Transcript 0:01 foreign [Music] 0:09 and welcome back to another episode of SKC live I'm actually here joined with 0:15 my amazing incredible talented business partner Alicia 0:21 so uh yeah I mean we yeah we built this whole Little Empire here 0:28 um how would we start a 2014 I get yeah yeah you were still in 0:34 college yes I was I was just finishing College yeah I think I was on my last semester of college yeah you're working 0:40 at The Palms hated it why'd you hate it because it was when 0:45 the Palms was literally nobody was there it was like all old people that like would pee in their seats 0:53 like it wasn't it wasn't fun it was like an AARP yeah yeah it was really bad oh 1:00 so yeah I mean so basically you know you know I mean Alicia we actually met working on a big project for um Jeff 1:07 Beecher yeah yeah that was the first project we did together yeah and uh she was a little skeptical 1:15 um now so we actually we actually knew each other back when your mom was doing 1:20 uh a makeup school yeah I probably was like 16. yeah it was like 1:26 it's crazy I mean she didn't even remember me until until everything kind of got like really 1:33 um um actually took your mom being like no my mom had to be like no that is that's 1:38 the dude I don't know yeah because I was actually working as a controller for a 1:44 production company and they just happened to be doing it downstairs and the instructor was like hey Brian you 1:49 know you used to do photos yeah hey can you come down and shoot the final projects and uh I remember you were a 1:56 geisha yeah and then yeah remember that one yeah because I I 2:02 remember he's like hey you got to get photos of the birthing process remember because when they rip open the back of 2:08 the head yeah like a cap on and everything yeah you're really green you were green yep I was about to say green 2:14 yeah my mom made like little 2:19 I I still have all the photos somewhere that would be wild yeah you haven't seen 2:25 them no I have but it would be weird to look at them now again yeah yeah and do 2:31 your my older you took photos of my older brother too do you remember he was Edward Scissorhands I do remember yeah 2:36 you know it's funny I was actually thinking I was like I remember doing it at a Scissorhand a geisha yeah and then 2:43 there was something else I did um I mean there was a whole bunch of people in my class yeah but uh no it no 2:50 it was fun yeah so anyways fast forward we you know we I'm out at towel nightclub with some clients I had a 2:56 hosting company back then and Bam uh one of the guys that worked for me his 3:01 girlfriend actually ran into you and invited you to the table and I'm like I know you yeah 3:07 I don't know you're just a creepy guy I don't know so anyways we started 3:15 talking and you're like hey you know I'm in college for graphic design and I was like hey let me see some of your stuff and I was like oh actually it's really 3:21 good yeah yeah so when I when I had that project that came to um uh to head yeah um 3:29 I was like you know what hey um Alicia what are you doing um I got this project and I'm working 3:35 out of my place at Turnberry and uh after about a week of going back and 3:41 forth you agreed to come over and yeah we knocked out of the park yeah it was really cool it was like um rebranding 3:48 and not only that but we were coming up with like a specific concept for the new Rebrand 3:53 do you remember that like it was like not only just like restructuring like the way we're presenting them visually but it was like a new idea around the 4:01 show and that's when we realized that that we we could work together and then 4:07 from there I already had some other clients I was actually doing consulting for and doing some social media yeah and 4:14 I'm like well hold on a second let me go talk to these people and let them know I have a now a design arm and you kind of 4:22 mock something up for each one of them and represented it and every single client said yes to it yeah yeah and I'm 4:29 like oh shoot not what we got something going on here but the great thing about it was is that 4:35 during that time we actually picked up a couple other ones yeah yeah we were able to like bring on more like full service 4:40 type of client people that like understood already a social media client for you 4:47 and then adding design it was like people that like oh you can do the whole thing yeah well and the funny thing about it was is that the I was doing 4:55 Social Web obviously the marketing side you were doing designs some social in the 5:02 marketing side we have it like that that that I would say like crossover but yeah 5:08 we're both kind of doing the same thing yeah working out of my condo yeah and 5:13 like literally about six months later we realized okay we can't do this anymore 5:18 like we need we need help well yeah when we brought on like our first employee 5:24 yeah yeah which was actually really that actually is a funny story all by itself because I 5:30 was like Alicia I think you should be the one Higher number yeah she's like uh I've never hired anybody 5:36 and I go I go well it was a first time for everything yeah and I remember we went through a few different people and 5:42 you got down to like two people yeah I had actual two and two and I remember like going down the 5:48 elevator at Turnberry thinking you may have like what the do I ask these people 5:54 and actually I think I remember I'm like listen you know you have to work with these people so you have to find out like yeah if you can Vibe with them no 6:02 for sure it's a great learning process yeah and actually the person we ended up hiring was actually with us for for a 6:07 while yeah um and that was just the beginning and then then we ended up hiring a full-time 6:13 web person oh no yeah what person was next yeah yeah yep and then we did 6:18 social actually I think it was our sales person 6:25 really I think so yeah okay yeah I think Bernadine was before mirror because I 6:30 remember didn't we hire Mira on full time when we were at the Russell location was that Russell you're 100 6:37 right is that Russell no rainbow rainbow yeah yeah well 6:43 because we're working out of out of the we had a little little office space yeah 6:48 ten by ten literally inside print Las Vegas yep uh-huh and that you're right that's when we hire Bernadine yeah and 6:55 then we went from there to uh Russell into a smaller space yeah 7:01 um but then eventually grew into yeah yeah that's crazy to think about yeah so I 7:08 mean like literally and now we're I mean 5 000 square feet podcast Studio full 7:14 staff a lot of a lot of employees um and now we're in Two Cities yeah so I 7:21 mean it it just keeps going so you know the loaded question I get a lot from 7:27 people is what was your favorite project you were about that's such a hard one it is right that's so hard I mean it it's 7:34 almost even kind of like okay I've got five kids I know right which one's your favorite yeah like