Hey, folks, welcome back to Good News York. I'm
Matt Major from Growth Mode Content here on a
Monday, almost awake. Poof. Cup and a half of
coffee in. Yeah. No water here. No. No running
water. Plumbers are working on that. Luckily,
we didn't buy the water -powered cameras, so...
We were going to. I've made that bad joke, like,
four times so far today. I can't believe none
of you guys have thrown anything at me. I didn't
even hear it. In any case, much this guy listens
to me. We got so many fun things to talk about.
Fun weekend to recap, Father's Day, my birthday,
all kinds of awesome things to talk about. But
before any of that, I should introduce my handsome
co -host. Thanks, buddy. Mike Brindisi here with
you. And we got a Mike Squared situation in here.
Joining us in the studio was probably the coolest
guy in Syracuse. I would agree. And everybody
knows him. It's the famous Mike Durkin. VIP structures.
Welcome to the show, buddy. Mike Durkin, welcome
to the show. Shout out to ads on the go, getadsonthego
.com, our sponsor. We're so happy you're here,
man. This is awesome. Thank you for having me
in. Of course. So, Mike, we'd love you to just
talk a little bit about the types of things that
you do and the things that you're involved in.
For some background, Mike is another one of my
profound friends, somebody that I met in that
organization in just endless... information and
and things like that about what's happening in
all of New York State really so Here at Good
New York. That's the type of stuff. We love to
celebrate So we figured you'd be a great fellow
to have on the show and we really appreciate
you joining us. Absolutely So again, I'm Mike
Durkin Professionally, I'm with VIP structures
and we design and we build and we develop real
estate I'm celebrating my sixth year right now
in June Wow graduations You know from there Let
me back up. I was born and raised in Syracuse,
stayed here, my kids, God willing, are gonna
stay here as well. We love Central New York in
this time of year. I mean, yesterday we were
out on the lake and we were enjoying, you know,
a little overcast, but the sun was burning through,
we were on the water and enjoying the waves and
the birds and all that. So again, I'm a huge
advocate of Central New York. I love the fact
that you guys are putting out good news about
us here. It's fantastic. Thank you. So, you know,
professionally, I had mentioned I'm with VIP.
We're celebrating our 50th year this year, which
is exciting. Meg Tidd is our CEO, second generation
family run business. We're up to 150 people.
Wow. Largest the company has ever been. And again,
we're just proud of the clients that we surround
ourselves with the type of projects we pursue.
We can certainly talk about that today a little
bit I get excited to talk about development and
design and build opportunities and really just
Looking ahead to see where Central New York looks
a decade from now because it could very well
get crazy here in the next Six to twelve to eighteen
months. I'm really feeling like we're all gonna
start being like oh shit. This is really happening
Yeah, I agree I was thinking that too with all
this micron and the more we have people on the
show like yourself And they're talking about
what's going on in my head I'm thinking the same
thing like this is this is gonna be bigger than
I think even we think yeah Yeah, it's exciting.
Yeah We, you know, it's a little early yet for
Micron, but we're starting to see those interests
from out of town real estate speculators that
are buying land, and they're not sure what they're
buying, quite frankly. Gotcha. You know, they
could be from Texas or Florida or wherever, and
they're just buying land, being like, I'm going
to buy this, it seems affordable, and I'm going
to just see what happens. And so that speculation,
this market hasn't seen. Our properties in central
New York, really don't appreciate over the last
50 years. You know, if you bought something in
2009 and it's cash flowing, it's likely the value
of that property is the same as it was in 2009,
quite frankly. I think that's changing. Oh, absolutely.
I mean, my house appreciated a third of its value
in like two years. Wow. It's crazy. It is. And
I don't know enough to know why or how, but I
see it. And hopefully, it's sustainable, right?
We certainly start to get worried about affordability.
One of the best things about Central New York
and one of the things that the younger generation
are finding, they want to come and live in an
easy place with plenty of activities, a whole
work -play model, live -work -play. They can
get to the underground, they can get to the cities,
they can get around our city easily, and it's
affordable. However, rents are going up. And
so I do get a little worried that at some point,
that affordability component might not be the
first line that we're looking at. Yeah. No, you're
absolutely right. It's wild. It's a big problem.
Mike, just because you mentioned that kind of
live -work play, something that's been very interesting
to me is we're seeing all kinds of these projects,
whether they're remodeling an old place or they're
building a brand -new building. It's not just
an apartment building or just a shopping center
or just a hotel even. It has all of these things
in one footprint. Can you talk to That trend
a little bit. We can. We have been doing what
we call adaptive reuse, taking old buildings
that might not be utilized at all. It could be
vacant and run down or it could be just the time
to repurpose it. But we take we love taking old
buildings and envisioning what it can be in the
future. So case in point, two projects near and
dear to our hearts. The Pike Block, which is
at the corner of Salina Street and Jefferson.
I'm sorry. Yeah, Fayette Fayette and Salinas
Street in downtown Syracuse. It was five dilapidated
old buildings and the developer team at VIP took
ownership of that and in the mid teens of the
2000s and Converted to 68 apartments in about
30 ,000 feet of commercial space. We've got Center
State CEO as a tenant Pathfinder banks a tenant
original grains a tenant and a few others, FTS,
and forgive me if I'm missing anybody, but then
the 68 apartments, and that's an historic rehab,
and it brought life back to that corner where,
at that time, you know, Warren Street and Slime
Street were coming back to life, but we needed
that anchor, and we're glad that VIP was in there.
But it took some years off of our lives to pull
that project together, but we were full. We had
a waiting list in our apartments for... pretty
much the whole time. COVID, maybe pandemic, we
might have had one or two here more than normal,
but we see the demand, we hear about the demand,
and since then, we've taken our old headquarters,
which is a five -story brick historic building,
converted that to 34 apartments just last year.
Full. It's fantastic. I've got goosebumps as
I say it. So now we're on to the third one, and
that's the redevelopment of the post -standard
building. It's where our headquarters are. We
moved there. About two years ago and we're just
starting to kick off right now Our crews are
doing what we call selective demo when inside
the building we're ripping down walls We're taking
out mechanical systems and we're gonna convert
that section of buildings on the north end and
the east side To 72 apartments Wow, and we really
quite frankly guys. We had been sitting on that
building for a while. We moved in future brands
moved in, MBT Bank moved in, but we were trying
to find one or two larger kind of flex users
that could take advantage of the high ceilings
and the heavy power and the loading docks. And
it was hard to get folks who wanted to assemble
widgets to think about a downtown presence. So
we said, the hell with it. We're going to create
our own development and we're going residential.
And again, we're confident that a year from now,
when the first units come online, we're going
to have lease up will go. as smoothly as it has
been for us over the last, say, decade. And it's
really exciting to bring that end of downtown.
We're at the historic Clinton Square. We see
all the parades. We see the tree laying. We see
the Farmers Market and the taste of Syracuse.
It's all right there at the south end. And now
we're going to reactivate the north end. It's
two city block building. It's a quarter million
square feet. It's a monster. Right. And for us
to bring, what, 72 apartments, probably another
150 people living and working and playing downtown
Syracuse. That's incredible. It's fantastic.
