Episode 038: Myke Metzger - Digital Entrepreneur & Agency Owner

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This is the Rise of the Young podcast, bringing you insights from the most innovative entrepreneurs and influencers of this era. Hosted by 17 year old entrepreneur, author, public speaker and branding expert, Casey Adams. Now let's get right into the show.

What's going on, everyone? Casey Adams here. Welcome to episode 38 of the Rise of the Young podcast. Today we got the homie Mike Metzger with us today. And first off, Mike, I really appreciate you coming on. It's about to be a sick podcast. So what I like to do at the upfront is kind of let people know who you are, what you do, so they can kind of get an idea for sure.

So I'm 28 years old. I live in Richmond, Virginia. I run a marketing agency here called RVA Social. And what we do is we service all kinds of different clients through digital marketing. So whether it's running advertising, doing press releases, building websites, stuff like that. But it's definitely not where I started. You know, I started in affiliate marketing and network marketing, stuff like that.

Yeah. Cause I mean, we met what, through Instagram like last year. But I mean, so for everyone listening, I know that you've told me your story, we've talked about, like, where you've came from to now, where you are today. But for everyone listening, like, what was your journey that kind of started you as an entrepreneur? Or how did you get involved into what you do today?

Yeah, mine was a crazy one. So I got involved or interested in entrepreneurship when I was 24. So coming up on five years now. But before then, I was never somebody who had like a successful mindset. Nobody had ever taught me or pointed me in the direction of, hey, you can do whatever you want to do, you can be successful, you can make a lot of money, you know, you can make an impact in your own way. I just didn't think like that. You know, I went through the normal motions of going to high school, just being a normal guy, chasing girls, just being an idiot, you know what I mean? And when I was 21, I got into bartending, which really led me down not a good path. You know, I was always drinking and wasting all my money at the bar and just hanging out with fools, you know, just, you know, I don't want to say being stupid because recently, over the past year, like I've made a point to, to not say like, oh, like I'm stupid or whatever, you know, because you shouldn't say that about yourself. But in that time, I do feel like I was making some pretty terrible choices. Right. And I don't think I had the want to try and change or move forward. But through those couple years of bartending, I got myself into a situation where like my back was against the wall, you know, at 24 years old, I was seeing colleagues that I went to high school with. I never went to college. I don't think I could have went to college if I wanted to. My GPA was low. I feel that, yeah, you know, I was never led in that direction. So I was just kind of like floating through life for the most part between 21 to 24. And what I eventually kind of stumbled across was network marketing.

We would have cut that.

Oh, that's crazy. So what eventually I kind of stumbled across was like network marketing.

Yep.

And just learning a little bit about sales and just communicating better with people and figuring out how can I.

How.

Can I move forward in life? How can I stop being a bartender? How can I stop getting like stuck in a rut? So what eventually happened was I just got stuck, like with my back against the wall, you know, like I was in debt. My friends, I think that I had at that time were making me realize that they probably weren't the best people. You know, I had a big problem with lying. Like I would just lie about stuff. And I think that that was because I wasn't happy, you know, Like I would, I would lie about dumb things. You know, I would lie to people about, oh, I went to college or lie to people about things that I had done and just like make things happen. I don't know, it just got to a point where finally self recognizable that like I needed to change something. So 24, I was introduced to network marketing. Wasn't really like, I didn't really get any results, you know, And I'm sure A lot of people can resonate with that. Network marketing is a tough one. It's kind of like a. A funny topic.

Right.

But that was like my gateway into sales and marketing and technology and Internet and all that stuff. So that's like. That's like the condensed version of really where I came from and how things started for me.

That's a sub. So when it comes to, like, your journey so far, like, how you came of, you had, like, you weren't focused. What do you think was, like, the turning point that kind of started network marketing, but now to having a big agency scaling it now? And what was the transitioning factor from doing network marketing to now doing all digital advertising? Kind of jumping into that atmosphere. Like, how did you kind of get involved with what you do now?

