For episode 200, I decided to celebrate by having my good friend Melissa on the show to have more of a discussion than an interview.

We talked for more than 20 minutes about how men balance family and entrepreneurship.

So many times, people ask women how they do it, we flipped the script.

Also at the time of recording, I had laryngitis so I sound like a frog trying to imitate Barry White. So bear with me and my voice.

Melissa is the founder and chief wordsmith of Oxford & Em a content writing outfit that is top notch and amazing.

Key Moments

[00:00] Episode 200: discussing fatherhood and entrepreneurship.

[05:50] Fascinating perspective on marketing and writing.

[09:43] First call reveals clients’ true nature.

[10:25] How do you manage different roles effectively?

[14:54] Busy schedule includes cooking, kid’s activities.

[17:58] Curious about favorite and least favorite web design?

[22:24] Preparing for writing with morning walks and reflection.

[23:35] Struggling to share without feeling awkward.

Find Melissa Online

https://oxfordandem.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-garretson/

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Also, if you’re getting value from the show and want to buy me a coffee, go to the show notes to get the link to get me a coffee to keep me awake, while I work on bringing you more great episodes to your ears. →  https://gmwd.us/buy-me-a-coffee

Follow Seth Online:

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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. This is Seth, your host with the most.

Seth [00:00:35]:
I sound like a frog trying to be very white today because my son gave me laryngitis. But this is episode 200, So I wanted to have a buddy on here, Melissa Gerritsen, to kind of flip the tables again. Wow. I said awesome. Flip the tables again, and let’s talk about what it’s like to be a dad and a parent And being entrepreneur. Because she threw back at me. She’s like, well, why is it always about, like, how women do it? It was, well, how do men do it? You know? And it’s kinda kinda true. Like, We’re all in it together, and it’s kind of, like, insane how everyone’s like, well, how women do it? Because women are, like, supposedly the caretaker, But, you know, a lot of times there’s men there that are caretakers too, and, like, how do they balance everything? So we’re gonna flip the tables.

Seth [00:01:21]:
We’re gonna see how this goes and stuff. So

Melissa [00:01:24]:
Well, I mean, Seth, what I think is is fascinating about you I mean, you know, I know you personally, so, I know how you operate. And, I

Seth [00:01:32]:
I you think so.

Melissa [00:01:34]:
I really think the secret to your success is your amazing wife.

Seth [00:01:39]:
Oh, it’s no. It’s just just no. Meredith is the is a force to be reckoned with in in the family. Absolutely.

Melissa [00:01:46]:
Yeah. But no. Yeah. I mean, I’m just curious because I know you have a lot, A lot a lot a lot going on. And, I also know that your your family is also a big part of your life, obviously, and you do take a lot of time to to be with them. I think you’re very conscious. It’s not like some you know, it’s not like, oh, you just, like, escape and then

Speaker C [00:02:08]:
No. I didn’t escape a lot, actually. Don’t don’t don’t give

Seth [00:02:10]:
me too much credit here. I didn’t escape to the basement constantly because my kids is an 11 year old nutcase.

Melissa [00:02:17]:
Yeah. Well, yeah, I hear you there.

Seth [00:02:19]:
I know you guy you have a 12 year old nutcase, you know, that you run into

Melissa [00:02:22]:
your office to hide from. You know, a delightful a delightful in that case.

Seth [00:02:26]:
They’re delightful times, and other times, they’re just complete Tasmanian devils.

Melissa [00:02:32]:
Well, you know, I think, our pediatrician once said that strong willed children become very successful adults. So he’s, like, this is exactly what you want.

Seth [00:02:41]:
If if he survives childhood, he’ll be very successful.

Melissa [00:02:48]:
Well, I’m rooting for him.

Seth [00:02:49]:
I am too. He’s gonna be a lawyer. It’s it’s constant with him. Yeah. He always like, oh my god. I’ll give you 4 hours on such and such, and he’s like, well, how about 4:30? I’m like, oh my god. Negotiate, negotiate, negotiate.

Melissa [00:03:02]:
Yeah. I believe it. And so I do wanna just pull back for a second because I know, like, I’m not sure how familiar all of your listeners are with everything that’s on your plate. And I was trying to think about it, and I know you’ve got You’ve got entrepreneurs enigma, which I’m sure is not, like, you know, just a little cute couple hour thing. It takes a significant amount of time. You’ve got your marketing gen

Speaker C [00:03:25]:
to. Mhmm.

