21
put ads against that type of content.
20:24
And so this is the service that you're not only doing for your
20:26
own restaurants, but you're doing for your clients as well.
20:28
You're encouraging your clients. Hey, just pick up your
20:31
smartphone. Just start recording.
20:32
Let let us give you some ideas, you know, to get you started,
20:36
but then you guys pick it up, you guys make the content and
20:39
then we'll help you distribute it and make use of it.
20:41
Is that? Yeah.
20:42
The problem that companies have is that they want to get their
20:46
message out, so they hire APR firm or they hire a social media
20:49
agency. And no offence to the PR firms
20:52
or the social media agencies out there, but most of them are
20:55
terrible. And they're not terrible because
20:57
of intent. Like they don't want to be
20:59
terrible, just the infrastructure is bad.
21:02
The best story is gonna come from who?
21:07
The person from that owns the business, the person that works
21:10
in the business. It's not gonna come from
21:12
somebody that's in a corporate office, you know, down in
21:15
Madison Ave. that's thinking of a best commercial.
21:19
No, it's gonna come. The truth vibrates the fastest.
21:21
Where does the truth come from? The truth comes from the owner.
21:25
Like every single business owner in real life.
21:28
You can't be in business if you're not good at negotiating
21:31
or, or sharing your story or telling your story in real life.
21:34
But when it comes to publishing it on YouTube, all of a sudden
21:37
it's a big ordeal. All of a sudden it's like, oh, I
21:39
can't be on TikTok. I'm too important to be.
21:42
I don't do video on LinkedIn. Why not?
21:46
And so what's the painted a little bit more of a picture for
21:49
people listening what what they would get signing up with you
21:52
guys as a service provider? What's that relationship look
21:56
like? Number one, we do everything for
21:58
free so anybody can join our LinkedIn community, which is
22:02
digital hospitality leaders from all over the globe on Wednesday,
22:05
on Friday, 10:00 AM Pacific Time, 1:00 PM Eastern Time, 6:00
22:09
PM London time. We have a group of anywhere from
22:12
20 to 40 people that join us live.
22:15
So we I can get 17 people up on stage.
22:17
We have one topic every single Wednesday.
22:19
Every Friday the topic changes, but we have a community of
22:22
people that share ideas knowing that I don't have all the
22:26
answers, but we have other people.
22:29
It's kind of like crowdsourcing content, like crowdsourcing
22:32
education of like, let's pick one thing that we're let's talk
22:35
about video. First.
22:37
We get to go and hear from Troy Hooper, who runs 516.
22:42
Pepper lunch restaurants. He's the CEO of Hot Palate
22:45
America, Troy Hooper, Jason Berkowitz, all of these
22:48
incredible leaders that come up on stage to have a conversation,
22:52
to share their truth, to share their story.
22:55
And for me, that is our source of truth.
22:58
That is our community. You know, back to the four CS
23:00
content, community, communication.
23:03
How do we care and how do we move our businesses forward?
23:06
Well, we do it by knowing that we're not alone.
23:09
I think that's probably the most important thing for anybody
23:12
that's listening is that entrepreneurs and business
23:16
owners, we feel like we're all we're alone.
23:18
So true, I hear it all the time I and I feel it myself.
23:21
I've been as a. Podcaster, right?
23:24
I've I've been grateful in my BBQ life and my podcasting life.
23:28
My media life isn't. I never believe in in
23:31
competition. I believe in collaboration over
23:33
competition. There's so much business for
23:35
everybody. So what I do is I find other
23:38
podcasters, no matter if they just started a show or if
23:40
they've done thousands or 10 thousands of shows and find out
23:43
what, how can we share secrets? And when we share secrets, all
23:46
of a sudden, like how did you get that sponsor?
23:48
Wait, how did you incorporate? How did you build a community?
23:50
What did you do with your e-mail?
23:51
What are you doing with short form video?
23:53
Like how did you get that article the way I really love
23:55
how you did the article and the follow up e-mail.
23:57
Like all of those things, if you don't make them better every
24:01
single week. Then you will fail.
24:03
You'll be part of that 25% that quit.
24:05
Or the 60% that don't get to 10 at this?
24:09
Point SO. More Shows.
24:11
So Sean, you've got this LinkedIn group that's free.
24:14
Is, is everything related to the media company free or are you
24:18
offering a paid, you're offering a paid service as well.
24:21
OK. I want to make sure that we
24:22
highlight that too. Sure.
24:24
So for brands that are listening, what what we've found
24:28
is back to the PR problem and the social media agency problem
24:32
is that it doesn't matter how many people that are responsible
24:35
for marketing and sales and revenue.
24:38
Content is hard and content can get expensive.
24:42
If you start to look for content companies or production
24:45
companies, you're going to find commercial video production
24:49
companies and they are going to charge you 25,050 thousand,
24:53
$100,000 to produce a 30 second commercial.
24:57
And then you have to find a distribution partner.
24:59
You got to put it on local news, national news, YouTube, wherever
25:02
you put it. That's not what we're talking
25:03
about. What we talk about and what we
25:05
offer our clients is to build a show for them.
25:09
So what we? Found most media companies is
25:12
you build a media company, you build attention.
25:14
We have a lot of people that listen to our digital
25:17
hospitality show and then we partnered with Entrepreneur
25:19
magazine. So we have a huge distribution
25:22
of Entrepreneur magazine. So people that visit the
25:24
website, that listen to the podcast, that watch the video on
25:27
the video Syndication Network, advertisers will pay to be on
25:32
that show. We have some incredible
25:34
advertisers Post Ovation, Marquee, Davo, They all sponsor
25:38
our content. They help us put on those shows.