Yeah, so a big turning point for me. Well, I guess then there's two questions, right? So one is like, which is my turning point? And how did I get involved? So the turning point for me was when things shifted from network marketing into online marketing. Right. And so I was lucky. Like, I just kind of caught that trend of people finally waking up and realizing, man, I don't need to go knock on doors. I don't need to cold call people. You know, there's these things that we have called Instagram and called Facebook and called Snapchat and all this different stuff. And so what happened to me is I started to realize the power of the Internet and social media, email, all these different things. It didn't quite yet shift into advertising. It was just social media type of stuff. And so from there forward, the big, like, turning point, I think was when I stopped paying attention to what, like, the crowd was doing. You know what I mean? Like, when I stopped doing what other people.

So.

Well, let's pause because I guess we can cut this out of the audio, but I just. Do not disturb it. Oh, cool. Okay, cool.

Yeah. And dad. But I'll call them in like, 10, 15 minutes. Yeah, we can cut this right here.

Cool. Yeah, we'll just cut it out. Dude, they're excited about the podcast. They want to be on the episode.

I know.

Tell them they gotta wait in line.

All right. So when it comes to the video. So we just, like, have another starting point.

We can just. Yeah, just cut it out. But so to pick up. Right. Like, I started to notice social media and the Internet is probably where the opportunity is.

Yeah.

And when I had this, really, it was at the end of 2014, you know, and so in. In the big picture, that's not that Long ago, but in how fast things have moved over the past few years. Like, I caught it just in time, and I was just excited, you know, I didn't have a big budget, I didn't have a lot of money. I didn't have a lot of success. I was living in a one bedroom apartment with my girlfriend, Brooke, and she's kind of like the. The turning point, Right. Like, she helped me with a lot of things. I think if you find somebody, you know, it doesn't have to be a girlfriend, but you got to kind of find, like, those couple people that are gonna be really close that, like, understand that you're about to go, like, all in.

Yeah.

You know, like, and if they don't support that, you know, if it's an existing girlfriend, if it's a parent, if it's like your best friend, that can be really challenging. So if they don't support you, it's hard to make a turning point at all.

Definitely.

So I was really lucky, you know, Like, I met Brooke and things changed a lot for me. She encouraged me to just focus on, you know, thinking positively, you know, stop going to the bar, stop talking to these people that don't, you know, they don't have your best interest at heart. So that was a big advantage that I had when I first got into this stuff in 2014, for sure. The hardest part is things like cutting out your friends, you know, people that maybe you've known since you were a kid.

You know, I even had to do that for me, too. Even I'm 17. It's not like I've gone through so much. But I mean, I feel like for me and a lot of people like, cutting out negative people. People don't just literally, they understand it, but they don't do it. And I feel like that's like, the biggest breaking point for a lot of people is, like, the execution of not just cutting people out, but just, like, not being there all the time, hanging out with them, doing what they do, kind of like distancing yourself so you can kind of get that mental breakthrough, like, and discover who you are. And that's happened for me for sure.

And it's tough, man. Like, I think it's Joel Osteen. He says, like, not everybody's meant to be in your life forever, you know? And, like, there's an interesting way to think about it. It's like, okay, well, does this friend, like, serve a purpose? And if you think about it in a binary sense, like yes or no, then the decision's easy. It's like, this person isn't, like, helping me. They're not supporting me. They're not providing any sort of value into my life. They gotta go, yeah. And it sounds easy, but, like, it's not. You know what I mean? Like, I've had some close homies that, you know, I distance myself from and I don't talk to anymore. And at the time, it was really difficult. But now, looking back, some of the best decisions I've ever made is to stop talking to certain people, you know, and really, like, seclude myself, not in an unhealthy way, but just to seclude myself to the few people that are on the same path as me. Our thoughts on what we're trying to do is congruent. And if you can do that, that can be a big turning point for anybody. And it doesn't have to be entrepreneurship or business. It could even just be health. You know what I mean? You hang around unhealthy people, you're gonna be unhealthy.

Yeah.

You're literally gonna be unhealthy. So that was a big thing. And what steered me into this was just kind of shifting from regular sales to almost the Internet side of things.

