Molly Ruland:

Cord. Alright. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Camp Content where we dive into the realms of content marketing. Today, we are thrilled to have Steve Gonzalez join us. He’s a seasoned fractional chief marketing officer specializing in bridging the English and Spanish markets, bringing a unique bicultural advantage to his marketing strategies, which you know I’m all about as I sheepishly learn Spanish here in Costa Rica. Steve’s approach is a potent mix of creativity and data driven tactics, focusing on crafting personalized, culturally resonant marketing plans. His role extends beyond that of a consultant. He’s a strategic partner who integrates seamlessly with company visions to drive substantial growth and market impact.

Molly Ruland:

For those interested in leveraging your digital strategy, Steve offers a cutting age AI digital footprint tool through his company, at shattered glass studios.com. So, get ready to unlock some new marketing perspectives with Steve Gonzalez, and don’t forget to check out his LinkedIn and personal offerings to get connected and see what he’s up to. So without further ado, thank you for coming on the show today, Steve.

Steve Gonzalez:

Thank you, Molly. Yeah. Great introduction.

Molly Ruland:

Hey, man. You know? Well, you know, I, you know, as you know, I ask a lot of questions because I get genuinely curious about people and the work they’re doing. And as I’m in, you know, Latin America myself and learning Spanish and understanding not understanding, but observing marketing in Latin America, wildly different from North America. So I’m interested in this conversation today and see how you’re bridging the gap between those two things. So

Steve Gonzalez:

Yeah. It’s definitely, definitely going out here.

Molly Ruland:

Yeah. So, without further ado, let’s talk about Shattered Glass Studios. Can you give me a little company profile on that? Like, how long has the company been in business?

Steve Gonzalez:

Yeah. So truthfully, I feel like since I touched the computer the first time I started doing this, but it really started launching around the time cryptocurrency was starting to get popular. My friends wanted to get into cryptocurrency, and I knew stuff about it. And I said, let’s start a cryptocurrency company. And I found myself building the website for the business. Then I found myself setting up a Facebook page, and then I found myself, you know, creating Instagram posts. And I said, you know, I kinda feel like I’m a marketing company right now. I’m doing all this marketing for this cryptocurrency business.

Steve Gonzalez:

I should probably put a name behind this, You know? And that’s where the idea came from, like, you know, honestly, it doesn’t matter if you sell shoes or you make cookies. You’re in marketing. You know, you gotta be marketing your business. So I said, alright. What’s my marketing business gonna be called? I’m like, my name is Steve Gonzalez. I have a s g in there. And then I started thinking about what are the best pieces of things that I can put together to assemble something, kinda like a stained glass window in a church. Right? And that’s where I came up with the shattered glass part.

Steve Gonzalez:

And I said, alright. I wanna do Shattered Glass Studios. And that’s gonna be the marketing portion of all these businesses that I’m gonna start up. And I was about, I would say, 2,000, really 13 is when I really started getting into the marketing side of things.

Molly Ruland:

So you’ve been around. You’re a veteran of the marketing world. You’ve seen a lot of things work and a lot of things not working over the years.

Steve Gonzalez:

Definitely. Well, my mom owned 4 restaurants from the time that I was 8 to 12. So marketing and being in the service industry is in my blood. You know?

Molly Ruland:

You know, I come from a long line of bartenders and bootleggers, you know, the Irish. We love a lot of hospitality. That’s the core element of our DNA most certainly. So tell me a little bit more about Shattered Glass. How many employees do you have? Where are they located? Where are you located?

Steve Gonzalez:

Yeah. So I’m in Washington, DC. In terms of employees, it’s really just me and my core four. I have, Ricardo. He’s in charge of video production. I have Jeff. He’s in Pakistan. He helps me with, you know, technical things out there with outsourcing, things overseas.

Steve Gonzalez:

I have another teammate out here named Elmer. He’s a techie. He helps me with some of the AI implementation, coding, things like that. And then, mostly all the other stuff, I try to outsource. I really do, believe that’s the way of, I guess, in America, outsource your labor, outsource your services if you can do that. I don’t know. So I got teams in South America. I got teams overseas and, you know, Pakistan, India that do different things depending on what my needs are.

