Ambition 0:00
Hey, what's going on? It's your boy ambition. And welcome to another episode of the MYFB podcast, a very special episode of the MYFB podcast because today with me, I had Ari. Hey, and it's been a while since you've been with us. Are you like our most frequent guests here on MYFB? Podcast? A lot of episodes from you in the first 10 episodes,
Arie 0:25
how are you, man? I'm doing good in the entertained by all of the amazing people who have been present on the episodes in the meantime.
Ambition 0:35
Oh, man. Thank you. Thank you, you know, a great deal. And thanks to you, as well, you've been very motivating throughout this process. But that's not what we're here to talk about. No, we we're here to talk about something very serious. I think we might actually hurt some people's feelings today. Do you think so? Possibly, hopefully, intentionally, not intentional.
Arie 0:59
I mean, if your feelings get hurt, that's your choice right?
Ambition 1:02
Now. You know, I always say the blade cut, you
Arie 1:03
take responsibility or accountability for that. If the blade cut
Ambition 1:07
you, it's not my fault. Right? You should be behind the sword. So now, now that we've established that piece, yeah. We've decided that we aren't going to be niching at all, with our business.
Say why? Yeah, we don't? Nah, I'm the anti miniature? No, well, here's the logic behind it. Right. niching was a strategy developed for competitive markets. And what people did figure out was that if you specialize, instead of being a generalist, you can charge. But you know, where that doesn't work, where that philosophy really doesn't work? Is if you have an extremely diverse portfolio. Yes. Right. And businesses have portfolios, individuals niche. So what we said to you is, we're not niching down with our business, like, I personally have things that I do and can do within my business. And you know, that I don't do when people go, Oh, what can I come to you for? Like Me personally, ambition, nothing, you can't come to me for anything, I don't work with people, I work with systems, right? But you can come to my business, for a multitude of things. Yes. And this is why I say I'm the anti miniature.
Arie 2:44
I also think that, like you said, it was a solution to a problem with the keyword being a solution to a problem that was always gonna get right, not the only solution. And I think within the space, it's become one of the easier solutions for people. So that just becomes the most frequent choice and people are always going to recommend to you that the thing that worked for them the thing that they use, that allowed them to be successful in the space, and I just think sometimes within our communication, and the way we use language, we start telling people you have to do things in this manner. But if you've accepted that there may be different obstacles on your journey because you're taking a different path. There's no problem with taking that path you've prepared yourself for it.
Ambition 3:40
Right and I'm not speaking against anything that a coach has told me or that anyone is really saying right I did actually have a coach that you know, we paid during the development of this business where you know, he pointed out and gave me some really good reasons why didn't edge down in fact both of all three of the coaches that we paid within this past what seven it was last year, right all three of them gave us a really great information on how to niche in a wide and niche down and we tried it
Arie 4:18
every time we did it for us it just felt like this is not the right it's like being Goldilocks trying out all the different beds and it was like every time we did it was like nah, that's not the right fit.
Ambition 4:28
If you you know partake in the astrology and whatnot. You're like, I wonder what science they are because they don't like this they focus are committed to nothing. We're both Geminis Yes, yeah,
Arie 4:40
change things all the time. So now let's talk about
Ambition 4:43
another Gemini who doesn't niche Kanye what's Kanye his niche? Well, he became a billionaire off of clothes but he started in rap music, right? He was an activist for a moment. I don't know what else you Paul. Do. George Bush doesn't care about black people, that's activism.
Arie 5:02
When he has a church service that he does does, he does his thing, right when he does his thing. Now, I know some people will say, and this is kind of what sparked our conversation is that a lot of the people that aren't niching down are utilizing a personal brand, so to speak, Kanye has a personal brand. But if you have work if you have things that you've done with different people or different methods, so like,
Ambition 5:36
can we change that? Because I don't think it's necessarily that the people that aren't niching have a personal brand, they just have a strong brand.
Arie 5:45
Right? I don't know. So like, here's me and Brian, that that has done, Virgin? Uh huh.
Ambition 5:53
Right. So this is my go to example, once people say okay, well, you weren't niching How are you going to be successful? So businesses start out. And then they do their thing. Right, so they started out as a magazine,
Arie 6:08
but how long were they a magazine before they turned into something else?
Ambition 6:11
Um, years, he didn't really get out of the niching model or starting one thing model until he moved into Virgin Records. But Virgin Records became Virgin Airlines
Arie 6:24
virgin how he skips over it uses the Virgin moniker, that's to start to start everything. Loud to skip over the thing, right,
Ambition 6:35
Gary Vaynerchuk. Same thing. VaynerMedia is not the only thing that he does. He has VaynerMedia the wine thing, he has a clothing. If you go to his website, he has a list of things that he does. He's another person who's very much so like Richard Branson. Right. So those are two examples now that we've given people who are three people who don't niched out,
Arie 6:58
yes, I give it to you, but two out of those three, I do go they have built a personal brand outside of that. A lot of those final yes, that helped funnel into so I'm definitely going to give you the Virgin. One because, yes, you've had to create virgin itself into a strong brand to be able to use that name for all of the different wheels variations Hold on, that you've built. But I think that again, where, you know, we were just talking about before this, having the opportunity to show that you have done work and you've built your name in different spaces, right? That's the other thing where I could use the Kanye example, right? Kanye, like you said, started in the music, right? probably know, Kanye did fashion before that Kanye was doing music, but you ain't never seen Kanye not have his own little Fly Fit on you get what I mean? So it made sense when he started doing clothing. Oh, yeah, I see him style himself like this. Now he's moving into clothing, right. And let's be real, even where he's moved into now. We've seen him speak his mind about stuff. So it's not surprising that he's done these sorts of things. He's done different things, which is allowed all of that to be in encompass without him giving one title to who he is.
