Ep 321. PODHOUSE SAN ANTONIO: Don't Go To Live Events and Trade Shows Without a Plan!

Summary

Side Hustle Squad – Ep 321: PODHOUSE SAN ANTONIO: Don't Go To Live Events and Trade Shows Without a Plan!

Host: Mike Garvey
Guests: Eric Triplet, JT Triplet, Mike McAllowitz
Date: March 31, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the importance of having a strategy when attending live events and trade shows, particularly for entrepreneurs and podcasters in the green industry and adjacent spaces. Broadcasting from Pod House HQ Studios in San Antonio, TX, at the “Sponsor Games” event, Mike Garvey and his guests openly discuss expectations versus reality, the necessity of detailed planning, and how to maximize return on investment (ROI) when attending industry events. The conversation balances candid, actionable advice with plenty of humor and live event anecdotes.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Arriving at Events: Expectations vs. Defined Goals

• Define Success Ahead of Time
  • Most attendees arrive with vague expectations but not sharply defined success metrics. This often leads to post-event disappointment.
  • "[...] if you don't define what success looks like before you arrive or on your way to the arrival, you'll never really know if you [achieved] it or not."
    — Eric Triplet (02:18)
• Event Participation Requires Intention
  • Attendees need clarity about what they want to achieve, especially considering the costs of time, travel, and being away from business and family.
  • The group underscores squeezing "every ounce of ROI" from such trips, using planning as the tool.

2. Networking: Going Beyond Your Comfort Zone

• Active, Targeted Networking
  • Mixed teams at Sponsor Games pushed people to interact with new faces, though staying with familiar groups sometimes limits growth.
  • Eric demonstrates assertive networking by proactively meeting people and seeking open-ended conversations.
  • Mike: “That’s an awesome ability to be able to do that. Not everyone can do that. I don’t know if I could do that really like to just hey...” (11:40)
• Strategically Expanding Connections
  • Instead of random mingling, the group discusses collecting social handles, learning about others’ niches, and identifying potential collaborators.

3. Live Example: Meeting Will, the Fitness Trainer

• Addressing Difficult Questions Directly
  • The team shares an example where Eric directly asks why a 40-year-old woman would pick Will, a fit 40-year-old Black man, as her menopause fitness coach.
  • Will responds transparently, explaining his niche and approach, turning an awkward conversation into a trust-building moment.
    “Why would a 40-year-old white lady going through menopause go to a Black fitness male trainer for advice?”
    — Eric Triplet (15:17)
• Leveraging Unique Niches
  • Will's niche is super-specific, proving that precise focus and authenticity can rapidly build a following, evidenced by his viral TikTok moment.

4. Maximizing Event ROI: Planning vs. Flexibility

• Pros and Cons of Detailed Planning
  • Eric is identified as a “planner and analyzer,” always seeking to observe, then execute methodically.
  • JT admits he’s more comfortable improvising and adjusting on the fly.
  • “I feel like he analyzed the room just like he analyzed Connex. And then we executed on day two. [...] I like to sit back and watch it and just tell me where you need me to be.”
    — Mike McAllowitz (44:31)
• Team Synergy
  • Having both planners and improvisers can balance group dynamics, ensuring adaptability without losing sight of objectives.

5. Brand Partnerships: Authenticity is Key

• Working Only with Brands You Believe In
  • Panelists agree they only want to partner with brands/products they actually use and trust, favoring long-term collaborations over quick deals.
  • “I don’t want to have 30 sponsors. I want a solid just a handful—just the ones I know are going to be daily use or weekly use.”
    — JT Triplet (31:47)
• Building Two-Way Relationships
  • The team distances themselves from “sponsor whores” who chase deals for the sake of compensation without genuine brand affinity.
  • Mike: “I want to be on a team that—I want to be Michael Jordan. I want to be on one team. I don’t want to be LeBron… flailing, [jumping] from one thing to the next.” (29:35)

6. Elevator Pitches & Self-Presentation

• Sharpening the Elevator Pitch
  • The group critiques each other’s ability to succinctly communicate what they do.
  • Eric’s example: “I specialize in building low-maintenance aquatic ecosystems for fish and aquatic plants, but more importantly for people.” (54:18)
  • JT, feeling small with “only 105 subscribers,” is encouraged to own his unique journey and story, learning that everyone starts with humble numbers.
  • “None of this is overnight… it’s a snowball just like your business.”
    — Mike McAllowitz (55:33)

7. Setting and Tracking Event Goals

• Concrete Objectives for Sponsor Games
  • Eric’s goals:
    • Collaborate with 10 different content creators
    • Record at least 5 podcasts
    • Establish clear, actionable arrangements with brands (backpacks, boots, banking)
  • "I want to leave Sponsor Games with real, actionable steps—like how we're going to approach the brands we've already talked to."
    — Eric Triplet (63:30)
• Follow-Up & Accountability
  • Post-event self-evaluation is necessary: Did we meet our goals or fall short? Where do we improve?

8. Event-Specific Insights (Podhouse San Antonio & Sponsor Games)

• Using the Event Space
  • The group contemplates bringing select attendees back to their rented Podhouse studio to network and record, but they weigh crowd control and privacy with NDAs.
• Small But Diverse Event
  • Sponsor Games is smaller (<100 people) and not lawn/landscape specific, facilitating broader connections—“this is like a side hustle convention” (Mike Garvey, 64:21).
• Learning From Others
  • JT: “My goal was to just learn from people who are doing it and hopefully gain some knowledge on how to grow my personal podcast… my goal… is to just shut the up and learn.” (65:11)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Not Showing Up Without a Plan:
  “If you don't show up with a clear plan, you're basically gambling that the event is going to magically deliver some kind of value and change your fing life. It just doesn't fing work that way, right? But when you show up with intention… that's where conferences become rocket fuel for your business.”
  — Eric Triplet (75:00)

• On Building Real Brand Relationships:
  “I don't want a brand deal with someone that's like, 'Hey, let's do this for a month or two.' I'm… looking for longer relationships with brands.”
  — Eric Triplet (28:47)

• On Authenticity and Niche:
  “He found that niche, dude, and I need to find that light bulb.”
  — JT Triplet on Will’s success as a menopause fitness coach (20:22)

• On Being Your Own Advocate:
  “I want to go through the whole crowd and just be like, hey, what's your social? What's your handle?”
  — Eric Triplet (52:02)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:52 – Setting up at Pod House HQ and the thesis: define your event goals
• 06:02 – Importance of not expecting results without work and planning
• 10:03 – Eric’s approach to open networking, moving between groups
• 14:52 – Meeting Will, discussing direct objections and niche building
• 21:25 – Preparation: Being deliberate and prepared for every interaction
• 26:09 – Specifics: What the team hopes to get out of the Sponsor Games event
• 28:47 – Authentic, selective brand partnerships over short-term deals
• 44:16 – Balancing planning with adaptability in event settings
• 52:31 – The elevator pitch debate; how to present yourself to new contacts
• 58:18 – Recording at least five podcasts, controlling access with NDAs
• 63:30 – Ensuring post-event actionable steps and brand communication
• 75:00 – Closing thoughts: The episode’s core lesson on intention and event ROI

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Episode Takeaways

• Don’t Attend Events Without a Plan: Set measurable goals (people to meet, podcasts to record, sponsors to connect with) ahead of time.
• Network with Purpose: Plan your networking, move beyond your group, and have a clear self-presentation.
• Value Long-Term Brand Relationships: Seek to partner only with companies and products you genuinely use and believe in.
• Be Ready to Adapt: Even the best plans can go sideways; flexibility and quick thinking are essential.
• Debrief and Follow Up: After each event, analyze results versus goals—accountability is critical for growth.

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This episode is a master class in being intentional with professional development, making every event count, and building relationships that serve both your brand and your community. Perfect for entrepreneurs, podcasters, and anyone looking to maximize their industry networking ROI.

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Further Resources

• For more advice and stories like this, tune in weekly to the Side Hustle Squad Podcast.
• Connect with Mike Garvey and guests through the links in the episode description.

Transcript

[Mike Garvey]

Are you ready to kick back and get inspired? Grab your favorite drink, pop the top and join the side Hustle Squad with Mike Garvey. This podcast is the perfect resource for anyone who's already started their side Hustle or is just considering taking the lead. With in depth interviews featuring guests from the green industry and beyond, you'll gain valuable insights and learn what it takes to succeed in running a business while juggling a full time career. From personal stories to practical tips, the Soc side Hustle Squad podcast has everything you need to turn your passion into a thriving business. Now, here's your side Hustle Squad host, Mike Garvey.

[Eric Triplet]

We are at Pod House HQ Studios. We are in San Antonio, Texas. We're at the Sponsor Games with Justin Moore and he's the author of the sponsor Magnet. And I'm super excited to kick off this event and be in Pothouse 2 debut for 2026. We're super pumped about it, but we want to do something most contractors never really do when they come to conferences. This is what we wanted to cover today. Most most people show up to conferences with expectations. Like I spend a bunch of money, I'm going to learn some stuff and it's going to transform my business and I'm going to get better and pop, pop, pop. They move on. And so most of them show up with expectations, but they never really define what exactly it is that they want from the show. Like what are their expectations? It's a big difference. Showing up with expectations and defining expectations is completely different. So when the event's over, you know, there's things that are said. Like I'm not sure if it was worth it. I didn't really get what I expected. I wanted to get something. You know, I thought I was going to come home with some magic juice, the silver bullet. But here's the truth. If you don't define what success looks like before you arrive or even I'll throw this out there. Even a lot of times when I look at my full spectrum for my year, I know like these are the things I need to do. These are the places I need to land to put me in a position to win. And then I book them out and then on the plane I'm like, let me really super, super define what's going to happen here. I'm not saying that's the right thing. I just saying that's what I get caught in. So as I come to this event, I was on the plane in the airport, you know, waking up at 3:30 in the morning to get to the, you know, airport. Like, I'm starting to process, like, what's gonna. What's gonna define my success when I get home? How am I gonna know this event really was worth it when I get back? So, I mean, the truth is, if you don't define the success that you're looking for before you arrive or on your way to the arrival, you'll never really know if you it or not. So, again, here I am. This is San Antonio, Texas. This is Pod House 2. I'm sitting here with my brother Jason Triplet, and Mike Garvey from the Side Hustle Squad podcast. And we're going to lay out exactly why we came to sponsor the sponsor event, the sponsor Games Texas, what we're. What we're planning to accomplish, what our hopes, goals, and dreams are, and how we plan to squeeze every ounce of ROI from this trip. Because we're away from our business, we're away from. From our animals. I left my dog at home. I'm pissed about that. I miss Valor. You know, we're away from our family, our wives, our, you know, kids, all that stuff. We're away from that. So, like, how can we squeeze every ounce out of this trip? Okay. And of course, this is still like the. The testing phase of Pod House number two. And there's some. Definitely some. Some content they want to share here.