25:41
But what we found is that what's even better for a company is to
25:46
have their own show. If they own their own show now
25:51
all of the sales. Things that they want to do, all
25:53
of the recruiting things, all of the things they want to do.
25:55
For investors, all of the storytelling, all of the press.
25:58
Releases now it can all be incorporated in a weekly show
26:01
cadence that also gets distributed across social media.
26:05
So my my production team, what we do is we help companies
26:09
launch, you know, 40 episodes over the course of the year and
26:13
that's like the highest tier of what we do.
26:15
The lowest entry level tier is I work one-on-one with founders,
26:19
CMOSCFOS and help them with what we call smartphone storytelling.
26:25
There's a lot of low hanging fruit, cheap, low production
26:28
stuff that you can do right now today on LinkedIn, on YouTube,
26:33
on Instagram, with your website, with your e-mail.
26:36
That will actually start to move the needle instead of spending
26:40
money hiring somebody that doesn't know your brand, that's
26:44
just out of college, that maybe knows social media.
26:46
Like the hard work is you if you if you care enough to listen to
26:52
this content, if you care enough to go.
26:54
I want to listen to this show. Maybe Sean had something
26:56
valuable to say. I love the work that Anthony
26:59
does You're the answer. You're also the problem.
27:02
You're. Gonna be a bottleneck, huh?
27:05
Yeah, yeah. And so, so you're coaching your
27:09
clients on. Is it like, like a podcast kind
27:11
of show like we've got here like two talking heads sitting side
27:15
by side? Is it more more relaxed, like in
27:19
a restaurant environment where like, you know, they're taking
27:21
out their cell phone and they're just recording what's going on
27:23
or? What's?
27:24
It look like. Everything is based, so we have,
27:27
you know, large restaurant groups and restaurant technology
27:29
companies that are our clients that we're currently producing
27:32
shows for. And each show, it's got to go to
27:35
your thesis, your mission statement, your why.
27:38
And if we get to your thesis, we get to your mission statement,
27:41
we get to your why. All of the other things are
27:43
easily figured. Like we can easily figure out
27:46
what does that look like? And back to the to the other
27:49
problem is that you need quantity, you need speed, you
27:53
need consistency. And then you will get quality
27:56
once you make that investment. The point is that you build the
27:59
infrastructure so that media and storytelling becomes part of
28:03
your business. Like you are in the media.
28:06
Business. You're in the storytelling
28:07
business. Not the marketing business.
28:10
Marketing will come, sales will come, recruiting will come,
28:13
investment will come. All of those things will come.
28:15
But if people can't find you, if people look.
28:18
For whatever specific. Thing you talked about in your
28:21
as your services or your product, they can't find it or
28:25
they don't find any videos, they're going to find a
28:26
competitor. So we talked a little bit about
28:30
the the media company. Where can people find the media
28:34
company they want? To learn more dot media.
28:38
Be the show dot media, and you mentioned that already.
28:40
Be the show, not the commercial. Talk a little bit more about
28:43
what that means to you. So much of what we've learned is
28:49
that we all learn through lessons and stories.
28:52
You know, I have been very fortunate over the last four
28:55
years to be asked to speak at a lot of big Restaurant
28:58
Association shows. Trade shows public.
29:01
Speaking events, I always bring my media team.
29:03
I always capture the content because if there's three people
29:06
sitting in the audience or 300 or 3000, I want that video
29:10
because that video will get published on YouTube, get
29:14
published on LinkedIn, get published on TikTok, go on
29:16
Instagram, and 10s of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of
29:20
people will see that content. So I have to prepare myself.
29:24
As I prepare myself, I study the best speakers, best keynotes,
29:28
the Ted Talks, understanding how do people get attention.
29:31
And the best way that people get attention is through stories.
29:35
Be the show, not the commercial. When you go to a speech, when
29:39
you listen to a panel, if you go to a webinar, you know when
29:43
you're getting sold back to my kids, my kids know they're
29:48
putting a cartoon within a cartoon.
29:50
And my kids know, hey, something's not right here.
29:54
And that's, and that's where the guards go up.
29:56
That's when we go into defense mode.
29:58
We're like, oh, oh, somebody's trying to sell us.
30:00
I'm going to tune out. I don't want this like this,
30:03
right? And so you're saying be just
30:06
tell a story, Tell your story, right?
30:08
Don't, don't come across as salesy.
30:10
Just be a real person. Tell your story.
30:12
That'll come across well. It's, it seems so simple and I
30:17
feel stupid saying it, but it goes back to fear.
30:20
You know, I, I talk about how do we, how do you build a community
30:25
and how do you as a content creator, how do you have the
30:27
courage to actually post if you're listening to this and
30:30
you're worried about making your first video?
30:32
Because when I give keynotes, I literally make everyone get up
30:35
at the end of my keynote and partner up with somebody, switch
30:39
phones, and then do a video. Why?
30:43
Because no one's ever been asked to do a video.
30:45
And when you're asked to share your truth and you have 60
30:48
seconds to share your truth, you better tell me a story in 60
30:50
seconds about why should I? That's your elevator pitch.
30:54
And people get nervous. I get nervous, but I do it every
30:58
day. I literally did four videos
31:00
yesterday. I went with my catering manager,
31:02
took him to the roof of my restaurant.
31:04
We have 4 different brands that we're working with.
