Molly Ruland:

Welcome to Camp Content. I am legitimately excited about today’s guest. Garen is my new favorite person. We’ve known each other for, I don’t know, maybe, like, an entire week now, but I am super excited about everything that’s gonna happen next and working with him because Kindred Spirits does not cover it. So, let me give you a little bit of background about Garren, and we can go from there. So he is the driving force behind Desk Rig’s transformative video learning experiences. He is, you know, in the c suite, CEO, founder, all the good things, but prefers chief video experiences nerd. He’s got a passion for pioneering education technology.

Molly Ruland:

He’s dedicated his career to enhancing the integration of video and learning, making complex concepts accessible and engaging. So what does all that mean? Desk Rig is a company that is taking video production to the next level. They’re doing real time post production, shortening the gap between when you record and when you get your final product. They’re doing better work than anything I have seen in a really long time other than the work we do, of course, wink wink. And, it’s just super smart business. And so I’m very excited today to jump in with Garren and talk about business and talk about why video matters, why your audio matters, and how that can close you more deals this year. So without further ado, welcome to the show, Garrett.

Garren Parkins:

Thank you, Molly. So nice to be here, and I’m so grateful we got the opportunity to meet last week, and now we’re best friends. So

Molly Ruland:

That’s awesome. Here we are. We even run together. It’s great. Well, different places, but one day, you never know.

Garren Parkins:

I will come down there, and we will absolutely run-in the mountains one day.

Molly Ruland:

And speaking of which, Garren is about to run his first 100 mile race, which he is training for this week. So thank you for taking time from your running schedule, from your state of masochistic exercise plan to hang out with me. But let’s talk about that. You’re running a 100 mile race. That says a lot.

Garren Parkins:

Yeah. It’s a little crazy. I guess I’m a bit of a masochist. I love the punishment and the misery. And, you know, I started running really honestly because I was overwhelmed with work, life, and I felt some mental health struggles on the horizon, and I thought I gotta figure something out before I’m popping pills that I don’t really wanna be taking from a doctor. Right. And so I was like, you know, I’m gonna go out and brutalize my body. And at the end of the day, it did the trick.

Garren Parkins:

And, I’m really glad that I started running because I’ve been able to find a lot of mental solace and happiness in that misery and struggle. Doing hard things is fun, I guess.

Molly Ruland:

I mean, you know, I could dig it. I could definitely dig it, and I appreciate your honesty on that. It absolutely helps me with my mental health as well. Like, the days when I’m just not feeling it, it’s probably a day that I didn’t run. So, I appreciate that. And I like doing hard things too. I really like that I did a 100 mile bike race once a day. And so That’s hard.

Molly Ruland:

Too. It was hard. I’ll tell you my secrets off the air, but, it was a good time for sure. But, I mean, I I was, like, pedaling in my bed that night like a like a dog was I

Garren Parkins:

did 62 weeks ago, and a 100 is like I don’t know what it is about being on the bike for that long, but being hunched over and all that.

Molly Ruland:

Oh, yeah. Well, you gotta ride with no hands and, you know, it was a whole thing. But, I definitely respect that because, you know, I was at a women’s retreat recently, and they said, when do you have a journal prompt, and they’re like, when do you feel the most grounded? And I really had to think about that, and the answer is when I get off the treadmill. You know? Not when I’m on it and not before because this is the I mean, I will clean my bathroom. I will do anything to get on that treadmill. You know what I mean? I’m like, oh, maybe I have to pee. Maybe I should get some water. I’m like a kid going to bed.

Molly Ruland:

I’m like, just one more sip of water, and then I’m like, just get on the treadmill. But when I get off, man, it’s like, you know, I come to so many conclusions while I’m running. So kudos to you for recognizing that and leaning into it because, I mean, that’s a help and accomplishment, man. 100 miles.

Garren Parkins:

Yes. When we get there when we get through the 100 mile race, you know, right now, it’s a lot of talk and training, but when I cross the finish line, I’m sure that that sense of accomplishment will, will definitely fill me up.

Molly Ruland:

Well, in my eyes, you’ve already even by trying, to mean that’s, like, halfway to the goalpost. You know what I mean?

Garren Parkins:

So Yeah. I do. I do.

