#140: Turning Career Setbacks into Marketing Triumphs: The Entrepreneurial Journey

Show Notes

If you have felt unsatisfied in your current position or profession and have wondered about switching to a different industry or starting your own business but are hesitant to take the plunge, you are not alone. Making such a move can be intimidating, overwhelming, or even exhilarating.

In this episode, co-hosts Nola Boea and Lori Vajda speak with David Fischette about the difficulties he encountered in the music business and the pivotal decision that would ultimately change his career and life. Listen as this musician-turned-entrepreneur discusses the twists, turns, and unexpected detours he underwent as well as the practical steps, ideas, and solutions that ultimately led to his own successful business adventure.​

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By the end of this episode, you’ll learn 

• The remarkable entrepreneurial story of what happens when you dare to chase your dreams
• How to embrace change and use it as a catalyst for growth 
• Practical tips, steps, and secrets to launching an entrepreneurial journey
• How your experiences can shape your entrepreneurial perspective on starting a creative business

Key points Lori and Nola are sharing in this episode:

(06:18:37) After initially concentrating on DJ services for corporate events, we broadened our selection by creating multimedia packages to enable us to serve all of our clients' needs in a single location.

(10:47:44) The two valuable skills and lessons learned from those early days in business that have proven to be valuable and helped make the company the success it is today

(14:35:77) How to turn failure into an asset and use it as an opportunity to go in a new direction One example is telling people stories of your own failures; those are the stories that actually really resonate

(17:42:75) Owning a small boutique business has many challenges; one of them is finding balance between work and personal life

(20:24:21) The counterintuitive technique for building trust with a new client

(21:20:14)  The influence of storytelling over messaging as a powerful tool for communication.

Resources 

Go West Creative Group
Instagram - Digiwest
Connect with David Fischette - LinkedIn 

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Lori: Are you frustrated in your current role or career? Have you been considering making an industry change? Perhaps you've even imagined yourself finding success following an entrepreneurial path. Well, you are not alone. Many professionals say they want to make a shift. Some even talk dreamily about how much better their personal and professional lives will be if they make the move.

Sadly, most of us fear taking the risk and failing and with good reason. Just because you want to go from business analyst to marketing director or from musician to entrepreneur doesn't mean hiring managers or even clients will be on board. Get ready friend for an incredible two-part conversation with David Fischette a true visionary in the music marketing and event industry.

Join us as he shares his personal stories of setback in his musical career, the art of storytelling that drives his creativity and the extraordinary entrepreneurial journey that led to founding a thriving successful business.

[00:01:01] Nola: Welcome to Sticky Brand Lab, where we bridge the gap between knowledge and action by providing you with helpful information, tips, and tools from entrepreneurs and other experts so you can quickly and easily jumpstart your side business. We're your hosts. I'm Nola Boea, and this is my co-host, Lori Vajda.

[00:01:17] Lori: Hi Nola.

[00:01:18] Nola: Hey, Lori. You know, we often hear about people who had a dream to do something like acting, writing or something in the creative field, but their parents, teachers, or school counselors wanted them to get an education. So if they didn't make it, they could get a good job. And this spoken or sometimes unspoken implication is that you would fail in your pursuit, so you would have something safe to fall back on.

[00:01:44] Lori: I totally agree, and it's one reason I'm looking forward to our two-part interview with today's guests because most of us have grown up believing that failure is about the worst thing that can happen in life, and that if we do, we may never come back from it, but you know. Some of the most successful entrepreneurs have shared incredible stories about their setbacks, failures, and humongous mistakes on their road to success. And a few of them have even switched products, industries, and career paths before they made it big. And, our guest today has his own story to tell on the topic.

