The What It Takes Podcast Ep 8: The One Decision That Changed My Business Forever ft Laibel Schwartz

Welcome to another episode of the What It Takes podcast. My name is Ty Krauss, CEO of Blackboard Recruiting. Today we are with Label Schwarz, CEO of Label. It's a tongue twister. Label, you started off doing paritas, then weddings. I had the um how what's the English word for? Uh the merit the merit to have a wedding shot by you. And recently, not recently, then you sort of got into corporate head shot. Sure. Now you're doing video productions. You're in so many industries. You got healthcare, you got hospitality, real estate, right? Thanks for coming on the podcast. Let's get into it. [Music] You know, it's interesting. Recently, people have been asking, you know, it's a challenging time for everyone. And you know, it's interesting. We're in as you probably see more industries than I do. And it's really interesting because I'm sure you see it pro. It's actually not many people see it more than I do, but you probably see some guys are now are rocking and some guys are really hurting and like it flows. It really does. It really Now it's interesting, but you don't know how people are doing. So when people meet you in the middle of you're in Lakewood, you're in Brooklyn, what's going on? So like you used to be like, "Yeah, thank God rocking and rolling." But then you don't know what the other person's going through, right? So, I've recently been saying thankfully we're going through all the same blessings and challenges that are normal for the these times. And then depending on how they react like, "Yeah, man, it's tough." And then you go to them, you relate to them in the tough side. If they're like, "Yeah, thank God things are rocking." And you go to the with them with the rocking side. But you have to in today's world, you have to be more sensitive than just saying like, "Oh, thank God. Rocket rolling." Because you don't know where the other person's at. Okay, today's podcast is over. That was that was that's a very good point. I'm gonna keep that in mind. Be sensitive to other people. I wouldn't say it's it's it's flowing. I think it's a cycle. Yeah. I'll see certain industries you have certain same industry certain companies are hurting. Certain companies are doing really well. So I think it's a it's a cycle, you know, like a ferris wheel. People do well, others, you know, it's who from God. And again, let's let's talk for a second about clients that we both know. I've noticed the most interesting thing. Who was the first people to get hit by this economy thing? Big big company, rocket and rolling, big big industry, rocking and rolling. All of a sudden, boom. Everything shut down. What are the first companies? So for me, it was my mortgage companies, right? I'm in capital, right? And capital rock and rolling. All of a sudden, interest rates, the world changed. Boom. goes from top industry everyone's after to crickets right then but everyone's like ah listen that happened in the mortgage industry but we're you know real estate so great thank god right construction construction right real estate is so great right all of a sudden real estate starts taking a hit construction or real estate first which one so real estate gets a hit first yeah so wait why listen real estate start getting a hit I believe I could be wrong. Please tell me if I'm wrong and what this is what I saw. Real estate start getting hit, right? Because they need to refinance. So then exactly then it hits them. So now everyone's looking like, okay, well mortgages are down the tube and real estate's doing bad, but you know what? Constructions, we still got buildings we're building. All of a sudden, since the money dried out, all of a sudden construction starts to get hit. So now we've got mortgages down, we've got real estate, real estate down, we've got construction down, but business, you know, you know, B2B stuff, all good. All of a sudden, that starts to get hard. Yeah. But guess who's still fine? Nonprofits. Nonprofits were helping people. All of a sudden, nonprofits. But the crazy part was, guess who's doing well again? Mortgages. Min Capital has I think three or four profitable quarters in a row. All of a sudden, mortgage is doing great. Thank God. Rock and rolling again. Now you start seeing real estate start to happen again. And that is the flow of what's going on. And only if you're in consider it a flow or a ferris wheel. That's what I mean. That's that sort of thing. And all of a sudden, but you need to be in the business for long enough to be able to see the whole process and be like, okay, it's not mortgages and okay, it's not construction. Okay, it's not, you know, real estate. Okay, it's not nonprofits. This is called the program, right? And then when you're hurting, it's okay. Welcome to welcome to life 100%. Do you think there's something these companies could do if this were to happen again to prepare better? So again, that's past my pay grade that I think you should talk to David Wuno about. Meaning that's I'm just kind of watching it from the sideline. For the people that are watching and have no clue who David is, Davido, who is he? Do you want to introduce him? David, he was our first guest. I mean, first podcast published. David is the is the I believe is you know the the brainchild to many many of us meaning many businesses out there. Blackbird label, everyone needs a video and many many others that have basically Dove has been that guiding force. Seeing talent in people, inspiring, encouraging them to be successful and then how many years later anniversary if I remember correctly? Four. Four. And four years later, all of a sudden, Blackbird is making a podcast with label, right? And who's smiling in the background? That wouldn't 100%. Yeah, pretty wild stuff. Okay, let's get into the podcast. You started off as a regular photographer. You had a photography business. Um, you were doing bar mitzvah. You were doing weddings. Was there a turning point that made you think, "Okay, let's get into corporate. Let's start doing head shots and slowly move away from the bars." When did that happen? And what what were you thinking about like to do corporate work, you need to scale up a team. When you're filming a wedding, you hire freelancers to do the bar. You're there yourself. Did you ever think like what would it take to scale up a business? What was that turning point for you like hey switching over to corporate less baritos and then eventually no baritzos or weddings? It's a very good question. So really it was a bit of a progression. So you have to remember my wife and I were a wedding team for years right? So I started off doing events on my own then we got married. My wife is an interior designer from Parsons. So, she had that whole world. But I knew that design. Yeah. I knew that if I was going to be in Kyle and she was going to go buy $40,000 couches for her clients and then come back to our $40 Craigslist couch, there was going to be a little bit of cognitive dissonance, meaning it's not going to feel right. So, I had to figure out a way that we could work together, build a team together, and still feel comfortable. So, I said, "You know what? Why don't we do photography?" My wife said, "Are you crazy? I just went to the best design school in the world. Like, I know what I'm doing. You do your thing. on the Dwine. But slowly but surely, she came along and she built this wedding business together. I was in Ko full-time and I would make sales calls, ba sedarum and things like this and she ran the entire business. So we shot together. Why photography? So I was in university and I wanted to find some profession that I can shoot at night and learn all day and afternoon and still make a living. So, I figured if I could shoot bar mitzvah at night or even weddings if I got big, I'd be able to stay in learning for long as long as possible. It's exhausting. Uh, everything's exhausting. Recruiting is exhausting. Yeah, but it's a 9 to5 of sorts. You're learning 9 to5 and then you're going to Okay. And you're learning from 5 to 9 and then you're going to do recruiting. It's the same exact situation. That is very true. But you in the morning you need to get your kids up for school. You need to go dabin and then but you're working till 11 to 12 o'clock at night. Oh, it's awful. It's the worst thing in the world. That's what I was referring to. Like people who sing at weddings or play at weddings that God should bless them with literally