Molly Ruland:

Challenge makes a difference. So let’s talk a little bit about DeskRig and the origin story. So explain what Deskrig is. I mean, I could do it, but I’m sure you could do a better job. So if you could explain to people what Deskrig is.

Garren Parkins:

Yeah. We’re a video experiences company. And, really, it’s all about, you know, pioneering new ways of showing up on video for, you know, the average Joe to be able to show up in a way that makes them feel confident. Right? I wanna give confidence to people that they’re showing up in a different way than they’re used to. You know, we’re all used to going into the office, and we’re all used to putting on nice clothes and shaking hands and standing up straight and having that in person presence. But when you get behind a camera, I mean, it’s like deer in the headlights type thing. You know, people, they it’s like they’ve lost all sense of professionalism, because they don’t understand the tools and the sensory capture devices

Molly Ruland:

Mhmm.

Garren Parkins:

That goes into providing an experience that makes it feel, makes it feel real and doesn’t give you that Zoom fatigue that everybody talks about. When everybody’s, like, looking down to talk to you, not making eye contact for the entire conversation. You know, it’s very , it’s really awkward. And I think, you know, we formed this company out of learning how to do that prior to COVID. And so I can hop right into that if you wanna go ahead and hop right into that origin story. I was in sales, most of my career, in digital sales. I was always a video nerd because I like to snowboard, and we like to make videos of snowboarding, you know, and that kind of stuff in college. And so when I got into the sales world, I got a new job helping a software company grow their enterprise sales. It was a b to b ecommerce software.

Garren Parkins:

We were selling to people all over the world, and Heineken, Bosch, Ableton, very large corporate organizations that every time I showed up on a video call with somebody in a $1,000,000 boardroom and I was in my basement, for the 1st year of this job, I was like, oh, this is not working out me. And then everybody would kind of come in the call, and they’d be like, who are you?

Molly Ruland:

Who are you? Yeah. Are you Zoom bombing this call right now?

Garren Parkins:

Who are you? Are you supposed to be here? Are you sure you’re with a real enterprise software company? And it made me realize pretty quickly that if I didn’t change that perception, that we weren’t gonna be able to, I wasn’t gonna be able to accomplish my goal of helping them get kind of off the ground with their larger corporate enterprise sales. And so one day I was watching a Twitch stream and, somebody watching playing video games, some kid playing video games. And he was, you know, overlaid over top of his video game. And he had these things popping up on screen and polls and and, when somebody likes or subscribers, like a video plays, and, like, I was like, wow. I was just impressed with the level of production.

Molly Ruland:

Yeah.

Garren Parkins:

That was going into this live experience. And then dawned on me, like, what if I could do that with a PowerPoint presentation and business data and case studies and just different media. So I called up my buddy who was a Twitch streamer, and I said, could I do this with these things? And he was like, Yeah. Of course, you could. You know? Kinda felt silly. And so that kinda started the journey, to create the first kind of virtual presence in the desk rig, which is a desk rig is a noun that describes a piece of equipment on your desk. And I I think, for me, I think about your workstation like a virtual commuter vehicle. Right? At the same time I was working, I was, I was, one of my one of my hobbies was overlanding.

Garren Parkins:

So it’s like car camping. And everybody calls their truck their rig. So I was like, oh, this is my desk rig. Desk rig, yeah. This is a piece of equipment that I customize to my specific needs, and make it look cool to do the job that needs to get done. And it gets me from a to b, just like in real life. And so that’s kind of where the name came from, and we evolved the hardware device over time, and that’s kind of where things started. And over time, we really saw that, you know, adding the software in with OBS Studio, or mhmm, or ecamm Ecamm Live, like all these different softwares started to add layers of interactivity.

Garren Parkins:

And so I became very successful in that software job just because I shifted the way I was showing up. And I would go into those calls, and it would go from, who are you to

Molly Ruland:

Woah. Who are you?

Garren Parkins:

Who are you? You know? And I remember the first time I was like, oh, I’m Garen Parkins with Vertigo. You know? It was like it was one of those moments where it was like, light bulb. So that was 2017, I had 3 years to just kick butt on that thing, and then COVID hits. And everybody goes into the virtual space and starts having to be in these meetings virtually. And I thought to myself, this is my opportunity. This is what I’ve been preparing for, and I didn’t even know it. And so that’s when I started DeskRig. And, yeah, that’s kind of the origin story is, you know, I learned by myself that the difference between who you are and who you are is just a little bit of know-how on video.