Molly Ruland:

For sure. I mean, the global market is real and very bountiful. And so as a business owner, we know, it’s hard to not deny the value of working with a global team because there’s a huge savings there, and it expands your offerings and your capabilities without stretching your very limited budget as it is. So, I’m all for it. I know that can be a delicate conversation sometimes, but, when you’re looking at huge corporations outsourcing things and getting tax breaks and all that, you know, I feel like it gets a little wonky. But from a small business perspective, if we can offer our clients better services at better rates, I don’t I don’t, I don’t see the harm in that whatsoever. Hardcast Media has quite a few remote workers as well, all full time, but, you know, all around the world, which I think, gives us a huge advantage personally because we’re rocking in different time zones. When people are sleeping, we’re working.

Molly Ruland:

So, you know

Steve Gonzalez:

That’s, the computers are working 24 hours. So should my business. Right? They don’t go to sleep. The business should be working online all the time. That’s why I believe in AI implementation. Right?

Molly Ruland:

Absolutely. So speaking of which, let’s get right into it. How does Shatter Glass Studio, like, implement AI technology with your content man marketing strategies with your current client base?

Steve Gonzalez:

So a lot of the part is in the beginning, simple things like chatbots. Right? You’re on a lot of these websites, people are coming in there and asking, what time is your business open? Where’s your address located? And even that might be on the header of your website, People are

Molly Ruland:

People

Steve Gonzalez:

are out there googling you. You pop up on the little side. You wanna chat with the business owner. Somebody should be there right there with the answers on anything in terms of your service. So we have chatbots. That’s 1. Content creation. A lot of the time, business gets stuck.

Steve Gonzalez:

They don’t know what kind of content to create, what kind of posts to write. We have tools that help them schedule and put posting across all their social media platforms, right, and straight on the calendar. You already know when Mother’s Day is. You already know when Valentine’s Day is. Right? We use these AI tools now to create content that’s, like, beneficial for these businesses they can post right now and have those things scheduled and automated to go. Same thing for advertising, creating advertising for the businesses and creating that content. Right? Whether it’s the copy itself or the actual visual representation. Sometimes, small businesses, especially start ups, might not have case studies, and they might not have pictures and before and after of their clients, and they just need a sample.

Steve Gonzalez:

Let’s not reuse somebody else’s clients. Let’s create something that’s a representation of your business, that has your branding, and generate that using artificial intelligence so that people can see, you know, your logo and your images connected to your services. So that’s another one. And then things that have to do with analytics. Right? And now that you’re running these ads for your businesses, what ads are performing? How are they performing? How are they reaching the people? Having all that data in front of you and having that data explained in a way that’s digestible and not so techie is very useful for these businesses. So those are just some of the ones that we go through. It’s 3 pillars I like. So it’s search engine optimization.

Steve Gonzalez:

Right? So that’s part of that content creation, advertising, and then reputation management. Right? These people are gonna leave you Google reviews. You should have a bot that’s saying thank you when somebody leaves 5 stars. Or if they leave you something less than 5 stars, you know, that content should be rerouted. And you should have that in a CRM where it says, hey. I see you left me 3 stars on this Google review. What can I do to help you change that review for your business? Right? And implementing those things make a big difference overall, especially when with this market. It’s very competitive.

Steve Gonzalez:

You know? Everybody’s trying to sell their services nowadays.

Molly Ruland:

Amen. Well, it’s amazing what Google My Business can really do and how many people are not using it appropriately or at all. Yeah. Especially in Latin America, you know, like, it’s really crazy. I’m like, guys, you just it takes 5 minutes, but it’s just-

Steve Gonzalez:

And it’s free.

Molly Ruland:

And it’s free, but, yeah, you put in a business on GPS here and it doesn’t even come up unless it’s a whole, it’s a whole thing, but I’m a big fan of Google My Business. So you’re out here in this, you know, super fast paced moving market and economy between AI and everything else that’s going on. Like, how are you? What are you hearing from your clients? What are their biggest struggles and hurdles right now, and how is Shattered Glass Studios helping to manage those?

