00:00:08:19 – 00:00:24:20

Nick McGowan

Hello and welcome to The Mindset and Self-mastery Show. I’m your host, Nick McGowan. And on this show, my guest and I unpack the stories that shape us and the lives that we lead on our path to self-mastery. Today on the show, we have Joe Turtle. Joe runs a.

00:00:24:20 – 00:00:30:00

Nick McGowan

Marketing team in the health care industry and he joins us today to discuss the topic of creativity.

00:00:30:12 – 00:00:48:00

Nick McGowan

Now, did you know some people don’t think of themselves as a creative person, but they do. The most creative thing is all day long. So listen in as we discuss the topic, as well as Joe’s story and how he leads a team of creatives each day to get the best out of themselves. So let’s not wait any longer.

00:00:48:00 – 00:00:57:13

Nick McGowan

Let the games begin.

00:00:59:08 – 00:01:01:27

Nick McGowan

Hey, Joe, welcome to the show. How are you doing, man?

00:01:02:10 – 00:01:04:17

Joe Tertel

I’m good, Nick. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.

00:01:05:02 – 00:01:22:00

Nick McGowan

Absolutely. Any chance that we get to chat? I always appreciate it. So Joe and I met each other a couple of years ago through a mutual friend, somebody I had worked with at the point that was in graphics. And I think we were talking about doing some graphics work for a band that I had at that at that moment.

00:01:22:07 – 00:01:35:08

Nick McGowan

And he was like, You know what? I think you would actually like my buddy Joe’s band. And he said it was something that had to do with what I heard was flaming hot Cheetos. And I was like, What? So go ahead, man. Tell us the name of your band.

00:01:35:19 – 00:01:54:12

Joe Tertel

Oh, yeah. So I’m Joe Turtle, and I am the guitar player and lead singer of a band called The Mild Heat. So we’re from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and we play Americana blues punk. So it’s a little bit of everything. We’re just a loud, fun, energetic rock and roll band.

00:01:55:02 – 00:02:22:03

Nick McGowan

You absolutely are. And when when Rick first connected us, I remember we played a couple of shows together, had a couple of beers after the shows, because that’s when, you know, it’s a good show and you’re able to sit back and have a couple brews. And we got into some really good conversation, some of the stuff that we were talking about back then and a handful of years ago, obviously music, but then getting into creativity, entrepreneurship, running agencies like all of that sort of stuff.

00:02:22:15 – 00:02:35:18

Nick McGowan

So I wanted to have you on so that we can kind of get into all this. Now, you’ve already mentioned your name and the band that you’re in and that you play an instrument. But why don’t you go ahead and tell us what you do for a living? And one thing that most people don’t know about you.

00:02:36:14 – 00:03:09:14

Joe Tertel

Yeah. So right now in the senior director of performance marketing at Echo Health. So Echo is a medical device company and really focused on pulmonary and cardiac disease detection. So we make stethoscopes, digital stethoscope that helps doctors, health care professionals, nurses, EMTs, cardiologists, early detect things like murmurs and afib through our through our digital stethoscope. So been there for six months.

00:03:09:26 – 00:03:39:10

Joe Tertel

It’s really exciting. We’re doing some great work and it’s fun. Everyone’s super passionate about the organization. Everyone’s super passionate about all the products and about what we’re doing and what’s really cool about it is we’re actually making technology and we’re making products that are saving lives. So that’s pretty cool. So I’m really excited to be here and do all this fun stuff, something that somebody doesn’t know about me.

00:03:39:15 – 00:03:55:20

Joe Tertel

I mean, you took the obvious one day and so what else? I recently engaged. Some people might not know that. So we got engaged in December and we’re planning a wedding. So that’s fun.

00:03:56:11 – 00:04:15:09

Nick McGowan

So people may see clips of this or they’ll hear the episode and you can’t tell how old you are. Now everybody, he’s not like a 14 year old saying, look, I just got engaged, but you’re also not a 22 year old kid, so it took you some time to be able to get to that point. Was there any reason why you think you waited?

00:04:16:06 – 00:04:47:14

Joe Tertel

Oh, that’s a really good question. Finding the right person, you know, I’m a little picky, but ultimately, it’s probably the truth is, you know, kind of put it off trying to find myself, trying to find my career, not sacrificing, you know, for for anything for that. Maybe putting myself first in that way, then instead of putting someone else first.

00:04:47:14 – 00:05:05:00

Joe Tertel

And I think I’ve kind of grown into that now, I had the ability to kind of put someone else first before myself. But honestly, Nick has probably needed this amount of time just to find someone to put up my shit so that that’s also important. So, yeah, it’s good. I found a good girl.