Yeah, for sure. So, I mean, when it comes to your business now, r. When it comes to, like, the digital world, marketing in general, when it comes to what you guys are working on with your clients, is there any kind of trends or things that are happening digital that you guys are kind of stepping on the breaking edge of it that you think that people should. Listening, should know or could, if they did hear about it, it would kind of help them when it comes to their marketing tactics.

Definitely. So before, like, before we jump into tactics.

Right.

Like, the one thing that everyone should know is you gotta map it out.

Right.

Like, so if you. If you have an objective. Right. I want to sell more of my book, or I want to sell my course, or I just want to make commissions on the Internet somehow, or, like, I want to be a guru, whatever it is. Like, you got to start there and figure out what is the objective.

Yeah.

And then from there, you got to find kind of these smaller tactics that align with that.

Yeah.

So one of the people who explains this really well is Chet Holmes. He wrote a book called the Ultimate Sales Machine, which is really, really great. And he talks about two sides of things. He talks about strategy, and he talks about tactics. So when you're kind of talking about, like, trends and what should people do, there's two sides of it. Right. Like there's the big picture strategy that you gotta map out with the end goal in mind. And then there's like the smaller tactics, which is like, what people get excited about, what they want to hear.

Right.

Like Snapchat filters and chat bots and Facebook ads and all these, like, stuff. Yeah. All the buzz words that people are excited about. And the big mistake that I see people make is they get really excited about these tactics. You know, they see, you know, like software plugins, like, proof to where, you know, they install it on their, their e commerce site and it pops up and it says, hey, someone ordered a hat, someone ordered a shirt from this area. And like, that's really cool, but that's a tactic.

Yeah.

You know, and so someone could spend money on these things, on these little tactics, and they get really excited, but then they get bummed because they don't work.

Right.

So first, before you talk about, like, trending, you know, tactics, the big piece of it that most people need to understand is you got to have a strategy. And it's why we have like a big whiteboard. Like, we map everything out first and then we find out, okay, what is the small piece that we plug into this strategy? Is it a chat bot? Is it an email autoresponder? Is it a new website? Is it Facebook ads? Is it Google Ads? Is it Instagram ads? What kind of Instagram ads? So to answer the question, though, I think some of the things, and of course, I always keep that in mind, it's like the strategy.

Yeah.

But the fun stuff that we've really enjoyed, number one, is like video marketing. Videos definitely crucial. And, you know, this videos have millions of views, you know, so the video aspect is really crucial over images. You know, I think when Facebook ads first came out, at least in a big way, and became more mainstream, people were throwing up images all the time. We almost don't use any images anymore. It's all video. That's a big thing. So if you, you know, if you got something you want to sell, start thinking in the terms of how can I apply video into my advertising or my promotions or my social media posts? Because they're, I mean, a million times better.

Yeah.

Another big one that we really enjoy is like, Instagram story ads are really cool. You know, there's not a lot of people doing that right now.

It's definitely new.

Yeah. And they're, you know, they're challenging to make. And I think that's where people 10.

15 seconds get the message across or why they should swipe up right I've seen some good ones though. I've seen some people that's like, they'll talk about fitness and that's not my niche, but they're talking to me. But it's like they have a good little 10, 15 second like hook, you know, and I feel like that's, that's definitely something I want to experiment with.

I always get the one from Brendan Burchard where he's like, hey guys, Brendan here, like, I don't even know what he's saying, but I get it like 10 times a day.

It's crazy.

But there are some, you know, there are some good ones and it's challenging to make a video with those dimensions, you know, everybody. Yeah, and now it's almost like this. It's vertical now.

Gotta change up everything.

Yeah, so those are really good. Obviously chatbots are a trending topic right now and like we talked about it a bit today, so those are cool. Definitely a complex thing to build for sure. You know, it takes a little bit of a, almost like programming knowledge and you really got to understand like autoresponders and there's different things that you got to understand to really utilize them correctly. But chatbots are a hot topic. You know, people are PayPal, Domino's, Sephora, some of the biggest companies in the world are on that trend right now for sure. Then other than that, I think it's just. Huh. Spotify launched an ad platform. Yeah, Spotify ads.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

Oh, wow.