Steve Gonzalez:

Honestly, my biggest hurdle right now is the education and adoption portion, especially with the Spanish speaking community. If you’ve seen in Latin America, then I mean, you know, my mom’s from Argentina. My dad’s from Cuba. I’ve lived this my whole life is, like, we’re the last ones to adapt technology. Mhmm. We believe in that human connection, that one on one, and building rapport by word-of-mouth. And that’s great. And it really does help businesses a lot and should be a foundational pillar of all businesses.

Steve Gonzalez:

But the fact that the computer exists should not be forgotten and should not be, you know, left to the side. It should be taken advantage of. And that’s that part of, like, okay, how to incorporate these things into your business without it actually feeling like more work. Right? Because that’s what sometimes a lot of businesses come out to is like, okay. You’re putting more things on my plate, Steve. Right? Now I gotta do all this extra stuff and implement these things. So that’s really that the biggest challenge is getting new businesses now to accept that there’s more things that they should be implementing into their business, and it shouldn’t be more work. It should just be part of their ecosystem regardless.

Steve Gonzalez:

Right? Training people on the simple thing of, like, what is a CRM? You know, customer relationship management tool. You should have a tool that manages the relationships you have with your customers. They’re like, what is that? I mean, it can be something as simple as a spreadsheet or there’s SaaS software like Monday that tracks projects and keeps track of your customers, and automatically responds once projects are done. And those are things that could be implemented. There’s tools that are free like HubSpot that can be implemented with their business. They obviously have more paid features to implement their things. It’s just that really that educational portion and being able to open up people’s eyes to the fact that there are numerous solutions. And then on top of that, how not to get overwhelmed between all the different choices that are out there for these different solutions.

Steve Gonzalez:

That’s really some of the challenges that we go through. And that’s where my consultation process goes in. I work with businesses like electricians, and then I work with a hairstylist. And then I work with a plumber. And a CRM for a med spa looks like Boulevard. And a CRM for an electrician is not Monday. So I go and I find these specific tools that are geared towards their business solutions and make sure that they implement those as systems. Right? It’s really implementing systems for these businesses and making sure that there’s somebody in that business who can put those systems to play.

Steve Gonzalez:

Yeah.

Molly Ruland:

Amen. I love that. I, it sounds very familiar because I’m I, you know, I do a lot of the same work, even here in Costa Rica. I’m working with a local business, because it’s a woman business owner. It’s a hotel, and she’s a young woman, and so she’s worked really, really hard. So I’m compelled to help her. And she’s tech savvy. She has a, you know, Google Workspace account.

Molly Ruland:

I got her set up on Calendly last week. She’s like, this is amazing. I’m like, I know, right? It’s kind of fun to have somebody who’s so new to everything because she thinks I’m a straight up wizard. But I’m like, really, these are just like, you know, systems tools, you know, that are really important. And you’re right. Like there’s so much shiny object syndrome, but every tool isn’t gonna work for everybody. There’s you know, nobody can say this is the best one. It’s like, well, what do you need to do? What are you using it for? So, you know, if you’re having, you know, some resistance from clients with setting things up and I would say that’s in all countries, honestly.

Molly Ruland:

I work with coaches in the United States who are like, ah, overwhelmed by anything new too. Right? So Yeah. How are you tracking success? Like, if you have a reluctant client or someone who’s who doesn’t, maybe not reluctant is the right word, but not maybe not as tech savvy, doesn’t fully understand why they’re doing things. How are you managing, like, that data and tracking those results in a way that’s, you know, palatable or or manageable for them?

Steve Gonzalez:

Ultimately, I tell these people that I’m working with this is that I make it my business to make you business, really. So let’s really figure out what the winning numbers are in your business. Is it the people coming through your door? Is it the appointments they’re setting up? Is it sales? What is it that are we truly tracking right now in your business that’s making you dollars? And I try to work backwards from there. I try to see where are your dollars in your business really coming from, and how do we optimize that. And then from there, what are the pieces that we can pick up that maybe you haven’t optimized that we can strengthen? One easy example would be for a med spa. Right? You might be doing great on facials and Botox, but you’re not selling the products in the after cream and SPF. And you haven’t put those businesses on auto repeat. So when they come to visit you every month, that package is waiting on the counter for them for their facial.

