What Does PROGRESSIVE Growth Look Like for Small to Medium-Sized Businesses

Curt Anderson  00:01

Hey Damon. Oh, Jesus. Dude, I can’t see anything.

Damon Pistulka  00:06

I was wondering I was gonna ask you about the Eclipse today because you’re in a pretty good spot to see it, aren’t you?

Curt Anderson  00:12

I am in I’m right in the path of totality. You know the bummer is it’s like it’s totally cloudy like yesterday on the sky. It was like perfect. And I don’t even know about I’m still gonna wear that. How do I look? Damon? How do you look? Great. You look great. Thank you. I might I might that’s my new look. I’m gonna be wearing these on the show from now on. I man it’s the eclipse day. What a perfect What perfect timing to have this young guy on the show and Eclipse state Damon, are you did you get a good night’s sleep? I did too. Okay, are you ready? Are you sitting down? Is everybody sit down for this? Are you ready? All right, man. We have the one this is so long overdue. We have the one the only we have Jacob Sanchez. At the Upstate How are you doing?

Jacob Sanchez  01:01

You are You are killing me. First of all, I’m glad that you didn’t say the bummer was that you have to be here in this podcast. I’m glad it was the clouds. And then number two. Your intros man remind me of the manufacturing culture podcast with Jim Mayer. He does he’s insane insurance and I love it.

Curt Anderson  01:23

Well, you know when you get to this age, it’s Damon’s what we do, right. So. Yeah, I’m so 318 Eastern time man is totally Eclipse camp Wayne. And so speaking of you know, for a guy that just really brings the heat right, lights up the world, Jacob Sanchez. Dude, you’re doing so much we got a lot to cover today. We’re gonna talk about your background. You’re just you’re the Gen Z representative of manufacturing. I

Jacob Sanchez  01:51

like to think so. Before we go

Curt Anderson  01:53

there, Damon, I have a question for him. I have a question. Jacob. Are you ready? You’re ready for this one. Okay, little guy growing up like Dude, you’re just a fierce networker. You’re all over the place content creator, automation guy all the above. When you were little guy growing up? Who was your hero? Who was your hero when you’re a little guy growing up.

Jacob Sanchez  02:14

The earliest like, hero I can remember was when Iron Man first came out. And it was and it was Tony Stark. And but it’s funny because the reason that I liked him and like I was never like an inventor or anything growing up. I wasn’t smart in school. I wasn’t techie. I was this little, like, hooligan that like in kindergarten, I got in trouble because I took over the place at one day, apparently. And I made kids pay me and bark to use the slide. It In my defense, the bark was everywhere. But when one of the kids didn’t pay me a bark, he was like, I’m not gonna pay you. Apparently, I shoved him off the place that so I was always really to deal. And so I was never, there was never good role models for that. But Iron Man when I first saw that, I thought it was so cool. Just like the stuff that like who Tony Stark was. And then how it compared to like him being Iron Man. I thought it was so cool. But I knew that like it was fake. And I knew that like inventors aren’t real engineering. Art isn’t real. Like that was my mindset was like, Oh, that’s so cool. He can make stuff. Like, I’ll never be able to do that. But that’s cool that he does. And that’s why he was my hero is because to me, it was just like, never gonna happen, you know, man, oh,

Curt Anderson  03:30

my goodness gracious. What

Damon Pistulka  03:32

a great answer. And now look at Yeah,

Curt Anderson  03:35

you know, he’s kind of he’s kind of Tony Stark. He’s got that. Look. I was at the gym yesterday and they were showing a little clip of one of the one of the and I saw Ironman center. So perfect analogy. Now, Damon, you know for you know, when I was a little kid Ironman, right? Like when you and I were little kids were watching like a lone ranger black and white. Jacob, I love how you’ve got Iron Man. That’s just Tony Stark, great answer. So let’s dive right in here. So for a guy that just really just passionate about manufacturing huge US manufacturer and advocate. We’re going to dive into all the exciting things that you have going on right now. What inspired you was it a What or who inspired you to kind of bring your passion, your skills, your talents into the world of manufacturing.

Jacob Sanchez  04:18

I mean, it was more so the way that I got into manufacturing like growing up in my small. We weren’t like poverty, but it was lower income area in California. I had to move because we had to follow my mom’s job wherever she went. So I had to move to this rich part of California an hour and a half away from my family and stuff. And when I tried to get into my classes my freshman year for high school, I obviously tried to get into easy classes because I just wanted to get the heck out of high school. So I signed up for cooking class like everybody else, and it was full and what happens is they throw you in or whatever is open for an elective and I got thrown into the engineering class, the machine shop class. Wow. And I was pissed. I I sat in the back of the classroom with the with the skater kids and the other hooligans, and I was like, I’m just gonna screw around. Um, so long story short with that I didn’t like going home a lot. And I asked the teacher, hey, if I stay here and clean that stuff you have in that shop, can I stay after school? And he said, Yes, he started teaching me things. While I was cleaning. I started learning outside of the classroom outside of the computers. I made my first ring on a manual lathe teacher saw and was like, Where’d you buy that? I said, I made it. He had the shock looked on his face. And after that, man, I don’t know after that. And I made something for the first time. I went all into that course I spent every day every night I spent weekends in there from freshman to senior year, I relentlessly did that, and then track and field that was my life in high school. And I don’t know, so it was just kind of the teacher. It was the teacher, it was certain teachers that believed in me and believed in skilled trades. It was my track coach, that instilled just like this leadership in me, all of those people combined kind of just made me want to keep going. Because I didn’t know dude, I was terrible at math. I didn’t know how to do this stuff. But I was doing it and I was making things. People were impressed. I was going to state competition SkillsUSA I was talking to I got to represent our school and our award ceremony for CTE states, representatives from 32 states at 16 and a half, um, got in with titans of CNC Academy and I don’t know dude, like I just, to me, it was like, there was no other option but this for me. And people kind of don’t understand when I say that, but like, there was nothing else like I don’t know, I don’t know what I’d be doing. If I didn’t move to that school. Or if I didn’t stay in that class. I don’t know. Isn’t that

Curt Anderson  06:53

bananas? Man? Just Just think if you don’t, alright, so my moves, you move to an hour and a half away different.