Yeah, Spotify. So we've been running Spotify for certain clients and, and you gotta be, you gotta be approved for an account, so you gotta be like an official beta tester that they approve. So not everybody can do that. And that's the benefit of having an agency, you know, to come full circle. It's like we get approved for this type of stuff, you know, because when you can show like, hey, we're a company, like, we provide like real marketing services and you got, you know, you got kind of the, the track record or the foundation to show an ad platform, they'll approve you for that stuff. But Spotify is great. So those are a couple little trending secrets for sure.

That's dope. That's dope. So when it comes to like, because I always like giving tactical stuff, but also talking about like we were talking about this table, for example. When it comes to like, you, Mike Metzger, you as a person, what's been your kind of not highlights throughout your journey so far, but things that you just want people to know, but things that you've struggled with because there's so much, like, the good stuff outside. But what would you say is, like, have been not just, like, negative, because I don't like talking about negativity a lot, but, like, just points where you've had to bounce back that has, like, a story involved that you'd want the people to know about.

Definitely. So the interesting aspect about me, I think is, and I'm sure some people can relate, is fortunate that most of the challenging times in my life were before I decided to step into entrepreneurship. Or maybe, like, not. Maybe challenging isn't the right word, but most of the negative, definitely all the negative was before I discovered, you know, business and entrepreneurship, things like that. But challenging, actually, there's, of course, challenges every day. I mean, there's times where, like, I'll have a week or even just a day where I'm frustrated, and I think, like. Like, what am I doing? Like, I'm done with this, I guess get stressed out, you know, and it's crazy, because being an entrepreneur and owning a company and working with a lot of people at once, you will have bad days and things like, do what? Like, why am I even doing this? Like, you know, and it gets frustrating, but then the next day is all of a sudden a great day.

Yeah.

And it's crazy. And it's up and down like that. There's. There's really no way to avoid it. And honestly, that's what makes you a great entrepreneur, is experiencing that.

Yeah.

You know, because I think if. If you're a guy who's on a win streak and just everything's great for you, that just means you haven't hit that brick wall and something's coming because that's just part of it, you know? And even, like, Mark Zuckerberg has a great interview where he talks about that. He's like, you know, if you think that you can find some sort of mistakes that you can avoid, he's like, it's not gonna happen. Like, making mistakes is what builds an amazing company. But the reality of it is that I've definitely had some really difficult times, you know, and what's gotten me through them is just doing everything that I can to focus on positivity. And, you know, with me, like, I'm. I'm not the spiritual, you know, meditative guy that's like, oh, positive thinking. Get you everything in the world. But it's a big piece of it. You know, it really is a huge portion of how you. You get past things and how you get to where you want to go. So to give you, like a specific answer, when I first kind of went on this journey, I was living in a house that was literally falling apart. Like, this place should have been condemned. Like, the bathroom was falling out. And that was in 2014. And I've made a habit of purposely pushing myself out of my comfort zone financially and just with like high stakes decision making. So a lot of people, you know, it's like, oh, don't make a bad financial investment, or why are you paying XYZ for rent? Or why are you paying for this car, this expensive watch?

But.

And you know, it's relative to particular people and how their personalities are. But by making, I don't want to say risky, but just by making big moves forward in key categories of my life, such as my living surroundings.

Right.

Like, the environment in which you live in is really, really important. 100%. There's a big difference between like an income doesn't matter. Right. So let's say hypothetically, like, if someone's bringing in $20,000 a month in personal income, if they're waking up in that house that I used to live in, which really would never happen, but if they were, they would be in a much different environment and a different mood, different mindset, different energy than if they forced themselves out of that. Right. And so if you kind of condense that down into a smaller version of that, let's say Someone's bringing in $2,000 a month. It's the decision between, okay, like, do I save and hide all this money to try and save up to do something one day? Sure, that's one aspect, but I've kind of done the opposite. It's. I've used every dollar I've made to try and climb my way up to a point where I know that my surroundings and the way that I feel when I wake up every day is the highest that it can be for that particular time in my life. So that's been a big part of being able to move past, like, negativity.