Ambition 8:25
Okay. So your stance is that if you really want to not niche, you should probably build a personal brand. And I'm taking the stance of unique,
Arie 8:34
it's possible to do it the other way. I just don't think a lot of people take that route. But I do think that it is possible. And the way I'm saying it's possible, listen to the video and the woman's talking about well, which video as you she's talking about becoming an influencer content creator in the space and it's like, oh, well, you have to start as a content creator and pick one niche. And then once you've mastered that niche, then you can move on to another. You can't just start out as an influencer. Right? And I'm going, but I remember going to high school and there were girls who paid to the makeup who did hair who did this? Who did that and you knew them for everything that they did. They just made sure that everything that they did, they did well. And they made sure they got known in the space for the thing that they did
Ambition 9:22
you know who I'm actually going to shout out that. Also is another great example of this. And I'm not saying that she's saying this. But she, you know, what she pointed out is that you can be multifaceted. Yes. Yeah. Your brand can be multifaceted. It just can't be confusing and chaos. Yes. And I was at social with Rocky. So she's an IG expert, IG and business coach, business strategist. And when she said that, man, I said, Wow, that that's leading by example. Right because and here's why I say that to leading By example, when you start a business, you're a leader. And you can't just go along with what's worked just because it was working. Right? You have to look at where people are, like getting utterly miserable, doing some of the things that quote unquote, works. And I've come across so many people that just hate the niching conversation.
Arie 10:27
As as you continue to go on and right. Gotta take you back. Richard Branson is not the only person. What store do do we go into is zoomies or something? Who has zoomies? Is it zoomies or what's the other store? I know you can get clothing and skateboards. Within the store. It's where you got your, your T shirt from?
Ambition 10:51
Oh, yeah, zoomies? zoomies. Right.
Arie 10:53
I think DGK is T shirt. Right. So go to zoomies and get skateboards, right? Where else? JCPenney Sears, like these are not stores that have niched down to any one thing, you can get multiple. I can go to Walmart and get my groceries and get my car fix, right.
Ambition 11:15
So what I think a lot of us are doing is we're thinking about the brand, and they're going okay, well, if zoomy. So skateboards and shirts, then, you know, they probably are really good at skill, selling skateboards, things like if a company that makes a skateboard that makes a really great skateboard, says, You know what, zoomies, you sell a lot of shirts, then they're gonna end up with really great scrape ports. They just need to procure or find the company, that's going to give them that product offering to put in their stores. It's
Arie 11:46
making sure that whatever you're putting in there is done with great quality. Yes, right. A lot of times when people are doing multiple things, right. They're not maintaining that quality across the board. And that's why people let's be real. I'm sorry, I never want to eat the burger from Del Taco. Right? I just don't. Okay, so it's simply because
Ambition 12:12
I got a shout on my East Coast people, right. So East Coast people. Or if you down south del taco is like, an upgrade to Taco Bell on the West Coast right? Out here in California. There's a bunch of dough tacos.
Arie 12:25
Let's go let let everybody on the East Coast. Are you going to all of a sudden going get tacos from White Castle?
Ambition 12:35
You shouldn't get burgers from White Castle.
Arie 12:39
What, what, there's just some spaces where it's like, they haven't done it well, or they've stayed in one lane for so long. Or you see them only popping up with the thing because they're competitors. So I know sometimes, Jack in the Box, it started to get a little wild on what they started offering. Right? It started becoming like, Okay, now you have fish sandwiches and you have burgers and you have tacos and I could get Chinese food here. Right? Or I'll pass by. Out in Pomona, there is a spot where you can get doughnuts, seafood, and burgers,
Ambition 13:18
donuts, seafood. So doughnuts and seafood just don't go together,
Arie 13:23
right? So there's places where it's chaotic, that you were doing this thing, and there's no way I can believe that you're doing seafood and donuts at the best quality in the same environment. But
Ambition 13:37
less holler out a let's call out exactly. When we say niching and it comes to business. Well, if you are a business executive within a marketing business, you're expected to be a business expert. You're expected to be a marketing expert.
Arie 13:57
I wouldn't be surprised if graphic design, those sorts of things came into that space.
Ambition 14:01
I also wouldn't be surprised if you knew what thing or two about technology.
Arie 14:05
Now you've got to even start understanding like content creation within the marketing space.
Ambition 14:11
And what people would say is Oh, well, you know, if it's learning about technology, I want to go to the tech guy to learn technology. Look, I'm a tech guy. No, you don't. First of all, tech guys don't even want to talk to you. I'm not talking about me personally. But you guys know the deal. Like techies are introverts. Or so it's like and then to the tech guy who's advanced, is going to talk over your head. I was learning martial arts for years. I'm a martial arts, avid martial artist. You've met the teacher that I'm talking about. Right? Can this teacher teach beginners
Arie 14:49
know if he's gonna use the language that's advanced and it's gonna be hard for you to understand. Today had a conversation with a woman about cryptocurrency? She didn't I Let me tell you, I'm not somebody who frickin understands it through and through, right? Most people know far more than I do. But I have a slight basic understanding, right? So it was enough to be able to educate herself. But if she had the conversation with you, she would have been like, Fuck cryptocurrency, just I don't, I'm not even gonna bother.
Ambition 15:23
And then here's the kicker, I could have those conversations in that way. And it's literally like one of the things I do is break down complex things into simpler manners. Yeah, and I'm still not a crypto expert. Yep. But I've made a good deal of money on crypto more than made yourself
Arie 15:42
knowledgeable in this space, there's a lot of things that I am knowledgeable about. And I can give some sort of advice that, and it's not that I'm any sort of expert or professional, you know, within the spaces, I just have enough knowledge where I can share this. And a part of it is allowing that to live within my business, it forces me to continue to expand and grow those skills as well. So I'm also improving if you come to me, and I only sit in branding, right, and I don't ever leave that lane. Well, branding ends up touching, copy, it ends up touching, marketing ends up touching a lot of different customer service, all of these different spaces. If I don't actually expand the services that I offer, to, you know, any sort of clients coming in or just in education, either just teaching people some of these other things, I don't grow my skill,
Ambition 16:44
right? And then here's the other side of it, right? People act like the workup to learn, almost every industry is hard. Some of you are not in incredibly complicated industries. And you niching into something that's kind of simple. I'm not talking shit, just speaking facts, right? If you niche down into something simple, why is it Farfetch that someone else has mastered your skill? Even as a hobby?
