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Brian Speronello (Accelerated Conversions)

Jessica Danger

If you’re actually reading this site, there’s a good chance that you – like me – are often confused by the gap between what people say they want and what they actually want.
There’s one sphere of the internet that takes this in a much more academic and abstract direction – places like LessWrong, Overcoming Bias, and Slate Star Codex.
And there’s another sphere of copywriters and marketers who are much more boots on the ground since their ability to make money and sell products is dependent on a deep understanding of human psychology.
My friend Brian Speronello is in the latter camp. He runs a boutique copywriting shop called Accelerated Conversions, and he works closely with a handful of elite clients helping them optimize their messaging and their marketing.
Brian is not just a great copywriter, he’s a self-aware great copywriter, so he’s able to break down the process that he goes through to craft winning pitches for folks like The Ready State and Organifi in exquisite detail.
Check out the full episode below to learn:
  • Why some of the most well-respected businesses around spend thousands of dollars per month to have people like Brian adjust the words on their websites
  • The most underutilized way for copywriters to show proof of their claims and build trust with their audience
  • The ultimate test of whether your sales pitch or copy was scammy or sleazy

Check out the episode at the links below. If you enjoyed the episode, the best way to support the show is to share with your friends, so send them a link.

Listen Here

Check out more from Brian and Accelerated Conversions here:

Show Notes:

  • [01:22] Why Brian chooses to only work with a select group of clients – and why turning your craft into a “business” can pull you away from doing the work that you love
  • [15:03] Why would someone pay thousands of dollars per month to put words on a website?
  • [19:47] How Brian gets people’s attention – without compromising his ethics or resorting to clickbait
  • [24:02] How does Brian figure out what people actually want and will pay for – as opposed to just what they say they want
  • [30:23] Dissecting one of the most famous examples in copywriting (Schlitz Beer) – and understanding how to prove claims in your copy so your clients find them believable
  • [48:03] The value of constant feedback from clients – and how Brian uses feedback to better understand his market
  • [55:46] The ultimate test to find out if your sales pitch is ethical
  • [57:10] The rebranding and relaunch of The Ready State – and how Brian applied the principles from this conversation to this real life example
  • [01:09:30] The power of a guarantee to further build trust and credibility
  • [01:14:10] How to connect with Brian

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Jessica Danger (Morning Chalk Up | A Fresh Cup of Fitness)

Jessica Danger

I first started writing articles when I was about 16 years old for a polemical political zine my friends and I distributed in our high school.

Since then, I’ve been regularly creating some form of written content, but I can’t say I’ve put too much thought into the craft of my writing.

I’ve certainly done quite a bit of training in copywriting and attempting to write in order to sell something, but that’s not quite the same thing as writing in order to tell a story.

So, I was really excited to have this conversation with Jessica Danger to get some insight into how she actually teaches creative writing and what she recommends to improve the skill of writing.

Jessica is also an editor at the Morning Chalk Up and a podcast co-host on “A Fresh Cup of Fitness,” so she has insights into how to create and curate content for a large audience – without giving in to incentives to post clickbait or use salacious titles.

Check out the full conversation with Jessica to learn:

  • Why it’s so important to separate writing from editing – and why most writers have difficulty with this
  • How to develop the critical eye of an editor – and the most common mistake made by beginner, intermediate, and advanced writers
  • What drives editors crazy when they receive bad pitches

Check out the episode at the links below. If you enjoyed the episode, the best way to support the show is to share with your friends, so send them a link.

Listen Here

Check out more from Jessica, the Morning Chalk Up & A Fresh Cup of Fitness here:

Show Notes:

  • [01:15] Writing is a skill that is learned through constant practice and iteration – just like skills in fitness. It’s less magical than people think.
  • [07:05] There’s one consistent stumbling block that shows up for beginning, intermediate and advanced writers – it just presents itself differently.
  • [14:52] Does reading actually translate into making people better writers? Or is there some other mysterious skill that makes people good at writing? What other drills can people use to improve their writing?
  • [26:15] Most people make this mistake when trying to write and edit their work. And – what are other drills that people can use to become better editors?
  • [35:00] What is worth sharing with the large audience of the Morning Chalk Up? What different types of people read the newsletter, and how does Jessica develop an intuition for what they are interested in?
  • [42:00] No click bait and no “iceberg lettuce” in the Morning Chalk Up
  • [49:40] What should a potential contributor think about when pitching an editor? And what drives editors crazy about bad pitches?
  • [59:13] “A Fresh Cup of Fitness” podcast – and the difference between written content and a more conversational podcast
  • [01:11:11] Jessica’s memoir – and her plans to prioritize getting published after focusing on different aspects of her career

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What I’ve Learned About Learning

Learning

Learning is a super power.

