Intro Voice Guy [00:00:14]:
You’re listening to Entrepreneur’s Enigma, a podcast about the ups and downs of the entrepreneurial journey. Every week, your host, Seth Goldstein, interviews entrepreneurs from all walks of life about their entrepreneurial journeys. From store owners to fortune 500 CEOs, we all have stories to tell. So sit back and join us for the next 20 or so minutes while we explore the entrepreneurial world.

Seth Goldstein [00:00:49]:
Hey, everybody. Welcome to yet another edition of the Entrepreneur’s Enigma podcast. You know, after 200 and, I don’t know what, 240 you know who I am. I’m Seth. I’m your host. I’m the founder of Goldstein Media. I am the chief pooper of entrepreneurs and big man. I don’t know what you’re gonna call that.

Seth Goldstein [00:01:08]:
Marketing, Junto, all that good stuff. But today, I asked my buddy from from Alignable. I met him on Alignable, which is a small business, kind of LinkedIn, kind of networking, kind of, you know, his own thing, speed networking, kind of online community. And we were like, I’ve got I’ve got to get Spencer on the program here. I gotta get him on here because this guy has done so many different things. I mean, he started his first business out with a fan friends and family alone, which is always dangerous. So his first retail business.

Spencer Shaver [00:01:38]:
Yeah.

Seth Goldstein [00:01:39]:
He’s now doing digital animal dot I o, which is its own Mhmm. Conglomeration, I guess, is what we would call it, of different things. He’s doing s a I SEO. He’s doing all kinds of stuff. So how’s it going, Spencer?

Spencer Shaver [00:01:53]:
It’s going great, man. Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me on. I

Seth Goldstein [00:01:56]:
appreciate you. Buddy. Yeah. And look, you even got the good microphone and everything. I had a guy do it when he’s on on his phone, and it worked out just fine. It was amazing the way you can do it to your phone nowadays.

Spencer Shaver [00:02:05]:
No. It’s true. I I do a lot of, a lot of video content on my phone.

Seth Goldstein [00:02:10]:
Yeah. This is how you kinda how you have to do it.

Spencer Shaver [00:02:12]:
Anymore. Anymore. That’s how it is.

Seth Goldstein [00:02:15]:
It’s just to use your phone. I mean, these are soft small. Apparently, I learned last night, I was at an event. This is gonna date the podcast. So it was at the August Philly Startup Leaders event. I’m an ex Google engine an ex Apple engineer. Nice. Apparently, there’s this little dot for those who are watching on the video.

Seth Goldstein [00:02:31]:
There’s a little dot under the camera here. It’s LIDAR. I have LIDAR on my freaking phone. That’s like a radar. It kinda, like, can measure stuff, distances and stuff. Yeah. They’re telling me how does that thing works, and I’m like, oh my god.

Spencer Shaver [00:02:45]:
Yeah. It’s amazing what you can do

Seth Goldstein [00:02:47]:
with it. Like the whole point of that is, it’s amazing what you can do with these phones. You can you can measure distance with your phone now.

Spencer Shaver [00:02:52]:
And we’re all just walking around with it.

Seth Goldstein [00:02:53]:
Yeah. And we usually do like a tenth of what the thing can do. Yeah. We make phone calls on these things. This thing’s better than my computer, honestly.

Spencer Shaver [00:03:03]:
Well, I didn’t know I could measure things. I would have been walking around like measuring distance of everything if I knew that.

Seth Goldstein [00:03:08]:
You can’t. I don’t know how I don’t know how to do it. But apparently, it it knows that the distance, like, if you’re as you’re walking, if you have a phone out, it can track your steps better that way. It’s Yeah. Bizarre, man. And they’re always on top of things. That’s pretty wild.

Spencer Shaver [00:03:20]:
That’s very cool. Yeah.

Seth Goldstein [00:03:21]:
So how did you get started? Like, how did this whole entrepreneurial journey get craziness get started, buddy?

Spencer Shaver [00:03:27]:
Oh, dude. I’ll no. I’ll tell you where it started.

