Host Of Boss Uncaged: S. A. Grant With Co-Host Alex G. – Season Finale – S1E28 (#28)

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Welcome, welcome back to Boss Uncaged Podcasts. Today is one of those days that you kind of have to, didn’t think it was going to come, but is the season finale of season one and my guest today obviously is going to be Alex Grant. I mean, she started us off on episode one and she did the recap in the middle. So it only makes sense that she closes out for the season. Right. I mean, and some other surprises are going to come up about this particular episode that we’re going to allude to as far as her voice being utilized in certain places as well. So welcome back to the show, Alex.

I know, thanks for having me. The funny part is a year ago, we weren’t on video and now we’re on video. And I’m like, what! So the first change that we didn’t have at the beginning of the year or midway through the season, we didn’t have a video. So I guess now post-COVID or still in the middle of COVID it is that we’ve changed to this new format of having video.

Yep, yep. Video is one of those things and I purposely did it to kind of want to make sure we had a following. Wanted to make sure we kind of got the kinks out of just recording and, you know, talking to people and understanding what, what what their responses would be to the podcast. So now that we kind of know what things are, it only makes sense to go to the next level, which is video.

Yep! Make sense. All right. So you ready for my interview questions now?

Yeah. Shoot. Go for it.

All right. So season one, this is the final episode of season one, I can say a year ago, or was it is it 26 episodes now? You can correct me if I had the number wrong.

This is episode probably 28 because we had our episodes in between. So, yeah, this is episode 28.

It’s crazy, 28 episodes a year ago, I think we were recording the first episode in the same place when we were in Virginia. So I guess just kind of give a high-level overview. Like what is, what is this year been like for Boss Uncaged?

It’s one of those things of being from being a marketer and a designer and obviously from a marketing standpoint, it is always about AB testing. You’ve got to kind of put things out there and see what the response of the public is and make changes based upon that. And out of all the things that I’ve been doing for like the past decade, especially in the last two years, the last thing I thought that was even potentially take off as it has would have been the podcast, you know, in lieu of like the books and like dealing with mentoring or dealing with consultants, all these things are all working, but it seems pound for pound, the winner is podcasting.

Yeah, definitely. I think it’s one of those things where, you know, it’s been beneficial from a business perspective and all the tentacles related to it. At the same time, it’s almost like a creative outlet for you because you’re getting the chance to interview friends and family and partnerships that you’ve had, you know, for years, if not decades in some cases, and to just really getting a chance to kind of know them on this other side and know their business. So that’s been pretty cool so far. I know when we talked midseason, you know, we did talk about a few of the episodes that you have, but let’s dig into a little bit of who you’ve talked to in the second season. I’ve been listening to it as the episodes have been coming out. They come out about every Tuesday, if not maybe Wednesday morning when I wake up, my episode is there. But and I know I always ask this question. I think I did last time, like, do you want to pick a favorite or is there one where you can say you’ve listened to multiple times? I know I have my choice. I would say that, you know, Greg Caesar’s episode I’ve listened to a couple of times because they’ve been so many nuggets in that episode. But for you, had there been maybe one or two episodes where you may have consistently listened to? Not just as the interviewer, but more of like, ok, that was a good nugget, I want to go back and hear that piece.

I mean, I listen to every single episode, at least three to four times. You know, I listen to it while it’s live, I listen to it in post, I listen to it after is edited, and then I listen to it again once it hits my, my box. So, out of all the episodes, the one that I would say I listen to again, I think Greg Caesar is definitely a great episode. I think Greg kind of sets the climax for really what season two is really going to be about. Because I mean, season one was me really just reaching into my current Rolodex and touching bases with business owners that I have seen overcome hurdles and climb the ladder to their particular success levels. So it was an opportunity for me to kind of, you know, give back to that community of people. And through that, then it kind of spawned on to a whole new plethora of people that were not in my Rolodex last year, that are in my Rolodex going into 2021. So, Greg Cesar is kind of like the keystone between those two environments. He was in my Rolodex last year, but people that are essentially more like Greg are going to kind of set a way higher bar going into season two.

Yeh, makes sense, totally. I know one episode that I enjoyed, I mean, aside from Greg Caesar, I always say that’s the one I always go back to and listen and pull out little nuggets of information. I like the way you name each of your, your interviewees. And was he the ultimate marketer? Am I remembering that correctly?

Greg Caesar, no he’s the creative marketer.

Creative marketing! I remember marketer being the word, but yes, creative marketer. But I mean another one that I picked up on was actually your friend Lad. A lot of his episode was about stepping out on faith and having faith in what you believe in and taking leaps and just having no fear. And the odd part about it, as I went back and listen to his episode, and actually, I’ll be honestly truthful, I went back into kind of listen to the whole season. I think organically you had a theme and you didn’t even realize that. A lot of your interviews were about stepping out on faith and pushing past fear and not listening to the haters and the naysayers. And I don’t know if that was on purpose if you want to talk about that a little bit. But, you know, a lot of your episodes were about just taking that leap of faith.

