More Than a Title: Entrepreneurship, Podcasting, and Betting Big

In this episode of the Beyond Normal Podcast, we sit down with Jarrett Thomas, Chief Revenue Officer of OTB Digital and creator of the More Than A Title podcast. With nearly a decade in digital marketing and a powerful personal brand built on authenticity, Jarrett walks us through how he’s transforming the way sales and storytelling intersect in the creator economy.

Tune in as we talk about growing your influence without cold calls, the power of consistency on platforms like LinkedIn, and why digital storytelling matters more than ever for today’s founders. Whether you’re in marketing, sales, or just starting your brand journey, Jarrett’s story is a masterclass in showing up and building real impact.

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Transcript

Jarrett: 0:33

Welcome. Welcome everybody to another great episode of The Beyond Normal Podcast. We have a very special guest, uh, somebody who, uh, I feel like they started their, their podcast journey, their founder journey around the same time as me, uh, during the pandemic around, around that time. Um, and so it's been incredible, uh, to see the growth. Of, uh, Jarrett Thompson, who is our guest today, he is the Chief Revenue Officer for OTB Digital. Um, he has an incredible background working with some incredible agencies in the New York area, and he decided to take a gamble on himself in addition to that.

Kenny: 1:13

he is a podcast host, uh, doing some incredible things, uh, with his co-host and partner, uh, Chad. Um, and so I'm excited to have you here today,

Jarrett: 1:24

My boy. How's it going, bro? It's an honor man. First of all, man, I just wanna say thank you for, for having me on the show, man. I love seeing what you're doing, bro. I love the fact that you better on yourself. We definitely start at the same time, man. I'm just glad to see the growth, man. I'm glad that we could collaborate and this is what it's supposed to look like. You know what I mean? Yeah, for sure, for sure. So

Kenny: 1:40

So I wanna, I wanna spend less time,

Jarrett: 1:43

uh,

Kenny: 1:44

talking about what I do and a lot of this time here today talking about your journey into the space. So tell us a little bit, set the stage. Before you started

Jarrett: 1:54

OCB

Kenny: 1:55

and the podcast, like what were you doing with your life? What,

Jarrett: 1:58

what, was taking up your time? So I I, I'll give you the quick five minutes of just the career overview, right. I started getting the industry, bro, when I was 20 years old, right? So I was working at Le Pen end, I was working at BB q, smell like ribs. I know people from the who hear the podcasts hit me, tell the story all the time. But I end up linking up with a company called Intent. So I basically went for a hospital call center job, and they told me, a recruiter heard me speak and he was like, yo, I love the way you speak. I love the way you, you move. Would you ever thought about sales or considered it? like, nah, I'm sitting there for like a hospital call center job. I'm just ready to get to the back. Anything's better than working in BBQ's at that point, right? I got my son on the way. He made me sell him a pencil, straight outta Wolf of Wall Street. Happened to see the movie, so I knew the answer. And the next thing you know, I'm going downtown. He's telling me to come to his office. I do a video profile. They sent it to the client, which was intent, and then I ended up getting a job. But when I tell you it was straight boiler room, it was the most boiler room job you could ever have. If you didn't get your deals by, by Friday, you would go on Monday. Straight up and down. So it was like one of those environments, and they go around the room, they, everybody say, Hey, you know, I'm from Buffalo State, I'm from here, I'm from here. I was the last person to go. And I'm like, yo, I'm Jarrett Thomas from the Bronx. Graduated from Evander Childs High School and I'm gonna be the top seller here. I don't know what made me say that, but just something made me say there's no shot. It's either this. Or I'm going back to what I was doing and I can't go back to what I was doing, so I wasn't gonna let anything deter me, bro. So I end up becoming a top seller within five months. I did$250,000 a quarter for them for eight straight quarters. Then I end up leaving and I was actually one of K's first employees. So I thought it was the film festival. And I was actually working for the International Festival of Creativity. I was selling their archive library to some of the biggest agencies in the world. So I did that for about a year, became a VP of an agency, brought a couple of products to market, including talk walkers, influencer one. And things got really exciting for me, bro, when I was at IPO rank. So shout to Mike King and entire IPR team. But, um, I met some relationship. Shout out to Chris Hart. He called me, said, yo, I at this place, no great founder. I think you could strive here, and all that other stuff. We met, met with Mike King. He was just like us, bro. He was just like us black man that's running a multimillion dollar agency, you know, and had the vision and so I came there, was hungry. I had a conversation with him. I'm like, yo, how are you? How are you generating revenue? He was like, I'm doing webinars, I'm doing podcasts. I'm doing, you know, I'm doing my own short stories. I'm doing this, I'm doing that. Then that's when the light bulb went off, bro. Boom. I was like, okay, cool. So it's not these thousand emails that you want me to send out. It's not this traditional sales process that you want me to follow. It's the outside the box thinking that end up getting you a 6 million, a six figure agency to hire me for the price that I need. So if you can do that, I'm gonna do that. So I don't know nothing about LinkedIn. You're on Twitter, you're not on LinkedIn like that. I'm gonna go over here. I had 200 followers, bro. And imagine going into your sales team, your sales director, and they're like, yo, send out a bunch of emails, get these meetings. And I'm like, nah, gimme three months. I'm gonna build on LinkedIn and I'm gonna have them come to us.

