The Other Side | Megan Killion

I'm very excited about every guest, but Megan is somebody who I've followed on LinkedIn for quite some time. I've been in a couple peer groups with, but I haven't actually gotten to sit down and get to know Megan. So this will be new for me, and I'm very excited to go through this and get to know her better. So without any further ado, please come on, bring to stage Megan.

Hello. Hey, how are you?

Good. How is it going? We're— I can tell we're already going to be friends because you have a Fallout cooler behind you and that's my background. That's like— I'm a huge Fallout nerd.

So we are big Fallout fans.

Yes, I, I have the Lego set. Like, I'm, I'm all in.

So I of course have spelled my own title incorrectly. That's beautiful. Fixing that.

Perfect. That's the way it should be. There we go. I can never spell things right. So that's how, that's how you know, like, if I'm using AI, if everything is spelled right, I might have used AI to type it.

That's actually pretty much a giveaway for everybody. It's one of the ways we can tell that, like, AI is being used so much is that spelling errors have decreased. Yeah, so much. Now, to be fair, some people are using tools like Grammarly or like a spell checker AI, which isn't the same thing, but a lot of people are just using AI to write everything.

Yep, that's how it goes. But that's all right. We, you know, again, one of the things we focus on here, and my personal favorite, is just focusing on the human side. So, you know, let's, let's dive in and get to know. So first, before we go in there, I know you are amazing at marketing, but why don't you go ahead and tell us What do you do or where might the channel know you from?

So I am a revenue architect or revenue consultant for B2B tech companies, primarily MSPs and the rest of the channel. My background is in primarily sales. It's really— it's always super funny to me because I got kind of labeled as marketing at some point in my career. But I went from being in just like sales, B2B tech sales on like the cloud side of telecom into being a BDR for like a CDN, content delivery network, and working my way up in infrastructure, going BDR, business development manager, director of business development, VP of sales and marketing, CRO. And I spent most of my 15-year B2B tech career purely in sales, and I have never actually worked a marketing job where it was marketing. I've worked sales and marketing. And when I was in sales, a lot of companies just didn't have marketing. So I learned how to market myself, market the company. But it's always so funny to me, like every time someone introduced me, they're like, oh, it's Megan. She's a marketing guru. And I'm like, I literally don't know how to run Google Ads, but sure.

We'll take it. Maybe that speaks to it. You know, a good friend, Eric Bulls, you know, teaches that with this VOSA. It's like about the brand and everything. And that's the best way to market. So, you know, it's marketing to me, it works. So we'll run with it.

But I think most, most salespeople who've worked somewhere that didn't really have marketing have learned some, some bit, at least if they've been successful. Like, I worked at a local MSP. And I did all of our marketing because there was none. And I was like, I'm gonna hit my quota. I'm gonna need people to have some idea of what we do.

Yep, absolutely. All right, well, that's all the work talk we get, so I hope you enjoyed it. We're done throwing it away. All right, well, let's, uh, let's get— there's a lot of trinkets and things behind you, so let's just dive in right away to some hobbies and interests. Why don't you take us through, give us a little tour here?

And, uh, it's funny, I recorded, I recorded a video tour of my workspace the other day because clients kept commenting on it, and I meant to post it on LinkedIn, but LinkedIn forced closed while uploading. Well, let's see what's behind me. Doctor Who. I'm obviously a huge Doctor Who fan. I have— you can't see it because I'm— it's below, but I have a circular Gallifreyan galaxy on my thigh that says together or not at all in Gallifreyan because those were my husband and I's vows when we got married. You can see I've got Doctor Who villains over here. Not— you can only see some of them, but that's all the kind of like Doctor villains. Um, and those are Magic: The Gathering cards inside. My husband 3D printed me this guy, which you can't see very well because the glare, but this is like all the Doctor Who Magic: The Gathering. Whoop! There it goes. Um, so we're Magic players, and that was a big part of like our love story. And then what else is back there? Oh, that's a picture of me meeting the Doctor and River, the 11th Doctor and River. There's a lot of like Viking pagan witchy shit over there, which is— at one point I built a social media website for witches and pagans because everybody else had one. Um, I don't know that I necessarily heavily identify with that, just like alternatively not, not religious, not monotheistic. Um, that is a showbill from The Cursed Child. This is pretty cool.

Oh.

If you like Harry Potter, of course, that's probably my biggest fandom is, is Harry Potter. So this is Cursed Child showbill. It's got everybody's signature on it, including Tom Felton.

Oh, that's incredible.

And then on the back, this is— was used in the show, and it is the Hogsmeade parental consent form, and it's signed by Tom Felton. So yeah, we love that. Um, lots of like crystals, 3D printed stuff, books. Of course I love reading. I am an author. And I've written books related to what I do in the channel, but I've also written— I have a bathroom series called Throne Room Reads, and they're little like micro books. The first one was about just like general facts, but the second one is more themed and it's called Run Like a Girl, and it is the stories of of girls who ran both literally and figuratively. Um, and that was inspired by that like TikTok trend that was going on a couple years ago where it was like, run like a girl, and then showed women running.