Jacob Sanchez  07:01

I had the choice. I had the choice between two schools to I could have not picked that school. I could have picked the other one. So that’s the thing too. Yeah.

Curt Anderson  07:10

That is, oh, my goodness, Jacob. That is so good. And just, I mean, like, you think about like, you know, Tom Brady never picking up a football. You know, Michael Jordan or Kobe never picking up a basketball. You know, here’s like these little pivots in life. Were like, Wow, do I want this school or that school? I go to this school. I’m going to take cooking class, hang out with other skateboarders in the back. And like, I get dumped into this class. And like 10 years later, here you are. I mean, that is just crazy.

Damon Pistulka  07:38

You discover something that you never knew that is the cool thing about it. Yeah. You just put it and then it liquid, it can’t became. Yeah,

Jacob Sanchez  07:47

so I’m a first generation machinist and a first generation engineer and my family so

Curt Anderson  07:52

Alright, so let’s Alright, so thank you for sharing that Jacob. Great story. Now you mentioned titans of CNC Let’s talk. Let’s let’s go there. And then we’re gonna dive into where your what what was next in your in your chapter? Let’s go from there.

Jacob Sanchez  08:04

Yeah, yeah, Tennessee and see. So my school was like one of the first schools they ever started the Academy. And so before the website before that, because they had a major TV show in California. Titan Gilroy, himself is a major leader in CNC machining started his own business. his backstory is insane. So look him up. But yeah, so it started with my school outside of the prison system, because he actually started this academy in the prison system in San Quentin. And so then it got started in my school, and he wanted to see hey, we’re trying to start a website, see if your kids can make this stuff. One of the his foreman there, Stewart McConaughy, he came to my school and was my mentor. And so that’s how I got brought into Titan right out of high school. So they hired me I worked with him since I was 16. But they hired me like officially at 18 So I went straight into the machining world for one of probably the Top Shop in California. Making aerospace medical water with called like ag or agricultural parts, all kinds of stuff, right automotive. And that that was fluid we were still a full blown machine shop and then eventually he’s like, Hey guys, we’re gonna start getting paid to make videos not parts. So learn how to do social media. And so then then we started going down the hole dropping the academy website, doing more on YouTube doing more on Instagram, doing educational videos for machinists and showing off products and so that was another spiral that I had no idea how to do with social media stuff. That would that journey was from officially 18 to around 21 is when I left when when after we moved to Texas.

Curt Anderson  09:53

Okay, so let’s get this straight. Alright, so first off, you’re the accidental CNC er, right external me You factor and then you connect with like the you know the you know the I don’t know the goat right the you know Titan Gilroy of CSC you just happens to be at your high school like how the stars if

Jacob Sanchez  10:14

the his shop was 15 minutes away from the high school yeah,

Curt Anderson  10:18

that Okay, so now you just happened by chance to be connected to Titan go right you know just in anybody looking at LinkedIn just absolutely just you know off the charts advocate for talking about navigate for manufacturing scenes powerhouse,

Jacob Sanchez  10:31

yeah.

Curt Anderson  10:33

Then you become the accidental social media guru in

Jacob Sanchez  10:38

the whole team did we were all machinists at that shop, and all and Pyun hired media people because he had his experience from the TV show, but me and some of the other machinist in his shop, we weren’t we never been on TV or anything like that. So now we’re all learning as a collective how to like leverage social media to entertain and educate people in machining and metalworking.

Curt Anderson  11:02

That is just nuts. Okay. What a background story, man, what an honor privilege to hear all this firsthand, sharing all this Jacob, what an inspiration you are for young folks, we’re going to talk about how other Gen Z years should be following in your footsteps. So let’s go here. And let’s talk I’m going to let’s get back into the present moment. We share with everybody how do you make the world a better place? Tell everybody what’s going on in your world right now? What’s what’s happening? Yeah,

Jacob Sanchez  11:29

I mean, currently a little change because the past 10 years I spent it as a CNC five axis machine is custom automation engineer, industry analyst and content creator. And I recently just took my first Andrei funereal leap of two months ago to do more freelancing stuff, I was getting a few I won’t name the companies I got a few offers from big companies in the automation space. And my mentor made me look at and be like, alright, if you take your next big leap, you say no to opportunities all year long. What happens if you like say yes to some I know you don’t want to do. That’s what he told me is like, I know you don’t want to do freelance work. What have you just tried it at 25 Instead of at 45? Nothing wrong with that. But why don’t you just do it now, instead of doing it later? So I said yes. So I told them, I would do it for at least six months. Two months, it’s been two months now. I landed two big contracts already. Being able to help a lot more people. I told you, Kurt that I and David, I’d say this on the podcast. So I still I still don’t like it. Personally, I think I think people freelancing is amazing. Start your own business. Me firstly, I love being on a team getting to be a leader on a team with a flag behind me where I can be a face in the industry with blank with whoever getting to I’m really big on education and training. So I want to do more stuff when it comes to internal and external education for our employees and customers. But money is good, I love it. I’m getting to help a lot of people seeing work that I do affect multiple companies, multiple people, which is interesting. But so I’m really privileged. It’s been going great. I’m gonna see it through for the next six or for the next four months. And who knows four months from now it could blow up even more and then it’s like alright, now I have to go deeper.