[Mike McAllowitz]

We're.

[Eric Triplet]

We're recording in the studio here right now. But there's some things that are going through my mind that I haven't even shared with Garvey yet because, like, there were some big things hit today, and I'm like, oh, I'm ready to make a move in fast decisions. And this is another debriefing moment because as I have Garvey in here with me, he's my partner in Pothouse Studios and 38 Special Productions. And you know, my brother, we brought him along for the trip. So, like, there's all these things that are happening, and like, as things are flushing live and in person, I haven't even had a chance to reveal those with Garvey yet. And so those are some of the things I want to talk about. So thanks to Garvey for finding this unbelievably legendary Airbnb headquarters today. Let's jump right into it. What's up with this place? Is this place you think it's haunted? No, no, I think it might be

[JT Triplet]

100 plus years old. Someone's definitely died.

[Eric Triplet]

Dude, this place is not sleeping tonight.

[JT Triplet]

No, I'm sleeping because we've been drinking Whiskey, right, True.

[Mike McAllowitz]

But I mean, some stuff's happening, like the old school, like, saloon, like this

[JT Triplet]

dude, the creaking over here for like the past two hours.

[Mike McAllowitz]

There's strong winds here.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah. There's like weird secret rooms under the stairs.

[Mike McAllowitz]

There's 22 stairs to get upstairs.

[Eric Triplet]

It's a long, It's a long stairway. Yeah. So I want to talk about pothouse. So this is cool. But so, no, I want to get to that. But first I want to talk about, like, coming to event, because if someone comes on and we start bullshitting and having a good time, that's cool because I think there's some value in that. But, like, when people come to an event, they show up with expectations like, hey, paid a lot of money. And I, I, I need to learn how to, you know, get, I need to know how to work with sponsors and, and maximize my, my, my benefit to them and their benefit to me. And they're going to tell me what to do when I get there, but they don't have it outlined like, what they want to take home. Right. I think that's such a critical factor. You know, you can't go in just thinking it's going to get served up on a silver platter without putting in work.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Yeah, it's not going to get served up on a silver platter. I think there has to be a lot of critical thinking beforehand about, like, or those relationships that you're nurturing already. Like, okay, what are going to be the next steps with those? I want to walk away with. Okay, these are my proposed brands that I'm working with. Like, take me through where to go next.

[Eric Triplet]

You know, tell me about the networking. So when I, when I walked in the, to the room, I'm in a weird mood right now, too. I don't know if you've figured this out yet, you guys, but I'm like, I'm real standoffish.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Direct.

[JT Triplet]

I'm direct.

[Eric Triplet]

I.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Lack of sleep.

[Eric Triplet]

That's what it is. It's total lack of sleep because I

[Mike McAllowitz]

just came off lack of sleep. And you're also going to be on the road for the next two weeks.

[Eric Triplet]

Two weeks. Yeah. I'm not going to be gone. Like, that's, that's dramatically affecting me. And so, like, I, I'm in, I'm in a pretty hot space right now. Like, I could be triggered real easy and just go off the deep end. Crazy. And, you know, I, I want to, I want, I don't want to get pissed off, but I could get pissed off real Easy right now. You know, especially coming off the 4x4x48 challenge, I. I didn't sleep much in the past two days.

[Mike McAllowitz]

On top of traveling.

[Eric Triplet]

On top traveling and then being away from the family and having all the. All the, you know, we're trying to scale our business and 10x things and like, all this stuff. So when I was there, I was. I'm pretty serious. I'm in a serious mode. Sometimes I can be really friendly and playful with super serious mode. And I'm like this. I have to get the ROI here. So when we. When we rolled into the event and I. Dude, I was sleeping. You woke me up to get to the event, right?

[Mike McAllowitz]

Yeah, yeah. I was determining how to wake you. I was like. Because I text my wife some pictures of the place, but, like, there was the two of you there. And I was like, the brother. The trip of brothers are sleeping. I was like, I don't know how to wake them. Like, I don't know how to wake, like, another grown man.

[Eric Triplet]

My wife usually makes me.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Yes.

[Eric Triplet]

No, no.

[Mike McAllowitz]

I don't know. Like, so she's like, I don't know. Bang, like some pots and pans. I was like, I was pretty loud with the chips. The chip bag. It didn't do anything. So I came over and I was like, hey, Erica, we gotta go.

[Eric Triplet]

You know, so, you know, my alarm went off like four minutes after you wok. If you. Oh, me. Like, I had an alarm. Like, I had a plan.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Oh, good.

[Eric Triplet]

Okay.

[Mike McAllowitz]

You know. Yeah. You weren't just. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Eric Triplet]

I'm just here to party and hang out. But so, so, so we go there and when I. When I get there, I'm like, I wasn't even hungry yet. They're all mingling and hanging out. I'm like, looking at the clicks and looking at all the people with purple hair and blue hair and like that.

[Mike McAllowitz]

And we're already. They put you on teams, right? Where you're kind of.

[Eric Triplet]

They assigned us.

[Mike McAllowitz]

It assigned us when I was like, oh, there's no way all of us are going to be together. But luckily they did put us all together.

[JT Triplet]

And then that was pretty cool.

[Mike McAllowitz]

That is cool. I thought they were going to break us all apart. And I'm like, okay. But that also puts people into, like, little groups already.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah.

[Mike McAllowitz]

And then, you know, we checked in and then stepped into the room.

[Eric Triplet]

Well, putting us in the same team is also, like, maybe not as good because now I'm not in a different room. I gotta meet someone and figure them out.

[JT Triplet]

So I'M just glad I'm not on the same team as that Rosie o' donnell chick. Okay, which one was that?

[Eric Triplet]

She might listen.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Only Rosie o' Donnell.

[JT Triplet]

When we go tomorrow.

[Eric Triplet]

Okay.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Isn't it true you called fat women pigs? Only Rosie o'?

[Mike Garvey]

Donnell?

[Mike McAllowitz]

That's what I thought what you said. But look what you're saying. We walked into the room and you were playing no games.

[Eric Triplet]

You noticed that right away.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Yeah, I was like, oh, he knows that guy.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah, but I didn't.

[Mike McAllowitz]

No, no, no.

[Eric Triplet]

Well, that's, that's the thing about me is like I can walk up and start talking to someone and people just think we know each other because the demeanor and the approach and the feel and the, and the conversation that sparks up.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Is that an eight? No, no, they're not there. But I mean being direct like, or is that just outside of that it.

[Eric Triplet]

Well, it's being, I mean I have this. So I have in the disc profile, I'm a high I personality which is influential. I'm a Challenger 8 so I can be present in a room and be authoritative and have a leadership possib, you know, set, skill set. And so I was just like, I'm just gonna introduce myself, start asking open ended questions, get to know them, smile, laugh at them and like find out if they're, you know, an asset to us or not. Right. I'm going to determine. Right? Yeah. So it's funny, it's because I, I started looking the room and I see this guy with it says sure mics on it. I'm like, oh, I know what sure mics are. Oh yeah, I'm going to talk to this guy even though I don't use sure mics. And so I start chatting with the guy right away. We hit it off, it's cool. And then you guys are like, oh, he must. Eric knows this guy. This is cool. And you guys show up and we start talking and then like as soon as you guys got engaged, I'm like, okay, I'm gonna go find the next person. Yeah. But you didn't know it. I didn't, I didn't announce that.

[Mike McAllowitz]

No.

[Eric Triplet]

Tell you. I boom. This, this woman sitting alone at the table, I'm going to go find out her name and what she does, what she leaves and what like, like what's going on and just do. I just strategically started going, I loved it.

[Mike McAllowitz]

I like that's an awesome ability to be able to do that. Not everyone can do that. I don't know if I could do that really like to just hey, but sometimes I'm not in the mood.

[Eric Triplet]

I wanted to go to the next. I'm not. I wasn't in the mood today. I'm not in the mood. But I'm like, it's. It's what's necessary.

[Mike McAllowitz]

What's necessary to have the plan.

[JT Triplet]

Yeah.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Going to this.

[Eric Triplet]

And in fact, the fact they put us on the same team right away, it kind of. It kind of slowed me down a little bit. And then I was. I was like. Because, like, we were standing next to that guy for a while, and I was like, okay, cool. I got this figured out. I know who he is now. I'll move to the next one. And then I moved to the next one. And then JT came and sat down next to me, and I introduced him, and we started talking. And then I was like. I was ready to, like, stand up and go, like, oh, I'm gonna grab a drink. You guys need anything? I'll be back. And then I was just gonna go to the next table, you know.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Right.

[Eric Triplet]

And just start talking to people.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Yeah. Do you feel like the team's almost.