Molly Ruland:

Or knowing how to hire the right person, right, like you guys to, you know, guide them. Right? Because I think, you know, I think people see, like, you know, your background and, like, oh, like a YouTube guy, and I don’t wanna do all that. But it’s like, well, wait a minute. You know, what is the conversion rate on your sales calls? You know, are you getting invited to speak at more virtual events? Are you like, I don’t think people even understand, like, you know, podcast production is really expensive, and if you wanna go on other people’s podcasts, like, buy a microphone, like, get a decent like, people are spending up to a $1,000 an episode on their podcast. They don’t want you coming on with your laptop microphone. Like, I don’t I don’t know where I don’t I don’t I really thought because I was live streaming in 2016 when no one was home. So, I killed it. No one saw it.

Molly Ruland:

Right? I mean, we did pretty well, but, like, we were way ahead of the curve. But I think people just think it’s like they’re waiting for things to go back or they just think it’s okay. I don’t I don’t fully understand where the disconnect is between

Molly Ruland:

you sound smarter when you have a microphone, and people wanna listen to you more when you have a microphone. And you’re gonna close more deals when you have a microphone.

Molly Ruland:

And so with us, all of our clients, we send them a microphone. I just I’m like, if one more person buys a fucking Yeti, I’m gonna lose my mind. So I just started sending. I really like you know? Because I’ll send them links, and then they’ll be like, oh, I found something similar on Amazon. I’m like, dude, that thing is $30. It’s like, it is not a Shure mic like, so I’m just okay. I’ll just send it to you. And I tell them, use it all the time. Use it on your sales calls.

Molly Ruland:

Really? Just use it on your sales calls. 2 weeks later, they’re going, I don’t know why I didn’t buy a microphone before. I am so I thank you for sending me this microphone. I’m using it on every sales call, every meeting, not just podcasts, and they’re seeing a difference. But I don’t know where that disconnect is. How do you manage that in this space? I guess you gotta have people that really understand the value of who’s coming to you. But

Garren Parkins:

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, for a long time, I was trying to convince people. Like, hey. You really should do this. You really should do this. And I realized, eventually, you’ve gotta focus on the people who already recognize the problem. There is the awareness phase of the sales cycle.

Garren Parkins:

Right? And that’s so we can put out content and talk about how much it can improve, you know, your conversion rates, how much it can improve your interactivity in calls, your ability to get recognized. Right. And going back real quickly, I wanted to say this analogy. But when you’re going when you’re talking to somebody in their car and they’re on the Bluetooth audio, right, and you’re and they’re going down the interstate and they’re you can barely hear them. You’re like, dude, can you just call me back when you get there?

Molly Ruland:

It sucks. Yeah.

Garren Parkins:

It takes extra; it already takes enough energy to actively listen to somebody. Right? That is a skill that most people already don’t possess, but it takes energy to actively listen and not always be in the respond mode. Right? To compound that with the inability to understand what they’re saying and decipher like, wait a second. Can you repeat that? Because of you it sounds like you said 3 different things There yeah. It could’ve been 3 different words independently, but, you know, I think that’s really the analogy I always use. It’s like, do you like to talk to somebody when they’re driving on their Bluetooth audio driving on the interstate? And they’re like, oh, no. That’s terrible. Like, just call me when you get there.

Molly Ruland:

You know? Somebody with AirPods and they’re doing the dishes, and you’re like, listen. I get that you think you can be multitasking, but it sounds like you’re in a, like, earthquake. And disrespectful. It’s so disrespectful. I thank you for saying that. I feel the same way. I’m like, do you not care about how your content is being received? And a lot of people, right, like, they’re watching TikTok and stuff, and they think, oh, well, this guy is getting more popular because of it.

Molly Ruland:

No. All the good ones are using a microphone of some kind,

Molly Ruland:

whether it’s a little lapel mic or a little handheld jammy. Like, you know, you can’t just talk into your phone. It’s like Anchor. They’re like, record a podcast from your phone. I almost lost my mind. I was like, oh, god. No. No.

Molly Ruland:

No. Please.

