In this episode of Entrepreneur’s Enigma, host Seth interviews marketing legend Bryan Kramer. Bryan, known for coining the phrase H2H (Human to Human), shares his transition from the corporate world to entrepreneurship and the importance of developing a clear vision in leadership.

They discuss Bryan’s TED talk, his move to Portugal, and his personal journey of overcoming burnout. Bryan emphasizes the value of doing the next right thing and discusses his preferred social media channels, such as Instagram for storytelling and LinkedIn for business engagement. This conversation provides insights into the power of relationships and the impact of personal growth on entrepreneurship.

Key Moments

[04:17] HGH: History, growth, and personal success story.

[06:57] Intense work, TED coach, entertainment background, rigorous.

[10:18] Career focused on digital transformation in agencies.

[13:35] Passionate about creating relationships and collaborations.

[18:09] Prefers Instagram for photography, Facebook for personal.

Find Bryan Online

https://bryankramer.com

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Transcript provided by CastMagic.io

Seth [00:00:00]:

Entrepreneur’s Enigma is a podcast for the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, so the wins and the fails that we all face being entrepreneurs, how we learn from adversity. Every week, I talk to a different entrepreneur with a story to tell. I’m Seth Goldstein. Come with me on the journey. This is Entrepreneur’s Enigma. Let’s get started. Hey, everybody. Welcome to another edition of the Entrepreneur’s Enigma podcast.

Seth [00:00:35]:

And as always, Your host, Seth. Today, I have a marketing legend. I mean, he’s humble. He won’t admit it, but he’s a marketing legend. He coined the phrase H two H, which is Human to Human, which is a global movement that sets the humanized business through simpler communications, empathy, and celebrating our imperfections. Brian Kramer is on the show today. He is a renowned Business strategist, keynotes global keynote speaker, executive trainer, coach, 2 time best selling author, a Forbes contributor. He had a TED talk, not TEDx talk.

Seth [00:01:12]:

He had a TED talk where it was he was the first to allow mobile devices during the event to illustrate his belief that even a small inspirational share holds the power to change the world for the better. He’s worked with companies all over the world, including Mastercard, L’Oreal Paris, NASA. List goes on and on and on and on and on. He knows his stuff. Great guy. I read his books. You know, I’m just thrilled to have him on. So let’s bring Brian in here.

Seth [00:01:39]:

Hey, Brian. How’s it going?

Bryan [00:01:42]:

It’s going really well, Seth. Thank you. Thanks. We you would you share the same first name as my brother, so it it it It’s always fun to meet another Seth.

Seth [00:01:51]:

That’s yeah. Well, it’s it’s common, but not that common. It’s weird. It’s kinda like, you bump into him, you’re like, wait, you’re a Seth? You know, but it’s not like Yeah. Is there I mean, nothing like wrong with Brian, but Brian said, Brian, everyone turns. You know, that kind of but that’s Brian with a y, though, because that’s always that was sort of sort of throws everybody off. That’s right. That’s right.

Seth [00:02:11]:

Yep. I have a battle

Bryan [00:02:12]:

with all my my other Brian friends that,

Seth [00:02:15]:

Which one’s better?

Bryan [00:02:16]:

And with the y is the way to spell it.

Seth [00:02:19]:

It looks better with a y, I think.

Bryan [00:02:21]:

Thank you. Thank you. I’m gonna do the best.

Seth [00:02:23]:

Seems to work better. You know? Brian. You know? It’s a it’s a y. It says Brian. Right? Why in? Yeah. Yeah. Whatever. We digress.

Seth [00:02:32]:

We digress. So you’re calling in from Lisbon, Portugal?

Bryan [00:02:35]:

Lisbon as of 3 weeks ago.

Seth [00:02:36]:

Yeah. It’s exciting because you were out in Silicon Valley for a very long

Bryan [00:02:41]:

time. My entire life since the day I was born.

Seth [00:02:44]:

Oh, wow.

Bryan [00:02:45]:

This is a big change. Yeah. So I the only time I moved away was in college in Arizona.

Seth [00:02:52]:

Not that far though.

Bryan [00:02:53]:

Not not too far. Not like that. To Lisbon. So Yeah. Yeah.

