Speaking to 5000 People at Radio City Music Hall with CEO of Propellant Media, Justin Croxton

Welcome to this episode of the Million Dollar Mastermind. I'm Larry Weddell and before we get started, if you want to know exactly how to win again and again, go to Wydell on winning.com webinar now to watch something I've put together for you. Now let's get going into this episode of Million Dollar Mastermind.

I am here with Justin Croxton and he is CEO and founder of Propellant Media. Started in 2016, it's a digital advertising tech agency. They've had phenomenal growth and recognized by being number 78, which is the top percentile, small percentile in 2020 of the Inc. 5000. So I don't know what percent that is, but you're up there among the elite in growth and it looks, I've got a note here that's voted also one of the best places to work in the country. So congratulations Justin and welcome.

Yeah, Larry, I appreciate that intro. It's man, you just think about when you're an entrepreneur. I just really feel like you're living the American dream to get those accolades and it's always just a testament to both your team and also the clients that you end up working with. So I appreciate that introduction.

And you're out of Smyrna, Georgia, is that right?

Yeah.

So that's like let's, you can interchange that with Atlanta. It's Atlanta, Georgia effectively is where our office is located.

Uh huh. And so have you always lived in Atlanta? Are you new to Atlanta?

No. Well, it's funny, I actually. So how do I say this? So I'm from Philadelphia, so from Philly and ended up going to college in Atlanta. Jordan went to Morehouse College and I stayed here for about six years working commercial real estate. After I graduated from Morehouse, kind of felt like, you know, it was time for me to get my mba. But before I did I was, I was kind of doing digital or mark digital marketing for some of the buildings that I represented. Went to Stern School of Business up in New York for the full time program. Came back to Atlanta, started the agency of the technology company with a group of guys. I became sort of the de facto CEO, managing partner if you will. And really the rest is history. I've been here ever since my wife and I moved back in 2014 I believe.

So talk about digital advertising. Having a digital advertising technical agency of all the things that you could put yourself into in the computer world, the new era, go go type thing. How did you land on that?

You know, a couple ways. First, when I was Working in commercial real estate, I was doing some email marketing, sort of doing a little bit of digital marketing for some of the buildings that I've represented. And for context, I was an agency leasing broker for Jones Lang LaSalle, probably the largest commercial real estate firm in the world. And so some of our clients was like Blackstone, Tia Cref, and we were leasing their building. So we had to put together some strategies from a marketing standpoint. And the thing that I loved about commercial real estate, I even take it back to when my dad used to drive me to school in Philadelphia. I went to elementary school and sort of in downtown Philly, we had drive by these large Swiss cranes. And I was just fascinated with real estate. So I knew I wanted to get into that space. But once I did, I realized how it's not limiting, but more so I didn't feel like I had all the opportunity to grow as much as I would want to. Meaning, you know, if I worked in Atlanta, if you're working in commercial real estate, most times you can only gain clients in your local market because you have to know your local market. Whereas over that period of time, you know, particularly once I went to business school, I kind of get. Got a better sense of what I wanted to do long term. You know, digital advertising kind of felt right, knowing that I can have clients anywhere. Like I don't have. I mean, literally, if I think about our client roster, propellant media, out of, let's say, 1,000 clients, we probably sign contracts and have not met any of them face to face. Literally. We have clients all around the country, and certainly a few around the world as well. And so when I juxtapose the two between digital advertising and commercial real estate, obviously commercial real estate just has some incredible benefits. But I just love the flexibility, the dichotomy in the ever evolving space within digital advertising that it, that it provides. So that's kind of how I. How we landed in that space.

Larry, how did you. You were attracted to real estate? Does Morehouse. How big is Morehouse? Morehouse is.