[Eric Triplet]

The teams.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Well, the teams almost don't, like, keep you with your team, especially if slightly.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah, especially if you're, you know, if you're there with two or three people and they keep you on that with the two or three people that you brought, then that. That throws it off a little bit. But, I mean, I think that's okay. I think we'll get a chance to meet everyone there. But it was cool by the time we started talking, you know, like, when we meet someone new, there's this moment of, like, where someone has said, like, justify, like, oh, yeah, I'm on. This is what I do. This is who I am. And then I'm like, well, what's your Instagram page? I'm gonna look you up right now. I want to just. Let's. Let's just add each other. Yeah, let's just go. Let's add each other. So, like, well, what's your channel? What's your. What do you spend the most time on? You know, we find that Joe, he's got 70,000 on YouTube. Found out Will, he's got 200 something on TikTok, and this person's got 6,000 on this. And, like, I'm kind of figuring out their intensity of their content creation.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Can we talk about those people came to our table, just sat down, was like, hey, yeah, what? Tell me what. What is it that you do?

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Oh, I built, you know, construction. And then we Flipped it back at them. And can you talk about the one like the, the guy Will? I thought that was pretty wild. Not wild. I thought it was super direct. And I was like thinking it and

[Eric Triplet]

I was like, I kind of want you to, I kind of want you to talk about it and then let me come off.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Okay, that'd be perfect. So.

[Eric Triplet]

Because you, you watched it happen.

[Mike McAllowitz]

I. Right, right.

[Eric Triplet]

Okay.

[Mike McAllowitz]

So. So this guy Will sits down with us.

[Eric Triplet]

First of all, he's a handsome, handsome black.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Black male. Probably what, 40s?

[Eric Triplet]

No, he's 30s.

[Mike McAllowitz]

30s. Okay.

[Eric Triplet]

He's. Oh, he. He's 40.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Yeah, I mean, he's. He's 40. Okay. Yeah. In incredible shapes. Sit down with us.

[JT Triplet]

Yeah, the name.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Yeah. So he sits down, we're talking about. And we're like, okay. And you said, so what do you do? And he's like, well, I'm a fitness trainer for 40 year old and plus women that are going through menopause.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah.

[Mike McAllowitz]

I'm like, all right, that's like a real. That's like a niche thing. That's kind of interesting. And I'm like, why the, why the fuck would they go to him? And I thought of it. I really thought, yeah. And then not. What was it 10 seconds later? What did you say? You're like, I need to.

[Eric Triplet]

I said, hey, you.

[Mike McAllowitz]

I need to be super real with you. Right.

[Eric Triplet]

Can I get me straight with you guys?

[Mike McAllowitz]

Yes, go.

[Eric Triplet]

Go really hard on you and be straight.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Why would a 40 year old black. 40 year old white lady going through menopause go to a black fitness male trainer for advice?

[JT Triplet]

Yeah, I was like, yeah, you know what he was ready for? He was ready for the question, though. Like he's heard that before.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Dude, I don't know if he had

[Eric Triplet]

it that he's heard of before. But you were like that directly.

[JT Triplet]

I think he's heard it before because he had an answer and he was like, even I'm glad because that other chick was sitting right next to us who's obviously, you know, 50, 60 years old. And he even said, hey, you know what, if I'm wrong here, you tell me. Okay?

[Mike McAllowitz]

Right. He had it.

[JT Triplet]

So he, he's had this conversation many of times. Sure.

[Mike McAllowitz]

That was direct.

[Eric Triplet]

But were you like, that's my fucking partner?

[Mike McAllowitz]

Yes. He's an eight.

[JT Triplet]

Yeah.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Special.

[JT Triplet]

Well, before I, before I saw that he was married, I was like, oh, yeah, he's banging these chicks.

[Eric Triplet]

No, because he's. How can he make money and have reoccurring, you know, business and people are weird, man.

[JT Triplet]

People do some odd.

[Eric Triplet]

No, he can't be. He can't be banging 12 girls and teaching them how to, you know, deal with their hormones.

[JT Triplet]

Well, when he said he was doing

[Eric Triplet]

it online, he's doing it online.

[Mike McAllowitz]

And it's a four pillar.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Thing.

[Eric Triplet]

He's legit, super legit. He's got like 250, 000 people on. He goes live every day for an hour and a half.

[JT Triplet]

That's crazy.

[Eric Triplet]

And at the end of the hour and every day, hour and a half. And at the end of the hour and a half, he pitches like what he can do beyond that, it's not banging.

[JT Triplet]

Okay.

[Eric Triplet]

You know what I mean? It's like I can help you, you know, make sure you die.

[JT Triplet]

Well, again, that, that would be a natural thought process though for like a guy like me or you. Like you even asked him too.

[Eric Triplet]

What do you mean me? I've been married for 30 years.

[JT Triplet]

No, no, no. In a way that your mind was starting to go there. Like, okay, not only why would they go to you? But like, you're a handsome dude. Like, like I think in. And it just, it was a natural, a natural thought like, oh, he's banging these chicks.

[Eric Triplet]

You thought it. I didn't.

[JT Triplet]

But you know, you. I didn't for. Did you.

[Mike McAllowitz]

I was like, oh man.

[JT Triplet]

Like, yeah, why would they.

[Mike McAllowitz]

What's happened?

[JT Triplet]

Yeah, hence. No, look, because my thought was, okay, why would they go to him? Why would they go to him? He's obviously a good looking dude. He's jacked. Like you said. Like, how can he, how can he relate to somebody other than. It's a good way to bone bitches.

[Eric Triplet]

No, you're an idiot, bro.

[JT Triplet]

Listen, that's how I was thinking.

[Eric Triplet]

No, this is not some guy in a small town.

[JT Triplet]

Obviously it changed my mind within 30 seconds. You know, when he started talking about

[Eric Triplet]

it, even if he wasn't married and he was having sex with some of the ladies, he has to have a presence to be in a position to have this as his livelihood. Like, this is his job, you know?

[JT Triplet]

Totally.

[Eric Triplet]

And that's why he's here at Sponsor Games. Because not only is he providing a super valuable service to women, and I challenged him on it, you know, and it was because here's like I'm in, I'm in sales. I coach contractors on sales communications. And like I, I look at objections always, right? So I want to look at your objections when I'm talking to you. I think I've challenged you a couple of times. But like, if you know if you're a contractor, it's like, hey, it's too much money. I got to talk to my wife. You know, these kind of objections. So I was like, oh, this guy. His objection is, I'm a woman. You don't know what I'm going through. You're a man. How could you possibly know like that. That was a huge objection. Just such a massive slap in the face. I'm like, how do you handle this objection? Right. And so that's. And then clearly he has that figured out. And now he does. Yeah. Right. He just wants to figure out, how can I help these women and how can I talk to brands that need to be in front of these women and how can I help pitch their brands to these women and. And get paid to do so? That's what sponsored.

[JT Triplet]

He did say it literally fell into his lap, and it. It probably connected with him because he basically said, yeah, dude, when I got my tick tock and I started doing this, I only had like, 33 followers. And then one day I posted some random video I was doing, and next thing you know, I had 25, 25, 000 followers. And that's when I. It's. It's almost like the freaking light bulb went off.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah.

[JT Triplet]

In his head, that's probably what happened

[Mike McAllowitz]

at that super niche.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah.

[JT Triplet]

Yeah. I actually need to figure that out. How I. I need to do.

[Eric Triplet]

Well, that's something. Like he has 33 followers and he goes viral. You know that that's exactly what you've been asking about. Like, how do I get more followers? You got to go viral. You got to figure that out. Right.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Well, you should try to take him out.

[JT Triplet]

Be a trader for maybe. That'd be freaking hilarious. Some fat guy trying to give.

[Eric Triplet]

Oh, you're not Jackson Sexy.

[JT Triplet]

I know, I know. I'm just. But I'm like, dude, okay, yeah, he found that niche, dude, and I need to find that light bulb.

[Eric Triplet]

Okay, so let's get back to this. So, like, most people come to events like this without expectations because they never really define them. And when it's all over, sometimes they say it was a waste of money. Like, oh, the event was cool. I had a good time. I hung out with my friends, but it was a waste of money. I didn't get anything out of it. But the truth is, when they never had a game plan to begin with, they show up. Right. And so. But they. They kind of blame the fact that they didn't do the work or have a plan on the event.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Yeah.

[Eric Triplet]

And I don't think that's good. So, you know, while we're here at sponsor games with Justin Moore, I, you know, we basically kicked off tonight, when we go in tomorrow, that the plan is to get everyone's handle trade trade names. You know, Joe came super prepared. He did like, there's like, there's like seven or nine sponsors for event.

[Mike McAllowitz]

He reach outs to everyone on LinkedIn.

[Eric Triplet]

He already talked to him all on LinkedIn. Yeah, like, that's wild. He's very, very prepared. So he's going to be successful. So we talked about the, the, the building here, which is amazing. Tell, tell us a little. I do want to talk about the building a little bit more because at Pothouse hq, as we travel the country this year, we're looking to create a spot where we can have, you know, today, look, we're really lean, you know, three, three podcasters I want to talk about. This is really cool with three podcasters in this cool facility. Multiple rooms, multiple bathrooms, you know, all this stuff styled in. We have studios in different places, outdoor balconies, all this stuff. We even have the outdoor facility out back. So when we were there today, I'm thinking, like, who could we bring back?

[Mike McAllowitz]

Yes.

[Eric Triplet]

Who would be someone be like, hey, I'd like to you come back and have pot record with us tonight. Right. And then, you know, I, I can respect the fact there was an outdoor area and it's all nice and they had to kick us out a certain time. But there was literally a moment I was like, we could literally fit every single person here back at our, back

[JT Triplet]

here, you know, come to.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Yes. 1, 2, 3, Main Street. And.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah, and, and I don't, I don't think it was a good idea. No, but, but I thought it could be, it could happen. Like we could have just if, if we, if we have our, if our game on. If something like that would happen again next year, I could be like, go pick three people. Go pick three people. Go pick three. Like, we could have potentially brought back nine people. Like, hey, we'd like to have a private interview with you. We have, we have a private, private studio and we'd love for you to come back and podcast with us. Please don't share this with everyone. Here's our QR code or whatever, whatever we do to pass that information on. But we could have had Joe and Will and we could have had, you know, Bianca and whoever else come back.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Justin.