Garren Parkins:

Those video coaches that say, like, oh, you’ve you’ve already got everything you need to get started right here. I’m like, that’s not not true. Okay? Like, you’re not lying to people, but you are misleading them.

Molly Ruland:

But you’re misleading

Garren Parkins:

them. You know, if you really know how to use the phone, if it’s close enough to your face, and you’re in a super quiet room, and and

Molly Ruland:

sure. Sure.

Garren Parkins:

You can get by, but don’t think that people are gonna watch that and be like, wow. They are worth $1,000,000. You know? And I guess it comes down to what you want people to perceive your worth is at the end of the day.

Molly Ruland:

What’s your average deal size? Right? Like, how much money do people spend with you, you know, and is your content actually working against you? You know? And I think, you know, talking about Zoom fatigue, people talk about that a lot, and I’m like, but it’s not Zoom fatigue. I don’t mind looking at people all day. It’s their audio. It’s it’s you know? And we’ve moved into this Dolby 5.1 surround sound world, and then all of a sudden, we went from that to broadcasting in a tuna can. And people think they hate Zoom. And I’m like, no. It’s you know? And all my clients who have bought a microphone, they’re like, by the way, you’ve ruined me because now I’m just judging people in Zoom calls who don’t have microphones. I’m like, I’m sorry.

Molly Ruland:

Welcome to being an audio file. It’s not great. You know? Right.

Garren Parkins:

And then you’re also, like so, imagining how people felt about you for the past 3 years.

Molly Ruland:

The flip side to that is, like, wow. Like, you know, and you and you’ve got this very simple we could even break this down. You could probably tell by looking up that those are actually really nice sound panels, but you can buy something that looks just like that on Amazon and put it behind your desk and get a light and fake the funk and you know what I mean? Just aim your camera the right way, and you can look so much better. You know, you don’t have to have a recording studio. You know?

Garren Parkins:

No. There’s a lot of if you look at the king of the spectrum of options that you could go with, I mean, for less than $1,000, less than $500, really, you could do something really awesome and simple. And, you know, it’s not that big of a lift. It’s just the willingness to take the first step of, like, putting your cart together on Amazon.

Molly Ruland:

I mean, I have to say I agree. I’ve built quite a few studios over the last 6 or 7 years, and, I mean, I can’t say how many times I’ve gone to the clients and they’re like, yeah. The last vendor, and we spent $10, and I’m, like, looking at the equipment. I’m like, what is this pile of junk equipment? And I’m like, okay. How about you spend 900 more and I get everybody’s microphones and, you know, like, oh my there so I think maybe that’s some of the issue, right, is accessibility. Because maybe people think that it’s so expensive to have it look like that, or, they need a DSLR camera. Well, are you using a DSLR right now? What are you using? Yeah.

Garren Parkins:

It’s a Lumix s 5. I bought it during COVID. Hey. So it’s a full frame mirrorless camera, so it definitely it’s not it’s definitely not its camera, but you don’t have to have that. And I do not recommend that for most people, actually.

Molly Ruland:

Me neither.

Garren Parkins:

You have to have a capture card, and you and It’s a

Molly Ruland:

home pain in the ass. Yeah. I’m very hip. Like, so now I’m using the Opel C1, which is a $250 webcam. It looks like a pack of double mint gum fits in your suitcase, and it’s a DSLR that doesn’t require the capture card and the video card and the the the the the the the you know, because, you know Right. You gotta go into the settings and you gotta which stuff like that excites me. I’m like, let’s do it. But most people are like, Yeah.

Molly Ruland:

Get

Garren Parkins:

super overwhelmed. Right. And turn it on. That’s it. That’s it. And I I recommend video or webcam high end webcams for most people because it is just plug and play. Boom. On.

Garren Parkins:

Let’s go. You know? Easy. Easy. Easy.

Molly Ruland:

So what is your goal? Because I know you’re doing a lot of stuff with, like, podcast production or just production in general, which I love, and, you know, we’ve got some exciting announcements for people. I’m super pumped to be leveling up our production, with Desk, Greg, you know. But what is your goal for I mean, I’m really stuck on the sales side of it. I really am. I’m really focused on that because I feel like, you know, yes. Let’s knock out the podcast, and let’s do all that, but I just wish people really understood how valuable it is to have this as a sales tool. Like, no matter what you’re if you’re a coach, especially if you’re a coach, if you’re doing guided meditations, if you’re doing weekly check ins with your women coaching group, it it doesn’t if you’re a CEO, right, it doesn’t matter, like, who you are. Like, you need a better setup.