00:05:05:00 – 00:05:28:20

Nick McGowan

That’s awesome, man. And yeah, I can understand that you’re vastly different than you would have been when you were a lot younger. Yeah. And having to grow through that with somebody. It’s interesting that you talk about finding yourself and seeking yourself. I’m kind of in a slightly different spot. Got a divorce maybe right around the time you were getting engaged and have been together with her for, let’s just say, roughly about ten years.

00:05:29:02 – 00:05:54:27

Nick McGowan

So now re finding myself and thinking back to, well, what was that like beforehand and who am I now and all that? So for you to get engaged in your later thirties, to be able to think through that past, let’s say 20 years or so, what sort of advice would you give to somebody that is maybe thinking, I want to play that angle without just saying like now I just want to do The Bachelor thing forever.

00:05:55:09 – 00:06:01:23

Nick McGowan

Because you went more career focused and passion focused, but kind of found yourself to be able to find the girl you’re with.

00:06:02:08 – 00:06:25:12

Joe Tertel

Yeah, I don’t think everybody takes the same path. Right. And I’m jealous of my friends who have been able to find somebody and be with somebody since their, you know, early twenties. That’s exciting for them and it really works for them. For me, it was you know, I did think, you know, I’d be married and have kids by 28.

00:06:25:15 – 00:06:48:23

Joe Tertel

Right. But it didn’t work that way for me. And I for me, it was really all right. I was having success, you know, with my career, but I wasn’t really I had a bigger vision for myself and I wanted to keep getting there. You know, I went back for my masters and, you know, all that time you’re working and you’re going to school.

00:06:49:03 – 00:07:22:26

Joe Tertel

So where’s there time to date, right? Or is there time to see somebody really, really commit even then? Other things like, all right, finish your masters. Now you go on to a new career, a new job, and you really dedicate yourself to that. So, yeah, it’s it’s, you know, trying to find the right trying to find time for for everybody, trying to find time for yourself being involved in a lot of like volunteer organizations like can, you know, do that because, you know, not to find people but really to really help the organization and you know, and help the community.

00:07:23:23 – 00:07:32:10

Joe Tertel

So it’s it’s just been a it’s been a fun trip. It’s been, you know, exciting. And, you know, it’s just that time in my life. So, yeah.

00:07:33:25 – 00:07:59:18

Nick McGowan

It’s that’s interesting. The time in your life, you know, because everything’s seasonal sometimes it’s a long, long season, sometimes it’s short seasons of I’ve never gone the college route. I kind of just got out of school and got in the business and started getting my ass kicked and then figure out how to make money, etc. But I know that there are people that will go continuously like, Oh, I got one degree, I got another, I got another, I got another.

00:07:59:26 – 00:08:26:21

Nick McGowan

And I can imagine that it’s up so much time. But so could a job or so could anything else that you’re going to dump yourself into. So here you are. You’ve built yourself up with all of that and you’ve gotten used to that being how you work and how you operate. How are you changing that now and mindset wise to be able to say, Hey, sometimes I don’t need to push that hard and I actually do need to spend a little bit more time in this realm of the world.

00:08:28:01 – 00:08:55:12

Joe Tertel

Yeah, it’s a really good question and how I would I mean, I answered a couple of different ways, Nick. You know, I, I did my undergrad in graphic design, right? And you know what, Rick, who you met, you know, that introduced us, you know, he and I went to college together for graphic design. That’s how we met. And, you know, as I was, you know, I worked at an agency right out of college.

00:08:56:12 – 00:09:19:02

Joe Tertel

I had a minor in business in which is interesting because I didn’t know if I’d actually go into business. I always thought I’d be like an art director or something to that nature, you know? But I was said, you know, I feel like that’s the right direction to go, you know, and learn a little bit more about marketing and learn a little bit more about business and learn a little bit more about accounting.

00:09:19:12 – 00:09:43:08

Joe Tertel

Other things besides just art and design. So I went and got that minor and it was interest because as the first graphic design student ever to have a business minor. So like speaking about all those my college, right? So speaking about trying to find time I was literally taking one extra course a semester than anybody else in my, you know, in my program.

00:09:44:27 – 00:10:04:22

Joe Tertel

So it was so I think I was fortunate to kind of be forward thinking that way. I got to start in an agency, you know, right out of college. And the reason I got that job is because I had a business minor. They knew I could walk in and, you know, talk to clients. They knew I could walk in and manage projects and had a marketing background.

