Damon Pistulka  00:01

All right everyone, welcome once again it is Friday. Kurt Anderson and myself this is the manufacturing ecommerce success series. We’re happy today to come to you on what day is it today Curt? Manufacturing Day? Yes it is.

Curt Anderson  00:20

Let’s say that to gather on three ready? What is today 123

00:24

Manufacturing Day All right.

Damon Pistulka  00:27

So hey, yeah,

Curt Anderson  00:28

Happy Friday everybody man this is just such an amazing incredible day what a great celebration. It’s it’s better than whatever your favorite holiday is. How’s that one? Daymond so I don’t know ever anyway you get the idea. So guys happy Friday. First Friday of the month is Manufacturing Day we’ve got Diane bigger here already. Diane, Happy Friday to you guys. Man Jack Damon. And don’t you want to come on stage we’re just bringing merges bringing anybody all right so hey, I want to do quick introductions here so this I gotta go right this guy here right below me is Mr. Think bigger himself the the king of networking. Dan bigger. Happy Friday to you brother. How

Dan Bigger  01:09

are you? Good to be here. Hey, your host

Curt Anderson  01:15

it’s great die. I’m going over to this guy now. Where were they this handsome devil David Kreisler. How are you dude, what’s happening, man?

David Crysler  01:22

Thanks for having me, guys. It’s always always fun to share the stage with you all and super excited that Mr. Think bigger is going to be here and sharing his insights about manufacturing today.

Curt Anderson  01:36

In the house himself. Like I’m kind of Starstruck, Greg, miss you, dude. You’re like you’re supposed to be clicking the link you’re supposed to be get on stage with us. Dude, you’re supposed to be up here. So yeah, right now. So hey, we’ve got Whitney now I just want to set Damon I just want to set the record straight, I think on Monday. Like she broke my account. I don’t know. Like, two. We had like hundreds of

Damon Pistulka  01:58

comments 200 Plus comments for

Curt Anderson  02:01

like Whitney, I’ve never had a situation experience with a LinkedIn live. And Damon, I think we’ve done a couple of these, right? I’ve never had two or three, right? Where we’ve had someone that was showered with that much love. So I don’t know, let’s see, we get the chatbox fired up today. So guys, if you’re out there, if you’re with us, please drop a note we are here celebrating Manufacturing Day and how critically important it is to as much as we love it, man. It’s just critical to our economy, to our friends, our families, our communities. Mr. Dan bigger, let’s kick off with you, brother. How important to you is manufacturing how important is manufacturing to

Dan Bigger  02:40

you? I’m actually gonna go to our chat yesterday, which was hosted hosted by the obsidian group. And, you know, they they really just brought everyone in and and talked about the stories on how you got started in manufacturing and what it means to you and to hear some of the groups you know, that’s been coming there for three years. Yeah, some of their stories and how they got started. You know, just some incredible stories.

Curt Anderson  03:05

Okay, so let’s, let’s take it a step further. You are a Pittsburgh man at heart. Am I correct? Correct. Okay, that like one of the most, you know, the kinds of stuff. Right, my mind isn’t perfect. My daughter is studying the industrial revolution right now. Pittsburgh comes to mind just here like growing up in Pittsburgh, you know, how important is manufacturing in the western Pennsylvania area?

Dan Bigger  03:25

It’s a blue collar city. So that’s really the you know, the whole the whole premise of everybody growing up is your you become a hard worker, because that’s what the city was built on. It basically want us to war and build half the country. So there’s nothing else to say. And now it now it’s really reinvented itself and as a tech hub.

Curt Anderson  03:46

Yes. Yeah. And Pittsburgh is boy if you haven’t been there, what a dynamic, incredible, wonderful city, you know, amazing, you know, global global level universities with Duquesne Pitt. Carnegie Mellon, of course. Oh my goodness gracious Dude, my, my, my pacemaker just kicked in the code. Donnelly here is as I understand, Josh, Greg, Misha, you have the link. Val, you’re supposed to be up here. So, Nicole, Happy Friday to you Happy Manufacturing Day, we have Nicole Donnelly from the Donnelly marketing group. So, Nicole, we’re going on the stage. And I know like you need to cut out here shortly. So can you share with us how I know you have a long legacy of entrepreneurship and your family? Manufacturing in your runs in your blood? Talk about why he’s made affection so important to you, your family, our economy?

04:35

Oh, so great. Love this love this question. So it’s just the backbone of our economy, right? It’s just everything. Everything starts and ends with manufacturing. So my dad actually owned a manufacturing business. And so it’s very, very personal to me. So I just so excited to be celebrating all those wonderful manufacturers out there who are doing great work every day. It’s awesome. Well,

Curt Anderson  04:57

that is wonderful. Nicole, thank you for joining So we’ve got Greg Michoud, Greg, give a get a little wave there, man. Look at that handsome devil guy. So, Greg, I’m gonna hit you in a second. David, I want to come back over to you, my friend, you are you are the king of process of what we did last time you’re on a stage here. I’m still blown away by you. Why is manufacturing so important? What’s it mean to you, your family, your community? What’s manufacturing to

David Crysler  05:25

you? Yeah, thanks, Kurt. I mean, you know, for me, I grew up in manufacturing. So, you know, I joked about it on the Twitter chat yesterday. But, you know, my parents owned two different print manufacturing businesses as I was growing up. So, you know, I was destined to be six foot tall, you know, possibly play in the NBA. But, you know, here I am at five foot eight, because of, you know, the chemicals I was exposed to as a young child running around and in areas I shouldn’t have been in, in manufacturing facilities. You know, I remember riding on forklifts, when I shouldn’t have been, and all of the fun adventures that you can have being a kid in your parents manufacturing business. So yeah, I have, you know, a lifelong connection to it. And I’ve been in it, and around it, my entire professional career. And I think, you know, from my standpoint, one of the things I’m really passionate about, and we’re talking about, you know, being excited about manufacturing in general. But, you know, I took a pretty unconventional path, as some would say, to do what I do today and achieve the things that I have in my past and, and so for me, sharing, you know, that success means different things to different people, and encouraging the next generation to explore manufacturing, skilled trades, all of the things that are out there, because I think too often people have this impression of what manufacturing is, and that, you know, it’s all about getting your hands dirty and different things. And while that, you know, 100% true, there’s tons of other opportunities that touch manufacturing as a whole. And so just opening up those those kinds of doors and talking about all the fun I had and all the impact it’s had on my life. You know, that that’s what it means to me why I’m so passionate about it, why I love doing this. It’s just super genuine people, people that like to work hard people that like to show up every day. And you know, people like the group on this panel. It’s just it’s a tremendous, tremendous community of people.