Molly Ruland:

So how do we get people you know, is how do we get people there?

Garren Parkins:

The only thing I’ve been able to be successful with is just being, inspiring through leading. Right? Leading from the front, doing the best I can to show up, looking my best, sounding my best, you know, performing, because this is a performance art being on video. It is. For sure. Now I failed my speech in college 3 times, by the way. So it’s, like, not like I have some background in this in speaking, but it’s just I lead from the front and it inspires people and they say, man, I wanna look like that. How can I look like that? And the first time, it never fails. The first time they get on and they get that reaction from their audience, whoever that audience may be, they’ll text me and they’ll be like, I’ve just never felt so confident ever.

Garren Parkins:

Like, I can’t live without this now. And, like, I live for that feeling.

Molly Ruland:

Yeah. That’s so good.

Garren Parkins:

I just try to tell people. I’m like, I know that this is hard up front. It’s a lot to learn. You’re investing a lot. But when you get that first person who’s like, hey, man. You look really amazing. Like, who are you, and how are you doing that? You’re gonna be like, what? What? You know? And so with the production stuff, really, for us, it’s like we understand that a lot of people aren’t willing to take that first step. So what we decided is, like, let us take that first step for you.

Garren Parkins:

Right? You show up. We’ll use all of the tools available, the nerdiest stuff that you’re probably not gonna learn on your own to take your bad webcam and the audio that you give us access to, and we’ll run it through post processing live. Right? And we’ll still be able to give you back something that is better than what you have. I mean, you wouldn’t I mean, you would. People show up, like, down here. Yeah.

Molly Ruland:

I know. They’re like, how’s my camera? Yeah. I’m like, okay. You know, it looks great.

Garren Parkins:

So, you know, we’ll crop them out. Right? We’ll put some post processing on their audio, and we’ll make sure that that live recording is as good as it can get. Right? And so we’ve learned to leverage these tools on your behalf, and in most cases, later down the road, you’re like, man, I really wanna look like that on my own video calls when you’re not there. And I’m like, gotcha.

Molly Ruland:

Gotcha. I love it. Well, I’m all in. I’m definitely I mean, I impress people with my Costa Rican background, but I feel like it could be even better because as much as I love my background, it’s also, it’s a very hostile recording environment. I’m in a concrete metal glass room with tall ceilings. You know? It’s all windows.

Garren Parkins:

Very bouncy. Which is great. Is probably very bouncy.

Molly Ruland:

Oh, it is. It’s, which is why being close to your microphone really makes a difference. So let’s talk about one, actionable tip that people can do to make their audio sound better today, right now?

Garren Parkins:

Get the microphone closer to your damn mouth. I mean, I do this all the time. I’m like, I sound pretty good from here, and I am, you know, a hands distance away because I don’t really love the microphone. Like, honestly, I don’t love this.

Molly Ruland:

Yeah. Yeah. Well, first of all trust me. Who told anybody to do that? I mean, come on. Good lord.

Garren Parkins:

But you see it all the time. Right? There’s, like, the microphone hanging down in their face, and they’re, like, here in it. And you’re like

Molly Ruland:

One time, I saw a lady on LinkedIn, and the microphone was, like, back here. I was like, I like, it’s bad enough when people are doing it here, but I’m like, it is not a lamp. It is not, like, an artificial lamp. Like, what is even happening right now?

Garren Parkins:

And I think a lot of people just think, like, high quality microphone can be anywhere, and it’s gonna pick up high but they don’t realize there’s, like, also the science of pickup patterns, cardioids, super cardio cardio you know, there’s, like, this whole Dynamic world.

Molly Ruland:

Denser. Yeah. I mean, the Yeti versus everything else. Yeah. I mean, it’s a

Garren Parkins:

Omnidirectional, bidirectional pickup pattern. Like, all these pickup patterns matter. And, like, a lot of people get, like, shares, and they talk about it at the front instead of the top. Right? And they’re and they’re and so I’m like, man, you paid all this money for a microphone, and you’re not even really Well positioning it.

