Todd Johnson is the Director of Agency Partnerships at Q1Media, one of the industry’s leading digital media services and advertising technologies for regional and local brands and agencies.
Todd, a native of Connecticut, began his career in the brokerage business. Eventually, his work took him to Silicon Valley, where he founded his own investment trading firm.
During the boom and bust of the internet, his company enjoyed a successful run and raised about 3.5 million dollars. They sold the business and relocated to Florida, where he opted to pursue a data business that eventually led him into marketing and helped him discover his passion for developing business strategies.
Later, he joined a company, served as the CMO for six months, and implemented a sales program that propelled the organization to become one of South Florida’s 500 fastest-growing companies.
Todd has accumulated a wealth of experience over the years. He has helped raise funds for startups, gained branding and marketing insights from Kathy Ireland, and ventured into email and text marketing.
Todd Johnson has established and built great business ties and continues to share his incredible experiences as one of the leaders of Q1Media.
Routine | Paying It Forward
Todd Johnson played hockey when he was young, which helped him develop the discipline that became the foundation of his routines. He understood the value of thinking beyond oneself, which helped him build relationships and serve others without expecting in return. Here are a few of his routines:
- Using smartphones as a mobile workplace
- Three games of hockey every week
- Bicycling on days off
- Working on several opportunities between 8 and 10 p.m.
Success
Happiness, not money, is what Todd views as success. Todd’s mother once told him they would rather spend money on him than on expensive cars. He hasn’t forgotten this ever since. So he became a brilliant marketer who helped businesses rule markets, making his former company in 2013 the fastest-growing marketing company ranking No. 1 & No. 20 in South Florida and No. 89 in the U.S. Today, Todd’s proven track record of success in the industry has been instrumental in the growth of Q1Media.
Book Recommendations:
Twelve and a Half: Leveraging the Emotional Ingredients Necessary for Business Success by Gary Vaynerchuk
Connect With Todd Johnson
Website: https://www.q1media.com/
Website: http://www.toddjohnson.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddeo/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/toddeo1
Transcript
Hannah Mitrea 0:05
Hello, everyone, this is Hannah, your host and you are listening to the success is routine podcast. Our show is on a mission to talk to leaders in life and business that have achieved success and to learn what their routine is, if you are ready to create your routine to success, you’re in the right place. Now let’s get started. So hello, everyone, welcome back to success is routine. I am so excited to have Todd Johnson here with us today. Todd Johnson is a former chief marketing officer and partner for one of the fastest growing marketing companies in South Florida. And he’s currently the director of agency partnerships at q1 media. So welcome to the show, Todd.
Todd Johnson 0:43
Nice to meet you. And hello, everyone.
Hannah Mitrea 0:46
Awesome. And I’m really excited. I know, we talked and kind of like I’m in a marketing background here and a marketing background. So that’s always excited to talk to other people in marketing. But sharing a little bit about your story, your background, how’d you get started, and, you know, take us through it.
Todd Johnson 1:01
Sure. So not to go too far back. But I grew up in Connecticut, out of school, out of college, I got into the brokerage business, stockbrokers business and made my way to actually moving from Connecticut out to Silicon Valley, where I started a investment trading firm, it was called a trade. You know, we’re competing with each trade. And we had a great run there, I was able to see the boom and bust of the Internet. In Silicon Valley, it was a quite a run. It was very, it was great for our company, because we build retail stores. And people would walk in programmers, you know, out of college making 80 100 grand back in 9899. And they didn’t know what to do with it. And so we are our motto was we had advisors that were connected to the $5 trades. So people would have the ability to trade on their own, but they would also get full service advice. So we had a great run, we I actually that was kind of my first jumped into the startup world. So we raised about three and a half million dollars. I think it was about 32 at the time. You know living in California and enjoying the the internet, the incredible minds out there in Silicon Valley, I just learned a lot I met a lot of venture capitalists met a lot of entrepreneurs and really cut my teeth on that type of business and raising capital and so forth, moving forward, you know, cut with all good things come to an end. So the internet, the boom and the bust, the bus was around 2001, we had decided to sell the company because not only were our backers getting beat up in the market, so we’re our clients. So we kind of saw the writing on the wall, and I decided to sell the company and move on. And during that decision. At the time, I had family back here in Florida, that at least