Creating Opportunities with Clarity & Marc Ensign | OM022

Woohoo. So glad to see you back here. Again, I love it every single time I show up and you're here, I get excited. So, so glad to have you Jim Padilla, here with the opportunity makers podcast, and we've got another great conversation for you today. An interesting spin on on the focus around opportunity. If you're in business, you have to make sales, right? You have to be marketing sometimes. And quite honestly, you are always marketing and you are always selling. Many times we're not doing it on purpose, or with a plan or a strategy. And I want you to always be thinking about that, you know, I'm gonna encourage you to always be thinking about what is the message you're putting in front of people, how you show up, what you say what you do, there is no such thing as an off switch, not today. There, I don't know that there's ever been, but definitely not today, not in 2023. Everything you do is recorded is fluid is moving is constant. It's constantly in the flow of what's going from one spot to the next one evolution to the next. And everything you do is part of your personal brand. So you can't get away from it every message you post every thing you like and comment on and share. Every room you step into every community, you're a part of. All of these things go into you as a personal brand, as a as an individual in a world. And your business just happens to be an extension of you, at the individual in the world. And so we always have to be keeping in mind, what is the message that you're putting out? Am I Am I keeping on brand, I don't want to create something for my brand, I want to be constantly in the best version of myself and my brand. And so it's something that we have to be thinking about all the time, in an ever shrinking world where everybody is literally one degree of separation. Now, I mean, you probably know, you're probably one or two clicks Max away from darn near anybody you need to know in your world, your business of any size, strength, capacity. I know people in my network, who are personal friends with Barack Obama, with Ed, my let's was Sylvester Stallone with Beyonce, right represent, you know, people like that, too. It's just you don't know that you don't know who's on your list, you never know who's on your list. So you want to make sure that you are the one who's curating your environment. So that it gives you the connections and the connections and the resources to get through people to other people that you can serve, that you can help and just be valuable and a resource. But I want you to also understand really clearly that it takes intentionality, right, because again, you're creating a default brand. What I want you to be able to create something on purpose that suits you really well and brings the best out of you, for the people around you. And gives you something that you can fight for. Right. So I want you to pay attention in this in this interview that I'm going to bring you with Marc is going to be easier to some stories about how he came up from his, you know, from his music roots and how he got to be able to be a performer on Broadway. And all the things that he did was certainly not luck. It was all about effort, intentionality, relentless pursuit of have opportunities and of elegance and excellence. And these are the things that you have to do this stuff is not going to come, he's not going to fall in your lap. Right? This is going to be you're going to you're going to reach the opportunities that you pursue. And the cool thing is when you start pursuing one opportunity, it always opens up those doors, right? We always talk about that here. When you're in pursuit of something, it opens up doors to other things that you would have never found if you didn't get off the couch and out in pursuit in the first place. Right. So make sure you know what you want, know who you serve, know what you do, and start getting out in pursuit of that so that the opportunities can start coming your way. Right? make magic happen, right pursue it and you'll see it coming. And Marc and Marc Ensign is somebody who is he's got a great story to share that you're gonna really love. He's a forensic CMO, right works with professional industries, such as a VA, medical, financial and consulting to eliminate wasteful spending on ineffective marketing. That is not flashy and wild, but that is right on point. And it's something that every single one of us need. So make sure that you are tuning in and seeing what you can grab is he got some great insights and things to share with you and pay attention to this to the story. Especially precip specifically about how he landed his Broadway deal and all that there's a whole plethora of, of insights and takeaways for you that will apply to your business, your network, the world that you live in and how you move through it more effectively. So make sure that you rate review subscribe, let us know that you are here get in the show notes for all the ways to be able to access Marc and his resources and his company and and dig in. Enjoy the interview. Let us know what's going Hold on inside your head, as you're hearing this and reach out to us. And as always, if if you find something here that you really appreciate, let us know. And if you find something here that you don't want to see anywhere, let us know that too, so that we can be the greatest resource to you. So we'll see you on the next episode. Enjoy Marc Ensign, in this interview. All right, everybody, back at it. You just heard the formal intro here. As always, Marc, why don't you tell people that are listening and tuning in? Why are you here? How did you get here? Why are you relevant in this conversation?