Molly Ruland:

That’s the thing. It’s got excellent rejection, and so you need to talk past the top of it. Because when I start talking into the side of it, you can’t hear me anymore. So, you know, Karen, this is what we’re gonna do. I just figured this out. At the we’re gonna meet at the next podcast convention, and we’re gonna hire a photographer. And we’re gonna take stock photos of people using microphones properly. And then we will flood because then our competitors will put us on their website because they won’t even know.

Molly Ruland:

But if I see one more picture of a microphone not plugged in on these stock photos or being used the wrong way or talking into the metal bar, I mean, it’s like, it’s almost comical we could do a whole podcast on, like, bad microphone stock photos. But I think we could have a lot of fun with this, this, and then we’ll just submit them to the directories, and we can start to because I really am convinced that that’s why people use their microphones wrong because all the stock photos they see are people using microphones improperly.

Garren Parkins:

That’s really I’d never thought about that, but that’s super that’s super smart and clever, and that’s exactly why we’re partners now.

Molly Ruland:

Exactly. I’m like, Yeah.

Garren Parkins:

That is genius.

Molly Ruland:

I wanna, like, log on to my competitor’s website and see my face, and they’ll be like,

Garren Parkins:

they won’t

Molly Ruland:

even now. They’ll be like,

Garren Parkins:

you bastards.

Molly Ruland:

But And

Garren Parkins:

then the executives, like, the executive looks at the website. They’re like, do you know who this is? Yeah. This is our

Molly Ruland:

This is Molly. Oh, that would be great. But, seriously, we need to change the, we need to change the, you know, messaging around it. So I know we have a little bit of a deadline. So I wanna talk about, you know, who is your best, you know, for people who are listening to this and they’re thinking, okay. Well, I’m not a big company with a big sales team. Like, who is your ideal client? Who do you want to work with this year?

Garren Parkins:

Well, right now, I know, we have a big focus on production. I think that’s really where we’re looking to hone in, and really create value for people. Because to your point about sales and closing deals and using these tools for sales, at the end of the day, right now, there’s such an opportunity for content creators. There’s never been an opportunity like this ever before for you to reach these vast audiences for free. Wild. Wild. For free. Right? Like, excuse my friend.

Garren Parkins:

Free. You know? It’s like, come on. Like, the only thing you need to do is produce content. The only thing you need to do to stand out is produce decent content, and then it goes up from there. Right? So what I wanna be able to do is help companies operationalize content creation in a scalable way. No. You’re never gonna get every salesperson to be able to pick up a microphone and a camera and be able to properly use them. That is just the lift there, we’re talking 10.

Garren Parkins:

This is gonna have to be kind of like an overtime change.

Molly Ruland:

A new norm. Yeah.

Garren Parkins:

Yes. Right. Exactly. So for us, we really wanna be able to help these companies operationalize and scale content creation by showing up on a video call with my team. Let us do the recording. Let us coach your team. The only thing your salespeople need to show up with is what they already have, which is their knowledge of your product, your value proposition, and customer stories. Right? Now the strategy of what you want them to say is something we don’t really do.

Garren Parkins:

Right? Mhmm. But what we can do is make sure that as soon as your salesperson leaves a call with us, we can turn around and give them their social media posts for the week. And then all of a sudden, instead of your marketing department having to do these heavy lifts with video production and da da da da da da, you have an army of content creators at your fingertips that are putting out different perspectives, because each person has a different perspective on each different product and different thing they do and and how they bring value. And so that’s when a company starts to think about the holistic and the cumulative effort of content creation across their entire sales organization when they have 50 or a 100 salespeople who are all putting out 3 to 5 brand new 62nd reels. All it takes is one of them to go viral for your sales numbers to double, triple, 10 x even. Now I have a story about that. I have a guy that was one of my customers who I started when I started creating content. Back in 2020, we started in this class together, and I will not tell you the name of the coach because I’m not a fan of this person. But, we both have been creating content for all these years, and I know that at one point he had considered quitting.