Meet David Fischette. David is the founder, c e o, and Chief Creative at Go West Creative, a marketing agency specializing in live, virtual and hybrid experiences. His company has helped hundreds of organizations, including giants like United Nations, CVS, Salesforce, Petco, Aetna, and Sonic, effectively communicate their message to key stakeholders. David is a highly respected and sought after executive producer and director in both live and film production. Additionally, he has produced live performances by Blake Shelton, John Legend, Sheryl Crow, Bebe Rhexa, Jay Leno, Earth, Wind and Fire, Chicago, Josh Grobin, and other top artists. David was also the executive producer for season four of the Emmy award-winning show, My Generation. Welcome, David.

[00:03:16] Nola: Welcome.

[00:03:16] David: I am so impressive.

[00:03:21] Nola: Yes, yes. You're yes.

[00:03:23] Lori: Yes. We agree

[00:03:24] David: I can't wait to hear what I say.

[00:03:28] Nola: We're so glad to have you. The whole idea of what constitutes success and failure all depends, I think, on perspective, and your story clearly illustrates that, which is one reason we're so glad that you agreed to split your interview with us into two parts.

In part one, listeners, we're going to be exploring David's musical road to entrepreneurship, his trials, tribulations, and lessons learned. He'll go on to share his creative storytelling talent with a focus on how he's turned it into a secret sauce that he's going to reveal for you. In a nutshell, our talk today is about reinventing oneself.

In part two, we'll be exploring strategies and the unique ways David and his team uses stories to brand, market and promote events companies and more. David will share his creative insights and talent by giving tips, tools and resources you can use to promote your business events and yourself. Think of it as a mini seminar. How does that sound, David?

[00:04:25] David: Sounds amazing. I'm signing up.

[00:04:28] Nola: That's great. Okay, well that was just a warmup. So now why don't you go ahead and take us and our listeners along your winding road to entrepreneurial success. So can you tell us about the beginning of your journey as a musician?

[00:04:42] David: Wow. It's been a long road. Uh, this November, it'll be 39 years since I started my company. So

[00:04:48] Lori: You're a legend.

[00:04:49] David: I wow. In my own mind. Yeah. So I started, I was a, a musician. I started playing when I was a teenager and did a lot of night club work all through high school and played in bands through high school and into college. So, you always have a dream of being a rockstar, but in the back of my brain, I really always wanted to own my own business. I was really wanted to be more of a businessman than a rockstar, just because I really knew that I didn't have the talent to actually be a rockstar. We were fortunate enough to have this financial backer that bought us, my band, this huge, sound system that ostensibly we were going to use for live events or whatever. But he also paid for all of our rehearsal studios, which had sound systems in them. Every nightclub we played had a sound system. So this thing sat in my parents' garage where I was living as a 20-year-old, and I got the idea with a buddy of mine to buy some turntables in November of 1984 and start a mobile DJ company. And that mobile DJ company is what has blossomed into what Go West Creative is today.

[00:05:47] Nola: Cool.

[00:05:48] David: Yeah. We originally started off as a company called Audio Ecstasy, which for those of you that remember the, uh, late eighties and early nineties and the advent of 900 numbers, having a company named Audio Ecstasy, you would get a lot of really strange phone calls at nighttime. People want to talk to somebody. Like, not that, not that kind of company. Sorry. So not that kind of ecstasy. Sorry.

[00:06:15] Nola: That's great.

[00:06:18] David: So we started the DJ company and then within six months we bought out the financial backer. Two years later, I bought out my buddy that I started the company with. And then we just kept really, really growing it, and our focus was always on corporate far more than anything else. We did some weddings back then as a DJ company, but we really focused on corporate events, didn't do a lot of, you know, bar mitzvahs or social events and things like that. It was really focused on the corporate, which led us to the opportunity to then, go, okay, well maybe we sell them on a little additional lighting package or bring up the audio, or then it was like bringing some video screens and then it was like, oh, could we put some, what are we going to show on the video screens? And could we create some, we called it multimedia back then. Now we refer to it as content for the screens, you know, so that company just kept going. And by the early nineties, we were the second largest mobile DJ company in Southern California. We're doing about 1300 events a year. But, you know, 1300 events the hard way. We're getting about 400 bucks an event. So we weren't setting the world on fire by any means.