[JT Triplet]

Yeah, Justin, no comment.

[Mike McAllowitz]

And even two. But you could have, you could have this board, you could have other people. I see it too. Like, around here, not necessarily with microphones, but with headsets on that. Want to listen? If you want to listen in on the interview. If you think the guy from Walking Across Africa.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah, that guy was crazy. Yeah, he was amazing. I wish he was here right now.

[Mike McAllowitz]

I wish he was here, too.

[JT Triplet]

Yeah, but do it tomorrow. Exactly. That's. What's. Not to say we can't do it tomorrow.

[Eric Triplet]

Well, that. That's. That's why I was like. It just. It flooded over me, like, flushed me. I probably turned red. I was, like, looked at Garvey like, how do we get everyone back there right now? But.

[Mike McAllowitz]

And I was like, wait, we want to bring everyone back? Like, yeah, all right.

[JT Triplet]

Like, we could fit 50 people here.

[Eric Triplet]

Exactly. But. So. So that's gonna happen one day. But it has to be, you know, like, we. You know, we've set up NDAs because we just can't have everyone showing up.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Right.

[Eric Triplet]

It's not a party house, but it's content creation house. But, like, we could literally do, like, 40 podcasts tonight if we had the guests show up. Right? So. Yeah, but here's the thing. Like, some people would get annoying after a certain amount of time. You know, maybe they have a couple too many drinks and they're kind of, like, giggly, and then like, hey, you guys have to leave. And, like, do they have an Uber?

[JT Triplet]

Or they.

[Eric Triplet]

Did they drive their car, Right. Driving away, like, funny. So there's a lot of. There's a lot of things that we need to consider like that, right? Yeah, but I was really thinking, like, how could we maximize this? But the. The Africa guy, there was. There was a podcaster who does. He's like a. He has a rock and roll history podcast. And I'm like, wow, what? Like, I just met him, right?

[Mike McAllowitz]

When did you meet him?

[Eric Triplet]

Right at the end when they were kicking us out. Really literally kicking us out.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Oh, yeah, he was cool.

[Eric Triplet]

And I was like, oh, my. I don't even remember his name. I. I think I got his Instagram. So, you know, but. But these are the kind of things that we need to brace ourselves for, because, again, we don't want this to turn into a, you know, a disaster house. Like, I'm super comfortable and happy, and, like, this is. I. I feel like I bring a

[Mike McAllowitz]

selective group people here. I mean, to tap in. This is a very interesting event because it's not lawn. Lawn or landscape or design build specific fitness.

[Eric Triplet]

Like, save water for the.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Save water for the planet. And, like, and we only scratch the surface. I Don't know what I mean. I don't.

[JT Triplet]

I'm sure we're going to find out some more of these people tomorrow. It's been fun so far, so let's

[Eric Triplet]

get to specifics of why we came. So, like, this is a big, this is a big event for me. Like, this is one of the, this is one of the apex pieces of the puzzle I came for this year

[JT Triplet]

because,

[Eric Triplet]

you know, like, I'm very specific about commercials that run on our show. I either want to, like, talk about something that I think is really beneficial to my audience. My audience is dual purpose. So I have like a contractor centric show and I have, you know, aquatic centric show, you know, and I think pretty clearly on, as I define it when I'm talking to people, hey, this is a contractor show. This is an aquatic show. So that way if you're a contractor and you don't like aquatics, you can bounce. If you're, you know, aquatic guy and you don't want to listen to contractors, you, you know, like, that's kind of what I set it up as. But what I want to do is I want to connect with brands. You know, like, we're traveling, we have backpacks and we have, you know, like, I want a backpack brand and boots and a boot brand and you know, a banking company that we were banking with and we're running our business smoothly because of the style of banking codes that we're using and things of that nature. Like anything that's helping me grow and expand my business and my travel and, and all that stuff, like, I want to align with them and if I can help expose their brand to people that, that vibe with me and vice versa, then it's a, it's a good collaboration. And so my, my goal here at Sponsor Games is to be like, how can I help brands at the highest level? How can I serve brands at the highest level? And my audience. Because my audience, like, I don't want to talk to my audience about a table. Like, this is the best table on the market. You should get one for your living room. Like, it doesn't really matter.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Right. It's not changing.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah. My, my people aren't coming to listen to the show because they like furniture.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Yeah. And they really believe in that table.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah. So that's not what it's about. But if it's like something that could enhance their position in aquatics or business of construction or sales, communications, or running their company or enhancing their experience with aquatics in their backyard, like, that's what I want to share with them. I don't want to be doing stuff too far off the cuff.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Yeah. Just to do it. Like, that's totally where I'm at too. It's like, there's not many sponsors. We've been approached by other things, but they don't. I don't believe in them, so I'm not just taking them to do them.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah, well, I don't. I don't want to. I don't want to sponsor deal with. I don't want a brand deal with someone that's like, hey, let's do this for a month or two. I'm like, I. I don't. What? Why, like, looking for longer. I'm. I'm been married to my wife for 30 years almost. You know, like, I'm looking for, like, longer relationships with. With brands and stuff like that.

[JT Triplet]

See, that's. That's the difference between you and a lot of people, though. That's why I was talking to Joe about those people who are street sponsor whores. They just want sponsors because they think it's cool and they're making money, whatever, but they don't really, like, back the product. You know, I don't want. I don't want stuff like that. I want stuff that's useful, stuff that I use, stuff I think that's gonna, you know, benefit my. My audience.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Eric said it the other night, too. It's like, I want to be on a team that. I want to be Michael Jordan. I want to be on one team. I don't want to be LeBron. LeBron jumping around.

[JT Triplet]

Yeah.

[Mike McAllowitz]

You know, flopping around, flailing. But no, I don't want to go from one thing to the next thing to the next thing because they're giving me. Giving you a better deal. It's like, no, I want to use the product. I want to know the product. I want to.

[JT Triplet]

Yeah.

[Eric Triplet]

It.

[Mike McAllowitz]

To change me. You know, like a couple of our. The banking platform I use, Relay. Like, that has changed my business. It has different bank accounts for different things or, you know, any of the other things that I use. It's like, I incorporate them in my business. I think they will help you as well. I want to share these with you.

[JT Triplet]

See, I have that. I have the mindset. Yeah. Obviously, you guys are far ahead of me than I am. Right. But the thing about me is I'm very loyal. So if someone takes a chance on me because they can kind of see my vision or they like me as a person, it's kind of like sales. Yeah. I have a product that I sell, and people will buy from me, but for the most part, people will buy from me because they like me. So I want somebody to say, you know what? I'm going to take a chance on you because I kind of see where you're going. I believe your vision, and you're going to be. You're going to be loyal to me, and that's kind of what I'm looking for. Obviously, some of the brands that they have here, some of the sponsors that they have here obviously would, you know, aren't really my forte. Maybe the sure one, I could definitely see that. But even then, if sure were to say, hey, here you go. I'm like, I don't know if I would use them because I've been using EV for so fricking long. I'm just.

[Mike McAllowitz]

You know what was really cool with Mario is that, like, he was asking me about. He's like, oh, what do you use? Like, Rodecaster Audio Technica or whatever? And he's like, oh, man. He's like. Because he was telling me about what sure has. And he's like, but you know what? He's like, if that works for you, keep rolling with it.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah.

[JT Triplet]

Yeah.

[Mike McAllowitz]

I was like, wow, that's pretty. That's really cool.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah.

[JT Triplet]

He's like, that was cool.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Whatever. And he said it the same thing to you, right? Like, about. He's like. He's like, damn it, I'm a musician too. And you know. Right?

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah.

[JT Triplet]

He's like, EV is a great brand, which they are, so. But that's, that's what I'm saying. Like, if someone were to take a chance on me and risk. Risk it on me, then, then I'm going to be loyal. That's how I am. I don't want to. I don't want to have, you know, 30 sponsors. I want to have like a solid just a handful. Just, just, just the ones that I know are going to be daily use or weekly use.

[Eric Triplet]

30, bro. I'm down for a solid 30, I

[JT Triplet]

think I'm not there yet, bro.

[Eric Triplet]

I think. But I think it's. It's having that thought process is, is a real, the real deal, you know, having that, that vision, you know? You know, like, like me thinking about the backpack. Like, we're traveling everywhere. We're looking at having a mobile studio in a backpack. You throw a backpack on the ground, go do some zippers and open it up and, like, you have a complete mobile studio. Like, I want a backpack. I want. I want to travel. Travel gear all that stuff I want whether Rodecaster were due or not. But I mean there's, there's a lot of brands.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Cameras.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah.

[JT Triplet]

You know, well, Mario of all people brought up a good thing and I'm surprised I didn't think about it. I'm already using the EV stuff. Been using it for you know, 20 plus years. Why? I haven't done any, any of the advertising for it. I haven't done any marketing for it. Yeah, I'm, I'm a believer in the product and I talk about all the time. I get you hooked up on, you know, NAMM shows and stuff when we were doing that stuff. But I never like literally talk about the product. I mean I think I need to start going down that you should know

[Eric Triplet]

how to do it yet. And that's what, that's, that's over here. Probably why we're here because I just want brands to know that what like I'm not going to go to these events because you know, I'm cool and I'll talk about your brand. Like I'm actually traveling the country right now too to become better at serving my brands like that. That's what this complete stop on our journey is about. Right.

[Mike McAllowitz]

I think also too to paint the picture of what we're doing here at Pothouse number two, to show the brands like what we're doing, what, what this is, what this could be, how to benefit and be a benefit to them. Right?

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah. Because I think, I think most creators are too narcissistic. They're like, well I got this many followers and people watch me and so

[JT Triplet]

you should the one uppers.

