TREPX Podcast | For enTREPreneurs by enTREPreneurs, TREPX Podcast provides actionable advice, tips, and steps for freelancers - How to build an engaged following with Matt Gottesman Episode 67

How to build an engaged following with Matt Gottesman Episode 67

04/04/16 • 31 min

TREPX Podcast | For enTREPreneurs by enTREPreneurs, TREPX Podcast provides actionable advice, tips, and steps for freelancers

Today’s episode features Matt Gottesman from TREP Media Group. Matt is an expert when it comes to creating media and engaged communities. Matt talks about how you can stand out when you’re specializing in media and content.

“If you focus too hard on the end result, you are not as flexible for pivoting in the process. All you need to have is a vision of the end. The rest of the details are revealed to you while you are building.”

You can find Matt on Instagram and Twitter at HDF Magazine or you can reach him at [email protected]. If you enjoyed this interview, please leave us a review on ITunes and let us know what you learned. Enjoy this episode with Matt Gottesman.

Micky Deming: (00:44) Hello! Welcome to the TREPX Podcast. This is Micky Deming and I have another interview to share with you today that is going to blow your mind! I had a chance to chat with my friend Matt Gottesman of Trep Media Group, so no relation, but another Trep out there. Matt is an expert in creating media, creating engagement, creating community. The stuff he and his friend Kace Kenny have been doing with Trep Media Group and the different brands, Hustle and Deal Flow, The Hustle Sold Separately Podcast in Pursuit where they have just generated an incredible community through the content they’ve created, through the engagement and I asked him all about how that’s possible because there is so much content out there. How when you’re specializing in media and content, how do you stand out? How do you get anyone to care and to actually connect with you?

Well, Matt has figured it out and when you hear what he says in this interview, you’re going to learn so many things you’re probably doing wrong. I know I did. Things that I can do better and Matt breaks it down into some very simple ways of how you can actually build a following, build a network, get people to gather around what you’re doing, so you’re going to love this interview.

So I am going to stop talking so we can get right into it. Matt was so much fun to chat with, total expert. Check out everything he’s up to. You can see their main site at TrepMediaGroup.com and then check out what Matt’s up to. Most of his time is spent at Hustle and Deal Flow Magazine. You can find that at HDFMagazine.com.

So thanks so much to Matt for taking the time. Check out this interview at TREPXGroup.com and you can see all of the links to everything Matt’s up to, but without further ado, please enjoy this interview with Matt Gottesman.

Micky Deming: (02:22) Hello, Matt! Welcome to the TREPX Podcast. How are you doing?

Matt Gottesman: (02:25) I’m good, I’m good, Micky! Thank you for having me on.

Micky Deming: (02:28) Thanks for being here! It’s awesome that we got to connect in your warm home of Arizona last week! I am back here in Illinois where it’s cold, but I’m glad we can connect on this podcast!

There are so many things to talk about. Let’s just start with the big picture. With Trep Media you have a lot of different things going on. So can you just give an overview of what you’re up to right now?

Matt Gottesman: (02:53) Yeah, absolutely! So you mentioned Trep Media Group and it was formed by my partner Kace Kenny and I. Kace, he created Prsuit.com and about a year ago we met via Instagram. We love sharing that story! That is a whole other story. We met via Instagram. He saw what I was doing with HDFMagazine.com, which is our other publication he direct messaged me and said I’d love to talk with you and I said alright. He said so you interview creators from around the world that are really building on their hustle, you know they are demonstrating the hustle and they haven’t been glorified by mainstream media just yet and I feature over 400 contributors from around the world, authors, who are writing about their experiences and their journey and their stories. So I don’t know what the synergies are yet, but I’d love to explore of the next so much time and so we did and as both of us continued to grow, we also reached out to our audience a lot more to figure out what they wanted.

As they started telling us more things, it then later helped us establish a webinar academy forum for people for doing all things blogging and publications and digital media and then that lead to creating a podcast. It is mostly because we just listened to our audiences and if what they tell is on brand for our end goal or mission, then we will do. If not, then we are just grateful for the input from our audience.

