E32: The Clarity that Changed the Remote Start Intro

What is up Remote Start Nation! I'm Jim Doyon, your host, and I wanna welcome you to another episode of Remote Start. Today's episode, I want to talk about the clarity that I recently had that forced me to change the Remote Start Intro. You know, I've always been passionate about business and I've grown some really cool brands that I'm proud of. As you know, if you've listened to the first episodes, I've sold a business I've been involved in, in multiple others, and I feel like I've been an entrepreneur for a very long time, and I absolutely love sharing my journey with others, not only to help you start your own brand, but to really grow what you already have and take it to that next level, and, you know, not only grow as an individual, but also as an entrepreneur. And on this journey, it's cool because I'm learning a lot as well. I've been able to interview a lot of incredible entrepreneurs, people that I've done huge things, and to listen and just kind of be a sponge on the wall and ask good questions that hopefully you get to listen to and enjoy and learn from, it means the world to me. share with you. You know, when I started the Remote Start Podcast, I was on an incredible journey traveling the country with my family. And we did it for two years, and if you haven't heard me in previous episodes, talk about it. We bought an RV, we sold our house in Michigan, we traveled a country, we saw 37 states in a matter of two years. It was something that I hope all of you can try at some point, if that's not your thing, I get it. If it's not an RV and you wanna travel the country in a plane or however you want to do it, it was such a cool experience for my kids and for myself, my wife, it was incredible. And, but with that, the third element of the original podcast was about living your desired lifestyle. So it was a natural fit. and I'm still really stoked on talking about lifestyle, and some of the things that we did and you know, what I had to do to be able to go travel the country and rely on my business partner in Michigan to grow the brand and do all those things that, you know, I couldn't just sit back, it wasn't like I was on vacation. But I was living the lifestyle with my family that I had worked so hard my whole life to get to, to be able to do. And so that's a part of me that I'm glad you got to experience in the first episodes and really be a part of that with me and some of the other podcasts that I've been interviewed on, I talk about that a lot more, and I really love that I had that opportunity but there's something else that I've been on a mission with helping business owners with for years, and recently it all kind of clicked for me, so what is it that I wanna bring to the show and tell you about? It's about connecting. I really wanna start talking more about not only starting a business, not only building your brand, but what are you doing to connect with your community? What are you doing to connect with your customer? I see it over and over again. So many businesses and brands like they wanna market, they want to go out and, and tell the world about their product. But they don't even know who their core demographic is, they don't even know who their core audience is, their number one customer, their dream customer. And if they do, maybe you don't know how to get in front of that customer. So what I want to do is bring in community as the third leg of the show of really talking about how to do that. And I'm super stoked on it because I know that it's something I've been passionate about, it's something that I've done my whole life, and it wasn't until recently when I had this, this “aha” moment, this clarity that really changed it for me. I was, and to tell you about that and to kind of tell you where that intro of the podcast comes from, I was at a marketing conference, this past year and we were probably on like day two or three of the conference, and I was on cloud nine the entire time. Honestly, it was probably like when it's your best self, you know, it's your best self. And at this conference I was my best self. I was surrounded by entrepreneurs and marketing professionals that, when you talk to them, they get it. It's not like when you're talking to a friend and you want to talk about your business or you want to talk about, you know, how you're growing it or any of these other things with your brand, they look at you like you're crazy, but everybody at this show, but everybody there is speaking the same language you are. And so I was walking around just loving everything that I was doing. And what I didn't realize I was doing is I was making connections with everybody that I had known, that I had met the year before at the show, and I was making connections with them and people that I had just met or people that I had known throughout the year that were going to be there. And so one night, we went out to dinner and there's a group of probably 10 to 15 of us, I truly don't remember how many, but I was kind of looking around and, you know, everybody's having a good time and everybody's kind of in their individual conversations, and my really good friend Brian Brewer, he's to the left of me and he looks over and he says, Jimmy, look around the table, look around the room, I said, yeah, he said, everybody here at this table is here because of you. Like, dude, get outta here, what are you talking about? I said, no, no, seriously, look around the room, everybody in their own little conversations, everybody talking, everybody having a good time, they're here because of you.

I'm like, no, Brian. He's here because of him, he's here because of him, he's here because of her, she's here because of her, I said, yeah, but how did that initial connection start? It started because of you, it's like I'm sitting here because we became friends last year and you kept that connection going throughout the year. I got him, same thing with them, them, then I just started pointing it out. I'm like, holy shit, dude, you're right, it didn't really sink in until the next day when I was starting to think about it more and more, I'd run through a bunch of scenarios in my head, and my business coach was there, Alyssa, and I said, Alyssa, like, listen to what happened with Brian last night, like, listen to what we were talking about. She said, dude, that's who you are, like you genuinely love people and you love bringing them together, and you do it in a way that makes them feel comfortable, you're a connector, and the other people that I had met and been talking about or talking with all weekend and connected and this and that, they, it was like everything I did after that, I started to think about it, I'm like, wow, Brian was right, this is something that I've been so passionate about, it's something that I just do naturally that I never even realized It. So then I started to reflect on the past, and I started to think of moments back in college where I'd go to a big event and I'd bring everybody together and at the end of it, everybody's hanging out together, and it just like kind of reiterated, then I started to think about my business, my agency, Woodward Movement. And what we do is we provide merchandise, custom apparel for brands, but what we really do, as we figure out the brand identity and the company and what that company's all about and who their customer, who they want their customer to be, and we connect them, we connect that brand with their customer, we build a community and we do that through merchandise, but all along, it's something that I've been doing my entire life. So I'm glad I got to share that story with you. It means the world to me, it was one of those moments, like I said, it was such a clarity and even after the show, I came home and everything started to change for me. I started to think about things differently, and I started to think like if I can incorporate building a community around everything I'm doing, and talk about it, and it's something I'm so passionate about that I think I'm really gonna help others through the Remote Start Podcast to build a community around your brand. And we'll get into more about what I mean by, you know, building a community around your brand. And yes, I just brought up merchandise, that's one way. But there's so many ways to get involved in your community, to reach out, to make connections. So my goal is to really bring connecting and community into the mix with a Remote Start Podcast and tie that in with building a brand, starting a business.

So with that said, Remote Start Nation, I'm really excited for this next stage of growth for the podcast for myself, and again, like always, I'm very fortunate to have you as part of our group and the Remote Start Nation, and I look forward to growing with you. And if you have any questions, comments, please leave a message, let me know, join the nation, and I look forward to working with you and helping you grow and connect in any way I can.

So with that said, Remote Start Nation… Until Next Time.