Mark Campbell delves into the essence of impactful leadership, exploring how core values, resilience, and a proactive mindset are crucial for guiding teams and businesses toward success. He discusses the importance of adapting to change, the strength found in vulnerability, and how genuine engagement can transform leadership from a role into a reflection of one's true self.

This conversation is rich with insights on fostering a culture of trust, the pivotal role of mentorship, and the enduring influence of leading by example, offering listeners practical advice and inspirational takeaways for their own leadership journeys.

Want to learn more about Mark's work? Check out their website at https://thedigitalmc.com.

Connect with Mark on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/thedigitalmc/.

Key Points with Timestamps:

• 00:00:00-00:00:30: Craig Andrews shares a powerful story of resilience and team solidarity.
• 00:01:20-00:01:24: Introduction of Mark Campbell, a leader in digital strategy.
• 00:02:15-00:02:24: Craig discusses the unique blend of his interests and professional journey.
• 00:06:15-00:06:40: Insights into the transformative power of positive role models and personal determination.
• 00:09:05-00:09:25: Craig reflects on the impactful life lessons taught by his father.
• 00:11:22-00:11:28: Discussion on the significance of genuine content creation and audience engagement.
• 00:13:01-00:13:16: The family-oriented approach to starting and running a business.
• 00:14:03-00:14:33: Insights into the strategic planning and sacrifices involved in entrepreneurship.
• 00:17:02-00:17:15: Highlighting the educational benefits of homeschooling in today's digital economy.
• 00:22:16-00:22:33: Craig shares his business strategy focusing on growth-stage small to medium enterprises.
• 00:24:22-00:24:48: Emphasis on the importance of standard operating procedures and team management in business success.

Transcript

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;30;20
Craig Andrews
I was in a coma for six weeks while the doctors told my wife I was going to die. When I woke up, she told me the most fantastic story. My team kept running the business without me. Freelancers reached out to my team and said, we will do whatever it takes. As long as Craig's in the hospital. I consider that the greatest accomplishment of my career.

00;00;30;23 - 00;00;51;10
Craig Andrews
My name is Craig Andrews and this is the Leaders and Legacies podcast where we talk to leaders creating an impact beyond themselves. At the end of today's interview, I'll tell you how you can be the next leader featured on the show.

00;00;51;19 - 00;01;20;00
Mark Campbell
Today, I want to welcome Mark Campbell. He is the head of the digital AMC. I think AMC stands for Mark Campbell. Mark earned his chops by leading enterprise level digital strategy for some of the world's top brands. Now, he's bringing that same value to small and mid-sized businesses in every sector, from non-profits to global investment firms. record labels to ski resorts.

00;01;20;02 - 00;01;24;18
Mark Campbell
And looking forward to having today's conversation with Mark. Mark, welcome.

00;01;24;20 - 00;01;37;14
Craig Andrews
Hey, Craig. It's fun to be here. And Mark is yes, it's Mark Campbell, but it's the double entendre of marketing is master of ceremonies the same idea. So yes, it does. You know, you pick what you want is pertinent to you.

00;01;37;16 - 00;01;43;05
Mark Campbell
Yeah. How? yeah. What was the how did you decide on that?

00;01;43;08 - 00;02;00;24
Craig Andrews
I've always been into music. I mean, I've been a musician for four years, mostly drums. Right. And so I've always been into beats. I've always been in the rhythm. and to some degree, hip hop, I guess. And so that's been something I freestyle when no one's looking, but never on camera. Right. And so there's a level of that which I've just enjoyed.

00;02;00;27 - 00;02;15;11
Craig Andrews
off the record. But, you know, the idea with the digital legacy is, you know, my experiences both as a designer, a developer and a business owner. So I kind of get like the full service of marketing. And at the end of the day, what I, I tend to be like, look, I'm not a hammer looking for a nail.

00;02;15;14 - 00;02;24;07
Craig Andrews
I'm your master of ceremonies. We help connect the dots. And that's what I do really well. So that's a short version. But so there's the fun part. And then there's the practical part. Right.