31:06
I'm doing content with them for certain things that we're
31:08
promoting and I'm like. Do I have to do this?
31:11
Yes, I have to do it. I'm in this business of
31:14
storytelling, yet it's still awkward.
31:15
It's still weird sit in front of a cell phone and talk about
31:19
something. But the more that I do it, the
31:21
better that I've gotten at it where it's just second nature,
31:24
you know? Are you willing to start?
31:27
A digital flash mob. Do you know how to start a flash
31:29
mob? No how?
31:33
So we say the only way to start a digital flash mob is you have
31:37
to be willing to be the crazy person.
31:39
That hears the music. You have to be willing to be the
31:42
crazy. Person in the town square that
31:44
hears your truth, that hears your music.
31:48
And you have to start dancing. That's what it's like posting
31:51
your first video. Do you have any other
31:55
recommendations for people other than just do it and more reps on
32:01
how to get past that, that uncomfortable feeling of doing
32:06
it for the first time the 1st 10 times, The 1st 20 times?
32:11
Do you advise people to come up with a a script or an outline or
32:16
to just pull out the camera and just just shoot from the hip and
32:19
just keep going until you find one that feels right?
32:22
So the this is what we've learned.
32:25
We've learned that if you're not ready to do 100 videos in 100
32:28
days, it's just never going to work for.
32:31
You and it's not and honestly 95% of the people that listen
32:34
right now. They'll nod their head and know
32:37
that it's the right thing that they should do, but this won't
32:39
convince them to do it. It's the 5% that goes, OK, I've
32:43
been waiting. I see the people in my industry
32:46
doing the things that I want to do.
32:48
I have something more valuable to say.
32:51
I have a different unique perspective.
32:53
I'm going to start and it's not about doing one video and it's
32:57
not about doing 100 videos. It's how do you get to 1000
33:00
videos? Once you make that commitment to
33:02
I'm going to do a video just like I check my e-mail every
33:05
day. Now all of a sudden it's part of
33:07
who you are. Storytelling is who you are and
33:10
you realize that there's stories all around you every single day.
33:15
You have a media team with you every single day, no matter
33:18
where you go, and you have a unique.
33:20
Perspective that no one gets to see.
33:22
You're like, well, who gives a shit?
33:23
A lot of people do. And you don't need many people
33:27
to care because back to that digital flash mob.
33:29
All you need is one other person to start dancing with you.
33:33
Now you have two people dancing, Those two people dancing, those
33:37
two people dancing. It might take another month, it
33:41
might take two months, but then there'll be four people dancing.
33:45
Compounding interest. You know, my, my media mentor, I
33:47
mentioned him, David Meltzer, he talks about the problem that
33:50
most people have is that they don't believe in Noah's ark.
33:53
I was like, what are you talking about?
33:54
Noah's ark? It's like, not in a biblical
33:56
sense, not not in the, you know, Old Testament type of way.
34:00
But people don't believe in compounding interest two by two
34:04
by two by two. The time horizon is too short.
34:08
We think about ROI. What's the ROI of doing a video
34:10
a day? I want to see results.
34:12
I want my first deal. I want a 5.
34:14
Figure Deal 6 Figure Deal. When am I going to land my first
34:18
client because I started podcasting?
34:19
They're doing videos. You're looking at it all wrong.
34:23
I think this is great advice. I think we've hit upon something
34:26
really valuable to, to pull out a little bit here because I've
34:30
seen this a lot. I've I've seen it in myself.
34:33
I've seen it in a lot of my entrepreneurial friends.
34:36
Yeah, you hear somebody else's strategy like, oh, that makes so
34:39
much sense. It's working so well for them,
34:41
you know, whatever it might be. In this case, we're talking
34:43
about the video a day. You know, maybe it was Facebook
34:46
marketing, maybe it was postcards years ago, you know,
34:50
and, and you try it once or twice or five or six times and
34:55
then you're getting a little discouraged because it's not
34:58
clicking yet, right? The, it didn't, the, the money
35:00
isn't flowing in. And so I think this is, this is
35:03
really great advice that we're touching upon here.
35:06
And, and, and to hear your version of this, it's like you
35:09
got to keep going. I mean, how long did you say it
35:12
took before five years? Can you imagine if I didn't own
35:16
the company, if I was within a company and I had to go to a
35:19
board or ACEO and or CFO and run a proposal for my marketing and
35:25
media idea? Like, hey, you need to keep
35:26
investing, keep paying for a producer to produce this video,
35:30
keep playing for, you know, our distribution network, keep
35:33
paying for social media, like keep paying for this stuff.
35:36
Year one, year two year three. Hey, Sean, when are we going to
35:41
get the big deal out of? This.
35:42
Yeah. I think they would have fired
35:43
you if you were an employee. Most places would have fired
35:45
you. Yeah.
35:47
But after three years, we switched from a BBQ business
35:52
from Aloha, our point of sale technology to Toast.
35:56
And because I had three years under my belt of storytelling, I
36:00
told Toast we are going to tell the best stories possible.
36:03
B to B, business to business, restaurant owner to restaurant
36:06
owner, videos about why we're switching to your technology.
36:10
And they're like, well, we'll see.
36:12
We'll see what you do. I made a Toast unboxing video
36:15
that became the essence of everything that we do.
36:18
We unboxed point of sale technology.
36:20
Me and my general manager 5 minute video on YouTube got
36:23
shared all throughout the Toast company and landed us at the
36:27
Toast IPO. We got invited. 20 restaurants
36:30
got invited. That's fun.