Melissa [00:03:26]:
And then you’ve got Goldstein Media. Right?

Speaker C [00:03:29]:
Yeah. I do a lot. Okay.

Melissa [00:03:31]:
Am I missing anything? What else is that

Seth [00:03:33]:
I have planned for? That’s enough of stuff I have.

Melissa [00:03:36]:
So what’s how does it work for you? Like, do you get up in the morning and say, like, okay. So from 8 to 10,

Seth [00:03:42]:
I’m gonna do this stuff,

Melissa [00:03:43]:
and then from 10 yeah?

Seth [00:03:45]:
I own plan. I come down, I get done Monday, get done, and I go go to sleep.

Melissa [00:03:50]:
So what so how do you like, what does that look like for you? What is your day Oh,

Seth [00:03:54]:
it’s giant cluster. Oh, wait. It is a giant mess. But, like, I’ll sit down, like, Tuesdays Thursdays, I’ll come down at 8 o’clock, get everything hooked up for the podcast to come out. Yeah. Literally, it’s just me shrinking the URL and making sure everything connects. And then I’ll get started on the rest of the work day of goals to me. Because I mean, that’s the big chunk is goals to media.

Seth [00:04:15]:
I I mean, entrepreneurs’ name is down to a science now. I mean, it’s down to a science.

Speaker C [00:04:19]:
So I

Seth [00:04:20]:
don’t really complain about, oh, I had so busy because I can get done in, like, a half an hour.

Melissa [00:04:25]:
Yeah. Do you think you spend more time on Entrepreneur’s Enigma trying to, like, scheduling and getting more people on, or is it more of it The actual interview process.

Seth [00:04:35]:
One interview is usually only 15, 20 minutes.

Speaker C [00:04:38]:
And then I

Seth [00:04:39]:
edit it. There’s another 30 minutes to edit because I don’t really edit it that much. Because once again, We’re not NPR here. I’m not Terry Gross. I’m not trying to get all the umms and ahs out, you know? And, you know, so I I think it’s a lot of scheduling, making sure people’s schedules line up. There’s always a lot of cancellations because people get sick or family things happen and, you know, It’s mostly the scheduling, I think, that takes a lot of time out, entrepreneur’s enigma. We’re gonna take a quick break, hear from our sponsors, and get right back to the show.

Melissa [00:05:09]:
Yeah. That makes sense. And how did you so I think Goldstein Media was first. Right?

Seth [00:05:16]:
Oh, Goldstein was well first. Yeah. It was 2008. Started that I only started, entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurs enigma in 2001 during the pandemic. I mean, I’ve been podcasting since 2010, different podcasts.

Melissa [00:05:30]:
Yeah. But this

Seth [00:05:30]:
is the most recent incarnation of my podcasting. And I, I started that at, As a solo project, me just pontificating. And I mean, no one wants to hear me. And then why pontificating? Because who the heck am I? So I brought people on tell their stories. So

Melissa [00:05:50]:
What I think is really interesting, though, and, you know, I was looking over the things that you did. And As a as a writer, I think this is kinda fascinating because Yeah. I think there’s there’s different there’s different ways that you approach it. So, like, Obviously, I feel like marketing judo is actually more of you. Like, it’s a, here’s my thought. Here, I’m gonna pontificate and, like, tell you what I think about whatever is going on right now, and it’s very it’s very sad. Like, it it sounds like you. It’s very, like, we’re just having a cup of coffee, and this is what it is.

Melissa [00:06:18]:
And it’s

Seth [00:06:19]:
not proofreadings. I’m sure it kills you. You’re like, you missed the comma there. Darn it.

Melissa [00:06:25]:
No. You’re a very good writer. Hey. You know, I mean, you know, I’ve always said that I think the important thing in writing isn’t necessarily, like, Grammar and SEO. The most important thing is that you’re writing something that is interesting and that will keep people reading. Everything else you can filter back in, you can make it work. But I think that that nugget of interest is the most

Speaker C [00:06:44]:
important thing. Yeah.

