86 - Digging Into Excavation Marketing with Luke Eggebraaten

Rich: Hey, Caitlin, I have a big question for you to start the episode.

Catelin: Okay.

Rich: Who is Luke Ton?

Catelin: I am excited to find out.

Rich: Yeah, we're gonna find out. So we actually have a guest today. Uh, his name is Luke Ton and I appreciate the phonetic spelling in the notes. Zach, that's heads up for that one. I

Catelin: know. I'm was really, really pumped about that.

Catelin: Um, that was something I asked for a couple episodes ago and I was like, uh, how do you say this person's name?

Yeah. Hard because I, we will never wanna be that jerk

Catelin: that's like wrong and then you mispronounce and then you feel like a Yeah, you feel like an asshole. I don't wanna be an asshole, so, yeah.

Catelin: Well, I'm excited to, I don't either to learn more.

Rich: Yeah, so Luke has his own marketing firm, um, has a lot to do with, uh, dirt. So we'll get into that. Um, and what that's about, I mean, you want to talk niche, like when Zach talking about this, the jokes just like

Catelin: right themselves. I know we probably

Rich: need to be careful 'cause I mean, we're gonna get an explicit anyway, but we don't want like a.

Rich: We don't wanna go too far.

Catelin: No, I mean, I was just like, we're gonna dig deep, we're gonna really Oh, okay. Got it. Um, uncover some stuff. We're gonna, the metaphors Got it. Get to the bottom of Okay. Yeah, there's just like a lot of puns available, so. Perfect. So that's Luke.

Rich: Luke has space marketing. Uh, it's a construction marketing company.

Rich: He is based in Arizona and we were doing some talk. He was, he is lived in Omaha. So we were talking about some things earlier and we'll probably get into that. A little bit. I

Catelin: feel as though I just, I detected like a, a dakotan lilt maybe in the, in the accent. So I feel like Minnesota, maybe there's a Okay, okay.

Catelin: I, uh, I look forward to peeling that apart a little bit. Yeah. 'cause you know, that's my specialty. The sixth degrees of the Midwest separation, I think. Wait,

Rich: I heard an ot. Where are you from? Canada, Minnesota, Dakotas.

Catelin: Yeah.

Rich: Um, so yeah, so Luke, um, he's gonna talk to us about his business journey and his niche is the excavation industry.

Rich: So yes, like, I don't know, deep in a hole there. I don't know. There's some metaphor there. I'm lost. I told you lost. Told you there are so many

Catelin: opportunities. Um, yeah.

Rich: But yeah, and how he's been successful and like why, like, I want to ask because being somebody who owns a marketing company, like, why the hell would you do this?

Rich: Like, I don't know if I would do it again. I probably would. All right.

Catelin: His youngest got some, some opportunity. Uh, yeah. Yeah. I'm looking forward to it. Our cocktail today is quite sturdy, which I think is necessary when you're talking construction. Oh, yeah. A scotch and soda like this is not for the faint of heart.

Catelin: So,

Rich: no, but it is, maybe

Catelin: that's, you know, neither is owning an agency. Yeah. Super easy,

Rich: right? Yeah. So I mean, and I think the soda water, the important thing to note here is like, why would I water down my whiskey? And it's like some people don't. Or my scotch, you know, scotch, whiskey, bourbon, we could get into all that too.

Rich: Um, for me, they're all the same thing. Rectangle and square, same thing. They all taste like wet hay, and I have no desire to have any of. But the soda water does actually bring out the aroma of the whiskey or the scotch. Mm-hmm. Um, little bit less of a burn going down. Um, makes it a little more refreshing.

Rich: A little more chill.

Catelin: Well, it's, yeah, it's a, it's a cocktail as opposed to like a, a shot, like a Yeah. Or like. I don't know. I feel like a whiskey neat is like a warm, it's a cold weather drink and a soda. You add a soda to it, now it becomes a summer cooler. Right. It's something you, we can intro when the temperature gets a little warmer, which is great

Rich: because as you know, Caitlyn, we are in the, oh God, we're having a blizzard.

Rich: Oh, it's 80 degrees. Is it? Oh, we're having a blizzard. Have we reached, oh, we're 80 degrees.

Catelin: Is it second spring? Are we in the second spring now?

Rich: I, it might be second spring, but I've lost, but it's still, I think

Catelin: it's

Rich: second spring. It's still not gonna stick as we have the winter weather advisory tomorrow, was it?

Catelin: Yesterday? I woke up and I looked out the window and I was like, what? Why? Mm-hmm. I was so confused because it's snowy and windy after it was literally 70 degrees snow. It snowed. We didn't get so snow looked yesterday. I looked down and I was like, Dorothy, what happened? And she's like, I don't know. It's, it's too chilly out there.

Catelin: She said, it's, and I was like, great, it's, we're keeping our pajamas on. We're not going anywhere.