vacation down here. And we decided to move to Florida, my family and I after I got here I although I spent a couple years in the investment world, I think it was clear that I wanted to do something else. And so I got into the data business and you know, I’m part of part of the brokerage world is doing a lot of analytics, and, you know, analyzing data was kind of a natural fit for me, as well as when I was back in California doing a trade. We did a we started do a lot of marketing. And I think that’s where I kind of developed a you know, like, I loved marketing. And so I was combined when I got to Florida, I got into a company that had the ability to do both, you know, I’m I’m right brain and left brain. So I love getting the spreadsheets, you know, creating and planning business plans at the same time. I love the creative side of it. So I’m somewhat unique in that regards, but I enjoy both sides of the fence. So after I get to Florida, went cut my teeth again in the marketing world doing data. We were doing a lot of you know, with the credit union data, Gov mortgage companies that would come after us for you know, people that were in the market, there was a whole boom and bust of the mark of the mortgage world. But I also got into direct mail. Moving forward, there was a company that hired me that they made me a partner after six months I was the CMO. I went in there and kind of took my sales background. We kind of gutted the sales team. I kind of put in place our own sales program. And we went from like three and 50 grand to 12 and a half million in three years. We were recognized any 500 fastest growing company in South Florida. That was a great run. We had built a platform or A large insurance company and it went real well for three or four years. And then all of a sudden, the new cmo comes in and decides to pull the plug on the program, and kind of let this high and dry. So I then moved over into, which was I’ve been doing all along, which is raising money for companies. I’ve always been involved with startups for the last 30 years. And so I was kind of a bird dog for companies, companies that were looking to raise capital, I would introduce, introduce them to private equity groups and investment banks. And we raised hundreds of millions of dollars, and making the introductions of those epic companies. Moving forward, after that, I actually got recruited by Kathy Ireland. You know, that was a great opportunity to work with the, you know, the 26th largest licensing company in the world. She’s fantastic. The team’s fantastic, just a great brand, you know, taught me a lot about marketing, branding, bringing products to market, I think she has 60,000 Plus retail doors 17,000 products, on and on, she just has a incredible team that businesses or companies that are looking to get their their products or services out there, she’s definitely a route to take, I still work with her on the sides of a company comes along that it’s a fit for her, we just kind of have a relationship where I introduce them and get a feel for it. So after the after Kathy Ireland, which we kind of we put our focus on certain things, I still went back to the market and started to work with a company called the various they do a lot of email and text marketing, I helped build their text marketing business there. And then through that relationship, my company got that company got acquired, sorted in the my current company, and the to put together decided that, you know, my rolodex and my connections would be better served at q1 Media, which is where I’m at where I am now. And it’s just the I just got back from their kickoff from the for the year out of their Austin location. And they are just, they’re just fantastic, great group 60 plus people, you know, large companies that they work with they they’re focused mainly on media placement, and media buying. And I’ve got several people that I’ll be bringing to the table for them. So that’s kind of the long route, but that’s where I am now.
Hannah Mitrea 7:35
That’s an incredible, incredible history to like, everything you’ve been through the crown, you know, it goes into insurance, going to marketing, and then like all the data side of it. So it’s really neat. And I love that you said you like your left brain and right brain you like the analytical like, I can stay in a spreadsheet all day long. But I also love creating content. So I’m right there with you. Yep. Great. Like Like Minds. Yeah, definitely. So did you kind of grow up with like routine in your life like, or did you like getting into these businesses going to Silicon Valley? Like, how did you know those things to do or like was a routine there at a year?
Todd Johnson 8:14
Like? Sure. Sure, sure. So I think it kind of started as an early age. I’m a hockey player. I’ve been playing for 50 years. I don’t even want to say that. But I’ve been playing literally odd with 50 years, I still play three nights a week. I play with 20 year olds that keeps me young. You know, you come home from school and just sit around and do nothing. It’s always you know, we’re always trying to improve our game, so to speak. So I think that was instilled at a very young age.
Hannah Mitrea 8:41
Yeah, no, that’s awesome. I love that you like it’s a different sport, too, because hockey. I don’t hear as many people playing hockey, especially in Florida.