Morehouse is a private. It's a black private institution here in Atlanta. When I was there, it was about 3,100, 3,200 students. Now it's somewhere around that range of 2,500, let's say small private college, HBCU here in Atlanta. And they did have a few courses. One of my favorite professors there, Dr. Alan Acock, he actually had or was teaching real estate was one of the courses. But Larry, you know this. When you're not always Looking for someone that necessarily has experience in real estate or commercial real estate, but just someone that has the wherewithal in terms of their career projections, really what they wanted to do long term and got into some interviews, got lucky. And there were two offices that I could have gone to for Jones Lang LaSalle. One was shot Chicago, the other was Atlanta. I chose the Atlanta office. It was a little bit more decentralized, felt like I could grow a lot more. Felt like my thinking was right in that respect.

So what kind of skills did you pick up coming out of that? What kind of education did you get in the real world and what kind of conclusions did you find yourself drawing from that experience?

Experience. Jones Lang LaSalle specifically.

Yeah. In commercial real estate. Yeah.

You know, I think the biggest thing is for me is that being able to have a level of patience from a growth perspective was one thing that I was struggling with because I just wanted to learn everything and I wanted to grow. And you know, there'd be times where I would make like some small mistakes when I was working on certain projects, like, oh, Justin, what are you doing? And you know, the advice I just like, if I'm talking to myself, my 20, you know, three 24 year old self, is that don't feel like you have to grow so fast. And you know, I've kind of taken that on as being the CEO. Like I'm. I'm not saying I'm done with learning, but I'm always learning, if you will. But I think that level of patience is important, otherwise you don't have an opportunity to really enjoy all those learning experiences, the moments that we've grown thus far here at Propellant Media. And you know, I'd leave it at that. That's probably the biggest thing that I learned. I mean, I've learned everything from, you know, building financial models to how to sell account based selling, you know, that kind of thing. But I think it's really the intrinsic qualities that you gain from that sort of experience versus just the hard skills, you know, And I think that's really been the biggest benefit that I gained in just having that foresight for myself and for ultimately decided to go to business school as well.

How did it tie into your. What was in your mind growing up of things that you thought would be fascinating other than real estate in general? Were there any kind of definitive events or things said to your, things you observed on your way up that.

Set.

You on your course on a particular thing? Or is it just go to school, then let's go on to, you know, a distinguished college and university, good degree, just kind of staying on track, or were there something that was standing out to. Were you an athlete?

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No, it was. So if we're talking about me going to NYU Stern for business school for my mba, you know, my mother was an educator. My father was also an entrepreneur. He's a big reader. He always sort of pushed, you know, his kids, you know, to just do great in life. You know, don't, you know, don't settle for less. You know, education is a. Not just a good thing, but it's a requirement beyond just getting your undergraduate degree. And the thing that I've appreciated about me having my MBA is it's not just given me sort of a level of confidence when I go into rooms or I'm speaking to a CEO that runs $100 million company or anything of that nature. It's also I've actually been able to leverage the degree for some of the growth opportunities that we've had here at Propellant Media and just learning how to think strategically. And my dad would always say, you know, son, it's always important to just keep thinking, keep figuring out how you can learn to think strategically. And the way you do that is both through experience and education. And so, you know, as I was getting into sort of my fourth to fifth year at Jones Lang LaSalle, I started to have that bug. I mean, I was making great money. I was having a ton of fun. You know, it was around a little before that was around when I went my. My now wife. And it was great, but I just felt like I wanted to have more option value, more options in my life beyond commercial real estate. And it was sort of like the perfect storm where it said, now is the time. And I made that decision and fortunately enough got into getting a scholarship to go to Stern and was speaker of my graduation. And I've just really been blessed with some of those opportunities that came about for myself during that time what was.

Your subject of your talk at your graduation? What was your main theme?