I I I can't honestly 7:41 I feel like that might be easier than to see what our favorite project was you're 7:47 right though because I mean like I mean we had projects where we did a festival uh-huh and we actually 7:53 got to go and partake in the festival as like as a customer yeah even though we're there working but so we got the 8:00 build up and the benefits of actually going yeah and then the aftermath too that was a pretty cool project like like 8:07 figuring out how to like um market after the festival oh yeah gone it's done like 8:12 how do we stay rememberable well that and leading up to the next one yeah yeah yeah no no 100 we had that one I mean 8:19 we've had restaurants we've had lawyers doctors tattoo shops nightclubs 8:26 I mean we had trading companies oh yeah remember old Dr Cass yeah yeah 8:34 that was an interesting one well because I mean that one was actually interesting only because I mean he he was a 8:39 character by himself but but we're developing out his online 8:45 platform for people to learn how to trade at the S P 500 but then all of a 8:50 sudden he's like hey I want to get in front of all the people of the World Series yeah I remember a poker yeah and 8:57 having to contact the World Series of Poker get permission to even have him be a client and then go off and find some 9:03 of the big poker Pros to sponsor them yeah outfitting a booth with a bunch of 9:09 promotional models yeah data collection like that was that was a huge project well it's 40 days at the world series of 9:16 program that was a really big projects yeah no that was huge especially for where we were at as a company like that was large oh here I mean and now it 9:23 would be a drop in a bucket yeah yeah but there I think we had like five people working for us at the time maybe six maybe yeah maybe yeah yeah oh I mean 9:32 and the thing is is that that was a huge learning curve for us yeah we learned a lot and but 9:38 I'm not going to say that that's even on our top 10 favorite I don't think so I forgot about until now oh really 9:46 yeah interesting it was eight years ago seven seven years seven years ago 2015. 9:53 was it yeah yeah 9:58 yeah so it's like a long time to think you know it's not something that I think 10:03 about daily well it's 2015 or is 2016. because we're at Russell Road at that time so we went from Rainbow to Russell 10:10 Road um and again Russell Road was actually our own first own office yeah I like it 10:16 it was all in bathroom yeah yeah only people on it we had two little offices a nice little waiting room and a kind of 10:23 like a uh I don't know a bullpen area yeah like an entryway yeah 10:28 so we so doing that but I think that's where we really kind of started kind of 10:34 setting our our eyes on hey let's do even bigger things yeah larger so so yeah so loaded question top three 10:43 favorite projects not favorite clients favorite projects so like it I don't 10:48 know but like I only can think of recent 10:54 stuff like my mind just goes to like the most recent projects okay how about this so let's go with what what do you think 11:02 like what project did you feel like you learned the most from that was more in the scope of like full service of what 11:09 we provide our clients okay huh 11:14 it's an oldie but I feel like Revolt has taught me a lot and I think that it's because we've been we were with them for 11:22 so long you know what I mean like we started with nothing and then as the growth of that company went our growth 11:30 went and I think like having that relationship with them like kind of like 11:35 pushed us a little longer too you know what I mean like we were continuing to learn more and grow more because they 11:40 were learning more and they were growing more so it like was like a really good like back and forth no for sure I mean 11:46 they Revolt tattoos they started off across the street from the old Hard Rock which is not a virgin 11:51 and a ginormous Studio that was the biggest shop I've ever seen I've never 11:57 seen a tattoo shop that big ever huge um it was yeah I mean because because even 12:03 the Ford facing to the consumer that was actually huge yeah and then they had the whole backpack that they never really 12:10 used I mean later on Lana did but yeah now they're in the fashion show mall they're in the 12:16 Meadows Mall they're in Lake Tahoe they're in Salt Lake they're in Houston they're just another garage 12:22 expanding and I think also like as a designer I was able to see myself grow with them too is because like they were 12:29 probably one of the first projects I worked on like as a whole from like a an 12:35 overall perspective oh no oh 100 so like I developed their brand and then it lasted for how many years we're in now 12:43 but throughout that time it continued to evolve and you remember like when they came to us and they're like we want to 12:48 like freshen things up and I was like what does that mean because this is what it is yeah and so like it kept like 12:54 pushing me like a little bit more is like okay how can I think about this thing that I work on consistently on a 12:59 daily basis in A New Perspective and I remember it was about four years ago three four years ago it was before 13:06 covet um that we were coming up with kind of a new brand fresh ideas and all of a 13:12 sudden we came up and it was the star with the location around it or location underneath it it's around it is around 13:20 it yeah so it was and I remember going that's it yeah that's what we need to pitch to The Client yeah and it was 13:26 honestly a t-shirt design like it wasn't even meant to be like a brand identity which I think is even better oh no 100 I 13:32 mean I mean we literally stumbled I mean we've done that a couple times yeah with other clients but but yeah I mean 13:37 watching because it used to just be Revolt tattoos spelled out kind of like layered on top of each other on the side 13:44 yeah with it and then the star that if you look at the star it was actually an R yeah it has like half an r on it yeah 13:52 but I mean just watching that whole brand even evolve yeah right I mean I mean we still do obviously a lot of work 13:58 with them a lot of their branding yeah their design obviously their website 14:03 um yeah I I love that one um obviously it I mean that's the oldest 14:09 client we have yeah I mean like full service from scratch client that we have 14:14 yeah absolutely I mean we even have construction photos when they're building up their very first shop yeah yeah I mean and and in the beginning I 14:21 mean it was really easy to work with Joey oh yeah and Walter and and even even when Jason was there you know Jason 14:27 you know was just learning the business side of things but don't want to get too many too much of the characters here but 14:33 uh but Joey Hamilton obviously he you know legendary tattoo artist yeah season 14:39 three winner of Ink Master yeah I mean you know that was a great one and then I would say like our next 14:46 major