In this Hello Chaos episode, host Jennifer "JJ" Sutton sits down with Joey Lowery, CEO and founder of Media Shark, to uncover the raw realities of entrepreneurship. From unexpected challenges to pivotal lessons, Joey’s story is one of resilience, reinvention, and building community. Curious about how he turned a major setback into success? Tune in to hear his insights on vulnerability, adaptability, and what it takes to thrive in the chaos of business.
Key Takeaways
🔥 Own Your Story
Sharing your journey—awkward moments and all—can feel daunting, but Joey reminds us that authenticity is the secret sauce. “Just jump in and start sharing your story!”
🐠 Don’t Rely on One Big Fish
Joey learned the hard way that depending on one major client is risky. A balanced mix of “fish” and “whales” keeps your business swimming strong.
🧠 Master the Mental Game
Entrepreneurship is a rollercoaster. Joey’s advice? Build healthy habits, lean on your people, and hit reset when you need to. “Getting out of your head is key for any founder.”
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction to Hello Chaos and Joey Lowry
03:12 The Journey of a Founder: Overcoming Self-Doubt
06:19 The Birth of Media Shark: A Story of Resilience
09:21 Navigating the Marketing Landscape: Trust and Transparency
15:14 Aha Moments: Realizations in the Entrepreneurial Journey
21:05 The Importance of Client Diversity: Lessons Learned
24:20 Coping with Stress: The Emotional Rollercoaster of Entrepreneurship
31:29 Mindfulness and Health in Entrepreneurship
37:49 The Power of Community
40:51 Continuous Learning and Humility
43:48 Narrowing Focus for Business Growth
48:37 Setting Future Goals and Celebrations
50:46 The Adventurous Journey of Entrepreneurship
Connect with Joey:
Website: http://gomediashark.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joey-lowery-programmatic/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/that_marketing_guy_/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JoeyLowery
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (00:01.197)
Well, hello and welcome to Hello Chaos, a weekly podcast serving or dedicated to serving founders and entrepreneurs. We chit chat with different founders across all spectrums and really get the ahas and the shit moments of our life as a founder. Today we have Joey Lowry as our guest. He is CEO and founder of Media Shark. He's that marketing guy on Instagram.
Welcome, Joey, welcome to Hello Chaos.
Joey Lowery (00:31.855)
Hey, no, thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (00:34.151)
All right. So I am excited. I follow you. I love your content. As also a marketing person, I am putting myself out there trying to more as a founder. It's very uncomfortable for me. But I love your video clips on your Instagram. And I've been holding a lot of videos similar back. Because I'm like, and Chandler, who's our producer on, he can wave.
He's like, just post it, just distribute it. I'm like, ugh, but then I see people like you and I'm like, I need to do it.
Joey Lowery (01:11.223)
You know, it's so funny too because I think we get in our head about it. I will say, I actually did it as an experiment to start. I wasn't planning on really putting stuff out very often. And I started, I had a buddy who's very large on TikTok, we'll say. And I see him posting stuff and he's very insecure about stuff. You'd never guess it by the stuff he posts. And me and him were sitting having cigars and we're just talking nonstop about it. And he was just.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (01:14.841)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (01:20.258)
Really?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (01:29.005)
Yeah.
Joey Lowery (01:33.551)
really complaining about his stuff, but he's getting so many views and likes and comments and stuff. And finally, I'm just like, you know what, screw this. I'm just gonna spend a little bit of money and I'm gonna hire a videographer and I'm gonna do this for about two months and go heavy on it. I will say I hated, it's still this day, I still won't watch them. Just because I don't like the way I look, I sound, I'll catch something. And I'd have people come up to me like around here in St. Pete and they're like, yeah, I saw your post, I really liked it. That was a great point or whatever. And I'm thinking like.
actually watch it so I totally understand where you're coming from where it's like you know you get your head a little bit
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (02:02.573)
Right. Yeah, it's so, you know, it's interesting. I just did a, you've seen the trend, especially you do a lot of influencer marketing and stuff of all these founders of like, you need to put your intro, your bio post. And I've been sitting on it for a couple of months and I posted it. I don't know, when did I post it? Earlier this week, I can't remember. And I mean, I don't have huge numbers or anything, but it was like my most...
popular post and people were like DMing me and emailing me and texting me going, remember that was amazing, that was amazing. I'm like, my God, you don't understand how much angst I went through to like just to post that. so it's getting me out of my comfort zone. think, I don't know, what is it like? just look at myself to go, becoming a founder, which was over a decade ago, I don't know, it made me kind of like crawl back into my skin versus when I was.
working under somebody else's brand and somebody else's company. I like I had way more confidence to be out there. But ever since I became a founder and started the marketing business back in 2013, I just noticed my self-confidence of really being out there and being so exposed has been one of the biggest challenges. It was actually one of my, it was a surprising thing for me of,
Joey Lowery (03:03.033)
You had all the ideas. was like, yep.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (03:29.057)
I'd never felt that way in my career until I started my own business and then it became, I just want to be behind the scenes.
Joey Lowery (03:38.275)
Yeah, you know, it's so funny like that too, because I actually, was literally speaking to a buddy about this the other day, and I was like, I felt like when I worked for somebody, like you're saying, I literally would be out the office the earliest. I still don't like that today, but I would do anything I could just to get sales or learn something. And now I feel like I'm so built into the business that there's still that excitement, don't get me wrong, but it's also now it's spread across all these different areas.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (03:53.996)
Yeah.
Joey Lowery (04:01.487)
But I also think that responsibility of having to handle so many other things cuts into that creativity and it's called freestyle of a lifestyle.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (04:07.609)
That's right. Everything is on you. It's, you know. So, Joey, tell us, like, how did you get started? Tell us about your founder journey. How did you start MediaShark? Why did you start MediaShark?
Joey Lowery (04:20.943)
Yeah. So I've been in sales my whole life and it was one of those things where I got kind of blessed when I was younger. I got to work for an insurance agency and actually got to get my own book of insurance, which I found out later was more like a pyramid scheme. Not knocking it, but it was definitely not quite the you're a business owner kind of thing that I thought it would be. But no, yeah. So I ended up going through kind of a really nasty breakup and an engagement and I was deciding from lived in Missouri at the time and no college background really. I went one year and I had no idea really what I wanted.
And so I end up, you know, basically just packing up everything, took the dogs and we moved to Arizona, Phoenix particularly. And found a job in digital marketing. Yeah, yeah, hot, very hot. And I thought people were joking when they said you have to buy your dog shoes. And that is a real thing. The pavement is, yeah, it's bad. But yeah, no, I moved out there and ended up getting a job at a marketing agency dealing specifically with programmatic advertising. And obviously I won't name who they are just because of how it ended. But.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (04:58.307)
Beautiful area, beautiful area.
Joey Lowery (05:18.473)
worked for them for about three years and I was really falling in love with it. was, you know, enjoying it. We were traveling. We were on a tour called Digital Summit and we'd go to different cities. My boss would talk on stage and you know, we'd work the booth, meet all these businesses and it just, I fell in love with the digital marketing aspect. And what I started realizing was I was highly commissioned on that sales situation and they had a lot of turnover too as well. But you know, once you kind of started making it, you were, you're good. And I was going down that path for sure.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (05:33.496)
Yeah.