I mean yeah, so believe it or not, like, again, I’m 50 percent creative and 50 percent analytical. So in my research of these questions that I’m asking everybody on the show and to allude to the past twenty something episodes, I’m going to kind of release the secret formula now was I’ve done research to figure out what questions are going to spark an emotional response based upon who I’m interviewing. So when I ask somebody a question, I’m saying, ok, “what’s one thing you would have done differently?” Right? That usually follows before a question and then eventually nine out of 10 times, they may or may not say something about family, friends, and it’ll give me an opportunity to then roll into the next question, which is, well, do you come from an entrepreneurial family? Then that question then opens up Pandora’s box and then say, ok, so what’s your morning routine? So but again, I know everybody’s answer is going to be uniquely different, but as they’re answering these questions, just based upon the structure of the questions, that’s going to lead into a scenario to where it’s going to go into faith, it’s going to go into, well, this I’m doing this because naysayers or somebody didn’t believe in me or I hit these particular hurdles. And that’s why the questions are staged in the way they are.

Makes sense completely. Like when I listen to it as one big group instead of like, you know, I listen to when the episode will come out and then I’m not saying you forget about things, but you start to kind of, you know, not remember the little nuances. But when you listen to it as one big group, you, like all of them, kind of have a theme and all of them have that same language of stepping out on faith and taking the leap. And, you know, you know, don’t stop, you know, despite what things are being thrown at you. An interesting episode that I don’t want to say necessarily kind of deviated from that a little bit. But I learned a lot more about this individual was Milano. Like I know Milano through you and I know how incredibly intelligent Milano is and just his diverse background and everything that he’s into from the modeling and and what he’s doing for non-profits and what not. So talk a little bit about his episode, because I think it was like kind of the first episode in the second half of the season. And just some of the nuggets that he gave from that episode, I know kind of touched me a little bit. So talk about Milano’s episode.

Yes, I think Molano is a key episode in the sense that, to your point, Molano is an Ivy League graduate and he’s very highly, he’s intellectual and he deemed to be intellectual. He works in intellectual space. So bringing him into the podcast environment, you know, I don’t think post or pre the episode, I don’t think he listens to any episodes. So he came in kind of cold turkey. So he wasn’t really sure what to expect. But at the end of the episode, I mean, he definitely seen the puzzle pieces come together. And, you know, I think it’s one of those things not necessarily he takes for granted, but he’s been doing modeling and he’s been doing non-profits from an Ivy League level forever. So for him, he just kind of understands the system and he rolls with the punches and he gets things done.And it was kind of an eye opening moment for both of us to say, ok, “dude, you’re like a dream person” because some people, they want to be a model. Some people want to be Ivy League. You’re both and you’re doing both at the same time. So, I mean, not only pat yourself on the back, but you’re doing both of them well. And you’re also giving back to people that may necessarily need his services but once they sign up for his services or understand who he is, then it becomes very fruitful because he understands the market sector and he understands marketing indirectly as well.

Yeah, I think I think maybe that’s why I liked that one as one of the most, because that’s everybody is like, hey, you have a 9:00 to 5:00, you have a day job, you know, If A speak for myself, I have a very analytical job, I’m an Accountant, I’ a Treasurer. So it’s numbers all day, it’s Excel spreadsheets, it’s black and white all day long. And then, you know, after hours, you’re always looking for something creative or your creative side and you either get all of one or all of the other, but you never get both at 100 percent and Milano is both at 200 percent in some cases. So I’m switching gears a little bit. I want to talk about an interview that you did towards the end of the season, which has actually spawned into a partnership. So talk a little bit about partnerships. So Andrew’s episode is Andrew J. Minor, which is a part of Neil Patel’s group. Talk a little bit about how you guys met having him on the podcast and what this new partnership means?

Got you. Yeah, so his nickname was Uncle Andrew. I mean yeah, Andrew the whole Neil Patel partnership thing was it’s just kind of goes back to the Rolodex, right, because of Greg Ceaser, right. And then also knowing the Kindle King himself, right. In that space of learning through the Kindle Cash Flow, and hearing the different tools that they use on that and one of the tools that they were using was Uber-Suggest. So in using Uber-Suggest and using like Google keyword planner, I started digging a little bit deeper into the Uber-Suggest model and I learned a little bit about Neil Patel, and I’m like, this guy is been marketing forever. He’s a household name when it comes to marketers. He’s an international brand. So essentially in that process, I reached out to him and just so happened, they had just started their partnership program. And in that conversation, I was like, ok, guys, let’s figure out how could we partner, whether it’s an affiliate or whether it’s a direct partnership. So we started talking about it and then we went through the entire process. And then I was like, well, I have a podcast and it’ll give opportunity to kind of market the service and give opportunity for my listeners to listen to whoever you have that’s pretty much high profile in your company that can give value back. So then they said, well, Andrew was available at short notice, but I think we shot that like on a Tuesday and the deal had closed like the Friday before. So, Andrew was available and then did my due diligence on Andrew. I mean, Andrew is kind of like the guy behind the curtain, the guy behind the mask that’s been in the game for, like, forever. But he’s built companies and sold companies, and he was like one of the founding fathers that helped Neil Patel get to where he is currently right now as far as a global footprint. But Neil Patel is essentially like the Steve Jobs. He’s the brand. So it was a great opportunity to kind of meet Andrew first-hand on the podcast and also get some more insight about their business model, about their strategies and how they do things at the Neil Patel organization.

