Powerful Digital Transformation Strategies for Manufacturers
Digital transformation isn’t just a buzzword; it is how manufacturers are staying competitive and ready for the future. Join us for this exciting episode of Stop Being the Best Kept Secret, where we dive into powerful digital transformation strategies for manufacturers.
Jake Hall, better known as The Manufacturing Millennial, has become one of the most recognized voices in manufacturing, automation, and Industry 4.0. With 90,000+ followers and over 150 million views on his content, he is inspiring the next generation workforce and helping companies from small shops to Fortune 100 leaders embrace modernization and growth.
In this episode, Jake will share how manufacturers can unlock new levels of efficiency, streamline processes with automation, and build a culture that thrives in the digital age. His insights will help you strengthen your business today while preparing for tomorrow.
Key Highlights
• Jake Hall’s Journey and Transformation 0:00
• Impact of COVID-19 on Trade Shows and Events 2:32
• Jake Hall’s 2025 Event Calendar 40:42
• Jake Hall’s Social Media Strategy 40:59
• The Role of AI in Jake Hall’s Work 43:51
• Jake Hall’s Advice for Entrepreneurs 47:43
• Jake Hall’s Personal Interests and Background 52:45
• Jake Hall’s Impact on the Manufacturing Industry 57:15
• Jake Hall’s Future Plans and Goals 57:32
• Jake Hall’s Influence on Manufacturing Millennials 57:47
Resources
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Transcription of Powerful Digital Transformation Strategies for Manufacturers
Curt Anderson 00:00
Holy cow. Damon, how are you dude? What’s happening, man, I’m doing great. Curt, ready to start an awesome week, man, holy cow. Can you believe like, dude, like, I’m star struck right now. Yeah, like, I’m, like, I’m a little, I’m a little, little fluttered, right? Is that a word? Is that even a word? I don’t know. I just made that up. So the manufacturing millennial, how are you?
Jake Hall 00:21
Dude, I’m doing good guys. It’s, it’s, it’s, it’s great to be back on again. Nothing like kicking off a week with some energy, some good conversations and some some good talks along the way.
Curt Anderson 00:30
Dude, we got a ton to cover, and I know like you’re the busiest guy in manufacturing. I don’t take that lightly. So we need to be fast and furious today. So Jake manufacturing, millennial, first off, happy Monday to everybody. Whether you’re catching us live, catching us on replay, maybe it’s even a Tuesday or Wednesday to you by the time you catch this. But Happy Day to you. We’ve got, uh, J call manufactured millennials. Matter of fact, I Jake, if I’m not mistaken, I on LinkedIn. I said there’s like 1400 Jake calls. But when you just Google, Jay call like you come up, like you’re the only one that comes up. Oh, by the way, Jake Hall. Then there’s 1400
Speaker 1 01:01
other, 1300 99 others,
Jake Hall 01:04
you know, you know, once in a while, I Googled search. I google search myself one time. I guess there’s this famous actor, like, over in Australia, or, like, something like that, who’s, like, an actual, like, Hollywood actor, who’s Jake Hall, you know, he always pulls up number one. And then I’m typically like, you know, three or four in the in the typical but if you search manufacturing millennial, then it’s always, you know, on the top. Alright.
Curt Anderson 01:27
So guys, connect you follow Jake on LinkedIn. Do yourself a favor. Phenomenal content. Jake, it’s been three and a half years, dude, since you’ve been on the show. You’re a repeat offender. You need to be a better judge of character, coming out with us two old guys, but in the past three and a half years, man, just a few minor changes in your life. I just couple, couple minor changes, right?
Jake Hall 01:48
Yeah, yeah. No, it’s been good, yeah. Because when we talked, when we talked last time, you know, the manufacturer millennial was very much still a trying to figure out what it’s going to be type thing. You know, it was, it was one of those things where the idea came around in the pandemic, you know, let’s see, it would have been, yeah, uh, spring of 2022, so really, you know, people are still kind of worrisome coming out of pandemic. Things aren’t back to normal yet. I’m still working full time at fc, ATS during the acquisition phase and business development. And then I’m also entertaining this idea of, what can the manufacturer millennial be? Can it be a full-time thing for me? And, yeah, fast forward a few years, and here we are,
you know. And when you came on, this is absolutely fascinating. Like you said, you had a full time gig, and covid was still absolutely a thing, you know. And you came on, you’re like, you know, oh, I’m catching this, you know. Like, but first show, it’s starting this week, conferences dotted on. Like, you know, it’s like, you know, what was the term? Like, covid. Like, there’d be, like, these outbursts again, I can’t really the right deal. Like, it was going to pull back then, like, yeah, yeah. So you decide to, you throw up a shingle, and so like, now you are full fledged entrepreneur. You are Jake, Incorporated manufacturer, millennial, right? I mean, like that happened in 23 Correct,
Jake Hall 03:08
correct, correct, yeah, so I was actually looking about that, so 2021 Yeah, because I was looking back 2020 there was no shows. I’m looking at 2021 there was a couple. And the fall of 2021, so I’m looking back here. There was am around Memphis, Tennessee in October, and then there was the assembly show in Chicago in October. But I’m looking back before that, there was, yeah, there was nothing, um, January, February, March, April, obviously, in 2020 and yeah. So we would have start, we would have started talking middle of February, and about a month later would have been the first really big show kickoff, which would have been modex in Atlanta, yeah, and, and that’s what all the shows got kicked off. Because then there was, I am e West, or MD and M West, now in California, that was typically like a February show. But then they actually moved that till April, uh, because of the whole thing, yeah. So we would have been talking right when things were slowly starting to pick back up, we were slowly starting to go see people in in person again. And everyone was kind of, you know, all the trade shows and conferences were out there testing the water to figure out, are we ready for in person events
Curt Anderson 04:18
again, right? Isn’t that just, yeah, yeah. It seems like another lifetime ago. Yeah? Like, I mean, like, part of me feels like, like you like, you came out. You’re like, man, it feels like yesterday. Then part of me feels like it was like 20 years ago, you know? Yeah, it’s just such a wild time. Now, how many events are you doing for the calendar of 2025
Jake Hall 04:35
so for 2025 pull up right now my on my glorified business Excel sheet. So let’s see 375, I’ll hit in person. I’ll hit about 45 to 50 events, travel events this year, and in person. In person,
Curt Anderson 04:57
dude, that is insane. That’s crazy. Hey, I’m going to jump on, let me jump on your website real quick, because I’ve got some let’s just, I guess I’m jumping ahead. Let’s dive into some of the events that you’re actually where can people catch you, speaking live, coming up? Yeah, yeah. I mean, so
Jake Hall 05:12
I guess we’ll hit the next 30 days. So, you know, this week, we’re heading to Atlanta for SPS. That’s going to be a great event. You know, highlighting the motions and drives industry. SPS is a really big trade show over in Europe. They’re bringing it to the US to get some more, you know, to get some more insight and to educate companies more on what’s happening in the industry. Then the also this week is happening is the IB ie, the international banking industry exposition that’s happening in Vegas this week. Um, I’m not going to that one, but that’s one that that’s happening. Then Saturday is the confluence festival happening in Michigan. That’s the big like public get together talk about robotics, automation event that’s on Friday, Saturday. Then next week, I’m off to possible Seattle for the humanoid robot forum that’s put on by a three and then also happening that week is the the Fathom Milwaukee show, which is happening in Milwaukee on Wednesday. Then the following week I am heading to on Sunday, I’m heading to pack Expo in Las Vegas, so heading out to that one, and then heading to pack on Sunday through Wednesday, and then Thursday, Friday, I’m heading to Scranton, Pennsylvania, Wilkes Barre. Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, just north of Scranton. We’re like, you know, the office holder, yeah, I’m heading out there to do a keynote and speak for Manufacturing Day. And then the week after that, when we get back, is quite a few shows that are happening. There’s the battery show that’s happening in Detroit, and then there’s the mobile platform summit that’s happening in Pittsburgh. So Pittsburgh Monday, Tuesday, is mobile robot summit put on by sick and the Pittsburgh robotics group in Pittsburgh. And then on Wednesday, I had to Detroit for the battery show. And then the week after that is Robo business, which is happening in Anaheim. And then there’s also assembly and a few other stuff that’s happening. It’s It’s busy. It’s busy.
