Joshua McNary [00:00:00]:
Welcome to Intentional Change, the podcast dedicated to helping business owners and leaders navigate the complexities of growth, technology, and change with intentionality and purpose. I'm your host, Joshua McNary. Today, I'm excited to be joined by Shawn Fitzgerald, communication solutions consultant at Level Up Media Interactive. Shawn brings a wealth of experience in helping businesses overcome communication challenges and implementing sustainable solutions for long term improvement. We're going to explore how intentional change can make a significant impact on business communication and media practices, and Shawn will share actionable insights. I should also mention, Shawn is a cohost of mine on this show, so you'll be hearing more from him in future episodes. Before we dive in, don't forget to subscribe, follow, and share this podcast so you and your colleagues never miss an episode. Shawn, welcome to the show.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:00:53]:
Thank you. Thank you. I'm glad to be here.
Joshua McNary [00:00:55]:
So for folks just meeting you for the first time, can you share a little bit about who you are and what you do?
Shawn FitzGerald [00:01:00]:
You know, that's that's a great question to start off with, because depending on the day, you might get a completely different answer. I feel like I wear a lot of different hats. But, a a little of my background. I, I've been in the communication industry for over thirty years primarily in live video production, and corporate communications. And recently, I had started, the new my new company, Level Up Media Interactive, to help businesses deal with their communication struggles. In the past, I was creating content for companies, and I just found that a lot of them, when I would hand things over to them, they really didn't know what to do with it. And, the last few years, I'd run into a couple of businesses that, really brought it to to to my awareness that businesses need help. They need help. But, you know, and I I know we're getting into a little bit, but, with some of the businesses when they they go through and and they have to communicate that, you know, it's the way that we communicate is so fast now, and there's so many different channels, and and it's changing so quickly. It's really hard for business owners who aren't in this industry space of communication to really manage their communications internally. And, you know, they've either had to go to video production houses like some of my past businesses or marketing agencies or things like that. And, you know, while while there's uses for those, what I had found is some small businesses, medium sized businesses, when they come back from that, they really are lost. They've spent a lot of resources. They're they're confused about what was done. They don't know what to do next. And, so, anyway, I started LevelUp Media Interactive to be kind of that person who could sit at their table and give them that advice, point it in the direction so they can, you know, kinda have some autonomy on their own and not be reliant on business models that, are are sometimes very complicated to understand.
Joshua McNary [00:02:58]:
Yes. Absolutely. I mean, you're the insider that helps them through their communication and media needs. And that's really why you and I kinda linked up here to even start this podcast because we both have a shared drive to make sure that things are being done correctly. And with the outcome in mind, not simply just creating some amazing communications and media or in my case, doing some amazing technology projects for the sake of doing those. No. We wanna actually help get the right stuff done, you know, from our genres.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:03:28]:
Yeah. And technology has just added on to that that chaos that businesses have to deal with. It's it's one thing to know how to communicate and and reach your audience and keep them engaged. But once you layer technology on top of it, it just, it it quickly can spiral into chaos sometimes. So Absolutely. You know, businesses definitely need help, doing that.
Joshua McNary [00:03:52]:
Okay. Well, you did a good job there kind of getting us started with some of the themes from today's conversation. But let's start with the big picture here. Can you maybe share a time when you spotted a a major communications challenge inside of a business? And and maybe how did you tackle it or how did that get you started on this path?
Shawn FitzGerald [00:04:10]:
Sure. Well, I I think there's there's several stories that that come to mind, some experience that I've had. You know, I'd and I'll I'll touch on a couple of them briefly to to give our audience, kind of a a big picture, then I'll dive into one and a little more, specificity. You know, I I'd worked with a company. They had approached me and and wanted a video for their business. And, we went through the whole process. We created the video. They loved it. We handed it over to them. And about five months later, I emailed the client back and said, hey. How's this thing going? Are you ready to do something else? You know, whatever. And she's like, oh, that video is oh, it's horrible. It's horrible. Horrible. And, of course, I just thought, oh, my video was horrible. So what I what I asked a little more questions after I got off the shock of thinking I had dropped the ball or let her down, what I found out is that she was not really very technically savvy. And she had this new new video tool. And, the the person who she had that she was working with left the company after we had delivered the video. And the video basically sat on her computer for, you know, the five, six months since we had given it to her, and she didn't even know what to do with it. So instead of asking for help or whatever, she just left it there. And they spent a lot of money, a lot of time, and it never, to my knowledge, ever got seen. So that that's a that was like one of the big red flags I thought. There's a lot of other businesses out there, people like her who are struggling, and they just go, oh, whatever, and they move on. And that's that's shouldn't happen.