Which side will the apartments face? So the north
then, a lot of folks recognize the post standard
building, that press they added in 1999, that
wall of glass that faces 690. That's going to
be four floors within that of apartments facing
north. Wow. And then on the east side of the
building, where the press used to be before they
added on, we've got another section that's high
bay. And we're going to rip off the facade there.
And we're going to be 25 feet of wall of glass.
And it'll be two stories apartments on the east
side. So that really that Salina Street corridor,
it's going to get reactivated. That for decades
had been covered in brick. And it was where they
produced the paper. Yeah. That's incredible.
Does the paper still have any sort of presence
in that building? No. They moved out. Press moved
out in... Oh, the time's flying. I want to say
summer of 22, they stopped producing the paper.
Maybe it was 23. The paper's produced down in
Pennsylvania, and it's shipped up here a few
times a week. Wow. That's incredible. That press,
when it was installed in 1999, I want to say
it was $8 million. It was state -of -the -art.
It was the best machine you could find on the
planet, and it produced a hell of a quality paper
until the end. But it was... It was obsolete,
if you will. So they literally took it apart
with blowtorches and just scrapped it up. It
was a shame, but it made room for what we're
doing now, and that's bringing more people downtown.
A vibrant downtown in any region is crucial.
And downtown has about 5 ,000 people live in
downtown now. When I started working downtown
in 2012, I want to say the number was 1 ,700,
1 ,800 people. So that's incredible how many
people live, work, and play. And that's not the
city. That's just a central business district
at the heart of downtown. And all those people
obviously support all these businesses down there
as well, right? And there's no wrong answer.
But as that population booms, what's the best?
little type of shop that somebody could open
up that might serve these people. Is it a bakery?
Is it another coffee shop? Is it another restaurant?
What would be your best suggestion to somebody?
I'm not an expert in retail, but I'll give a
case in point. At the Pike Block, we just had
a Milano Bean just moved in. Everybody shout
out to Milano Bean. They're from New York City.
Oh, wow. And they actually bring their baked
goods up every other day from New York. You walk
in there and you feel like you're down in a bodega.
The baked goods look amazing. They taste amazing.
Their coffee's excellent. And I thought, you
know, when we were looking at filling that space,
it was a Jimmy John's before. And I don't want
to say a coffee desert right there, but you could
certainly go down to Cabal, the corner of Jefferson
and Salina. You could go over to Cabal across
the National Grid. you could find a couple other
coffee shops, but there really wasn't one right
in the heart. Out of the way, yeah. And so I
think that's a great use of that space. It's
right next to Original Grain. Shout out to our
friend Chris Biley, who's just kicking it, killing
it with Original Grain. That's awesome. We love
that blend. We find that there's also a bunch
of other retailers popping up, but I'm not the
guy to ask what's missing now. But having 4 ,000
to 5 ,000 people downtown, we're not quite there
for a supermarket, but I think we're close. I
had always heard the number was 7 ,000. I don't
know if that's accurate. So we're getting there.
I wouldn't be surprised at some point we have
a small grocery store. I mean, that makes a lot
of sense. Absolutely. I'm just thinking that
spot, that corner is the hot spot. They just
had Taste of Syracuse right there. Like you mentioned,
the Christmas tree and all that cool stuff, I
feel like that's going to be a hot spot. Hot
spot. It was a great idea. Mike, what is your
role in all these things at VIP and all these
different projects? Yeah, well, thank you. So
I joined VIP in June of 19. And prior to that,
I was a commercial real estate broker for a decade.
Oh, wow. And I got to know the guys and gals
at VIP. And I had said to the founder, Dave Nutting,
one day at a meeting in 2017, I just put it out
there. I looked at him. He was holding the door.
I was walking out. And I said, I want to work
for you someday. The door he said that'd be great
and a door shut and I'm like, holy shit. I just
said that out loud Guys, I think I manifested
it good. We stayed in contact for the next few
years and we figured out Where I would fit and
to answer your question that they brought me
in the raised capital for our real estate development
projects I see and I was you know, I was unfamiliar
at the time with passive investment syndication
returns on investment And I said, guys, you know,
I don't know how to do that. And they're like,
Mike, you've got integrity, you've got relationships,
you've got a reputation, you're hardworking,
you're honest, you've got the ingredients. If
we're going to grow our development arm, we need
to bring in from time to time, partners for equity.
And we think you could do this. And I signed
up right then and there and So lo and behold
a few months later, we had raised almost four
million dollars for our first project Wow, I'm
super proud of that moment back in 2019 for for
never doing it before and having the trust of
my clients and my Relationships and they they
trusted me and my team behind me and they trusted
VIP so when we're not raising capital I Tend
to be kind of a Swiss Army knife. I help with
our leasing for my brokerage days. We own some
buildings who have tenants, so I help with our
tenant fit ups. And I'm also just out there promoting
our design and construction services as well.
So yes, we develop real estate, but we also have
a ton of projects where we're just the architect
of record. We help companies figure out how they're
going to expand, how they're going to remodel,
become more efficient. We help clients. Imagine
their own development project and they don't
know how to develop but they've got an asset
and they're not sure what to do They'll bring
our team in and we'll offer development advisory
services where we're just walking them through
the process How do they get municipal approval?
How do you get site plan approval? I see. How
do you figure out if there's wetlands on the
site or not? Where's the power? How are we gonna
tie in the water? The clients don't know how
to do that So our team can certainly guide them.
We might not be the developer. We're just a support
role And then we certainly build a ton of buildings
around town that we're not the architect either.
So our construction arm can build things that
others design. Our development arm can help clients
figure out what they're going to develop. And
our architecture team helps our clients figure
out that design as well. So we're pretty nimble
when it comes to designing it, building it, developing
it. But if we can put all those actions to work
on one project, we call that integrated. We can
do an integrated project where we come in and
we develop it we design it we build it That's
the that's the home run for us, but that's probably
every two to three years quite frankly Yeah,
it takes a while and you know the cost of money's
never been higher. So interest rates, right?
Clients look at it and say oh my god How am I
gonna pay for this and you can help them figure
that out and there's incentives and there's grants
and there's tax credits so you got to know how
to Navigate those markets so we can help our
clients with that but really just it starts with
a thought of, hey, I need to do something. What
am I going to do? And just call us. We'll help
them at least get started. And we're happy to
pass it off to someone else if we're not the
right fit. I love that. I love those things.
Mike, I want to ask you one more question about
this. And then we're going to just change the
channel real quick and learn a little bit more
about you personally. But anything you can tell
us about An upcoming project something something
folks might not know about that might be kind
of interesting on the horizon Whether it's one
of yours or just things happening in New York
anything like that come to mind Yeah, there's
a couple things You know, I had mentioned the
redevelopment the post so we're super proud of
the second phase that's happening with the with
the residential components downtown We are also
working on a unknown a confidential client to
build them a large daycare facility. So we're
designing a daycare facility for a group that's
going to have thousands of employees eventually
in our market. So we're super proud of that one.
We're still a year or two away. You stack the
kids vertically, you can get a lot more in the
room. Yes. Yeah. I've done that. It's true. Yeah.