[Eric Triplet]

It's worth money for you to like give me free stuff and pay me money. So like all my people see like it's, it's more than that. It's actual like synergistic work to make it happen. Right.

[JT Triplet]

Well now we're kind of getting off topic because I think that's a lot of those so called influencers or content creators, they're like, oh Well I have 5000 followers so you should give this to me for free. People get sidetracked and I don't think they really grasp really what the concept of an equal partnership is people just doing oh because they want free. It's not about getting free. It's about something you believe in. Like you know those influencers that go to a restaurant be like, oh, I've got, you know, 5, 000 followers. You're gonna give me a free dinner tonight and all my viewers about it. Yeah, dude, it's like, I get so disgusted when I see that, kind of. Because that's not really what this shit's about, you know, People are just doing it for free. I wanna. I want to do it. I want to build real relationships, like, long term.

[Eric Triplet]

Well, Instagram's been around long enough that people that put in work, they're gonna have 5, 10,000 followers, and they're gonna. You know, like, they think that's enough to make it happen, but it's more to it than that, right?

[JT Triplet]

So I'm gonna make another drink. You want one?

[Eric Triplet]

All right, push pause.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Hey, what's going on, guys? With Jobber, you can easily manage jobs, track your team, get paid faster, all from one simple app. Join thousands of satisfied lawn care professionals who trust Jobber to keep their business growing strong. Visit the link in the bio today and start your free trial.

[Eric Triplet]

Hey, guys. Adam Fullerton here with Branded Bull as a proud sponsor of the Side Hustle Squad podcast. We're all about helping lawn care and landscaping businesses make their mark and stand out from the competition. Visit [e-mail] to learn more about our professional branding website and graphic design services and how we can help your business look awesome and grow. JT had his first experience with the. The pothouse apparel today at the airport.

[Mike McAllowitz]

You know, what was that like?

[JT Triplet]

Well, dude, I like to think we stand out in a crowd outside of the sweater, but. Yeah, I mean, people were looking at the sweaters a lot, but, you know, like, I had a airline ticket that said, you know, I bored, like, boarding eight, and he was boarding five.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Zone five.

[JT Triplet]

And so, yeah, and I told Eric, I was like, man, that, dude, I'm just gonna. I'm just gonna go with you ahead. And sure enough, dude, we'd walk up, he'd go in, and then my. My ticket. His ticket would be like, jing. Okay, good.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Go ahead.

[JT Triplet]

Then my shaker was like, like, red alert. Red alert.

[Eric Triplet]

Wrong zone.

[JT Triplet]

Wrong zone.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Red alert, peasant.

[JT Triplet]

But they were like, okay. Oh, have. Have a good flight, man.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Oh, really?

[Eric Triplet]

Let me go,

[Mike McAllowitz]

pot house.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah, seriously. Because. Because when we were walking through the airport, I was watching people, and people were staring at the shirt and, like, looking at the sir and, like, looking at my in the eyes and be like, you. You said, you look special, you know,

[Mike McAllowitz]

but we felt the same at Conics.

[Eric Triplet]

No, that's what I'm saying. Yeah, it extended to Texas. You know, it's like, it was that way in. In Las Vegas. It's in Texas too. So. But we. I. I bought the tickets for us at the same time. I bought all the tickets, like, two. A month and a half, two months ago.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Right.

[Eric Triplet]

And I don't know why he got zone eight. I got zone five.

[Mike McAllowitz]

And you're see, I know what.

[JT Triplet]

I know exactly what happened, Kathy Jo, when she went and booked the tickets, she did you first.

[Eric Triplet]

Obviously, she's like, triplet's the man.

[JT Triplet]

Yeah, obviously. And so when she booked mine, I mean, obviously people had already booked tickets by the time she booked mine. That's how that works. Anyways, either way, it works out great. Kathy Jo, I love you. You've got us dial.

[Eric Triplet]

But we're both. We're both in the aisle seats. So, like, behind each other? No, in, like, right next across from each other. So, like, there's aisle. I was like, to the left.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Are you both aisle guys?

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah, we're both right. So. But when we walked up, you know, we had the pothouse gear on, and. And she was like, how many in your party, sir? I'm like, oh, she's the two of us. I gave her zone five. She's like, points me on. Here you go. And then when he goes on, it's like. And she just, like, ignored it. She's like, have a day, sir. Like, you guys are together. Like, you guys.

[JT Triplet]

It was obvious you guys were together,

[Mike McAllowitz]

you guys in the pot house.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah. So that was super. Super.

[Mike McAllowitz]

That's really awesome.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah. But then we get here to Texas. It's 97 degrees. Kind of hard to wear a hoodie.

[Mike McAllowitz]

But hey, like, could it tonight.

[Eric Triplet]

But yeah, tonight got. They got cool. But tomorrow's gonna be good. We'll be able to wear them. But you know, like, tomorrow be the trifecta. Yeah, yeah. But today I had on the pondar jersey, like the pondar button up, same as the pothouse button up with the

[Mike McAllowitz]

name on the back.

[Eric Triplet]

With the name on the back with the.

[Mike McAllowitz]

With the trademark.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah. So the back of this shirt just says the pond digger, and the back of our pothouse shirt says pot house, content, chaos, creation, whatever. Right. So a guy came up to me at the event tonight. He's like, what pawns you do? How do you do this?

[JT Triplet]

What's going on?

[Eric Triplet]

What is pond Digger? Tell me about it. You know, he, like, he literally came up to me because it's different. I want to know what that means. And so, yeah, I think tomorrow, you know, us wearing our pothouse care is going to turn some heads and be cool.

[JT Triplet]

Well, I think it'll be easier also to. To grab a few people to come over Tomorrow?

[Mike McAllowitz]

Yeah, Come back.

[JT Triplet]

Oh, we got. If I can do a podcast with

[Mike McAllowitz]

you tomorrow, we would love that.

[JT Triplet]

Yeah. Yeah. Especially if your name starts with a B.

[Eric Triplet]

We're good. We have to figure it out, though, because it's like. Like, hit. This event's. You know, there's only going to be. There's only, like. There wasn't that many people here tonight.

[Mike McAllowitz]

100.

[JT Triplet]

No, not even that, bro.

[Mike McAllowitz]

75.

[Eric Triplet]

No, there's like 50, 60 at the most. It's. It's 100 people convention. But, you know, Paul's not here today.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Right.

[Eric Triplet]

Anna backed out. So and so, like, so, I mean, you could see this. There was probably, like, maybe. I. I'm gonna guess 60 people, and then tomorrow maybe 10 more will show up. Maybe.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Yeah.

[JT Triplet]

Yep.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Yep.

[Eric Triplet]

But it's not this convention where there's 30, 000 people. Because we're at 30, 000 people and we're like, hey, come back to Pothouse. They tell one friend, they tell two friend, they tell. You know, it's like, it starts to build, and then everyone's trying to come back to our Airbnb party at Equip Expo. I don't want that to happen. But tomorrow it could be, like, totally different.

[Mike McAllowitz]

It's a totally different.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Situation than Equip.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah. Tomorrow, with all this wearing our pothouse, Garrett, it'll be a little bit more like, like, hey, what are you guys doing? People are going to want to talk about it, so we should agree on a factor of how that looks like. Hey, if you'd like to come back and podcast, we would like to do that, you know, and then we'll figure out what that looks like.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Time slot.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah. Yeah.

[JT Triplet]

Well. And you only have three microphones, right? Take three of these headsets.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Yeah, I only brought three, but Paul might have others. Paul. Paul Jameson.

[Eric Triplet]

And Paul's asleep by 8, bro.

[Mike McAllowitz]

But I get to borrow his headsets. You know, necessary.

[Eric Triplet]

Okay. Don't count on it. Don't count on it. So I want to talk about my goals for the trip.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Yes.

[Eric Triplet]

Okay. So.

[Mike McAllowitz]

And you're very methodical. You did this at Conics. I don't know if you know this.

[JT Triplet]

He does this.

[Mike McAllowitz]

This is what he does. Yeah, I'm sure you do know this.

[JT Triplet]

He's always been like this, dude.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Analyze.

[JT Triplet]

Oh, yeah. All the time.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Step back and observe. Create a method and then execute.

[JT Triplet]

It's funny, though, that you can see that from the outside.

[Mike McAllowitz]

I saw. I've seen it a couple times. I don't really know. I didn't Know it at the time, but at construction expo, totally just stepped back, analyzed. And that night he was like, okay, this is what we need to do.

[JT Triplet]

Yeah.

[Mike McAllowitz]

And this is how we're going to execute.

[JT Triplet]

He's always been a planner, dude. You know what's. You know what's funny? And not to get sidetracked, but. And I don't know how this happened because, like, I'll try to plan, and for the most part, I'm pretty good at it. I can plan.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah.

[JT Triplet]

But what I've realized is when I plan things, things don't always go according to plan. Right. Like, you can. You can have a total game plan and go into someplace and it goes sideways, and nothing that you had planned is. Is. Is going the way route. So what works for me? Like, my brother's a planner. Like, he's always been, and for the most part, it works for him. Whereas I'm more of a. I'm more of a on the fly type guy.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Things change.

[JT Triplet]

Yeah. Well, yeah, I don't plan, especially in sales because, like, you can plan your day and then, you know, like I said, it goes sideways, so. So you have to really be versatile, I guess. My brother's very versatile, too. But what I'm saying is I'm not so much of a planner because I noticed, like, sometimes, you know, it's different. Okay, plan your. Your freaking hotel room. Okay. That's. That's not really planning, but I'm saying, like, he has a set plan when he goes into something. And I. I've realized I don't have that ability to do that sometimes. I just.

[Eric Triplet]

Just.

[JT Triplet]

I like to go in there, like, no plan, and then see what happens.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Right.

[JT Triplet]

And a lot of times it works for me.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Work. Right.

[JT Triplet]

But what I saw, my brother does that, like, all the time, dude.