Kenny: 4:52

Mm

Jarrett: 4:52

Craziest thing, I bet on myself right there, I could have lost my job. First of all, my sales director could have said, shut up. Like, I don't, what are you talking about? You know what I mean? Because my job is on this too. So go ahead and go get them deals like you getting paid to do. And he believed in me, bro. And so every day I would go on LinkedIn with my partner Lee Go. And we just started creating content, creating content every day, learning the algorithm. But one thing that I understood and found out early in the process, this wasn't too many people that looked like us, bro. There wasn't too many people that talked like us, looked like us, um, had the experience I knew I had. And so I said, yo, I'm just gonna add some, some different sauce to it. And I stopped talking about the product. I started telling my story and that's when things took off, bro. We ended up doing a$450,000 deal within four months. It's closed a 450 K deal, bro, and four months due to LinkedIn and then kept us afloat during the pandemic and then we closed a bunch of deals after that. We worked with Complex Target, a bunch of brands from there. And, um, two years in, bro, we did$2.5 million without a Cold Cola email. Mm. Crazy bro. And I grew my profile from 200 followers to 20,000. And then from there it was lit, man. And then I just felt like I was doing a lot for the brand. I felt like I wasn't, you know, you're doing a lot, man. I was sitting there stressed out. I'm sitting there burning out. I'm doing a podcast, I'm doing sales. I got my kids. It's a lot of things going on. I'm putting in 13 hour days, and I felt like I should have been appreciated more and I wasn't, you know what I'm saying? But you know, a lot of things I could have done differently in that aspect as well. And then I just ended up quitting on a limb boop, just quit. Put out a post bro with my face on Steph Curry's body. And said, Jarrett's a free agent breaking news. I'm like, he scores this many points and he's looking for a championship roster. Sources tell me he's looking for a championship team and he's ready to go. Crazy, bro, it went viral. 200,000 views. I had hit up from LinkedIn, Microsoft, from Amazon to Google, all these companies, bro, the only problem was it was a lot of red tape in these organizations and they wouldn't let me to do the podcast. So what I didn't add was the podcast was the reason why we were getting a bunch of these deals. So I created a podcast and I would get our ICP on people that I knew that could do deals with us and just be a person. I wasn't selling, I wasn't talking about product. It's like, yo, bro, how you, how's your family? How you living? Like how you doing the business, how you coping with all this stuff? And we just had real conversations and we built a lot of relationships. And through those relationships, people saw it or they would directly give us a deal. So once I did that thing on, on, on LinkedIn, bro, with the Steph Curry face, landed at Hootsuite.'cause they told me, yo be you. Be you come through, bring the podcast, bring all your juice, we'll bring all the sauce and we going, we gonna champion you. And they did exactly that, bro. Started more than a title. The first week I, I landed at Hootsuite first guest, foodie led go CM of gong. And then I end up interviewing the CMO of Hootsuite, Maggie Lower, then I end up interviewing the CEO of Hootsuite. Then mad stuff transpired from there. Then they had a big layoff. I got fired and I did 1.5 million for them in six months. And I'm like, how the hell I do all this stuff? And I'm doing the podcasts. I'm doing more than a traditional salesperson, and you don't find the budget for me. Mm. It was a rap I I just got tight at that point. I'm like, yeah, I played the game to perfection at that point, and I get the one laid off, but, but John Smith keeps his job. John Smith ain't doing what Jarrett's doing. And, and you know, with all due respect, so bro, I got tired of corporate and I said, I called up Zo. He was in the same situation I was in. He was tired of construction work and all that stuff. And I said, yo. We gonna start a business, we gonna move this podcast and we gonna create a a six, seven figure million, a 6, 6, 6 or seven figure um, com company by ourselves doing what we love to do. And within the first week of us opening the business, bro, the LLC, we ended up getting our first client for doing LinkedIn workshops and then we landed a Fortune 2000 brand after that and it's been up since then, bro.

Kenny: 8:35

I love that, man. That's a great story,

Jarrett: 8:37

bro. Yes sir. Man, it's been a journey, bro. It be like, ah,

Kenny: 8:41

So I'm, I'm curious.

Jarrett: 8:44

like

Kenny: 8:45

said a lot in there, one of the gyms was around like LinkedIn. You go into

Jarrett: 8:51

that

Kenny: 8:52

LinkedIn as a platform where you like, like you said, there were not a lot of people

Jarrett: 8:56

like Like

Kenny: 8:58

did you, like how did you remain or how did you start off saying, I'm gonna create authentic content, because that's not

