Welcome to Elevate with Elsner. Join us for inspiring conversations with individuals who have transformed their lives and are making a difference through the work that they do. And now, here's your host, Blake Elsner.

Welcome back to another episode of Elevate with Elsner I'm your host, Blake Elsner And today, we have a special guest who's making a significant impact in the world of small business marketing. Joining us is Chris Van De Hey, the owner, well, co-founder, CEO of Connect Video. Chris's team are dedicated to helping small businesses save time and attract customers through video. They understand the challenges small businesses face from affordability and content creation to professional filming, editing, and audience targeting. Chris's expertise is truly some of the top in St. Louis and really around the country. Their services make it easier for a business to consistently achieve the best results. I've done numerous videos through Chris and they are tremendous. He films them, edits them, cuts them, does whatever with them. gives them to me and all I got to do is post them on my social platforms. And let me tell you, they get thousands and thousands of views. So let me welcome Chris. We're thrilled to have you to the show. Welcome to Elevate with Ellsner, Chris.

Blake Elsner

Hey, yeah, no, thanks for having me. And thanks for the kind regards and warm introduction.

Chris Van De Hey 

Yeah, absolutely. I'm glad you're here because we, we've had a lot of talks together over the course of doing video. And I, uh, honestly, I started video for the first time in my real estate through you. So technically my, yeah, my, my first, you know, marketing video was through you. And I laugh, I think about on, you know, how much I've grown and how much even you've grown and what you've produced.

Blake Elsner

So when I can take somebody's video virginity.

Chris Van De Hey 

Yeah. That's right. Yeah, he took. Yeah, I need to. It's just like Allison took my headshot virginity card. I go, oh, it's my first headshot. It's your first headshot.

Yeah, right.

Yeah. Like, absolutely. I'm a millennial. What do you expect?

But the video video virginity is much more alliterative than headshot, you know? Yeah. There's probably something else we could say there that has shot in it, but we'll save that for the rated R version.

Yeah, that's right. Luckily, we got the E on the podcast, so we're good. So anyway, can you share what initially sparked your passion for video and production? Because you've been doing it a while. So what led you to this?

