2376 - Safety Tips for Biking and Marketing in Inclement Weather with Andigo's Andrew Schulkind

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0:46Visit podverify.com if you'd like to be featured as a future guest. I'm Josh Elledge. Let's get into it. with us right now it is andrew shulkin andrew you are the founder of andigo you're found on the web at andigo.com that's a-n-d-i-g-o andrew it's great to have you really great to be here thanks for having me well uh before we start talking about your superpowers and we're definitely going to be talking about uh web design and marketing trends that are happening because you know, now we're in 2026 and there has been so much movement. We're going to get into that in just a second. One thing I love to talk about with leaders before we get into their superpowers are, you know, just the things that they're multi-passionate about, things that are not work-related that they're currently into.

1:37What have you been geeking out on or what have you been into lately? Well, I'd say I'm not sure it counts that there's any geeking out really, but I'm a really avid bike rider. And this time of year in the Northeast, a lot of people hang up their bikes where they set them up in the garage and ride indoors. But I would rather stick myself in the eye with a fork than do that. So I've been gearing up with, you know, more warm weather gear to try and keep riding year round. And I've got about a three and a half year streak going where I get out at least once a month, no matter how bad the weather.

2:11And usually. Yeah. Do you, so it's not you're obviously not taking your road bike no i bought a gravel bike kind of just for this because it's it's pretty good even if there's some gravel on the side of the road or you know the pavement's broken up because of the plows or whatever yeah because you live in i live in new york the mid-hudson valley beautiful yeah well listen uh to our friends who bike and have hung up their bike if andrew can bike in new york in the middle of the winter you can find a way out for someone who's going to be biking in inclement weather just from a safety standpoint?

2:49Because, you know, obviously as a biker, as a cyclist, you know, and I've told my boys this too as they've been out cycling as well as, you know, my rule of thumb is just assume that there's not a single car that sees you and just always act accordingly. And that has proved me, I've dodged some near misses a few times. So you just assume, nope, they do not see, Even if they look like they're seeing you, they don't see you. Yeah, what I'd add to that is sort of builds on it. It's absolutely worth the money. I can't imagine riding without the very expensive taillight that I have that has radar built into it and beeps at me when a car is coming up behind me.

3:30It just gives you a little bit. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, they're not cheap, but I really can't imagine riding on the roads with that one. Oh, that's brilliant. you know because i've got the little rear view mirror on there but you know i don't i don't always see it there and i don't want to do that one where i've got it on the helmet that's annoying yeah yeah no i i have the mirror as well but yeah so i can check and see what's coming but uh yeah no that is a much more peace of mind you know if they're gonna come get you they're gonna come get you but yeah at least you know and maybe you can if uh you've got bail get off yeah yeah right That is brilliant.

4:05I've never heard of that. The rear tail light with the radar that beeps at you. Thank you so much. I hope that someone has listened to this, taken action, and maybe we've saved them from a near miss or something. Yes, that would be a lovely outcome from any podcast. Always love passing along good information. Andrew, speaking of good information, you have been in marketing for many years. I dare say many decades. And so would you mind sharing a little bit about Andigo, what you do, who you serve and kind of the outcomes that you create? Yeah, sure. So we are a digital marketing agency. We work with B2B firms, mostly in the two to twenty five million dollar range.

4:50We work with lots of folks in different industries, but concentrate most on mission driven businesses. So B Corps, public benefit corps, folks like that, anyone with a double bottom line kind of thing, and including some nonprofits, although that's certainly not a specialty of ours. And the outcomes that we're trying to help clients get range from gaining clarity about what parts of their marketing are working and aren't working, where they should be investing more, because that's a strength and let's run with it, and where they should perhaps be investing less because they're just not getting the results or perhaps making adjustments.

5:26So that's always the goal is to try and help folks put systems and processes in place so that they can measure, figure out what's working, what's not, and double down. Two-part question. Number one, what is it about mission-driven companies that you enjoy working with? And then part two, what would you say to a room of founders about leading with mission? let's see uh i jokingly say well we work with mission-driven businesses because it's like cheating uh doing marketing for mission-driven businesses there's a story baked right in why they're doing what they're doing and why they're serving multiple office audiences or have two different bottom lines there's usually a great story and for us story is what drives marketing it should drive your brand and positioning and everything else so um i think the number one thing I would offer to founders in terms of a piece of advice is I'll call it alignment.

6:27If you're out there and your marketing is really strong and it really leans into your mission, you need to deliver on that. And honestly, that's true for just about anyone. If you're making promises, which is exactly what your marketing is doing, but you're not delivering on them, then you're not going to win repeat business for certain. You're not going to win champions, you're just going to have a much harder uphill climb to sort of keep that marketing machine rolling along. How can you say that? How do you know this? How do I know that? We've seen it in action. You know, there are folks who really want to lean into it.

7:02It's all sorts of organizations from B Corp to Conscious Capitalism to other more local efforts are making it more popular or giving it more exposure. So there are more people trying to do it, but they're not necessarily following through. Or they're making promises that don't have anything to do with mission. Just say, hey, here's what we can do for you. Here are the outcomes we're going to achieve. And then that's not what they get. And that fails all the time. And we sometimes have clients come to us who are looking to change their website or their social media or improve their messaging. and it's very hard to say, hey, that's not the problem here.