Jarrett: 9:09

typically

Kenny: 9:09

people do

Jarrett: 9:10

on LinkedIn. Yeah. They, they

Kenny: 9:13

See what others are doing. Right,

Jarrett: 9:15

Yeah. and then they replicate. it, I just, I just saw it, So I, I, the thing that separated, or the thing, what happened in my mind was, bro, that LinkedIn is no different from Instagram or Facebook. But why am I putting a majority of my time in the Instagram and Facebook and it has no opportunity to drive me revenue if this is where the decision makers are at. My whole thought process was, I had a line, I used to say, teach them how to fish and they'll learn, you sell fishing poles. So if I'm trying to sell fishing poles, I gotta be the thought leader in the space, the person that they trust. So when they actually in the market for it, they're gonna come to me and me only. So that was my whole process. So if I'm in a SEO agency, I'm talking SEO, but before I even become a thought leader, I need you to like me as the person, I can have all the right material in the world. I could have gems, but you could just think, I'm boring, I'm corny, I'm this, and it can, it cannot land. So my thing was how do I balance that bro? And I knew there was nobody on LinkedIn that had a hat and a hoodie. There was nobody on their couch. There was nobody doing and saying the things I was doing, posting what I was posting. And I was like, I just gotta be me. And so when I told that story that I just shared with you about me getting that job and do selling the pencil straight outta Wolf of Wall Street, that was my first viral post. I got a hundred thousand views on that post. People from Germany, France, Chicago, LA Australia. People was like, yo, this is my story man. This is so inspiring. Yo, I did something just like that. Yo, it's so crazy, man. And, and I felt like I was speaking for the people like me who didn't have the voice. So it became a bigger mission for me, bro, how do I talk for people like you and I who are really doing the things and putting in the work, but necessarily don't get the recognition? And how do we monetize Yeah,

Kenny: 10:53

thinking outside the box, like you said.

Jarrett: 10:55

like

Kenny: 10:56

wanna touch on because I, I, in the space you're in, it seems like businesses. Corporations, companies come to you and they want that outside of the box thinking, right? Like, is that a part of like your sales pitch, like when you get into your sales pitch

Jarrett: 11:15

with folks? Absolutely. Because if you want some cookie cutter solution, you could go to any agency in the world, especially now with ai, bro. You see the agency space is shifting. There's. Mergings of, of holding companies. There's different, uh, smaller agencies that are going out of business. AI is changing a lot of things, bro. So right now, the one thing that we have to hold onto is what our creativity. That's something that they can't do. can give you some decent ideas, but they still can't give you that effect because we're part of the culture. We know what's going on, we know the posts of what's happening outside. So at the end of the day, that's the pitch all the time. And that's what we did when we landed one of our Fortune 2000 brands. One of the first brands we thought of, uh, they had a drink trying to sell a hard seltzer, and we were coming out with, you know, like they had a, a drink called Tall Tales. I mean like a, a tall boys, you know what I'm saying? It was a tall can, like 24 ounce, a drink, whatever, whatever. And we came up with an idea for tall tales, like imagine crazy things that you do that you wouldn't believe, but you're drinking this drink, right? So we came up with some fire stuff and all that. They came out with it and everything was lit, bro. So it's just how do we. I don't wanna do the same thing as everybody else wants. That's the part of the LinkedIn strategy. Everybody goes, right, I want to go left. And that's the way you stand out in the market. Same thing with the podcasting space or any business. How do you differentiate yourself in a crowded market?

Kenny: 12:32

I

Jarrett: 12:32

like

Kenny: 12:32

that. like that.

Jarrett: 12:32

Yes, sir.

Kenny: 12:33

And I

Jarrett: 12:34

I think

Kenny: 12:35

like, talk about a little about being in like the space that you're is really interesting to me. Um, B2B,

Jarrett: 12:50

uh,

Kenny: 12:50

it's not always like the sexy path, right? Like everybody wants to go from like direct to consumer product,

Jarrett: 12:57

you see?

Kenny: 12:59

Um, talk a little bit about how much of a grind it can be closing one of these deals, though, obviously, like you said, when you start your

Jarrett: 13:08

business,

Kenny: 13:09

you had some success with some Fortune 2000 companies, right? But like, what did it, like how long, when did you start building that relationship to the time it took you to close? Like talk a little bit about what that sales you,

Jarrett: 13:25

yeah, so, so you know what I, I don't necessarily call it a sales size process, right? For me, most of my deals, 90% of our deals in our, in our monetary value. And, and what we, how we monetize is through relationships. But you gotta look at it like a seed bro. Every seed is gonna sprout differently. Some may take one year, some may take two years, some may take three years, four years, five years. It took me 30 ask to get Dr. Matthew Knowles on the show 30. Ask how many people are gonna ask somebody the same thing 30 times and get rejected 29 times and say this is the one moment where he's going to do it. So, so that's what it is for me. It's not the business aspect, it's the relationship value. Right? So if I'm really trying to build a relationship with somebody, especially of that stature. You've gotta show and prove. You gotta constantly bring value. So sometimes, especially like when I was at the agency, I wouldn't sell unless I made 10 touches with you. 10 touches I have to, like one of your posts, I have to comment, you have to comment on something of mines. We have to DM each other for a couple exchanges and then when we feel comfortable is then when I'm making the ass, yo, hey let's get on the phone'cause I think I got something that's of value for you What that does is it kills the sales process in general.'cause guess what? I don't have to do four discovery calls. You already trust me. You already trust me. So now it's either can we do it or can we not do it? And it's always better when they come inbound because you hold the leverage when somebody comes to do inbound and say, well they want to do business with you. That was my entire goal because do I get people to come to me?'cause that's gonna improve my sales process by 50%.'cause you've already decided you wanna do business, you went to the website, you did some research, you did all that, and you still were compelled enough to reach out to me. So at that point the deal is closed. All I gotta do is smile and solve. You know what I'm saying? Like at that point. So that was my whole process of philosophy. So for B2B, everything is just relationships for me, bro. You're not, especially what's going on right now with the administration and all that, you know how hard it is for, for an agency just in general, let alone a black agency. It's crazy out here. It's hard to get sponsorships for your shows. It's hard to get this, it's hard to get that. You have to build your own foundation. And at the end of the day, bro, it's all relationships. The fact that you can be able to call somebody and say, what's up? Like I could call the CEO versus, right? That's my brother and I just met him a month ago. Some people I might not get that same relationship. It might take me three years, but it is what it is, bro. As long as you have the relationship and long as you can provide value and connect the dots, it's gonna be way more valuable than anything you ever do. The,

Kenny: 15:55

the way that you

Jarrett: 15:56

beat.

