#188 - Mastering Business Communication: Joshua Altman on PR, AI, and Authenticity

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You are biased when it comes to your own company.

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This is why you hire an external person to do it.

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You cannot objectively do this communications for yourself.

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You need someone else to do it.

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Today's guest is Joshua Altman.

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He's the managing director of Beltway Media, a DC based communications consultancy that
helps founders and organizations clarify their message and build trust through strategic

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storytelling, which I'm excited about because we've been on this topic recently.

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With a background in journalism and years of experience advising leaders across sectors,
Joshua brings a sharp perspective on why communication is a core skill for entrepreneurs,

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not just a marketing function.

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So Joshua, welcome to the necessary entrepreneur, man.

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Absolutely.

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So why is communication, why is it a core skill?

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know it, you know, we're an entrepreneurship podcast.

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We're really reaching business owners and people that are at the beginning of their
journey.

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Why is communication a core skill?

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I'd say it's a core function for your business rather than a core skill for you to have,
which is something we talk about a lot.

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We say we are the experts at communicating your expertise.

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You're a developer, you're in robotics, you're professional services firm, you're a home
service, whatever it is you are, that's your expertise.

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We don't try and do that.

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Our expertise is communicating that.

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You don't need to be the expert in that, but it is a core function for your business
because that's how people know about you.

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Not just about you, but what you do and most importantly, who you are.

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Without communications, you're just an entity and they get to fill in the blanks.

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Are we talking PR?

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Is that what we're talking?

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PR is one aspect of it and PR is interesting term public relations because there are a lot
of different definitions of it.

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I kind of like the one from the PRSA, Public Relations Society of America.

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And it's roughly, I'm going to paraphrase it here.

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Any communications that talks to publics, publics being the word for stakeholders, which
is very broad.

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It's media relations, it's investor communications, it's internal communications, it's
pitch decks, it's...

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everything would really fall under that broad definition of PR.

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A lot of people think of it as media relations, which is important, but that's really just
one aspect of

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Is your brain more talking about communication?

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Does your brain more go to what people consistently get wrong?

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Or does it go to, here's what we should be doing?

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depends on what you are and what your stage is.

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So if people are, have one perception of you, if that's wrong, maybe there's a reason they
have that and you can lean into it.

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It's not necessarily not what you do.

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If you know, you're a B2B SaaS and people think of you that way, but you're really
targeting small businesses, but they think of you as medium or you're targeting medium,

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but you're really doing well with small.

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That's not a huge leap.

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And you can work with that.

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You could lean into that one way or the other.

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If it's a blank slate, that's very different.

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Then you really have to start building and that takes a lot of time.

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So when you're talking with these, you know, really early stage companies or even a little
later than that, I know we started with this idea that communications is a core function.

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does get left to the end.

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We're launching.

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We need to tell people we're launching.

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And then.

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We need to bring in someone or do it ourselves.

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All we have is that website we set up at the beginning.

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Bring it in early as part of your early conversations at your leadership level.

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Then you'll have a much better groundwork because then you were not trying to change that
perception.

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If people are thinking for you as small businesses and you're really targeting media,
you're already there and you've been laying that groundwork.

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in a lot of different ways.

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And that could be thought leadership.

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It could be going on podcasts.

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It could be giving speeches.

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It's a lot of it's still in person and going to, you know, community business groups and
trade shows and that gets left out a lot, but that's where a lot of people are.

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And you get to talk.

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If supposed to do this early, if that's your argument and what you've figured out through
your journey, then what happens when we realize that we need to change?

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Pivoting is easy.

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I've done it.

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My business didn't start out exactly what it is now.

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If you're doing something right, you're going to pivot over time.

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That's growth.

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That is good.

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If you have to change, do it.

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Do it smart.

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Do you Always.

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And if you have to do it overnight, you probably are in a crisis and you hope you've had
this planned out.

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So one thing we do with people is crisis communications.

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And it's, you know, like a fire drill.

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You do it, you practice it, you hope you never have to use it.

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Bet you, you learned that on a high level being around politics.

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What do we make now, maybe in business outside of, where you originally started your
career in journalism with the Hill and behind the camera and production.

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What do we make of this news cycle now?

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We used to always hear it was a 24 hour news cycle.

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If you go back in history with CNN and the golf war, seems like it kind of started there.

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I don't know if it was before that, but,

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It started much earlier than that.

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Maybe we saw it as the public as that was the first, maybe we interacted with it
differently that way.

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don't know.

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It felt like it was at our fingertips then.

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And so what do we make of that now?

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I don't know what the term is now if it's still a 24 hour news.

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It feels like a 20 minute news cycle to me now.

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I've heard news flood, news tsunami, uh deluge, it's all there.

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It really is constant.

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And I hear this a lot from people in news still or who work around news and PR that
breaking through that is very challenging because there's always something.

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At the same time, because there are more outlets, there are more distribution channels, it
can be easier.

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I hear all the time from clients, you we want to be on the front page of the New York
Times.

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No, you don't.

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Very rarely is something good on the front page of the New York Times, the Wall Street
Journal, the Washington Post.

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That's, you know, wins election, wins Superbowl, lands on moon is pretty much the good
news there.

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It's usually if it bleeds, leads.

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You don't want to be

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on that front page.

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So do you still want to be page?

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Yeah, want to be on an inside page.

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That's for some good stuff.

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But if you're on the front page, odds are if it bleeds, it leads.

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But there are a lot of other outlets.

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There are regional publications, there are trade publications, there are online entities
that you can go to.

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Podcasts are great to reach very specific audiences.

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You could get better bang for your buck doing that.

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then going for a placement in a tier one publication.

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Because just one time's not gonna get you there,

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No.

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And a lot of people think that's where I want to start.

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You need to practice.

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Practice doing your interviews, practice talking to the reporters, doing your pitch for
them, showing what you have.

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Because you'll have a lot more uh give when it's not in a tier one publication, because
it's a smaller readership.

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Through all your experience in production and all those years there, how much preparation
was there?

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Let's say that on camera is 10 minutes.

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How much preparation would go into pre-recording?

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depends on what you're doing.

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If it's, you know, immediate hit for, know, a corporate CEO at any level, and this is
something you've done a hundred times and you know this, you probably don't need an hour

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of prep.

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If you're doing this for the first time, we'll prep with you for days because you're
nervous.

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We'll rehearse the whole thing like it's real.

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I was doing a new webinar recently.

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It was modified from something I'd done before, but it was a new uh deck for a very
specific group.

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I practiced it full run through four times.

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That's four hours of prep for what was ultimately a 30 minute plus Q and A plus a final
tech run through to make sure everything worked.

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And that was something I'd done before.

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Yeah, what was the best outcome?

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it just that it made you comfortable?

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Because you don't want to make it feel scripted when you're on camera.

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Yeah.

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But did you feel comfortable and that's important?

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It was, I was comfortable.

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knew the material because I'd done this before.

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So I already knew that I was comfortable with it.

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It was with that particular webinar and the changes I had made to it because it was a lot
more interactive for this group and making sure that everything was there and that the

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interactive elements were timed.

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So we didn't run over and that all worked properly that all the transitions had to work
because it brought in elements from.

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that audience component that was newer.

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And those had to be worked in real time.

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So practicing that, so that why even once I had the timing down right, I then did the
final tech run through just to make sure all those things were there.

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Hmm.

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How do you think someone knows just if I've done this a hundred times or, know, I'm pretty
confident now that I could sit down and if someone just gave me a piece of paper, I could

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probably look at it for 20 seconds and come on and engage in a way that feels like, oh
that was a good conversation.

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Right.

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But, and be comfortable, not be in my head, but how do now I just know the more
preparation though, the higher quality that the outcome is going to be, but I could

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probably just walk into it and off the riff, probably be comfortable and it'd be better
than average.

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However, how do we know how much we should prepare?

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Because even though I'm really comfortable, the more I do prepare, when I'm finished up
with every conversation, with every podcast, I just know we hit on the points.

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It was, it was structured.

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It feels like we got out of it what we wanted to.

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How do we know how much to prepare going into this?

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What do we tell ourselves?

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What type of program or plan do we have?

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There are two ways, one prepare until you're confident.

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The other is have someone external tell you you're ready.

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And that if you have it is ideal.

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I was working with a client, very small company.