Todd Johnson 8:49
Yeah. Well, I mean, hockey is a melting pot down here. So I mean, Florida is a melting pot. So you’ve got literally I play with guys from Russia, to Europe to Canada, obviously. And they UPS up in the New England northeast, there’s a ton of people. It’s also very tight knit hockey community. It’s kind of like you’re the Kevin Bacon six degrees of separation. You know, I mentioned someone you’re actually probably two degrees away from someone that either knows them or played against them. So it’s a it’s a great community. In fact, I, I am the president of the South Florida chapter of hockey players of business, which is a networking group that brings together all hockey players that are helping each other you know, learn more about how to do their business as well as network and then give back to the community. So we’re a nonprofit, I don’t make any money off it. But it’s a it’s a thing I do on the side we have like Thanksgiving skates in the morning. Every more every Thanksgiving. We escaped in the morning. We’ll have a Christmas you know we’ll go to top golf will have different type of networking opportunities for guys that are in our community to You know, promote their business.
Hannah Mitrea 10:02
And like pulling some Happy Gilmore going from hockey to
Todd Johnson 10:05
golf. Yeah, a lot of hockey players play golf. Yeah, it’s the, it’s all about the core, you know, we’re all doing this swing back and forth of hockey and golf. And it lends itself. So a lot of guys do both.
Hannah Mitrea 10:19
Awesome. And so you have this routine kind of growing up with hockey. And so you learn that to go into business. So talk to me a little bit about what your teen is now. Like, what is that like day
Todd Johnson 10:28
to day? Sure. So I mentioned I’m involved with a lot of startups, and I raise capital for companies on the side, so to speak. So it doesn’t take a lot of my time, but I will spend, you know, I’ll do the nine to five with my card business. Excuse me, my current company in regards to reaching out and developing agencies that want to place their business and media buying through us. But you know, I’m kind of 24/7 with the the advent of the the internet, the mobile phone, you know, the heads, it’s kind of sad or good, but I looked down the other day, and it showed me the use of my phone for the for the day, and it was over six and a half hours. So it’s kind of like created, you know, a walking office, if you will. So, at any time, you know, day or night, that phone call comes in, and it’s regarding a deal or an opportunity, or whatever it is, I answer the phone and I move on. So regards to the routine, I’ve I played hockey three nights a week, you know, that gets my it’s to me, it’s more it’s, it’s more fun than sitting in the gym, and doing cardio, so that gets my my keys, my health in check. And that during the week, you know, I might hit the bike on off days, in regards to just staying healthy and keeping a mindset of always trying to get better. You know, I’ll weave in there. After my my day job, so to speak. You know, I’m working up till sometimes eight 910 o’clock on different opportunities raising capital for, you know, everything from commercial, real estate to companies that are trying to raise business. I’m currently involved with a a mobile app that is hopefully going to revolutionize monetizing your media. So everyone that takes a photo these days, if you go and throw that on Facebook or Instagram, you’ve lost all the rights to monetize that. So what this product is going to do is once you take that photo it watermarks it copyrights it, it then gives you ownership of that. And so if any of the media players in the world that want to try to use that media, you’re going to be compensated for it. So I think it’s something that’s I’m pretty passionate about, we’ve been working out for about six months, I get to, I mean, I’m the CEO, but there’s a lot more people that are working out than I am. So I’m more of a strategy consultant and connecting the dots part of the deal. So it doesn’t take all my time. But it certainly, I’m pretty passionate about that. I really think it’s a winner after being around Silicon Valley for 32 years and being around startups. It’s it’s the one I’m the most excited about. And the same team that is doing this sorry to keep rattling on the same team that is that’s working on this, the three of us worked on a company called RS sports RSP or tc.com. That’s been like a long, 14 year, we’re no longer running it, but I raised the capital for it to get it going. And there hopefully a year or two away from an exit event, that product which has a lot of similarities in the technology in the background of what we’re doing is is has 3 million members, it’s in over 100 countries. And so that’s kind of probably be our first, you know, nice exit that we’re all happy with. So it’s been a long time coming. But hopefully that snowballs into, you know more things. So got a liar, a lot of fire left in this, this guy.