Wow, that's a lots of fun. Well, first of all, I mean, I'm here for because you asked me to be here. And, and I do what I say I was gonna do. So I showed up. Now. So I mean, I'm in marketing I've had, I've had quite an interesting professional life, the 32nd version is I spent 10 years on Broadway as a as bass players, musician. And, and somehow figured out that I was really good at marketing. So I started marketing firm, and that agency grew over the over 10 years, 1015 years, I exited that agency and moved into branding, I wanted to, you know, get deeper into personal branding, and which was doing fantastic for about 15 minutes, and then COVID hit and wiped out and pretty much knocked out 80% of my business overnight. And that led me to starting a CMO agency, just by chance, by just meeting the right person, and stumbling into something I had fallen into a really, you know, friendship with a COO who brought me into a company and found that all my experience that I've had as a musician, as marketer, as a brand, or as a personal, you know, as personal branding, and all of it kind of came together into this, you know, into this thing that I'm doing right now, which is, which is fractional CMO. And more specifically, what we call it here is forensic CMO, because we take a kind of a forensic accounting approach to marketing.

Yeah, like that, you know, you said, you kind of stumbled into this opportunity. And it's, it's crazy how that more often than not, that's what I hear from people who hit something out of the park had a great success. Often, it was like, this just kind of found me is approach. So very, very common. How to talk about a little bit more about the music side of things, how does, how does your experience in the music side really play into this whole journey that you're on now?

Well, you know, I went to school to be a musician and professional musician, I had this dream of working on Broadway, which was strange at the time, because I'd never been to a Broadway show, but it seemed like a really cool gig to have. It was like steady work, it paid really well. And it seemed like a great place to be. And it was also something that I could chase after with this idea of like, well, I'm never gonna get it. So at least, I'll keep my mom happy thinking that I'm like, working really hard towards something, you know, and not being an unemployed musician. And, and so that's kind of like how it started. And, but then once I really kind of got my hands into it, I really, you know, fell in love with this idea of playing on on Broadway and, and playing a part playing an important role in telling the story for two or three hours. For, you know, not not just entertaining people, but changing them, like, you know, being able to, like there's nothing better in the world than getting off of work and having everybody in a room stand up and cheer and cry and laugh and smile. You know, I highly recommend that if you can get that to happen at work. It's fantastic. But it was, you know, it what I found in that process of getting that gig was how to really make myself stand out and be different. There's 1000 Other bass players vying for one of 12 different shows. And somehow I got, I was the youngest guy, you know, around at the time, I had no experience. I didn't know anybody. I was completely on paper. I was completely unqualified for the job. I was not the best person, the best bass player in New York. And somehow I got it. And the way that I did that was through marketing and storytelling and persistence and tenacity. And and, and realizing that I'm a really good marketer. And that's how I got the gig.

Awesome. Awesome. So was there a specific moment or it was there? Like just a thought process like wow, this is pretty good. I can help other people or did somebody asked you like, you know, helped me with do what you did.

There was definitely a moment where, where I kind of had this this aha moment of, Hey, I wonder if I can turn this into something where I can help other musicians and artists and like, I think like one of the key moments for me, was I I was doing a show in New York. And it was in between the matinee in the evening show, and mean, the band went out to dinner. And the guy that was our was, was a waiter at the restaurant that we were at, he wasn't waiting on our table. But he, you know, he came over, you know, talk to us, was a guy I knew from college, who was a guitar player. And by far, one of the best guitar players I'd ever played with, like, the guy was just amazing. And he was, he was a waiter at a restaurant, nothing wrong with that. But the fact that like, you know, here I am, I'm, you know, a fraction of how good this guy is, and I got the gig of a lifetime. And, and he this is, this guy spent his entire, you know, lifetime from the time he was a fetus till the president, you know, practicing, and never really, like worked on how to, you know, like, saw himself as a business, he was just a struggling musician. So, so I was like, Well, let me see if I could package up what I'm doing or what I did, and start to, you know, start to do this for other people. And that's kind of how it started. And then quickly, I realized musicians don't have a lot of money. And, and, and started breaking into some of the bigger companies. You know, I caught a lot of attention, because what I did was very creative, it was different. And that caught the attention of Nike and American Express, and Berkshire Hathaway and a lot of fortune 500 companies that ended up, you know, and I realized, wow, like, you know, I would send an invoice to Nike, and they kicked it back and said, like, Look, you got to, I mean, you gotta triple this invoice, it's gonna cost us more to cut the check. Then the amount of the checks, I was like, wow, okay. You know, like, I want to do corporate stuff. Right now. You know, and, and it just kind of ran from there.