Ok, and so going forward, since the deal is done, what does that mean for you? What does it mean for Boss Uncaged? What’s next?

So with that partnership, it kind of gives us an opportunity because, you know, Serebral360 is essentially a marketing agency that can help people with graphic design, web design. And, you know, we’ve definitely done SEO but scaling. Right. So if you want to learn how to scale, you kind of have to either find people that’s doing it better than you or people that specialize in it. And Neil Patel’s organization fits both those bills. They’ve been doing a longer than Serebral360 and they’ve been doing it to a global scale versus we’ve been a national scale. So it gives us the opportunity to not only have those services in our bucket, but it gives opportunity for our particular target audience to get their SEO to another level. So if they want to essentially get a higher return on the SEO and a quicker return versus, you know, we will be able to set up your pages and set up the keywords and set up the searches, but Neil Patel took it to a whole another analytical level to where we’re just not at. So making a partnership makes perfect sense to where we can kind of delegate that work over to Neil and his company will then orchestrate that noise for our particular clients.

Makes sense, sounds like a great partnership. I look forward to kind of what it materializes in 2021, which is as we’re recording this, only a few days away. So, going back a little bit outside of the podcast, a little bit, want to talk about what S.A. Grant has been doing? Again, correct me on my count if I’m incorrect, but I think by now you’ve published five books in 2020 alone. And no, I think the number is bigger of all time, but just in this 12 month period, you’ve published five books, is that correct?

Yeah, yeah. So part of the whole podcasting and again, I always think I bite off more than I could chew. But, you know, I’m kind of like a like a chipmunk with just holding like a bunch of, you know, just. So the reality is, is that, yes, I published five books this year and volume 1,2,3 for “Boss Uncaged”, “Becoming an Uncaged Trailblazers” is volume 1,2, 3 and then in the midst of that kind of doing AB testing and I was like, ok, these books are very masculine and design. They’re very masculine in like the linear style of the look of the book are masculine. I’m like, well my target audience is both 50 50, male and female. So how do I talk to my female audience? So then I came up with the “Uncaged Motivations” brand, which kind of is a softer look with the same bold, bright colors and uniquely different content. So now essentially we have two separate brands. One is the Become an Uncaged Trailblazer volume 1,2, 3. And then we also have Uncaged Motivation’s volume one and two currently. And all of them were published in 2020.

2020. Yeah, definitely. What about do you have any more books planned. I know not for 2020 would be over in about five days or so. But what books do you have planned for 2021?

Well I think before we even step into that, I mean in addition to publishing our my own books, we had opportunity to publish two books for two clients that were also two guests on our show. So.

Yeah, I was going to get into that. I know the first half of the season, if you’ve listened, you heard Dr. B’s episode and you published Dr. B’s book in 2020. And then also, if you haven’t heard yet the Chief’s episode, which was the one right before this, you just published her book a few days ago. Actually, she’s getting ready to go live within a few days. So those are two episodes that Dr. B’s episode and the Chief’s episode where you’ve actually published their book. So talk a little bit about that.

I mean, yeah, there’s always, I always say that when you’re dealing with high profile people, A-Type personalities, and they see things in a particular vision, but this is outside of their scope of work. So kind of leading them to the promised land is a nurturing process of push and pull up, up take and down take, and so, yes, we published two books. It was definitely an informal journey for both myself and for these particular two guests. But the results are there. I mean, Dr. B’s book was number one top seller for the first half of the year. And from that it dawned into other things past that that original book. So that was great. The Chief book is going to go live on the 30th of this month, which is around the same time this this particular podcast is going to drop. So looking out for that book to be a number one top seller as well and to open up her her post journey, I mean, she was Chief for, what, 17 years? She was a police officer for 34 years. So it just gives her opportunity to kind of talk about the new space in a new world that she’s in. And, you know, we’ve been working on that book essentially since about…

Three or four months now. Well, actually, since the beginning of the year. Yeah.

So we started the book probably like six, seven. It’s kind of like Dr. B. Dr. B took about maybe six to nine months to publish his book and the Chief books, about six to nine months to publish her book as well.