Yeah, so it's pretty much been my entire life. I found my parents' old VHS video camera in the closet at our old house when I was like six. Um, and, uh, went out, took it outside. I was like, what is this thing? This is cool. You know, just bored on a summer day or something like that, you know, and, uh, went outside and started filming like wildlife in their backyards, like grasshoppers and bats and whatever else I could find. And then that kind of evolved to like, Hey, you know, maybe we should, uh, you know, get a new camera, you know, for the family or whatever, you know, this is back in the, I guess, late 90s. And, and they're like, oh, let's get a new video camera, because that's what everybody did. You film birthday parties and stuff, because it's like a new thing. And, you know, we upgraded the camera. And the next thing you know, we're making movies with the neighborhood kids, running around and getting all them corralled to be in various movie project movies, of course, you know, keep basically a camera and tripod with us saying stuff in front of it. They're all terrible, obviously, you know, to you know, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, whatever. Um, and that kept going. And then, you know, everybody got into like extreme sports and, you know, middle school, high school biking, uh, skateboarding, all that kind of stuff. So I was filming some of that stuff and then making videos for my high school and then kind of like, Hey, I actually want to, you know, make this a career. So I started taking classes that were more geared towards, you know, go out to Hollywood and being a director and a writer and all this kind of stuff. And, um, Then I got out of high school, was going to college, knocking out some general education here in the Alton area, and I was getting ready to go to Webster University here in St. Louis. And I actually, my film teacher, or video production teacher at the college I was going to, to knock out my general education stuff, we had to make a commercial for a product. And, uh, I made a shake weight video and, uh, attached a, um, a phallic looking, uh, toy to the top of it. And that it shot out the protein at the end of the workout. And, uh, they all kind of liked that. And he was like, Hey, this was really well done. Uh, you need to meet this guy, Michael Gavin. He does a lot of video stuff in the Alton area and St. Louis and stuff. Went and had lunch with this Michael guy. And I'm like, I don't know, 20 at the time, I guess. And found out that not only did they support the local business community in St. Louis area, but they also did a lot of projects for like some pretty influential people in like the personal development business space like Tim Ferriss and Tony Robbins and Richard Branson and many, many others. And interned with them and that became a day job. Realized that I didn't have to go to Hollywood to tell good stories and to make a living. And they were like, hey, you know, if you want a job here, you can come here and you can skip going to film school. And we'll give you real world knowledge. And instead of having $100,000 in debt, we can actually pay you to learn. And I was like, hey, that sounds way better. So I got started in the career a little bit earlier than some of my friends that went to film school and then just stayed in the area. Never went to Hollywood or California or anything like that. And I'm kind of blessed for that nowadays because of how things have changed out there after 2020 and all that kind of stuff. And just kind of where they're going with certain things and whatnot. And the industry is kind of Changing and evolving and movie theaters are dying and all that kind of stuff. So art is changing in general But yeah, and then in 2012 started my own video production company called kinetic visuals doing events and stuff like that And then left the previous video production company in like 2014 focus fully on my own thing and then 2019 we decided like hey, let's kind of maybe shut this event stuff down, you know worked away my entire 26 days a week we did a lot of like weddings and events and conferences and stuff like that, so I you know 25 out of the you know or 30 even of the 52 good weekends are taken up um you know by weddings and then you miss a lot of life and parties and all that kind of stuff and you know people growing up and everything and then uh from there um yeah in 2020 we were like hey let's shut down this company and then that all hit and we started connect video after i met uh nick and vanessa they you know in 2018 i think i met them And then in 2020, right before the pandemic hit, we started Connect Video, used to be called Connect Marketing, and then closed down my other company, Kinetic Visuals. And then I went full on this and have been kind of ramping back up after 2020 with a bunch of new processes and services and kind of innovative ideas and stuff. So that's the long answer. My entire life, I guess, is the short.

Yeah. I mean, that was a spectacular synopsis right there. I got to say, as a kid, I remember kids coming up to me and going, Hey, um, you know, we're filming like, you know, scream movie or like our own scream, like, you know, our own like horror movie or something. And you want to be in it, the guy that, you know. It's his head. Yeah. You know exactly what I mean. But yeah, that type of stuff. And I'm like, now I think about it. I had a very similar upbringing. But yeah, instead of going in and continuing to film those people, they went into sports. I play. I went into sports, I guess. And that's interesting that you had a true passion from the beginning. Yeah. And you can tell when you're, you know, just the way you do it, you, you love what you do too. That's a big thing.

Yeah. It's not just the job, right. It's something I truly care about. And it's more, you know, having to adapt what I love into, you know, I guess like the business space, you know, and telling stories and everything like that. So it comes at a different, much different angles, but yeah, thank you. Yeah, no, exactly. That's a, That's the idea, right? Not many people know what they want to do for their entire life at the age of six. You know what I mean? And half the time, people go into college not knowing what they're going to do, and they end up doing something completely different than what they went to school for. I think there's a statistic that says the average person is going to have six careers in their lifetime. So, it's wild.

Wow. And that's tough to do because when you're leaving high school and someone's going to offer you a job like that, obviously in society back then, people are like, go to college, go to college, go to college. And I'm sure you had to, you know, fend off some. you know, talk of people going, well, Chris isn't going to college, Chris isn't doing this. And now you go, now look at Chris.