kind of like big brand that we kind of took over but we really did a 14:51 huge not a brand refresh but we took control of the brand which probably was sake rock yeah yeah that was really fun 14:58 I think what we were given was like breadcrumbs and then we turned it into like this like five course meal you know 15:05 what I mean like I think that that's how I view that project is they already had a logo but there was not really like a 15:11 full brand identity there wasn't full copy like we didn't know the voice of it we had an idea of what it would look 15:18 like on inside a little bit because they had opened but it wasn't like fully 15:23 developed nope yeah I mean remember the giant menus they had in the very beginning huge which I get they were 15:29 trying to be funny with but like it didn't work yeah well it was just too big yeah yeah just knocking over 15:35 yeah yeah but I mean but but you know that one was a very good one and you know that I to this day I still have 15:40 people that hit me up saying hey Brian um how Sakura doing or hey can you get 15:45 me a reservation yeah and I'm like guys it hasn't been open since covet yeah um 15:51 and it's not I don't know really the whole true reason why it hasn't reopened it 15:57 definitely wasn't because it uh of lack of performance because that place was on fire going in yeah 16:03 um especially I like think about their rock shrimp all the time I'm like man if only pretty good that's 16:12 so good you know what's funny because uh what what were those not jalapeno the real Peppers shishito peppers I remember 16:19 it was like Russian roulette with those because I don't like spicy I know at all and like it would be like but they were 16:26 so good at the ones that were spicy but I would be the guy that would be that got the freaking spicy one because I 16:32 would always nibble off the front part of it and just taste it give it a try and I'm like oh this one's good yeah this is my 16:39 mouth yep but the sushi was great everything was fresh I mean the presentation I missed the shows yeah the 16:47 entertainment I mean even I mean I've watched a couple Super Bowl events there a couple UFC fights there I mean they 16:54 had three stories that place there was in the activation behind it I mean it was a it was a good learning thing not 17:00 really for us because I think that we already kind of knew how to operate them yeah but for the team yeah absolutely 17:06 you know just watching the team like you know take ownership of like the event marketing of this or or hey we need to 17:12 come up with a new menu concept yep yeah you know because I think that was actually one of the biggest things that 17:17 uh now Michelle yep yeah she designed their new menus yeah which is 17:22 an amazing um um I would say like learning but it was 17:28 like that that kind of like we kind of you know started seeing like the stars of our team yeah Sean yeah from there oh 17:36 for sure yeah because even even the website was incredible yeah um it was very interactive I think that was like 17:42 the first one of the first websites that we made that was that um artistically driven and yep well and 17:49 very Interactive you know it's funny because another one who comes to mind was vintage pools well 17:55 yeah so I remember when the re so I gotta it I don't know if you maybe we'll 18:01 put it on the comments down here but vintagepoolslv.com is still up there still the the same homepage because the 18:09 owners love this so much he asked us this is 2015. this is a long time ago 18:14 yeah this was one of our first clients too he wanted this one pool photo on the 18:20 home page but he wanted his logo to look like if the pool was like kind of like 18:26 like kind of just just moving a little bit and it was ever so slight and it I 18:32 remember it took us forever to figure out how to make that work on mobile desktop tablet I mean it just wasn't a 18:39 thing yeah but you know to lay it on top but Mira figured it out oh here we go there it is yep see it yep so if you if 18:47 you move it it's just moving ever so slightly and and this is all he wanted yeah and I remember it was so cool I 18:55 remember when we when mirror finally got it to work I was like what oh yeah 19:01 yeah no I mean it I mean it's funny because you know we we're constantly in you know vintage polls still being one 19:08 of our uh again another one of our oldest uh clients uh full service 19:14 um you know this is one website that we've really haven't had to refresh it too much yeah because it's just a very 19:22 refreshing website all together yeah we haven't really done too much since we 19:27 built it the first time as in like aesthetically like we haven't really changed the visuals too much yeah well 19:33 no need I mean yeah the interior of the website we've actually you know really developed off but um but yeah wow that's 19:40 cool yeah that was cool uh to pull that up um but yeah I mean with with all the 19:46 different clients and all the different projects I mean you know we you know now it kind of goes on to like we can get 19:53 all the clients in the world but now we have to have a team yeah and and just 19:58 watching you know some of the people that have been with us like our kids for 20:03 sure yeah that's how I feel about that yeah yeah it you know you have you know Mira's been with us she's our head of 20:09 Webb actually one of our partners now we've made a partner along with Michelle uh which is now kind of like taking over 20:16 you know like your position yeah absolutely yeah and you know there and 20:21 then watching them develop their teams out yeah it just 20:27 I love it yeah I mean it's like heartwarming it is I mean especially when they're when 20:33 they're when they're working on a project and and like I'll be sitting in my office and I'll hear like a cheer 20:38 yeah you know and and most of the time it comes from social because social is always doing a lot of like reels and 20:44 this yeah it's like oh my God yeah I hit 10K 100k 20:49 you know like it it yeah just want because that's the pride that we that 20:54 that I really enjoy you know kind of getting out of stuff because if we're hearing that internally yeah imagine 21:00 what how much love the client's getting externally yeah for sure 100 I mean we 21:05 every single client that comes in you know what what I really love the most is 21:11 the feedback from like the the owners of the company or whoever our opponent 21:16 contact is and you know it starts off with hey can I uh can I have a one-on-one 21:22 with you and I'm like oh no what happened what literally up on yeah it's really not the first thing I think 21:27 about anymore but I'm like I'm like yeah what's up like I just have to say man I'm very very happy with your team yeah 21:34 um and a lot of them feel like Brian like how how can you do all of these different clients 21:40 keep everything structured you know keep everybody like they and and me feel 21:47 meaning the client feel like I'm the only