7:45All this is good. You just need to deliver on it or we need to change it to what you can deliver on. So we've seen it out in the wild. So million dollar question. We're now into 2026. What is, and I dare say, spoiler alert, we're actually recording this a little bit early. So it's so funny that I'm asking this question about what lies ahead, But the simple fact, you know, you could give an answer to that based on available technology. And in 30 days, like, well, the game just changed again because of, you know, some of the things that we've been seeing in the back and forth between a lot of the, you know, the big AI tech leaders and, you know, just what they've been, you know, just working so hard to best one another.

8:32While, you know, overall, I'd say the consumers are winning, you know, people who are avid users are winning. But if we were to try to make some predictions about marketing specifically, where would you say, you know, again, to a room of mostly SMB founders, you know, who care very much about connecting with their audience? What would you inspire them to kind of focus on this year? Well, first, thanks for the very subtle prompt not to make my answer very AI specific, because that would be out of date before we're done recording. But I will say that AI, look, it's a reality and it's going to be here.

9:15I think in the near term, I would say that there is probably a flight to strategy that needs to happen because there's so much more that your clients are able to DIY. Just do it for themselves. And you really have to lean into the strategy. I can give you examples, if you'd like, of colleagues of ours where we've seen it. AI is a super useful tool, but you have to be sure that you're using it well and that you're using it in a way that expands your team and expands what you can do that your clients aren't able to do for themselves using those same tools that are, of course, available to them either free or really inexpensively.

10:00I really love it. And in fact, you know, with our own SaaS platform that we've been launching, I mean, just based upon the available technology, that's really been our mantra is be insanely generous in a way that, I mean, you know, you're just kind of eating the lunch of the old ways of doing things because you as a solutions provider can give it away so much more efficiently or free to earn that relationship together. And I have to imagine that with mission-oriented businesses, that should actually be a pretty easy kind of thought process for them. I think it really depends. You know, one of the things we run into in our own marketing, which is kind of, I won't say embarrassing, but it's just, it's ironic or funny.

10:51um our businesses don't our clients don't necessarily share a lot in common which just came to mind because i'm not sure there's a a cross-the-board blanket answer for all mission-driven businesses um some of them find uh ai incredibly useful already and for others it's almost like well yeah it helps us write emails but that's about all it does for us which you know that you know i'm thinking of a real estate investment trust that we work for that That's a mission-driven angle. Yeah, it's just not nearly as big a deal for some businesses as it is for others, or at least not in terms of their marketing.

11:31Yeah. Well, Andrew, how do you work with your clients? So your website is andigo.com, A-N-D-I-G-O.com. And so what does that typically look like? um because there are both sides of the business web development work and content marketing they frequently cross over and we have a lot of clients for whom we do both um but our relationships tend to be long-term even for project-based clients like folks who are relying on us for website work website maintenance work in addition to design and development um and that's because we ourselves lean into the idea that things are always going to improve if you're tracking them over time.

12:13A moving picture is better than a snapshot in terms of understanding what's working and what's not, and striving for incremental improvement and a consistent presence in your digital online presence. That matters. That's what's going to move the needle. I won't say more than anything else, but it's certainly a critical component to whatever you're going to build on top of that. So we typically have ongoing relationships. Many of them are monthly retainer, which tend to be very flexible. We can put a lot of money towards one thing and then switch it up so that your billing stays pretty constant throughout the year for folks who like to be able to plan ahead like that.

12:51And we have ongoing relationships with our clients who are more project-based and use this on an ad hoc basis. For a friend that's listening right now and they'd love to maybe get to know you a little bit more. I don't know if you have any free resources or kind of next steps that you'd recommend for someone that's enjoyed the conversation. They definitely consider themselves in the, you know, kind of the mission-driven company category. Where do they go from here? If they go to our website, two places I'll offer. One, going to our website in the About section, there is a page with other appearances like this and links to some resources and tools, downloads, et cetera, most of which are not even gated.

13:30You're welcome to have them, use them. If they're helpful, please let us know. And the other place, and one place that you could let me know that is on LinkedIn, where I am there as Andrew Shulkin. I will add that you are actually a great follow on LinkedIn, Andrew, because I think you're personable. You're not just kind of broadcasting knowledge, but you inject a lot of humor and personality in it. And I think that that's, you know, I've talked with other LinkedIn consultants, and that really is just such a good way to be on that platform. And I think in particular in an era where people are craving human connection and not just AI-generated content, which, again, just feels very, you know, at times it feels impersonal.

14:21Humans are looking to connect with humans, and you do a great job of that. Oh, thank you so much. That authenticity is really an overused word these days, but it is becoming more and more true that people want some indication that you are a real person and not some AI generated avatar, which, you know, for all I hate to get into that conversation because, boy, LinkedIn is just inundated with people who are telling you, well, I can always tell when you're writing with AI and like, A, why does it matter? and B, no, you can't, I'm sure. But if you're being you, well, there's no AI for that and there's no competitor in the human world either.

15:01You're just you and you'll find the people who connect with you. Andrew Shulkin, your website, andigo.com, A-N-D-I-G-O.com from the website, certainly all manner of ways of contacting you. And then under, I think it was under, what was it under? insights. I think he had some really great, oh, down in the blog, he had some really great resources here as well. So I highly recommend someone check that out for some really, really, like password safety and security tips, insights, lots of really good, very actionable content here. So Andrew, great conversation. Thank you so much for joining us. Thanks again for having me, Josh.

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