Man, that's awesome. And I love that. And it's such a, I think the best opportunities come when we we solve something, and then we say, Okay, let me go help other people. Yes, on the same problem, right? That's when it's coming from your direct, you know, wisdom and insight. But then you're, you're also I find that the best best this experts come from not just the ability to teach what you've learned in the past, but connect the dots to what they can do in the future as a result.

Right. And yeah, because because I think when you when you experience it yourself, and you're not just like pulling something out of thin air, it also like not only do you have the experience, and the knowledge and the proof of concept, and all the other stuff, but you have a story. And and a story is so important when you're trying to sell somebody this new vision of what their life can look like when you can stand in front of somebody and be like, Look, you know, I don't care what industry you're in. It is nowhere near as competitive as a music industry. It is nowhere near as 1000 people trying to get the same, you know, gig and I'm the one that got it. And so I get what it's like to feel, you know, to just look at all this noise, and try to figure out how do I cut through all that? Because I've been there like, you don't need to be a musician to connect to that story and go like, wow, okay, so if he's able to do it, then you know, perhaps, you know, like, I could drink some of that Kool Aid. Maybe I can get there too.

Yeah. And the other thing that was coming up is, you know, you mentioned this other guy who was a phenom it the guitar. And how many times do we see I see it every day? How many times do we see somebody who is great at what they do? And unknown, and somebody who's not know so great, but they're getting in front of all the right people? And, you know, some of the most successful people out there are not people who are necessarily the most talented. Right?

Yeah, I mean, it's, it's, you know, it's as much a skill to get in front of people as it is to play that instrument or to be good at your job or to be, you know, a virtuoso in your in your field. If you don't have that marketing piece, if you don't have that ability to tell your story and to get in front of people and to really sell people yourself, like, who you are and what you do and what you've accomplished. You will go you will be that unsung, you know, best kept secret. And if you're looking to build any kind of business, being the best kept secret is not a good goal to have.

So let's shift a little bit in now with, with with the doors that have been opened for you, what kind of opportunities have you seen one of the most, you know, what are the most exciting opportunities you've come across and you know, as a result of this path that you've been on?

I think that transition from personal branding to cmo was was such a big was such a big leap in such a big opportunity that literally fell in my lap and it really goes to speak to you know, it's not what you know, to you know, I had I had exited my previous agency, like I had mentioned, and I started Personal Branding. The reason I started deeper into personal branding is because that was such a big piece of how I got the gigs on Broadway and everything else I had done as a musician and I got tired of working with as funny as it sounds like I get tired of working with these big companies, Nike American Express, because it just felt empty. Like, you know, Phil Knight wasn't thanking me on the earnings call for helping him out, I was just like, another cog in that gigantic wheel. And I wanted to make a bigger difference when my key might, my number one core value is impact. And, and so so I got into personal branding with this idea of like, let me help people who have something to say, let me help them say it, let me help them get in front of people, let me help them really kind of wrap their arms around what they're meant to do, and help them do it. And, and it was going really well then COVID hit and then all of a sudden, all the conferences, a lot of my clients were speakers, authors, coaches, entertainers, athletes, you know, people like that, all those conferences, all the games, all the concerts were all shut down, there's no need for me to help anybody. And so I, you know, my business just took a punch in the face. And, and, and right around that time, a friend of mine, who was a CEO reached out and he's, you know, he's like, Hey, I, you know, we have this, I'm working with this company, they're doing eight to 10 million, something's wrong with the marketing, is there any chance you can jump in and come in maybe as our CMO, and I had never done that before? You know, but here's this opportunity thrown on my lap. And, you know, well, I mean, I ran an agency for 24 years, 23 years, whatever it's been. And, and so, I mean, who knows more about marketing, and then the guy has been running an agency for 23 years, there's full service digital agency, and I jumped in and instantly, like I was at home, I, you know, I was talking to all the vendors that they were working for, whether it was a web design company, the SEO company, the AdWords company, like, I spoke their language, and I spoke the client's language. And I was such a perfect in between. And I knew when the AdWords company was, was not being honest. And they were doctoring reports. I knew when the SEO company was outsourcing it overseas, and not really doing the job that we were paying them to do. And all this stuff just kind of just came very naturally. To me, it's not something I ever would in a million years have thought of, if it wasn't for this, you know, this, this big thing that happened that kind of that really kind of almost buried my company. And so I you know, completed that contract, we extended it for a year, doubled the business. And then I turned around, I was like, Well, let me see if I could do it again. I brought in another client, and then another client and I was like, I gotta actually build this into something because this is pretty significant.