Joey Lowery (05:46.379)
And next thing you know, I start losing some clients and you know, it wasn't just one of those things where it's like one or two here or there. It was one of those where it's the same problem across multiple salespeople and no one's addressing it. And I also was more of the younger person or more of the one of the younger people on the team. It wasn't married and didn't have any type of real commitment. So I, in my mind, I'm a little bit more on the, let me push the boundaries with the bosses a little bit. And you know, I spent a couple months digging into it. And then I was actually at a digital summit in Raleigh, North Carolina and
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (06:07.074)
Right.
Joey Lowery (06:14.319)
We all went out one night like we typically do the night before the conference. And I had a little bit of liquid courage and I was very confident in what I did all the research on. And I just brought up all this stuff that I thought we were doing. Technically illegal in my opinion, ethically, definitely ethically wrong. And we were basically manipulating in my opinion the back end. So the dashboard report is something very.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (06:32.911)
Which I'm gonna tell you, so I don't know what year this was, but you know, I've been in digital marketing since the beginning. Like I was one of the first media, digital media buyers in 98. Like take myself there. But yeah, we've seen such an influx of what I call bad actors. At first I thought it was very inexperienced people, but we've kind of had, having to clean up.
Joey Lowery (06:46.313)
wow, okay, yeah, yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (07:01.593)
things that companies like that have done to brands. It's like, my gosh, this is purposeful. This isn't an experience. This is intentional. And it's exploded. It's really harmed the marketing industry as far as trust. When I talk to CEOs and business owners, we talk to dozens of founders every week. And that's like, I mistrust marketing. And I'm like, why?
Joey Lowery (07:12.045)
Yeah, they hide it in there. 100%.
Joey Lowery (07:28.943)
Yeah, it's like it's like the Wolf of Wall Street now. It really is. You know, and that's what kind of happened with them. They literally on the spot the next day, they literally would like, you're fired. And I'm like, what? You know, because I was very blown away by it I was bringing in a lot of business for them. I was, you know, had a strong book of business and
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (07:31.915)
Yes.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (07:44.291)
Right, but you uncovered the weak part.
Joey Lowery (07:47.887)
Yeah, I can't say I figured it out, let's say, but I got a pretty good guess I did. And so I'm fired on the spot. And I remember like, I think it was like probably like 1030 or 11 o'clock. And I literally just go right to the bar. And I just remember just sitting there and I like didn't drink anything. I'm just like literally just have tears in my face. Cause I'm like, this is a, I thought this was going to be like a career. Yeah. And I was so pissed off and I was like, and I, again, I won't name who the company is, but they're named after an animal. And I'm like, you know what, screw this.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (08:06.306)
Devastated, yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (08:15.973)
I know who that is. I know exactly who you're talking about.
Joey Lowery (08:17.679)
I am going to name my company. I'm going to create a company to compete with them. But my animal will eat their animal. so MediaShark is exactly how that started. And it was more out of spite. I didn't think it would take off. And then within a year, we actually landed Sprint and Boost as a client. yeah, it's definitely been up and downhill since then. So I know everybody's like, it's a perfect story. And I'm like, now it is. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (08:39.149)
Yeah, that's right. do go through our highs and our lows. Agency business is hard. mean, and I think it's, don't know about you, I've talked a lot of, I'm in a forum with a lot of agency owners and about our same size, whether we're in a niche of like industrial or B2B, B2C, or DTC or whatever, but we're all kind of feeling this, like I said, this influx of scammers and bad actors and.
this mistrust in our industry and we're like, just ride the wave, the good people are gonna prevail.
Joey Lowery (09:16.899)
Yeah, well, you know, I literally tell people this all the time, know, especially when I'm talking to businesses. It is the Wolf of Wall Street. And you don't know if you're dealing with a pink sheet or a blue chip stock company. And at the same time, you don't really know who's told you the truth and who hasn't. And yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (09:31.971)
That's what they've, yeah, that's the feedback we keep getting. I'm like, and I keep going, they're like, well, how do I know the difference? I said, because we're having this conversation. I'm asking you questions that these other people have never asked you, or I'm uncovering the disconnections that they haven't, like, there is a difference in our language.
Joey Lowery (09:50.689)
Absolutely. Well, and that and even the confidence side, I always tell clients, I'm like, end of the day, if you think that, and I know we're not specifically, but I go, if you look at these third party tools that we'll usually analyze websites, whether it's SEO ads, whatever it is, the information is going to speak for itself. You determine and interpret it how you want, but we'll look at what they've done, what we're doing, our past clients, their past clients, whatever. And then you come the summer you want to, but end of the day, there's so many, call them 23 year old divorce coaches out there, never been married.
and they are the divorce coaches and they have no background in this kind of stuff. And I'm not saying that everybody has to be the master at it, there's just so, but also there's so many agencies now that they know they can build in margins and it's a high turnover type business.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (10:28.067)
Right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (10:35.597)
Yeah, yeah, people are selling a product, not really a service of, let's, that's right, that's right, and that's what we told them, like if somebody's not caring about how do we move your business forward, they've just sold you an SEO product or some kind of Digified product just to like give you clicks.
Joey Lowery (10:38.883)
Yeah. And marketing is so much a service and is a product.
Joey Lowery (10:55.683)
Yeah, yeah, and that's all it is. It's like, you know, we'll we'll guarantee something and it's like, well, you didn't guarantee me any type of return. Just you know numbers on dashboard.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (11:01.998)
Right, right. So what's been the most rewarding part of your journey?
Joey Lowery (11:10.359)
Yeah, honestly, I think it goes back to when, you know, getting fired and starting this up. I want to say honestly, it was about a year afterwards. We were doing pretty well and I was able to actually join as a sponsor to the Digital Summit Tour and became a speaker. Yeah. And the company that was safe. Let me go.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (11:24.155)
Joey Lowery (11:29.199)
they end up during a huge fit and basically threw a fit saying that they wouldn't join Digital Summit any longer or sponsor them if I was able to come on, you know, that's why you'd be so nervous. And by that time, it's called the hotness for how I felt about them had cooled off a lot. But it was one of those moments where I'm like, okay, you really can play this game. And it was one of those opportunities where it's like, I gotta go back, I gotta speak on the same stages. I actually now...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (11:39.704)
Right.
Joey Lowery (11:54.349)
gotta have a booth at the same conference that technically fired me years prior. And yeah, I gotta go on speaking to her for about two years because of that. And I think that was one of those highlights, because it's just like, just being able to push through is one thing, but being able to do it on a different scale than just representing yourself, but actually a company and brand and brands and getting to be seen as an authority when years prior, you know, kind of, I questioned everything, I was fired and sitting at a bar wondering what's next.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (12:19.159)
Right, that is amazing. That's a great student. So you need to celebrate that. If you haven't celebrated, you need to make sure that that is your highlight, that is your, you know, that's a big win. Huge win. What's been the, like as you started the bit, and started to scale, like you said, you're representing now a company, you've got people. What's been the most challenging part?
Joey Lowery (12:21.145)
sound.
Joey Lowery (12:27.053)
I did, I did.