And, if you learn how to each, then you’ve compounded that super power.

Not only can you acquire skills, but you can pass them on to others and quickly level up both yourself and your entire organization.

I’ve put a lot of thought into both learning and teaching over the last few years. I look back with regret on my own bad learning habits, but I’ve also learned – through an interplay between real-life experience and abstract content consumption – a lot about teaching and understanding how to make knowledge actually “stick.”

If anyone reading has any thoughts, ideas or resources on improving transfer of learning, please send them my way as well.

Check out the full episode below to learn:

  • The most important thing that I’ve learned that has helped me learn – and teach – more effectively than anything else
  • How to blend “theory” and “practice” so that what you’re learning sticks
  • Why “genius” and “talent” isn’t always something that you’re born with – and how people develop elite level skills

Check out the episode at the links below. If you enjoyed the episode, the best way to support the show is to share with your friends, so send them a link.

Listen Here

Show Notes:

  • [00:09] Learning and teaching are superpowers. Not only can you level up your own skills – if you can pass that information on, you can level up everyone in the organization.
  • [03:33] Understanding one thing has dramatically improved my ability to teach and pass along skills: People need to be solving a problem in order to learn effectively
  • [10:41] What is the optimal blend of theory and practice? Some people end up doing a bunch of “drills” and “skill transfer” exercises that result in little real progress. Others spend a lot of time on “book learnin” that doesn’t have practical application. How do the best blend the two?
  • [17:40] Transfer from practice scenarios into real life application is extremely difficult. How can we create practice scenarios that recreate the chaos and unpredictability of real life?
  • [24:44] Pattern matching and “chunking” facilitates creativity and understanding of nuance – and also creates the illusion of “genius” or “talent.”
  • [30:55] Better improving the transfer problem is probably the highest leverage activity we can focus on in learning and teaching

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Gretchen Leslie (GrowthLab | I Will Teach You To Be Rich)

Gretchen Leslie

We’ve romanticized being a “digital nomad.” Being able to work from anywhere. Sending a few emails, then spending the rest of the day relaxing by the pool or booking your travel to the next storied European city on your hit list.

But, how do remote organizations work where people actually get stuff done?

Gretchen Leslie is the Director of Operations for GrowthLab and I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

I recently attended a live event that Gretchen and the GrowthLab team put on in New York, and I wanted to talk with Gretchen about her management philosophy and how she manages an entirely remote team.

Gretchen has an extensive background in Six Sigma and large organizations, so – between that and her work with GrowthLab – she has deep insights from a wide variety of organizational scenarios.

We cover some tactical management strategies for creating alignment on a team working on big projects and encouraging feedback and suggestion from employees

And, we also discuss key organizational tipping points that anyone running a business should be aware of, as most companies can either be too lose or too rigid with their data tracking, their process adherence, and their internal staff development process.

Check out the full conversation with Gretchen to learn:

  • Why some people are a great fit for remote work – and what she looks for in candidates when hiring to join a distributed team
  • The framework that keeps everyone on track when working on large projects – and why just having a detailed spec sheet is not enough
  • How to make meetings not suck – and why GrowthLab has a “No Meeting Wednesday” policy

Check out the episode at the links below. If you enjoyed the episode, the best way to support the show is to share with your friends, so send them a link.

Listen Here

Check out more from Gretchen, GrowthLab and I Will Teach You To Be Rich:

Show Notes:

  • [01:07] “The Venice of the South” – where you can take your boat to the casino and pick up a daquiri on the way
  • [06:46] Tips and tricks for running operations on a distributed team – and what to look for in order to hire people who are a good fit for remote work
  • [14:09] Gretchen’s key management framework: “What does done look like?” And why just having a hyper-detailed spec sheet doesn’t mean that everyone is aligned on a project.
  • [21:15] A real life example of successful project management coordination across teams: The “Founding Class” event that GrowthLab recently put on in New York.
  • [27:29] How to find the balance between bottoms-up idea generation and top-down decision-making in an organization. And, how to effectively challenge employees so that they are able to vet their own ideas.
  • [35:20] The two types of mistakes that organizations make when tracking data. And, how Gretchen uses psychology to create compliance to process.
  • [45:50] How to make meetings not suck – and why GrowthLab has a “No Meeting Wednesday” policy.
  • [53:45] Music, subcultures, and the trajectory of “excitement” to “jadedness” within a subculture.