Seth Goldstein [00:03:29]:
Yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:03:30]:
It’s it’s I was wired this way. Oh, God. How

Seth Goldstein [00:03:33]:
about yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:03:34]:
Yeah. I know. And that’s I so my grandmother, Restasol, was the top or one of the top, real estate brokers in California way back in the day. Back when, you know, the brat pack, not the brat pack, the rat pack.

Seth Goldstein [00:03:49]:
Rat pack but then it’s the brat pack.

Spencer Shaver [00:03:50]:
I’m the brat pack generation. She was like the rat pack generation. You’re the rat

Seth Goldstein [00:03:54]:
pack. Yeah. You’re a young actor. Right? You’re a young actor. Right? You’re a young actor. Right? Old millennial. Yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:04:00]:
Exactly. So she’s like old school. And so she would drag me around as a kid to open houses, and I just grew up in it.

Seth Goldstein [00:04:08]:
That’s fun.

Spencer Shaver [00:04:09]:
Because you know

Seth Goldstein [00:04:10]:
there’s no more entrepreneurial spirit than realtors. I mean, that’s a hard industry.

Spencer Shaver [00:04:15]:
Oh, yeah. Well, when it came my time to become the realtor then, I said no. No. Thank you. I had a I had my fill when I was a kid.

Seth Goldstein [00:04:24]:
Yeah. You did your you you got the cookies out. You did all that stuff.

Spencer Shaver [00:04:27]:
Yep. I did. I fluffed up the pillows and the, you know, I did all the vacuumed properly. Right. Right. Right. So that was me. So no.

Spencer Shaver [00:04:36]:
So I was wired from from the beginning and and at 18, I I just looked I went into sales. So yeah. I I I started the college route. Yeah. Yeah. And I Let’s

Seth Goldstein [00:04:48]:
go. Yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:04:48]:
Yeah. So I couldn’t really decide what I wanted to do. This is going way back now. So I I couldn’t decide until I I don’t know what movie I was watching, but it was one of those eighties movies like Top Gun or some shit.

Seth Goldstein [00:05:00]:
Yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:05:00]:
And I decided I was gonna be the captain of an aircraft carrier. That’s what I wanted to do. Like I just I wanted to aim for the top, and I walked into the recruiter’s office. And I said, hey, I wanna be the captain of an aircraft carrier. And this guy just stared at me like I was insane. And he’s like, well

Seth Goldstein [00:05:16]:
You know maybe kids could walk in saying you have that kind of ambition. We’re gonna take a quick break, hear from our sponsors, and get right back to the show.

Spencer Shaver [00:05:23]:
Yeah. And he’s like, well, you know, typically typically, captains come out of Annapolis. And I’m like, well, sign me up for Annapolis then. I don’t know what I’m doing. You’re the expert. Just send me there. And he’s like, yeah, you need like senators. You know what I’m saying? Like this is like You

Seth Goldstein [00:05:37]:
need to work to get into West Point and Annapolis. Yeah. You

Spencer Shaver [00:05:40]:
gotta put some work in, but I tell you what, how about you just join the Navy, and then, you know, you can just sail around the world and, you know, work your way up from there. And I’m like, cool. Whatever. I don’t care. So I I signed up for the test. You know? Yeah. And then and so on the last day of the high school, I’m walking out. I’m like, bye.

Spencer Shaver [00:06:00]:
This place. My counselor comes around the corner. I hadn’t talked to her in years. And she says, Spencer, what are you gonna do with your life? And I’m I’m like, well, I’m gonna be the captain of an aircraft. I’ve been convinced. And she’s like, oh, yeah. You don’t wanna do that. You’re just gonna be swabbing decks, and it’s gonna you’re gonna get seasick.

Spencer Shaver [00:06:16]:
It’s awful. What you wanna do is become a teacher. The world needs better.

Seth Goldstein [00:06:19]:
Oh, yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:06:20]:
And needs more teachers. I said, okay. I was convinced. Very, very questionable.

