DS_Jacob Baadsgaard_91_Full Interview_edited_v1
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[00:00:00] Jacob Baadsgaard: Why do you do what you do beyond making money? And if you don't have a good answer to that, you don't, you probably don't have much of a why for your business. And there is no amount of success, [00:00:10] revenue, profitability, sellability of your business that will ever compensate for the way that you're feeling on the inside.
[00:00:17] Jacob Baadsgaard: Because you don't have a why beyond making money. What I think is [00:00:20] really entrepreneurship in a nutshell, which is through the lens of your strengths and weaknesses, passions and values, you see something in the world that no one else sees. And therefore, you know how to serve [00:00:30] that need in a way that no one else.
[00:00:31] Jacob Baadsgaard: Knows how to serve them.
[00:00:33] Corey Quinn: Welcome to the deep specialization podcast. The show where we blend focus strategy and client intimacy in order to [00:00:40] scale and simplify our businesses and our lives. I'm your host, Corey Quinn. Let's jump into the show. Today. I'm joined by an expert who's [00:00:50] known for helping marketers and founders connect their personal why with their company.
[00:00:54] Corey Quinn: Why he's also the founder and CEO of a wildly successful [00:01:00] agency. Call disruptive advertising and he's here to talk about his new adventure. Disruptive University. His name is Jacob Batscard. Welcome Jake. [00:01:10]
[00:01:10] Jacob Baadsgaard: Hey, Corey. Let's do this.
[00:01:14] Corey Quinn: Let's go. I can't wait to, uh, to have you on here about your journey. And I'm super curious about [00:01:20] Disruptive University.
[00:01:20] Corey Quinn: So let's kind of kick things off with, uh, disruptive advertising. You grew it from a team of two in the basement to over a hundred employees. [00:01:30] Uh, you started, I think, 11 years ago, 2013,
[00:01:33] Jacob Baadsgaard: so
[00:01:34] Corey Quinn: 2013. Okay. So technically 12
[00:01:36] Jacob Baadsgaard: pushing 12. Yeah.
[00:01:37] Corey Quinn: Yeah. That's amazing. What was [00:01:40] happening in your life before you started an actual agency back in 2013?
[00:01:45] Jacob Baadsgaard: Yeah, there were a couple of things going on. Yeah. [00:01:50] I'm, I'm just a big believer and get good at something. It almost doesn't even matter what it is. Like just get good at something. And the thing that I got really good at is [00:02:00] after college, I worked at a company called Omniture that was later bought by Adobe and I helped, um, some of the largest companies in the world [00:02:10] deploy web analytics.
[00:02:11] Jacob Baadsgaard: And connect that to their backend customer data. And then, um, we would get all of it, tracking all of it, reporting, build dashboards, and help [00:02:20] them make smart marketing decisions with their data. And so the skill that I developed was that it's like, it was data. I had an information systems degree, did not do marketing.
[00:02:29] Jacob Baadsgaard: Had [00:02:30] nowhere on my radar that I would be doing a marketing agency, but what I, but what I found was, Hey, if these largest companies in the world are struggling to make good [00:02:40] marketing decisions, because they don't have good data, what are the small and medium sized businesses doing out there? And, um, that's when I started to see the opportunity [00:02:50] that existed, but Corey, I actually thought my agency would be a specialized analytics implementation and insights company.
[00:02:57] Jacob Baadsgaard: Sure. It makes sense. It was actually called found [00:03:00] ROI. Cause I would help you find the ROI in your data. And two reasons why it didn't work. Number one is everyone kept asking what's found Roy, as if it was some weird version of where's Waldo, [00:03:10] like where's Roy find him. Um, and then, uh, the other thing that came up with that is nine 10.
[00:03:17] Jacob Baadsgaard: They would say, we do not have the bandwidth or [00:03:20] expertise to implement what you are recommending. Can you do that for us? Interesting. And, and as an entrepreneur, the answer was sure, I'll figure it out. That [00:03:30] was kind of like the road that led to marketing from, uh, get good at a skillset, go take it like to market.
[00:03:36] Jacob Baadsgaard: And this was all free pro bono work I was doing on the side to be like, [00:03:40] does this help the business I worked at in college succeed? And it did like, it worked really well for a small and medium sized business businesses, especially, especially lead generation business [00:03:50] models, because with e commerce, you had a little more visibility.
[00:03:53] Jacob Baadsgaard: Without as much work from end to end, but B2B with long sales cycles, even [00:04:00] a B2C lead gen models that still had a, you got to talk to someone, close the deal. Very few of them knew which leads were leading to revenue. And so they were all [00:04:10] chasing cost per lead as the focus. And that's still surprisingly very, very common today as well, even 13 years, 12, 13 years later.
[00:04:18] Jacob Baadsgaard: But that's where I saw the [00:04:20] opportunity. And, um, and, and that's what birthed disruptive advertising was a strategic name change and realizing that our competitive advantage was we can [00:04:30] help you get good data to make great marketing decisions. And the area that we specialized in to begin with was not all things marketing.
[00:04:37] Jacob Baadsgaard: It was primarily paid search. [00:04:40] Because that was the easiest to set up tagging for the easiest to get the tracking in place for. It was at the last click attribution. A lot of it was more simplistic and that's where [00:04:50] your highest intent buyers are as well. And so that was kind of like the niche that I went after.
[00:04:55] Jacob Baadsgaard: And I know you're, you're big into this niching and into something very [00:05:00] specific. Mine was not industry specific, but it was a very specific service area deployment.
[00:05:07] Corey Quinn: It's almost like another way to characterize it [00:05:10] potentially is that you became an expert in solving a specific problem. Yes, must be paid search or, you know, at least initially it must be paid search.
[00:05:18] Corey Quinn: Must they be on now Omniture? [00:05:20] Like, did they have to have the, the, the software? No. Okay. So, so they just had, they had a conversion problem of some sort or other.
[00:05:29] Jacob Baadsgaard: Yeah. This, this was [00:05:30] businesses that were typically spending between 20. To 100, 000 a month that didn't know if it was actually driving the ROI.
[00:05:37] Jacob Baadsgaard: They were hoping that it would, but often [00:05:40] doubting that it did.
[00:05:42] Corey Quinn: Yeah.
[00:05:42] Jacob Baadsgaard: And I'll tell you the first three years of the business we did over actually developed a pretty cool tool at the time that we've since sunsetted, but we audited over 2000 [00:05:50] Google ads accounts with our methodology. We found that 76 percent of the ad budget was wasted.
[00:05:55] Jacob Baadsgaard: And that didn't even mean that the other 24 percent was profitable. It just meant that it was at least [00:06:00] producing something.
[00:06:00] Corey Quinn: Out of curiosity, who is that, who is that business that you, so your first client that you helped out, that was a company you worked at during college?
[00:06:08] Jacob Baadsgaard: Yeah, their name was, [00:06:10] um, Italk.