Curt Anderson  07:36

All right, Damon, there’s number one, right? Moment of silence right there. Moment number one, so David, thank you, dude, that was absolutely amazing. Love it. Again. David Chrysler here, guys, you want to connect with David on LinkedIn. Let’s roll. Let’s go over to Madison, Wisconsin right now. So hey, how about the Badgers? Right, Greg? Miss you? What is manufacturing? How Why is it so important to you? You your world? Share a little bit with us?

Greg Mischio  08:02

Yeah, let’s Can you hear me? Okay. We can hear you. Yeah, let’s let’s talk about manufacturing and that the Badgers right at the moment.

Curt Anderson  08:11

You’re gonna turn it around, man, you got a great coach, Jim.

Greg Mischio  08:15

So that’s right. I actually, out of everybody in this panel, I actually kind of think of myself as a manufacturing immigrant. I don’t have the background in manufacturing. I’m a, I’m a marketing guy. And I’ve spent in my family, like Nicole’s, that’s part of her family roots. My family’s were academics. I, you know, I’m horrible mechanically. But I wait for that. Yeah. Right. But But what happened with me is, I decided I had number of clients, like most marketers all over the place. And I had a coach who said, You should really niche and something and I’m like, Well, we really like this manufacturing client really likes us. And we’re seemed to be doing it work for. So we said, Let’s niche and manufacturing, you know, knowing not really knowing too much even about the industry. And this is like, you know, four or five years ago, and now, like soon as we got into it, I just could not believe how amazing the industry is, in terms of not only like David was saying about the people and the pride people have in the industry. But as I mean, as an immigrant to the industry. It’s provided me with so much work and so much opportunity. And I feel like it’s I put a post up there today on LinkedIn about this is an industry that can propel this country forward in so many ways. And and I feel like it’s, it’s, you know, like I said, I’ve worked in a lot of different sectors and in niches and This just seems like this beacon that can lift us up in so many ways. So, I, you know, I just feel, you know, fortunate and blessed just to be on the stage and you know, I when I go to manufacturing plants, I’m just like, wow, I’m just dazzled by all the brilliant minds. I see. So, just happy to be here. Okay.

Curt Anderson  10:25

It’s just coming from live from Madison, Wisconsin. Yeah, take a moment and just savor what we heard. Okay, now, I want to I want to unpack a couple of things right there. Greg Michoud now number one, thank you for being an immigrant and thinking thank you for bringing your superpowers your talents, your passion to the manufacturing world. And I feel comfortable saying that that I’m Mr. of manufacturing authority. Dude, manufacturing is welcome guys like you with open arms. And I think what’s critically important here with this conversation is really segues what David just said, there’s so much opportunity that like, you know, you’re coming out, Hey, I’m not mechanical. I’m not you know, but look, you’ve brought an academic background, you’re passionate and helping them work and I want to go round everybody, but we’re gonna come back to you about your digital twin. But you’ve brought just such a great aspect to help elevate manufacturing, in all these different aspects are critical for our manufacturers to be you know, best and best in breed. global competitive, diligent, I give me chills, man, this is just so good. Dan vaguer, let’s come back to you, brother. Okay. You’ve had a great career in manufacturing you are passionate for, for manufacturing. Again, you could have gone to different industries, what attracted you to manufacturing?

Dan Bigger  11:39

I got into a completely by accident.

Curt Anderson  11:43

So we have an immigrant and we have an accidental manufacturer. Let’s hear your story, dude.

Dan Bigger  11:47

Yeah, I was working for a rental car company. And I was looking to get into outside sales. I took a job with Budweiser, which is in manufacturing. So you know, manufacture Budweiser led to lock home the lock home industry, which led to printing which led to injection molding, which led to extrusion and now I’m in software,

Curt Anderson  12:05

that man dude, you’ve thrown out a lot of different hats, in the cool thing is, Dan, because you have covered so many different aspects of manufacturing, like you have a, maybe a vast different perspective. And then like as Greg sharing what, you know, how do you see it a little bit differently? And or, you know, talking to young people where Why do you feel that there’s so much incredible opportunity in manufacturing?

Dan Bigger  12:28

I just think it’s it’s, it’s an it’s something I promote all the time, but it’s working together. You know, I’ve worked for companies that live in these little silos, and really, a lot of the things that I learned was when I worked in Lancome industry, the logo ministry was a very, very niche industry, and it was fighting everything else, it was fighting conventional stick built, manufactured housing, concrete, housing, everything. So they stuck together and they worked together to Ford, you know, the Lancome it is industry as a whole and each other. Right, you know, so we would reach out to each other and try to sell each other’s products. Right. So really, that, you know, a lot of the beliefs that I have, because I was on their council for a couple of years. You know, a lot of things that I believe I’ve learned from other people. And that was a really good group of people that actually, you know, dealing with code issues and, and, and all the different things that came up. It was it was just a it was just the how everyone just came together for the common purpose of lifting everybody.

Curt Anderson  13:26

Absolutely. So that’s a perfect question. Nicole, do you have another minute or do you need to run?

13:30

I gotta run I gotta run, guys. Alright.

Curt Anderson  13:33

Thank you for joining us happy Manufacturing Day later.