Curt Anderson 07:21
Tis the season, man. So I so just joined us here today. First off, thank you. Happy Monday. Damon. I’m going to grab a couple of comments here, but I want to encourage people here. So here’s Jake. And Jake has a phenomenal, incredible story for our manufacturers out there that are really looking to step up their game. Now, I know if you’re just starting out, gets a little daunting. You’re like, Man, how am I going to catch up to Jake here? But Jake, you know, you’re over 100,000 followers. You certainly, you know, nobody starts there, right? There’s a journey. There’s a story behind you. Really kind of going this direction. I want to dive into that real quick. Let’s get a couple comments here. Hey, we’ve got, we’ve got our dear friend. Let me stop sharing. We’ve got Michael Perry’s in the house. Michaels, matter of fact, I’m emailing you today, dude. So Damon, we’re gonna have Michael on the show sometime. He’s a phenomenal, incredible manufacturer right outside of Chicago, and we’ve got our dear friend Diane. So Jake Diane was a guest on the show Friday, dropping Nice, nice, just total master class. She is phenomenal. What a gift, what a blessing, Diane. Thank you. Go Eagles to our friend Diane. She had a big win yesterday. So, yeah, Jake, let’s dive in. So again, you’re on a show three years ago, 22 tons have changed in your life, and at times. Now I did not ask you this question. I’m going to ask you this question now. You sitting down. You ready? Yeah, do it, dude. You’re like, you’re the manufacturing millennial. Like, you just you. I don’t know if there’s a bigger advocate in the United States for manufacturing. When you were a little guy growing up, when you’re a little guy growing up, you was your hero. Who did you look up to? Like, who created this, this manufacturing Maverick that you are? Who’s your
Jake Hall 08:52
hero growing up? I’ll put I’ll put three out there. I loved, I loved watching Adam Savage on Mythbusters, because for me, it was one of those things where you made science fun engaging. You know, that was a big thing for me. I think another one would be Mike Rowe with Dirty Jobs was another one that I enjoyed watching because I felt he showed that people, regardless of what position you’re in, what job you do, the respectable positions that make change and can impact people. And then the third, I would say like, in terms of like influence, and, you know, looked up to it. My dad, man, my my dad taught me, um, that if you want something in your in life, you work for it. You don’t expect to give it. There’s no handouts in life. And, well, there’s handouts in life, but it’s ones that you don’t want, and, and, and it’s, it’s, I would say, you know, between those three right there, that you know that that really pushed me into this idea of, of advocacy, kind. Tent storytelling, engagement with people, trying to have people understand in a way that connects with them, on why what they do matters. Yeah, that would be my those. Those would be my takeaways.
Curt Anderson 10:12
Those are three good ones. Damon, I know Mike. You share Mike Rowe with Jake, right? Yep, yep. He’s and let’s and dad’s name, please. Uh, my dad. Dan Hall. Dan Hall, well, thank God you’re not Jake Hall Jr, because, you know, Eddie Saunders Jr, came on the show at one time. And I go, Eddie, who’s your hero? And he goes, on, my dad’s my hero. Done it. And I go, Eddie, What’s your dad’s name? Eddie. Eddie Saunders Jr, What’s your dad’s name? Like, I’m not the sharpest tool in the shot, Jake, you know. So, oh, wait. Eddie Saunders, maybe senior might go with junior, I guess so. Anyway, alright, so, Dan Hall, so, big shout out to Dan. So now, dude, when you came out of college Grand Valley, right, where’d you go? Oh, great, yeah.
Jake Hall 10:54
Grand Valley State University and their engineering program.
Curt Anderson 10:58
Nice engineer at heart. You, you get you find you started your career. If I’m not mistaken, in automation, drive that Curt, correct? Yeah. So you go into Automation Talk. So I want to fast forward for our manufacturers. That are you know, we’re always striving. How do we help them stop being the best kept secret if they’re just starting out? How do we help the manufacturers with that digital transformation? Right? Share a little bit about like your your your personal digital transformation. How did you go from like, Hey, I’m an engineer from this great university, I come in, I’m going to be in automation, and now like, Dude, you’re just blowing it up speaking at 50. You know, all these events this year share a little bit on your transformation.