Melissa [00:06:46]:
But then when you go to, entrepreneurs’ enigma, it’s very, like, Unsatisfied. You know? Like, you you take yourself kind of out of the equation, and it’s just about the person that you’re interviewing. And then, obviously, Goldstein Media, it’s just completely separate. Like, you’re not there. It’s like a ghost Project and it’s all about your client, you know?

Seth [00:07:08]:
Oh, yeah. Absolutely. You know, and we’ve we’ve worked on projects together, so and it they’ve been a hoot, and And that’s me being facetious. No, it’s always a joy working with you. Our clients have never been, always been the best clients. So.

Melissa [00:07:24]:
Well and, you know, like I’ve I’ve said to you, I think the best part I know one of the questions you always ask is what’s the best part of being an entrepreneur. And I think, Like, it’s definitely being able to pick your clients and knowing

Seth [00:07:36]:
that Please. Sometimes they pick you.

Melissa [00:07:38]:
Necessarily a good fit.

Seth [00:07:40]:
Sometimes they pick you and those are usually the ones you fire eventually.

Melissa [00:07:44]:
Yeah.

Speaker C [00:07:46]:
The ones that pick you

Seth [00:07:47]:
are the ones that are like, all right, we gotta get rid of these guys eventually. And we both know who we’re talking about. So

Melissa [00:07:52]:
Well, but, I mean, in general, like, I went through a major pruning period of my clients last year where, we just kinda took out a lot of people and, like, it may sometimes it was people that I genuinely like, like, as people Yeah. And I genuinely like what they do, but you’re like, this isn’t

Seth [00:08:08]:
Is that what you wanna do?

Speaker C [00:08:10]:
Yeah. Is that what you wanna do? It’s not.

Melissa [00:08:13]:
Yeah. And I think, you know, like when we write for people, like we, we need to sort of them, and there are some people that you’re just not clicking with. Like, you’re not

Seth [00:08:22]:
Yeah.

Melissa [00:08:23]:
Like, sharing that that energy with. It’s just not working. So we just kinda say, Let’s not.

Seth [00:08:29]:
Do you do that? Do

Melissa [00:08:32]:
you ever find yourself doing that, or are you more like, we’re gonna make it work, folks?

Seth [00:08:37]:
I mean, generally, I’ll mean, ours are projects. So I’ll generally say, let’s get through the project and maybe we won’t do any more with that person again, But, like, I’ll finish the project. I never I’ll never stop the project and say, get lost.

Melissa [00:08:50]:
Woah. Right. Right. Right.

Seth [00:08:52]:
Yeah. But, you know, it it it’s it’s always a trip. So

Melissa [00:08:58]:
And what I remember Well, that yeah. That’s true. And I remember talking to Meredith about how, you said that you you’ve taken some people on, that she’s like, I don’t know about that one.

Seth [00:09:11]:
Yeah. There’s been some hiccups. There’s definitely been some hiccups and ones where it’s, like, I should never have taken that one, but I was desperate or I felt like I was desperate at the time. So

Speaker C [00:09:21]:
Yeah. And it’s never good to do that. So

Melissa [00:09:26]:
It’s hard to say no, I think. It’s hard to

Seth [00:09:28]:
say. Absolutely.

Melissa [00:09:29]:
Like, when someone is like, here’s money. Do you want it? Exactly. We can make it work, you know? I mean, yeah, we can, we can figure that out. But how do you, like, what it, do you have like a vetting process for people?

Seth [00:09:43]:
I usually just get a sense of them. If they’re gonna be a bunch of jackasses, like if they, if they’re not, if they come across kind of snobby on the phone, or like, we would expect this done in this amount of time, I know it’s a flag. You can usually get a sense of who they are in the 1st call. Every once in a while, they’ll surprise you later on, but It’s just the discovery call you discover like, woah, this guy’s off base.

Melissa [00:10:07]:
Yeah. And I think, you do a really good job of, like, tailoring things to people specifically too. So, you know, you don’t wanna

Seth [00:10:18]:
I try. I try. That’s the case. Trying to do it.

Melissa [00:10:25]:
Well, I did wanna just kinda circling back here. I wanted to ask, You know, I mentioned that you it feels like you have these kind of 3 very different, like, approaches and personalities, and then you have, you know, your home life too. And, like, how do you do that code switching? Like, do you is there, like, a a segmentation that you work with and you’re like, okay. So now I’m gonna sit down, and I’m gonna be I’m in a be entrepreneur’s enigma. Now I’m gonna sit down, and I’m gonna be whatever this client is right now.