Hannah Mitrea 13:58
And that’s incredible, like, so talk to me about how do you balance that? Like, what is that the balance? Like? Yeah,
Todd Johnson 14:04
sure. I mean, you know, we try to use the, I mean, the advent of and sad to say COVID has allowed me to work on many projects, because I can do zoom calls all day long. You know, everybody and I mean, I’m sure you do, you’ve got your Calendly you’ve got your zoom, you’ve got your, you know, my Google Calendar, I have like eight or nine different email addresses from using Outlook to Gmail to you name it. But you know, having a calendar set up, you know, being able to switch gears pretty quickly. The way I look at it is I play a consultant role to several different companies. So it’s not, it’s not much different than one person having one company with several clients. I tend to look at all of my different projects as clients of mine, so it’s, it’s pretty easy to switch gears and get on a call and talk about, you know, raising a million for one company and then turning around and doing a million dollar marketing program for another company. So it’s, it’s, they’re all kind of go hand in hand. And it’s, I guess it’s just a lot of time management, setting a time hours in the day specifically for certain things. But you can’t always do that. Because you know, if the, if the investment call is at four o’clock on Friday, or whatever, and you’ve got to be there, you make it happen. And so you move things around, and you prioritize things. And I think that’s the way I know that that’s the way I do it.
Hannah Mitrea 15:35
I believe in, you know, it’s talking about all these different, like companies that are helping with and starting with, like, there’s definitely a ton of relationships going on in it. And like building those relationships. So what are some tips that you have on how do you make those connections and build those relationships?
Todd Johnson 15:50
Sure, I think about 10 years or so into my career, I kind of made a switch or had the aha moment of paying it forward. And, you know, not always doing something just to get something and I started to help people, just like in my, my networking group that I have, right now, I don’t make a cent off it, I get some business may be referred to me, but I’m helping 6070 guys that, you know, may not be part of a network that may not have the exposure out there. And I just enjoy the success of others. And so, you know, I just think that, to me, the secrets of successes, you know, as far as making connections is, you know, not always thinking about what’s in it for me, and thinking about how you can help others. And what I’ve found over the last 20 years is it comes back 20 fold, you know, it’s like, it’s like people I you know, didn’t think that I you know, maybe contributed to give me a call. And I like you know what I listened to what you said, and I applied it now, like, I just want to thank you. So I get a lot of that. And you know, it’s just it’s a great feeling. You know, and so what else to say about that, I think that’s about it. I think that’s like, I’m sorry, I’ll go back into the networking, I lost my train of thought, regards to the networking, I became a LinkedIn kind of Guru. So I’m my LinkedIn advisor that may be elected advisor. So every time they go to launch a campaign, they send out a, you know, those these headlines match with what you think would work and blah, blah, blah. So I contribute to that way, I think I have like 17 or 18,000 followers, I really before it kind of became a, you know, I’ve got now my inbox is just loaded up, everybody learned the secret, I had the secret like five years ago. And so that was a huge way of connecting with people and using LinkedIn. So it’s still a viable tool, if you’re doing business to business, if you’re trying to get into and create relationships. But it’s also another way to kind of network I would say is, you know, start with your circle, you know, ask questions, ask them who they know, ask them. You know, I’m starting XYZ business. And I really need a marketing person who do you know, I’m actively involved in my school, getting back to that. So I’m like a networking person, if someone has, that you call them a center of influence. If I have a center of influence person, I tap them all the time about what I need. And so and again, it comes back. So I’ll give you an example. Like first I’ll tell my, my national champion Quinnipiac University bobcats, and they just won the national championship. But I’ve been active in the school, I think I have some scoring records there that are still standing. But ever since then, we started a mentoring program. So we would guys that were on the team that were in certain industries, and certain whatever they call them, whatever, they’re taking their leg and bark marketing business, we would line up guys that have already graduated with those guys to kind of give them you know, some mentorship over the years. And so by the time they went and graduated, they’ve got three or four years of talking someone that has real role experience, they have a network of people to talk to. So we started that at Quinnipiac, we also created an endowment fund and our coach passed away. And he, you know, meant a lot to us. And so we started Endowment Fund, a bunch of the alumni put money into that to help, you know, the current team. So, you know, I think a lot of people make the mistake of, you know, I want to make money now, and it’s all about me, and they don’t, they really missed the point of, you know, it takes a takes a community and, again, getting back to pay it forward, you know, you know, just help people out. And believe me, it comes back to you.
Hannah Mitrea 19:41
Yeah, and, like, I love those kinds of stories, because one of the books that I really love when I talk to people about time are the seven spiritual laws of success and one of the things in there, the more you give, the more will get, but it’s not giving it with the expectation of getting anything back or really it’s just going out there and how can I help people Allow me to better lives. And that’s exactly what you’re doing. And you can definitely see it’s come back to you. And I’m gonna jump ahead, really and we will come back. Okay, you mentioned that you do have a book that’s in the works. And I want to talk about it, because looking at the title, definitely, you know, falls into routine a little bit. So if you want to share a little bit about what, what it’s about and kind of flip out look like.