Joshua McNary [00:05:44]:
Yeah.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:05:45]:
You know, another thing that recently I started working with another client who had approached me. They were looking to increase sales, and they thought, oh, well, the way to do that is to go and make a whole bunch of videos about our products, put them out there, and then all of a sudden, tons and tons of sales would come through. And, you know, which which sounds great. But as I started to get in and and assess her company and do a little more consulting work, what I found is that if we would have gone that route and been incredibly successful and all this business would have come in from people watching the videos and going, oh, I want that product. They were not even close to being able to manage the incoming sales. They had Mhmm. Salespeople that weren't trained. They had no processes to handle, in an automated way, a new load of business coming in, all these different things. And, you know, and I I think that, you know, over the last year, year and a half as I've been looking at this, what I find is that a lot of times businesses have problems they wanna solve through communications, but the problems are really way before that. They're they're internal. They're, systematic or or systemic or, operational or things like that. And and I have and now I I really try to work on solving some of those problems before we get to actually the content creation stuff whether they do it or I do it or whatever.
Joshua McNary [00:07:15]:
Because
Shawn FitzGerald [00:07:15]:
the thing is, you know, it's like if you build your house of cards on quicksand, it's gonna fail. So what we need to do is remove the quicksand that a lot of businesses are Right. Constructing their foundation on. And and, you know, again, it's not their fault. They don't realize it's quicksand. You know, and sometimes it's not as obvious as it's quicksand. Sometimes it's just slop that wears down after a hard rain and then all of a sudden things go down or whatever. But, you know, that that is that is, like, the common theme that I see with a lot of businesses is that they what to do, but they're doing it in the wrong order. And they're not shoring up their foundation before they actually start doing some of these other things. And it only leads to, disaster in some form. It doesn't lead to the success they want.
Joshua McNary [00:08:00]:
Absolutely. I mean, that's and then that that's the very similar themes to what I talk about in in the technology space. The idea of seeing the symptoms and maybe providing, a a remedy is what is what happens when they're coming to you and they're saying, hey. We need this video or we need these leads or we need this this communications plan to put in place. They're thinking kind of the the remedy. They're that that they think there's a remedy there, but there's actually a disease underlying all
Shawn FitzGerald [00:08:27]:
of that. Yes.
Joshua McNary [00:08:28]:
And and that's that's what you're talking about when you're saying, hey. Let's actually make sure that foundation is right. Let's actually make sure we can handle those leads. Let's make sure we actually can handle this video that is sitting on the desk. Actually, we have a way to distribute it and such. And, you know, I think it's important to point out it's not that you're you weren't in my work and in your work because I know you, it's not it's not from a standpoint of, like, trying to stop people from taking action. Like, we want people to take action. Right? But we also know that by taking blind action, you're setting yourself up for failure.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:09:02]:
Right. Well and you know, just to to kind of illuminate what happened. Because you know, it's it's one thing for, you know, with with my story, I realized people listening to go and, oh, well, the client came to me and said, I want videos for products. And he just said, stop. Don't do that. And that isn't quite what happened. What what actually has happened and the first thing that I did is, we worked out an arrangement where I would actually start joining them on their weekly meetings. So when they were there with their team, I brought my expertise together. So when they either were skipping over things that I felt were, like, massive pitfalls that they needed to address, I could stop them and say, hold on. You you jumped over. You went around this or solve this. Or I could give them a bigger picture where they're like, well, we only have so much money. We have to pick one or two things. And I could say, well, here's a way that you could combine both those and still achieve both results for less money or the same money. And and that experience or that knowledge, they just didn't have so they couldn't make solid decisions.