36:31
The New York Stock Exchange. The.
36:33
Only reason we're there is because we were the
36:34
storytellers. That's great.
36:37
The. Restaurants were more
36:38
successful. Than we were.
36:40
So what can you share with the audience that can help people
36:45
get to where you were in less than five years?
36:48
In less than five years. Well, because obviously you were
36:51
learning a lot of things along the way, right?
36:55
Like, oh, let's try. Well, that didn't work.
36:56
Let's try, that didn't work. I mean, some of it was you just
36:59
needed those extra reps to gain the momentum.
37:02
But clearly, if you were to go back and start all over again,
37:06
I'm going to guess that you could get there in less than
37:08
five years. Absolutely.
37:11
I would go all. I would go all in, you know,
37:13
part of the part of what we've learned and what I hope anybody
37:17
anytime that I speak on a podcast on a stage through our
37:21
content is that no one's coming. I, I, I can't say that enough.
37:27
No one's coming. We believe that if we're good
37:31
enough, somebody will care. Someone will write about us,
37:34
somebody will share about us. Someone will tell the like.
37:39
The more that you focus on crafting your story, your truth,
37:44
your why, why you get up every single day to do the things that
37:47
you do, the more that story will become a legend, the more other
37:52
people will want to tell that story.
37:55
We forget comedians. I studied comedians.
37:58
Jerry Seinfeld, Kevin Hart, Chris Rock.
38:00
We forget that these comedians tell the same joke thousands,
38:07
10s of thousands of times. Before they have their Netflix
38:10
special. But we don't want to repeat
38:13
ourselves like I've already people know why I started the
38:17
company. Do they?
38:18
Do they really? Probably not.
38:22
Company, the people closest to you do.
38:24
But yeah, there's a much bigger audience waiting to hear that
38:26
story. Even then I wrote this book with
38:29
my grandfather. He asked me at the end of his
38:32
life self published this book which is called The Harvest.
38:35
The harvest. How a Bulgarian farm boy grew
38:38
wealthy in La Jolla, CA. And this is this is his story.
38:43
This is his story. Thank God at the end of his
38:47
life, he cared enough to want to memorialize this story into a
38:51
book, and he asked me to help him do it.
38:53
That was the beginning of my storytelling journey.
38:56
And what I learned by doing that is that every single person
38:59
that's listening to this, there is someone in your life that you
39:02
care about and love that has told you stories on
39:05
Thanksgiving, on Christmas, stories that we know, that we
39:09
almost roll our eyes. Oh, Grandma grandpa's telling
39:12
the same story, Dad. Oh, here we go, Dad's story
39:14
about the war instead of rolling our eyes.
39:19
We need to. Act like journalists.
39:21
We need to act like. Reporters.
39:23
We need to act. Like.
39:25
An attorney having a witness on the stand and doing a cross
39:28
deposition. Ask them deeper questions.
39:33
Research what was happening in the world along that story and
39:36
then record it with the thing that you have in your hand.
39:41
I love that. I love that not we're not just
39:44
talking about business here. We're talking about
39:46
memorializing the people closest to us, our friends and our
39:48
family and their their stories. But it but it's all the same
39:52
kind of thread. It's all about storytelling.
39:54
Isn't it? Right.
39:55
It's the stories that we love to hear.
39:57
We may roll our eyes, but we love to hear it from grandma and
40:00
grandpa, from our parents, from our aunts and uncles again and
40:02
again. And we all have those stories.
40:05
I think that's a big part of your message here.
40:07
We all have those stories to tell.
40:08
And especially as business owners, as people in the
40:10
hospitality industry, there are stories to be told there and
40:13
shared with people on a daily basis.
40:15
And that's what what creates those connections.
40:18
I'll tell you a story that I recently started sharing because
40:21
I, you know, fortunately I get asked to go on these podcasts
40:24
talked a lot about social media, what small business owners need
40:27
to do and where do they start and how do they start, what
40:30
prevents them from starting. And I came up with an orange
40:33
tree theory. What's What's the orange tree
40:38
theory? Orange tree theory is that every
40:40
business owner, every entrepreneur has an orange tree
40:44
story. And my orange tree story is a
40:47
story that I haven't told until recently until I started
40:51
realizing that this is a fundamental story that I need to
40:54
tell more and that by telling the story, I hopefully inspire
40:57
another business owner to talk about their quote UN quote,
41:01
orange tree. Our orange tree is that my
41:04
grandfather started our restaurant, the restaurant that
41:08
I now own and operate back in the late 70s, purchase the
41:13
property our family took over in the 90s.
41:16
So I actually have a photo. This is me.
41:18
Of the 13 year old boy washing dishes.
41:20
That's great. Dishwash the literally the same
41:24
set up that we now have. This is me as a 13 year old boy
41:27
for those that are watching on video.
41:29
But when I was a boy back in the 90s, my grandfather and my uncle
41:33
from the from Bulgaria, they planted an orange tree in front
41:36
of our restaurant next to a fountain.
41:38
So my grandfather loved water. He loved oranges, he loved
41:42
flowers. He planted a garden next to the
41:44
restaurant in the in the parking lot.
41:47
Fast forward to when my best friend and I from college took
41:50
over the restaurant. 2008 we took over the restaurant,
41:55
changed how the restaurant was set up.
41:57
Still orange tree was there fountains there.
41:59
We turned it into a sports bar. The sports bar.
42:02
We had a Chargers versus Raiders game Monday Night Football game.