Arie 17:19
Yeah, I'm, I'm sitting here and I'm going like, in all honesty, I feel a certain level of comfort, going, Hey, I have no problem talking to somebody about producing a podcast, because I've been doing some work producing a podcast now again, I'm you're not gonna get frickin extreme crazy levels of production from me yet, because again, I'm still doing that's a skill. I'm still developing. But I don't feel like because I'm not at an expert level. I should go I can't. I can't offer that.
Ambition 17:51
Right. And then here's the crazy part. Right? Every motherfucker, right? Every motherfucker would have fucking laptop and a microphone can teach you how to produce a podcast. Yeah, I don't see again, I'm not trying to be rude here. I'm just saying that
Arie 18:08
the basics of putting together a podcast you which
Ambition 18:11
is what most people need most people the basics. Yes. No, when you start trying to grow your podcast podcasts. Now that's a different area, right? That's where you want to go all the way to the experts.
Arie 18:25
Or you want to start doing some fancy things that you started seeing podcasts and all of that you
Ambition 18:31
want to know the truth. I think we are so programmed to think that there's a secret to like, the massive amounts of success that we see. Instead of just grinding it out in hard work. You know what Gary, Gary Vee has already told us? Yeah, for free. He's like, Yeah, just reach out to people on LinkedIn.
And, you know, you just reach out to them. People love publicity. Is that a good? Yeah, I want to hear you guys opinion. Is that a good Gary Vee in person?
Arie 19:04
You could do better. He's got a clip up of somebody that actually did an impression of him and he's like, I love it because this exactly like was so high energy and everything.
Ambition 19:17
So what you got to do is but the whole point is that Gary Vee is making and this is my experience of from podcasting. Number one, you want to make sure you do some sort of copywriting, right? You want to make sure that the titles of your episodes are SEO friendly. You want to make sure your podcast descriptions are SEO friendly. And then third, the only other thing that you can do to grow your podcast, have a great gret guests that has a significant reach or odd
Arie 19:52
why you don't have to stress yourself about niching down if you understand that The basics of the thing is, those basics are going to apply to almost every goddamn space that you show up with it. So going back to the Gary Vee, he talks about branding and marketing. But I have listened to him talk about wine, I've listened to him talk about playing cards, I've listened to him talk about collectibles, purchasing things off eBay and reselling them. I've heard him give marketing advice to people in the music industry athletes or because the basic understanding of this can be applied to all of these arenas. Now, obviously, a musician and an artist or an athlete have things that are different. So you tweak it a bit for each industry. But overall, the basic understanding is the same between
Ambition 20:56
both what especially when you're coming to marketing,
Arie 20:59
and branding and lead copies.
Ambition 21:03
You want to market things, how they're traditionally marketed? Why? Why you get
Arie 21:10
ones and like, think about there's a purpose for it, then I understand it. But if you're just saying it to say it.
Ambition 21:17
You know why you don't want to market things, the way that they've been traditionally marketed. Because social media, YouTube, all of these things, the internet took marketing and turned it on its head. And then social media took what the internet had learned and turn it on its head, then web 3.0, which is crypto took that, again, took marketing, turned it on its head
Arie 21:38
shoe, if anything, be more willing, instead of going one or the other. Do they always like and I literally just got to see a YouTuber launched her brand. And she used both digital marketing and traditional marketing to launch her brand. And I'm watching it I'm like, this was an amazing freakin launch of a brand because I can find her all over the internet, find her videos and all of that. But then I can go outside and see a big ass billboard with her on it. Like it just the combination was great.
Ambition 22:17
Can Can we I'm putting the mark on the site in the sand right now. Right? This is our quote, I call that divine marketing. You know why? omnipresence? You gotta be everywhere, man. Like, I want my marketing to err on the divine. Like, I want to show up in your mind when you think about a product. And you know, granted, I'm not there yet. But that does take a ton of money. It, it takes a ton of strategy, a ton of thinking, right? The little tips and tricks like one of the things we did last year was we did QR codes. Right. And that was really interesting because we actually got to build relationships with businesses in the area. And it again, one form of marketing are another form of marketing that we were using with social media really heavily. Right this year, we stepped into Google ads, Facebook, ads, SEO, all of those things. And I guess we will make the official announcement here that we're officially a complete marketing agency now. Right, with a team behind us that has over 20 years of experience and has worked with hundreds of clients. So what the fuck are we mentioned?
Arie 23:51
There's there's just
Ambition 23:53
Okay, so hold on Mr. Point.
Arie 23:56
Oh, go ahead, right.
Ambition 23:58
I know somebody's listening to this and going, Oh, but niching is easier. You're right, if that's what you want to do. So if you're solopreneur you want to take it easy. Yes. Go ahead and niche Yes. If you are an entrepreneur that has the ability to go out and get some help and you don't think you need to niche and you can find quality, talented people that you can trust with divisions and departments and task and systems and processes. You don't fucking have to niche I
Arie 24:28
literally just said here, I don't believe there is an either or. Yes. niching and not niching can be great. You figure out what works for you. And you figure out how to do it in the best way that you can use it possible. I was
Ambition 24:45
just I took that really literal. They're really literal. And I was sitting here like how can you both niche and continued on I was like talking about Oh, yes, yeah. niching versus not niching, right? It's not a competition.
