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Oct. 23, 2024

960: Advancing the legal industry AND marketing in the age of AI with passion-driven growth w/ Nick Goson

Unlock the secrets of entrepreneurial success with Nick Goson, the visionary leader behind G4Coastal. In this episode, Nick shares his remarkable journey and innovative strategies that are revolutionizing the legal services and online marketing sectors. You'll hear firsthand how his commitment to honesty and excellence has driven the success of G4Coastal by aggregating the best providers to ensure top-notch service and reliability across various industries.

Ever wondered how AI is reshaping the legal industry? Nick breaks it down with compelling comparisons, like the efficiency difference between a Prius and an electric pickup truck. He delves into the cost-saving benefits and competitive advantages of adopting AI and generative AI in law firms, emphasizing the transformative power of these technologies beyond mere automation. The discussion extends to personalized marketing, illustrating the necessity of a clear and targeted online presence to stand out in a competitive market.

Finally, Nick offers invaluable insights into the importance of passion and purpose in business. From effective time management to putting the customer first, he reveals how these principles can turn proactive initiatives into financial success. This episode is a treasure trove of inspiration, highlighting how investing in yourself can enhance both your personal and professional life, leading to a more fulfilling and effective entrepreneurial journey. Tune in for an episode filled with actionable advice and motivational stories sure to inspire any entrepreneur.

ABOUT NICK

Nick Goson is the leader of G4Coastal, a company specializing in eDiscovery, Legal Managed Services, and Online Marketing solutions. With nearly 20 years in the legal and marketing industries, Nick has driven G4Coastal to the forefront of its field by focusing on innovation, quality control, and client-first service. G4Coastal serves a diverse clientele, including law firms, corporations, and government agencies, by leveraging cutting-edge technologies and a commitment to excellence. Beyond business, Nick and his family are dedicated to giving back, providing food, clothing, and holiday support to families in need.

LINKS & RESOURCES

Chapters

00:00 - Entrepreneurial Innovator in Legal Services

15:37 - AI in Legal Services

30:04 - Finding Passion and Purpose in Business

38:09 - Supporting Entrepreneurial Messages Through Sponsorship

Transcript

WEBVTT

00:00:00.179 --> 00:00:01.183
Hey, what is up?

00:00:01.183 --> 00:00:04.511
Welcome to this episode of the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.

00:00:04.511 --> 00:00:34.648
As always, I'm your host, brian LoFermento, and I am joined by an entrepreneur today that, even just talking to him briefly before we hit record today, I love the way his energy is towards doing things that he's passionate about and doing things that help other people, because this is an entrepreneur who really believes in leveraging technologies and effective strategy to help different businesses of all industries, of all sizes, and also applies some of his niche knowledge into the world of legal services.

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So let me tell you all about today's guest.

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His name is Nick Gossin.

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He's the dynamic leader at the helm of G4 Coastal, which is a company specializing in e-discovery, legal managed services and online marketing solutions.

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With a deep understanding of digital landscapes and legal intricacies, nick is leading the company to the forefront of the industry, providing critical legal and marketing services that streamline the current processes and ensure a higher level of quality control.

00:01:01.962 --> 00:01:20.953
Under Nick's leadership, g4 Coastal continues to grow its reputation for innovation, reliability, servicing diverse clientele that range from law firms to corporate entities and government agencies, and all of that means that he's navigating a lot of waters, not only in his own industry, but to help his clients in their industries.

00:01:20.953 --> 00:01:31.183
So we're going to learn a lot from the way he uses technology, the way that he is of service to so many other people, the way that he is innovating to really help people get real results.

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This is someone who loves solutions, so I'm not going to say anything else.

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Let's dive straight into my interview with Nick Gossin.

00:01:38.304 --> 00:01:44.421
All right, nick, I'm so excited that you're here with us.

00:01:44.421 --> 00:01:45.385
First things first.

00:01:45.385 --> 00:01:46.367
Welcome to the show.

00:01:46.367 --> 00:01:47.941
Thank you, brian.

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It's a pleasure to meet you on live TV here and really, really look forward to this conversation.

00:01:54.519 --> 00:01:54.661
Heck.

00:01:54.661 --> 00:02:00.563
Yes, likewise, especially because I love your passion for just bringing solutions to real life businesses.

00:02:00.563 --> 00:02:04.731
So before we dive into your strategic mind, take us beyond the bio.

00:02:04.731 --> 00:02:05.352
Who's Nick?

00:02:05.352 --> 00:02:07.344
How 'd you start doing all these awesome things?

00:02:08.127 --> 00:02:09.251
Well, thank you.

00:02:09.251 --> 00:02:18.112
So you know, my wife and I are very much alike in the aspect of wanting to be together, wanting to be with their children.

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We believe in being honest and doing the right things, both professionally and personally.

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So we've always had that common denominator of entrepreneurial spirit and really what we wanted to do is, you know, focus on what our strengths are.

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What have we been successful at professionally?

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How can we bring that to clients and how can we do that?

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Treating them right and the deliverables that we would expect for ourselves, because service is very challenging.

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We live in Florida, so a quick example of that would be finding good contractors that will start and complete a project on time and just do what they say.