Seth [00:02:59]:

So what made you move to Portugal? I mean, I mean, it seems like everyone’s more moving to Portugal. It’s like a really cool place.

Bryan [00:03:03]:

You know, you would think they are. It Feels that way, but really, the US, or Americans are number 20 on the list of of expats. Wow. So it’s not as high as you would think. It’s, it it’s just a a there’s a lot of desire, and there is a lot of people from The EU that’s moving here, for sure.

Seth [00:03:30]:

And I’ve been been temperate climates, grave

Bryan [00:03:32]:

Yeah. You

Seth [00:03:32]:

know, grave views, great old architecture, great food. What’s that not to like?

Bryan [00:03:38]:

Nothing not to like. The the challenge has been the time zone change, but but Honestly, I’ve loved it. I just reversed my because a lot of my clients are Midwest and East Coast, so now I’m I’m just ahead of them instead of behind them.

Seth [00:03:51]:

Oh, that’s kinda handy, actually, come to think of it.

Bryan [00:03:53]:

Yeah. Oh, it’s so cool.

Seth [00:03:56]:

So you are the co owner of Pure Matter And, drum roll, I’m the CEO of h two h companies, which is kind of like, you might as well I mean, if you have a great, you know, moniker, like, h two h, human to human. Might as well use that in other places. So that’s clever. So what is human to human? Like, like, what how did you come up with this?

Bryan [00:04:17]:

Well, so we’ve been talking about we were talking about HGH before it it kind of got, more into the mainstream. I believe that HH has been around since anybody can remember as far as To the day they would you know, any person listening to this has Mhmm. Has has been in the age to age business, for their in their entire life. Where it’s been, where it’s at, and where it’s going are are completely different things. Wow. Where where it’s been, when I When I first wrote the book, before that, I was talking about for 10 years when we had, our agency, and then one day when I was up on stage Talking about it, it, went viral. If everyone lifted their, can’t their phones and took pictures, and it got over 24,000,000 impressions in 24,000,000. And so it just, like, sprung out of there, right place, right time, but also worked on my personal brand to get there to do to to be able to have the platform.

Bryan [00:05:15]:

And, and I was honored and humbled that it it it was able to be heard at the right time. So Yeah. Yeah. Before that, I was just talking to anybody that would listen To a wall if I could on why this was important. And really what HTH is is, like, go back to the dawn of, like, you know, door to door salesman, the The vacuum salesman, the Yeah.

Seth [00:05:34]:

The the

Bryan [00:05:35]:

guy that delivered milk one you know, the the people. And and then now you look at, path fast forward, when social media came on the scene, it broke down all the geography barriers Across the world where we could have conversations anywhere with anyone, which now we consider to be table stakes because it’s been around long enough, but it still is A challenge for companies to get down, how to be HTH. Idea. And now moving forward, it’s even more, it’s become more relevant as written up, You know, in Fast Company and Inc Magazine is the term of the year in the last few years. And, and the reason is because of AI and and, you know, Virtual reality and augmented reality and and and, all of the technologies, bots, and automation, you name it. I mean, the list goes on, and now we’re starting to discover that, that the most important thing is being human, that everyone’s that being human is everyone’s competitive advantage.

Seth [00:06:35]:

It is. It always. So

Bryan [00:06:36]:

that’s what it’s about.

Seth [00:06:38]:

I love it. And so you did a TED talk, not a TEDx talk, a TED talk. And you said there’s, like, Like, 30,000 or 3000 hours of prep for for it. Some insane number. I can’t keep track of what is it 3 something

Bryan [00:06:51]:

as high as 30,000, but it was 300 hours.

Seth [00:06:54]:

All 300 hours is a little lower than 3,000. Still, that’s

Bryan [00:06:56]:

a lot

Seth [00:06:56]:

of hours. Yeah.