decline yeah I mean because we're so on top of everything and and I would 21:54 probably say if there's any Secret Sauce any agency director or anybody who's running a marketing team it's never 22:01 don't um procrastinate oh yeah for sure you literally when the email comes in Jump 22:07 On It when a phone call comes in you know try to answer it as much as you can 22:13 and if you can't you know literally send him a quick text saying hey I'll get back to you give me 15 minutes because 22:18 sometimes what they're really trying to get out of you is a real quick question the email could be something really 22:24 simple yeah um and if it's something that takes a little bit longer schedule meeting yeah absolutely bring in the 22:30 people that we need to tackle this you know making sure because we used to have 22:35 all of our weekly meetings with our clients we'd have each department head in there yeah 22:40 and we started realizing that you know sometimes that meeting was more design heavy not so much with the web and we're 22:46 now taking away from them working on other projects so the larger we got the 22:53 letter oh 100 so like we we realized okay you know now we have a clients relations director we have a projects 23:00 director and those two spearhead everything yeah and the communication is so much better now yeah I think it's a 23:06 lot cleaner yeah I mean like literally they come out of a meeting and they're because in the meeting they're they're hitting you know 23:13 their their Trello boards and the Google you know sheets and you know uh updating 23:18 all that but getting all the information immediately over to each department yeah like hey the client wants us to focus 23:25 more on this or hey can we maybe do uh more of a push a marketing push on this 23:31 promotion yeah or this product or service yeah so yeah and then really I 23:36 mean you know they're kind of even fast forward that you know now we've kind of expanded into Miami 23:42 um actually today um I know this is gonna be a time sensitive and I hate you know talking about time sensitive things because this 23:49 probably won't be shown for a few weeks yeah but we actually you know are bringing on um uh you know one of our 23:56 I don't say first but another another addition to our team that's actually going to be in Miami you actually got an 24:02 opportunity to spend some time with her I'm super excited to have her a part of the team Miami is always a great space 24:08 to like think about growth I think that just Miami in general when I hear that word it feels like growth to me and 24:14 probably because that's where we've grown the most in the last couple years but like meaning another person that's 24:19 going to be developing that area and like it just brings a lot of like excitement and like that exciting interview it does yeah for sure you know 24:27 what's funny is that what I've what I've learned over I I personally have learned this is 24:33 never never judge a book by its cover like I I probably due to I would say the 24:42 like for example like I like I don't like going oh I'm gonna hire you because you have a Harvard degree yeah I'm gonna 24:48 hire you because I didn't like that never never done that it's always been Personality yeah it's always can you 24:54 come in do you have the hunger the drive the personality the creativeness and can 24:59 you just be a part of a family and be drama free that's all I want right but like you know 25:06 um but yeah I was just very impressed with like her background and I never would have thought that that thought from somebody yeah you know but you know 25:13 even to fast forward from there you know now you know watching I'm gonna sit back 25:18 and watch that market grow yeah I mean I mean the only only it's a good thing and a bad thing but mostly good thing is 25:25 spending more time out in Miami developing that out yeah you know um you know especially when it's cold as 25:30 hell right now and out there you know it's it's still Beach weather is it really uh well actually I think I I 25:37 think I think it's light Sweater Weather light Sweater Weather yeah yeah definitely not beanie weather I mean 25:42 like you can see me like this is definitely not Vegas this is definitely not happening in July right now this 25:48 conversation me wearing a jacket and a beanie is definitely not having it yeah but no I mean but you know like so I 25:55 would say like one of our the one that I'm I'm I would say I'm most proud of over the last three years 26:02 of watching it develop and really grow even though we had a lot of up behind 26:07 probably the parent brand is 11 vodka oh absolutely it's like probably when you were asking me like what's your favorite 26:13 project like that's the one that always comes up but like I don't want to like always say that one so I'm just trying 26:19 to think of other ones well because 11 is such a huge brand in the hospitality world and in love in Miami you know like 26:26 the first six months to nine months like like helping you know working really 26:31 closely with their marketing team to develop a good reels program a story program content creation program you 26:38 know like that was and now it's like on autopilot now literally every single performance every single this is is all 26:46 structured the same way yeah yeah and we're like a Content machine now it's just it's amazing what happens when you 26:52 have structures in place no 100 really is yeah but but then with you know with 26:57 the 11 vodka you know project it was like oh yeah hey we can use the 11 Miami name 27:03 which is good but not necessarily in South Florida because a lot of you know there's a lot of competition there yeah 27:08 but we actually but we actually figured out that a lot of people still want to carry it they still want to get behind it there's 27:14 a you know a few a few other majorly competing brands or venues that are like absolutely not well yeah and I get that 27:21 I mean I wouldn't want to if I had a towel vodka I'm not going to put it at the Wynn Hotel you know it doesn't make sense but 27:28 um but yeah just watching that that whole thing grow and yeah and then also like seeing where we started with it 27:34 because it literally just developed right when we started working with them yeah because it was October 27:41 it wasn't a year was it well yeah I mean the the technically the anniversary or 27:47 the born on date was October of 2020. yeah and I think we started taking it 27:53 over in like March of 2021 yeah 27:59 um and mainly because you know they they had the you know 11 did um you know when every when covet 28:06 happened everybody kind of went to a Hiatus or you know went to a um into you know downsizing you know to 28:13 protect everything 11 still had their marketing team a lot of them still in town 28:18 um and they were focusing on helping develop out that brand yeah but then October of of 2020 I think it was around 28:26 Halloween is when they reopened yeah um so they needed more