[00:06:10] Jacob Baadsgaard: It was tech support. I worked there in college, um, 20, 25 person company, like it worked really well. They, after implementing what I [00:06:20] did, they went from leads that they were closing at a pretty low rate, costing about 25 to 30 a lead. Two leads. They were closing at an incredible rate at [00:06:30] two to 3. Oh my
[00:06:31] Corey Quinn: goodness.
[00:06:32] Jacob Baadsgaard: And so they scaled, they'd 10 Xed. Um, they, they went from 20, 25 employees to over 250 employees, raised [00:06:40] capital. They went the whole nine yards and, um, and that's where I'm like, okay, I've got something here. Let's let's do this.
[00:06:46] Corey Quinn: So, so who is, who is client number two? How did you grow from that [00:06:50] point? Right?
[00:06:50] Jacob Baadsgaard: Yeah. So it was, it was freelancing at first. And so, uh, it was just people in my network. So, uh, people that I'd done business with over the [00:07:00] years, uh, at Omniture, former employers, people in my personal network, got some referrals. A bit, but, but keep in mind at this point, I was still full time employed. I was the [00:07:10] director of marketing at a public company.
[00:07:11] Jacob Baadsgaard: It was a company called Copart that does online auto auctions. They actually converted into a customer as well. I had such a great relationship with my, uh, with the CMO [00:07:20] there that I said, Hey, I'm ready to start my agency. And he said, awesome. We'll be a client. And, um, and so that's what happened when you just do good work, man.
[00:07:28] Jacob Baadsgaard: Like the opportunities are always [00:07:30] there.
[00:07:30] Corey Quinn: So if you look at that moment, maybe client number two, three, four, all the way till today, you have over a hundred employees at disruptive advertising. What were some of the [00:07:40] milestones between now and then? That really helped you to unlock your growth. Like what were some of the big unlocks for you?
[00:07:48] Jacob Baadsgaard: I think every, um, [00:07:50] entrepreneur has a different strength. Mine's always been more on the marketing and sell side. So my ability to be the growth engine for the agency was harder for me to replace [00:08:00] than getting people to do the fulfillment and execution on the contracts that I would sell. So my first step was.
[00:08:05] Jacob Baadsgaard: Build a team around myself that can do a good job fulfilling and executing on the [00:08:10] accounts that I'm closing. And let me develop a good enough playbook for them to follow that they can do a good job and I can sell more and grow the agency that way. Uh, that's, that [00:08:20] was like the first big milestone and that got us to a couple million a year in revenue with me still being the primary.
[00:08:26] Jacob Baadsgaard: Uh, sales and then it wasn't until I developed a pretty [00:08:30] consistent way to do audits, sales proposals that I, that I brought, I actually tried to hire a couple of like, um, seasoned sales veterans that did not go very well. [00:08:40] It actually worked the best when I just got a young scrappy guy, uh, and said, Hey, just kind of help me follow through on the details that I'm not good at.
[00:08:48] Jacob Baadsgaard: And over time, I'll just hand more [00:08:50] off to you. And over time, just got the right guy that wanted to take more and more off my plate and started running with the sales. I heard a couple of people on the sales team and had a, a [00:09:00] system that was repeatable enough that they only needed to loop me in on the larger deals.
[00:09:04] Jacob Baadsgaard: Yeah.
[00:09:05] Corey Quinn: So I think this is an interesting topic because a lot of agency [00:09:10] founders who maybe are hitting the one to 2 million range where it's primarily the sales have been primarily relationship or, you know, founder led. At a point where they want [00:09:20] to step away from the sales role because they want to focus on other aspects of the business or whatnot.
[00:09:26] Corey Quinn: And yet they struggle. I'm curious. It sounds like the first thing that you did was to [00:09:30] go out and hire seasoned salespeople. So what, what about that was, was not the right fit at the time?
[00:09:36] Jacob Baadsgaard: There was a couple of challenges. The first one was what I needed to [00:09:40] pay them for it to work for them.
[00:09:42] Corey Quinn: Yeah.
[00:09:42] Jacob Baadsgaard: And it actually created what was not a really long leash.
[00:09:46] Jacob Baadsgaard: So to speak, meaning you've got to be able to hit numbers in relatively [00:09:50] short order, because that's why I'm bringing you on as a more seasoned sales person. Right?
[00:09:55] Corey Quinn: Yes.
[00:09:55] Jacob Baadsgaard: And what I realized is they leaned into their old bag of tricks of how they'd sell and how they'd move things [00:10:00] forward, but it wasn't good at setting expectations.
[00:10:02] Jacob Baadsgaard: It wasn't it. They didn't really know what was being fulfilled and how it was being fulfilled. And I'm like, if I'm going to have to train you, [00:10:10] train you up quite a bit anyway, this, this is feeling like. This is just, isn't going to work with what you need to make compensation wise. If I'm going to be pretty [00:10:20] heavily involved in training you anyway, it just didn't create a good, a good situation for them or me, actually.
[00:10:25] Jacob Baadsgaard: I don't think either party did it wrong. It just wasn't working.
[00:10:29] Corey Quinn: Was it [00:10:30] that they, they were experienced, but they weren't experienced in selling your type of product, but they experienced selling software or whatnot. Well, they actually
[00:10:38] Jacob Baadsgaard: did have experience in the marketing [00:10:40] industry. You know, but I, I will tell you, Corey, um, the best sales professionals and, you know, I, I say this more broadly because I, I've, I've loved every [00:10:50] salesperson I've worked with at Disruptive, but it's easy to say yes to get a deal.
[00:10:54] Jacob Baadsgaard: And that is not sales.
[00:10:57] Corey Quinn: It's undertaking.
[00:10:59] Jacob Baadsgaard: That's right. [00:11:00] Yeah. Well, and it doesn't set anyone up for success.
[00:11:02] Corey Quinn: Right.
[00:11:03] Jacob Baadsgaard: And so that was the biggest thing I was running into is like, you actually have to know what to look for when to say no, no, when you're a good fit. [00:11:10]
[00:11:10] Corey Quinn: Right.
[00:11:10] Jacob Baadsgaard: Um, and when you know, you're a good fit, like, yeah, yeah, you, you can close the deal, but, um, it was tricky.
[00:11:15] Jacob Baadsgaard: And so what worked best for me at that stage was someone [00:11:20] that was. Inexpensive enough, but driven and hungry enough as a sales professional that they were open to being taught, learning how I did it, adapt it to their own way. But [00:11:30] I wasn't like teaching an old dog, new tricks, so to speak. And so that, that worked well for me.
[00:11:34] Corey Quinn: Based on that, what, what would be an ideal hiring criteria for, let's say an agency [00:11:40] founder who is. Looking to bring on their first salesperson is interested in this concept of bringing on someone who is younger, maybe do they have no experience in [00:11:50] sales at all, or should they have some level of sales?
[00:11:52] Corey Quinn: What are the qualities that would really make for a great candidate for this role? Do you think?