ultimate chef. I don't know. They have the I have no idea. I physically couldn't do it. In fact, I never did um mitzvah for that reason. Anytime I ever shot a mitzvah, I would get sick. Not from being up too late, from the stress of just thinking that I had to get up early. the photographer who shot with you my wedding. That's right. I said, "I'm not doing it." I said, I said, "Thull, I'm not doing it." Remember, he finished I think 3:30 or close to 4:00. Lord, bless him. Oh, Lord. Felt so bad. No, but great images. Beautiful photos. Gosh. Um, yeah. And that's why you picked photography. Well, I picked photography so I could be in learning. I stayed in photography. You got married or after? Before you got married. Yeah. Yeah. Love it. Wow. Yeah. So then um and then we did it together, but it wasn't fun when she after about eight and a half years in cuddles, she said she wanted to be with the kids. I said, "That's cool." So I said, "I'll run I'll run it from here." So my friends, you know, people would make a joke like, "Oh, she couldn't hack it." Said, "I couldn't hack it." I said, "She she took on a new CEO and she took on a new venture." You know what I mean? Like that's it. Um she still owns 51% of the company, takes a large draws a larger salary, you know, she's good. So um but but when she said she wanted to that I tried doing it alone, it wasn't fun anymore. Meaning you have to remember we built this company together. It was meant as a team building unit. So I would talk to our huskala and say, "Hey, just like you guys are having fun hanging out, we're having fun hanging out." And like it was always fun. And then all of a sudden I'd be sitting with the cousin Kala and I'd be by myself and I'd be like, "Oh, just like you guys are, oh wait, no, I'm by myself now." Was it ever challenging working with your wife? And I'll elaborate on that question. There's a term in Yiddish, right? To translate for those watching and don't speak Yiddish with family, you only eat cogle. You don't really work together because there's so much to lose. If it doesn't work out and then you're coming home, you're seeing each other 6:00. The other day, you had a bad day at work. No, I'll tell you a crazy thing. Just the other day, um, it worked out perfectly when it didn't. I'll tell you when it couldn't work anywhere. But the funny part is just the other day one of our barista clients called from nine years ago and apparently I remember what happened. They whatever they took a it was hard to get a hold of them. They didn't do their album. They were busy. Now she wants her album 9 years later. Now we happen to still have the same team members from back then. We just transition them into new roles. Pause. Yeah. No, I'm not going to make a new album for you. Do you realize what you just said? What? Label is such a good employer. I know people on his team. They're they're with him nine years later. For someone who does recruiting and interviews people all day looking to switch jobs, that is something you should be very very proud of. You're laughing. I am not kidding. We're blessed. We're very blessed. That is You're blessed. They are blessed to have you as a boss. Okay. I'm blessed to have them. So anyway, so the point being that so and like my wife's telling me like as we're getting ready to like, you know, go upstairs and I'm thinking to myself like I'm done with work now. Like I like I have enough stuff in my head like like I'm so glad we don't have this anymore. So, you know when it stopped working? It stopped working when we actually needed the money. I was in Cal. Our first bunch of years, we made $32,000 a year, $38,000 a year, 40 would have six. How many nights a week were you working on average? I don't know. We generally that probably shoot about eight times a week. Eight times a month. So, two times a week is but there's a lot not but there's also a lot of stuff going on otherwise. You know, there's editing this, right? But as soon as it got to a point where we actually needed the money to live, when did that happen? Like eight and a half years in familywise, Hashem could Yeah. Thank God. Few kids. Yeah. At that point, and I would say like, well, did you do the thing like whatever the thing? Like did you do like send the client whatever? Remember those little accordion books my wife used to make? The day after I got married. Yeah. Your wife shows up to my door, my apartment in Muny or two days after I got married. With a thing of of biscotti, freshly baked biscati or cookies or something wrapped up scones with a nice little bow and an accordion for a wedding photo. Yeah, sure. Of course. Right. That's exactly right. That is such a wholesome moment. It took four years or three years to get our wedding album. All my fault. All my fault. And I would say 95% of the time it is the Kala's fault. Yeah. No, but again we would push it. But anyway, the point being she showed up with an accordion. Yeah. But then I would say let's say for example the accord wouldn't be made. You didn't make the she was like what are you talking about? I had to you know what I had to do at home? You know the kids what I said that but we still need to get paid. So at that point I said no that's that's that's that was the break. As soon as we needed the money it didn't work anymore. leading up till then were there times where I don't know a kid woke up late or someone wasn't feeling well like how did were there ever times where it wasn't easy it wasn't or was it always most of the time just again it's just like any other life meaning there's you've woken up with kids not feeling well you still get on with life what advice would you give to somebody working with their spouse or sibling or parent um it's not I mean again I think the majority of people can't do it the only reason it works is if Um, is if I don't know I I don't recommend that. You don't recommend. Would you do it again with your wife? Yeah. So, it was I wouldn't do I wouldn't do it now, but I would let's say as soon as the kids are out, I'm sure we'll do something because she's the most talented person in the world and like and then I have the ability to connect to people. So, if you put the two together, it's a lot of fun and it's cool to watch what watch her do her thing. There's no one in the world that does what things she does. I'm in this spot like you can't imagine. Just watching her is fun. Watching her do Aram Cohen said once he once Cohen is your video editor. Um but like the most talented I just said about two different people but the most talented video editor that ever existed. Um he once said I saw a video of your wife shooting a wedding or a portrait or something. He said it was like watching a MoMA museum. Like not the picture at the end, the moment the museum like it was like watching a museum piece. Not the thing that she made was a museum piece. Watching her direct lean was like, "Ah, no, she's not that way at all." You know, cuz we did the Europe, right? Come slight this way, slightly down, whatever's going on. And then all of a sudden, you have this thing where you're like, "What the heck?" Well, how'd you do that? No one in the world like it anyway. Yeah. So, yeah, we'd work together for sure. Not if we needed the money, but we do work together every day, just on different projects. I love I love that. I love it. Um, let me ask you, what was the hardest shift moving from working with clients, you know, doing wedding photography and videography and baritas to corporate? What was what was the hardest shift? It was the best thing in the world. What was the hardest shift for you? Mentality or the best? No, no hard shifts. Easiest thing in the world. You know why? Because in I think you'll understand this. When you're doing weddings or events or portraits, inherently, as much as they need what you need to have, you're taking money out of their pocket. Okay? When I'm working with companies, I'm putting money in their pocket, right? It's a whole different. So, therefore, it's the best, right? It's the best. There's no mother-in-laws, right? There's no late nights. We're going to do that as a short. Yeah. There's no mother-in-laws in the in the in the corporate world. Um although sometimes in there is times that there's like you know you know better than anyone there's like uh family politics in business sometimes but there's generally no mother-in-laws. And the other thing I love about it is that we generally work with our owners or CEOs. So the vision is all there. It's not