help and they were looking for an outside agency to assist 28:32 with that it sounds like super new yes there was like assets already like developed and there was like programs 28:39 already in place and that kind of thing but like seeing where it's at now is like a whole 28:45 nother picture oh 100 it and it was a huge team effort for sure from the 28:51 partners of 11 that were assisting on some of the branding and marketing you know but 11 vodka a lot of people don't 28:57 know this but lemon vodka is actually owned by the wives yeah represent of all the partners of 11. yeah and 29:04 um and it was uh Michael Simpkins wife Nikki that yeah she's the CEO and you 29:10 know she is a you know I what I really like about her she holds you accountable yeah she's a rock star she's a huge rock 29:16 star yeah you know and then bringing in then they brought in Denise yep Garcia and she you know she worked for the 11 29:23 brand for many years I think three or four years yeah before that yeah so you 29:28 know keeping that whole 11 mentality it just it really helped out and then just 29:33 coming in and just knocking out of the park and then and then showing what we did with that was an easy transition into working with 29:41 the actual Brand 11 a lot of a lot of the other verticals from 11 8 to 11 sound to obviously Gold Rush yeah which 29:49 is another brand but yeah but I mean but that to me like just watching that whole thing grow like it was such a team 29:55 effort between all parties 11 marketing you know the you know the team at 11 vodka ourselves like putting everybody 30:03 together and yeah yeah we learned a lot that was the well the first liquor brand 30:09 we ever worked with like on that scale on that scale yeah so like seeing how all of those pieces work together and 30:16 then being able to like figure out how do we fine-tune these pieces or what other assets can we create or how other 30:23 like what other messaging do we need to include in order to not just have this be a miami-based brand oh 100 like how 30:30 do we get this out of there like we want it to be National so how do we grow to that space that that was really cool and 30:38 we're actually there now we're we're at that point now where you know in it's up 30:43 to the uh the powers to be at 11 vodka now to make those decisions on when we're going to grow into other markets 30:50 but we're we're capable we're capable and and we're and we're really really really excited for that growth at some 30:56 point yeah so yeah I mean you know that you know that's another one I mean and then you know we just 31:03 developed out the brand wet yeah that that's that that's an amazing one too and and 31:08 it's crazy because that's what a lot of a lot of those fine dining luxury 31:14 uh restaurants are going to is adding entertainment yeah adding you know experience and experience yeah people 31:20 want experiences yeah I mean because I I think the the days of like going to you 31:26 know to like like the old Morton Steakhouse and or or very like upscale 31:31 like I don't say stuffy yeah but I mean there's a time and a place that you want to go to those fine dining places yeah 31:38 maybe on the anniversary date or you know you want to you know propose or or 31:43 you're on a like a date you wanted to be quiet and you want to focus on or getting to know somebody perfect but if 31:49 you're on that second third fourth fifth day bam looking for a like not just good food but a really good time 31:55 entertainment yeah fun over the top it it reminds me of a lot of like you know 32:00 like the Greek restaurants when they're throwing them you're throwing the plates on the ground and yeah you know I mean all the way through I mean it's just a 32:08 party yeah with amazing food yeah and um and we got the opportunity and I 32:13 remember at the ninth hour or well actually not like that would be the 11th Hour like right before we're about to say hey this is what we're gonna this is 32:20 what the brand looks like yeah it was like I think we should change I think we should change the logo 32:26 and but but it worked but it worked it was it was a good call yeah no I mean it you know I think it 32:33 took a lot of people it took the owner took the managing partner to The Operators all kind of come together not 32:41 everybody was on the same page yeah but but at the end of the day it was a right I think the right move yeah for sure I 32:47 agree yeah I think the yeah but I mean yeah just watching that place I mean just this past weekend a good friend of 32:55 mine uh in Miami was like hey can you give me a reservation at wet and I'm like sure what time he's like 9 30 I'm 33:02 like all right cool yeah I'll put it in just for two people all right no problem come to find out he he tried to make a 33:09 reservation and it was our it was booked up it was overbooked yeah 33:14 so I mean I haven't even been open oh they opened up the Halloween weekend 33:19 oh yeah yeah so they're going on three months and they're already to that point yeah that's amazing and I think again 33:26 you know that has a lot to do with the team that they have in place there for sure um you know of course you know 33:31 creating a marketing and branding like we liked on our side oh yeah yep that's 33:36 us no it doesn't work like that people but the thing though is that you know the 33:42 the owner of the of the property you know he's very intelligent he comes from a business background it comes from uh 33:49 building you know large-scale Hospitality you know he one of the biggest Hospitality brands on the East 33:55 Coast yeah um but he um what I like is that he he's like okay 34:02 what's next yeah he's always not for the next thing not like okay hey you guys got us there okay bye yeah yeah you know 34:08 because I think that's where you you lose things if things are like I asked 34:14 him flat out I said what is your what's your ultimate goal yeah and he's like well we're still trying to Define that 34:19 and I said well can I make a suggestion and he's like fire away I said listen if 34:25 you're if you're Wednesday Thursday Friday and 34:30 Saturday are all solid meaning that you're at least at a at a 90 Plus 34:37 booking rate yeah um can we agree agree that we that we 34:43 that we did our job and then we can start talking about doing a Sunday brunch uh a Tuesday activation like 34:49 let's really you know can we agree to that and he's like absolutely oh yeah yeah and we're very close of already 34:55 hitting that goal yeah like we're very close um so awesome it is right yeah that's so 35:00 cool but then we got the next project with him yeah can we talk about that are 35:05 well I mean I guess we could talk about the most obvious it's already wrapped on the building yeah I guess the names 35:11 yeah so on the corner of Flagler and Biscayne Boulevard in a very high density uh District in 35:18 Miami right across from Bayfront Park if anybody is watching us is familiar with the Miami uh area or is lives down there 35:26 