Evolving Like a CEO: Jason Feifer on Leadership, Growth, Boundaries For Success, & Building a Life That Scales

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30:17Shop Branch Basics in 600 plus Target stores nationwide or Target.com. You can also use our code SKINNY15 to get 15 % off at branchbasics.com slash SKINNY15. Again, SKINNY15 for 15 % off at branchbasics.com slash SKINNY15. One of the topics that comes up on this show from time to time is hustle culture. And I'm wondering in your interactions with entrepreneurs over the years, have you ever encountered like anyone where hard work and hustling are not part of the criteria? Meaning like how much, how much do you really need to hustle and, and, and work like that in order to get ahead? Like, is that, are there people that can do it without that?

30:55Or is it, is it the barrier to entry? Well, so I think that hustle means too many different things to too many people to have one answer to it, right? Like when we talk about hustle culture, I think we're often talking about hustle porn, right? Which is just people rising, grinding on social media and they're just constantly showing off how much they're working and they're bragging about how little sleep they're getting. Dude, you need sleep. Sleep is a good thing. I get plenty of sleep and I also juggle a lot. So I don't think that performative hustling is good for anybody. I think that that is a narrative that has been told and has gotten some people ahead, but that it is ultimately not all that productive.

31:43I do think that if you're going to build something, you need to work really hard, harder than you think you're going to need to work. And you're going to have to make sacrifices about how you spend your time. To me, hustling is not a word that I identify with, but prioritizing is a word that I do. And being intentional is, I mean, you guys, I'm sure, are very, very well aware of this as parents, as I am of a 10-year-old and a six-year-old, that when I had kids, I was really worried that I'm an ambitious person, I have a lot going on, that I was not going to have the time that I had before to grow the things that I wanted.

32:24And I will tell you what happened, which is that over the last 10 years, as long as I've had children, my career has significantly accelerated. Why is that? The answer is because I've become, I've been forced to be more intentional with my time. We just talked about this. Totally. This is such a good conversation. Yeah. You are forced as a parent to be more intentional because you don't have as much time before, which is, it's weird. Yeah. But it's right. Yeah. You know what it is? Time, this is a weird metaphor, but it helped me. Time is like a balloon. So when people think about doing something new, trying something, maybe start a side hustle, see if you can become an entrepreneur.

33:10What people often say is, oh, but I don't have the time. Oh, I don't have the time. But nobody has the time, right? Nobody's walking around with like three free hours in the day. I'm not, you're not. So how do we add things? Well, similarly, how do you inflate a balloon? You don't make space for the air in the balloon and then blow air in. That's not how it works. You just blow air into the balloon and it expands because a balloon expands under pressure. Time expands under pressure the same way, which is to say that if I add something to my busy and constricted schedule because I've got family time that I will not bleed into, then what happens?

33:51What happens is that it forces me to reconsider everything else that I'm doing and ask, is this commitment still really moving the needle for me? Could I be doing this other thing in a more efficient way? Is it time to add a team member to that thing so that I'm not doing that and somebody else is? Time expands under pressure. You add more things and then you reconsider every other thing that you're doing. And some things are going to have to go. I have killed projects that I loved because they weren't advancing me far enough. And there were other things that were going to take priority. And that is just what it means to prioritize and grow.

34:30And to me, that is healthier than like hustle. Yeah. No, I was just, I was curious on how you thought about that. That was a great answer. You've seen a lot of mistakes as well. Yeah. From, you know, maybe companies that are started or founders that, what are some of the most common mistakes where maybe a company gets an initial buzz, is doing well, and then crumbles? What are those? I think one of the biggest mistakes companies make is that they're not actually talking to their customer. They think they're talking to their customer, but they're actually talking to themselves and they're not. So a story brings us to life.

35:00My friend Rochelle DeVoe is a consumer insights researcher. She gets hired by companies to go and survey consumers and understand what they're all about. And she was once working for this company. She tells this story publicly, Vim and Vigor. and they're there they make compression socks and they were started by an athlete who couldn't find a compression sock that she loved on the market and so she made her own compression sock company for athletes and the company like started growing that kind of flatlined couldn't figure out what was wrong hire rochelle rochelle goes out and talks to the consumer and then comes back to vim and vigor and says have information and that information is this you have made a company for athletes and you're marketing to athletes, but your best customers are not athletes.

