WEBVTT 00:00:10.618 --> 00:00:15.618 < Jake V>All right, welcome everybody to the first episode of Creavo Cast. 00:00:15.618 --> 00:00:23.598 < Jake V>I'm here with my co-host Carl Grivakis from Massachusetts, and I'm from upstate New York, and we're basically back. 00:00:23.598 --> 00:00:28.598 < Jake V>And the reason we say that is we used to have a podcast called Rookie Designer. 00:00:28.598 --> 00:00:34.778 < Jake V>The last time we dropped an episode of that, ironically, was almost exactly six years ago. 00:00:35.518 --> 00:00:39.678 < Jake V>We actually looked it up the other day, and it was January of 2019. 00:00:40.778 --> 00:00:45.318 < Jake V>It is hard to believe that it has been six years since we did an episode. 00:00:45.318 --> 00:00:46.398 < Jake V>Can you believe that, Carl? 00:00:46.398 --> 00:00:47.158 < Carl G>Oh, that's crazy. 00:00:47.158 --> 00:00:52.898 < Carl G>I mean, it's been something we've talked about relaunching every year for the last five years. 00:00:52.898 --> 00:00:55.678 < Carl G>And, you know, life happened. 00:00:55.678 --> 00:00:56.778 < Carl G>COVID happened. 00:00:56.778 --> 00:00:59.978 < Jake V>Yeah, I mean, it's been a crazy, crazy couple of years. 00:01:00.198 --> 00:01:13.758 < Jake V>And so that's how we thought we'd start out, is sharing with you guys what we've been up to, why we haven't been doing a podcast, and then we'll go into why we're doing a podcast again, and what we plan to do with the podcast. 00:01:13.758 --> 00:01:15.238 < Jake V>So let's start with you, Carl. 00:01:15.238 --> 00:01:19.318 < Jake V>You have had a ton of changes in the last six years. 00:01:19.318 --> 00:01:23.538 < Jake V>So why don't you tell us a little bit about what that's all been? 00:01:23.538 --> 00:01:23.878 < Carl G>Okay. 00:01:23.878 --> 00:01:28.778 < Carl G>Let me break it down a few ways, business, family, life, and that kind of thing. 00:01:28.778 --> 00:01:30.658 < Carl G>First off, my family has grown. 00:01:30.658 --> 00:01:32.178 < Carl G>I now have two children. 00:01:32.758 --> 00:01:37.158 < Carl G>One is five years old and one is six months old, and it's been great being a dad. 00:01:37.158 --> 00:01:42.878 < Carl G>Just finished my paternity leave, and I'm just hopping back into the running the business full time. 00:01:42.878 --> 00:01:45.998 < Carl G>It's been great to watch them grow and they're my inspiration. 00:01:45.998 --> 00:01:47.158 < Carl G>They keep me creative. 00:01:47.158 --> 00:01:49.518 < Carl G>They keep me fun, having fun every day. 00:01:49.518 --> 00:02:00.798 < Carl G>Professionally, COVID really slammed us, and we both launched new services to respond to the industry's need for virtual producing, which we'll get into later. 00:02:01.318 --> 00:02:02.638 < Jake V>What is the name of your business? 00:02:02.638 --> 00:02:04.258 < Jake V>And what is that business? 00:02:04.258 --> 00:02:09.998 < Jake V>Because we're going to have a lot of new listeners coming into this new channel or this new brand. 00:02:09.998 --> 00:02:13.998 < Jake V>So don't forget to tell them about what your business is and the name of it. 00:02:13.998 --> 00:02:15.378 < Carl G>Yes, absolutely. 00:02:15.378 --> 00:02:18.518 < Carl G>My business name is Holy Carp Graphic Design. 00:02:18.518 --> 00:02:23.258 < Carl G>I do design work for a variety of companies that are in the training industry. 00:02:23.258 --> 00:02:27.878 < Carl G>I work with a lot of presentation design, booklet design, that kind of thing. 00:02:27.938 --> 00:02:28.978 < Carl G>I also do branding. 00:02:29.218 --> 00:02:35.338 < Carl G>One of the things that I'm proud to say is, I've created several award-winning brands with GD USA. 00:02:35.338 --> 00:02:37.018 < Carl G>Some of them have been published. 00:02:37.018 --> 00:02:43.678 < Carl G>I also run 321 and We're Live, which is a webinar producing service. 00:02:43.678 --> 00:02:56.978 < Carl G>This is a service that consults with companies in trying to learn how to be a producer for webinars, how to best deliver content over Zoom or Teams, and just best practices for the virtual world. 00:02:57.218 --> 00:03:00.318 < Carl G>So that's my two business focuses. 00:03:00.318 --> 00:03:01.438 < Jake V>Well, let's go back to COVID. 00:03:01.438 --> 00:03:07.638 < Jake V>You were starting to talk about how COVID had affected your business and what that had basically done to your business. 00:03:07.638 --> 00:03:08.598 < Jake V>Let's go back to that. 00:03:08.598 --> 00:03:09.818 < Carl G>Back to COVID. 00:03:09.818 --> 00:03:14.018 < Carl G>So everyone went on lockdown and that includes the training industry. 00:03:14.018 --> 00:03:15.118 < Carl G>A lot of people didn't... 00:03:15.118 --> 00:03:17.998 < Carl G>There was so many things that were unknown in the world. 