Flagler Biscayne the North West corner there's a building and you probably see 35:31 a bunch of looks like people um from burning man yeah um you know but yeah that's actually a 35:38 photo shoot we did over a year ago now yeah here in Vegas um but yeah the name of the restaurant 35:44 was called dust yeah I'm super excited for that one yes I am too I think it's just gonna be like 35:50 over the top like it's gonna literally like blow everybody's socks off I 35:56 remember being out there um I don't know probably like six months ago now and uh the owner Brent giving me 36:03 the tour of it and I remember I took a video of it and I said about to you and you said oh my gosh that place is 36:09 humongous yeah it's huge I Can Only Imagine how they're going to design design that 36:15 and like how intense it's gonna be you know what I mean because okay so the theme of the space is kind of like 36:21 post-apocalyptic meets luxury lifestyle so like it's the photo shoot that we did 36:28 was more so like desert we literally created a whole entire restaurant in the 36:33 desert we have these huge extravagant chairs and like a dining set up and then people eating raw steaks in 36:40 post-apocalyptic gear so like it's like fine dining meets the end of the world 36:46 and that's what the space is going to look like also so it's going to be like a desert dust right but then there's 36:52 going to be like just this art that represents like post-apocalyptic times and like how do 36:58 we bring luxury to that space like how do we make people see that 37:03 and Brent even talked about having like a Lambo that's like decked out like Mad Max in there and it's just gonna be 37:10 crazy yeah yeah actually I think if you go um Mr engineer if you go back one page 37:15 if you go down to the third link versus dust Miami coming 2023. that's it 37:20 yeah click on that there you go yeah you can kind of see the photo in the background to like yeah I mean like 37:26 literally this is yeah the art art of food 37:31 um art of survival yeah and and literally you know what I what I really liked because again the owner of what Brent 37:39 he's got a great vision yeah he's very artistic so he's like if the world ended 37:45 post-apocalyptic nuclear fallout zombie apocalypse all the above but you still 37:50 want to be fabulous and you're just cruising through the desert all right and where are all the IT people gonna go 37:58 exactly they're going to dust yeah and I remember I and and I'm glad 38:03 um I remember the first concept logo that he gave us um are like literally the first 38:10 indicating of mine was oh oh hell no Michelle in your voice was like was like oh no 38:19 by the way we got to cut that one and we gotta put that on repeat and just send to Michelle to show and she'll get it 38:25 but no I remember um who came up with this logo I did oh 38:31 Round of Applause Round of Applause thank you yeah no that great I mean 38:37 it I remember I remember when we presented it to him he like literally said you guys want you guys went over 38:43 the top yeah you guys hit it out of the park um but yeah I remember yeah this is 38:49 gonna be a very fun brand it's gonna like it's gonna be it's it's gonna be good yeah it's it's like wet just the 38:56 opposite opposite that's what I like about the concepts is like they're the same experience in a sense that you're dining 39:03 in a space that's going to have like either underwater or in post-apocalypse exactly yeah it's like a theme like 39:09 there's like such like a setting for it like everything would fit together in this space like how wet does like not 39:15 only do the entertainers fit in the theme or the food but the plating the 39:21 textures on the wall the lighting that's in there like the names of things that 39:26 are on the menu like everything falls inside of this theme that creates a huge experience and I really think that 39:32 that's what people are looking for especially when they're going out with people like they're going a large group of people are wanting to 39:39 experience a restaurant that's not just food you know what I mean like we're not just going there for the food anymore 39:46 yeah no Hunter I 100 agree with you I mean it but that leads me kind of to 39:51 like a Vegas client that we have saffron yeah absolutely yeah so it it is funny 39:57 because me and Alicia met the uh the owners of saffron on a different project yeah yeah 40:02 um and that that didn't really come I don't know if it didn't come for fruition I think they went in a 40:07 different direction with it and then covet happened so like a lot of things kind of got put on hold there but all of 40:13 a sudden I remember we get a phone call um requesting that both Brian and Alicia 40:20 come to this meeting and we're like okay what and the fact that they both call us 40:25 out by names you know I guess if you did your research and you went to our website you can see who the you know the owners are the company and 40:33 um but it just it it felt like there was a either a setup there or they or that 40:38 we knew them yeah and I remember we we show up and it was like oh my gosh yeah Tony and Mike yeah and it was like 40:45 but we walk in so the setup to kind of give you a visual of of saffron 40:51 saffron's in on the Edge of Chinatown um here in Las Vegas and you kind of 40:58 pull up and it's in a weird kind of like shopping center yeah like the building's a little weird it's just a weird shape 41:04 yeah it's kind of like a horseshoe-ish kind of shape right next to a 7-Eleven on the corner yeah um 41:11 but we're like okay all right cool yeah as soon as you walk in you're in a whole nother world yeah it's like over the top 41:17 Beauty beautiful the wall s oh just everything in 41:22 they have amazing water feature in the middle I I would say there's a river running through it but it's not Royal River but it's just beautiful even that 41:31 that that art piece is above yeah that with the ginkgo leaves oh yeah yeah it's a beautiful space so the concept of that 41:39 is vegetarian Meats vegan but more I would say is more on the vegan friendly 41:45 side um but vegetarian yeah um fine dining restaurant yeah and there 41:51 really isn't that much out there in Las Vegas when it comes to that that type of eating like I honestly 41:58 don't know of another one but I'm all I also don't search for that either yeah there's only one place that's open up 42:03 after okay I place that Resort World crossover or Crossroads Crossroads 42:10 um which is great it's great for for that but but I remember going in and we 42:16 got them a week after they opened or actually no a week before they opened 42:22 it was Fourth of July weekend yeah and they were opening up 42:27 I think it was a week after after right after right after because they were like it was crap remember they were like 42:35 unhappy with all the lead up to it yeah they did yeah there was a the hype was not there yeah they weren't satisfied 42:41 with that yeah and I remember we pretty