I don't have a hundred thousand dollars in debt and a liberal arts degree. I made money and have a real world degree. School of hard knocks, baby. So, yeah, I mean, there's certain things that school, that school is obviously great for doctor, lawyer, nurse, general practitioner, you know, there's certain jobs, you know, that you definitely should go to school for. But anymore without technology is you know i was on the forefront of it i guess but i mean video exploded in two thousand sixteen you know now with the advent of tick tock and you know what you can do on your phone one of the people i film with on a monthly basis their son came to me with their cell phone and this app called cap cut. And, um, he was like, Hey, how do I add subtitles to this? And I picked it up and I looked at it. I was like, man, this user interface is so intuitive. I was able to figure out how to put, you know, subtitles on there in 20 seconds. And I showed him how, and I was like, bro, if I had this when I was how old are you? Kid seven, like everything would be different. We were freaking making, um, you know, this is just that the, that the changeover to going digital, cause I think saving private Ryan in 1999 was the last film that was cut non digital. So it was linear editing. And, um, It was actually film reel-to-reel editing, and it was the changeover, and we would literally build a PowerPoint with credits on it and then just film the screen with the camera, because we didn't know how to make digital credits when we were eight.

Yeah. And, oh my gosh, thinking that is, I mean, that's probably why, in part, why you can pivot and, and adapt to an industry that is constantly changing. It's a, it's a wild, uh, definitely a wild industry when it comes to video and, and opinions and how you should do things and how you should, you know, put captions, you should have captions, what your backdrops are.

formats, or if it's landscape or vertical, you know, that kind of stuff. So I mean, how you change it over, you know, what grabs attention, how it's edited, the music, all that kind of stuff. There's so many different things. And it's always changing. And some of these kids now making these videos are freaking, they're kicking ass with it, you know, like, they're awesome. Yeah, like I said, it exploded, and always, you know, different full time filmmakers and all these like online courses and YouTube University and all that kind of stuff. People can learn a lot from it. And you know, it's funny, I'll hear people talk about how they're gonna get into video and stuff like that. And it's like, I've literally dedicated my entire life to this and I still don't know everything. You're gonna try to be a, you know, a painter and a video guy, have fun, you know, and people can, you know, you can do pretty good stuff with being just simple influencer style videos and stuff. I had a friend who does actually one of the podcasts I helped produce. He owns a chiropractic facility practice and he had millions of views Because people just love seeing my back get cracked and stuff like that. And he had millions of views just doing cell phone videos. So there's tons of different ways to create things and leaning into technology. And obviously, I think one of the craziest things about video is it's a form of communication that people don't fully take advantage of all the time. And 2020 showed us this very apparently. I mean, we had to move all meetings, church, class, yoga, everything to online. I mean, I was literally, I don't know if you've heard of those like Jackbox games on like Xbox or PlayStation. But we were literally, at the beginning of 2020, when nobody knew what the heck was going on, I literally set up a camera, filmed my TV screen with these games, and everybody's controller was their phone, and we could play remotely through Zoom. So how we converse is different, how we communicate and everything like that, and how you can reach people. And video is such a new thing that our brain hasn't necessarily evolved to recognize the difference of in-person communication versus video. So your brain, You know i'm a very fundamental level in the lizard brain part of it i still think that you actually having conversation with somebody you know when you're actually in the same room with them you know and then i'm how much time i can say that having to go to coffee shops all the time it's like hey i can jump off a meeting here and have another one in two seconds you know what i mean so it's you know how are things changed just in how we communicate is just the future you know i mean. I remember seeing Star Trek and they had like little video phones and stuff like that, you know, or like the telecoms and those became Bluetooth, you know, earpieces and all this stuff. So it's like, you know, the future is now, you know, and now we got AI and that's the buzzword of everything, but that's going to change drastically. So like, how are we incorporating that into, you know, how we do things, you know? So yeah, it's just how communication over time has even changed, you know, even outside of the art or the promotional aspect of it, you know, video is the future.

That's for sure. And AI, AI powered with video is some of the most powerful content, I think. And terrifying.

And terrifying.

Yeah, it is because, man, you can make some smart people look like they are absolute geniuses.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. That or even, you know, I mean, who knows if you could, you know, change what, you know, you take a, you take a deep fake of Putin and put online it's like how do we know he actually said that is world war three kicking off now you know it's like i mean i think i did yard was the service we use forever i'm to like put him bad actual videos in the emails and they've just grown so much they've introduced air a caricature so they actually have avatars of these a i bought such you can really click And they look kind of like the videos that we show on the green screen and stuff like that. And it looks almost like a person. And since it's become really mainstream, what, two years into this? And the technological evolution now is down to three months, where it used to be a couple of years. And then it was six months. And now it's three months. And it's going to develop its own self. So you train it to develop its own intelligence. So it's just going to not stop steamrolling. And it's crazy what it can do.