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Evan Peikon (Training Think Tank)

John Friel

Anyone who has coached or competed in CrossFit for awhile sees things that kind of don’t make sense.

Athletes with 15+ unbroken ring muscle-ups and a 6:30 2k row who are surprisingly bad at “metcons.”

Athletes who can only do 5-10 unbroken strict handstand push-ups who are able to quickly chip away at a set of 50 and beat athletes who can do 20+ unbroken reps.

Evan Peikon from Training Think Tank has done a lot of work with the Moxy unit on measuring muscle oxygen saturation and blood flow, and he’s developed a model that is able to explain a lot of these seemingly confusing contradictions in performance.

In this podcast, we break down Evan’s model for fatigue in mixed modal athletes, and we also give some practical training tips so that athletes can improve their conditioning or their strength based upon their individual limitation.

Individualization in a program isn’t just about understanding what an athlete’s strengths and weaknesses are, but understanding what each individual’s specific limiting factors are and focusing training on improving those weak links.

Check out the full conversation below to learn:

  • The 3 different types of limitations in CrossFit athletes – and how each of these types of athletes should think about training to improve their capacity or get stronger
  • How Evan currently thinks about fatigue – and what is outdated about the way that most people are thinking about getting tired in a metcon
  • When “mental toughness” plays a role in performance – and when athletes are hitting hard physiological limiters that they can’t push through

Check out the episode at the links below. If you enjoyed the episode, the best way to support the show is to share with your friends, so send them a link.

Listen Here

Check out more from Evan and Training Think Tank here:

Show Notes:

  • [01:10] Evan’s opinions on metalcore
  • [10:55] The basic physiology of oxygen delivery and what different measures like VO2 max, muscle oxygen saturation and heart rate can tell us about performance
  • [16:58] What are different types of fatigue that can occur at the muscle level? And – the 3 different types of limiters in CrossFit athletes.
  • [23:35] What is the difference between Evan’s model of fatigue based upon his work with muscle oxygen saturation and more traditional models of fatigue based upon acidosis?
  • [31:45] What is happening when athletes feel “burning” in the muscle vs when athletes feel a “pump” in the muscle? How do these sensations in the muscle create global feelings of fatigue? What role does the “mind” play in governing our effort?
  • [41:44] Psychological gamesmanship in racing – particularly in track athletes
  • [45:00] What role do occlusions play in creating fatigue for athletes in CrossFit? And – the 2 different types of occlusion and what those mean for your ability to “push through.”
  • [01:03:40] Why do some people always have one specific muscle group “blow up” – like their grip, their shoulders, their low back, their calves, etc.
  • [01:09:23] How can athletes who tend to get muscle pumps improve their ability in CrossFit? What would an ideal training session look like for this athlete – and why do some common training protocols potentially make this kind of athlete worse?
  • [01:17:25] What does Evan think the most common limiting factor is for athletes who do not tend to occlude in their muscles? These athletes often struggle to build strength – how should they structure their strength training protocols so they can actually get stronger?

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Chris Mills (Harm’s Way)

John Friel

Chris Mills is the drummer for Harm’s Way – and he’s also a clinical social worker for an addiction and mental health residential program.

Many folks who are touring most of the year piece together random part-time jobs or have their hands in a few different pieces of the music industry (management, booking, merchandise, etc.).

Chris, however, is a highly trained professional in an extremely difficult field.

We dig into music nerd stuff about how Harm’s Way writes songs – and how they think about the roll of “heaviness” and “rhythm” in their songs. And Chris also explains why he thinks that many of the models that we use to think about addiction are outdated – and what he prefers instead.

Check out the full conversation to learn:

  • Why Chris got into angsty nu-metal as an adult – and how that influenced his songwriting process
  • Why the most common models for thinking about addiction are outdated – and what methods Chris has found to have more success for patients
  • What is typically the biggest barrier to lasting behavior change – and why it’s much harder to “stay sober” than to “get sober”

Check out the episode at the links below. If you enjoyed the episode, the best way to support the show is to share with your friends, so send them a link.