Damon Pistulka  13:37

So every day now,

Curt Anderson  13:38

I think Val might be on vacation. But Val, you know, there’s three dudes on a stage. Val, if you’re out there, I think you might have blank. You got to come up here with us. But let’s talk. Alright, since you talked about community, David has talked about the Twitter group. Dan, you are just an amazing group. Let’s talk community. Dave, I’m going to go to you first. How you know, like, you’ve talked about your journey. How like, you know, coming into this manufacturing world on LinkedIn, on Twitter, what has the community, the online community done for you? You personally, for you, professionally? What’s that look like? In your world? In the past? Maybe since COVID? I guess, right.

David Crysler  14:13

Yeah, I mean, for me, yeah, I kind of tell the story. I worked for really large company for for the majority of my professional career, and, you know, that company grew through acquisition. And so the majority of my networking connections, community, all of that was internal to that one business, you know, and so for me leaving that and I left there in 2018 Leaving that was, you know, never forget, you know, kind of being then out on your own and saying, man, like, what, I don’t know anybody.

Curt Anderson  14:49

Was that scary? I mean, I had a bit of faith, right?

David Crysler  14:51

Yeah. 100 100% It was scary. And you know, you kind of quickly realize what that networking and can Unity really means and, boy, when you put yourself out there, I said this earlier today on on on another show, but but I just mean it from the bottom of my heart, it’s, it’s tremendous to me because I’ve never been somebody that’s been, you know, super extroverted, right. And so for me, putting myself out there in these situations that made me personally uncomfortable and sharing my story and talking about personal things and saying, what I’m struggling with and what I’m working on, and what I’m trying to build from a business aspect doing that. I could not imagine my life today without having gone through all of that, and relationships and connections that I’ve made. I mean, I, you know, even what, maybe a year ago, 18 months ago, I didn’t know anybody on this panel, right, and the power of connection and community. And just, you know that that kind of genuinely showing up for people. It’s been tremendous, I literally could not imagine my life today without the interactions that I have on, you know, a daily, a weekly basis with people in the manufacturing, you know, world, in, across social, you know, LinkedIn, Twitter, all of that. So it’s, for anybody that’s out there that may be hesitant or reserved, I really just encourage you to take whatever step you feel is appropriate for you, whether that’s putting a comment in the comment section of one of these, you will be blown away by the people that reach out to you and that are genuinely interested in what you’re doing. And the more that that kind of cycle repeats itself, you that’s what energizes me today, it’s not about like growing my business. And that’s all like, it’s all bonus. Honestly, like, that’s bonus stuff. The thing that you feel when you connect with somebody, and you can make an intro for them, or you can help them through a problem. It’s like that, you know, I talked about like, what success means. That is what success means to me today. You know, five years ago, 10 years ago, it meant something completely different. And you know, so I’m super fortunate and feel really blessed to have met all of you here. And that’s kind of the mission moving forward. So this is this is what it’s all about, ma’am.

Curt Anderson  17:27

And rate that gacha brother, that was phenomenal. And Greg, I’m going to say down to you, dude. So you and I actually like we are pre COVID You and I met at manufacturing happy hour with our dear buddy Chris Lukey. Talk a little bit about you know, so you collectively, you know what you shared earlier four or five years ago you decide to go all in and manufacturing unite connected with Jeff Long A Griffith if you’re you know any of those guys. Great, amazing group, what’s community been for you as far as like, you know, moving forward? And why for manufacturers? why that’s so important.

Greg Mischio  18:01

Well, I’m, I’ll echo what David said. And, you know, I came into this not knowing anybody, just like David did. And I met Chris Lukey. And Jeff Long, actually, Jeff Long reached out to me said, Hey, I see you’re in this. And I met Chris Lukey. Naturally, you’re gonna run into Kurt Anderson, if you meet anybody in this industry. So I met Kurt Andersen, and then you know, the floodgates open. But then I got to meet Damon, and of course, Dan, who is ubiquitous in the industry as well. So bigger than life, Dan bigger, and you know, so it’s, it’s been great to, to be part of the community. But I would say that like, as I mentioned before, I there’s few other industries that are quite like this, and how people are willing, like David said, to reach out and help each other. And I will tell you that over the past year, I’ve really pulled back on my LinkedIn presence, I’ve done a little experiment. And because a lot of my clients, I’m working with small sales and marketing teams, and maybe even not even a marketing presence, just a sales leader, and nobody’s on LinkedIn. And I’m trying to emulate to deliver marketing as best I can with someone who is not doing what David’s doing or what Dan’s doing and getting really active on the channel. And it hasn’t been easy, and it sure hasn’t been fun. And it hasn’t been as productive is getting out here and doing good old fashioned networking. So I you know, to David’s point, you know, if you need help, there’s plenty of resources out here. A lot of people on this channel will help you get started and plenty of content out there to help you get going. Just leave comments, do whatever you can just become part of the community

19:58

that I absolutely love.

Curt Anderson  20:00

That, Damon, I have a question for you. So I went around asking everybody what why is manufacturing? What’s it meant to you personally? Your family? What is why what attracted you to manufacturing? What does manufacturing meant to you and your family or your community growing up?

Damon Pistulka  20:15

Well, I was I was a manufacturer before I knew what it was growing up on the farm. I mean, we actually my dad was always somebody that said, hey, we need we need a big trailer to haul equipment on. So we would, we would, you know, semi load of steel would show up and we would build this kind of stuff. And so I was like, I mean, I literally, I remember the first the first industrial accident I had is I burnt my foot with a hot welding coal on the or whatever slag on the ground, because I didn’t have shoes on when I was like, 12 is like, Hey, dad saying that you can’t be around welding like that. Remember? I

Curt Anderson  20:52

told you Yeah, yeah, exactly. Go Pro bandaid on it. You’re fine. Yeah.