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They were a startup early stage that we were doing their launch materials and we had to do
a video.

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And you'll know this because you're on camera, but people who aren't on camera a lot will
think, you know, someone who had to read one minute to camera from memory, no edits, cold.

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That's hard to do, especially if you are someone in like finance who doesn't have media
training.

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And he was nervous.

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He was, you know, on their, you business team.

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And he practiced this and he was in his head and he knew it.

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And I was there with him and I told him, and I pulled the paper out of his hand.

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said, from the talk, go.

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And he's like, what?

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I just go.

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And he did it flawlessly.

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And I knew he knew it flawlessly, but he was in his head.

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So a lot of times you really do need that external person to give you that, you know this.

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Now you're ready.

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Um, as I sit here and I know that, know, your material, you know, your business.

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So you're at the top tier of this.

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Now this is your thing.

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Um, was this an expected or planned journey to arrive here?

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No, not even, no.

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I started my career as a journalist.

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Like you mentioned, I was with the Hill newspaper.

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I was a multimedia producer.

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was doing video, audio, web production, interactive graphics at a newspaper.

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I left that to think I would go and be a freelance reporter for a few years and then land
back in a newsroom full time.

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While I was a freelance reporter, I started doing some corporate jobs because they were
paying.

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And they wanted someone who had a tech background like I had, but also a content
background and a writing background and a production background.

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And looking at that, I found that there were more of those coming along and then more, and
it kind of then developed into what I have now.

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But there wasn't a day where I sat down and said, I will start being a fractional chief
communications officer and wrote the business plan for it.

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I thought I would be doing something completely different.

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And then.

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saw the need for this because this, you know, communications is something that you could
get, but it's going to be very expensive.

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And a lot of smaller companies don't have those resources yet.

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Did where'd the need arise out of, and cause I'm sitting here thinking there's always been
businesses.

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Oh, did they just not feel like because it wasn't modern age and there wasn't technology
and we didn't have that.

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They just didn't have access to the platforms, somebody that they could have do it for a
reasonable amount.

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then I don't, did the need just arise or it came into their view inspector that, now it's
possible.

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A little bit of both as we had more platforms, as we had more outlets, as we had more ways
to reach people, it became harder for a founder or a small team to really manage it

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themselves.

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And before you, you know, you could run billboards, you could get a company to help you do
that, to do some newspaper ads, to do some radio spots, but there were, it was very

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limited on what you could do because there were fewer outlets.

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Now.

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You have a lot more.

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You could do all those things, but you also have all the online channels.

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And that does add complexity to it.

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Yeah, so what do we do with the complex, what do we do with that?

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You hire someone, don't try and do it yourself.

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Because like I said at the beginning, we are the expert at communicating your expertise.

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You do what you know.

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You are great at that.

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That's what you're building.

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Don't distract yourself because you'll end up doing both worse.

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And that's why we say we can come in at, you know, five hours a month for some companies
or 20 hours a week for others.

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We are there to grow with you because not everyone needs a 20 hour a week.

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That's why you have these founders and, you know, hire one, hire two, doing this function
themselves.

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Because they look and it's like, I'm spending 10 hours a month on this.

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I don't need a full-time employee, but I also can't not do it.

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And that's that gap we're filling.

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Do you think that, in this world of a lot of things, fractional and it's a ton and it's
it, the benefit to fractional is you can take what you need and you can leave what you

217
00:15:30,458 --> 00:15:30,778
don't.

218
00:15:30,778 --> 00:15:33,189
And you only have to pay for the part you participate with.

219
00:15:33,189 --> 00:15:37,051
It seems like the whole world that we're in now, it's we talked about cable before, right?

220
00:15:37,051 --> 00:15:39,433
If you're hooked up to cable, you're paying for all the channels.

221
00:15:39,433 --> 00:15:44,305
It's not necessarily cheaper, but at least now it feels like we can target what we want to
see.

222
00:15:44,305 --> 00:15:47,057
can, we can pick and choose what platform.

223
00:15:47,057 --> 00:15:49,292
And so it's as if.

224
00:15:49,292 --> 00:15:59,659
this new environment that we're in, the rise in the new age of technology, it's as if now
businesses could survive and grow and thrive that previously they wouldn't have been able

225
00:15:59,659 --> 00:15:59,970
to.

226
00:15:59,970 --> 00:16:10,157
So the opportunity seems to reach almost anyone that if you have the desire and the
willingness to be an entrepreneur, to start a business, it seems like it's more viable now

227
00:16:10,157 --> 00:16:10,527
than ever.

228
00:16:10,527 --> 00:16:17,812
It might be harder, but it seems more viable because we have these things that are at our
fingertips that maybe only Fortune 2000 companies had.

229
00:16:18,146 --> 00:16:18,946
Yeah.

230
00:16:18,967 --> 00:16:23,910
You used to not be able to get computing power was you had to physically buy servers.

231
00:16:24,330 --> 00:16:26,411
You had to rent rack space.

232
00:16:26,692 --> 00:16:30,805
You had to manage it or pay someone to manage.

233
00:16:30,805 --> 00:16:39,481
Now you just get Amazon web services and it's incredibly cheap for companies to really
start with that.

234
00:16:39,481 --> 00:16:47,446
And if you're a startup, Amazon and Google, they will give you credits if you apply to get
in their programs.

235
00:16:47,554 --> 00:16:49,114
They will give you computing credits.

236
00:16:49,114 --> 00:16:54,916
They will help you because for them, once you're in their ecosystem, you're in their
ecosystem.

237
00:16:54,916 --> 00:16:56,797
But it really does get you going.

238
00:16:56,797 --> 00:17:00,818
Whereas 15, 20 years ago, you couldn't do that.

239
00:17:01,658 --> 00:17:06,740
You could do stuff on your own because you had the laptop at home.

240
00:17:06,740 --> 00:17:13,472
Whereas before you really needed a lot of infrastructure, which you couldn't afford
because you weren't a business yet.

241
00:17:13,472 --> 00:17:13,983
Yeah.

242
00:17:13,983 --> 00:17:15,433
You had to buy everything fully to your point.

243
00:17:15,433 --> 00:17:17,426
You had to buy the servers, everything.

244
00:17:17,426 --> 00:17:18,162
That's what it says.

245
00:17:18,162 --> 00:17:19,368
It wasn't fractional.

246
00:17:19,368 --> 00:17:21,129
You buy the whole damn thing.

247
00:17:21,130 --> 00:17:21,510
Yeah.

248
00:17:21,510 --> 00:17:32,122
Um, what, what excites you now here in 2026 in your area, your spectrum, your business,
what's exciting other than making money and building a business and all that, but what's

249
00:17:32,122 --> 00:17:33,042
exciting.

250
00:17:34,094 --> 00:17:41,174
I like the people I work with, know, the companies that we get to help because we get to
work on fun projects.

251
00:17:41,174 --> 00:17:48,914
know, the fun thing is when you're working with startups, early stage companies and
smaller professional services firms, know, smarter home services firms, anything like

252
00:17:48,914 --> 00:17:53,854
that, your founders are 100 % in.

253
00:17:53,934 --> 00:17:55,754
This isn't a thing they do.

254
00:17:55,754 --> 00:17:57,334
This is their life.

255
00:17:57,334 --> 00:18:00,074
They really are fully in this.

256
00:18:00,078 --> 00:18:02,378
And it's fun working with those companies.

257
00:18:02,378 --> 00:18:10,258
I enjoy doing that much more than coming into say a Fortune 100 where you just have a lot
of people.

258
00:18:10,378 --> 00:18:16,102
You now have people in these smaller entities who are really passionate about it because
it's there.

259
00:18:17,144 --> 00:18:18,178
What do you like most about it?

260
00:18:18,178 --> 00:18:19,011
What's that passion?

261
00:18:19,011 --> 00:18:22,100
How's that show up in the way that you get to engage with them?

262
00:18:23,246 --> 00:18:25,546
Our goal is to help you.

263
00:18:25,546 --> 00:18:33,206
I always say there is nothing you have to do because especially on the communication side
for a lot of people, it's new.

264
00:18:33,746 --> 00:18:41,426
You know, they might've had their personal Twitter or LinkedIn, but really doing it in an
organized corporate way is new.

265
00:18:41,426 --> 00:18:42,726
And there's discomfort.