Yeah, you just hope, I guess, we're still, as humans, behind it. Still behind the AI part. Hopefully it doesn't take us all over, but... Right, Terminator style, right. Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's what people are thinking nowadays.

It's possible. I mean, it's not impossible. Hopefully there's a good kill switch, though. Somebody has, like... I mean, I think even the guy who did OpenAI, which owns ChatGPT, like, whenever he stepped down, he was like, we went too fast. It's like the Jurassic Park thing, the scene where they're sitting around the table having dinner before they actually go out and see the actual park. And Dr. Ian Malcolm, he's the chaos theorist. And he's like, you never stop to think if you should, because you're so worried about if you could.

That's so true. I mean, yeah. Well, that's interesting. I didn't hear or ever hear about the guy who started chat, GPT.

saying that because that open AI, he was the open AI CEO, if you check him out, yeah, he's gone on, you know, podcast or interviews and talked about how he's just like, yeah, I don't know, we need to stop.

Wow, that that's, yeah, that's kind of concerning a little bit when the guy creates it. Yeah, it's like, that's a good, that's a good. Example with that Jurassic Park scene. That's funny. Yeah.

Yeah. No, I mean, because that's I mean, you end up playing God, right? I mean, eventually, I mean, we're going to literally make life, you know, it's going to be digital, you know, but I mean, with what Boston Dynamics is doing, paired with the AI stuff, I mean, these things, I mean, I don't know if you've ever seen the movie, I Robot, but I mean, that literally is the future, you know, it's like, between that and then the headsets, like, I mean, we're going to be, you know, probably living in these things, you know, they'll be walking around force. We're just going to sit in a recliner. You know what I mean? Oh, I need to go to the store, but I don't feel like moving. So it's gonna be like a mix of like, what surrogates, Wally and iRobot surrogates.

Oh no, robots. Oh man, I hope we're still, I hope we're, well, I don't know if I hope we're around for that or not.

I mean, it'll be, yeah, I mean, it'll be in our lifetime for sure. You know, it's, it's coming. Like, I don't know if you've seen what the Boston Dynamics robots can do, but they're, they're already to a point where like even 10 years ago, they couldn't get to now. It's like, That's wild. They're training them. They have this dog version of it. They're training for the military and that thing alone is is terrifying so drones and robots are definitely going to be the actual foot force for the future, but You know the fodder will still be nukes

Yeah, that's see, that's the thing, I guess, with when I think of robots, I'm like, yeah, you know, nice robots. Right. Right. I mean, hopefully ones that like like this marketing company that this guy, they you know, he's got pens, they're robots that, you know, they write with an actual ballpoint pen. Wow. And stuff like that, you're just, you know, those, those are nice robots, though. Yeah, yeah, exactly. You want a friend, right?

The ones that help build the cars or the ones you see have like cameras for like the red carpet and stuff like that. Those are great robots, you know. It's the ones that become Skynet that are the terrifying ones, but who knows? I mean, I don't know if that's going to be the, hopefully it doesn't get there, but I can't, I don't have, I have no crystal ball.

Yeah. And that's probably, you know, as I start to open my mind, I'm like, I never thought that'd be a possibility in today's world, but wow, it really is. It really is, unfortunately, but hopefully you're not being able to tell what's real.

So, you know, Let's get away from the dark path here. Let's get back.

Oh, yeah. Well, we could talk about let's talk about probably so you know, you've had a lot of impact. You've had impact on our business. Like I was saying in the beginning, yeah. The, uh, the videos that you've produced for me, I mean, you get them back in like a couple of weeks, they're already done. I don't have to do anything. I just save it, upload it.