[00:11:56] Jacob Baadsgaard: I think that does depend on the nature of the founder, [00:12:00] because I was more sales oriented by my nature. Some are more technical in nature that are agency founders. And so they're really involved in the [00:12:10] technicalities of it, but not really good at the hustling and networking and reaching out and prospecting and doing those types of things.
[00:12:17] Jacob Baadsgaard: And so the first question I would ask is like, know [00:12:20] thyself, like, what, what are your strengths in the sales process? And I found someone that I said, I just need someone that's really driven, but that is really good at [00:12:30] follow through and follow up because I'm kind of weak in that area of sales.
[00:12:34] Corey Quinn: Yeah,
[00:12:35] Jacob Baadsgaard: and so for me, that's what I was looking for.
[00:12:37] Jacob Baadsgaard: And the person that I hired I wasn't even [00:12:40] interested in hiring, but followed up with me for so long. And so many times that I'm like, you're the guy let's do this. You can do the job clearly, you
[00:12:48] Corey Quinn: know, how to be [00:12:50] successful.
[00:12:52] Jacob Baadsgaard: So he did have a sales background, um, but it was still young. Didn't, you know, not a lot of years of experience, but had been in sales [00:13:00] roles.
[00:13:00] Jacob Baadsgaard: Um, and, uh, but. Yeah. So not, not completely from zero, but still pretty green in their career.
[00:13:06] Corey Quinn: Beautiful. And, and also, as you mentioned, uh, [00:13:10] had a hunger, wanted to. You know, probably make some sales, hit some milestones and whatnot.
[00:13:18] Jacob Baadsgaard: And I'll just tell you this, [00:13:20] like, when I feel like I'm the one slowing them down, that's when I love working with them.
[00:13:24] Jacob Baadsgaard: Beautiful.
[00:13:25] Corey Quinn: Yeah.
[00:13:25] Jacob Baadsgaard: Like, when I'm the one slowing it down and, uh, versus like, hey, [00:13:30] come on, like, do something. You know,
[00:13:33] Corey Quinn: so what is the, uh, fast forward to today, what does the sales team look like?
[00:13:37] Jacob Baadsgaard: Yeah, it's still not that large. Corey, we've got, [00:13:40] uh, four account executives to, um, uh, SDR, BDR type roles. And then, uh, recently bringing on a new VP of sales.
[00:13:48] Jacob Baadsgaard: Um, and [00:13:50] so, so yeah, not a really large sales team. We've leaned really heavily on, uh, our inbound channels and doing marketing that positions us as the authority in the [00:14:00] space. Uh, we have, I think, I believe we're, if not the, one of the top rated agencies, uh, by reviews in the country. And so most places that you'll go to that say [00:14:10] top rated agencies, you'll just find us.
[00:14:12] Jacob Baadsgaard: Um, yeah. And, um, and so we've got a lot of inbound leads coming in. We've actually never really done outbound before [00:14:20] with any sort of consistency, actually, before I became acquainted with you and had been looking to diversify and expand ourselves channels outside of inbound. [00:14:30]
[00:14:30] Corey Quinn: Yeah. When it comes to inbound, what is looking back now?
[00:14:33] Corey Quinn: What is, what were a few things that really drove a lot of the impact when it as it relates to the sort of the quality and [00:14:40] quantity of inbounds you guys are getting.
[00:14:42] Jacob Baadsgaard: Yeah, quality for us is I want businesses that have an existing [00:14:50] digital marketing budget that they're concerned they're not getting the value that they need from it.
[00:14:54] Jacob Baadsgaard: We are not a get you started with digital marketing agency. And so if you've [00:15:00] done almost none to very little, we'll actually refer you to partners. If you're, you know, if you're not spending at least 20, a month already in your [00:15:10] digital ads, like, we're just not going to be able to come. And have it be a win for us and a win for the client.
[00:15:16] Jacob Baadsgaard: Um, and so that, that's what we're looking for. And that's what helps us [00:15:20] qualify pretty quickly is based on company size and ad budget. It's when we know we're going to be a fit, if they're too small, it's not a great fit. And frankly, if they're too big, it's actually [00:15:30] not that great of a fit for us either.
[00:15:31] Jacob Baadsgaard: We've kind of got our sweet spot.
[00:15:33] Corey Quinn: And what about lead gen versus e comm? Do you kind of help across the spectrum?
[00:15:39] Jacob Baadsgaard: Because [00:15:40] yes. And, and that's one of the things we were very specialized in the service that we provided for so long that it didn't really matter what industry you were in. Even if you met our [00:15:50] criteria, we knew we could drive value.
[00:15:53] Jacob Baadsgaard: What, what changed is we've expanded our service offering over time. And that's actually dramatically increased the [00:16:00] complexity of my agency model. For seven years, our clients would say, can you just do our SEO as well? Can you just do our email? Can you just do, cause we like you, we like working with you [00:16:10] guys.
[00:16:10] Jacob Baadsgaard: Can you just do these parts for us as well? And I, I'd like to say we've been pretty strategic in when we've decided to include those. And for example, we, we, [00:16:20] we opened up SEO as a service offering. And within a year, it was already doing over 3 million in annual revenue just within our current client base.
[00:16:28] Jacob Baadsgaard: But we waited like seven years [00:16:30] before doing that. What I didn't anticipate was the complexity that that added. To the relationship with our clients, we didn't have an account [00:16:40] management team. They were still typically working directly with the people on their accounts. It increased complexity for the sales team.
[00:16:46] Jacob Baadsgaard: It increased complexity across the board, [00:16:50] billing, account management, fulfillment, project management, sales. And so that's where, um, so we grew to about 25 million in annual [00:17:00] agency fee revenue. Um, and then realized it was, it's not going to scale. We actually have to develop playbooks that are as repeatable within specific industries now, if [00:17:10] we're going to scale at this point.
[00:17:12] Jacob Baadsgaard: And so we were specialized by service area, which is what helped us grow very quickly upfront. Then we broadened. It was [00:17:20] more complex than we realized, like an order of magnitude, more complicated than, than we realized. How did
[00:17:25] Corey Quinn: that, how did that, how did that complication show up? Like, how did that materialize?
[00:17:29] Corey Quinn: Like what was happening in the [00:17:30] business that. Cause you to say, yeah, we just, this SEO and all these different service lines that we've added just has created more complication. Like what, what was the evidence of that?
[00:17:39] Jacob Baadsgaard: I [00:17:40] mean, you name it marketing. It now dilutes what do you market?
[00:17:46] Corey Quinn: Yeah.
[00:17:47] Jacob Baadsgaard: Um, your sales team needs to be trained on a lot more things, which [00:17:50] creates more room for error and they're way stronger in some areas than others.
[00:17:54] Jacob Baadsgaard: Fulfillment. Like I mentioned, we didn't have a dedicated account management team. And now when you've got, [00:18:00] uh, a variety of services, you need that someone that's quarterbacking multiple products, um, in order to afford account management, you need enough products [00:18:10] to justify having an account manager on it as well.
