What's up? Happy Monday! It's Monday! Good news
York! Mike Brindisi. I didn't know we were gonna
get a singing intro. It's just a thing I do.
Yeah. Excited. Do you ever eat something? And
it's so good, you go. That video, you saw that
video of the chick, right? That she's sitting
there, people get mad at her because she's so
excited because she's doing like a happy dance,
you know what I'm talking about? I actually did
see that. I don't remember it to the TV. Yeah,
I remember. And I remember thinking like, dude,
leave her alone. She's loving what she's eating.
Right? Let the girl live. People are weird. Anyway.
Speaking of weird people, what'd you do this
weekend, buddy? Dude, listen. It's good news,
York, so I'm going to try to be positive. I didn't
really have a weekend because I have two children.
Yeah. And let's see, Friday, I DJed an elementary
school dance. Nice. I used to work at this elementary
school and I love those kids so much and they
needed a DJ, so gave me an excuse to see them.
Tell them that I like Nicki Minaj and stuff.
I played a ton of Eminem and honestly, what went
over was wet ass pussy. Oh. Yeah, kids loved
it. And then Saturday, My wife had a that's a
song. My wife had a true had a cheerleading competition
She's a cheerleading coach. She's badass and
that was an all -day event a volleyball competition
or volleyball tournament My daughter was in that
was all day. So it was a lot of waiting around
with zero cell service. Did you watch the Oscars?
Here's the thing. I got to get into the swing
of things Being on a daily show. I should be
watching it so that we can stay up I have it
set to watch tonight because I had too much going
on as I just explained. That's a long way of
saying goodbye. You gotta watch it after. It's
like watching the Super Bowl the next day. You
already know who wins. You're right. You're right.
I've purposely stayed away from seeing as much
as I could. What about you? No, I don't - Does
anybody care? No, there are people that care.
Mostly industry folk. There used to be all of
these award shows, and they were cool when we
only had two channels on the TV. It's like we
need awards season because we need to fill five
hours of something when Friends isn't on. But
I don't know, man. It just always seems... And
then they added, I feel like there was like a
heyday where they added everybody and their brother
had some kind of award show for every thing.
And I still miss the Nickelodeon. Remember when
we were kids, the Nickelodeon? The slime or the
yeah, they got a they got the orange zeppelin
thing. What was that thing? That was Like a Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon zeppelin with slime on it. Remember
the MTV movie awards with the astronaut? Yeah,
see those were entertaining but these other ones
are just like I don't know. It's like a fashion
thing, especially I guess if you're into fashion
That's really where it's at you get that red
carpet red carpet is experience I don't know
they love the pre -show even more than the actual
Oscars. See, I could see that, then. That almost
makes sense. One thing I did hear is that they,
you know how they do the in memoriam, and they
always leave people out. For dead people? And
they, so they had the in memoriam for their A
-listers, and then the people that are still
just as important, but of course, Hollywood doesn't
care that much about - Ran out of time. You can
scan a QR code and see a separate memoriam, which
- Wow. Yeah. Which I haven't fully processed
yet. Wow. I don't know if that's tasteless, genius.
On the one hand, they took the time to make another
video for those people. That's what I mean. That's
what I mean. It's like, is it a nice gesture
or is it like, really? Probably better than the
millions of people who passed away and don't
get any recognition. Maybe? Maybe? I don't know.
It's good news, York. It's a positive spin. I
like it. Yeah, we'll take it. Oscars yeah, I
don't know. Did you hear anything about if it
got real speechy like protesting? I didn't hear
anything I feel like us for the Oscar review.
Yeah. No, this is not no idea. We don't give
a shit. This isn't the Oscars This is not the
Oscars. No. By any means. What'd you do this
week? I did a lot of work. Yeah. We got a number
of new clients that I've been trying to onboard
and get taken care of. Yes. Here at Growth Mode
Content, that is the other part of this gig.
Not even that. Growth Mode Technologies are our
tech company. Yeah. So it's been a busy weekend
on top of all the family stuff. I feel that.
Let's talk about Growth Mode Content and Growth
Mode Technologies a little bit. And clearly,
everybody knows what this is. It's Good News
York. This is our show. But the rest of our days
are filled with you dealing mostly with the IT
company and all of us collectively dealing with
our channel partners or clients, as we call them,
to record their podcasts, which has been going
phenomenal, by the way. We have some rock stars.
We really do. And I'm not just saying that. The
fun part of this is we... meet these people and
we learn the most interesting things about them.
Yeah. Which is the whole point of organic content,
right? It's the, and for a lot of folks that
don't understand the strategy behind growth mode
content, the thing that literally no one else
in the market is doing in a focused manner like
this is to deliver that human experience, that
organic, what the hell's, what's organic, just
more expensive at the grocery store? No. Free
range podcast. It means it's not scripted. I
don't have a script in front of us right now.
We're just a couple of dudes talking. And that
is the strategy for our content creators, our
clients. To build their brand, we're not making
commercials, right? No. Lots of people that do
that. And that's great. There's a place for that
and incredibly talented people all over town
that we will send you to who could do that for
you. That's not us. What we're trying to do is
that... Real human interaction the same type
of interaction that you would get that say you
you walked into somebody's store And said hey,
I want to do business with you and you have a
conversation with the person that works there
We don't do that anymore right in a lot of businesses.
There isn't a store right it was never that sort
of thing but people do business with people and
What we've figured out is if we can present folks
in a way where you learn about them and back
to where we started was how many interesting
things there are The things you learn about your
fellow humans. It's unbelievable a Make you just
admire them right right and be impressed by them
But also you get to learn about their actual
credibility in their business and and you realize
that they're not just Somebody who signed up
and put a sticker on their car, but they actually
know what the hell they're talking about Yeah,
it's almost like a reversal right in traditional
advertising you watch or listen to something
and you learn about the business and maybe they'll
sprinkle in a little bit about the owners or
the ownership. What's great about what we do
is it's almost as if their service or their business
is secondary. You're getting to know them first.