00:02:59.801 --> 00:03:03.609
So I'm kind of making a funny analogy there.

00:03:03.609 --> 00:03:18.042
It's very true in the world of e-discovery and online marketing, and those are strengths that certainly my experience does offer both to my clients and it's also something that I enjoy, and it's great that.

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You know.

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Continuing to grow a successful business allots us the ability to also spend time as a family and be very proud of what we bring to the table.

00:03:28.203 --> 00:04:06.193
So the idea of G4 Coastal came about with we'll start with the e-discovery side of business working in the legal industry, for you know, almost two decades now, and there's so many ways to you know, lure law firms or legal departments or even government agencies into doing business with you through, you know, putting a carrot out there that they're the lowest price on this service or technology, and then once somebody starts working with them, they quickly find out that this is not quite what they signed up for.

00:04:06.193 --> 00:04:07.883
We just wanted to be real.

00:04:07.883 --> 00:04:10.770
We didn't want to do death by a thousand line items.

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We wanted to say, look, let's put you first and if you win, we win, because you're going to want to keep working with us.

00:04:17.081 --> 00:04:20.307
So very simple concept, very rare in this industry.

00:04:20.307 --> 00:04:27.480
So we wanted to be very different and with that we created an aggregate model of our company.

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And what does that mean?

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That means that you know fortunately, I've been very grateful to have wonderful relationships across the online marketing and e-discovery industries that I was able to leverage both relationships and experience in these markets to be able to pull together tier one providers across.

00:04:50.307 --> 00:05:28.403
We'll start with the e-discovery for EDRM, the electronic discovery model, and what we've been able to deliver is the best providers for collections and forensics, the best providers for document review the best technologies that are able to provide the both Gen AI and AI capabilities for looking through documents and quickly finding facts in a case, to get through the most important documents as quickly as possible, so attorneys can start their litigation strategy.

00:05:29.026 --> 00:05:43.826
On the online marketing side, we did the same thing, where we identified agencies that are very good at SEO, that are very good at content writing, that are very good at media, that are very good at design, etc.

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And what we have found, though, through our experiences one company is rarely excellent at everything.

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So, with that in mind, we decided that we would bring excellent service across any deliverable that we engage with with our clients on the online and on the e-discovery side clients on the online and on the e-discovery side, where you know we could say, with our heads held up high and be very truthful, that we can really deliver excellent service and everything that we touch for our clients.

00:06:14.343 --> 00:06:16.387
So I'll kind of stop there.

00:06:16.387 --> 00:06:24.788
That is the most brief synopsis I could provide you on how we designed G4 Coastal and why.

00:06:25.350 --> 00:06:27.033
Yeah, I love that overview, Nick.

00:06:27.033 --> 00:06:33.000
I feel like it just showcases all your different interests converging into one business, which is really cool.

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I could pick so many ingredients out of that, such as technology, being of service, the relationships that you've built along the way, the marketing and business and strategy side of things and, of course, marrying it all with kind of the legal niche that you found in there as you service not just legal companies, but even outside of that.

00:06:50.502 --> 00:06:51.966
Where does it start?

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Because, as someone who looks at, I know that a lot of entrepreneurs, we are multi-passionate.

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It's easy to get us excited about all these things.

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For you personally, when you think about what you've been building in your entrepreneurial career, what are those overarching passions?

00:07:06.411 --> 00:07:08.949
Is it the marketing, the technology, the solutions?

00:07:08.949 --> 00:07:13.449
I'd love to hear inside your mind, because you are making such a big impact in different ways.

00:07:14.252 --> 00:07:14.572
Yeah.

00:07:14.572 --> 00:07:16.500
So I'll be honest.

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I think the simple fact is just to be real and honest.

00:07:21.713 --> 00:07:25.050
I've worked in corporate America for many, many years.

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There are occasions, depending on the people that are at the helm and you know those that engage with certain departments that I was involved with that were very great at what they did, very honest, hardworking, led by example.

00:07:41.584 --> 00:08:00.692
And then there was, you know, those that were very different from that, and we wanted G4 Coastal to be very upfront and say look, these are the things we can do very well and if there are opportunities that arise that aren't in our wheelhouse, we will gladly.

00:08:00.899 --> 00:08:19.552
If we have contacts or know who can help them, we will direct them and we'll say this is not what we do well or this is something that we don't do at all, and we will gladly show you the way for somebody that can deliver a very good service to you for what you need.

00:08:20.060 --> 00:08:38.687
So I think, just being very upfront and also understanding strengths and focusing on those strengths and not over-promising, just really doing what you do well and staying in our lane and there are a lot of services and technologies that we do provide, depending on what kind of projects our clients need.

00:08:38.687 --> 00:08:44.721
But, all of that said, we're not a bobblehead and we really didn't want to be that, as so many companies.

00:08:44.721 --> 00:09:00.186
Right, it's difficult to turn down business, but what we've recognized which is not a novel idea is that if you just are passionate about what you do, do it really well and focus on those things, people come back and they appreciate that.

00:09:00.186 --> 00:09:02.371
And word of mouth has really been helpful to us.