Joshua McNary [00:09:59]:
Yes. And
Shawn FitzGerald [00:10:00]:
that so I think I think being finding a way to interject my experience and my knowledge into the company to help them with their decision making, that was important. And, you know, we actually did make a video, but the video was really to focus on increasing their sales and dealer network. We during the meetings, we realized they couldn't go and hire a whole bunch of salespeople, but they had a lot of people out there that love the product. So we said, well, why don't we create a program that would allow all of those kind of rabid fans, those fanatics, those lifelong clients and customers. What if we created an incentive program where maybe they would become kind of a salesperson so to speak, where they would help, you know, contact their friends and the people they knew in their area and then they would get discounts on their price, a little lower rate or some incentives and things like that. And that again, that was an approach that seemed very obvious to me. But to my client, they'd never thought of that. They were doing trying to solve problems in a very traditional fashion where if we need a salesperson, we need to hire someone full time Right. Whatever. Right. Which is very expensive. So anyway, that so I I just kinda wanted to throw out some of those other solutions that I think that we work to, you know there's many ways to solve problems, but sometimes you have to really disengage from that traditional model of, well, this is how we solved it yesterday because that model doesn't work necessarily anymore. Right. Or do this Well,
Joshua McNary [00:11:22]:
I wanna talk more about some more solutions here as we as we move on with the conversation. But I guess before we we go into that realm, would you call what you do kind of, a, like, a fractional CMO or or a fractional communications manager or, like, something like that? Because this idea of a fractional consultant or advisor of some form is very popular. I mean, both of us probably get put in that category from time to time by other people. I mean and also, I think it's important to point out here when I when I say that, you know, we both have our work that we do. But, you know, as we're talking about today's items, you know, it could be somebody inside your business that you just define existing employee or maybe it's a hat that you're wearing as a business owner as you put on from time to time that to think about this fractional CMO or fractional communications manager, role that that I'm kind of picturing you doing, Shawn. Yes. You know, and you could apply some of these same techniques that you're talking about, you know, even internal of the business. But back to my question to you, how would you define that? Do you would you consider yourself a fractional CMO communications person? Or or like Sure. How does that how does that get defined inside the organizations that you're helping?
Shawn FitzGerald [00:12:29]:
Well, I think I think that the fractional CEOs, CTO, CMO, whatever, that that is kind of the big buzzword. It's a very easy way to help people understand what we're doing. And I think that also the value of saying fractional, whatever you are, helps people who are worried about, well, I need someone with expertise, but I can't afford them and, you know, full time. And I think that, you know so, yes, I I would say, yes, you could classify me as a fractional communication supporter. You know, but sometimes it's it's more of, you know I I've had some clients just they don't want me to be involved all that much because they think they need it. They just bring me in every now and then to bounce ideas off or maybe I just do a quick assessment. I give them some ideas and then I disappear for a while and they come back on and off.
Joshua McNary [00:13:24]:
Right. Right.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:13:25]:
You know, I I think the thing is that the difference between those two scenarios is that when you become a fractional, you're more engaged on a daily, weekly, monthly fashion. But then some clients don't want that. They have that, and they just want to have me as a resource, as a, you know, someone to be on their counsel, so to speak, to bring me in at at opportune moments. And, you know, the reality is that my attitude now after I left my old company and started this new, I am absolutely open to fit the solution to whatever the the customer needs. You know? So Yeah. You know, if they need a fraction, great. Let's talk about that and do that. If they need something less than or something different, we can we can do that as well too. I'm extremely flexible. Again, the purpose is to help the businesses wherever they're at get moving, get out of, the the quicksand, so to speak, you know, escape the weeds or whatever it is. And I have to be open to be flexible and redefine that relationship to fit their needs, not mine.
Joshua McNary [00:14:24]:
Right. Absolutely. Okay. Great. Well, so let's kinda shift into that solution side of the conversation here. I think we have a sense of the problem that we're talking about.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:14:34]:
Yep.
Joshua McNary [00:14:35]:
So when you're trying to encourage intentional change, continuous improvement in this communications and media areas with your clients or, you know, in your various roles that you've had, what methods have worked best? What kind of tactics have you used maybe beyond what you've already shared with us so far?
Shawn FitzGerald [00:14:54]:
Sure. Well, I I think because there's there's specifics for every company and what works for one doesn't work for the other. So from a big picture, I think what we need to think about as business owners is that the the intentional change, however you personally define that in your own business, is that intentional change, it can't be like a sporadic last minute reactionary thing. And I think a lot of times businesses, they don't think about it because they're preoccupied with their their day jobs, their other responsibilities, whatever it is. And they just get rolling and rolling and rolling, then a problem happens and then they become reactionary. They make rash decisions. And that that is one of the first mistakes that you have to have some system in place with your team or whatever where, you know, that you're working on a discipline. And I think that part of intentional change is that there is a discipline that's involved. You do it constantly even when there's not fires. Because when you have that discipline to plan your strategy meetings and and you're constantly self assessing your company and your products and your employees and you're looking at things, even when there are no fires, you become more proactive and you get ahead of the game. And, and it allows you to start playing with different solutions and and possible options and different technologies and things like that for you to try things out before a problem happens. Because the and, you know, we all we all know, in hindsight that the worst time to try to come up with a solution is when a solution was needed yesterday. It we just make the wrong decisions. You know, and, so so I I guess when, when we think about how we get intentional change you know, I talked about discipline. I talked about it being, proactive, not reactive.