00:03:17.998 --> 00:03:22.278 < Carl G>A lot of people talk about the VUCA world, which we'll have to define later. 00:03:22.278 --> 00:03:24.978 < Carl G>But the U in the word VUCA means uncertainty. 00:03:25.818 --> 00:03:31.638 < Carl G>So companies were still trying to deliver high quality training, but they had to do it virtually. 00:03:31.638 --> 00:03:37.638 < Carl G>And a lot of the people that are in that world didn't know how to do it through Zoom. 00:03:37.638 --> 00:03:42.958 < Carl G>So COVID made everyone that was doing in-person training move online. 00:03:42.958 --> 00:03:50.098 < Carl G>The whole industry kind of shifted to a 90% virtual world for at least two or three years. 00:03:50.098 --> 00:03:51.898 < Carl G>And that kept us really, really busy. 00:03:52.898 --> 00:03:55.858 < Carl G>Things are shifting back to more in-person now. 00:03:55.858 --> 00:03:58.718 < Carl G>So we're kind of seeing a rebalance. 00:03:58.718 --> 00:04:06.358 < Carl G>But since COVID has been kind of, it no longer affects us really in the business world. 00:04:06.358 --> 00:04:09.618 < Carl G>We're rebalancing our focuses as creatives too. 00:04:09.618 --> 00:04:14.838 < Carl G>Because we kind of have to go back to the old styles, but there are new influences on our work. 00:04:14.838 --> 00:04:26.438 < Carl G>And we'll be chatting about some of those from artificial intelligence to new tools and how to remain creative within the industries that we service. 00:04:26.438 --> 00:04:30.098 < Carl G>Because a lot of things are being consolidated too. 00:04:30.098 --> 00:04:33.378 < Carl G>That's something we'll chat about a little more later. 00:04:33.378 --> 00:04:45.258 < Jake V>So it's been really interesting because Carl and I are very parallel in what we do as businesses, but he has a much more focus in the e-learning space and the training space. 00:04:45.258 --> 00:04:52.778 < Jake V>And with my graphic design business, Graphic Precision, I had been more focused on the stationary and direct mail service. 00:04:52.778 --> 00:05:00.918 < Jake V>And it's been interesting to see the shifts in that and what has happened because of COVID and what has happened post COVID. 00:05:00.918 --> 00:05:08.278 < Jake V>And what is a really cool story to tell is how I got into my second business, which is Elevated Virtual. 00:05:08.278 --> 00:05:23.758 < Jake V>And I have Carl to thank for that because in, I think it was about early February of 2020, he introduced me to a training company that he had been working with and working as a designer, but also as a virtual producer. 00:05:23.758 --> 00:05:28.358 < Jake V>And he said to me, he's like, Hey, do you have any interest in becoming a virtual producer? 00:05:28.358 --> 00:05:30.538 < Jake V>And of course, I was like, a what? 00:05:30.538 --> 00:05:33.098 < Jake V>I had no idea what he was talking about. 00:05:33.098 --> 00:05:35.958 < Jake V>And he explained it to me and I said, Oh, that sounds really interesting. 00:05:35.958 --> 00:05:41.638 < Jake V>It sounds like it'd be fun to be involved with technology and do some stuff for this company. 00:05:41.638 --> 00:05:44.098 < Jake V>And he introduced me to the company. 00:05:44.238 --> 00:05:56.858 < Jake V>I met with a couple of people, including the COO and I met the CEO and some of the trainers and felt really comfortable, felt like it was a great pivot for me because I wanted to diversify it. 00:05:56.858 --> 00:06:03.378 < Jake V>Like my design business had been running for many years and I was happy with it, but I was kind of getting stagnant. 00:06:03.378 --> 00:06:05.638 < Jake V>And I'll be honest with you, I was kind of getting bored with it. 00:06:05.638 --> 00:06:11.078 < Jake V>And so this was an opportunity to make a pivot, but continue to do my design work as well. 00:06:11.078 --> 00:06:12.978 < Jake V>And then March 2020 happened. 00:06:13.838 --> 00:06:22.078 < Jake V>And we all know that that was when the world basically shut down and businesses were shut down and people had to figure out what to do. 00:06:22.078 --> 00:06:31.178 < Jake V>And like Carl was talking about, the training industry was hugely affected because they had to figure out how to go online with everything. 00:06:31.178 --> 00:06:48.838 < Jake V>So the opportunity that I was able to pivot into doing virtual production work was absolutely insane because in April of 2020, that company put on a multi-track, multi-day event to prove to their clients that their trainers could do it in virtual. 00:06:48.838 --> 00:06:54.138 < Jake V>And I always laughed because my training was, hey, go run that Zoom room over there. 