Steve Gonzalez:

Right? These are simple systems and processes that we can implement in your business that bring in dollars. Right? And what does that look like for a food restaurant? Right? Maybe you’ll have a great takeout, but you wanna increase your catering. How can we get you to be in front of more businesses that want catering options and, you know, promote that side of your business because that’s gonna bring you more dollars versus somebody coming in here and just buying a donut. Right? Alright. We want higher sales. We want higher volumes. So that’s pretty much the approach that I take in what is what, and that’s also the scary part of businesses too. Right? Because they gotta pay me.

Steve Gonzalez:

Right? So that’s part of the part where we focus. I wanna make sure that the money that you’re paying me is giving you a return on your investment.

Molly Ruland:

I mean, I love that, especially if you’re working with small businesses that can be a little bit overwhelmed. Right? Like, that money is even more valuable than a huge company signing a $25,000 contract. Like if they can afford 25 ks, they can probably afford to lose 25 ks, where a small business is eking out 2,500 sometimes. But that one difference can make a huge difference in their bottom line. So you have a lot of, high stakes agreements with these people. You know? If it doesn’t work, you know, they’re looking directly at you. But I can’t imagine that it wouldn’t work if you’re doing things like eliminating redundancy, setting up automations, helping them use AI, getting them set up on Google My Business. I mean, you know, we get a fair amount of, like, cold, inbound mail from our website, for people looking for podcast booking services.

Molly Ruland:

You know, our page comes up. We don’t have an ad on it. We’re one of the first ones that comes up underneath all the ads, and I get a couple of those a week without any ads on it, without a ton of, you know, I don’t. I’m not paying an SEO agency. I just set it up the right way, and I’m constantly looking at my Google My Business to see what’s standing out and just tweaking these things to make sure that, you know, it works. Because for a small business, a couple inbound cold leads that you don’t pay for can make a huge difference in your bottom line.

Steve Gonzalez:

100%.

Molly Ruland:

Huge difference. So if a small business is looking to get into using some AI tools, what would be what would be, the a couple you would recommend to get started with to help with some of these things we’ve talked about?

Steve Gonzalez:

Well, with Google Business, I mean, we have solutions in there for content creation and optimizing the Google Business page for as low as, like, $80 a month, which isn’t a huge investment, is right there. Next one would be putting in a chat box on your website, making sure that there’s somebody there to respond. That’s another $100 right there. Not a huge investment. They actually have AI and bots that are free. The only thing you would have to pay is what you want to invest towards advertising. Right? So if you wanna pay $500 for Google Ads, all that money goes straight to Google. It’s not going in my pocket, but you have access to this free ad robot that’s scanning other people in your industry, comparing your keywords and your locations to optimize those ads to bring you those clients.

Steve Gonzalez:

Right? You wanna use those tools instead of just going in blind and giving Google $500. Let’s give you a tool that actually knows the market and is looking at your industry and comparing it against your competitors. So it’s not even just paid tools. There’s free tools that are available right now for SEO and and and content creation, that I help people get access to, especially small businesses. Right? I said, look, you can use these things to create content on your website right now. It’s not gonna cost you anything. Honestly, if you wanted to pay an agency, it probably cost you $500 to do this, but it’s probably something that’ll take you an hour to do and bring you 1,000 of dollars worth of results. I can give you an example right now, another one would be the permanent makeup artist.

Steve Gonzalez:

She went on her Instagram. I told her to get some before and after pictures, get the hashtags, put that in chat gpt. And I wrote a blog article from one of her clients’ testimonials. So I said, look, there you go. Now you have an article on your website. You tell it to SEO, optimize it with the keywords for your location. So now when Google scans your website, it shows that you gave service to this client in your area, and now Google knows. Okay.

Steve Gonzalez:

This business gives this service, and these people are giving her good results in this area. Now you’re being indexed, and you can do that with all your Instagram posts that you’re already creating. And that costs you nothing to use Gemini, which is free through Google. ChatGPT has a free version. You know, Copilot through Microsoft has and all these tools also have image generated. They might not be the best, but it’s stuff that’s available now that is really helpful. It’s what I tell people, you know, garbage in, garbage out. So if you just give good information and you give it the right information for what you need, you’re gonna get good results.