Yeah, I kind of remember that story at the beginning. It was, you know, shortly after her announcement of retirement in the actual time of the ceremony, and she kind of came to you and the team and we’re like, you know, I want to publish a book. So, you know, had the conversation about how that book would materialize, the direction it wanted to go, and then headed down that path. And then just got to a point to say she’s like, no, I want to write my memoir, memoir I want to write my story, which completely changed the direction of the book. And I think in some kind of cases it was beneficial because it is her beginning story. And now it’s potentially materializing into a book, two, and a book three, in order to be able to tell all of these various chapters of her life, instead of just having one book on leadership. This is one multi-book operation on growth and, you know, being a leader and now into her post-retirement phase of what she’s doing as far as Consulting. So I think that really worked out for you guys.

I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah. To your point, I mean, the original book was essentially like a nonfiction book. Right. And it was supposed to be about leadership and in the middle of that process well probably near, we were probably 75 percent done with that book, and then she would just kind of like I want to post that book after this book. And it was kind of like we had to throw everything in the hat, and it was like, you do know we have to completely start over with new research, new keyword strategies, new titling, new everything to get this book done before the end of 2020. So it was definitely a wild journey and we’re still in progress of marketing and strategizing going into 2021 currently right now. I mean, I think I have a call with her this week to talk about Facebook ads so yeah. It’s alive and well right now.

It’s a great book though, so when you get a chance, comes out on December 30th, please go out there and grab it. If you haven’t grabbed Dr. B’s book yet, it’s still out there on Amazon, correct me if I’m wrong, yep, I saw it the other day, actually. So it came across my algorithm. But yeah, go out and grab his book as well, as long as well as all the Boss Uncaged books. I really like the motivational books because sometimes you just need that quick little, you know, you’re flipping through and that quick little nudge up. Ok, I keep doing this I can keep going for. So that’s cool. Definitely. What about what’s happening as far as like I said, what are you doing as far as publishing in 2021?

So this year, I decided I mean, considering like the, the positive outcome of the podcast, I said it only makes sense that being that I’m a, you know, we’re we’re a small publishing house and we’re publishing other people’s books and we’re publishing my books. And I might as well publish a book about the podcast. So going into 2021 and currently working on it, I’m going to publish a book that’s titled directly based upon the podcast called Boss Uncaged. And it’s about the twenty six, not necessarily about the individual people that we interviewed, but it’s about their stories in the sense of their keywords. Prime example would be like Tarl is optimistic. So this chapter is going to talk about optimism and how that can kind of help you achieve your goals, overcome hurdles. No matter when things are looking down or gleam, there’s always opportunity for you to move forward and realize that your glass is essentially always half full. So that that topic is essentially came from that particular podcast. And I’m probably going to have to cite some, some key terminologies and probably quotes from Tal. So the goal would be all twenty six episodes from season one are going to be showcased in a book based upon the principles that you learn from each episode.

Oh, that’s really cool. I’m excited about that one. Do you have a tentative release date when we can see that one coming? *both laugh* I’m holding you to the fire.

I would think making it an annual thing. So this podcast essentially started in February of 2020. So looking at doing a release date around that time. So essentially we’re looking at February of 2021. And again, it just is kind of one of those things. It’s twelve months later. Yes. Two months from now. But you know, the beauty thing about writing books is like their systems. Man, once you understand a system of books, I mean you could kind of be down in the hole and be behind and you’ve got four weeks. And if you knuckle down, you can kind of get a really solid book out in four weeks or less if you know what you’re doing. So, so.

Ok we’ll see, I look forward to it. February, be there on Amazon buying it, definitely. Staying in this book space a little bit, I noticed on a couple of episodes you always, not always, but in some of the episodes you’ve asked your interviewees what are they reading? Yeah. So this was kind of like a great segway to talk about, you know, they’re saying what they’re reading. We would like to hear from listeners and subscribers what they’re reading. So let’s talk about a little bit about the Boss Uncaged Book Club.

Yeah. So this is something that, you know, I guess if you live with me and if you’re in my circles, you know, randomly after AB testing and looking at what people are looking at and during, I think it was probably episode 14, 15, I just started asking the question, what book are you reading? And then realizing that everybody I’m interviewing essentially not necessarily high profile people, but they’re highly intellectuals or the business savvy or their entrepreneurs. So nine out of ten of them, literally a 100 percent of them are always reading something. I was like, what the hell am I doing? I’m asking the question, let’s go ahead and make a book club. But it’s not a standard book club to where we’re going to be reading these books. But, you know, if you decide to go to BossUncaged.com/bookclub, it will have a complete outline of all the books from the past episodes. And it’ll have opportunity for you to submit your books as well too so that we kind of just keep growing this environment of, of books from entrepreneurs that are not necessarily self-help, but motivational books, inspiring books, books to kind of get you from wherever you are currently to the next step. And there’s been, I don’t know how many dozens of books that have been mentioned on this podcast, but literally, you know, I’ve purchased some of them and read them, and they’re all golden nuggets. They’re all gems. So it only makes sense that we have an environment to say, hey, guys, if you listen to this podcast, go to this website and take a look at these books.