00:10:04:29 – 00:10:32:16

Joe Tertel

So not only could I design websites, but I could also help market them. So I was there for three spots, six months. An ad agency actually got bought out and it got bought out by agency I was with for 11 years. And what was interesting there was kind of start to answer your question, but what was interesting was when they brought me on board, they said, Hey, we don’t need we don’t need another designer.

00:10:32:22 – 00:10:56:16

Joe Tertel

We have all these other designers over here. What we really need is someone who understands digital marketing, right? That understands that we call it marketing. Remember that? That’s what we call them back then. So they really needed somebody that understood that. And I did. But I felt I was always a designer, right? I was always this guy who, you know, wanted to design and be creative.

00:10:56:16 – 00:11:20:00

Joe Tertel

And and for me, it was like, all right, you know what? I’ll take the challenge because I’m always up for a challenge. I’ll take the challenge and help build up a digital marketing area in this agency. But I always had in the back of my mind, I’ll be a designer, you know, I’ll really be a designer. Well, I figured out really early on that I don’t stand a chance against these other designers.

00:11:20:00 – 00:11:41:12

Joe Tertel

And I and I also felt I learned really at that point was, wow, I thought it was a really good designer in college. I was good, I don’t know, really good, but I was good. But what I realized at that point was that I wasn’t as good a designer as I was, but I was really, really good at marketing myself, right?

00:11:41:16 – 00:12:12:19

Joe Tertel

And marketing all my great projects and marketing all my great things. So I found out looking in myself and looking in the mirror was like, Wait, hold on. I’m not a designer, I’m a marketer. I’ve always been a marketer. And that’s that’s the one thing even now. And, you know, I went I was I was at the agency for 11 years and that’s when I went back and got my masters because I knew I needed more marketing to continue my getting more right, to continue my career and really grow.

00:12:12:29 – 00:12:46:17

Joe Tertel

I was hitting a ceiling. So I think throughout the one thing has always been to really understand myself and find where I can grow, where there’s areas for me to grow and then go after that, right? So I’ve been lucky enough to be able to do that really early on and then kind of find mentor others or people that can guide me in the right direction to be able to, you know, fill that space, fill, you know, fill the area.

00:12:46:17 – 00:13:15:02

Joe Tertel

I think I need to grow and to be more well-rounded. And I mean, that’s what I would that’s that’s my suggestion. Anybody that’s you know what do I do? How do I kind of figure this out? Is, is where where are you really good and how can you grow better? But then there’s also these areas help, help. Can you grow or improve yourself in other ways to really move that other love lever up?

00:13:15:08 – 00:13:33:05

Joe Tertel

So I always tell my people, everybody I work with, my employees, all boats rise, right? If you do good work, someone else does good work. We all do good work. So all boats rise and it’s kind of the same way, right? If you’re really good at something and you can get a little better here. All boats. All right.

00:13:33:05 – 00:13:36:18

Joe Tertel

So that’s that’s what I talk about a lot.

00:13:37:14 – 00:13:58:05

Nick McGowan

And that that has a lot to do with discipline and self-mastery. Yeah. When you think of focusing on one thing that you’re like, I’m going to work on this thing, God, even if it’s just doing the dishes for something stupid as I’m just going to do the dishes, you don’t go in and start throwing shit around and go, Well, we don’t need this and breaking things.

00:13:58:05 – 00:14:13:21

Nick McGowan

You understand? You need to have a certain level of gentleness or what have you, and you kind of move through and you do it even in those little moments, you can find little things that you go, Oh, well, if I clean this or put these all of these utensils together in one cup, I can clean them all later.

00:14:13:21 – 00:14:32:28

Nick McGowan

And you start like learning little things that you can do. I think we at times miss those moments that are just literally right in front of us. The little areas where you can go, Can I do a little bit better? And some of that may come from our parents. It may come from, you know, the experiences that we have.

00:14:32:28 – 00:14:50:17

Nick McGowan

It may come from a ton of different things. But I think at the core of it, that’s a growth mindset. With a fixed mindset, folks are going to say, we can’t do it because that’s not how we are. It’s not what I do. It’s not what my role is. And you’ve always been looking at, Well, how do I do a little better?

00:14:50:26 – 00:15:02:03

Nick McGowan

Or How do I make these changes here? Where do you think that came from? Was that a parental thing? Is that just an innate thing? Where did it come from?

00:15:02:03 – 00:15:24:00

Joe Tertel

I think, you know, always pushing, always moving on to the you know, to make to better yourself has been just something, something up. All the way back to when I was a young kid, you know, from my parents or being a Boy Scout, an Eagle Scout and or, you know, sports being really involved in sports, those type of things.