Seth Goldstein [00:06:24]:
You’re like, sure.

Spencer Shaver [00:06:25]:
I’m done with that. So I went over to the college, and I enrolled in school. And I got 3 3 years in. I I just had enrolled for the teacher program, you know, to be able to license and to go thing. And I run into my old, like, elementary school teacher just in the in the store. And he said, what are you gonna do? And I’m like, well, I’m gonna be a teacher just like you. Like like, you totally inspired me. He’s like, oh, it’s great.

Spencer Shaver [00:06:50]:
And said, just out of curiosity though, how much do teachers make? Like I did zero research in this. Right? And he’s like, oh, well, okay. That’s a fair question. So when you start out now understand this is 1990?

Seth Goldstein [00:07:05]:
Yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:07:06]:
Ish?

Seth Goldstein [00:07:06]:
Yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:07:07]:
He said, okay. So you start out with the district, you’re gonna start at 19 5, and then you work your way up the ladder like I did. I’m I’m with the administration now. You get a doctorate. You know, you’ll you’ll top at about 35, 36. And I’m like 35 what? 1000 per what year? No. Thank you. And I just I had left.

Spencer Shaver [00:07:30]:
I I said this

Seth Goldstein [00:07:31]:
is not a been there since then, but still, I mean, it’s not much

Spencer Shaver [00:07:34]:
yeah. No. Thank you. That’s not I could not see fitting everything I wanted to buy into 19 5

Seth Goldstein [00:07:40]:
a year. Especially when you’re that age, it’s all about buying stuff. Exactly. Yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:07:44]:
You know, I there’s no way I I could get that because I grew up on John Hughes films and, you know, know, like secret of my success and there’s I’m not I can’t get a 911 or run a 928 and run from, you know, Guido the killer pimp on 19 5, that’s not happening.

Seth Goldstein [00:08:03]:
No. You barely run on your feet with 19.5.

Spencer Shaver [00:08:06]:
Barely. So so at that point, I’m like, alright, so what what do I do? So I went into I went into sales, I just started selling stuff. And then from there, I took the took the leap, like you said. Took out a family loan, for 5 grand and started a gym, started a martial arts school. At that point, I was a national champ, national taekwondo champ. And I said, okay.

Seth Goldstein [00:08:30]:
You had something behind it. Yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:08:33]:
Yeah. I said, I I can train some more champs, you

Seth Goldstein [00:08:35]:
know. Yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:08:36]:
And and grew that to a $1,000,000 when by the time I left and sold it, sold my part of it. And I said, okay. Well, now years had passed, like we’re into many lifetimes later. And, you know, kids are kids are coming.

Seth Goldstein [00:08:52]:
Yeah. Oh, crap.

Spencer Shaver [00:08:53]:
Now I’m like, oh, no. You know, this is not gonna I can’t run around in pajamas and break bricks with my head all day long. You know? That’s that’s that’s that’s over. So I went into the insurance business at that point, and and I’m like, alright. So if I’m gonna if I’m gonna sell health insurance, I’m gonna be really good at it. And worked my way up, became the number 1 started ran the number 1 team. Yeah. I was agent of the year for the company.

Seth Goldstein [00:09:19]:
Woo hoo.

Spencer Shaver [00:09:20]:
I know.

Seth Goldstein [00:09:21]:
I know. I just and I I just I just went to work,

Spencer Shaver [00:09:25]:
man. That’s all I did. It’s not you know, there wasn’t there wasn’t anything crazy. Started hiring other agents and became the number one team, ran that for a while, and said, alright. What’s my next thing? And went into marketing, and and this is the lifetime that that I’m currently in right now is is running a marketing business. And then a couple of years ago, I saw the AI wave starting to form. Right? Out in the

Seth Goldstein [00:09:50]:
You saw solid and on the horizon.

Spencer Shaver [00:09:52]:
Right on the horizon. I’m like, yeah, I’m not gonna miss this one. I missed the the Internet wave. I just Probably

Seth Goldstein [00:10:00]:
the best because I mean that was tough.