Arie 25:07
But, um, you know, just in the words of Gary Vee, right? Right now the currency is attention, right? And this is why I lean more to the not niching side, you don't want to leave that attention on the table. Right? And if you can show up in the different spaces, so that like you said, people can think about you, they'll see you and mind you when you're marketing it. Regardless, it takes people seeing you a shit ton of fucking times right before they move anyway, whether you've niched down or not, right, like there's, again, those principles that still apply within the space. So if you know that attention is the name of the game, if you're only going for one group's attention, or multiple groups attention, you still have to figure out what the best way to get those people's attention is that doesn't change. niching doesn't make it so easy that you don't have to now think about a lot of these concepts. It just means you can hyper focus on the group that you would like to hyper focus on, right.
Ambition 26:09
And if you've listened to this, and you go, Well, you know, I'm gonna niche because it's easier. That's fine. That's fine. If this isn't? Yeah, like,
Arie 26:20
you don't judge me for not niching I'm not gonna judge you for niching.
Ambition 26:24
Right, like, nobody. I mean, let me say that better. I was gonna say nobody cares what you do. But that sounds very saucy. And I'm trying to remove a bit of that from my character. But it's like, in all honesty, nobody cares what you do.
Arie 26:40
We refer those who matter don't mind and those who matter, right?
Ambition 26:44
Yeah. It's all about what works for
Arie 26:48
you. And those who mind don't matter. That's how it goes. Those who matter don't mind and those who mind don't matter. Yeah.
Ambition 26:54
And let's even talk about why is that the truth? Right? This is why both good attention and bad attention or good. Bad attention is gonna bring the attention to the people who weren't paying attention to you that agree with you. And your good.
Arie 27:13
YouTubers will heavily point out that the negative comments that they get, bring them so much more attention than the positive comments do. Right? And it's not that they don't appreciate their positive comments and that they're aiming for negative. But it's people love to stop for a car crash. And if they think somebody's talking about a car crash, they're like, let's go see what's over there. What are they? I did that shit today? What some stuff in the planner community it's like all y'all are talking negatively about something. Let me go. Let me go see. Attention is the name of the game.
Ambition 27:56
I don't know whether I was the person that mind that matter. No, I didn't mind
Arie 28:01
in that particular thing. Well,
Ambition 28:04
yeah, no, that's true. Because I'll, I'll be all up into what's going on with, you know, the hip hop, shit, right? Like, we're gonna right now we got 50 year old men beefin. And I'm saying here like, whoa.
Arie 28:19
And it's just, it's like watching a bad show. And you're like, I can't take my eyes off of it.
Ambition 28:26
I will say what I learned from that, right? Should I use names? I'm asking you on this one? Nah, no. Okay. So Person A, makes a big spectacle about the wrongdoings of Person B. And I just want to add this into the conversation real quick. We're still talking about not niching. But this was a great example of incident response and protecting your brand. Person B's response was a man I'm I'm working on my nonprofit, I'm working on these opportunities. They use the extra attention that they were getting from what this wet mud, this person tried the sling to put it right back onto their business. And this is just a beautiful thing.
Arie 29:23
The thing that I brought up with the planet community actually falls into the same sort of example, right, where Person A gets upset about something that they believe that person B did and what they did was going to the internet and trying to get the whole community to have emotions, feelings, thoughts and opinions about it. And I'm just very curious to see how Person B decides to handle it. Right Do they acknowledge it at all? But do they focus on their thought you get what I mean? Like I'm curious to see what the responses.
Ambition 30:00
So can I also say, This is why I can't niche down? Right? Because within my role, and this is really actually interesting. And I don't think that I put the one and two together. What I did in corporate America for Fortune 500 companies was cybersecurity and incident response. Now, incident response within security is really interesting, because it does cross into the marketing threshold of branding and securing a brand's reputation. Yes. So this is why when Person B said what they said, I'm analyzing it, like a professional that understands how fortune 500 companies respond to the media, when they have a big fuckup. Right. So this is something that's really interesting to me. But it also gave me another reason why I don't have to niche down my understanding of branding and marketing comes from these fortune 500 companies that I worked for. Right? I also built technology systems for them. And I fucking wrote the incident response manual, right? For one of the top three car manufacturers in the world. So we're talking global 500 company, right? I spoke to people that work there rather recently. And they were telling me like, Hey, man, the stuff that you wrote was so robust, and so great, that we would didn't we've still, it saved our ass a couple of times. Please, anybody listening? Tell me, why does the person that I just described to you being myself have to niche down? Right? Why do I have to then say that I only do cybersecurity, or I, I only do marketing, or I only do tech systems. The only benefit at that point from the people that have been telling me to niche down is so that you can have a better understanding of myself. And this is where I go into if I'm not going to niche. What's my strategy, and I'm gonna go into what my strategy is, right? After you go, look,
Arie 32:14
it's just again, another example of it. There's not that there's anything one better than the other, if you have a specialist, or you have a general doctor, right? They each have their skill sets. Now, obviously, the specialist has hyper focus on his area, so they get paid more than the general doctor, right. But the general doctor also gets more variety of clients, which is where their pay can get to the same levels as a specialist, right. But, again, it's what you need in different situations and what you're willing to offer. Now, obviously, if I am needing heart surgery, I want the heart surgeon, right, I want the specialists, you have hyper focused on this thing. But if I have a general cold, and all I have is a heart surgeon, he hasn't focused on that helped me with this general cold. He's like, so surgery, that's what I can do for you.