Seth [00:10:53]:
Maybe subconsciously I do it, But I don’t think actively think about it that way. I just come say, alright. I’m doing this now.

Speaker C [00:11:00]:
I put, like,

Seth [00:11:00]:
fully on the ADHD.

Melissa [00:11:04]:
Well and that’s interesting, though, because do you when you stop work, do you, say to yourself, like, okay. I’m I’m just totally focused On what’s going on in my family right now? Or is there like

Seth [00:11:15]:
a party you’re bringing in? That’s like constantly. I’m constantly thinking about next things. For better or for worse. I mean, when you’re an entrepreneur too, it’s tough to detach.

Melissa [00:11:26]:
Yeah. And can I ask, like, how does that work With the family and the marriage, how does Meredith feel? I really wanted to have her on and ask her.

Seth [00:11:35]:
Exactly. Sometimes it’s best to just, you know, Let’s let’s go down to the basement and work and let her deal with the kid. Other times I deal with the kid and she goes off and does something. You know, it’s it’s a balancing act, really.

Melissa [00:11:49]:
I can see that. Do you think it’s better or worse being in your home office rather than being at the office office where

Seth [00:11:57]:
I mean, stacks, the good old stacks. That was our old, Oh, our old, co working space that we’re meant to listen. I met, I don’t know. I liked that light, the separation. Of having work at work And I still came home and worked. I’m not gonna deny that, but like, I liked going to an office. Yeah. But the the pandemic in 3 years of a pandemic, you kind of lose that sense of like, Oh, I need to go back to an office.

Seth [00:12:27]:
This just works. And that instance, the podcast is, it takes up some time. It makes sense to just kind of do it when you’re at home and you stay home and work. Plus, you know, you have a nice office. So I’m in my base unfinished basement. You can’t tell, But, yeah, I’m in the unfinished basement. So

Melissa [00:12:48]:
I do love my office. Although I have a tendency of clients who make fun of me because anytime I’m in like a Thorny project that I just can’t kinda wrap my head around. I rearrange my office. Yeah. And they all know. They’re all like, oh, you’re facing a completely Completely different direction now. So what project was it? And I’m like, yes. That one for you.

Melissa [00:13:05]:
But, no, it’s I think That’s what I want. You need to, like, flip it around. And I do have to say, I think it’s really funny how we actually met. Like, we were in separate rooms at that space.

Seth [00:13:18]:
Yeah.

Melissa [00:13:18]:
And I was getting emails from a client, and then they were saying, oh, Seth’s gonna give this to you, and he’s gonna work on it. And he’s our website designer. And then I’m like, I know Seth, who’s, like, in the next room. Is that the same guy?

Speaker C [00:13:33]:
Yeah. In

Seth [00:13:33]:
terms of we’re working we’re working with the same client, and we still

Melissa [00:13:36]:
haven’t seen the

Seth [00:13:36]:
same area. Yeah.

Melissa [00:13:38]:
I think we passed each other in the hall for like a week. And then Yeah. And I was like, hang on. You’re that guy I’ve been emailing.

Seth [00:13:45]:
Exactly. So I’m like, what is serendipitous?

Melissa [00:13:48]:
I know. And I do miss those, like, serendipitous encounters of, you know, Not like necessarily planned meetups, just kind of passing people and

Seth [00:13:57]:
Yeah. Sparking That’s one thing that this whole conversations. Going back to the office Mentality is like, is those serendipitous interactions,

Speaker C [00:14:06]:
but

Seth [00:14:07]:
I don’t miss the commute, even though my commute was 5 minutes, But I had to find parking, I have to walk in

Melissa [00:14:14]:
to snacks

Seth [00:14:14]:
and all that. And also the expense, I mean, it was like, what, $400 a month for the office, which is cheap for most people are like, oh my god. That’s so cheap. But we’re talking about Doyle’s time here.

Melissa [00:14:25]:
Yeah.