Joey Lowery (12:44.045)
I two parts. think, you and they say it's so obvious and I think a lot of founders agree 100 % with this. It's learning to wear different hats and understanding and taking a humble step back and realizing I don't have these certain skill sets and whether I need to up myself or I need to bring in somebody else, a team member or even a different company to help me with these areas. That was one of those things of just realizing like I can't do it all. And I still struggle with that a lot. That's just something that I think as a founder or, you know, just business owner in general.
really kind wear on your sleeves a little bit. That's probably the biggest one. And I also think too, it's learning to fall in love with your business again. I think in the beginning, you love every aspect of it. Everything's exciting. And then, you know, we're, think we're year five now, something like that. And there's days I, that's the thing don't want to, you know, turn on the business, but there's, there's days I'm definitely not in love with it. If not weak sometimes, and making sure I stay in love with the business just as much as it was in the beginning.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (13:35.363)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (13:39.279)
That's right, I've had to re-fall in love with not just the business, but also marketing in general. What's my why? What's my purpose? Is this still a good fit? And I think we all kind of go through that. And then you have to like, no, I have a gift. When I did that bio post, somebody was like, it is your mutant superpower. You can get in there and find
and identify the friction in any business and come up with the solutions pretty affordably and efficiently, but whether it's in branding, whether it's in marketing, whether it's in advertising, and they're like, that is like a mutant thing.
Joey Lowery (14:23.535)
Well, that's what actually so it's funny. I was just speaking to my girlfriend about this yesterday and she was like, you know, I'm very passionate about SEO and I've been diving down a lot of pretty rabbit holes about semantic SEO and structures and stuff like that. And it's not that everybody loves this stuff. And I told her, I was like, it's it's to me, it's like art. You know, if you some people can pick up a pen and pencil and start drawing and it turns out amazing. And the more they hone in on their craft, the more beautiful and more excellent they get at what they do. But it's definitely not something you just pick up. But there is definitely something that there's a passion for it.
and some people are really good at it. And then there's others that get by. But this is definitely one of those areas where it takes a very passionate person to really stay ahead of the game, for sure.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (15:02.1)
Absolutely. So do you think there's any myths, like before you started the company, where did you have kind of a, this is how it's supposed to go. And then you got into it you're like, that is a myth and I need to bust that myth.
Joey Lowery (15:17.645)
I know this is gonna sound bad. I think it was easier than it should have been. It was easier than I thought. I really do. But I mean that lightly, because I think every business is different for sure. Having my back against the wall and knowing that it's this or nothing, that was a, call it Tony Robbins, burning your boat situation. So I don't think that I had to worry about a family situation. There's other things that I think are outside factors for sure that applied to that.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (15:23.01)
Really? Very good.
Joey Lowery (15:43.619)
But I will say, knowing the marketing aspect was key going into it. I knew how to run the ads if I needed to. I knew how to build the websites, do the SEO. It's the stuff I had learned. So being able to create a digital storefront day one, and I realized after that, it's like, how do I just drive traffic? How do I get people in the door? do I get people on the phone calls and demos? That's why I think it was so much easier than I think people give credit to, than they think the myth is like, how do I start? It's like, damn, just jump.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (15:59.417)
Right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (16:08.514)
Yeah, just jump into it. That's right. Just do it.
Joey Lowery (16:11.337)
I hate saying this and I don't recommend this necessarily but I mean shit you can go to Fiverr, can go to YouTube University and just you can put a website up in two days not saying it's gonna be great it's what you want though I don't recommend doing it but there are ways to jump in to get you going and moving and then it turns into a numbers game and you can quantify the whole project basically down to numbers and then you know exactly what you need to do to keep it going and you know improve.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (16:32.33)
Exactly. So do you think, has there been like aha moments along your way of like, ooh, you know, I maybe the milestone of like, can be on this stage. Was that like your, the biggest aha kind of breakthrough of I am legit, I am here, this is it, or did you have any others?
Joey Lowery (16:50.392)
I would-
Joey Lowery (16:53.999)
I don't, so I will say this, I don't ever feel like I'm legit 100%. I think it's funny because we had a situation I got to speak at, I mean, I don't think there are maybe 2,000 people in the room and I got to give about a 45, 35 minute talk. Very nervous, I'll say that. And it's funny, people come up to you afterwards and they're like, man, I just love your talk and things like that. And I'm thinking like, I am so sorry because I was stuttering over here and I don't know. In my mind, I'm thinking like I need to apologize to 2,000 people. And you never know how people interpret things, but you get in your head about stuff.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (17:17.294)
You're like, I failed.
Joey Lowery (17:23.831)
I think the big aha moment for sure was, you know, when I realized that it's not just about, you know, just doing business, the connections that you make with it and what that can lead to. That's where I'm like, man, you can almost, you can almost double down on your own efforts and just connections and growing and putting yourself out there that you just don't know what's going to happen. that to me was very like eyeopening because everybody's always like, you know, just call more, do more events. And it's like, man, but you really were focusing and building the relationships the correct way in the right way.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (17:49.016)
Right.
Joey Lowery (17:52.867)
These people need people to refer to because they don't, going back to what we saying, the Wolf of Wall Street, you just, you don't trust a lot of people. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (17:58.063)
Yeah, you gotta build that trust. How did you get into the, because it's really hard to get in like the speaking engagement. Like is that something that you focused on first to kind of build that rapport or like what was that approach and process of how did you get into that?
Joey Lowery (18:11.843)
Yeah
Joey Lowery (18:17.935)
Yeah, so I think it's a pay to play in the beginning. I kind of seen that too. It's finding the conferences that are willing to have you niching down. So what I did in the beginning was I just literally got on LinkedIn. I followed a couple people. I grew my Instagram. I think you have to have a platform that you show that you're existing. Now I think it's getting harder because somebody, and I say this very respectfully to people, but I'm like, you could have a girl in a bikini talking about something and she's getting thousands of likes or followers. And you got a guy over here.
who sends somebody to Antarctica to get a cup of snow, Mr. Beast, whatever. And you're like the level of, I don't wanna use the word intelligence, it's not the right word, but the level of how easy it is to get into this now has become so easy that everybody's doing it, so which makes it also very complicated and harder to get seen and get noticed. But I think you kind of have to become an industry expert in one area on whether video, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, if not all, Facebook to a point, but if not all three or four. So I use that, I got my Instagram up to 80-some thousand followers.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (19:04.142)
Right.
Joey Lowery (19:18.179)
I think a lot of that shit, to be honest with you, I tell people all the time, like, I don't know how it's that high. But you know,
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (19:22.989)
Yeah, because I think once you get like at a certain point, it just starts feeding onto each other.
Joey Lowery (19:28.671)
And when I was speaking, helped a lot because I was running ads, you know, doing stuff like that. And I was definitely putting out a ton of videos at the time. You know, I pulled that back because I got burnt out on the speaking. But yet I would say getting there and I had the, you know, the followers to show that I had account and then I had the brands and I could say, hey, we've worked with them. The hard thing to I think that people don't think about when the speaking side is, you know, they want somebody, the people who are hiring the speakers are doing the speaking.
they're not the same people as the coordinators for the events. And so you have a sales department that wants you to sign up as a sponsor and speak. And then there's the coordinators who are the speaker, finding my speakers, finding this for the shows. And that was really interesting to me because I figured out once I got in as a sponsored speaker, then I could get in with the actual speakers themselves and that group of people. So I think it's a pay to play in the beginning.
unless it's like, you can do a Ted talk or you do something where you can get a part of, you know, kind of like a Facebook group of speakers. You know, I also, I want to say this. Yeah. yeah. But I think people overestimate it too, too much. I like, I, if, I was to do this over again and go, you know, I want to get on stages here in St. Pete, Florida or Tampa, Florida around marketing. I would find very small shows and ask them how I could do panels. And I think it just goes back to that networking thing.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (20:28.365)
Right. Which is how we connected, right? Yeah.