00;02;24;09 - 00;02;28;08
Mark Campbell
Yeah. So I mean do you still drum.

00;02;28;10 - 00;02;42;03
Craig Andrews
I was actually at a blues concert last night, and I was sitting there with my wife and, the guys up there, they said, look, put your name in the hat, and, you want to jam with us? You can't. I'm like, Erica, can I go? And she's like, yeah, you can do it. But I admit I got cold feet.

00;02;42;03 - 00;02;57;14
Craig Andrews
I wouldn't talk to the drummer. And I was like, it's been ten years since I've really jammed and going on stage, just, I haven't. I got cold feet, I got cold feet. But I decided I'm going to practice a bit and they're there every week. So maybe I'll come back in a week or two.

00;02;57;16 - 00;02;59;29
Mark Campbell
yeah. Big fan. The blues.

00;03;00;04 - 00;03;17;29
Craig Andrews
What I like about the blues and jazz specifically is that it's like controlled chaos, as people put it. I love how I was telling my wife we were there and, you know, you've got a lead guitar, starts a solo, right? And then everyone else is kind of keeping the rhythm. And then the bass guy does his thing and I'm like, wait for the drummer is going to have a solo.

00;03;17;29 - 00;03;36;07
Craig Andrews
And he does. It's going to kill, right? Because jazz drummers, blues drummers, I mean, they can be super fantastic. And it was and and this is what I love about it. So they each kind of take their turn while everyone else keeps time and keeps the song going. And then, they point at the drummer. I'm like, and then this guy just hit and just just destroys it.

00;03;36;07 - 00;03;49;16
Craig Andrews
It was fantastic. And, yeah. So that's what I love about it. Everyone kind of gets to shine, but everyone still, you know, plays together. It's like a really fun it's like a set. But beyond a set, it's never the same twice, you know? Yeah. No.

00;03;49;18 - 00;03;51;21
Mark Campbell
You know who Pinetop Perkins was?

00;03;51;24 - 00;03;53;25
Craig Andrews
I don't know.

00;03;53;27 - 00;04;18;20
Mark Campbell
Well, he was, Muddy Waters keyboardist guy, and he went on to get Gisen Grammy, I believe, or two. And, I used to hear him play here in Austin and. Oh, that's the hills. And every time I heard him play, I. I felt like this could be the last time. I'm sitting there listening to history right in front of me.

00;04;18;22 - 00;04;37;26
Mark Campbell
And sure enough, I got to hear him, I think right after he turned 96. And then like a month or two later, he died. But yeah, he would just he would go up to the keyboard. He kind of shuffle up, kind of like you'd expect some 96 years old to do, and shuffle up and then get up to the keyboard.

00;04;37;28 - 00;04;41;19
Mark Campbell
And as soon as his fingers touch the ivory, he just came to life.

00;04;41;22 - 00;04;56;28
Craig Andrews
Yep yep yep. Sounds about right. Yeah. I mean, you can't take it out of him. I mean, once you get it, like some of those guys are just. They're absurd how good they're. And it's so fun to listen to, but. No. Well, cool. That's that's a lot of fun.

00;04;57;00 - 00;05;05;09
Mark Campbell
So you were telling me, you were telling me something about your your dad. You said your dad grew up as an orphan. Well, what happened? What was that like?

00;05;05;11 - 00;05;21;01
Craig Andrews
Oh, well, so my dad is an awesome guy, and I've learned a ton from it. Everyone says, you know, my dad's my super hero. And maybe not everyone, but in many ways, it's true. And my dad was an orphan. Like, he was like a part of the state and like fourth grade or something. I mean, he was Appalachian, right?

00;05;21;01 - 00;05;35;29
Craig Andrews
So it's not like, not even like inner city poor, where, like, there's a food pantry, like it was rice and beans. You know, to this day you can eat cauliflower. So anyway, it's a whole story. I won't go into it, but, Yeah, he he was at a school, Hershey School for boys, which we all know was actually amazing.