42:06
Hacked wall to wall with people. Rogers fans started fighting
42:10
with the Raiders fan in the bar. They made their.
42:12
Way out of the bar and they started fighting in the fountain
42:15
and smashed my grandfather's tongue.
42:18
Grandfather's fountain was smashed.
42:20
We, my wife and I, we, we rebuilt another fountain next to
42:24
the orange tree. And my wife is Bulgarian.
42:27
So I was, you know, very fortunate to, to marry a
42:30
Bulgarian woman that cared just as much about water as well as
42:34
as well as trees. Fast forward to the pandemic.
42:38
During the pandemic, we decided to go all in on building the
42:42
Amazon of BBQ, opening up these ghost kitchen locations, having
42:46
a commissary kitchen, delivering to stadiums, airports,
42:49
breweries, now the Navy base. So we needed more smokers.
42:52
We're going to remove all of the back patio of our restaurant and
42:56
install these smokers. We had five different meetings
42:59
with our general contractor, with my restaurant consultant,
43:04
with my general manager, with my wife, myself.
43:07
And you know what the problem was, is that we couldn't put
43:10
those smokers in with the orange tree.
43:12
It was in the way. It was going to get in the way
43:16
of where the truck would come to load up the barbecue and where
43:19
the deliveries would come to drop it off.
43:23
So we said we got to remove the orange tree.
43:25
My wife said there's no chance in hell you're.
43:27
Removing it, he fought. All five meetings and guess
43:32
what? That orange tree is still there.
43:34
So what did you do? How did you work around it
43:36
still? There to this day.
43:38
We built around the orange tree. That's great.
43:41
You come to the restaurant, there is an unassuming orange
43:44
tree next to the smokers that has been there since my
43:48
grandfather and my uncle built it.
43:50
Now, why do I tell the story? Because it has significance to
43:53
me, my family, my roots. But it's so unassuming that you
43:57
wouldn't think who would give a shit about an orange tree at
44:00
your restaurant. Well, it means a lot to me.
44:03
It means a lot to my wife. It means a lot to my team.
44:05
And now the more that I share it, the more that it means to
44:08
the people that come to our restaurant because they go,
44:09
Sean, I saw you orange. Tree, I remember the story that
44:12
you told me. About I love that it's a story
44:15
with emotion, with feeling, with reverence towards your, your
44:19
grandfather and and for people who now come to your location
44:24
and they see that orange tree, they're like they're going to
44:27
tell the person that they're with, Hey, there's a cool story
44:29
behind this. Let let me, let me share it with
44:31
you. That's, that's great.
44:33
You know, I want to go back to something that you said a little
44:35
bit earlier. You know, you guys did a lot of
44:37
these ghost kitchens during the the pandemic and you're in the
44:40
process of, I think you're closing down the last one.
44:42
But there are lessons that you learn from those ghost kitchens
44:47
and working in those smaller environments that you're now
44:49
able to take into. I think it's your third
44:52
location. You said that you're getting
44:53
ready to open up soon. What What are some of those
44:55
lessons that you learned? I think the lesson is being able
44:58
to deliver high quality BBQ daily from a commissary.
45:02
You know, understanding the logistical standpoint of we cook
45:04
BBQ every single day. So every single night we're
45:07
putting on brisket, we're putting on pork butts.
45:09
We cook those in preparation for the next day and being able to
45:13
take delivery the next day and put it out to a satellite
45:18
location, whether that's a stadium, a Navy base, hopefully
45:21
an airport someday. But those lessons of knowing
45:25
that we don't need a full staff and a full BBQ restaurant, I
45:29
don't need to go open another, open up another 5000 square foot
45:32
one million, $2,000,000 restaurant to do those types of
45:35
sales. Volumes.
45:37
We're able to do it and you know, this is still to be
45:40
determined because like I said, the ghost kitchens didn't work
45:42
out the way that I did, but the way that I thought they would.
45:45
But knowing what I know about the Navy base and the locations
45:48
that are in the Navy, we're very, very excited about this
45:52
opportunity. We can't wait to get it open.
45:54
So what you learned from the ghost kitchens was just
45:56
basically a more efficient way to be able to, to run a similar
46:00
operation. Yeah.
46:02
And we've, we've heard, we follow the stories.
46:05
You know, ghost kitchens became very popular during the
46:07
pandemic. People kind of thought this was
46:09
going to be next big thing. There's a lot of private equity
46:11
money, you know, poured into this.
46:13
And, and now a lot of that has been pulled back.
46:16
And I'm, I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this.
46:19
That what I what I hear from other folks is that, you know,
46:21
the dynamics just changed when, when the country opened back up
46:24
after, you know, the pandemic, it's still here, but you know,
46:28
the virus is still here. But you know, things have
46:29
subsided. The countries open back up.
46:32
We really learned how much we missed being around each other,
46:36
how much we missed being at a restaurant in person.
46:39
Do you? Is this the dynamic that you
46:40
think is unfolded? Kind, kind, yes or no?
46:43
I think part of the problem, the problem with ghost kitchens is
46:47
number one, it's a branding problem.
46:48
No one wants to eat at a ghost. We always said it was a friendly
46:52
ghost kitchen, more sense than a ghost kitchen.
46:56
Huge, huge branding problem. But #2 most of the ghost kitchen
47:00
locations suffered from the same problem that we suffered from
47:03
back in 2008. Location, location, location.
47:07
All of those ghost kitchens were all opened up in urban areas
47:10
where people didn't know they were restaurants.
47:12
So if the landlord didn't buy into the marketing and the media
47:16
and the storytelling side. It was a.