Joey Lowery (20:50.971)
Everybody wants to talk on stage and they want to sell something or push something. And there always is. Yeah. But I think it's just niching down. Instead of sending out a ton of, I just was digital summit specific because I wanted to basically go in and be like, hey, screw you guys, guess who's here?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (20:54.563)
Right. I just want to educate. I want to get people more comfortable with marketing. mean, yeah. Interesting.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (21:07.81)
That's right, you needed to be on the same stage with the shit talker.
Joey Lowery (21:12.525)
Yeah. Yeah. know, and like the traffic and conversions was a conference that I was, I, I got asked to speak at if I was willing to sponsor and that's your other negative though. So when you go, when you go pay to play, they know you pay, you pay in the past. So they're like, would media shark and Joey like to talk? And I'm like, no, just Joey. And they're like, well we have other people that are going to pay and we don't know if we need somebody in that, you know, this area too. so I think that's one of those hard things too. It's like, I think
just getting connected, but making sure that you're so niche down that you can find the right conference that allows someone to come in. Or play off your characteristics. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (21:47.023)
That's some good advice. So what was your biggest, you said that because you knew marketing and you could pop up the website, you knew how to drive traffic, you had all kind of like the science side and some of that art side of getting your brand out there. What was your big shit, like my gosh, what have I done?
Joey Lowery (22:10.797)
Yeah, man. So we talked about this week, last month, last year, COVID. So I actually, I'll kind of say a funny one was, and this is not the shit moment, but this was one where I realized that you have to play by the rules. We're, and I always tell everybody, right? No, so we were at a conference and we were in Pennsylvania, I believe. No, sorry, it was New York. it was during COVID, it was like kind of right at the end of the kind of the heat of it. And...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (22:14.232)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (22:27.185)
what rules? What rules are we playing by?
Joey Lowery (22:39.363)
We were at a conference and they were very picky about the math situation. It obviously, but while you ate and they wanted you to keep it on your ears and lower it below your chin while you're eating. And it was so hard. yeah. This was one of those things where I bucked up thinking I'm the business owner. no, my teams were, were, were away from everybody. You know, we've also traveled up here too. So we've been in airplanes. We've been doing all this stuff. You're hosting the conference. I kind of bucked up a little bit and we almost got kicked off the rest of tour that year.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (22:44.728)
They're really picky on the what?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (22:51.288)
What?
Joey Lowery (23:09.347)
because I was defending myself and the team for basically, I mean, we still had one on our ear, but like that was kind of those one shit moments, like just because I think I'm the guy when it comes to little things, I don't have that much power when it's a lot of stuff. So that was one of those shits that like, okay, am I approaching this the right way with whoever who I'm dealing with? You know, it also, there was a very long conference. So it was, yeah, we were all pretty burnt out by that time. So when we get told like, you know, we're gonna be, you know, warned about wearing our masks while eating and I...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (23:22.094)
Wait.
Joey Lowery (23:38.935)
I said some things I shouldn't have, but that was, yeah, that was a funny one, I'll say, but the big one that I think really shocked me, I'll say, was kind of the kick to the groin was we had a very large client that was with us spending multiple six figures a month. They actually became very close friends with us too as well. And so it was one of those that, you know, I didn't see them going anywhere anytime soon. And, you know, it was one of those things where one day I actually was at a ClickFunnel big conference here in Orlando, and I get a call from one of the head managers.
And I noticed that there's three people on the call. And this was one those where she called my cell phone. Was it one of those conference call things? And I looked down. I could just hear noises in the background. she's like, yeah, we got a couple other people on the call. And we're going to have to stop using you guys. We had a new VP come in. And he wants to take everything to his old company that he was using prior. So no choice. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (24:15.331)
Right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (24:27.875)
Yeah, because that's the game that we, know, that is new people come in and they want to bring their own, well, kingdom fiefdom.
Joey Lowery (24:32.643)
Yeah.
Yeah. And that was one of the shittiest things because there was no talks. There was no like, can I, can I have the team put together reports? It was this other company that came in that, you know, not only that they could undercut us, they just could do everything. They were such a pity pinching company that they could come in and do stuff at different prices that we couldn't touch. But they also had teams that made it look like they could do very unique things where I'm, I'm actually, I've spent so much time going into them at the, down the road. Cause I'm like, how do we make sure that this doesn't happen again? Like,
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (24:43.085)
Right.
Joey Lowery (25:06.223)
How do we, like, more or less put up that umbrella policy around us? But, you know, what was interesting though was that was the moment where it clicked where it's like, you you have to have, and it's great having whale clients, but you have to have fish. And if you don't have fish clients that are just the, yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (25:08.653)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (25:19.657)
Yeah, you got to make sure that you're spread. call it like, you know, look at your book of business like as on a pyramid of you might have to have one, but that one can't be more than like 80 % of your business. Like it will kill your business. Yeah.
Joey Lowery (25:34.575)
And they were in the 40 to 50 percentile for us at the moment just because we had so much opportunity with margin in certain areas that they were doing with running ads from the SEO from just a lot of it was even consulting and they're a fortune company. They're huge, you know, and for them it was like we knew every department. We knew everything. They've been with us for three years and it kind of got to the thing of like, all right, I think everybody needs to take a step back and go, you know, how what's my real life cycle average? What's well, I guess what's mine? What's industry average and assume that
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (26:02.979)
Right.
Joey Lowery (26:04.655)
just to be careful that you need to be aware that your clients, whoever they are, wherever they're at, do have an expiration date. And there's forces that you can't control. And so we should have been better at being like, OK, we're at a three-year rule. Most don't make it past a year and a half or two. We should be prepared that this could be a potential opportunity. Best case scenario, they never leave. That's awesome. But having that hindsight or that awareness, I think, was kind of that, shit, we didn't do anything wrong. But we also didn't.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (26:26.531)
Right.
Joey Lowery (26:33.689)
you know, maybe keep up or, know, whatever caused that, you know, to, you know, conspire, but that was one of those moments where it's like, okay, we gotta, we gotta make sure we're always feeding, but let's take a step back and make sure we're going after enough fish and not focusing on whales all the time.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (26:36.866)
Right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (26:46.636)
Yeah, no, that's that is smart, especially with the, you know, service business, because you kind of look to go, OK, do we use all of our tools? You know, is there anything we could change? But you're right. There are some things of like you could be putting together the best reports. You could be, you know, performing, hitting all the marks. But if it becomes you don't have that relationship with the person and somebody else, you know, everyone kind of wants to bring in their their comfort level. Yeah.
Joey Lowery (27:12.089)
Well, and the crazy part, so it was was funny because the the manager, obviously can't say who the company is, but the the main lady who I would got to be really good friends with actually end up flying her out with her mom down here, which definitely was frowned upon because obviously there, you know, that's not something you can do. But we also became really close friends. I knew her when her dog died, she called me crying. I was very close to this company and they helped put us on the map, too, because they were with the old company.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (27:34.413)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (27:38.424)
They legitimize, they were like a big brand that, yeah.
Joey Lowery (27:41.123)
Well, they followed me over too. So that was where I had already told her that I think this is what's going on when I was working for the company, because I also wanted her to protect her ass. Because I'm like, I don't want her to get in trouble for anything. when I got fired, she called me about a week later. And I'd never stole clients, nothing like that. That was not one of those things. My laptop's turned over immediately. my emails, in that moment, like within two minutes.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (27:51.779)
Right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (28:04.462)
Like, they made you walk out with nothing.