00;05;35;29 - 00;05;59;15
Craig Andrews
You have to be like at or below poverty level, and you have to have a dead parent, like it's a very school for underprivileged. So he actually got, got, you know, taken from his family and put in there. And then I mean, he long story short, talking about leadership, he one of his, house parents was, I think it was a marine and a boxer, and my I one of which is this story I should tell the gentleman.

00;05;59;16 - 00;06;15;21
Craig Andrews
My dad came home after some trouble and he said, put the gloves on, and they boxed right. Nice way, like a like a stern but authoritative father and said, look, you can take all this energy and put it into the same thing. All these other guys, you could do drugs and alcohol and partying. You could be frustrated. The world handed you a crappy lot.

00;06;15;21 - 00;06;40;11
Craig Andrews
What are you going to do about it? Right? He goes, oh, you can take this and put in something powerful. So in like eighth grade, my dad starts swimming and wrestling and gymnastics. He sets a he sets a like a county record on the iron Cross and becomes a wrestler, becomes like a national champion in high school, becomes an Olympian alternate, you know, national champion in college, like an Olympian, alternate wrestler, like, trained with Dan Gable and all these guys and so he had it and he, you know, put himself through college.

00;06;40;18 - 00;06;55;21
Craig Andrews
He had to take a year off to continue to make money. Just a very, you know, take what you can get and make the best of it kind of guy. And, and he always told me he was like, look, Mark, I never had a dad, but you will. And he was in sales, which the way only way you get some sales is to leave house.

00;06;55;21 - 00;07;11;29
Craig Andrews
You know, you have to you're, you know, you have a region and your regional manager and you just got bigger and bigger and bigger. But he never he never took those promotions. And he was always my coach. He was always there, you know, not a perfect guy, you know, but but one who was inspiring at the very least and certainly had a lot of wisdom.

00;07;12;01 - 00;07;33;17
Craig Andrews
And, we go into that story. But yeah. So that's, that's, it's been a pretty cool bedrock, to see someone with nothing create something and then to not just create, but then to make sure he's properly reinvesting into the next generation and not just taking that and running with it, you know, which was cool. And so I'm one generation away from Appalachian boy, you know, and doing pretty well, all things considered.

00;07;33;20 - 00;07;40;18
Craig Andrews
and so it's a pretty rad story of one man makes a change and it's just a whole family changes forever.

00;07;40;21 - 00;08;08;16
Mark Campbell
You know, I had, I had somebody who grew up in Russia on the podcast recently, and he talks about what a great land of opportunity America is. And, you know, there's different people that feel different ways about that. But it's, you know, that is kind of the American story. You know, for you, would you say one generation away from abject poverty and, you know, really turning things around?

00;08;08;16 - 00;08;10;15
Mark Campbell
That's that's amazing.

00;08;10;17 - 00;08;35;12
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Yeah, it's really cool. Yeah. Well, and it transitions into like, I mean, I've done well and we can get into this. I want to follow your cadence. But like, I mean I've been in involved in outreach ministries for, for years, right. Especially right after college because I've seen the opportunity I've seen what can happen. Right. So it's always been in my heart to like inspire people like, look, I know it's tough, but like, there is, there is, there is some option, right?

00;08;35;12 - 00;08;47;18
Craig Andrews
Even if it's not perfection tomorrow, like there's a step in that direction. Like what? What can we do to help, you know, start to move the needle. Right. You don't have to be there tomorrow. But there's something we can do. And so that's always been a part of my heart, kind of those birthed from that.

00;08;47;18 - 00;09;05;07
Mark Campbell
But yeah. Well that's cool. And what would you say would be probably the biggest lesson you took away from your dad? What's what's one lesson your dad gave you that you want to hand off to your kids?

00;09;05;09 - 00;09;25;16
Craig Andrews
Okay, so if we're talk, I'll give you a one. He wasn't a man of one liners. He was a man. He just kind of did what he did. and that was a pretty good example. But there was a one. There was one, like one liner that he said that really stuck with me. And he goes, look, this world can take everything from you but your integrity and your honesty.

00;09;25;18 - 00;09;42;00
Craig Andrews
No one can take that. That's yours to give away. And so be very careful. And like, that was like super powerful to me because he can take my money. You can take my house, my kids, my wife, like all of it. But at the end of the day, people know Mark Campbell is a stand up guy. That's because that's the way I live my life.