Ambition 33:15
And so you know, what the craziest part is about that statement is, when you talk about most people's businesses, they don't need a fucking specialist specialist. They need a right. And this goes into exactly what I was saying is the solution. If you're not going to niche, here's what you have to do. Because I know everyone needs a generalist. And I'm a specialist. Really? Yes. I didn't have to niche to become a specialist. Yeah. In fact, what happened was, I started gaining all of these skills that not too many people in the world have, right? And that's what made me a unique, the, basically, I create a unique proposition by not niching down, so long as I can combine all the pieces. So the solution for me is give away the prerequisites. Right, the prerequisite information that people need to understand before they work with you give it away, and if it helps them get to a certain point with their business. Great, right? This is why we're talking here for free. Right? This is why, you know, there's podcast episodes with millionaires that have launched multi million dollar marketing agencies, multi million dollar course offerings are coming coming up on the podcast, and they're talking about what they give away for free. So whatever the prerequisite is to work with you don't be the fucking person trying to do one on ones with everybody that comes through the door so that they can get To the point of working with you, and get a course, give it away for free. Let people know, hey, here's the free course, this needs to be completed before you can work with me, I don't even work with people who haven't done this. It goes back to our statement we hadn't said last year, we weren't working with businesses that didn't have mission statements and values listed. I don't even know what you're about. I don't even know the ethical.
Arie 35:26
So give them the thing that helps them build their mission statements and their values, right, so that they can show up and have actually gone through that process. Thought about those things? Know, you're one of the things that's been come really popular in the service provider space on social media has been people using their close friends. As little education hubs. Yes. Right. And I actually was following a web designer who was utilizing that, and one of the things that she started talking about a lot was actually setting up your website with SEO in mind. Right? So just from the build of your websites, we've just put out an SEO checklist. She's in the UK, so she's only charging 10 pounds for it. Yeah, I mean, but it's like, well, I'm gonna be talking about SEO with people. Anyway, here's this checklist, that's only 10 pounds. At least review this so that we're on the same page, when I'm teaching, teaching or doing this thing within your business.
Ambition 36:34
And what I found is that, it's the easiest way to make sure that your client isn't dissatisfied with the work that you're going to do. Right? If the client isn't willing to understand what they're going to pay for, than they shouldn't pay
Arie 36:50
for it. Yeah, nine times out of 10. It's miscommunication.
Ambition 36:53
Right? And it listen, if you call me, I'm trying to get you to not pay for my shit. Yeah, that's my new thing, right? I don't want your fucking money.
Arie 37:02
It's not even a new thing. That's not a new thing. That's not a new bill. He's, he has always been quick to run to the free or the low offering. And it's, it's no, it's been, it's been real with you. I've been present for conversations where you're talking to somebody and I'm like, cool, this, this is the opportunity that that's going to get get a little cash flow in and these people are going to it's like, not the opportunities, dope, I'm gonna do this for you for free, so you can see what I can do. Right? And a lot of times Hold
Ambition 37:38
on, before we continue. I'm not doing that anymore.
Arie 37:43
No, we're not reaching out to people with opportunities, writing things for free night, yes, we've passed this space of putting the things out for free and educating people in a free or low cost space, because I've seen people do both.
Ambition 37:57
Right, I'm not going to work for you for free, you don't get my time for free. But I can get access to information that I've already recorded, that I think should be common knowledge. So I'm in a month for a serious person in the space
Arie 38:12
and a monthly membership, literally only like $22 a month, right? And she puts out a masterclass every single month, and it's usually on something like content building. It's been all business related this month. It's building a simple business plan. Right? But it's like I get it. You work with people like literally her program is called Simply Business, you work with people on this thing in your membership, paying $22 a month, which is far less than what the one on one coaching with her is, you at least know now they understand what a simple business plan
Ambition 38:53
is? Well, here's the other side of it. Right? If you're not educated on, you know, what I do, you can validate that I did your business correctly, like I worked with your business fairly incorrectly. Yeah, and there's always going to be a mistrust there. And I
Arie 39:10
think it's easier for people when it's a product based business, I have an understanding of what most of these products should do. If I'm getting a buddy butter, I'm expecting it to more like there's a basic understanding from people, which is why they can give such an in depth review from it. But when you're dealing with a more service based business, it's a it's a lot harder to just relay all of that, you know, to you through providing the service for you, right, like yes, it gets you some results, but that doesn't mean that you actually understand what we went through. So even when we're looking for the review now, like I'd love to hear what you feel about it. It's like you did a great job. You don't mean like there's no even more that you can explain or express because you really don't understand the process how many people drop their car off at the mechanic and they're like, they're great, because my car works, but you have no clue what the mechanic did.
Ambition 40:11
Right? Right. So this is, I think this is the way that the market is going. And there's a lot of people who are probably listening, like give it away for free. Right, and that that's a whole nother episode that we can do. But you know, in the interim, what I will say is that, the reason you can start giving shit away for free, there's probably somebody who's beginning with their businesses, like I can't afford to give it away for free. Look, I understand that. And I accept that, right. And you got to understand that and accept that. But we're, what, three years in, we've been generating material and content since day one. And if I don't give it away for free, and I sell it, the person that I sell it to is still going to have to come behind if they don't want to do the work associated with it, learn Yes, to come and pay sometimes
Arie 41:06
understanding it allows you to see that there's a lot like I can understand what the mechanic is doing in the car angle. I'm not doing that I rather like them do it. Because
Ambition 41:18
if there's a sale attached to me doing it right, then I can go whatever, to the money from the course.
Arie 41:25
Right. But I I know what they're doing. That doesn't mean that I can do it as efficiently as they can, because they have glue, right? They have years of practice and experience doing this over and over and over again. But we we also are moving in this space of we can't keep saying that we believe knowledge is free. And then for the knowledge, no, I will charge you for the service provided.