Spencer Shaver [00:10:03]:
Yeah. You know, it’s okay. Waves come along. Yeah. So so now I’m I’m riding that wave and and things are going really well.

Seth Goldstein [00:10:10]:
That’s awesome. So digital animal. How did you go over that name?

Spencer Shaver [00:10:14]:
Oh, yeah. So I I I would love to take credit for that name.

Seth Goldstein [00:10:18]:
I would

Spencer Shaver [00:10:19]:
love to. But Yeah. But anyone who has who is a fan of, Breaking Bad

Seth Goldstein [00:10:24]:
Yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:10:26]:
Season 4, season 5 something, in Jesse’s house when when things are just crazy and just mayhem and, like, they’re they’re at the top of whatever it is. Right? Yeah. There’s a there’s a little, a song by the Honey Badgers. Honey Badgers? Honey

Seth Goldstein [00:10:42]:
Yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:10:43]:
Claws. Honey Claws. And Yeah. Yeah. Called Digital Animal. And I heard it, and I’m like, yep. I’m taking it. I’m gonna take that name.

Seth Goldstein [00:10:51]:
Yeah. Because the names can’t be names, technically, if they’re in different industries, can’t be copper can’t be trademarked.

Spencer Shaver [00:10:57]:
Yeah. It’s an it’s a And

Seth Goldstein [00:10:58]:
and solemn names, titles are are are ubiquitous. Yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:11:02]:
At some point, I’ll reach out to him and say, hey. Can I use your You

Seth Goldstein [00:11:05]:
inspired me? You know? Let’s go do lunch.

Spencer Shaver [00:11:07]:
Right. Right.

Seth Goldstein [00:11:09]:
And here here’s here’s $500 for

Spencer Shaver [00:11:11]:
a Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just hey. I don’t even know if they exist anymore. Who knows What what

Seth Goldstein [00:11:16]:
Who knows? I mean, at the breaking bad, and I said, why is this just start watching breaking bad a few years ago. And I realized how I mean, he drives around in the Aztec. I’m like, oh, god. This show is dated.

Spencer Shaver [00:11:25]:
I know. I know.

Seth Goldstein [00:11:28]:
I never realized it was like the I mean, their phones. I’m looking at the phones. I’m like, oh, wow. This is like pre it’s like just after iPhone came out. Like Yeah. Old school.

Spencer Shaver [00:11:37]:
Very old school. And I remember the, you know, the the songs

Seth Goldstein [00:11:42]:
on TV commercial days

Spencer Shaver [00:11:43]:
and Yeah. You know, and I paid zero attention to it because I was raising kids at the time, so I had no pop culture anything going on in my brain. You were gonna accept for a Disney channel.

Seth Goldstein [00:11:54]:
You had poop coming across your brain. That kind of

Spencer Shaver [00:11:56]:
You know, Hannah Montana was playing in the background constantly and, you know,

Seth Goldstein [00:12:00]:
all that kind of all

Spencer Shaver [00:12:01]:
that kind of crap. But then when I finally woke up from that fog, I’m like, ah, I gotta catch up. And sure enough, one of the best shows ever.

Seth Goldstein [00:12:08]:
We had better call Saul, Saul.

Spencer Shaver [00:12:12]:
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. All good stuff.

Seth Goldstein [00:12:14]:
Yeah. Exactly. Alright. So you’ve done the entrepreneurial journey. You’ve done the corporate journey. You’ve done Yeah. The trying to figure yourself out journey. You’ve done a lot.

Seth Goldstein [00:12:23]:
And you’re still a young guy. So

Spencer Shaver [00:12:25]:
what Okay.

Seth Goldstein [00:12:26]:
You’ll you’ll you’re like, I’ll take it. I’ll take the young guy.

Spencer Shaver [00:12:28]:
Yeah. I’ll take the young guy. Sure.

Seth Goldstein [00:12:30]:
You I have more gray hair than you. And so there you go. You go. You go. You go. I’m I’m all gray. You know, go figure.