Joshua McNary [00:16:43]:
Right.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:16:43]:
And the the procedures that you put in place, we know once you assess your your company and you start to find, this is this is the steps that we go through in order to deliver a product or to deal with a customer or whatever those things are. Once you understand what that procedure is or that process, you need to make sure that it fits the people that are in your team, your management style. You know, I think what what I have found is that sometimes people just go and buy a book, and they'll read this this system, this framework with a certain procedure, and they try to make their company tow that line, and it just they just knock heads. So you have to be willing to treat it as a guideline or a framework that's flexible.
Joshua McNary [00:17:24]:
And or get some buy in. Right? That's or I mean, you might have a a great framework, but wherever the framework comes from as a book or your own, you gotta get the buy in.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:17:32]:
Oh, of course. That's right. Because there may be people that push back or resist or whatever for different reasons. So that buy in is absolutely important. You know, and I think that once you have that discipline, you have the procedure and you're practicing it, you know, every day, every hour, every week with with the decision making that you've got. It only makes you stronger, and better at making those decisions when it really counts, when there's real emergency, you don't have a lot of time. You know, and and through my company, one of the things that I often talk about with with businesses is that, you know, to boil it all down, businesses have to have clarity and they have to have confidence. And, and and we can get into that in a little more detail. But that but I think that for all of our listeners, every one of the listener to this podcast today, you need to figure out what are those things that you need to absolutely be clear on in your business, whether that's your missions, your visions, your procedures, whatever it is. There needs to be clarity in certain key things. The rest of your company, your employees, your management team also needs to be clear. And then once everyone's clear, then you can focus on, do you have the confidence to make the decision to to do the things that you need to do? So one is kind of a prepared and the other one is an action. Clarity and confidence. I think those are those are two things are, what I really focus on if you had to distill it down.
Joshua McNary [00:18:54]:
That's great. That's great. And, you know, the other thing that I I've learned by talking to you, Shawn, is that you come from this communications media background. But what you're talking about there is really this organizational human human connection to your organization, right, to be to actually be able to implement these changes. And
Shawn FitzGerald [00:19:11]:
Yes.
Joshua McNary [00:19:13]:
It's it's we wanna be intentional. We wanna, as leaders, be thinking about what we're trying to achieve. But then we're also needing to work with real people, whether it be internal to our business or our clients or our customers. And you're really focused on those those themes, well beyond just media and communication, which is your discipline.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:19:34]:
Yes. You're so right. And, you know, just to go back and and, like, take my yellow highlighter to what you just said, that many times, businesses when they think of communications, they think of it as an external or an outward facing aspect of their business. I'm going to communicate to my client. I'm going to sell them my product or my service. But I find a lot of times, companies who have not applied best practice of communications within their business internally, how do they communicate as a team, how do they communicate to the different levels of the organization, things of that sort. That's often where the problems start and those need to be resolved because if I'm telling my subordinate or my employee or my sales people or whoever it is, go out and communicate these things. But I in turn don't communicate with you properly. You're gonna say, get a load of this guy here. You know, it's the do as I say not as I do sort of thing. And I think that, you know, that that is one of those things that on a human level, we really react negatively to. Some people more than others. But the thing is you really have to walk the walk and talk the talk. So when you before you go and communicate externally, you have to make your communications and what you're saying and doing inside your business absolutely strong. Again, that's going back to that foundation. That foundation is not built on quicksand.