Completely makes sense, and I’ve heard those nuggets on a few of the episodes, and if I’m usually listening to it while I’m driving or doing something else and I always try to make a point, well, try not to write while I’ll drive, but I always try to make a point to like write it on my hand to say, oh, I’m a find that book later, or check out that book later, and then something gets in the way and I forget. And so this would be really helpful as just almost like a database of all the books that have been talked about on the podcast, you know, including your own. And then the books that everyone’s recommending, like there’s from a book perspective, you know, I’m such a book nerd. You know, I will admit that I don’t know all the books in the world. So to hear from other people, what they’re reading, you know, as far as motivation or productivity or just in general, you know, how to get it, how to take leaps of faith, you know, that would be really good to have all in one database.

I mean, yeah, definitely. I think it really probably started with I think that was episode three or four with Richard. I think Richard was like the first time we indirectly kind of spoke about it and he alluded some books that he was reading. And and then, you know, I didn’t really click to me until, like, later on in the season. So this the question I need to ask everybody, right? Definitely. And I think that the common denominator book of all books is going to be Napoleon Hill, right. “Think and Grow Rich”, like that thing has come up like at least, yes, a third the episodes. Everybody has said that book. If you have not read, “Think and Grow Rich”, I would advise you to read it. And it’s one of those things that’s from everybody that I know that’s a millionaire or wealthy individuals, not only do they read the book or have read the book, but they read it religiously. It’s almost like they’re the New Year’s resolution is to read that book, because as you read that book, it gives you a new light, a new vision, a new tunnel. And you would read something that you didn’t grasp six months ago, three months ago, and in this new space of mine going into a new year, it will open up a new box for you to kind of, you know, dive into a lot fuller.

Good point. Good point. And great segway. So what’s up for season two? What should the listeners be looking forward to for season two?

Season two. So season two, I mean, like I said to your point, you brought up Greg Ceaser and Greg Ceaser is a marketing industry legend to where he’s kind of been doing what he’s doing for a period of time. So going into season two, I kind of wanted to bring some more of that, like right off rip. So like season two, episode episode two, right, is going to be Ty Cohen, and Ty and Greg they know each other. So you can kind of hear the synergy between them and I think on that episode we talked about Greg a little bit as well but tycoon is the Kindle King. And when you kind of hear his episode, you can kind of understand like how did he get the three million dollars annually through just selling Kindle books? We talk about that on that. And, you know, he came from a background, I think he was working at CVS. So think about going from CVS to three million dollars a year.

Wow, yeah.

So, yeah. And then after that we have Damon. And so Damon is another dude that I just kind of you know, I think he was up on Forbes. He was a Forbes writer and he’s a SEO genius as well. And I reached out to him on Facebook. What the hell do I have to lose? I reached out to him. We made a connection. You know, he interviewed me on his podcast, interviewed him on my podcast. But Damon gives some really genuine nuggets just about SEO, just about strategy, or just about marketing. And he’s high profile as well. I mean, he’s been in the game for a minute. And, you know, obviously his revenues is there to back it. So, I mean, he’s going to be episode three directly after Ty Cohen. And I’m just kind of building up like, you know, I put in like some heavy hitters just right away. And I’m going to continue to maintain that in season two.

Talk a little bit about what you’re telling me about potentially having maybe a real estate month? You know, I think and correct me if I’m wrong, you have a few real estate individuals, a few people who are knowledgeable on building capital for investing. So tell me a little bit more or tell the listeners a little bit more about that?

Yeah so, just believe it or not, I mean, I think we’ve recorded maybe about fifteen episodes of the season two already. So it gives me the opportunity to kind of look at it from a high level view to say how to organize these things. So going into February, the second month of 2021, I realized that we have some tenticals with some real estate, whether it’s real estate or whether it’s real estate investment or so I was like, let’s orchestrate all these people into one month. So Jessica, right, which is a close friend of ours, also a close friend of Tally, if you haven’t seen episode one, episode two season one. So we’re all within that circle. And she’s been a real estate agent for a period of time, had a lot of level of success. So she’s, she’s what I would consider to be the traditional real estate agent. And then Lenny the Boss, right, which goes back into these circles, right. So Lenny, the boss is essentially Ty Cohen’s cousin, which is also close friends of Greg Ceaser. But his, yeah, so his niche is real estate, but he does a real estate from. He does rental properties, and this dude is he’s hungry and he’s motivated. He’s always buying rental properties. And his entire Facebook page is all about getting into real estate and building your wealth through having recurring revenue. So that’s his episode. And then episode eight is Dominick Felix, which is essentially real estate, but he does wholesale and he goes to the scale to where I think they’re grossing probably five million dollars annually at this point. Well, probably more than that now. So it gives him an opportunity to kind of talk more so on the wholesale side, like how did he get into wholesale versus becoming a real estate agent versus becoming rental properties? So it’s just different facets of real estate that you could essentially make money from. So it gives me the opportunity to kind of bring them all together. And to the last point would be the last episode. I’m trying to think I haven’t recorded that one yet I’m going to record it, but my goal is to get somebody that talks more so about funding.