00:09:02.371 --> 00:09:17.740
We do online marketing, of course, for ourselves, and outreach to try to bring in new clients, but, believe it or not, the biggest percentage of our client base is through word of mouth and building a reputation, and we're very proud of that.

00:09:18.462 --> 00:09:23.383
Yeah, it doesn't surprise me either, having gotten the chance to interact with you even as little as I already have.

00:09:23.383 --> 00:09:30.846
I think that it's really clear in the way that you even show up that you're super passionate about this and you keep bringing it back to just being real.

00:09:30.846 --> 00:09:32.289
I think that's such an important thing.

00:09:32.289 --> 00:09:44.986
But what I really find fascinating about your business is when we talk about that aggregated business structure and the business model at the root of it is finding those great people, and in business it's an essential skill that we all need to develop.

00:09:44.986 --> 00:09:47.091
Even we could take it in a lot of directions.

00:09:47.130 --> 00:09:48.453
You mentioned turning away business.

00:09:48.453 --> 00:09:55.585
It's hard sometimes to recognize those pain in the butt clients who it's probably not even worth our time to work with those people.

00:09:55.585 --> 00:10:03.842
But you work with people on all sides of the coin the clients that you're servicing, the people that you're trusting with the services to provide exceptional service.

00:10:03.842 --> 00:10:09.188
Talk to us about that ability, nick, because I do feel like it's something that separates you from the rest.

00:10:09.188 --> 00:10:14.851
Is that ability to understand good people, find those good people and keep those good people.

00:10:15.860 --> 00:10:22.793
I'm going to give you a book reference Jim Collins Good to Great and one of the.

00:10:22.793 --> 00:10:26.649
There were a number of great takeaways from that book.

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It's one of my favorite business books, but he talked about putting the right people on the bus.

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When you get the right people on the bus, you're going to go in a great direction, and right people on the bus can mean so many different things.

00:10:39.562 --> 00:10:51.255
But I think this ties back to your question on how do we find the right partners to be able to deliver these complex services that we often provide?

00:10:51.255 --> 00:10:56.527
And you know, through fortunately treating people right over.

00:10:56.787 --> 00:11:21.880
You know the years I've been in the legal industry and in online marketing having a trusted reputation, marketing having a trusted reputation that there have been times that I've really had to rely on folks that you know years ago, that I'm now great partners with and, in some instances, great friends with, where they did what they said they would do and they went the extra mile to help me.

00:11:22.240 --> 00:11:24.485
Those are the people I want to surround myself with.

00:11:24.485 --> 00:11:31.783
They also deserve to be surrounded by the same quality of people, and it all starts with people.

00:11:31.783 --> 00:12:11.517
Even though we talk a little bit about technology I'm sure we'll chat some more about that, but it's people that are driving this, and if we find people that work well, that care about putting their name on a project, that care about making you happy and put you first, those are the kind of people I want to be in business with, and if I want to be in business with those people, everybody else does as well, it's about cultivating those relationships and just them proving themselves over and over over the years that they really are who they say they are and they do what they say they do.

00:12:11.517 --> 00:12:18.774
In turn, we make those same commitments to our clients, and that's been a secret to our recipe.

00:12:19.559 --> 00:12:21.580
Yeah, I love that perspective and that attitude.

00:12:21.580 --> 00:12:27.193
I feel like way too often in business, we lose sight of the people aspect, and I think back to business school.

00:12:27.193 --> 00:12:34.331
We even talk about B2C versus B2B and we pretend that there's such a thing as business to business, when the truth is it's just people.

00:12:34.331 --> 00:12:35.602
At the end of the day, it's people.

00:12:35.602 --> 00:12:41.787
Hopefully they know, like and trust you, hopefully they get a good feeling from you and they're the ones who are making decisions.

00:12:41.787 --> 00:12:43.350
Businesses don't make decisions.

00:12:43.350 --> 00:12:45.394
It always comes back to those people.

00:12:45.394 --> 00:12:47.287
So I wanna actually you know what?

00:12:47.287 --> 00:13:05.894
Let's dispel another one of these things that we hear in business school, because I remember when I was in my early 20s, I once heard someone talk about the fact that pioneers in any industry, you can identify them because they're the ones with the arrows in their backs and they're the ones that are trying to change things and disrupt industries and, as a result of that, they get beat down.

00:13:06.274 --> 00:13:17.070
I think it's really fascinating looking at what you're doing in the legal space, because we're in the middle of the AI revolution, like this time period is always going to be remembered for how quickly things are changing In the legal world.

00:13:17.070 --> 00:13:20.783
You are accelerating that's the word that I'll use.

00:13:20.783 --> 00:13:28.572
You're accelerating so much of the work that has traditionally had to happen by manpower, by man hours in the legal world.

00:13:28.572 --> 00:13:33.687
Talk to us about disrupting that industry, because it is probably an age old industry.

00:13:33.687 --> 00:13:36.966
I'm going to throw the legal world and the real estate world under the bus here.

00:13:36.966 --> 00:13:40.364
There have been industries that have done things the same way for a long time.

00:13:40.364 --> 00:13:43.211
What's that like, disrupting that industry?