Molly Ruland:

100%. It’s all about the prompt. You know? It’s all about the prompt. You know? The more you give it, the better stuff you’re gonna get back for sure. I think it’s like a metaphor for life. Right? The more intention you put into anything, the more clear you are about the intended result, right, the expected result, the more likely you are to get that result. Right? When you’re going in and giving life, including yourself, really vague commands, you get a lot of weird results that might put you where you don’t want to be. So let’s jump into the speed round portion of the podcast, and this I think will be fun for us.

Molly Ruland:

So you can answer these as quickly or as slowly as you want. Really, there’s no real pressure here. They’re not one word answers. But, let’s talk. What’s one common mistake that businesses make when they’re targeting bilingual markets, and how can they fix that?

Steve Gonzalez:

In regards to Spanish and English, just assuming that they’re interested in the same things, honestly, and changing rhetoric is key. Right? How people communicate, they don’t take into account, and it really depends on the culture. Right? A lot of people might wanna do things in Spanish, but what they don’t realize is that somebody from New York talks differently from somebody from California, just like somebody from Miami talks differently from Oklahoma. If you’re gonna be targeting some types of people in different areas, you have to understand that just because they speak Spanish, they all don’t speak Spanish the same. And it’s important to make sure that what you’re posting and putting out there has that cultural relevance to those people. Right? That would be my take on that one.

Molly Ruland:

I mean, that’s super relevant. Like, looking at all the ads on my Facebook that are from Latin America compared to the ones that are, you know, from North America. I mean, they’re just wildly different. It’s really entertaining for me as a marketing person to just see what’s going on out there. But, even the way people behave on social media is totally different. You know? 100%. It’s kind of refreshing being in Costa Rica when there’s a post about something. 97% of the comments are like, God bless you and the family.

Molly Ruland:

It’s so different in North America. People, I hate you. You’re stupid. You know? And in Latin America, they’re like, God bless you. God be with you. Like, it’s just a completely different culture. And I’m not saying that the trolls aren’t there in Latin America as well, but, I mean, it’s just that it’s very different how people communicate with each other, especially in Spanish. My best friend is Venezuelan and he came to visit me and he was like, I don’t have any idea what they’re saying.

Steve Gonzalez:

Yeah. I

Molly Ruland:

was like, you

Steve Gonzalez:

speak Spanish. Important. Yeah. Study the market. Study your market. Study your audience. It’s important to go deep, not wide. You know, just because you wanna capture more people, don’t just throw a bigger net.

Steve Gonzalez:

You know, figure out what’s deep into what’s connecting with those people.

Molly Ruland:

Indeed. What is the most cost effective platform for engaging both English and Spanish speaking audiences in 2024?

Steve Gonzalez:

Honestly, right now, I would say Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Google is the king of search and if people are searching for you. But if you wanna put your product in front of people in a way that might be more relevant in creating creative content, I would say Facebook. And what people don’t realize about Facebook too, it’s not even just advertising and content creation. Really, I would say the low key secret for marketing is to join groups. There’s hundreds and hundreds of Facebook groups that people aren’t aware of that dive down into specific niches where you can communicate to a big customer base. Right? One example will be here in Maryland. There’s a group on Facebook called Latinos of Oxon Hill, Maryland.

Steve Gonzalez:

And if I want to reach the Latinos in Oxon Hill, Maryland, I can go to that Facebook group and specifically create content that speaks to the audience of Oxon Hill, Maryland, And then find those directly, and you can see the people who are there, and you can send them friend requests and message them and become part of that community. And I think that’s a big piece that people have missed with social media platforms. They get stuck in the feed scrolling and consuming the content, and they haven’t learned how to create content and actually be a part of the system.

Molly Ruland:

Yeah. Yeah. Be a part of the conversation. Just don’t come in the room yelling, interrupting the conversation.

Steve Gonzalez:

Look what I can do.