Rich: All right. Well, I feel like this is an easy one, but do you wanna run down how to make a scotch and soda? I do two ounces of

Catelin: scotch, so a shot of Scotch Club soda. To your preference, I think. And you can optionally garnish with a lemon twist.

Catelin: And I really hope that, um, we, yeah, we don't have to shake. You can stir this, but you don't really have to just put a straw in it. And you know, I usually,

Rich: so when I do like a gin and tonic, which is pretty much the same thing, gin. Tonic garnish Done. Yes. I, we have the big craft ice balls in our freezer, like our freezer snow.

Rich: Yeah. Just give it a little spin. So like, yeah. I pop that in there and then just give it a little don and spin it around. Yeah. And that stirs my drink for me.

Catelin: I, um. That's gotta be the

Rich: easiest cocktail we've ever done it. I think it might be

Catelin: the easiest recipe we've ever done. Um, I have taken to ordering my g and ts with a lemon twist, and people don't, they're like, you want what now?

Catelin: Like they get very confused when I don't want, like, why Bombay? I'm like, no, I would like a Hendrix and tonic with a lemon twist. And I'm like, so the lemon twist seems normal

Rich: to me though, like

Catelin: it's cheese, cheeses and teas usually come with lime. It's usually lime. Okay.

Rich: I guess. Um, which is not

Catelin: my,

Rich: oh,

Catelin: preference.

Catelin: Tell me,

Rich: you know, I bought mango 'cause I sent you that. Yes. Photo. Yes,

Catelin: yes. I

Rich: found a lime, so one of my meal kits that I didn't eat had a lime in it and it's still good. So I'm pretty sure I just need that in tequila and, well, I have TRO as well, which I think goes in there, but I'm gonna, you can make

Catelin: last week.

Catelin: Last week's best race. I'm a hundred percent

Rich: making a mango Mar. A Mango Mar at some point.

Catelin: I love the S.

Rich: All right. Well I think that's kind of, does it?

Catelin: That covers it, doesn't it? I think we should try and find you a scotch and soda that you would drink. I think we should do a taste test.

Rich: Ooh. So I have done a bourbon and ginger.

Rich: That's the same, that was okay with, no, it's not the same at all, but, but I was okay with that's, that's

Catelin: totally different.

Rich: No, my friend Steve worked for Angels Envy for a very long time. Oh. So his, and he knows I, I've known him forever, like since I was, since we were like teenagers basically. But, um. He knows I don't really like the brown liquors.

Rich: And so mm-hmm. Since he was repping it, his number one thing was like, he's like, I'm gonna get Johnny Walker Blue. I'm gonna get Johnny Walker, black, red, whatever. Like, I'm gonna get all these different things for you. Um, and he brought me a ton of 'em. Like what, Glen Meringue or something like that? Yep.

Rich: Like a whole bunch of 'em. That's

Catelin: scotch though. Yeah. Yeah.

Rich: And there were, um, there were a couple that I liked as a cocktail, but sipping. Mm. No. Mm-hmm. Yeah. All right. Yeah. Alright. Well, should we, let's, let's answer that question. Let's Luke,

Catelin: and let's, let's talk about it. Yeah.

Rich: All right. We'll be back with Luke

recording.

Catelin: Should a quota? Am I right? I know all the good stuff

Rich: happens during the break. Not really. We'll have good stuff here

Luke: too.

Rich: No. Uh, so Hey, Luke. Welcome.

Luke: Rich, Caitlin, thank you guys so much for having me here. And a huge shout out to Zach, your guys' producer. He's been so awesome to work with.

Catelin: Ah, that's good.

Catelin: We love that.

Rich: Good to Heal. We, we sort of fantastic. Forced Zach to become a producer. He was like, yeah, interested in this. And so we're like, great. Figure out how to do a podcast

Catelin: that's, can you make a podcast, make it? Mm-hmm.

Rich: Sure. Okay. So Luke, the important question from the beginning of the episode is who are you?

Rich: Can you tell us a little about yourself and your journey?

Luke: I would love to. And before we get started, I also brought my own beverage of choice, so Perfect. I'm currently, currently doing uh, 75 hard, so no alcohol, but I've been on these athletic brews. I dunno if you guys have had these, they're non-alcoholic beers.

Luke: Uh, this one's free wave, hazy IPA and it is incredible. So get a little Oh,

Rich: nice. Oh, we, little,

Luke: little A SMR pop there, but that was nice. Um, yeah, super excited to be here with you guys. Can't thank you enough. Uh, we've got a lot of connections. I'm realizing too. My wife and I used to live in Omaha and my wife went to UNL for college as well.

Luke: Oh my gosh. So. As a, you know, Nebraska has a place in my heart for sure, but, uh, backing up a little bit more, we're both from Minnesota. Uh, so we grew up, born and raised Northern Minnesota in Detroit Lakes and Holly. And then, um, I went to college in Mankato. She went to UNL and that's where I studied. Uh, actually I got my degree in sport management.

