Unleashing Creativity: Out-of-the-Box Thinking to Make Your Brand Memorable

Larry Roberts [00:00:08]:

What is happening, everybody? I'm Larry Roberts.

Sara Lohse [00:00:11]:

And I'm Sara Lohse, and this is Branded. Your comprehensive guide to create a branding.

Larry Roberts [00:00:16]:

And on this episode of the podcast, we have an amazing guest with us today. This guy blows my mind every time I see him. You know, Sara and I, we go to a lot of conferences. That's how we get out there and meet people and build our brand. whether it's a podcast conference or Sara goes to FinCon, which is kind of podcast conference too or it's a business conference. We run into a lot of of advertisers. You know, they've always got that what what are those calls here? I can't even think of the name of it where they set up the tables. What's that called?

Sara Lohse [00:00:46]:

Exhibition booths?

Larry Roberts [00:00:47]:

That's it right there. It's an exhibition booth. Exhibition exhibitions. Exhibitions.

Sara Lohse [00:00:52]:

They are Exhibitions.

Larry Roberts [00:00:53]:

I need more monsters this morning. But now when when we see these exhibitors, how's that but we see these exhibitors out there. And I'll tell you, regardless of the con of the conference that I'm at, there's not one booth that stands out as well as these guys boot. It is amazing. The name of their company is Mowpod, and they specialize in podcast advertising. but this is one half of their dynamic duo. And his name is Joe Rubin. Joe, welcome to the podcast.

Joe Rubin [00:01:21]:

Oh, thank you so much for having me on today. This is great.

Larry Roberts [00:01:24]:

Yeah. And, again, you know, I can't say enough cool things about you guys. You you really have this very unique I'll call it an aura to your brand. that just really it does. It stands out regardless of the conference. And, again, I go to conferences all the freaking time, and I've never seen another company stand out at a conference the way that you and Mike do.

Joe Rubin [00:01:46]:

That is good to hear, honestly, because that is my goal. and mission accomplished. So you go home today. This is this is good. I'm calling it a day.

Larry Roberts [00:01:55]:

Well, thanks for thanks for coming on the show. We appreciate it.

Sara Lohse [00:01:58]:

to retire.

Joe Rubin [00:02:00]:

No. That's it is it it is good to hear actually because that is really our goal. This is to stand out and to be noticed you know, you mentioned it earlier, you know, there's tons of booths as that, and that is how you go, and that's how you get noticed. And that's what we do as well. We we pick the good conferences to go to and we show up and we try to make everybody know that we're there. Right? We paid the fee. Right? We're spending all the cash and the airplane tickets and the hotels and the food and the and the sponsorship fees and the booth table costs and the all the shit that goes around it, like, wanna go home guy because that's pretty good. Like, maybe maybe someone will call me. You know, like, I wanna go there and, like, rock it. You know? I wanna own that. And that's our goal. And and it and it works, I think. It, you know, you do it. I see you there all the time. And I, you know, I I that's how it is. You gotta brand yourself. You gotta make sure people know that you're there and and drum up business.

Larry Roberts [00:02:52]:

So how did tell me the kind of the backstory on Mopod, how did it act actually get started. And, I mean, what was the birth of your brand? Yeah.

Joe Rubin [00:03:00]:

So we started in the newsletter space, actually. We were sending subscribers to companies like Morning Brew before they got acquired and the hustle before they got acquired. And and and a dozen dozens of other newsletters where they were looking for just email subscribers. So we had nothing to do with podcasts at all when we started. and then they started asking us, hey, we also have a podcast. Can you send people to our podcast? And we're like, no, we can't do that. We don't know. I don't know anything about it. so we said no, like, five times to all these people. And finally, like, you know, we're leaving a lot of potential money on the table here. We gotta learn what a freaking podcast is and doing this. You know? So we didn't wanna go in and just be like, oh, yeah. Now we can we can advertise your podcast. Sure. Like, we we're like, alright. We need to feel the pain and understand what a podcast is, how it works, you know, what what are the ins and outs, like, and talk the talk and be able to sound smart about podcasts before we got in there and started selling services to podcasters and sounded like and you sound like a dumbass. Right? Like, I hate when I get calls and people trying to sell me and they and I know more about what they're doing than they do. Right? Like, I hate that. So I I I wanted to be an expert. I wanted an, me and Mike. We wanted to know what the hell we were doing. So we set up our own podcast, As you can imagine, the first one was a smashing piece of shit. It sucks. Didn't know what we're doing.