Curt Anderson  13:30

The not so accidental c&c guy, accidental social media guy. Now you’re the accidental entrepreneur. So I just love all these things. Just keep rolling your way. If you’ve got a couple of friends in the house. Hey, we’ve got Dale in our day. Oh, happy eclipse day to do this. You Hey, hey, Greg, this is for you, dude. So I got my glasses. I’m all set up for the Eclipse today. So it’s gonna be a good spot to sit there. Happy Monday to Greg and his, his family out there in Madison. So if you’re out there, drop us a note. Let us know you’re there. You want to connect with Jacob Sanchez. He’s a powerhouse. Jacob was filling a gap here. So alright, so I believe you said at 21 You love titans of CNC? Is that correct? Just talk a little bit about what was coming on your plate. What are you working on that led you up to becoming an entrepreneur? Oh,

Jacob Sanchez  14:20

yeah, I mean from when I the reason I decided to leave at 21 was because I experienced automation for the first time, I had to design and use my first Robo drill sell with an LR Mate robot and over under conveyor. Once I found out about robotics, I fell in love. And so anyway, I fell in love because it was hard and I didn’t get it. And that’s what I’ve always loved about things is when like, it pushes my buttons and I’m like, Man, I don’t know how to do this. Like I want to do more of it. Right. And so I thought I found a company in Michigan. The only reason and the reason I wanted to move to Michigan was because I saw it as the yellow state as like the FANUC state. And so I went through my business card And I found this car to this company. I looked them up and I was like, Oh, they have a bunch of yellow robots. And it was Edgewater automation. And I called them and it was the who was who’s now the VP? Well, he was the vice president of the company. When I called him. He’s now the president of the company, recent change. And I said, Hey, Tim, do you remember me? I met you two years ago at a trade show. And he said, he said, Of course I do. What do you need? And they flew me out from Texas to Michigan did the interview I brought my machinist briefcase zero experience as an engineer, and I got the job. And I moved out to Michigan. And I started my career in automation as an Applications Engineer for custom automation. That’s

Curt Anderson  15:45

how you ended up in Michigan. Yeah, was a cold call. That is so impressive. That is so gutsy man,

Jacob Sanchez  15:54

because yellow robots on their website? Yes.

Damon Pistulka  15:57

Yeah. That’s awesome. Dude. Eddie, you’re creating you’re creating your own path. That’s what you’re doing. Yeah, so that awesome. That

Jacob Sanchez  16:06

was the past year, almost two years, I spent there as an Application Engineer amazing time. And then a company found me to do some more marketing for our industry. And within that, I got contacted to be the host of MSC industrial supplies new show how to on YouTube. I did not know this guy, she called called me. I had to beat out I think like 100 Americans or something. To get this role, really. And he they called you. They found me through my LinkedIn because I started my LinkedIn when I got to Michigan, because I missed creating. Started it then he found it there. He’s like, Oh, this kid looks like an advocate. He has smarts. He knows what he’s doing. And after doing a bunch of rounds of interviews, I got selected. We did. It was only supposed to be a three episode series. It did so well. It went up to six last year. And then that did so well. We’re at 12 this year. I just filmed two episodes with the industrial studios team. That’s who produces the show for NSE last week in Chicago, we filmed four episodes so far this year. It’s going to be an insane Season Episode one’s already out. It’s so much fun. That is

Curt Anderson  17:26

great. And I mean that’s a major player I used to do business with MSC years ago. Oh yeah, you know we’re not talking you know, like this isn’t shows local hardware. This is a massive, massive online player that you’re nowadays they had the

Damon Pistulka  17:39

massive catalog.

Curt Anderson  17:40

They still do ya. Hey, we’ve got a few friends who are given us. Oh, Diana has one day yes this you might wait we need to connect catch up. Yeah, Harry, Harry. This is for you, Harry. Happy eclipse day to you my friend. Got my glasses already. We’ve got Amy’s in house. Real Deal. So I agree with you, Amy 100% and eight Greg gives a shout out to Diana Hey Diana.

Jacob Sanchez  18:06

Hope you’re Diana is super dad is super cool. I connected with her sometime last year because she found my channel we started chatting. I helped make some suggestions to get her involved in FIRST Robotics in her area. I think she got a super cool gig at like, a library or something like that. And it’s a it’s something she does to volunteer to help give back to stem. Her company’s awesome in Chicagoland too though they do custom wiring and stuff. They do

Curt Anderson  18:32

phenomenal work and as American they were on the show a year ago and so Diane is actually so I’ve been with Diana a couple of times in person and we’ve been to dinner we’ve been we’ve we have all sorts of fun together. Her family it’s a family affair as a matter of fact game and we’re going to have her company back on the show her mom Diana drop in the chat box if you give you remind me I think two sisters it’s like a whole family affair working at her company. And she’s doing awesome. So in eighth we got a shout out here Jacob is freakin awesome. I couldn’t agree more. So Jacob, let’s go here. I’m going to ask you a question. So lets you work. You know, dude, you’re all over the place. If you’re not connected with Jacob on LinkedIn man, I strongly encourage you, I welcome you, I invite you to do so. Guys just just what a fierce advocate for American manufacturing. Young guy of integrity. Jacob, let’s go here. Let’s you’re talking to a manufacturer. They’ve had no marketing. None. They’ve, they’ve been around for decades. Word of mouth trade shows COVID threw them a curveball. They’re like man, I feel really behind with this whole digital marketing thing. give some advice to the folks out there. What are some tips? What are like some first steps that you would advise people to get into this digital marketing game?