35:46They're not. They're like nurses and teachers and people who have to work on their feet all day. So you are succeeding despite yourself because you're talking to the wrong people. And so Vim and Vigor changed. If you go to their website now, the first thing you'll see is a photo of feet in dirt withholding like a rake, very far away from athletes because they weren't in touch enough with, at that stage of their company, their consumer. And I see that over and over and over again, where I'll talk to a founder, maybe somebody I advise, and they're not clear why the company is stalled or they're not clear about how to make a certain decision.

36:28And I'll start asking them questions about what their customer responds to or what their customer values or what problem exactly are you solving for your customer? And they can't articulate it because they're talking to the customer. So you need to do that over and over and over again. And I see way too many companies think the CEO is like, well, I just know. I know. I built this company. I know what it's for. No, you don't. You don't unless you're talking. What do you think is a good exercise for someone who wants to launch a business now? Like what's is you have like a vision board? Like what do you start with?

37:06You start by talking to people about their problems. Like the major mistake someone makes at the very, very, very beginning is that they have an idea for something and then they have to go around convincing people that it's useful. So you have to flip that. You have to instead talk to people about their problems and then find a problem to solve and then build it with them. So there's nothing more magical, truly, than finding a problem, finding even a small set of people and then saying, I will build this for you, but I'm also going to build it with you. So you're now my customer advisory board and I'm going to build this and I want to bring it to you and I want feedback so that I can make it even better.

37:52And if you create that feedback loop based on a problem that you solve for people, you guys had Donald Miller on the show a while ago. I love Donald. Great guy. Great guy. You know, his whole thing is about communicating the problem that you solve. That's the core of marketing and messaging in a business. Like you have to be able to articulate to people what problem do you solve? As Donald said, everyone wants one of two things, to survive or to thrive or both. And so you have to communicate that. But at the very, very, very beginning of conceptualizing a business, you still have to do that. You still have to find the problem that people already want to be solved, and then you solve it, and then you're already valuable.

38:31You cannot go around trying to convince people of something that they don't understand. That is a wasted effort. I also think that if someone asks you what your business is or what you do, and it takes you 10 minutes to explain, we got to go back to the drawing board. I always tell like if I'm mentoring someone, it's like, how do you explain your business to an Uber driver in three seconds? Yeah. Because it should be that tightened up with a bow on it. I'll give you a formula for it. If you want to sell anything to anybody, then you have to be able to fill out the following Mad Libs style sentence from their point of view.

39:12Good idea. I love Mad Libs. What is it? Here it is. Also, I picked this up from my friend Rochelle. So shout out to her. when context, I want solution so that benefit. Let me break it down. So when context, when there's a problem, I want solution. I want something that solves that problem so that benefit, so that I get what I actually wanted in the first place. So if the three of us started a company selling Zit cream to teenagers, then the way in which we would articulate from our consumer's point of view, that sentence could be, when I have a big pimple on my forehead, I want something to get rid of that pimple as fast as possible so that I can get to school more confidently.

39:54Now, the reason to go through this exercise is because most people stop on solution. They talk about the solution, the thing that they've built, the thing that they spend all their time thinking about how to create and market and all that stuff. We're solutions-oriented people. But the problem is nobody cares about solutions. Nobody. They do not care about your solution. What they care about is benefit. They care what they can get from it. And so if you can articulate that in their language, from their point of view, they trust you. So if you're trying to sell to teenagers, don't start talking about the chemicals in your zip cream.

40:32They will not listen to you. But if you start by talking about getting them to school more confidently, now they think you understand them and they're on board with how you're going to do that really interesting yeah it's like just listing all the features and functions you lose people oh my god he would be a good speaker to your company like i feel like and i think you do that yeah he he would be a good speaker to come in and talk to your media i think sometimes it's it's interesting like you know we have a nice audience i mean it's a wide audience that this we're doing a long time and whenever having conversations around entrepreneurship, I'm always hesitant to like how to title them because I think sometimes see entrepreneurship and they kind of say like, well, that's not for me.