Bryan [00:06:57]:

It was still a lot of hours, and it was the most intense, work that I’ve ever done in Wow. By speaking, the speaking side of my career and, the the rigorous amount of time that you put in to to boil something down to less than 20 minutes is Insane. And I just worked with this TED coach who was extraordinary, Juliet Blake, who also was the coproducer On the 5 50 foot, journey with, or, yeah, 50 foot journey with, Oprah Winfrey and and Wow. Steven Spielberg, and she was the president of the Jim Muppets Jim Henson Muppets company and had a lot of Entertainment background. And so when she coached me, she brought a lot of that kind of acting and and and And, fulfillment of all that into the coaching, and that’s where I just just loved it. At the same time, it was rigorous. I mean Oh,

Seth [00:07:54]:

I am sure.

Bryan [00:07:54]:

Relentless,

Seth [00:07:57]:

way more rigorous than a TEDx because, I mean, TEDx is still big, But, like, the TED one is, like, kind of, like, the the crumb of the crumb. We’re gonna take a quick break, hear from our sponsors, and get right back to the show. You know, like, you know, if you got on TED stage, it’s like, oh my god.

Bryan [00:08:12]:

Yeah. It was, it they treated it, You know, like like it was, you know, the most important thing in time wise that you Do, and it’s very, interestingly, it’s very scripted, and I’m not a scripted person. No. I’m I’m I’m much more heart centered when I speak. I know what I’m Gonna generally say bullet points, but

Seth [00:08:34]:

you go off your goal.

Bryan [00:08:36]:

Like an actor. I’m not memorizing line by line. And TED is much more scripted, and so I had to learn a Whole new style of understanding what I was gonna what I was gonna say next and how I was gonna string it together so that it felt organic and natural.

Seth [00:08:51]:

Oh god. That sounds so intimidating. Oh my god. It sounds that sounds insane. I mean but, you know, it’s learning. It’s now you have 2 kinds of the speaking styles now. You have the TEDx kind of speaking style, and you have the Brian Kramer speaking style. I’m sure you still prefer the Brian Kramer speaking style,

Bryan [00:09:07]:

Oh, totally every day. I’m I bring in a lot of what I learned, but I still I’m still on the the b k side of things. Yeah. I’ll I’ll I’ll give a heartfelt talk Every day, any day. Yeah. And and know that that’s that’s gonna be my better style of speaking. But the things, the tricks, the the The the ways that I was taught to speak to step on stage and to enter and to command and to create from one spot the red dot and to Project and and and to make, the story arc, which is the most important thing. The story arc of what you’re saying really makes sense to the person who’s listening so that you get that 1 idea that makes sense, and they walk away with that one thing that that’s gonna make a difference.

Bryan [00:09:52]:

And that to me was just vital.

Seth [00:09:54]:

That’s awesome. So have you been an entrepreneur your whole life, or has this been, like, you know, You got sick of corporate world, and you’re like, screw this. I’m gonna go do my own thing.

Bryan [00:10:04]:

Yep. I was the corporate. Now I was on the agency side my whole career. Okay. So I stepped my my degrees in marketing communications, minor in Japanese, which I did absolutely nothing with.

Seth [00:10:15]:

But I’m sure it’s fun to learn, and the culture and stuff

Bryan [00:10:18]:

You know, if I if I immerse myself like I am here in Lisbon, I’m sure to come back and, being able to, use, some of some of what I learned in the Buddhist culture side of what I did was really fascinating. But anyway, yeah, I I worked right out of school for my 1st agency. My entire career was spent on on transformation digital digital transformation. Oh. So I went from agency to agency to agency. Not that I I I spent time in each place Yeah. Long periods of time, But, my job was to transform the traditional model of agencies over to digital, model of

Seth [00:10:57]:

agencies. Like fun.

Bryan [00:10:58]:

And I did that until I started a company within another company that where they gave me their a p and l and a whole budget and all this stuff, and we grew we are 3 people in great to 78 people. Wow. I have to learn a lot about building a business on someone else’s time, and it really

Seth [00:11:16]:

kinda nice. That’s kinda

Bryan [00:11:18]:

like the game. Or not. Yeah. And it helped me a lot. And so then after that, I met my girlfriend and wife, or now wife. And, and she was a freelance design designer running her own business. And she said, you know, Brian, if you’re doing all this for other companies, Why don’t we you do it for yourself, and so we did. I I exited that stage of my life and and moved into starting Pure Matter in 2000 12,002, and then we grew it to about 30 people, $30,000,000, and worked with all kinds of great brands over the years and and had it last.