Yeah.

Um, obviously Fallout. We got Nuka-Cola dice. Uh, what is that called? I forget. Like a dice—

Like the roller, the dungeon?

Yeah, it rolls dice for me.

Yeah.

Um, that's 3D printed. Um, I've got a Fallout tarot card deck that's kind of— oh, you might get a kick out of that.

That is sick. Do you have the Fallout Magic cards as well?

Oh yeah, we have that. Those were all those. Yeah, we have all— we have the entire— oh yeah, collection.

That's incredible.

And then lots of little, like, we've got Princess Diaries, Marvel. Star Wars. My husband's the bigger Star Wars fan, but I do love Star Wars. I've got Millennium Falcon tattoo. My husband has the other half of it going through the portal. Um, and we've always been like Star Wars, big Star Wars fans. I've got Luke over here behind me fighting Darth Vader. Um, and yeah, so I think I'm part of like almost every fandom.

Yeah, which is great. I, I, I I wish I could take my webcam. I'll have to send you pictures afterwards of—

Yeah, you need to redesign so that your stuff's behind you. I did that.

Yeah.

A year and a half ago, my office was so sparse behind me and like my personality was not present. And I actually— it was like, yeah, a year and a half-ish. I was in a sales call with someone else and they had a bunch of like really, really cool shit behind them. And so like at the beginning of the call, I was like, oh, what is that? And they showed me and we talked about it, and it built so much rapid rapport that I was like, I'm gonna have to bring some of my shit into my office so people can actually see it.

See, all of my—

I've got all kinds of that stuff in front of me.

Yeah, I got like all these little trinkets, like, you know, my little Boba Fett, my little like, uh, you know, gangster duck guy. Like, I have all these little trinkets sitting in front of me. My little— my, my dumpster fire. I love this.

Oh, these are, these are great.

Yeah, uh, all the, all the trinkets and stuff. A funny story, but so, uh, Harry Potter— I mean, you know, we're in the same, like, fandoms of most things, but Harry Potter, my wife and I are huge fans of. So IP Nation last year, um, I did— you— I don't know if you attended it or not, but, um, so they, they took us to Universal, um, and supper with Serpent Hogs. I, I've loved it, right? But That was my first time there. And the whole time I'm like, how, like, how am I gonna tell my wife that, like, I went to this? Because she's a huge Harry Potter fan. And I'm like the whole time dreading it. And I was trying to tell my friends, I'm like, honestly, like, it would be easier for me to tell my wife that I cheated on her than it would be.

I went to Harry Potter World without you.

I went to— exactly. You get it, right?

This is worse than watching a TV show without them, you know?

Like, Oh, so, uh, yeah, I'm, I'm probably still in the doghouse for that. Uh, it's, it's, you know, and, and I was like, hey, I didn't go on any rides. Like, I'm sorry. Like, that's where the supper was.

I live here, so Universal's like right down the street from me. We have annual passes. We go pretty often. Hi, buddy. Um, We, we spent a lot of time at Universal because we're annual pass holders, but I still greatly prefer those events because of the nighttime stuff.

Yeah.

And I'm a ConnectWise champion, so I usually like do some things throughout the year to get my points up so that I can turn them in around IT Nation so I get my husband a pass. And because they're like a little bit cheaper, like if he's not going to the sessions and stuff, I get him like a social pass. And so he usually comes with me to that stuff, and usually there's a concert, so I'll like bring him to the concert and we'll go to Universal after hours. And he, he loves that.

I, I stole your picture of, uh, of, of Johnny Reznick. Uh, because I'm a huge Goo Goo Dolls fan and you somehow got closer than me. We were like 3 people apart, but, uh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I was like right, right there. And I still have the pick. The bass player threw me his pick.

Oh, that's amazing.

He was making a lot of eye contact the whole show. I was like, oh my God, am I a groupie again? What is happening?

Oh, I love that. That's awesome. Um, that, that was one of like— you, I mean, you know, when, when conferences and stuff throw on the musical guests, it's like, all right, cool, this is like, it's a fun little thing. But like, man, we got like a private Google Doll show, and I'm a huge fan of them. So that was one where I was like, okay, all right, this is, this is incredible.

It's definitely really cool to get to the age where the bands that I listened to when I was a kid are the bands coming to those types of events.

Yeah.

And also like Food and Wine Festival. I saw Taking Back Sunday at Busch Gardens last year.

Oh man.

And it was totally accidental. Like, we drove out to Busch Gardens because my in-laws were here, and we at the time had SeaWorld passes, and they're like the same thing. So we drove out, they've got great rides, whatever, supposed to just be a day. I like— we walk in and there's, there's signs everywhere that's like Taking Back Sunday Food and Wine Festival today. And I was like, I turned to my husband, handed my mother-in-law one of my kids, and was like, I'm out. Like, I love you guys, but I'm gonna go to the Taking Back Sunday show. Like, because they— and they were one of my favorite, favorite bands. Oh yeah, like in high school.