[00:18:13] Jacob Baadsgaard: And, um, so anyway, it was just, there was a lot of pieces like that, that we learned on the fly and, [00:18:20] and Corey, it was in this transition that we actually went from a 650 accounts to about 200. And, um, our average, our [00:18:30] average monthly revenue from our clients, uh, compensated. So we stayed about flat in revenue, but dropped to about a third of the amount of clients strategically.
[00:18:39] Jacob Baadsgaard: Okay. So, [00:18:40] hey, these, these are the kind of clients we want to work with now. This is where we add the most value. And then our solution has been more to develop playbooks for specific industries that we want to play in. [00:18:50]
[00:18:50] Corey Quinn: I like that.
[00:18:52] Jacob Baadsgaard: Yeah. And that's, you know, and that's, that's actually why you and I connected was, hey, let's.
[00:18:55] Jacob Baadsgaard: I would love someone with some background in doing this to help us accelerate the [00:19:00] learning curve.
[00:19:00] Corey Quinn: Hey, it's Corey. I wanted to take a quick break from the show to say that if you're an agency owner looking for a strategic and reliable white label partner, you [00:19:10] should check out E2M. They offer website design, WordPress development, e commerce solutions.
[00:19:16] Corey Quinn: SEO, PPC, and content writing. And they are [00:19:20] trusted by over 300 agencies. You can check out E2M's transparent and flexible pricing model at e2msolutions. com slash the deep [00:19:30] specialization podcast. For limited time, E2M is offering a special 20 percent discount for the deep specialization podcast listeners on your first month.
[00:19:39] Corey Quinn: Go check [00:19:40] them out. Now, back to the show.
[00:19:45] Corey Quinn: Beautiful. So, so is part, is account management still part of the [00:19:50] playbook? So having an account manager, that's the primary point of contact for the client.
[00:19:54] Jacob Baadsgaard: Yes.
[00:19:55] Corey Quinn: Okay. And what type of background or skill level are you finding [00:20:00] that a great account manager needs to have? Like if you were going to bring one into the team, be able to interface, be that point of contact for the clients that you serve.
[00:20:08] Corey Quinn: I mean, they're, they're [00:20:10] spending 20 to 50 K a month, potentially a lot more. Um, in just in maybe ad spend or, you know, service fees across these different service areas. [00:20:20] What is, what does a great account manager look like for you?
[00:20:23] Jacob Baadsgaard: I like to think of our account managers as fractional performance marketing directors.
[00:20:28] Jacob Baadsgaard: That's how I like to think about them [00:20:30] because they've got to be thinking about the business. Not just about one marketing channel, right? And so we really teach them how to get clear on what the vision of the business [00:20:40] is, what the strategy of the business is, and then how to translate that into marketing goals and execution.
[00:20:46] Corey Quinn: There's
[00:20:46] Jacob Baadsgaard: so many marketers that just do good marketing and hit [00:20:50] in platform metrics and high five, but it doesn't drive business results. And so that's, we really try to focus more on like, Hey, we want you to be thinking more like a marketing director, not [00:21:00] a specialist. In a specific area.
[00:21:02] Corey Quinn: Right. And,
[00:21:03] Jacob Baadsgaard: and so that's, that's more of what we're looking for.
[00:21:05] Corey Quinn: Does that person have to have, um, a diverse set of marketing [00:21:10] platform experience, or do they, can they come from an SEO background that you could train them on the other? Channels or what, what's ideal. You may be still [00:21:20] getting a sense of this, you know, as, as you're building this out, but I'm just curious what your thoughts are.
[00:21:24] Jacob Baadsgaard: Broadly speaking, um, the people that perform really well on the teams are the ones that like being the [00:21:30] specialists and seeing things through to the finish line in, in platform execution and delivery. When it comes to the account management team, the qualities that I'm looking for is. [00:21:40] Um, can you develop confidence and strong rapport with a client?
[00:21:44] Jacob Baadsgaard: Can you step back and look at the business and how marketing is, is playing into that and actually help [00:21:50] them almost kind of like help coach them through sometimes even understanding their business a little bit better than they do of. Yeah. Like here, here's the, here's the [00:22:00] things that people are getting stuck just like you,
[00:22:02] Corey Quinn: right.
[00:22:03] Jacob Baadsgaard: And so like, we've got to step back. And if you've got an average order value, if you're e commerce at this level, and you're spending this much to acquire a [00:22:10] new customer, like, I'm sorry, like you're just business model, isn't going to work or, Hey, this is great. We can put gas on the fire. But, but those are the qualities I look for strong [00:22:20] rapport, um, relationship building qualities, and then, and just that ability to be strategic.
[00:22:25] Jacob Baadsgaard: And kind of thinking on the business instead of getting super involved in like specific [00:22:30] channels,
[00:22:30] Corey Quinn: which in my, from my perspective is an argument for doing exactly what you guys are doing, which is building the playbooks for the verticals. Cause over time [00:22:40] your account managers will be able to anticipate a lot more because when you focus on a single vertical market, There's a lot of patterns that happen and some clients can be ahead of [00:22:50] others, right?
[00:22:50] Corey Quinn: And so that's that's a wonderful Benefit that your clients I'm sure get and will continue to get which is that you're solving [00:23:00] problems for them that they don't even realize that they have yet I want to move into the importance of knowing your why It's a topic that I know that you care a [00:23:10] lot about and that you write a lot about in your LinkedIn and and the different programs that you run What, what is the importance of knowing your why?
[00:23:17] Jacob Baadsgaard: You know, it's almost, it's almost self evident. [00:23:20] I think, here's how I like to think about it. I like to think about vision, strategy, and execution. I think this applies at the personal level. [00:23:30] I think this applies at the relationship level. I think this applies at the business level as well. And um, if you don't have a strong why and you find [00:23:40] yourself just doing the thing.
[00:23:42] Jacob Baadsgaard: That could be, uh, nutrition, that could be exercise, that could be the business, that could be the relationship, that could be whatever. But when you're doing [00:23:50] the activity without a why behind it, it never lasts. And frankly, it kind of feels painful the whole time you're doing it. So the first thing that I would say is like, [00:24:00] when you don't have a, why you'll feel like you're suffering a lot in your life, frankly, because it won't make sense why you're doing the things that you're doing and the things that you're doing, aren't getting you where you [00:24:10] want to go, but you don't even know where you're trying to go.
[00:24:14] Jacob Baadsgaard: And then I think if you go up a level and people try to like develop these strategies around, okay, well, before I jump into the [00:24:20] execution and all of those things, like, let me come up with an awesome strategy. And that's that people totally get stuck there as well, personally. Relationships and business [00:24:30] because yeah, that will improve the quality of execution, but strategy still does strategy is what happens before the execution, but if there's no vision or [00:24:40] why in front of the strategy, you find yourself right, right back in the same situation, which is always coming up with a new strategy that isn't really, isn't really solving anything.[00:24:50]
[00:24:50] Jacob Baadsgaard: And so when I come back to like, well, what is your why then? Well, from a business standpoint, I think it's as simple as why do you do what you do beyond making money? For most people [00:25:00] that gets them pretty close. Why do you do what you do beyond making money? If, and, and if you don't have a good answer to that, you don't, you probably don't [00:25:10] have much of a why for your business and there is no amount of success, revenue, profitability.