And the reason why I think that's important is
how many times have you thought about using a
service or a business, maybe the way they do
business or who they are rubs you the wrong way
and you don't feel comfortable moving forward.
Here it's like you get to meet them first and
then you're like, I love this person. And what
do they do? Yeah, I want that, you know? And
the value of that really comes into play when
you have things where there is a ton of competition,
right? So coffee cup. Maybe 20 companies in town
make a coffee cup that looks just like this.
It has the same function. The pricing might even
be about the same price. So why would I buy from
one company versus another? Then you go to find
out that this particular company actually gives
a percentage of all their sales to the local
community and they also pay their employees more.
And they're also somebody who makes it super
easy for you to place your order for that cup
where everybody else in town makes you jump through
the hoops. That's a perfect example. Or let's
say like we had our buddy Abel on, right? Sure.
You meet a guy whose story like his, maybe the
owner of the coffee cup company. migrated here
and built his business from the ground up, faced
adversity. And just that story alone, you're
like, how can I not support that? You learn that
these are people, first and foremost, and organizations
that you want to support. And that's what is
so powerful in this organic content game. And
our strategy for delivering that is pretty unique
as well. We have folks come in. Once a month,
they record these podcasts. We invite them in
guest as on Good News York as well. But the idea
is you come in and you record that once a month,
and then we take that and slice that up into
a month's worth of social media posts across
all the platforms. We run the show for you. So,
yeah, and I think we've made it super easy. And
the biggest challenge in this, because we've
done this before, before we had this whole team.
To do it consistently is incredibly difficult.
And we've made it super easy for folks so they
can get that consistent branding effort out into
the community and not get taken a second job.
Right. And consistency is everything with organic
content in general. And the biggest barrier for
people being consistent is time. And I think
that's our, I don't even want to say selling
point, because we're not really trying to sell
you anything, is what it is. The bread and butter
isn't the podcast is great. You get a podcast
once a month, people can go to it. It's in its
own spot out there in the interweb. But I think
the real benefit you're seeing is what you talked
about, how we have a team that chops up these
clips and these videos and puts them across all
the platforms. We ask, we gain access to those
platforms. Obviously you're welcome to do it
as well. It's yours, but we will run that show
for you I think that's something that we haven't
talked about a little bit actually and we should
mention more and highlight more as we Build out
our marketing materials for growth mode content
One of the tools that we use is a social media
management platform that all of our creators
have access to. So it's the tool that we use
to schedule your posts and blast them out. But
you as a creator have access to it. So you can
go in and see what's going on. We got a beautiful
email from Christine O 'Connell last night. Oh,
really? Yeah. You got to check it out. If you
haven't checked your email yet, I replied. She's
blown away. I can't believe it. The results I'm
seeing already. She's getting people emailing
and calling her that that saw the clips and they
want to do business. And that's that's all we
could ask for. And that makes me smile. It does.
It made me smile. And you'll see my reply. I
said, you know, we are genuinely so happy for
you because the thing is, this isn't like where
it ends when we say cut and it's hey, good luck.
We're on this journey with our channel partners,
our clients, and we're there 24 -7. This isn't
like we shoot it, it's done, here you go. We're
monitoring the analytics and we're posting throughout
the month. We're staying in contact with you.
So we want to see that success. As we're doing
more and more of this, I'm seeing other similar
services that have been around for a long time,
right? Folks that make, in general, they make
social media videos. And I've seen a couple different
scenarios. The most common one is you work with
a professional videographer And you pay them
often more than folks are paying for our service.
And they put together two or three, maybe four,
maybe one a week, really nice, high -end, scripted,
produced videos. And they look great. But that's
one post. And I'm being generous going one. Most
of them are a couple a month. There's other services
that we've seen that one that I just... I sent
you over the weekend that we just organically
showed up in my feed $3 ,500 a month and they
help you do this, but you shoot your own content,
which is wild to me. They help you develop the
plan and everything, but they leave it to you
to shoot it all. And then you send it to them
to edit and post and whatever. There's definitely
value in that, sure. And I'm not saying there's
not value in it, but it's just very interesting.
And as we look at what we're offering as such
a complete turnkey solution to do this organic
thing specifically, not make that commercial
where you're awkward and you're trying to read
a script and you're not an actor. And as much
as we love the funny local commercials, there's
a lot of brilliant business people that are not
great. Just reading that script, doing that sort
of thing. And it's unnatural. And you're not
getting the personality of that person in those,
which is the key. One of the main questions I
had We started talking about this and a lot of
the questions that people who are thinking about
signing on get is, I own a plumbing company.
How can I make a podcast out of plumbing? What
do you, people are realizing that. You can make
a podcast out of anything. And you can make it
interesting. And the way that we have it set
up here is you're set up for success. We're gonna
help you with that. But I wanna talk about that
because I think that's important. So let's say
Joe the plumber comes to you and says, yeah,
I'm thinking about this podcast deal. So how
does it work? What are we gonna talk about? What
are the things we're gonna do? Yeah, that's the
thing that's very interesting is, as you mentioned
before, as we've been talking about here for
the last couple of minutes, It's about the people,
right? So you say, I'm going to a plumbing podcast.