like you're you know what I mean like you're working with one person creating a solution for them as opposed to like you know top. Yeah. Um, you went into you decided to do corporate when you needed the money. I decided corporate when I when my wife wasn't I decided to to not work with my wife when we needed the money. I decided to do corporate when I didn't want to do weddings anymore. But I didn't just run out of it. David wouldn't let me. We had an active business in weddings and I found out about these headshot things. We made a bunch of that's a whole conversation otherwise how that happened. Is that something you would talk about? Yeah, of course. But the point being that I was so gung-ho about headshots, I went to David. I said, "Dove," he never thought headshots would work in the first place. Never. So anyway, but um I said, "David, I'm making money with the head shot. Forget the forget the wedding." How what was your first client? Like how did that work? Someone called you or you No, no, no, no. I So no, no, very much the other way. We're sponsored by Profoto. Profoto is like the world's best lighting company. Yeah. How did that happen? You're doing You know how it happened? I'll tell you one crazy story. What was step one? Starting a corporate business. forget about that's two different stories. One is how did we get to Profoto? Okay, Profoto was came out with a brand new light. So now lights have batteries, right? Back then it didn't. You just plug the light in the wall or you had these small what they call um battery packs. No, they had these small like uh whatever like flashes on top of the camera, but not very powerful. They came out with a new Zing revolutionary now. It's modern day normal that you can take a battery and put it onto a strobe. Didn't exist before. strobes are these. These are constant lights, but essentially like the things I use for head shots. Okay. So, they took 18 of the like the world's best photographers that were there that they wanted to represent the brand. Gave them this pack and said, "Go out in the world and create whatever you want and we're going to make videos about it and put it out to the world and it's going to be called um Legends of Light." Make like a whole new thing. These things are we'll give you free equipment. Do they also pay for it? How does that work? No, it's a very good question. Yeah, very good question. So, I I don't know the world to I never got too deep into it. I sent them stam I sent I was making a video about my wife and I did not only do we do weddings, we started a new company which I think would do well now but didn't do well then eight years ago which is called the eternal image which is couple photography. I remember that. Yeah. Yeah. Couple on a boat. Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Yeah. So the you know the relationship doesn't end at the wedding. It starts at the wedding. You know what I mean? And it gets like now, you know, we're as family grows. A thousand% not. But not the family, just the couple. The relationship of a couple 15 years later is a different world than it was in the beginning, right? Imagine that concept. I You're older and right, but you've built into something that's like I think today it would go wild. Please do it. It's making me now. Can you can you imagine that idea? Um, anyway, point being I I said, so I was making a video about like a sales video about this internal image thing. I said, "You know what? I'm going to pitch to Profoto that I'm going to be the 19th person, me and my wife, and we're going to go onto a two hot air balloons and we're going to take one flash and put it into one hot air balloon. My wife's going to be shooting from another hot air balloon. It's going to be the skyscape, the landscape, couple in the middle of the sky." And to show that you could use these battery powered things from 200 feet away. Competition people needed to apply. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. They I chose 18 people. I just said, "I want to be the 19th." I sent them a video and I'm like waiting of you like of me presenting this idea. Me and my wife sitting presenting this idea. I sent the email. I'm waiting, waiting, waiting. Finally get an email back. How long do you remember? No, week and a half. Okay. But like waiting every day. Um, hey label, nice to meet you. Every day we get pitched ideas. This is the first time we ever got pitched through a video. We like the concept. Go ahead. If we like it, we'll use it. Did you do this photo in the hot air balloon? So, I set up a whole couple. Remember, um, Newman, Elisa Newman, she ran our office for a little while. Yes. They're one of our couples. They're like our best. Like, not best couple. They're like our They're the ones that stay on the wall in your office. They did for many years. So, then we said, "We're going on a hot air balloon. They're all set. We got all set. Hot air balloon. Everything's going to happen. We got a call that day, the night before. It's a Sunday. We got to call M Shabas. the the bride had a double eye infection, meaning not happening. So, I'm like, "What am I gonna do?" So, I ended up calling my cousins. They said they would do it. Then, it was too much wind to go in the hot air balloon. So, they're like, "Forget it. Let's just go to Manhattan." So, we go to Manhattan with this couple, my cousins, and we do this wild shoot and we send it to them. They said, "This is beautiful. Welcome to being sponsored by Profoto as Profoto Legends of Light." I love it. I love it. Now, back to my other question. That was the pro story. How what was step one? Starting a a business that services the corporate world and not Oh, so anyway. So, yeah. So, I just I just again it wasn't fun doing it, but so therefore Oh, so so that's how that's how it started. So, we got sponsored by Profoto. My wife met someone else who's sponsored by Profoto who does head shot named Peter Hurley who is like the world's best headshot photographer. I only know about him through you. Yeah. So I said to her, "Get he was selling a book and if you get his book, he'll give you a free headshot." Now really his headshots go for $1,000 and the book is 40 bucks. So I said, "Get the book and then go get the headshot and see what it's like." So she gets the book. I just wanted her get a headsh shot to see like what it was like being photographed by that type of to learn, right? She's a master. He's a master, right? And she comes back with the book. So I was like, "I don't know. I'll read it." And you've never done any corporate work yet. Never did Hatchet. Like I'll read the book. I don't care. Like I'll learn about facial expression, which is cool. And then I was like, "This is interesting." So I tried it. I was like, "Hey, this is kind of cool." And that's how it started. I every single week went to Manhattan every Wednesday, paid for parking, toll, paid for the studio, and they gave free head shot to everyone and their mother for two years straight to practice my craft. Then did Peter know about this? Of course. So he he shot your wife. No, I mean again the book. Yeah, again it's there's a now I have these big long lines. That was the like what he has a big long line. You buy the book and you go through the line. How did you connect with them? This is a well respected the industry. We're both sponsored by the same company. That that was the connection. Yeah. Two years free. Free heads for everybody plus pay for student gas. I think it was a total about 50 grand and every Wednesday and I paid for it through the funds that we had from weddings, right? And I paid and I taught myself how to do it. And then there was a guy Mr. Wall that called. David Rosenberg actually called. Mr. Wall called about an idea for for the LinkedIn global. He said, "Can you give us head shot?" You didn't know you were doing headshots. David Rosenberg for some reason knew how David Rosenberger lives in in in Lakewood. He has a false multiple companies. Um put me in touch with Mr. Wall. I said, "Mr. Wall, nice to meet you. We don't know each other well." I remember exactly where it was. Um, I would rather The headsh shot at the time I think was 225. These head shots are 225. Now granted, no one's ever paid anything for him. These head shots are 225, right? I would rather and he said, "Yo, listen, we'll get people give you five 10 bucks for them." So I said, "I would rather gift a $225 gift to somebody than take $10 for them. Think and they're going to think it's worth $10." So he