00:06:54.138 --> 00:06:55.798 < Jake V>And I was like, doing what? 00:06:55.798 --> 00:06:58.658 < Jake V>And their answer was, we don't know. 00:06:58.658 --> 00:07:02.138 < Jake V>And so we had to figure everything out on the fly. 00:07:02.138 --> 00:07:07.238 < Jake V>Now, Carl had been doing some stuff in Zoom and he had also used Adobe Connect and a couple other platforms. 00:07:07.818 --> 00:07:14.298 < Jake V>But nobody really understood what was going to happen with virtual training when we made that pivot. 00:07:14.298 --> 00:07:16.358 < Jake V>And so it was a great event. 00:07:16.358 --> 00:07:18.558 < Jake V>It went off absolutely wonderfully. 00:07:18.558 --> 00:07:22.578 < Jake V>It gave them the opportunity to really showcase that they could do it. 00:07:22.578 --> 00:07:29.438 < Jake V>And that turned in to be one of our biggest clients in the next few years after COVID hit. 00:07:29.438 --> 00:07:35.418 < Jake V>Including, and I think it was 22, where it became absolutely monstrous. 00:07:35.998 --> 00:07:40.538 < Jake V>We were doing between six and ten sessions each, a week. 00:07:40.538 --> 00:07:45.298 < Jake V>And it was amazing and it was a lot of fun, and it was a lot of work, which was great because we made a lot of money. 00:07:45.298 --> 00:07:51.998 < Jake V>But it was so cool to make that pivot and have it really open the door for me, especially with that one client. 00:07:51.998 --> 00:08:04.918 < Jake V>And then obviously, as time went on, you and I have been working to land other clients in that space, whether it's doing the design stuff for them, for their course or their training, and then helping them on the back end with the technology. 00:08:04.918 --> 00:08:09.498 < Jake V>And it's been a great experience for the last five years basically. 00:08:09.498 --> 00:08:15.058 < Jake V>And so part of that's why we haven't done the podcast because we got extremely busy during COVID. 00:08:15.058 --> 00:08:18.318 < Jake V>And we were very blessed during COVID and we know that. 00:08:18.318 --> 00:08:25.258 < Jake V>And sometimes it's hard to talk about that because we know how many people struggled during that time. 00:08:25.258 --> 00:08:26.338 < Jake V>Now let's fast forward. 00:08:26.338 --> 00:08:29.598 < Jake V>We've been through COVID and now we're on the other side of COVID. 00:08:29.598 --> 00:08:37.618 < Jake V>We're post-COVID and things have kind of slowed down in the training industry, especially in the end of 23, beginning of 24. 00:08:37.618 --> 00:08:40.598 < Jake V>Things really seem to slow down for the industry as a whole. 00:08:40.598 --> 00:08:50.978 < Jake V>And I think the reason for that personally was they were trying to figure out, okay, we're coming out of this COVID world of everything being virtual to now people are hybrid. 00:08:50.978 --> 00:08:53.278 < Jake V>There are some in the office, some not in the office. 00:08:53.278 --> 00:08:55.538 < Jake V>Some people want to have their training in the office. 00:08:55.618 --> 00:09:01.678 < Jake V>Some people don't and so the training industry was really trying to figure out what that turmoil was going to settle out to be. 00:09:01.678 --> 00:09:07.458 < Jake V>And so 2020 had been a rough year for a lot of training companies, a lot of producers. 00:09:07.458 --> 00:09:15.958 < Jake V>And so the shift for myself and I know Carl as well, our business kind of shifted back to doing more design work and more marketing. 00:09:15.958 --> 00:09:19.038 < Jake V>And so it's been a really interesting, like great pivot. 00:09:19.038 --> 00:09:23.538 < Jake V>But now I'm pivoting back a little bit, but yet we're still doing the virtual production work. 00:09:23.898 --> 00:09:29.598 < Jake V>And so it's been an interesting thing for both of us to really juggle these these two main services that we offer. 00:09:29.598 --> 00:09:35.658 < Jake V>What would you say was your favorite part about producing during COVID? 00:09:37.318 --> 00:09:44.978 < Carl G>A lot of the content that was being taught, because our focus on producing has been learning new skills, how to work well together. 00:09:44.978 --> 00:09:52.278 < Carl G>Collaboration is the big buzzword, but learning how to actually collaborate with others was what our clients were teaching. 00:09:52.518 --> 00:09:59.118 < Carl G>So learning that content and then applying it in our industry is going to be key, I think, going forward. 00:09:59.118 --> 00:10:06.658 < Carl G>Definitely learning that content, learning how people applied it, and meeting a whole bunch of people that are just trying to do the same. 00:10:06.658 --> 00:10:07.578 < Jake V>Absolutely. 00:10:07.578 --> 00:10:08.918 < Jake V>Yeah, I think the same thing. 