[00:25:17] Jacob Baadsgaard: Sellability of your business that will [00:25:20] ever compensate for the way that you're feeling on the inside because you don't have a why beyond making money. I think the same thing exists at the relationship level. Why, why does our [00:25:30] relationship exist? What is it that we want to create together? How do we lean into each other's strengths and weaknesses?
[00:25:37] Jacob Baadsgaard: What are our shared values, right? Like [00:25:40] what are the areas of life we want to explore together or more independently? If you don't have answers to those questions, you're going to be suffering in your relationship as well. Um, speaking from [00:25:50] experience, um, and then at the individual level, the same thing holds true.
[00:25:57] Jacob Baadsgaard: If there is no reason for being, if there is no [00:26:00] purpose behind what we're doing, it's like, it's like feeling hollow. Like feeling like a zombie, there's just not a lot of life energy that comes into that. [00:26:10] And, um, there, there's a few ways that I, when it comes to someone's why I like to use the word authenticity as well.
[00:26:18] Corey Quinn: Yeah.
[00:26:18] Jacob Baadsgaard: Um, everyone has a unique [00:26:20] iris. Everyone has a unique thumbprint. Everyone is unique and it is individual uniqueness expressed. That is what makes [00:26:30] life, life meaningful and beautiful. Like what, just imagine a life without uniqueness, like that, that, that sunset that [00:26:40] takes your breath away, that Alpine mountain, that desert scape, the, all of the things that are so unique and they're beautiful because they're unique.
[00:26:48] Jacob Baadsgaard: Humans are no different. And there's kind [00:26:50] of like, well, what is that? What is it that makes me unique? And there's so many ways to explore that. But one of the things that I like to explore with entrepreneurs and marketers. is understanding one's [00:27:00] strengths and weaknesses, because both are a gift to the world.
[00:27:03] Jacob Baadsgaard: If I didn't have weaknesses, I wouldn't have needed your services, right? If, if, if I didn't have [00:27:10] strengths, I couldn't serve your, I couldn't serve your weaknesses. Actually, both of them are a gift to each other. Same in a relationship, getting clear on the passions and values that motivate us and drive us that we learned [00:27:20] from our more painful experiences.
[00:27:22] Jacob Baadsgaard: Or from our most beautiful experiences that taught us what gives us life energy or what takes it away. The third area is what I [00:27:30] think is really entrepreneurship in a nutshell, which is through the lens of your strengths and weaknesses, passions, and values, you see something in the world that no one else sees.[00:27:40]
[00:27:40] Jacob Baadsgaard: And therefore, you know how to serve that need in a way that no one else knows how to serve that need. And that's what I call like, what does the world need or how do I serve the world? And then the last one is how do I [00:27:50] make money? I know so many entrepreneurs that just, and again, one of those, there are times where I just, I have felt so unworthy.
[00:27:58] Jacob Baadsgaard: of the success that I've [00:28:00] had, felt bad about, uh, hey, when the business does well, like, is this even okay? Like, is this okay for, for me to be making money and being successful at the business and getting the things [00:28:10] that I have? So anyway, it's just like, it's just interesting, but when you take those four circles, strengths and weaknesses, passions and values, how you serve the world and how you make money, and you get [00:28:20] clear.
[00:28:20] Jacob Baadsgaard: On what would feel great in each of those areas, what would feel more authentic and unique to you? It's the intersection of those four areas that kind of points you to your own sweet [00:28:30] spot, your own authenticity. Or your purpose or your why, um, and then you bring that when, uh, and what's kind of fun is you get to, it's like, you get to explore [00:28:40] that your whole life.
[00:28:40] Jacob Baadsgaard: It's not a static target. Um, you get to experience life as, as it's moving and evolving, and then you bring that version of you to everything that you're [00:28:50] doing just when you're by yourself, when you're in your relationships, when you're at work. And then all of a sudden you're like, oh yeah, I know I'm not good in these areas.
[00:28:58] Jacob Baadsgaard: That's why I hire people that compensate [00:29:00] for that. Or I know I'm really weak here. And that's why we get, I, me and my spouse work together so well, because we get to lean into that for each other. And then all of a sudden, instead of trying to be like, and this is [00:29:10] where entrepreneurs like just totally die is they try to be good at it all.
[00:29:15] Corey Quinn: Right.
[00:29:15] Jacob Baadsgaard: And they try to do it the way everyone else thinks that they think everyone else expects them [00:29:20] to. And when you try to be Superman and you try to keep everybody happy, and then you wonder why life just feels. Sucky.
[00:29:29] Corey Quinn: [00:29:30] And knowing your strengths and weaknesses, your passions and your values, how you serve the world and, you know, being an entrepreneur, how you make money, how does that relate to your vision?
[00:29:39] Corey Quinn: Is [00:29:40] it, is it once you've established these four circles, then that feeds your vision or what's, what is the relationship between these two?
[00:29:46] Jacob Baadsgaard: When you get clear on a why, and we'll, let's just talk about [00:29:50] this from the business standpoint when you think, okay, well, what, what is, what is my business? Why? Right?
[00:29:56] Jacob Baadsgaard: What do I like? It is, um, I help people remember and live in alignment with who [00:30:00] they are. That's like, that's what, that's what motivates me beyond anything else. I see and activate the greatness in others. And when I see someone like all of a [00:30:10] sudden that spark of self belief, um, they go, they get after it and they start doing it in a way that only they could do it.
[00:30:16] Jacob Baadsgaard: Cause I'm an activator. You can even just tell by like my energy. That's [00:30:20] my why. And that, and that applies both at a personal level relationship and at a business level. What's fun about that is that's what begins the [00:30:30] process of creating a vision for your business as well. And so when I just step back and say, Gal, some distant out there, if I [00:30:40] could live in a world where that's what I was doing all day every day, what would that look like?
[00:30:46] Jacob Baadsgaard: That looks like a world where everyone has the courage to be authentic. [00:30:50] That's the vision. Like that's that big, that's that big dream. Right. And like, I want to be a part of that. And I say, okay, well, if that's, if that's my why, and that's my vision. [00:31:00] Well, what's, what, how can I just stick it like a, some sort of target to that, that whether I hit it or not, it's the thing that gets me out of bed to like work towards because [00:31:10] the idea is tied to the why it is tied to the vision.
[00:31:13] Jacob Baadsgaard: And so for me, that target was within the next 10 years, I'd love to document. 788, [00:31:20] 000 instances of people having the courage to live more authentically. And I got to that number because it's the world population divided by 10, 000, roughly. [00:31:30] And that, that number exists because every individual, even an introverted person, throughout the course of a lifetime, the ripple effect will [00:31:40] influence about 10, 000 people or more.