But what we realized very quickly is that doing the audio, doing the lighting, doing the video, doing stage work or, or whatever, the entertainment, those were all just tools that we're using to help a client communicate something. Listen, Mm-hmm. I'll win a message, a launch, or whatever. And so, we kept growing those into doing bigger and bigger events outside of just DJ work and then producing events. And then about 20 years ago is when we really came to the conclusion that what we really are as a creative agency and these things, audio, video, lighting, entertainment, content, those are all just tools in our toolbox. And we'll use those tools and any other tools that we find appropriate to help our clients tell their story. So that's kind of the journey where we're at right now. And so, we were headquartered in Los Angeles for about 30 years and then we moved our headquarters to Nashville just about eight and a half years ago.And you know, we have an incredibly talented team that does much smarter than me, and I think that's part of the success of the company.

[00:08:12] Nola: How long were you in music before you decided to go DJ?

[00:08:15] David: Oh gosh. I was about 14 when I started playing. Oh, wow. I learned to play and then, so I was about 15 before I started performing. I started church right. With that. But then I was about 15 when I started playing in nightclubs. Mm-hmm. And 15 when I started playing in bands and I started doing parties and then writing music and recording and so the music is always my heartbeat. Even today when I'm creating for somebody else, for me, if I'm not creating with the team, it's me with music in my head. And that's the thing that drives me. And I'm a very sappy, emotional guy. So there's music, so there's a soundtrack to my life. There's songs that immediately take me to this or that pain or that heartbreak or you know, or my kids, or whatever it is. So music is just such a part of me. And so even as I moved into the DJ company, the event company, the creative agency music has always been a part of that. So I've continued to work as a producer and produce music for other people. We produce a ton of original music, even to this day with one of our products called Spoken Cinema. So music is still very much a part of it, but I don't look at it as so much of leaving music to start this. I see it all as a natural evolution that has carried me and propelled me between my love of music, playing music, and then also being a theater guy. Those two things really, I think are the core of who I am today.

[00:09:39] Nola: So it sounds like that early experience really shaped your approach to starting and running a business almost naturally.

[00:09:46] David: Yeah. I never really thought it was going to be this huge company that does millions of dollars every year and works for all these big high-profile clients. I just thought it would be a way to take care of myself, my family, as I was growing up as it were. Right. And the first couple of decades, it was what you would refer to as a lifestyle business, right? You make money and you pay your personal bills. And my ex-wife is a co-founder. She's still my business partner in Go West today. And we were married for 25 years and we built this company together. And, you know, our kids grew up in this company, work in this company. So it was just an extension of us. But 15, 20 years ago, we were like, for us to ever really grow this thing, we have to stop making a lifestyle business. We have to just become employees of this corporation that we own, and we have to put infrastructure in place in this company that this company can survive without me or her.

[00:10:41] Nola: And now that you are the CEO of this official company, looking back, can you identify any specific skills or lessons learned in those early days that have proven valuable in your current role?

[00:10:54] David: I would say the CEO I. I think I'm still figuring that that whole chestnut out every day. But I would say there's two really important things that have kind of put me on this path of life.

Right. One would be when I was 15 years old, sophomore in high school. I changed high schools. I'm the youngest of four. All my, uh, siblings, we all went to the same Catholic high school in the San Fernando Valley, St. Genevieve's in California. And I really wanted to be in the theater department. I would go on audition and I was, you know, relatively horrible. Couldn't get a part, you know, couldn't get cast in anything. Couldn't get myself on the crew, and in the middle of my sophomore year, I transferred to a different school that none of my siblings had gone to. When you get there in the middle of a school year, they had already cast for their big spring musical.