00:10:08.918 --> 00:10:25.818 < Jake V>I think there was a thing that was really cool for me was the fact that we got to see trainers train, and we got to see what pitfalls they saw, what really good successes they saw, and then we got to see the different training programs were out there. 00:10:25.818 --> 00:10:31.998 < Jake V>And what was really cool is working with different clients and different trainers, we got to see different techniques. 00:10:31.998 --> 00:10:40.738 < Jake V>And so we both had talked about, we really loved the fact that we can now go to a trainer and suggest ways that they can do it better. 00:10:40.738 --> 00:10:46.398 < Jake V>And so there's still a lot of people that aren't as comfortable in virtual as you would think. 00:10:46.398 --> 00:10:53.478 < Jake V>And it's funny because I always chuckle when we do a training session and the people have trouble with Zoom. 00:10:53.478 --> 00:10:55.618 < Jake V>And I'm like, how do you not know how to use Zoom? 00:10:55.618 --> 00:10:59.998 < Jake V>But the problem is a lot of these corporations move to Teams. 00:10:59.998 --> 00:11:04.198 < Jake V>And so that's their meeting platform, that's their video platform. 00:11:04.198 --> 00:11:08.678 < Jake V>So for them to do training in Zoom, sometimes it's still new to them. 00:11:08.678 --> 00:11:21.798 < Jake V>And so it's been fun to be able to teach those people, hey, here's how the tools work and help the trainers really access those tools such as breakout rooms, the whiteboard, the polls, things like that. 00:11:21.798 --> 00:11:28.158 < Jake V>And going back to why we're doing this podcast, we help them be more creative. 00:11:28.158 --> 00:11:33.638 < Jake V>And with being more creative, we were able to help them enhance that engagement. 00:11:33.638 --> 00:11:42.118 < Jake V>So what we're really here to do with this podcast is we want to have conversations that spark collaboration. 00:11:43.058 --> 00:11:45.458 < Jake V>That's the key for this podcast. 00:11:45.458 --> 00:11:50.458 < Jake V>Again, it's to have conversations that spark collaboration. 00:11:52.038 --> 00:11:57.458 < Jake V>So what are some of the ways that you've seen that in your design business? 00:11:57.458 --> 00:12:02.958 < Jake V>How has creative services, creative ideas, how have they helped with collaboration? 00:12:05.178 --> 00:12:13.778 < Carl G>So oftentimes, things start out with, you have to consider who's the leader of the whole project, which is common, right? 00:12:13.778 --> 00:12:20.158 < Carl G>And you got to see where your skills are and where your skills are outliers, and you got to bring other people in. 00:12:20.158 --> 00:12:23.098 < Carl G>That's the creative collaboration that I'm thinking about. 00:12:23.098 --> 00:12:25.238 < Carl G>I've worked with companies that... 00:12:25.238 --> 00:12:33.478 < Carl G>I did a food truck where I really was partnering up with the client who's a marketing guru, trying to expand his... 00:12:33.718 --> 00:12:36.458 < Carl G>He wants to work in a space that's food service. 00:12:36.458 --> 00:12:47.758 < Carl G>So we worked together collaborating on the creative side of creating that food truck, how we're going to market it, the themes that we're creating, and just like... 00:12:47.758 --> 00:12:50.838 < Carl G>We went through a lot of iterations working together. 00:12:50.838 --> 00:12:56.058 < Carl G>And then I bounced the ideas off several other designers just to get their input. 00:12:56.058 --> 00:12:58.398 < Carl G>Now, there are deeper ways to collaborate. 00:12:58.398 --> 00:13:04.998 < Carl G>You know, we use services like Trello and Teams, and I'm forgetting some of these other ones that we use. 00:13:04.998 --> 00:13:09.458 < Jake V>Yeah, I mean, we use Slack quite a bit with the group that we're in. 00:13:09.458 --> 00:13:10.358 < Carl G>Yeah. 00:13:10.358 --> 00:13:12.758 < Carl G>And these are tools to help collaborate. 00:13:12.758 --> 00:13:18.858 < Carl G>But then if you want to do a live creative session, you can hop on Zoom and there's a whole bunch of tools available now. 00:13:18.858 --> 00:13:23.318 < Carl G>So if you're not an illustrator, bring in an illustrator. 00:13:23.318 --> 00:13:34.378 < Carl G>If you're not a writer, bring in a good creative writer or bring in someone that knows how to generate good content and then change the voice to match the brand. 00:13:34.378 --> 00:13:38.058 < Carl G>We work together on several different creative assets too. 00:13:38.058 --> 00:13:38.238 < Jake V>Yeah. 00:13:38.238 --> 00:13:48.358 < Jake V>And I think that's something we'll talk about in a podcast upcoming, is why it is so important to build your network in the creative industry. 