Sara Lohse [00:04:18]:

We have officially lost our clean writing just from this episode already.

Larry Roberts [00:04:25]:

Not at all. You're fine.

Joe Rubin [00:04:26]:

You're fine. I don't know. I drop off from

Larry Roberts [00:04:28]:

time to time.

Joe Rubin [00:04:29]:

You have to put that adult rating on the side.

Sara Lohse [00:04:32]:

This is branded explicit.

Larry Roberts [00:04:35]:

No. It's it's

Joe Rubin [00:04:35]:

still it sounded like crap. Okay. So we were like, alright. Let's figure this out. We didn't know what we were doing. We didn't know how recorded, and they my microphone sucked and, like, you heard the echo, and it sat it was like, it it was just garbage. Right? And I'm like, I can't sell something like this and sound smart. So we started working on it. We started getting better at doing our own podcast and figuring it out and Finally, we're like, alright. This we we not understand what podcasting is. We understand the technologies in the space. let's try to promote it and see if it works. And once again, we started up and it sucked. Right? Like, it was like, well, we just blew a lot of our own money and nobody's listening. Like, that was garbage. Right? So we just did that for a while. And then finally, we're like, alright, we're getting pretty good at this, you know, and, and once we got to be a point where we're like, you know, this this is legitimate. We know we kinda know about podcasting now. We know about advertising podcasting and what it takes, what the what the metrics look like, and what what we're supposed to do and how to potentially even make some money on this. and, you know, to to get it down to our cost down where our costs are less than, you know, what we're what we're charging. and we went out there and we're like, hey, we're gonna give it a shot. you know, your beta customer number 1, you know, we may not do great at all. In which case, you know, it's on us. We'll eat the whole thing. And people are like, okay. Sure. it's on you. Sure. Right? So, we went out with that approach, and then we started getting pretty good. you know, we didn't decent money at first. You know, sometimes we won. We lost a little bit. You know, maybe we made a okay. But we started selling it on that performance guarantee, right, where we weren't gonna just say, alright. Give me an arbitrary amount of money, and we'll give you an arbitrary amount of listeners. Right? We were like, here's what you're gonna buy. Here's what we're gonna deliver. And if we don't deliver, we're just gonna keep delivering until we deliver. And if we stop making money and we're and it's out it's out of our pocket, well, that's on Right? And people like, sure. I know what I'm getting. I know what I'm paying for. And if you screw up, it's on you, and it's up to you to take the risk. so that's how that was sort of the backstory on that. People like that business model.

Larry Roberts [00:06:32]:

Well, I I think it's interesting that you're throwing it out there and, you know, you're taking that hit you're taking on all the risk. And I think a lot of people tend to overlook that fact, not just at you specifically, but at building a brand or building a business. You know, you have to put it out there. I mean, we hear guys like Gary Vee and these Alex for Moises and all these Cat Daddy's that are talking about you have to give, give, give, give, give, and you've built an amazing business that's globally recognized for what it does. And you started off by doing what, giving? You said we will do this for you, and we eat the cost if we have to. And you built on that. Not only did you prove your concept, you learned along the way. and that's a sacrifice that a lot of people aren't willing to make. So what is it from an internal character perspective that allowed you to go, this is what we have to do to make this work.

Joe Rubin [00:07:23]:

It's an entrepreneurial mindset. I've been in the entrepreneur space since like, 2000. I've been I started my own company, raised my own capital back in in, like, the dot com bubble, you know, like, but before the bubble burst obviously, and the dot com boom. That's that was that's the that's the term.

Larry Roberts [00:07:39]:

So -- Yeah. --

Joe Rubin [00:07:40]:

you're in this space for a while, and I understand that you have and if you're not gonna take any risk you're in the wrong space. You gotta you gotta put it out there and you have to be prepared to lose some money at first. and experiment and and screw it up and fail and hear lots of noes, and take all of that feedback to heart and figure out if what you're doing is still worth it. And and if you should continue down that path or if you should change it up somehow and and figure something else out. and that's just what you have to do. And and, like, even today, I I it wasn't days yesterday. Yesterday, still, I lost money on a campaign. You know? I screwed it up. Yeah. Right? You know, we and we o we over delivered, and they the customer was happy. and I lost money. You know, it just it still happens. We were trying something new.