Now, this school that I transferred into had an amazing theater department. The school that I went to had initially had a pretty crappy theater department, which I still couldn't get a part in. But this school, that transfer do had this amazing reputation in that whole Los Angeles region of being one of the best performing arts schools. And so they had already cast for their spring musical, and I enrolled in drama as my elective. And after my first day in class, I went up to the drama teacher and asked if I could and be help out in any way with the spring musical.

Well, this drama teacher, by the name of Ray Cavalieri. He and the music teacher Ed Archer had a professional theater company. As well as what they did at the high school together. They called the Camille Ensemble, which was their professional group and the high school. So they had a tremendous reputation and he said to me, Fischette, you any relation to Bob Fischette? I'm like, yeah, he's my, my oldest brother. They're like, huh. Unbeknownst to me, my oldest brother, who was a theater technician had been doing all of his lighting design for both his professional company and for his high school productions while he was in college. My brother was doing all of his lighting. Oh, wow. And he said to me, well, if you're a Fischette, you're my assistant director.

[00:12:52] Nola: Nice.

[00:12:54] David: That random moment of serendipity, that foolish move on that person's part, whatever you want to call it, you put me on a path to being a producer. That guy taking a chance on a 15-year-old that he had just met that day, put me on a path to who I am. And you know, I was really, really fortunate that about 10 years ago, a bunch of the alumni from many years of my high school got together and threw a big, like a reunion for. Ray and Ed and I hosted that at my house in Los Angeles when I lived out there, and I was able to tell them that story and thank them that this house that I'm in is because of you guys. Wow. We lost Ray about three years ago, so I just always thank him.

The other lesson that I always tell people and I tell my staff this, the greatest lesson I ever learned being a DJ is that we a DJ and it's all about reading the room. And programming your music that you give people a chance to like build up the energy and then hit a frenzy and then take 'em down to a slow dance. They can go buy a drink and do whatever and then start the cycle all over again. But if, if you have a packed dance floor and you put on a crappy song and you clear the dance floor, you have to immediately respond to that, change the song up, and do something else to get the people back. That lesson that I learned is just as valuable today when I am in a. Boardroom doing a pitch to a client and I'm pitching and I'm talking, and then I see people, if they suddenly pick up their phone and they're checking their email, I'm like, oh, okay. Losing them wrong song, time to change the song. How do we get 'em back? Right. So just being able to always be conscious of reading the room is saying it's so, so important.

[00:14:21] Lori: Yeah, that's a great tip. What I'm hearing you say is there have been opportunities. Whether they have serendipitously arrived or you've created them or you've turned them around, so it really sounds like there's no such thing as failure for you. It's just an opportunity to go in a new direction.

[00:14:40] David: Oh, Lori, there's been so much failure. There have been so many times where we were just skating by and trying to survive and didn't know how we were going to make payroll and how we were going to pay our bills. So there was a lot of failure in that and a lot of mistakes I made owning a business.

My ex-wife would joke with me all the time because when she came into the company, we already had a marketing tagline. It was audio ecstasy when image is everything. Like, it's like more substance means nothing. Which I, you know, I thought was very funny, but it was true. I was so obsessed with that first 10, 15 years of owning a business of trying to look bigger and more successful and always kind of telling people how great we were at the latest cool thing we were doing, and it. You're fooling yourself. You're really impressing people because you're not. And what I've learned over the years is telling people the stories of failure and, and getting to that place of just being at the end of yourself and just having use your sheer will to carry on and to keep the business going. Those are the stories that actually really resonate. With people. And so that's been a, a huge, huge lesson. But a lot of failures along the way. A lot of my own bad decisions.

[00:15:50] Lori: Your story reminds me of the hero's journey. So this was your hero's journey. What was the challenge that you needed to face to overcome in order to get where you are today?