Ambition 41:50
So hold on, I will say the knowledge that you will end up getting charged for because the way that we've broken this down with our marketing agency, because we are officially a marketing agency now. Like cheese and like Fox and because getting this team together has been a real
Arie 42:08
today. I was like in the conversation with the same woman with the cryptocurrency. I was like, Yeah, we have a marketing agency like,
Ambition 42:15
right, and she's like, Yo, we did this, it took it and it took us so fucking Yeah, yeah. But hey, we're here, right? We're here. But the things that I will charge you for it, like we do have like a more robust course. That's like everything you need to build an online business. Right? Like, I'm not giving it away for free, because that's like hours of content. I thought that I was done with the first module. Okay. And every time I think I'm done with the first module, I think of things that I can add
Arie 42:51
back. And let's be clear, the reason that it costs more is not because of the knowledge. If you just sat down and you were just spitting it out. We're teaching application application templates, right? That's why that space starts to have a price tag on it, right? Yeah, um, I get why even people start to go like, what I expected that I was going to get when I was going to college was not what I got. Because a lot of times we're going and we're just sitting in a classroom taking notes where we're paying a lot of money for the knowledge and there's no application, yes, within there. But nobody fronts that when they go to law school or when they're becoming a doctor because you get application within the space makes sense for me to pay that much money for application. Does it make sense for me to just pay to sit and hear you talk to me,
Ambition 43:46
right? It doesn't. It does not? It does not make any fun.
Arie 43:51
But you know what, I was ready when I wanted to do makeup artistry, what I was ready to throw money at if I had it. Were the workshops, the makeup artistry workshops, because I'm going in they're giving me the opportunity to apply the knowledge in the space. People like to pay cosmetology school, I get to apply vocational schools you get to apply those makes sense to spend the money. But sitting down for a philosophical class where we just listen to you talk to me.
Ambition 44:26
You know what we call it? pontification aka intellectually jacking off
Arie 44:34
but it's even down with like the little people biggest reason why I love like the Montessori sort of practices, their application, go do the thing. Go, go learn how you actually do it. That's what but Montessori schools are expensive because you're teaching your children how to do the things you go on I mean, so the knowledge is free. The application or the service provided you guess is what you're paying for. And we've we're really leaning into that space and understanding and that also opens us up like you said, to not have to sit within a niche a niche because I keep wondering the same niche. But Nisha, but the knowledge we get some
Ambition 45:20
German out there or some language that's going to fucking they're like, What the fuck? Right? Look, man, listen, I mean to disrespect no culture.
Arie 45:32
But the knowledge that we have can literally be applied to any industry. That's why we want to put it out there and you go test it in your spaces. You go try it out. All of those things.
Ambition 45:45
And Tanisha I'm done. Does that my brain just
Arie 45:49
went militia? No. You said Nietzsche, in my brain went malicious like does
Ambition 45:55
that mean like I'm anti psychology?
Arie 46:01
I want you guys to know that he is literally researching this right now.
Ambition 46:05
Know. The guy's name, man. This is This is annoying me. Shut up.
Arie 46:16
They're gonna hear all types.
Ambition 46:18
Okay. Thank you, philosopher. So we it tied in. It was worth it. We get went pontification you didn't want to listen to any philosophers. Niche. Nisha? No. Goddamnit, German philosopher, yet? No, no, it's niche. Well, the Wilhelm Nietzsche, Nietzsche, Nietzsche, Nietzsche. So yes, I am the anti Nietzsche. Right? No, no disrespect to the philosopher more more anti to the namesake that has taken to focusing in on one thing, you know, because listen to all my career, all my career, what people have done is going, Hey, go do that. And then they're like, Wow, you did that really? Well. Like like an expert in that thing. Like when I was in high school, I ran track. And my coach would literally throw me in any race. And I'd place second or third, right? Never first though, and somebody's going like, Oh, why don't you just pick one race and come in first, all the time. Okay, I just want you to imagine if there's a if there were payments for these race, you got $100,000 for first, and $50,000 for a second. I'd rather run three races. And get 150,000.
Arie 47:53
I was gonna say you also have to understand that like with Geminis, we thoroughly enjoy the journey. I do right, we thoroughly enjoy the journey. I know that some people like in some signs, let's be real, their goal is to be the best at the thing. And a lot of times I'm not aiming to be the best in this space. Right? I just want to be the best for me. While I'm playing in this space, and I'm ready to go try something else
Ambition 48:25
can I tell you you know, honestly, I am the best. Right? I don't I don't do you know any of them? Motherfuckers name ambition, their own marketing agencies and run pocket? I don't know any other. I'm the best ambition I know. Right? Like the I hate even when people try to say like, oh, well I'm gonna focus on being the best at in this industry at that better than everyone else. Like you know why? Because the number one person in that industry doesn't even give a fuck about y'all. It doesn't like Usain Bolt stopped running against Husing like he wasn't running against Tyson gay now running gets Usain Bolt ghost. Yes, right. Like that. You get one like it's better than that guy. And it's who he was yesterday right? So we'll we'll even throw in an affirmation in here for you. I want you to wake up in the morning. Get up go to your bathroom look in the mirror and go what leeches Hold on I'm gonna be better than I got. I'm gonna be better than that guy
Unknown Speaker 49:44
was yesterday. And you pointed pointed him in the mirror. You know what? That guy is one second old me from a second ago. I'm better than him. Just all throughout the day,
Ambition 49:54
right? All that competitive energy that you were still going out into the world right? Yeah.
Arie 50:00
Gotta have that for yourself.
Ambition 50:01
If you'd like to fight fight you,
Arie 50:03
right? Right. Because you know that the motherfucker who was training a year ago is not as good as motherfucker training today.
Ambition 50:13
So funny enough, my mentor came out here Sunday, he has a conversation with me. And he's like, man, you know, I've known you for a while you kind of aggressive, you're like, beans and compares me to Beanie Sigel. I'm like, man, what are you saying? You mean Gan toe and beanie Seagull that Jay Z said that he wouldn't vouch for so he could get out of court. That's not me, man. But nice guy. Right. And I get it because when I was younger, I wanted to fight everybody. Right? And now I'm like, Y'all are no competition. I've been beating you up for too long. Let me just fight myself. This is a lot more fun.
Arie 50:51
Yeah. Same here to wasn't physical fights. For me. It was verbal arguments with goddamn everybody. Right? And then it started to be like, Nah, but I can do that in here with my own thoughts and beliefs. I literally challenged those things on a regular frickin basis. This is gonna sound
Ambition 51:13
really cocky. Right? But like I like, I like arguing. I like debating, right? This is just honest. You know who the best person to argue and debate is with myself? Yeah. I've never lost an argument to
Arie 51:30
myself. I'm done. Somebody in that battle had to lose not mean, it was the old deal.