Larry Roberts [00:08:28]:

That wasn't on our account, was it? Was that our account? It -- No.

Joe Rubin [00:08:30]:

No. You did you did it.

Larry Roberts [00:08:31]:

Did we crush it yesterday? And I haven't seen

Joe Rubin [00:08:33]:

it yet. No. No. We did alright. but it was an it was just another kind. It just it just happens. We're trying something new, trying about a new piece of technology that Our thing is building the technology around this to make this easier, streamline. We're an ad tech company, so we're constantly innovating the technologies. And sometimes We screwed up and there's a bug and and and just it it just doesn't happen. It happened yesterday. So, but that's sort of the mindset that you have to be in. And and, you know, I kicked myself in the butt, you know, for losing some cash and it just and I and I went on and I fixed the problem and try to make it better.

Sara Lohse [00:09:05]:

No. I was actually thinking, with what you were saying before with starting your podcast and everything. Pod fade is just so, so prevalent, and that just Lohse start a podcast and they just give up. And you made me think, like, one of the reasons that it is that way is because with this, your trying something and if you're failing, you're failing publicly. And that can make it so much more difficult because you're putting out this content and then you look back and realize, Okay. That suck, but people already saw it. So that that makes it so much more difficult. How do you get around that? Like, how did you get yourselves to just keep going?

Joe Rubin [00:09:39]:

so we use it. So 22 things. 1, we use it. It's not just a podcast. We originally started it as this sort of this test experiment bed. Right? So the podcast was was cool, but the actual coolness of the podcast is sorta sort of grew on a life of its own, which was really cool. Now we Lohse doing the podcast. Yeah. We still run our ads to the podcast, and we still expect and push our own podcast. Obviously, we're still eating our own cooking but we love doing it. I'm actually recording another episode tonight. It it's a great podcast. We have so much fun doing it. And if you don't have fun doing it, you need to stop doing it. Right? If you hate doing it, it's like, Lohse start a podcast, like, oh, let me just start it and and a lot of people started the podcast as, I'm sure you remember, over the pandemic, right? I'm like, I'm stuck at home I can't do anything. Hey, let me start a podcast. Right? So there's definitely there was definitely a big bump of starting podcasts and failing podcasts you know, all at the same time because, you know, I'm 3 episodes in, and I don't know what I'm doing, and I don't really like this. And I sound like crap, and I I I have nothing interesting to actually say. And You know, so there was a lot of that. but still to your question, even people who are doing a good job and have something interesting to stay interesting to say have that pod fade effect where, you know, I I'm 25 episodes in, and now it's gone. Right? Like, so there's definitely some of that where even if you're pretty good at it, you just you burn out or you get bored or something happens and you stop, you know, so.

Larry Roberts [00:11:06]:

The the podcast has been such critical component to everything that you're doing. And, I mean, I'm we're not sitting here pitching podcasts. Well, maybe we are. but at the same time, you know, that your your podcast has helped you build a community that's around your brand. And that something that I've seen you guys do on a a whole other level, you know, because, again, mentioning you at the conferences and whatnot, not only do you have, I mean, you you have your mopod groupies that are that are following you everywhere. Right? But you guys also sponsor all the after parties. Your podcast is a karaoke podcast. So people come on your podcast and they do karaoke. Right?

Joe Rubin [00:11:45]:

Exactly. And that's and we I try to tie those things in together nicely. Right? So The podcast is called Friday night karaoke. and when we go to conferences, sponsoring, like you said, the after party, and often the after party is a big karaoke party.

Larry Roberts [00:11:59]:

Right?