And there is a huge demand for daycare and housing.
So we're finding ourselves becoming part of conversations
about community centers. We're also super excited
about Latavius Murray's project that's coming.
Latavius is a... The running back? The running
back. No way. Yes, sir. So Latavius grew up in
Nedro, New York, and he wanted to build a community
center on behalf of his best friend growing up,
Jonathan Diaz. And we've been helping Latavius
for a couple of years now. We helped him identify
the site, which is right behind... Aldi's and
Nedro right in the heart of where Latavius grew
up. And we've also helped them find the operator.
So Integrated Community Alternatives Network,
AKA ICANN out of Utica, is coming west. I had
met Steve Balger, the president and CEO of ICANN
a couple years ago, and was telling him about
Latavius' project. And Steve said, you know what?
That's exactly the type of thing we do. And we've
been looking for an excuse to come to Onondaga
County. So we married those guys together. They
now have an operating agreement. They're partners.
We're hoping to have shovels in the ground of
spring of 26 to build a, call it 40 ,000 foot
community center with daycare, classrooms with
computer labs, teen lounge, a gymnasium, a running
track, lockers, showers. the indoor playground.
And that project is going to fulfill a really
important need on the southern end of Syracuse
for, again, that daycare component that is so
big. This ties into my argument when people say,
athletes get paid too much. They get paid millions
of dollars just to play sports. And that's one
of my arguments is... But you don't see what
they do with that money after they retire. And
a lot of them reinvest in their own communities
and places where they grew up. And that's a perfect
example. 100%. I got to tell you, Latavius is
one of the kindest people I've ever met. And
as he was maturing through the NFL, he went and
got his MBA from Whitman. Shout out to Syracuse
University School. He's got his MBA from Whitman.
He is sharp. He's got a passion to give back
to community. He's putting those resources to
work, Mike. Yeah, that's great. That's great.
I love to hear that, man. That's got to be so
fun to work on. It's fantastic. What we're really
honing in on now is that next phase of design.
So we've got the schematic design done. So that's
about 30 % of design. Now we're working towards
design development drawing. So we'll be about
60%, 65 % complete. We'll go out to budget at
that point, update the budget. One of the things,
as we design, project we can actually get a price
it as we're designing it. So versus traditional
model of designing it all the way through construction
drawings and then going out to bid and then the
client figuring out that they can't afford to
do the project. I see. We're budgeting it schematic
and we're budgeting again at DD and then we'll
do the final budget once the CDs are done and
along the way we can maneuver those designs that
if it's beyond the budget, let's scale it back.
Let's talk about a different alternative before
we spend a lot of money or more money on architects
that design something that can't be built. That's
incredible. That's that type of, you know, I
guess I would say innovation, like you said,
it's not the way that it used to be done. Yeah.
It moves things forward. And I'm sure that's
the type of thing that makes your company a massive
you know, been around for half a century successful
organization. So it really does. Having that
design and the price checks throughout the process,
it not only keeps the client informed, but oftentimes
if the budget's intact, when we get up to that
60, 70 percent complete, we can go to the town
and get municipal approvals. We can get site
plan approval while we finish up the cities,
which means we can get the shovel in the ground
sooner. Right now, folks are trying to figure
out how to get it done. And when you tell them
it might take 12 to 14 months to build a building,
and that might be after six and nine months of
approvals, they're like, I don't have two years.
Well, let's keep going. Let's try to shorten
that window. I feel like that's why your company
is so key, because I'm going to assume that a
lot of your clients don't realize that at 60%,
70 % completion, you can go and do that. So I
think that's such a huge benefit of working with
you guys. The schedule helps. And again, it all
ties back. It's all so tied in because it will
also tie back to the capital and the lending
that they need to go out. And so if they can
get their budget sooner, they can talk to the
bank sooner. They can get their pricing sooner.
They know what they can afford. It just helps
everybody. Knowledge is power. Sure, it is. Keep
them informed throughout the process. It speeds
it up, and it makes it way more smooth, way smoother.
Thank you. Words are hard on a Monday morning.
Listen, words are very hard on a Monday morning.
I was going to say, it sounded like something
that the financiers would love that situation.
So that's got to be great. Yeah. That's awesome,
Mike. So listen, let's just take a couple minutes
before we let you go. Tell us about non -VIP,
Mike. What are you doing when you're not? He's
always VIP. Building homes for people downtown.
Well, I'm coming off the father's end. I'm a
proud parent. My kids are 26. Well, soon to be
26, 22, and 20. Girl, boy, girl. I'm fortunate
that the older two, Cassidy and Connor, they're
both out of college. They're both committed to
staying in central New York. That's awesome.
We get to see them on a periodic basis that they're
here. They come over for Sunday dinners. They
come over and hang out in the lake. And then
my youngest, Macy, will be starting her junior
year at Hartwick College. She plays basketball,
so we're still that proud parent that get to
go sit in the bleachers and cheer on her kids.
They were all super athletic growing up. I was
a coach growing up. The youth athletics, I was
always engaged in the schools and the sports.
And to have my youngest still playing is I'm
very thankful that she does that. And so, outside
of work, parent, first and foremost. I try to
be a good husband to my wife, Kate. We just celebrated
our 27th anniversary. Wow, that's killing it.
I think. Oh, shit. Maybe it's 28. I don't know.
We'll edit it. At that point, it's all just,
you know, 28. And... Extra points on them. You
know, and then, community -wise, I'm still heavily
involved. I'm a United Way board member of Central
New York. I'm on the Syracuse Builders Exchange
Board. I'm still an active Profound member. Do
you sleep? No, no, I'm a guy who can live off
of six hours. That a boy. And, you know, you
try to just give back. I try to give, give, and
give. And it turns out that you'll receive tenfold
if I just continue to give. Another shout out
I'll do in this little side hustle I've got.
It's also a podcast platform called Making the
City Smaller. And we try to shine a light on
the community and help connect folks who are
probably passing in close proximity all the time.
But if we can introduce them through informal
contact or more purposeful contact and connect
those dots and help those companies and organizations
grow what their mission is. So we use making
the city smaller, just build valid and valued
connections. Again, tell folks stories so people
are are engaged with that person before they
even meet Matt or Mike. They watch you on this,
and they're like, I want to work with those guys.
Yeah. That's the whole concept. We preach that
all the time with our clients, too, is that we're
not, yes, obviously you're selling your business
and your product, but it's selling you first.
People are falling in love with the person behind
the mic, and then going, what is it that you
do? Oh, that works for me. We could work together.
Dakota Malone. Dakota Malone alone that guy's
that guy's the most forget Dos Equis. He's the
most interesting man in the world He 100 % is
and I love I love Dakota like a brother and he
has been Huge part of our making the city smaller
platform his story that he told was incredible
and he found Relationships across the country.
Yeah, because they watched his story about who
he is just like he told you guys Yeah, and here
he is three years later still doing the thing
same thing and doubling down and and building
that reputation as an expert in his industry.
Right. It's awesome. What a great concept for
a podcast, by the way. I think that's wonderful.