No, you're not actually going to have a plumbing
podcast. You're going to have a podcast about
a guy who owns a plumbing company or the people
that work at a plumbing company. But it really
is more about them. And sometimes we aren't even
talking about plumbing. We're talking about what
you did with the family or how great the fishing
was at the lake this weekend and things of that
nature, especially in a business like a plumber
or a trades person. That is, keep in mind what
they do is these are folks that come in your
home. That's right. And again, just like the
coffee cup, there's 20 companies in town that
are competent plumbers and they can unclog a
drain and fix a toilet with the best of them,
right? But are they all people that you want
in your home? Are they all people you want around
your children? You don't know. No. And they're
probably all great and they're all professionals
and they've been doing this for years, but you
just you don't know. And so having the opportunity
for folks to connect with the people Is just
yeah, it's the next level and that's an important
part too is when you talk about search engine
Optimization our channel partners our clients
they come on they do this podcast. We have it
set up where it's coming from an organic Actual
site. So what this gives our channel partners
is let's say someone's looking for a plumber
Okay, and they see a list of great plumbers,
but wow look at Joe the plumber He's got his
own podcast and look at all these video clips
on Instagram and tik -tok where he's talking
about Love this guy. Yeah, and that's where I
think that that's where you see the results.
Absolutely. Absolutely and the funny part about
this whole thing is This was started as a internal
marketing effort. I know and it's bloomed into
this whole massive business but the wild part
is I Started this because when I started growth
mode technologies and focused on IT services
I grew that business by making organic Podcasts
didn't have time to do it by myself and run the
business. So we added this team, but it's worked
for us immensely. It's continued to add business
and we've been adding more and more IT clients
lately, like it's going out of style. And that's
been a wonderful thing. It's very exciting to
see people realize the value that we bring. There's
so many different options, different ways to
go about. managing your IT and your cybersecurity
for your companies, that when folks take the
time to hear why our solution is the best on
the market, and I truly believe that we offer
more value than anybody in town, they jump on
board. And it's great to see. It's very exciting
to be able to help those people. And that kind
of goes to a lot of the things that we believe
in is to make things better. And that's always
been my motto in the IT business is it's not
just tech support. And of course we do that.
We got great people. We have in -person techs
who show up and work with you one -on -one, which
is something that you don't find too much anymore.
But our goal is not to just keep that old thing
working. It's to move your business forward.
And we're making partnerships with AI. I learned
a lot about that. And we're going to be talking
more and more about folks that are specifically
using AI to automate your business and automate
your marketing processes. But just be more efficient.
and know how to use the technology, the tools
that you have. For instance, Microsoft Office
training is something that we offer all of our
clients for no extra cost. Something overlooked.
Yeah, and a lot of people are like, why do you
do that? A couple of reasons. One, the more somebody
knows about the tools they're using, the less
they have problems, the less they call the IT
department, right? But also for them, the more
they can do themselves and the more comfortable
they feel. the more they can do a better job
at their job uninterrupted with greater efficiency.
And with Microsoft specifically, what we found
is everybody's got this Microsoft 365 subscription
and it's got this wide variety of products. Most
people think it's like Excel and Word and Outlook.
And just exposing people to the tools that are
in that suite that they're already paying for
is huge. And we spent a lot of our time doing
that. And like I said, really demonstrating the
value, getting the most out of what we can. And
then we've got our work phone, which is our business
phone solution. And that is just so much fun
to me because it is the most powerful phone system
solution I've supported and built. I don't know
how many different models and manufacturers in
the last 20 years, but This one has every feature
and capability you could ever imagine and many
that you haven't. And we're able to offer it
to folks for less than the cost of any other
solution that they have right now. And the bigger
the company and the older the phone service they
have. So if they have been with one of the traditional
phone companies for many years, as a lot of these
long standing companies have, they don't think
about it. You just pay your phone bill every
year. Chances are You're using older technology
that is drastically more expensive. But even
if you're using some of the more modern IP phone
systems, ours is drastically more cost effective.
And it's just, it's an awesome tool for business
to save money and get more done. It is. And that's
one of those things too, where you get set up
with your phone software. Great. It's working.
I don't ever think about it again. You never
think about, hey, I should check if there's a
cheaper, updated, better version. And I think
that's where growth mode technologies plays a
big role, too, is in not only the installation
and the IT and the cybersecurity, but you're
also providing the most modern version of what
you're using, the most efficient and probably
more affordable. We try to give people the absolute
most value, because at the end of the day, these
services aren't cheap from anybody, right? It's
a significant, important investment in any business,
but I don't want it to just be a bill. I don't
want it to just be an expense. I want to do everything
I can to use technology to move your business
forward. That's why I've been in this business
since I was a teenager. That's what gets me excited
is moving a company forward. It's great that
I fixed your printer jam for the third time,
but... That's not why I get excited about this
business You know what I mean when we take companies
and and we make people's jobs easier and we see
that companies reach their goals quicker and
surpass and do it by Saving money in the process
like how awesome is that in summation of that
conversation you have growth mode technologies
That's what we've been talking about the IT side
of this business And then we were dabbling about
growth mode content, which is our side of this
Creating content organic content for people and
businesses. I just want to quickly Peel the curtain
back. Yeah, our channel partner client I'm not
sure what we're calling creators creators our
creators come to us. They sign on I want to just
talk about what they can expect when they're
coming in for their first podcast shoot how the
process works a little bit Yeah, I think that's
a great question. We've put together. I think
a pretty decent process And I don't want to pat
us on the back because it is brand new and there
will be lots of room for improvement. But we've
tried to sketch this out in such a way that we're
really being methodical about it. So when folks
first sign up, the first thing they do is there's
this detailed questionnaire that asks about your
business, but then also about your goals and...