47:18
Huge uphill battle for a small brand that's renting a 200
47:22
square foot kitchen spending $5000 plus or rent and they're
47:27
having to deliver through Uber Eats, Door Dash, Grubhub which
47:31
are all third. Party, you know, 20 percent, 30%
47:34
commissions, very difficult business model.
47:38
You got to do a high and high volume of sales in order to do
47:40
that. It makes much more sense for an
47:42
established brand like a Starbucks or a Chick-fil-A to
47:45
have a satellite location to offset because they're doing 5
47:49
million, $8 million out of one location in downtown LA where
47:52
they can offset in their catering business and to go
47:57
business. Out of a ghost kitchen location.
48:00
So do you think there's still the opportunity for ghost
48:03
kitchens under a different brand, a different name to
48:07
succeed if they were in better locations?
48:09
Or is this just something people are OK?
48:12
I think there is definitely an opportunity, but there has to be
48:15
buy in from the landlord, the landlord and the actual ghost
48:18
kitchen brands of people that run them.
48:20
They have to understand the dynamics of driving traffic to
48:24
the location. It's kind of like the problem
48:28
with food courts is that there's no delivery out of food courts,
48:32
but food courts do have a big draw.
48:34
There are some successful food courts.
48:36
There are a lot of food courts that are that are dying as well.
48:39
So it's kind of understanding there's a there's a dynamic in
48:41
between. What's the mix in between?
48:43
Both of them what's? Draw enough traffic, but also be
48:46
cost effective for a smaller unit, you know, restaurant to be
48:50
able to operate out of because the the economics of running a
48:53
restaurant are just, they're difficult.
48:54
I mean, there's a. Reason why we're.
48:56
So focused on adding media revenue right now, our overall
48:59
revenue, 25% of our revenue comes from our media company
49:04
eventually. We know that our media revenue
49:07
will be at 75% and the BBQ revenue will be 25.
49:10
Percent. OK, That's the direction that
49:12
this is headed. Yep.
49:14
Storage selling is. More scalable than selling craft
49:17
BBQ. You don't need quite the
49:20
infrastructure. You don't need to open up
49:22
$1,000,000 restaurant to to to increase sales.
49:25
A lot of technology companies have already built the
49:27
infrastructure that we need. For right, actually that that
49:31
leads me to a question I like to ask sometimes, which is, you
49:33
know, as business owners, we've always got our eye on the bottom
49:36
line, right? And there's two ways to move
49:38
that right. One is, you know, finding
49:41
creative ways to increase sales. And the other one is creative
49:44
ways to, you know, lower expenses.
49:47
Curious to hear from you. Other than things we've already
49:49
talked about, what are some interesting strategies that
49:52
you've tried at on on either one of those levers to to move your
49:56
your bottom line? I mean, to be honest with you
49:59
that that's the, that's the deep thesis of the work that we do.
50:02
I mean, the show that I produce for entrepreneurs called
50:05
Restaurant Influencers, the work that I'm doing is finding the
50:08
best hospitality professionals and storytellers on earth in the
50:11
creator economy. Part of the issue is that
50:14
there's business owners that don't understand that they also
50:18
can tell B to B stories. You know, we work with a lot of
50:22
brands that have shows and we help them get sponsorship deals
50:25
because getting sponsorship deals are hard.
50:28
You know, no one wants to get paid free stuff or get paid for
50:32
one video. You need a sponsor for 1/4, you
50:34
need a sponsor for a year, you need a sponsor for three years.
50:38
You actually want to sustain and build something that's going to
50:40
last into the future. So for us, the media side, how
50:44
do we add revenue? I'm literally working on it
50:48
every single. Day when I get off when I get
50:50
off this call. I'm going to be working on, you
50:52
know, what do we what do we offer?
50:54
You know, how can brand if, if a brand can't spend 6 figures to
50:58
pay for 40 shows where our team becomes their production teams,
51:02
what other tiers of of services can we offer?
51:05
Because there's a lot of things that my company can do.
51:07
But it's also just because you can do it doesn't mean you
51:09
should. You know, that's a principle
51:12
that we learn at our restaurant. Before we had a restaurant that
51:15
was a breakfast restaurant, a brunch restaurant, a lunch
51:18
restaurant, a dinner restaurant, a sports bar.
51:20
And eventually, over the last 16 years, we've gotten honed in on
51:24
what do we do best. We're a BBQ brand.
51:27
We have a very limited menu and, you know, does that mean that we
51:31
couldn't add fish tacos or carne asada tacos or, you know,
51:35
breakfast? Again, it does.
51:37
We could, but is that going to be the best use of my time?
51:39
To your point of like, where do we focus our time?
51:43
You focusing my time on how do I best help brands me personally
51:47
to then access to my team, that's where we're going to
51:50
focus on and that's where we believe so many people that are
51:53
listening. If you build a media company, if
51:55
you build a show, you have so many people within your
51:59
partnership network that also need social storytelling
52:05
eventually. If you get a show, that's good
52:07
enough. They'd be willing to offset your
52:09
cost, help you produce that show because they don't.
52:12
They don't. They don't want to do the work
52:14
themselves and they value you as a partner.
52:17
Let's talk about your team for a moment, Sean.
52:19
You know, whether we're talking about the the media company or
52:22
the restaurant, you know, it's a competitive job market.
52:25
Recruiting, retaining good employees can be really
52:29
challenging. What's something that you've
52:32
tried and found success with and recruiting and retaining good
52:36
talent? That's easy.