00;09;42;00 - 00;09;57;01
Craig Andrews
And if they don't, it's my fault. Like sort of the smear campaign, I guess. Yeah, but you know what I'm saying? At the end of the day, like that was very, very impactful. And they also said, never touch your own horn. Let someone else do it for you. Those are the two. I give you a bonus point.

00;09;57;03 - 00;10;21;19
Mark Campbell
Yeah. I have a moment where it says everybody needs a vamp. The job of the vamp is to talk about how wonderful you are, that you can never say those things yourself, but you need somebody else, to do that on your behalf, and, Yeah. And it ties into that, that same thing. the, you know, I see people I think of one in particular on LinkedIn.

00;10;21;21 - 00;10;44;16
Mark Campbell
Every single post they put out there is about how wonderful they are. And, and you, you kind of look at them and you're like, do you never had a struggle in business, have you? Never. Yeah. There's a couple things with that. One is yeah. You just you perceive you even if you can't articulate your will, you recognize there's a lack of authenticity there because it's too perfect.

00;10;44;18 - 00;11;03;22
Craig Andrews
Yeah, yeah. Oh absolutely. Absolutely. And people see through it. That's been a hesitation in my own frankly, to, to produce a lot of content is because and that's where you get on the flip side of it, where you don't want to hamstring yourself, but it does feel weird telling people, you know, like, because I've never been a sales guy, right?

00;11;03;22 - 00;11;22;05
Craig Andrews
That's not been my M.O.. I've been a p m a lot of years. I'm a technical architect, and so convincing people that I can help them. It's never been my M.O.. It's always been like, you know, helping them solve a problem that they've already bought into. And so, to your point, getting on LinkedIn and telling people or whatever it is on email, blast it.

00;11;22;08 - 00;11;28;00
Craig Andrews
It's it's different for me. But yeah, you know, anyway.

00;11;28;02 - 00;11;32;08
Mark Campbell
Yeah. So, so you have kids?

00;11;32;11 - 00;11;33;24
Craig Andrews
Five of them. Yeah.

00;11;33;26 - 00;11;39;11
Mark Campbell
Five. Yeah. I've. Holy cow. How old are they?

00;11;39;14 - 00;11;50;06
Craig Andrews
11. Nine. Seven. Four and one. Yeah. It's fantastic. It's like the best. It is the best. It's the best thing ever. Having kids is the coolest.

00;11;50;08 - 00;11;56;08
Mark Campbell
And. And you. I guess you got your business started and then had the kids.

00;11;56;10 - 00;12;14;12
Craig Andrews
No, no. See. And that's that's where if I had to go back to the old mark, I would say, look, you know, take risks. Earlier when it was a little bit scary riding, I think successful because now I, I started my own official business and I've been part of startups. Right. I'm, I started a software company when I was like 24.

00;12;14;17 - 00;12;32;28
Craig Andrews
I started the digital, see around that time, but it was kind of like a side project where I just stuff on my own. But launching the digital into is about three and a half years ago, officially on its own. So I already had had four of my five kids. And my wife, she's fantastic. but, yeah, she's a stay at home mom and homeschool mom, and she's fantastic.

00;12;32;28 - 00;12;46;17
Craig Andrews
But, you know, it doesn't produce income. Now, she has a doula on the side, so she does some side work. But, you know, so when I launched in this business, I, I told the whole family, I said, look, guys, this is not me starting a business. This is us starting a business because Erica, you're going to have to put a little extra weight.

00;12;46;20 - 00;13;01;06
Craig Andrews
Guys, you're there might be nights where you don't see your daddy as much, and there's nights where you will like, I don't I'm not a workaholic, but at the same time, work needs to be done. So I got buy in from the whole family before we did anything, and the kids were pumped. And to this day they were my logo hats around.

00;13;01;06 - 00;13;16;13
Craig Andrews
I bought them suits with my logos they like to wear. I mean, they just think the business is so cool. He'll go on my website and fill out the contact form just to send me an email. Like day. So it's cool how they've kind of bought into it too. But yeah, it was a lot of risk. It's really scary.