41:14There's some segments like that's not for me. I'm not an entrepreneur. But there's so many messages in this topic that are universally applicable to anyone in any stage of life or with any kind of thought process or function that like, do you get what I'm saying? Like, it's not just this narrow box of like you're an entrepreneur or you're not. There's a lot of lessons in here for life in general. Which is, that's why when Lauren asked me how I define entrepreneurship, I define it as someone who makes things happen for themselves. But that thing that you just said there, don't breeze by that because what you just said is really important for anybody making anything, which is that you are anticipating what I call the first question.

41:48The first question anybody will ask about anything that they ever encounter, whether it's something you made or elsewhere, is, is this for me or is this not for me? And you have to anticipate that they're going to ask that question and then you have to answer it before they ask it. That's the only way to connect with people. So just think about it for yourself. You go onto Netflix, everything that you're seeing, you're just like, is this for me? Is this not for me? Is this for me? You're walking down Whole Foods. Is that for me? Is that not for me? We're asking that all the time, but we're not often proactively answering it.

42:19It's interesting that you say that because if you look at Netflix and you look at Instagram, there's a for you page. That feels very strategic that they called it that. Yes, absolutely. They're signaling for you. Yeah, that's no accident that it's called for you. Even they have that on Netflix, too. I noticed that. I love looking at the little hidden messages like that. And thinking about how that is the product of a market. I love seeing that kind of stuff out in the world because the reason that that's on Instagram and the reason that that's on Netflix is because that was A-B tested to death.

42:51And that was the language that worked. And that tells you a lot about what works in other mediums. You know what you should title this episode, I swear, for you. Your guide to starting your own business. You should title it for you. No, but it's so interesting. I mean, we're going in the niche of podcasts or YouTube show titles, but that's the whole thing that you're trying to do is you're trying to create the title that signals that this is in fact for you and not for you. Right. What entrepreneur advice did The Rock give you? Because he's built quite the impressive octopus of a situation. Oh my God.

43:26A very impressive octopus situation. It's funny because the memorable, that was a weird metaphor, but I'm going to roll with it. His metaphor to me was when I asked him about the mission statement thing. As you can see, I kind of love doing that with people. He said, I am a 10-lane highway moving through the world, which is a very intense thing to think. That's what he said. Jesus Christ. Oh God, Michael loves it. so so here's here's here's what i learned most from the rock first of all super nice guy have you ever have you talked to him like no no i'd really like to have him on the podcast if he wants to come on yeah open invite anytime super nice guy really smart really thoughtful really listens and so i had we had a nice conversation with him and his business partner danny garcia and then we talked about a whole lot of things it was great but the thing that stood out was what happened afterwards, sort of like Jimmy.

44:20So I interview The Rock. And then a year later, I write this book. And I include in it a single paragraph of something that I learned from The Rock. And when the book comes out, I ask his publicist if I can send him a copy. I do not think anything is going to happen here, but I just wanted to send him a copy. And she gives me an address. I don't know what it is, an office or something. And I put the book in the mail and I send it off. And then I forget about it. and then nine months later, I open Instagram and I've got a DM from The Rock and it's a voicemail and I hit play on it and then there he is and he says, hey Jason, what's up?

45:01It's DJ. That's how he goes. He's like, it's DJ here. I just wanted to tell you, man, thanks so much for sending me the book and thanks so much for including me. It really means a lot. And then he reflected on things that we talked about, which at this point It was years earlier. And the whole thing was 52 seconds long. And it made me feel like a champ, you know? And here is the lesson that you should take from it. The single easiest and greatest thing that you can do to make a fan or a customer for life is to respond to them. People do not respond enough. You email somebody, you never hear back from them.