said, "So you're not charging me anything?" I said, "Right." He said, "Okay, deal." That's how it started. LinkedIn global. Yeah. Now you have a uh a rule. First three free. Exactly. So that was the idea. LinkedIn Global is what was event number one. Well, first it was two years of free. Two years of free. Then it was then it was LinkedIn Global. We did for free. They did, if I don't know if you remember, they did one right afterwards in Brooklyn. was Barl Solomon and Bitbean Spanner. They did another one. Then I did another and then then I did a healthcare one that was at Eagle Ridge and then then we started charging. You were charging already but you were giving it to people for free. Did those events bring like that first phone call? No, you understand everyone at that time was so interested in getting LinkedIn content. It was a LinkedIn conference. So everyone needed LinkedIn content. So therefore, basically they came in, we gifted them the best headshot they've ever had in their life and told them that whoever makes the mushiest post about their experience will get a free real headshot which is going to be half hour really developing it. So therefore, everyone put out a mushy. They were waiting for posts. They had a great picture of themselves and they had a incentive for a mushy post win. So everyone all of a sudden started posting all over the place. Label headshot label headshot experience mushy mushy mushy. And the whole world was like what the heck? I had so much. You know Ellie Gavoror who shot your wedding? Yeah. Very close friend of mine. He told me, he said, "Label, I blocked you on LinkedIn." I said, "Why do you mean you blocked me on LinkedIn?" He says, "Every time I open LinkedIn, it's just all about you." He said, "I blocked you." I said, "Okay, whatever." A year later, he calls me, says, "Label, I need you a favor." So, what's up? He says, "I need you to like one of my posts on LinkedIn. I want people to see it." I said, "You blocked me." He said, "Listen, I'm going to unblock you for 10 minutes. you're going to like it and then I'm gonna block you again. That is so funny. And that's what happened. What was that feeling of that first paid client 225 at the headshot? I don't really remember. Do you remember who it was? No, but I remember our first corporate client was LTC liquid. Yeah. Was right before Pesak. Um it was right before Pesak and they called and they said they needed headshotsk. Unbelievable. So needed headsh shots for their Yeah. Need for their team. How many head shots? It was their whole corporate team at the time. People, 50 people, 100. No, no, 10. So, I'm like so excited, nervous, slash, whatever. And I was like, "You can't do it." I like, "What do you mean I can't do it?" She's like, "You promised me you were going to clean the fridge for PES." Okay. I was like, "Hannah, I I've been working on this for two years. I really need to do this." She said, "No, you said you're going to clean the fridge." I said, "Do me a favor. You let me do this, I'll buy you a new fridge." That's what happened. Bought a new fridge. The next year was the exact same thing. Had a big photo project, a four-part series with HCS and uh I remember that. Yeah. Very special. It was in the ads. Yeah. Very, very special. And my wife and I and I remember clearly saying, "Kada, I need to do the shoot." She's like, "And I was like, I'll get you the oven." She says, "An oven with a matching microwave." That is so funny. I was like, "Okay, whatever. Do hs called me and I'm like, yeah, I saw you guys did a project with label." They're like, "Yeah, that is so wow." LinkedIn global brings back memories. Remember Joel Socks? Joel Everything Joel doing his thing. Um, Barl and his Yeah. Avi. Avi. Yeah. The sales manager at Fidelity Credit. Yeah. Yeah. He went then he went to Yeah. Right. I forgot his name. Avi. What's his last name? Um, I know. Yeah, he lives in Lakewood. Yeah, he got he has a beard now. Yeah, I um I know I'm very very Come now we're going to embarrass ourselves. No, come on. He's such a good guy. Yeah. I have a question. Did you ever envision the company used to be called Schwarz Photography, now it's called Label, which I think is such a it's a good name. Just label. Yeah, label. Anyone can relate. Yeah. Also, every hopefully we can be able to get ourselves out of it a little bit. Once it's label photography, everyone wants you label. still whatever, but there's an element of it could it could expand, right? Did you ever envision it growing to the level it's at now or was it more opportunity by opportunity, slow growth? Oh, this let's take on this challenge. Yes, that one. The second one. Yeah. Very. You never thought? No. Did that probably had a vision for this? Yeah. And did you think he's crazy? Yes. All the time. Yes. Did you ever still um what do you think is the biggest misconception about video production? So before we go there, I want to like clarify something. If you were to tell me when we first met, forget about that even later that we would be doing the things that we're doing now on the level that we're doing them. I don't know if I would be able to like even fathom like even begin to fathom if you were imagine if you were to show me when we met right or even in any part of my career. Show me the current stuff we're doing with Kushner on, you know, on the whole boardwalk there. Show me the stuff we're doing in the healthc care space. Show me the stuff we're doing in the real estate space. We're doing projects now with Windham Hotels. You know, I mean like it doesn't make any sense to me. But the interesting part that I would say is that that's not the thing. It gets to be a certain point like then what? So the point is that did you take care of your family? Did you take care of your clients? Did you take care of your teammates? And for that like nothing really changed. So therefore like is it wild that we're doing these crazy things? Yeah. But like it doesn't feel any different because we're doing the same exact thing that we always did. Trying our very best to take care of our family, trying very hard to take care of our clients, and very hard to take care of our employees. Nothing changed. The scope of work is different. But in the end of the day, it's just going back to the bank and is there enough to take care of family? Is there enough to take care of my clients? And there's enough to take care of my employees. And and nothing really changed in that aspect. It never went too crazy high, never went too crazy low. Do you ever get a potential job that can affect taking care of family. Like I know there are a lot of people that like to be home. They leave the office at 5:30. That's it. Like very little business trips, very little conferences. So was there ever like a point where you got a lead or potential client that might interfere with that? Yes. And it happened naturally. So we I used to have a rule that we didn't travel. I'm home now. We had a rule that the only reason I would travel is because the reason we had a rule the only reason I would travel is it was really really financially worth it sense. Yeah. The challenge is now we're traveling all the time but they're numbers that always just make sense. So it became it became like you know I got to a point where traveling once a year but it was really worth it but then it's really often really worth it very often once every twice a year and then all of a sudden it's once every quarter and then all of a sudden there's times there was a point last summer I was in Florida every other week but we'd go down do three different facilities. How are you going to pass that up? How do you manage family obligations? So that's what I was telling you is my wife and I are still a team, right? She totally totally totally runs what she's got to run and I totally totally totally would run what I got to run. But it did get to a point where it went too far. Meaning but I don't really have an option. So I'm in stuck in a little bit of a I built an infrastructure give someone. I don't know. I'm trying I need it. I don't can't give it. I need it. I once called you and you had your son on that trip. Yeah. So I take my kids sometimes. So beautiful. Yeah. Sometimes I bring my kids because like not only that it's healthy because traveling alone is not healthy, but when you you're supposed to be a parent. I mean, this is my for me, I'm supposed I'm supposed to be a parent. So, if I can bring one of my kids and I can be that parent along with them, you can't you