Jake Hall 11:33
You know, I think, I think for me, when I look back at what’s changed the most about the industry, I think both professionals and companies look at collaboration is much more powerful than trying to separate yourself from competition, and that’s that’s happening Now through trade shows. That’s happening through conversations at con, at conferences and events. That’s happening through how people shared through social media now, through video, through storytelling. I think a lot of times you look at the manufacturing space and you look back 1520, years ago, no one wanted a camera on their manufacturing floor because they thought they were the best cut secret, yeah, and and they thought what they were doing was extremely innovative, not realizing that there’s probably 25 other companies within, you know, 100 miles, that are probably doing the exact same thing. Yeah, same processes, you know. So for me, when I look at the biggest evolution and changes, it’s people are afraid. Are no longer afraid to share their successes, to share their learning experiences and failures, because people realize that, you know, in the world that we live in today, it’s a global economy with global competition, with, you know, a global community of integration, where we’re we’re taking products and solutions that are being some are being manufactured in Europe, some are being manufactured over and and, you know, the the APAC region, other parts are being made here, right in the US and, and so we’re taking products and solutions from all over the world, we’re integrating it together and putting into a solution. And I think, you know, if companies are out there, individuals are out there, are willing to share more on what they’re doing and and how they’re learning, you know, that’s what pushing it forward, and that’s and that’s what I do with LinkedIn. I’m out there. LinkedIn. I’m out there to share stories, to advocate what companies are doing. You know, today I talked about, I was at Fabtech last week in Chicago. Today, I interviewed visual components when I was there, and talked about a post highlighting with what I did for Graham on offline programming. So, you know, they’re out there. They’re helping manufacturers be able to take the assets they have in the floor with the robots program offline, to to improve, improve productivity, to make it so the the the skill, the skill sets that are needed are not as high that you have to reach for. And it’s one of those things. If I can go out there and I can tell a story I want to manufacture is doing that’s driving success. That’s what people want to hear and
Speaker 1 14:02
what they want to see. Yeah, absolutely love it.
Curt Anderson 14:03
So, all right, let’s, I’m gonna, as a matter of fact, I’m gonna go, we’re going go back to show and tell again. You guys ready? You ready? Here we go. We’re gonna go back to Jake’s. All right, so first up now, Jake, you’re, are you a solopreneur? Is that a way to describe you?
Jake Hall 14:15
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I’m running, I’m running the day to day operations here at the manufacturer millennial, in my my office in my basement. And, yeah, it’s, it’s been a, been a journey, and we’re, we’re still rocking it.
Curt Anderson 14:27
So I just, I want to speak to our our manufacturing friends out there, just so you know, Jake is a solopreneur, and, like, look at his content here. So when you look at his website, he’s got this innate, like, dude, like, and, and Damon. I had the privilege of catching Jake live this past February at Austin, Texas, at the industrial marketing Summit. Keynote speaker, if you guys ever get a chance to catch Jake live, I could not. I implore you to catch Jake live. Like Jake, I sat in a front row. I’ve been doing LinkedIn for, I don’t know, 100 years or whatever I used to do LinkedIn. You know. Workshops, training, all sorts of stuff. I’m sitting there, like, taking notes from your master class on LinkedIn. It was absolutely phenomenal. But take a look at Jake’s please go to, you know, manufacturing millennial right here his website just shamelessly steal his ideas on, like, how to apply it to your manufacturing. Because it’s it doesn’t matter that Jake’s speaking or that you’re manufacturing a widget, right?
Jake Hall 15:21
Jake. I mean, what are your thoughts here? What was my talk here? Like, what
Curt Anderson 15:25
are your What are your thoughts as far as, like, give a little background on, like, how you like your your website? Like, I’m just, yeah,
Jake Hall 15:31
yeah. I mean, for what I’m doing with the website, it’s a couple things. One is, you know, a lot of companies want to pull me in to go to associations or company events, to talk about the industry. Talk about the current state of the industry. Share my experiences from a millennial who’s grew up in manufacturing, who I would say, faced hazing, who faced this idea, this mentality of, you know, you put in your time work with companies. You know, in my experiences of of what, I felt scared a lot, a lot of millennials, my generation, from coming into manufacturing, from being a part of the industry, and what we could be doing differently, to bring in automation, to bring in robotics, to drive manufacturing forward, and then understand why it’s so important and why it matters to bring this, these upcoming generations, to be a part of the industry up on there as well. You know, I help companies tell their story. I help highlight the brands. I drive brand awareness around what companies, you know, within the US and want to come to the US for manufacturing are doing. So I help with that. You know, on there, I have rent a robot as well. So I have robot dogs that will go to trade shows to drive attraction into people’s booths. In fact, this week, I just, I just had two robots that left this house 35 minutes ago, before we hopped on, that are that are heading out, and then I have three more robots that are going to another event tomorrow, and then few more that are going to another event on Saturday. So, you know, helping just, you know, making it relatable for companies to understand. How do you bring people into your booth. How do you create excitement in the industry and and and guiding them along
Curt Anderson 17:04
that path? Right? Bring the right, bring the fun, bring the energy, bring the hype. I you know, just absolutely love it. And you know what? Right here, you’ve got social proof. You know, look at all these who’s who companies that you’re dealing with. And then right here, clear and concise, we have a duty to bridge the generational gaps in manufacturing, ensure the industry thrives into the future. I mean, you’re making it very concise, like, hey, this like you’re eating, drinking, breathing, sleeping. This is the message I’m going to have to
Jake Hall 17:32
bring you guys on, like some sales associates for me, or something like that. More events the way you’re talking, man,
Damon Pistulka 17:38
well, I mean, what you’re doing, Jake, is something that has been needed for probably decades, honestly, in the manufacturing industry. And I think that you’re just highlighting that people in the industry are starting to become aware of it. I mean, earlier you were talking about the collaboration effect. I mean, hell, we can walk through 100 manufacturers, like you said, within 100 miles, and 20, 3040, of them are doing the same thing, all thinking how special they are. And really, everybody is facing the same challenges using the same kind of technology. And there are some that are obviously different, but it’s largely the same. And working together, and niching down, as Curt likes to say, and really figuring out what we’re best at is is a huge thing, and there’s enough work for everyone to win.
Jake Hall 18:27
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. There’s, there’s plenty of opportunity for everyone, and it’s going to be legged out for the next decade.
Curt Anderson 18:35
Yep. Okay, so let’s slide over. So Jake, you just mentioned a couple posts that you, that you put out right my you guys see the screen right here? Yeah, got it, alright, so, Jake, I got a couple of posts here. What again, speak to like the manufacturer, you know, pretend they’re a client, or the manufacturer’s like, hey, you know, Jake, I’m not necessarily want to, you know, I’m not looking to get to 100,000 but, boy, I’d really like to stop being the best kept secret. Start talking about like, you know, we have an amazing, incredible team. We have some wonderful capabilities. We create killer products, but nobody knows about it. Just if, first off, if you want to just share again, like you’re mentioning your couple of your posts, and then let’s speak to that manufacturing. How do we get that party started? Yeah, I
Jake Hall 19:13
think, you know, the big, the biggest thing that I always tell companies is, don’t talk about your product. Talk about the problem that the industry is facing, and how what your approach is to solve it, right? People can relate to Well, first of all, people relate to people. People can understand problems. And then if people understand the people and can and can identify what the problem is, they can then go out and try and find a product. So the big thing that I always push for is people first problem second, your product comes third. And I really believe, if you highlight that through your social media strategy on what you’re trying to do in terms of content, and then also what you’re trying to do at trade shows and other events, I think, I think that’s like the big thing that I always. I always advocate what people should be doing and how they’re learning.