Damon Pistulka  20:57

And you know, and then then I’m like, yeah, here’s what is that. What is that on the Windex? Windex. Enough, enough of that. But you know, actually, so I grew up in that I grew up in build and stuff and, and those kinds of things. And when I found manufacturing as as the industry, right, you know, your equipment came to you and that kind of stuff on the farm. But when you got into it, when I got into manufacturing, I was like, Holy heck, yeah. You know, I went to school for engineering accidentally, just because I didn’t know what the hell I was gonna do. But I got in these manufacturing buildings, and I’m like, Holy heck, they’re building this stuff, and watch hot moves, and watch what you make, and watch how that powers our economy. And I’m like, damn, this is cool. And, and then I just couldn’t get enough of it. Right. And when you, when you look at how it affected me, you know, I was able to work 20, whatever years in companies helping people do it. And now I get to help lots of companies with educating and finding resources and all the kinds of stuff we get to do. And when you look at today, the changes in technology that we’re that we’re seeing, in everything from equipment, to how we talk to people to how manufacturers market and sell and educate their customer. It is just, I get so excited about this, I don’t know what to say. It is it is affected me beyond i My heart is so full just because I can because I can hang out with people like you guys on a daily basis, and gals and people and whatever. On a daily basis. I just I can’t, I can’t explain how much it means to me on a daily basis. It’s so much fun. And we have so much potential like someone said earlier on the call. If kids aren’t looking at this, if they aren’t, if parents aren’t telling their kids at least go out and look at some manufacturing places. Not just because I want to build something, I want to be more. But if I want to be in technology, if I want to be a finance person, if I want to be a leader, if I want to be an HR, if I want to be in safety there are so damn many places, you know, computer science, there’s so many things that manufacturers need now because it’s a technology hub in here that’s creating this stuff. It’s not just Kurt nine to backyard cut and stuff and build it up anymore. It takes tremendous technology to drive these manufacturers when you look at the robotics, so I go on a little bit about this. I love it. All right,

Curt Anderson  23:38

everybody. Moment of silence right there. Just savor that one Damon All right. I’m gonna run out for Damon and dropping Val soon all right, we got Val in the house here Vale happy Manufacturing Day to you. How are you my friend? Are you there? Are you on mute?

Damon Pistulka  23:56

Can we hear you? Oh, she can’t hear it.

Curt Anderson  23:58

She said yes. You can’t hear us. Man fails here. Dad bigger.

Damon Pistulka  24:04

I was gonna talk about it. She’s in the coolest industry ever.

Curt Anderson  24:08

Oh my god. She’s infused cast. I’ve taken I know, tours of her facility. It is absolutely incredible. Dan bigger. Let’s go back. Alright, so if anybody out there that’s not familiar with the Twitter chat group every Thursday, two o’clock Eastern one o’clock Central. Can you please share with everybody? What is this wonderful, amazing USA Twitter chat group that you guys have been talking about?

Dan Bigger  24:30

Yeah, it’s a group we founded. About three years ago. We followed a group out of the UK and we just brought a bunch of people together and we talked about a weekly topic that really just helps each other. Help share information that you’re good at. So if you’re good social media marketer or if you’re good at safety or whatever you want to talk about, we allow people come on talk about a topic, ask four or five questions a week and share information with each other.

Curt Anderson  24:58

Right? It’s not very fun As pace right is that

Dan Bigger  25:02

actually you know what I was on. I was on two other chats this week and Ayers is by far the fastest.

Curt Anderson  25:08

I personally I have never experienced know if I’ve recovered from that day where I hosted one time it was hands down. David you’re laughing is like the fastest hour on the planet now Yeah, and what do you mean what how did you guys even what made you even think and I understand you just mentioned like Oh, we found a company you know a group out of England or whatever like you know, how did that inspire? How did that come together? In what’s great is like for folks out there what I love what you’ve done, if you know Greg you came in you’re like, Oh gee, I don’t know how many people are David you’re like I don’t know any people. What’s a great way to socialize? What’s a great way to build community? Start the community. What really what lit the fire for like you Ruby, I know maybe Paul Jen Wagman like what what inspired you guys what lit the fires for you guys to get that started?

Dan Bigger  25:53

That wasn’t it that was the inspiration was the community and and really just sharing the information not making it about any one person or any one topic or any one company. You know, we didn’t want it to be sales pitchy and and never has become that. So it you know, it’s a way to share information. But it’s also a great networking because everybody on that chat each week. You can see working with each other on Twitter, on LinkedIn, outside of social media in the real world and doing business with each other. I mean, one of the best ones I’ve heard was Paul Kish, he helped Snapchat on do their rebrand. Right? Right. And those are two people that are relatively active in our in our group, but now they’re working together. And they just did a huge rebrand over the last year. So I mean, those are the kinds of things that really do it for me is when people start working together and talking together, and then actually things actually progress into a business relationship. And it’s successful, and everybody’s happy, and it’s a win for everybody. Absolutely.

Curt Anderson  26:54

David, I’m coming over to you, brother. I know you’ve been doing an amazing job putting out tons of videos incredible. Like, I think you’re like the You’re like the modern day Peter Drucker to me, man. I hope you’re I hope you dig. I’m a huge Peter Drucker fan. So I hope you take that as a nice compliment.

David Crysler  27:10

Yeah, that’s a tremendous compliment. Thanks.

Curt Anderson  27:12

That’s what I was hoping. So, you know, let’s go there for a second. So see, you know, manufacturers, I just I just talked to a gentleman this week, you know, digital immigrant, you know, I’m a Gen X, or, you know, Above us are the baby boomers. You know, now before they were resistant, I don’t need this website thing. I don’t need internet. I don’t you know that. Now, now the script is flipped. Now they’re scrambling and frustrated, discouraged. I don’t know what to do. How do you you do it a tremendous, tremendous job, kind of like my takeaway in our conversations on how you help kind of like, nurture, get that culture, that momentum in my craft is like, how do you help those folks kind of like turn the corner in manufacturing to embrace this new online digital age ever? ID?