45:39I don't know why. Responding? I get a lot of DMs. I get a lot of emails. I respond to literally everybody. It takes me a while, but I do. And when I do, what I hear back is, oh my God, I never thought I'd hear from you. And then sometimes years later, somebody will say, you know, I just bought that thing of yours because years earlier, you responded to me. It matters so much because the one thing people want is to feel heard. That's it. If you can make people feel heard, you have won them over as a customer, as a fan, as a friend, as whatever, as a partner. And if Dwayne The Rock Johnson, surely one of the busiest people in the world, can spend 52 seconds sending me a voice memo just to make me feel good, then you can do it for anyone.

46:28I also think there's a savviness to that, that he knows that that 52 seconds will then be on a podcast. Do you know what I'm saying? And I don't mean that he did it out of that, but I think he's smart enough to understand that you are going to go do your own octopus with that 52-second voice, which you have. Do you know what I'm saying? Yes, absolutely. He's smart enough to know that it's worth his time. It means a lot to you. He understands it from a 360 approach. It's a situational awareness. Yes. It's a win for everyone. You felt good. he gets spoken out nicely he gets to also be a good person yeah acknowledge your book it's a whole it's it's a win-win it's a win-win what has Gary V taught you so I've known Gary a long time but the most memorable thing that he has said to me happened okay so I don't know this could have been eight ten years ago Gary reached out and he said let's get a drink is that all right Did he give you seven minutes?

47:35Yes. No, he didn't. Not seven minutes, but it was like that. It was like a super specific amount of time at a super random time. You know, it was like, I'll see you from 8.15 to 8.37. It was so random. Did this happen to you too? I just know he does this. I just know he does this. Go ahead. So, we have had that happen to us with him. Not with him. No, he's... No, we have. We have. We went on a show early, early days. Okay, okay, okay. It was a very specific amount of time. But I just know how he is with his time. So go ahead. Yeah. I asked him, I said, Gary, how do you generate ideas and know what's going to connect with audiences?

48:18Because that's something I do as well. And I'm always interested in how people do it. And he said, he's like, I have a system. And the system is functionally a system of graduating ideas through the ecosystem. So back then it was Twitter, not X. So he's like, the first starting point is Twitter. He's like, as soon as an idea pops into my head, I just tweet it. And that is basically a market test for ideas, which ones get reactions and which ones don't. And the ones that get reactions, he might expand upon, might have it turn into a longer post on LinkedIn or Instagram or something like that. And then the ones that generate a lot of attention, maybe he'll go on a rant on a podcast somewhere.

49:00And he's just kind of constantly graduating his ideas through his ecosystem. And I started to do a version of that too. And it works. I mean, more or less, everything that I've said to you is in some way or another something that I've pressure tested in the market. Like it was an idea that started somewhere that maybe I started on LinkedIn and then people responded. And then I like wrote about it in my newsletter and that worked. And then I said it on a podcast and maybe I've said it on stage. And I'm refining how I say it and how I think. and then I'm adapting to the individual experience. But that's the way to develop ideas in a low stakes environment and make sure that they're ready for a more high stakes environment.

49:41And that was an incredible lesson. Was it literally seven minutes that he gave you? No, it was more than that. Okay, it was a little longer. Okay, he let you know. No, but it's now not some flimsy idea that someone pushes back on just a little bit and the whole thing falls apart. Like you said, it's been pressurized totally by getting this kind of feedback and all that kind of refining. He's got the data, like you said earlier. He's gathered it and so he can know what's going to hit. He knows what his... Everything is a market, you know? Like, everything is a market. And so you can test ideas in a market too.

50:13And you can see, do people respond to this idea? And if so, then let me lean into it more and develop something that's even more meaningful for people. If you listen to me on The Toast with Jackie, you know I do not mess around when it comes to a diaper wipe. I do not screw around. I use coterie diapers and wipes for all three of my kids. Obviously, I have two kids out of diapers, but I did use coterie for both of them. And now I have a new baby and he is wearing his coterie and he's also using his coterie wipes and they're amazing. I have these wipes in all my handbags. I have them in drawers.