266
00:18:42,726 --> 00:18:44,826
So helping them become comfortable with it.

267
00:18:44,826 --> 00:18:47,106
And I would say this stuff doesn't exist in nature.

268
00:18:47,106 --> 00:18:48,366
This isn't particle physics.

269
00:18:48,366 --> 00:18:51,226
It's not, you know, mathematical formulas.

270
00:18:52,214 --> 00:18:54,135
You can do stuff, you can not do stuff.

271
00:18:54,135 --> 00:18:57,455
What you're comfortable with is what we can do.

272
00:18:57,696 --> 00:19:03,077
And we could do some experiments and try, and if it doesn't work, we'll try something
else.

273
00:19:03,077 --> 00:19:09,479
And then we could come back to this in six months because just because it didn't work in
July doesn't mean it's not going to work around the holidays.

274
00:19:09,759 --> 00:19:15,720
So really trying those things out with them and working with them to become more
comfortable over time.

275
00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:21,432
Because I know you and I are sitting here talking on camera, doing this interview like
it's, you normal.

276
00:19:21,432 --> 00:19:24,785
But for a lot of people, this is a very scary situation.

277
00:19:28,531 --> 00:19:31,194
The first time I had to do it, I'm like, okay, here's how I do it.

278
00:19:31,194 --> 00:19:36,660
And I train reporters to be on camera, print reporters to be on camera.

279
00:19:37,701 --> 00:19:41,634
And then when you have to do yourself, it is a different thing to be on the other side of
it.

280
00:19:41,634 --> 00:19:50,120
Yeah, it's just, it's worrying about and thinking about all the things other than being on
camera, other than being here in the, that's the problem in any of these moments.

281
00:19:50,120 --> 00:20:00,408
What, if you, since, since you're the expert in your space in communications and you have
all this experience of production and media, um, what advice would you give from a

282
00:20:00,408 --> 00:20:08,274
communication perspective to traditional colleges and universities about undergrad degrees
versus what we're hearing?

283
00:20:08,274 --> 00:20:11,737
Now, you you have Mike Rose and all these people in the world.

284
00:20:11,737 --> 00:20:18,624
seems like now we're making an argument that so much more is learned that's relevant after
you would get out of a traditional degree.

285
00:20:18,624 --> 00:20:25,950
What communication advice would you give to an average mid-tier state university or
liberal arts school?

286
00:20:26,606 --> 00:20:28,586
I think that's different than what we had before.

287
00:20:28,586 --> 00:20:30,866
You learned a lot at your first job.

288
00:20:30,866 --> 00:20:33,906
You learned a lot at your internship outside of the classroom.

289
00:20:33,906 --> 00:20:35,266
I know I did.

290
00:20:35,526 --> 00:20:43,446
So I think we might be focusing on it in a different way, but it was absolutely always
true.

291
00:20:45,166 --> 00:20:47,126
I went to journalism school.

292
00:20:47,506 --> 00:20:48,446
We're a reporter.

293
00:20:48,446 --> 00:20:56,310
had, you know, for different classes, we were assigned local beats we had to cover for
classes, whatever they were, you know, the DC Metro beat.

294
00:20:56,310 --> 00:20:57,748
And that's what we had to cover.

295
00:20:57,748 --> 00:21:00,841
And that's really what the other words for the learning was.

296
00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:03,711
And we covered it like we were reporters.

297
00:21:04,291 --> 00:21:08,563
So it was really hands-on and it was really about learning the practical skills.

298
00:21:08,563 --> 00:21:20,178
And yes, it's important to the liberal arts background, learning the thinking, the
writing, the arguments, all of that, but also how to use it.

299
00:21:20,178 --> 00:21:23,859
And that comes outside of the classroom.

300
00:21:25,100 --> 00:21:27,441
But those work together very well.

301
00:21:27,441 --> 00:21:29,862
And the really practical classes,

302
00:21:30,946 --> 00:21:31,757
were very paired.

303
00:21:31,757 --> 00:21:43,868
had classes that were co-taught, one by someone who was very practical and had a deep
experience in the practical side of it, and one who had the academic side of it.

304
00:21:44,246 --> 00:21:46,513
More like a full-time professor and adjunct together.

305
00:21:46,513 --> 00:21:49,740
It's more like an adjunct and a full-time professor together.

306
00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:52,352
They were for this particular one thing that they were both full time.

307
00:21:52,352 --> 00:21:56,534
uh But there are other ones that were adjunct and full time.

308
00:21:56,534 --> 00:22:00,116
It just sort of depends on how the departments were structured.

309
00:22:01,130 --> 00:22:10,222
It worked really well because we got both perspectives in one and you would look at them
like they would be at very tension with each other at times.

310
00:22:10,563 --> 00:22:11,974
And they said that was what made it work.

311
00:22:11,974 --> 00:22:15,566
They liked that they were had that tension with each other.

312
00:22:15,566 --> 00:22:22,945
So what do we do with that to educate ourselves then outside of the traditional classroom
as people traditionally get into their mid 20s now in the workforce with everything

313
00:22:22,945 --> 00:22:23,756
changing.

314
00:22:23,756 --> 00:22:31,895
If that worked there, what's an approach that we should take and maybe something as you're
reflecting this conversation that you're taking building your business, but how should we

315
00:22:31,895 --> 00:22:36,386
continue to learn professionally inside this conversation?

316
00:22:36,386 --> 00:22:44,570
There are classes you could take, structured seminars that are out there from professional
organizations.

317
00:22:44,570 --> 00:22:47,612
are courses that people sell online.

318
00:22:48,292 --> 00:22:49,673
All those are options.

319
00:22:49,673 --> 00:22:52,755
would say find, this is what I do, experiment.

320
00:22:53,375 --> 00:22:56,137
One thing I do is I build the AI agent.

321
00:22:56,137 --> 00:23:00,259
I see what's out there, what works, just very hands on.

322
00:23:00,259 --> 00:23:06,462
In addition to reading, because like with academic coursework, it's very valuable.

323
00:23:07,064 --> 00:23:20,710
but also afterwards, just staying informed generally about your industry and the world,
but also being very hands-on with it because you need to know how it works for a lot of

324
00:23:20,710 --> 00:23:30,204
reasons, but also if you don't, the people you hire will be in a position where they are
very aware of it and you're not.

325
00:23:30,204 --> 00:23:34,285
And then you can't communicate that information to clients that you need to.

326
00:23:34,285 --> 00:23:36,086
So you just need to know.

327
00:23:36,086 --> 00:23:37,024
You don't need to know everything.

328
00:23:37,024 --> 00:23:38,476
No one can know everything.

329
00:23:38,476 --> 00:23:39,306
Yeah.

330
00:23:39,967 --> 00:23:49,393
So is that your most successful clients when they're engaged with the communication piece,
not just relying on you to do it all that they are, they are really ingrained

331
00:23:49,393 --> 00:23:50,493
understanding what's happening.

332
00:23:50,493 --> 00:23:52,234
Is that the best outcome?

333
00:23:53,154 --> 00:23:58,538
depends on the project uh and the size of the business in a lot of cases.

334
00:23:59,099 --> 00:24:03,082
Some really are comfortable with a weekly update and weekly reports.

335
00:24:03,623 --> 00:24:08,707
Some really want to be engaged on a daily or every other day basis.

336
00:24:09,448 --> 00:24:11,169
That's their comfort level.

337
00:24:11,670 --> 00:24:16,924
And if you're pushing them to do something, the other one, which they're not comfortable
with, that's when it falls apart.

338
00:24:18,946 --> 00:24:21,992
If you notice, the trend here is where they're comfortable with.

339
00:24:22,350 --> 00:24:25,570
So can that be successful though, meeting people where they're comfortable?

340
00:24:25,570 --> 00:24:28,230
I mean, that's a whole different societal debate right now.

341
00:24:28,230 --> 00:24:36,110
Do we need to push ourselves to evolve past our limits of comfort or do you think that
it's your job to meet them where they're comfortable?

342
00:24:36,608 --> 00:24:39,599
If you're not meeting them where they're comfortable, you won't have any success.

343
00:24:39,939 --> 00:24:47,481
You can then once someone's comfortable kind of nudging directions, but you kind of have a
half a place to start.