Kenny: 15:58

do you have, a, do you have a mentality that you can sell or deliver any solution? I.

Jarrett: 16:06

I'm curious. Have to believe it. Yeah. I have to have to believe it. I feel like, but that's, that's the, that's the ego in us, bro. Like, you know what I'm saying? That's the ego and that's the YI can sell anybody. That's how I was able to, what I tell you in the beginning, I went in the riddle of a room with a bunch of people I don't know, and said, I'm gonna be the top seller here. And I come from Evander Chow's High School in the Bronx, one of the baddest schools in the Bronx. It is a level of confidence that you have to have to say, nothing's gonna stop me. I'm a big believer in affirmations and all that. I gotta say it. gonna do it.'cause I'm gonna hold myself accountable. And if I don't do it, it's on me. You know what I'm saying? So now I gotta push. Now I gotta stay up. Now I gotta send an extra email when everybody's leaving to rush to the train at five o'clock. I'm staying at five 15 to make one more call. Just one more call. You

Kenny: 16:52

I mean, that is really the founder.

Jarrett: 16:55

Right.

Kenny: 16:55

you know, we obviously, uh, there's a big focus on like the, the startup space now, like people starting their own businesses. Um, I look at what you and chat are building as a startup, I'll be honest. Um, even though, you know, folks label things

Jarrett: 17:08

differently,

Kenny: 17:09

um, and that is really like the ethos of what it takes, right? Like you're going extra mile and others are just, they're just doing the job. They're putting in their time. But you as the founder, the business owner, you can't do

Jarrett: 17:21

that. you do not have that luxury. I can't tell you how many times we've sacrificed it. We, we have a saying Fee free to fee free to fee, and we learned that from Mario Armstrong. He told us some real stuff. Ian was like, yo, that's where we are right now. We did a lot of things for free that led to major opportunities that came with a fee and that we had to just bet on, bro. It was times where times was tough as hell. We didn't know we had to rub two nickels together. We had to figure this. We had to rob Peter to pay Paul and not pay this bill over here to make sure we get to this trip over here and do a lot. It's real, but it's, are you gonna sacrifice? How bad do you want it, bro, we had, we had to do the Rohan Marley interview. It cost us$4,000 to get the team down to Miami, and it was right before Christmas. We almost celebrated Wan's uptown.

Kenny: 18:09

Ooh.

Jarrett: 18:09

We almost did Wan's uptown. It's how bad do you win it? It is. How bad do you want it? Yo, yo, we gotta scrape it up. We gotta do this. Yo, I, I know little man want the switch today, but No. Ah, no. We gotta do what we gotta do. We gotta get down there. I appreciate

Kenny: 18:25

you having that transparency. Um, I recently, uh, we had our first live with a

Jarrett: 18:31

guests and the audience. Uh, with Donovan Everett,

Kenny: 18:34

a local, uh, contractor here in the Charlotte area, North Carolina area.

Jarrett: 18:37

area.

Kenny: 18:38

they're the general contractor for the Hornet Stadium And so they're doing big things, um, as a black man creating a business and the cost of me having that live event Jared, I was

Jarrett: 18:50

like, is

Kenny: 18:53

different, but the quality how it turned out I was like, oh, I gotta, I gotta do more of this. So like to your point, when you search for those opportunities, you start to figure out a way. and Maybe you don't buy that new switch too

Jarrett: 19:07

for a couple months. That's it. That's just betting on yourself, bro. You have to, as an entrepreneur, you get so many opportunities that you know they're gonna transform your business that you just have to take, it's certain opportunities that you just have to figure out. Can is one of them, like Rohan telling us he's coming to the crib, bro. Like, like come to the crib. We're the only podcast. He was with Steve Jack and them. He was with this one, he was with Drink Champs. He was with all the major podcasts in the world, but we're in his living room. That's crazy. Like, you know what I'm saying? Two dudes from the Bronx, bro, with independent, no sponsors, no nothing, and went down there and made it happen. Set up our own equipment, moving furniture around ourselves, and then sat down and did a three hour interview. No pauses.

Kenny: 19:52

So, alright, so you're touching on something here. I have to Because your background, right? You come from, go get it. You're in New York City, you're used to doing in-person engagement.