Speaker C [00:14:26]:
So

Melissa [00:14:26]:
Well, I always ended up spending more money than I made the days that I was there because I’d, like, you know, go out for lunch and then go shopping. Oh, there it got you. Someone afterward for a happy hour, and I’m like, this is actually not a very lucrative thing to do.

Seth [00:14:41]:
Situation. Yeah.

Melissa [00:14:42]:
But but it was fun.

Seth [00:14:45]:
I enjoyed I enjoyed that. I enjoyed the 4 years of it. What’s that?

Melissa [00:14:48]:
Yeah. And what what do you wish was different now from what your From your life now. I was thinking about get

Seth [00:14:54]:
out of the house more often. Like I feel like I, I go all day long, pick the kid up at school, Give him, give him dinner, cook dinner, give him dinner. And then Meredith comes home from work and then it just start the next day up again. I mean, What’s kind of funny is the nurse works more in the evenings, like 12 to 7. So I do, I do all the cooking. For better or for worse. I’m not, I’m not a good chef. I always, I commonly forget the vegetable.

Seth [00:15:23]:
I always forget the vegetable. I got my chicken last night. Forgot all sides. I just made the chicken. Went back, went back to work, came back, Eat the chicken and rice. I’m still hungry. Oh, and ate the zucchini. Oh, wow.

Melissa [00:15:37]:
Well, I you know, I Something tells me that your 11 year old son didn’t really mind not

Seth [00:15:42]:
No. He doesn’t even eat the food I give him. He he eats a wonton soup for Chinese food or pizza. That’s all

Melissa [00:15:48]:
he eats.

Seth [00:15:48]:
Yeah. So I’m constantly going out to, like, the pizza shop to get pizza. Yeah.

Melissa [00:15:52]:
No. I’ve given up. That’s a lot of takeout.

Seth [00:15:55]:
It is. Like, I got all cooked for myself and and narrative, but we can’t get him to eat any of our stuff.

Melissa [00:16:02]:
Well, yeah. I mean, I think, you know, like, I have 4 people in my family. No matter what I make, 3 of them are gonna be unhappy. So we’ve pretty much given up on that.

Speaker C [00:16:10]:
That’s hilarious.

Seth [00:16:11]:
All 3 are unhappy every time you cook. That’s not good.

Melissa [00:16:14]:
Pretty much. Pretty much. Or, you know, or else it’s me and, like, 2 others. It’s just it’s just one of those things. But

Seth [00:16:20]:
Yeah. Yeah. We should make a cookbook.

Melissa [00:16:23]:
Yeah. It would have, like, takeout menus, Seth. It would be just

Speaker C [00:16:27]:
that’s

Melissa [00:16:28]:
A cookbook of local takeout venues. Yeah. I once saw this thing on Instagram, that was this this Interior decorator did, a backsplash and, like, had someone’s, like, grandmother’s recipe for something, like, written on the backsplash above their oven. And I’m like, that’s Gorgeous. But my family would have been, like, the number for Domino’s Pizza, which, you know, doesn’t

Seth [00:16:49]:
Oh, by the way, that was spicy. Have you noticed that?

Melissa [00:16:52]:
The same role, nostalgia. I don’t know. You know? But, yeah, that was that was my grandma’s specialty. So I think, Like I was saying to you before, I feel like I’m I’m asked a lot. Like, how do you how do you make it work? And I’m like, well, you know, I just don’t, And I’m the wrong person to ask that.

Seth [00:17:09]:
Well, you don’t, but you don’t, but you do cause you, but even not doing it, you’re doing it. If you think very, very, very, woah, woah, but you do what’s right for you. You know, you do it, you know, your kids, 1 kid wants to eat this, the husband wants to eat that, your yard had sorter in.

Melissa [00:17:25]:
Look. I mean, everything is clean and, you know, I mean, everyone is fed for the most part. If not, they know where the pop tarts are. And, I mean, it all gets done. And I just I always wondered with somebody like you, like, you know, it all gets done. Right? You’re like Yeah. You’re getting it. You’re making it work throughout the day despite these, like, 3 things that you have going on and, the 1,000,000 other things going on in your head.

Speaker C [00:17:51]:
Yeah. Oh god.

Seth [00:17:53]:
No end no end to this stuff that’s going on in my head. It’s it’s a spare web.