Joey Lowery (28:07.781)
they had security actually. It was funny. which was interesting, but, you know, she followed me over and that was awesome. But so I had literally so much trust and, you know, things with them and she goes, she goes, Hey, I want to forward you what our first month, second month's reports look like with them, just so you can see what they're doing. It's something you guys may want to look at if you have larger clients. And we appreciate that a lot. Turns out the, it's a white label dashboard. And I was on the speaking tour at the time with the guy who owned the company that does the dashboards for them.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (28:18.2)
Right.
Joey Lowery (28:37.081)
And I was able to basically get access to their dashboards for free. Not there as a client, but be able to use theirs. Dashboards are. We did. But by that time, it's too late for the clock. But.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (28:44.012)
Right, did you guys implement then that as like the.
Right, but you know what, but the relationship you had, I'm sure if she ever left that company, she would do the same thing of like, I'm bringing this, I'm bringing Joey with me.
Joey Lowery (28:59.036)
yeah. she she already told me she's like, yeah, we have everything, you know, ever happened. And she'll hit me up randomly. She's like, we look at this on our analytics, you know, and I love to. was like, sure, you know, you you were there for me when when I didn't have anything to stand on. And I'm absolutely will be there for you if I can, you know, help you in any way, shape or form.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (29:05.41)
Yeah, that's right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (29:13.848)
That's right, that's right.
Joey Lowery (29:15.289)
So yeah, that one definitely, I'll say I shit the bed a little bit. Especially when you get the call and you're like.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (29:19.276)
Yeah, that's like when you go in the pant, like, my gosh, how are we gonna survive?
Joey Lowery (29:23.565)
Yep. Well, that was one of those where I was like, I told all the employees like the next day I'm like, Hey, don't come in, just take the day off. Like, and I was like game plan day, just like, let's restart this. What if we were at ground zero again, which we weren't, but it was just, okay. it just, yeah. Like someone died, you know,
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (29:35.352)
But it felt that way. Yeah.
So do you, you seem to be a pretty laid back guy or whatever, how do you deal with stress and do you have routines and disciplines that you've kinda put in place to help with your mindset of just keep going?
Joey Lowery (29:53.719)
Yeah, so I always joke, everybody says they have ADHD and I do, and I will say it's the superpower gift. It's the worst when it comes to paying things on time and remembering that I was supposed to go to a wedding yesterday and then three hours before the wedding, I'm like, girlfriend call, she's like, ready? no. Also who gets married in early afternoon on a Thursday, work week. But that was my complaint. Yes, I will be happy that you're getting married.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (30:08.718)
You're like,
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (30:17.048)
You're like, but no judging, no judging.
Joey Lowery (30:23.757)
I think that's one of the big misunderstandings I guess founding people entrepreneurs high high sales are called the high tick tick type environment. You know the emotional journey and stress is something that they do not talk about the highs and the lows. It's almost like you know getting in and off drugs at least what I assume it's like you know.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (30:42.99)
It's like the dopamine high, like the adrenaline, go way high when you get these wins.
Joey Lowery (30:48.163)
Yeah. And it's like, you know, and people don't understand it. You know, you have days where you're on top of the world and you have days that you're just calling through the mud. And, you know, making sure I'll say this, making sure I stayed away from alcohol. Excuse me. in the beginning of the business, I definitely found myself going and enjoying those types of substances quite a bit. you know, and it was so easy, you know, it was just where I'm making more money than I've made in the past. The clients are great. Everybody's happy. I'm blending. going to speak at these tours, you know, whatever.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (31:07.436)
Really? Yeah.
Joey Lowery (31:18.447)
And it was like, well, let's go have a... In a sense, yeah. And the business was there supporting it. But I found out too, it's like, the celebrations don't feel any different two years later. And the moments where the drinking and stuff like that. So that was one those areas where I was like, watching what I put in my body, keeping the mind sharp, I think is one of those things where it was very eye-opening to me, because I could tell the difference in clarity when I'm like, okay, I'm not drinking right now.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (31:21.068)
You're getting treated like a rock star. Yeah.
Joey Lowery (31:48.111)
I'm also eating very healthy. I'm consistently exercising. More importantly, I'm absorbing information that's helping me grow as a person. I'm very strong in my religious beliefs as a Christian and getting back to foundations around church and things like that was massive for me personally. know, finding encouragement in other outside factors. But I think when it comes down to like daily stuff, I definitely think it's getting up early reading and trying to at least go jogging two to three times a week. Anything I can do to make my mind just...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (32:15.385)
Really? Yeah. Well, you got to get that, like your body, the blood flow, you know, flowing and focus, right? Focus and release.
Joey Lowery (32:23.641)
Yeah. Yeah. this, exactly. Well, and I think there's so many issues around the psychology, mental toughness and, and, mental struggles that go into owning a business that, you know, spouses, relationships, family, even your internal, you know, in your head situation, nobody prepares you for that.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (32:43.118)
No, uh-uh. And I think that's the topic that we talk about the most, I think, on the show of you hear that same theme of it's preparing you or it's challenging you in a much different way than if you were in corporate, like, working for somebody else. just, like, I talk to somebody, like, I think every founder talks about this self-
Joey Lowery (33:04.065)
I mean there's times I tell people I'm like, you know it.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (33:11.715)
like the self-discovery and then the acceptance, it's going into some kind of spiritual path, whether it's in a religious or some kind of faith-based program to really kind of get re-centered, refocused.
Joey Lowery (33:28.643)
Yeah. Well, I think it's removing the I element out of it. It's not being like, I am suffering. I'm going through this. It's not necessarily we either, but it's that it's okay. Like this is a part of the journey. It's okay that I'm, I'm, failing. Like I remember during the business, you know, we, went through some really tough financial times where we're losing clients. Definitely. You COVID was actually weirdly good for us because everything was digital.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (33:33.026)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (33:40.184)
Right. That's right.
Joey Lowery (33:51.939)
But the aspect of, know, once it came back and things were getting back to normal, we didn't keep up with some of moving times, you know, and we took a break on some of the tours and stuff like that. And there is one month where I'm like, man, I feel like salespeople are making more than I'm making. And, you I was really kind of beat myself up, which is great. I mean, that's what you want. But mentally, I'm thinking like, gosh, I'm like, man, I wish I didn't have this business kind of, I was just living like they did, you know. But I'm also forgetting all the stuff that's like led me to be in those positions at times. You know, this was just one of those little values I was hitting.
And, you know, I look at that and I'm just thinking like, you know, if I sit there and I ponder and I wonder all about the eye situation and how whatever I'm feeling, you know, it, it, destroys you. And I think learning to get out of your head is, one of the key things as a founder that you should focus on right off the bat. It's learning to one, be humble. I think that's number one. but two is really making sure that if I'm starting to have thoughts about issues, I get them addressed, whether it's, you know, joining groups, listening to stuff like podcasts like this.
or some people even go into like a business therapy or doing therapy stuff.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (34:54.498)
That's right. Get a coach, get somebody. You need a cheerleader, you know, and you might need to have multiple people, but also a community too of you've got to find a safe space. One that somebody will will give you that space to be able to express yourself, but also to feel like you're because it's hard as a founder and a business owner to find people that share in those same challenges and.