Jacob Sanchez  19:43

Yeah, that’s a good question too, because that’s the whole that’s the whole idea behind this progressive growth strategy that I try to pitch to a lot of small to medium sized businesses. If not everything has to be some revamp, whether it’s marketing, manufacturing, bringing in new technologies training. It doesn’t have to be this big thing all the time. So like, let’s focus on marketing, for example, trying to revamp who you are what you guys bring to the table and how you talk about yourselves and your company doesn’t have to come from a website overhaul and you’re starting all these new social media channels and all this stuff. A simple way to start getting back engaged in like the digital realm of people getting to know who you are, is on LinkedIn, for example, just commenting and Greg, I just saw Greg did amazing article talking about one of these things, is about how much power the comment has for you being out there. You don’t have to write your own posts, you don’t have to get your own content for your post, you’re on other people’s channel with their audience, being a thought leader, like there’s so much value from just showing up, that can help people start to learn who you are. And that’s all marketing really is marketing is people understanding who you are. And they’re finding you basically, what, whenever they’re on social, so marketing, the reason marketing has to be a constant thing is because you need to be there whenever they need you. Right? And, and when they’re looking for you, they need to be able to find you those are the two those two things needs to happen with marketing need to be there when they need you. And you need to be there for them to find you. And showing up in the comments. That’s a great way to be found. That’s a great way to be seen. And from there, start building on that. So after you’ve done some commenting, maybe do your own text post where you don’t have to do any video graphic or anything, but it’s on your channel, do a little text post, and then build up to an image and then build up to video. And it just starts snowballing once you get started, but you have to you have to start just just

Curt Anderson  21:45

get off the sidelines. Just get started. Isn’t that right? So hey, and we got Hayley is in the house here today. So I really didn’t and these live videos Haley demon, I think it’s in the settings right? It

Damon Pistulka  21:56

is in the settings you have to there’s something about sharing it with like Google and other stuff. That’s why you you change it, then your picture will show up. It’s

Jacob Sanchez  22:03

alright to create Haley. It’s okay. Yeah.

Curt Anderson  22:06

sending lots of love to Haley today. Happy to you, Haley. Thanks for joining us. As a matter of fact, you’re on my list. I’m going to reach out to you because we need to do another jam session together. And so in a Greg says, Thanks, Jacob a lot of power in commenting alone, as he’s doing right now. How did we meet? How did we meet? How, David How did we meet dude?

Damon Pistulka  22:27

I commented on one of your posts, buddy. Thanks, brother.

Curt Anderson  22:30

My mom appreciates that man. She’s still paying me. I’ll be with her today watching the clip. So how’s that? So? You know, and that’s, you know, it’s all about friendships, relationships. That’s how we met Greg. That’s how we met Haley that’s in Mark’s in the house here today. Yeah. Greg’s post Thanks, Mark. And dude, I had a I got to meet Mark in person at the industrial marketing Summit. Mark saw hanging out with Diana, I was hanging out with Greg, you know, great opportunity. And these are all relationships because of LinkedIn. Daymond, I’ve been your house. We’ve been to Alaska together, we get to do this little fun. All because of LinkedIn. So speaking of traveling, guys got to stick around because Jacob has like a whole list. Travel book. I’m gonna keep him on a cliffhanger. Jacob, they’ve got to hang out. Right? They can’t go anywhere. Let’s take it another step further. Okay, so who manufacture Okay. All right, Jacob, I get it. So you’re telling me I first off I need to get on LinkedIn. I gotta set up a profile. You mean I need to put my picture description. Okay, let’s say I get past that stage. Give some tips, advice, website, video, what like what are things that I should be doing as a manufacturer on my website. But I’d

Jacob Sanchez  23:39

like this one, if I can, if I can change the tip, at least a little bit. I’d like for this tip to be more so revolved around how you’re showing off and talking about your products. So a big issue that we have in our industry, especially on for automation integrators for machine builders, people say this, well, I have this amazing thing. I can’t show it because it’s proprietary, or I can’t show my amazing thing in action because it’s at Tyson Foods, and they don’t want anybody to see it. There’s a lot of these what people think are barriers to people understanding what it is they do. And you just need to go about it in a different way. So something that I’ve been talking to a lot of companies about is the and this is gonna change depending on how big your company is and stuff. But let’s say for a standard 30 20,000 square foot facility. Find that 2000 square feet of two bedroom, one bath apartment space, you can fit in your business and make that your r&d area, make that your filming area and make that the place where you control how your products are seen. And by doing that, because a lot of and I’m very big on I would like it to be a full text center and all this other stuff but on the small to medium sized business scale 2000 square feet. Keep that there and develop this play area. We’re now You have this area that other people may not, but you may use their products, you now have leverage to say, hey, I want to use one of your products that’s really expensive. And I don’t want to buy it. What if I used it with my solution to showcase it, we can do this awesome video, it’s showing my audience, you, it’s showing your audience and me. Let’s make that happen. That’s a step I think we need to start taking along with how you’re showing yourself showing up on digital media, social media. Another step you can take is putting together a space like that for you to control the environment that your products are shown in and create new opportunities to network and bring in partnerships to show off products because now you’re getting in front of multiple audiences.