Joshua McNary [00:20:56]:
Absolutely. Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. I I wanted to bring this up, and this is not to to make, make this the Shawn infomercial. But on on your website, you have you have a framework, which I love. Echoes some of the themes I do in my own business, probably why why I love it. But I I don't think it's, wrong for me to bring it up in in the sense of I think it relates to how those that are listening can could think about breaking down this process. Because it seems like a lot, right, to, like, get this foundation in place and everything. And we're talking about picking up the house and building the foundation underneath it at times here in in the way we're talking. So you on your website, you have your framework of consult, coach, or collaborate. Like, that's how you say you do your own work. And I'm not bringing this up necessarily for you to pitch your services, but but more for, like, the framework of how a business can think about those things. You've you've talked about this already today, the idea of, like, okay. This is how I might help, but this is how I might help. The kind of the levels to degrees of which you could help. Like, the in your framework, the the most engagement is collaborate. Right? And that's like that fractional role that's showing up at regular meetings and stuff like that. Right? And then can you kind of fill in where the other two of those fill in? And, again, I'm saying this from a standpoint of it doesn't have to be Shawn. It doesn't have to be Josh. It could be someone internal or just when you're putting on a certain hat at a certain time. So that's why I bring it up.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:22:16]:
Sure. No. Well, I appreciate it because I mean, that that is one of those things that I I think is foundational and potentially different to the way that I approach, helping businesses through LevelUp Media Interactive. And so so, okay, so I I'm gonna start here. And if I start going off the rails, stop me and back me up because I can get in the weeds really quick.
Joshua McNary [00:22:38]:
Okay. Go ahead. Go ahead.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:22:39]:
So the thing is when you think about the coaching and you think about the consulting and then you think about the collaboration, that I know I did say those in the order that I've got on the website. But there there to me is a structure and a kind of a, you know, chicken and egg here. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna do this in reverse. So I'm gonna start with the collaborate, which at one point I called content creation. But I realized it's not just a matter of the content creation. The collaboration is really when the client has a product they need to have made like a website or a video or an animation or a social media or a live event or whatever that thing is. It's that external potentially outward facing digital asset that they're using. So Yep. Why do they ask for that? Because they don't have the knowledge. They don't have the equipment. They don't have the time, whatever. The so they're just like, you know what? Just do it for me. Right? To me, that that is the the old model of video production houses and agencies and and web marketing companies and things of that sort. Which again, I don't want you to to hear me saying that those are bad because there is a use for it. But the problem is that when companies outsource that all the time, they rely on those other businesses who work with, you know, potentially tens and hundreds of other companies to dictate what your brand is. And who knows your brand better than you or at least you should. You shouldn't have
Joshua McNary [00:24:09]:
to
Shawn FitzGerald [00:24:10]:
outsource
Joshua McNary [00:24:10]:
that
Shawn FitzGerald [00:24:10]:
but that's what happens. So so you end up with spending a lot of money, you spend a lot of time, you sometimes in a way lose control because you're not making decisions and you don't know what happened. And at the end, a box is delivered wrapped up really pretty. You unlock unwrap it and you're just like, oh, it's this thing. And then you don't know what to do with it.
Joshua McNary [00:24:30]:
Well, and you end up like you end up like your first example which kinda asks for a thing and you got the thing and then you don't really know how to use it.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:24:36]:
That's right. And and my mindset is that if I'm really going to help businesses, level up to play on my company's name which was intentional, that I have to it's the, you know, I I I want to teach Amanda fish instead of give them the fish. And Right. Right. Those old models just give a fish so that companies become dependent. So the next time they need something, they just turn to them over and over and over. And so why is that not necessarily a good thing? Because nowadays, we communicate so quickly. That old model is not good for quick things. Things where you need to react quickly, live events, conferences, things of that sort. They're not good for social media. I mean, I the amount of money that I've seen my clients spend on social media and not really have anything they can show for it, it's astronomical. And I and I think it's horrible. I wouldn't want that for my own business so I don't want that for your business. So that's Right. So anyway, that that's the collaborate. That if you look at it as a pyramid and you put you can well, let's just say collaboration is at the top. It is the smallest part of the puzzle. It's the smallest part of the pyramid. It's the least it's the thing that I wanna do least for your company because I really want you to be doing that. But I realize sometimes you need an expert to kinda step in and do it for you so you can see how it's modeled or whatever. Okay. So if if I want you to do it yourself and not rely on me for that or rely on other sources, then the next step back is that you may need some coaching. You may need to have some training, some skill sets, some workshops, some things where you're learning the skills that you need in order to do it yourself Yes. But you don't know. So and and the other thing is you don't want to go out on your own video production or your own website or whatever that thing is and learn then because that's bad. That's that's gonna make mistakes. You're gonna end up with a bad product. Your crew's gonna go, what are you doing? All these negative things. So you need to have kind of that safe space where you can practice, learn, make mistakes, figure out what you need to understand better, whatever. So, some of my clients as I'm working with them, I realized that I need to actually maybe go out on production with them or, you know, set up scenarios where they have the camera or they're writing the script or whatever. And they're doing and I'm and I'm kind of critiquing, reviewing, I'm working workshopping them or whatever.