Listen Here

Check out more from Chris and Harm’s Way here:

Show Notes:

  • [01:08] Getting into nu-metal as an adult – and how that influenced the process of writing music
  • [08:31] Harms Way’s change in sound was more “organic” in that the new riffs that they were writing started to sound different. And, how songs can be “heavy” without just focusing on the “breakdown.”
  • [15:15] The album writing process: trying to create a cohesive work – and writing through jamming, building songs in practice, and grinding it out.
  • [26:02] The crappy practice space that Like Rats and Harm’s way share.
  • [29:08] Working as a social worker in a residential program in the field of addiction and mental health. How does Chris prioritize what clients work on in terms of their biggest priorities in treatment?
  • [37:44] What’s the difference between the 12 step model, the disease model of addiction, and a more behavior-based model? What framework does Chris prefer for treating his patients?
  • [45:42] Differentiating psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers – and understanding what is usually the biggest obstacle to creating lasting behavioral change?
  • [54:14] Harm’s Way’s history as a straight edge band, and how Chris thinks about playing in a band that often focuses on negative emotion in its art through the lens of a social worker.
  • [58:14] Harms Way’s upcoming touring plans

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Todd and Friel on Fundraising

John Friel

When people think of “owning their own business,” they usually either think of doing freelance wedding photography on the weekends, or raising a bunch of money and starting the next Google.

This can be a pretty significant limiting belief, since getting investors is an intimidating, stressful and time-consuming process.

But, what do you do when you need to get your company funded? And what are the trade-offs between different funding models?

I’ve raised money from friends and family in the past to cover the buildout and operating expenses of South Loop Strength & Conditioning when we took on a large lease.

And, my friend John Friel is currently in the process of applying to the well-known start-up accelerator Y Combinator for his company Art in Res.

Check out the full conversation to learn:

  • What are the incentives of investors and what are they hoping to gain out of investing in companies – and what are the trade-offs and dangers of pursuing the rapid growth that venture capitalists expect?
  • How to think about “storytelling” to investors and why some investors like to hear hard numbers and other like more narrative in their pitches
  • What are the differences between nerds, fans and utilitarians – and why do suburban dads who don’t even play guitar know so much about different tones and amps?

Check out the episode at the links below. If you enjoyed the episode, the best way to support the show is to share with your friends, so send them a link.

Listen Here

Check out more from John and Art In Res here:

Show Notes:

  • [01:21] Going through the Y Combinator application process required “stepping back” and looking at the entire structure of Art in Res – rather than getting caught up in the day-to-day, in-the-weeds aspects of operating the business. It also required understanding how to “storytell” to investors – which seems to require different skillsets for finance people and venture capitalists.
  • [12:30] Why play the venture capital game rather than bootstrapping and attempting to create a “lifestyle business?” What will it take for Art in Res to grow to a scale that would justify venture capital investment?
  • [24:15] How much money should you actually raise during the fundraising process? There seems to be conflicting advice regarding being frugal – but also raising more money than you think you’ll need. And – the cognitive biases that make it necessary to game the system so that you can signal a constant and impressive upward trajectory.
  • [37:31] Thinking about the incentives of venture capitalists and why they want to invest in companies – and going down a rabbit hole to parse out the difference between nerds, fans and utilitarians. And how art collectors, coffee snobs, music gear heads and sports fans all probably follow a similar archetypal structure in terms of their enthusiasm for esoteric knowledge.
  • [53:45] How to potentially tap a latent market for art collectors – and understanding the psychology of potential consumers in order to create a marketplace on which commerce actually takes place.

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Jason Leydon (Conquer Athlete | CrossFit Milford)

Jason Leydon
Jason Leydon of Conquer Athlete and CrossFit Milford is an elite-level CrossFit coach – and, much like myself, a continuing education junkie.

I’d been looking forward to this conversation, since Jason is not only very successful in his ability to develop athletes, but also self-aware about his frameworks for coaching and his process for learning new things and applying them in his practice.

Many well-known coaches are able to get great results from athletes, but can’t really articulate how and why they do the things that they do.

Many other well-known coaches just happened to get lucky by having some freakishly talented folks walk through their doors, and have built careers on being in the right place at the right time without much actual knowledge.

Jason is the real deal, and he can articulate exactly what he’s doing and why he’s doing it.

In this conversation, we don’t just hit the nitty gritty details of developing athletes (although there is some of that). We spend a lot of time on Jason’s process for continuing to learn – and how he actually turns the things that he learns through books, seminars and courses into tangible results for his athletes and his coaches.