Damon Pistulka  25:46

Mm hmm. Okay,

Curt Anderson  25:48

Jacob, we have these little moments, we call them drop the mic moments and our show. So that was a massive, massive drop the mic. We hear that constantly in what a fantastic solution, I’m shamelessly gonna steal that plug. It’s a matter of fact, you were talking about pulling out clips on the show, this was the clip right here that we’re going to pull Oh, and so you know, if you’re a circuit board manufacturer, your wire harness manufacturer, whatever product you you know, you’ve been metal, you cut steel, whatever it is that you do, and you need to protect your customer. What brilliant advice is create your own little r&d area, take the you know, when products are off the machine, put some of your own stuff on the machine, show how you do your work, right, Jacob? That’s exactly what Yeah,

Jacob Sanchez  26:29

and and the reason that sometimes r&d areas get taken out of businesses is because that they don’t take it seriously enough, like the same thing with social media, like, these can’t be side projects, they can be secondary to priority tasks in your business, but they can’t be side projects, they can’t be something that feels like it gets shoved off of or on to other people, because then people aren’t going to want to do them. It’s not something to take pride in when it feels like it’s just busy work. So you do have to make it a type of priority. It doesn’t have to be your main priority, but it can’t just be an afterthought. Oh, we’ll do that in a month or two. You have to stay consistent with then you have to give ownership to some of your employees to make that like their fun. Let them take ownership of that because they’re gonna want to invest in that and they’re gonna become attached to that. So it’s really good for internal morale as well if you do it the right way. Yeah,

Curt Anderson  27:25

I absolutely love it. Couple more comments we’ve got here again, I want to give it you know, Damon, if you don’t you need to get to know Mark what an inspiration this guy is. And you know, talking about like, friends and guys that are just fierce family, folks. Right, Greg? Michelle shabam thanks. And I had an honor privilege of hanging out with Greg and his son at the industrial marketing summit down in Austin it just you know it’s one of the great things about manufacturing is just how people are just high integrity and just you know just wonderful amazing human beings and just when you see all fierce how fiercely dedicated they are to family, their work their career. It is just so inspiring man just in what in hanging out here with Jacob is on top of Jacob. Hey guys loving working with Jacob on NP e we’re going to talk about that next. He’s so positive cares so much about fostering young professionals and helping others. Another Jeff and Mike moment there from Liz. Thank you, Liz, appreciate you showing up in a comment. What do you think of that one Jacob that worked with? You gotta show that one to your mom later, right? Yeah,

Jacob Sanchez  28:28

I’m showing that one to my mom showing that one to the other MTE representatives I love I love getting to like do all these fun things and be able to show people that are on those teams like the buzz you know what I mean? Like for the MSC stuff, like I sent this to Rebecca rock she’s a representative for MSC I sent her every article that I’m in that they mentioned how to every podcast and then because like, I don’t know, the fact that like this is how to and a lot of these initiatives are way more than me, they’re always going to be more it’s more than me it’s about the industry it’s about the team of people it takes to accomplish it. But sometimes those people don’t get to be out in the field to see how it affects us and the manufacturers out there. And so I love to be able to bring this to them and be like look like this this is me talking about it. But this is you like this is your baby this is your company like people are loving it like keep doing what you’re doing so that’s a side tangent for me on that but

Curt Anderson  29:23

I love it and so again at such a young age so impressive you find your calling you know whether it called you or you were calling to it what you know however we want to look at it but you find your path your your passion into CNC, you end up at titans of CNC. You dive into social media, now you’re doing podcasting you’re gonna be we’re gonna talk about how you’re doing video work and TV work. How did that walk us through that path? How did that get started? How do you transition graduate from social media to this whole communication line that you’re doing now?

Jacob Sanchez  29:53

It started a little bit of titans of CNC because I was at 19 I was having to talk and represent our company to CEOs of companies like FANUC, Dusan dmg, Master cam SolidWorks, because Titan would take the CEOs of these companies, and VPs and presidents through the facility and bring them to your desk. And he’d be like, Hey, this is Jacob Sanchez, so and so this is a little bit of his background. And then he stopped talking. And then it was your time that you had to help convince these people why they should invest in our business, and what the impact is on our lives and in the industry. So I had to be I started doing that, like 1819. And then being an on camera media talents also happened at times I was teaching episodes, I was teaching how to how to do this in ink canal, how to do this in 316, stainless like all different types of videos. It didn’t happen on my own again, until I started my LinkedIn channel until I started getting out there more, and then how to I tell the industrial studios team all the time, my Director, Jim Olin, I tell him all the time that like the reason that I got back in front of the camera, the reason that I because I was always behind it on my LinkedIn, I was filming other people, I wanted to show other people off. The reason I got in front of the camera again, the reason I started submitting to abstracts to speak and be a keynote at trade shows and colleges and high schools was because of how to, like that got me back in front of the camera and made me realize like, I’m lucky enough to be able to bring in energy and bringing enthusiasm to the camera that not a lot of people can and to not use that would be a disgrace to me and to the industry. Because if I can do that and be a voice for the industry, like I need, I need to make it happen

Curt Anderson  31:48

with inspiration and Hey, Greg, where is Greg? Michelle says amazing what Jacob is accomplishing as such young age incredibly versatile and fearless man, is there a nicer complement than that? Quite a potent combo. So Greg, thank you again, guys. We’re here with Jacob Sanchez dropping don’t get any questions. Drop questions in the chat box. Man, we have the authority here on Gen Z manufacturing. Jacob wood is so impressive. You are so wise beyond your years. I just man, I wish I had a fraction of what you’re displaying here. And I’m not I’m not that good. And plus, he’s humbled. Greg is so humble. So Jacob, let’s go here. Was it just was it just a Greg says fearless what a great compliment. is was it just was it courage was it just didn’t know any better was just, you know, I’m willing to raise my hand too. I just want to keep doing these things. And if they say no, so be it. I’ll move on to the next one. How do you keep How do you know advice to somebody that 18 year old out there? How have you put yourself in this position,