Joshua McNary [00:27:04]:
Yeah. You're advising. You're you're you're there as a as a shadow.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:27:08]:
Right. But the thing is it's not so much that it's just advising or not. It's that we are actually working on a specific skill and we and the output isn't me just talking at them and them hearing me. It's that they understand a skill and they master the skill. And that skill is just one of the many skills that you might need when you go back to that collaboration or that content creation side.
Joshua McNary [00:27:31]:
Right. Right. And that's and that's what coaches do. I mean, that's why you need to do coaching.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:27:34]:
That's right. That's right.
Joshua McNary [00:27:35]:
Coaches help somebody learn so they could do it on their own.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:27:37]:
Right. But the coaching is different than the collaboration. Just like a coach Yes. During practice is not the same as the game. You know, you see coaches behave differently on the sidelines for a game than they do during practice. And that's the difference between coaching and collaboration.
Joshua McNary [00:27:52]:
Right.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:27:52]:
Okay. So now the last piece of consulting. So consulting is really more of that assessment, that advice, that big picture. I'm not teaching you how to do something. I'm not doing it for you. I'm bringing my expertise in and my viewpoints to help you understand. And that and to and I guess when you think about it and you go back to that clarity and confidence I talked about, the consulting part of it is really the clarity part. It's it's me helping you understand the reality of where you're at. Now we're not doing anything to fix it necessarily yet, but we're just trying to get an understanding, a clarity of where we at, what's working, what's not working, what do we might need to change, how do we need to change, things of that sort.
Joshua McNary [00:28:35]:
Yes. Okay.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:28:36]:
Then when you go to the confidence part of it, that's really the coaching and that's really the collaboration. That's where you're building the skills, you're putting in the reps, you're practicing, you're making mistakes, you're getting better. And then you, you know, take it to the game field and you actually play the game. You you create the content on your own. So again, I'm just trying to show how kind of this framework that I've been working on developing kind of lines up so that you can understand. Because a lot of times what I find is companies go, well, you know, consulting and coaching to them is the same thing. They don't understand the nuance. And one of them is purely for clarity, and the second one, the coaching is clearly for confidence.
Joshua McNary [00:29:19]:
Right. Right. Okay. Yeah. That that makes a lot of sense. And I think, you know, I'm glad I I brought that up or, like, had you go through that. You know? Even though it's kind of like, you know, your your similar to sales pitch, I I imagine, in some regard, I think that's very applicable to this conversation because what you just went through is intentional change. It's it is what
Shawn FitzGerald [00:29:41]:
I hope so.
Joshua McNary [00:29:41]:
It it is what has to happen. Of course. Yeah. You you you're part of this podcast, so you certainly hope so. But, I mean, for our listeners, try to understand what we're talking about.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:29:50]:
Right.
Joshua McNary [00:29:51]:
That framework, whether it's you or those internal actors inside of a business, this is the kind of framework that needs to be happening so that you can avoid the pitfalls. You talked about marketing agencies and and the the kind of the old way of of of, outlaying the the money towards a project and then to kinda get this box back and this is what you do with it. A lot of people are frustrated with that model nowadays because it doesn't work that great.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:30:20]:
I agree.
Joshua McNary [00:30:20]:
And it doesn't seem like the ROI is there anymore. Right? Well, this is why. Because if you don't do these tasks you just went through, you're you're never gonna see the ROI as you want in the dynamic landscape we have. So, I mean, this is why it's so important. That's why we're why we're talking about this today, why we started this podcast.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:30:37]:
Yes. So where do we go from there? Right? And I I think that, you know, as a business, my my own experience, and I know I'm repeating myself a little bit. But what I find is that when I'm talking to businesses, they don't fully understand that clarity, that confidence model, that consulting or that coaching or that collaboration. In in their mind, they're so connected because it it is kind of you kinda go from one stage to the next in a very transitional kind of gray. It bleeds from one to the other. And sometimes you ping pong. You're you're in consulting looking for clarity, and then you go and you coach and you get confidence and you bounce back and you need a little bit more different clarity because you realize that like an onion or anything, there's layers to it. And you just tackled the first layer thinking that was the problem. And, Allison, you find that the problem really has two, three, four, a thousand layers or whatever.