Because there's so many times in life you don't
realize you're running parallel, like you said,
with, you know, you're right next to someone
that it would be a match made in heaven for whatever
it is you're involved in, and you don't even
know it. Yeah. Now we have the technology and
the mediums to be able to get out there and make
that connection. So that's what a great idea.
That's awesome. We have one more quick story.
So Kip White, Casey White's dad over at Chimera,
he was at one of our events recently and he's
like, hey, I got an idea. How about we go up
in my plane and we and we do make the city smaller
from three thousand feet above. Holy cow. Hell
yeah. So last week, I think it was last week,
we went up and we flew out the Griffiths and
we came back the north end of Oneida Lake. ended
up in Clay and Bonesville and Phoenix and came
down back to the city. And we were popping in
on different projects VIP had built or projects
Chimera had outfitted with their access control.
And we don't know where that story will lead
yet, but we captured some great b -roll from
3000 feet above. That's incredible. And we're
going to use that content to help shine a light
on all these companies that are out there advocating
for how we all make our city smaller. How do
we shine a light on the good news of New York?
We do it together. Yeah. No, 100%. Listen, I
mean, that guy would have had me at, hey, let's
go up in my plane. I'd be like, cool. I don't
care what we're doing. I'm in. No, that's awesome.
I love hearing that. And those are the types
of things that we like to celebrate. We've talked
about a couple other local folks doing that same
thing. And this is the thing that we need. As
we're talking about all these things that come
here, and we started in the beginning where you
mentioned in a few months people are going to
believe this is really happening. I think what
we're seeing right now is still this undercurrent
of just negativity and, all right, so I'll believe
it when I see it. It's never -ending, and we
need this positivity of, you know... Well, we
lived through 30 years of pessimism because we'd
be promised X, and it wouldn't come materialized.
Manufacturing was leaving in the 90s. We're not
out of college. It was hard to justify staying
here, but we did. And I'm glad we did. But first
time, I feel like in decades, we've got an actual
opportunity to do a transformative reset of our
region. And we've got everything we need. We've
got great climate. Sure, it gets cloudy. But
we all show up to work the next day. After 18
inches of snow, it's not debilitating. We don't
have the natural disasters. We just have some
cloudy skies. We just got to find our vitamin
D, find that red light, and get some color in
your in your body mechanically or fly out of
the air and come back. But the debilitating natural
disasters do not impact us. We show up to work
and we've got the resources and we've got the
people and we've got the colleges. How do we
keep these kids when they graduate to stay here?
That's right. We're going to have the jobs now.
I live in Ithaca and that's one of my big things
is I think we've got to find a way to get industry
into Ithaca. Cornell's pumping out some of the
most brilliant doctors and engineers in the world
this veteran area Yeah, and then see ya and it's
like how do we keep them here? So I I'm totally
on board with you on that and Syracuse to obviously
Syracuse University. That's that's been a classic
Upstate New York prop. Yeah, but great schools
all over the place and and then nowhere to put
them. Yeah. Yeah, but It's great. I I'm totally
with you. I feel like it's our time Even the
bills are good. We've paid, you know, it's like
What's going on here? The bills are good and
the region's growing and all these promises are
coming true. It's just awesome Yeah, the region
one more thing. The reason is super important.
I think I've heard Matt talked about I know I've
talked to Matt offline about this We really are
doing a better job. We as the collective community
promoting the region So it's the Mohawk Valley
is inclusive of Central New York, which is inclusive
of the figure lakes Which is inclusive of the
southern tier? and then into the North Country.
So whether it's Remington, you know, we've talked
about Remington and the redevelopment of that
and everything that the Herkimer County IDA,
our buddy John Pisek out there is killing it
with development. So as our footprint kind of
stays within that two hour drive, we love the
Mohawk Valley through the Finger Lakes and down
to the Binghamton. Stacey Duncan down at the
agency in Broome County is doing amazing things
to get her region aligned. It's no longer county
by county. The counties are getting together
and then those regions are getting together and
then the regions are working together. So it's
really promoting upstate New York and we can
talk about that line. Where is the line that
you were showing the other day? I agree with
Mike. It's somewhere north of the city. It's
that Newberg. I saw that line you drew. I'm like,
I think that's right. And we really have the
opportunity to promote the resources that we
all have upstate. Wherever you draw that line,
and we're in the heart of it, 81 and 90 is critical.
And whether we go two hours in any direction,
our region needs to be promoting the region,
because we've got great assets and a ton of colleges,
a ton of graduates that need to find a reason
to stay. That's it. Amen. Drop the mic. I'm going
to let you out of here with one last question.
Yeah, because we're talking about all these great
things in the region. I'm excited. I would love
to get your top five resources in central New
York that that people from outside the area might
not know. Great question. All right. Well, the
Adirondacks, right? First and foremost, the Adirondacks.
There's no reason anybody won't fall in love
with the Adirondacks. So that's that's always
my go to. The Finger Lakes are amazing. Um, you
know, you just, those bodies of water, they're
all just incredible. So whether you're a wine
type of person or not, go to the Finger Lakes,
take a tour, understand the heritage. Um, you
know, I love the dome. I love Syracuse university.
You know, I think the dome goes right up in there.
Um, that's three brother. Man, I'm struggling.
We can edit. Don't worry. Take your time. And
the city, New York City is not far. My kids,
what they'll do is they'll drive to Albany and
then they ride the train down. I think that's
a great way to do it. So I think New York City
or Philly or Boston, all within those five hours.
You know, I think that should be part of our
conversation that we're reaching the region.
Toronto's included in that, right? But for those
five top five, I'm thinking Adirondacks, Finger
Lakes. The Dome. The Dome. The cities outside
of here. And then, you know, I'm really struggling
with more. Give me one. What do you got? How
about? How about you baseball guy like a like
a Cooperstown fan? There you go. All of fame
is a good one. I'm a lacrosse kid, but baseball
come October. I'll pay attention. Cooperstown
Hall of Fame is amazing. If you've never toured,
you got to go down to those lower levels where
they've got amazing history and and product.
Doubleday's field. I go down there for a conference
every year and we the attendees playing a softball
tournament on Doubleday. That's incredible. It's
like, you know, you're you're out there and you're
thinking about the history of a baseball which
I'm not a Huge historian, but there's something
special about that field. It's amazing. Yeah
used to go there as a kid I grew up like an hour
away and they used to have the Hall of Fame game
every year where two teams from them will be
would come and play And we would just stay out
in the parking lot There were like 50 kids and
we would just run around shagging follow balls.