It's interesting. So I guess I'll share this story. I guess I can be a little vulnerable with everyone. So I was horrible when it came to public speaking. A lot of people say, oh, Justin, you got the greatest voice. Da, da, da. I was like, no, I'm a nervous wreck. And even when I got to Stern and you know, sometimes you kind of shrivel up a little bit. You're like, man, so many smart people, you know, can you add value to the situation? And so as I kind of went through Stern, I kind of started to slowly get over that there was an opportunity to actually, you know, how do I say compete, if you will, or my hat into be a speaker for the graduations. About 20 people that put their hats in and we actually had to, you know, like, give our talk. And I gave my talk and my talk was really, you know, how I got over the experience and some of the challenges that I experienced with just anxiety and how a lot of other folks can do the same by putting yourself out there and taking that risk. And that, that really has been my story. Just constantly putting myself out there. Whether it's taking a chance with propellant media or me starting the other company that I don't do right now, but Q Commerce to decide that I'm going to take the leap of faith and go to business school. And so when I gave the talk, I think it was at Radio city music hall. 5,000 people. You're like, holy cow, I can't believe this is happening. But I did it and it felt great. And it's not to say that you don't always still get those nerves, but the talk, I hope, resonated with a lot of folks because it was more of a, a vulnerable moment as well as a learning experience for everyone else too, hopefully.

And how many people were in your class or 5,000 people there?

Yeah, there was both part time and full time students that graduated at the same time. So I know There was about 5,000 people there at the, you know, at Radio City Music hall. But in our class I think it was less than that. But it was, you know, parents and, you know, friends and other folks that attended the graduation. So I don't really know how many people. I know it was a lot, but I just don't know how many now.

Talk about how you did get past that. What did you do?

You know, it's kind of one of those things. Well, I think the first thing is practice, you know, why?

Let me tell you why I'm asking that, Justin. Because we all, you know, when you're launching a business or running a business, you're going to run into things where there's something in front of you is just either unpleasant, you don't want to do it, you don't have a skill for it, or whatever, but you got to do it. You got to figure it out. And you're going to run into this over and over in life. You know, you ran. It had to do with public speaking. I've got friends that run into it with growing up with stuttering. You know, whatever the problem is. It's just like that's a big thing in your way, that's just got to be dealt with or it's going to. You're going to be under the control of that the rest of your life. And so you know that you run into that when you. Those situations in business, too. So how did you work through that?

You know, when I learned about the opportunity to be the speaker, you know, I talked to my wife about it. She's obviously suggesting, you got to do it, you got to try. And there was just a moment in my heart that just said, if I overcome this, there's nothing out there that I can't push through. Because if there's anything that matters in life, in business, in relationships, is your ability to have some level of charisma and communicate. And some of it is art, and then some of it is just being authentic. And, you know, when I saw that there was the opportunity, I said, if I'm able to do this, I can at least also make a contribution to someone else. And that when I kind of got the feeling about it being more about contribution versus it being about me and my own nerves, that's when I really started to, like, take it on as an opportunity to give back to my classmates and everyone that was in the audience and anyone that listens to it. And so, you know, my advice for everyone is you try not have these moments be about you, because ultimately it's not about you. In the greater scheme of things, it's always about how you're making a difference for someone else when you're having a conversation with them. When you're doing a talk or you're speaking in public, don't worry about whether you're going to fumble or you're going to make a mistake or anything like that. Just think about how you're making a difference for someone else. And when you hold on to that, it just comes out so much more naturally. And that's really kind of how I push through it. And then once you do it, you're like, wow, I can do this again. I did it 5,000 people. I can do it. 100 people. I can do it. 200. I can do it 10 people. It just gets a little easier. There are nerves still, are there, but the nerves are certainly less. And you just know that it's not about you, it's about them. And that's what matters.

If you enjoyed what you've heard and are dead serious about finding out for yourself exactly how this works in the real world, I've taken the most valuable business lessons I've learned over 40 years and put them into something for you to watch. Go to Whiteellumwinning.com webinar now in order to move up as fast as possible. I'm Larry Widell, and I run the Million Dollar Mastermind. Go, Go.