Micky Deming: (04:34) That’s perfect! I think that is a great summary and for the listeners out there, when you check this out you’re going to see just so much content. I want to talk to you about the content, but before that I want to go back for a second and talk about just the focus on the journey and on the hustle. You e...

Micky Deming: (02:22) Hello, Matt! Welcome to the TREPX Podcast. How are you doing?

Matt Gottesman: (02:25) I’m good, I’m good, Micky! Thank you for having me on.

Previous Episode

The 5 Forces of Entrepreneurial Storytelling with Chris Smith: TREPX Podcast Episode 66

Stories are how we learn about history, people, and even businesses. Poorly told stories are forgettable and hard to connect with, but we rarely think about investing in the stories we tell as entrepreneurs. When we don’t clearly communicate our company’s brand and message, we miss huge opportunities. Even a simple networking introduction can turn into thousands of dollars of business and long-lasting business relationships.

In TREPX Podcast Episode 66, host Micky Deming talks to The Campfire Effect Founder Chris Smith. “We teach entrepreneurs and their teams how to tell their story in a really powerful way so they can do three things,” says Chris. According to Chris, those three things are:

Get More Clients
Build a Stronger Culture
Make More of an Impact

Could something as simple as a story really bring in more clients, help internally with culture, and assist the business in making a bigger impact? Absolutely, but it doesn’t come to each of us naturally. “Very rarely do entrepreneurs invest in knowing how to tell their story more powerfully, and it’s the one thing they have to do every single day for the rest of their life,” says Chris. We have many opportunities to explain what we do for a living, but it’s rare for us entrepreneurs to work to perfect our response to this question.

When looking at perfecting something, like our story, we need a goal first. “The goal of storytelling is to be able to tell your story in a way that is so clear and so powerful that the person you told your story to can immediately go and re-share and re-tell it to someone else,” says Chris. Making a story easy to connect with and easy to share increases the impact of the story, making it a force that can drive growth for your business.

As we all know, stories are powerful...when they are used appropriately and given the proper time and care when crafted. Smith believes that there are five forces of entrepreneurial storytelling.

Who You Are: “First, you have to tell people a little about who you are. You don’t have to give them your life’s narrative or your life history, but like for me, for example, I tell people ‘Hey, I’m a fifth generation native of Arizona. My family came to Arizona in 1877. I grew up in a ranching/rodeo family. I have a really deep connection to my roots. I was fascinated with storytelling as a small child, growing up around cowboy storytellers. You know, my wife is my hero; she’s always believed in me and my four kids are my best friends. Right? That’s a little bit about who I am.’”
What You Do: “You’ve got to tell people what you do,” says Chris, who also says that this is where most people go wrong and that your explanation has to pass four filters. “It should be clear. It should be succinct. It should be thought-provoking and most importantly it should deliver a benefit.”
Why You Do It: Why we do what we do can differentiate us from the competition. “If I’m talking to a prospective client and another consultant that’s talking to a prospective client that does something similar to me, all things being equal, it’s whoever that person has the strongest connection to their “why” is who they’re going to do business with,” says Chris. Were you put on this earth to do what you do? Or, maybe you struggled with the pain that you are now solving with your business. This is important information that will help you build a relationship and trust with clients. “That’s why I do this. It’s because I’m tired of seeing entrepreneurs who are so much more powerful than their story that they tell people,” says Chris.
How You Do It: Chris Smith says the fourth force of storytelling for entrepreneurs is the most misunderstood of all. “How we actually get the result for most of us is pretty unique, but because we don’t brand it, we don’t know how to articulate the ‘how,’” says Chris. He recommends branding your process and finding simple ways to explain it to prospective customers.
Social Proof: Testimonials are powerful, which is why we see them on nearly every website trying to sell a product or service.

Do you have a success story you could share in person? If possible, use examples of how your product or service helped someone similar to the person or company you’re marketing or speaking to. By showing them the success of others, they can clearly see how you can help them similarly.

Looking to harness the power of your story? Listen to the full episode and visit CampfireEffect.com/success. For more great TREPX Podcast episodes, visit TREPXGroup.com/podcasts.