00;13;16;15 - 00;13;23;11
Craig Andrews
you know, starting from square one when you have essentially six, 4 to 6 mouths to feed, depending on the timeline.

00;13;23;13 - 00;13;40;06
Mark Campbell
Yeah. What would you say? I mean, other than starting the business sooner, what would you say your biggest lesson has been starting a business with in, four kids and then eventually five?

00;13;40;08 - 00;14;03;03
Craig Andrews
look, there's a degree of everything. Costs, cost, time, cost, money, cost. You know, it's an investment. And so. Properly creating a timeline that you're comfortable with. Like at the end of the day, when you start a business, you have to say, I'm going to sacrifice this many years of my life to some degree, right? Look, I'm going to work 20% harder and 30% harder than I've worked in the past.

00;14;03;06 - 00;14;33;26
Craig Andrews
But you're sacrificing your self now for a better self in the future. And so with that, I do feel like knowing what would come, like, if I could talk to my understanding the different steps, because I started a software company similar side by side of the digital sea. So I owned snap together and so understanding the life cycle of like a software business and a service business in terms of like from start to finish, like owning the company as opposed to working in the company, you just see so much more.

00;14;33;28 - 00;15;01;05
Craig Andrews
I think I would have been more reasoned in timelines, prioritized both capital and time appropriately and, kind of set expectations with myself that are more realistic, not in terms of income, but just in terms of what it's going to take to, like, launch an outbound campaign like that, just, you know, so there's a lot of that that I think it would have renegotiated, which is why starting earlier would have been nice because you have more runway for mistakes.

00;15;01;07 - 00;15;19;12
Craig Andrews
and I'll say this to live like a pauper when you're young, save everything can set right. Because when you don't have expenses, that's the time to really begin to build equity in yourself and capital. So then when you launch, you kind of have that safety net. You know, I took chances on a bunch of startups I started.

00;15;19;14 - 00;15;26;04
Craig Andrews
This is like my third or fourth company. So I've always been a risk taker. My brother's an accountant. He's not, you know, he's the opposite.

00;15;26;04 - 00;15;36;01
Mark Campbell
But you mentioned you homeschooled. What's, what's what motivated you to do that?

00;15;36;03 - 00;16;04;02
Craig Andrews
Oh, just the opportunity. The opportunity that is the opportunity that the world, but even specifically that America provides today is I admit, it's obfuscated and so much clutter in the internet and social media and, you know, gurus and I've been trying to, like, sell you a lifestyle. But, look, you've access the internet, you can contact business owners. I mean, you could be 13 and email CEOs and get on LinkedIn and say, hey, can I intern for your company at 13?

00;16;04;02 - 00;16;20;28
Craig Andrews
Can I just sit in on meetings like there's so many things you can do as a, as a young man or woman that in my mind I'm like, look, what if like I have a computer here and a computer here, or my kids code next to me and like, that's really possible because they're homeschooled. Like, we can do as much or as little as we want.

00;16;21;01 - 00;17;02;06
Craig Andrews
My son actually went viral on scratch, which was kind of cool. He was like that tens of thousands of views and B shares is rad. So, I think with the environment, the state of the economy being so gig centered, digital focused, and just global and access to to people being able to leverage that, like the time and education, you know, taking a little less and just learning the, the industrials, you know, the industrial revolution system and more like taking math and science and education and, reading and writing and all that stuff and, you know, learning that, but also spending time in this kind of digital economy, which is where I specialize, admittedly,

00;17;02;06 - 00;17;15;16
Craig Andrews
like it's just so I'm biased here, but gives them an opportunity to grow in a way and see things like, my kids are using AI to help write code like right now, and like, that's cool because I can sit with them and say, whoa, whoa.

00;17;15;16 - 00;17;24;09
Mark Campbell
Whoa, whoa, which kids my which ones haven't? 11 year old, 11 years old. He's writing code.