[00:16:03] David: I would say the biggest challenge is separating work life from your personal life. Right? It was very, very difficult on my family, and obviously my business partner and I are no longer married, so it's very difficult when everything becomes about this company, right. And that you go to work together and you come home and you talk about work, and then you bring the kids. Into work and it just feels like you, where does work and where does our life begin? And I think those lines got very blurred for a long time. So I think that was a rude awakening when things all crumbled and So, fell apart. Yeah, that would make sense. Way to bring it down, huh? Way to bring it.

[00:16:42] Nola: We asked for it, right?

[00:16:44] Lori: That's part of the hero's journey. And also, I think what you learned in that lesson is still relevant and probably even more so today because of the pandemic or change in work that people are questioning and they've really had the opportunity to see that firsthand experience where you had to spend years getting there. Everybody was on board learning that same lesson. So it's a powerful, powerful lesson.

[00:17:11] David: And it's still a lesson today. I mean, I'm remarried. I have three beautiful daughters. Yeah, my twins will be 30 in September. My youngest daughter will be 28 in December, and now I have a son that'll be two in August.

[00:17:25] Lori: Congratulations.

[00:17:25] David: Yeah. So it's still a challenge, right? It's still here I am on a Thursday night sitting in a hotel room in New York. I'm in New York for two days. It was in Tampa on Tuesday, so it's three days this week that I'm not there with him, not there putting a little guy to bed. So it's still a challenge. And so owning your own business, owning a small boutique shop like you do. It's difficult to find that balance. Cause you, you always think, well, if I don't take care of it, who's going to take care of it? Or, this relationship with this client is so important. I've got to go and take care of that. And I've got to say I'm, I'm much, much better at it. I've hired an incredible woman that is our president and chief operating officer, and she's really running the company now and she's owning a lot of the relationships. And we have an incredible executive team and. Slowly but surely, I'm trying to remove myself from a lot of the stuff, the craziness. So I think in 2022, I executive produced 15 different projects, and in 2023 I executive produced two.

[00:18:22] Nola: Good for you.

[00:18:23] David: Yeah. So there's a little bit of a difference, a little bit of a transition happening.

[00:18:27] Nola: We've had a couple of episodes on the topic of identity capital and the gist of that is, even if your career path seems a little scrambled or jagged, there's almost always like red thread of commonality that connects everything, at least once you look back at it. So for you, you made the pivot from musician to DJ to creativity and storytelling. What do you see as your red thread between, let's say, music, creativity, and storytelling?

[00:19:00] David: Communicating to audiences.

[00:19:02] Nola: Ah, that was a fast answer too. So tip of your tongue.

[00:19:06] David: I know. I know why God put me on this earth. Right. And I know the talents that I have, and it's to help communicate to audiences, whether that's an audience of five or an audience of 10,000, whether that's a live event or a film, or television, or a song. It's like putting myself in. The position of that audience and go, what is it they need to hear and how do I touch their heart or make them laugh? Make them cry. That's it's communicating

[00:19:29] Nola: That makes so much sense. Mm-hmm.

[00:19:31] Lori: So, what happened when you started focusing on storytelling as opposed to the typical advertising and marketing that is traditionally done when working with clients?

[00:19:42] David: I'm not so great in the 30 seconds. Right. I'm really good. Gimme two and a half minutes. I can get you somewhere. Right? Gimme 10 minutes. I can really do something with that. So, in traditional marketing, traditional advertising, right? It's like, what's the tagline? What's, I just feel maybe my time has come now more so than 20 years ago. Because there's a, a definite shift in what Gen X, gen Z. The way they want to consume things, the way they want to engage a brand. They want authenticity. They want to know that the brand is for real and not just selling them on something. I think that's always been my heart, is like, how do we create things that really say who this company is and what it is that they do. How to authentically tell your story.