Luke: So not a whole lot of what we're talking about today. Today, doing that

right now. No.

Luke: Yep. Exactly. Like everyone's degree and honestly got a, got a minor in marketing, right? And so I started to dip my toes into marketing and business and, uh. Went, moved down to Omaha for a few years and, uh, started working, uh, managing a digital marketing agency, uh, at my full-time job at an, at an orthodontic practice, and really just fell in love with that world.

Luke: Um, specifically this agency I got to manage was, uh, they only worked with orthodontists and oral surgeons, and so they made Oh,

okay.

Luke: Yeah, they made my life, uh, easy. They, we paid them a lot of money, but they were so personable. They were out in California, so we didn't even know them personally. And it just made me think like, man, I would love to start my own agency one day.

Luke: And, uh, 2019, October 24th, I'll never forget it. That's when I got my. LLC papers back and uh Oh, nice. Started phaser marketing from there.

Rich: Nice. Yeah. That's cool. And so you were exposed to niche, like niche agencies, like from the get go. Mm-hmm. See, I was at broad, big agencies mm-hmm. Who were like, we do everything for everybody, which is a load of crap.

Rich: Nobody does everything for everybody.

Luke: Yeah. And, and if, and if you do, you can't do it. Well, and I'm sure we'll talk about that here today. Um, but it, it's, it's hard to go far in my opinion, uh, when you're taking on new clients and new industries every single day. And so, uh, for me, niche niching down made a lot of sense and I'm just very blessed that I learned that at a very early stage.

Luke: So we didn't have to backtrack from a legacy agency to a niche agency.

Catelin: Yeah.

Rich: Yeah. That is

Luke: not an easy path.

Catelin: Why Dirt? Can I ask? I love that. That's so it was like, what, what dirt?

Luke: I feel like we have to address the elephant in the room. Uh, yeah. We do digital marketing for excavation companies and whenever I tell somebody new that they're like.

Luke: What exactly is that and why do you do it just for them? Uh, so to give you some context, our first client was a real estate agency. You know, we weren't niched down yet. Our second client was one of, one of my really good friends from high school, Luke Payne. And, uh, he owned a demolition and excavation company.

Luke: So he was, at the time, he was probably 24. And I was 25. Um, 29. Now. And I was just like, we built his website and what he was doing was so cool. And, uh, there were, you know, fix water lines. They would fix sewer lines. They would, um, dig footings and basements so that the home builders could come in. They would make sure that the ground is flat and to grade.

Luke: And I just started learning so much about this industry and, um, shortly after I got a call for our third client. It was somebody that had seen the ads we were running for Black iron dirt. And, uh, they were, there was this client out in Western North Dakota and they were in the oil fields and they had a lot of big construction equipment.

Luke: They would do cell tower construction, they would do site site development. And so we took them on as a client and really became more and more exposed in the blue collar niche. Uh, but also I think there's three criteria. When we finally made the decision to niche down in, into the excavation space, it was, um, one.

Luke: The value we could provide to our clients, uh, was exceptional because typically they're about 10 to 15 years behind the curve, I would say, when it comes to mm-hmm. Being online. And so we would, uh, all the time we'd bring on a company doing $5 million in revenue with no website. And so the impact we could make on the industry and our clients, uh.

Luke: Number two would be the passion for the industry. I think just helping out the men and women that are truly building this country and doing the dirty work as we've talked about. Yeah. And really when you turn on your faucet, when you flush the toilet, like where does that stuff go? How does that happen?

Luke: Um, really focusing on those people because they are our superheroes. Yeah. And then third, and quite honestly, for anyone looking to start an agency, um, making sure they have the. The capital and they're very used to mm-hmm. Spending money on big equipment. They're used to spending money on software and technology and, uh, for us it was just, you know, we wanted to work with an industry that was able to pay us for what we knew we were gonna be doing in the future.

Rich: Yeah.

That's

Rich: so interesting. Yeah. That last one is a big one. Mm-hmm. So we've had a lot of small clients and sometimes they just don't have any budget and they've never worked with an agency. And so that's one of the things we've looked at from our sweet spot, is if you've worked with an agency before mm-hmm.

Rich: Uh, if you're unhappy with your agency, we are more than happy to like, help you be happy and it mm-hmm. Gives you a good relationship. Um, but I love those three, like I wrote 'em down, so we can hit those at the end in the recap too, because I think. I think it's important and I think that's kind of good advice for anybody looking for a job.

Rich: If you can find those things, I mean, then make sure you have a budget, I guess. Make sure the company you're working for has a budget, isn't gonna lay everybody off in five minutes. Yeah.

Yeah. Um,

Rich: good point. That's really cool. I love that you sort of, so you basically stumbled into dirt marketing?

Rich: Absolutely. I didn't to a friend.

Luke: I didn't grow up in construction. Um, and I think working with a client who was a good friend, just. Respecting the industry and understanding and learning so much more about it. Uh, to me it was a no-brainer in 2021 when we officially launched as, uh, that it was our niche.