Molly Ruland:

Right, simmer down, biscuit, nobody asked. Yeah, well, and what’s really interesting is, and I’ve had feelings for this for a few years. There’s a lot of women coaches in particular that will tell women business owners, create a Facebook group, create community, give content away for free. But I feel like it’s very disingenuous. You know, you’re not creating a community. You’re putting people into a digital space so that you can sell to them later. And it’s very different from community. Now I’m not saying that all Facebook groups started by coaches don’t have community.

Molly Ruland:

There are definitely some that are awesome and very great tight knit communities, but I would say 90% of what people have done out there is just to sell to them. And I think your advice is spot on. Don’t try to create a community, go be a part of the community. Go join those groups and provide value, real value. Answer some questions without a sales pitch in the end. You know, get to know what people are really looking for. I think that’s fantastic advice, especially in other markets. Right? If you really wanna know what’s going on in Costa Rica, you join the Facebook groups because all the tea is there.

Molly Ruland:

Let me tell you, I know about everything. I know whose gardener didn’t show up, whose dog is missing. You know, I mean, talk about a real community here. So I think that’s fantastic advice for sure. What’s the fastest growing digital marketing trend in Latin American markets this year?

Steve Gonzalez:

I have seen, at least in America, people really start to take advantage of what’s working here in America. A lot of people don’t realize that Latin America is influenced by American culture. Hollywood is from out here. So now that Latin America has more access to technology and doing that thing, you can start to see how Latin America is kind of influenced by American culture. And that I would say that’s one of the biggest growing trends is to really dial in and to see, hey, Latin America, just because we have DC and Marvel and Spider Man in Spanish doesn’t mean that they don’t like it down there. That’s not relevant to them. It is. They are heavily influenced by the movies and music that definitely comes out of here.

Molly Ruland:

For sure. For sure. And, you know, it’s interesting because I saw a marketing trend appear about a month and a half ago that’s actually moving its way north. And I feel like it originated either in Latin America or in Southeast Asia, I’m not a 100% sure, and you’ve probably seen these, where it opens up with like a video of like a bull running into a man or something, or somebody falling, and then- Watch with water. And then it goes through, yes. They’re so funny to me. Yeah. And what’s happening is these businesses are going viral over it.

Molly Ruland:

Ultra, we’ll try to edit. I’ll ask John if he can put one of those in the video. They’re so funny to me because they’re so clever because it catches your eye with that dramatic opening and then they come rolling into the scene or whatever. And they’re poorly recorded and poorly produced, but they’re getting, like, 100 of thousands of views. And people are saying that their little electronics store in Bogota just did, like, record sales because of that silly video that they made. And so I’ve watched it over the last month and a half. Now I’m seeing people on my, you know, United States feed doing the same thing and adding in English and not in Spanish. So, like, I think this is maybe one time where Latin America influenced the United States, you know, North America.

Steve Gonzalez:

Yeah. I’ve seen that one. I’ve seen it with, for example, them cutting up a coconut and the water splashes out, and then suddenly the dudes get a splash of water. And then it’s like, oh, here. Come try our food. And that’s definitely the trend I’ve been seeing recently for sure.

Molly Ruland:

I think it’s brilliant because it’s so low budget and it’s hilarious and that you tend to watch it a couple of times and like, hey, if it helps their business, good for them. Especially the people that really commit, like the ones that are falling or being thrown into a room. I’m like, A plus for commitment, my dude. You know what I mean? You probably hurt yourself on that one. You really committed to the whole thing. So, I hope people are seeing these because I think they’re, like,

Steve Gonzalez:

the best people. Car dealerships here do those types of things. And yeah.

Molly Ruland:

I mean, if it works, right, it’s getting people’s attention. You’re not taking yourself too seriously. You’re paying attention to the market. All good signs that, you know, these businesses are paying attention. So

Steve Gonzalez:

Yeah.

Molly Ruland:

Okay. What is one piece of advice you’d give to a marketer starting out in the bilingual market today?

Steve Gonzalez:

Like, like, somebody wants to get into marketing?

Molly Ruland:

Yeah.

Steve Gonzalez:

Okay. Well, it helps if you’re bilingual. So I would say that. Just

Molly Ruland:

to start with that.