344
00:24:47,961 --> 00:24:56,463
And if you don't have that, you're not going to be able to maybe push them to do the,
little edgier marketing campaign.

345
00:24:56,783 --> 00:25:01,805
You're not going to get them to take the risk with the interview at a larger publication.

346
00:25:01,985 --> 00:25:04,325
They have to start where they're comfortable.

347
00:25:04,446 --> 00:25:06,866
Then you can go to a next step.

348
00:25:07,238 --> 00:25:08,840
What's being authentic mean then?

349
00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:15,645
Because if you understand and know, like, I really see what this business should be and
what they should do.

350
00:25:15,645 --> 00:25:24,572
I understand how they can control the narrative, how their communications could be top
tier, but in having a conversation with them, they're not comfortable going there.

351
00:25:24,593 --> 00:25:27,004
How do you show up still authentic though?

352
00:25:28,342 --> 00:25:30,544
You have to start somewhere.

353
00:25:30,544 --> 00:25:40,250
So if I know I need to get them in, you know, to be comfortable going to, know, say these
five publications and similar ones at that level.

354
00:25:40,691 --> 00:25:42,351
It's just repetitive.

355
00:25:42,432 --> 00:25:53,159
Ask them at intervals, get them to do one or two, get them to go on a podcast, maybe get
them to start doing occasional videos for their social channels that include them in it.

356
00:25:53,239 --> 00:25:57,452
Because if you rush too far, I was talking with someone yesterday, their worry was.

357
00:25:57,548 --> 00:26:00,601
We might expand faster than we have the capacity to grow.

358
00:26:01,723 --> 00:26:05,946
And we don't want to do that because that'll put us in a bad situation.

359
00:26:06,388 --> 00:26:13,796
So they're looking at it and looking at doing it at a measured pace where they can be
comfortable.

360
00:26:13,796 --> 00:26:20,122
Because if they can't scale that fast, and we're talking at this point, physical
locations, then

361
00:26:20,824 --> 00:26:22,415
the whole thing's gonna fall apart.

362
00:26:22,415 --> 00:26:24,075
It's the same thing on the communication side.

363
00:26:24,075 --> 00:26:26,957
If you go faster, then they're actually able to scale.

364
00:26:26,957 --> 00:26:32,159
If you say, we wanna do five posts a day on every network and a daily email blast, that's
a lot.

365
00:26:32,159 --> 00:26:33,780
I mean, you know this because you do production.

366
00:26:33,780 --> 00:26:35,921
That's a tough cadence to keep.

367
00:26:37,221 --> 00:26:38,662
It sounds easy.

368
00:26:38,788 --> 00:26:40,586
yeah, it's all the work in the effort.

369
00:26:40,586 --> 00:26:41,030
a lot.

370
00:26:41,030 --> 00:26:41,360
Yeah.

371
00:26:41,360 --> 00:26:49,616
I mean, you're talking about to do something like that, the amount of resources that are
necessary to do at a high quality level and be valuable to the listener and the audience.

372
00:26:49,616 --> 00:26:52,024
That is a huge undertaking.

373
00:26:52,024 --> 00:27:00,698
Which is why we kind of start wherever you're comfortable and grow with you and we'll push
you to do what you're comfortable doing.

374
00:27:00,818 --> 00:27:04,740
Also, if you're not comfortable doing those interviews, you're not comfortable making
those videos.

375
00:27:04,740 --> 00:27:06,281
That's the authenticity.

376
00:27:06,281 --> 00:27:09,242
It'll show up and people will notice.

377
00:27:09,743 --> 00:27:14,125
And then you might have the opposite effect that you wanted.

378
00:27:14,125 --> 00:27:17,606
that's where you really do need to be comfortable and why we practice it.

379
00:27:18,382 --> 00:27:26,302
In journalism school, did they touch on the part about, don't know if you went into this
communication and PR space too much, but who said it?

380
00:27:26,302 --> 00:27:32,542
might've been back in the fifties and sixties, but, all marketing, all exposure, all media
is good media, something like that.

381
00:27:32,542 --> 00:27:33,592
It's a paraphrase.

382
00:27:33,592 --> 00:27:35,424
There are variations on that.

383
00:27:35,424 --> 00:27:39,346
There's no such thing as bad press is another variation on it.

384
00:27:40,368 --> 00:27:44,231
There are times where that may have been true times where it may not have been true.

385
00:27:44,231 --> 00:27:56,221
Now I think people are leaning into it a lot where if something happens, you can just roll
with it and use it because like we mentioned, there is a very fast constant new cycle.

386
00:27:56,282 --> 00:27:58,083
Will people remember it?

387
00:27:58,083 --> 00:28:01,646
And you could just use that boost to get you.

388
00:28:02,114 --> 00:28:03,194
where you want to be.

389
00:28:03,194 --> 00:28:10,177
And we've seen that with people who have their 15 minutes of social media fame for
whatever reason.

390
00:28:10,577 --> 00:28:19,540
And they end up throwing out the first pitch at a baseball game and using it to do
celebrity endorsements and making quite a bit of money off of it.

391
00:28:19,721 --> 00:28:23,122
But they were accidental celebrities.

392
00:28:24,790 --> 00:28:27,569
What do we do with the algorithm?

393
00:28:27,569 --> 00:28:28,914
What do we do with it?

394
00:28:29,518 --> 00:28:31,458
Well, there isn't an algorithm.

395
00:28:31,458 --> 00:28:33,638
There are many algorithms.

396
00:28:34,858 --> 00:28:39,718
And what we do is we just have to really, the most important thing, be aware of it.

397
00:28:39,718 --> 00:28:48,938
Be aware of it personally, how it affects you and what you're consuming, but also how it
shapes what you're creating for your business and how people are seeing it.

398
00:28:48,938 --> 00:28:55,978
And if people are seeing it, also remember the algorithm is very influenced by pay to
play.

399
00:28:56,318 --> 00:28:57,358
Ads show up.

400
00:28:57,358 --> 00:28:58,762
If you pay, you get...

401
00:28:58,762 --> 00:28:59,943
more notice.

402
00:29:00,124 --> 00:29:02,847
These are businesses that are running these things.

403
00:29:02,847 --> 00:29:06,891
They are making money off of the ads, which are people seeing them.

404
00:29:06,891 --> 00:29:11,386
So I tell everyone this, our organic reach isn't what it used to be.

405
00:29:11,386 --> 00:29:16,161
like, well, luckily you've been posting more and these companies want you to start buying
ads.

406
00:29:16,322 --> 00:29:20,786
So be aware that you will hit a ceiling if you don't pay.

407
00:29:21,550 --> 00:29:24,481
was in the room with somebody that, um, I'm not name-dropper.

408
00:29:24,481 --> 00:29:28,002
try and never be, so I won't, but I was in the room with somebody in New York city
recently.

409
00:29:28,002 --> 00:29:33,073
That is at the top of the marketing game and the social media marketing, online marketing,
SAS.

410
00:29:33,073 --> 00:29:35,694
mean, if I said their name, they'd be like, yeah.

411
00:29:35,694 --> 00:29:41,795
So I was in the room with them for a few hours and they say, Hey, you all, this is gone to
it's attention media.

412
00:29:41,795 --> 00:29:44,146
Now this isn't social media.

413
00:29:44,146 --> 00:29:44,886
It's attention media.

414
00:29:44,886 --> 00:29:47,577
And what they said was they said, I know you're not going to believe this.

415
00:29:47,577 --> 00:29:49,937
They were like 10 of us in the room for a few hours.

416
00:29:49,978 --> 00:29:51,628
And, and they said.

417
00:29:51,790 --> 00:30:01,310
I could pick up Tik Tok right now and with my millions and millions and millions of
followers across platforms, I could make a Tik Tok and you could make one with the same

418
00:30:01,310 --> 00:30:02,170
exact stuff.

419
00:30:02,170 --> 00:30:07,990
And I know your brain's going to say you don't believe it, but I'm telling you, you're
going to get the same exposure that I'm going to get now.

420
00:30:08,610 --> 00:30:10,990
It's not based upon your followers anymore.

421
00:30:10,990 --> 00:30:17,550
And I said, hold on, there's a little bit of context, but I'm starting to see that it's at
least more true than it's ever been.

422
00:30:18,030 --> 00:30:19,550
It's interest media.