Joe Rubin [00:12:00]:

So it if we try to title and and then, of course, you know, we're filming at the party and posting it on, the the web page for Friday night karaoke and posting on the mop up page. Like, there's a lot of crossover, and we try to use the the sounds technical, though. Like, you try to use those assets why, you know, wisely. Right? But, like, we try to, like, build in the repurpose that content. Yeah. You know, we're trying to we try to make everyone have a good time and and and to the previous point, yeah, we're there. We're throwing the after party. We're I want people to remember us there. You know, we try to the groupies, I guess, like like you said, maybe there's a few, but it's it's because -- I mean,

Larry Roberts [00:12:34]:

I include myself in that in that clip, you know, in the whole groupie clip because I'm like, where where's Mike and and Joe? I wanna be where they're at. Where are they? Oh, they're at the party. Now I will admit though that the after parties, I I typically just make a pass. I show up and I make a round, and then I I I might exit because I am so old. And I'm like, oh my god. I'm so tired. I can't do this but I need to. I want to. I feel like I miss out every time. And I think that's more of my point is that I feel I have that FOMO You know, I wanna be there, but my old ass just can't keep up. So so you guys do an amazing job of doing that. And every after party that you guys throw, is slammed. And people are literally talking about it through the conference. Oh, when is karaoke? When's the party? When when's the mopod party? and you guys have done such a tremendous job of tying that altogether and building that community around your brand. So you've got these hardcore supporters and we'll we'll call him groupies just for fun. But you've done such just an a tremendous job there, and you're tying all these components together. Was was that intentional, or did you stumble through that process and go, oh, this whole community thing, this is a huge benefit to the brand.

Joe Rubin [00:13:43]:

Yeah. Even if it was an accident, I'd say it was intentional, but It actually does intentional. We we love throwing the after party. Everything that we do is, like, we're good at throwing parties. We love doing it. I Lohse nothing more than walking around with a bottle of of whiskey or fireball and and just, like, hand and pouring it over bin to people and, like, and getting everybody to to have a great time and getting people

Sara Lohse [00:14:06]:

You are the ultimate bottle girl?

Joe Rubin [00:14:08]:

Yes. I am definitely a shot girl, like, in in it at heart. You know, like,

Larry Roberts [00:14:12]:

that's That's it. You know, it's a -- Rebranding.

Joe Rubin [00:14:18]:

It it's something that we love doing. And the the funny thing is that even there's been a lot of people that would hang out with us and have drinks with us and come to our parties and and chill. And then after, like, hours and we're having a great time, they're like, what do you do anyway? You know, like, the it's it's a weird problem to have is often, like, the brand dominates what we actually do. Like, people know the brand. Oh, I reckon, like you said, the t shirt. I I know the t shirt. I know the brand. You got nice I love the logo and you hanging out and you're buying me drinks and my phone kept me singing a harryokey and then, like, the next day, people are like, that was awesome. Like, you guys are awesome. what do you do? You know, like, they don't even know what we do at that point. So it's it's a little it's sometimes a little weird, but I don't care about that. Right?

Larry Roberts [00:15:00]:

You know what? It's so interesting because I get the same thing with the red hat. They know the red hat. They know the red hat guy. They see the red hat at all the all the conferences and all the networking meetings and all of this and that, but they don't they don't know what the Red Hat's all about. What do what do you even do, dude?

Joe Rubin [00:15:16]:

Yeah. It's a solid brand.

Larry Roberts [00:15:18]:

Yeah. Well, is it? Because how do you convert that then? How have you managed to you get that recognition, you get that attention, and the t shirt, and we're gonna describe it for those that are just listening? I mean, it's smiley face that you literally built out a set of headphones. You just took a yellow circle, turned a pair of over the ear canister headphones upside down the ear muffs or the eyes, and then the headpiece is the smiley face. It's the most ingenious thing I've ever seen in my life. And I don't know if you debuted it beforehand, but I think the first time I saw it was at podcast, maybe 22 or 21,

Joe Rubin [00:15:53]:

How about that? Yeah. Maybe when you're one of those years. Yeah.

Larry Roberts [00:15:57]:

Yeah. because I hadn't seen it before, and then you showed up at the next one. I was like, holy shit. That is amazing. It is so simple.

Joe Rubin [00:16:04]:

These are these are actually my headphones. So, like, that I took a secondary, like -- -- sure is.