Steve Gonzalez:

Let’s start with that one. So make sure you can understand both languages and have a connection to the culture. The next one then too is niche. Try to try to find a niche. Try to find the people that you want to help in your department. It’s not even just about Spanish and English. But then try to drill down in Spanish and English in what department. Are you going to help those car dealerships reach more people in Spanish who want to get that? Are you gonna help these hair salons that wanna get more Spanish speaking clients, chiropractors? Whatever it is, if you’re just starting out, your best bet is to find a niche.

Steve Gonzalez:

Right? I don’t go to get my dentist ‘s eyes checked out. Right? So it’s important that whoever it is that you’re serving, you’re able to give those people what they need and what it is that they’re looking for with the right solution.

Molly Ruland:

Amazing. Alright. So now we’re gonna move into the real or fake podcast category where I’m going to rattle off some names, and you’re gonna say real or fake.

Steve Gonzalez:

Okay.

Molly Ruland:

Are you ready?

Steve Gonzalez:

Right.

Molly Ruland:

Number 1, radio ambulante.

Steve Gonzalez:

That sounds real.

Molly Ruland:

It is real. Let’s see. Cafe Y Cultura.

Steve Gonzalez:

That sounds real.

Molly Ruland:

It’s fake. It should be. Okay. It should be real. I know. We should take that one. Vosas vivas.

Steve Gonzalez:

That sounds real.

Molly Ruland:

It’s fake. Okay.

Steve Gonzalez:

Well We

Molly Ruland:

I got some great ideas here. An Andrelynias. Andrelynias?

Steve Gonzalez:

Is that a food podcast? I don’t I don’t know about that one. No one doesn’t sound legit.

Molly Ruland:

It’s real. It’s a podcast that discusses literature from around the world offering insights in Spanish and English.

Steve Gonzalez:

Okay. Maybe that’s a podcast I need to check out.

Molly Ruland:

It is. It is. Alright. One more. Puente de Palabras.

Steve Gonzalez:

Puente de Palabras. The bridge to words? I would say, yeah, that sounds real.

Molly Ruland:

It’s fake. We got 3 good podcast names if we need them. We got them on deck right here. I love you know what I love about learning Spanish is when people who speak Spanish correct me. It’s my favorite thing. It’s like the one time in my life I enjoy being corrected. I’m like

Steve Gonzalez:

I mean, you see you say you say you say it good. It’s just at the end of the day, it’s, my best thing to tell people is English is at the front of the mouth, and I think that’s where a lot of English speakers mess up. Spanish is back here. Spanish is in a it’s it’s more guttural. It’s more in the back of the throat and things like that. When people speak English, it’s too right here at the front of the lips. Yeah. And then that’s where pronunciation comes back.

Steve Gonzalez:

But

Molly Ruland:

Yeah.

Steve Gonzalez:

If you just start thinking more gutturally, more and more to the back of the throat, you’ll get the pronunciation better. Yeah.

Molly Ruland:

Well, they call me sir on the phone, so I should n’t have too far to go. I’m halfway there.

Steve Gonzalez:

Okay.

Molly Ruland:

Alright. Steve, I have one more question for you before we go, and this one is a little bit more personal. If you could relive one day from your childhood in either Cuba or Argentina I don’t know where you grew up?

Steve Gonzalez:

Miami, Florida.

Molly Ruland:

Oh, well, that doesn’t make any sense. Okay. If you could relive one day from your childhood in Miami, what day would it be and why?

Steve Gonzalez:

Oh, man. There’s a I would say I would say I would say honestly, the day I left Miami. I’ll tell you that. I’m here in DC. I’ll relive that one. It definitely opened up my eyes to new opportunities. I went from Miami, and I went to Vermont. Yeah.

Steve Gonzalez:

That was a big change. That created a new avenue of growth for me. I went to do you know what ROTC is?

Molly Ruland:

Uh-huh.

Steve Gonzalez:

I went to a school where they invented it. So I ended up going from, you know, the beaches, to the middle of nowhere, Vermont, to a military school where I had to wear a uniform 24 hours a day. I think I’d do that one again.

Molly Ruland:

Well, I didn’t see that one coming. That’s I’m

Steve Gonzalez:

with the right hook.