David Crysler  27:58

Yeah, I mean, you know, I take a systems approach to anything. So you know, for me, systems break down into planning people process and technology. And you can apply that framework literally to anything, you can apply it to content marketing, you can apply it to continuous improvement, you can apply it to improving your culture. And for the majority of manufacturers out there. You know, they’re really great at so many things. And if they just think about it, from the standpoint of, you know, it is building relationships, especially if we’re talking about, you know, connecting with people growing your business, from a social media standpoint, content marketing standpoint, all of those things, right. It’s just about building relationships, you know, the tool itself, it doesn’t matter. And so for me, you know, I break down systems the way that I explained it, because for me, I don’t care if you’re a Microsoft 365 company, I don’t care if you love Google platform, I don’t care if you know, you are a you know, an Oracle customer on the ERP side, I don’t care if you love HubSpot or Zoho, right, like the technology is just the tool. It’s the underlying, you know, planning people process part that people need to focus their effort on. And again, no matter if we’re talking about content creation, and digital marketing, or you know, we’re talking about how to improve your quality management system. So that’s how I like to think about it in terms of like, how you can approach it, right. Think about it from your customers perspective. Where are they at? You know, Greg, I think you mentioned it earlier, right? Like the companies that you’ve been working with lately, you know, there’s not a lot of presence on LinkedIn. At some point. It might not be LinkedIn, maybe it’s some new platform that hasn’t been born yet. So the point is, right, the technology doesn’t matter. The platform doesn’t matter. But what are the what’s the planning people process aspect of what we’re talking about? How are you going to you utilize those things to ultimately connect with the people that you need to connect with. Because at the heart of everything, we have to connect with people and have relationships with people. It’s how everything in our world works. And the kind of faster you get on board with that, the bigger you can grow a company, the more influential you can be for other people, the more help that you can provide to other people. So that’s how I look at it, how I break it down, and that that’s been my approach to be so active across social platforms to continue to grow my community, and to really just try to support other people in in their journeys. And, you know, it’s kind of the rest is taking care of itself.

Damon Pistulka  30:43

That’s awesome. And we have to we have to pause there

Curt Anderson  30:46

for you know, well, you know what, I’m going to interrupt the pause Damon, I, you know, I hate to say it, because, you know, I can’t afford to have David Kreisler on a program anymore because I pre I dropped my mic. So many times that I have to keep buying these darn new microphones because of Chrysler. So our David, rather, nother amazing. Yeah, I do are so good. This is so big way. Go ahead before

Damon Pistulka  31:09

we change in segue into something else, Kurt, because Kurt likes to keep going. He’s got his notes there. He’s going down.

Curt Anderson  31:16

More notes today.

Damon Pistulka  31:17

Um, no, that’s good. That’s good, because usually he’s got a pile of notes. And I put like two sentences down to start one of these things and they just rolls. But I want to ask you, Kurt, you know, you’re the manufacturer of E commerce guy. Let’s hear from you. What’s manufacturing mean to you? How has it affected you, your family, your community?

Curt Anderson  31:36

I have a story for you. I have and then I’m Greg. Michelle, I’m coming to you about the digital twin. So I’ve a manufacturing store. I came prepared. Damon, you ready? Awesome. What’s this?

Damon Pistulka  31:48

That’s an adjustable wrench.

Curt Anderson  31:50

It’s a crescent wrench.

Damon Pistulka  31:51

Right. crescent wrench. crescent wrench.

Curt Anderson  31:52

So I’m five years old. 1973 You guys probably aren’t even born yet. 1973. Look how young Are you guys? Look. So I’m five years old. My father is my father. My father is like six five full head of hair is like a year round tan. I look nothing like a right. So great guy. He’s still man. He’s still my best friend. He worked for Crescent tool, crusted made crescent wrenches, right. He was like a union steward or whatever. You know, he’s like, 20 to 29 years old at the time. It’s Thanksgiving ish. It’s Christmas ish. You know, right around that time of year. And I’m five years old. Mom is crying. Dad came home. The Crescent Tool Company was leaving our area to go to a cheaper place. Family is absolutely crushed. devastated. It’s I’m five years old. I’m like, it’s it’s holiday time. Like it is Christmas coming like I’m really gonna get gifts. I will never forget how devastated our family was by a manufacturer leaving the area. How many and how many families throughout the United States have suffered of jobs going to other countries because we found cheaper places to make these products right. And so it is very dear to my heart. It is my life purpose passion for families, little five year olds and not go through what little nightmare back then Damon? So I was like a little blind. And so it was it was devastating for our family dad found a job in turn, you know, in it actually, ironically, led to my E commerce career was because he lost that job. I’m not going to bore you guys with that story. But anyway, so I mean, our family was was heavily impacted. And like Dan Biggers from Pittsburgh, he used to live in New York, you go through like the Great Lakes region. You know, Dave, you’re in, you’re in Detroit. You go through like all through the Rust Belt, man, it’s been you know, Wisconsin is Syracuse, New York, it’s been very hit. It’s been hit hard with manufacturing jobs going overseas. And I just I am thrilled that we have this renaissance of like bringing these jobs back to the United States. So anyway, it’s very dear and personal to me. That’s my story. Damon, how was that and I came prepared.

Damon Pistulka  34:05

That’s awesome. That’s awesome. Because, you know, it’s, it’s important for you to share with us Duker. There is a background there and you you help people in manufacturing an awful lot. And you get to. I mean, you see a lot of manufacturers. I mean, how many of you toured this year, you’ve turned off the lot? Oh,

Curt Anderson  34:23

wait, wait, you wait, I’ll be posted on LinkedIn, wait to see the places I’m going this month. So Nicole Donnelly, we’re going to Texas next week to visit a client and I got some surprises at the end at the end of the month. So Dan bigger, you’ll be you’ll you’ll be loving the worldwide. I’ll be I’ll be sharing those on LinkedIn. But, you know, again, if we had e commerce in 1973, for the little crescent tool company, that company might not have had, you know, leave the area, you know, so. Alright, let’s lie down to So David. I was asking you about resistance or like how to make that cultural change. Greg, miss you. You are doing an amazing job. With the digital twin, I absolutely love what you’re doing. Can you please share with folks what your whole your the method of your your methodology with the digital twin from a marketing standpoint.