[Mike McAllowitz]

I feel like he analyzed the room just like he analyzed Connex. And then we executed on day two. Did three podcasts. Did. Did, like, got actual done. And I think that the same thing is gonna happen tomorrow.

[JT Triplet]

Yeah.

[Mike McAllowitz]

And I like to. I like to sit back and watch it and just tell me where you need me to be.

[JT Triplet]

Yeah.

[Mike McAllowitz]

How can I support you and help you with that?

[JT Triplet]

I will say, being his little brother, he's always kind of taking the lead on things. On most things in life. So I. I kind of just. I'll watch him. Whatever he's doing, I'll kind of join him. If I'm in a. In a situation where I know somebody, then I'll go do my own thing. But for the most Part Eric. Eric always takes the lead on and it just works out that way. It works out good. You're a good leader, bro.

[Eric Triplet]

Thank you for that.

[JT Triplet]

You've been doing this a while,

[Eric Triplet]

so I want to be clear. I, I see a big vision, right? But I don't plan as much as it's. It as me sitting back listening to you guys talking. I don't plan as much. So just so you know, like, I just, I told, I said I'm. My plan was I'm gonna go Con Expo, I'm gonna go to sponsor games, I'm going to the Koi show. I'm gonna go here like, boom, right? Like, that's the big vision. I told Kathy Joe, like, get these things planned out like it was last night. 11:30pm I. I have to be up at 3:30. I'm packing. Like, you know what I mean?

[Mike McAllowitz]

Yeah.

[Eric Triplet]

It's just because my life was in the way, you know, like, it's busy, so I'm packing. I should shower, shave, so I can just get up in the morning and just like, everything's ready. I didn't even know what airline I was on, you know, I just know when I open up my calendar, it's there and I'm gonna touch it, it's gonna open up. It's gonna be my flight number. It's gonna be. That's where I gotta go.

[Mike McAllowitz]

That's huge.

[Eric Triplet]

You know, and, and JT's on that way. He's like, like, well, what's the flight number? I'm like, I don't know. And he's like, what, what airline we're gonna fly? I'm like, I don't know. I, I just don't know.

[Mike McAllowitz]

You don't need to know.

[Eric Triplet]

Just be here at 3, 350 and we're gonna go.

[JT Triplet]

That's. That's where you, you, your versatility comes.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Yes.

[JT Triplet]

So, yeah, I mean, I think we both have that ability to do that. You're way more of a planner than I am. But yeah, you, you are very versatile. Because a lot of times you're, you're so busy. It's not like you don't want to plan. Like for the most part when it comes to family functions, Eric's usually pretty late all the time because he's got so much going on, bro. We're like, hey, what time's dinner? Five, I think.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Right.

[JT Triplet]

And then you. I'll be. And I'm like, johnny on the spot, dude. You tell me to be there at 5. I'm there at 5.

[Mike McAllowitz]

You're there at 4. 50.

[JT Triplet]

Yeah, dude. And then my brother is not so much, dude. And then. And then, of course, you know, mom will be like, where's Eric?

[Eric Triplet]

Where's Eric?

[JT Triplet]

I. This.

[Eric Triplet]

We're.

[JT Triplet]

We're supposed to do this, like, you know, it's like that pretty often.

[Eric Triplet]

Dude, let's get this back on track.

[JT Triplet]

I'm sorry, man.

[Mike McAllowitz]

No, I like this.

[Eric Triplet]

Well, but it's like, you know, I. I have my assistant. She's got all the stuff in my itinerary. I'm like, just like, just get it there. We'll be good. Good. And I know I. I texted you a couple times. It's funny because I know you're like Leo, and that's what I love about you. Hq, like, podcast Pod House. HQ is like, very, like, law enforcement. Like, military. My dog, Valor. Military. Like, it. Like, I'm thinking more military. Right. And so it was interesting because you were like, when do we land? You said, when you get back from Pennsylvania, back to Ontario.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Because I want to be there.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah. And I'm like, Like, oh. Like, does it really matter? And like. And I, like, looked it up.

[Mike McAllowitz]

I'm probably bothering you, though.

[Eric Triplet]

No, no, it was. It was. It didn't bother me, but I was like. I had this moment. I'm like, okay, like, here's my buddy on the. On. He's like my partner in pot house. He's on West. He's on east coast. On the west coast. He's like, what time are you gonna land back? Like, you weren't. We're gonna be in Texas together. Texas. I'm going back to New Jersey. You're going to Pennsylvania. And then Pennsylvania, you're going back to Ontario. And then Ontario, you're going to come home for a day, and then you're going to go to Las Vegas. And then you're going to go this. And he's going to come to the security detail, and we're going to do that. And like, he said, so since he's law enforcement, he said, what time are you going to be back in Ontario? And I said, I'll be there at 1007. I didn't say I'll be there at 10. Like, you know, like, the difference between 10 and 1007 is a lot when it comes to, like, really specific. Yeah, like, specificity. Right. And I'm like, I'll be there at 1007. Right. And. And then, like, 12 minutes later, because he's, like, plotting. He's like, he's like on his phone,

[JT Triplet]

like, that's his trooper mentality, bro.

[Eric Triplet]

That's how he's planning the houses and stuff. He's like, okay, cool, I'll be at such and such O5, like 9:55. He's like, well, I'll be there at 9:55. I'm gonna be there at 1,007. Like, we're literally. He's landing in Ontario. I'm flying from Pennsylvania, probably. I could probably lay over in the Houston for all I know. And then landing In Ontario at 1007, he's gonna land. He's coming from New Jersey, probably landing in o' Hare and then landing in. In the same airport. Like eight minutes apart. Okay, Eight minutes apart.

[JT Triplet]

You know how you said you weren't mad, but you gotta understand when you have other people involved in. In lane or doing events, it's not just you anymore now. Now you got like, you got. You got Mike, you got other people, you got your other podcaster friends. So, you know, like, I know a lot of times you get annoyed with me because I'll be like, what? What's the time? And then you'll be like, what the. Dude, I'm just gonna be there. But when you have other people involved, now you're on their time too.

[Eric Triplet]

Bro, you're not helping.

[JT Triplet]

Yeah, but I'm just saying. Exactly my point. I'm family. I'm a little bit more flexible. But when you have other On a time frames and they're so used to, you know, punctuality and on time, I could see why Mike is like, hey, I. I want to kind of know so I can meet you there. Or we'll be here at this time. And you don't always work like that. Sometimes, sometimes you got. That's where your versatility comes in. But I can see why you're like that, dude. All les are like that, dude. All you guys.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Down to the minute.

[JT Triplet]

Yeah, yeah, but that's just. That's just your training.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Yeah, yeah, we want to know. I want everything to run smooth.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah, well, it's like. Well, here's the thing too. It's like he's my security detail. He needs to know. Down to the minute.

[JT Triplet]

Okay. Look at his guns, bro. Look at his guns.

[Eric Triplet]

I'm like, I gotta figure this out. So let's get back to the goals of the trip, the goals of sponsor games. Like, so my goals right now is I wanna. I Wanna collaborate with 10 different content creators. Okay. Okay. So I already got my eyes on, like, Will and the Paul Walks. America or whatever.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Africa.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah, walk to Africa. Like, I. I like. I'm like, I got people. I got my eyes on people. Like, yeah, what connects with them at least. And, you know, I want to go through the whole crowd and just be like, hey, what's your. What's your social. What's your handle? What's. I, like, want to just trade handles and stuff. Right? So here. Here's an important factor because, like, they're like, what do you do? Right. Right. There's an awkward moment, and I feel like I fell short tonight, and I'm not going to do that tomorrow. I want to be real clear.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Okay?

[Eric Triplet]

Like, so. And someone's like, hey, well, what do you do? You're like, oh, well, I'm a state trooper.

[Mike McAllowitz]

I didn't even say that tonight. But I'm like, yeah, I own a lawn landscape business and I have a podcast.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah, but that's. That's not enough, dude. It's not really what. Who you are and what you are. And, like, I felt that too. Yeah, someone asked you. And that. That lady asked you. She was like, like, the interior design later. And you were like, oh, well, I. I have a podcast, but I had a friend, and then my friend had a podcast, and, like, she's already done.

[JT Triplet]

She doesn't care anymore.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah, like, you already lost her in the first, like, 2.5 seconds, so.

[JT Triplet]

And the thing is, you did talk

[Mike McAllowitz]

to her about your sales, about the man.

[JT Triplet]

You know what? I did realize that, though. I did. I literally caught myself and I stopped. I was like, okay, well, I'm gonna have to change that, I think. I think moving forward, I'm just gonna say, yeah, I sell. I sell mining equipment and I do a PO cast on the side. That's just really kind of.

[Eric Triplet]

That enough. Is that who. I mean? That's not enough. I like how you. I like how you shortened it. Let me bring.

[JT Triplet]

I mean, yeah. What else? You said, it's not enough.

[Eric Triplet]

It's not enough.

[JT Triplet]

Okay, so that's what.

[Eric Triplet]

I'm gonna bring it home right now.

[JT Triplet]

Okay.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Okay.

[Eric Triplet]

But, like, you. I saw you, like, going down this, like, rabbit hole, and I was like, oh, he lost her already. Yeah, I was gotta fix this. And someone's like. And so for me, it's like, hey, what are you just like, hey, I. I build koi ponds for people, you know? And, like, I kind of go in that direction. I did that, like, five times tonight. And I was like, you just need to lean into what you said you would say when you. When people Ask you. It's an elevator pitch. When you walk into an elevator, you're standing there next to someone, they're like, hey, what do you do? And you don't know who they are. Hey, I specialize in building low maintenance aquatic ecosystems for fish and aquatic plants, but more importantly for people.

[JT Triplet]

That's good because usually when people ask me what I do for a living, I tell them I, I sell heavy duty mining equipment like on that show Gold Rush. You ever see Gold Rush? And then I'll ask them. But the podcasting thing, it's almost like you guys know I'm doing it, but I feel like I'm so small on the podcast and like, I'm just, I'm just a guy.