[00:31:42] Jacob Baadsgaard: Ah. And so. And so I said, well, that's how I can, that's how I can lean into that vision and help create a world where [00:31:50] everyone has the courage to be more authentic. And now I've got a, a why with a vision and a target. I'm like, hell yeah,
[00:31:56] Corey Quinn: let's go. Which allows you to create a strategy to hit the target.[00:32:00]
[00:32:00] Corey Quinn: That's an alignment with the vision of the why, and then the execution is just day to day, right?
[00:32:05] Jacob Baadsgaard: So then we say, okay, well, we want to do that in the next 10 years. Well, how are we going to do that? Well, our primary, [00:32:10] our primary audience, primary audience is marketers and entrepreneurs. Okay. And, and there's a reason why, because I'm a marketer and I'm an [00:32:20] entrepreneur.
[00:32:22] Jacob Baadsgaard: And, um, and so it's just an audience that I speak to well, and marketers are a microphone for the people and brands that [00:32:30] they believe in. And when you have authentic marketers doing great work for the brands they actually believe in, watch out, watch out [00:32:40] when you have entrepreneurs building businesses with a strong why and a vision, watch out, you can't stop them.
[00:32:48] Jacob Baadsgaard: There is a discretionary part that [00:32:50] comes out that is just incredible. Um, and so, yeah, I think that disruptive university, this authenticity wins. Concept. The [00:33:00] book will be out later this year. Um, like that, that that's what really drives me. And, and for the foreseeable future, I see those that have a [00:33:10] huge impact are marketers and entrepreneurs.
[00:33:13] Jacob Baadsgaard: And so that's why that's who I focus on with disruptive university because when they can say, this is what it means to be [00:33:20] authentic. And this is how I have vision in my personal life and my relationships and with my business or the businesses I'm doing marketing for. Yeah. Like that, that is the [00:33:30] thing that I want to be a part of.
[00:33:31] Jacob Baadsgaard: And I can, and I can't do it for anyone, but I can provide the lessons and principles that frankly, Corey took me the 12 years, a [00:33:40] couple million dollars of trying to fix myself, struggling in my marriage, feeling trapped by my business, having a lot of outward success, but feeling inwardly worse and [00:33:50] worse.
[00:33:50] Jacob Baadsgaard: And, and, and, and I love all of it. Yeah. I love all of that that I went through because it helped me give, it gave me contrast. And the [00:34:00] ability to understand what is authentic for me, what is my, why, how does that disseminate into my business and in my life as well? And so, yeah, that's, that's [00:34:10] what I focus on these days.
[00:34:11] Corey Quinn: And so help me understand. So the people who enroll in disruptive university, are they required to be [00:34:20] disruptive advertising clients or is this a separate product? How do the two businesses relate to each other? And frankly, I'm also super curious about [00:34:30] how does this come to life within your agency?
[00:34:32] Jacob Baadsgaard: Yeah.
[00:34:33] Jacob Baadsgaard: So one of our unique differentiators at Disruptive Advertising is everyone is Disruptive University [00:34:40] certified and graduated from the course. So when you work with someone from Disruptive, you know that they have a strong understanding of what it means to be authentic. And that if they're working with you, it's because [00:34:50] they want to work with you.
[00:34:51] Jacob Baadsgaard: Because one of our brand pillars is we only work with people and brands that we believe in. Right. Because otherwise, I'm not living true to my vision. Now, are we perfect with that? [00:35:00] There's always a little bit of a work in progress on those things. But it's one of our strong differentiators as an agency that allows me to attract and retain top talent because they know we're not [00:35:10] going to just sign up anyone that we can get to sign up for the agency.
[00:35:13] Jacob Baadsgaard: Um, and our clients, when we're like, we're working with you because we want to, not just because you are willing to pay us. [00:35:20] And, um, and we are willing to walk away from this relationship as well. Like this is, and most agencies aren't willing to do that. So that's how it applies at the agency [00:35:30] level. Um, to answer your question is, um, the, the method that I'm using is everything we teach in disruptive university [00:35:40] personally and professionally as an entrepreneur and a marketer, we're going to give it all away for free.
[00:35:45] Jacob Baadsgaard: Um, period. That is, that is our content strategy. We want to [00:35:50] contribute to a world where everyone has the courage to be more authentic, especially our marketers and our entrepreneurs. Okay.
[00:35:54] Corey Quinn: Yeah.
[00:35:55] Jacob Baadsgaard: Disruptive University is the done with you model. If you want to structure, [00:36:00] um, you want to go through with a cohort of like minded marketers or entrepreneurs.
[00:36:04] Jacob Baadsgaard: Of course, I tend to attract more agency owners to it, although it's not exclusively agency owners. [00:36:10] Is, hey, we actually, when you go through the program and, and answer, it's like the book that you read, it's a great idea, but then you don't do anything with it after [00:36:20] the course is you actually have to go through and do the work.
[00:36:23] Jacob Baadsgaard: And on the back end, it builds a personal authenticity. dashboard for you with your why and all of the things that we've [00:36:30] talked about today. It builds that out for you in a relationship and it builds it out for you with your business as well. And so we've been building some really cool tech on the back end
[00:36:39] Corey Quinn: so that
[00:36:39] Jacob Baadsgaard: you can [00:36:40] just show up and do the work.
[00:36:41] Jacob Baadsgaard: And now you've got a strong why personal authenticity dashboard. And again, in your relationship and again, for your business. Um, and those are some of the [00:36:50] things that people get in going through the program, but we'll, we'll teach and share all that for free. Um, the program's got some cool tech. and community, um, that I think make it [00:37:00] special.
[00:37:00] Corey Quinn: Hey, it's Corey. After scaling an agency from 20 million to 150 million, I've discovered something profound. The most successful agencies aren't [00:37:10] trying to serve everyone. They dominate one specific vertical market. I've created the Deep Specialization Accelerator, a 90 day group program that [00:37:20] transforms generalist agencies into sought after vertical market specialists using the proven system from my best selling book anyone, not [00:37:30] everyone.
[00:37:30] Corey Quinn: We will help you to number one, choose the perfect vertical market for you. If you don't already have one. Number two, [00:37:40] build trust and authority in the vertical. Number three, create a predictable revenue growth plan so you can dominate the market with certainty. Join [00:37:50] other ambitious agency founders ready to escape the generalist trap.
[00:37:54] Corey Quinn: We start in early March and only 12 spots are available to ensure you have an [00:38:00] amazing experience. Visit coryquin. com slash DSA, that's coryquin. com slash DSA to learn more [00:38:10] about the next cohort that's starting soon. Now, back to the show. People who are attracted to this program, what is happening in their life?
[00:38:17] Corey Quinn: Or what are the, what's the context by which [00:38:20] they say to themselves, yeah, this is something that I'm going to commit to really leaning into and, you know, pursuing because I'm currently not [00:38:30] clear on my why, like what, what's happening in people's lives that, that this really has a good impact in.