Greg Mischio  35:14

So when when I came into started to work with manufacturers, it’s a sales dominated industry 80% of the interactions are expected to take place in digital channels by 2025. That’s Gartner 58% of the sales processes already completed before a sales interaction takes place. That’s according to the Challenger Series. You know, the stats are out there that manufacturers need to get into the marketing space and online doing things like we’re doing right now. And so, you know, it seems to me logically, I sent a presentation on the digital twin, it’s a recreation of a product, or a process and manufacturing, its use a prototype test things, I thought, wow, we need to create a digital twin of the sales team using content. Okay, so that’s a concept. And as we’ve dug deep into it, you know, at first, like, Sam Gupta once said to me, you know, you got to have more to it than that, it just can’t otherwise it’s just a gimmick. And as we’ve clung plumbed the concept more what I’ve realized and learned as we’ve really that we as marketers need to get better at sales, that the folks like, you know, Dan bigger out in the field, conducting the sales, and if we are going to make a digital twin, we have to understand how sales works and have to integrate the strategy. And what I’ve learned is that marketing and sales are not aligned in most companies. And if they’re not, you’re talking about, not only are you not making money, you potentially are losing money, because you’re spending all this money on marketing. In fact, only 33% of manufacturers actually turn their marketing into sales. So I realized that this, you know, if there’s something I can bring to the manufacturing table, it’s that in the process of making your digital twin, you need to align your marketing and sales and make them come together. And it’s been pretty much of a revelation for me personally, and for our company, to really get up into the sales team and learn sales strategy and then start to work with that. The sales team at the get go before you’re rolling out any marketing. And like Damon, you’ve said to me big deal, you get a bunch of leads in if sales doesn’t go close it, you got nothing. So that’s that’s where the digital twin is, and the work we’ve done and where we’re sitting right now. But I just think that so many manufacturers are focused, and they’re so brilliant, and they’re focused on their products and their processes. We have to get outside of that and look at the customers and what they need and how we can reach all aspects, you know, because manufacturing, what you’re doing just doesn’t solve that problem. It can help their business in other aspects. And that’s a big part of like the Challenger sale. But anyways, that’s where we’re at with the twin.

Curt Anderson  38:21

Yeah, I absolutely love it. And so guys, again, if you’re not connected already, please connect with Greg miscue on LinkedIn here and check out his website when bound right when bound.com is that? Is that correct?

Greg Mischio  38:32

When as in, we’re going to win the game. Not wind as this guy’s full of a lot of wind.

Curt Anderson  38:41

We are bound to win in this digital twin escapade. How’s that? So you’re it’s win bound. Greg, Miss Chu, you have to check out his website. Greg, your content. And what’s great about you is a lot of folks like we could run with marketers about, you know, being the cobblers kid with no shoes. You know, we’re so busy working with clients that we don’t have, we don’t have the opportunity to work on our ourselves our own website. You do a phenomenal job and you’re so selfless. One thing I was just talking to somebody about you recently, you do an amazing job. Well, you will take quotes, you will take snippets from like Dan bigger, David Chrysler, Damon, you will take a bunch of quotes I know in a call a lot of different folks. And you put together like an incredible piece of content base and you’re promoting these other people and even some aspects like some of these folks are even competitors. So I absolutely love what you do on how you promote you shine a bright light on other people. But you don’t walk, you don’t talk to talk, you walk the walk by putting out that incredible, wonderful content, which you also do for your clients. So let me segue over to Dan bigger. Dan, is that is that true? I’ve never heard that sales and marketing don’t communicate or don’t get along. If you’ve never experienced that before, have you?

Dan Bigger  39:55

I actually haven’t because why not? Be honest with you because why not? To further into manufacturing, I was sales and marketing.

Curt Anderson  40:04

Sales it Yeah. So you got along with yourself pretty good, right? Yeah,

Dan Bigger  40:06

I sent myself notes back and forth. But we always got along. We always were on the same page.

Curt Anderson  40:10

Yeah, it wasn’t like Fight Club where you’re beating yourself up down, right. No, but

Dan Bigger  40:13

I agree with you. No, that’s what I mean, I follow Greg stuff, because he’s totally right. Right. And, and, you know, again, I come from a sports background. So it’s almost like having your left tackle, totally oblivious to what your right tackle is? Right. Well, if everyone’s not on the same page, how do you expect to

Curt Anderson  40:32

win? Right? Right. Yeah. Right. So from your experience, you know, great career, you’ve worked at different companies from Anheuser Busch to, you know, smaller manufacturers, you’re in a SaaS company. Now, what would you what situations do you see that have been very successful? When marketing and sales do collaborate and do communicate? Well, how do you break that silo? How do you break that barrier? What have you experienced?

Dan Bigger  40:55

Well, I mean, I’m gonna my current experience right now with John, you know, John and I are on the same page, we talk for hours a day, about, you know, clients, what we’re going to do marketing, I know what he’s gonna do. He knows what I’m doing. You know, we’re sharing information. And we’re sharing information with our team. So it’s, it’s everybody, we try to keep everyone on the same page. So again, everybody knows what the play is and how we’re going to execute it.

Curt Anderson  41:18

Right. And just for anybody out there, that’s John wiggliness. So again, you want to So alright, connect with Dan bigger, and you will thank me in probably about three days. All right. So please connect with Is there anybody in the chat box? Is there anybody that’s not connected here through Dan bigger? I’m just curious. It’s hard to imagine that anybody’s not connected with us through Dan bigger. So, Dan, so you’re talking about John Buck Leno, you guys are obsessed. So you’ve done an amazing job helping manufacturers with your service. David, coming over to you, Brother, let’s stay on that same topic, marketing sales, what have you seen in your space? What’s going on? In that in that aspect?