Oh, yeah, it's really Niagara Falls. I got there
you go. Yeah Love it. Mike Durkin, where can
folks find your podcast and VIP, I guess, if
they want to learn about that. Oh, well, thank
you, guys. So makingthecitiesmaller .com. You'll
find us on YouTube, Spotify, LinkedIn. The easiest
spot is just find me on LinkedIn, follow me,
and then you'll be certain to get connected to
making the city smaller. For VIP, it's just VIPstructures
.com. Again, we design, we build, and we develop
real estate. right in the heart of downtown Syracuse
and we're celebrating our 50th anniversary which
is wild and Meg is taking us to the next 50 years
50 years of any like if you I don't even know
if you snored for 50 years I'm impressed like
if you do anything for 50 years well and also
statistically family businesses don't typically
last a lot of people think it's a thing but it
doesn't typically work that well and Meg is an
absolute superstar and obviously She had incredible
shoes to fill and she's doing a great job. So
I agree. I if anybody's gonna take another 50
It would be her do you are real quick? Are any
of your kids interested in the same field? Are
any of them looking into going into your a little
bit? So Connor Connor was thinking when he graduated
from Syracuse University in May that he might
want to get in the project management he's a
high school graduate, which is a combination
of information information technology and and
software and But he was lending towards project
management construction, watching me and watching
some others. And he had done some labor for a
home remodeler. But he ended up in a job with
United Radio, which is another company that's
been around for decades. You know, just a stakeholder
in our market. And he's a project coordinator
for them, which is a great launch pad. And that's
a great mix of technology with his degree and
the project management, which he enjoys. So we'll
see where his career takes him. And my younger
one, I don't know. I think she could do anything
she wants. She's smart. She's talented. She's
strong. She's independent. So we'll see. That's
awesome, man. Congratulations on everything.
Keep doing what you're doing. We need you here.
Thank you, sir. Yeah. Mike Durkin, it's been
a pleasure. Any time you want to come back in
and tell us about what's going on or just shoot
the breeze. Please. That's what we're into. Clearly
you can see when I said this guy was tapped in
to see what I was talking about. We're not kidding.
Absolutely a pleasure to have you, my friend.
It's great to see you guys. And with that, we'll
take a quick break. When we come back, we got
some weekend stuff to review. Oh, yes. We got
all kinds of... We got some news in the content
world. Crazy stuff. We'll see what else we get
to. Yeah, we'll be back. Some guy was mad at
me. There's a guy mad at you? Oh, yeah. Yeah,
we've got a lot to talk about on good news York
sponsored by ads on the go ads on the go get
ads on the go calm. That's it You bought that
ha I almost bought that oh, sorry all right here
we go Welcome back to Good News UR. We got a
bunch of random things, and I feel like we've
kind of run out of time for our random things
in the last few episodes. I know, and I hate
it. I want to take a few extra minutes. Even
though we just had a phenomenal interview with
our man Mike Durkin, I told you that guy was
cool. That dude. Yeah, you keep bringing in really,
like every time you got a really cool guest coming
in from profound, and I'm like, okay. They are
all amazing, dude. It's like just innovative,
smart, kind. Check all the boxes, man. I love
it. I love it. It's a great time. But we got
a lot of other things, like I said, that I wanted
to talk about. And I might as well go with the
first one, since you sort of... Dude. You sort
of... If this works... On TikTok, this is not
a thing. It should be a thing. I have a TikTok
shop affiliate. I could sell this thing, but
I don't care to. I've seen this ad like 10 times,
and I've almost bought it 10 times. It's a lawn
order sound effect gavel. Gong, gong. The best
part of it the reason that TV show has like four
franchises and 5 ,000 episodes is this fucking
sound effect kong kong whoever on that show came
up with that idea deserves like 75 % ownership
of the show kong kong Dude this is It comes with
a little gavel and sound effect pad and I don't
know it's gonna be it's gonna be I'm gonna guess
it's gonna be like kinky Not bad It's a little
up here, I thought it'd be more down here. I
don't know if the mic will pick it up from over
there, but it is the official law and order sound.
I gotta say, the second most amusing thing, yeah,
it's a little, you gotta hit the right spot.
There you go. You're a bad judge. Okay. Yes,
I am. It came with this cute little book. What?
The history of law and order that thing she show
do that thing should be as long as war and peace
Look at how many episodes they've had This is
the original law and order not as for you. Oh
my bad. It's got iced tea Jack McAvoy. Yeah,
of course. Who cares? I can way this is again
Proof that you can feed me stupid shit in the
feed and I will buy it law and order my wife
used to watch this and My favorite part was always
the opening when they find the murder and then
I would go and leave and come back for the end
So I would know okay This is what happened and
did they get convicted or not my favorite part
about law and order is how? someone will be brutally
Mary is and The police will go talk to a witness
and the witness doesn't stop what the fuck they're
doing. Yeah They just keep working. I'm busy
gardening. Yeah, you're right. Hey, can you tell
us about the dude that had his head sawed off
yesterday? I don't know, man. I got 15 petunias
to take care of. These tulips gotta get in here,
bro. I don't really have time for... Like, dude,
you're so right. Like, they're too good for the...
Like, if a detective came to me and I was gardening
and they were like, I have a few questions, I
would be like, what? What did I do? Guy's working
in a factory and he just, he doesn't even fucking
stop. No, he's like... What? I can't hear you.
I'm trying to work over here, you jack -off.
It's wild. It is wild. Wild. It is wild. And
you know, the one thing I appreciated about Law
& Order, because remember when we were kids in
Scooby -Doo, and at the end they would pull the
mask off, it was always the first person that
they talked to. Sure. So I was always like, yeah,
that you know the first person they talked to
is going to end up being the culprit. But at
Law & Order, there were some twists and turns.
Sometimes it's the second person. Sometimes it's
the third. It's a wild, wild show. Anyway. That's
my toy of the day dude. Excellent 10 out of time.
We haven't done that bit in a while What did
we call that bit something we did by shit or
something? Remember we did that Matt by shit
Let's stick with that. All right on to the next
There we go, what's the next topic and what about
your birthday dude happy birthday and happy father's
day Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, Matt had a birthday
this weekend and Danny and I suck we didn't go
But we had good reasons. So here's the thing.
We had a surprise party. Shout out to my wife
for playing a surprise party. I didn't know anything
about it. And all my friends and coworkers and
everybody who showed up. That was fucking awesome.
Yeah, man. We had it right down the road from
the studio at this pinball place that I had never
been in. What's it called? Skill Shot, I believe.
Yeah. Phenomenal. They did the whole thing. They
got us food and drinks and unlimited pinball
playing. And we had a great time. You fellas
were both very busy. And I don't fault you at
all, first of all, for not making it. I wouldn't
have expected you to, coming from how far away
you are. There we would have been. You guys made
me, like, one of the best videos. I almost, as
I'm watching this, and I'm laughing at it, I'm
like, these guys, why don't they make more of
this shit at work? But it was great. And we will
play it, and I'm gonna post it and share it.
It was the very least we could do. We love you
as a friend, but also as our boss. And we felt
incredibly guilty that we couldn't be there,
but we had good reason. My son had his own birthday
party down in Vestal, New York. I would have
had to drive separate and come up, and Danny
put on a hell of a Loricana gaming event, which
was wild and awesome. The fact that you've trained
him to say that word, buddy, is truly impressive.
I sound cool in the gaming world now. I'm like,
hey, you guys play Loricana? Well, you should.
Even though I have no idea what it is. But yeah,
it was phenomenal, and I appreciate it, and I
thank you. We love you, man, and we're so glad
that your wife was awesome, and she had a private
Facebook thing. And I'm more impressed that Danny
and I didn't blow it. Did you really? Be honest.
Did you have any inkling? I had no clue. Zero.