Garren Parkins:

And he was like, I’m just not seeing the results that I wanted to. Like I wanted to go I wanted to get famous, viral famous. Right? Well, one day he calls me and he goes, guess what? He’s like, one of my videos went viral. Like, one day and it was one that he didn’t plan on going viral. It was the same type of content, same style of content. He did nothing different, but just one of them caught the air, caught the wind, the, you know, the sales caught air somehow, and he told me that the business he’s driven with 1 viral video has paid for the past 4 years of content creation efforts. And he said, now I get it. I get it now, and I will never stop investing in this.

Garren Parkins:

And so that’s what we’re looking to do. And so our ideal customers are people who are looking to create content to drive business. Right? And those are the specifically people like nontechnical folks who that’s who we probably provide the most value to because there’s techie there’s techie folks out there, right, that are millennials and some of these younger generations, like, they’re they’re more hip to these things and they can kind of learn on YouTube and do their own thing. But for us, we’re looking for being able to provide content creation for the masses for scale for these businesses. And so that that could be monologue videos, that could be podcast interviews, that could be virtual events, that could be webinars, which are ever

Molly Ruland:

more personalized. Videos.

Garren Parkins:

Testimonial videos. I’ve had customers have us help them with onboarding videos, HR videos, customer onboarding, you know, it just goes down the list. Anything that you know, if you’re looking for a sizzle reel, right, we’re not. We’re not your video production company. But if you’re looking for day in, day out content creation that has a thread of a common thread over time, and it’s repeatable. Right? It’s a format. We’re the company for that.

Molly Ruland:

I love it. I think it’s absolutely brilliant. You know, I was on a podcast last week, and you guys were the team. And I was admittedly much more interested in meeting the engineer on the call at the end than the podcast I was on. I was there the whole time and Brian, your engineer, is like, okay. Now press this button. I’m like, Brian, I’ll do whatever you tell me to do. Like, good lord.

Molly Ruland:

He just emits this, like, sense of peace and calm, you know, and it’s such a nice thing. So, you know and and I would say, like, listen, even if you are tech savvy, I love tech. I’m a huge tech nerd too, but, like, you gotta know when to hold them and when to fold them. Right? And I say this with clients all the time with podcasting. I’m like, listen, man. Like, sure you could edit. Sure you could make the graphics, but, like, people go to school for that, by the way, and, like, what else are you gonna do? You’re gonna change your oil later, maybe do your taxes, play the violin at the company reception, like or do you wanna make money? Or do you wanna spend that time leveling up your business, filling your pipeline, following up on sales calls? Or do you really wanna spend a bunch of time trying to learn video and all that? I say hire people that are good at it and keep it moving because, you know, what are you doing, man? You know, you can’t understand everything, you can’t understand email funnels, and you can’t understand nurturing secrets. You can’t understand everything that is not fair.

Molly Ruland:

You’re trying to put this pressure of knowing every job inside of a company’s role because you’re an entrepreneur. So it is I would say, you know, if you’re interested in content creation and you’re making videos, like, hire Garen and Des Greg right now because content is queen, as I like to say, because kings have had enough. Y’all messing everything up. We can get thrown out of the court. But, like, content is where it’s at, and especially in this world with, like, paid and free advertising and all that. If you really want people to get to know you, put out some content, talk. Yes. You know?

Garren Parkins:

Yes. And don’t be I mean, I think don’t be afraid of the engagement metrics. That’s a big thing I like to talk about is Mhmm. I can’t tell you how many people outside of my professional life have been like, dude, I love your videos. And I’m like, I go back and I’m like, you didn’t like you’ve never liked one of these videos. Have you ever commented on people watching?

Molly Ruland:

People are watching.

Garren Parkins:

People are watching. And you know when they’ll buy? They’ll buy when they need

Molly Ruland:

you. When they’re ready.

Garren Parkins:

They don’t just they don’t just all of a sudden they have to recognize they have the need. Right? It’s like you don’t hire Servpro until your basement floods.

Molly Ruland:

Flooded. Exactly.

Garren Parkins:

But I know who Servpro is. I literally you know what I mean? That’s the brand name I used. It’s about gaining branding recognition. And funnily enough, I recently started a new personal series called Running in East Tennessee. That’s it. That’s the whole thing. It’s a 10 second video. Running in East Tennessee.