Damon Pistulka 20:05
And when you see companies do this, they’re the ones that you see really connecting with the with the audience, with the industry, with the people that they want to it’s because you know, as you said, we do business with people. You want to talk about the people in your company, how you know you’re working together, developing people and those kind of things. And as you work through that, you’re also going to be able to show those problems and then work right down the line to what you need to after that. But it’s the it’s, it’s so clear. I was looking through LinkedIn company profiles last week, and I was like, and I looked through several of them, and you can just see and feel it when they do it the right way? Yeah, 100%
Jake Hall 20:42
and I think that’s the big thing that, you know, like with visual components here, with with them, you know, I’ve been, I’ve been, they’ve been a phenomenal partner for three years now, and watching, not only they’ve learned how I approach it, that now they’re replicating it within their own team. So now they have their own team members and subject matter experts that are really pushing out content, and now all of a sudden, they’re creating content that’s on their own, getting 1000s and 1000s and 1000s of views by taking this new approach on how they tell a story. Yep, it’s awesome.
Curt Anderson 21:15
Absolutely love it. So alright, let’s grab Hey. Diane Byer says 100% Jake, bring the new generations. Why manufacturing matters. Appreciate you. And then hey, our dear friend. Timothy, he’s coming from across the pond, man. So my Curt broadcast, hey guy, Hello, Michael. Love everybody. Timothy, thank you for joining us, my friend, I know what is. I think it’s like one six. It’s like six o’clock, seven o’clock in the evening. Yeah, there you go. Appreciate you. And Diane says people are the problem solvers. People problems solutions. So and what? I’ll tell you what Diane was preaching on Friday. We’re all stronger together, right? So, Diane, thank you. Keep the comments coming. If you have any questions, let us know, Jake, you have 150 million views. Did I see that correctly? 100? Yeah, views. Give or take. Nice dude. What? Take us back. When do you remember? Was there a tipping point? When did you decide, like, Hey, I’m a manufacturer. I’m like, crushing it in automation. When did link LinkedIn get on your radar? And when did you say, like, hey, maybe,
Jake Hall 22:11
yeah, it’s here. It’s funny. I could actually go back to, let’s see here. Let’s, let’s do this well, well, we’ll bring you in behind the scenes and the craziness that Jake has, all right? We’ll go, we’ll go under the hood of like. So I have every post that I’ve ever made on LinkedIn, like, categorized by color, content, list, engagements, hashtags, and so I could go back to, like, one of the first posts that I, that I did right here, and let’s see. So it was, yeah, we’re still here. Where did everybody go, you know? So obviously, you know, this is when they shut things down. This is when everyone was working to go work from home, you know. I threw a meme in there and said, Oh, Where did everybody go, you know, and, and, and we turned it into that. And then that was your very, very first post. Oh, my first post.
Speaker 1 23:08
Yeah, that’s hilarious. And
Curt Anderson 23:11
that’s like, that’s when the world shut down. Was like that,
Jake Hall 23:14
like, that week, right? Yeah, and so, oh, happy. Posts probably are dead. I know LinkedIn has a horrible thing where they like to delete old posts, yeah? So, um yeah, this would have been Monday, I think. So Friday. We made that post. Monday, this post came out. Yeah, here we go. So, you know, as well as things, hey, we’re shutting things down. This is all we’re doing. Hey, we’re still doing stuff. We’re still be available for zoom calls, phone calls and other ways, you know. So we made these posts like things started to change a little bit, when then all of a sudden, I went from home, I went into the shop, and I raided the demo room, and I brought back just tons and tons of demos of when I was doing stuff in and the automation space, and yeah, and went out there, and I just started telling stories and working from home. And then, you know, it was one of those things where, you know, I started that highlighting different manufacturing videos and and it was, it was a really fun story to see how things are changing. And then, like, doing memes and posts, and here’s like, here’s like, another fun one that I did, yeah, right, right here, where I went out there and I made a beer opening robot video back in, you know, 2020, this Robot, I was awesome. Made a beer open, you know, so it was. It was one of those things where it was, it was a lot of fun to learn, like, what people want to engage with. But like, from that Excel sheet, I started to learn, what did people like to see, what was engaging to them, what what were their comments? And then all of a sudden, you can look at it over time. Uh, where, hey, I had a post. My first post had 936 views, you know, and but then, like, okay, let’s fast forward, you know, three months. Now I’m averaging two to 3000 views. Let’s fast forward, you know, six months, seven months, okay, now I’m averaging 8000 9000 you know, views per post. And then, you know, you hop into 2020, 21 and 2022, and all of a sudden, ravaging, 20,000 30,000 40,000 you know, it varies. LinkedIn algorithm is so weird, right now, where I’ll get one post? I had one post last week that got 875,000 views. Yeah, one post, yeah, almost a million views. And then I’ll make another post the next day that’ll get like, 9000 and I’m like, What is going on here, you know? But anyways, it’s one of those things where it’s, it’s, it’s a constant battle, but, but for me, at the end of the day, my goal, when I’m creating content, and what, how I encourage other companies is, don’t make content that’s going to create a conversation, right? And people want to engage with if you, if you create a piece of content that is so like, narrow minded and focused, where you’re like, I want to target like these three people, or these three job titles, what’s going to happen is it’s not going to resonate with anybody else on the LinkedIn platform. So when LinkedIn goes out there and they blast into the first 200 people who we’re gonna see on your feet, and it doesn’t resonate with them. They’re not gonna recommend your post to anyone else. I think that’s what a lot of people need to realize, is, yeah, just because the company follows you doesn’t mean LinkedIn is actually going to show you their post. How Lincoln’s algorithm currently works is so you have your post, your post would go out to a couple 100 people, depending on the percentage of those people of that 200 that likes that post, they’ll figure out, okay, if enough people like this post, we’re going to recommend it to more, then we’ll recommend some more. We’ll recommend to more. But if 200 people looked at that post and not one single person liked, stopped engaged to read it, they’re not going to show it to anyone else, because obviously the people that did see it didn’t like it like, that’s why it’s so important. When you’re going out there and creating content, you need to understand that. You need to drive engagement first, educate second.
Damon Pistulka 27:11
Yeah, that’s why I think, you know, like your beer opening robot thing had to do really well, because you need to look at some of these. Yeah, you can go and people can do you can go to Instagram, you can go YouTube. You can look at similar videos from the industry and really go, Okay, what’s going to stop and engage people? And then how do I go beyond that with the text and other things that are in the post?