52:38
It's for it's personal branding, speaking my truth.
52:43
They get connected to who you are and what you represent.
52:46
People, I have someone that I just hired on our leadership
52:49
team for our BBQ restaurant that the he's been listening to our
52:53
show since 20/19. He was a restaurant owner,
52:58
restaurant owner that sold his restaurants.
53:00
He retired and he's been listening and he heard that
53:03
there was a job opportunity through one of my Instagram
53:06
posts. And because of that, he knows
53:09
who he knows who we are. He knows what we're about.
53:12
Like I can't make that story up. I hope he works out.
53:15
I don't know when this is going to get published.
53:17
I don't know how it's going to go, but he's been phenomenal.
53:19
He's been a phenomenal hire and it's something that back in
53:23
2017. I wasn't a goal of the.
53:25
Podcast, he's like, oh, I'm going to be able to recruit
53:28
talent because I put on a show. But it's worked out that way.
53:33
People listen, and the more people that I've interviewed,
53:36
the more CEOs that don't have any digital presence that come
53:39
on to our show. Not only do they come on to our
53:41
show, but when someone wants to work for them, they go on the
53:45
Internet. They put the CE OS name in and
53:48
guess what comes up? Their episode of of coming on my
53:51
show. And then they listen for 45
53:53
minutes and they go. I'm convinced I either want to
53:55
or I don't want to work for this company.
53:58
Which is better for everybody in the long run?
54:00
Let's let's let's get to the the correct answer more quickly.
54:03
I want to hear the truth. I want to know who the
54:05
leadership is. What do they care about?
54:06
What are the things that they talk about?
54:10
So let's talk about something a little bit vulnerable here.
54:12
You mentioned there were some lawsuits at 1:00. .0 Yeah.
54:15
Yeah, what what can you tell us about that experience?
54:17
Sure. Number one is don't try to shave
54:21
costs. We tried to cut costs when we
54:24
were hosting fight nights. So fight nights is when you pay
54:28
for a boxing event as a commercial establishment, you
54:31
have to pay for occupancy. We didn't pay for a commercial
54:36
occupancy, we paid for a residential one, and the company
54:39
that holds the licensing rights sued us for significant amounts
54:42
of money that almost bankrupt us.
54:45
Thankfully, we were. Able to come up with a
54:46
settlement. But for boxing and for UFC,
54:49
those lawsuits were very difficult times.
54:52
Very, very brutal. The first lawsuit that I was
54:55
involved in was with our business partner that we opened
54:59
up the restaurant even before Corey and myself opened up the
55:02
restaurant. 2008 So 2007 he had a breakfast business and we were
55:07
going to add the sports bar and dinner side and he decided that
55:10
he didn't want that. We didn't have a good
55:13
partnership agreement. Because we didn't.
55:15
Have a partnership agreement. We got stuck into a into a messy
55:18
lawsuit and I think one of the reasons why we started the show
55:22
that we do is. Because when I went to business.
55:25
School, I mean, I went to school and I went to study business and
55:29
the classes. That I was taking.
55:31
I didn't hear what I wanted to hear.
55:33
The only time I was engaged is when they had a guest speaker
55:36
who was a business owner come and speak to the class.
55:39
I would take pages of notes, like, Oh my gosh, this is how
55:42
you build business. But when the professor was
55:44
talking from the textbook, I wasn't engaged.
55:47
I was tuned out. So I ended up studying
55:49
sociology, graduating with a sociology.
55:52
I was like. If I put on a show and talk
55:54
about all of the stuff that goes wrong in business, all of the
55:57
the vulnerable moments that we have, maybe someone else can.
56:00
Learn from our mistakes so that they don't have to live.
56:05
Speaking of mistakes, what's something you wish you could
56:07
teach a younger version of yourself, Sean?
56:11
Something ask for help. So back to my grandfather.
56:15
The three things that I talk about whenever I get the
56:18
opportunity is the three things he taught me, which is stay
56:20
curious, get involved, ask for help.
56:24
Curious people. They listen to podcasts, curious
56:28
people go to events, curious people are continuing to educate
56:31
themselves, curious people get involved.
56:33
But getting involved, you know the the funny story about
56:36
getting involved. As I remember when I was writing
56:39
this book with my grandfather, I was about 212223 and we
56:44
travelled throughout Western Europe and Eastern Europe to get
56:47
materials for the book. And I remember my grandfather
56:50
was always at the front of the tour bus, always asking
56:55
questions. And I remember growing up
56:57
because he raised me and he would always say, Sean, do you
56:59
sit in the front of the class? Well, no, grandpa, I don't sit
57:02
in front of the class. I sit in the back because I want
57:04
to hang out with my buddies. You need to sit in front of the
57:07
class. And I didn't understood what he
57:08
meant until much later in life, where I realized, like getting
57:12
involved, the people that get involved are the ones that are
57:16
willing to do the work, that are willing to raise their hands.
57:19
That are willing to. Ask for help that are willing to
57:21
send the e-mail to ask the question.
57:23
If you hear this podcast, now you have a question, send me Adm
57:27
on LinkedIn. I will respond to anybody.
57:29
I will give you time on my calendar, whatever you're
57:31
building, but you got to do the work.
57:34
You got to do the work like getting involved and then
57:37
finally asking for help. It's never been easier to ask
57:40
for help. It's never been easier where
57:42
there's Twitter and Facebook and Tiktok and LinkedIn and podcast
57:47
like people are I, I'm weirdly available.