Joey Lowery (35:00.053)
yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (35:22.575)
And neither could just relate, because that was like my, I think, aha of like, I don't have anybody to share this with. And I entered a room, it was like 2018, it was a bunch of female founders. And I'm like, my gosh, I'm not crazy. I'm not alone.
Joey Lowery (35:38.903)
I it's so I actually was at a conference it was which was this was unique for me it was more of a women's conference focus and we actually did the ads for him and I'm like you guys mind if I come and of course they're like you you sound like you can't come and I'm like okay we'll just yeah that's more like my mind I'm like women only conference I can't go I'm running your ads but it's like I know some of these speakers I love to just listen
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (35:51.18)
Right, we're like, do you want to come?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (35:59.874)
Right.
Joey Lowery (36:00.505)
You know, and it was so cool to see, you know, all these women that were a part of this business group and this network that they're doing, but also see...
see how niche down that they are with their own, like they broke off into like just struggles that you had and you broke off into these groups. And of course I didn't join in on that because I just obviously let the conference do their thing. And I'm thinking like, how powerful is this that you walk into a room and Lisa's how I was interpreting it when I first walked in is that you feel like you're in your own head, your own problems, all this stuff, and you're by yourself in your own thoughts. And the next thing you know, within an hour or two hours in this conference, you're now in a group of five to seven other individuals that are all in the same boat you are.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (36:41.262)
that are all feeling the same. Yeah, it is, I've been to several, and that's why I it was like, it was such a, you know, I'd already been in business five, six years, but I just was so alone and isolated. And then I walk into this room like, it just was a huge, like it was my aha. It was an enlightening moment, and it sparked a journey for me. And that's one of the, that was one of the reasons I started this, the.
Joey Lowery (36:41.519)
Yeah.
Joey Lowery (36:51.321)
Mm-hmm.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (37:08.556)
the Orange Weapon Hello, Kass was really out of that of the power of community and those finding those connections are like to me it is by far the most important thing that if you started a company, you've got to find those connections. And you've got to find, whether it's a group of people or if it's just an individual coach or so because you are going, you're gonna need, you need to feel like
Joey Lowery (37:18.381)
It was powerful.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (37:38.007)
you're not alone and having somebody to make space for you or for you to express or for you to feel comfortable and like you said to normalize. It's okay, you're going to go through these things. You need to know it is okay for you to think this way but maybe you need to transform that mindset because it will help you grow.
Joey Lowery (37:57.657)
Think, feel.
Well, and that's the thing that I thought was interesting too. So I joined some coaching groups in Arizona actually. I flew back. They're part of the ClickFunnel community. And I'm not a ClickFunneler. love their I'm obsessed with the guy.
I am not a funnel hacker dude. don't do build funnels. We don't touch that stuff. I know I'm actually wearing one of shirts. They also have really soft shirts. So I'm a softy when it comes to that stuff. But I got to be really good friends with a lot of the big people that are part of the ClickFunnel community. And I ended up signing for some of the coaching. And I even joined Russell's thing. And I'm pretty sure I was the only one in this whatever they're the.
group that I was paying to be in that didn't build funnels. gave no shits about funnels. I wanted to see your process. I wouldn't know how you run your business. How do you do your ads? Like I even picked up clients from it just because you know they were funnel hackers but weren't ad people or SEO. But it was so interesting because I joined this group and I was I want to it was like 15 16 thousand for the year and I joined it and they met up twice a year and I realized when I got there I'm like I am as an agency bigger than the coaches themselves that are hosting
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (38:39.982)
haha
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (38:50.861)
Right.
Joey Lowery (39:06.263)
this agency thing, at least my agency is. And it was so interesting when I first walked in I'm like, we kind of had our numbers talk and I'm like, my gosh, I don't know if I should be here. And one as the conference, or not conference, as the kind of the day went on for us anyway.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (39:07.448)
Right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (39:16.056)
Right.
Joey Lowery (39:21.101)
I started realizing, my gosh, I have so much I need to be learning from all these guys and women that I walked in thinking, you need to be the biggest one in the room, and if you're too big, you shouldn't fit in. And I'm like, sit over here, I also have this little seat compared to the big thrones they're sitting in in other areas of the business, whether it's management, time management, or self-care, or just processes and stuff like that. And it was so interesting because I think people get so caught up that I don't need coaching. It's like, not even coaching, I don't need groups. It's like.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (39:38.339)
Right.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (39:49.474)
Right? And a lot of that, like you said, you got to take the eye out and you've got to be humble and know that you don't know everything and continuous learning is, think, it's like I've kind of used a theme of I've got to learn, I've got to unlearn, and then I've got to relearn. And it's just this continuous cycle over.
Joey Lowery (40:02.105)
That's the name of the game.
Joey Lowery (40:12.431)
Yeah, well, and I think too, it's like, it's hard because what you, what sometimes you fell in love with in the business isn't there anymore. You know, I used to think that, man, being able to land new client deals, be, you know, hey, we just hit five customers, we hit 10, you know, we have a residual income, we're residual over six figures, you know, we did a million in a month. Like all these little milestones we hit, and then I realized, I'm like, well, what's the next milestone? You know, and then I realized, you know, what's, do I just build this out so we can sell it one day? Like, what do I fall in love with?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (40:35.523)
Right.
Joey Lowery (40:42.189)
And that's where I decided for me personally, actually that's I started doing podcasts, I was like, I'm gonna take the we out of, or the media shark out of me a little bit and just go do it. How do I build Joey up a little bit? And I started falling in love with that. Not because I wanna be on stage, but like you said, the educating aspect. I will say I'm probably one of those people, I really hate having my photo taken. I hate being on video.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (40:54.787)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (41:04.302)
So, and now we talked about that like, ugh, it's the worst for me.
Joey Lowery (41:07.759)
My girlfriend will be like, you look nice in that one. The other one, you looked a little bit heavier, but I'm like, what? Do not tell me that. Like little things like that. And in your head, you just start thinking about it. I will say this, and I believe this if anybody's listening. If you're a founder or anybody, you should just be putting out content no matter what, just because you don't know what kind of gold mine you're sitting on right now.
in five years and you have or even three years and you have over hundreds of videos on YouTube or TikTok or whatever Instagram those I mean I have I have a video right now at 60,000 views I filmed it in my I'll send it to you actually but I filmed it in a garage in my old house right after I got fired and I look so much younger too I'm like my gosh I could clearly have aged as a yeah I'm like I don't have wrinkles or anything yeah no there's no stress yet to this guy
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (41:52.782)
You're like, I look good.
I'm gonna use that.
It's like an actor that's using a headshot from 1995.
Joey Lowery (42:02.829)
Yeah, I'm like, that's okay. Yeah. but what was funny though was that video, I actually had somebody reach out recently, he's a CEO. He wouldn't tell me what CEO or where he's at, but he goes, hey, I watched your video on programmatic advertising. I liked your simple explanation. Do you mind if I get on a call with you just to go over some stuff? We're not interested in hiring you guys at agency, but I wanna make sure that I understand how programmatic works. This video is five years old.
and he still found it. And I'm like, it just reinforces. It's like, man, you just don't know what could happen if you just put yourself out there. So you might as well take the risk.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (42:33.454)
that is good. That is good advice. All right. So Joey, if you could pick two things about your business today that you could change, Insta, what two things would you change and why?