Amen. So you know, I know there's people listening right now that are thinking, Okay, well, this is great for you, you turn something from, you know, Broadway or, or you turn a success into another success, but I haven't hit those successes. So how am I going to create those kinds of opportunities for myself?

Well, I don't want it to I if I came across this way I apologize. Like like Broadway was not an easy get, like I was about as unsuccessful as you can find. I was I was teaching lessons and I had like four bass students a week I lived in my mom's spare bedroom. And, and this was back in 96. So there really wasn't much of an internet at the time, you know, you had an AOL disc, and you can put, you know, put together a little dinky website, but nobody was ever going to him. And so I was running into the city every day. Creating my own look, you know, create, you know, I was going into the city, I was meeting up with musicians, I was stalking people I was standing outside of outside of theaters, I was stealing playbills I brought a wire cutter and I stole a phone book off the reader from the bus station. So I would be able to call people like I like this was you know, I had nothing to lose. And so so it wasn't like I was you know, born into this or anything like that, like I had nothing and I had nothing to lose. And I was tenacious and I ran out it with everything I had and then and eventually all the all the people that I needed to reach out to got tired of hearing from me and they stopped picking up the phone or they'd hung up on me or cursed me out threatened, you know, threatened to file a restraining order. I got two of those. I guess it was pretty bad. And and so I reached out to the big trade magazine at the time, which is Bass Player magazine. And I convinced them to let me write an article about what it's like to work on Broadway so I can get in and interview everybody that had the gig that I wanted. And it was a way for me to be an authority in the space because I couldn't do it as a player. I found another way. I found another way to become an authority. And I wrote that article and that I actually ended up turning into one of the people I interviewed had me sub on a gig. And next thing you know, I was playing with on the biggest shows on Broadway.

That is awesome, man. I love that whole story. Everything about that. And, you know, you just got to make your own opportunity. If they're not going to bring you in as the expert, then how are you adjacent to the expert? How do you become a resource to the expert, somebody that can provide a benefit that will be of use to them. And you just, it's, you know, it's his pursuit I Love You know, I don't want this to go by, you had restraining orders taken out on you. And you know, we're a sales agency where we live in the world of creating qualified, booked appointments for people to drive revenue at scale. And I guarantee 99% of people listening have not followed up to the place where they had to have a restraining order put upon them, and I would challenge you to do so guys. That's follow up.

Yeah, I used to, I used to have a saying that was, um, you know, one way or another, I'm gonna get an order, it's either going to be a purchase order or a restraining order. And it was this idea that I'm just not going to stop until I get either, you know, some kind of answer, like something, give me something. And, and that was enough. Like, like, there were like, the people that were just like, Alright, enough, enough, I don't want to hear from you anymore. Call this guy. Like, it was it was stuff like that. That was that was like, okay, that's, that's another step. That's one more step. You know, in that in that right direction? And And really, what was the turning point beyond, like, let me see if I can just bug everybody, because it's really not a great thing to do just bug everybody till they hate you. But what really helped me turn the corner was matching that tenacity with making sure that like, what can I do that will be incredibly valuable to the people that I'm reaching out to? Nobody was able to get in touch with, with, with, you know, or get, you know, as a, as a musician, everybody wants to be in, in the magazine, but nobody was able to because they didn't know anybody that wrote for the magazine. So I was like, Well, let me get there. And I can give them what they want. So now I'm this tenacious guy who can give them what they want, and add some value to them. And then there's a sense of, okay, like, you know, what can we do for you? You know, because that law of reciprocity kicks in, where it's just like, okay, like, You've done nothing will give, you know, and be a little bit of a pain but but give. So how can we how can we return that favor?