[00:38:36] Jacob Baadsgaard: Yeah. I would say the people [00:38:40] that it works for best are the ones that have checked all the boxes that they thought they were supposed to check.
[00:38:48] Jacob Baadsgaard: And they're not as happy as they thought they'd [00:38:50] be. They told themselves I'll be happy when. Fill in the blank and they even did it and they're still not feeling [00:39:00] happy and they're, and they're just saying, what the hell? I, I did what I was told. It doesn't feel the way I thought it would. What gives? Right.
[00:39:09] Jacob Baadsgaard: And, [00:39:10] and, and to those people, I would say, um, I have so much love and respect because that is such a crucial part of life. [00:39:20] Check the boxes. Go on the adventure. Do it the way you thought you were supposed to because that's when that's how you learn who you really are and what really [00:39:30] matters to you, right?
[00:39:31] Jacob Baadsgaard: Crossing that bridge of letting go of who you thought you were supposed to be and stepping more into who you now know is calling to you for this next [00:39:40] stage of your life, relationship and business. Um, it's a little scary to let go of all those things because We hide behind our businesses. That's one of the [00:39:50] reasons why a lot of entrepreneurs are unhappy because they, they, they hide behind what the one thing that's going really well for them, even though they're feeling inauthentic in so many other areas [00:40:00] of their life.
[00:40:00] Jacob Baadsgaard: And rather than addressing them head on, which is what my program does, which is why it's not for the faint of heart. Um, I'm
[00:40:09] Corey Quinn: liking it more and more. [00:40:10] The more you talk, I'm like, yes, it sounds, it sounds awesome.
[00:40:12] Jacob Baadsgaard: Yeah. Yeah. But that, that's like, that's the bridge. And I would say. It's, um, this used to be the midlife crisis that was [00:40:20] happening for people later in life.
[00:40:21] Jacob Baadsgaard: I just see it happening as early as twenties, thirties, definitely like that 35 to 45 is where it seems to be happening the most right now.
[00:40:28] Corey Quinn: And so what's a good [00:40:30] first step? Maybe someone who's listening to our conversation is maybe internally nodding, maybe physically nodding to and say, yeah, what Jake is saying is resonating a lot.
[00:40:39] Corey Quinn: Like [00:40:40] what's a great first step for them to take to learn more about the program?
[00:40:44] Jacob Baadsgaard: I would say. The best first step is not to do anything. [00:40:50] I actually think it's just pause, take a few breaths and love where you are and everything that got you to where you are, [00:41:00] because you'll know in that moment where you just pause and just love and reflect on what got you to where you are, you know, what you're supposed to do next.
[00:41:09] Jacob Baadsgaard: Everyone always [00:41:10] knows, and you don't, no one needs Disruptive University to know what's next and to take action on that. So that's the first thing I would say. I think Disruptive University is just for [00:41:20] people that don't want to go it alone.
[00:41:21] Corey Quinn: Yeah.
[00:41:22] Jacob Baadsgaard: That are looking for community, looking for some structure, looking for a little bit of accountability.
[00:41:27] Jacob Baadsgaard: And, and someone like Jake, that's a [00:41:30] good galvanizer to give him a little kick in the tush once in a while to just, okay, you keep saying you're going to do something about let's do something about it. You know? Um, that's who I would say is, uh, [00:41:40] uh, would be a good fit and the best way is just connect with me on LinkedIn.
[00:41:43] Jacob Baadsgaard: I've got so many A's in my name. I'm easy to find, uh, Jake Badsguard and, um, let's [00:41:50] just connect there. That's where I'm the most active and very responsive.
[00:41:53] Corey Quinn: You mentioned you have a book coming out. Tell us about the book.
[00:41:56] Jacob Baadsgaard: Okay. This is like, you've written a book, so you know, [00:42:00] you just went through this and I've been working on it for a year.
[00:42:03] Jacob Baadsgaard: I'm hoping to have it released May or June of this year. Authenticity wins. It is [00:42:10] literally the course in a book, but very, uh, how I experienced and learned the principles. What does it mean to be authentic? [00:42:20] Um, using the principles of awareness, honesty, and responsibility. That's how every lesson is taught.
[00:42:26] Jacob Baadsgaard: Cause until you're aware of something, there's nothing to do about it. Once you're aware [00:42:30] of something, you have to be honest with yourself about what it means and then ultimately take responsibility. Um, we, we explore the frameworks and the things that we talked [00:42:40] about in there. Um, and I am just not afraid to be messy in it of like, we all want to, it's [00:42:50] kind of like that old, the old adage of your mess is your message.
[00:42:53] Jacob Baadsgaard: I don't see a lot of entrepreneurs that are willing to be super vulnerable. They kind of want to wait until they've [00:43:00] had the success to talk about the hard things that they went through. And, um, and I'm still in the middle of plenty of hard things myself. And in the book, [00:43:10] I tried to just take a pretty vulnerable approach of here's where I was at.
[00:43:15] Jacob Baadsgaard: Here's the stories I was telling myself. Here's where I got confronted with the lies [00:43:20] that I was telling myself. Um, finally took some responsibility and move that forward. But it's called authenticity wins. Um, I really do [00:43:30] believe that in the end authenticity does win. And even if you find yourself feeling inauthentic today, you wouldn't even know what it means to be authentic.
[00:43:37] Jacob Baadsgaard: If you hadn't been inauthentic for a while, [00:43:40] everything points you back to who you are and what you're here to uniquely do and express that no one else can.
[00:43:46] Corey Quinn: And, uh, are you, I'm just curious now, now that I'm a [00:43:50] published quote unquote published author, are you, are you going to be working with a publisher or are you self publishing?
[00:43:55] Jacob Baadsgaard: There, there's, I am working with a publishing group. They're an independent. Um, [00:44:00] but they're pretty flexible on how we approach that. So we'll see. We've got a PR group. We're getting a little podcast series put together. Um, and we'll see, [00:44:10] but right now I've got to get, I've got to get the manuscript to the finish line.
[00:44:13] Jacob Baadsgaard: I am. And you, you'll, you'll, I'm sure you'll relate to some degree, but I had to write the first manuscript [00:44:20] to realize it wasn't what I wanted to say.
[00:44:23] Corey Quinn: Yeah.
[00:44:23] Jacob Baadsgaard: That's the
[00:44:24] Corey Quinn: process, right? It's like you, you, you get it out and as a result of writing it, you learn exactly what [00:44:30] you actually do want to say.
[00:44:31] Jacob Baadsgaard: Correct.
[00:44:31] Jacob Baadsgaard: So I'm in the, I'm in the process of creating the second manuscript right now that I'm supposed to have done in the next month. And we're getting close. [00:44:40]
[00:44:40] Corey Quinn: Uh, the best thing I did just to share real quickly,
[00:44:43] Jacob Baadsgaard: please.