Yeah, yeah.

It's hard to be like in a frumpy mood when you got good for yourself.

A position. Yeah.

When you got good people around you, you wake up like in a nice.

Place and you feel good. It's not even like around it, but it's like mentally in your surroundings. And like, so that's been like your kind of mental kind of key points that kind of helped you.

You'd say, yeah, like, I made a video a long time ago and it was titled why? Being stupid will make you rich.

Yeah. Right.

And. And that principle is just, like, it holds true because if you cannot, like, think about stuff so much and just take action.

Yeah.

You'll skip over a lot of those bad times. You know, you'll skip over kind of the more challenging stuff. And I focus really hard on trying to not think negative.

Yeah.

And if something happens, it's like, you know what? Like, what good can come out of this? How can I. How can I skip. How can I skip this challenge? You know, how can I get over kind of these. For simple little problems that might be facing?

I feel that. So when it comes to, like, daily habits, you say, do you have any that you try to like? Because for me, I mean, I go to school, obviously, still. But when it comes to, like, daily habits that you do, do you have anything that kind of, like, puts you in a right state of mind, or do you kind of just go with the flow?

Definitely. So when. Let's see, like, two years ago, when I was in the grind, which I still am, but I approach things a bit differently now because in the first half of my journey, it was all about, like, financial freedom. Like, how can you make more money? How can I make more money? Because I thought that money would all of a sudden, like, fix everything.

Yeah.

And it's not true. It doesn't. It definitely helps, you know? Definitely help. You know, let's say credit cards are problem, like, having more money. But in the big picture, money doesn't fix many things. Right. If anything, it actually emphasizes them more. You know, you involve more money, you. The risks can be a lot bigger when you make decisions and when you make mistakes. So the whole point of me bringing that up is, like, the first half. Half of my journey was like, let me make more money, more money, more money. Once I finally started making a lot of money and things started to shift, then I started focusing on, like, okay, well, now I've got money, and I'm not worrying about bills, and I've got a company, and I've got great people around me, so I'm not worried about certain things, but, like, what's important now that I have money.

Yeah.

And the main topic was, like, things like health, you know, like, I want to get healthy. I want to be happy. I want to wake up earlier. I don't want to, like, sit in front of a computer all day long, because that's what I used to do. And you, like, you brought up the table. Right. And that's why this is so funny, is because it's almost like it reminds me because this table, for people that are listening, the table we're sitting on, like, this piece of glass originally was the desk in my home office. Yeah, right.

And it was like the home that you were like previously in with, like, the stuff was falling through the ceiling.

No, I wish I had a desk. And that place, like, my room was so small. You probably just stretch your arms out and touch the.

So this is the next move.

Yeah, so, like, I moved and this ended up being my desk in my first, like, real place that I would call, like, home.

Right.

And it wasn't anything impressive. It was like little one bedroom apartment.

The one that I met you in, or this is that.

No, so this was actually before that.

Okay. So there was multiple different upgrades bringing back to that philosophy.

Yeah, it was quick, you know, like when I started to finally get my feet, I quickly tried to keep advancing, you know, I mean, so I'd live in an apartment for a year and then, like, I would kind of evaluate where I was at. And I'm like, okay, time to move up again. And I'll do it again and again and again. And now I'm finally at the point to where, you know, like, things are really good and I don't need to do that every single year because I've attained pretty much the lifestyle that I want for now, you know, so that's why those other things become important, like health and things like that. So. But the table is interesting because, like, this table has been here, not here, but it's been part of this journey. So it was originally like my desk in my home office.

Okay.

And the reason I bring it up is because when I worked at home, I was constantly just like grinding, like, you know, what you would call 24 7.

I look at this on the computer.

I would wake up, I'd be on the computer, and I was doing a lot of phone sales back then, you know, so, like, I was selling for influencers like Adam Wenig and, you know, in the Russell Brunson click funnels group. We were going to the inner circle. Stuff like that was like where I lived, you know, it's like that's what I was doing. And I was working at home and it was difficult to kind of distinguish work and like, my personal life.