The type of things that you've seen out in the
world that you'd like to mimic, you think that
might work for you, we really like to know where
you're coming from to set your expectations the
best. And then we take that form and then we
get together and have an in -person meeting and
kind of a, I think we're calling it content consultation.
And that's something that we do initially, but
also on a regular ongoing basis. Initially, we'll
come in and we'll go over that form and we'll
really... We do a lot of brainstorming. There
is nothing that is templated. What are you picturing
for your podcast or some of your influences,
those kinds of things? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And
then we get down into the real specific details
of what do you want it to look like? What do
you want a background? Do you want logos? Do
you want to just be interviewed for each podcast?
Do you want to take the reins? And then we carry
that over too. So now we're into our second month
of production and So we're starting to schedule
clients for their second episode. And we've fallen
into this process where Danny and I, sometimes
Matt will sit in. So if they're going to shoot
on a Wednesday, usually Monday, we get to go
with them on a quick 15 -minute Teams meeting
or in person and just say, all right, this episode,
anything different from the last as far as the
set goes, do you have a guest? And it doesn't
stop at the initial consultation. We are constantly
making sure episode by episode you are getting
what you want. And at the end of the day, They're
the boss. We're working with them. We're not,
you know what I'm saying. We're not taking the
reins. This is what they want, and we're just
gonna make it better. It is, and at the same
time, though, it's mixed in with our expertise
and a lot of data. There's a lot of data -driven
things that happen when it comes to your content.
And what we're trying to do then, again, is very
organic conversations. We want it to be completely
real. But we also want to look at... the things
we should focus on. If in your industry there's
something that's a real hot topic, we want to
make sure that you're talking about that. And
then we're going to make specific clips that
are going to actually get extra views because
that's a hot topic. As much as we talk about
how it's unscripted and off the cuff, we use
a lot of tools to craft it in such a way that
organic natural conversation gets a ton of views.
It can still be organic. while being organized.
Exactly. And that's something we focused on.
That's a good word. Yeah. And that's something
that we do focus on. And part of that deal, too,
is, and you may have seen, as soon as you sign
on as a content creator with us, channel partner,
client, again, I don't know, you can come on
Good News York anytime. And we've already been
doing that with some of our channel partners.
It's been great. Yeah. You can come on any time
you want. This is all part of it. Awesome. Listen,
man, we can go on and on about our own business
all day long. But the point of Good News York
is to spread the good news. And I see in the
wings that we've got a couple of gentlemen waiting
to join us on the show. I'm excited. Our buddy,
Sean Kelsey, is here. And he's got a friend.
I don't know who this fella is. I don't know.
I haven't met him yet. I met him, looked up some
of the things he's doing. He's doing some amazing
things, heartwarming things, life changing things,
like real deal. Important shit to be honest with
you. It's Real -life stuff and this guy's amazing.
So I'm excited to talk to them. I'm excited,
too Let's let's get him out in here with enough
further ado maniac in here Sean Wow joining us
today on good news York We've got a couple of
incredible guests. Sean, you probably have seen
everywhere. We know we've seen his billboards,
because he's one of the most creative marketers
in central New York. But go ahead and introduce
yourself, and then introduce your guest here,
buddy. My name's Sean Palsu. I'm the CEO of Nave
Law Firm. And I brought with me a great friend
of mine, my twin, Rick Nuzzo of New Business.
He does some marketing with us, and he's got
a big deal to talk about. Awesome. Yeah, so this
weekend coming up at the Oz Center is the Syracuse
for St. Jude Gala. It's going to be six o 'clock.
And I don't know how much everyone knows about
St. Jude other than the commercial, but St. Jude
is a research hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.
And I stress the word research because although
it's located in Tennessee, the work that they
do is felt all over the world. Even in upstate
New York, they share that research with Galisano's.
Sometimes they get a patient through St. Jude,
but even if there isn't a patient there, the
work is still being felt here as they are talking
to the doctors at Galisano and sharing all that
research. Wow. That's awesome. That's incredible.
How'd you get hooked up with this organization?
I was working with Cumulus Media. Cumulus Media
is the radio group that owns 93Q and 95X. And
they are the radio partner for St. Jude, where
they do a radio -a -thon once a year. Literally,
it was like my first week as the sales manager
over at Cumulus, and my boss said, hey, we're
going to send you to Memphis, Tennessee, to visit
St. Jude. I said, OK. She said, yep, we... partnered
with them once a year. And I just want to show
you the importance of why we do the radio sign
and come back and let me know your feedback.
I went to Memphis and I will say that my expectation
was like I was going to go visit St. Joseph's
Hospital. Sure. Yeah. And then you... It's like
any hospital, right? Yeah. You pull up and this
is like a campus. They have housing. for patients.
They have schools. They have research centers
after research centers. Hospital is just a small
portion of what's there. And after I was done
with that, I just I fell in love with everything
there is to know about St. Jude. You can't go
there to learn about St. Jude and not come back
and want to just do anything in your power for
St. Jude. And I was all in when I got back. I
literally called up and I said, I want to do
more. I just don't want to do the radio. What
more can I do? And Elise, who is the the regional
Contact for st. Jude here said we have a we have
a gala committee. We put on a gala once a year.
We're looking for new members Do you want to
come join our committee and and I did and now
six years ago Wow, that's great So so when you
talk about a gala that sounds like a fancy thing
you get it You got to put on your cleanest jeans
and that's cocktail. It's higher. It's it's like
handing out It's like a wedding you will have
the people who are gonna go full -blown all -out
suits and then you have some other people in
total tone it down Yeah, I think two years ago
Sean or tux We'll wear tux this time, too. I
don't believe it. Do you own a tux, Sean, or
do you rent them? I own it. Really? I could see
that. Non -for -profit events, it's just better
to own it. I even have orange shoes to go, orange
tux shoes, because I used to go to the Bayheim
Ball a lot. OK, nice. They were a huge hit. I
could imagine. You should have went all orange,
like the Dumb and Dumber. That is a great idea.