Todd Johnson 20:26
Sure. So, you know, I’ve always I’ve had a pretty amazing life and regards to family friends are always first on top of my list and business, you know, it’s kind of run its course, you know, I haven’t hit the homerun, so to speak, I’ve had a lot of singles and doubles. But along the way, you know, I think it was with the marketing company that I kind of came up with this title, and really, really compass, what I do on a daily basis, and what my motto is, and it’s called, analyze, strategize, execute, repeat. And it really can be applied to really anything, first and foremost. And you could put an L in there and call it listen. So it’s laser, but I just dropped it off, make it simple. But it could be listened to analyze, strategize, execute, repeat, I think you going into any situation where it’s whether it’s business, whether it’s a relationship, whether it’s, you know, hobbies, whatever you’re looking, you’re looking to travel, I mean, you pretty much analyze as much as you can about what you’re trying to achieve in which what’s going to go into it. You know, what, what do I have to work with? What is my goals? The same thing with marketing, if I’m working with a client, I want to analyze, what are your goals? What are your KPIs? What are you trying to achieve? Once we put that together, and we kind of gather that information, we then move to strategize and then strategize, you know, I want to know, what are all the ways that we can get this message out there, if it’s for marketing, you know, what’s worked in the past, what doesn’t work, when you get into, you know, your A B, split tests, your, you always have a champion piece, you always have a challenger, you’re constantly, you know, strategizing on what to do, you then go to execute, you know, it’s all about execution, you got to take what you’ve learned, what you strategize to do, and then you go and execute it execute on that. After that goes through the, whether it’s the the company, the marketing program, whatever it might be, you then go back and you repeat the process, we analyze what just happened, we strategize again, what changes we’re going to make, and then you execute, and it’s just a constant circle. So it’s, it’s kind of an easy and simplified way of, you know, putting, there’s a lot more components, obviously, that go into each one of those. But it pretty much sums up you know, how I do business, marketing and relationships and everything, you know, the relationship side is, you know, analyze who you’re going after, or strategize how you’re going to beat her. Right. So
Hannah Mitrea 22:49
I know it’s a, it’s a really good routine for like anything, though, because as execute, repeating, if I want to bring it into the routine bar here, sure. Got it. Like, that’s exactly what you’re doing in each of these pieces. As you’re going from different businesses and developing new businesses. You’re, you’re going through that same routine, analyze, strategize, execute, and repeat. And I think it’s really amazing how you created that, because it is simplified. However, there’s tons of things that go into it. But it makes you know, where to stay on track constantly. Like, where? Where do I need to go? And you kind of have that direction? So I really love that. Great. Well, let’s jump into success as about how you know that routine has created success in your life? Sure.
Todd Johnson 23:36
So I would say that the two or three kind of successful businesses on a bigger scale that I’ve been with, you know, it’s it’s I learned at an early age about how to build a business plan. And that’s what starts in going into, really all of the other companies that followed was you kind of start out with your mission statement, you know, your 32nd pitch you’re going into, what is the problem you’re trying to solve? What is the solution? What does the market look like? What are your financial projections, how to get there, how much money you’re going to need? All of that goes into building a business plan. And I think that each one of those companies that I was, you know, I would say somewhat successful at others would say successful, but to me, I’m always hard on myself, and I always want to achieve more so but I learned on each one and I think this one that’s coming up, I think we’re going to be wildly successful just because I believe in all the components, I think it has everything that we have a need to do. So. You know, the it’s, it’s a there’s a little bit of hard work and luck. You know, I see a lot of people that work really hard. And I see people that are real lucky. And and it’s not always, you know, sometimes it’s not the smartest people in the room that are the most successful. And I’ve seen a lot of successful people fail just because they can’t get out of their own way. They’re a day of analysis paralysis, so Um, I’ve always been a risk taker. You know, I didn’t mention it before, but I’m the product of two amazing parents that had their own business. You know, my, my father worked up until almost the day he died at 85. My mother worked until she’s about 90 Something just because they they owned a manufacturing business in Connecticut, and it was a passion for those, I got to see the two of them work together for, you know, 4050 years. And they instilled in me at a very early age of, you know, what family was all about what work ethic was all about? And I owe a lot to them. So I mean, to come full circle, but I wanted back then. But
Hannah Mitrea 25:43
yeah. So what does success mean to you?