Yeah.

And that's it. Yeah. And most of the time, you know, you, you announce these little events that you got and, um, you know, the value, you know, I think it's, what is it? $397? Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, they're super affordable.

Yeah.

I mean, for some businesses, that might be a lot, you know, but I mean, a $10,000 marketing budget can go a lot farther with $400 videos versus, you know, $10,000 for one video, you know, because we kind of, for these types of videos that we create at these video day events that you're referencing, I mean, the industry standard is $1,000, $1,500, $2,500 per video, you know, for like everything that happens in it. And we've got it down to where we can still be profitable at less than $400. You know what I mean? So that's a pretty cool little process and service.

Yeah. And that takes a lot of passion. And like I said, there's nobody out there that does what you do or you all do in terms of video to consumer or video to business that fast and in such an affordable manner? Because yeah, I mean, what I think yours would be a lot more pricey because I've seen stuff out there, but what you do is you do tend to, you know, you, you still are profitable and you're, you're marketing yourself to, you know, small businesses and people start to get to know you throughout St. Louis and people see your videos and they ask me, Hey, who did that video that you just did? And I'm like, Oh, Chris, you know, connect video. So yeah, what, like, What we've already talked about kind of the future and what you envision. So is there any like story that really jumps out to you that, you know, made a, where you could say that video truly made like a huge impact?

Yeah, yeah, no, for sure. Um, I mean, obviously, we're on a mission to help and save small businesses, because these corporations keep coming in and all that kind of stuff. And, you know, if people don't adapt to the times, then you know, you're going to get left behind, or your competitor is going to start doing it. And you're not if they're scared to get on camera, or what have you. But yeah, no, I mean, there's been there's been several instances. So for example, This med spa, we did some videos with, um, cause like the video day videos, like the simplest type of video we can create, they're affordable, they're quick, they're efficient through all that kind of stuff. Right. But we can make very elaborate videos, you know, um, you know, almost film grade. And, um, uh, yes, med spa, one example there, we went out and shot a bunch of videos for them. They were on something called our video partner program, which is like, we're literally their video partner. Um, you know, we're not just doing like one off stuff. We actually put a comprehensive plan together and we actually do the distribution aspect and do run ads to like their customer avatar and stuff like that to, you know, if they're trying to do, you know, promotional stuff, then we bring in more customers or leads, you know, uh, the first week that we started running the first video ad, they, I got a call from the owner of the meds bunch that shut off the ads. And I was like, Oh God, what's wrong? She goes, I have to hire people. We're getting way too much, too many bookings. And I'm like, Okay. Well, that's a very good problem to have because you sounded very upset on the phone initially and my empathic response was like, oh no, but then she's like I have to hire people because we have too much business coming in. I was like And, you know, I spent $150 on ads, you know, for like a $900 video or whatever. And they just booked that much work out of it. And it's like, all right, cool. So you spent a thousand dollars and got eight X return. You know, it's like, that's awesome.

That see that type of stuff. I love that. And, and not only are you making an impact by that video, creating that video, but now you've just created jobs. Yeah, exactly. That's a very good point. Yeah. Yeah, I mean that's a, you don't even realize the trickle-down effect of that stuff.

Yeah, so yeah, you know why we call it connect videos. We like to connect a lot of things, right?

Yeah, and I've noticed, you know, even your kind of journey, you've your names and your businesses, it's all kind of run together a little bit. It's no coincidence for sure. That stuff, when you have the proper alignment, you seem to be successful in what you do and you're very successful. And I know Nick and Vanessa, your partners are also extremely successful. I remember when they first started meeting with them. They're awesome people as well. But yeah, I know the whole thing where you can travel around with people and it's like a news crew. You could literally be the news. They're the reporter. You're the production team and you'll follow them for the day. And I think that's pretty cool too, wherever they're at and you'll set up shop for them, etc. Yeah.