Curt Anderson 27:33
100% 100% Alright, let’s, let’s take it. Let’s take it a step further. Jake, so for the manufacturer out there, you said, to engage, first, educate Second. Okay, so let’s say, like, you know, there’s, you know, I mean, a manufacturer, like, something really hardcore, geeky metrology, right? Like, like, something, you know, like, well, we’re different, you know. Like, how do you know? And the thing is, when it comes down to everybody’s different in some capacity, right? Yeah, like, nobody has an unfair advantage, disadvantage, or whatever. How do you help your clients? Kind of like, what’s, what’s step one to help create a net that engagement to kind of get things
Jake Hall 28:10
going, um, step one is we ask, what, what problem are they solving in the industry? Like, that’s one of the first things. Like, I always ask, what problem are you trying to solve in the industry, because if, if a if I’m working and I’m sitting now with a new client, and they can’t tell me what they’re trying to what they’re solving, there’s no way we can tell a story that relates to people when they don’t even identify what they want to do. You know, I’ll still have a company and say, Oh, we’re a new software company that’s helping manufacturers be more efficient. What do they need to be more efficient at? You know, what? What are they trying? What are they what is keeping them up at night? And then, how are you specifically doing that? Tell me how. Tell me a story on how you do that. A lot of times these companies are out here and they’re like, Well, we really haven’t done that yet. And I’m like, I can’t, for me as an individual, I can’t go out there and help you guys with promotion and drive what you’re doing when you can’t even give me an example of how you’ve done it. And I say, and a lot of times, I’ll go back and I’ll say, do stuff, check back in with me in six months. Let’s see where you’re at, you know, and go from there. Like, the other thing like too, is like, I help companies out if they’re not, if they, as a company, aren’t even active on LinkedIn, I immediately don’t, I don’t do the partnership, because for me, my whole goal is to drive brand awareness and drive traction, to to their subject matter experts, to their leaders and their company. If all of a sudden I’m going to create a really post that’s engaging, and then people will click on their company, and they’ve posted twice in the last six months. People are like, What the heck is this? You know, it’s a completely lost opportunity for it’s like going to a trade show, but then talking to people, but then never getting any business card to follow up with them on, right? It doesn’t you invest 1000s and 1000s of 1000s of dollars and then do anything with it,
Curt Anderson 29:54
right? It’s a, just a bare, just a an empty trade booth, right? It just got. Enough, exactly, right? Yeah. How so let me, let me switch gears. I’m going to how do you, how do you attack your content? Like, how do you create? Like, you’re so creative, you put out so much amazing content. How do you like, what keeps your fire burning? Or, how did that creative juices? Like, how do you, how do you keep that
Jake Hall 30:17
going? How do I keep my creative? Well, I create my creative juices flowing by Sugar Free Red Bull. You know,
Curt Anderson 30:25
there’s a plug right there, right? Yeah, sponsor of yours,
Jake Hall 30:28
Red Bull is fine, yeah. You know, it’s one of those things where, how do I create the Creative Juice going I create the Creative Juice going by going to events and talking to people like for me, I get the pulse on the industry by understanding what’s happening like so, like I said, I had two robots that just got picked up from my house, you know, 45 minutes ago. Now, the person that picked it up is one of the biggest is a head of outreach for the engineering program for Grand Valley State University. Those are robots are going to a university event for this week. So I talked to her, how’s the co ops doing? What are the co op programs seeing? You know? What are manufacturers seeing? They say, Well, you know, this is good, this is bad. We’re hearing this. Manufacturers are saying this. So immediately, I just got insight to, you know, what? 3030 manufacturing companies who are part of the Co Op program here in West Michigan, how they’re doing, how they’re feeling, what they’re struggling with, what the pulse is, how are they in sales this year, I got all that a 25 minute conversation by picking up robots in my driveway. Like, so for me, when I’m going out there and how do I keep things going? It’s continued conversation, asking questions. Like, right? That that for me, I know of what’s happening. So like, I was at Fabtech last week, walked the show for for a few days, had some great networking events, talk to people from that I got like 15 new content ideas from just talking to people on ideas what they’re looking for. And so I go back home, I start editing, I start researching, start talking with some great people in the industry who who’ve been around for in the industry longer than I’ve been alive and and, you know, just continuing to push forward on new ideas. Awesome.
Curt Anderson 32:10
All right, just keep asking. So let me ask you this. Do you you mentioned educating? You’re engaging. You 50 events that you’re doing this year? Do you like do you feel? Are you constantly changing hats? Are you an entertainer? Are you an educator? Are you an advocate for the manufacturing, like, who, what?
Jake Hall 32:27
You got to be, all those things, right? You got, you got to be, you have to be where you can’t just be an entertainer, because that’s you can’t an entertainer is a short there’s a short lived thing, right? You can’t be entertaining. You are very entertaining,
Curt Anderson 32:43
though, Jake,
Jake Hall 32:44
oh, yeah, so you could be entertaining, but like, at the same time, you can’t just be an educator, right? Because we go to events and you’re the economics person. Speak while this information can be valuable, everyone’s falling asleep 15 minutes into it, because a person’s being at a very monotone just slide after slide after slide with just line graphs and data, right? So you need to be you need to be entertaining, you need to be educational, you need to be personable. You need to tell stories. Like for me, the biggest value that I that I think I bring is, yes, I share a lot of social media, but like, I don’t talk about 90% of stuff that’s happening behind the scenes when I’m going into manufacturers on a weekly basis, doing tours, having calls, having discussions, having people reach out to me, to for you know, ideas and directions on who to talk with. Like, that’s that’s where my value goes behind. So when I go and I give these keynote presentations at these events, I can just bring a plethora of information where people are just like, holy cow, like when you saw Curt, what we’re at the industrial marketing summit in Austin, right? You go out there, you know? And I had a jam packed 45 minute session, um, all these LinkedIn strategies that probably, I would say, majority of the audience there had no idea existed what LinkedIn was doing. Why that matters? Even though most people’s full time jobs are social media managers, right? You know, it’s my, my goal is to bring that value to the industry, to make it worthwhile. So when a person sees my posts are like, that was worth the 90 seconds I stopped to watch and read or watch a video on that post. Yeah?