The two of you. You know what I'm saying? Just
throwing it out there. We don't want to kill
any owls. That will be okay. No owls will be
harmed at the gala. Absolutely not. So Rick,
you said you got involved. What is your role?
So what exactly do you do with the gala? Basically
from everything from trying to find sponsors
such as Nave Law, who has been a generous supporter
of St. Jude and the Gala for many years, that's
her biggest thing is to raise money. Because
of businesses like Nave Law and our sponsors,
literally every family of a St. Jude patient
does not receive one single bill. Wow, that's
awesome. Housing, food, everything is included,
literally because they're big on if your child
is battling cancer, the last thing you want to
think about is how am I going to pay for this?
Yeah. And that was... I didn't really believe
it until I got involved in it. They really don't
see a bill for anything. It's amazing. I have
a question for you, Rick. Somebody, a little
one, gets, and I know you may not know the answer
to this. A little one gets diagnosed. with cancers,
obviously devastating for the family. Do you
have to qualify to go to St. Jude's? Like, how
does that process work? Yeah, it definitely needs
to be qualified. You can't just show up to St.
Jude and lock in the front door. I'm sure people
have tried. Cross that off my list. I would assume
that you'd have to go through proper protocols.
Because they're a research hospital, they're
literally the most dire of situations. St. Jude
is the Los causes. You basically, it's your last
resort is St. Jude. But I will say, before St.
Jude, 60 years ago, if you were a child diagnosed
with any type of cancer, your survival rate was
20%. Wow. Because of the research St. Jude has
been doing, it's now 80%. That's pretty great.
I mean, it's unfortunately great. This hits home
with me. I know it's good news, York, but it's
very relevant. I actually have experienced this
firsthand. I lost my brother to leukemia. He
was three years old and I was six and I did the
bone marrow transplant and we actually went out
to Minnesota and stayed at the Ronald McDonald
house and this was this was late 80s. Sure. It
really had told me to hear how much has changed
since then because what's You could sit here
and do the what -ifs, right? But I'd like to
believe that if that, God forbid, had happened
nowadays, he would have had a better chance.
Yeah, I was just gonna say that. It really means
a lot what you're doing to me personally. So
thank you. Yeah, leukemia, back in the early
70s and 80s, was literally a death sentence,
sadly. But now, I believe it's like survival
rates in the 90s for leukemia now. Wow. That's
amazing. I had no idea. That really makes me
happy, man. That's incredible. Sean, what was
it that... made you and your firm want to get
involved in supporting something like this? Yeah.
One, it's easy, right? Two, my great relationship
with Rick makes it even more easier. But we support
a lot of non -for -profits, and I think that
it's very important to do that. It's our role
in the community to do that. But I also believe
that everybody wants to give back. They just
don't know what. My intention is support whatever
I can I can't support everything I would love
to be able to do that but support whatever we
can and then we can Do things like this to introduce
people to what it actually is? Yeah, so that
they know it's st. Jude's they know what they
do whether it's 65 roses They know what cystic
fibrosis is Rick's also worked with me with cystic
fibrosis So there's a lot of different not -for
-profits out there that really need exposure
They need the money so that they can make things
like leukemia go from a death sentence to 90
% survival rate. So that's why the money is so
important. There's so many non -for -profits
out there. And a lot of non -for -profits start
for really great reasons. They really truly do.
But unfortunately, it becomes this competitiveness
that I have seen in working with all of these
non -for -profits. And I would really like to
create a business that goes out of its way to
support non -for -profits from a business standpoint,
marketing standpoint, from a sales standpoint,
from a fundraising standpoint, from a board development
standpoint, and really provides all of these
resources to these non -for -profits that many
times are volunteer -led, right? Volunteers that
also are working 40, 50, 60 hours a week. And
it takes a real toll on these people. That's
where my longer game is, is to create a business
that helps support all of these non -for -profits,
similar to what the United Way does, but in a
little bit different type of way. That's awesome.
That's incredible. Yeah. I don't know how you
find time to do any. But I think I'm busy. And
then I hear all the things that you're involved
in, Sean, and it blows my mind. But I'm glad
because, like you said, it's so critical. And
I think I completely agree with you. As just
anybody who has a business in the community,
I think it's our duty to support our community.
And it's nice to see that you're out there doing
that personally and as a firm. Rick, tell us
again. I know you mentioned the events coming
up. this weekend, but specifically, what time,
where do folks find the information, that sort
of thing? Sure. If you go to stjude .org slash
Syracuse Gala, it'll have all the information
you need. Awesome. Saturday, 6 p .m. on Center
Ballroom. It's going to be a sold out event with
approximately 500 people. Wow, awesome. They're
going to have a silent auction. They'll do a
give to live. They have patient speakers, which
are phenomenal. They'll give out the Officer
Colin Hayward Tool and Award. Switch. I remember
that story. Let's hear it. Let's talk about that.
What is that? Tell us about Dr. Westley. If you
aren't familiar with Officer Collin, I encourage
you to Google him. His stories are great. He
was a 10 -year -old boy at the age of two. He
was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor. He started
treatment at St. Jude, and he lasted another
eight years. Wow. His family had him for another
eight years. And over that time, his dream was
to give back to the community. He wanted to be
a police officer. I believe it was 2016. He was
sworn in with the Ithaca Police Department. Oh
wow. And that's where I live. And I know all
the guys that were involved with him directly.
There are a couple of them are friends of mine.