Joshua McNary [00:31:33]:
Sure.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:31:34]:
So that as you're building confidence, it allows you to probe deeper. It allows you to ask those tough questions. It allows you to deal with things, make hard decisions, and then you get clarity on those things. And then maybe you might need some more confidence building on how to manage your team or how to fire people or hire people or or or whatever. And, again, I'm not saying that I'm the one who solves all those problems or will coach in all those problems because I'm just a piece of the pie of all the things that a business owner and entrepreneur needs to have. But so what do I do when a when a customer we we pull back a layer and we realize, oh, wow. They need something that really isn't my forte or my interests or strengths. Well, I know a lot of people, and I know as you do too, that do have those strengths in those areas. And I think that the advantage of and I'll just use what you had talked about earlier this fractional mindset. The the value of that is that all of us fractions know the whole and we know all the other slices. So and and the attitude is I'm gonna stay in my lane or I'm gonna stay in my pie piece or whatever and do what I do best. And when we get to the situation where you, the client, needs other things, then we are going to bring in those other people. So you're getting the best advice and you don't you as the customer, you don't have to go out and know all of us. You just have to trust us and we have to be worthy of your trust in order to bring in the right people to help. And I think that that model is so great. I mean, it it's it's not unlike just to relate for video production houses and and and some of these content creators. These these companies now, they aren't built on people that are local in their regional area. They are now looking for the best talent all over The United States. Well, why is that? Because they have to because the margins have gotten so low and it's gotten so competitive and and clients are going now questioning, why am I paying you to do all this stuff? Right.
Joshua McNary [00:33:32]:
Those But when you could when you could use your iPhone to get, you know, four k video. Right?
Shawn FitzGerald [00:33:36]:
Yeah. Or AI or some of these other technologies that are coming in that are challenging that so that these content creations, you know, agencies, whatever, they are having to go out and find the best possible people they can for specific things. And, you know, and again, that's
Joshua McNary [00:33:53]:
Well, why wouldn't you? I mean, why wouldn't you? That's that's the
Shawn FitzGerald [00:33:56]:
Right. That's the But that's
Joshua McNary [00:33:57]:
a massive change. Yeah. That's an change. That's the economy that we're in now, you know, with regards to the how interconnected we are and the opportunities that are out there. And that's the guy definitely have seen over the last ten plus years of my business is is the change from that agency model to this dispersed model. And, you are in a position to help people needing media and communications oriented support, and other business operational support as you've discussed today, bring that together. And that's that's what, you know, I think is one of your strengths. And it all comes back to this idea of being strategic about how we're whether we're finding people or or implementing projects, or new processes in our business, making that all work well together.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:34:42]:
Yes. Absolutely.
Joshua McNary [00:34:44]:
Alright. Well, as we wrap up the show here, let's get into some quick questions, quick burst of insight as we call them. Here, I'm gonna give you a few questions and just, give me a quick, first top of mind type answer back on each of these.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:34:59]:
Okay. Let's go.
Joshua McNary [00:35:01]:
So if you could snap your fingers and instantly change one thing about how businesses view communication, what would it be?
Shawn FitzGerald [00:35:09]:
You know, I think and and I for me, this is absolutely an easy thing to imagine, but I find businesses rarely ever realize this. And that communicating in a digital world, it creates these digital elements or assets that can be reused and repurposed very easily. And, you know, and oftentimes, I explain to companies, think of this video or this testimonial or this graphic or this animation or whatever it is as kind of a Lego block. And when you have a need, you're you're gonna present to some group or you're going to, go to a a conference or whatever. There's different needs of how you communicate. And when you realize that these digital assets are little pieces
Joshua McNary [00:35:52]:
Mhmm.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:35:52]:
That you can take apart and reassemble in different ways, what it does is it allows you to repurpose and get more value out of the thing. So maybe it might allow you to up your game on quality of of video camera or it may allow you to hire more people or or, you know, do more ads or whatever it is. It really it was regardless of what you do. But when you start to use those digital ad digital assets as LEGO blocks to rebuild, you get more value. You're more resourceful Okay. With things that are there. So anyway, I know that one. So, I'll be shorter next time.
Joshua McNary [00:36:26]:
It's okay. Repurpose and think of it in various ways. How can you use that digital asset in multiple ways? Okay.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:36:32]:
Yes.
Joshua McNary [00:36:32]:
Yep. What's the biggest lesson you've learned or best piece of advice that you have been given in your experience?