can't bring them at like eight years old. They need to be old enough. I sort of Yeah. You do you take was it a conference or No. Again, I wouldn't take them to a place where I don't think it's the right thing for them. Let's say for example, if I'm going down to do a nursing home, there's nothing better than seeing angels taking care of taking care of yesterday's heroes. You know what I mean? Like that's the best. Yesterday's heroes. Yeah. I love it. I love it. But yeah, that's the point is that I think everyone looks at other people like, "Oh man, they're rocking, they're rolling in it, you know, all this type of thing." If you were to look at our what we do, any person in my industry would do anything to do the things that we're doing. And I sometimes just want to tell them like I'm just I'm struggling just as well as everyone else trying our very best and blessed by the same shalom as they are. And you know, don't you know, that would be the advice. Just do the best you possibly can. Make sure that everything's taken care of. Your family's taken care of, your clients are take care of, your employees are taken care of. That order? No, not at all. Family, employees, clients. Every day you excel at what you do. If people could see how you work, they'd instantly fall for your brand. But how do we make that happen? At Everyone Needs a Video, we capture the essence of your daily magic in video and turn it into a 24/7 showcase that lets you share your passion with the world. From ABA therapy, construction, web design, home care, nonprofits, and more. We ensure your value shines through. Visit everyone needs avido.com today and let's make your business stand out. Welcome back. Um, we just went very deep on one question. I want to sure go back a little bit. Is there a industry that excites you the most? And if yes, what is it about that industry? So, it's interesting. I love um anything that kind of tells that human story and kind of feel that the reason why I'm so passionate about being in the healthc care space is because that's where I come from. My mother was a nurse. She was a nurse in Vietnam where she is well I mean she still has a license but she's whatever. She stopped working a bunch of years ago. Um but she's the type of nurse that like you know you go to the grocery store and she tells a random person you know you have a demon in your ankles right you should get that checked out or like your collar looks off. I've had people crazy stories. I've had people tell me, "We've been at a Kaneka party where she's told a random person, by the way, we haven't met, but your color's a little off." We got a call 3 weeks later that said, "Thank you. They just found out we're in early stages." These are the type of stuff that like this a ner these nurses, they made out of different stuff. So, that's what I was raised with. That's who I Right. So therefore, to be able to tell those stories, and to do all the things I like to do, to help my owners make a lot of money, help tell that nurse story about how they're heroes cuz it's such a weird way that they're perceived, and be able to do it in my style that the world has never seen before. It's a it's a no-brainer. I'm I'm crazy about it. Um, you're in the creative space. Your business is a creative type of business, and sometimes it's very hard to scale a creative type of business. Copywriters many times work on their own. Um, video editors, they're they're soloreneurs. What would you say are some um systems or strategies that you've built to help you scale this creative business of label? It's a very good question. So, first of all, you have to figure out if that's what you want to do. If you want to build Yeah. Do you want to do that? Meaning to say, let's say for example, for my whole career, I've known many guys, let's say video editors or video shooters, for example, that have made more than we have. Okay? Because they have no expenses, right? They just shoot. They make a great s They make a great day rate. They're making $1,000 a day, $1,500 a day. They're shooting four times a week or whatever's going on. Less overhead, more profit. Yeah. it goes straight to pocket. Right? So there's been many times that solopreneurs will make a lot will bring home a lot significantly more money than we do significantly. So there is an element of saying like hey maybe that is a good idea. The downside of that is that you're stuck doing it for the rest of your life, right? There's no scale, there's no process, there's no right, it's just you and your magic. And guess what happens if someone's foot breaks? God forbid over someone's hand, you know, like whatever is going on. They are not shooting. You're only as good as your last pizza. My grand say like you're only as good as your last, you know, thing. So therefore, that's the other side. So what we decided to do is I have that issue, right? We I believe are blessed to really be good at what we do. I used to say we're the best in the world at what we do and I believe it but I'm trying to do the humble thing and realize that Reburn really runs the world. I happen to he gave me a talent but like that's pretty much it. Can't really be proud of it. So we are wonderful at what we do and people want that. So therefore there's the label product but the product is incredible as well. It's not just the fact that it's me. product is really cool. And so how do you get that? How do you get the product without the label? So what we did was we reverse engineered. We went and we actually filmed me for two years interviewing the same three for free when we started ENF. Everyone needs a video.com. So what I did was I recorded Hold on. Pause. Yeah. Plug that. You started another company. Gold. We're about to We're about to do it. Give it a plug. Proper plug. This is plugging. What is the What's the pitch? The pitch is you're about to hear it, right? This is a This is a This is a social media gorilla warfare plug. So, it's not like a that type of plug. It's a gorilla warfare plug. So, basically what's going on is we decided Yeah. We took whatever it is that I do and we recorded it. So, just like if I'm sitting here, right, you know, someone's right, lights here, we had a camera, two cameras on them, one camera on me. And I've reverse engineered everything that I do. When I ask a question, you lean slightly and forward, right? You squinch your eyes a touch when you want something to go. You can't talk to encourage someone when they're doing well. So, how do you encourage someone to do to keep talking without saying anything, right? So, he noticed I would do something like whatever, whatever. And he would say, you know, lean quite forward and then if something's exciting, then, you know, do this motion or whatever is going on to and he actually made a handbook of how to label, right? Same thing with our shooters. We you need to copyright that. And then we took our shooters. Same thing. This is how they shoot. And I had them talk through why they were doing the shootings they were doing. I'm going in here because there's something on the left I want to get out of it. I'm I'm pushing over here because I'm doing this. I'm bringing the client over here because you can see over here. The editor would hear all this and right and therefore he made a shooting guide how to shoot label. And then how to edit he did the same thing. I'm choosing this music and not this music because of this. I'm choosing this word, not this word because of this. And basically made a handbook of how to create a label product. And that was built a company called ENF, which is exactly what label does, but not with label. So therefore, generally label project starts $25,000. Here an ENF project 7,500. It's done beautifully. It's trained by label. It's run by somebody else. It's a partnership between me and David. And thank God we're a year in. It's going really well. Wow. I got a question. So, what the question is, how do you scale it? One of the ways is just reverse engineering. Put a camera on yourself and you can reverse engineer. You may be the best sales guy in the world. You do stuff that you don't even know. Film it and have someone else analyze it. You may be the best editor in the world. Film it, record it, have someone else analyze it. You may be the best recruiter in the world. You know, you do weird stuff that no one knows what it is, but there's something about it just does that does well. Record it, analyze it, and then you can teach it to your team. Now, there's certain