Joey Lowery (42:50.457)
Man, the changing part, I think if I could change it, think I would have, instead of making our business broad as we service a lot of people, we focus on certain products or services, as I will call it, I would have niched down in the beginning where we knew we worked with certain types of companies.
I think the growth of knowing and being in the trenches would have been a lot further and faster instead of going broad and trying to be a mile wide with an inch deep instead of being inch deep or inch wide with a depth. That was one, I mean we're fine and I'm happy that we are where we're at but that's one of those things I always think back. like if I tell people now I'm like man you really got to like go you know a mile deep in your your purse and your product, who you're serving and you don't serve everybody.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (43:24.728)
Yeah.
Joey Lowery (43:40.579)
You know, that's one of those things.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (43:41.602)
Right? If you target everybody, you target no one. Yeah.
Joey Lowery (43:44.463)
Exactly. Yeah, this is sniper rifle. This is not spray and pray. And you pray a lot. I'll say that as an owner. I'm praying all the time. But I think the other thing I'd change is, you know, learning, learning about like NLP more like the neuro linguistic programming, knowing how people think, why they think not for sales purposes, but because I need a better understanding of my team, people I'm dealing with, taking a step back and being like, removing the eye.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (44:08.397)
Yeah.
Joey Lowery (44:12.889)
How does she or he respond to these circumstances? What motivates them? What demotivates them? How do they respond to me? how do I become more of a Rosetta Stone, fluent language, emotional speaker to my employees and the people I deal with? Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (44:28.184)
Right. We're in the people business. I think that's a big, that's been a big aha. mean, you always kind of know that, but that was, I went through the same kind of journey, a little bit of, I, you know, I thought I was this type of a leader and I had to go through some learnings for myself. But yeah, it's like, I kind of, how do you lead people? How do you make people feel more accepted? How do you?
Joey Lowery (44:35.055)
I mean, having employees.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (44:57.214)
and educate and train when people, you know, have crossed different spectrums of styles.
Joey Lowery (45:03.279)
And I hate saying this too, how to fire correctly. That was one where I'm like, I didn't know, I never said this, but I'm like, I hate you. yeah, know, because had a, boy, cost me $20,000 in a possible lawsuit because of this data issue. And who deals with it? Media Shark and Joey. And I'm like, you know, very politely, like, we're done, you we went through the process, but.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (45:06.742)
And yeah, I'm still learning that one.
Joey Lowery (45:28.793)
dealing with, you know, the HR aspect of what you can, can't say dealing with different types of people, gender aspects all the way from, know, she's having a rough day. He's lost his mom, you know, like all these aspects of, know, learning.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (45:41.272)
You have to be really empathetic as a founder and business owner, walk in their shoes, but also put processes and systems in place to also create boundaries to protect the company. I mean, that's part of it.
Joey Lowery (45:48.632)
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. The team, we don't, we don't go out drinking when we go, you know, like a digital summit and the guys and girls are separated. If we do, that was one thing when we did an Airbnb, it was a lot of fun. We had a blast, but keeping the guys on one side of the house and the girls had their upstairs room. And we stayed out. The guys had the kind of like the bottom half of this house, but it had like an outhouse where they could sleep outside. and it was great. You know, everybody had a great time, but making sure like, Hey, this is not a college party. Like this is where we're here to work. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (46:18.23)
Right, this is not MTV, you know.
Joey Lowery (46:20.527)
Yeah, we're here to do a job and we're going to go home. if we do a great job, I'm happy to do the dinners and do the fun stuff. we're here to work. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (46:27.79)
We're here, we gotta protect everybody. Yeah, people business. We're in the people business. is. All right, so if we met a year from now, and what would we be celebrating?
Joey Lowery (46:34.063)
We definitely are.
Joey Lowery (46:46.771)
Mm. a from now. It's a good one. I actually, I'd like to have completed. I will have completed, but, I'm on a roll right now to do a hundred podcasts and, I'm in the seventies right now. It's, I've, it's taken me, November, no, no, not November. That's not, that's not, no, sorry. August, August. So, yeah. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (47:00.232)
my gosh, when did you start this go?
as in like.
of this year. You've done almost 70 podcasts between. God, I thought I was doing good. I I record these every week, but I'm a guest. I've done like 30 this year, and I thought that was good.
Joey Lowery (47:16.973)
Yeah. But you also, you're also doing.
Yeah, but you're also interviewing and having the pot. I don't have to worry about that side. I just show up, get a talk.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (47:25.166)
And that's true. Like 70 since August, that's well, that's amazing. OK.
Joey Lowery (47:28.665)
Yeah, I to that completed.
Well, and so but also so I go back to it too. I was like, you know what? I'm gonna put myself out there, you know, and I also thought too. I'm like, you know what? How if I ever want to do this and I want to get better at speaking and just being more on my delivery, why not? Whether good, bad or indifferent, whether your podcast had one follower and it was your mom or your dad all the way to, you know, your top rated whatever podcast, I'm gonna do it, you know. So that was one. I also I'd like to have landed probably one of the speaking gigs at some of the conferences I really follow.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (47:51.342)
That's right.
Joey Lowery (48:00.495)
That's been one of those big things where there's a couple ones I really care about that I found myself being more of a fanboy. Yeah, and not just for the cloud or the aspect. I really want to know that I'm up here because I bring the value that was like me listening, you know, not too long ago.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (48:04.93)
You're like, want to be on that stage.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (48:19.435)
Well, we're gonna manifest it right now. We're gonna do it. It's gonna happen. I'm gonna check in with you next year. gonna see you. You're like, I've done 200 podcasts and now I'm on these five stages. Like, well.
Joey Lowery (48:22.095)
Let's do it.
Joey Lowery (48:27.033)
deal.
Joey Lowery (48:31.073)
Well, let me reverse the question, if you don't mind. What would be yours? Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (48:34.744)
What would be mine? If we celebrated a year from now, I would want for bright side, I would want to have acquired, we've got a list of 30 companies that we would like to bring on board. Target companies and then on OrangeWIP, 10 sponsors for the digital zines and the podcast. So that would be like ultimate, ultimate celebration. Well, we're gonna like.
Joey Lowery (49:00.119)
Okay, well wanna follow up, I swear I'm gonna on my counter.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (49:03.51)
And then personally, like you said, I'm trying to do, for me personally, I'm trying to put myself out there. If I can get, launch these video series that I have pocketed, I just need to do it. Just need to put it out there, yeah. I was like, this week was my baby step of I got my bio, the intro, you know, I was like, okay, I'm getting the momentum. I think I'm gonna publish some of those videos this week and get it done before the end of the year. But yeah.
Joey Lowery (49:11.491)
Just do it, just jump in, just do it. Yep.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (49:33.922)
Hopefully by also next year, you'll see a lot more of me out there. This time next year. That will be, we'll be celebrating that.
Joey Lowery (49:37.945)
There we go, yeah. I'll be, I'll have a coffee in the morning like, my gosh, my gosh, I know, she's, look how many followers, like.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (49:44.654)
You look at me and look and she's like 30 pounds lighter too. Whoa! Go! I'm on a health journey too so we're gonna put it all out there. I'm gonna, you know, not gonna be in a bikini or anything out there but you will see that I have lost weight.
Joey Lowery (50:01.699)
There we go. I'm in that journey right now and I will say it's a grumpy journey, especially during the holidays.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (50:07.183)
It is. We're working through it. I've been doing a lot of stuff. This was my year of entry. 2025 is going to be my year of digging in and going high. we're on the path. We're walking down the path. That's what I'm not running yet. I'll run in 2025, but this year was the walking of the path.