Garren Parkins:

I I see a beautiful view on my run that captivates me. I’m like I pull my phone out, I’m like, you wanna know what it’s like to run-in East Tennessee? And then I’ll like to look at the view. Right? And then I’ll be like, running in East Tennessee, you know. And the the organic growth that I’ve seen on my personal Instagram, it was really just a it was an experiment to prove how, you know, just having a simple branding, exercise and and a simple message and doing it on video could grow, you know, could grow my my personal brand, which ultimately will grow my business as well. Right? Exactly. They’re all cumulative effort. And so yeah. I mean, I think content is the most important thing for any business professional right now, and I think we’re still ahead of the curve, like all of us that are doing this right now.

Garren Parkins:

I think it’s still the early stages,

Molly Ruland:

in this world. And if you wanna get more speaking engagements, you know, listen, you know, when they’re looking through those applications, they’re picking the people with a good camera and a good microphone. Don’t be fooled. They’re weeding out all the yahoos first, so then they’re deciding between who actually has a decent setup. So if you are interested in getting on more virtual stages in any capacity this year, whether it’s a presentation or a panel or a podcast, this stuff is really important. You know, it’s gonna be really, really important. So,

Garren Parkins:

And audience growth does not happen overnight. That’s another thing I wanna say. Is this like, you can pay to be in a pod and get fake likes and fake follows and this type of stuff. You can do that. That’s not a real way to grow an audience. What you want is an audience of people who are willing to jump when you ask them to because they love what you do. They love the message you provide. They love the value you provide their lives.

Garren Parkins:

Right? How much you’ve helped them. And so to people who are looking to get speaking gigs. Right? They wanna hire people who already have a built in audience to tap. Right. For the event. You know? And that’s not gonna happen overnight. The only way to do it is incrementally. One video a day, one new follower a day.

Garren Parkins:

Right? It’s 1% better every day. Right? And over the couple years that you do this, you’re gonna become a better speaker. Right? You’re gonna know. Hone in your messaging. It’s practice. It’s all practice. So when you’re making videos, don’t think about it having to be perfect. It doesn’t.

Garren Parkins:

And when we talk about tech, these are 2 separate conversations. Right? Yeah. Your tech is gonna improve the quality, but it’s the cumulative effort of your messaging and your practice and your showmanship and the technology that’s gonna grow your audience. It’s gonna grow you as a professional, and ultimately gonna grow the bottom line and your value.

Molly Ruland:

100%. Well said, Garren. Well said. Listen, thank you for coming on the show today. I always enjoy hanging out with you and talking with you, and I think this was really helpful. I hope people got some takeaways from this. I hope they call you. I know, you know, Heartcast Media is gonna be partnering up with Desk Rig real soon here.

Molly Ruland:

So, if that’s not a, you know, testimonial, I don’t I don’t know what is. And I’m very excited to level up our production and see what fun stuff we can come up with, and how much trouble you and I can get in if there is Oh,

Garren Parkins:

I can’t wait.

Molly Ruland:

Events to hear you. It’s gonna be a riot. It’s gonna be

Garren Parkins:

a riot is what it’s gonna be.

Molly Ruland:

I’ve never been more excited to go to a podcast convention, honestly. Like, let’s let’s let’s do this. We could go running. You know, we could do it all. We can do everything. So, thank you for spending some time with us. You know, all of your links and everything are in the show notes so people can click below and get on board with Garen and get hit with DeskRig. I really can’t say enough, and I’ve seen a lot.

Molly Ruland:

I’ve seen a lot of I’ve built a lot of studios. I’ve seen people who do this, and this is the one that makes the most sense to me, looks the best, and just makes the most sense. So on that note, thank you, Garren, and thank you for tuning in to Camp Content. And, until next time, be excellent to each other, and I will see you on the Internet.

Garren Parkins:

Sounds great. Thanks, Molly.

Molly Ruland:

Alright. Alright. Thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of Camp Content. This is Molly.

Matt Billman:

And this is Matt.

Molly Ruland:

And we are Heartcast Media, AKA Camp Content, and we appreciate all of your support. If you found this content valuable, please comment on social media, LinkedIn, wherever you find us and we will make sure to comment back.

Matt Billman:

And be sure to go on and subscribe and like on your favorite platforms, Spotify, Itunes, YouTube, you name it. Leave us that subscription. Give us that good review.

Molly Ruland:

We’ll love you forever. So until next time,