[00:44:44] Corey Quinn: Was to hire a fantastic editor, and there's a [00:44:50] lot of them out there, but, um, This, this editor, she happens to be someone who's edited a lot of books that I respect in the, in the sort of the B2B, uh, [00:45:00] nonfiction space.
[00:45:01] Corey Quinn: I was lucky enough to get her at a time when she was not completely sold out, so I got her, and what she was able to do was to take my, um, [00:45:10] Very, uh, I would say decent at best manuscript that I had rewritten and she helped me to make it into something I'm really proud of. So, [00:45:20] um, that is the power of a great editor.
[00:45:22] Corey Quinn: And so, um, if you haven't already, uh, certainly consider adding that to your, your, your [00:45:30] process.
[00:45:30] Jacob Baadsgaard: Absolutely.
[00:45:31] Corey Quinn: Yeah.
[00:45:32] Jacob Baadsgaard: Yeah. Great call out.
[00:45:35] Corey Quinn: Yeah, it is, it is something that, you know, writing a book that you're proud of. You see [00:45:40] a lot of people today, leveraging the power of AI and these shortcuts and ghostwriters.
[00:45:46] Corey Quinn: There's nothing inherently wrong with these things, but I think for [00:45:50] myself, I, I wanted to go down, go through the process of writing it, figuring out how to articulate these ideas, uh, and hiring great people around me to help me. [00:46:00] And the fact that I have a book that I'm proud of is something that has turned into something, uh, an asset, I should say a marketing asset that I love giving out.[00:46:10]
[00:46:10] Corey Quinn: And that I get wonderful feedback coming back all the time. In fact, most people who hire me usually is part of the sales process. They show me the [00:46:20] book that they read, my book. They said, I read your book, listen to your podcast, and I'm ready to work with you. Right? One of those things. So it's very, very powerful.
[00:46:28] Corey Quinn: And it sounds like you're, you're on [00:46:30] that path as well.
[00:46:31] Jacob Baadsgaard: Yeah.
[00:46:32] Corey Quinn: Yeah.
[00:46:32] Jacob Baadsgaard: Yeah.
[00:46:34] Corey Quinn: Very cool. Well, I just have [00:46:40] two Final questions for you as we wrap up here, short on time. The first one would be, you know, looking back at your career specifically as an [00:46:50] agency owner and now transitioning into a real big focus with Disruptive University, um, what would be your parting advice, particularly for agency owners, [00:47:00] cause you have that background and that experience who are struggling with growing their business.
[00:47:07] Corey Quinn: What would be your, your advice on what they should do?[00:47:10]
[00:47:13] Jacob Baadsgaard: Well, I think there's two answers I would give to that. The first one is what we already talked about, which is why do you even want to grow it? [00:47:20] That's right. Right. Get clear on your why, because there is no amount of growth that will ever satisfy if you do not have a strong why behind everything that you [00:47:30] do.
[00:47:30] Jacob Baadsgaard: Um, because everything you do in this world will eventually come to an end. It's guaranteed to change
[00:47:38] Corey Quinn: things.
[00:47:38] Jacob Baadsgaard: We cared about so much a year [00:47:40] or two ago are all gone and different now, you know? And so if there's not a, why that, that sits behind or underneath all of that, then you just going to always feel like [00:47:50] things are falling apart.
[00:47:50] Jacob Baadsgaard: Cause in some ways they are. Um, and then once you've got a strong, why, first off that, that'll at least. [00:48:00] That will give you the energy, that discretionary energy, to want to grow for a reason that's beyond making money. It's okay to make money along the way as well. Let's be clear about that, but, [00:48:10] um, And when you've got that discretionary part of you that knows why you're doing this, even if you weren't making money, I promise you will [00:48:20] know what it is that you need to do to grow.
[00:48:23] Jacob Baadsgaard: And you can, you can look for everyone else to tell you what the answer is. But all you're really doing is just [00:48:30] procrastinating, doing what you already know you should do.
[00:48:32] Corey Quinn: Right. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, I, I can look, I can apply that to myself, where, um, it was many years, even at [00:48:40] Scorpion, where I knew what I wanted to do, but I was procrastinating doing what I wanted to do because I was checking boxes and doing things that other people told me were important.
[00:48:49] Corey Quinn: So, [00:48:50] uh, it's, uh, it's good advice. Um, you've already spoken to this, but I want to ask again, as we wrap up, my last question to you is What's your [00:49:00] motivation?
[00:49:05] Jacob Baadsgaard: Yeah, my, my motivation is I really do envision a world where [00:49:10] everyone has the courage to be authentic. And, uh, Corey, I would describe this the, the way that I did earlier, [00:49:20] which is, you have something about you that is truly and completely unique from anything else. And, [00:49:30] um, and when I see people see and start to love and appreciate their uniqueness, rather than try to hide it, [00:49:40] that is like, It's beautiful.
[00:49:42] Jacob Baadsgaard: And the reason why I connect with it so much is because I hid behind trying to do the things the way I thought others expected me to [00:49:50] rather than leaning into that myself. And I think that's part of the process. I don't think that means you're doing it wrong. And there comes a time where enough is enough [00:50:00] and it's time to step in.
[00:50:02] Jacob Baadsgaard: Let's go. And cause if not you, then who, and if not now, when?
[00:50:09] Corey Quinn: Yeah. [00:50:10]
[00:50:10] Jacob Baadsgaard: And so that, that's where I would just say, that's what I'm very passionate about. That's what my why is about. I am grateful. I, I was, I've been able to apply that to my [00:50:20] agency, to my university and our disruptive caring initiative as well.
[00:50:24] Jacob Baadsgaard: Where there's a strong why that I personally connect with that disseminates through my [00:50:30] organizations. Um, it just gives me a lot of purpose. And it allows me to play the long game. Not always trying to play the short game. And that [00:50:40] is why I have a competitive advantage. And that is why authenticity will win in the end.
[00:50:46] Jacob Baadsgaard: Because I'm playing the long game and we're doing it in a way that no one else [00:50:50] will. Yeah.
[00:50:52] Corey Quinn: Well, for any listeners who feel like it is their time, I highly encourage you to reach out to Jake. [00:51:00] He's on LinkedIn. Find them there, reach out to him, engage, find out what he's up to. And, uh, I think that is just a real [00:51:10] wonderful offer that you're putting out.
[00:51:11] Corey Quinn: Clearly it is coming from the heart. It's coming through your experience. And, uh, I think it's a tremendous value to the world. So thank you for doing [00:51:20] that. And thank you for joining the podcast, Jake.
[00:51:22] Jacob Baadsgaard: Thanks, Corey.
[00:51:23] Corey Quinn: Thanks for tuning in to the Deep Specialization Podcast. If you haven't checked out my bestselling book, anyone, not everyone, [00:51:30] you can download the audiobook for free right now by going to anyone, not everyone.com.
[00:51:36] Corey Quinn: That's anyone, not everyone.com. [00:51:40] And finally, a special thank you to our sponsor, E two M. We'll see you in the next episode.