Larry Roberts [00:16:08]:

--

Joe Rubin [00:16:09]:

like pencils in it to hold it apart, you know, and, like, get it to the right thing and took the photograph and I've got an amazing amazing graphic designer and and and I draw everything on crayons with him, and then he makes it, into reality. So

Larry Roberts [00:16:24]:

--

Sara Lohse [00:16:24]:

It's funny because the first time I saw it, I didn't immediately realize it's a smiley face, and I walk past your ex exabut, whatever we're gonna call it. I walked past it a few times, and then suddenly it hit me. And I'm like, oh my god. It's genius, and I love it. Thanks. I think one of the things that are commonly misunderstood with branded podcasts

Larry Roberts [00:16:46]:

is

Sara Lohse [00:16:46]:

that the podcast is supposed to be about the brand. And that's that's so incorrect because if you were to start a podcast that all that you talk about is how to run an ad for your podcast, you're gonna have one episode and then what do you talk about? but with a branded podcast, the idea is to talk about the values and the kinds of things that your brand stands for. So, like, if Jeep were to start a podcast, I think they have 1. They talk about adventure and things like that, things that they really stand for so that you start to think about those values in line with that brand.

Joe Rubin [00:17:16]:

And

Sara Lohse [00:17:16]:

that's something I think you guys do so well because you do it really unconventionally. like your brand is what what Mo Pod does is help advertise podcasts so you grow your podcast through advertisements, but your podcast is karaoke. because your brand values are things like the fun and the party and the music, and yet it works so well for you guys. You've just done such a great job at showing that those values and that alignment.

Joe Rubin [00:17:44]:

Well, thanks.

Sara Lohse [00:17:44]:

it's a good job.

Joe Rubin [00:17:46]:

Thank you, Jamie.

Larry Roberts [00:17:47]:

I thank you for coming on our podcast. We do wanna praise you for the hour. This be amazing.

Sara Lohse [00:17:51]:

This this is the Joe show today.

Joe Rubin [00:17:53]:

No. No. No. No. So I do I do wanna throw in a couple of of of interesting facts. So I think that A lot of people miss the mark when they go to events. Like you said earlier, you know, this thousands of exhibits and thousands of events, across the country. And most of them are not very memorable

Sara Lohse [00:18:11]:

at all.

Joe Rubin [00:18:12]:

You know? and it looks like, you know, I would do a software thing and there's like a a a blue circle and and we stand there and And it's like, and like, oh, oh, we have hand sanitizer and, you know, and, like, and it's like, alright. Great. You know, like, fantastic. Like, I I feel like you they're doing that. And then you did they get some business probably? Right? Cause that's the majority of the booths out there. It's like, alright. They they got they got the pens with their logo on it. Fantastic. And that one next door's got hand sanitizer, and they got the bowl for La Hershey's kisses. So that's cool. You know? Oh, you missed that one? The buffalo? No.

Larry Roberts [00:18:49]:

It's just that we have a conference coming up that we're sponsoring, and we're gonna have a bowl of rice crispy treats. So now I'm feeling a little I'm feeling a little targeted right

Joe Rubin [00:18:56]:

now, Joe.

Sara Lohse [00:18:56]:

That's what we were going to do, and I hard vetoed. I am so excited for this one. We're going to be exhibitors And I was really intentional with what we're gonna do. And instead of it being something that's like a pen with a logo or something that everybody does, Everything we're gonna be giving away is actually handmade. Like, we so we're doing brand, build make your own brand, like, friendship bracelet with your brand on it and then handmade earrings that I'm making, and I'm just so excited about it because it's rare to go to a conference and not be handed something that's just so mass produced.

Joe Rubin [00:19:31]:

Right.

Sara Lohse [00:19:31]:

And it just makes it more personal and meaningful. Yes. making the spear.

Larry Roberts [00:19:37]:

-- making bracelets and earrings. That's just something that I love to do in my spare time.

Joe Rubin [00:19:40]:

So now between now and then, Larry, are you gonna be sitting there with a string

Larry Roberts [00:19:44]:

and Yes, sir. Just --

Sara Lohse [00:19:46]:

With his girl, he hands, and when he's not making Legos, he'll he will be making bracelets.

Larry Roberts [00:19:52]:

But, Joe, going back to what you were saying that everybody's just kinda doing the whole static thing. Can you continue on that train of thought? Cause I interrupted, and I apologize for that because I think you're gonna make a really valid point.

Joe Rubin [00:20:03]:

Yeah. every time I do a booth and it doesn't have to be expensive. I've done plenty of booths on a budget. there's some nice boots out there where you're like like, you know, oh, the Spotify booth, and they have a freaking barista and

Larry Roberts [00:20:15]:

-- Oh, yeah.