00:15:24:00 – 00:15:46:10

Joe Tertel

But, you know, even though you may use sports as an example, right, because never the tallest guy. Right. And I’m the fastest kid. But I kind of knew my place in the corner. Right. And I knew that I could be a good point guard. I can direct to other people because I knew where to put the tall guy and where to put fast guy, you know, and run the play.

00:15:46:12 – 00:16:11:29

Joe Tertel

Right. So I think I’ve kind of always known or I’ve had I was fortunate or blessed enough to be able to have people around me that could say, This is what you need to work on. This is where you are, right? But at the same time, not boxing me in and saying, hey, you’re the short guy, you’re you can’t jump.

00:16:11:29 – 00:16:35:22

Joe Tertel

Or you, you know, you’re you know, you can’t shoot, right? Or you’re not welcome here. I’ve been fortunate enough. I haven’t had that, but I’ve had been very I have been challenged. And that’s the other piece is, you know, don’t tell me I can’t do something because I don’t want to do it even more. But I also have to recognize where I can be successful.

00:16:35:22 – 00:16:55:23

Joe Tertel

And I think that’s been, you know, when I look back at that point where someone said, oh, wait, there’s never been anybody here that’s ever gotten a business minor. Right? I’m going to do it right. I know it’s poss it’s not impossible for me to do. I’m going to do it. All right? Put the time in and do it.

00:16:56:10 – 00:17:21:12

Joe Tertel

Yeah. You’re not a designer. We need you to do marketing. All right? Can I do it? Yeah, I can do it. I’ll take that challenge and do it, you know? So it’s been those type of moments, really have been of somebody saying, hey, I need you to do this. This is where we can be successful because somebody kind of recognizing your skill set.

00:17:21:24 – 00:18:00:04

Joe Tertel

And for me, that’s probably the best way to put it, recognizing your skill set and then being having someone say, this is what you’re really, really good at. You might not even know it, but this is what you’re really good at. And then accepting that and understanding that, Hey, you know, you might not be as good at this one thing over here that you’ve always wanted to do, but any I’ll use design as a good example, Nick, because, you know, I’m not a designer anymore at my job, but I still am creative and I still do design work, you know, for band posters or for, you know, other things like that.

00:18:00:04 – 00:18:15:00

Joe Tertel

Or I can get my creativity out in writing a song or you know, or, you know, drawing or something like that that doesn’t go, you know, might not be published, but I still get it out. So yeah.

00:18:15:27 – 00:18:38:08

Nick McGowan

Yeah. You got to scratch that itch no matter where, right? You know, allow that to come out and work through it. It sounds like the people that were your mentors or were leaders were people that actually saw something within you and you probably had enough respect for them to be able to listen because there are certain times where somebody can see sometimes it’s just experience.

00:18:38:08 – 00:18:58:03

Nick McGowan

Like they’ve just been on this planet a couple of years longer or decades longer, and they can see the steps that you’re taking and they can say, Hey, up here, you might hit this. So if you do this thing back here, you’ll be better equipped when you get up the mountain. And for you to be able to have that respect to say, okay, I’ll do that and I’ll be coachable.

00:18:58:21 – 00:19:17:24

Nick McGowan

It’s a beautiful recipe because there are certain pieces of that that if any of it was slightly off, it just wouldn’t have mattered. Those people could have been a dick or you could have been like, Yeah, cool, you’re old, you don’t get it and gone on your own route. And but that’s not the case. So you’ve been very, very coachable.

00:19:18:27 – 00:19:34:08

Nick McGowan

Was there any moment that really stood out to you where you were like, I feel like now you can look back and you go, and I was so close to not being coachable and making a decision to do something different that would have altered where you’re at. But you took that that dove and you went.

00:19:35:12 – 00:20:13:13

Joe Tertel

And then Lucky enough to be able to take criticism effectively. And I think I’ve been probably look back, you know, been raised to respect. Right. And, you know, respect people for who they are. Respect people for where they’ve come from, you know, and not judge not prejudge anybody. I think I’ve been fortunate enough to kind of been raised like that and to kind of take everyone’s opinion and then bring it all together.

00:20:13:13 – 00:20:45:07

Joe Tertel

I don’t know if there’s an exact moment I can think of, but, you know, I can always you know, it’s these it’s interesting when you kind of think about being able to take criticism and accept it and not be like, you know what, go to hell. Like, I don’t, you know, that’s not me or that doesn’t work or, you know, but, you know, being able to to take it and being like, you know what?