Luke: It, it just made so much sense. And, but you're right, rich. We, we definitely stumbled into it and this whole world just became known to me of what was out there and what is needed to keep this country moving and the world really.

Rich: Yeah. So you're, um, I know Zach found you on LinkedIn, I think, if I remember right.

Rich: Or has been talking to you about, so you're, you're a big deal on LinkedIn I hear. So, um. How did you, how did you, I know you're like embarrassed. Look at me's turning around. I'm so sorry. I appreciate

Luke: the compliment, but You're welcome. Yeah, we don't have to go there.

Rich: How did you grow, how did you grow a community on LinkedIn though?

Rich: Is, I mean, was the niche a big piece of that or,

Luke: yeah, good question. And I think this is very important, whether you're in business or starting a marketing agency or just like looking to build your own personal brand, uh. Really what I did is, you know, 5, 6, 7 years ago, even pre starting the agency, I always used social media as a tool and it's free.

Luke: And so what I did, especially when I started the agency, was, uh, if I'm not utilizing this free tool that can reach millions of people in a second. I, I, it's just not going to work, especially if I'm a digital marketing agency. And so put your money where your mouth is. Yeah. And I had a big focus on, I wanna build my personal brand consistently over time, and I wanna build my business brand consistently over time.

Luke: And I, I would call 'em the big four. Uh, so my big four would be Facebook, personal and company page, uh, Instagram personal and company page. LinkedIn, which is by far my favorite personal and company page, and then my Google business profile. And so, mm-hmm. That is one that's often missed by companies. And really, I don't have like this crazy strategy.

Luke: Uh, I don't even schedule out my posts. I, all I do is when I, I. Want to put out a post. I write it out in LinkedIn, we'll say, and then I put that same post on Instagram, on Facebook, and then on my GBP. And what that does is Facebook. A lot of my family, friends, relatives, um, residential clients will see its, yes, the aunts, the uncles, we've gotta hit them.

Luke: Uh, Instagram, there's this dirt world cult, I would say that we've found of, oh, so many construction. Excavation and septic, uh, companies are on there. And that is our biggest lead source with the podcast is Instagram. Uh, so making sure the same post is on there. The third, of course, would be LinkedIn. That would be your decision makers, your association presidents, your.

Luke: Uh, project managers, some of the bigger companies. Yeah. And then that Google business profile is the search engine, so the search engine, reading and learning all about you and your company. And so just consistently posting over the last five years has really, really helped and it's helped me meet people like Zach and us, stay in touch with each other and, uh, present opportunities like this, uh, to be on this podcast and then for future things that we'll do together as well.

Luke: Yeah.

Rich: Yeah. That's awesome. Um.

Catelin: Wow. It just feels like, like walking the walk a little bit where for sure we sometimes get caught up in like, is it brand voice? Is it right, is it wrong? Is it spell checked? Is it, oh my gosh. Like you have to remove some of that in order to stay, like, especially in, in a. Small, you know, small agency world.

Catelin: And honestly,

Zac: just to jump in here, bring in, oh my producer voice. Heck yeah. Every once in a while bring in, I would say, Luke, that you're a great spokesperson for your brand. I think when, uh, your target audience sees you, they can relate to you and you're speaking directly to them. So that's something you definitely do a great job of.

Zac: And I think that's also why you have such a great, like, loyal target audience. And kind of what to what you said, there's so many of those companies out there on LinkedIn, you really found where your target audience is, and I think you do a good job of really reaching them with. Your voice. So

Luke: yeah, I, I appreciate that a ton, Zach.

Luke: And, and you're so right. And I think a big difference honestly is people know that if they send phaser marketing a, a message on Instagram, it's me, and they know that. Mm-hmm. Because they see me every day on there. They see me posting, they can tell by my voice in the posts. Uh, and I'm very non-corporate.

Luke: And so, uh, the second I. And, and you know, maybe down the road years from now, uh, I'll hand that off, but I truly enjoy it. Mm-hmm. And to Zach's point, like that is how I connect with the people in the industry and how they can connect with me very easily. So, uh, it's been a huge driver, uh, not only for client acquisition, but client retention.

Luke: Uh, just keeping up with the industry, uh, landing, uh, different speaking gigs with the associations, but also just. That, you know, 10% of our audience is probably in the dirt world where 90% don't have anything to do with construction and they're entrepreneurs or they're, they're in college looking for a job or they're following me from, they live in Minnesota or Nebraska or Arizona.

Luke: And so I think that's the bigger piece of it too, is being focused with your messaging, but also, um. Putting it out there so that other people can chime in or learn about the industry or learn about business. And, uh, so I've definitely enjoyed that. Uh, the most I would say.

Rich: Yeah, I think as you're talking about it, like it sounds so simple and obvious, right?