00;17;24;12 - 00;17;38;28
Craig Andrews
Yeah, yeah. And I told him, cause I'm not always available. So I'm like, look, here's an AI model if you ask it questions, if you need to work through stuff before I can get to you. And yeah, like he's he's it's fun for him. I mean, look, kids can learn anything. We condescend our children as a culture so much.

00;17;39;02 - 00;17;56;01
Craig Andrews
They are so smart. They are they have so much potential. But we put them in front of, like, weird YouTube channels and like, I love Bluey. Don't get me wrong, I think a great show, but so many of our cartoons are just so, there's so. But they can learn anything. Give a kid a tablet, he'll figure out anything for them to figure out.

00;17;56;01 - 00;18;18;28
Craig Andrews
Why not make it something that can be lucrative? My 11 year old right now owns about $1,200 in, landscaping equipment. He owns a snowblower. He owns a, pressure washer. And I'm actually gonna sell him one of my mowers for 50 bucks. But, yeah, he has, like, professional grade equipment, and he goes out when it snows and he makes hundreds of dollars in a day, like, you know.

00;18;19;00 - 00;18;38;08
Mark Campbell
I live in Texas, and it the usual snow. It will it will come in and it will snow like half an inch. Maybe an inch. And by lunch it's all melted. Yeah. But a few years ago we had, I think it was 4 or 5, six inches of snow. It had been really cold. It stuck. It didn't melt.

00;18;38;14 - 00;19;05;21
Mark Campbell
It stuck around for a few days. And, fortunately, I saved a snow shovel from my I moved here, I moved a snow shovel here. Didn't use it for 15 years. I get my driveway shoveled and I see these kids walking around, and I remember thinking, you know, in the right hands, this is $1,000 shovel. and then I realized in my neighborhood, right hands aren't here.

00;19;05;23 - 00;19;10;09
Mark Campbell
Yeah, the very right hands are like, Ma, give me some money.

00;19;10;11 - 00;19;11;20
Craig Andrews
Right? Yeah.

00;19;11;23 - 00;19;18;17
Mark Campbell
So I loved the fact that you got your kids working as entrepreneurs from a very young age.

00;19;18;20 - 00;19;32;15
Craig Andrews
Yeah, I mean, it can be a game. Like, it doesn't have to be arduous. You're not stealing their childhood like they like it, you know, fun. It is for a kid to go out and learn about profit and loss and, you know, revenue and how much he has to pay his brother and sister. So I'll tell you a quick story.

00;19;32;15 - 00;19;49;12
Craig Andrews
Snowblower. The reason we bought it is because he has to pay his brother and sister to help him out. And I go, I always take like 5 or 10 bucks, just so you know. But I do a lot, you know? So he's like, man, as a you can reduce expenses by investing in a snow blower and this can do the job.

00;19;49;14 - 00;20;08;05
Craig Andrews
I'm the problem. It's can do the job of your brother and sister, you know. And you have to pick one expense that you can save on the back end. And he was pumped about it. And so he went and spent hundreds of dollars and bought a snow blower with his own money. And I helped him like a little bit like I, you know, but he's $100 on a snow blower.

00;20;08;06 - 00;20;20;17
Mark Campbell
So he goes, that's that. You know, that really encourages me because that was the thing. I was so sad. I mean, and the reason my shovel would been thousand dollar shovel in the right hands is you can't buy snow shovels in Texas. They don't exist down here.

00;20;20;20 - 00;20;21;13
Craig Andrews
Got it. You know.

00;20;21;16 - 00;20;54;21
Mark Campbell
And and I'm looking at all these driveways. They're just packed full snow. And it was like, you know, an industrious kid would be able to do that. And that's one thing that worries me about at least at least in where I live. A lot of the kids aren't learning work ethics. They study really hard. They're they're involved in a whole bunch of clubs, but they're they've never sweated, for money.

00;20;54;23 - 00;20;58;16
Mark Campbell
yeah. I love that you're bringing your kids up that way.