Check out the full conversation with Jason to learn:

  • How an identity-destroying injury started Jason on the path to coaching – and how he thinks about the psychology of athletes who have their identities wrapped up in their performance and their results
  • How Jason actually applies things that he learns from continuing education – and how he passes his knowledge on to his coaches so that they can actually apply it as well
  • How Jason thinks of the theoretical hierarchy for developing athletes – and how he picks what the top priorities are for his athletes in their training

Compliment with my conversation with Scott Young on Ultralearning for more on transferring knowledge from the abstract to the practical.

Check out the episode at the links below. If you enjoyed the episode, the best way to support the show is to share with your friends, so send them a link.

Listen Here

Check out more from Jason, Conquer Athlete & CrossFit Milford here:

Show Notes:

  • [1:08] What’s up with Jason’s accent? Is this how people from Milford speak? And – the sudden and shocking end to Jason’s basketball career.
  • [11:17] How to handle the sudden change in identity as an athlete who can no longer compete. And – the transition from athlete to coach, as well as the coinciding dedication to continuing education.
  • [20:21] How does Jason actually apply the things that he learns from seminars, books and courses? How does Jason think about solving tangible problems with the material that he learns – and how does he go about asking for help when something isn’t clicking for him.
  • [25:36] Connecting the practical, in-the-gym application of concepts with the theoretical learning that occurs in books or courses. Outcomes are often messy, so how does Jason figure out what’s actually working and what is just happenstance and chaos?
  • [31:14] How does Jason teach coaches who work with him to hold the same standard of coaching? Not everyone is able to learn from courses in the same way, so how does Jason pass knowledge on?
  • [37:00] How does Jason decide what his coaches need to prioritize in their coaching development? And, what lessons from learning to manage rowdy teens in a gym class are applicable to coaching adults?
  • [44:24] How does Jason manage the sport-specific needs of his competitive CrossFit athletes with their long-term development? How does a coach prioritize what an athlete needs to work on – and how does a coach create sustainability for an athlete in the sport?
  • [52:40] How to find out more about Conquer Athlete and the Conquer Athlete Podcast

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Shelby Lermo (Vastum | Ulthar)

Shelby Lermo
Shelby Lermo plays guitar for Vasum and Ulthar, and used to oversee the tangled web of death metal, interviews and conspiracy theories that was Illogical Contraption.

This conversation was a real pleasure for me, since I’ve known Shelby as an “online friend” for probably close to a decade, and have long admired his work from afar.

For those concerned with the stagnation of the extreme metal underground, we discuss possible iterations on the form of death metal outside of the contemporary postmodern juxtaposition of seemingly disparate genres or the rehashing of the past through “old school death metal.”

For those concerned with their ability to follow through on creative projects, we discuss Shelby’s discipline surrounding creativity – including scheduling time to create, separating creating and editing, and balancing multiple different projects.

For those concerned with conspiracy thinking, we discuss the allure and the dangers of conspiracy theories, as well as the mechanisms that have pushed conspiracy into the mainstream.

Check out the episode at the links below. If you enjoyed the episode, the best way to support the show is to share with your friends, so send them a link.

Listen Here

Check out more from Shelby, Illogical Contraption, Vastum & Ulthar here:

Show Notes:

  • [01:12] The process of making internet friends before social media, and the tangled web of content that was Illogical Contraption.
  • [09:17] The evolution of music discovery and communication in the underground from tape-trading to music blogs to Spotify – and how Shelby thinks about consuming music vs listening to music.
  • [19:58] The stagnation of the death metal genre, and how to think about composing outside of the standard idioms of the form.”
  • [24:21] Shelby’s creative process for multiple different projects, and the differing levels of collaboration between different projects.
  • [29:35] Where can death metal go next? Do the popular styles of metal in the underground follow cyclical patterns (ie thrash -> old school death metal -> technical death metal)? Will anyone create a new form for underground metal that isn’t just a postmodern hodgepodge of varied styles and instrumentation?
  • [40:48] Being disciplined regarding creativity: scheduling time to create, not waiting for inspiration, and separating the process of creating from the process of editing
  • [48:10] The allure of conspiracy theories – and why you shouldn’t believe them, as well as the surprising “mainstreamification” of conspiracy thinking.
  • [59:00] Implausible beliefs are a signaling mechanism for in-group loyalty, which can create feedback loops that increase the strangeness of conspiracy theories.