423
00:30:19,567 --> 00:30:24,850
but it's also going, you, you might get that same viewership.

424
00:30:24,990 --> 00:30:27,491
It's potential that he's talking about.

425
00:30:27,491 --> 00:30:36,856
The real is when you're starting with that many followers, it's going to be like easier to
reach those million views than if you're starting with a hundred followers.

426
00:30:36,856 --> 00:30:40,227
But of course the potential is still there.

427
00:30:40,227 --> 00:30:42,319
think what's happened is he's seen the algorithm.

428
00:30:42,319 --> 00:30:44,871
He's an expert at this stuff and he knows it's always changing.

429
00:30:44,871 --> 00:30:50,786
He has seen what's happening and it is way different, what we accept too, it's always
changing and always different.

430
00:30:50,786 --> 00:30:57,261
So I guess that's an argument you would make about this communication piece isn't a core
part of the team that you need.

431
00:30:57,302 --> 00:31:01,265
in the new fr in the new fractional world, you get to pay for a fraction of it.

432
00:31:01,265 --> 00:31:02,526
If that's all you need.

433
00:31:03,030 --> 00:31:03,430
It is.

434
00:31:03,430 --> 00:31:06,291
And if you look at, you you said the algorithm is always changing.

435
00:31:06,291 --> 00:31:13,955
That's why I say work with these fundamental core principles because the algorithm is
going to change.

436
00:31:13,955 --> 00:31:21,298
The platforms will change, but the core principles have been there for a long time and are
going to stick with us.

437
00:31:21,298 --> 00:31:31,242
If you know those and you work with those, you'll have much more success than I mastered
TikTok because that algorithm may not be the algorithm tomorrow.

438
00:31:31,564 --> 00:31:39,373
We've all seen it where followers suddenly decline, viewership declines on your posts
because an algorithm changed.

439
00:31:39,373 --> 00:31:41,637
And now you got to figure something else out.

440
00:31:41,708 --> 00:31:45,608
principles of your business or core principles of communication.

441
00:31:45,954 --> 00:31:50,895
both and their business because that's what they're communicating.

442
00:31:50,895 --> 00:31:56,777
So no engagement, authenticity, talking with people.

443
00:31:56,777 --> 00:32:05,659
If you're doing videos, those core production principles, which kind of go back to
authenticity, you want it to look real, not overproduced.

444
00:32:05,659 --> 00:32:15,862
Because of AI, we've become very aware of what looks very overproduced and how easy it is
to do.

445
00:32:16,664 --> 00:32:19,750
So think about these things and use them.

446
00:32:19,830 --> 00:32:29,277
What, what has AI since we're talking about it, let's just not talk about it in general,
but where is AI really falling and landing in your space and communications, how you're,

447
00:32:29,277 --> 00:32:30,848
how you're engaging every day.

448
00:32:31,148 --> 00:32:33,220
We use it, we use it daily.

449
00:32:33,220 --> 00:32:37,504
It is a great tool, but AI is just a tool.

450
00:32:38,386 --> 00:32:40,947
It will do a great outline.

451
00:32:41,068 --> 00:32:45,272
It can do passable first drafts in some cases.

452
00:32:45,653 --> 00:32:47,775
It can help you do ideas.

453
00:32:47,775 --> 00:32:51,068
It does not produce something publishable.

454
00:32:52,694 --> 00:32:54,995
A human still needs to do that.

455
00:32:55,476 --> 00:32:57,317
And that's a big difference.

456
00:32:57,317 --> 00:33:04,902
It can really get you started because I'm sure a lot of your listeners, a lot of your
viewers will have this experience where the scariest thing is they're looking at a blank

457
00:33:04,902 --> 00:33:08,404
piece of paper and they don't know what to do.

458
00:33:08,485 --> 00:33:09,736
They don't have the idea.

459
00:33:09,736 --> 00:33:10,867
They don't know.

460
00:33:10,867 --> 00:33:15,869
They could put into a chat, GBT, into a cloud.

461
00:33:15,950 --> 00:33:22,334
My business is ask me, we do this, help me write five social media posts.

462
00:33:22,894 --> 00:33:27,494
and get ideas and they say these ideas are terrible but these five are much better.

463
00:33:28,034 --> 00:33:37,382
They still came up with five ideas but it was a lot easier to do when you're looking at
something else because that blank page we've all experienced it.

464
00:33:38,892 --> 00:33:40,588
can be very scary.

465
00:33:40,588 --> 00:33:41,018
Yeah.

466
00:33:41,018 --> 00:33:42,900
It's what they call writer's block for writers.

467
00:33:42,900 --> 00:33:43,480
Yeah.

468
00:33:43,480 --> 00:33:44,021
Yeah.

469
00:33:44,021 --> 00:33:52,106
It's like they could have written three bestsellers and that you hear them speak about the
next appearance on the fourth when they all of sudden get imposter syndrome and writer's

470
00:33:52,106 --> 00:33:52,412
block.

471
00:33:52,412 --> 00:33:54,448
And I started with an idea, but I have no idea what to say.

472
00:33:54,448 --> 00:33:56,689
And we all would look at them and say, what are you talking about?

473
00:33:56,689 --> 00:33:57,940
You don't know what to say.

474
00:33:58,637 --> 00:33:59,971
You say lots of things.

475
00:33:59,971 --> 00:34:00,524
Yeah.

476
00:34:00,524 --> 00:34:02,981
Yeah, so is it more garbage in garbage out?

477
00:34:02,981 --> 00:34:04,748
That's AI, right?

478
00:34:04,748 --> 00:34:06,179
That's one element of it.

479
00:34:06,179 --> 00:34:14,404
If you tell it, do this thing for me, you'll get what we've called AI slop has become the
term for it.

480
00:34:14,705 --> 00:34:22,650
If you say, I need to do XYZ, give me these five bullets, help me write the outline, use
it as an assistant.

481
00:34:23,071 --> 00:34:34,438
Then it can be a lot more effective, but it don't look at it to produce something that's
forward-facing, that's camera ready because it's not going to do that.

482
00:34:35,138 --> 00:34:43,079
Are you concerned about it becoming indiscernible between true human documentation or
communication?

483
00:34:43,079 --> 00:34:44,520
Are you worried about that?

484
00:34:45,898 --> 00:34:51,121
Not at the moment, maybe one day in the future and only for certain things.

485
00:34:51,121 --> 00:34:59,345
I read a great uh analogy about it recently was it can produce, you know, the script for
episode 1500 of Law and Order.

486
00:34:59,345 --> 00:35:07,674
If you put in all the previous episodes from the entire Law and Order franchise and say,
write me the next episode of Law and Order, it will do that.

487
00:35:07,674 --> 00:35:09,711
It will do a pretty good job.

488
00:35:09,911 --> 00:35:12,592
It will not write the next great American novel.

489
00:35:12,773 --> 00:35:15,934
Cause it does, it can only work off what it's trained to

490
00:35:16,010 --> 00:35:18,579
Original and novel thought is not its thing right now.

491
00:35:18,638 --> 00:35:22,538
No, and maybe one day it will be better at that.

492
00:35:22,738 --> 00:35:33,190
But at least right now, at least for what I'm reading and talking to people here in the
foreseeable future, it will do episode 1,500 of Law and Order really well.

493
00:35:33,730 --> 00:35:36,371
Has it made you better at your job?

494
00:35:36,630 --> 00:35:37,493
Yes.

495
00:35:38,084 --> 00:35:39,743
Apart from efficiency.

496
00:35:41,282 --> 00:35:45,374
because it let, I put in, like I mentioned, I create agents.

497
00:35:45,374 --> 00:35:56,891
That's one of the ways I really kind of stay aware of what's happening technologically is
I read a lot of this documentation and do it myself and get really hands on.

498
00:35:57,511 --> 00:36:00,273
But these agents are not just abstract.

499
00:36:00,273 --> 00:36:02,214
They are things I need to do.

500
00:36:02,214 --> 00:36:04,085
So it helps me write newsletters.

501
00:36:04,085 --> 00:36:05,716
It does a lot of research.

502
00:36:05,716 --> 00:36:09,560
If I need for a client, I'm doing market research on cities.

503
00:36:09,560 --> 00:36:13,271
get me 25 global cities and I give it the list.