[Eric Triplet]

It's a small building ponds for people

[JT Triplet]

trying to, trying to, you know, create something.

[Mike McAllowitz]

We're also.

[JT Triplet]

Yeah, yeah, but I'm saying like, dude, I got like 105 subscribers on my YouTube page. Dude, Will has 237, 000 friends or like, you know, yeah, people on his tick tock. Like, I feel so small to him as, but he's just, he's got his own niche. But it's okay.

[Eric Triplet]

That lady across the way, she's like, hey, I got 500 followers on Instagram. I got a 700, which is crazy to me.

[Mike McAllowitz]

But even, even Will's like, I had 33 views.

[JT Triplet]

Yeah, he had 33 friends.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Friends. And then that by the end of the week he had 25, 000. Like, yeah, none of this, none of this is overnight content.

[Eric Triplet]

He did a piece of content.

[JT Triplet]

It mattered. Do you think so? Are you saying that once you, you could have one video that goes viral and changes the game, but I also

[Mike McAllowitz]

don't think, I don't think you should be always like seeking that piece of viral content out. I think it's a. What we're doing here, like these podcasts and everything and building pot outs. It's a snowball just like your business. Right? Like, it's a small little ball and it, through the time and the connections and the years, it builds into a bigger snowball. Nothing's going to happen. Some people do happen overnight, but I don't see myself, I don't see any of it happen overnight.

[Eric Triplet]

Right.

[JT Triplet]

Yeah. I was telling Eric earlier, I don't have a lot of followers. I'm doing this because I enjoy it. It's fun. It's a release for me. It's, it's like Eric, Eric used a very good way to kind of correlate his life. He's documenting his life, right? Like, yep. And that's kind of what I've always done, you know, and so I used to be into music. Music was my passion for many, many years. Once I retired, I felt like I didn't, Like, I needed to do something else. Eric was doing podcasting. He kind of encouraged me to get started, and that's what I did.

[Mike McAllowitz]

It's awesome.

[JT Triplet]

But the thing is, I, you know, I'm trying to build that. That, you know, the. The foundation of trying to build viewers and. And. And get followers, and it's extremely difficult, you know, makes me question. Okay, well, I know that I talk about risque things. I'm talking about politics or, you know, music or, you know, club stuff or whatever, but it's like I find myself trying to. I'll try different things to see what works. Some. Some. Some videos have a lot of views, a thousand plus. And then other videos get, like, 200. So that's what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to network with people who are doing better, who are better at it than I am. And apparently most of the people here.

[Eric Triplet]

That's not hard to do.

[JT Triplet]

Apparently not. Apparently not.

[Eric Triplet]

Okay, let's get to the goals. So, like, my goals for the show is specifically, I want to connect with five to 10 content creators. It's easy to do. There's. There's supposed to be up to 100 that we can somehow collaborate with, either podcast or. Or, you know, trade information or do a piece of content together. And then I want to record at least five podcasts that. That we can slide into things. And if we would have had, you know, 60 people come to Podhouse tonight, we would have got that done. But, like, that's another topic.

[JT Triplet]

But you didn't foresee. We didn't foresee that.

[Eric Triplet]

No, I didn't know. And I know I don't want to deviate from that. Like, so when Garvey and I set up Pod House HQ and we set that up, we were like. Like, we. Everyone has to sign DNA, you know, DNA. Everyone has to sign an NDA, right? Everyone has sign NDA whether they're our friend or not, whether my brother or not. You're like, you signed NDA. I signed it. He signed it. Everyone who's been involved in Pot House has to sign the NDA. It's like, you can't show up and be an. You can't show up and bring a one, you know, a plus one that. That we don't. That we didn't agree on, like, you can't just bring people in. Right.

[JT Triplet]

So if there are people that come tomorrow, are you gonna just make them sign this tomorrow or.

[Eric Triplet]

Well, we don't have a way to do that currently. Like, that's something that we need to think.

[JT Triplet]

Well, you sent me a docusign. Could you just duplicate that or what?

[Mike McAllowitz]

Probably. Yeah.

[Eric Triplet]

Well, it's something that, like, at this event, maybe it's not so critical, right? Like, is. We can be a little more pivot and go on the. On the down low or whatever, but like, at bigger events, when there's like 30, 000 people, there's.

[Mike McAllowitz]

There's a quip.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah, there's gonna be less than 100 people at this entire conference. It's very, very niche. But when it equipped, there's 30, 000 people. And it's like so and so tell so and so and so and tells someone.

[JT Triplet]

And then people start thinking it's gonna be like a party house.

[Eric Triplet]

And then one. One piece of content goes viral, and then there's too many people here. So, like, so, you know, Garvey, you and I have to be real clear and go like him and invite Joe back. Yes. Okay, cool. Hey, listen, I'm gonna invite purple hair girl back to her husband, and we're gonna talk about whatever. Like, like, you. You, like, you don't have authority because Garvey and I are partners on this. And that's one of the big things is because, like, we have. We have like five or ten really important, like, high influence kind of people in that are connected with us, that. That might. Might be involved in this, and then we don't want to give them carte blanche to do whatever they want.

[JT Triplet]

Dude, I'm just. I feel fortunate. I'm very thankful that you guys even invited me to come.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah. And I see that. So tomorrow, Garvey, you know, I'm gonna. I'm. Garvey, I'm gonna go, like, I'm gonna ask Joe to come back and record with us tomorrow. And you'd be like, cool.

[JT Triplet]

The sure guy. No, Joe, phenomenal.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah, Joe, phenomenal. But maybe. Maybe I'll be like, hey, Mario, let's bring the Africa guy. Guy be walking after. You know, like, let's. Let's ask those guys to come back and just come in and pop in and we'll have a couple. We'll have a couple drinks and maybe record a couple podcasts.

[Mike McAllowitz]

I like it.

[Eric Triplet]

And then it'll be like, Hey, 10 o'. Clock, you guys got to get the out. Yeah, like. Like we're gonna have it. We're gonna have.

[JT Triplet]

That's when the mentions. That mentions and cocaine kick in. Okay, just kidding, just kidding. I signed an NDA and it said none of that could happen. Okay.

[Eric Triplet]

Okay. So I want. I want 10. I want 10 creators to collaborate with five to 10 minimum, five podcasts. And I want, I want, I want real. Like, I reached out to 20 different backpack brands right before this event. And five hit me up very serious. I had a boot brand hit me up very serious. Several people hit me up and by, like, Like, I want to make sure that. Because I'm. Because I'm trying to tax my business. Because I'm trying to do Pod House. Because I'm trying to do all these different things and grow the ranch and fabrication and manufacturing. Like, I want to be able to be like, I don't want any weird expectations. So they show up. Yeah, I'll give you a backpack and you're supposed to do this for me. I'm like, no, I didn't. I didn't mean to do that. Like, I want it to be real clean and crisp. So know, I want real clear vision on how to expect expectations to meet with those brands. Like that. So. And then the format of Pothouse too, Like, we've already just learned, like, this is the moment. I was like, I could bring all these people back to the house. But, you know, it's like, I have. I have a partner to talk about. And, like, it's cool because, you know, with you having that law enforcement background, you know, you and I talked about it, you know, like, what should we call the. The Podhouse? HQ.com Pod House. This net. The Podhouse. Well, it was so much to choose from, but I was like, I want to lean into that Leo vibe.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Yeah.

[Eric Triplet]

You know, like, this is. This is legit. Like, so tomorrow I'm gonna pull you aside or you pull me aside. Like, let's. Let's be real clear on that. I want to be real clear with you. Like, these two people I think we should bring back. And then we should just be like, hey, by like, 10 o', clock, we usually clear out.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Yeah, we clear out by 10.

[Eric Triplet]

By 10, we'll probably kick you out. Yeah, you're gonna have an Uber. Right. Because I'm not taking you home.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Right.

[Eric Triplet]

There's no place for you to stay. You know, even though we have extra rooms right now, it's like, that's not what we're looking to do. So I want to be clear on that. So. But I want to Leave. I want to leave sponsor games with real, actionable steps, like how we're going to approach the brands. We've already talked to. And we've already been pitching brands like numbers and plans.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Oh, yeah.

[Eric Triplet]

And I almost want to be like, show him those. Like, how did we screw this up? He's going to be like, you sent this as an email to someone, you idiot. You didn't have a conversation for like, I want to. I want to. I want to, like, be really open about that.

[JT Triplet]

Yes.

[Eric Triplet]

Like, that's part of my goal.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Hey, this is where we're at with this brand, and we sent a good, better, best.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah.

[Mike McAllowitz]

X amount of dollars. And, you know, this is where we're at.

[JT Triplet]

Just don't bring the Rosie o' Donnell

[Mike McAllowitz]

look, only Rosie o'. Donnell.

[Eric Triplet]

All right, well, anywho. Cool. Let's bring it home. So, you have any closing thoughts?

[Mike McAllowitz]

No, I just think this is unlike any event I've ever been to. It's smaller than a hundred people. It's people not in the lawn and landscape industry that I've normally interact with a little bit out of my comfort zone. But it's cool to learn from different people. And a lot of these people, it is their side hustle that I've learned. I'm like, whoa. I'm like, nam. These are like. Everyone's like, oh, I was this. But I'm. I've been interior designer, but I'm also now doing this on. It's all. There's. This is like a side hustle, like convention, really, that I kind of realized tonight. But I, I'm so open to. Yeah. Like, bringing a couple of, like, really cool people back, opening it up a little bit, and then seeing where it goes.