much started at like almost like zero yeah and the thing is that you know we 42:47 we try to keep the operations and out of like the marketing side of things 42:52 like we're not going to be like oh well we're going to make you millions of dollars no but we want to encourage like 42:58 our efforts to help them get to that place well because the thing is that you want to get to that point where where 43:05 they're they're profitable yeah exactly yeah because obviously they got to write us a track too right 43:11 um but yeah just watching them grow and to the brand that they are now I mean we literally just took the logo and 43:17 ran with the brand yeah and redeveloped the website redeveloped the entire brand 43:24 um and now we're you know the content that we create there I mean I know that the team here really loves enjoy working 43:30 with with um um with their team you know Ariana the 43:36 CEO which actually am but which I'm going to be doing a podcast with um 43:41 um very soon yeah um and uh but then we also have their 43:47 sister company which is what actually I think it started first well they bought it first yeah 43:54 first yeah and then you know that one's here in Las Vegas literally you're out at night you want good ramen to kind of 44:01 like go in your tummy before you go to bed yeah that's that that's literally I think how the brand really blew up oh 44:07 yeah because it's it's 24 hours it's late night Ramen yeah but it's great for lunch it's great for dinner I mean we we 44:13 order it here ubereats um you know every once in a while but the um that that visually is like a fun 44:21 brand well yeah because I have the whole anime yeah like the styles of everything like how everything fits together the 44:27 voice of it it's very like fun no for sure and then the fact that you know they're 44:34 not just here in Vegas but they've expanded out to other markets Houston Nashville you know there are some talk 44:40 of them wanting to go hit the south Florida Market um in the future with both Brands 44:45 actually oh really really yeah that's cool yeah so I I think there's a few more things eyes not a tease Crossing 44:51 you're trying to do on their side but that's a really fun brand yeah I like working with them a lot I mean like 44:57 literally we could talk about every client that we have because they're all kind of our favorites yeah in different 45:03 ways so if you're watching this and you're a client of ours and we didn't we didn't mention you it's because we're 45:09 saving the best for last um but no I mean but with with all that 45:14 history and everything you know it just it sometimes I still kind of sit 45:20 back when I you know I'll be here I'll be the last one to leave and I'm sitting in my office and 45:25 and I just look at him like man we have come a long way oh yeah since working at 45:31 my dining room table at Turnberry um I think they've grown a lot as people too 45:37 like you kind of have to well I mean no absolutely I mean we you know 45:44 I actually really enjoy the fact that you've taken tooken you've taken what you've learned 45:51 through your experiences and you're able to develop your own brand yeah I mean Earth Moon medicine is you know 45:57 was something that you created and and you and you're really like heavily developing it and you've got a lot of 46:04 other really cool things I'm not really sure like what what's it called when you consult with somebody 46:10 and you're like hey uh I got headaches Uh custom formulation yeah what is that 46:16 uh like herbal practitioner or practitioner yeah that's the word I was looking for and I was like um forgetting 46:22 this word but yeah I mean you're you're you're training to do that or I don't know are 46:28 you already there yet there you go yeah but which is awesome 46:35 because I mean that's passionate you've always had yeah for sure and even from your mom I mean I think your mom you probably got a little bit from your mom 46:41 and then you took it and you kind of ran with it the way you wanted to absolutely yeah um which is great I mean you know like I 46:48 I love the most important thing that you know I love it when people grow yeah and you 46:54 know that yeah absolutely I feel like we've seen that from the very beginning of when we started working together like 47:00 not only each other like watching each other grow through this process and like seeing how we each like can take on 47:06 certain things and kind of like shift and adjust each other and like talk through stuff and whatnot but also 47:11 seeing like our employees grow and like they come to us and they're newly out of college and they're like learning all 47:17 these things and they're super excited and then they find another opportunity that like lets them grow into something 47:22 else I've never once felt mad about that like when somebody's like hey I'm 47:28 leaving I'm going to give this other thing I'm like that is amazing like yes people to grow over the last 800 years I 47:34 can't think of anybody and I'm really really really trying to think um that anybody that just it is dirty 47:41 nobody no I mean we had people like you know say hey you know I know it's gonna put you guys 47:47 in a pickle yeah but but that's my but that's our yeah that's what we have to deal with it right yeah we have to deal 47:53 with that because we're the you know we're the owners yeah yeah so I'm happy with where we're at 47:59 and I'm proud of us I am too yeah I mean I I 48:05 from the very beginning to now I I always Vision that we'd have a very 48:10 small team of people would have a handful of small clients 48:16 I never thought we would grow it to what we grew into yeah never in a million years 48:22 and the thing is is that you know it just takes a lot of um patience 48:28 development watching people develop themselves yeah I mean the hardest thing and even you know there's I'm sure 48:35 there's an inside joke that I'm probably not a privilege to um but it it's probably you know like I 48:42 used to be involved in every single aspect and not that I'm wrong or right 48:47 or you know but I'm very particular on like how I like things yeah and um but 48:52 just being able to empower like okay you're the department head you make that decision yeah it's like letting it like 48:58 letting go is like a very difficult thing no it really is yeah I mean even you I mean even you had a I would say 49:05 you had a problem with it because it's difficult you know it's just a difficult thing to figure out especially when you 49:10 developed it yeah or you have that relationship with the person exactly that's the hard part 49:16 is like being that person to talk to the client 49:21 and like having the communication with the client and then when the client comes to you for something like that's 49:27 like an extra level of like not just stress but like what's the word 49:32 I'm looking for like ownership like so and then I have to have somebody else do it like that's a whole like separate 49:39 struggle