Joe Rubin [00:20:15]:

Yeah. -- a tiki bar and you know, it's like, oh, man, that's beautiful. Right? Like, you go to the the the the the megaphone booth. You go to some and they're like amazing. You know? Right? Like, And then you're like, fuck. I can't spend that kind of cash to make a booth. I don't we're I'm not getting the the the reclaimed wood right, to make my bar here. And, like, it's like, so you have to do what you have to do. And I've done plenty of booze where it's like, Lohse, you go to Amazon. You get some shit delivered. Right? You get a get a couch, get a table, get something leather. Right? Like, get something nice. Right? And, like, then when you're at the booth, put it on freaking Craigslist. you know, put it on Facebook marketplace in that local area or something and sell it at the end. You know, I've done I've done this so many times. I would buy, I'd buy a freaking couch, all sorts of things, and then just sell the stuff at the end people back, pick it up on Sunday afternoon between 2:5 o'clock when the breakdown is, you know? people just walk in and and be like, oh, here's your couch. Bring a buddy, you know, like, get it out of here. You know, and then I'd sell it for almost so I pay for it. And the booth cost Lohse nothing. But in the meantime, it looked great. There's definitely things you can do to, make a a a really nice, fancy booth, or something at least creative, something that's off the charts like that people, will remember for for not a lot of money. I did a booth once. Alright. And and it was a huge conference And there was tons of big, the the big booths. Right? Like, all the big names were there. Right? And I'm like, I can't compete with this. I got this little freaking 10 by 10 booth. I'm one of 500 of them, you know, like, how do I how do I get some people to give a shit, right, when they just walk by and they don't wanna make eye contact. Right? They're walking by and you you you you've done it right. You're walking by the booth hall yet.

Larry Roberts [00:22:09]:

You talk to

Joe Rubin [00:22:09]:

a person. -- contact like, hey. Why are you? Can I tell you about my and you're like, oh, fuck. I don't wanna I just wanted to stare at your booth for a minute and and see if you're giving out good swag

Larry Roberts [00:22:19]:

in the meat. Right? A lot

Sara Lohse [00:22:21]:

of times I said I just wanna grab this Sorry. Bye. And then I run-in the other direction.

Joe Rubin [00:22:26]:

Yeah. I just need a pen. Sorry. Can I take a a hat with a yeah. So I'm like, how do I not be that. Our thing was about, like, don't flush your stuff. Right? So I ordered 2 toilet bowls from Amazon and put up a big tile background, like the white tiles with graffiti all over it. And and that was our booth. It was two toils, toilets sitting there. in the middle of the platform with the with the toilet cleaner next to it and the tank and everything. And and the graffiti duct wall behind me. And Then of course, I'm like, let me make this a little little more fun. So I I opened the open the toilet and filled it with ice, stuffed it with beers. And people would come by and be like, they they do a double take and be like, what is going on here? Why am I what is what is happening? Right? So people had to stop and walk in. I'd be like, oh, come over here. I'll explain what we do. Come take a seat on the toilet next to me. You know? And people would sit down on the toilet.

Sara Lohse [00:23:19]:

They're inside setting.

Joe Rubin [00:23:20]:

Yeah. They'd sit down the toilet next to me. Like, this is a little uncomfortable and weird, and and their friends would sit there and take pictures of them.

Larry Roberts [00:23:26]:

Of course. That's cool to meet you right there. Yeah.

Joe Rubin [00:23:28]:

you know, I mean, you know, many people came over. I there must have been a 1000 pictures over those 4 days of people just sitting on the toilets and taking pictures of them. So toilet selfies of of in our booth And I would open the toilet and be like, hey, here you go. Here's a beer. And we would have a beer sitting there talking about business, drinking a beer out of the toilet, And it was, like, the best thing ever. And then, of course, at the end, I'm like, alright. You know, how do I -- Sell

Sara Lohse [00:23:51]:

the toilets?