Yeah, it's just you got to be able to just relax and look into just look all around you and find the spot that you know, you can provide a resource, even if it's connecting somebody who's got a problem to somebody who has a solution, and how can you be part of that? How can you broker the deals, quote, unquote, you know, that's, we were watching, we watch a masterclass recently, and Richard Branson has something on masterclass. And he was telling a story about Virgin Airlines, and I was just, I was burned borne by just creating an opportunity because he was trying to get to the Virgin Islands. And he was coming from, I think, Massachusetts, or somewhere there. And there was not enough people on the flight that they canceled it. And he's like, I paid for my ticket, I gotta get home. That's why That's I can't I don't have the luxury of waiting for other people to need to get there. So he goes and finds a finds a small plane on the planet with a pilot and says, Can you take me to Virgin Airlines? or, excuse me, can you take me to, to the Virgin Islands? And you know, it's like, yeah, for a price. And here's what it is. And he goes, he finds all the people who were on the flight. He says, hey, look, for 39 bucks, this guy is going to take us payment, 39 bucks work, this guy's gonna take us to the Virgin Islands, they all pay him 39 bucks, he gives it all to the pilot. And then essentially, Virgin Airlines was born. That's crazy. But he just he could have sat around and said, Well, I'm gonna have to stay here. He could have been mad, he could done all kinds of things. But it said he's there. Where's the solution?

Yeah, and, and, and that, and that's the thing like, like, in what what and how I've kind of brought this into business, too, is really trying to understand what's what's important to the person I'm trying to reach. And being valuable in that sense. Like, because a lot of times I think whether it's sales or whether it's marketing or you know, a business owner, you're trying to reach somebody, and so you do what you think would be valuable. Hey, let me show you a couple things there. I went through your website and I found these 10 things wrong with it. Like you're just giving that person more homework, you know, here's here's the Squeezy ball with my logo on it. I don't really want a squeezy ball with your logo on it. And so what I started doing was really kind of, you know, there's somebody I wanted to reach on the business side, what can I do to be their version of valuable not my version of valuable instead of giving me a squeezy ball or a t shirt with my logo on it, I started printing Yup, T shirts with their logo on it. And so my client, you know, like, if you signed up and we designed your logo, I buy your entire family a t shirt with your logo on it. So then you can, you know, wake up in the morning, you have your entire family Wearing your new logo, this is a constant reminder of like, you know, what we did for you? And it would be stuff like that, that would just, you know, because then they would share it over Facebook. And you know, oh, my God, look what we got, you know. And and it was, it was just a way of better feeding, you know what they wanted, knowing that if I did that enough, and I did it big enough, they would remember me, I didn't have to have my logo on a pen for them to remember me, they would just remember me because I did the thing that nobody else did.

Right? And if you send me a pen with your name on it, that's great. But as soon as the ink runs out, I'm tossing because it's your pen on mine.

Yeah. And then I give them to my kids, most of the time, it was no matter. You know, my kids don't need an accountant right now. So

You know, we have a client who's working with somebody who is producing documentary films for entrepreneurs. Sure. And so what we, what we came up with as a way for him to get a message inside the door for something that would be valuable to the potential client is created a movie poster with the potential movie starring you. And what's the outcome? Right? So the mission, the movie, the message, and you and his logos in the corner, but the poster is about you. Right? So these clients are taking his poster and like, this is cool, and they're putting up on the wall in their office. It's about them when they're creating, so love, I love that whole perspective. And just you have to stay focused on what do they need? What do you need? So as we get towards towards wrapping up on this here, what is it what's the perspective that you've got, as you're looking around, now you you know, you and I were blessed and fortunate we've been we've created some, some success to build on for ourselves. But there are a lot of people who are trying to break through, and right now feels like the worst time in the world for them. What wisdom or guidance, encouragement you want to share with them around the times that we're in right now and how to be able to lean in, even if you haven't had a mountain of success to build on.

