Get Real Podcast: Episode 2 - Neal Bloom + Anna Crowe

Hi, this is Anna Crowe with the get real podcast, where CEOs, CMOs, and other great leaders share their real advice. It's six questions under nine minutes because we get to it real fast. So let's get to it. I'm really excited to introduce today's guest. Neil, in just a few words, can you tell us who you are and what you do?

Sure. I'm Neil Bloom, bit of a serial entrepreneur. I like to start companies. I currently have a media company called Fresh Brewed Tech and a communications and content marketing agency called Rising Tide Partners. Overall, I aim to help build quality business communities.

Wonderful. And you are. Were you born and raised in San Diego or did you migrate to San Diego?

Not far. I'm from Los Angeles, but always lived in Southern California.

Wonderful. Wonderful. Well, I know you're involved in a couple of different things, but what do you think is the best thing about being a leader in your industry? You can pick any one of those that you. You work in.

I think economic development and the idea of making an impact in my community is really big. I love empowering people to start companies and start industries. And so that act, that impact of opening up access is kind of what gets me up every day.

That's fantastic. And I'm assuming a big part of that. You know, you're connecting with these business owners or entrepreneurs and helping them scale. I'm assuming a big part of that is creating those connections. I hear from other successful entrepreneurs and business owners that creating those authentic connections, whether it's with your team, your clients, you know, other partners, can be challenging. With all the noise today, especially like, what's going on right now, what's your take on that?

So for me, it sounds simple, but it's really being consistent and not biting off more than I can chew. And what that looks like for me is kind of saying what I intend to do, actually doing it, and then following up with a partner, an employee, or someone I really want to build rapport with and showing that even with one small task that can be done right, I can say what I want to do and I accomplish that. Easier said than done. I am very guilty of biting off way more than I can chew, but I think actually during coronavirus times, it's actually helped simplify me a little bit to say, you know what? I can't physically go to that networking event today. I am just going to work on what's in front of me. So. So that's been my focus.

That's great advice, and I hear you. I'm very Similar. It's been nice to focus on a few things at a time versus getting myself from place A to place B. And I'm also a fan of saying yes to a lot of things, but making sure that I follow through on them. And it can be pretty challenging if you've said yes to too many things. Right?

Absolutely.

Very cool. Well, that is great advice. What other real advice can you give listeners out there? Anything else that you think is really important?

So I think in today's kind of media consumption world, what's really important is that is the human element. People see brands, but they want to see who's behind the brands. And so what I like to put myself out there is, is to be an advocate and evangelist, even for my clients. Right. As much as we're getting paid to do the work for them, I want to be able to stand up and say, and I'm a proud member too. Right. Not just the president, I'm also a member kind of thing. And so that aspect of the evangelism, you know, we're really seeing that huge in terms of influencer marketing, right. It's the person's face standing up and saying, I back this. So I would, I would say for CEOs and others to really stand up and be okay with you personally being an advocate for your clients as well as getting comfortable with data. So especially in the communications and marketing world, we're becoming a science, right? The fact that we can show impact not just on placements or other things, it's really about marketing and analytics in everything we do. And so making yourself comfortable in reading data is really important as a CEO, whether that means having your own dashboards for things that you're comfortable with, or having a team member that really is in charge of impact and analytics and data. As leaders now, we need to be metrics driven.

Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. I think, you know, especially as you work with a lot of young businesses, really understanding the numbers, whether it is financial numbers or other marketing analytics, like you said, other numbers that really drive the success and drive there are so crucial. So that's really great advice. I appreciate that. Before we get to our last kind of a fun question, is there anyone else, any other successful executives such as yourself that you want to shout out or think should be on this podcast?

Yeah, absolutely. There's a few. Specifically, Brad Feld is an investor, but also wrote a book called Startup Communities. And this is a book that I read yearly. Reminds me of kind of my core North Star of what are the elements that you need in a community to build a successful startup community where people can start companies. So I look to him for a lot of advice around community and ecosystem development. I also really enjoy collaborating with another angel investor here in San Diego and president of Tech Goes Angels, Caitlin Wege. She's just spot on in terms of how we need to diversify the way we invest in companies, how we open up access to more entrepreneurs to give them the chance to start. And lastly, Brett Crosby, who's co founder of what we all know today as Google Analytics, and it started as Urchin analytics, and this is more of the own, your data piece. I really have learned a lot around what's measured gets changed and what you learn and learn. So I look up to Brett from that aspect as well too.

Those are fantastic recommendations. Thank you. I'll be sure to grab their info from you. Thank you. Very cool. Well, our last question is more of a fun question. I always love to know where people came from. And so my last question is really, tell us about your first job.

So I'm gonna give you two. My very first ever job was at Pickup Sticks, which is a fast food Chinese place. What was unique about that was while it was my first job, I also was the first ever to get tips from a fast food chain there. And as. And I, I didn't know that that was unique. And as soon as they asked me to share my tips with everyone else, I promptly quit because I earned them. My first real job out of college was completely different. I went to work on building rocket engines for NASA's space program. And at 23 years old, I did not deserve that kind of experience. But I loved every single second of it. And it was incredibly empowering to work around people who are so passionate about putting people in space. Wasn't something I thought I was into. But you just drank the Kool Aid immediately. And I learned a lot about passion from a culture standpoint.

Wow. I bet, I bet. And those are obviously very different jobs and careers, but I bet you have a lot of really great stories, especially from your, you know, the NASA experience that must have really shaped or at least started to shape who you became as a person.

I would think it absolutely did. Actually, to speak to the data piece, it made me really respect to data and actually it's kind of shaped me. Looking at rocket engine data shaped me as a marketer today and look at marketing as a science.

Wonderful. That's what I've been missing my whole life. That's what I need to do. Go back to that.

Let's go build rocket engine.

Perfect. Done. Very cool. Well, thank you so much, Neil. How can people get ahold of you?

Twitter is the best way to follow me. Eelbloom. You can also find me on our media company's blog, freshbrewedtech. Com. And love to chat with anyone, especially anyone interested in building companies.

Perfect. Well, I appreciate you being on. And this is Anna Crow with the Get Real podcast. For more insights, visit us at cropeart. Com. Thanks so much and make it a great day.