Spencer Shaver [00:12:35]:
Alright. I’ll be the young you’re the youngster.

Seth Goldstein [00:12:37]:
I’ll be the old one. You’ll be the youngster. There you go. Okay. Okay. Fair enough. Yeah. Yeah.

Seth Goldstein [00:12:40]:
I’ll take it. Fine. But, what’s the best thing about between being in the corporate world, being running teams, being in sales, insurance, what’s the best thing about being an entrepreneur in your mind?

Spencer Shaver [00:12:50]:
Well, I’ll I’ll tell you, especially with with raising kids.

Seth Goldstein [00:12:54]:
Yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:12:55]:
It it gave me the opportunity to be the I it gave me an opportunity to be a really good dad.

Seth Goldstein [00:13:01]:
Yeah. Like a really good dad. I have an 11 year old now. And then I literally he’s upstairs right now. I’m able to work down here. I don’t have to I could take calls when I wanna take calls. I love it.

Spencer Shaver [00:13:11]:
Yeah. Yeah. And that, you know, and I was I was the one volunteering Oh, wow. In the classroom. I mean, my son’s friends knew who I was. I knew the teachers. I knew because I was always there. Volunteer of the year, actually.

Seth Goldstein [00:13:23]:
My Oh, you are shy. You always go always go for the big. Always go for the big.

Spencer Shaver [00:13:28]:
You know, I I come at I I hear myself talking. I’m like, man, are are you like Goggins or something? Are you like Dave Goggins? Like, what? Who are who are you?

Seth Goldstein [00:13:36]:
You’re you’re so tied to it. You’re like, I’m gonna do the best. I’m gonna be the best daddy volunteer possible.

Spencer Shaver [00:13:41]:
I’m gonna be the guy. So that was my goal was during that time, during that that short window of time when I actually have my kids, like, hands on, like, in the home, I was gonna enjoy every minute of it, and there’s no way that was gonna happen. Even even as as an insurance agent and then as an area.

Seth Goldstein [00:14:01]:
Are you’re kind of when you’re in sales, you’re kind of you’re on your own a little bit, but you still have to answer to people, which is different.

Spencer Shaver [00:14:07]:
Yeah. And at and at that point, there was a lot of travel.

Seth Goldstein [00:14:10]:
Uh-huh.

Spencer Shaver [00:14:10]:
You know, I had to drive around because this is pre Internet.

Seth Goldstein [00:14:13]:
Oh, yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:14:16]:
Right. Well, the Internet existed, but the insurance industry It was

Seth Goldstein [00:14:18]:
not it was not. They’re they’re always a little bit later. Like, you know, now getting up to web 2.0.

Spencer Shaver [00:14:23]:
Exactly. Yeah. At that point, it was it was ink, ink on paper.

Seth Goldstein [00:14:28]:
It was like you knock on the damn door,

Spencer Shaver [00:14:30]:
you people

Seth Goldstein [00:14:31]:
sign shit. Now it’s DocuSign. They still can’t figure out DocuSign correctly. Right.

Spencer Shaver [00:14:35]:
Yeah. They’re they’re still but at that but at that point so so that’s where the the entrepreneur said, look. I it’s tough. It’s a it’s a steep it’s a it’s a steep climb. And, you know, my my wife, has been, with one of the top organizations in Colorado here for for a very long time. And she

Seth Goldstein [00:14:57]:
That’s good.

Spencer Shaver [00:14:58]:
Has kept that steady,

Seth Goldstein [00:14:59]:
you know. It’s helpful when you have a partner.

Spencer Shaver [00:15:01]:
I like to say 9 to 5, but Yeah. She puts in lots of hours, whatever it is. And so I and and I admire that. I think that’s fantastic. But I realized early on, I don’t play well with others. I tried the corporate thing.

Seth Goldstein [00:15:15]:
Oh, whose ass do you kiss when? Oh my gosh. It works.

Spencer Shaver [00:15:18]:
Yeah. All of that. I’m like, I don’t nah. So, yeah, that’s it it fit really well with my Perfect.