Jacob Sanchez  32:52

it was transforming my bone headedness and hotheadedness into useful skills. I was I grew up a very just angry kid, man angry guy until like high school, like I would get in trouble. I had to get sent home with disciplinary notes since I was in first grade, all the way up until like eighth grade. And then once I got to high school, I was a frickin little punk again. And so it was eventually I don’t know, I remember the switch getting flipped around like 21 Maybe, or I was like, I was tired of being angry and mad and stuff. And it started turning in, I feel like it was always a passion. And I didn’t know how to direct it because there was nothing in my life to direct it towards. So it just went to anger. And once I found like, my calling or what I enjoy doing, it started turning into passion for me. And so now, now I bring things to the table because I don’t care. If it doesn’t work out. I want it to happen. And whether it’s and I’ve even had to start realizing that sometimes people are gonna take what you say, and do it without you. Yeah. And I there was something that happened earlier this year where I had an hour conversation with this company. And I mentioned this idea, and I asked if they wanted to do with me and they said no. And then two months later, they’re marketing the idea. And so, and that would have made all Jacob angry. And now I was just kind of like, oh, well, that sucks. But I mean, I guess I gotta keep going. Yeah, there’s, there’s just so much my whole philosophy and it kicked in around 21 Is this industry. And I say this all the time, because it’s true. This industry showed everybody at my high school in my life, that I wasn’t a failure, that I wasn’t a reject that I wasn’t a loser because I was going into this industry. And the stuff that I do shows other people that like you’re not going to be a loser. If you come into this industry. You don’t have to be a nerd or a techie person to get started here. We need sellers. We need marketers, we need project managers. And the reason I do everything I do is because I truly hope one day that I’m drowning And now, I hope I’m just a simpler. Nobody amongst everybody is because we’re all doing so much to talk and do do things to promote this industry. I don’t want I know, I’m not the only one. And I hope one day that we’re all getting drowned out by each other because of how much everybody’s jumped on the bandwagon of manufacturing and automation.

Curt Anderson  35:24

Wow. Absolutely love it. And Haley jumps another comment, your confidence and personality really shines on camera. Glad you go back in front of it. Thank you, Haley again. And Harry, happy Monday. Harry, do you have a mentor, Jacob that has helped you redirect your energy into something positive? Harry, thank you. Happy Monday. What a great question. That is.

Jacob Sanchez  35:42

Yeah, real quick to it. I’ve had multiple mentors throughout my life for different things like my track and field mentor, he helped me kind of manage a lot of my anger and turn it into the leadership. He made me be a leader, Dan Frank, the teacher that was at my high school, he taught me to kind of speak out more and do more on my own. He was very, he gave you autonomy. Like, if you wanted to do something, you could go do it, but you had to do it. You had to do it. And so and even people that are in my life, like now, people that I’ve maybe only had a few interactions with to like, like Haley, for example. There’s che, there’s so many people that because I don’t have like my own, like family at 25, or all my other families in California. The people I meet in this industry have like a big effect on me whether they realize it or not, because I take things from everybody. I take little things of different people and your personalities and things and I try to take it in and mold it into what I want to be and how I want to perform. And so it’s crazy, man, I probably I don’t know, I probably have like 20 to 30 mentors. I don’t know they’re my mentor.

Curt Anderson  36:54

Absolutely. Love it. Hey, Mark drops a note here. Boom, bap help others reminds me so Ellen’s in house. Happy Monday to you, Alan, I think he’s in a path of totality. So happy to meet you, Alan. So Jacob, i Man, we I could keep you here all day. And I know you’re super busy. Because you’re just changing lives everywhere. You have a heavy, heavy schedule coming up and why I wanted to lead up to everything, all the steps in your career that led you really to like this month, April of 24. How exciting. So guys, sit back and catch all the stuff that Jake is really doing. Because of putting yourself out there as a young person getting on LinkedIn, raising your hand accepting rejection when it comes your way. Just relentlessly, fearlessly just you know, plowing forward and just being a great advocate for manufacturing. Just share with everybody what’s coming up next few weeks.

Jacob Sanchez  37:47

Yeah, April 15 to May 10. I will be back to back traveling starting with Florida and ever been to Florida at the Cuca connections event. I’m very lucky to get invited out to that because it’s private it’s a private events for specific like customers and stuff but then the invite some industry leaders very happy about that. I’m bringing them a friend of mine because I work a lot with I guess Inc here in the USA. I asked their CEO Felix Hey, can I bring one of your employees with me because I could bring a guest. So bringing one of them along. I’m going to California right after that event for my dad’s wedding. After my dad’s wedding, my dad’s wedding is at 3pm. It’s over around seven or eight. I am driving to the San Francisco Airport to get on a plane to go to Germany the same day. And so I’m going to be in Germany from the 22nd to like the 30th of April at Hannover Messe with I guess so I guess has me coming out there in their booth, they’re going to be showing me Hannover Messe of the events first time ever, and I’m gonna get to go to their German headquarters where they do all of their manufacturing, their moldmaking, their injection molding, their new their new sustainable bike company, they started it’s 92%, recycled ocean plastic. All kinds of stuff there. And then Titan reached back out to me. So I’m going to be going to the Boombastic open house event a part of the Kennametal roadshow in Texas as a representative of like the alumni of the academy. So I’m going to be there with him for a few days. And then I’m ending it all at the NPS. This is like the grand finale of my travels. The NP e show. And P E hasn’t happened in six years. I am the host of NP e TV basically the host of the NP show this year, where it’s gonna be me with a film crew traveling all throughout the show for six days. Getting content of things that are happening at the show, talking to people at the show and just like demystifying this idea of plastics being a bad Word, I’m going to be talking, I’m getting some free content. Right now. I’m going to a zoo this weekend to do an interview about plastics, it used in stuffed animal toys that are in the zoo shop. There’s these toys that say I used to be 15 water bottles. I used to be 17 water bottles. So talking about how that plays into, like the public’s perspective of plastics in the industry. And then I’ll eventually get back home to Michigan.