My wife told me we were doing something for my
birthday, and that was... all I knew, so I don't
know, she's taking me to dinner or something,
you know what I mean? She and I are both not
necessarily big event people for this. We've
always been more about the kids than each other.
So this was a total surprise. It was phenomenal.
We had a great time. Great to see everybody.
I fucking love people for coming out. Well, you're
very loved, man, and happy birthday. And we'll
share that fun video as well, because like I
said, you guys. It's a good vid. You guys did
a great. It's a good vid. I'll give this piece
of advice. If you can't make it to a friend's
party, send a goofy video instead. Do you think
it made up for us not being there? Do you think
it was like, you know what, this was justified
for them not coming? You know what I mean? Sure.
You didn't eat any of the food or anything. It
was perfect. That's true. That's true. Well,
I think in the video we say, we're actually doing
you a favor. You see us at least four days a
week, so this was our gift. It was good, it was
good. We had a great time and I really appreciate
everybody. And everybody on Facebook, I had like
hundreds of folks reach out and wish me the old
happy level up day. If it wasn't for Facebook,
I wouldn't know anyone's birthday. I'll be honest.
I'm right there with you, man. Including myself.
Luckily mine's a holiday, so it's the one holiday
you don't get off. No. But anyway, it was a great
time. It was a great time. Also great Father's
Day. Yeah. Father's Day to you. Thank you, buddy.
I'm like one of those kids whose birthday is
near Christmas. So my family kind of merges the
birthday and Father's Day, which is awesome.
My daughter had a gymnastics recital. Nice. Brilliant
scheduling on Father's Day. Of course. But it
was a great time. And you're going to spend the
time with the kids. Absolutely. Who cares? Before
we quickly jump away, I just wanted to kick it
to Danny for just a second, buddy. And I don't
know if you just want to mention, how was your
event on Saturday? How was this? Yeah, Danny,
I don't know if that setting is still on the
camera where you can flip it around because I
think they reset but It's all good. It was awesome.
You know, we had 32 players We actually just
got I was talking to Mike in between the break
here. We got picked up by a Lorkana Account that
specializes in they're called ink decks. So in
Lorkana, there's ink They just specialize in
collecting all the decks from big tournaments.
So they just posted us and tagged us on their
thing. So now more Lord Khan of content creators
can go through our tournament and look at the
lists and especially the more unique lists that
stray off from the meta. So I'm excited to see
that. It's such a very niche thing, but it's
amazing the community that that looks for that.
Well, yeah, I think it's more. I'm sorry. Are
you speaking English? Old English. Surprisingly,
yes. No, I think that's what makes it more nerding
me. Yeah That's massive. No, but I think that's
more impressive and it was makes it more special
Is that because it's such a niche game when people
who play that game? Find that there's like a
place to go for it. It's it's humongous man.
It's awesome. Congratulations It's it's genuinely
awesome. And I'm really I'm really happy that
everything went well for you. Thanks guys. You're
welcome, buddy so a Couple other things we want
to talk about one We'll throw out, and this is
Good News York, so we wanna stay positive. We'll
stay very positive. We got some fantastic feedback
from a listener recently. They suggested, it
was so nice of them to put in a suggestion that
we didn't ask for. How considerate. They suggested
that we didn't have as much swearing in our clips.
It appears that this person, while an adult,
is not necessarily skilled in the ways as adults
function, and they were a little upset to hear
that I might say fuck. Yeah. On the internet.
I felt it was more directed towards me, because
I do swear a lot when I get excited, you know?
Like, I think we posted a clip the other day
where we were opening your gifts and I dropped,
like, two F -bombs. I guess I just assumed it's
me, because I get it in every other word. I thought
it was more of me than you, but I'll gladly let
you take the blame. You know, here's the thing.
We're on the internet, you know? And adults swear,
and we want to be real. That's the biggest thing.
You know, we want to be positive, we want to
be upbeat, but we don't want to be fake about
it. No. You know, we're not pretending to like
these things. We don't pretend to support these
businesses or these entrepreneurs we're talking
about. We're real. And in real life, Mike and
I swear a shit ton. We really do. So if you guys
just sit here and be real and do a natural organic
content podcast, you're going to hear some fucks
once in a while. And the guy that wrote me, I
know him. He's a great guy. And I think he was
coming from a place of being like, I really like
the show, but like heads up. You a member of
the clergy or something? No, not not at all actually
And and so I was actually thankful because we
do appreciate feedback first day with a high
-speed connection But but you know what I found
the most refreshing is how much it triggered
you I love it you defended our honor and I appreciate
that because I love to fucking swear. Yeah It's
not that I love it. You know, I remember when
Howard I'm a huge Howard Stern fan I don't think
I've missed an episode since 1997 when he went
the terrestrial radio or from terrestrial radio
to satellite. Yep Remember the first few episodes
and few interviews before he was telling everybody
like look Everyone's gonna expect us to come
on and all the things that the FCC hated about
us We're gonna just and he's like, I don't want
us to swear more than we did. We're just go,
you know what I mean? We're not gonna swear more
now. It's just now we don't and it's funny is
that it ended up being a Ton of swearing because
that's naturally how adults how they talk And
so, and I'm glad you, I thought what I thought
was gonna happen was you were gonna say, you
know what, he's right, we gotta stop, and I didn't
wanna do that because like you said, this really
is our natural reactions. Yeah, you know, and
we do things professional, and we do business
content and things of that nature. What we don't
do is make content for children. We don't. You
know, and that's not to say that we're obscene
in any way, but the whole thing, this is pointed
at professionals in New York State learning about
New York State, learning about things to do with
their family, but this is not a children's show.
And in the podcast feeds, it is specifically
marked as explicit. And in YouTube, it specifically
says it's not made for children. So I don't know
what to tell you, bro. I dare say, and I'm not
just trying to grasp at straws here. I dare say
when I'm listening to a podcast or anything and
someone swears, it immediately authenticates
that podcast for me. And I'm not saying you have
to swear. What I'm saying if it makes sense for
what they're talking about and they swear I suddenly
go okay, so this isn't completely scripted They're
passionate about what they're talking about.
They're real people right and by the way I was
in you know, I did radio and the FCC sucked I
get why they were there and they're important
to be there Yeah, but you know, we don't have
to worry about that. So let's celebrate that
and and again, it's not just us It's not like
we're breaking boundaries here and we're cutting
edge. It's the fucking internet. Yeah, man You
know you'll flip through your feed and you'll
see a clip of us telling a joke or saying fuck
You know, man, that's so offensive and then on
the next feed you get to see your neighbor Yeah,
threatening your other neighbor's life. Yeah
because of who they voted for for local dog catcher
Yeah, so I'm not oh my god like they said the
f -word and then it switches to body cam footage
of someone getting 18 holes put in We are the
least vulgar content on the entire internet.
I would agree When I'm not talking as Danny said
I'm an HR night well, but You got a real me and
I can really get going tapes. Don't roll 24 7.
Oh my but anyway That's enough about that. Yes
last thing I wanted to talk about And I kind
of wish I had that I don't even know and Danny
if I'm putting you on the spot too much Tell
me is there any way to pull up a link that I
might have sent in the chat Do I know what this
is? This is the the podcasting Oh boy. Oh boy.