Seth Goldstein [00:15:25]:
So on this flip side, what keeps you up at night as an entrepreneur?

Spencer Shaver [00:15:28]:
Say it again?

Seth Goldstein [00:15:29]:
What keeps you up at night as an entrepreneur?

Spencer Shaver [00:15:33]:
It’s a good question. You know what? You know what? What keeps me up at night are are is has nothing to do with the biz.

Seth Goldstein [00:15:40]:
I love it. Yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:15:41]:
Nothing to do with it. Like I, there’s there’s not a lot in in business now that I’ve been doing this for so long that fazes me so much that I have to stay up at night. Yeah. I just get up. I do it. I do a great job. And I’ll tell you one of the things that I that I learned very early on in the insurance business actually is that I I don’t I don’t work well trying to play the part of someone who just bends over and it’s conciliatory. Yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:16:07]:
Yeah. And I don’t know that the the language you can you can just beat my language if you want. But, you know, in the insurance business, I I was sitting with a with a client one time.

Seth Goldstein [00:16:18]:
Yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:16:18]:
And this guy I I I gotta paint the picture because I’d never been. And I’m I’m going into people’s offices and homes. Yeah. Like live. Right?

Seth Goldstein [00:16:28]:
In in their life too. Like getting involved. Yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:16:31]:
Yeah. And I go into this guy’s house, and it was just a regular neighborhood and regular house. It wasn’t like a mansion or anything. But the inside, he had he had he had painted his walls, like, to look like marble, and he had columns, and it looked like some Greek, you know, tragedy. Oh. And I walk in, and it looked like he had a harem with the pillows on the thing and the floor.

Seth Goldstein [00:16:56]:
Oh, that’s me doing the full part.

Spencer Shaver [00:16:58]:
Oh, and I’m in a suit, you know, with my little briefcase. I look like an insurance guy.

Seth Goldstein [00:17:02]:
Yeah. Playing the part.

Spencer Shaver [00:17:03]:
And yeah. And so I go in, he’s like, you know, just have a seat. He sits down almost like like he’s wearing like a like a tote, like he’s Nero or something. You know, the leaf

Seth Goldstein [00:17:13]:
on the You can make this stuff up. Yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:17:16]:
And I just I’m just staring at him and he said, I he starts out as like, I have more money than God. And I looked him straight in the eye and I just started laughing hysterically. I’m like, you’re awesome. You have made my day.

Seth Goldstein [00:17:33]:
Yeah, oh my God, you can’t make these people up.

Spencer Shaver [00:17:35]:
Right, I’m like, that’s amazing. But here’s the thing I know, if I hang around you long enough, I’m gonna get struck by lightning. So I’m gonna go ahead and take off now, and good luck to you. And he said, no, no, no, no, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You know, you can’t recommend it. I wanna talk to you because I need insurance for me and my business and all my employees and everything. And I said, so let’s start over again. You called me.

Seth Goldstein [00:18:02]:
Yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:18:03]:
Yeah. I didn’t call you.

Seth Goldstein [00:18:05]:
Yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:18:05]:
You don’t have more money than God. Right? Admit that please. And now let’s get down to business and let’s get serious. And that was the turning point. The the the reason I tell that story is because as soon as I

Seth Goldstein [00:18:18]:
You get to turn.

Spencer Shaver [00:18:19]:
Took myself that seriously, that I could just tell a customer to fuck off whenever

Seth Goldstein [00:18:23]:
Yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:18:24]:
Because I didn’t wanna deal with it, that’s when my whole business changed. That’s the reason why I don’t stay up at night. Yeah.

Seth Goldstein [00:18:31]:
It I I don’t You control the narrative, and it’s kinda key. Yeah. And so with that in mind, what is the most important thing to carry with you all the time? And this can be as woo woo as you wanna get or as simple as your phone.

Spencer Shaver [00:18:45]:
Something I carry with me all the time. Yeah. Okay. Well, here’s one. Yeah. We’ll just I’ll I’ll lob this out because I I don’t think I could narrow it down to 1. Exactly. But I think that crazy golden rule that we all learned when we were 5.