Curt Anderson  40:31

Man, I’m just I’m just like, just listening to that, right. Yeah. So hey, and Mark says he’s gonna see you there. So man, yeah, hang out over there. So how cool is that. And Mark also says help others reminds me of Jacob and drew at the eye me why. So again, Mark, thank you for being here today. Appreciate you, brother. This is awesome. Jacob, lots of exciting things. Anything else that you want to share? As far as the exciting show that you have coming up the NP E. NP,

Jacob Sanchez  41:00

I mean, I’m really looking at there. The thing I’m hyped about is the fact that like, I’m not an injection molding guy. I’m not a material science guy. I understand that industry. And I understand the impact it has. So I’m excited to bring a perspective of the public’s know how, what we think we know about plastics, and what it really does, because I just hate some of these things being bad words, I don’t want people to hate plastics, because all they hear about is how it’s in the ocean, killing animals and destroying our planet. I don’t like how when people hear the word kid, they think it’s a bad word. Because we associate kids with being childish and immature. I hate when things turn into bad words, just because we associate them with the wrong things. So I’m really looking forward to that. I’m really proud to be on the show today. And I always try to throw in a quick mental health thing at the end of my podcast or episodes when I’m speaking at events. And something that I’ve learned recently is, it’s, it’s okay to not always be okay. If you’re not feeling the best one day, and it goes into the next day, and it goes into the next day, that’s okay. It’s not okay. When you let it consume you when you let it start spiraling when you let yourself start thinking that you’re never going to get where you are. And you’re forgetting all about how far you’ve come. That’s when it’s not okay. Make sure to stay in your own head, help yourself out. The thing, the vibe that you bring to yourself is what you’re gonna be putting out to everybody else. So

Curt Anderson  42:37

know that? You know what, man, Jacob sure warned me. I need to put my glasses on for that one. Yeah. That was Jacob, we have dropped the mic moments. And we also we just have like these moments of silence. Yeah, just wanted to kind of like just soak that in Daymond couple of takeaways, I’d love to hear your thoughts on me and PE show. I know you’re very passionate that syncs your heart, a lot of your background, what are your thoughts about that?

Damon Pistulka  43:02

Well, I mean, I think just your whole roadshow that you’re taking on here is going to be awesome, you’re gonna see more in different kinds of facets of manufacturing in the next couple of months than most people see in a lifetime. And you know, the NNP is honestly as such many so many fond memories of it’s the first industrial trade show I was ever at. I was at I think I was like, 19 When I went to my first one at 19. So I’m like, and you know, a lot of firsts in that. But this is a fantastic show, and you just now to see that many years ago, to now they’re gonna someone’s going to be able to watch you go through that show, explain for the different perspective and all the things you’re going to be able to to teach on that is just really something and I think it’s, it’s cool. Also, I think that, you know, you and what you’re doing and bringing manufacturing out to people and really bringing awareness to it. You know, some saw on this my age, people say, oh, yeah, you’re an old manufacturing guy, right? But with you, you’re showing people that, hey, it is a place it is a vibrant place. You know, high schoolers should be considered this people in college be considering that because, man, there are so many opportunities. You talked about automation. You talked about all this. These other things. This is a technology based industry more and more every second, like you said, social media. You’ve been in social media and manufacturing, you’ve been in automation or automation and engineering. There’s so much for people to do and in manufacturing. I just think it’s cool. You’re out there doing it. Thanks. Yes, cool. Just

Curt Anderson  44:43

cool that I, you know, regardless of what industry that you were to pick, Jacob, I feel I feel strongly that you would be you know, just really tearing up the industry regardless. Just again, just think by picking that school that you picked by just getting thrown into that class. As you’re now going to Germany, you’re now going to be the TV representative of a man. How many people are gonna be at that show? Did you say 55,000?

Jacob Sanchez  45:07

Yeah, np e TV is what I’ll be representing. So 55,000 attendees, 2000 exhibitors? Roughly. Damon,

Curt Anderson  45:15

it’s a few. Yeah. I mean, that’s, like, like that. UNSC

Jacob Sanchez  45:19

I think it’s a million square feet, I think. I think the Yeah, yeah.

Damon Pistulka  45:23

They bring in stuff that takes, you know, multiple, multiple, multiple containers and truckloads just to set up one piece of equipment. It’s now been in

Curt Anderson  45:33

jail. I don’t I don’t think you said it live, Jacob, you’re saying I think when we were offline, you’re saying like, there’s gonna be different sectors of like, here’s automation, here’s sustainability, right? They

Jacob Sanchez  45:42

have an innovation stage of sustainability stage, a bottling stage, and then yeah, they have a automation and machinery sector. Now. There’s like a material science sector, PE, T, all kinds of stuff. But those stages in particular are new. And then the recycling, there’s going to be 15,000 square feet of pure recycling equipment that’s active the entire show where I think their goal is to literally recycle all the plastic and stuff that gets used at the show during the show. Right now,

Curt Anderson  46:14

Jacob, are you still I don’t know what social media you hang out with on personally? Are you on social media with like those skateboarders that were hanging out in the back of the class? Like, do they know that you’re those guys know that you’re going to do any TV and flooding?