Joe Rubin [00:23:51]:

Yeah. Somebody's gotta somebody's gotta just so, like, the crew that worked at the hotel was like, was like, what's with the toilets? I'm like, I'm like, you need to remodel your bathroom and, like, take a toilet. You know? And then so they both they'll took the toilets out of there, and they took the toilet brushes and cleaners. I didn't have to pay for to get rid of all the stuff, you know, because there's always like this clean up fee at the hotel and Buffalo. Yep. And if they paid it, they just they took it all away from me, and I just walked out of there and had had a good time. And and it was and it was it cost me nothing. You know? And it was it was just a booth that was, like, well thought out and silly and way off the chart and everybody had to walk up there and everybody took pictures with my big logo in the background, you know, and pictures of us and and and sat down the toilets and and and we just had to find out what we do because there's toilets sitting in the middle of the room. Right? So you can definitely do things on a on a budget if you just think about it and just try to be a little creative

Sara Lohse [00:24:43]:

I'm just thinking of when they got home, like, to their wives, like, hey, honey, what'd you get at the conference? Oh, I got some pens and a notebook and a toilet.

Joe Rubin [00:24:51]:

Yeah. I drank pee out of a toilet.

Larry Roberts [00:24:55]:

That's my husband. Yep. Yep. That's my husband. I'm proud.

Joe Rubin [00:25:03]:

Yep.

Larry Roberts [00:25:03]:

You know, and so I got me going, okay. What are we gonna do? because we, you know, we we got that spark Christian media is coming up here in Houston in in a couple of months at the end of September there. So I'm, well, what can we do? Cause I don't think toilets can go over well, in the Christian community be a little offensive there. So, yeah, probably gotta think of something a little more wholesome. but we'll figure something out. We'll figure something out. So Jon, do you have a book or anything, man? Because you're filled with all these ingenious ideas. And I think people could learn so much from you if you had a book, is there something out there where people can read your and and and get an idea of what's going on in in that big brain of yours?

Joe Rubin [00:25:42]:

I I don't have a book. I would prefer them to listen to your podcast, actually, and just

Larry Roberts [00:25:47]:

take I love it.

Joe Rubin [00:25:48]:

Talk it all in, you know.

Larry Roberts [00:25:49]:

I just tossed you a soft bone. You just hit a home run, man.

Joe Rubin [00:25:52]:

I appreciate it. -- for you. Yeah.

Larry Roberts [00:25:54]:

That was amazing. That was amazing. well, Joe, do us a favor, man. Tell us where people can find you, find out more about mopeye and, how they can reach out and and talk to you, man.

Joe Rubin [00:26:02]:

Yeah. Sure. So, Mo Pod, if you if you have a podcast, you're looking to advertise it and get more people listening to your podcast. You could check us out. atmopod.commod.com. if you like to sing and whether you're pretty good or great or not very good at all and you wanna check out our podcast, it is Friday night karaoke, and you can get that on all of the major podcasts. and if you're interested in actually singing with our group on Friday night karaoke, you go to Facebook and search for the Friday night karaoke Facebook group. it is free to join. We've got probably 16,000 people, as as members in our Friday karaoke group, posting songs all the time. we pick a new theme of the week and sometimes it's country, sometimes it's acoustic week, sometimes I think this week is punk week. So definitely check it out. It's a lot of fun, and you can you don't have to say, and you can just listen and click like and add comments and listen to our podcast. So that's pretty much how to do it. So mopod.com, or check us out at Friday night karaoke, on on anywhere you listen to podcasts.

Sara Lohse [00:27:02]:

Amazing.

Larry Roberts [00:27:03]:

That's why you got amazing?

Sara Lohse [00:27:04]:

This is the bar we're really good at. We're so good at the wrap up. Oh my gosh. No. It is just a plus every time.

Larry Roberts [00:27:11]:

Tell you what, Janet, it was amazing. I'm so glad that we had you on this episode of the podcast, sharing your insight into building a brand, building a community, and just thinking differently about your brand has been super, super insightful, and I'm confident that the audience has found a lot you in it.

Joe Rubin [00:27:28]:

And I hope so.

Larry Roberts [00:27:29]:

Man, I mean, I I know so. I just know so. So everybody that's listening confirmed that for me. If you found some value in this episode, do us all right now. Smash that subscribe button so we can continue to bring you this amazing content each and every week. And with that, I'm Larry Roberts.

Sara Lohse [00:27:46]:

I'm Sarah Lohse, and we'll talk to you next week.