504
00:36:13,651 --> 00:36:18,913
Tell me about their populations, big industries, key demographics, all this information.

505
00:36:18,913 --> 00:36:22,953
It's basically running Google searches on 25 cities.

506
00:36:23,874 --> 00:36:24,724
I could do that.

507
00:36:24,724 --> 00:36:32,456
I could have staff and contractors and anyone do that, but that's something computers are
really good at is just running these Google searches.

508
00:36:32,456 --> 00:36:34,417
It can put it into a nice sheet for me.

509
00:36:34,417 --> 00:36:39,468
What it can't do, unless I'd be very specific, can it tell me if I want Rome, Georgia?

510
00:36:39,468 --> 00:36:40,969
Rome, New York or Rome, Italy?

511
00:36:40,969 --> 00:36:46,664
Because if a lot of my cities are in the US, but I want a couple of European ones, I have
to be very clear.

512
00:36:46,664 --> 00:36:49,716
The Rome I want is the one in Italy.

513
00:36:51,010 --> 00:36:53,064
Give us an example of you've built these agents.

514
00:36:53,064 --> 00:36:59,436
Give us an example of an agent you've built for people out here who are still really
scared about this idea of what AI is.

515
00:37:00,404 --> 00:37:11,123
AI, I'm gonna get to the agent in a second, but if you're scared about it, an AI expert I
was talking to told me what I thought was a really great definition of AI.

516
00:37:11,283 --> 00:37:14,085
And we hear a lot of them, but his was really simple.

517
00:37:14,286 --> 00:37:17,048
Input, computing, output.

518
00:37:17,889 --> 00:37:18,830
That's it.

519
00:37:18,830 --> 00:37:21,631
We've been using that for decades.

520
00:37:21,852 --> 00:37:29,478
It is faster, it is more powerful, it is more efficient, but input, computing, and output.

521
00:37:30,742 --> 00:37:36,285
I'd have agents that do a lot of the research for clients, a lot of market research.

522
00:37:36,285 --> 00:37:41,647
So some of these are things that run automated, know, tell me the news in this city every
day.

523
00:37:41,647 --> 00:37:43,408
So just so we can stay up on trends.

524
00:37:43,408 --> 00:37:48,670
Some are ones where I have to put in a new input every time, but I've programmed.

525
00:37:48,771 --> 00:37:50,732
I know I need demographics.

526
00:37:50,732 --> 00:37:54,193
I need, you know, age breakdowns.

527
00:37:54,193 --> 00:37:55,974
need key industries.

528
00:37:55,978 --> 00:37:57,519
I need major businesses.

529
00:37:57,519 --> 00:37:58,960
need to know what's in the area.

530
00:37:58,960 --> 00:38:05,803
If it's, you know, a big city with a scattered metro area, if it's the metro area that
matters more, a lot of things like that.

531
00:38:05,803 --> 00:38:06,808
Those are already programmed.

532
00:38:06,808 --> 00:38:13,408
I don't have to write that every time, but I just have the interface that I put in my
list.

533
00:38:13,408 --> 00:38:16,229
I put in the nuances each time.

534
00:38:16,229 --> 00:38:25,714
And even that, even though I use these things and I use them repeatedly, I check the
results because they hallucinate.

535
00:38:25,718 --> 00:38:29,200
It does give made up things.

536
00:38:29,361 --> 00:38:37,687
And a lot of people are checking public records, but if it's checking, you I need to know
what's happened in this city this week, it's made up news stories.

537
00:38:37,687 --> 00:38:45,103
It's just totally ridden them from scratch and said it was in the, you know, Atlanta
journal constitution.

538
00:38:45,103 --> 00:38:46,994
It was in the New York post.

539
00:38:46,994 --> 00:38:49,156
Like you could go and Google the headline.

540
00:38:49,156 --> 00:38:49,756
It wasn't there.

541
00:38:49,756 --> 00:38:50,997
It never existed.

542
00:38:50,997 --> 00:38:52,828
It just made something up.

543
00:38:54,200 --> 00:39:01,405
So that's why I say even for things I use and I've written and I know are good, and it has
a verify, give me the link.

544
00:39:01,405 --> 00:39:03,870
It'll just give you a generic New York post homepage.

545
00:39:03,870 --> 00:39:06,364
Like it's not perfect.

546
00:39:07,394 --> 00:39:11,579
What, what advice have you seen now in this world of entrepreneurship, right?

547
00:39:11,579 --> 00:39:12,841
That you didn't see happening.

548
00:39:12,841 --> 00:39:13,782
It was by chance.

549
00:39:13,782 --> 00:39:14,663
It was by luck.

550
00:39:14,663 --> 00:39:16,185
was by need of the marketplace.

551
00:39:16,185 --> 00:39:23,794
You saw what advice are you having to take yourself of your advice that you give to
people?

552
00:39:23,794 --> 00:39:26,698
What do you have to take yourself that you didn't know you would have had to?

553
00:39:27,960 --> 00:39:30,911
Couple of them, one we've touched on a little bit with practice.

554
00:39:31,391 --> 00:39:32,451
A lot.

555
00:39:32,911 --> 00:39:36,152
Because no matter how good you think you are, just refresh yourself.

556
00:39:37,113 --> 00:39:38,553
Check with people.

557
00:39:39,393 --> 00:39:42,604
Because you could tell the computer, you know, is this good?

558
00:39:42,604 --> 00:39:44,454
Do a grammar check for me.

559
00:39:44,915 --> 00:39:46,495
It only knows what it has.

560
00:39:46,935 --> 00:39:48,296
Double check.

561
00:39:48,516 --> 00:39:50,876
Have someone else, another person, read it.

562
00:39:50,876 --> 00:39:52,877
Bounce your idea off a person.

563
00:39:52,877 --> 00:39:56,928
Especially because we've seen a lot where these AIs are very self-reinforcing.

564
00:39:57,814 --> 00:40:02,818
especially once I have more information, they can become very, yes, you're wonderful.

565
00:40:03,259 --> 00:40:04,960
Pounce it off a person.

566
00:40:05,120 --> 00:40:08,563
That's one of the reasons we're there is we're that person for you.

567
00:40:08,563 --> 00:40:17,851
And if you don't have, you know, someone in your business, a friend, your partner,
whomever, don't discount people because we need that a lot.

568
00:40:17,851 --> 00:40:26,098
And one I always forget to take myself and I need to remember the most is you are biased
when it comes to your own company.

569
00:40:26,230 --> 00:40:30,042
And I tell this to everyone who I work with, you are biased.

570
00:40:30,042 --> 00:40:41,989
This is why you hire an external person to do it, or you bring in a full-time employee, or
you have a firm, you have something, because you cannot objectively do this communications

571
00:40:41,989 --> 00:40:43,300
for yourself.

572
00:40:43,400 --> 00:40:46,141
You need someone else to do it.

573
00:40:46,762 --> 00:40:54,186
And that is something I have to remind myself every day is we are all biased about
ourselves.

574
00:40:54,206 --> 00:41:02,519
And which is one the reasons, you know, when I was a reporter, learned this, you know,
one, everyone needs an editor, but also before you edit something that you wrote, like you

575
00:41:02,519 --> 00:41:10,773
give it that first pass, go to a different room, print it out, go to a different room,
read it somewhere else, put yourself in a break.

576
00:41:10,773 --> 00:41:20,721
Uh, I had one person who I worked with is he would walk around the block before he went on
camera because he needed that break and he was too biased.

577
00:41:20,721 --> 00:41:23,234
He's like, I know my stuff, but I.

578
00:41:23,234 --> 00:41:25,106
Just need someone to tell me and I go, I take my break.

579
00:41:25,106 --> 00:41:26,458
Someone else reads my script.

580
00:41:26,458 --> 00:41:29,041
He walked the block and we were good.

581
00:41:29,862 --> 00:41:34,088
That was something very oh critical to learn.

582
00:41:34,088 --> 00:41:36,470
And I think we all need it that remind.

583
00:41:36,470 --> 00:41:37,190
Yeah.

584
00:41:37,190 --> 00:41:37,610
Hmm.

585
00:41:37,610 --> 00:41:51,104
Um, what do you think that, um, in your retrospect on your career, how did originally
starting in traditional journalism in the DC market in politics?