00;20;58;18 - 00;21;17;08
Craig Andrews
Yeah. And this is part of the benefit of homeschooling. Look, I say homeschool is either the greatest, opportunity or the greatest tragedy you'll ever do to your kids. Like, you can screw up royally. It's not art, you know? but you can also, there's incredible opportunity for for growth. So, you know, you have to be strategic. You have to be smart.

00;21;17;08 - 00;21;33;15
Craig Andrews
Like, you can't take it lightly, or else, you know, your kids will pay the price. But, you know, if you do it right. I mean, parents teaching their kids is the world is always work. Like, it's not strange. It's just not normal now. But, yeah, but you have to pay attention and you got to have a network.

00;21;33;15 - 00;21;44;25
Craig Andrews
You got to have community. Like, you got to be part of something larger than yourself and your family. Like, as a whole. We could go into homeschooling pros and cons. That's a whole different conversation. But yeah, yeah.

00;21;44;27 - 00;21;58;02
Mark Campbell
So your kids are logging in and sending you things, logging on your website. what is the digital mic? What was a digital mic do? Who do they serve?

00;21;58;05 - 00;22;16;18
Craig Andrews
So I mean, I'm focusing on, you know, small to medium sized businesses who are hitting the growth stage. They've done what they've done. for a while. It's worked. They're building capital. They're starting to say, look, we need, you know, we need to hire some salespeople. But to do so, we need more leads, or we have too many leads and we got to get the right ones.

00;22;16;21 - 00;22;33;28
Craig Andrews
And they're kind of hitting this friction point where, they're growing. They don't know how to grow in the right direction with the right products and services and, or and, or right. They just or maybe they need to grow like they're like, well, we've kind of stagnated. We can only get so far with where we've been doing things.

00;22;33;28 - 00;22;49;24
Craig Andrews
And we really want to begin investing in X, Y or Z, right. And so that's kind of where I come in. I mean, my M.O. is I spend anywhere from a half hour to an hour and a half hour onboarding call. We'll go through who's your ideal customer? I've got like a like a three page questionnaire. That's fantastic.

00;22;49;24 - 00;23;06;12
Craig Andrews
It talks about all about who your business is, who's your customer, what are your bread and butter services, what do your customers say about you, blah, blah blah. But we can go into it. It's a great doc, but exploring what the business is and what moving the needle would look like. And then from there, you know, curate a strategy that is apropos.

00;23;06;19 - 00;23;23;21
Craig Andrews
So, you know, I'm not selling websites or SEO or email marketing or anything like that, right? I'm kind of really selling the strategy and it's like, look, these deliverables, you know, the strategy is kind of free. Like I actually I go on and I wrap with the business and then we, yeah, we find a place that can move the needle.

00;23;23;21 - 00;23;40;29
Craig Andrews
We say either yay or nay. Right. And so that's kind of where I focus again. I've got a toolbox again, I have a, I have a design background. Right. So I'm pinkies up pretentious designer. Right. Everything has to look good. I'm a software developer. I built two software companies, full stack engineer and I've started three different businesses.

00;23;40;29 - 00;24;00;03
Craig Andrews
So I understand, like, the full lifecycle of a business. And so I can talk like a nerd, right? While things are still. You know, kept on point and on cadence while looking good. So I've seen kind of every aspect to really digital campaigns and, and branding and whatnot. And so I have a really acute eye when it comes to finding the solution.

00;24;00;03 - 00;24;09;11
Craig Andrews
I'm not approaching it like a developer or designer or a business owner. Right? I kind of see it for what it is. And then we begin to frame the solution around it.

00;24;09;13 - 00;24;22;14
Mark Campbell
Yeah. And and you're leading the team in that. What would you say has been your biggest lesson since leading? You know, as starting digital AMC and running a team?

00;24;22;16 - 00;24;48;10
Craig Andrews
SOPs like making sure every standard operating procedure, making sure your team has clear expectations on what needs to be done and when. And it just makes everyone's life easier. less revisions, you know, timelines, you know, daily check ins, things like that. It makes the whole that makes the whole thing go around. And look, I'm not a big one to say, like, oh, you know, I need a coffee in the break room, right?