Jarrett: 20:06

Like

Kenny: 20:06

do you feel

Jarrett: 20:07

feel

Kenny: 20:09

about somebody who sets out to

Jarrett: 20:11

do

Kenny: 20:13

all these interactions virtually

Jarrett: 20:15

or digitally

Kenny: 20:17

versus like in the space you're Do you have to get in front of people

Jarrett: 20:22

face to face it, it helps, but sometimes you just can't. So the way I look at the podcast, bro, like regardless of how many, you know, we've definitely gotten major views. We was charting on Apple, all that stuff, bro. But like. I necessarily don't even care about the views. I'm keeping it real with you. You know what I care about? I care about the relationship. Every week I get two shots to speak with people that are actually running business and doing amazing things. Every week I get two shots for free. What I'm paying for the stream yard, I'm paying for this, like, you know what I'm saying? Like it's a minimal cost. To meet somebody. And at the end of the day, if you have great energy, you have great energy and you're still gonna bond, will it be as as crazy as an in person? Probably not. But then you get there, then you get there. You know what I'm saying? So like a big opportunity like Inkwell Beach came off a virtual podcast Adrian, shout out to Adrian and Tyler Inkwell team, we had her on the show and we had a great experience. And you know what she said, yo, I want y'all to come here, bring that experience in person and be on stage. And you know what we did? We showed up and showed out. We went on Inkwell Beach, bro. We brought the CMO of McDonald's. We brought Dr. Marcus Collins, we brought Walter Gere, we brought Abba Blankson, who was the CMO naacp. We brought, um, um, Perry Fair, who's the SVP of Mattel, just won a lion, just came off the stage from winning the lion to come rock with us at Inkwell. Then we had Steve Poona, the CEO versus come through right after Timbaland performs crazy like, bro, none of this we paid for. And I'm saying that as an inspiration, not a flex, but an inspiration to everybody. That's what, that's the relationship value to make the call and be able to do it. And sometimes you're not gonna get a lot of, but you can't put a price on that. So does what are you valuing at that Because those are things that also gonna help progress your business, and it's gonna open up other opportunities and other opportunities. They're gonna say, who are those guys? So it's constant bet on yourself. It's a constant bet on yourself. It's a constant bet that can cost a lot. Hell yeah. But at the end of the day, guess what we going again next year? Figure out a way. You figure out a way to pay for that. You figure it out a way and you do it, bro. And it's some tough days, but if you guys want it, we have the creativity, we have the know-how, we have the skillset to do it. All of us do. But are you willing to sacrifice the comfort and the stability to do so?

Kenny: 22:45

So, All right. This is an incredible list. Shout out to Walter, um, as well. He's definitely somebody, um, in that space who I followed and just learn from all the time. Just like you and

Jarrett: 22:57

Chad.

Kenny: 22:58

I wanna talk about starting a

Jarrett: 23:00

business. Uh, with

Kenny: 23:03

co-founder, what that experience has been like working with you and Chad.

Jarrett: 23:07

It's

Kenny: 23:08

And how you all really

Jarrett: 23:08

found

Kenny: 23:12

your, your bread and butter. In terms of what you can do well, and Chad can do

Jarrett: 23:17

well, making it, it all starts with what we passionate about. What do we feel like we can make the most impact? And I'm gonna tell you it's, it is, that was the hardest thing to figure out at first. What I did know is I wanted to continue to do the podcast. My biggest thing was how do I use the podcast as a lead generation system for our business, OTB digital. So that means getting in contact with people with who we could potentially do business with, but also give us good content. So it was a delicate balance. So I told Chad like what I'm really good I'm really good at social media, I'm really good at marketing, I'm really good at sales. I'm really good at managing the p and l. I'm really good at booking guests, right? So what I need you to do is the things that you're already good at, right? Creating the flyers, right? Overseeing this, overseeing that, right? Like making sure everything's in tune. And it was never no issue.'cause that's my brother, like, so that's my cousin. Cousin. Mm. You know what I'm saying? So like we do this anyway, so I'm doing my podcast. He's always supporting it anyway, in the background. Anyhow. If I needed something, he's there. So I'm sitting there thinking like, yo, we do vacations together, we do barbecues together. When we go anywhere, we shut down the room. Why wouldn't I have my brother on the show? Why not put it on camera? We just never decided to put it on camera. So as far as that, we've never had no issues, bro. We, at our height, we was doing like 2025 MRR, but we wasn't taking anything out The business. putting it back in. Putting it back in, putting it back in, putting it back in. We need this over here. Put it back in, put it back in, put it back in. Let's fly over here, let's meet this person over here. And that's what we were doing, bro. So we never had no issues.'cause you know what? With me and Zo, it's just love. He knows I got his best interest at heart. I know he got my best interest at And it just is what it is. We'll figure it out. Times get tough, we figure it out. Times get really good, we figure it out. And we've had experience of both, But it's just finding what you're passionate about as far as the business. Like what do you, what would you do for free? That you wanna get paid what don't you mind doing when it's your birthday and you're in Miami Beach and you gotta do a client initiative, right? The client hits you up and say, I need this white revision. But you in the club, do you mind it? I, we've had those scenarios. We in the club in the middle of the club, no problem. Going right to the, here you go back to the club like, ha, like that on him. You know what I'm saying? The laptop is always in the car, always around. Always around. It's always wifi somewhere. So what do you wanna do? So that's the sacrifice, bro. And and it is led us to some great success and some great relationships, I didn't have a, I'm going to keep it funky with you. I didn't have a blueprint. A lot of what I do is I trust my gut. It may sound crazy to people, but I trust my gut. I never had a set list of who I wanted to have on the podcast. I just would shoot shots. I would see people doing amazing things and I'm just shooting a shot. Yo, that was dope. I Can I get over here? Can you come over here? Can you come over here? To, to it became a thing. Like Matthew knows Dr. Shout to Dr. Matthew knows. He came on the show 15 minutes early, bro, and said, I want one of those sound effects. I can't wait to get a message.