586
00:41:51,104 --> 00:41:55,795
mean, those of us that didn't grow up in it, we know it's wild, but we don't know how wild
it is.

587
00:41:56,096 --> 00:41:56,416
Right.

588
00:41:56,416 --> 00:42:04,758
And so what about that experience do you think prepared you and maybe made you better
here?

589
00:42:06,426 --> 00:42:17,279
A lot of it was working with people because you get reporters, you know, who I was doing
the media training with coming from all different, you know, they came from print, they

590
00:42:17,279 --> 00:42:19,390
came from TV, they came from radio.

591
00:42:19,570 --> 00:42:22,631
So doing a lot of media work with a lot of different people.

592
00:42:22,631 --> 00:42:26,912
But also one thing I just mentioned was everyone needs an editor.

593
00:42:27,772 --> 00:42:32,013
Don't do it yourself from the lowest intern to the editor in chief.

594
00:42:32,013 --> 00:42:34,334
Everyone needed an editor.

595
00:42:34,530 --> 00:42:38,733
Because like I mentioned, we're all too biased about it when it comes to ourselves.

596
00:42:39,214 --> 00:42:45,739
It also taught me a lot about the balance between using the technology and relying on the
people.

597
00:42:45,739 --> 00:42:54,907
You can do both, but they work together because, I was a digital producer in a print
newsroom.

598
00:42:56,168 --> 00:43:03,374
And we did a lot with technology, but also a lot where we were relying on people to really

599
00:43:03,374 --> 00:43:06,334
check our scripts, there was no AI that we could run it through.

600
00:43:07,114 --> 00:43:08,874
We read it.

601
00:43:10,074 --> 00:43:15,994
I mean, that was our system was we went email to a copy editor who read it and made sure
that it was right.

602
00:43:16,074 --> 00:43:18,214
And that it looked good.

603
00:43:18,314 --> 00:43:22,234
You know, when we were editing video, take that minute.

604
00:43:22,874 --> 00:43:30,978
Come back to it in terms of, you know, content always, you know, the best things that I
learned was have some technical skills, have some content skills.

605
00:43:30,978 --> 00:43:36,404
That's kind of how I ended up doing what I'm doing now is people wanted that mix of both.

606
00:43:38,680 --> 00:43:42,951
So in this world of communications now, you saw it in the past.

607
00:43:43,912 --> 00:43:51,234
I'm not asking this because this is like a hot button issue, but it's important because
what, what trigger at my mind is about you said, Hey, we're all biased.

608
00:43:51,254 --> 00:43:56,395
And then where I go is I'm like, does the truth matter now?

609
00:43:56,856 --> 00:44:00,837
I mean, I'm not just saying from politics, but in business, does the truth matter?

610
00:44:00,837 --> 00:44:02,587
And your response to me, well, what is the truth?

611
00:44:02,587 --> 00:44:05,258
So that's a whole part of the conversation, right?

612
00:44:05,334 --> 00:44:12,760
Yeah, uh truth, I wish it was objective, but I go, you talked about, you know, college and
education and classrooms.

613
00:44:12,760 --> 00:44:18,926
had a great college professor who was very, very big on that objectivity.

614
00:44:18,926 --> 00:44:21,227
It's very hard to achieve.

615
00:44:21,247 --> 00:44:23,159
So is there one objective truth?

616
00:44:23,159 --> 00:44:27,113
mean, gravity, you know, might be an objective truth.

617
00:44:27,113 --> 00:44:33,292
We don't float away, but a lot of other things, maybe not, you know.

618
00:44:33,292 --> 00:44:36,224
There's a famous quote, there's lies, damn lies and statistics.

619
00:44:37,245 --> 00:44:41,209
So is there that, you know, one truth for some things?

620
00:44:41,209 --> 00:44:41,428
Yes.

621
00:44:41,428 --> 00:44:43,410
For some things, probably not.

622
00:44:45,282 --> 00:44:46,683
But it does matter.

623
00:44:46,802 --> 00:44:50,166
I tell my clients, don't lie.

624
00:44:50,327 --> 00:44:53,612
Don't objectively outright lie.

625
00:44:53,612 --> 00:44:59,740
You must have learned that from being in DC and not taking their advice and realizing what
we should do versus what's done.

626
00:44:59,982 --> 00:45:11,402
Well, if you lie, you know, you could end up with trying to, if you're doing a startup, if
you're looking to do investments, some of that could really come back in a way you don't

627
00:45:11,402 --> 00:45:12,222
want.

628
00:45:12,642 --> 00:45:14,542
So don't do that.

629
00:45:14,542 --> 00:45:16,842
Especially if you're trying to raise money.

630
00:45:17,762 --> 00:45:27,062
If, you know, this has happened to companies where they go out, they created thousands,
tens of thousands of fake accounts to boost their numbers.

631
00:45:28,334 --> 00:45:29,136
There was

632
00:45:29,511 --> 00:45:33,644
The accounts didn't you know exist we were able to prove it.

633
00:45:34,109 --> 00:45:35,748
I'm gonna say don't lie

634
00:45:35,748 --> 00:45:36,078
that's it.

635
00:45:36,078 --> 00:45:36,730
We're not going to.

636
00:45:36,730 --> 00:45:40,330
There was a there was somebody who sold a company to a big bank that was in the.

637
00:45:40,330 --> 00:45:42,700
was the one I was thinking of and I wasn't gonna.

638
00:45:42,700 --> 00:45:42,920
Yep.

639
00:45:42,920 --> 00:45:44,201
I won't say the names or anything.

640
00:45:44,201 --> 00:45:45,211
They could go research it.

641
00:45:45,211 --> 00:45:51,314
And cause I don't know what the truth is or isn't, but the bank said you inflated what
these numbers were.

642
00:45:51,314 --> 00:45:53,785
We paid you a lot more based upon those numbers.

643
00:45:53,785 --> 00:45:54,995
And now that's not the case.

644
00:45:54,995 --> 00:45:56,156
So I don't know what the outcome was.

645
00:45:56,156 --> 00:45:57,596
I don't know if they went to jail.

646
00:45:57,596 --> 00:45:59,617
I don't know if there was fines, but my gosh.

647
00:45:59,617 --> 00:46:05,880
And, there was the same thing where in the medical field where somebody created this
system that said there's this new way to do this blood thing.

648
00:46:05,880 --> 00:46:06,600
Same thing.

649
00:46:06,600 --> 00:46:09,441
And that person who started that company is in jail now.

650
00:46:09,682 --> 00:46:10,562
Right.

651
00:46:10,695 --> 00:46:13,992
don't lie and you know it could really come back.

652
00:46:14,424 --> 00:46:17,997
Then we have Elon and I'm not pro or against him at all.

653
00:46:17,997 --> 00:46:18,217
Right.

654
00:46:18,217 --> 00:46:26,642
He's done some big things, but these entrepreneurs, it's almost, they speak what they
think they're going to accomplish in the future as a truth right now.

655
00:46:27,443 --> 00:46:27,884
It's hard.

656
00:46:27,884 --> 00:46:29,285
It's hard to know at times.

657
00:46:29,285 --> 00:46:30,686
so the truth.

658
00:46:30,686 --> 00:46:31,496
that's the question.

659
00:46:31,496 --> 00:46:34,368
What we try to answer today with Josh Altman.

660
00:46:34,368 --> 00:46:36,169
What is the truth in communication?

661
00:46:36,169 --> 00:46:39,903
Um, can it be what you want your company to be?

662
00:46:39,903 --> 00:46:42,646
I mean, we're not talking about statistical and data lies, but

663
00:46:42,646 --> 00:46:47,880
I the truth could be from a communication perspective what we stand for and what we're
trying to accomplish.

664
00:46:47,880 --> 00:46:48,780
uh

665
00:46:48,780 --> 00:46:50,021
Yeah, that's one truth.

666
00:46:50,021 --> 00:46:51,763
And put that out there.

667
00:46:51,763 --> 00:46:52,404
This is our mission.

668
00:46:52,404 --> 00:46:53,625
This is who we're trying to serve.

669
00:46:53,625 --> 00:46:55,296
This is what we're building.

670
00:46:55,737 --> 00:47:01,783
Don't say you built it when I could look at your website and see that it's a pre-release
signup.

671
00:47:02,865 --> 00:47:08,216
Don't put out the press release that says we've done it when I could very clearly see it's
in development.