00;24;48;12 - 00;25;05;07
Craig Andrews
But look, I mean, you have to be a people first business, I believe that. I mean, I'm a Christian, and like, I believe, you know, God's people are very resource that he cares the most about. So, I mean, I want to make sure that if someone is part of my team, that they at least feel appreciated and wanted and, look, I'm going to drive, right?

00;25;05;07 - 00;25;26;04
Craig Andrews
I mean, we have deadlines. I mean, clients are paying us. We need to fulfill obligations like it's not going to walk in the park, but it should be fun. And if it's not fun, we should always like we should at least enjoy what we're doing or at least feel like we're contributing. Right? So there has to be a I think, a level of being part of a team that you want to be part of because like, you know, I coach hockey too.

00;25;26;06 - 00;25;43;04
Craig Andrews
This is hard work. I tell the kids athletic stance, athletic stance and they want to just kind of float around in their skin. I'm like, no, it should be hard. This is also strength training. You know, you got to have the muscles if you want to sprint and it's repetition. And so that's not always easy. But when you come out and you can hit a 90 mile an hour slapshot.

00;25;43;04 - 00;25;55;17
Craig Andrews
Right. Or you can transition backwards as fast as you can skate forward, you're like, oh, this is why I put in the work. I enjoy being part of this team, even though it's, you know, it's work sometimes. And then there's like, we didn't take the day off the scrimmage for an hour. You know, you don't want to work on Friday.

00;25;55;18 - 00;26;12;05
Craig Andrews
Fine. Go do whatever you want I don't care. Do we do our job this week? Great. Like roll on, have fun. So I do think there's kind of that mix. And that's what my dad instilled in me because he was always a family first person and really cared about us, but was also like he was a driver. There's no doubt about it.

00;26;12;06 - 00;26;24;11
Craig Andrews
You don't go from nothing to something in this capacity without. So there was always this marrying of like, I care about you, but by caring about you, I expect things from you. And there's really a good balance, I think.

00;26;24;13 - 00;26;52;18
Mark Campbell
Yeah. Wow. Well. Very cool. Well, I, I love that, and I appreciate you taking the time to talk about your kids and how they integrate into your business and teaching them the, you know, the work ethic, teaching them how to run businesses. I think, you know, I think in that we learn a lot more about you than then learning about how you run businesses, because that's if you think about it through, more importantly than your own family.

00;26;52;20 - 00;27;09;17
Craig Andrews
Yep yep yep. One day there will be one day of you partner with the digital, see Little Joe, who will hopefully be a little older. Jill will probably be doing your, your website or some running some campaign. You know, it's a few years down the line, but hopefully it's coming. You know, that's awesome.

00;27;09;19 - 00;27;13;06
Mark Campbell
Well, Mark, if people were to reach you, how would they reach you?

00;27;13;08 - 00;27;22;09
Craig Andrews
Mark at the digital Scott is is perfect, but you can go to my website, the digital on SI.com. You know, you find my contact there but know as best.

00;27;22;12 - 00;27;26;01
Mark Campbell
Well excellent. Well thanks for coming on Leaders and legacies I appreciate.

00;27;26;02 - 00;27;28;25
Craig Andrews
Thanks Greg.

00;27;28;25 - 00;27;57;21
Craig Andrews
This is Craig Andrews. I want to thank you for listening to the Leaders and Legacies podcast. We're looking for leaders to share how they're making the impact beyond themselves. If that's you, please go to Alize for me.com/guest and sign up there. If you got something out of this interview, we would love you to share this episode on social media.

00;27;57;23 - 00;28;21;05
Craig Andrews
Just do a quick screenshot with your phone and text it to a friend, or posted on the socials. If you know someone who would be a great guest, tag them on social media and let them know about the show, including the hashtag leaders and legacies. I love seeing your posts and suggestions. We are regularly putting out new episodes and content to make sure you don't miss anything.

00;28;21;07 - 00;30;31;19
Craig Andrews
Please go ahead and subscribe your thumbs up! Ratings and reviews go a long way to help promote the show. It means a lot to me. It means a lot to my team. If you want to know more, please go to Alize for me.com. or follow me on LinkedIn. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.