I think clarity, you know, and who you are and what you bring and where your value is, and what you want to do and all that tough stuff. Like, like, if you don't have that figured out, running around just trying to help people do something, what do you need, I can do it, like, you know, they are become that jack of all trades. And that's not where you belong, like, you know, so So really getting that clarity on who you are and the value that you bring. And then I mean, you should be reaching out to and showing up in front of every possible person that you can meet, not because they can help you not because, you know, like, hey, there's a bunch of potential clients in that room. You know, like, like, you know, I have a thing saying like, where I collect people, not like the serial killer, like tight, but but like I collect people like I you know, it's really important to me to get to know as many people as possible, and get on people's radars and make make a lot of friends, I walk into a room and it's just time to make some friends. And you know, because I know that if I do that enough, and sincerely and legitimately create relationships, the rest will work itself out if I if I'm clear on who I am. And I know that I have a valuable offer. And I can do something that brings something significant to somebody else's life. And I have a huge community of people that no one like me, I know the business end of things will work itself out. It always does.

Always does. That is so true. You know, lean into that, guys. So some really good sound wisdom, find the thing that you know, you can make an impact in and just get in front of as many people as you can, who can benefit from that or benefit from connecting you to somebody else. So that they can be a resource. I love connecting solutions to great people, because I'm part of that process makes me feel good, to be needed to be useful to be impactful in the process. So just yeah, you got to look around as all of your single problem that's going on in the marketplace and in the economy right now are nothing but a sea of opportunities for you to take advantage of a all you need is one all you need is one that's absolutely true. So how, how can people get a hold of you? Let's take a quick minute and just you know, share a little bit more what do you have going on right now? And what should people be looking forward to that to be able to be in your world?

Sure. So so I have to I have two agencies I did keep the I converted the branding agency into a full service marketing agency very similar to my original company. And then and the name of that company is loud mouse. And that's mouse with not a mouth like mo USC. I gotta spell it because everybody thinks I say loud enough. But it's a it's loud mouse and the website is loudmouse.com and And then the CMO agency, we're we, like I said, we do friend, the name of the company is Forensic CMO. And what we do is we, we basically follow every single dollar that you're spending on marketing, we figure out, you know, how to, you know, where the waste is, where the opportunities are, and then we build the marketing team to, to implement within, you know, the average company that we come in, we find about 25 30% waste in that first month, within the first three months, we're doubling your row as a tripling your row as like, it's, you know, there's, there's, the challenge is that there's such a disconnect between marketing vendors, and CEOs, or entrepreneurs, or people you know, or teams or people that are running the company, that there's this sea of, you know, it's not like vendors are trying to, you know, screw you, they just don't know, they're just, you know, they're just, they're doing the marketing thing, and you're doing your business thing. And somewhere in the middle, nobody's actually managing any of this. And so that's where we kind of come in and we fix that problem.

Very cool. And what's it what's a good size? Or default? What should people be expecting? What size of business should they be before they come to you?

We focus on five to 25 million. And then right at 25 million, we start working with you to bring on an in house cmo and and marketing team like like what you know that 25 to 50 million. We do some work in there. But more often than not, we're in a place where it's like yeah, you need somebody here full time you need somebody that's part of the culture and and that's in the company. So we we look to step away, right around 2530 40 million,

Right? So for those you that this is all making sense for, jump out, reach out, find out where you can you know what insights you can gain, what knowledge you can tap into, and if it fits, see if you're able to work with some of the best marketing minds in the game. He's got a lot of experience and a lot of a lot of track record of success as you just heard. So make sure you find out what's going on. Let him know you came from here on the opportunity makers podcast, and always go out take advantage of the opportunities that are all around you make money, make impact change lives, and be part of the solution so that now you can start writing a new story for yourself and for others. Thanks for tuning in. We know you could have been anyplace else and you chose to be here. So make sure your rate review subscribe and share this with anybody that has beneficial to and we'll look forward to seeing you on the next episode.