Rich: Like use the tools that you have. Um, but I also love what you've done and this is something I've advocated for since like the dawn of social media. And yes, I'm older than social media. Um, most of us probably are, but um, I was like, I think

Catelin: I am too. Uh,

Rich: 2006. 2007. Yes. I mean, oh yeah, 1996 was officially the first social media network, but it's not around anymore.

Rich: Um, but. You have a purpose. You understand your audience on each platform and your purpose on each platform. Yeah. And what that platform gets for you. Um, and I think that that's something that, you know, one good for your clients, that you get that for yourself, because obviously you get that for them too.

Rich: But I think that's something where somebody can take that advice in any industry, or even, like you said, personally, if you're building your personal brand, just understand how those platforms work differently and who you're talking to. Mm-hmm. Um. That's a huge one.

Luke: Yeah. And I want to chime in on that, rich.

Luke: And to Caitlin's point earlier, uh, don't get too cute with it. Don't overthink it. Just write it out, post it, and then go on to your next one or go on with your day, honestly. And I think you get so caught up in, is this gonna be the perfect post? Is it edited correctly? Uh, just forget about all that, that's coming from a marketing agency owner.

Luke: Uh, I, I love this quote. 80% done is a hundred percent awesome. Get it done, put it out there and go on to the next one. Quit overthinking it. That's a

Rich: good one. Yeah. That's the one I've heard always is done is better than perfect.

Luke: Yes. Yeah. Yes. I love that. And I believe Dan Martel said the 80% one, so I wanna make sure I give credit there.

Rich: Cool. Cool. Yeah. I have no idea who said Donna is better than perfect. So, yeah. I rich somebody. I was thinking it was Brene Brown, but that doesn't, doesn't sound like a Brene Brown thing. Yeah, I don't think

Catelin: so either. Yeah, I, I really like the, uh, progress over perfection. Mm-hmm. As a, as a recovering perfectionist, permanent eldest daughter.

Catelin: Like there are a lot of things to unpack there. Yeah. But it is truly just like so much of like my struggle. With social media is just getting out of my own way. Mm-hmm. And wanting it to be perfect, to like guarantee that it'll land with somebody. But that's not like there, that's not a guarantee. And so, yeah.

Catelin: And the things that land put it out there and be Yeah. The stuff that does land, you're like, why

Luke: stupid? Why was

Catelin: it that thing you gave no effort to, did just like throw

Luke: it out there?

Catelin: Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

Luke: I had, I

Catelin: did that. Yeah. I thing. Yep.

Rich: I did that on a post recently, and I ended up ratioing the original poster, like just with a very, very short snarky comment.

Rich: Um, but it was fun. Proud of you. I enjoyed it. Like, and then I kept getting, I kept getting notifications and I'm like, what is going on with this? And I'm like, oh. Oh, okay. Apparently people are reading that post and I touched a nerve, so, oops.

Catelin: Yeah.

Rich: Um,

Catelin: uh, in addition to like agency owner, uh, former orthodontics.

Catelin: Professional. Um, you're also an author and I would love to know about that and how you, how you ended up there.

Luke: Yeah. Yeah. It, it's crazy. So I published my first book in. March of 2023, so a couple years ago now. And, uh, I think it'll help if I back up even a little bit further on how and why I decided to do that.

Luke: Uh, so in 2021, uh, this, and this I think is important to, for the delayed gratification piece. So, uh, 2019 I started the business and then in August, 2021, I had been basically working a full-time job and not paying myself outta the business on purpose. Uhhuh, uh, because I. I kind of have one shot at this thing.

Luke: I wanna make sure that if I'm gonna go full-time in my own business, uh, it'll be ready for when I can take that step. Yeah. Onto the boat. And so, um, 2021, August 4th, I paid myself my first paycheck. Two years later, it's 500 bucks every two weeks. Uh, very, very exciting. I still have the check. It, it no better there.

Luke: Few better feelings than that when you're like, wow, this is something that was a dream. Then we started it and now it's actually paying me. And uh, and shortly after that, November, 2021, thankfully I. Fell into a mastermind group called the Seven Figure Agency. And in a nutshell, it is a mastermind group for digital marketing agency owners across the, uh, across the world.

Luke: And they meet three times a year in Miami to do an intensive, but they also have coaches, uh, templates, programs, uh, everything you could need. And of course, the community of 300 other. Agency owners and I joined that three years ago. Josh Nelson was the, the main guy that started it and. That group has changed my life, and I think that's super important with everything that we talk about.

Luke: Yeah, because, um, the book is a part of their program of they helped provide like a structure and you should publish a book for your authority to get on stage and speak at conferences. And so

yeah,

Luke: of course you're like, yeah, I would love to publish a book. And then they provide you a good framework and trainings.

Luke: And then, so what I did with that. And I would love to dive in just a little bit here. Uh, he, he said, you guys, for all those thinking that they wanna write the book right now, get that outta your head. You're supposed to write a book. A book, like your first book should be a book. The next one can be the perfect book.