Seth Goldstein [00:18:59]:
Yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:19:00]:
Right? Treat others the way you wanna be treated.

Seth Goldstein [00:19:03]:
Mhmm.

Spencer Shaver [00:19:04]:
And and and I will tell you. So and and I’ll be the first one to admit. I I admit this all the time. In in the in the in the autobiography that I would write, there would be a chapter in there when I when I trained 3, 4, 5 hours a day to become national champion. Yeah. Right? And and especially now like the Olympics are going on. Right? I mean And I’m sure you’re watching it. Yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:19:27]:
And I’m watching it and I and I understand everything that they’re going through. Like, I went through and I hung out with the Olympic team a lot and and and did that and and then won, and I had that gold medal around. I was 21.

Seth Goldstein [00:19:41]:
Your baby. Yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:19:43]:
Yep. And I was 10 feet tall and bulletproof.

Seth Goldstein [00:19:46]:
Yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:19:48]:
And I was an arrogant fuck. Yeah. I was. I was terrible. I was literally the worst person to be around. I was making money. I didn’t care what came out of my mouth.

Seth Goldstein [00:19:59]:
Yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:20:00]:
You know? And I didn’t care how anybody else You

Seth Goldstein [00:20:02]:
weren’t even growing up yet. You didn’t have your medulla fully formed until 25. Yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:20:06]:
No. I’m 21 and I acted like I was 20 one. Yeah. So anyone who knew me at the time of

Seth Goldstein [00:20:12]:
the incident You’re probably acting you’re probably acting like you’re, like, 6 because the guys act a lot younger than they actually are.

Spencer Shaver [00:20:17]:
Well, yeah. Because it’s all about me. It was all about my training, my diet, and my workout, and my everything, and I get what what I want, and I have the car, and I have the thing. So anyone who knew me at that time would tell you, oh, yeah. No. He’s an arrogant asshole. You don’t want it. And they’re right.

Spencer Shaver [00:20:32]:
I can’t argue with it.

Seth Goldstein [00:20:33]:
I’m like, yep. You’re back. You’re like, oh, that’s painful. Okay.

Spencer Shaver [00:20:36]:
That’s the version of me that you know I’m not gonna change your mind. But it was when I, you know, I got older and I got humbled, especially having a baby. Put a baby in your hands.

Seth Goldstein [00:20:44]:
Oh my God. They need you so much, man. I mean, you look at giraffes, they stand up on their own. They’re like, hold my beer. I’m gonna go walk around the world. Like, what the hell? You come out with, like, blobs of of goo and shit. And vomit. Don’t forget to vomit.

Spencer Shaver [00:20:59]:
It’s true.

Seth Goldstein [00:21:00]:
And it all ends up watching this.

Spencer Shaver [00:21:02]:
It all ends up right here. Right? All of it. So so that with as soon as I recognized my own, not just my own mortality, but my own humanity at that point, everything flipped. And when it flipped that golden rule that was just gathering dust in the back of my brain somewhere, all of a sudden I just, you know, blew that off. And I’m like, oh, yeah, this little plaque, and hung that up. And that’s something that I carry with me now into business.

Seth Goldstein [00:21:29]:
Yeah. To be humble.

Spencer Shaver [00:21:30]:
Yeah. It’s just, hey, I’m here for you.

Seth Goldstein [00:21:33]:
Exactly.

Spencer Shaver [00:21:34]:
Now now I I have no problem saying, look, this isn’t gonna work.

Seth Goldstein [00:21:38]:
Oh, you have to. Because if you don’t, it’s gonna bite you in the ass.

Spencer Shaver [00:21:42]:
Right. But that’s Oh,

Seth Goldstein [00:21:42]:
it has bit me in the ass. A lot of times, I always place you in the ass. Ass. Every time I’m like, oh, I’ll do one this one project that’s, like, iffy or they’re they they they knocked down the price

Spencer Shaver [00:21:51]:
a little

Seth Goldstein [00:21:52]:
too much and you’re, like, cash it right away. Yeah. You don’t want to because you kinda wanna do the project, and it’s, like, it’s always gonna be a pain in the ass. Right. You know what? Yeah.