Somebody asked me, how do you build trust with a new client? And I said, I think there's lots of ways to build trust, but I think one really important way to build trust with a new client is sometimes saying, no. We're not the right people for you. Yeah, right. We can't be the end all, be all for all people. And even in my company, I may not be the person that's the right person for certain clients. There may be somebody else that they connect with more, and, and I appreciate that and, and that was a tough pill for me to swallow. It's like, how could they not want me? So it's that you maybe we're not the company to come to you for your tell. Cast this massive net and tell our story in 15 seconds. We're probably not that company, but if we can help you tell your story in an authentic way and really get to know who you are and what it is you're trying to cause. What of your product is what of your services? What are you trying to cause? What are you trying to create? What do you want to achieve? What do you want people to experience and help them communicate that in an effective way? I think that's cause for that.

[00:21:19] Nola: How did you land on storytelling as a powerful tool for communication? Most marketing folks would say messaging. Where did you say no? You know, it's storytelling.

[00:21:30] David: Well, I think it goes back to Ray Capillary, right? It goes back to theater. It goes back to taking people on a journey authentically, you know, and really hooking them in, give 'em the buy into to where you're taking them.And so I think we have this product line called Spoken Cinema, and it's something I'm immensely proud of. And I get to work with my dear friend Steve Connell, who's I think is the greatest spoken word artist in the world. I don't think that anybody has talent the way this guy has talent. And we've been working together now for 10 years and we created this product line where he'll write a piece for, uh, corporation, our client. And once that piece is done, then our team takes it and we build a whole digital landscape. And then, uh, an original cinematic score so that when he then goes and performs at live at an event or a conference, he stands on stage and every word that comes out of his mouth is coming to life behind him in real time with a music swelling. So it's as if he's standing in a movie. So it's Spoken cinema.

What is so beautiful about him is we will do a discovery call with our clients and they'll tell us, here's what the conference is, here's who the audience, here are the topics we're trying to communicate this year. Here's what we did last year. Here's what didn't work, here's what does work, blah, blah, blah. All that kind of stuff. And then he'll go away for four weeks and they'll come back and we'll all experience the poem together for the first time.

And the poem typically has when it starts very little to do with anything that they told him. It may be, I remember sitting on my grandfather's lap and looking at his hands, and he was an iron worker and he built bridges, right? And you just get sucked into the power of story and you're there and you're envisioning him as a little boy sitting on his grandfather's lap and looking at this and, and thinking about the big bridges that he built, right? And then all of a sudden, once you're there, then he starts weaving in the initiatives and who they are in the company and that type of thing.

But the fire of Steve, the thing, the true gift that he has is he has this ability of communicating to the audience what it is they actually do, not what they do, not what their job is, not their widget making. But I don't make tires for a car. I create a safe environment for moms to pick their kids up from soccer cars and, and take them to get ice cream. You know what I mean? It's like you encapsulate them in the moments of life that these people help create whatever the industry is, and it becomes such a personal thing for them. And that's the power story.

[00:23:56] Nola: It is powerful.

[00:23:57] Lori: We have one final question for you, David.

[00:23:59] David: Sure.

[00:24:00] Lori: Tell us what creative project you are currently working on that you are really excited about.

[00:24:06] David: Well, there's a couple of things, one of which is my own podcast that we'll be launching here in in July, which is called the True West Podcast.  I'm really excited about that because it's a way for me to sit down and, and talk to people about their creative journey no matter what type of work they do, talking to business leaders and artists and the top guy in the Air Force and civil rights leaders. But we all have this creative journey and the reason we call it the True West Podcast is because I believe at Go West, we're there to help you find your true west. Because we believe your true north is your true north. The purpose you were put on this earth, the thing that gets you up each morning. The other thing you'll be remembered for after you're gone. But your true west is that sense of adventure, that sense of exploration, that sense of curiosity that helps you each day in your journey. I love that. I'm excited about that.