Luke: And. I, you know, I had been about a year in, I started in 2022 writing it, and, uh, it took a long time. And then he said, Luke, you should have this done in two weekends. And so I buckled down and it, it, it was a little longer than that, but got it done. And Kindle Direct Publishing, you can publish a book for free.

Luke: You can self-publish it and then it is amazing. I. You, so I publish the book and it goes on Amazon. Of course, you can order author copies so you can hand them out to people. Uh, three bucks a copy. And then now it, anytime somebody goes on Amazon, they can search the Digital Dirt World by Luke a Bratton, uh, buy the book, and they just, they print it, they ship it to them, and they send me royalty, like, that's it.

Luke: There's no inventory on hand. And it is absolutely amazing the logistics that they provide.

Rich: We're pretty familiar with that. We have a book as well. It's a cocktail recipe book. I don't know if I have it sitting here. I sometimes I pull it up, but I, it disappeared, uh, from my desk. But, um,

Catelin: blame the dogs.

Rich: Yeah. We actually did am Kindle Direct Publishing as well, in part because we looked at one of a couple of the printers that we use and Kindle Direct Publishing was just cheaper if we only used it for printing author copies. Yeah. Um, and we've actually, I think we've sold two now. Uh, we're not advertising it, we're not putting it out there.

Rich: Although you guys did put it out there on social media Oh. The other day. Um, I love it. But yeah, we'll send you one that's one of your, your gifts for appearing. Amazing. Yeah.

Catelin: Heck yeah. Thank you. Once your 75 days are up, right? Yeah, for sure.

Rich: I can forget the ideas flowing though. No, we have all of the, we have the Make it a mocktail section that gives you There is

Catelin: yes.

Rich: Mocktail subs and it's not always, I forgot about that. Just go find non-alcoholic vodka. Sometimes it's like, oh, this herbal tea or whatever, tincture to be used in place of this thing. Yeah. Um, that was really good. Charlotte did all that research, I believe. Ugh, if I remember right. Yeah. And Zach is officially the author of our book because he is the producer of the podcast.

Rich: Heck yeah. I think it has four authors. Caitlyn and I are just mentioned because we're part of the podcast and we have quotes in there. Nice. So.

Catelin: Yeah, I did nothing but show up here and that's really good. Right.

Rich: So and it comes back to like, you have to write a book, not the book. Mm-hmm. It's back to that 80% done is a hundred percent awesome, like mm-hmm.

Rich: You're just get it out there. Yeah. Um, and also support, just having people around you who can support and encourage and kick you in the butt. Right. It be like, dude, you're overthinking. Get done.

Luke: Yeah. And that everything you look at in our business, uh, was help from them. And for example, our podcast, the Dirt Bags podcast, it's, we just, we just celebrated three years.

Luke: Uh, we've, and that has taken a life, a business of its own, but we have over 130,000 downloads now since starting it. And it wouldn't have, it wouldn't have started. Un unless we quite lit, literally started February, 2022. And it sounds silly to say that, but most of us, and similar to you guys too, if you just would keep pushing it off, trying to find the perfect, uh, episode frequency, it's like you just gotta say what your frequency's gonna be and then run with it and get that first episode out there.

Rich: Yeah. And I think that's a good one. Like if you listen to some of our early episodes, the microphones were completely different. Sure. They were super great. Um. The, the editing is fine. Zach did a great job of editing it, but we found extra tools as we went along the way. Mm-hmm. Yeah. But the information is still good.

Rich: Um, and honestly, the graphics were the thing that were spot on from the beginning. The brain was, was great. Um, but yeah, and I think same thing with us, like you just have to put it out there and if nobody downloads it, nobody downloads. Loads. It,

Luke: it's even better then. 'cause if it is bad and nobody's listening to it, it,

Catelin: you can try next week.

Catelin: Yeah. Yeah.

Rich: And I mean, and if they jump into the later ones, I've done this with podcasts where I'm in like the year three, year four, year five. And then I'm like, I'm gonna go back and listen to the early stuff. And you're like, oh God, they sucked when they were, it's, I'm gonna back to the news shop really bad.

Rich: Um, yeah, that's good. That's, um, this, this theme just keeps coming up like. Do it, get it done. Just start it. Try it. Yeah. And that's like, people were like, why did you guys do a podcast? And we're like, we've never done one before. And we knew at some point a client is gonna ask us to do one. So I was like, guys, let's come up with a podcast.

Rich: And we did a brainstorm on what the name should be. And we like booze, we like to ramble. Mm-hmm. And we do marketing and we can solve people's answers and questions. So

yes.

Luke: Cocktails, tangents, and answers. There you go.

Rich: Yes.

And you,

Rich: you know what you're getting when you sign up for this? Absolutely,

Catelin: yes. We, we, uh, put all of our best work into the name and then figure out the rest after the fact.