I've seen them. Yep, I have an autographed poster. Uh, love that. One of the, the recent ones we saw, so it was like, uh, I think they're in Southern California, was called like Not a Phase Fest or something like that. We had something, uh, or When We Were Young, I think that's what it calls— we had something similar come through here. And it was, you know, all the— I mean, I was, I was, I was an emo kid, so like every one of those bands— it was, uh, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, um, uh, Simple Plan played, um, uh, a couple— I'm trying to think— Story of the Year. But the one that was the most interesting was 303. We're like, all right, like these guys are like—

No, but they always were in that, like, it's one of those weird things where like pop punk emo kid indie and then like also 303 and I don't know why, I don't— I could not explain to you the phenomenon of why we all listened to that music but we did and like my eldest son's father and I, we were together when we were teenagers, he and I used to like drive around and it would switch back and forth between like gore vocals, we're listening to like Bring Me the Horizon. And then 303.

And you would love it. You just, you went with it, right? So they played at this festival, and then like my wife and I was like, this is probably gonna be like the least fun one. We're like, all right, they're older, like their lyrics are kind of cringy, like we're old now. They tore down, like it was one of the greatest sets I've ever seen. It was amazing. Like they, they, one of the guys did not age well, like he definitely looks old, but like they still had all the energy. They killed it. It was such a good time. Uh, so just, just props. Like, that was, that was incredible.

I haven't seen them in a really long time, but I saw them when I was like in my early 20s at the Jersey Shore. That was bananas. I can't really do fests anymore. I wish that I could, um, but I'm like autistic AF, and it's not the noise. I think it's such a weird thing because like I can go to a concert and the noise is fine. It's the people.

Yeah.

Like, people touching me, people talking to me. Like, why are you— the concert is on. Why are you fucking trying to talk to me? I can't hear you. And then I get anxious and I freak out and I melt down. And my dog can't come with me to a festival, so I— now I have to go to concerts, like, and sit in the seats like an old person instead of being in the pit, which is crazy because I was sick in the pit when I was a teen and young 20s. My, like, my husband is a, is an engineer, or well, he's, he's a BIM— he's a director of BIM for an engineering company. But, um, all of my boyfriends throughout my life were all musicians, like touring musicians. And so music was always like such a huge part of my life and my culture. And now it's, it's just funny, like it's so, it's so much less frequent. I mean, we do go to concerts sometimes. I, I usually see Andrew McMahon like once a year. I have the drum— the top, like his drum top from a show maybe 5 years ago, and it's signed by him and the whole Into the Wilderness band. And it was the first time in my life I think I ever won something. Like, there was a raffle and it was all to raise money for his fund Um, and like for cancer research. So obviously I donated, and then like they called my name and I was like, no fucking way, no fucking way. And then I got to go like meet Andrew McMahon and get the signed drum head and a shirt. And I was like, this is not— because that had never— I'd never won anything like in my life up until that point. And it seemed like it was really like kind of a turning point. in my life around like luck and, and winning things and getting things. That's that, um, the showbill from The Cursed Child was another like I made a donation and won situation. And so now I'm like, we make all the charitable donations, something might come in the mail.

Yes, get that, get that good karma up there. Oh, that's—

Did you know that— have you followed Wonders of the First at all? That's the new card game. That's the same guy who did some of the original Magic artwork, but Tom Felton is one of the characters. There's a couple other ones I want to say. Um, oh my God, the guy Ben— Ben Affleck, who does all the like Boston movies, he's another one of the characters. I, I got into it because Tom Felton was promoting it, and I'm—

All right, I'll check that out. I Dungeon Crawler Carl is my, my new thing. I mean, as most people are. So there's a card game coming out for that, and I'm, I'm excited. I'm all about that.

Dungeon Crawler Carl is like reading for people who don't read. I love it. It's gotten so many men into reading, and I'm so happy for it.

I've always been a reader, but like, you know, I'll read a couple books here and there. Like a couple— like, uh, last year I was big into like Michael Crichton. I read like a couple of the Jurassic Park and some of his older stuff. And then, uh, did like The Three-Body Problem, like some sci-fi. I'm like, all right, that's cool, you know, I'll read a couple a year. But then like I was introduced to Dungeon Crawler Carl and I could not put it down. Uh, like it was just— I, I went, I went through all 8 like in a couple months. And yeah, I'm all, I'm all in. And now, now I'm sitting here like, well, now what do I do?

Like— Books are probably like my primary thing. Um, you can't really tell from in here because my living room is on the other side of this wall. My downstairs— we have a split level, so my downstairs living room's on the other side of this wall, and that's where all my bookshelves are, which have all my fantasy books and a ton of our collectibles. Um, my husband's super into Lego and Pokémon cards, and so that whole like downstairs area is all my, all my books. Super into sprayed edges.

Yeah.

I mostly read on my Kindle, but I'm like, I like a book trophy. So like, I read the book and then I go buy the pretty book to put on my shelf. Um, and it's been really interesting to see more men come into that space because historically, like, BookTok, it's like all women. And I think ACOTAR, A Court of Thorns and Roses, was big for women.