50:51I have them in cars. I have them everywhere you could possibly think of because they're literally life-changing. The baby's skin is so delicate. Their microbiome, their skin barrier, it's all still developing. So I wanted a wipe that was really minimalistic, a gentle less is more philosophy, especially because I'm using these wipes all day long. Like, you know, as a mom, you're always using them. While you're on their site, also check out their first wash. It's a tear-free hair and body wash that leaves everything super silky, very buttery. And then they have a soft cream, which lightly but really effectively moisturizes both face and body.

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53:41They're a modern lifestyle brand that creates clothing that fits seamlessly into everyday life. Pieces that look and feel great, comfortable and versatile, whether you're at work, out to dinner or enjoying the weekend, their clothes make it easy to look put together without thinking too much about it. I can't stand having to make so many choices. I want it quick, easy, efficient, and more importantly, I want to look good. I really connect with what they're doing and how the clothes feel. I recently got this camel suede jacket that I wear everywhere I wear it at night. When I'm going out to dinner.

54:11I wear it in the day. It's light. It looks good. It's casual, but also has a little bit of a formal texture. And I love these kind of like pullovers that they make. It's like a henley with like a cropped collar at the top that you can wear under the jacket or on its own. They just have so many versatile items that you can wear throughout the day. I love clothing that can carry me not only through the day, but into the night and through the evening. And so the Seven Diamonds has quickly become one of my staples. And here's the thing. It's not just menswear. They have a women's collection too. Lauren actually loves the pieces as much as I do.

54:38It's one of those brands that both of us reach for again and again. The pieces fit naturally into my day, look great and feel good to wear. It's the kind of brand you keep coming back to without thought, and they continue to release great products that you can buy with every season. Whether you're refreshing your own wardrobe or looking for a solid gift idea, this is a brand we truly stand behind. Use code SKINNY for 20 % off your first order at 7diamonds.com. Again, that's code SKINNY for 20 % off your first order at 7diamonds.com. Ladies, I highly suggest you shop here for your men. And men, check out something for the ladies.

55:10Check out the link in the show notes. You won't be disappointed. This episode is brought to you by The Skinny Confidential. We just launched new, fresh mouth tape. It is so beautiful. We have navy now with a navy tin. And we have white with a white tin. They're so beautiful. But most importantly, mouth tape is so amazing for your sleep. If you have not tried it, it has upgraded my sleep like no other. I wake up with so much more energy because I'm only nasal breathing. And I feel like it sculpts your jawline a little bit while you're sleeping because it supports your tongue posture. It's changed my life.

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56:30i wrote this newsletter a couple years ago about how to figure out the problem you're actually trying to solve and it it was the it was like the number one thing people keep coming back and referencing it to me so i'll tell you the story and then the framework that came out of it so there is a advert there was a there was a young advertising guy who booked a call with me. I do these one-on-one consulting. And he said, he's like, I work at this agency and I cannot get my ideas through. I just can't get them through meetings, but they're good ideas. And so the thing I want to ask you is, should I just execute my ideas without telling anyone?

57:19Because then they'll see how good it is. And I said, no, don't do that. But instead, what you need to do is you need to figure out what the actual problem is. So we see the result of a problem, which in his case is that he's not getting his ideas through, but he doesn't actually know what kind of problem he has. So here's what you do. Whenever you are facing a problem and you aren't sure how to diagnose it, try to come up with a whole bunch of hypotheses for what kind of problem you have and give each of them a single word name. So for example, this guy could have all sorts of problems. He could have an articulation problem.

58:02He has good ideas, but he doesn't know how to share. He could have a teamwork problem where actually the way to get ideas through at his organization is to partner up with other people and he's going solo. He could have a hierarchy problem where at the company that he is, people just don't listen to the junior people. And so you're going to have to work with the senior people. He could have a visualization problem where his ideas are too complicated to verbally communicate and he needs to start coming up with better visualization. The reason to do this is because then once you have identified every kind of problem, you can start to experiment with solutions for those problem sets, right?

58:41Like when you, when it's just like, people aren't listening to me, you don't even know how to begin to solve that problem. But if it is a visualization problem, well, what would be a solution to that? Try making some visuals. See what happens. Is this a hierarchy problem? Start trying to partner up with some more senior people. See if that moves the needle. You can start running down the list and seeing which of these is actually my problem. Because once you figure out what your actual problem is, you can solve it. I think the vast majority of people, when they're trying to solve a problem in business or just generally speaking, are coming at it too broadly.