Oh, yeah.

So understanding how to raise capital if you want to buy a building, if you want to buy a complex, if you want to buy commercial properties and just diving into that space. And, you know, obviously I think we have some other people that’s particularly lined up that we haven’t closed yet. But if they all come in before then, then obviously February month may roll into February and March.

Yeah, good point. I mean, if you’ve had people on your podcast before who talked about raising capital, Is it the Arjin talk, was his episode was about how he had to do some capital funding, which he raised a lot of money, and then he lost the money and then he was able to raise a lot more. So, but just to go into season two, you know, if you’re able to kind of lock that interview down, I think, and then the ones that are subsequently supposed to happen after that, I think that’ll be a good bit of knowledge for the listeners because it’s kind of, you know, that’s what it’s about. How do you raise the money in order to be able to get your product made or your, you know, service out into the world. I think it was on Harris’s episode, he talked a little bit about, you know, if it’s good, the people will invest in you. So, right, if you, if you know your product or service is good, then how do you get the people to invest in you? I mean, ideally, no one wants to go to a bank and get a loan in this and other because now you are essentially in a sense a slave to the bank. But if you have the resources and the key contacts in order to have these people investing, then that’s better. So once you get those interviews lined up, lined up, I think it’d be really good for people to listen.

I mean yeah, so just to allude, I mean, Ray Johnson is going to be the funding guy. That’s that’s the guy I’m going for and believe it or not, like Ray originally was my first podcast ever recorded before I recorded Tal’s. So the funny story that goes back is that we recorded it like a cafe in Roswell, Georgia. You know, my microphones were ok and I’m using like a handheld recorder. And the ambient noise in the background was kind of cool, but we couldn’t diluted enough to kind of really get the impact of hearing his voice clearly. So, you know, recently I had a meeting, one on one meeting with him, maybe like, what, 30 days ago? Forty-five days ago. So he’s definitely willing to come back on the show and rerecorded 100 percent. So Ray is going to be like the keystone for that February month, because you have wholesaler’s, you have renters, and you have real estate. And then Ray comes in and he’s like, well, this is how you get the money.

How do you get the money, yep!

This is how you raise the capital, raise the funds, what kind of credit scores you need to have, what kind of down payments you need to have, because he’s, he’s kind of like the extension of the bank. He’s not the bank, but he’s he’s a lending network. So it’ll be a great. February is going to be a month if you’re into real estate and you’re into like understanding how to raise capital and build wealth through real estate, February definitely the month that you want to tune in.

Excited. I can’t wait to see what season two is going to look like. I’ll also allude a little bit to what else you’re thinking about doing for season two. Do you want to talk about the Boss Uncaged telephone number a little bit?

Yeah. So anybody that knows me would know that I’m a real big lifetime deals guy. So in my searches for lifetime deals, I came across a lifetime deal that gives give me access to essentially five numbers that are programmable numbers that track analytics and all this different stuff behind the scenes. So I was like, it only makes sense that let me go ahead and create a Boss Uncaged phone number that allows people to kind of call, leave messages, send text messages to. And it’ll also have an opportunity to get in direct contact with me via voicemail or even have a re-route directly to my phone as well. So, I mean, I’m probably not going to release that phone number until the season two and then so you have opportunity to get that number going into season two, episode one.

That would be really cool. Like this is an opportunity to be able to, you know, 1-800 Boss Uncaged, is it that? I don’t know if it is, probably not, but knowing you and branding, it’ll be something really close to that, I’m sure

I can allude, the last four numbers is boss, it took me forever to negotiate and finagle that number and check out all the different area codes. But, yes, the last four digits of this phone number would be boss.

I know you’re the king of branding, i.e., I don’t know if anybody remembers now we’re in Boss Uncaged gear now. That definitely was not in the first episode or even probably midway through season one. There was no Boss Uncaged merch. But now we have Boss Uncaged the store. He can probably give the URL a bit little bit better than me. Where you can get the hoodies and the t-shirts and sweatpants and the mugs and everything, which I probably own the majority of it because I shop at Boss Uncaged a lot.

So that’s store.bossuncaged.com.