No, for sure. Yeah. That's a, that's a, I mean, yeah. Cause we're, we do 99% offsite. I mean, that's why we got, I mean, we, the video day stuff came out of the fact that right when the pandemic hit, we had a, we had an office over in Clayton. I don't know if you ever went there with your dad or not, but we had an office over in Clayton and then whenever the pandemic hit, Uh, we took a vote, you know, and we were like, well, do we, do we, do we keep our lease is coming up? Do we keep this or do we let the chips fall as they may and see where commercial real estate is on the back of this? Cause Nick is a very intelligent person. That's another thing is never be the smartest person in the room. So it's good to partner with people are smarter than you. And, uh, he was like, I've been following this thing since it was released in China back in like November. Um, you know, and, uh, he's like, I don't think this is a three week. Three month thing he's like i think it's gonna be a much more like crazy thing so with that he had the foresight to help us make that decision to not go with the lease and then we shut it down and when everything kinda came back in like may of twenty one twenty twenty one we developed the mobile studio concept right and then came the video days now and we can set up shop that's why we have some different satellite locations that we operate out of another reason we can make me more affordable because we have a little bit less overhead on you know having a production space or what have you.

Yeah. And that's, and it's not like the quality's any lower or anything like that. It's, it's, you're just picking up shop and, and just having the necessary high quality equipment to film this stuff. Yeah, I do remember that Clayton. It was on the second floor, I think, right? It was second floor and it was a brick building. And yeah, that's interesting. I forget about COVID. Like, so I was pre-COVID when I first met Nick and Vanessa and we- Five or six years ago. Yeah. Yeah. We were there and, um, wow. Yeah. So, Well, glad Nick chose that route for you guys because that was smart of him. Do you have any upcoming projects or anything you guys are excited to do or just continue down the same stuff you're doing, which is obviously changing lives and making impacts in small businesses?

Yeah, no, I mean, we're just really cranking on those these video day concepts. Realistically, I don't know when this is going to necessarily air. But in the St. Louis area, we're actually just reaching out to tons of like heavily influential people to come try out the process. Because it's so new and innovative. Actually, the business coach in my business networking international group, my BNI, He you know we did a one to one and he was looking at everything like this five different types of. No things the business follow under and like the last one is a disruptor and fundamentally what that means is you adopt technology processes and systems to invent something new and first you thought we were more of like orders change and you know some stuff around but he's like no you guys are actually inventing something entirely new you're taking all this stuff that's out there and distilling it down into like something that's a brand new concept, you know? So the whole video day idea and everything like that is very unique and special to us. And like, you know, of course, eventually there's gonna be, you know, copycat stuff like that. But the ones who make the biggest, you know, strike are usually the ones that it's remembered by, right? Like nobody goes, hey, let me get some lip balm. They say, let me get some ChapStick, even though there's a billion different businesses that make that, you know, you don't say, hey, I need a nose cloth or whatever you say Kleenex, you know? You know that the ones who usually kind of innovate something or are the disruptors of the ones that it kind of go for so we're just really excited about that i'm just making sure that it has legs it does resonate with the community i'm but st louis a little bit difficult to get people on board with just because some trends like this on the coast and be freaking blowing up you know for that price point and everything like that i'm a part of the charge more just because inflation out there and everything that but relative pricing, you know, it'd be blowing up right now, you know, just because of how it works and everything. And then, you know, it'd be super innovative. But over here, it takes a bit longer for some marketing trends to get in. I was actually talking to a girl who went to college here, and she got a job with this mental health facility. And she had some marketing backgrounds like that. And she's like, yeah, I just brought all the ideas that have been working out, you know, she's like 23 or something. So guys brought all the ideas that are working out in California, and they're like super innovative to all these people out here. So she just crushed it with that, you know. And then people are scared to get on camera. It's been better since 2020 because everybody's kind of used to seeing themselves a little bit more now, but people still hate glass and plastic for some reason. It takes a minute to get over.