Yeah.

You know what I mean? So it was like I was working all the time, but I was more involved in my personal life once things move forward. So once I got an office space, these types of things became important. Right. So the answer to the Real question is figuring out how to distinguish your real life from your business life. And some people tell you, like, oh, my life is my business, dude. Like, I'm grinding 24 7.

Yeah.

It's like, yeah, that's cool. You could totally take the Gary V approach to it. But when I look at it, it's like, I don't know, like, I want to be in a happy relationship. Like, I want. I want to have time where, you know, I could go on a boat with a family one day. You know, and, like, you start to think about these things. Like, you know, I'm 28.

Like, these things started 10, 11 years old. Yeah.

You know, like, these things are relevant topics for me. Like, hell, yeah, I'm young.

Yeah.

You know, but, like, I'm not thinking about where I'm at right this second. Like, I'm thinking about 10 years ahead, 15 years ahead, 20 years ahead. But to. To really, like, hone in on. The answer is you gotta set aside time to be in the present moment.

Yeah.

And that's my focus of how I build my daily routines. Like, I separate work from. From.

Like. Like completely. Like, gary says, like, 0 or 1. Like, is it. What does he say? Binary? It's like this or that. So it's like, right now we're doing the podcast, but when you're off, you're off in a sense. Okay. And I watched this interview with Gary, too. He's like. Because he was like, yeah, the content is probably, like 3% of my life. Like, the other 97% is, like, completely binary. Once you're off, you're off, you know? And, like, even for me, because I was supposed to have an interview with Gary in New York and that I had to be out of his office at 5, but I couldn't end up going. The flight got canceled. But it was something where it's like, five o' clock was his. Like, all right, Gary's gone at this moment. No phone, no this, no that. So I feel like that approach is definitely. I try to do that, but for me, it's like, I'm at my house, I'm in my room. So it's like, I'll do stuff, put my phone down, pop on it again. But would you say that's helped you kind of stay mentally 100% in both categories?

Definitely. Like, I think it applies to a lot of different things, the whole binary aspect. Right. Like talking about Gary Grant Cardone. Like, he was talking about when he sets meetings, like, he'll set a meeting for, like, 9:06. Because that's how important his time is. So even though I'm not like that critical with my time, I'm not at that level quite yet. Yeah, that type of stuff is really important. And it is how I approach things. And it's not just business, though. Like, think about a relationship, right? Like, if you're in a relationship, you know, guy or girl, depending on who's listening, right? So when you're in a relationship, it's the same thing. Like most people think a relationship is. 50 50, right. It's like, I'll put in half, you put in half, we'll meet in the middle, and everything will be hunky dory. Right? But in reality, my key to having a happy relationship and not even just like a romantic relationship, like your friends, right? It's got to be like 100 0.

Yeah.

You know what I mean? Like, it's either you got to be like, all in and present and like putting in as much value as you can into whatever is happening, or if they're doing that, then you need to step down to zero and let them, you know, like, meet you there. Right? So, like, a lot of people get in these arguments, and it's because, like, they're barking at each other. 50, 50, right. So that's what makes a great listener. It's what makes a great time management person. It's somebody who's great at relationships, is knowing when to give 100% and when to actually back down and go with the flow and let you know, whatever the topic is, happen the way that it's supposed to happen, you know, and it's like, same thing in conversing, right? It's like I'm talking and then like, I shut up and then you talk.

Right.

Some people, they just talk over each other, you know, and it's crazy. So binary, 100 to zero. Like, it's a good top do, for sure. I think it's a good way to look.

Definitely. Well done. That's something that I feel like I should definitely do more as well. But when it comes to just not necessarily your entrepreneur journey, but when it comes to just your journey, if you were to say my age, we're like 11 years apart, what would be like, two tips to young entrepreneurs listening today that when it comes to the business grind, as well as, like, just being mentally there, staying grounded and actually getting to that next level, scaling a company. But as like, the main question is just like, what would be like, two tips you want to give to young entrepreneurs listening?