It was absolutely amazing. Wow. What they did
for him. It wasn't just, here's a badge, buddy.
You're a deputy chief. I mean, they rolled out
the carpet. This was... Going on for I don't
know was it years. Yeah. Yeah, it wasn't a one
-time deal. They welcomed him with open arms
It was absolutely his funeral was amazing, too
He had the whole heroes send off with all of
them. Yes, very awesome. It was special sadly
he died in 2017 but it was he's he was a great
human and the st. Jude made an award in his honor
and this year they Decided to give it to me which
oh wow. It was not expected and Usually I'm like
I'd like to be the one honoring somebody. Yeah,
this is a totally different feel for me And so
what does obviously we know what we're honoring,
but what is the award? Ten -year -old boy. Yeah,
we were about the same size. I'm sorry buddy.
I'm the size of an eight -year -old What who
are the types of folks that this award is given
to so what is it? What is it for at these days?
Not you Just individuals who just want to give
back to the community. Okay, it's tough for me
to say I don't want to be Why are you great yeah,
no just super homo guy always has been so Why
did they give it to the recipient last year?
There you go. There you go. Perfect. So the recipient
last year She actually is her name is Wendy.
She does all the photos for st. Jude and literally
free of charge every year she shows up and she
does every single photo in the place. And she's
been doing it for decades. That's a huge champion
for the cause. Rick is definitely a huge champion
for the cause. And my hat's off to the organization
for taking the time to recognize folks because
you mentioned earlier so much of this is volunteers
and selfless folks that are there just to...
do good to take a minute and thank them for their
efforts is definitely as we know, even in business,
that's the best way to keep people engaged and
keep the organization going. And that's great.
I'm very appreciative. And it allows people like
Rick to really go out there in the community
and more so talk about St. Jude's and all of
that, because obviously part of honoring him
is also getting friends, family, businesses involved
in the St. Jude, right? So that's why it's super
powerful for me. So along those lines, Rick,
of getting people involved, you mentioned in
one region, obviously, St. Jude's is a national
thing. How big is the region? What is the area
we're working in here? It's huge. It's all over.
It's not even in this country. It's in other
countries, too. Name them. Give me a map. Give
me a map. And then we're going to throw their
flags up there and you have to be able to identify
those flags. So it's crazy. One of the rooms
at St. Jude, they have flags all different countries.
hundreds of flags and it's, what do these flags
represent? They're actually employees of St.
Jude. Oh wow. Which is very cool. So St. Jude
does this really cool from two sides. From a
committee side, once a year they will bring all
the committees all over the country to Memphis
and they do workshops and they talk to Patient
speakers and just reassures what why we're doing
it sure So when you go to that thousands of people
are attended that from the radio partner side,
and I've been lucky to do both I've been to Memphis
three times One time as a radio partner for they
call it country cares where they bring all the
radio partners from all over the country Down
there they put them up in in the hotels Food
everything just got to get down there whether
you want to drive or five you get down there
They take care of everything hmm, so huge huge.
I don't say it's the Best place in the world,
you never want to end up. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. And
in terms of your local team, as you're going
out and getting sponsors, how far are you going
here in central New York? So there's actually,
there's another committee in Albany. OK. They
do their gala in, I think, May. OK. It's a little
warmer weather. So we stay right in the central
New York area. Gotcha. Basically, just the heart
of Syracuse. They used to have one in Utica and
Buffalo. But I think right now, and then There's
just Syracuse and Albany and they're separate
committees. I see. That's incredible. That's
incredible. If folks want to get involved, they
want to be like Sean, they want to be a sponsor.
Don't be like Sean. And not even necessarily
just for this particular event, but they just
want to contribute. What's the best way? It's
literally www .saintjude .com slash Syracuse
Gala. Everything's on there. If you can't go
to the Gala and you want to donate, there's options
just to donate on there. We're going to have
a sound auction. You don't have to be present.
at the gala to participate in the sound auction
so could sign up for the sound auction and bid
on some prizes and all that money goes directly
to St. Jude as well. You got food at the gala?
Delicious food. So here's the thing. Here's the
challenge with that because I love these things.
You get dressed up and it's awesome and then
they have the best food in the world and I just
know the first bite and I'm just... Yeah, it's
all over. I'm that slob again. It doesn't matter
how nice the suit is. I miss my mouth every time
with the messiest thing in the building. I might
not eat till after my speech. I spill something
on it, and I know one person who would point
it out. Yeah. Back of the crowd. Hey, what's
on your shirt? You need a time stack? This just
in. They found out Sean's going to be there.
It's not a silent auction anymore. It's going
to be a very loud auction. Oh, man. Well, Rick,
I have a question. Does St. Jude's do events
beyond the galley here in Central New York? No,
okay, we could we should yeah, just we look and
we need more help Yeah, it's even more important
than I guess that this the gala being the one
-time event that they have there is so well attended
Every time I've gone. It's well intended. It's
a ton of fun But yeah to your to that point we
they you guys can use more volunteers. Yes. Oh
for sure For that so and just to put into perspective
for just this year just in sponsorship money
alone our goal was a hundred and twelve thousand
dollars and we raised over a hundred and fifteen
thousand Oh, that's awesome. That's just sponsorship.
So since Syracuse the Syracuse for st. Jude gal
has been on we've we we hit the million dollar
mark two years ago Wow, well over a million dollars.
That's so cool And other places they do they
do golf events golf on some do gales and golf
But it's just, yeah, it'll be just more work
for me. You know, I'm gonna recruit you to do
the golf. There you go. You already do one, what's
one more? I do multiple golf. What's one more?