Curt Anderson 34:16
All right, going off script, I’m going to come back. I’m going to dive into AI with you. I want to, that’s, you know, obviously can’t You can’t be a market. You can’t be you can’t be alive and not talk about AI right now. Yeah, before again, like manufacture, engineer, manufacturing, I’ve seen you speak multiple times. We’ve done events together. I And I’m, you know, dude, whether I’m trying to pump up your ego or not, you are a gifted speaker. You’re engaging. I like and I, when I see speakers, I’m always dissecting them from, like, you know, the like, how they present, how they’re, you know, the content, but more like, you know, you know, your whole demeanor on stage was just phenomenal. Was it? Was it, and we’re talking about a little bit before we went live, was it on your radar? Like, hey, I’m going to be this. The. 50 times a year. Keynote speaker like, how does that
Jake Hall 35:03
happen? No, um, I mean, it had happened through, I would talk through videos, you know, back in 2020, on, on, on LinkedIn, just talking to a camera recording Microsoft Windows editor, yeah, yeah, you know, and, and literally ripping down a four inch bottle fluorescent light fixture to use as a polite now, I have multiple lights here, yeah, you know, but, but for me, it was one of those things where I did that, and then, you know, people said, Hey, could you come to a trade show and speak for a small session? So I went to a trade show. Talked to 1520, people. But what person in those crowd trying to work for association or something like that, saying, Hey, can you talk about this and come to our association? Then from there to there to there, it just, it just became word of mouthware, right? You know it was. It was one of those things where it was. It was a very organic um process for me, like, I’ve never gone out there to do, like, external, like, um, marketing for for me to go work with stuff. I have such a backlog on stuff right now. Um, I’m booked halfway through 2020,
Curt Anderson 36:17
you know, Jake a couple more times. And so it is. So I find I again, I just find your career so fascinating and like it wasn’t intention, like you’re the accidental keynote speaker, which I find fascinating. Again, I’m gonna go off script for a second. Our friends out there who have a job, or they’re thinking, maybe, you know, hey, you know what? I wouldn’t mind being an entrepreneur. Again, you run the show in 22 you were you’re making that transition. As a matter of fact, if you don’t, I remember, like you told me. You told Damon i How many clients, two girls you have, two girls. You’re working full time. Like you told us the number of clients you had that day. I remember the number. It was a lot. I’m like, Dude, do you ever sleep? Talk about the transition. So, you know, your guy, you have, you know, family responsibilities for somebody out there. Like, man, I wouldn’t mind. I’d love to take that entrepreneurial leap. Was it? Yeah, scary, exciting. Like, what was that transition like for you?
Jake Hall 37:15
It was the transition. Just the transition was exhausted and and, you know, they fully, you know, I, I was, I was in the right, at least what I do, industry, advocates, influencers, whatever you want to call them. You know, there really wasn’t anyone out there doing it. You know, the only person I really talked to was like, Chris Luke at the time. Like, what was Chris and I? Chris was running, you know, his, his podcast time, manufacturing, happy hour. But there really wasn’t like, at least on LinkedIn, this, this, like, advocate, person, you know. So I got really lucky, I would say, being, you know, one of the first, if not really the first, to go full time with, with this, you know, May, there’s be author. I love to talk with him if, if they were, they were out there doing it before I was but you know, for me it was, it was a unique experience, because there really wasn’t a script that you could follow, right? You had to go to manufacturers and and they would, they would hear about me, then you would have the marketing person, and then management come and meet with me, would set up a call. And management was super skeptical, because for the last 30 years, his idea of marketing was with, you know, Google, Google ads and stuff like that. But the idea of of sending money to an individual to talk about a company was, was brand new, especially in the B to B manufacturing space. Mean, B to C influencing has been around for, you know, a decade before that, and it’s massive on Instagram and Tik Tok and YouTube. But for for automation and manufacturing, it’s very unique. So walking them through why that matters, why those personal stuff matter. And then at the end of the conversation, they were on board with him. You know, I think for me, one of the biggest things that that I would say drove value for what I was doing is I had a decade of sales experience of already talking to these people. Maybe it was different people, where I was talking more of marketing leadership before I was talking with engineering and operations and and decision makers. That way, by the end of the day, it’s I had to identify to them, offer helps drive solutions and why it makes sense and and for them, you know, for me, it’s been great where I really and, you know, the three years I’ve been doing this full time, to five years since I started, like, I’ve never really done any type of external marketing. Like, I’ve never had to go to a client and be like, work, work with me. Every single one has come to me, which is just great, because it shows that, um. So it works. What I’m doing is, is, is authentic, it’s engageable. I don’t It’s, well, it’s one of those things for me where at the end of the day, when people, we people happen to call, I hopped on an earlier one today, and I was like, yeah, so this is it, you know, let me know. And they’re like, that’s it. Like, yeah, if you, if you don’t see the value of why you should your company is not ready for it yet. But for me, though, I don’t want to work with a partner who’s not excited about about this new idea of trying social stuff, like, if the company’s not on board and leadership is not on board, I know whatever I do is going to be under a microscope the entire time, and I’m going to have to convince even after the contract is signed, in case things a certain way. And if you’re not on board for that, that means what I’m trying to do just does is they’re not ready for it. And and sometimes, you know, it’s one of those things where it’s either company doesn’t understand it. Budgets not there. Their social media pages are over there. They don’t have the content that’s available and ready for it. There’s multiple factors. But the end of the day, you know, I’m very, I’m very honest with companies, and I’ll just say, Hey, you’re not. I take the money, but honestly, I That’s not how I work. Save the money or or try this other influencer, try this other person, spend that money, and right now you should be using those $3,000 or whatever the pricing you know is out there, and say you really should just focus on building your own content strategy right now. Take That time you working with me and go build out three months of content for your own platforms. You’re going to get a much better ROI work with
Curt Anderson 41:44
me on a post. Dude, drop, drop the mic again. If you don’t mind, I’m going to grab your website again. You know, guys, we’re here with Jake. Call the manufacturer millennial. Check out Jake at his website. We’ve got m, F, G, M, I, l.com, again. You can go to LinkedIn, and I think on here, you’ve got somewhere on here, forgive me, like 82% of what’s the 82% number? You know what I’m talking about, the engineers.
Jake Hall 42:09
Oh, boy, I can’t remember.
Curt Anderson 42:13
Somewhere on here. You’ve got 82 let me go over to your LinkedIn page. But you’ve got somewhere 82% of engineers are doing their research online?
Jake Hall 42:21
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I had to figure out exactly where that’s at. But yeah, I mean, the whole the whole story is you need to realize that, while I don’t want to say it’s the death of the salesman, people need to realize that they don’t need to call a salesperson anymore to go and find a product. Do they have to deal with somebody, right this next generation of engineers and designers and people leadership, they would much rather hop on Google, hop on chat, GPT, hop on YouTube and learn and problem solve and download the cat or whatever they need and keep moving throughout the where, I would say the older generation said, you know, caught up and said, Hey, can you come in here next Thursday? I got a question on a sensor. I gotta catch a question on camera or on a party. You know, that’s, that’s how, that’s how they did things then and and we’re doing different things now, and more people are active on social media than I never been
Curt Anderson 43:13
more. And I want to, I want to really emphasize what you’re saying, Jake, so when people reach out to you, like it’s, not a code like you’re not cold calling your inbound marketing with your whole presence. And when people, my goodness, if people don’t know Jay call like they obviously, yeah, you know, you’ve got hundreds of 1000s of videos, so much content out there that they feel like they know you by the time before you pick up the phone or have that first interaction, don’t they feel like they already know you?