things that are only ty, right? You can, right? You're not going to say drive up with a motorcycle so client thinks that you're cool. You know what I mean? You don't do that. But there is an element of be make sure to be your unique self, right? That's how it translates. How do you tell the difference between a good video and a great video? I I don't know. Come on. I don't know who would know. Aram. Yes. We'll get him on the podcast. That would be cool. Do one in Israel. Be there for a month. So do it. Okay. Or just don't work when you're there. Or don't work when I'm a month. I'm going to work. I'm not going there for vacation. Let me ask you a question. What's it like to have other people make sales and then that go into that be part of your success? Define that. Meaning to say generally me, I make a sale, I make money. Yeah. It's like a weird thing. Now I just saw you have made a sale. Like again, that hasn't translated to cash to me yet, but like you have members on the team that when they are successful, that actually translates that if they're making money that actually I don't know if I've ever had that experience. It's a very weird feeling. I'm not used to it yet. Uh because it's a mix. They do sometimes bring in their people from their own network as clients, but a big chunk of the time I'm giving them leads. That's different. So I know and it doesn't happen often enough where it's it became common but I've spoken to other recruiting agencies and I'm hearing that at Blackbird we do so many internal splits like real estate buyers broker sellers broker here you'll have a recruiter that has a job opening another recruiter on the team has a candidate and they work together to make the placement that happens a lot by Blackbird and I've spoken to other recruiting agencies and many times they say no they're independent brokers they have the job opening or the company corporate company has the job. The recruiters need to go find the candidates. That's so hush. We work a lot internally and I give them a lot of leads. I want them to be successful. Oh, okay. You bring up an emotional situation here. Way back when when I started, there was a recruiter that made a decent sized commission. Her commission was like 7,500 bucks. Back then, it was her highest commission ever. I think it was per before Per before pay. I'm like not the day before, but it was like a week before. And some days they work remote. It's that type of flexible environment, you know. And I'm like, "Hey, are you coming by chance to the office?" Uh, no. I wanted to write out a check for 7500 and give it to her. And as I was writing out the check, I felt so happy. It brought such a joy. And I'm like that state that feeling I was in the old office. Oh, and sometimes like recruiters are like, "Oh yeah, you just, you know, not recruiters, but I've had people like, "Oh, you just want them to close so you can make money selfishly." I'm like, "No, like Hashem looks out for me. It brings me such joy when people on the team make money and they can support their families and nothing like it." Label. Yeah. But you asked me about how does it feel other people making sales? Whatever. You gave me the answer. It was cool. It it I'm still getting used to it. It's weird because we're talking about like detaching yourself from the business like not autopilot but right not always being the person doing everything right um a good video from a bad video but what can make a video stand out in a video video production is a pretty saturated market um what would make a a good video stand out today I don't know I mean it I'm think I'm not involved in the world at all post editing or filming no I got involved In video, we help business solve problems. I'm not sure. I have my way of doing things. Same thing when I shot weddings. I have no idea what people are doing. Really? No clue. I could guess what I couldn't care less. I could not care less. I have a process that works perfectly for my clients. I have no idea. I like genuine, but you don't have to have genuine. Coca-Cola comes out with, I don't know, a big fat guy with a beard, you know, and a right and a red hat. And then that does great for marketing. I don't know. I'm not into that stuff, right? I do my thing really well, which is the human connection and getting that to sell. But like that doesn't mean that my videos are better. They are. But it's only because they're better at because of the work that I do, right? I'm the be I told someone this and I think it's one of the coolest things ever. The reason why we're so good at we what we do is because we made the rules to the game. It's good. Meaning I can't play I can't play anyone else's game. I would lose. So I just play your own game. I just made him my own game and then we win. You know why? Because you made the rules. We win. Yeah. Thousand%. That's exactly what's going on. Video. I could care less about video. Could not care less about video. Couldn't care less. But we're the best in the world. I mean when I say best in the world, I mean to say we do what we do best. Period. label. I've seen you in action. Yeah. I've experienced you in action. I've been in front in many ways. Many ways. Head shots, wedding. Yeah. Video. I've been in front of the camera lens. Yeah. You have an incredible strength of pulling get not pulling getting people to open up. People are so nervous naturally they're very uncomfortable in front of a camera. Yes. You have that incredible strength of getting people relaxed and getting them to open up. Yeah. There are people who can be really good at video because they really know their way around the gimbal, right? My question to you is if someone wants to get into the creative space, what is an underrated skill that they should develop? It's not going to help anyone. It's not going to help what I'm going to tell you because no one's going to listen to me. Okay? Just get really in touch with what you do. You have to be perfect tech. No, it doesn't. Can someone figure that out at 20 years old? I think I think the way that I I thought about this before. I think the answer is what you do is you talk to your friends about the reasons that they like you. talk to people that right what are the things what am I good at right let's say let's go back and forth right what is it that I'm really good at they will tell you and they'll be there they'll be a critic and they'll be a they'll tell you good and bad and those are the things that you start to understand what they are and then you start getting closer to those things so therefore you may want to be funny you're not funny not you you're funny but I'm saying you may guys some guys want to be funny and they're not funny and they spend their whole life trying to be funny Robert Glock talks about this all the time you're not funny Robert Glock is rubbish from a raven um a very dear mentor of label and mine. Yeah. We've known you've known for a lot longer than but that's who he's referring to. Yeah. So anyway, so Rab talks about it all time. He says like you got to lean into what you're good at. So like if you're like the geeky guy like he has people all the time that like want to volunteer for Raven. So which works with teens or whatever teens at risk. So therefore he says the guy's like okay I want to I want to he's an accountant big accounting firm. I want to volunteer. works like that's great. We need an accountant. No, no, no. I don't want accountant. I want to talk to the boys. Talk to the boys. You're you're you couldn't talk to a rock. Meaning you're terrible at talking to people. You're an accountant. You You're not good at this. Why can't if you want to help, why wouldn't you help us with accounting? No. No. I want to talk to the boys. Like what? Like, you know, I mean, work with what you're good at. So therefore, the same thing here is that like you're creative. lean into people ask me all the time like how do you like you know sometimes I'll hear some like someone doing a head shot somewhere at like an event and they'll be like ah like Zanica was everything okay someone get hurt you know what I mean like they're just trying to follow along what they see of that's other people it's not cool to go in the high shot it just happens to be what comes natural to me so therefore it's like that's what we do but it's not like that's not the right way to do it the way that my wife shoots and she's worlds better than me is silent sometimes I have to tell my wife like you have to tell them it's good or else