00:13:48.179 --> 00:13:48.360
time.

00:13:48.360 --> 00:13:49.743
What's that like disrupting that industry?

00:13:49.743 --> 00:13:53.568
Generally speaking, absolutely, the legal industry is lagging in adopting technology within the workflow.

00:13:53.568 --> 00:13:55.873
It's very difficult.

00:13:55.873 --> 00:14:05.214
How do you tell an attorney or a law firm that they need to do things differently when they've been so successful for so long?

00:14:05.214 --> 00:14:34.498
So I come from providing legal information to attorneys and law firms and I could tell you that it was a challenge getting them to research from books in the print to online and being able to leverage the expedient tools information that can be delivered online through online platforms versus in print.

00:14:34.498 --> 00:14:56.658
When it comes to, for example, ediscovery, which is a service that we offer now at G4 Coastal, you know we can review documents much faster, or we can arm attorneys or their teams to review documents much faster by leveraging generative AI and other AI capabilities.

00:14:56.658 --> 00:15:08.138
There's a difference between the two and much of it depends on programming, et cetera, but generally speaking, you know there's a couple reasons why it's been lagging right.

00:15:08.138 --> 00:15:13.197
One is just change is difficult for most people across every industry.

00:15:13.197 --> 00:15:27.359
The second is you know law firms were used to charging billable hours, so if it takes them longer to do something, even if they do a great job, you know that's more revenue, right?

00:15:27.359 --> 00:15:36.633
So how do they recover lost revenue by doing things more efficiently, right, without losing the quality of their work product?

00:15:36.633 --> 00:15:46.269
Very difficult, and I think what's really driven that is not solely technology driving their change, but competition.

00:15:46.269 --> 00:16:08.215
So once you have an attorney and a law firm on the other side of the street embracing technology and being able to reduce costs for their clients by embracing, you know, ai and generative AI and other technological workflow capabilities by default, other firms need to follow suit.

00:16:08.215 --> 00:16:11.427
They need to embrace that too, because they need to be competitive, right.

00:16:11.427 --> 00:16:13.048
They need to embrace that too, because they need to be competitive, right.

00:16:13.048 --> 00:16:19.274
It's kind of like how do you compete with a delivery driver that's got, you know, a Prius versus an electric pickup truck?

00:16:19.274 --> 00:16:22.677
Right, so both are going to go the same distance.

00:16:22.677 --> 00:16:26.902
One can haul more, right, so the one with the truck can make more stops.

00:16:26.902 --> 00:16:41.428
And all of a sudden, your Prius delivery person is probably buying an electric pickup truck, right, so they can make more deliveries and, you know, mitigate costs and be more profitable and make their clients maybe happier, right?

00:16:41.428 --> 00:16:42.933
So the same thing in the legal space.

00:16:42.933 --> 00:16:50.999
I'm kind of dumbing it down, but that's how I've seen things graduate from where they were before to where they're headed right now.

00:16:52.100 --> 00:17:02.249
You know if you have a person reviewing documents in, you know over a litigation they might be able to get through 30, 40, 50 documents an hour.

00:17:02.249 --> 00:17:11.596
And this is somebody experienced and let's just assume you know there aren't too many key facts that are complex that they need to be looking at.

00:17:11.596 --> 00:17:18.854
You know intellectual property or you know blueprints or something like that where they're very, very complex matters.

00:17:18.854 --> 00:17:28.826
You know if they average 40 documents an hour at this law firm, you know a litigation could cost a half a million dollars.

00:17:28.826 --> 00:17:45.513
But if you know the law firm across the streets leveraging generative AI and their doc review and you know also have the same experience of reviewers looking through those key facts, they might be able to have that litigation cost only $200,000.

00:17:46.395 --> 00:17:51.849
So that helps them, you know, gain confidence in their clients, to have their clients keep coming back.

00:17:51.849 --> 00:17:54.674
It keeps their clients' costs down.

00:17:54.674 --> 00:17:56.317
It's a great value.

00:17:56.317 --> 00:18:17.069
So it's all about you know understanding what a project requirements are timelines, information, et cetera and then being able to tie in the right workflows and technology, because you can't just throw technology like a baseball at a case and know that you're going to win and get it done right and fast.

00:18:17.069 --> 00:18:35.607
There's workflows that need to be designed and tailored to meet those expectations and requirements and then leverage technology where necessary in order to expedite that, still holding up that quality control component still holding up that quality control component.

00:18:35.627 --> 00:18:46.606
Yeah, I think it's so interesting hearing all the different considerations because we are taking a very technical and deep dive of knowledge, intense industry, such as the legal world, and applying these solutions to it and hearing the considerations.

00:18:46.948 --> 00:18:50.806
It's just like your baseball analogy you can't just apply tech to it and it's the same thing.

00:18:50.806 --> 00:19:00.792
Honestly, I feel it even outside of the world of legal stuff, is that we have to also be careful and be cognizant of the way we're using AI in all of our businesses.

00:19:00.792 --> 00:19:01.913
Which is Talk to us about that?