of emotions to go through well and plus you're you're a designer yeah 49:45 you're an artist yeah so like that's even harder because I would have to think 49:50 because like I'm thinking like okay this is how I would you already think that you have it figured out and then you 49:55 have to hand it off to this other person and be like hey I need you to create this or develop this with some 50:00 guidelines or whatever but you're then you just gotta let it go you know what I mean well you know the thing is 50:06 is that I mean obviously we were together since day one so I I got very comfortable with working 50:13 with you my heart I would say my challenge is which I'm well overcome was was now 50:20 having to work with multiple people yeah yeah no because it was easy for me to go Alicia no no no 50:27 let's do this let's do this you know like what do you think of this you know 50:32 and and really being able to you know communicate that to somebody 50:38 I yeah it develops your personal communication it does because like you get comfortable with the way that you 50:43 can talk to somebody and like they just pick it up pick it up but then you have to like figure out everybody else's 50:50 communication skills in order to be able to like relay the message properly 100 yeah and the thing is like I I love 50:58 watching just individual people take ownership of things like even this podcast yeah yeah I mean like 51:05 huge I mean we we decided hey we're going to make a podcast Studio we didn't really know what we wanted to do it was 51:11 actually a buddy of mine that that actually already had on the podcast bow was like Hey I want to 51:18 um we had the studio area and he's like hey if I buy a bunch of equipment you know 51:24 can I can I do a podcast out of it well I mean it's definitely not none of the equipment that we have here now yeah I 51:30 think maybe the headphones but like that I think that's pretty much it but anyways the but it gave us the idea hey 51:37 you know let's actually invest some real money into it and kind of see where you know where we 51:42 can take it and we I think we did like four or five episodes just to kind of you know get 51:48 our bears look at the feel of it figure out what we're doing what's not working and then the team kind of came back and 51:54 said hold on a second listen here buddy all right how well do you really like this podcast 52:00 because we can really do it the right way we can we can put some we can make the artwork right we can lay it out we 52:06 can have a Content schedule we could do it you know the right way yeah and um 52:12 and I remember someone coming to me I don't remember who it was and they said hey can we set 52:18 up a meeting for a presentation for SKC live and I said sure and I'm honestly 52:23 thinking like hey let's make it more visual like this let's make it more like this less of this no it was a whole like 52:30 if if SKC was a clients live as a client a whole rundown of everything and 52:37 you know just taking ownership of that you couldn't be more proud no absolutely 52:43 and I think that that's like something I love when people do and I feel like 52:48 that's a treat that we've always looked for in employees or just people no degree really does much like yes if you 52:54 have a technical skill as like a designer or web developer that matters however like personality Drive ownership 53:02 like all of those characteristics is really what makes somebody a great marketer 53:08 you know like oh for sure you need to utilize all of those life skills and 53:13 then being a part of a team and taking ownership of things allows the team to grow even further 53:18 and I 100 what you just said the only thing I would add to it is sometimes 53:25 it's very difficult for people especially designers or web creators to want to be a part of a team oh for 53:32 sure because they're because they're in their mind they're like no that I want to design it like this yeah yeah and sometimes the client's like no actually 53:39 let's do it this way sometimes people take it personal yeah like oh you don't like my design yeah and stuff off you 53:45 know what I mean and it's like from an agency standpoint versus being doing it solo is completely different yeah you 53:51 know because you have to kind of conform to that but I think that's where the team kind of comes in and it's like you 53:56 know we present a concept so the client's like hate it yeah I hate it yeah don't take it personal it's 54:04 not you you know what do you hate and sometimes if something is is I don't 54:10 like the font okay so if we change a font you're gonna love it yeah okay you 54:15 just didn't like the font yeah you know what I mean yep so um so sometimes but the team will back 54:21 each other up yeah hey hey let me take a crack at this hey let me you know you know let me make a couple suggestions 54:27 yeah for sure yeah but yeah I mean it's amazing 54:32 eight nine years another eight nine years 54:38 I think I I think we have a great team great family and I'm I'm very excited to kind of see 54:45 what 2023 brings oh yeah me too it feels like a big year it is yeah it's gonna be 54:50 exciting well always a pleasure yes thanks for having me well thanks for having me 54:57 thanks for always believing in me and thank you for um you know um helping me build this yeah absolutely I 55:04 couldn't have done it with anybody else no way I mean I'll tell you right now I 55:10 can be a pain in the ass sometimes and she dealt with it and throughout the years 55:17 yeah but we kind of govern it together but I couldn't have like but but we 55:22 learned each other we learned even to this day like there's things that would probably have set us off six years ago 55:28 for sure and we just were like nope that's just how she is or that's how he is which is great yeah 55:35 well pound it out yeah well all right well that was another amazing episode of SKC 55:42 live and uh tune in for the next episode actually no hold on we can't tune in for the next episode This is actually the 55:49 last one of the season oh yeah yeah stay tuned yeah we're actually really excited about the lineup that we're going to be 55:55 doing next season oh some of the guests are exciting oh it's incredible yay we actually you know 56:03 I I can talk a little bit to the to the audience here but we this studio is 56:09 actually set up pretty um um pretty unique like the TV you see 56:14 here is great but we also have another TV I can actually watch this actually this TV here with a camera so we can 56:21 actually bring people in live yeah 56:26 yeah so we can bring them in here they can actually see us like if they're here 56:31 and we can interact with them I don't have to sit there and be like hey yeah how are you doing that way yeah because 56:37 I mean you know for for the you know for the split screen for sure things but um but yeah I mean we got you know that 56:45 amazing things coming um for season two that's right so exciting all right I'm out bye bye