Jacob Sanchez  46:27

That was? That was not? That was not a good crowd? I I’m very glad they do not know what I’m doing. I have a few friends from high school that are they’re pretty happy with what I do, though.

Curt Anderson  46:38

I think you should somehow find those guys and let them know that you’re going to join. Yeah. So you know what I usually ask this and maybe we’ve covered this quite a bit. But Jacob for all the young folks out there so save for those kids, those those skateboarders, the skateboard as it were hanging out in the back of the class. Why should all the cool kids be considering a career in manufacturing?

Jacob Sanchez  46:58

Dude, it’s just not what you think. It’s not what you think. And you do have the skill set, regardless of what you think. Right? Take it into this trade. Because like, again, like I said, you can get into sales, you can get into the marketing stuff, project management, like if you just think this stuff is cool, and you want to be around it, you can get into it and not have to do the tech stuff. Although it is very important for the progression of our industry. You can get in here and do cool things and get to travel. And the biggest thing that like blew my mind, was the fact that I was an engineer, I got to get paid to travel to customers, they pay for your hotel, they pay for your flights and all your food. You’re getting to go into these facilities and see how like, yep, cabinets get made for kitchens. There’s so much cool stuff that doesn’t come out of your own pocket if you do good work for these companies. And you still have plenty of time to still have a good work life balance as well. Right.

Curt Anderson  47:51

And you can eventually become the accidental entrepreneur just like yourself. So Diane, my dear friend, Diane again, Happy Monday to you, I miss you. Looking forward to all the upcoming content Keep being you keep being inspiring. Your passion for manufacturing is contagious, and we need more of it. I couldn’t agree more. Jacob blisko here, we’re gonna wind down we’re gonna let you continue saving the world that you’re doing on a daily basis just absolutely crushing it. But before we do it, Damon I gotta I gotta do it. Right. So So California guy you found your great state of Michigan. Are you a baseball fan by any chance?

Jacob Sanchez  48:31

I am not. Aren’t you? Okay, but

Curt Anderson  48:33

you get the game you understand? Yeah. The gist of it. Just like this whole baseball thing, right. Okay. I’m gonna give you just a hypothetical. I’m asking for friend. I’m gonna give you a hypothetical. Okay. Let’s just say Now you mentioned San Francisco. So dad lives in San Fran the Bay Area. So let’s just say the Giants the giants are playing the Dodgers. Okay, you with me? Johnny? Dodgers. It’s a bottom of the ninth tie score tie score. Bottom line, giants are playing the Dodgers. There’s a guy on second base tie score, like they need to end the game. They need a winning run right now. Right? Somebody needs to catch a plane to Germany. So the manager of the giants looks down the bench and he says hey, Sanchez, grab your bat grab your helmet get up to the plate and hidden that when he run. Okay, you’re with me? Yeah. As you grab your bat, you grab your helmet. You’re walking to the plate to hit in that winning run. What’s your walk up song? Oh, what’s

Jacob Sanchez  49:33

my walk up song? There’s this there’s this. It’s gonna give me one or two. It’s gonna be this goofy. There’s this song called. What is the Mona Lisa. It’s in the spider verse Miles Morales movie. It would either be playing that and I’d be swaggering up there being goofy with the bat or there’s this On called unsinkable by sail north, and it’s like a pirate song. And that’s my that’s would be that’d be one of my two my two songs.

Curt Anderson  50:09

Absolutely love it. Kurt Damon, I knew Jacob was going to have songs that like we would be oblivious to right. So in Aly says eight Who’s on First I agree with you, Haley. So, all right, great answer. I appreciate you playing along with my little goofy game here. So, Jacob, first off, I want to thank you. I applaud you. We commend you. It is just so admirable. The work that you’re doing. It’s such a young age. It’s perfect. Everybody out there if you guys been hanging out, it’s a great time if you want to stand up and stretch. And how about give a big roaring applause for Jacob Sanchez for just being so awesome today. Jacob we just cannot thank you enough keep firing on all cylinders, man in all seriousness, because you’re an inspiration for guys our age. You’re an inspiration for young folks. You’re an inspiration for all everybody of like, just this great Renaissance in manufacturing gave some great advice about hey, if you’re not okay, you’re not okay right. It’s okay to not be okay. Any last parting words of where we can find you connect with you? Anything that you want to as we wrap up

Jacob Sanchez  51:12

that just LinkedIn Jacob Sanchez, you’ll see this mug with a microphone as a profile photo, How To series on MSC industrial supplies channel and then tick tock if you’re on tick tock Jacob makes I’m on there as well doing a lot of BTS videos.

Curt Anderson  51:28

Nice Awesome. Okay, we’re gonna close it out. Hey, one last time, Damon, this is for you, buddy. It’s eclipse day you safe. Be safe. Make sure you wear your glasses out there right don’t want any you know any. Jacob hanging out with us for one second. So guys, thank you for everybody in the chat box. We appreciate you catch us on replay. Go back and hit the rewind. Jacob shot tons of golden nuggets. And you can find Jacob in either Germany, California, Florida, Texas or Michigan in the next month. So right that I had that right. I did I leave anybody out, though. You’re good. All right, Jacob. Thank you. God bless everybody. Daymond we’re back here on Friday. Laurie Hi babies in the house. We Hi be on the show. This Friday. We’re gonna be more content strategies. Enrolled from Jacob. She’s over in Michigan. I know she’s in Milwaukee. She’s in LA. So I guess have a great week. God bless. Be safe.