59:15They're looking at it as a giant soup and they're not breaking down what the actual problem is. And the only way to do that is to run through like a whole set of hypotheses. So the next time that you or I have a problem, we're going to just make a list together on a poster board. What is my actual problem? The list is going to fill up. No, we do this a lot in the sales organization. Like if someone says, we're not closing sales or like I didn't close a deal. It's like, well, we diagnose why. Like is the messaging wrong? Is the pitch wrong? Did you reach the wrong person? Is the product not good?

59:47All these things. And it's funny in the world that we live in, and just call it in podcasts in general, if someone starts the conversation with Dear Media and the first question is like, well, how do I make money? I'm like, wrong problem, right? More like, how do you create something that people deeply care about? Because does that make sense? Yeah. Well, you'll make money when you have a solution that someone's willing to pay for. We got some rapid fires. We have some rapid fires. Okay, hit me. I'll let Michael start. biggest entrepreneurial myth. The first thing I was going to say was something that you just said a second ago, which is you're going to make a lot of money.

1:00:22You're not going to make a lot of money. Maybe you will, and that'd be great, but you have to do this for something other than money. You have to do this, I think, because you want autonomy and because if you can do anything else, else go do that this is what i always tell entrepreneurs if you can do anything else go do that because it's easier so the reason to be an entrepreneur is because you literally can't do anything else that is the only thing that will keep you in this path one trend in entrepreneurship that you think is here to stay the obvious answer is social media which is so boring but the more nuanced version of that is that if you are not putting yourself out as a face of anything that you've built, then you are missing an opportunity and that opportunity is here to stay.

1:01:20People connect with people more than brands. Your story is the largest asset that you will have, especially in the early days. That is never going away. You have to build yourself as someone that people can connect with? Most underrated skill every entrepreneur should master.

1:01:40Level-headedness. That's a good one. I am, I'll tell you, I cannot tell you too many details about this, but literally after this taping here, I am hopping on an extremely high stakes call with a founder who I have been on the advisory board of his company for five years. he has a massive, massive investor who is so close to a deal. And the investor kind of changed the terms on the deal with him last minute. And he called me up a couple of days ago and he was freaking out. This is so disgusting. And they're trying to take it. And I was like, dude, if you get any hotter, you're going to blow this and you're going to lose the whole company.

1:02:24So I'm just a non-emotional person. I was like, I'm going to join this call and you're going to introduce me and I'm going to be a part of this conversation with this investor and we're going to save this deal. Like he is too hot and that hotness is going to make him lose things. You have to treat everything, everything as if it is just one part of a much longer story. Everything that happens today, tomorrow is just one random bump along a far longer continuum. And you cannot think of what happens today as that important. It's not. It feels important. It is important, whatever. It's not that important in the grand scheme of things.

1:03:05When Netflix tried to sell itself to Blockbuster for$50 million, which is a thing that happened, right? People forget that. Yeah. Reed Hastings and Mark Randolph walked into Blockbuster and tried to sell that little startup, Netflix, to Blockbuster for$50 million. And Blockbuster laughed them out of the room, And those guys could have thought, Netflix founders could have thought, well, gave it a good shot. Like that was the end. You know, we failed. But instead, they built a multi-billion dollar business, transformed an industry. And now you look back on that moment and you say, well, that was funny.

1:03:42You know, like that's the only way to think about this stuff. I don't think those Blockbuster executives think that. No, they didn't think it was funny. Remember when you had to go rent the Netflix from the kiosk? Yeah, but you know, like we're old enough. I remember going into the Blockbusters and getting the VHS. Nothing better. That was a great experience. You'd get some candy when you were in line. Grab a couple Skittles. My dad devastated me because I got to watch Star Wars. The original Star Wars. Oh my God. He talks about this every day. PHS. And I was like, dad, we need to go see. I was like, there's three of them?