And maybe I should know this, and if I should,
we'll edit it out. But can you just talk about
what's the main mission of St. Jude's? Is it
more about comfort care, or is it more about
really trying to... It's a hundred percent more
about finding a cure that's keeping them alive.
Yeah, this is not comfort care. This is no we
are going to We're gonna help keep you alive
and we're gonna you're gonna beat this That's
what I thought but I and the reason I asked I
just for the casual viewer listener I just think
it they might not know that that and that's a
question. It's morbid. But yes, great Do they
get down into real specific niches? We just talked
about cancers in general. Obviously, there's
so many different types Is there anything that
they really focus on or they are to address all
those different things that they that's hard
to beat I see a lot of times for instance like
leukemia they don't need to go to St. Jude anymore
for that. Sure. They already pretty much perfected
how to handle that. That's amazing. It's the
ones that, wow, we don't know what this is, we
don't know how to treat it. Yeah. And those are
the people who go to St. Jude and they learn.
And what's great about St. Jude as well is we've
probably all been in the hospital before. We
can't wait to get the heck out of the hospital.
Sure. Most of the children who go through St.
Jude, they end up staying there. Really? When
you go, they get jobs there. Wow, like they have
so much they're so much indebted in the st. Jude
and they have so much respect and love for it
that they never leave and A lot of the people
were doing tours around camp and they they're
telling their story. Oh, yeah I was diagnosed
with cancer when I was nine years old and I wasn't
expected to live and here I am 30 years old and
I'm the head of research now over. Yeah, it's
amazing That's a good to have a hospital that
is meant for something like this as someone who
experienced it firsthand is so special Because
we know you get diagnosed with cancer, they say
go right to Sloan Kettering. It's like the best
in the world. And what's the benefit of going
to St. Jude's over some of the best cancer hospitals?
It's because of the care you're going to get,
the way they treat you. Because the worst thing
you could ever hear is that your child is sick,
especially with something like cancer. To give
them the absolute best environment and experience
that you possibly could while you're going through
something like that is so detrimental, even in
the way that the doctors and nurses, their positive
attitudes, just to get your mind off things on
a daily basis. So it's absolutely incredible
what you do, man. And if you think about what
they're doing from a research standpoint, it's
super important, right? If they can find cures,
because we all know somebody that has had cancer
or has passed away from cancer. Of course. And
usually, it's when they're old or really young,
right? But my brother -in -law's brother passed
away a year ago, 31 years old. Wow. And they
were going through a bunch of different treatments.
They went down to New York City. And they said,
it's grown. It's gotten too big. We're going
to set you up with care at home. And I couldn't
imagine that four or five hours, three hours
of driving, ride back home knowing that you're
gonna die. And what do you do? Do you shut down?
Do you call everybody? Do you go? What do you
do? I'm so overwhelmed at the thought of mm -hmm
that I couldn't imagine Yeah, what they had to
go through and thankfully my brother -in -law
and his family do well They went they were actually
huge Eagles fans They went to the Super Bowl
this year to honor Mike because they had gone
Mike had gone to the Super Bowl a few years back
So they went to honor him But yeah, what they're
doing at a young age really can impact cancer
in general. Sure. Like we all hear the hashtags,
F cancer, all this, but it's so true. So like
say Jude's and the research and everything that
they're doing is helping all aspects of it from
there. That's incredible. Rick, what's your day
job when you're not supporting this incredible
organization? A little bit of backstory. I've
been in the radio and TV world for over 20 years.
I started my career at News Channel 9, doing
advertising and marketing from there, switched
over to radio for a couple years. Then after
17 years, I said, I want to do this by myself.
One of the good things that came out of COVID,
and I'm sure you heard good stories of things
that happened from COVID, was I decided to start
my own business. So I had great client relationships.
So I just said, hey, I'm going to start my own
marketing agency if you want me to handle all
your advertising. And I kept getting yes. I've
been my third year of doing it and haven't looked
back and things are going great. That's incredible,
man. And you have a killer OnlyFans if you guys
want to check that out. No, you hear about all
the horrible things about the pandemic, clearly.
And you're one of the ones that are on the other
side of that. There were a lot of positive things
that came out of COVID. A hundred percent. And
those are the kinds of things that just gave
you a chance to reset and go, wow, now I have
time to actually exactly formulate and come up
with an idea for something that I really love.
So you're doing amazing things, man. It's really
hard to open up a business too. You have to worry
about the overhead. How's the business going
to come in? Am I going to survive? And then what
if it doesn't? Now I have to go eat salt and
go from there. So I'm proud of Rick where he's
gone for it. Yeah, it should be. Yeah. That's
awesome. And I was going to commend your employer
for letting you have so much time for this charitable
work. Here I am. Commend yourself. Good job,
man. You looking for a plug for those things,
website, anything like that? If folks want any
of that sort of business? New business, nubusinessmarketing
.com. All my info's on there. Contact me. If
you need help with any kind of advertising and
marketing, radio and TV's my specialty. That's
my bread and butter, but I can do everything
from build websites to buy billboards. And that's
any sector of business, right? Any solid types
of businesses. Yeah, and it doesn't have to be
local. I actually deal with a couple. There's
a sit -mean -sit in Syracuse. I have a couple
sit -mean -sits. I have one in Montana that I
have a marketing for. I have another one in New
Hampshire that I do his marketing for. He doesn't
work with any other DWI firms, though. That's
it. There's only one. There really is only one,
my friend. Hey, that's all right. You don't want
to spread your talents to others. If I may, let's
plug Sean's podcast right here at the Growth
Mode Content. Phoenix Rising podcast, which you
can catch right here. We go to Good News York
for all the links to all our things and stuff,
but also the podcasts that we do produce here
at Growth Mode Content. Fantastic podcast. I
think we got it out there now. Are we getting
close? Yeah. All right. It's going to be fire.