Ambition 51:36
That's not me. But like, when that space occurs, where I'm trying to debate with other people, they feel challenged. Yeah. It's uneasy, man. All I'm saying is being fun. All I'm saying is, listen, we live in a world where, you know, within, I would say within the past decade, I think it's been kind of frowned upon to be a competitor. And to be ambitious, and to have all of his drive because people who were ambitious and you know, very testosterone driven, have been competing, right? Like, we listen. And this is a honest assessment, we we've been acting like Vikings running into villages. pillaging,
Arie 52:30
naughty, naughty, right, is that there were people who may not want it wanted to be to compete. Yeah. And where they've come from, or the people they've come from have forced them to compete. So there's definitely been some harm that has occurred in the space because there wasn't mindfulness attached to that. Right. Um, but it's not again, it's not okay to throw the baby out with the bathwater, like,
Ambition 52:57
right. Even to the point where you don't mentor brought up the thing that I did when I was, I think it was like 2015, I was like, 24 years old, right. And I had this, I had it in my mind that I was going to be the best motivational speaker out, right? And you can look at who the best motivational speaker was at that time, right? We're not on the melanin dominated side. So if you catch what I'm talking about, then you catch what I'm talking about. So I found his email, because again, I'm a cyber security professional. So I have went open source found his emails, like, I'm gonna be better to you. By the time I'm this age. Needless to say, it didn't happen. But I also realized, like, why am I doing shit? Like, like, like, why am I reaching out to people that I don't know, that don't know me that couldn't give a fuck less about whether or not I was better than them? Like, who cares? Who cares? He did mention, though, that that person mentioned it on stage. So
Arie 54:00
yeah, my thing was, I would make note of people who are looking at me as a competitor, even if I wasn't showing up as a competitor. And then I'm like, Well, if you see me as your competitor, I'm here to be your competitor. And now I'm fighting a fight and running a race that I never intended to. And I'm like, wait a minute. I did not get to where I wanted to go. I've been here racing you I've been here battling you. And it was it realizing it was it was pointless in those specific spaces. Yes,
Ambition 54:31
like, and so let's tie this back into the niching conversation. Why? Why are we having this conversation as a part of the niching conversation? Because niching is a strategy that helps you avoid competition. Yeah. Because what used to happen, you're in the same market as somebody else. They're trying to undercut you. They're going for the same partner. like listen, bro. If we do the same thing. Good luck, right? If you want some tips, reach out. Yeah, I'm genuinely not that guy. People were asking us about, oh, you know, how do I sue? What do you think about people taking your business idea? The fuck are you talking just don't, the only thing you got to worry about people taking is the name and the actual physical product, because that's actually stealing. But you can't steal an idea.
Arie 55:27
When Well, ironically enough, when you used to interlay to school in a specific field, say you're going for marketing, you're surrounded by who marketers who are all eventually gonna go try to get what a marketing job, right, but one of the things that you guys had within the space with one another was that the same people that yet are, quote, unquote, competing for a job with you have
Ambition 55:53
an opportunity for you.
Arie 55:55
But they also understand the challenges but also, and now when you're going well, I'm just going to stay here in my lane and never leave that you can even lose out on the information that the other party may have. Because you can all be puking successful in the space. Like we don't have to
Ambition 56:18
act like dumb animals. Right? And I'm being honest, that's what it is, like, when you go to mind. You're being a dumb animal. Like, that's not.
Arie 56:30
Because you just really like working with Yes, industry, don't niche down because you're afraid of competition within the space and you feel because ironically enough, a lot of people
Ambition 56:41
hold on to niche down because you're afraid of the competition or your your
Arie 56:45
choice. A lot of my suggestion is to not to niche down because of competition. It's
Ambition 56:51
one of those opinions.
Arie 56:54
But ironically enough, a lot of people are like, niching, down by what they do. So they're like, I'm a brand designer, right? But then they go with, like, who they work with. And then they pick industries that are oversaturated. So it's like, I'm a brand designer, for coaches. There's a shit ton of coaches. I'm a brand designer for the beauty industry. Like, there's a shit ton of people in the industry.
Ambition 57:21
Right, like, and this also points out another issue issue with niching down, you have to pay attention to how the system that is teaching you to niche is niching at what angle it's doing from Yeah, is it niching you down in terms of what you do and getting you specialize? Is it niching down the people that you work with?
Arie 57:41
Right? So for example, you have like I said, a brand designer who works with coaches, or, and digital marketing is a very large category where there's a lot of things that fall underneath that. I mean, digital, you know, marketer, and then you may
Ambition 57:59
one that I've interviewed digital marketing agency for service based businesses. Right. Right, right. And even we had that conversation on the podcast episode, you could go check it out. I think it's a 33. But Michael Brzezinski, he says yeah, like, you know, even, you know, my industry service base is still pretty broad. But, you know, one of the things that he's done is he has a book called the rule of 26. And he offers people the opportunity for them to go ahead and CO write the book with him. So he can tailor it to their field.
Arie 58:37
And for those that don't want to niche down, when everybody because before like with the internet space, a lot of people were focused on like product base. But now a lot of people are moving over to look at all of these service providers that are showing up and they need support and assistance. Right. So now all of these people are running to niche down with the service providers, that means who's still looking for people to work with. Now there's open space in the product based area. So you're
Ambition 59:07
gonna see people start going back over to the product based businesses, because they don't have bad businesses. Just it can be tougher, it's a little bit different. Right? Yeah.