Joey Lowery (50:18.019)
Yes.
Joey Lowery (50:23.471)
Yeah, that's awesome.
Joey Lowery (50:27.919)
It's okay. There we go.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (50:33.826)
All right, so if you could sum up your entrepreneurial journey in one word, what would that word be and why?
Joey Lowery (50:41.827)
I'd actually, I, when you first mentioned that, I literally was like, man, there's just so many words that describe certain things and certain moments, but it's not even a feeling. just, I'd honestly, I'd say it's adventurous. Yeah, I think it's one of those things where I didn't see what was gonna happen next. I'm always down for the ride.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (50:56.534)
Adventurous, all right.
Joey Lowery (51:03.705)
But I think, you know this too as well, we learn and get to be involved in so many cool things as marketers and experts in this area that not only are we applying it to our businesses, we get insights to all types of different businesses and different stuff. And I'm always dabbling in some other side business that I shouldn't be involved in because I have time for it, but I'm always doing something. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (51:16.394)
yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (51:22.584)
We always get pulled in.
Joey Lowery (51:24.647)
I was going to build a CBD bath bomb business the other day. I'm like, Nope, won't net that. I'll give this. Yeah. No, it's not our business, but you know, just adventurous because I just think the opportunities and the road is so unknown, but also so gloriously, gloriously hard and rewarding. But, you know, we just don't know what's going to be next, but it's one of those things that I'm, yeah, I'm smiling about it. I'll say that.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (51:44.334)
That's right. Trailblazer.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (51:48.394)
Love it and I will say so we've at like thousand or so founders this word. We have not had a repeat word Yeah, and that crazy even though a lot of the same themes of like our ah-hahs or shits like all of those that what you know What do we find reward a lot of the the same themes that we hear over and over but everyone has described their journey in a different way Isn't that amazing that's why I love it, you know
Joey Lowery (51:56.653)
Really, no way.
Joey Lowery (52:02.659)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (52:17.494)
I love asking it because we have not had a repeat yet and I love that we haven't had a repeat. It just shows the spectrum.
Joey Lowery (52:25.283)
That would be such a cool page to put on your, if you have a podcast website to put like, you know, your founders words and like every founder that you've had on here just says, Hey, this is my word. That, that yeah. Just one little, one little second and just that would, that would be really cool. Yeah. That's, that's freaking awesome.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (52:30.115)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (52:35.912)
we should just do a clip of like the word. Yeah.
I'm looking at Chandler. Chandler's like, all right, we can do it. We can get it. Might be something we work on over the holiday break or downtime. That's right. But it's a great, I love it. So if you, okay, so now here's another. If you had to look forward for your, like the next five years for the chapter, what would that word be for that, for the next five year chapter?
Joey Lowery (52:50.435)
Hey, by next year.
Joey Lowery (53:09.199)
accomplished.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (53:10.688)
Accomplished. This is the first time I've asked this question, so we have no, a channeler's like, what, well that's a curveball question, but I might start asking this. It'll be my 2025 question of words, other words. I love that. yes.
Joey Lowery (53:18.659)
Yeah, I think.
Joey Lowery (53:26.925)
Yeah, think, yeah, that's one of those where, yeah, I think I actually like that second question better a little bit. Yeah, because I think everybody's like, they know where they've been, they're happy with that. That's a lot more easier to describe too than where you're going.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (53:32.236)
Yeah, like where are you going? Right?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (53:41.004)
Yeah, give people something to chew on there. And then, I mean, you've had coaches, you've kind of had a great journey and good mindset too, know, perspective. What advice would you give another founder, entrepreneur that's like either in it, in the grind, or if someone's trying to debate, do I jump in? What advice would you give them?
Joey Lowery (54:07.143)
I think finding out where you will want to accepting wherever you're at and knowing that just like, you know, good and bad time, it will change, you know, so you have to assume no matter what that nothing stagnant. that's going to be exactly. Yes. So as long as you acknowledge that that's number one, you know, don't be afraid to seek to seek out for help. I think that's one of those big things, but
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (54:22.958)
Right. It too shall pass.
Joey Lowery (54:33.827)
But two is find somebody else that's way bigger than you and attach yourself to the hip to them. That's one of those things where, know, they always say, you're the sum of your five friends, you know, financially or whatever, even to happiness and sadness and all this stuff. Business couldn't be any more like that if...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (54:39.598)
Joey Lowery (54:51.681)
I don't believe that right now it's the time and it's that hard to anyway but you don't need to be reinventing the wheel that you just you figure out a process to make your you know your wheel smoother and and more functioning so
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (55:03.938)
and say watch, yeah, somebody that you admire. Like who do you feel like is doing it?
Joey Lowery (55:07.075)
Yeah. And I'm going say this too, because this is something I practiced and I have believed in, and I don't talk about it enough. I read two books a month, or I do Audible too, I don't like it that much, but I do a self-help book no matter what, and I do a business book. And I mean business as in something that applies directly to what I do for a living, whether SEO, marketing, Facebook, know, programmatic. And I will read the shitty book. I don't care if it's by the dude who has two reviews, but if it's up my alley, I will read the book.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (55:18.114)
Right.
Joey Lowery (55:36.431)
You know, expanding your knowledge. Like you will be surpassed by the next person that's more hungry than you unless you just keep on updating your database. And that's key. I think that's something that we overlook. We just get so confident moving forward and that we forget that there was this hunger that allowed us to get here. Or there's a reason you're blocked. And maybe it's because you don't have the knowledge base or the confidence yet to push past it. And I guarantee you right person will or the right knowledge will help you push past it as well.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (55:52.878)
That's right, we gotta keep it.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (56:04.303)
That's right. no, that's good. I tell them, I'm like, read, continue, don't stop learning. Because you will get blocked at some point and you need to come out. I think just continual learning is key. And don't be afraid. You just gotta jump in. Well, before we go, I know we're out of time, but before we go, how can people connect with you, learn more about you, Joey? Where do you wanna, where do you wanna,
Joey Lowery (56:10.563)
Yep.
Joey Lowery (56:21.795)
Yep, absolutely. Yeah, you just got to jump in.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (56:34.04)
point them.
Joey Lowery (56:35.043)
Yeah, I would say if you're interested in like, you know, just chatting about something or you get questions about, know, I love being outside of MediaShark. So if you're up to something and you're always curious on a question or something like that, that marketing guy on Instagram, but of course, if you're, you know, business wise, go mediashark.com and you can find us there.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (56:53.368)
Perfect, and we will tag all this and this episode will be published this coming Sunday, so we're excited. And so thank you for hanging out with me and joining the podcast and I love it. It's good to get to know you. I hope we can do some stuff outside of the OrangeWIP scenario, get our marketing teams together. And for everyone listening or watching us, thank you for joining us. This podcast episode will be available on your favorite podcast platforms.
Joey Lowery (57:10.852)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (57:23.03)
So give us a like, give us a shout, give us a review, a five-star review on Apple. That would be fantastic and help us grow and build a more connected entrepreneurial community. Hello Chaos is one of the many resources brought to you by OrangeWIP. That is OrangeWIP WIP for work in progress, because that's what we all are. OrangeWIP is a multimedia company dedicated to serving founders and entrepreneurs in affiliate cities.
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