Catelin: And then

Rich: they gave Caitlin and I a microphone, or I guess we gave ourselves microphones.

Catelin: Yeah.

Rich: We just kind of run with it.

Catelin: Well, I knew that no one else was gonna sign up

Rich: Yeah. To put a microphone in their face. So I You're extrovert. Like we have No, we, she's our extrovert. We have everybody else's. Pretty much an introvert.

Rich: Well, Megan

Catelin: is too, but she wasn't here when we started the podcast, so That's true.

Rich: She wasn't, and I hate myself on camera. I'm good with, I did radio for a long time, so I'm okay with my voice and hearing it. But uh, then Zach's like, you know, for you YouTube be, the YouTube shorts has been, would be great.

Rich: And we're like, ah, but we, but we, I mean, we just said, okay, like, you know, I'm reading Shonda Rhimes year of Yes. And we just yes it, and said, sure, we'll let's meet video. Do what we're

Catelin: told. Yeah. Heck yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What is the premise of the Dirt Bag podcast?

Luke: Yeah. Uh, so, 'cause

Catelin: I just want to sing Teenage Dirt Bag.

Luke: Oh, that's our theme song. Just it, teenage

Catelin: Dirt Bag. Um, do you know the Rust and Kelly cover? I feel like this is gonna be up here. Alley Rust. And Kelly is a, I don't think so. Is like a Okay. Well he has a. Knowing that you are like, um, a little bit younger than I am, but like emo music had a real, uh, real effect on my youth.

Catelin: So he does like a sub genre called Dirt Emo, where he like covers. So he covered teenage dirt bag, but he's covered like, um, sand in my boots and I'm trying to think like a Goo Doll song recently. So that's the version that I hear, but it seems as though it might fit really nicely into the, into the, the, the Dirtbags universe.

Catelin: Yeah, that's your, I'll definitely check that out. But the, if I can give you homework, but, uh, his,

Rich: his albums are. Dirt emo Volume one and dirt emo volume two. Mm-hmm. Like, there you go. '

Catelin: cause he, they're like both covers. Uh, it's all cover, those are cover albums. And then he has like his own Oh, he's got other ones.

Catelin: Yeah. Yes. He has his, his own, like

Rich: he was, uh, married to Casey. Must, he must graves for little while. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, I, I had to look him up.

Catelin: I, I assumed as much. Um, every time you've given me excuse

Rich: my musical recommendations, they've been really great.

Catelin: Well, there you go.

Rich: I will listen. Yeah, I've got it

Catelin: up

Rich: here.

Rich: Yeah. I'll

Catelin: listen when we're done. Anyway, tell me the premise of the Durex podcast. Oh, yeah. Now that we've gone on a, there was a question in there.

Luke: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, uh, the Dirt Bikes podcast, and this actually, um, levels out perfectly with what we talked about earlier. So, uh, Luke Payne, our first ever client, uh, in the excavation space, uh, very forward thinking.

Luke: He said, Luke, we should start a business that, uh, helps provide the resources that. These excavation companies, owners need. Mm-hmm. And my brain, of course, I poke holes in everything. And so I said, yep, but that's not just gonna be a website. Uh, we ended up. Deciding on the podcast 'cause it's very easy to build a brand, I would say, and say what you need to say on a podcast.

Luke: Have guests on to provide that information. Then build the website from that. So him and I went into business together. Uh, dirt Bag's Media Group is the separate business. 'cause we knew that we weren't just gonna build a podcast just because we knew we wanted it to have revenue expenses, uh, scalability and yeah.

Luke: So from there we, um, built it up and last fall, uh, and he's still an amazing friend of mine. He is still a client of ours, but he's so, so busy with other things. So I ended up, uh, buying him out. And, uh, so now the last six months I've been kinda running it, uh. Just by myself. And then we have a producer, uh, and then a, a, a couple other team members that help with it.

Luke: But yeah, we're now 87 episodes in our main premise of what we talk about on there is, uh, really everything that the pain points that they could need. Uh, any construction company owner, uh, we building a library of pain points and solving them through episodes. And so, for example, we might have an. Uh, construction insurance expert on, we might have a cash flow expert on specifically in construction.

Luke: Uh, we talk about profit first for construction companies. We talk about, uh, going from residential to commercial construction and yeah. And, uh, so really. I own a marketing agency and we talk about marketing probably five to 10% of the time on there. It's very little. Um, and really everything else is the, what's going on in the industry and how can we help from a platform perspective.

Luke: So it's, yeah, it's been amazing. It's been an absolute blessing. And yeah, we have dirt bags tuning in from now 22 countries and it has been so cool to connect with everyone, uh, on the show. But then. Usually we'll meet up at different trade shows. So, CONEXPO, it's every three years. Yeah. Uh, and people come in from all over the world.

Luke: And so we'll, we'll do a dirt eggs meetup there and, uh, get everyone together, do some live shows, and just, you know, really trying to bring the industry together with, with like-minded people.