Alright, alright. I mean, honestly, just to kind of, you know, wrap it all up for the most part, the season one, the journey of Boss Uncaged that was just like I said a year ago, was just an idea like, you know, one of the things you’re really good at is your network and your connections. And I know we’re just having one of those kind of off the cuff conversations about, you know, what is S.A. Grant going to do next in this and the other and I think I even jokingly said you should create a podcast because I am a super podcast nerd and listen to a lot of podcasts and, you know, a couple of more conversations and a series of better and better and more improved mics, you know, now you’re at the end of season one. So, I mean, talk about that journey a little bit overall, like how has it changed from day one to day now?

Well, I think one of the biggest reality moments for me was kind of like not only do we have a podcast, but near the end of the season, I had an opportunity to to have two speaking engagements, which was kind of like a year before I wasn’t speaking about podcasts. I’d never even developed a podcast a year ago. So being able to speak at podcast. And that’s all thanks to Chris Criminso. In his book, I mean, another going back to the books, a little bit, Chris Criminso book “Start Ugly” it’s one of those books that if, a prime example, like we’re writing these for these other authors, and they have to kind of understand that perfection comes with time. So you have to kind of touch a market sector to put products in front of them, with your best foot forward, but you have to start ugly otherwise you would never start. If you try to make everything a hundred percent perfect out the box, then one day goes to a week, a week goes to a month and six months later. And hence why most people take years to write a book because they want the book to be perfect. And even after the release of the book, it’s not perfect. So have an opportunity to kind of jump onto that sector. And a lot of the people going into season two are people that I just reached out that were fellow speakers at Podfest or at Vidfest and in that journey, right. So to your point, a year ago, literally 2019 December, it was kind of like, “let’s start a podcast”, OK!

It wasn’t that simple. It was, “well-“. And then, then it became OK.

It was like, OK, let’s start a podcast. When will we release, OK, let’s release in February, and I think we were in Virginia at the time. We just like, let’s just record Tal. Tal will be a great first interview because we have history. We go way back. She’s a savvy business person, let’s record her episode and see where it goes. And then after that, it was kind of like, well I need to record more episodes. I need to be consistent. And that’s why I started off with two weeks. I was like two week rotation was like, OK, that’s easy enough for me to maintain in addition to everything else. And then shortly thereafter, by episode 14 or 16, I was just kind of like, I need to put more content out there. I need to go from bi-weekly to weekly. So now I’m at the point where we’re posting an episode every single week on usually on a Tuesday. And it just the following has grown significantly just based upon that content. And it really goes to show if you’re a marketer and if you’re developing solid content, then your audience will potentially grow. And obviously you have to market that content as well. And to be honest, I haven’t really even, I’ve put zero ad spend into Boss Uncaged. Wow. I’ve done I’ve marketed everything else, but I’ve done zero ad spend or zero really outside of organic marketing, I’ve done zero. So going into 2021 it’s going to be a whole new ball game to where I’m going to put some ad spend behind things and I’m going to, you know, significantly push the podcast, essentially more so as a brand anchor than what I was doing before.

It makes sense. Boss Uncaged is in this teenage phase and in 2021 Boss Uncaged becomes twenty-one and Boss Uncaged is grown and Boss Uncaged starts to get ad spend. You know, just like you said, this growth has been all organic. It’s been word of mouth. It’s been, hey, you know, X is on the podcast. You know, we go out, put it on social media, have that person share it. I think we were kind of looking at the numbers the other night while we were sitting around the house and is like, this it’s amazing. You haven’t put any real ad spend behind this at all. This is all been organic word of the mouth. People who know you, people who know the people that you’re interviewing type of growth. So in 2021 Boss Uncaged becomes an adult essentially and really kind of starts to get out there. And like you said, that’s to kind of grow its own tentacles and stuff. So that’s going to be exciting.

So I mean, goal for me going into next year, I would like to hit ten thousand complete downloads. I mean, if we only had twenty something episodes this year. So going into next year we’re going to do a podcast per week so that next season essentially we’re aiming for fifty-two episodes. So just doing the numbers, doing the math, we should be able to hit ten thousand and again. Every time you hit something, there’s an explosion, right? I mean, when I first started off this podcast, it was like maybe five people listening, right? And then it grew into a couple of hundred people listening. So with marketing and ad spend behind that and potentially all the other outreaches that we’re doing and they’re all funneling back into Boss Uncaged, then that brand, we should easily hit ten thousand, then one hundred thousand and so forth and so forth.

Makes sense. Well, I have my last question, which I think I’ve asked towards the end of the first episode, and I think back to it, has your lunch with anyone dead or alive changed in the last 12 months due to 2020, due to how COVID has changed everything that we’re doing? Has that changed? You know, who would you have lunch with or have a conversation with dead or alive? I surprised you, you didn’t know this question was coming.