00:19:01.913 --> 00:19:37.373
Because I feel like we're in the era where a lot of people are still figuring out AI and how we can use chat, gpt and all the other solutions out there and they're thinking, oh, this will just replace anyone and everyone who could do marketing, it'll just write my ads for me, but you're really talking about using it to create personalized, customized marketing experiences for all of our audience, our customers, our clients, our potential customers and clients.

00:19:37.373 --> 00:19:43.385
Talk to us about AI's role in that space because I think it's such an important time for us to start thinking about these things.

00:19:44.228 --> 00:19:45.150
Certainly so.

00:19:45.150 --> 00:19:56.709
You know, one of the important components to online marketing is understanding the client, right Us, understanding our clients, knowing you know what do they do?

00:19:56.709 --> 00:19:59.010
How do they see themselves?

00:19:59.010 --> 00:20:02.013
What do they want to portray themselves as?

00:20:02.013 --> 00:20:06.809
Who else is in that space, if anybody that they're competing with?

00:20:06.809 --> 00:20:10.429
And then everybody wants to differentiate themselves from their competitors.

00:20:10.429 --> 00:20:24.205
So I think it's first having a very clear understanding of who that client is before we can, you know, apply any AI to you know their campaign.

00:20:25.186 --> 00:20:31.573
A lot of people you know they just go online and they look at some competitor websites and they say that's what I want.

00:20:31.573 --> 00:20:41.882
But usually, after some in-depth conversation, we quickly find that that's not what they want.

00:20:41.882 --> 00:20:46.017
That's an idea that looks really good, but they don't want to be their competition.

00:20:46.017 --> 00:20:48.325
For the most part, they want to be different.

00:20:48.325 --> 00:20:56.690
They want to show the prospective clients that they're outreaching to what makes them different, and that's really critical.

00:20:56.690 --> 00:21:06.155
There are some industries, brian, where companies don't care to have the lion's share of the business because there's so much to be had.

00:21:06.155 --> 00:21:12.719
So they're really just throwing a lot against the wall and just hoping that.

00:21:12.719 --> 00:21:16.208
You know, their online presence brings them the traffic.

00:21:16.208 --> 00:21:50.251
So what is very beneficial to help reduce that online marketing cost is to understand who the most profitable audiences that are out there that they would like to convert into a client, and it's also very important that you know for many companies and I'm broad brushstroking here but it's very important that the audience understands what a company is all about, what makes them different, and when you draw them in, you want to have them land on the page of your website and in this section of your website.

00:21:50.251 --> 00:21:53.412
That was what they clicked into in the first place.

00:21:53.545 --> 00:22:16.580
Because oftentimes what happens is and it's happened to me a lot, I'm sure it's happened to you and so many others is something might catch our eye, whether we're seriously researching to purchase a good or service online or we're just kind of putzing around and something catches our eye, we click and we go to a website and it has nothing to do with the topic that we were interested in.

00:22:16.580 --> 00:22:39.759
So that might sound very simple, but it's very critical, particularly when you're trying to be a thought leader or you're trying to convert and you know somebody coming onto your site to a client, or whether you know you have a more of a complex business and you know really what you hope is they learn about you and then want to schedule some time with you or that they'll call you or send you an email and want to learn more.

00:22:39.759 --> 00:22:41.351
Those are very important things.

00:22:41.351 --> 00:23:09.502
So AI is really helpful in generating content, not solely reliant as that content builder, but directionally providing insights that would complement what a creative content writer would be able to provide on a website in order to again differentiate from the competition, to be a thought leader, to even challenge thoughts.

00:23:09.502 --> 00:23:15.509
You know there are a lot of companies out there that want to be very agreeable to prospective clients.

00:23:16.130 --> 00:23:17.593
I don't necessarily agree with that.

00:23:17.593 --> 00:23:52.330
I think it's important that, in the spirit of enlightenment, in the spirit of education, in the spirit of trying to help people do better business that your good or service may offer, it's important to say this is how we can do this, but certainly it doesn't negate having the conversation with that person to understand their business, so you can give them the skills, the education and even the tools to be able to do better, because they landed on your website and you know this is the industry that you're in, your website and this is the industry that you're in.

00:23:52.330 --> 00:24:03.141
So I think it's very critical that, again, ai is not changing the world because it's a technology and you can just do things faster.

00:24:03.141 --> 00:24:14.279
Ai is a complement to people that know how and when to apply it in order to get more mileage out of their efforts.

00:24:14.300 --> 00:24:37.855
Yeah, nick, I'll tell you what it's so interesting to me how, even when we're talking about AI, you have a knack of bringing it back to the people and considering what are people looking for, what are people interested in, what do people need, and always letting that be the guiding force in the decisions that you're making, whether it's strategic decisions for your own business or the way that you use AI on behalf of yourself and your clients.

00:24:37.895 --> 00:25:01.271
So I really love hearing that perspective and it leads me to I knew we'd talk about this topic here together today, which is service, because anywhere people go to look up you or G4 Coastal, everything that you stand for, it just so frequently comes back to service, and it sounds like you have such a deep and intentional and strategic approach to the level of service that you give to others who come into your ecosystem.

00:25:01.271 --> 00:25:05.349
So I want to ask you because obviously you had a very successful career in corporate America.