So so I can't wait to hear what you think of
podcasts are exploding Mm -hmm. Okay, and I'm
gonna say whether or not we find this clip. I'm
gonna set it up for you Uh, I'm sorry for throwing
this at you live Podcasts are exploding. We know
that that's yeah launch growth mode content.
So many people told us we hit it at just the
right time Podcasts certainly aren't a new concept.
They've been around for literally decades Mm
-hmm a decade ago. I tried to launch a podcast
business in Syracuse as many folks know Didn't
fucking go anywhere. Didn't know what nobody
knew what a podcast. I'm swearing back then sorry
Um, so, you know, it's been this ebb and flow,
but especially, um, and I don't know exclusively,
and maybe we give this more credit than that,
but in the last election, many folks believe
that podcasts, uh, played a massive role. And
you, regardless of what your take on whether
or not that was good or bad, that skyrocketed
these things to the forefront. And now everybody
has a podcast thanks to growth mode content.
Um, and This trend is growing. And I can see
why folks might worry about that, especially
folks like us in this industry. Looks like Danny's
got it. And as long as he thinks the audio works,
I'm going to ask him to play this clip first.
Oh, I haven't seen this. And then we'll talk
about it. Great. I thought you watched it. We
just saw this in the chat. Oh, OK. I thought,
never mind. So here's the clip. Walmart is launching
podcast studios. And let it rip, buddy. We'll
hear the story. Walmart's launching podcast studios.
Okay. Remember back to the day when JCPenney
had those... We might just need our speakers
up. ...family portrait studios where you got
those awkward family photos? There we go. Walmart
is bringing that back, but not family photos.
They're launching podcast studios. Imagine walking
into Walmart and recording a podcast. They just
launched their first location in Franklin, Tennessee,
but it's not just podcasts. You can record music,
photography, video podcasts. It's really a space
where you can create all types of content because
Walmart knows that content is the new currency
And podcast studios have been popping up everywhere
here in Miami We went from two to like 50 studios
in the last two years They are popping up on
every corner because people need content in 2025.
That's exactly why I built the Airbnb of podcast
studio studio so Can you cut the monitors Boy
Walmart knows how to ruin everything don't they
I? Mean part of that is you got to keep in mind.
That's not even necessarily Walmart That's somebody
that goes because they have these spaces all
over the place and you know partners come to
them They go hey, I want to you know I think
there's the haircut place sure in a lot of Walmart's
they go hey Let's let's put our place in all
your Walmart's you know I don't know necessarily
they seek that out hmm. I don't know um but This
is something that's very exciting to me And I
know a lot of people might think, especially
when that fellow mentions how this has exploded
and studios have exploded. Right. As somebody
who runs, I don't want to say, we're not typically
a studio. A lot of these studio spaces and especially
that Walmart is a cool spot for you to use. Right.
That's not what we do at Growth Mode Content.
Right. We have the cool spot, but then we also
have the team that does all the work that goes
into it, which is the part that nobody imagines.
Sure. It's also the reason I'm very excited about
this. because all of these very cool, very nice
-looking sets in cool studios for do -it -yourself
content is gonna show people the reason we exist.
It's a lot of fucking work. And it's not just
the sitting down and recording. It's the editing.
It's the posting. It's the promotion. It's the
strategy that goes behind it all so that somebody
will actually watch the stuff. These are all
the extra and the most time consuming pieces
of any content creation strategy. And it's the
thing that none of these just studios or the
places that offer you to rent the room for whatever
an hour, none of those offer that. So anybody
who does this with any seriousness and anybody
who gets a little traction is going to find exactly
what I found in my business when I started making
podcasts for my business. The business gets successful
because of the podcast and you don't have time
to do the podcast. Right. Enter growth mode content
where we literally do make it so easy that all
you do have to do is show up, sit down and record
and all of that other work is done for you. And
you have a reliable, consistent daily posting
schedule and a strategy behind your content and
all the other pieces that actually make it successful.
So the more and more people want that to me,
that just drives demand to us. especially when
I believe we are setting ourselves, and we're
continuing to grow in this manner, setting ourselves
to be the premium option, right? And there's
a couple other great studios in Syracuse. They
are working to do the same things, but these
are all good for us. You know what I mean? I
see, and that's why you are the entrepreneur
you are. You know... You find the positive in
everything and so I thought oh my god They're
gonna half -ass this and they're gonna water
up the the industry down and you were like no
no, and you say they are well they are but Here's
what I'm thinking my mind immediately goes to
you remember people from people of Walmart calm
Oh, yeah, so I'm thinking oh podcast studios
for Walmart clients This is great, and then my
brain goes to people of Walmart calm and I go
what kind of Circus is this going to be realize
the entire Mark my words right now. Okay. I'll
mark them. There will be an entire booming genre
of react content of people that do nothing that
react to these shitty Walmart podcasts. Okay.
People of Walmart as exactly what you're describing.
So I'm okay on a content level. And I'm telling
you, your TikTok feed, and now that I said this
out loud, it'll probably already start to happen,
but your TikTok feed will be filled with nothing
but the worst podcasts on the planet and people
ridiculing. Because my band played a festival
in Mason City, Iowa, and we stopped along the
way in Iowa at an Iowa Walmart. And I'm just
telling you, that wing of podcasts is going to
be something. Look, you're right. It's great
because if anything, it's a business card for
the industry itself. you know, if Walmart's doing
it, if these big companies are doing it, you
know, we know it's worth doing and worth giving
it a shot. So, yeah, I mean... Well, you know,
it also just... To me, it just further underscores
that we're in the right place and this is the
right medium. We did it before. You know, a decade
ago when I was doing this, there weren't 50 podcast
studios in Miami, and it wasn't, you know, as
much as people had heard about it. And you can
say that it was already booming. That was around
the time of Serial, if anybody remember that.
Oh, that was the first podcast I ever remember
about hearing about. That really put podcasting
on the map. But still, that was nothing compared
to where we're at today. And what's very interesting
to me is people are finally waking up to this
idea of content for their business, right? We've
been in this traditional advertising model for
far too long. Far too long, where the only way
to grow your business is to make a commercial,
first and foremost. Sure. and run it on traditional
mediums, but then folks went and made commercials
and started running them on the internet. Like,
oh, this is just the same thing, right? No. It's
not. Because it's attention -driven. You know
what I mean? I don't want to watch a commercial.
Do you want to watch a commercial? Only if it's
for a law and order gavel. There you go. And
that's it. That's it. And the algorithms know
that. So they don't feed your commercials. Correct.
So you can do what you used to do and hire a
Hollywood movie studio and produce a $100 ,000
ad that's 30 seconds to pitch your thing. Yep.
But the algorithm's going to go nobody gives
a shit and nobody's going to see it. Yeah. And
that's where this organic content, that's why
this is so prevalent. This is why we are doing
what we're doing. It's a double edged sword because...
you know, first of all, when we started here,
part of me thought, but man, the oversaturation
in this industry is gonna make it harder for
people to succeed. And then I realized, actually,
the oversaturation doesn't play a role because
if you really have something that are gonna captivate
people and get their attention, if you have the
content, the cream will rise to the top. 100%.