I mean, I’m just thinking about it. It’s kind of like and I’m recapping like everyone’s answer over the year and like, it’s so funny that I heard some people say some people just pick, like, random people that that are alive, that they want to meet. Some people, pick people that essentially dead that could inspire them. Some people obviously just said directly, like family, like their wives or their kids. And for me, I think all of those answers are great answers. I even got to the point where I’m like, you can’t say your kids anymore. You can’t say your wife like anybody outside of your family members. Who you want to spend twenty four hours with, dead or alive? And when I really stop and think about it, I think it really comes out to like my favorite two movies. Right. I mean, there is “The Founder”, and then there’s “Jobs”.

Yes.

So I’m going to break the rules a little bit. If I could have a mix and mingle lunch and learn, it’ll be with Kroc and Jobs at the same damn time. And I’m sure they’re both going to be arguing about something. They’re both going to you know, Steve is going to like whatever, give me some fruit, shut the hell up. And Kroc is going to be like, you know, he’s going to shank him under the table. But just being in that room with these two titans at the same damn time and just being able to not even essentially ask them questions, just to see both of them interact with each other.

Yeah, because think about both of them are dead and gone. So looking at it from a standpoint of what would these two titans, and I don’t think they ever had opportunity to cross in their time frames.

No, I think that Kroc died in 1984, if I’m not mistaken. So, yeah.

Yeah. So I mean, that was kind of like the real dawn of Apple. He probably wasn’t even thinking about McDonald’s at that time. So to put both those people in the same space at the same time and to be a fly on the wall to see what they would talk about, I think that would be influential, life changing event just to, to record that thing and listen to it over and over again for them to compare notes. Because you gotta think, McDonald’s is essentially the largest landowner, right, and essentially, Apple is essentially pound for pound, dollar for dollar, the largest company on the block, you know. Obviously, Amazon is creeping up on them, but pound for pound, Apple’s margins are ridiculous. So to understand these two formulas is beautiful. Go ahead.

And the cult following that Apple has, though. Yes, I am Apple cult member.

Well both of them, well, I mean, think about it. I mean, McDonald’s is a cult following, too. I mean, think about K, right? I mean, think about all kids and it’s multiple generations of kids over the years that, if you say McDonald’s, the hands go up. This one food universally, no matter what it is, the kids are willing to eat.

This is true. Well, I mean, like I said, that was my last question for you. I don’t, you know, have anything else. I’m really excited about what season two has to offer. Like I said, Boss Uncaged is going from a teenager now to being an adult. I think the timing of 2021 is really good for branding, hint hint on that. So this first season has been awesome. It has been an amazing journey. It has been a lot of lessons learned. I think we were joking with Tal the other day about the first podcast that you guys recorded, didn’t actually record and that was the first one. And, you know, lessons learned, you know, make sure that the button is hit, and this that and the other. So thanks. It has been super awesome journey and season two is going to be dope.

We definitely appreciate. I mean, to your point about the record, I think every podcast at one time or the other, you learn that lesson. And I’m happy that we learned that lesson on the first season, first episode right out the box. Make sure you hit record.

I always say “It was such a good episode. No one heard it”.

I mean, it was it was actually her re-recording was great, but her original, we couldn’t recreate that. I mean, so much emotion and desire that she put into that first episode was. But, you know, it is what it is. I mean, my goal is to get her back on the podcast again, probably going into season two just to kind of see where she is right now.

Oh, yes.

I think a lot of conversation going into season two is probably gonna be more so about COVID and and how people are branching out and adapting and overcoming these new unforeseen hurdles that pretty much came out of nowhere.

No, it’s a great, it’s a great idea. How are people pivoting, how business is pivoting right now with COVID, I mean, a lot of brick and mortar businesses that we know we know of are hurting. Some have already closed their doors or getting ready to close your doors. You know, I know there’s new money, new, you know stimulus money out in the marketplace now, but, you know, what does that mean for someone who’s already on the verge of, you know having to close? So I think to interject that a little bit into season two would be great as well. And then, like you said, like I think you said, the end of all your, all of your podcasts, we want to hear what our listeners are doing. What are they thinking? Their comments, their questions. And those would be good to start to interject into season two just so we can see what’s happening in the world.

Yeah, and I think it is a good time to go into the closing of this particular episode is that, you know, leave some reviews. I mean, I would love to hear like I get text messages, I get emails, but I’m just saying put those those messages on, on the reviews. Not only is it going to help us to grow the podcast, but it’ll also give other people the opportunity to kind of see the responses to your particular questions. And it’s a community. So go ahead and send some reviews and post them live. And obviously, you still send me text messages, but ideally, let’s just put them up live for the world to see them.

Yeah, we would love to know what everyone is thinking about the podcast, what we don’t know, we can’t grow. So put it out in the reviews and then from there, if we can grow and figure out what works and what doesn’t work.

Cool, cool.

So, you ready for twenty one. Is it twenty one?

Twenty one. I’m ready for twenty-three, but yes, I’m ready for twenty-one. So yeah, again guys, I mean I appreciate you doing this interview, Alex. And again guys, we look forward to growing and expanding going into season two. S.A. Grant over and out.