Melissa [00:17:58]:
What do you think now, I know you you ask people all the time about what your, what their favorite and least favorite thing about being an entrepreneur is. But, I’m curious about Goldstein Media. What is What do you think your favorite thing about web design that you do so skillfully? What is the best and worst thing about that? I mean, I know like, for me, I can’t. When you asked me to talk about this, like, I I feel like I I I don’t have any right to talk about being an entrepreneur because my business started Completely accidentally. I I just, you know, I was a writer and I was good at it. And then all of a sudden, people more people wanted to hire me, and I’m like, gosh. I should really be an See. And, you know, I mean, all of a sudden

Seth [00:18:37]:
tell my knowledge.

Melissa [00:18:38]:
You have employees and you have a business and you have it. But, I mean, like, my job job, my writing, I can talk about. And I’m curious what How did you get to web design? What’s the best and worst thing about it? What’s that

Seth [00:18:51]:
story? Well, I was at journalists for 6 years, Left that, when in the web design to get the job, never got the job. I, I went in the web design to get the experience to get the job that needed the experience. And I just never went and got the job. It just started picking up. I mean, the worst thing is About doing being entrepreneur is not knowing where the next paycheck’s coming from.

Melissa [00:19:15]:
Yeah. I

Seth [00:19:15]:
mean, this past year’s been weird as crap. The the busy months have been slow, and the slow months have been busy.

Melissa [00:19:22]:
Yeah. I noticed that too.

Seth [00:19:24]:
It was very weird this year or last year, because this is coming out in in the year, but last year.

Melissa [00:19:29]:
Oh, that’s true. Yeah. I mean, I would agree, though. Like, usually, for us, Everything gets really busy during the holidays, whatever holiday it is. It’s like Thanksgiving or Christmas or July 4th, whatever it is. Everybody else is busy, So they don’t wanna do what we do, so they’re like, here. Now you do this. And I’m like, oh, okay.

Melissa [00:19:48]:
But this year, it’s been the opposite. During kinda the Times that are normally pretty fallow, we’ve been super busy.

Seth [00:19:54]:
It’s very it’s been very weird. Last year was a very weird year. As I’m I think he’s the same last year because we’re almost there. We’re we’re recording this in the 28th December. So

Melissa [00:20:07]:
That’s pretty wild too, 2024.

Seth [00:20:10]:
Yeah. It’s crazy now.

Melissa [00:20:11]:
But now so when you when you I so back to my question, To know. So, Goldstein Media, website design. Yeah. What gets you excited about it? Like, what do you think is the thing that it sets you apart From every other web designer gets you, like, really excited to get to work in the morning about it.

Seth [00:20:28]:
It’s been crazy.

Melissa [00:20:29]:
Like the paycheck?

Seth [00:20:31]:
That’s definitely not the paycheck. I can tell you that right now, but it’s, it’s being creative and seeing something I built go online. And it’s just kinda neat, You know, I have a good team of people that work with me and it’s just been fun to kind of have a little cohort of people working with me.

Speaker C [00:20:46]:
Mhmm. Yeah.

Melissa [00:20:49]:
So is it, like, the structure and the architecture of the websites, or is it more the Graphic design and

Seth [00:20:56]:
It’s more the woo woo in my opinion. It’s more like making their dreams come to fruition about what they want, how they wanna design their Their image online, and I get to help help them do that.

Melissa [00:21:08]:
Aw. What about so what about the worst thing?

Seth [00:21:11]:
The worst thing is the paycheck. It’s the ups and downs, the lefts and rights of, you know, entrepreneurship. I mean, when they’re, when they’re down, they’re down. It’s not like I have a salary. It’s I can always count on. It’s, you know, it’s the ultimate amount of commission if you think about it.

Melissa [00:21:26]:
Yeah. You

Seth [00:21:28]:
eat what you eat what you kill.

Melissa [00:21:31]:
What which fuels the late hours. And, you know Yeah. Like, I thought about that. If you go back to a corporate job, if you say, you know what? No more business. I’m just gonna get a job. You you typically have more predictable hours. I mean, I’m guessing you don’t work and stop like you said, you don’t stop at, like, 5 and say,

Seth [00:21:47]:
No, there’s nothing predictable. There’s nothing predictable about my business. Yeah. Yeah. I try and stop it fine. Well, I have to stop to get the kid at 4 Mhmm. Then feed them and then go

Speaker C [00:21:56]:
back to work. This is the way it is.