Catelin: Well, and I imagine too, like when you're talking about small to medium excavation companies mm-hmm. Presumably, right?

Catelin: They're spending similarly. Right. They're spending a lot of time doing the actual work of their business. Yeah. And so like reaching them in their equipment or their trucks or driving to and from job sites, like that's such an easy access point for them when they have, you know, 20 or 30 minutes in between.

Catelin: Things, right? Like, yeah, Caitlin, I'm, you don't have time to sit at a desk and read, but they can tune in and listen. Yeah.

Luke: I'm glad you brought that up because we talk about that a lot of, uh, a lot of our, we publish our episodes two, twice a month on Friday. And a lot of our listeners, we publish it specifically so that they can listen to it on the drive to the job site.

Luke: Mm-hmm. And then a lot of our listeners listen in the excavator or the skidsteer, the dozer. Yeah. And, and we talk about that and it's like, that is the culture we're trying to build. It's like, if you're going to be working anyway or driving, like you might as well learn something and enjoy it. And so, uh, a lot of our listeners, they will listen while on the job and it's just, it's a little bit more, or it's a lot more educational and, um.

Luke: Beneficial for them instead of just listening to music a lot of times.

Rich: Yeah,

yeah.

Rich: Yeah. It's like, I mean, podcasts are kind of the new radio, like that's what I listen to in the car almost all the time now. Uh, that and audio books or as I used to call them books on tape. Yeah, I know,

Catelin: I know.

Rich: It's like, oh God, I'm that old.

Catelin: I'm driving to, to doing like a two and a half hour drive tomorrow and I'm pumped to like, catch up on my back catalog and maybe finish a book. I'm like, how, how fast can I listen to like really maximize the like

Luke: Right. Two x speed. I can't go

Catelin: past, like, I can't, I can process that fast, but I'm like, uh, I don't retain as much.

Catelin: Yeah. I'm like, one, one and a quarter is really the sweet spot for me. Mm-hmm.

Luke: Yeah. I'm like one and a half.

Catelin: Yeah. Then I do sometimes have a hard time listening to people in real life when they're not speaking at one. I'm like,

slow

Catelin: to the boy. Oh my God. My attention span has been ruined for so many reasons, but I think that, um, my audio book speed is, is one of the key drivers for

sure.

Luke: Oh

Catelin: man. Yeah. Well, this was such a pleasure. Thanks for joining us, Lou. Looking at the time. Yes,

Luke: absolutely. I, I am glad I got to enjoy a cocktail with you guys on a Monday afternoon. Absolutely.

Catelin: Mid middle of the day, right?

Luke: Yeah. 1 30, 2 30. This is perfect.

Rich: Yeah, we're wrapping up our day like it's four 30 ish here.

Rich: Zach started five 30. He's like, I need dinner. He's got wrap it up, right? Yeah. Alright, so what I love the three things you said earlier that were just good advice for everybody. Like look at the impact for the work you can do for others, for the industry, for that type of thing. So make sure there's a need, right?

Rich: Have a passion for it. Like you have clearly embraced dirt. I mean, you've even taken the term dirt bag, which is like generally a negative if you use that with your Sure. And it's a term of endearment for your listeners mm-hmm. In your industry, uh, which is amazing. Uh, and then if you're doing marketing, uh, or if you're getting into business, make sure your audience has money to spend.

Rich: Yeah. Because if they don't, you will go outta business fast.

Yeah.

Catelin: Quickly. Cool. Excellent. Uh, we will be back next week with another episode. Do we know the, do we know the theme? I don't think we do. It's a surprise. We don't

Rich: know the episode. It's a theme. So we've, the one thing with having guests is like we fit guests in when we can fit guests in, but where that's gonna slot in the episode release, you know?

Rich: Got it. The last one we pulled way up. Um, and I think surprise, we're waiting for your episode of your. Cocktail choice. Oh,

Catelin: that's right. And all that. Because I was home with like a sick kid maybe.

Rich: Yeah, you were. I think you also had a little froggy throat going on too. So probably good radio voice.

Yeah. Yes.

Catelin: Maybe it'll be me who knows. Can't wait. As always, you can find our agency at Antidote seven one. If you have a question you'd like to send our way, you can visit CTA podcast live. Or you can leave us a voice message on our hotline, 4 0 2 7 1 8 9 9 7 1. And your question will most certainly make it into a future episode.

Rich: Yeah, and we'll be sure to have links to, uh, Luke's podcast on here, so that we've got that there from all the show notes, the podcast. Super easy to find, though. Great website by the way. I looked it up. Thank you. Typing occasionally while we were, uh, in here. Um, so yeah, so you know, give us a call and Luke like you can come back anytime you want to.

Rich: Like, we're happy to talk with you about marketing or dirt or cocktails or whatever.

Luke: Heck yeah.

Rich: Love all those things. Yeah.

Excellent. All

Rich: right.