The other thing that I'm really quite excited about is in Nashville this year, I'll be, I just wanted to do something for the community that wasn't necessarily a Go West thing. It was just a David Fischette thing. I wanted to create art. Again, that was just my art. So, I'm, uh, producing a, a large holiday show in December in Nashville, and as you're thinking about, okay, how are you going to create this show? And I've done a lot of large shows before you think about doing another Christmas show in Nashville, Tennessee, as somebody said, you can't out sparkle, what's already going on in Nashville. You want a sparkly Christmas show and happy dancing reindeers, you're going to find that in spades.

What I really felt like is there are so many people that are hurting during the holidays that are suffering and it's a really, really difficult time and it's a really hard time for me. And I thought, what if I created an event that was specifically about, and for the people that are having a difficult time during the holidays, and we call it hope for the holidays. And it's not going to be a, a night of all sad songs. And at the end of the night, you're kind of, it's got to be about hope, but it's got to be real, it's got to be authentic and it's got to really address some of those things and help people just to be seen and have some. Resources and tools and charitable organizations that they can get involved with that there in a tangible. And so I'm really excited that I'm, I'm working with, uh, Louis York and Louis York is a duo, Grammy award-winning duo. I just won a Grammy this year. They have about 50 different gold and platinum albums for the work that they've done with Rihanna, Bruno Mars, and Whitney Houston, a host of others, and they're incredibly talented artists. Claude Kelly from New York and Chuck Harmony from. St. Louis. So therefore, they are Louis York, but so it'll be in the evening with, uh, Louis York and friends. I have a bunch of other artists that will be joining in for the night, but there'll be some incredibly touching moments and I think a really cathartic healing night for people. So I'm, I'm really excited about that journey.

[00:26:54] Nola: That is so cool. It's like going back to your roots.

[00:26:56] Lori: Will you be playing music there?

[00:26:58] David: I will not, I'll not play. I won't speak. I will, I I'll, but it's theater production, right? It's the, yeah, I'll, I'll produce, I'll write direct and produce the entire thing. But you know when, when I know that I've created something cool. It is when I stand in the back of the room and it plays and I cry. Right? Yes. So, so I, yep. I'm not somebody you want on stage. I'll be, yeah. I'm not that guy, so,

[00:27:18] Nola: oh, that's going to be a sure thing. That sounds very cool. Well, thank you, David for sharing your entrepreneurial story and your future aspirations with us today. And listeners, be sure to come back next week for part two where we'll be exploring how you can use storytelling to market your business event and yourself. David, you've been a wonderful storyteller. We're sure your experience, along with your personal insights and action steps will inspire and motivate others to courageously pursue their personal and professional dreams. Before you go, how can listeners get in touch with you and where should they go if they want to learn more about you or go West create group your podcast or find out what else you're up to?

[00:27:56] David: You can always find me at gwcg.com. We're super fortunate to have a four-letter URL, right? It's, uh, stands for Go West Creative Group. You can find me on, uh, Instagram at Digi West d i g i west on Instagram or on LinkedIn at DavidFischette, and you'll be able to find the True West Podcast on Spotify in July.

[00:28:16] Lori: That's awesome. We'll be sure to put those links in our show notes as well as on our website.

Well listener, we hope the ideas and thoughts shared here today have sparked your interest and curiosity about sharing brand stories as well as inspired you to become a first-time entrepreneur in the second half of your vibrant life. Be sure to stick around to the very end of this podcast for a fun little surprise.

[00:28:41] Nola: If you found the information we've shared helpful and want more tools, tips, and inspiration delivered to your inbox, sign up for news you can use over on our website, sticky brand lab.com, or click the link on our show notes and remember baby steps, big effects.

[OUT-TAKE]
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[00:28:57] Lori: Oh, I totally agree. I heard that myself. And it's one reason I'm looking forward to our two-part interview. Sorry.
[00:29:05] David: So,
[00:29:09] Nola: and it's one reason I'm choking up
[00:29:10] Lori: right now.
[00:29:13] Nola: I'm.