For women.

It was like, oh, you read Harry Potter as a kid? You read Twilight? I have something for you. read this, fairy smut is gonna change your life. So women got into it, and I feel like Dungeon Crawler Carl has been that for men, where like I see so many more males in, in reading spaces since that book came out, and like reading it and getting into fantasy. And I love that, especially for like couples where the wife is a reader and the husband has historically been like, I don't like reading, I don't want to read, and then like picks up Dungeon Crawler Carl and can't put it down. And I'm like, I'm like, yes, here we go.

Yep. All right, well, I, I have plenty of pictures to show you. I'll show you our bookshelf. We have all the fantasy stuff. Like, it's, uh, yeah, it's cool. So, all right, well, let's, uh, um, all right, we got covered. I mean, so many hobbies and interests, we could probably spend the next 30 minutes like nerding out, but let's, let's move ahead. Um, so infinite nerds. Yeah, absolutely. Um, all right, this segment, Bet You Didn't Know. What is something no one in a million years would be able to guess about you?

Probably that I used to be a cheerleader.

Interesting. All right, all right. Uh, high school, middle—

like middle school? I was my middle school cheerleading captain.

Oh, that's awesome. My, my, my 2 girls, uh, like they— I mean, they're not, um, they're 11 and 8, and, uh, every, you know, summer the, the school run like a cheerleading thing and they're all about it. They love it. So I foresee that happening with them.

I got into it because I stopped figure skating. And I think even, even figure skating, I don't think people would guess about me because I've always been alt. Like, I've been alternative and weird my whole life. Like, it's not something that happened later. I was not a normal cheerleader. But I figure skated when I was young, from probably like 9 to 11 or 12. And, you know, figure skating is not something you really do casually. So I got good, and then it got to the point where like the coaches were like, we're gonna go all in, 5 AM practices, all of these things. I was like, I don't, I don't know that I really want to do—

Yeah, that's a lot.

Like, I don't— this is not what I— this isn't going to become my life. This isn't my career. And my mom was like, well, if you're not going to take it seriously, then I'm not paying for it. So if it's not going to be something you do at 5 AM and then immediately go to after school and are willing to eat the diet and live the lifestyle, then you have to give up skating. And I was like, that seems like some bullshit. My dad got me like a skate pass so I could just go to public skates or whatever. But my parents had this rule that was like, you have to be doing at least one physical thing all the time.

Yeah.

Which is a great rule, by the way. I have it with my kids. We're doing baseball right now. We always— there's always something. But when I quit like the figure skating and got into cheerleading, um, I was very much recruited by like my gym teacher. And I'm not an athletic person, to be clear, like not in a traditional way. Like I figure skated, I cheerled, I horse— I rode horses, but like I can't play soccer, I can't play field hockey. I tried, I'm no good at it. I can't fucking run. And so like the cheerleading coach who was the gym teacher, I was just fucking around during gym class because I never participated in gym class, but I just like, I did a double back handspring and she was like, Megan, what the fuck? I have, by the way, I have hypermobile EDS, so I'm very like flex— I'm not as flexible as I used to be, but as a kid I was like, I used to think it was hilarious to like dislocate my shoulder and stuff. And anyways, so she was like, I had no idea you were athletic. And I was like, I'm not athletic. And she was like, no, no, but you're gonna play, you're gonna cheerlead. And so I did. And I— we got really good at it competitively. And then after middle school, I went to Sturgis Charter School in Massachusetts, which is like very alternative, very academic. and they didn't really have cheerleading, and my mom wanted me to start like a cheerleading squad at the high school, but I was like, Mom, literally no. I'll be— everyone will hate me. It was like, because I was an alt kid going to an alt school, and I was like, no, Mom, everybody's punk rock.

Yeah.

Like, we're all punk, okay?

No.

And I was like, also, it's It was one thing when I was in middle school. People thought it was like cute that I had like spiky red hair or whatever and was the cheerleading captain. But I was like, the high school competitions, that's not gonna fly. Part of how you're scored is your appearance.

Mm-hmm.

And I— mine was not. I had lip piercings, like no way. I had snake bites at 13.

Heck yeah. I, I couldn't have the real ones. I, I had a fake eyebrow piercing. Like I, I was, uh, we had like a really shitty screamo band I was in, so I— yeah. The studded belts. I was there, I was there.

Mine was low-key from trauma, so like, it's not— my mom, my mom was a smoker. She ended up dying of lung cancer, and I used to constantly harass her about smoking. And when I was young, 7th, 8th, 9th grade, I self-harmed and I was cutting myself. My mom really wanted me to stop, and I was like, I'll stop cutting if you stop smoking, because they're both fucking self-harm, Mom, and they're both addictive, and it's the same thing. And I quit cutting and she didn't quit smoking. And so her like solution was to let me get a piercing.

I mean, yeah, I guess that's, that's one way to do it.

Okay, sure, that'll work for me.