Our Favorite Quotes from Chris Smith in TREPX Podcast Episode 66

“A lack of clarity promotes a lack of accountability”
“The word “brand...

Next Episode

How to Approach Entrepreneurship with Emad Rahim – Episode 68

Micky Deming: (00:35) Hello entrepreneurs! This is Micky Deming and this is the TREPX Podcast. The podcast where we talk about entrepreneurship and how to grow a business, how to build something that is bigger than yourself, and there is a variety of ways to do that. In this podcast we cover so many different topics and in this episode is one that is I think we covered some of the most important pieces. They have to do with really how you approach entrepreneurship and how you approach building team and building something bigger than yourself.

It was so cool to get to meet and talk to the guest of this episode who is Emad Rahim and Emad has quite a background that you will hear in this episode. A crazy story of where he’s come from and he has been through a lot and turned it into an incredible story. He has impacted so many people. He is doing amazing things. In this we talk really about education, entrepreneurship, and really the future of entrepreneurship and what the younger generation of entrepreneurs need to know.

One amazing take away that I wrote down after talking to Emad was that the most important thing that he wants entrepreneurs to understand, and I want everybody to hear this, is that it’s not about you. So if you make it about you, you will always be limited in what you can accomplish. There is always a limit to that, but if you make it about something that’s bigger than you and make it about a team and make it about others who you are serving, you have the opportunity to do something that is really significant. So that is one of many great takeaways in this episode that I think you will enjoy.

I really want you to check out Emad’s website. You can find him at EmadRahim.com and you can see his Ted Talk and all of the stuff he does on twitter and all over the place, the books he has written. A very, very interesting guy and I had a blast talking to him, so check him out, EmadRahim.com. You can check out this episode which will also have a link to his site and all the stuff he has done at TREPXGroup.com. Thanks to Emad for joining and thank you for being here and hearing this episode and so I will now turn it over to the interview. Please enjoy this conversation with Emad Rahim.

Micky Deming: (02:48) Hello Emad; welcome to the TREPX Podcast! How are you doing today?

Emad Rahim: (02:52) I’m doing wonderful! How are you doing today?

Micky Deming: (02:53) I’m doing fantastic! I am thrilled to have this conversation! I have read about you and your story is an incredibly inspiring one and some of the listeners who may not know it, or not heard it, I really want them to know it. Can you, just to start out, share a little bit of back story and how you got here today?

Emad Rahim: (03:15) Oh, wow! Where should I begin? I was born in a concentration camp in the killing fields of Cambodia, umm and like many refugees, we escaped the area that was in turmoil, was in the middle of war, and we ended up in a refugee camp in Thailand and eventually we go sponsored to come to America. Like most refugees and immigrants that come to America, they weren’t placed in a great neighborhood. They were not often placed in the suburbs, right? So they ended up placing us in one of the roughest neighborhoods in Brooklyn in the 80’s. I grew up in Sunset Park, Brooklyn in the 80’s during the height of the crack epidemic, when poverty was at an all-time high, when gangs were at an all-time high. This was before the “hipster” Brooklyn that we know today with Beyoncé and Jay Z and all of that fun stuff happening.

I grew up in that type of environment for many, many years and as a kid I was shot in the leg, just being at the wrong place at the wrong time during a street block party. My mother made the hard decision to relocate us to Syracuse, New York, which is upstate New York about 4 hours away from New York City, to give us a better life, but even in upstate we still had our struggles. We lived in section 8 housing. We lived in the west side of Syracuse, which is right now considered the highest concentration in poverty of all of the United States so it is still a very struggling community, but a loving community. I would say people are wonderful here and we decided to stay here, but I found my way through education.

As a young person, as an adolescent, I struggled with education. I am dyslexic so I struggled with learning disabilities throughout my public education years, but I realized dyslexia was not an issue for me. It was actually and opportunity when I entered college and I found ways to really grow and learn and to improve on what was considered disability. I took advantage of that and really entered programs and engaged in programs that allowed me to take advantage of what was considered disability and I excelled in education in college. I went on to earn a doctorate in management, studied at Harvard, and also in that process discovered my love for...