Melissa [00:22:01]:
What’s your most productive time of day though?

Seth [00:22:04]:
Uh-huh. I would say the morning, actually. He gets off to school and I get to work, but end of the day, I’m shot.

Melissa [00:22:12]:
Is there something that you need to do every day to get yourself going, or do you just wake up wherein you’re

Seth [00:22:18]:
go. At this at this 16 years into it, I just kind of just, it’s kinda driving a car.

Melissa [00:22:24]:
Yeah. I have, like, the opposite. I mean, I let you know. Like I said, when you write, like, you sort of need to, like, marinate in whatever or at least I do. I need to sort of marinate in whatever the project is. So I go for long walks every morning, and I think about whatever whatever I’m trying to work for. So I spend, like, an hour going for, like, a long walk, drop kids off at school go for go for a walk, and I think about, like, if I were a security consultant reading this thing. You know? And I’m, like, walking along and talking to myself, and I’m sure I look absolutely insane.

Melissa [00:22:56]:
But then I can come back, and then I can be like, okay. Now I know exactly what I’m gonna write and all that I’m gonna ask and it’s all gonna work out. And then I have clients being like, how come you’re never available at 8:30?

Seth [00:23:07]:
Because I know I’m out of ruminating. Yeah.

Melissa [00:23:10]:
Yeah. It’s helpful.

Seth [00:23:12]:
It is.

Speaker C [00:23:13]:
It is.

Seth [00:23:14]:
I like doing this. We should do a podcast together, I think.

Melissa [00:23:20]:
Well, I appreciate it. You know, like I said to you, I I I don’t know. I think I’ve said this to you many times. I think the hardest part for me about owning my own business is being the the brand, being the face of the business. You know?

Seth [00:23:34]:
Yeah.

Melissa [00:23:35]:
Like, nobody wants to hear about my business from other people. So every time I talk to people, it has to be like, let me tell you how great I am. You know? And that’s, like, the most Awkward. I I just I feel like I get really anxious, and I I say things that I don’t mean. And I’m like, I don’t know what just happened. It’s like We

Speaker C [00:23:51]:
fly fly. Yeah.

Melissa [00:23:53]:
I think as a writer, I’m more of a, I can give speeches, but, like, I can and I’ve written many speeches, and I can Write a whole blog, but the conversation, I’m always like, that wasn’t your line. You weren’t supposed to say that. You were supposed to ask me this, And then I would go forth. But

Speaker C [00:24:11]:
Yeah.

Melissa [00:24:12]:
Yeah. So I’d much rather have a discussion with you.

Seth [00:24:15]:
Oh, that’s fine. I enjoyed this. I’m glad we’re do did this, The best thing for episode 200, so much fun.

Melissa [00:24:22]:
That’s wild. Is this the most episodes you’ve had for a podcast?

Seth [00:24:25]:
I think so, actually.

Melissa [00:24:27]:
Yeah.

Seth [00:24:27]:
Yeah. And it’s still going, going strong.

Melissa [00:24:31]:
And Well, I’m impressed by it.

Seth [00:24:34]:
I’m shocked by it.

Melissa [00:24:36]:
I mean, I went through you know, like, as you do, I went through and listened to a bunch of,

Seth [00:24:40]:
Oh, jeez. I feel bad for you.

Melissa [00:24:41]:
The episodes. No. I mean but, you know, you’ve got some Very impressive folks. You’ve got some really fascinating gets there, and, I I think it’s it’s impressive. I don’t know. It’s cool.

Seth [00:24:55]:
No, thank you. This is so much fun. I couldn’t think anyone better to do that episode 200 with. So.

Melissa [00:25:02]:
Oh, thank you. Thanks for the, yeah. It has been fun, and thanks for keeping it casual with me.

Seth [00:25:08]:
Oh, it’s fun. It’s always fun. It’s like we’re having pizza in Doyle’s side jewels.

Melissa [00:25:14]:
So Right? They love it.

Seth [00:25:18]:
Yep. So 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, look no further than the marketing podcast network at marketing podcasts

Speaker C [00:25:43]:
.net.

Seth [00:26:02]:
Goldstein Media hopes you have enjoyed this episode.