David Crysler  41:55

Yeah, I mean, I think to add to the conversation, right, it’s, I try to bring it back to, you know, a system perspective. And when you don’t have the alignment between the planning people process, it’s very challenging to, you know, tackle these really lofty goals in some cases, right? I mean, we’re trying to connect with potential prospects, how do we go through, you know, what does that part of the process look like? And then how does that connect to what happens? You know, on the sales seat on the sales team side, and, you know, looking at it from the 10,000 foot view? And, you know, back to exactly what Greg and Dan are talking about, right? How do we look at that from, you know, that 10,000 foot view, and then break it down into the detailed to get people working together, collaborating. I mean, one of the things that that I love talking about from a process standpoint is, you know, when we look at ways to improve things, the best way to improve any type of process is by including people that are not only closest to the process, but adjacent to the process before the process after the process. And so that’s the kind of stuff that we’re talking about here. I mean, that’s, to me, the real power of applying a kind of systems thought process to any of the things that we’re talking about, as it relates to sales and marketing, we can talk about that from a finance and operations perspective. Again, you can apply this stuff from a framework concept to any of the things that we’re talking about. So getting comfortable with looking at your processes from a 10,000 foot view, dialing into them, and then bringing the people together that touch each one of those processes. That’s the way to move the needle forward for any of the goals that you’re trying to tackle in any manufacturing business, really, in any business. But you know, in manufacturing and distribution in any related service business, right, you can apply this stuff anywhere.

Curt Anderson  43:58

Yeah, master class, like when

Dan Bigger  44:01

you’re gonna start bringing oxygen, Kurt?

Damon Pistulka  44:04

There we go.

Curt Anderson  44:06

We’re coming in. Let’s go ahead,

Damon Pistulka  44:08

Damon. Well, you know, I think I think there’s one thing that and Greg will appreciate this, and and the others on the panel and people listening that are that are really understanding and seeing the changes that are happening. You know, and I said this this morning, when we were on David, and I’ve been thinking about manufacturing a lot. And the manufacturers that are reluctant to think about sales and marketing differently, are the same manufacturers, they’ll spend millions of dollars on a brand new piece of equipment because their old piece of equipment isn’t fast enough anymore, doesn’t keep up with everybody else, and they’ve got to change it. But they won’t think that same way about their sales and the fact that they need marketing. I’m sorry, and they have to work together. And they have to be out there. Because, you know, Greg was saying it People 80% of the people are going to have or what is it by 2025 80% of the buying decision is going to be made online before they even talk to somebody, or what it’s crazy amounts. I mean, this is this is data, this is not like, we think, Oh, I’m a marketing guy, I want to, you know, you got to do it. If you’re not, if you’re not educating your customers, if you’re not getting really uncomfortable about what you’re sharing about your company, and why you’re a good fit, why you’re not a bad fit. And then ultimately, this is going to make everybody cringe when I’m talking, I think you got to share pricing online. I think it doesn’t have to be your final price to somebody. But if you’re not going to do that, because if you’re not thinking about what that buyer needs to be able to do the process, they need to go through educating so they can make an informed decision about your company and how you can help them and then get to the price of it. You’re just putting roadblocks up roadblocks up. And if we’re not making the sales process, frictionless, they’re gonna go to somebody that is Yeah, and they’re gonna, they’re gonna buy millions of dollars from that somebody that is we’re not talking about a, you know, dollar pen, they’re gonna go to somebody because they buyers don’t care anymore. If I have to, if I have to find the new place where I’m going to drop my $5 million worth of this kind of work. The best I’m going to get on Google, I’m going to search it, I’m going to go through it. I’m gonna go Yeah, Valerie saying this Valerie’s in her kind of business. This is if we don’t change our sales and marketing approach, the same way that we’re aggressively changing our operations and making other things. Good in manufacturing. You’re gonna get left behind that somebody that is just the way it is. And sorry, I’m jumping off my soapbox. I just it makes me you got to do it. You’re gonna die.

Curt Anderson  46:52

It’s another moment of silence Damon.

Dan Bigger  46:54

I loved it. I love that process.

Damon Pistulka  46:58

Let’s hear Dan. Sir. It took me three

Dan Bigger  47:01

years to convince one of my one of my employers to get a new website. But they went out and bought a half a million to half million dollar machines and over overnight. Yep.

Curt Anderson  47:10

And I remember the website and you did do a great job, by the way. And also I want to I was Vail. I’m stood corrected. I said, if you connect with Dan bigger, your network will explode in three days. Vail I agree with you 100%. It’s about three hours. So do yourself a favor. If you are new to LinkedIn, you absolutely want to connect with Dan bigger. Now, Damon, we had a fun little LinkedIn party on Tuesday with folks, we did a little workshop for folks. And we talked about the term digital self serve. And so I think what what everybody in the panel here is discussing Dave and processes and technology. Absolutely, with a digital twin. And what Dan bigger is talking about is like, you know, how do you provide that digital self serve experience? Where if they’re going to do 80%, and I, let’s let’s like savor that word again. You said frictionless, and it’s such a different mentality for the manufacturer. We’re talking e commerce, we’re talking configurators we’re talking, you know, quote, builders on your website. Let the buyer do that process, you know, right. Okay. I know we could go all day I want everybody’s time. Everybody here is super busy. Let’s wrap up on this. I want to go around the panel. Manufacturing Day, we are here celebrating Manufacturing Day, my dear friend, Greg, Mr. Few words of wisdom thoughts that you want to share about what this day means. And for young folks out there, or the future manufacturing, just anything that comes to mind? What do you want to share about Manufacturing Day as we move forward?

Greg Mischio  48:45

I mean, I just think we got to keep talking about it. And again, I really feel in my heart that this is what this country needs. It’s it’s it’s you know, we everybody goes for the tech world, in the bright shiny objects, but I’m telling you the manufacturing space from a physical, biological and digital aspect, I mean, you’re talking about industry 4.0 manufacturing can bring such innovation to all three of those components in all those are coming together in our lives and manufacturing is going to be spearheading our efforts there and we just you just got to keep this train rolling and and talk it up. Talk it up.

Curt Anderson  49:35

Okay, everybody, please get let’s give a round of applause for our dear buddy Greg, Miss you for too long since you’ve been on the stage talking to digital twin with us. made my day today.