Jake Hall 43:39
Right? Yeah, absolutely. And that’s the goal, right? The goal, the goal is to make the process of what I do as easy as possible, and, and, and it’s, it’s authentic. You know, that’s what I’m doing, is it’s, it’s, I try to be as authentic and as real as person as possible, and that’s why people engage the content. So when I’m telling a story, they see it’s real. They see it’s authentic. And what
Curt Anderson 44:00
you’re doing. Jake, so when you’re talking to your manufacturers like you’re selling a service, you’re selling your expertise, your energy, you know, everything, your education, everything that we talked about. But if the same process works, whether you’re selling widgets, whether you’re selling half a million dollar pieces of equipment, selling $2 whatever, I mean, if you know, doesn’t matter if it’s a widget or a service, you’re selling yourself? Yeah, absolutely. That’s a point. I want to we’ll start winding down. I want to keep you all day AI. When I say, AI, what are you hearing? What’s word on the street? What’s it doing for Jake, call for the manufacturing millennial. Where are you at with AI?
Jake Hall 44:33
I mean, AI for me is, is, is a great resource. Like, when I’m going out there and I’m building infographics and education. Like I’m running through a series right now highlighting all the different manufacturers in different states and doing state highlights on it. Tomorrow, I’m going to have them go out on, I think, Wisconsin systems integrators and robotic manufacturers. So for me, like going out into AI, I created, I written, AI agents and chat GPT. So when I want. Do a different state. I already have all of my specifications written in the agent. And then, so when I’m ready to do the next date, I just simply say, follow the sequence for the state of this and then it will print out all the information that I need, all the specific specifications that I’m looking for. I mean, so, so ai, ai is, you know, I’m able to do my job. And as a, as a one, you know, individual shop, because I have AI agents who are doing seven or eight other jobs for me, yeah, you know, on, on a daily, on a daily basis, like, I still write my LinkedIn posting. That’s something that I, I really enjoy doing, is, is writing all of my posts and content. Um, but AI is a great research tool, because I can pull together. I can designate where I want to get the information from. I can target specific accounts. And it’s one of those things where it’s it’s Google, but it’s smart and and how complex information you still got to go back and, obviously, and and we do that stuff, you got to do due diligence when it comes to that stuff. But if you were to hire a a one or two year industry veteran in the industry and ask them to do this, you know, Chad GBT is going to be doing what that, what that person could be doing in and seconds instead of days of information collection.
Curt Anderson 46:20
Yeah, it’s wild. Hey, Diana’s got a comment. Manufacturing industry is full of incredibly talented and creative people and innovations. In order to advocate for the industry and manufacturers, we need to highlight our industry with great enthusiasm. No one likes boring. Drop the mic. Diana couldn’t agree more. Damon, as we start winding down thoughts, comments. You know a little bit about LinkedIn, right?
Damon Pistulka 46:44
Yeah, I’ve done a couple things on LinkedIn, but I really like your your approach, Jake and man, I tell you, for the companies that are waking up and really understanding how this can help them be more engaged with their people, their community and and those great customers that they’re looking for. I just think it’s a wonderful opportunity, and then switching into AI when we look at that, and if we can help those people in the industry, and specifically in the marketing part of it, in the industry, they don’t need to know nearly as much technically to be able to help them get some things going that can can really make a big difference in how those companies are viewed, how many views, if that’s important to them, and really, more than anything, how their message to their people in the community and potential customers. It’s so good. So much fun.
Curt Anderson 47:40
All right, Jake, couple, we’ll let you get on with your day, because you’re saving us manufacturing single handedly. Any What did I not ask you today? Is there anything? Any tips, advice?
Jake Hall 47:50
What? Man, I you? You are you just crushed it, dude.
Curt Anderson 47:55
Hey, thanks, Jake. I appreciate that. There you go. Curt, good. Rising Tides. Lift all ships. Man, yeah, when you hang out with Jake Hall. So speaking of advice, Jake as an entrepreneur, god, did you ever think like when you’re in college as an engineer? Did you ever think you’d be an entrepreneur? Did you ever see this happening? Well, in college, I was doing business pitch competitions. You okay? So you got it
Jake Hall 48:18
in college, I want to say I probably did about I got, probably got I paid for half my college by doing business.
Curt Anderson 48:27
Oh, did you really? Oh, Wow, impressive, dude. Yeah, you’re like, Shark Tank before Shark Tank, or was Shark Tank?
Jake Hall 48:33
Yeah, exactly. So I went out there. I went a couple Michigan supplement. I probably got raised $35,000 in business pitch competitions for all that stuff. So, yeah, we were out there. We were out there rocking it, making it so, yeah. I mean, in college, I knew that I love the idea of stuff. That’s why, when and in college my first job was in sales, like I knew right away, people was the direction that I wanted to keep going in. And it’s never changed in the, you know, 12 years since I graduated college, what I’m doing?
Curt Anderson 49:02
Well, it’s tough in your night when you’re an introvert like yourself, right? Yeah, gotta get out of your show a little bit. I know, right? I know. And by the way, Jake, as mere fact, as soon we got to get going, because I got my daughter’s in college, I got it like, hey, guess what? Guess what? You’re going to start doing a pay for college, right? You just gave me a great idea. Love it. What’s that you mentioned? Advice, best business advice that you’ve ever received and or that you would love to pass on to an entrepreneur out there, best business advice that you feel that you’ve received that you would love to pass along.