It is. Literally. The intro. It's super cool.
Fantastic. We're making so many cool things and
learning about so many different things. And
that's why we're doing this. And it's cool. It's
a blast. I'm really glad, Sean, that you were
able to. bring Rick today and absolutely it was
great to meet you and I'm nice to meet you guys
really appreciate what you're doing man it's
really special full record Rick is standing up
right now so am I I'm actually on my tippy toes
we designed this so that yeah levels that's why
this chair goes up and down feet are dangling
oh man Sean before we go anything else that that
we should mention and then where can folks learn
more about what you do yeah you can learn what
I do is You can go to NaviCares. All of the non
-for -profits that were on there. Take a look.
If you don't see a non -for -profit that's on
there, reach out. My email's on there. Reach
out. I'll be more than happy to get your non
-for -profit involved. There's usually a waiting
list, but I'll be more than happy to get on there,
promote it, and make that work. You really, this
isn't one of those gimmicks where your company
throws something at a couple of these charities
to get your name on the banner. You're going
really, you got a website, you've got a whole
program, I think. Yeah. And that's really impressive,
man, honestly. It's intentional. Our core values
and our vision and mission was all based around
prioritizing our people, our community, and our
clients in that order. And it's super important
because if you take care of your people, they'll
take care of the community and then you can take
care of your clients. Sure. And I think that,
like I said earlier, that it's a business's responsibility
to give back to the community, right? It's not
fair for us to not give back to the community
yet, have the community want to support us. Sure.
It has to be a two -way street. And secondary,
working in a law firm can be stressful. It can
be stressful, it can be overwhelming, all of
those things. And if we can take those moments
to really do not -for -profit work this Christmas,
and rather than getting our employees Christmas
gifts, we built beds for Sleep and Havingly Peace.
And the employees came back and said, this was
the best Christmas gift. And it was so much fun.
But when you hear about things like young adults
not being able to sleep because they don't have
a bed, that's insane. How are they going to learn
in school? How are they going to have those opportunities
that we've all had when they don't have a? They
had to sleep it. They get a good night's sleep.
It's crazy. And the fact that Syracuse is one
of the largest areas for bedbelts is very concerning.
Really? Yeah. Yeah. I think when we did it, I
don't know the number. I'm going to make it up.
But I think we did that millions bed for Central
New York. But it's not uncommon to hear that
Syracuse's low poverty rate is extremely low.
One of the lowest in or one of the highest in
in the United States. There's some good news.
And we forget that, right? Yeah. We get to go
home and we get to have a nice meal. We get to
go to our beds. Yeah. We get to have our blankets
on us. So I think it's really important to do
those things because it humbles your employees.
Yeah. When I talk to people when they're wanting
to become employees, I have the conversation
because obviously you get to the point where
you have the conversation about money, right?
Sure. For me, it's more than just money. Somebody's
coming to work for us because they're a good
human. They want to give back to the community
and all the other benefits that we have that
go along with that. Sure. So usually that's what
creates our competitive advantage. But yeah,
I think that everybody wants to give back. They
just don't know where to help them find that
place and to win. And there's no greater fulfillment.
And you know this, too. You do a lot of charitable
things than giving something to somebody. I don't
mean like the fart machine megaphone if you wanna,
right? I can give that to Sean and he'll be here
all day playing with it. Please do. But when
you truly give something to somebody who needs
it, like a bed, something to live, there's no
greater fulfillment, there's no better feeling.
I believe that you can achieve whatever you want
in life. but you have to first be willing to
give with receiving nothing. That's exactly it.
You know, that good feeling that speaks to what
Sean said is on top of everything that it does
for the community. It's a positive for the organization
as well and for your team. For sure. At our company,
we started a little over a year ago offering
what we call charity days, which is basically
one day a quarter where folks can go and just
give their time to an organization that they're
passionate about. And we as a company, we've
got a lot of nonprofit clients and we got a lot
of organizations that we support. And we do that
sort of as part of our work day. But the idea
here is if someone is just really passionate
about a particular thing, they can go and jump
in and basically give a few days of their time
to folks. And it's that sort of interaction that
keeps people connected. And I love to see other
folks do that. Connected in a genuine, loving,
approachable way. Not loving in a you're giving
me a picture right doing it for the sake of doing
it It's the way to do it now Rick and I have
to go to a chocolate factory that we have to
run Oompa Loompas over here. So we kids we're
at this We got our buddy Sean not a law firm
and in DWI team you catch him like Mike said
ridiculous amounts of wisdom growth mode content
calm coming out of this guy podcast rising Phoenix
Rising. Our man Rick St. Jude's. Thank you guys
very much. Come to the event this weekend and
even if you can't you can support I'm sure any
day of the week we got I'm sure options for folks
to help out this great cause right? It was a
pleasure having you both on here seriously. Thank
you. Thanks guys. Damn dude what a what an incredible
Monday huh? Yeah I wasn't expecting To go through
all those emotions. Listen when Sean Kelsey shows
up, you never know what to expect. You can expect
this Which by the way, Matt hates it, but I brought
this when I don't like something My daughter
bought that. Oh when you don't like something.
I thought that's how we were applauding things.
Oh, we could do that too. I love that We promise
you folks this won't be just fart jokes. No We
got fart megaphones. Come on. We are well versed.
We don't just do fart jokes. We have fart megaphones.
All right, we're professional We should probably
go home before we quit while we're ahead. Sounds
like we need to. Yeah. But yeah, thanks for joining
us for Good News York, and you'll see us again
tomorrow, 5 p .m. Eastern time. Peace out. Peace.