Seth [00:11:52]:

And so and and working and how is it working with your significant other?

Bryan [00:11:56]:

Oh, it’s brilliant. We Oh, really? Yeah. We

Seth [00:11:59]:

saying that, or you need to be safe?

Bryan [00:12:02]:

No. No. No. We we really have never that I can think of argued about work, or the company or anything that we do together, because our our our roles are so significantly, different. She is a creative at heart, and I’m a, the business side at heart and the account management and finance and

Seth [00:12:25]:

As it works out, you complement each other.

Bryan [00:12:27]:

Yeah. Oh, very much So so be by having that delineation, it probably helps. But that’s not to say that we haven’t argued about who’s picking up the kids, who’s doing dinner, Or any of that. That that is

Seth [00:12:38]:

for sure. Happens, though. That that’s a given. But yeah. Well, because it’s tough. I mean, like, my wife is my cofounder at my company.

Bryan [00:12:45]:

Oh, wow.

Seth [00:12:46]:

And and, you know, we all or it’s the same thing we all argue. She does the books. She does all the the analytical things that I can’t figure out how to do, and I do everything else. And it’s kinda it’s kinda worked out nicely. So it’s the delineation. But sometimes I hear, oh my god, it’s it’s a trip. So it’s a trip regardless, but sometimes it’s a better trip than others. So what is the best thing about being an entrepreneur in your mind versus or even an intrepreneur? Like, what was the best thing about doing your own thing?

Bryan [00:13:12]:

Shaping what what was next. I love vision. Number 1, leadership and vision is to me, That’s that that’s I thrive on that. That that feeds my soul. Oh. And being able to create vision, you know, against what Meyer might not work, but still leading the way. Yeah. I loved it.

Bryan [00:13:35]:

I love staying on top of new things, and and I love, creating, creating collaborations with with other people, other companies, other partnerships. And that goes into the second thing that I love, which is actually, relationships. And, you know, you might call it sales, but I really Believe in in that I really do embody HGH, and I really think that h that that that creating relationships is, to me, it’s it really, helps me to vibrate at a different level when I know that I’m in congruence with another human being and we’re creating something together. And, so I can’t do I couldn’t I can’t feel that as much, at a at a at companies where I don’t have that Sense of ownership Mhmm. As a leader of my own thing where I can create that in any direction I wanna go. And the drop of a, a pin, I could say, hey. I’m gonna go in this direction. Tomorrow, I could go in a different direction.

Bryan [00:14:33]:

That’s just that’s entrepreneurship.

Seth [00:14:36]:

It is. Someone’s who keeps you up at night as an entrepreneur. I mean, there’s also that part of entrepreneurship is that it’s scary as hell.

Bryan [00:14:43]:

Yeah. Well, what keeps me up now versus what kept me up when I first started are way different. We’re well past 3 companies now, and so I’m very I’m a lot more settled than, what I work on right now is totally different too. I mean, 6 years ago, I Moved into executive coaching to take everything I’ve done in building those companies to help others do the same thing but without burning out.

Seth [00:15:05]:

Oh, yeah. That’s k.

Bryan [00:15:07]:

My my I burned out at a really high level. I was traveling 200 days a year. I got diabetes. I was morbidly obese. I Had, I was running the agency from the road in in all that travel. Yeah. I missed out on my kids’ stuff. And one day, I just I just Came home and I was like I told my wife, I said, I’m I can’t do this at at this speed anymore.

Bryan [00:15:29]:

Yeah. It’s really ruining my life and ours. And So she agreed, and we we exited everything over the course of 6 months. And

Seth [00:15:37]:

Wow. That’s fine.

Bryan [00:15:38]:

Took a year out off, and I, and I got I lost £85. I lost diabetes. I picked my kids up at school and dropped them off every day. I got back in touch with who I was, and then I realized That everything that I just did is, is worth worth something in gold to other people, and I could help them to do that without having to face that.

Seth [00:15:58]:

The burnout sucks.