Even if there's a million other Walmart podcasts,
if you have something to add in this world, you
know, it will rise. I think it might even further
propel them. And one thing I honestly worry about
is the honest place that'll be the biggest challenge
is for the up and comer. Right. They're going
to have to wade through a lot more shit. Barrier
of entry? To get, you know, to get some volume.
But... Again, this is where the proper strategy.
And the other thing is, we'll go back to what
we've always talked about so many times, is the
average podcast doesn't go past episode 20. It
doesn't even make it to episode 20. Yeah. Right?
So Walmart's going to make a ton of money on
people that will record two episodes and have
fun. Sure. And never do it again. And good for
them. Do you think they'll do it right as far
as executing, hiring the right position? No,
no, no, no, no. I'm with you. I think where it
could go wrong and probably will is they're going
to just nonchalantly hire people. What's your
credentials? I have a podcast at home. Great.
And I think the quality might suffer a little
bit. If they are smart in this model, what they
will do is make it almost completely automated.
So they'll do things similar to we have where
instead of tripods and things, you've got wall
mounted cameras. They're in a fixed spot and
a simple like one button record. so anybody could
do it themselves. If they're smart, that's how
they would do it. And just looking at the numbers
on this, because I've been running the numbers
on these business models for literally a decade,
if you're gonna pay somebody, especially if you
think about two somebodies, the amount of money
you gotta charge to even break even is, in my
mind, way more than any... consumer, any casual,
I want to try it guy is ever going to invest.
So chances are they're going to make it dirt
cheap and they're going to do it by probably
not well staffing. That's what I was thinking.
And you know, the ultimate irony will be they'll
still have their perfume and cologne locked up,
but the podcast studio will be wide open. Well,
I mean, look, it's going to be fun for us just
to cover this. and see what happens. I do like
the comparison to the 90s, you know, JCPenney
portrait studio thing, because when you think
about it, though, how many people... There were
photographers, same as we have, that, you know,
independent, really talented, artistic people,
and yet, I don't know, how many millions of families
brought their kids to JCPenney's to get the picture,
you know? No, you're right. It's an interesting
concept in a modern form. I'm just, um... Interested
to see how it goes. I'm happy for the industry.
I'm just I'm worried about them not executing
it correctly. But again, that'll lead for great
content for us covering this. The worst state,
if they want to pump in 100 million dollars in
advertising this concept to people. And people
get there and they get excited about it and they
do it and they see the potential, but they're
underwhelmed, just going to convince them to
invest the real money and use a real. company
like us, and we talk about ourselves, there's
a number of other great content creation companies
like us all over the country these days. We are
also growing rapidly. Yeah. And that's good.
It's great. Get people into it. Get ready for
a ton of NASCAR podcasts. Then when you're ready
to do it for real, come here. And then come here.
But we are not threatened. We are happy. Yeah.
Because it's all good. It's all good. It's all
good. New business, new opportunities. new business,
new opportunities. I mean, there is just what
a time to be alive. I mean, there's so many ways
to make money now. Like just gone are the days
of like, I can't find a job. It's like, dude,
there's so many ways, even only fans. I mean,
it's just like there's just so many avenues to
make money. And instead of being threatened by
the over saturation, I've learned to just embrace
it and find a way to make it work for you. In
all these things, like you said, there's these
opportunities. There will be a ton of people
that jump into it. There will be a ton of people
that fail. They don't get anywhere. And there
will be some superstars. But like you said, it's
the variety of opportunities. And even in the
content, we talk about podcasts. But you can
pick one of the social media sites and make that
your niche and exclusively for that. Or you can
make fucking one of the most popular, if not
still the highest grossing channel on YouTube.
is that children's toy channel, where it's a
person, all you see is their hands playing with
the little toy. And that's 100%. And it's narrated.
But you don't even see this human's face. And
they're making tens of millions of dollars a
year. My daughter used to watch, years ago, little
LOL dolls. This woman would... But she never
manicured her face. Like, her nails were dirty.
But do you think they're gonna have an anchor
show? Like, they'll have a Walmart network, and
they're gonna have their own Joe Rogan... No,
they don't give a shit. You don't think so? Nope.
They literally just want to rent the room. It's
a borderline real estate play. Interesting. It's
pretty smart. That model of podcast studio, if
you're not offering the additional services like
we offer here, that model of renting the studio
is literally a real estate play. It's the same
as a co -work where you can rent a desk for the
day, that sort of thing. That's really the whole
model. And I could be mistaken. Maybe they're
doing more, doing something different. But from
everything I'm seeing, I would be kind of shocked.
And that's the majority of places are these podcast
studios. They're a room you can rent. Yeah. You
got to know what to do with it. All right. Well,
I'm here for it. Hell of a day. Hell of a day.
We didn't even talk about what we did on Thursday.
What the hell did we do? Oh my god. We're going
to have to save that for another... Speaking
of which, fellas, so just a quick programming
note. That was a thing we were at a live event,
and we didn't record a traditional episode like
this, but we shot a lot of different pieces that
we planned to piece together for an episode.
Just out of curiosity, do we know where we're
at with that episode, or? I don't know. Danny,
do you know where we're at? It was CannaCon.
We went to Rochester, New York for CannaCon,
which was a cannabis festival. But it's not what
you picture. We picture it being a... Yeah, it
wasn't like a... a big party, but not even close.
No, it was it was there wasn't even any cannabis
there. Right. Ironically, it was like, you know,
people that developed lights for growers or pesticides,
the businesses that support credit unions, the
main industry. You can't accept federal money.
because it's federally still illegal. And it
was great. It was very professionally done. And
there was a lot of cool... We saw a pizza vending
machine. I mean, Jesus. We were there for one
of our content clients, Chimera Integrations,
who does security and access control and things
like that, not just for that industry, but all
kinds of industries, and did some live podcasting
for them. It was awesome. And like I mentioned,
recorded sort of a good New York in a series
of seconds. Two for one. Sure. Yeah. Perfect.
Perfect. Did we put that out? Oh, shit. Look
at this. I don't even know. Look at us. You think
I would pay attention to my own stuff. We're
like, I don't care. Rent the space. I just assumed
that one was going to take longer. That's awesome.
So we got it out there. Our Kanekon episode.
It was fun. We did a great, a really great closing,
I will say. Oh, yeah. Spoiler alert. You should
stick around for that whole piece done, because
the... We just sort of recorded that in the public
space with everybody looking around going, what
the fuck are these guys doing? Anyway, we'll
give you the full breakdown of all of that later
this week. We've got a jam -packed week full
of other guests. We've got a ton of guests and
just a lot to talk about. Yeah. And we've got
an event coming up where we're going today. We
should start a podcast. We should start a podcast.
Yeah. Let's do it at Walmart. It is Good News
York. Brought to you by ads on the go get ads
on the go calm get ads on the go calm calm coming
at you Anyway, Mike Brindisi Matt Mazer saying
goodbye, and we'll see you tomorrow peace out