00:25:05.349 --> 00:25:14.009
Now you're growing your own business for years now, which is incredible to see all the things that you've been able to build what shaped your view on service?

00:25:14.009 --> 00:25:19.170
What are some of those things that you've baked into the way that you deliver that white glove style of service?

00:25:20.271 --> 00:25:44.445
Well, I think everybody will will um agree that when they buy something in person or they're dealing with, you know, a service provider, a contractor, anybody, they don't get the level of deliverables, the value or even the experience that they had set out for.

00:25:44.445 --> 00:25:48.376
I'm not saying that never happens, I'm saying it doesn't happen often enough.

00:25:48.376 --> 00:25:50.888
So it's a very simple concept.

00:25:50.888 --> 00:25:54.856
You know, do unto others as you would want done Right.

00:25:54.856 --> 00:26:12.217
So I feel like I have this, this desire to have a white glove service business and something that I felt that I could do very well and that I could bring great value to the industry.

00:26:12.217 --> 00:26:15.963
Well, and that I can bring great value to the industry.

00:26:15.963 --> 00:26:33.472
But, interestingly enough, once I started building this business, I had even more rootedness into that white glove service and experience concept, because I'm living firsthand how every dollar counts, how every moment counts of mine.

00:26:33.472 --> 00:26:37.568
I only have 24 hours a day, just like everybody else in this world.

00:26:37.568 --> 00:26:40.836
How can I spend that time wisely?

00:26:40.836 --> 00:26:52.290
And then, you know, with limited investment into starting a company, how can I leverage those dollars that will give me the biggest and best ROI?

00:26:52.290 --> 00:26:53.575
What does that look like?

00:26:53.575 --> 00:26:59.817
And then it really started to resonate with me that guess what my clients want the same thing.

00:26:59.884 --> 00:27:07.930
They have their own businesses, whether it's a law firm or a company or our government agencies or a nonprofit.

00:27:07.930 --> 00:27:09.212
They all have budgets.

00:27:09.212 --> 00:27:12.159
They all have limited time to give me.

00:27:12.159 --> 00:27:15.905
All have budgets.

00:27:15.905 --> 00:27:17.970
They all have, you know, limited time to give me, limited time to give their families.

00:27:17.970 --> 00:27:21.776
How can we do the best we can and have a positive outcome for them?

00:27:22.817 --> 00:27:28.596
So when they think about us, they may say, hey, we don't need them right now, but that was a great experience.

00:27:28.596 --> 00:27:30.508
Really, that's what we care about.

00:27:30.508 --> 00:27:37.957
We can't make them need us more, but if they do need our types of services, we'll gladly do our best.

00:27:37.957 --> 00:27:47.258
We won't be perfect all the time and we never are perfect, but we're always doing our best and I think that's very critical.

00:27:47.258 --> 00:28:00.374
So, again, coming full circle, as a business owner, I have the utmost respect for you know those that are principals in any organization and have skin in the game.

00:28:00.374 --> 00:28:03.278
Certainly folks that don't as well.

00:28:03.278 --> 00:28:24.673
But when you do, you realize how critical it is to make sure that you're spending their money wisely and looking at it not as an expense on their behalf but an opportunity cost that they use in order to do their business better, and that gives us a really good feeling and purpose behind it.

00:28:24.673 --> 00:28:27.679
So it's not just all transactional in dollars and cents.

00:28:28.505 --> 00:28:38.358
Yeah, nick, I think what's really underlying in what you just shared with us there is that you're really cognizant of what it feels like to be a business owner, because you are a business owner yourself.

00:28:38.358 --> 00:28:54.137
So what I'm really hearing is an empathetic approach to everyone else that you deal with, because you think about the own things that you're balancing, your own things that you're facing and I think that's such an important way for us to approach everybody else that they're facing these exact same things as well.

00:28:54.137 --> 00:29:04.736
So I want to ask you this as we come towards the end I always love asking questions entrepreneur to entrepreneur, not just as a subject matter expert, and that is knowing that you had such a great career in corporate America.

00:29:04.736 --> 00:29:19.363
What's been a pleasant surprise for you being an entrepreneur, being self-employed, coming down to the beautiful, sunshine state of Florida, being self-employed coming down to the beautiful, sunshine state of Florida, what are some of those things that you really appreciate and maybe some of the challenges that you didn't expect transitioning to full-time?

00:29:19.383 --> 00:29:19.684
business owner.

00:29:19.684 --> 00:29:33.316
Well, starting off, I'll tell you that I was the marketing director, the IT director, the sales director, right Operations director, all of those things.

00:29:33.316 --> 00:29:43.576
Those are a lot of hats to wear and you know, on some fronts I've had to, you know, create collateral and and um.

00:29:43.576 --> 00:29:47.326
You know, set up um outlook and and other.

00:29:47.326 --> 00:29:50.314
You know technologies that we use, um.

00:29:50.314 --> 00:29:52.601
That was all new to me.

00:29:52.601 --> 00:29:55.048
Nobody was doing that in corporate america.

00:29:55.048 --> 00:30:04.196
You know there are departments that can do those things for you and certainly, aside from somebody doing it for you, you know it's being paid for um.