57:51
It's, it's ridiculous how available I am to somebody that
57:53
listens and they say, hey, Sean, I.
57:54
Listened to your show? With Anthony, I would love to
57:57
get you on or talk to you or. Have you come?
57:59
Speak to my company and talk about smartphone storytelling or
58:02
how to become a media company. I'll do it.
58:05
But I do it because I know that stories matter.
58:09
And if I can do that for another company, I can do that for
58:11
another brand. I can do that for another
58:13
entrepreneur. I get to a place where Anthony
58:16
reaches out to me to have him on a show like.
58:20
Well, that's how this show happened.
58:21
I, I reached out to Sean on LinkedIn.
58:23
I sent him Adm and we, we set it up pretty quickly And we'll,
58:27
we'll include the link to your LinkedIn profile in our show
58:31
notes. But you can just, if you're
58:32
listening now and you want to, you know, you don't have the
58:35
show notes in front of you. His name is just Shawn, Shawn.
58:39
And Walchef is WAL. And then Chef.
58:42
CHEF. You can find him pretty easily.
58:44
It's a it's a unique name. And, you know, talking about,
58:48
you know, yeah, curious people get involved.
58:50
And for those people who are curious and they want to learn
58:53
more or get involved with this free LinkedIn mastermind that
58:56
you have, how do they find that? Easiest is to just contact me on
59:00
LinkedIn. I will add you to the I'll send
59:02
you the direct link. It's Sean P Walchef
59:04
SHAWNPWALCHEF Cali BBQ Media on LinkedIn.
59:11
That's where we post the the rooms, but sometimes it's hard
59:14
to find. I'm happy to if you give me your
59:16
e-mail, I can add you to the Google Calendar invite so that
59:19
it shows up in the calendar. But meet the community.
59:22
You can listen. If you want to hear what it's
59:24
like, you can just go to our digital hospitality feed on
59:27
Spotify or Apple podcast and look for Rising Tide LinkedIn
59:32
Live. That's the series.
59:33
So Rising Tide LinkedIn Live. If you go on Spotify, you can
59:37
find all of our previous episodes.
59:38
We repurpose them so you can get an idea of who's up on stage,
59:42
what are you talking about? What's the flow like?
59:44
But it goes back to stay curious, get involved, ask for
59:47
help, curiosity, curiosity will bring you to the room.
59:50
You got to raise your hand and. Come up on stage and speak your
59:52
truth. I love it and based on all the
59:54
great information and content you've shared with us today, I
59:57
have no doubt that the information inside of your
59:59
podcast is tremendous as well. Just a a couple of other
1:00:02
questions for you, Sean. I'm curious, what's a fun fact
1:00:05
that most people don't know about?
1:00:07
You I have completed a fan Grand Slam.
1:00:12
What does that mean? So the Grand Slam for tennis is
1:00:16
the French Open, the US Open, the Wimbledon and the Aussie
1:00:19
Open. And thanks to my grandfather,
1:00:22
we've travelled and we've been to all of those.
1:00:25
That's fun. Did did you grow up always being
1:00:28
a tennis fan or was this something that's?
1:00:30
Because of my grandfather. Yeah, my grand, my Bulgarian
1:00:32
grandfather, Japanese grandmother, They were all the
1:00:35
kids were playing baseball, I was playing tennis.
1:00:38
That's great. I one last question for you,
1:00:41
Sean, but before I do it, if you listen today and you like
1:00:44
today's content, please hit the subscribe like or share button
1:00:48
on your favorite podcast app. And then we've already told
1:00:51
people how to get in touch with you LinkedIn direct message is,
1:00:55
is the best way. But last question for you, Sean,
1:00:58
I'm kind of curious and, and you can answer this from two
1:01:00
different perspectives, both from the restaurant and the
1:01:03
media company. What do you think are the big
1:01:07
changes that are coming in your space in the next five years?
1:01:10
What do you think the where do you think this is going?
1:01:14
I think we're going to build deeper communities, deeper
1:01:17
communities than we've ever built that people are going to
1:01:20
start to understand that the problems that we think are
1:01:23
problems in San Diego and California and the United
1:01:26
States, they're global hospitality problems.
1:01:29
I mean, I've already seen it. It's just, it's the Internet has
1:01:32
made the world so small. And just because you're in South
1:01:35
Africa and you run a fine dining restaurant, your problems are
1:01:38
the same problems that someone has in Chicago, are the same
1:01:42
problems that someone has in Ottawa, the same problems that
1:01:44
someone has in Sydney. And once we start to understand
1:01:48
and the companies, the brands that start to support
1:01:51
communities by being the show and not the commercial, not
1:01:54
we're going to build this community so that we can sell
1:01:57
them something. But no, give us a stage, get us
1:02:00
together and let us have intelligent.
1:02:01
Conversations where we can learn from each other and share ideas.
1:02:05
I think there's going to be something really cool that's
1:02:06
going to happen in the next. Five to 10 years for sure, from
1:02:09
a global, from a global standpoint.
1:02:11
That's terrific, Sean. I want to be the first one to
1:02:13
thank you so much for sharing both your time and your story
1:02:16
with us today. I really appreciate it.
1:02:18
I really appreciate you having me on Anthony.
1:02:20
I look forward to seeing you in San Diego one day for some slow
1:02:23
smoke BBQ. You're not going to have to
1:02:25
twist my arm too hard for that there.
1:02:27
You go. Well, folks, that's a wrap on
1:02:28
another episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
1:02:31
Thanks for learning with us today.