Yeah, I think the first, like, big one is, man, you got to be totally obsessed. And I think something that stops people from doing so is almost like a belief level. Right. You know, whether it's a parent or a friend. So you're doubting, you know, especially when you're young. Right. Especially when you're, you know, really young. Because now you got entrepreneurs that are 11 years old.

Yeah.

I had somebody messaged me on Instagram the other day asking for advice. And they're eight years, they're like, do you have any advice for an 8 year old entrepreneur? I'll have to connect them to you probably. Actually, I'll say, read Casey's book. That is what I'll say. Because I got to respond. You know what's so crazy is the biggest tip is like, you got to be totally obsessed, you know, because you can't, you can't master anything if you don't, like just totally engulf yourself into that. You know, it could be marketing, it could be business, it could be swimming, it could be anything. Soccer, it could be building computers, it could be traveling. Like, you got to totally immerse yourself in that, at least for a period of time.

Yeah.

And that's really what helped me is just, I cut out all my friends.

Yeah.

Try to, like, just cut out everything. And then that's what happened is like, for two years I was totally on board with what I was doing. And finally now, you know, four years later, I can do what I want to do. You know, I can go spend money at a restaurant or I can take a couple days off. I can do whatever I got to do. I can travel. But it's because of two years ago, I spent all that time not doing that. And it sucks. It sucks, man. Like, I remember, you know, I would sit at this desk when it used to be set up that way and just stare out the window. And even though there was nothing to do, I would force myself. You know what? Like, no, don't go get a beer, don't go to the coffee shop, don't get distracted, don't turn on tv, Sit here until you can figure out what you can do that's productive with your time. That's the biggest tip, is like, don't waste your time, you know, if you're serious about it, don't waste your time. Get totally obsessed and spend it there. Right? The second tip, in my opinion, is whatever you're doing, like, you gotta find a way to have an authoritative advantage. Right? Like, you gotta be exclusive. And the one question that I used to Ask people, when I had these types of conversations is, think about, like, this. Why do people not want to work at McDonald's? You know, and I've asked this question to people, and, you know, they'll give me dozens of different answers. Like, like, the food sucks, or, like, you don't make any money, you know, Or I don't want to wear that stupid uniform or something like that. And. And it's no offense to anybody that works at McDonald's, and chances are they don't want to work there if they're listening to this and they're in that position. Like, that's not their life goal.

Yeah.

You know, so, like, they don't feel bad listening because they know it's the truth. But here's the thing is, like, that's not the reason that people don't work there. It's not because of the uniform. It's not because of the money. It's not because of the job. It's not because of the food. It's like, the reason, the reason people don't want to work there is because anybody can do it. Like, there's not really any, like, requirements. You know what I mean? Like, you don't need to be xyz. You don't have to have a degree. You don't have to go to college. Right? So the thing is, like, it's got to be exclusive, whatever you're doing. So find a way to get, like, a competitive edge. Find a way to be exclusive in what you do. Find that advantage that makes you an authority in your field or in your industry and become exclusive. You know what I mean? Like, be the only one that does things the way that you want to do that.

Yeah.

Like, it's why you succeed. It's literally why you succeed. Like, you have a huge competitive advantage. Like, you're young and you follow both those tips, right? Like, you're exclusive in the way that you do things, and you've also engulfed yourself a hundred percent, you know? Yeah, I, like, I know for a fact, like, when we met.

Yeah.

You were spending every dollar to make these trips and go, yeah, these influencers. Some people wouldn't do that. Just stop and restart it. Do it right now. Just stop it and then restart it, I guess. Yeah. So, like, when I think of the two tips, like, those are them. It's the same thing here. Like, people do not provide the marketing services that we sell. You know, they're. Especially locally. You know, some big cities. Miami, New York, Louisiana. You know, they're. They're doing the stuff that we're doing. But that just shows that, like being in a small town like ours, do we dominate the marketplace because we're following the trends of bigger, more successful places instead of following like the small trends that people are doing here locally.

Yeah.