they're not going to know, right? Like in her mind like of course it's stunning, right? So like whatever it is that you're good at, lean into that. There's some recruiters that are really good because of this thing. There's some recruit right on your team, how many different people and that's the idea. Whatever you can lean into. If you're really good technically, do technical work. If you're really good people-wise, do people work. Lean into what you're strong. Talk to your friends and figure that out. Yeah. You ask them, "What am I what am I best at?" Tilly Cross at 20 years old didn't have any friends. Remember that's not true. That was an annoying like nobody's business. I said that you didn't have any friends. I just said that that part's not true. No, but let me ask you a question. Yeah. You used to drive people to the airport. Yeah. No. Yes, you did. No. Oh, once maybe. No, I think you used to drive the airport. No. Yeah, you did. So, anyway, you did. Yeah. You know what? I got into recruiting. My memor is gone. Yeah. Okay. So, anyway, my point being, what happened with you? David got to know you. Yeah. Yeah. And you're doing sales for freshers. Every time I go to a thing, I smell something. Oh, telly. It's still in my brain. Yeah. So, and David says to you, you should get into recruiting. Why? No. Why? You said you're great at networking. You're great with people and people like you. Before that, yeah. David always asked me, Tilly, what's going to be with you? Like, what do you want to do long term? And I'm like, you know, the typical answer that like a 23-year-old gives. I don't know. I just want to make money. I used to struggle. Love going to networking events, right? Peak energy. Come back to the office the next day. I have a stack of business cards. I'm just out of it. I'm like whatever, right? I didn't focus. I David always asked me, "What's going to be?" And for six months and I hated these conversations, right? Hated them. I'm like, "Dove, I just want to make money." He's like, "No, no, I'm like David, leave me alone." I hated like for six months, right? You ask your friends. That's exactly right. And he's like, "If you ever want to get into recruiting, let's figure something out." Yeah. And I didn't take him seriously. And then I took another job. Yeah. I remember. Got fire got laid off, fired after five months. That day I called him, "David, I'm fired. Let's figure this out." Yeah. He's like, "I would have loved if your back is not against the wall, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let's figure this out." And I did like I closed three deals in six weeks. Four four years ago with a pen and paper. Yeah. No office, no computer. Why? because you asked a friend, "What am I good at?" Go ask a friend. Ask a friend. Yeah, that's very good advice. Thank you. I should do it, too. Don't ask me. Um, I have a question. Running a business is has its challenges. There's a lot of hard things about um It's all challenges. It's all challenges, basically. What would you say is the hardest challenge you've faced? B. No, scratch that. What's the one of the toughest decision decisions you've needed to make running your business or what's the biggest challenge you face and how do you deal with it? You could pick or answer both. I have a challenge of I think something I'm still coming to terms with is I'm not a seasoned business person. I play it well on TV. meaning to say like I hold that I believe strongly that I think that I understand business more than majority of photographers or artists but that puts you at the top of the of the creatives of the creatives but that's but true business people start way beyond that to start doesn't make any sense and I think that what I need to learn I'm still learning is that I need to lean just as I was saying that you know everyone else should lean into their strengths I need to lean even stronger into what exactly we do and allow bring other people on the team that can actually do the business things because we're doing things that we I could have never dreamed of but my systems and processes are not ready. We're doing window hotels, right? I need certain systems and processes to be able to take on all that they can give us. I have you know you know there's so much more to do and I'm holding myself back. I know it. I'm holding myself back and that's what we need to do. I need to, in fact, you're a recruiter. I'm looking openly for someone that could run the business, meaning the operations side of what I do. I hope you're enjoying today's podcast. Today's episode is sponsored by Blackbird Recruiting. Chad GPT, what do you think about Blackbird Recruiting? Blackbird Recruiting, the team that finds you the right people so you can stop wasting time on resumes that look like they were written by someone's dog. If you're a business owner struggling to find top talent, let Blackbird do the heavy lifting. They'll help you find candidates who actually get it, visit blackbirdrecruiting.com and let them take your hiring game to new heights. You heard it here first. Enjoy the rest of the episode. Welcome back. You spoke earlier like you you potentially you'd be looking for like a leader to manage the logistics side of the business. Yeah. You're a creative. That's in your blood, right? How do you handle like till now? How have you always handled the creative side versus the logistics and operations side of the business? A big problem. I have a big challenge with it. Meaning, what do you want to do more and what do you end up doing more? What I would like to be doing more is exactly what I do well, which is connecting to human beings and filming them and creating solutions for their problems. I would like to be doing that all the time and making people happy. You're a natural at that. No, I know that. Like let's say if we had an open day, I would love to be in Manhattan gifting people head shot or doing something like the Kiddish Hashem thing, you know, like that to me I think is that that really fires me up helping companies be successful and doing the Hashem out in the world asking like partial trivia questions. No, no, like I thought you were referring to thank you. Thank you. No, thank you is very special. I mean, we did the Amuna Works series, which I think is very special. But no, I mean, say like, let's say there's been times we've gone on to the, you know, streets of Manhattan with Vflat World and gifted people head shot and all. Remember that cafe um on the corner? Yeah. This type of thing. I'm stalking you. So, this is like the coolest thing ever. I I wish I could be doing more things where people could look at and say, "Hey, the Jewish people are really special people." Um, but I'm looking for Yeah, I am looking for that. I'm looking for something. I would even I'm at the place in my business where I would actually take on a piece of a partner meaning there's an element there's conversation that could be because there's so much more that we can do if you want to do a plug people can email you if you want to shouldn't can go through Blackbird it can hit me up if you're watching I have another question and we've grown it to a place that is quite sizable but it could go it Could it could it could be What are you looking for? Looking for or do you know what you're looking for? I don't know what I'm looking for. That's my That's my challenge. I know that what's a what's the problem? The problem is that this is me putting on my recruiting cap. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. The problem is that we have a perfect system and process that works over and over once the client is there. But one, we do not have any infrastructure for outbound sales or kind of marketing in that type of world. And as we're hitting our larger corporations, we need to have the back-end structure to be able to help them. So therefore, I need someone that has run maybe a creative agency before or something like this that understands that market and kind of understands where we could grow. We're gonna I'm gonna make a note. I have someone for you. Really? Yes. Um, this person works now at a creative agency. Uh, so I don't want to take anyone from No, they're looking to leave. Shifts happening, changes. Um, a lot of people dream of opening a creative business subcategory. Many people have dreamed of opening a business to the level of label. What is one thing you think you did way back when that set you apart? Because like we said before, many creators are solarreneurs. Is there something you did way back when that you could share with our viewers that set you apart as a creative to be able to build label? Where is that? Yes. Let's hear David Wunu. Get yourself a David Wanunu in stores on shelves at 1999. No, but seriously, that's the only thing. Get a good mentor. Yeah. How would you describe David for someone looking for a mentor? David, listen up. It's funny. I'll tell you how one of his other clients slash whatever um who's been using for years. She said it's like having an uncle that loves you. Don't get a mentor who's charging you money. You need to get a mentor who genuinely wants to see you successful and gets so happy when you are successful. That's what a mentor is. Yeah. So the answer is let's say for example even our guys Yeah. So we take guys starting in the beginning don't know anything about photo or video but then they come into our world employees. Yeah. Let's say our assistants. Each one of our assistants after a year could run unbelievable companies. Yeah. Some of them are now. But when they run it, I was just explaining to a new guy that just came. I was like, "You don't know anything about photography. You're very interested in photography. I'm going to teach you photography on the highest level and you don't have to know any of the other stuff." Meaning to say, what you're learning from the get-go is an already fully processed piece. So, you don't have to worry about all like you can just learn in one year. I have guys that are my guys out there that are doing extremely well creatively and financially because they just learned that perfect process. Does that make any sense? So if you can find someone that can mentor you through the process, you never realize you could charge X for this. But when you see hear it all day long, then it just becomes normal, right? It's just a normal thing to say a video starts at $25,000. You know how hard it is to say that for the first time? You try it. You start. It's like video's $1,000. Like I can't say it. I can't say it. You practice video $1,000. You talk to client like video is the the video's $1,000. Say that again. No, it's 250. Yeah. Yeah. Right. So, but then you get to they just at this point in our career, our project started 25,000 when they it's hysterical. I hear them talking. Oh, yeah. Our our project started 25,000. How' you how could you say that? You just becomes the norm. Yeah. Right. And the same way in their shooting abilities and the same way that they talk to their clients. I hear my guys say, "Oh yeah, we solve problems for business. You help companies make money." Yeah. Like it's like the funniest thing to hear. The answer is when you learn in a perfect if you can mentor with someone who has built it before, you can get way further than trying each step on your own. Wow. We're getting closer uh to the end of the podcast. I wanted to ask you, what would be something you would tell your younger self? While you're thinking, I'll ask you another question. No, I'm kidding. It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay. Meaning one of the reasons why you know the brother takes care of you is because till now he's always taking care of you right but the more that you've lived the more times he's taken care of you so you kind of believe it a little bit more but even like now I'm like what am I going to do on a lot of things wait a second it's always been all right you know what I mean every step of the way it's always been all right it's going to be okay now too what if I would tell him Then he was probably stressing out about something. Don't worry, it's going to be fine. Right? What would I tell myself right now? If you were older and you would be looking back at today, you would tell yourself, "Don't worry, it's going to be fine." Wow. That's very powerful. Thanks. So, how do you go off these deep like responses? We don't again just again it's weird because generally second times in this conversation we like closed your eyes, got in your zone. Um, this is fun. I'm not generally I'm nervous to go on other this is what I do and it was like you've done a very very good job of um I still have one more question. Okay. Can I ask it? Yeah. Can I tell you can I tell you a can I tell you a trick that nobody knows? Yeah. Okay. You want to know how to get the good stuff? Yeah. So, this is the way to get the good stuff. Everyone on my team knows this. Want to hear something really cool? Do you ever interview people? When you start interviewing people, if that's what you want to do, this is the coolest trick ever. And my team knows that I said every every single interview. If I'm going to interview you, whoever if I'm going to interview you, don't you don't say like, I know it's coming, right? Um, when I get to where I want to like get to the good good like really juicy stuff. So, I'll tell them is like, listen, that was a perfect interview. You rocked in. Um, thank you. I said, I have a few more questions just, you know, I'd love just to, you know, pass by you and then everyone's like, and you'll see them. They go from like to being like, okay, to like relax. Okay. Like, right. And it was a great interview till then. They know it was good. And then they're like, relax. And then you ask them some like if you then you ask them the bomb questions, they feel like, oh, we're over now. So like now it's whatever. And that's sometimes a rum will pull stuff like from stuff. It's like the wildest thing happen. The editor could just go straight to the end. Of course. No, not only that, but there's no there's no there's no heck meaning. Yeah. Yeah. What's next for label? That'll be my final question. And then I want you to give yourself a juicy plug. Where can people find you? But what's next for label? Next is Tully is going to find us that person who's going to run the company. Okay. And then I'm going to do what I do best and we're going to scale that thing and I'm going to continue doing what I do best and there's going to be a functioning backend that is running successfully. And then we're going to have a podcast again in a year talking about how the Blackford was that solution. We should re-watch this and Yasi put this on your calendar. In 11 and a half months, Tuly Krauss, remind me. Need to reach out to label. We're going to do another podcast, review the last 12 months, watch this podcast, and do another one. That's wild. It's going to happen sooner than you think. Let me explain. It's going to happen sooner than you think. You've done so much in my life, you don't even realize. There was a time I was struggling in my business and I called David Wanunu, my partner, and he's I told him, "We just closed another deal." And I like these deals. I was closing deals, but I didn't feel that adrenaline rush cuz in recruiting it could take 30 days to get paid. And early on, I was charging less and waiting longer to get paid. I'm just waiting on the next one. And David's like, "Tully, do you realize what the heck you just did? You have zero experience in recruiting, right? And you just closed like um $150,000 deal." And the commission on that it's like at the time it was charging 10%. 15 grand. It's wild. Now we're at 20%. And back then and I'm like, "Yay, great. Okay, but I'm moving on to the next one." David wanted me to like totally shut up. I have I still I still have it on video. And it was on a Friday. Yeah, sure. I called him to tell him we'd close the deal, but I wasn't sounding very enthusiastic. I was talking to him. Fridays is when label and David have their meetings. And Label warned me, "If you call Dovet again Friday morning, I'm going to bite your toes off." That's what label said. But I needed to call David and tell him we closed the deal. And I'm talking to David and David's like giving me like Tuli, do you realize what you just I'm like, "Yeah, whatever. Okay, fine. I'm moving on to the next one." Label filmed it. I remember. I remember. He sent it to me six months later or a year later. I didn't even know. And at that time, I was struggling with something internally. It gave me such. You really know how to tug at someone's heartstrings. label. I'm so glad you came to today's episode. It was so fun. It really was. For everyone watching, I hope you enjoyed today. Was one where we went up and down and down into the deep end again. It was a lot of fun. Stay tuned for the next episode. It's going to be a good one. And subscribe wherever you're watching this to stay notified of future episodes. Enjoy. [Music]