Spencer Shaver [00:22:00]:
Like like my my own sanity, and honestly the sanity of the of the client. They’re not gonna be happy.

Seth Goldstein [00:22:05]:
No. They’re not gonna be happy. You’re not gonna be happy. It’s best for everyone. Exactly.

Spencer Shaver [00:22:08]:
Yeah. So that’s one of the things I’m taking with

Seth Goldstein [00:22:10]:
me is little kindergarten,

Spencer Shaver [00:22:13]:
you know, golden rule plaque.

Seth Goldstein [00:22:15]:
I love it. I love it, man. So Spencer, where can people find you other than digital animal dot io?

Spencer Shaver [00:22:20]:
Digital animal dot io, digital animal dot ai.

Seth Goldstein [00:22:24]:
Oh, you used to do an AI domain. Yeah. Those are stuff.

Spencer Shaver [00:22:26]:
Yeah. Yeah. I grabbed one of those because of the I mean, just the AI work that’s happening right now. It’s the Isn’t that is this

Seth Goldstein [00:22:34]:
the sub domain for like, Integua or something like that, I think? AI is something it’s not AI. It’s a I think it’s it’s a country code.

Spencer Shaver [00:22:43]:
Oh, is it? Yeah.

Seth Goldstein [00:22:44]:
I think that’s a that’s not like the ones that are long and silly. You know? It’s I think it’s

Spencer Shaver [00:22:50]:
actually a country. Okay. Cool. Alright. Well, then we’ll meet on the beach in Antigua. I don’t even know where that is. Exactly. Yeah, but yeah, no, they can they can get a hold of me there.

Spencer Shaver [00:23:00]:
Just Yeah, it’s right.

Seth Goldstein [00:23:01]:
I was right. Oh my God, Antigua. I was actually right. Wow. Oh, okay.

Spencer Shaver [00:23:06]:
I was like, It sounds like a place that would be a It’s in the Caribbean. Destined to be. Yeah.

Seth Goldstein [00:23:10]:
It’s gorgeous down there.

Spencer Shaver [00:23:11]:
Yeah. Yeah. That’s what I thought. No. I love the squirrel nature. They were

Seth Goldstein [00:23:14]:
called like Antigua. I’m always fascinated by where these demi names come from.

Spencer Shaver [00:23:17]:
There’s a song. Yeah. Oh, I wanna take you that’s the Beach Boys.

Seth Goldstein [00:23:21]:
Beach Boys, 2 Antigua?

Spencer Shaver [00:23:23]:
Yeah. Yeah. Something like that.

Seth Goldstein [00:23:25]:
Exactly. Awesome. So and also you’re on you’re onlinable, so far as you’re over onlinable.

Spencer Shaver [00:23:29]:
Of course.

Seth Goldstein [00:23:29]:
Digital animal. You’re also over on

Spencer Shaver [00:23:32]:
LinkedIn. LinkedIn, the digital animals?

Seth Goldstein [00:23:35]:
Yeah. Are you there? Are you plural there? There you go.

Spencer Shaver [00:23:38]:
I know. All the animals.

Seth Goldstein [00:23:40]:
All the animals. We’re all digital. Exactly.

Spencer Shaver [00:23:42]:
We’re all here. Yeah. We’re all here.

Seth Goldstein [00:23:44]:
Awesome, buddy. This is great. We’ll see everyone next time.

Intro Voice Guy [00:23:51]:
That was a great show. If you’re enjoying Entrepreneur’s Enigma, please consider giving us a review in the podcast directory of your choice. Every review helps us reach new listeners. If you like Entrepreneur’s Enigma, consider the other shows on the marketing podcast network at marketing podcast dot net.

Seth Goldstein [00:24:26]:
Goldstein Media hopes you have enjoyed this episode.