00:13:48.358 --> 00:13:55.058 < Jake V>For so many years, and I know I talked about this on Rookie Designer when we did that podcast way back then. 00:13:55.058 --> 00:14:01.678 < Jake V>There was always the stigma of, I'm a designer, and I'm going to protect my clients, and I'm going to protect my work. 00:14:01.678 --> 00:14:08.378 < Jake V>And as we grew as business people, we realized that that's just horrible mentality. 00:14:08.378 --> 00:14:10.598 < Jake V>It is not the right mindset. 00:14:10.598 --> 00:14:12.338 < Jake V>You're a designer, I'm a designer. 00:14:12.338 --> 00:14:17.618 < Jake V>And granted, we have the relationship we have, and we have the trust that we have, and you do need to build that. 00:14:17.618 --> 00:14:24.018 < Jake V>But you can't be so afraid to talk to another designer about a project, to get feedback, to get ideas. 00:14:24.018 --> 00:14:29.418 < Jake V>And the other thing is, you can't be so afraid as a designer to give that information. 00:14:29.418 --> 00:14:40.338 < Jake V>Don't think that if you give an idea that they're going to necessarily steal it, they may take it and put their own twist on it and say thank you, but don't hold back. 00:14:40.338 --> 00:14:45.198 < Jake V>Don't feel like you can't collaborate with another designer or another creative. 00:14:45.198 --> 00:14:58.958 < Jake V>I think that's really important, and we have both seen people that are new to the industry feel like, oh, that's not the way to do things, and we both know now after being in business for a while, we can't do it all. 00:14:58.958 --> 00:15:04.978 < Jake V>So we'll talk about how we've gone about fixing that issue in a future podcast. 00:15:04.978 --> 00:15:13.498 < Jake V>So part of the goal of this podcast, like I said, is to talk about what sparks collaboration through creativity. 00:15:13.498 --> 00:15:16.178 < Jake V>Carl, why don't you talk about the name? 00:15:16.918 --> 00:15:19.158 < Jake V>Where did Creavo come from? 00:15:19.158 --> 00:15:21.858 < Jake V>And how did that become the name of our podcast? 00:15:23.758 --> 00:15:27.838 < Carl G>So you and I were chatting about this idea several years ago. 00:15:27.838 --> 00:15:35.538 < Carl G>I think the Creavo brand was created three years ago when we were chatting about relaunching our podcast. 00:15:35.538 --> 00:15:47.698 < Carl G>And I just wanted to create something that would, it's a unique word, it's its own word, and it's kind of an amalgamation of creative and collaboration. 00:15:47.698 --> 00:15:50.438 < Carl G>Bring them together with Creavo. 00:15:50.438 --> 00:15:55.658 < Carl G>And then, you know, our logo was the idea that we have a back and forth. 00:15:55.658 --> 00:16:00.858 < Carl G>We ask questions, we do a deeper dive into the stories behind the business. 00:16:00.858 --> 00:16:03.918 < Carl G>And that sparks what we create. 00:16:03.918 --> 00:16:05.898 < Carl G>So very simple logo concept. 00:16:05.898 --> 00:16:17.738 < Carl G>I brought in a friend to help execute on that because I just didn't, I had ideas but, and sketches, but I didn't want to kind of, I wanted someone else to help me with it. 00:16:17.738 --> 00:16:24.558 < Carl G>So we, we got another friend to help design it, create some colors that are very unique and very bright. 00:16:24.558 --> 00:16:28.898 < Carl G>And I think they bring up the spirit of what we're trying to create. 00:16:28.898 --> 00:16:30.858 < Carl G>And now we have our brand. 00:16:30.858 --> 00:16:50.738 < Carl G>And, you know, this, this whole thing is becoming kind of like a collaborative where we work with marketing people and web designers and each other where we want to create a collaboration that makes our businesses service a lot larger clients or service clients better as well. 00:16:50.838 --> 00:16:56.138 < Jake V>It's funny what you said about asking somebody from the outside to help you with the logo. 00:16:56.138 --> 00:17:01.978 < Jake V>It is amazing how difficult it can be to design a logo for your own business. 00:17:01.978 --> 00:17:02.298 < Carl G>Yes. 00:17:02.298 --> 00:17:05.718 < Jake V>I struggled with that for years when I started Graphic Precision. 00:17:05.898 --> 00:17:09.878 < Jake V>And I've even revamped that recently in the last couple of years. 00:17:09.878 --> 00:17:18.258 < Jake V>And it came from help from an outside source because as we always have heard the saying, the shoemaker always has the worst shoes. 00:17:18.258 --> 00:17:23.818 < Jake V>And ironically that right now, as I'm recording this with you, my own website is not up. 00:17:23.818 --> 00:17:29.978 < Jake V>It has been under construction for several months because again, the shoemaker has the worst shoes. 00:17:29.978 --> 00:17:34.058 < Jake V>The designer has the worst website because he hasn't taken the time to go work on that. 00:17:34.258 --> 00:17:43.498 < Jake V>And that's the whole other conversation we can have in a future podcast about working in your business and on your business and what the difference is between the two of those. 