00:30:04.257 --> 00:30:08.336
When you're building your own company, all of these things start from nothing.

00:30:08.336 --> 00:30:22.237
So to be able to look back and see where we started and what we started with, which was nothing, and what we built it to, which is very exciting, and where we're going, that's very, very, very rewarding.

00:30:22.237 --> 00:30:26.983
But I will tell you what I've learned is organizing.

00:30:26.983 --> 00:30:28.491
Time is so critical.

00:30:28.491 --> 00:30:42.845
It is so critical even on the days where we might not have back-to-back meetings or having critical deadlines, whether it be RFPs or contracts or wrapping up a big project.

00:30:42.845 --> 00:30:49.681
If there's not a lot of that going on, how does that day get used to be proactive enough?

00:30:49.681 --> 00:30:59.119
And then, as an entrepreneur, as a business owner, what can I do to lead my company in a better place tomorrow than it was today?

00:30:59.119 --> 00:31:10.156
Not that anybody has to know or that I need to share that, but I know it for myself, for my family, for my partners, for the people I work with, for my clients.

00:31:10.156 --> 00:31:12.480
That's important.

00:31:12.480 --> 00:31:16.213
Money will come if I do all those things right.

00:31:16.213 --> 00:31:29.016
So I want to be very successful financially for my family, but again, that's a byproduct of doing all the other things right and that's putting the customer first.

00:31:29.016 --> 00:31:30.823
That's optimizing my day.

00:31:30.823 --> 00:31:43.080
That is only focusing on, you know, particular initiatives or projects that are going to move my business forward and move those people, those partners and those clients forward as well.

00:31:43.080 --> 00:31:47.853
Very, very important those partners and those clients forward as well.

00:31:47.853 --> 00:31:48.273
Very, very important.

00:31:48.273 --> 00:31:54.712
Knowing why I'm doing what I'm doing and what the outcome is going to be for that Extremely, extremely important In corporate America.

00:31:55.575 --> 00:32:15.335
You know, for me, most of those years I was selling, I was either, you know, a sales leader or independent contributor, and I will tell you that those are things that you know aren't always top of mind because you're only focused on yourself and, you know, as a sales leader, focused on those that are under you.

00:32:15.335 --> 00:32:16.839
Those are the priorities.

00:32:16.839 --> 00:32:20.523
You know other aspects of business and dealings.

00:32:20.523 --> 00:32:30.998
There's no time to think about anything and even if you do, it really doesn't change the go-to-market strategies that the company has set forth, so you're working under their parameters.

00:32:32.451 --> 00:33:06.329
As somebody that has their own business, being able to break down all those silos and do business the way that you see fit and go after the clients that you can bring that value to and that they see that value that you bring to them, is a wonderful way to go through the day and it makes a very busy day less stressful, more constructive, and it allows me to be more proactive and, I think, gracious that I have the opportunity to live my day like that, even though they're crazy busy.

00:33:06.329 --> 00:33:08.855
But it's a different kind of crazy busy feeling.

00:33:09.557 --> 00:33:16.000
Yes, nick, I think you found the perfect word in there when you talked about money is a byproduct of doing the right things.

00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:22.281
If we show up, if we give value, if we're of service, money will naturally follow, because it's a byproduct.

00:33:22.281 --> 00:33:25.296
So I love the way you articulated that this is the real stuff.

00:33:25.296 --> 00:33:37.859
Honestly, I know this is why listeners love tuning into episodes like this one, and it's because you're so gracious and generous with the way that you share these real things that we all think about and that we all have to naturally navigate along our growth path.

00:33:37.859 --> 00:33:41.713
So I'm so grateful for that, and I always love ending on this question because it's super broad.

00:33:41.713 --> 00:33:46.901
You can take it in any direction that you want, and that is with all the things that we talked about in mind.

00:33:46.901 --> 00:33:56.494
What's the one thing that you want to leave listeners with, who are at all different stages of their business growth journey, their personal growth journeys as well?

00:33:56.494 --> 00:33:59.923
What's the one piece of wisdom that you want to impart on all listeners today?

00:34:01.430 --> 00:34:20.186
Well, I can tell you very easily one of the things that I would hope that all the listeners can take away is to find your passion, and I mean that very sincerely, because when you're passionate about what you do, you know why you're doing it and has purpose behind it.

00:34:20.186 --> 00:34:29.860
You can go through walls, you can work all night, you can get up early, you can skip lunch and dinner.

00:34:29.860 --> 00:34:33.432
You can do all those things, and I'm not suggesting that that's, you know, a daily happenstance.

00:34:33.432 --> 00:34:59.202
But what I am saying is it makes it a lot more palatable when you need to do that, to get the job done and get it done right and on time, when you feel good about why you're doing it, it's very different than somebody telling you this is what you need to do, this is how it needs to be done, Not caring about you know what you're sacrificing in order to complete that task.

00:34:59.202 --> 00:35:01.510
It's a very different experience.