1:04:11Yeah. He's like, yeah. And I was like, okay. So he took me to Blockbuster and they were missing the Empire Strikes Back. And he's like, cool, we'll just grab Return of the Jedi. No. So I turned, I went from Star Wars to Return of the Jedi as a kid. and I was so lost and confused and I feel like that's a devastating moment. To be honest too that has set off a chain of events for your entire life because now if anything's out of order like he can't take it and I'm realizing it's all from your childhood Star Wars trailer. My daughter tried to watch like Harry Potter 4 the other day but she hadn't seen 3 and I was like you're not doing that.

1:04:46I was like don't even fucking try it. He's like yeah right. I support this. No and then what is the other one and I was like I don't know but yeah I will not allow it. I'm like listen, I'm saving you from what the neuroses that exist now. Jason, where can everyone find you? Subscribe to your newsletter, listen to your podcast, view me on the cover of Entrepreneur Magazine. I know. I'm excited to see it. So, all right. At the risk of, so there's this thing called the tyranny of choice, right? Which is that if you give people too many options, they'll choose none of them. And I'm going to violate that right now by giving you three things, but hopefully at least one is relevant.

1:05:20So number one, you mentioned my newsletter. I appreciate that. It's called One Thing Better. Each week, one way to be more successful and satisfied and build a career or company that you love. And you can find that at one thing better dot email. Just that's a web address. Plug it into your browser. One thing better dot email comes every week. And by the way, I said about replying with Dwayne The Rock Johnson. If somebody replies to that newsletter, if like if you heard something on this show that you liked or didn't like reply to the newsletter, it goes to my inbox. I swear to God, I will reply to you.

1:05:49That's cool. Number two is if you're building a consumer packaged goods brand, so, you know, snacks, beverage, cosmetics, I have a company called CPG Fast Track, where we help early stage consumer packaged goods founders grow, basically giving them the network that they don't have at the very beginning. So go find CPG Fast Track and get in touch. It's a great service. I built it with a couple other friends who have built incredible brands. Does it help you basically find the resources to build the products that you want to build and put you in touch with the right kind of packagers or producers.

1:06:20Yeah, exactly. So when you join, you get put into a small group that meets twice a month of founders at a similar stage. And your small group has a leader who is an experienced CPG founder. So I'm working with my friend Lisa, who's the co-founder of Little Spoon Children's brand. Marcus, who is on the founding team of Four Sigmatic. Dave from O2 Hydration. Some other folks. It's like incredible. So you have the small group and then we just bring in amazing operators, the head of marketing from Liquid Death, the head of partnerships from Olipop, founders and help people just give these really interactive sessions.

1:06:57It's like we had Donald Miller actually and he started creating on the spot. Donald Miller, you know, building a story brand for those who don't know, incredible brand marketer, started building on the spot taglines for our members. It was awesome. That's cool. So anyway, so yeah. Yeah, and then there's a bunch of other stuff, but that's what CPG Fast Track is. And then finally, Help Wanted, which is that podcast that I host with Nicole Lappin, where we talk about sticky work problems. And we want it to feel like work therapy. So if you're going through hard work things, if you're trying to build something, or if you're trying to advance your career, we tell you what we have really struggled with ourselves.

1:07:34And we bring on callers who have their own struggles, and we try to help them. Jason thank you so much for your time Pimp your Instagram out real quick Just tell us where to find you and say hi Okay sure yeah It's at heyfeifer H-E-Y-F-E-I-F-E-R Or find me on LinkedIn Jason Fiverr Which is actually where I'm more active Guys such a pleasure Thank you I am so delighted that you had me on here And this was really really fun And this was different We've been doing these We've been batching them this week And go listen to me on Entrepreneur On your podcast You interviewed me I also have a podcast with Entrepreneur Called Problem Solvers which is far more like build a business specific.

1:08:08Yes. Had you on, Michael, you're about to be on. We had really, really great. You and I talked about building the audience before the brand. You're going to give me case studies about how you guys are like building incredible brands here at Dear Media. I'm really excited. Thank you. Thank you, man. It was great. Thank you.