Kenny: 26:16

Oh, yeah.

Jarrett: 26:18

Hey, for the folks who have not listened, and Chad, the,

Kenny: 26:24

The, the sounds that they use, the soundboard, the message, you all will understand when you listen to the content. Uh,

Jarrett: 26:33

sir. But it sticks in your head. Seriously. It's all culturally rooted, man. What, what do we know? What feels like It's

Kenny: 26:42

wild. I haven't seen any other podcasts really do

Jarrett: 26:47

that. You know, Joe and Jada just said it the other day. Really? Joe and Jada, I was watching the episode with, um. It wasn't the, oh, who was it? It wasn't, uh, it was, uh, 85 South. Yeah. Okay. Okay. So they had an episode with 85 South and Jada, he didn't put a thing up, but he was like, message. I was like, oh no. Oh yeah. I was like, yeah, but I love it. But you, we think in the same, what are those things that are culturally that we all can That's from that, that's from that, that's from that. And it just brings up different entertainment value,

Kenny: 27:19

came out,

Jarrett: 27:19

uh, Joe and Jada, they're, uh, they came out the.

Kenny: 27:24

Gate swinging

Jarrett: 27:25

with their content, their content, they killing, they're killing. But, but then how do, how do us, you and I as a small content creator, a small independent media shop, compete with What are some things you think that can help us get to that level? And it's gotta be those small things, those nuances, the message, the this, the that. Right? Doing things that are, are different in the space. People are doing the same thing that we've been preaching on LinkedIn. You build a brand big enough, then you're gonna be able to monetize immediately. They've got 20 years worth of brand, more than that. 20, 30 years of brand value. How do you compete with that?

Kenny: 28:00

That,

Jarrett: 28:00

uh, They on

Kenny: 28:02

stage,

Jarrett: 28:03

stage, bro, come on. That was one of the moments, like, come on, iconic.

Kenny: 28:08

it

Jarrett: 28:08

he still don't get the recognition. He don't, he

Kenny: 28:11

Yeah, he don't, because in that moment I was

Jarrett: 28:14

like,

Kenny: 28:15

This

Jarrett: 28:16

is like different,

Kenny: 28:21

like. What is going on here? It was one of those moments for me, like, this cannot be real. This run, this 20 minute run that he

Jarrett: 28:31

is on is like a moment in time. Facts. Talk a little bit about, um, like

Kenny: 28:44

New York being there

Jarrett: 28:46

now

Kenny: 28:48

versus, I I, I grew up in the

Jarrett: 28:52

tri-state.

Kenny: 28:53

We used to always go to the city. It was amazing time growing up there, but like being in the city now, like what energy does it give

Jarrett: 29:01

you?

Kenny: 29:04

Being there, what does it do for you being

Jarrett: 29:05

in that city in this moment? I, I'm gonna give you a, a left field answer, bro. You know what? I have to be in it. And the reason being like, I could been move out and stuff like that, like,'cause we'll move upstate and all that, but like, I need to see the people. So something I used to do when I was working at Starbucks before I got the, um, before I got the, the sales opportunity, intent, I used to get home every, every day, bro. I used to leave at four o'clock, five o'clock in the morning, go to work, whatever, boom. We would come to like five, six o'clock at night and I would walk through my neighborhood in Parkchester. I would look at every single building, I mean every single building and every single window with the lights on. And I would think there was a story, there was a million dollar story that nobody knew about. I don't know why I did that, bro, because I would think that about me. They don't know what I'm going through. They don't know what kind of mindset I have. They don't know what kind of ideas I have. So I need to see the people, bro.'cause there's stories all around us and people doing amazing stuff that's not getting the opportunity, and I need to be in it to see what's happening, because I wanna make impact where I'm from. So I gotta see the problems. I gotta see what's going on. I gotta see who's still on a strip. I gotta see, I gotta see all of that. You know what I mean? Who's out here? Who, who went, who went to the joint? Okay, world. Who's coming home, who's doing that? I need to know all of that stuff, bro. So I'm, I'm, I'm heavily in tune in my neighborhood, heavily in tune, and I gotta be around that energy, bro.'cause when I walk outside, it's a different energy. It's a different love. Now when I walk outside with my kids to go get some breakfast or something like that, it's love. I'm getting hugs and kisses. I've been here my whole life. You know what I'm saying? Like, I know everybody, you know what I'm saying? So when I walk outside and see an elderly lady and they like, yo, I'm proud of you. Or I see the homie that never been off the strip, the ones that seen me since I was a pup and seeing what I was doing to what I'm doing now, and they looking at me like, yo, bro, I love you, man. Like I need that energy. That's what keeps me motivated.'cause now it's like how do I bring what we're doing back to help

Kenny: 31:02

Yeah,

Jarrett: 31:02

Yeah, exactly. I, uh,

Kenny: 31:04

uh, I got. To take my toddler

Jarrett: 31:08

to New York for

Kenny: 31:08

to New York for the

Jarrett: 31:09

Yeah. To

Kenny: 31:09

aunt

Jarrett: 31:10

in Manhattan.

Kenny: 31:11

it was really weird seeing my daughter working or

Jarrett: 31:15

walking

Kenny: 31:16

the city blocks in New York.