Bryan [00:15:59]:

That’s what I Yeah. Burnout is horrible.

Seth [00:16:02]:

Oh, it’s the worst. I did that when I was a journalist for 6 years, and I was just like, oh, I burned out that massively. And it it sucks because then you that it takes me 6 years to get past the PTSD from that job.

Bryan [00:16:14]:

6 years.

Seth [00:16:15]:

Oh my gosh. It was insane. So

Bryan [00:16:17]:

That’s a long time.

Seth [00:16:19]:

It’s a long time. And, I mean, I didn’t see any killings or anything like that, but, you know, I saw dead bodies every now and then, and then, you know, it it weighs on you then. It weighs on you guys for a while. So on a positive note, what is the most important thing to carry with you all the time?

Bryan [00:16:34]:

The most positive thing that I carry with me all the time is just simply to do the next right thing.

Seth [00:16:40]:

Oh, I love

Bryan [00:16:41]:

that. That’s all. That’s that’s everything that I need to know right in that one statement. As long as I just do the next right thing, I’m gonna be good. If I do if I if my mind starts to go, in 5,000 different directions, which is entrepreneur ship in in a lot of ways, or I start to worry, or I start to think about, you know, 5 years ago, 10 years ago, how was I gonna pay the bills or, or HR or accounting or all those different things

Seth [00:17:09]:

Yeah.

Bryan [00:17:09]:

I would start to lower my vibration and become less effective. And so as long as I stick to just doing the next right thing and that’s just all I can do, man, it changes everything.

Seth [00:17:21]:

Oh, I love that. That that that’s the first thing that’s ever come out in the with that question, so thank you for that. It’s incredible. So, Brian, where can where do you where’s your order hall online? Where do you hang out the most other than your website? Like, is it LinkedIn? Is it Instagram? I mean, I’m sure it’s gonna be Instagram now that you’re in Lisbon. You’re taking pictures like crazy, but you know?

Bryan [00:17:38]:

I’m trying not to, because I’m I’m trying to be present in, in what I’m doing, and so I That’s for

Seth [00:17:45]:

me. Yeah.

Bryan [00:17:45]:

I’m probably be less on social, then more, I do social doesn’t drive my business and I I changed that a couple years ago, so that I was Relationships drove my drove my business to and so I’m off social unless I want to be, which I still am. Ironic for a guy who wrote a book on social media, and, and so but to answer

Seth [00:18:09]:

a question.

Bryan [00:18:09]:

Instagram is definitely my favorite, because I’m I I am a or I should say, I was a photographer in a past life, and I love photography. And so that that helps I love that for the storytelling and for the connection in through visual. I would say that Facebook is Probably good for personal for me. I I do enjoy it. I don’t enjoy some of the other politic political Whatever. But I do still, engage on Facebook personally with with what’s going on, and then LinkedIn, for sure, for business. I’ll I’ll

Seth [00:18:43]:

call you. You can’t not be On LinkedIn. And they they they kinda cornered that market. And, of course, it’s Brian Kramer with a k and a y. Well, it’s Brian with a y And Kramer with a k, I mean, you really mixed it up there. But com, so people can go check you out over there. And, Brian, this has been such a thrill.

Bryan [00:19:01]:

You You

Seth [00:19:01]:

know, it’s been fun watching watching your TED Talk, you know. And we’ve known of each other for a while, so this has been this has been fun.

Bryan [00:19:08]:

It has been. I know. It’s it’s, It’s always good to to to, be able to wrap, with somebody you’ve you’ve gotten to know digitally over time and actually get to Spend some quality time. So thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

Seth [00:19:21]:

And go have some fun in Lisbon. I’m so jealous.

Bryan [00:19:24]:

I will. And I’ll take I’ll take some pictures too.

Seth [00:19:27]:

Take some pictures. Absolutely. And guess what? We’ll see everyone next time. That was a great show. If you’re enjoying Entrepreneur’s Enigma, please view us in the podcast directory of your choice. Every review helps other podcast listeners find our show. If you’re looking for other podcasts in the marketing space, with no further than the Marketing Podcast Network at marketingpodcasts.net. Goldstein hopes you have enjoyed this episode.