Shawn FitzGerald [00:36:41]:
Well, I, you know, the the first thing that comes to mind, I I read a somebody gave me a book that was on people styles and it broke down that people are are basically into kind of four categories. And it went through, you know, how they behave, their mindsets, what they do when they stress when they're stressed. And then also it compares this quadrant to this quadrant and, you know, how do you get along, how do you not get along.
Joshua McNary [00:37:06]:
Right.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:37:07]:
And I think that I I realized that not everyone thinks accent is motivated like I am. And I treated people I expected them to behave like I did. And it took me some time to learn that we were all different. We're motivated differently. And once once I understood that and, you know, if if you're struggling with this right now when I'm talking about it, go do your search for people styles. I think it's written by, Bolton Charles Bolton. Anyway, read that book. It opened my eyes, and I think it makes and it it made me a better leader, manager. Although, I continue to still fight my urges and try to remember that. But that was one of the big pieces of advice or things that I learned that we have common goals, but we approach them differently. And true managers, true leaders understand those differences and leverage strengths and lessen, you know, the conflicts and things like that. So
Joshua McNary [00:38:02]:
Yeah. That's a great piece of advice. I've definitely seen that in my work and my years in business. And as you mature as a business person, you you you learn the value of those models. And those other models beyond the one you mentioned. I'll just throw out quickly, the Endogram, profile is one that I've, had some experience with that also breaks people into different categories or your different, strengths and weaknesses that you can then, you know, use for the the benefit of of your organization and and the individuals as well. Another one I'll throw out there is, 16personalities.com. They have a online profile that and information around, in that case, 16 personalities that they use. So Yeah. Anyways, I'll just mention that. Alright. One more question here. One more quick first. Yeah. What what is one upcoming technology advancement that you think will change the way businesses communicate?
Shawn FitzGerald [00:38:52]:
AI generated video. Hands down. And, you know, I have been playing with this for over two years, doing some stuff on my own, watching all these things come up. And what I've seen in the last six months, the progress of the output of realistic video and and bringing in human characters and things of that sort, it's mind blowing. And, you know, and this AI generated, I had a sense of several years ago that this was I'll just say it was one of the things that I saw as a massive game changer in our industry, and it's one of the reasons why I walked away from the company that I had before when I had a chance to exit. Because I just saw it as it's going to change the whole video communication industry, and it's going to put a lot more power into individual businesses' Mhmm. Ability to generate and and control the stuff themselves. And, it's it's, yeah, it's mind blowing. It's mind blowing. And I absolutely yeah. I generate video. We're gonna look back and go, wow. This was like the TV or the microwave or
Joshua McNary [00:40:03]:
Right.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:40:03]:
Or the car compared to, people wearing you know, putting horseshoes on horses. Sure. You know, it's it's gonna be a massive change.
Joshua McNary [00:40:12]:
Even if you look at, go back a number of years to look at just still images, static imagery, and how far that's come in the AI Yes. World. You could find articles and and examples out there of, you know, the last number of years, how much it's improved with the same prompt.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:40:26]:
Right.
Joshua McNary [00:40:26]:
And and and we're just at that kind of first stage of video, really. And, it is pretty amazing. So, yeah, I I hear you there, especially from your your background. That's a that's a huge earthquake, going forward.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:40:38]:
It is. It is. And we're we haven't even scratched the surface. It's this is, hour one of the full day of AI generation disruption.
Joshua McNary [00:40:46]:
Yep. Definitely. Well, Shawn, this has been great. Yeah. I wanted to give you an opportunity. Yeah. I wanted to give you an opportunity to share where people can learn more about you.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:40:57]:
Yes. The easiest thing to do is, just go to my website readytolevelup.com. Goes to my company, Level Up Media Interactive, and there is a way you can, read the things that you talked about. And you can also, connect up with me, schedule an appointment. We can chat if you've got a problem, or you can send me an email or whatever. And that I'll just start there.
Joshua McNary [00:41:21]:
Great. Thanks for joining me today.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:41:23]:
I appreciate it.
Joshua McNary [00:41:25]:
And for our listeners, remember, intentional change starts with small purposeful steps. What's one change you can make today to improve your business communication? Thank you for tuning in to Intentional Change. Don't forget to subscribe, follow, and share the podcast. I'm Joshua McNary.
Shawn FitzGerald [00:41:43]:
And I'm Shawn Fitzgerald.
Joshua McNary [00:41:44]:
See you next time.