Damon Pistulka  49:46

A manufacturing immigrant that knows it’s limited today and speak so

Curt Anderson  49:53

thank you for joining the party. Right. Thank you for joining and thank you for joining the manufacturing party overall bringing your suit For powers, your passion expertise, Dan bigger, you have two sets of twins. I know a lot of folks don’t know that two sets of twins. For young folks out there, what’s Manufacturing Day? What does this mean? Everybody just kind of share your thoughts, your feelings as we wrap up.

Dan Bigger  50:16

I really think you know, as you’re looking at a manufacturing career, it’s about being a part of something that’s bigger than yourself. You know, everything that you everything that you touch on a daily basis is manufactured. So, if you if you get up and you go work for a company that builds airplanes, or you know, motors or valves, or what doesn’t matter what it is, it’s going to go into something bigger, that’s going to help someone somewhere else. That’s really what it’s about.

Curt Anderson  50:42

Right? Absolutely. And, you know, I don’t know if you guys know this, like, like, Greg was saying, all the cool kids are going into manufacturing, by the way, you know, so I mean, when you think about it, like, like, not what they’re saying, like when you get in your car, it’s really not even inside a vehicle. It’s a technology of equipment. Right? So I mean, in us, you were describing Daymond, you know, manufacturers now, when you walk in, it’s really it’s at Tech, you know, there’s an opportunity even for smaller manufacturers, between automation robotics, like, you know, as these costs keep going down, and the scalability and availability, the opportunities, you know, we’re all huge advocates of the MVP network, that’s a manufacturer essentially, you know, they’re fighting relentlessly to help manufacturers, you know, on a global scale. So this is just super exciting. David Chrysler, last question for you, my friend Manufacturing Day that you want to share for the folks out there.

David Crysler  51:31

Yeah, I mean, I would kind of echo what everybody else is saying on here, you know, sharing stories of how this industry has impacted you personally, the fun that you have the impact that you can have on other people’s lives. And just continuing to build on that, you know, there’s no doubt that I come from a print manufacturing background, that’s where the majority of my expertise is, has lived. And, you know, you would hear things like well, printers, dead printers, being replaced by technology, and all these different things. And, you know, it touches manufacturing, even broad more broadly than just in print. And the reality of it is that all of these industries will continue to change, and new technologies will be introduced, new automations will be introduced, and what will happen with that is they won’t be replaced and go away, the jobs will need an increasing level of skill. And so, you know, people interested in tech, there’s a real place for you in manufacturing, because as these, you know, large organizations start to invest in those automation pieces. And, you know, even from a visibility standpoint, when we talk about ERP and you know, MRP, and all these other components that, you know, touch on visibility, you know, there’s a real place for anybody that’s interested all the way from, you know, shop floor, I love building things, I love to get my hands dirty, all the way to, you know, software engineer, accountant, finance, tech CFO, like it spans the gamut. So there is for sure a place for you, within manufacturing, I encourage you to, you know, visit your local MEP, go out on some tours, get into some of these organizations and connect with the people because that will sell you on being a part of manufacturing you start to meet some of the just the genuine people that I guarantee you will meet and Dan beggar you know, we got to change the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon to the six degrees of Dan bigger, and so connect with him. Degraves you know, you are guaranteed to not only think bigger, but to be connected to a bigger network with amazing people.

Curt Anderson  53:52

So thank you absolutely. Daymond Can you pull up Diane buyers? Last comment there? We got to read that for everybody here. Manufacturing, we build products, build networks and communities, we build futures, there’s really no words that go beyond that one. Just we could just wind down. I get Daymond on your rent, dude, we’re gonna we’re gonna wrap up any any any last words? Grateful? just grateful.

Greg Mischio  54:20

Hey, how about thank you to Damon and Kurt for doing this every week, basically. And more than that, I mean, you two guys have just been huge for this industry. And, you know, you bring people like these folks together all the time. And I mean, I think everybody who knows you too is just got like huge gratitude to you guys for for all you’re doing for all our careers and for the industry.

Curt Anderson  54:46

Well, man, thank you. Thanks. That means the world to me, Greg, thank you. I’ll tell you this, you know, guys, it’s an honor and privilege David to do this every week. I can’t express my gratitude to you brother every single Friday, we’re back on Mondays and we enjoy every minute of it. And you know, the big thing is, is we bring on folks, you know, it’s like it’s almost like when you put things out to the world you know what you attract? It’s like folks have you know David like you were describing earlier people of integrity, salt of the earth and honest to goodness like that’s what you find the manufacturing you find and bigger as you find Greg misuse David to call Val Bob or Diane, you know, everybody on Whitney, Gary would you know, everybody on here, just amazing, incredible people. And it’s just such an honor and blessing to be a part of this, this group and this network. So here’s our last words for you today, guys. Thank you, egg, celebrate, you know, if you know a manufacturer, give them a pat on the back and like, you know, it was Greg’s describing, you know, from any aspect that they’re part of that manufacturing world, thank them for what they’re doing for our economy. Boy, as you guys go out there for this weekend, there’s football, there’s baseball, I know we got the mariners are in the playoffs. We got all sorts of exciting things going on. First time in like, what, 20 years, or 31 years, first time in 21 years. So guys go out there be someone’s inspiration, man, whether it’s your significant other a family member, child parent, I don’t maybe it’s somebody thought maybe somebody cut you off today. Who knows what they’re going through today? Just be someone’s inspiration and thank you for everything you do. Daymond let’s take it let’s close out guys, if you want to hang on one second, we’ll close it out with you guys under nine stage Daymond Take it away, brother.

Damon Pistulka  56:26

All right, Kurt. Thanks so much. Thanks to everyone in the comments the day that that shows up. But thanks for helping us celebrate Manufacturing Day. And as Kurt said, if you know a manufacturer go out and shake their hand, give him a pat on the back. Whatever. Just tell him we appreciate you. Thanks to David and Greg Dan for getting on stage with us valve for coming up so bad. We had some tech issues. But thanks everyone. This is a community that we love to be a part of and we feel honored to be able to share the people that are in it and just share with you and educate as much as we can. And we’re going to be back again next week. Have a great weekend, everyone