And it gives us a huge advantage, for sure.

So for everyone listening, your company again, RVA Social. So you focus on the local area. Just for everyone listening. Is that like your main competitive advantage?

You'd say so. We definitely have nationwide clients. You know what I mean? We've got clients in a range of different businesses. You know, we don't necessarily focus on one particular niche, but the way that we do marketing is in one specific way. But the website is RVA Social Marketing, if anybody wants to check it out. RVA Social marketing dot com. We don't really do a lot of social media marketing, which like a lot of people think we do because of the name. It's mainly digital advertising. You know, it's more in the advertising space. We do web development, we build websites, we run ads, Facebook ads, all that stuff. Right. But yeah, so that's what we do. I mean, we take on clients from anywhere in the US for the most part. Depending on the product. I have probably more on the premium end of what their product is. You know, they're selling lollipops. Like that's a tough thing to advertise, you know.

Definitely.

Yeah.

Well, dose, I mean, when it comes to. Because I have a few more questions before we wrap up. When it comes to your overall just outlook on trends like we talked about the beginning. I know that you said when it comes to local clients, digital advertising, when it comes to you, you're you as Mike Metzger on social media, words like the best place that people listening could find out more about you, connect with you or follow you in general, for sure.

So pretty much anything that has to do with me personally is my name right? Mike Metzger. And it's M Y K E M E T Z G E R. So you go to mike metzger.com you can find me, Mike Metzger on Facebook and Instagram. And that's pretty much it. You know what I mean? Like, my website email is infoikemetzker.com yeah. So that's. I mean, if you search me, you can find me. You know, if anybody has questions or anything at all, like, I'm happy to chat with people as much as I can. If I can point you in the right direction, then of course I will definitely.

And that will all be in the link in the description. But my last question before we wrap this up, Mike. Jess, when it comes to two or three just key points that have helped you kind of, whether it be scaling your company, stay on the right track, and really just help you stay aligned with your goals and your visions, what would be like those three tips? Not tactical. It doesn't have to be a certain thing, but just three tips you'd want to give to the listeners today that really would resemble who you are and how you've got to where you are, for sure.

I think the biggest tip is, like, confidence. If you. And it's hard to, like, admit you don't have confidence. Right. But, like, you gotta build your confidence, whether it's reading books, whether it's doing something you're totally afraid of. To build my confidence, one of the things that I did two years ago, and I'll make it quick, but I just made a point to talk to everyone I saw, and that's not something most people do. You know, you see somebody in the elevator, you could be the guy that's kind of, like, awkward and doesn't say anything and, like, waits for the elevator to ding and you leave. Or you could be the guy that's like, hey, man, what's up? How's your day going? Yeah, that really helped me build confidence. Like. Like just making an effort to purposely speak out loud to anyone that I cross paths with. That was a huge confidence builder. And building confidence is, like, the secret key to being successful. You got to be. I mean, almost like, again, Chet Holmes calls it, like, pigheaded discipline. You got to be really confident. So that's number one. Number two is health. You know, like, you got to be healthy. The. The input that you put into your body is the output that you create, right? Like, whatever you're absorbing. And it doesn't have to be food. Like, it could be. What are you watching on tv?

Mental health as well.

Definitely. Like, all of it, you know, and Exactly. Like, health isn't just what you eat. It is. It's mental. Like, it's everything. You know, the way that you present yourself is usually very closely correlated with your health. You know, like, somebody slouched over and their hair is all messy and, like, they don't look sharp.

Yeah, yeah.

It's probably because they're not sharp. You know what I mean? So I'm definitely not the guy who buys into, like, oh, you got to look a certain way. But, man, if you want to close deals and you want to be successful, like, you got to look good and if you want to look good, you got to be healthy.

Yep, for sure. Well, that being said, everyone, everyone, if you want to know more about what Mike does, definitely check out the link in the description. And Mike, I definitely appreciate you coming on. And for everyone who has not subscribed to the Rise of the Young podcast, make sure you drop a review down in the description, share it with a friend, click that subscribe button, and I will see you guys in the next episode.

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