672
00:47:08,216 --> 00:47:08,969
Yeah.

673
00:47:08,969 --> 00:47:13,632
Is maybe your value, some what you keep people from doing versus also what you help them
do.

674
00:47:14,178 --> 00:47:20,830
A lot of it, a lot of it is because people are excited to grow.

675
00:47:20,830 --> 00:47:21,710
They're excited to sell.

676
00:47:21,710 --> 00:47:28,682
They're excited to scale, but also they want to put out their numbers.

677
00:47:28,702 --> 00:47:40,685
And I was talking with someone who does venture funding said, know when you have a pitch
deck that says your total market is $200 billion.

678
00:47:41,105 --> 00:47:42,566
We know that's aspirational.

679
00:47:42,566 --> 00:47:44,096
Give us the real number.

680
00:47:45,004 --> 00:47:47,978
The current adjustable market is $1.5 billion.

681
00:47:47,978 --> 00:47:52,435
We see it over the next decade growing to 200 million, but these are the things that are
going to have to happen.

682
00:47:52,435 --> 00:47:55,179
And we think we can be an essential part of that growth in the industry.

683
00:47:55,179 --> 00:47:56,430
That's what you should say.

684
00:47:56,430 --> 00:48:08,110
Yeah, but if you say it's 200 billion and you are a one person, two person company looking
for angel investment, they know, like they see this all the time.

685
00:48:08,110 --> 00:48:10,886
Yeah, your addressable marker right now is 200 people.

686
00:48:11,134 --> 00:48:12,117
Yeah.

687
00:48:12,117 --> 00:48:15,835
You couldn't serve that if you wanted to because you don't have the computing power.

688
00:48:15,835 --> 00:48:17,808
You don't have the back end to do it.

689
00:48:18,210 --> 00:48:22,208
And that's what this venture guy said was, be honest with us.

690
00:48:22,574 --> 00:48:23,234
Yeah.

691
00:48:23,234 --> 00:48:30,014
What do you think as we wrap this up with, Josh Altman here of, um, uh, Beltway media, um,
what do you think?

692
00:48:30,014 --> 00:48:31,874
What does the world want right now?

693
00:48:31,874 --> 00:48:34,382
I know that's a big statement, but what do you think it wants?

694
00:48:34,382 --> 00:48:36,925
What a big philosophical question.

695
00:48:36,925 --> 00:48:37,196
go!

696
00:48:37,196 --> 00:48:38,261
Let's finish it off with this.

697
00:48:38,261 --> 00:48:39,976
Take it wherever you want to take it.

698
00:48:40,118 --> 00:48:42,279
I think authenticity is big.

699
00:48:42,319 --> 00:48:44,180
You you talked about it today.

700
00:48:44,180 --> 00:48:45,100
We've talked about before.

701
00:48:45,100 --> 00:48:47,201
It was in my newsletter recently a lot.

702
00:48:47,201 --> 00:48:48,720
It's been big over the last year.

703
00:48:48,720 --> 00:48:55,355
I think we're really wanting this because we see so much that isn't real.

704
00:48:55,355 --> 00:48:57,426
You know, we see the deep fakes.

705
00:48:57,426 --> 00:49:01,087
see AI generated things that even aren't trying to be real.

706
00:49:01,087 --> 00:49:02,418
They're just there.

707
00:49:02,418 --> 00:49:05,609
know, AI generated ads of animals.

708
00:49:05,609 --> 00:49:08,200
We know that's not real, but

709
00:49:08,748 --> 00:49:11,000
We want something tangible.

710
00:49:11,000 --> 00:49:14,533
People are wanting real connection.

711
00:49:14,533 --> 00:49:17,084
That's the authentic component.

712
00:49:17,225 --> 00:49:20,908
You want something where we know who you are.

713
00:49:21,028 --> 00:49:33,819
With businesses of all sizes, you're even seeing, you know, Fortune 100 CEOs really
stepping into much more doing personal stuff because it humanizes their company and people

714
00:49:33,819 --> 00:49:35,860
want to see that.

715
00:49:35,901 --> 00:49:37,942
At the smaller company level.

716
00:49:38,038 --> 00:49:38,929
It's the same thing.

717
00:49:38,929 --> 00:49:48,525
know, people are buying your company, they're buying your product, but especially when
you're small and growing, they're buying you, they're buying the authentic you and the

718
00:49:48,525 --> 00:49:49,626
trust.

719
00:49:50,047 --> 00:49:51,947
And that matters.

720
00:49:52,188 --> 00:49:53,623
And we're going to see more of that.

721
00:49:53,623 --> 00:50:01,094
And if you look at this shift generationally with, you know, Gen Z, you're really seeing
this shift more.

722
00:50:01,094 --> 00:50:06,878
You're seeing it with older generations too, but it's really, really big.

723
00:50:06,974 --> 00:50:12,277
with, as you skew a little younger, they're looking for real.

724
00:50:12,317 --> 00:50:19,381
Because you and me, we remember, you know, a pre MySpace, pre Friendster time.

725
00:50:19,742 --> 00:50:22,663
We remember pre iPhone.

726
00:50:22,923 --> 00:50:33,320
It was very different than someone who doesn't have that memory of that time and offline.

727
00:50:33,390 --> 00:50:38,338
Which is why, you I mentioned, you know, go to events, go to trade shows, go to business
groups in your community.

728
00:50:38,338 --> 00:50:39,625
That's where people are.

729
00:50:39,625 --> 00:50:46,250
That is where you can really be authentic and there's no, you know, like and subscribe.

730
00:50:46,472 --> 00:50:48,214
It's we'll talk.

731
00:50:48,492 --> 00:50:49,182
Yeah.

732
00:50:49,182 --> 00:50:49,533
All right.

733
00:50:49,533 --> 00:50:54,325
So to wrap up here, what's, what's your call to action with this managing director hat on
of this media company?

734
00:50:54,325 --> 00:51:00,489
What's your call to action with somewhat the biased company hat on what you're doing?

735
00:51:00,489 --> 00:51:03,050
Um, what's the call to action?

736
00:51:03,982 --> 00:51:05,062
You are biased.

737
00:51:05,062 --> 00:51:07,142
You're going to need someone to help you with this.

738
00:51:07,142 --> 00:51:08,282
Start early.

739
00:51:08,282 --> 00:51:12,482
You know, what we do is we help companies shape perception and build and maintain trust.

740
00:51:12,482 --> 00:51:14,642
That's that authenticity component.

741
00:51:14,782 --> 00:51:16,202
Do that.

742
00:51:16,442 --> 00:51:17,782
Do it smart.

743
00:51:17,782 --> 00:51:19,722
There are a couple of things you don't have to do.

744
00:51:19,802 --> 00:51:21,942
You don't have to respond to every LinkedIn comment.

745
00:51:21,942 --> 00:51:23,842
You don't have to respond to every Twitter comment.

746
00:51:23,842 --> 00:51:26,982
Hopefully you're getting too many and you can't respond.

747
00:51:27,342 --> 00:51:30,342
And most importantly, and we say this all the time,

748
00:51:30,402 --> 00:51:33,295
Communicate strategically, not voluminously.

749
00:51:33,295 --> 00:51:34,948
And that's what we help you do.

750
00:51:34,948 --> 00:51:38,911
You said, you know, a lot of what we do is helping people not do things.

751
00:51:39,413 --> 00:51:42,346
We help not being voluminous.

752
00:51:42,346 --> 00:51:44,338
We help be strategic.

753
00:51:45,400 --> 00:51:46,091
So good.

754
00:51:46,091 --> 00:51:55,260
All right, Josh Waltman, director Beltway media, a DC communications consultancy that's
starting to spread geographically.

755
00:51:55,260 --> 00:51:55,961
Watch out.

756
00:51:55,961 --> 00:51:56,882
He's smart y'all.

757
00:51:56,882 --> 00:51:58,113
He knows what he's talking about.

758
00:51:58,113 --> 00:51:59,975
So, Hey, thanks for giving us your time today.

759
00:51:59,975 --> 00:52:05,511
And I look forward to following you and engaging and getting this podcast out to as many
people that can help.

760
00:52:05,511 --> 00:52:06,752
can help impact.

761
00:52:07,064 --> 00:52:08,070
Thanks for having me.