Jarrett: 31:18

Like it was like, it's real.

Kenny: 31:21

Yeah. Like I never thought that I would have this experience, but here's my daughter, like experiencing. new, And she, her face was like,

Jarrett: 31:28

like,

Kenny: 31:28

she was soaking up all the energy. She was super happy, ecstatic. You know, we live in the country, right. In North Carolina. Right.

Jarrett: 31:36

So she ain't really never seen

Kenny: 31:37

like

Jarrett: 31:37

that, but it was, uh,

Kenny: 31:39

it brought back memories. Like

Jarrett: 31:41

how, how old is your daughter, if you don't mind me asking?

Kenny: 31:43

She's

Jarrett: 31:43

three. Oh. So yeah. So she

Kenny: 31:45

yeah.

Jarrett: 31:46

eyes,

Kenny: 31:46

eyes wide

Jarrett: 31:47

open. Yeah.

Kenny: 31:48

Noticing everything. Um, all that goes

Jarrett: 31:52

on in the I

Kenny: 31:53

like,

Jarrett: 31:54

yeah, this is,

Kenny: 31:55

this definitely impacted me being in these places growing

Jarrett: 31:59

up. Um.

Kenny: 32:01

Going to basketball courts, playgrounds,

Jarrett: 32:04

all that stuff. Now I still remember shit, what, what kind of impact it had on you, man, though. Let's talk about what kind of impact it had on you now that you're in the country. Like what, what, what kind of traits you bring down then.

Kenny: 32:15

I think for me, I definitely appreciate my and I embrace silence. like finding those moments. Being in the city and then being able to like have a moment to

Jarrett: 32:31

yourself. Like,

Kenny: 32:34

I remember like gonna Rucker Park, seeing Fat,

Jarrett: 32:37

no,

Kenny: 32:38

Steph Marberry, like these moments is like, I seen all those things and so I me And then when I'm to Carolina, which is country, right?

Jarrett: 32:48

Yeah.

Kenny: 32:49

I still have those moments. I can like, I can be chill,

Jarrett: 32:52

chill, I

Kenny: 32:52

I can

Jarrett: 32:53

be,

Kenny: 32:53

Hey, I'm not, not stretching, I'm not, I'm not grabbing for

Jarrett: 32:56

stuff.

Kenny: 32:57

You know, uh, too much like, just balance now in my life. And I

Jarrett: 33:02

had those experiences early on, so I

Kenny: 33:05

I don't really

Jarrett: 33:06

regret

Kenny: 33:06

I don't feel like I'm missing out

Jarrett: 33:08

on anything. Um, and it's really truly because of where I you hit the nail on the head is it is what you value now, bro. You what you say, you, you value the serenity, the peace and the quiet. You know what I'm saying? is. Everybody got, you know, everybody got what makes them go, bro. That's what it is, bro. But

Kenny: 33:24

but every once in a. while

Jarrett: 33:26

Yeah, you

Kenny: 33:27

go back up there. I gotta come, go back up there and

Jarrett: 33:30

there and

Kenny: 33:30

soaking that energy.

Jarrett: 33:32

Have some of that food. I miss it. it. Yo, that's it. I, me personally, bro, I get the, my creativity comes from the chaos. Yeah. We embrace the chaos. I embrace it, bro. Like I, if it's too quiet, then we, we too successful to me. You know what I'm saying? And how do I keep my pulse, you know, my finger on the pulse. You know what I'm saying? But that's just, just me in general, bro. Like that's what I said, like when I walk outside and I see things going on, that's the creativity, being able to see the everything going on the strip, seeing the Watson games, we were just outside, you know what I mean? Going to, going to Dykeman and all that. Like You know what I mean? Like I love it. So

Kenny: 34:09

So I'm curious, how does this, do

Jarrett: 34:17

you ever think about how

Kenny: 34:19

your career

Jarrett: 34:20

end. How you want it to end? Do you want it to end? I've, had a lot of losses in this summer, man. First of all, you know, our pizza, all my, you know what I mean? I have a couple family members past. I think about it all the time. How would it end? How all this, bro, I just wanna be somebody to make an impact. I want my legacy to speak volumes, bro. I wanted to be like, yo, for me, when it's all said and done, career wise, everything wise, it's just like, yo. He went out and he did it. He tried it. He opened up doors for people. He wasn't selfish with it. Like nobody can say no crazy stories about me, and I pride myself I always take the long route. I never jerked nobody. I never did nothing. I never stole nothing from nobody. Like that means something to me, bro. So like for me, I wanna be the Clarence Avon of this thing when my career ends. I wanna be the person that has so many relationships and it had made so many plays happen that you didn't even know it was me. and things that impacted the culture. You'd be like, damn it, living color was on and this one's on and this show started. Oh, did you know this? Did you know that? Did you know that JAR introduced this one and this one, and this how this happened over here? Because they were both on the show and that's how I reciprocate to the guests. I'm not paying so I'm not paying you. You're coming through to gimme an hour and a half. In some instances, you give people giving us four hours of straight live stream time. Four hours straight, no bathroom breaks, nothing. Just going. So I'm like, how do we reciprocate that by bringing value? You need to know this one. You need to know that one. You need to know this one. You need to know that whatever happens, we, when we say that on the show, it's real. We introduce people. We get off the phone. We get off the phone. Yo meet this one. Meet that one. All right. Y yo, that's what it is. Y'all family. Now we off. And mad business deals have happened as a result of that man, that, that's breaking bread. Yeah. That's it bro. We ain't gotta be here, we ain't gotta sit there and listen to the conversation and know what's going on and ask for pc. This is love.'cause it's gonna happen. When it's time for us to break bread, we will, in the meantime, get what you need to get. I like that. And Jarrett, uh, for those, um, who are listening in, Jarrett, it really does, Act how he is speaking right now. I can tell you facts. He comes to me, uh, quite often, Hey, when you come in, when we connecting, um, just having that open door like you said and making sure folks are connected, man, I appreciate you doing that. Come on, man. It's love, bro. It means a lot in this space. Podcasting can be lonely.