[JT Triplet]

You know, when my brother invited me and told me about this, I didn't come here looking for a freaking sponsorship because I knew. I just feel like I'm kind of small time. My goal was to just learn from people who are doing it. Like, obviously, I'm at a certain level that I just, I. I can't get past a certain threshold. So I came here to just learn from people who are doing it and, and hopefully gain some knowledge on how to grow my personal podcast. Getting sponsorships, I think will come in time when I'm. When I'm getting better. I've never had a problem talking to people and stuff like that. But, like, just in. In meeting a few people today, and I'm realizing, like, I don't know, like, I don't have. I don't have nearly the views and followers that some of these people do. So my goal with this next couple days is to just shut the up and learn. Learn from people who are doing it better than I am and maybe, you know, maybe I can cross it over to, you know, help grow my, my viewership so well and to bond with my bro. Like, you know, it's cool to do like this, you know, you know, I don't get to do stuff like this with Eric too often, so it's it that's more of a, A value to me than, you know, having followers. Yeah, but it's cool.

[Mike McAllowitz]

I'm honored to be with you guys.

[JT Triplet]

Thanks for having me, dude. Appreciate it, man.

[Mike McAllowitz]

I want to. Eric, other than the five to 10 podcasters, that's one objective. What would you say is objective two and objective three?

[Eric Triplet]

Two and three is to, like, have a clear defined method into the brands that we want to connect with. Like, we, we don't have those. We don't. Like, I have a great way to flirt. I have a great way to come in and talk and say, hello, hey, what's your name? This is what I do. But like, they get down to business. That 38 special moment, you know, like, let's get to the moment. I want to get to that moment with those people and then to go back and like, look at this big picture. The big picture is the third piece. So connect with the people, have that real defined moment into the pocket. And then when we get into the pocket, I can really define that and then have this, you know, ongoing tactical approach and strategy to talk to the people. Yeah, it's the important thing.

[JT Triplet]

Let me ask you, bro, aside from sure is there. Because there's really only, like, really five sponsors here, right?

[Eric Triplet]

We don't care about the sponsors.

[JT Triplet]

That's what I was going to say because that, and that, that was. I'm glad you said that because I was asking, like, are you guys trying to line up any of the sponsors that are here this week?

[Eric Triplet]

No. And, and we're grateful for the sponsors because they help make it event. They make this event happen. Happen, you know, and you know, if, like, I do have EV mics, but if the sponsor that's here is like, because like, we, the, the, the mics that we used in Las Vegas, they were sure mics. They were, they were amazing.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Limited edition. Yeah, they were amazing that we learned tonight.

[Eric Triplet]

And I have no, no problem saying, hey, I use the sure mics in Las Vegas at Con Expo. They were amazing. You should try them out too. Like, I Love my EV Mics. You. You know, like, I love them.

[JT Triplet]

Yeah.

[Eric Triplet]

But, like, I would love to help promote that brand because I believe in the sure brand.

[JT Triplet]

Okay. Yeah, well, and that's. That's. I'm glad you told me because I, you know, as they started naming off some of the sponsors here, I'm like, well, I mean, nothing really here would really suit me other than sure. And, you know, I'm pretty freaking locked in with evs, so I'm like, so to me, it's not about getting. Getting a sponsor, but it is nice to know. Know how to. How to do it. Yeah. How to do it, you know, And I know I. I'm like, I said, I'm not that guy who just wants every sponsor, even though I don't believe in the. Like, I don't believe in your pride, but I'll take it.

[Eric Triplet]

So this event is about finding the sponsors. Yeah. For you. And.

[JT Triplet]

Exactly.

[Mike McAllowitz]

And then going through the process. And it's funny, it's like I'm at the end of a campaign with a company with a. With a sponsor, and I'm like, okay, I need to like, send them. Lock in, Send them the report. Send them what I did. This is it. Okay. And then, like, send them the invoice and like, let's go. And then. Okay, what are we doing for quarter

[JT Triplet]

two now, Mike, if I may ask, is this, like, has to do with landscaping or something like this, this personal brand that's coming to an end or expiring or what you're saying?

[Mike McAllowitz]

No, no, it's a banking platform.

[JT Triplet]

Okay.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Yeah. So it's a. It's relay bank that I've been working with. I met them at. A year ago at a lawn and landscape conference. But they're a banking platform based off of Mike McAllowitz profit first, saying that you can put your money in different banking platforms or different bank accounts. So you. So what it is is that you can open up 20 different bank accounts and have your money in different buckets to be able to manage your money better in your business.

[Eric Triplet]

For taxes, 401k machines.

[JT Triplet]

Business oriented. Yeah. Like, wouldn't be like, for someone like me.

[Eric Triplet]

Right.

[JT Triplet]

It's just for.

[Mike McAllowitz]

For. For, like my business, Coastal Fertilization. I have, you know, an operating account, a insurance account, a payroll account, winter fund, emergency account, all the stuff that, like, my financial advisor says I should have.

[Eric Triplet]

So you get a thousand dollars and you put $10 here. $10?

[Mike McAllowitz]

Yeah. And it does it automatically at the end of the end of the week. So, like, say I bring in, you know, whatever 10 grand in income that week. It's going to take the sales tax and move it out of my operating account automatically. So it's an automatic platform.

[JT Triplet]

I guess what I, what I'm trying to figure out is when, when a sponsor is lined up to be to approach you or you approach them to lock in some kind of mutual deal, what is, what is the expectation of them to like.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Well, that's, that's why we're here, to learn that.

[Eric Triplet]

You haven't figured that out yet, but that's why we're here. This is all going to be figured out.

[JT Triplet]

Okay, that's what I'm saying.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Like so.

[JT Triplet]

But I mean, he's already got the deal.

[Mike McAllowitz]

No, but different brands have different expectations. It could be.

[JT Triplet]

When you went in with that deal though, what was the expectation? Did they tell you this is what we want?

[Mike McAllowitz]

They want some, some of them want conversions. You know, some of them want exposure, right? Some of them want, want brand awareness. It depends on where that company is at that point. Like, you know, different. We've worked with different companies that they want just straight up conversions. They want you me to go to you and say, hey, come on with this system or this whatever or this brand that, that I want you to.

[JT Triplet]

Who's keeping track of that?

[Eric Triplet]

They have, they, they track the metrics.

[Mike McAllowitz]

They track the metrics through affiliate links. So like, you get my link, they, I signed you up.

[Eric Triplet]

So it's like some of them just want brand exposure, right? You know, I had a backpack, I had Milwaukee. They got a million views. I had Easy Pro with aeration systems.

[JT Triplet]

The Milwaukee stuff was great, dude.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah, so like when you get a million views, like there's, there's, like, there's, there's conversion happening inside that, that it's unmeasurable.

[Mike McAllowitz]

And that's the thing. We're talking to brands. We're like, what are your goals? Like, what do you want out of this? Yeah, do you want conversions? Do you want people, us to sign people up for that? And like some things don't work like that. Like, we've talked with tech companies or whatever and like they want brand, they want us to help, you know, convert through a podcast for you to make a big giant decision. Sometimes it doesn't, doesn't work that way, right? So, so, you know, some people are heavy on conversions. Some people are just want brand exposure. It's all, okay, what are your goals? Right? And that's like, we've been going to brands. Like, what, what do you want? What are your expectations. So we're on the same page.

[Eric Triplet]

Yeah.

[JT Triplet]

Okay.

[Eric Triplet]

And so that's. That's what you learn more about.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Eric Triplet]

You're. You're too early in the game.

[JT Triplet]

Hey, I know I'm new.

[Eric Triplet]

That's why you're here. Okay. Any last words?

[JT Triplet]

No, I'm good, bro.

[Eric Triplet]

How about cheers?

[JT Triplet]

Cheers. Thanks for having me, guys. Appreciate you.

[Mike McAllowitz]

Pothouse too.

[JT Triplet]

I appreciate it.

[Mike McAllowitz]

San Antonio.

[JT Triplet]

And I love my sweater, bro. I was just telling my brother I need a new sweater and boom, he hooks me up today.

[Eric Triplet]

All right, that's it. So that's the close out. That's the plan. It's triple here. I just wanted to say thank you so much for yours and attention to the podcast. It means so much to us. But the attention behind the trip to sponsor Games Texas is. It's not just showing up. It's not just shaking hands, kissing babies. It's not just hoping something cool happens while you're sipping whiskey and hanging out with your buddies. We need more than that. We need to define what success looks like before the event even gets started. And then while we're executing the event, Excel itself, like trying to make it happen, and then following up after the events already over, like pushing through it at the end. Because here's the reality. Events are expensive. Flights are expensive. Airbnbs, haunted or not, they're expensive. Your time is expensive. Time away from your family and your business, expensive. And if you don't show up with a clear plan, you're basically gambling that the event is going to magically deliver some kind of value and change your fucking life. It just doesn't fucking work that way, right? But when you show up with intention, when you define your goals and expectations, when you know exactly what you're trying to get out of the room and the people you're connecting with, and, you know, even if it seems selfish, if as long as you're pushing value to the people that you're connecting with, it will resonate, it will come through. Right? So that's the. That's where conferences become rocket fuel for your business when you do that kind of networking. And so, so here's the deal. At the end of this trip, we're going to go back and sit down and ask real questions to ourselves. Did we execute the plan? Did we do what we say we would do? Did we do enough? And if we didn't, well, I'll tell you that too. But that's the premise behind this particular podcast and documenting our journey on this. So that's that that Till next time we're in San Antonio, Texas Pod House Studios Number two. Until then, I hope you're getting after it and that's it. Man, I hope you're out there doing something remarkable to catch you on the next one.

[Mike Garvey]

Thanks for tuning in to the side Hustle Squad Podcast with Mike Garvey. We hope you enjoyed this episode and gained valuable insights to help you succeed in your side Hustle journey. Connect with Mike using the links in the podcast description. If you love the show, please leave us a well worded five star review on Apple Podcasts. Your feedback and support help us grow and continue to provide you with the best content. And don't forget to follow the show to be notified when the next edition of the side Hustle Squad Podcast is available. We have many exciting guests and topics lined up so you won't want to miss a single episode. Thanks again for listening and we'll catch you next time on the side Hustle Squad Podcast.