Yep, yep. All right, cool. Well, um, let's go ahead and move to the, uh, in the works. Uh, so is there any personal goal or update that you are working towards?

Um, well, there's a couple of really big things that like happened in the last year where, I mean, I beat cancer's ass. So that's—

Heck yeah.

That's a big one. Um, I had ovarian cancer type 1A, and I sold my agency when I went through cancer treatment. Um, and that's how Pisces came about because I was like, well, I can still consult, but I can't— I mean, at the time that I got my cancer diagnosis, MKC was like 30 people and I was still really the, the only real executive. And I— it was— no, it was a bad time. So dumped that, sold that, built Pisces out of kind of the ashes, um, took a few of my clients that were purely consulting into Pisces and I've been doing that since. In terms of like goals that I'm working on and, and building towards For me, the biggest thing right now is just like lifestyle and health. So we're getting all the dyes out of our house, um, and we're trying to get all the like carcinogens out of our food one thing at a time. We use the Yuka app, um, and kind of scan everything and look for things that just don't have as many carcinogens, dyes, harmful things that no other country lets, lets in their food.

Yeah.

wild to live in a country where they just poison us. Um, and I've been really trying to get to the gym 5 days a week. That's been super tough since summer break started. Uh, I was in a really good like grind dropping the kids off, going to the gym, then starting work, but not anymore. I'm really trying to stick to the 3-day work week— Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. No more, um, Friday, Monday work. And that's pretty much it. I used to be a wicked, like, achievementaholic, and I used to push myself way past burnout until I was super physically ill to achieve things that I never even felt accomplished or proud of. And I really— it was a couple years ago It was on my mom's like birthday when my book became an Amazon bestseller for the first time, when I hit the number 1 slot in my like number 1 sales book on Amazon for a short period of time. But still, hey, that's still—

that's like, that's applause. That's awesome.

I remember just being like, okay, next. Like, I did not pause to be like, wow, I was a homeless single mother. I grew up in abject poverty. Like, this is incredible. I didn't do that. I just was like, next, the next thing on the list that I need to go achieve and accomplish. And like, I remember the first time I became like an award-winning CEO and I made like Salesforce top 100 female sellers list. And none of those things hit, you know, like I didn't, I didn't feel them. I just was constantly like chasing the next thing. And so I have very consciously— I don't really set goals for myself anymore, not like that. My goals now are like, I want to make it to every single one of my kids' baseball teams, baseball games this year.

Yep.

Um, so like consciously working against hustle culture. I don't need to achieve any more things. I am accomplished. If that— if it happens, great, but I'm not trying to do those things anymore.

No, it's, it's great. And yeah, it's important. Like, I've, I've definitely been there. I mean, you know, that was one of the reasons I left the restaurant industry. I was like, hey, I have kids at home that I want to see. Yeah, like, uh, yeah, I was a bartender for like 3 years.

It was a lot.

Yeah, it's— it is a lot. But, um, and, you know, now it's like the place I'm at is a great work-life balance. So, you know, I can— I'm here and able to do things. I mean, uh, then sometimes you go overboard. I know, back to your like, hey, you have to be in one physical activity. That's great. Um, I don't know, someone decided that in the month of April it'd be a good idea to have our kids in 7 different activities between the 3 of them, and that got to be a little bit too much.

So it is It's, it's wild how when you have multiple kids, how fast it becomes untenable, where you're like, oh, holy fucking shit. Because it's not that much when you think about it from like one kid is doing 2 activities. That's actually pretty reasonable. Like if you've got a kid that's like in chess club and doing basketball, that's not an unreasonable ask for the kid. But when you're like, we have 4 boys. And so when like every single kid is doing 2 or 3 things, I have to hire a nanny. Like a driver, really. It's not even— I— when we listed, I think 2 years ago was the worst it was, where we had like, I think we were doing 12 activities across all 4 kids at that, like that summer. It was 2 years ago. And when I posted the job listing, I was like, you really don't have to have childcare experience. You just have to be a safe driver and be okay with them. Like, like, they're gonna fight in your backseat. Just don't crash the car while they do it. You just gotta get them to and from places.

Yeah. Oh, I, I— yeah, I feel that so much.

There's only so many places you can be, and we don't have— we don't live anywhere near our families. My parents are both deceased, but my husband's parents are both in Massachusetts. And that like we don't have siblings, we barely have friends. So the like, there's no one for us to ask to be like, hey, can you take them to swimming? No, there's no one. Just we have to figure out how to replicate ourselves.

Yeah, no, that's, that's what happened in April. It's like, all right, well, I'll miss, you know, skating lessons this week so I can take them to swimming lessons, and then we'll swap the, the next one. And yeah, it's, yeah, it's a lot. But now, now thankfully some of them are over. Um, we get a little bit of a break. My youngest is in So come, you know, September, October, that kicks in, and that's— that is a full-time, like, hockey 3 days a week.

You guys could travel.

No, thank goodness, not yet. There's— yeah, last year was his first year.