Jake Hall 49:36
There’s two. Um, well, my first one would have been from when I was on industrial control by marker tanker. He was, he was the guy that really mentored me growing up, right? Was right out of college. He said, Do it right. Get it done. Like for him, his philosophy was, if there’s something in your inbox, just do it now. Don’t wait to do it. Later, and so like that was, that was one thing for me where, you know, I never went to bed with a question in my inbox that I then needed to forward off the next morning. Like for me, I, yeah, I worked. I probably worked more hours than than you should have, or what, you know, I worked. I worked outside the hours I was being paid. Yeah, but I would also say, because of that work ethic, it’s got me where I am today and what I do. You know, it’s that. It’s always that balance of, No, you shouldn’t work for free, but if you’re working for if you’re doing something in which you see is creating future value that will be carried with you as an individual. That is where, that is where it goes. So, so, so, you know, get it done. No is, is one thing and then the other one was from another one of my mentors, Steve zamaki, back when I was at FZ. And he said, regardless of the status communicate, and I think I think that was a big one for me too, was regardless of if it was good news or bad news, communication is always news. And I think I closed so many deals that way, because regardless of even if the news wasn’t great, I would still call the person saying, Hey, I don’t got good news for you, but I don’t want you to be thinking today, when Jake gonna call me? Yeah. And I had those, I had those tough calls where I would be calling a person every morning at 830 and say, Hey, not good news, but here’s your news. And it sucked. But at the end of that, though, when the next project came up, we want it, even though there’s a lot of learning to walk away because he says, I know you’re going to communicate through me. And like, it’s like, the biggest thing that I was people always, you know, go out there and and they’re afraid to communicate when it’s not great. But I said, but if you communicate, people will never assume what you’re thinking of what you’re doing behind their back. Yeah, yep,
Speaker 1 52:18
I was dead, or dig it, or dropping them.
Curt Anderson 52:22
You know, it was coming, right? It was coming.
Speaker 1 52:27
It came before. I should just,
Curt Anderson 52:30
just throw it, yeah, I gotta. I got this new I, you know, if I drop back, Jake, that All right, so get her done. I’m just gonna summarize, get it done. Get it done now and communicate over. Communicate, just communicate, right?
Jake Hall 52:45
Yeah, man, if you do those two things in life, you’re gonna be, you’re gonna be ahead of 90% the other people. That’s right.
Curt Anderson 52:50
Okay, last question for you, my friend, we’ll let you run. You’re not a baseball fan by any chance. No, no whatsoever, right?
Jake Hall 52:58
Just no, okay, no. I mean, I mean, I mean, here’s the thing that we’re kind of in football season now, so now, now I gotta switch between, like, you know, my, my, my, here we go, my, my cubs hat, and then my sign. Brad Holmes, Detroit, Lions hat, you know. So it really, you know, depending on, like, yesterday, I had lions crushing the bears, taking Ben Johnson, taking his lungs out, shoving it in his throat, and then making a needle again, because that’s who Ben Johnson is. Um, Ben Johnson kicks. You know? That’s what, that’s why. That’s what I think about the Chicago Bears. Coaches, he kicks, but he kicks puppies and steals Cadillac converts from people’s cars.
Curt Anderson 53:50
Dave and I, like, I don’t know if you have two bigger dog fanatics, if he kicks puppies. Man, like,
Jake Hall 53:57
sure, that’s, that’s who Ben Johnson is as
Curt Anderson 54:00
an individual. Right
Jake Hall 54:02
at the Tigers? Just out of curiosity, the Tigers, you know, tigers. Tigers is an American League team. So for me, it’s one of those things, you know, the family and my wife’s a big Chicago Cubs fan, so you know, we’re having that. But moving into Michigan, you know, I still share the Detroit Tigers. I got a Detroit Tigers hat around here somewhere because their local their local affiliate team, the West Michigan white couch, which actually has the best record professional baseball right now. They’re a double A seating team for the Detroit Tigers. So we go to plenty of tigers games. The kids go out there. It’s a great fit. Their ballpark should be. LMC, you still under fifth, third? LMC, you ballpark. You know, $2 dogs, $2 beers on Thursday nights we rock.
Curt Anderson 54:42
They were that it was, there’s an article in Wall Street last week about that team right winning this team in United States right now. Yeah, yeah.
Damon Pistulka 54:55
Like so, yeah, if, if people haven’t experienced minor league baseball. Really need to. We went to a high a game this weekend too, and it’s just like, man, it’s so much fun.
Jake Hall 55:05
Yeah, it is, it is, yeah. So the Yeah, we’ve, we play. I forgot, I think tomorrow night, oh yeah, we could win our first championship tomorrow night since 2015 So, yeah, we’re, we are we’re ready to, I think we’re going to win. Yeah, we would win the the the minors, double A major league baseball championship tomorrow night, and Grand Rapids. Well, gradually I’m going to see if I can get tickets to go to that game. That is, I might take our kids to some baseball
Curt Anderson 55:38
tomorrow night, and you’ve got Atlanta on Wednesday. So all right, Jake, let’s do this. Let’s wind down. And so guys, please connect with Jake on LinkedIn. Do your favor. Follow him perfect. We have a client who has like 26 followers, and I gave him your LinkedIn this morning. I said, connect with this guy. He’ll help you get up to 100 so look, there we go. But alright, baseball. Quick question for you, ready? And I asked Luke this one. So I wanted to ask you this. I don’t think I asked you this last time. You ready? Okay, cubs are playing the dreaded St Louis Cardinals. You’re lucky cardinals, right? So the playing the Cardinals, it’s a bottom of ninth. It’s a tight score, okay? Tie score, bottom of ninth. There’s a guy on second base for the Cubs. We’ve got to get that winning run in for the Cubs. You with me? Uh huh. The manager looks down the bench and says, Hey, Hall. Justin Turner, thank you. No. He turns on the he turns on the bench, and he says, Hey, Jake Hall, oh. Jake Hall, Okay, grab your helmet, grab your bat, get up to the plate, hitting the winning run. Yeah. So you get off the bench, you grab your helmet, grab your bat, you’re walking up to the plate and smashing that winning run beat the dreaded Cardinals. What’s your walk up song?
Jake Hall 56:50
What’s the walk up song, um, Eminem, lose yourself, mom, spaghetti. I’m throwing up and I’ll be leading. I’ll be leading into that plate as hard as I can, hopefully get hit by a pitch, so then the guy behind me can then get not something again, because I will do nothing on that one. I’ll be leaning into that play as hard as I can to get whacked by a 98 mile an hour fastball. Yeah, right in the back, yeah. And then Justin Turner can
Curt Anderson 57:17
come up behind me and then see, see how selfless he is. Damon, just pure self awareness. Team Player, he’ll give it to Justin Turner. So anyway, Jake, great answer. Thank you, my friend, for playing along. Dude. Find Jake on LinkedIn. Find him on the website. Guys, we went for 57 minutes. If you’ve been sitting with us the entire time, it’s a great time to stand up and stretch and give Jake a huge, roaring round of applause, Jake, Thank you, Brother, you’re just an amazing guy, great dad. Two young ladies in your life, we admire you. Appreciate you. Damon, closing thoughts, what do you got?
Damon Pistulka 57:53
I think if you got in this late, you just need to go back to the beginning and see what Jake has to say. He is out there doing it, showing manufacturers.
Curt Anderson 58:07
You got it all right. Thank you. Appreciate you, man. All right. Guys, have a great rest of your week. We’ll see you soon. Hang out with us one sec, Jake, you.