Kenny: 36:53

Uh,

Jarrett: 36:54

It can be a demanding of your resources. Yeah.

Kenny: 36:56

As,

Jarrett: 36:57

Jarrett has definitely mentioned. And so these

Kenny: 37:01

these relationships we're

Jarrett: 37:02

We building, bro. Um, that's it. Going, they gonna last, last a lifetime. I guarantee you. That's it. It don't have to be I appreciate you, uh, and just, uh, sharing your story. This has been a different one for me because you are a podcast where you're doing amazing things in the space. Uh, you and Chad appreciate you. Um, I look to you all, all the time. I'm always checking in on your screen, which I got going on. Appreciate that. Tell folks. Like, what's the easiest way for them to stay connected to you and the brand? Um, is it the website you have other meeting and other kind of, um,

Kenny: 37:39

uh,

Jarrett: 37:39

ways for them to tap into all the things that you're doing? Absolutely. So if you wanna know Businesswise, it's o tb-digital.com. So if it's business, we do social media, uh, marketing. We do content creation, we do social media strategy, we do LinkedIn webinars, I mean, uh, workshops. So any B2B brand that may hear this. If you want your sales team to be able to go on LinkedIn and drive revenue and relationship the way I told you in my story. We have an entire playbook. You can also get that playbook if you're a salesperson, is still right there. OTB, digital. It's called Relationships over Revenue, right? It shows you how the algorithm works, how I created content, some of the results of the content I created, and it gives you templates. So we have all that on deck, you know what I mean? And if you want to go stay in tune and more than title, go to YouTube. More than the title. M-O-R-E-T-H-A-N-A and then title, T-I-T-L-E. We, the only thing on there, you'll see us rocking out, you know what I mean? We have some great guests. We took a re, uh, took a month off. We've been going three years straight every Tuesday and Thursday, three years straight. No breaks, no vacations. If I'm on vacation, I'm still partying and we just took a break and, uh, we're coming back August 5th. got the president of the OVO pulling up. We got sporty thieves pulling up. We got a lot of people pulling up, man. We got Imani from Coach Han. We got Colette Smith who was the first NF first female NFL coach coming through. She was in the Jets. You know, we got a bunch of people pulling up in. So pull up is real conversation. We don't cook, we don't gate keep. We don't do none of that. You want opportunities, you want information, we give it for free. Come through, get the game.'cause if we don't do nothing with it then, you know what I mean? That's on us. We can't blame nobody. So that's what it's about, y'all. And I just wanna say before we, you know, Ken, I'm proud of you, bro. Appreciate it for staying the course. Proud of you, bro. So you, you, one person for the listeners, he's one person that he saying what he do, he taps in anything he needs. We reciprocate, bro. You got this, you got that, blah da da. What, what system you using yo, what microphone that you using, right? We need to have these conversations. So it was important for me to come through when Ken said it was no problem. No problem. They need to see that we here, they need to show that's like this. As soon as you pick up the phone, I'm here, bro. No. What? I don't care what I'm doing. I'll be on a Sunday. Don't matter. Like, you know what I appreciate. That's my brother. Like, so I just wanna say that, man, I got nothing but love and respect for you, bro. Just keep grinding. It's nothing but love and anything we could do, we here, you know the vibes.

Kenny: 39:59

Appreciate that.

Jarrett: 40:00

Gary, uh, last thought,

Kenny: 40:02

what should our listeners that last thought you want them to take away? You've already

Jarrett: 40:06

dropped a bunch of gems, but as we close out. What you wanna close out on, bet on yourself. Bet on yourself all days, every day. If you don't get anything from my stories that I continuously bet on myself every step of the way. My first sales job, I went in there and said, I'm gonna be the best sales person in the co organization. I became that within six months, right? I went to Cannes, didn't know anything about the festival creativity, but I went there, I bet on myself. I wanted to win a Cannes. I became a VP of an agency bet on myself. Brought several products to market bet on myself during a podcast, during a pandemic. Betting on myself, buying equipment. I didn't have no lighting kit, I didn't have a microphone, I didn't have anything. But what I did have was belief in myself that I could change something. It's gonna be a lot of rough days. It's gonna be a lot of good days, but you gotta stand on that, and I promise you, if you lead the right way, you lead with your heart. Everything's gonna open up the way it's supposed to. Everything's gonna happen how it's supposed to. So leading your purpose, y'all bet on yourself and you know what I mean? Let's get this, I wanna see more of us. Uh, thank you. Mic drop moment. Appreciate everybody for listening to another great episode of The Beyond Normal Podcast. Yeah.