Josh, it's coming down the pipe. Yep, just don't let them get good. They can't get good. Like, you have to be— you can do sports, but you have to be bad at them. Our twins are 8 and they had never played baseball before, before this past season. And we just kind of like dropped them into it because it was like affordable and we've got a good local team, whatever. They made All-Stars and I was like, what the fuck are you doing? That's 6 more weeks of baseball. I don't want to do 6 more weeks of baseball. Yep. You're doing bad.

Yep. Yeah, we'll see how— we'll see where that goes. But, uh, yeah.

Yeah, my oldest played hockey, and we did— when we lived in Mass, he got really into it. He was good. We did travel hockey, and then we moved down here to Florida, and he hated it here because the culture was just like— hockey has very distinct culture in Massachusetts. Where are you? You're in the Midwest, aren't you?

Yeah, Midwest, South Dakota.

Yeah, yeah. So like, you— I would assume that you have hockey culture in South Dakota.

Yeah, yeah.

Where you've got indoor and outdoor, like the serious players that play at the ranked like inside, and then you've got like the local kind of more rowdy players that play on the actual outside ice. We had that en masse, and like it created a lot of competition. And we, we were pretty close to Boston, so we'd go to Bruins games, and it was good. Then we moved down here, and it was like the Solar Bears.

Yeah, the Everblades.

So bad. And he was just not about it. It wasn't— it just wasn't the same.

Yep. Oh, all right. Well, we're gonna, we're gonna go from hockey to the desert island. You know, we're just completely opposite sides of the world here, and I'm sure this will be hard for you because this— my answer changes almost weekly if someone were to ask me. So let's, uh, let's go, let's go with your, your book, your movie, and your album. What are you bringing?

Okay, desert island.

Book.

Can I bring my Kindle?

Until it dies, like, but also—

I would bring a solar battery and glue it right to the back of it.

You're somehow able to watch a movie and listen to an album on this desert island, so there's clearly electricity somewhere.

Yeah, they clearly have some type of, like, clearly there's some type of, like, solar electric situation. So, but no, if I really had to pick like one book, I think it would have to be Harry Potter, even though I would miss smut a lot. But like Harry Potter or ACOTAR, probably. In terms of one album, okay, this is so fucking basic, bitch, don't hate me. But right now it's definitely Life of a Showgirl by Taylor Swift. But like in terms of like my life, I think In Through the Window by Something Corporate is like— that's been the album since I was like 15.

Yeah.

And then movie, I care way less about movies to be honest. But it would probably also be Harry Potter. Although if I brought the books, maybe I don't need the movies and I would like switch. So maybe I'd bring ACOTAR for the books and then I bring my Harry Potter movies. But then you miss so much of the Harry Potter— how long am I on this island?

I mean, I was gonna, I was gonna dive in a little bit of like, is there a specific book? Like, what, you know, which one would you bring?

Order of Phoenix for sure.

But, or Hmm, I'm always between Goblet of Fire and Order of Phoenix.

I was literally gonna say Goblet of Fire or Order of— so Goblet of Fire, Triwizard Tournament, Durmstrang, Neville's like mini glow up before he hits full trajectory. Yeah, I'm a huge Matthew Lewis fan, huge Neville Longbottom like stan. I'm like, no, Neville Longbottom is the fucking hero of these books, let me tell you why. Um, But yeah, Triwizard Tournament, Hermione dating Krum, Ron's mini meltdown, uh, Draco being a little shithead. I love those. Like, that's such a good period.

The first, like, major— like, it starts to kind of get a little bit more dark. I mean, there's— they set the tone in Prisoner of Azkaban, but like, you know, with, with Cedric, you know, dying— being, you know, spoiler alert, sorry guys, but if you have not yet seen Harry Potter Um, but like, it kind of is just like, okay, like, shit's getting real, you know? Uh, it's kind of where it really starts to get into— lean into that.

Yeah, I think shit starts to get real. And also, I mean, it's just such a— it's such a cool concept. Like, I— it's also the first time we get introduced to the greater lore of there being other schools, right? Like, we, we meet France, we meet Bulgaria. the, the Quidditch World Cup, we get so much more like Quidditch lore and depth. And that's— I mean, obviously, like, you and I, we are nerds, so we get excited when the world starts to open up and there's more depth. Like, oh my God, there's a whole world, it's not just the school. Yes. Um, and so like, and you know, like Igor Karkaroff coming in and, and that relationship of us learning like the, the reach of Voldemort's previous reign, right? I think, I think book 4 is where we really start to hit—

We get the Ministry of Magic. Yeah.

Like the world building, like the world around the school. Books 1 through 3 are kind of like— and I think, um, J.K. has— J.K. Rowling has like spoken about this a little bit. She didn't like she was a poor, like, single mom. Like, she did not expect the books to take off. Um, and I think that's when she started to take the series more seriously because, like, book 1 was kind of like Child Called It, Boy Under the Staircase, like just a story of, like, a kid that had been abused finding out he's a wizard, going off to school, and then, like, the Voldemort thing just gave it depth, made it interesting. But I think book 4 is where we really start to step outside of Hogwarts and see that there is this whole world of magic. And then, um, Order of Phoenix, for just obvious, obvious reasons. Now we are in it, the war is happening, um, everybody's a little bit older. We've got the DA is fully running, Neville is in his fucking prime, and I'm a huge Neville fan. Um, and just like watching—

Like, yeah, yeah.