Molly Ruland:

One one tip of the country to the other. I mean, you really, you went as far away as you could without going west. I mean

Steve Gonzalez:

And then yeah. And it definitely opened up my eyes to new opportunities and new experiences. The first time I saw snow, you know, going to Vermont.

Molly Ruland:

I love it.

Steve Gonzalez:

Yeah.

Molly Ruland:

I love it. That’s amazing. Well, Steve, thanks for spending time with me today on the show. I enjoyed hanging out and doing a little research with About You and learning more about you. And I think you gave some really good actionable items here, and especially for small businesses. A lot of times, I’m talking to CMOs of these huge companies, and, you know, that’s not always relevant for small businesses. Right? You know, they’re talking about $20,000 ad campaigns when, you know, for small businesses, that’s not a reality. So I think it was great that you gave really good advice and tools and tips for people that are smaller businesses that are looking to grow and really wanna maximize those tools.

Molly Ruland:

So I appreciate all that information for sure.

Steve Gonzalez:

100%. And if an enterprise out there wants to spend, you know, $25,000 with me, I’m here for them too.

Molly Ruland:

Hey. We’re not closing any doors here. You heard that here, folks. Enterprise organizations, come on, knock on this door. And I gotta say, I love the Shattered Glass Studio because as a woman, breaking a lot of glass ceilings in a lot of male dominated industries, I appreciate that metaphor as well.

Steve Gonzalez:

Yeah. For sure. It’s one of the campaigns we’re actually working with at my university. It’s actually, breaking the glass with women at Norwich University. You can check it out. We’re we’re we’re working on that campaign. Now you bring that up. And it’s one of the campaigns we’re running.

Molly Ruland:

Nice. That’s super cool. Well, before we go, what’s the best way for people? I’m gonna have all your links and everything in the show notes for anybody who’s tuned in right now. But, for anybody who’s listening, where’s the best way for them to connect with you?

Steve Gonzalez:

Yeah. If you, you know, forget who Steve is, I always tell people to go to who is steve.com. It goes to my most relevant page. And if they ever wanna know when Steve is available, you can just go to when Steve is steve available.com. It’ll take you to my calendar. You can just book a right there, a free call. Let’s meet up, have a virtual coffee, and talk about your needs.

Molly Ruland:

I can’t believe we didn’t open with those domains, Steve. I feel like you left so much on the table here. How did you buy those domains in 1987? Like, what’s going on?

Steve Gonzalez:

I lucked out by the luck of the draw. Honestly, I bought those right around the same time that I started my marketing company and people you know, I started saying, now how do I develop my personal brand? How do people know who Steve is? I ended up buying, who is Steve? Where is Steve? When is Steve? Why is Steve? Nobody ever asked Steve, though. You know?

Molly Ruland:

I’m good. I’m gonna send you an email next week asking you how you’re doing. That’s amazing. That is brilliant. I used to be, mortgage molly.com. Not as good, not as good, but, you know, that was another lifetime ago back when domains just started to be a thing. But, Steve, you’re amazing. I have no doubt that we will actually connect the next time that I am back in DC from Costa Rica.

Molly Ruland:

I will be sure to come by and check out your many studio locations and, and try to do some business with you myself because I think you got some good stuff going on. So thanks for taking time to hang out.

Steve Gonzalez:

No. Thank you, Molly. I appreciate this. You’re definitely giving a voice and a platform for all us business owners out there. Thank you.

Molly Ruland:

Yeah. No no prob hey. We’re all in this together. It’s 2024. We gotta learn from each other and get the good tools and information to help each other with our businesses. There’s enough room at the table for everybody. Right? So I appreciate you sharing. So thank you.

Steve Gonzalez:

Thank you.

Molly Ruland:

And thanks for tuning in today to Camp Content. I hope you found this content valuable. My goal is to give you some good tips on how to dial in your marketing this year. It’s a different market. Business can be harder or easier to get depending on where you’re at. So don’t give up hope, tune into camp content, get some real actionable items, Put them into play, then hit me up, and let me know how it’s working. And until then, be excellent to each other, and I’ll see you on the Internet.