Todd Johnson 25:48
Success is happiness. You know, if you wake up in the morning, or by wake up in the morning, and I’m happy to be that successful. You know, I, everybody likes nice things. I don’t put a lot of, I don’t put a lot into money. My parents once said to me, I said to my mom, when I was younger, I said, you know, so and so has a Mercedes, why don’t we have a Mercedes? And she said, Todd, I could buy 10 Mercedes, but I’d rather spend it on you. Alright. Cool. So that’s stuck me a long time. And it’s not about the money. It’s about being happy. So, gosh, you got me motion?
Hannah Mitrea 26:26
Nuts. I think it really is success. It’s about happiness. And, you know, money will come when you need it. And please make more of it. But you can’t, can’t go back and change those moments that was, you know, worried. So yeah, exactly. All right. Well, I have two questions for you before I let you go. I’m not sure. Number one is, if somebody is listening to this, and they have no routine in their life, what is that first step they need to take to kind of start implementing, you know, the routine of analyze, strategize, execute, and repeat.
Todd Johnson 27:02
Sure. So, um, you know, I have a lot of experience in this. And at one time, I’ll give you a quick story. My sister’s husband at the time, he’s since passed, but he was a musician. And he was also a cook at night. So but his, he always wanted to do something, you know, in the music world to make money and, and, you know, doing gigs don’t always pay the bills. And so, he came up with the, you know, he wanted to teach music, and open up kind of a music shop. And so, you know, he had saw that what I had done in the past of creating businesses, and he asked me for my health. And I said, it all starts with writing it down. If you don’t write it down, it’s always an idea, you know, ideas are worth, you know, they’re worth nothing really their air. I mean, until you start to put pen to paper, and come up with a plan and coming up with, you know, I told them, I said, you know, go find a location, you want to do a music store, go start with searching location, where’s a good location to put it. And amazingly enough, and this is, I’m not, hopefully I’ll get a mortgage on this one. But um, he was a tremendous success. He actually opened it up in New York show Rosemary Hall, it’s a prep school in Connecticut. And, you know, kind of overnight, all of a sudden, had, you know, was teaching all of these kids in school, sadly to say he got a gig to go play in Europe. And he actually got staph infection in the hospital and passed away. But I’ve been to, unfortunately, a number of a number of funerals. And this was the most amazing one ever been to because there was 400 People lined out the door. 30 kids, I think had come up and composed, wrote songs, and played music, Bram. Sorry, that was more amazing than any money that he could ever say that he could ever make. And the impact that he had on those kids was amazing. So oh, man, now you got to be twice. But that really, really touched me back then. And I’d like to think that I had a little part in that. So it’s very rewarding.
Hannah Mitrea 29:23
Now, well, I definitely had a part telling him to write it down. He handled all the impact that he left. And there was one book I was reading or somebody that I was talking to Michael Walters, another person from Inc 5000 that we had on the podcast. And he talked about how, you know, what is the impact you’re gonna leave on the world? And like, that is what you should be kind of looking at, like, whatever you’re looking at, like success and like, what do you want to do in life? Like, things that connect and so I love that he did that and you helped him get there. So incredible. Thank you for sharing those stories. Definitely, you know, I
Todd Johnson 30:00
I would add one more thing, as you just mentioned it about leaving your legacy. People should think of their, their persona, their image as their brand. And so everything is, you know, social media. You’re, we all have to have, we don’t all have to but we’re all have an image out there. And what do you want to be known as? Do you want to be known as the, you know, the sneaky, shifty squirrely person? Or do you want to be on the up and up, everybody trusts everybody likes, they know what they’re getting you, you know, going back to your word is your bond. All of those things play a role in doing business relationships, you know, people that want to be around you want to be people that they can trust, and they, you know, they they make themselves as well as others around them better.
Hannah Mitrea 30:53
Yeah, definitely. I just finished the book, Simon Sinek start was why. And that’s made a huge impact over this last month now of how we’re even looking at like, our marketing our business and you know, the message we get out there because you know, why? Why do we do SEO? Why do we do social media? And, you know, reframing our language to really match our why and I think comes down to your legacy, like, what are you doing? And are they in alignment? You’re not just doing it to do it? You’re doing it with purpose? For sure. Alright, so and that leads me right into my last question, which is, you know, if you were to recommend a book, or you know, maybe somebody to listen to what is that book? Or who was that person that you would really say, you know, this person’s message really aligns with what I share? And you know, what?