00:17:43.498 --> 00:17:46.318 < Jake V>So yeah, so it's great the way that all came together. 00:17:46.318 --> 00:17:56.758 < Jake V>It's really cool the way we were able to kind of morph that word into something that really is like striking and really like says something about what the podcast is gonna be. 00:17:56.758 --> 00:17:57.898 < Jake V>I love the branding. 00:17:57.898 --> 00:17:58.998 < Jake V>The branding is perfect. 00:17:58.998 --> 00:18:02.898 < Jake V>The colors, like you said, are bright, uplifting, a lot of fun. 00:18:03.178 --> 00:18:11.118 < Jake V>So I'm looking forward to really putting that brand out there and having it be part of what the two of us are doing together. 00:18:11.118 --> 00:18:18.698 < Jake V>So, what has changed between what we did as Rookie Designer and what we're doing now as Creavo? 00:18:20.538 --> 00:18:22.298 < Carl G>Do you want to talk about that first? 00:18:22.298 --> 00:18:23.518 < Jake V>Sure, I could start with that. 00:18:23.518 --> 00:18:35.058 < Jake V>To me, Rookie Designer was our way of giving back after we had been in business for several years and had said, you know, we remember what it was to be that Rookie Designer. 00:18:35.058 --> 00:18:37.998 < Jake V>Now, I would go back and listen to some of those episodes. 00:18:37.998 --> 00:18:42.118 < Jake V>You'll hear the history of how we came about having that podcast. 00:18:42.118 --> 00:18:43.578 < Jake V>We did not start it. 00:18:43.578 --> 00:18:50.138 < Jake V>It actually came from a gentleman named Adam Hay, and he started it many, many, many, many years ago. 00:18:50.138 --> 00:18:54.418 < Jake V>And it's crazy how long that brand and that podcast have been around. 00:18:54.418 --> 00:19:02.038 < Jake V>But what I felt personally is after a while, I didn't want to get the stigma that people thought we were rookies. 00:19:02.038 --> 00:19:05.118 < Jake V>And Carl and I went back and forth on this. 00:19:05.118 --> 00:19:06.658 < Jake V>Sometimes he was like, yeah, I get it. 00:19:06.658 --> 00:19:10.178 < Jake V>Sometimes he was like, well, it's brand, it's not really who you are. 00:19:10.178 --> 00:19:17.418 < Jake V>But I always felt like it was starting to become a bit of a stigma after being in business for 8, 9, 10 years. 00:19:17.418 --> 00:19:21.958 < Jake V>I was like, hey, you know, I really don't want to have anything that's associated as being a rookie. 00:19:24.138 --> 00:19:27.878 < Jake V>So that was partly why we shelved it back in 2019. 00:19:27.878 --> 00:19:30.938 < Jake V>We decided we wanted to figure out what we were going to do with it. 00:19:30.938 --> 00:19:32.118 < Jake V>Are we going to rebrand it? 00:19:32.118 --> 00:19:37.478 < Jake V>Are we going to continue it and just have the mentality that we're actually helping people rather than we're the rookies? 00:19:37.478 --> 00:19:39.578 < Jake V>So we went back and forth for quite a while. 00:19:39.578 --> 00:19:44.058 < Jake V>And then we decided, hey, let's take a different direction. 00:19:44.058 --> 00:19:46.318 < Jake V>And that's where Creavo came. 00:19:46.318 --> 00:19:48.718 < Jake V>We said, we're mature designers. 00:19:48.718 --> 00:19:50.058 < Jake V>We've grown up in the industry. 00:19:50.718 --> 00:19:52.678 < Jake V>I've been in business for 15 years. 00:19:52.678 --> 00:19:55.578 < Jake V>How long have you been on your own now? 00:19:55.578 --> 00:19:57.578 < Carl G>Starting my 10th year and 9th year. 00:19:57.578 --> 00:19:59.258 < Jake V>So you're starting your 9th year. 00:19:59.258 --> 00:20:04.378 < Jake V>Both of us have been in the industry for 20 plus years, I would say. 00:20:04.378 --> 00:20:09.038 < Carl G>According to this receipt behind me, I get a point the right way. 00:20:09.038 --> 00:20:16.958 < Carl G>According to this receipt, I graduated in 2004 with a bachelor in fine arts and graphic design, and I started work that year. 00:20:16.998 --> 00:20:17.718 < Jake V>Wow. 00:20:17.718 --> 00:20:20.298 < Jake V>So that's 20 years. 00:20:20.298 --> 00:20:20.918 < Jake V>21. 00:20:21.058 --> 00:20:31.358 < Carl G>And a hat tip to our history, our roots, graphic design forum, and the other places where we started chatting and we're moderators together. 00:20:31.358 --> 00:20:31.818 < Jake V>Yeah. 00:20:31.918 --> 00:20:38.698 < Jake V>And we'll go into that story as well down the road, because we realized we're going to get new listeners. 