Yeah, that whole trying to get over yourself on camera is You know, it's tough. And I'll say the only reason why I even have a podcast is because I was confident enough to get on camera and it helped with having an individual like yourself and Nick and Vanessa to kind of support and help pull you along because it is uncomfortable in the beginning. Sure. Yeah, I can see why. But once you start doing it, it becomes fun. It becomes like a passion. And it doesn't matter what people think. It doesn't matter how many people listen. You're there to connect, like you say, and that's in your business. And when you connect, a lot of times things fall into place and success happens.

Right now that's the best like thing that we get after it after a shoot is like people are like this because typically these are the first professional videos that many people are creating which is great because that's kind of where we want them to start is doing one of these because it's it's the same process but it's like this it's like the appetizer version of like our video production process right um you can make these all day long or you can slowly graduate into bigger production But the best review we always get is afterwards, people are like, oh, you made that so much easier than I thought it was going to be. I came in here nervous. I was scared. I never used a teleprompter before. But then by the time we're done coaching them and everything like that, that was super easy. I mean, 95% of people literally say that afterwards, that I was scared to be on camera and stuff like that. And the one thing that everybody... The two things that everybody says like, what do I do with my hands? And then secondly, I hate the sound of my own voice and the reason for that is because the way that you hear yourself is Not how anybody else hears you It's only how you hear yourself because all this all your you know Your your air and like that is reverberating through your nasal cavities and all that kind of stuff The best way to tell like this is a cool test. So hopefully people do this after they hear it, you know is you take your hands and actually put them in front of of your ears and that's more so how you sound to other people versus how and then you take away it's like oh it's how I sound to myself so it's so funny people like I hate the sound of my voice and it's like well you're the only person on planet earth who hears it like that you know.

That's, yeah, that's pretty interesting to put your hands in front of your ears and talk.

And that's how you sound to other people.

That's pretty, that's pretty neat. I'll have to do that when I get off of this headphones.

It's a weird, it's a weird experience. The first time I did it, I was like, Oh my gosh.

Yeah, that, because it is, everyone says that it's like, you immediately play a video with somebody in the room and they're like, they hear their voice and they're like, Turn, turn me off, turn me off. You know what I mean? People don't like to hear themselves speak because they, yeah, as you say, they, they internalize what they hear rather than what other people hear. And that's kind of like our thoughts. Like we, we internalize, you know, false beliefs all the time and they're, they, they stem out of our brain. And then we think. that people are thinking of, and then we basically make them a reality.

Yeah. Yeah. You materialize them, right? Yeah. You manifest it.

Yeah, man. Yeah. And it is, it is true. Um, but yeah, so I, no, I appreciate you coming on here and, uh, If anybody wants to connect with them, I know you guys got tons of social media links. Obviously, connectfids.com. I'm on the email list. Anytime I get an email from you that says, Hey, we're having a video day. Obviously, you have the full-time stuff at any point you can sign on or find out more information. But those video days are what really impact me and I stay on your email list. And when I get emails for that stuff, I jump on it right away.

Yeah. You definitely take an advantage of it more than most people have because for a while there, these things were like more of a loss leader. They're a marketing thing. And then because they were like 99 bucks for years, as we really fleshed out the system and the process and all that kind of stuff. It's basically like hey you know we're losing money on these things was a marketing thing and then people we found out loved it so i guess let's make it a core offer and you know kind of blow it up because you know eventually hopefully we're having three of these a week and three different locations you know and then we can go you know. metro area, you know, Nashville, Chicago, KC, and then see if we can't take over the world. Connecting.

That's right. Connect the world one state at a time. I like that. Well, I appreciate you, brother. Thanks for coming on here. Thanks for having me. you know, making an impact and continuing your video skills. So I appreciate it. And we'll have to do this again.

Yeah, no, for sure. For sure. I love it. I love it. So, yeah. Thanks, everybody, for watching. And thank you, Mr. Blake, for having me on.

Absolutely. And don't forget, let's elevate together. Hey.

Thanks so much for tuning into this episode. We sure do appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show wherever you consume podcasts. This way you'll get updates as new episodes become available. And if you feel so inclined, please leave us a review and tell your friends about the show. Until next time.