Todd Johnson 31:41
Sure. Sure, um, quick story. They all right. Back in 2013, when we got the award for Inc, 500, I went up to, it was it was in DC. And so you got all of these entrepreneurs all getting awards. I think we there were the 89 out of 5000 of that private companies in the country, you know, with this tremendous growth. And so, I went up there except the except the ward in one of the breakout sessions, I sit down to the table, I started talking to this guy. And I’m like, Yeah, this is a smart guy. It’s pretty cool. And I see all everyone else started to come around my, my table to like, eight person table, and they’re all like, looking at him, and I didn’t know who he was. And all of a sudden, five minutes later, after lunch, he gets up and starts doing the keynote. And it was Gary Vaynerchuk Amanda Vaynerchuk. And so that’s when I first met Gary, he’s had a huge impact on on me in regards to marketing. Although I’m with a competitor right now, you know, not so much we do more media buying, he does creative and he does other things. But you know, a shout out to him, he is just amazing. When it comes to social digital. You know, I point everyone in that direction, if you want to get bits and pieces and, and techniques and where you should be going now. He is definitely the guy who learned a tremendous amount from him, I think is one of his books, someone gave me these things called 12 and a half. And that was a great book. I also read his Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook. So there’s a number of ones that i i usually following him more on the internet, but I read two or three of his books and, and they’re fantastic. He’s a raw, no holds barred in your face. You know, this is what is reality. And if you’re not doing it, you missing the bow. And he just, he just comes across as just an expert. He you know, he had tremendous success and what he’s done in his businesses, and it’s someone I follow regularly.
Hannah Mitrea 33:44
I follow him too. So it was really cool that you got to talk to him. Yeah,
Todd Johnson 33:48
great guy. Great guy.
Hannah Mitrea 33:50
Yeah, that Billy I think, you know, I know you mentioned like, he’s kind of a competitor right now for you. One thing I always look at is there are so many people in this world that you know, even though technically, you’re competitive for me in some way, because we’re both in marketing, I feel like our voices are going to touch somebody differently. So I think it’s great that you’re sharing somebody that could potentially be your competitor, even in a more direct way. Because there are people are gonna want to work with you, Todd versus people that want to work with Gary versus people that want to work with me. And so I think the more that we just share each other’s message and those pieces that really impact us, the better we’re all going to be so thinking sherif.
Todd Johnson 34:27
Thank you. I’m gonna give two more shout outs. Yeah. to to to my my beautiful daughters. They’re both getting married in the next year. One in the castle in Ireland, which we’re looking we’re excited about and one on a farm in North Carolina. You know, I don’t take all the credit there was two of us but they’ve come out turned out to be just great kids love the love the son in law future son in laws and the I just can’t be happier in regards to how my daughter’s turned out. One more shout out is to me I got the worst, but I have a new girlfriend and her and her daughter are the world’s
Hannah Mitrea 35:05
awesome why? wedding season.
Todd Johnson 35:09
I gotta go make some dollars today preserver,
Hannah Mitrea 35:11
Ellie. Oh, thank you for sharing your stories with us, Todd and your success and your routine. I love having you on the show. So thank you.
Todd Johnson 35:20
Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
Hannah Mitrea 35:23
You do. Thank you for listening to success is routine podcast. If you found value in this episode, share it with a friend episodes go live weekly on Sunday at 8am. During your week with the right routine, like follow and review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Amazon music or wherever you’re listening, join the success of the team movement and get exclusive downloads and content from the guests go to www dot success is your team.com and follow the conversation there or on social media. Until next time, remember,
Todd Johnson 35:54
and I think at a very early age, having that coach discipline having to show up on time how to how to do wind sprints back and forth on the ice. It really instilled not only myself but a lot of athletes like myself that figure or learn that at an early age of building that routine. So you’ve got to work out you got to try harder. You got to put things in place that are routine, what you eat, all of those things go into making better athlete and I think that a lot of athletes become great business people and hard workers because they kind of learn that discipline at an early age. The secrets of success as far as making connections is not always thinking about what’s in it for me and thinking about how you can help others what I do on a daily basis and what my mantra is, and it’s called analyze, strategize, execute, repeat, and it really can be applied to really anything.