00:20:38.698 --> 00:20:46.238 < Jake V>We did make some changes to the Rookie Designer Facebook page that will now become Create a Creavo Cast. 00:20:46.238 --> 00:20:52.818 < Jake V>It's going to take me a while to get that word out of my mouth correctly enough times, especially with Creavo Cast. 00:20:52.818 --> 00:20:55.198 < Jake V>We also changed the LinkedIn page. 00:20:55.198 --> 00:20:57.458 < Jake V>We have changed the YouTube channel. 00:20:57.458 --> 00:21:02.318 < Jake V>That's the other thing we will let you know is we will be doing video as well as audio. 00:21:02.318 --> 00:21:13.118 < Jake V>So the show will be available on YouTube as a video, and then it'll be available places like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, any of those places as audio as well. 00:21:13.378 --> 00:21:17.178 < Jake V>We will have a site at creavocast.com. 00:21:17.178 --> 00:21:19.718 < Jake V>Most likely, that's how you're finding out about this as well. 00:21:19.718 --> 00:21:31.258 < Jake V>So we've made changes to a lot of the Rookie Designer pages that were out there because we did want to bring this brand out in front of the people that had been following Rookie Designer. 00:21:31.258 --> 00:21:35.718 < Jake V>However, please realize that Rookie Designer still exists. 00:21:35.718 --> 00:21:38.958 < Jake V>rookiedesigner.com will continue to be live. 00:21:38.958 --> 00:21:45.258 < Jake V>Those podcasts will continue to be live, and what we will do is we will actually link the sites to each other. 00:21:45.258 --> 00:21:56.738 < Jake V>So if somebody does go to Rookie Designer, they'll see we have a new brand, they have a new podcast, and if people come to Creavo and are interested in our past, they can go and listen to some of the stuff at Rookie Designer. 00:21:56.738 --> 00:21:59.498 < Jake V>So that's why we made the change. 00:21:59.498 --> 00:22:09.998 < Jake V>We feel like we've matured as business owners, as graphic designers and as marketers, and felt it was time to take a different direction in the conversations that we're going to have. 00:22:11.058 --> 00:22:17.938 < Jake V>So, some of the formats that we're going to talk in this podcast are interviews. 00:22:17.938 --> 00:22:22.038 < Jake V>So we are going to be interviewing other business owners. 00:22:22.038 --> 00:22:27.358 < Jake V>That doesn't necessarily mean they're going to be designers or they're going to be in the creative industry. 00:22:27.358 --> 00:22:34.678 < Jake V>Because one of the things that I really wanted to bring to this podcast was, how does a lawyer use creativity? 00:22:34.678 --> 00:22:36.858 < Jake V>How does a business coach use creativity? 00:22:37.818 --> 00:22:44.478 < Jake V>How does anybody in any industry use creativity and also use collaboration? 00:22:44.478 --> 00:22:48.698 < Jake V>But also, how do they use creativity to foster that collaboration? 00:22:48.698 --> 00:22:54.558 < Jake V>So really tying all those things together for anybody that is in any business. 00:22:54.558 --> 00:23:00.258 < Jake V>So realize that we may have somebody on here who you're like, hey, they're not in the creative industry. 00:23:00.258 --> 00:23:01.838 < Jake V>What are they doing on this podcast? 00:23:01.838 --> 00:23:11.098 < Jake V>It's because we want to pick their brains as to how they're doing stuff differently with their business around creativity and collaboration. 00:23:11.098 --> 00:23:14.618 < Jake V>So what are some of the things that you look forward to talking about? 00:23:16.658 --> 00:23:25.138 < Carl G>I look forward to talking to people that are looking to hire the right creative for what they want. 00:23:26.318 --> 00:23:41.478 < Carl G>I'm looking forward to chatting with people that are in the marketing industry and talking about sales funnels and how to generate profiles for their clients and how to, why you do that and how to utilize that stuff as a resource. 00:23:43.278 --> 00:23:45.818 < Carl G>I want to talk about creativity at scale. 00:23:45.818 --> 00:23:55.458 < Carl G>Like, you know, if you're working, if you own a creative business that has employees, how do you keep them all fed? 00:23:55.458 --> 00:23:58.438 < Carl G>How do you keep bringing in the bigger projects for that? 00:23:58.438 --> 00:24:02.598 < Carl G>And how do you service the small projects that those are, if you're a one-man show? 00:24:02.598 --> 00:24:05.658 < Carl G>So I'm looking forward to those types of conversations. 00:24:05.658 --> 00:24:10.178 < Carl G>And then there are people that are creating different ways of thinking about things. 00:24:10.178 --> 00:24:21.418 < Carl G>And, you know, we've got people in the hopper for who we could interview, how to talk about design thinking and, you know, getting unstuck, that kind of thing. 00:24:21.418 --> 00:24:22.258 < Carl G>How are you? 00:24:22.258 --> 00:24:32.158 < Jake V>I'm looking forward to talking about things like AI and how that's affecting our business, but not necessarily just our business, how it's affecting a lot of other businesses. 