    • [1:05:05] Shelby’s favorite interviews from the Illogical Contraption podcast

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Jake Rhodes (BearKomplex) & Jason Yule (Boxstar Apparel)

Jake Rhodes + Todd Nief + Jason Yule
We’ve got Jake Rhodes from BearKompleX and Jason Yule from Boxstar Apparel and Harbor Park CrossFit on the podcast.

I met both of these fellows when they exhibited at the inaugural South Loop Games in 2016.

This episode isn’t just for CrossFit geeks, since we dig into the ways that Jake and Jason think about building a market for their businesses in a complicated and dynamic fitness landscape.

The nuances of balancing promoting competitive CrossFit and whether that detracts from the mission of health and wellness is tricky to unpack, and Jason and Jake have some interesting perspectives from working with every day people in CrossFit affiliates as well as being involved with sponsoring high level athletes and the CrossFit Games themselves.

Check out the full conversation below to learn:

  • How to balance a complicated marketplace where some people are intimidated by elite athletes and others are inspired by elite athletes – and how to find the sweetspot for different business models
  • How to make sure your business isn’t just a vanity project – and how to figure out how to actually solve problems for people and lean into those problems when you find them
  • What Jason and Jake think of the new Sanctionals structure – and how they plan to make the new structure work for them and their business models

Check out the episode at the links below. If you enjoyed the episode, the best way to support the show is to share with your friends, so send them a link.

Listen Here

Check out more from Jason, Boxstar and Harbor Park CrossFit here:

Check out more from Jake & BearKompleX here:

Show Notes:

  • [1:37] Jason’s feelings toward Wisconsin always being paired with some sort of nod to cheese – particularly within the CrossFit Games.
  • [4:03] Marketing in the CrossFit world must find balance between the mission of improving health and wellness for those who feel intimidated by the sport, and the showcasing of ‘freaks’ doing muscle ups and handstand walking. By focusing on the elite athletes in the sport, folks who are curious to try CrossFit can be intimidated and put off from going to the gym.
  • [11:10] CrossFit is its affiliates, not its one weekend each year where the best athletes perform. There’s a place for showcasing the sport’s best athletes, but stepping away from making those people the whole CrossFit image is important in recruitment of more ‘everyday’ people.
  • [15:24] Businesses need to figure out how to retain customers – BearKompleX can’t only target those who are ripping their hands for the first time forever, and the focus begins to shift more toward high-level athletes as the business progresses.
  • [17:53] People view elite athletes as role models – people who they strive to be like, whose gear choices influence their own gear choices, etc. It grants companies credibility to have the support of high-level athletes. Those who are newer to CrossFit had to see an ad in their box or a cool video (with a high-level athlete as the face of the brand) and want to improve their athletic ability through gear to buy product, though. As time goes on, Jason and Jake have moved their companies away from focusing on the over-saturated elite athlete field and instead toward focusing on the average athletes who are influencers within their specific CrossFit community.
  • [29:00] The goal of being able to compete in the sport of CrossFit is more attainable now, whereas competing at Regionals was previously the goal of the most elite athletes. The changes to the Games structure have affected athletes immensely – they have to be able to handle unpredictability as a piece of the ultimate test, along with the fact that they could devote their lives to CrossFit just to fly across the world and run 400m.
  • [37:45] Will someone like Brent Fikowski struggle to compete with the new structure of early cuts at the CrossFit Games? One bad workout can send athletes home early, and it makes it more challenging for outliers in body size to compete in the sport. And why is the stereotypical elite CrossFit athlete so different than the stereotypical elite athlete in other sports?
  • [45:14] Jason and Jake’s companies have to establish strategic marketing plans. Placement at events is significant (years ago, they hustled for a main vendor spot at the South Loop Games), along with having the resources to now have representation at sanctionals worldwide.
  • [53:44] The vendor floor is very saturated and companies struggle to break even with giving away free gear on top of paying a high price to have a spot at events.
  • [57:47] Online traffic spikes for a few weeks after a company is present at an event, which could be due to spectators returning to their boxes and showing off their new gear. Giving out discounts doesn’t produce much increase in purchasing but the chance of having referrals in the future makes it worth it.
  • [1:03.58] Priorities change as the Games structure changes – global expansion tactics, prize giveaways with partnerships, and continuing to find further affiliate retail space is essential. Successful worldwide representation is a struggle, but having affiliate owners get on board with carrying gear in their boxes is as well.
  • [1:15.11] More on Jason and Jake: social media accounts, opinions on quality Wisconsin beer, and the story behind BearKompleX’s name.

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