00:35:01.831 --> 00:35:28.601
So, whatever you're doing whether it's corporate America, whether you're thinking about having your own company or already do I hope that you are chasing down that passion and, if you're passionate about something that you don't feel is quite a strength, or as strong as you would like it to be, figure out how you can invest in yourself to be able to get stronger and hone those strengths in order to follow that passion, because you will live a better quality of life for yourself.

00:35:28.601 --> 00:35:39.054
You will be better to those that you care about and you'll be better to anybody that you interact with, whether they be acquaintances, strangers, clients whomever.

00:35:39.054 --> 00:35:42.222
You will make their day better because you're a better person.

00:35:42.222 --> 00:35:43.231
I wish that for everybody.

00:35:43.914 --> 00:35:45.760
Yes, those are facts.

00:35:45.760 --> 00:35:58.856
You and I talked off air before we started recording today about energy levels, and this podcast gives me so much energy and it's because it doesn't feel like work so much of this is something that really genuinely excites me and actually gives me energy.

00:35:58.856 --> 00:35:59.958
It doesn't take energy.

00:35:59.958 --> 00:36:01.541
So, yes, I love that.

00:36:01.541 --> 00:36:07.503
That's what you're imparting on our listeners here today and, with that said, you've been a wealth of knowledge, nick, in so many different ways.

00:36:07.503 --> 00:36:13.077
I know that listeners are going to be excited to check out all the work that you're doing, just everything you're putting into the world.

00:36:13.077 --> 00:36:14.657
I think that success leaves clues.

00:36:14.657 --> 00:36:31.414
It's something I say frequently here on this show, and even seeing the way that G4 Coastal shows up and the verbiage that you have on your website and the way that your attitude, your energy, shines through and the way you talk about your services and the people you serve, I'm so excited for listeners to go deeper into that world.

00:36:31.414 --> 00:36:32.898
So drop those links on us.

00:36:32.898 --> 00:36:34.362
Where should listeners go from here?

00:36:36.050 --> 00:36:42.583
You can go to g4coastalcom and you can read a little bit more about who we are and what we do.

00:36:42.583 --> 00:36:51.242
We look forward to hopefully talking to some of you down the road and we certainly wish everybody great success in your personal and your business lives.

00:36:51.242 --> 00:36:53.474
And, brian, it's been a great pleasure.

00:36:53.474 --> 00:36:55.380
Thank you for having me on this session.

00:36:55.380 --> 00:36:57.034
You've been really nice to talk with.

00:36:57.034 --> 00:36:58.179
Thank you for the opportunity.

00:36:58.710 --> 00:37:04.034
Thank you so much, nick, honestly, and I just want to remind listeners that those links are down below in the show notes.

00:37:04.034 --> 00:37:06.561
We're linking directly to G4Coastalcom.

00:37:06.561 --> 00:37:12.315
No matter where it is that you're tuning into today's episode, you'll also find a link to Nick's personal LinkedIn.

00:37:12.315 --> 00:37:23.800
So if you want to reach out to him and continue the conversation, if there's something that we touched on today that you're thinking that could be the thing that unlocks the next level in my growth journey, don't be shy, because most people are.

00:37:23.800 --> 00:37:26.791
We know this as a podcast host.

00:37:26.791 --> 00:37:27.313
I see it myself.

00:37:27.313 --> 00:37:31.652
So stand out, reach out to Nick, continue the conversation, go straight to G4Coastalcom.

00:37:31.652 --> 00:37:37.333
Otherwise, nick, on behalf of myself and all the listeners worldwide, thanks so much for coming on the show today.

00:37:38.135 --> 00:37:38.818
Thank you, Brian.

00:37:38.818 --> 00:37:39.619
Such a pleasure.

00:37:39.619 --> 00:37:40.742
Best of luck to you.

00:37:41.429 --> 00:37:47.019
Hey, it's Brian here, and thanks for tuning in to yet another episode of the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.

00:37:47.019 --> 00:37:50.992
If you haven't checked us out online, there's so much good stuff there.

00:37:50.992 --> 00:38:00.211
Check out the show's website and all the show notes that we talked about in today's episode at thewantrepreneurshowcom, and I just want to give a shout out to our amazing guests.

00:38:00.211 --> 00:38:08.960
There's a reason why we are ad freefree and have produced so many incredible episodes five days a week for you, and it's because our guests step up to the plate.

00:38:09.090 --> 00:38:11.038
These are not sponsored episodes.

00:38:11.038 --> 00:38:12.615
These are not infomercials.

00:38:12.615 --> 00:38:16.121
Our guests help us cover the costs of our productions.

00:38:16.121 --> 00:38:27.103
They so deeply believe in the power of getting their message out in front of you, awesome entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs, that they contribute to help us make these productions possible.

00:38:27.103 --> 00:38:35.570
So thank you to not only today's guests, but all of our guests in general, and I just want to invite you check out our website because you can send us a voicemail there.

00:38:35.570 --> 00:38:36.932
We also have live chat.

00:38:36.932 --> 00:38:42.952
If you want to interact directly with me, go to thewantrepreneurshowcom, initiate a live chat.

00:38:42.952 --> 00:38:52.362
It's for real me, me, and I'm excited because I'll see you, as always, every monday, wednesday, friday, saturday and sunday here on the entrepreneur to entrepreneur podcast.