And getting them more grown up. And taking things more seriously. And I think that's when we first start to realize that it's going to be— it's going to be dark, dark. Like, people have died, people will die. Um, it's emotional, it has depth. The, the world building has kind of already happened, so now we're interacting with that world as almost adults. Um, so yeah, those are definitely my 2 big favorites, but I do love the whole series.

Yep, it's it's hard to.

It's not an endorsement of JKR or her politics, just to be clear.

It's yeah, no, definitely say that now or people will come for you. Unfortunately, yeah, that's um yeah, the the whole separating art from the artist thing. I mean, there's a couple instances. I mean, this is one like you know my wife and I have the same conversations. Like we grew up with it. It's our treehouse and like. You know, the world is like, we've, we've taken it and it's a part of us. And, you know, unfortunate what, what happened with everything with, with, uh, the author's stance on things.

But like, yeah, not to get super political, but I also think it must be very hard to be that famous and have all of your opinions turned in because that evolution happened over time, right? We didn't start we didn't start there. We have— we have grown there. And I, I can't really— which is not in any way to say that it's forgivable or that, that the things that she has said are okay, but I cannot imagine having my life under that type of microscope and having people come for me like that. And I can imagine a world where I would double down on a bad opinion because people did not meet me with grace and instead were like—

Yeah.

Like, I just can't imagine getting canceled over opinions in that, in that way as, as an individual person, you know? Like, she is not the brand. Um, that's— I think that's really hard.

Yeah.

But also, like, it is our childhoods. Like, I mean, for me anyways, and I think we're in roughly the same age bracket. Like, those books came out— I was Harry's age when they were coming out. And so for me, like— and Hermione was the first character I ever read that I related to in my whole life. Like, I'd always been a reader, but I'd always felt like I was reading Mary Sues, which, for anyone who's not familiar, a Mary Sue is a character that is purposefully bland so that you can project your personality onto it, where they don't have flaws or things they're good and bad at. And like, Hermione was this nerdy, outspoken, unattractive young girl who was made fun of and who didn't quite fit and felt like she was a step out. And like, as an autistic girl who was gifted, it was the first time in my life I ever felt like I was reading someone who was reacting the way I would react, who was approaching problems the way I would approach them. And so like, that, that was hugely impactful in my life to feel like, oh, there are people out there who are like me, and they can be heroes, and that they can accomplish things. And then like the whole career trajectory of Hermione after the books where like she's Minister of Magic and like that's just such an incredible message to young girls of like you can come from the bottom and really rise.

And, and punch, you know, Draco in the face.

And punch Draco Malfoy in the face. Get it, girl.

He deserves it.

Like Hermione's such a feminist. Tell me.

Like, oh, absolutely.

Also, like, they totally had— they had a vibe, especially the chemistry in the movies. I mean, I'm a— I'm a Dramione fanfic shipper.

Like, I mean, there's that book out there, you know, where Hermione's trapped in the— and Draco saves her. And yeah, you, you know it, you got it. It's like, oh, signed copy, here we come.

Oh, this?

Oh yeah, yep, yep, you sure got it.

The original fanfic as published by Sen Lin Yu. Uh, the art on this is fantastic. Um, that's the, that's the non-book, that's the fic. And then here's her traditionally published updated work.

That's also in our bookshelf.

Yeah, I'm a huge— this is— Manacled got me into fanfic, and it has since become a huge part of my life.

Yeah.

So, thank you.

All right. Well, I have a client meeting, unfortunately, in 10 minutes, so we gotta finish this up. I could— we could keep going. All right, let's go to Fast Talk. I'm just gonna throw a couple of these out here. So, these are basically one question after another. Say the first thing that pops in your head. I'm gonna throw one that we have to get. What's your Hogwarts house?

Ravenclaw.

All right, easy.

You all could have guessed that, right?

Uh, what is the most unhinged DM you've ever received and somehow took seriously? I say this because of your amazing pinned post on LinkedIn, so I had to pick this one.

Yeah, let's see, the most unhinged one that I took Seriously, I mean, I think like a job offer is probably like— that's unhinged, right? Just offering someone a job never having spoken to them before in DMs. That's crazy.

That— yeah, I'll get that.

Yeah, I went on a vacation with someone I met in DMs, but that like happened over time. Yeah, it's a little different.

Um, I, I have also a funny story about that, but that's for another time, not on this show, so Um, what is the most unhinged thing you've Googled, uh, in the last 48 hours?

In the last 48 hours, let's see. We're gonna look so it can be official.

All right, let's go through that. While you're looking that up, um, if your brain had a— wait, um, let's see. If your best friend wrote your Wikipedia page, what do you think the first sentence would be?