Arie 59:18
You deal with different problems, different issues. So you know, your service base provider, like literally they just come up with their services, and you can launch that within whenever product base, you got to deal with different timelines, different, you know, target audiences, it may vary based on their product. So like, there's different challenges in each space. No space is gonna be perfect, but pick what feels good to you what feels right for you to do some people it feels just right to just niche down and sit in this lane, because that's exactly what you want to do. For others of us. That don't feel So right to do just on this one space, anytime that that I've thought about, I'm gonna be an interior designer for the rest of my life, it was like, for the rest of my life. And I know they say Geminis have commitment issues, right? But it's just like, there's so much to try out and explore, like, I can do brand design per restaurant for a product based business. For the beauty industry. I'm like, there's so many interesting things. Why would I pick just one,
Ambition 1:00:34
I'm not even gonna lie to you. This is how much I refuse to niche down. We're going to build this marketing agency to be a multi million dollar agency. I'm going to find somebody with SEO potential. I'm going to put them in place. I'm going to move on to do my next thing.
Arie 1:00:53
Yeah, I listened to a video earlier this week of a guy who decided to build a brand that were was not for everyone. Right? It was very intentionally made, not for everyone. He starts out making jewelry and he goes, I want to get to x. And then the x that I bought was shit. So I decided, why don't we make and sell axes. So we made the best quality X he could make. And now they sell jewelry, and axis. Right, and he's like, that's just kind of how their products have continued continued to develop is that they went to go, they actually went to go buy something. And what they bought was such poor quality, and they knew that, hey, I can make what it is that I want to make at the best quality that I'm gonna make it at.
Ambition 1:01:45
So would you just reminded me of what that story, right, is that we need to stop pretending like all of these industries was all Kumbaya and loving light and positive. Right? To what degree? Do you think that niching came from the egos of people who had taken over the broader industry, and didn't want anybody doing their thing or felt threatened when somebody came up? And said, Oh, you have a marketing agency, I also have a marketing agency. Right? To what degree do you think it's that
Arie 1:02:20
I make the most amazing rings in the jewelry business? Yeah, you do jewelry, but you're doing so much of that stuff? You don't do it? Well, I specialize in rain, right?
Ambition 1:02:29
So they used to be this, like this concept that if you don't niche that your quality will drop. Right. But
Arie 1:02:41
that's in some spaces, right? That's more so on the people creating the thing not?
Ambition 1:02:47
Yeah, I mean, people put out one shitty thing, they're probably gonna. Second shitty, right.
Arie 1:02:52
But it's like, again, like we said, with the niching down, I've seen people niche down in, you know, who they offer their services to. But then like, their services vary. Maybe they do social media management, and they do brand design, and they do these sorts of things. So it's like a hub where you can get multiple things, but they do all of those things for a very specific group, and vice versa.
Ambition 1:03:16
Well, with us, you know, building out our team, we have very specific things that we do, right, and we push out to our team, the things that we feel that they can do. And it's not that we don't do those things. Right. Currently, I'm doing a large majority of the suite of things that we're getting from the team that we're bringing on, yeah, that we've
Arie 1:03:39
just maintain the quality. And that's what we're talking about, like expanding the team so that you can maintain the quality of what you are offering to your clients. Like we understand if it's just the two of us, and each of us are doing it's just the two of us who are each doing 20 different things, then yeah, it's gonna start to be like, there's gonna be a lot of shit where it starts to lag. But now if we're going, Hey, let's bring in some more people. And now everybody's doing three to five things that they work on, the quality gets maintained within the space, that's where you expand, you know who you have helping with you, right? Small Business with only one person I get it, you can only do so much as one person, right? And if you really just don't have the intention of expanding your business and to where you have a large team that just may not be your goal, right. In my head when I think our marketing agency I'm going global, so I know that we can't stay with just us if we're going so expensive, right? But some people just want to be the best brand designer in their local city. You don't need an expansive team to be the best brand designer in your local city.
Ambition 1:04:59
Huh? I like that. I, you know, what we, as we were sitting here, right, I've been thinking about how I want to market our SEO Services. Because the way our SEO services currently work is, you know, you can get a audit, right, which we were previously charging people for. But now this is going to be a free audit. Right? Um, but I want to put an application in front of the audit, because this, this is where, you know, some of the things that I was mentioning earlier, like, giving away the course, for free, make sense. If there's an application in front of an audit, I can make sure that the person that submitted that application is ready for that level of work and effort to go into their website and business. Right? I'm, again, I'm really focused on disqualifying people who would have essentially just been wasting their money.
Arie 1:06:05
And I Yes, like this is this is actually trying to help you. Yes, don't, I don't want you to come and sign up for things because you hear people talking about it, and you think you're supposed to get it, but you, you're just not in that space to take on that sort of thing. Because, yes, even though we're doing, providing the service for you, there's still a certain level of you been involved. So you do have to understand the services that you're having done. But I also like the application, because it allows us to see how you talk about your business. That is true, Tim, if you have clarity, there's a certain way that you're gonna talk about your business. And if you're just not there yet, we're gonna see that in the application, and the beautiful thing is, we then get to redirect you to the space that's gonna allow you to get the clarity.
Ambition 1:07:01
That's where you I win. Or if you're just focused on money, we're gonna see that well. Yeah. And we're going to redirect you to the space that's just focused on
Arie 1:07:13
fire. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, right,
Ambition 1:07:17
either. Which way because if you are focused on money, then you should be pretty clear about that. Are you getting it? Do you got anything else for people's last words?
Arie 1:07:28
Well, I think I gave them a shit ton of examples of ditching and not niching. I think they've heard a lot from us.
Ambition 1:07:37
Okay, so I will close it with for everybody listening. You should feel empowered by whoever you're listening to. To when it comes to your business, whatever. business guru marketer, strategist, coach, speaker you're listening to, you should feel empowered to take actions in your business. So just verify that you feel empowered, when you're listening. And you know what empowered feels like for you write it, and I'm going to give you guys a hint. It should feel like somebody's giving you permission to do what you need to do for your business. Now go be great.