00:24:32.158 --> 00:24:37.918 < Jake V>I'm looking forward to talking to people about how to do business with business itself. 00:24:37.918 --> 00:24:42.638 < Jake V>Like how to think about your taxes, how to think about running a business. 00:24:42.638 --> 00:24:47.678 < Jake V>Again, talking about how do you work on your business, not just working in your business. 00:24:47.678 --> 00:24:57.618 < Jake V>We are both solopreneurs, so it would be really interesting to talk to other solopreneurs that may be in other types of businesses to see like, how did they get started? 00:24:58.238 --> 00:25:00.698 < Jake V>What have been their strong points? 00:25:00.698 --> 00:25:02.838 < Jake V>What have been their tough times? 00:25:02.838 --> 00:25:12.578 < Jake V>So I think that it would be really interesting to talk to all these different people about different aspects of their business, as well as what it means in the creative space. 00:25:12.578 --> 00:25:19.358 < Jake V>I also really look forward to just having this conversation with you again, because I think we have really missed that. 00:25:19.358 --> 00:25:28.558 < Jake V>As much as we would talk a lot over the last six years, it was probably once a quarter we would jump on a call and actually have a conversation. 00:25:28.558 --> 00:25:33.298 < Jake V>Now we don't have to wait for months a quarter, we could actually have these conversations. 00:25:33.418 --> 00:25:40.358 < Jake V>And I just look forward to talking about what crazy stuff's going on in the business and creative space in the news. 00:25:40.358 --> 00:25:44.398 < Jake V>I mean Adobe has made some amazing changes. 00:25:44.398 --> 00:25:46.398 < Jake V>Canva is now on the market. 00:25:46.398 --> 00:25:51.038 < Jake V>We all hated that thing when it first came out, but I'll be honest with you, it's pretty impressive. 00:25:51.038 --> 00:25:56.978 < Jake V>And they actually have had a relationship where they have now brought affinity in-house. 00:25:56.978 --> 00:25:58.418 < Jake V>That is huge news. 00:25:58.418 --> 00:26:07.538 < Jake V>So I look forward to having conversations with you when those things come up so that we can really share our input and then possibly have somebody on and get their input as well. 00:26:07.538 --> 00:26:09.238 < Jake V>That's always the opportunity. 00:26:09.238 --> 00:26:12.518 < Jake V>I mean, if somebody from Adobe wants to come on, I wouldn't say no. 00:26:12.518 --> 00:26:15.918 < Jake V>If somebody from Canva wants to come on, I wouldn't say no. 00:26:15.918 --> 00:26:17.618 < Jake V>Somebody wants to come on from Zoom. 00:26:17.618 --> 00:26:19.178 < Jake V>I wouldn't say no to that either. 00:26:19.178 --> 00:26:39.978 < Jake V>There is a lot that I look forward to talking about because we have really done a lot in the last six years and I think that Creavo is a great way for us to basically take everything we've learned in the last six years, continue to learn, to share, and to really grow as entrepreneurs in the creative space. 00:26:39.978 --> 00:26:42.638 < Jake V>And I look forward to doing that. 00:26:42.638 --> 00:26:44.178 < Carl G>Absolutely. 00:26:44.178 --> 00:26:45.378 < Carl G>Absolutely. 00:26:45.378 --> 00:26:52.418 < Jake V>So with that, we're going to let you know that we are going to set the goal of pushing one of these out a week. 00:26:52.418 --> 00:26:53.678 < Jake V>It is a bit ambitious. 00:26:53.818 --> 00:26:55.158 < Jake V>We'll get to see what happens. 00:26:55.158 --> 00:26:57.258 < Jake V>We're going to try our best to make that happen. 00:26:57.258 --> 00:27:04.318 < Jake V>So this will go out and we'll probably have a couple of episodes you can watch back when we launch. 00:27:04.318 --> 00:27:08.718 < Jake V>But after the first week, we will be putting episodes out every week. 00:27:08.718 --> 00:27:12.778 < Jake V>Again, you can find that on the YouTube channel, which is youtube.com/creavocast. 00:27:15.318 --> 00:27:20.458 < Jake V>And then we will also have our website up soon, creavocast.com if it's not already. 00:27:20.458 --> 00:27:25.958 < Jake V>You can find all the links there to where you can go to watch or to listen. 00:27:25.958 --> 00:27:32.158 < Jake V>And I thank everybody for watching and listening, and I really look forward to where this is gonna take us. 00:27:32.158 --> 00:27:33.678 < Jake V>You excited, Carl? 00:27:34.698 --> 00:27:36.938 < Carl G>Very excited, glad to be back at this. 00:27:36.938 --> 00:27:38.118 < Jake V>Yes, me too. 00:27:38.118 --> 00:27:40.958 < Jake V>And we'll see you guys later, take care. 00:27:40.958 --> 00:27:41.438 < Carl G>Thank you, Jake.