This bitch is unhinged. Like, I don't know. Um, so I have— I think subtly sexual plant names is pretty—

Oh man, I'm here for it though. Let's, uh, all right.

But there's also like, what percent of Florida's below— that's not that unhinged. Yeah, definitely like subtly sexual plant names.

I love it. All right, let's go. Uh, last 2 questions here. So, um, First, who is there? Is there somebody that you want to see on this show so I can add them to my list and reach out to them?

Have you done Jeff Newton yet?

I have not done Jeff Newton.

Do him.

So, all right, I will reach out.

Or Katie Vreeland, if you haven't done her. Both, both of them.

I will put both of them on the list. Okay, and last question, is there anything you want to ask me?

How did you happen How, how did you become the host of this podcast, Josh?

So, um, I, I'm, uh, I'm in a running group called 10 Junk Miles, uh, fantastic community. Uh, the whole point of it is they're your running friends when you don't have running friends. So like their podcasts are 3, you know, 3 to 5 friends sitting in the basement talking about random shit. And this is stuff you would talk about on a group run, but when you have people who live in the Dakotas like me or rural places, you don't have those friends to talk about. unhinged shit on your runs. So instead you listen, and there's a whole community aspect of it. Like, um, the— there's a Slack community and all of this, and really came to fruition during COVID when all, you know, we needed that community. We did Zoom happy hours, we did book clubs and all of this stuff, right? And I'm the aid station captain now for one of our big races that we run. Um, but one of the things he did as part of the community building is something called Meet the Nation. So he the listeners of the show and would do 20 to 30 minute, um, interviews of them. And it was the same thing, getting, you know, what's your running story? Like desert island, something that no one ever guessed. Like, this is a total ripoff of Meet the Nation. But what it did is allow us to grow as a community and bring people in. I mean, he interviewed people from North Dakota, from South Dakota. I'm like, I had no idea you were a runner or a 10-jug-mile friend. So it just overall built it. And now, like, we have, I mean, there's lifelong friends that have formed from this and it's just kind of built it. And I really saw the same thing with the MSP community. And one of the things I love about MSP is the channel, the community. It's, you know, you get— you're working with these people day in and day out. You're in the Discords, the Slacks, the Signal groups. You're going to the different conferences and you're seeing these people. And not that anyone is unapproachable at all, but it's really cool to like see them when they're not on stage and kind of get to know them a little bit. So when you bring somebody into the MSP community, they can watch the other side and be like, Megan is the coolest person that I've ever seen on the show. I need to be friends with her. And now they can, you know, reach out to you, not about marketing, but talking about Magic cards and all of this stuff.

So yeah, just getting to know each other a little bit more personally instead of just the business side of things, which— not that what we do in business is boring or not interesting, but I think it is tough to really connect when we stay talking business, talking marketing, talking sales all the time.

Oh yeah.

we don't get to, we don't get to nerd out.

Exactly. And that's, that's the whole— I wanted a platform where we can all nerd out, get to know each other better, and just grow the community. So, uh, went to, uh, to Ray and the producers of Evan Says, and I'm like, hey, I've been sitting on this idea for a while. Um, I was gonna launch it myself, but, you know, uh, work with you guys closely. What do you think about it? And they all were like, heck yes, let's do it. So here we are.

That's been my blocker for starting a podcast since forever, is that I just don't want to have to build All the pieces. I'm like, I don't want to have to research. I don't— I'll come on anybody's podcast. Like, if you email me and you're like, will you come talk for 40 minutes? I'm like, hell yeah, I will. I can talk about anything. But I can't do the, like, scheduling and all of it.

No, it's a lot. And I'm very grateful for their assistance and help. But it's been a blast. I love doing these. I mean, this— it is the highlight when I get to do 2 of these a month. So, uh, thank you so much for, uh, reaching out and coming on. This is a blast. I'm glad we got to do this. And I'm hoping I get to see you. Um, I, I don't know if you'll be at Flow, but IT Nation, I'll probably most likely be there.

So almost definitely we'll be at IT Nation. I'll be at MSP Summit. I'm speaking at MSP Summit. And then I don't know yet what else is on the horizon. I gotta sit down with my husband and look at the calendar and figure out.

Yeah.

I was supposed to go out for something in San Diego. They asked me to come speak. I want to say that was Channel 4.

Yeah.

Um, but there were no direct flights from my airport, and I was like, I can't. It would be like a full day. Yeah, get there, full day to get back. And I just—

It's a lot.

A lot of people can travel when they work, like work from the airport. I, I can't work from the airport. It's too distracting.

Nope, get that. So, all right, well Hopefully I'll see you at IT Connect, and I'll have some, some pictures coming your way of all of my nerd stuff.

So absolutely. I'm gonna schedule my LinkedIn post now because you reminded me that they didn't post.

Perfect. Well, that's good. Bye. Thank you. All right. Thanks everyone for tuning in. We'll catch you guys in a couple weeks.

This has been a broadcast of the MSP Media Network.