00:20:45:07 – 00:21:12:27

Joe Tertel

That’s okay. You know, firstly, if you don’t agree with it, that’s cool. It’s only words. But I always like to kind of go in and think, Oh, well, why? Why is that their opinion? Like, you know, I don’t understand why. Why do they see things that way? Right. I think it’s really easy to judge somebody based on, you know, the first thing that you hear, first thing you say, but understand where they’re coming from.

00:21:12:27 – 00:21:36:00

Joe Tertel

Why did they say that? Like why? You know, what’s their past experience? So I I’ve been I think I’ve been fortunate enough to understand that. And and and be able to bring that to light. And then also, like I said, people take criticism, you know, and and roll with it.

00:21:36:25 – 00:22:04:09

Nick McGowan

Yeah. In some ways, taking criticism is a talent because some people are really good at it where they’re like, okay, great. How can I learn? Other people instantly get defensive. And I wonder if some of that ties into experiences or if it’s just the chemical. Sometimes I think for the most part it’s probably a mixture of all the things is typically when people are really hurt, they’re going to be very defensive no matter what’s happening, no matter what somebody’s saying.

00:22:04:09 – 00:22:21:21

Nick McGowan

So if someone’s like, Hey, I think you could do this a little differently and that would be great, they’d be like, Stop yelling at me if I absolutely did not like you need to calm down. I don’t know what’s happening here, you know what I mean? And being in those kind of tough spots where the people aren’t coachable because they’re shit.

00:22:21:21 – 00:22:38:21

Nick McGowan

That’s coming up. So I think there are those moments where we can kind of get stuck, where we automatically judge. And you touched on the judging nerve where you can instantly go, oh, no, and I’ve been in different meetings where somebody will pop out something like, Hey, we’re thinking about running this campaign or thinking about doing this, we’re doing that.

00:22:38:28 – 00:23:00:10

Nick McGowan

And you can see the look on people’s faces like, Oh, why would you bring that in the public? And they’re instantly judging and it’s never something they brought to the table. No, I’ve done that in the past. To wear a poker face doesn’t always help me. You know, where I’m like, Oh, God, what is that thing? Why did you put I don’t want to see that again without going, Oh, well, what is it that you’re thinking?

00:23:00:10 – 00:23:15:14

Nick McGowan

What? Where are you going with this? So in the role that you’re in now, having been through the agencies, all these conversations, all this, how do you actually work with people in that spot where maybe at first you see something, you’re like, I kind of want to throw up, but I’m going to ask you some questions.

00:23:16:24 – 00:23:32:15

Joe Tertel

Yeah. Nick I’ll ask you. I mean, I flip a question on your real quick. Have you have you ever been part of or run a brainstorming session? Yeah, yeah. Like build a campaign. Right. And what’s the first thing that they say in a brainstorming session?

00:23:33:05 – 00:23:33:23

Nick McGowan

What’s the problem?

00:23:35:03 – 00:23:40:15

Joe Tertel

Yeah, well, that’s what’s the problem. And there’s no bad ideas, right?

00:23:40:15 – 00:23:46:01

Nick McGowan

Like it’s typically there are. They’re like, all right.

00:23:46:01 – 00:24:17:02

Joe Tertel

Well, at this, you know, for the next hour, there’s no bad idea as an effective brainstorming session, right. Is it says, all right for the next half hour, there’s no bad ideas. We’re putting everything on the wall and there’s no judging. So you could say and, you know, in my my career, my in the leadership role I’m in, it’s my job to say I welcome all crazy ideas, you know, because one of those crazy ideas are going to be the next big thing or one of those crazy ideas.

00:24:17:10 – 00:24:41:07

Joe Tertel

Tweaking it just a little bit with a real sensible idea is going to make a lot of, you know, a lot of money. So, I mean, that’s that’s kind of the purpose of a brainstorming session or thinking like a brainstorming session. There are no crazy ideas and, you know, I’m constantly throwing out crazy ideas to my team. And I welcome crazy ideas every day.

00:24:42:15 – 00:25:03:05

Joe Tertel

And I think that’s encouraging that and then being okay for someone to say know that’s that was stupid right? I’d be like okay cool next on the next one, you know, like being okay with that is also that’s a skill so you know, like I know if it’s just it’s just you know it’s I think there’s a little bit skill to it.

00:25:03:05 – 00:25:36:01

Joe Tertel

Maybe you know, just being able to to roll with it, but not being afraid to say something, you know, throw out one of those crazy ideas. Yeah. You know, I think as an effective leader, at least in my opinion, you know, you have to welcome all of those ideas and you have to encourage, you know, your, you know, people, the organization that you’re leading your employees or just your friends to throw out crazy ideas on.

00:25:36:14 – 00:25:56:03

Joe Tertel

And let’s what about this? What about that? You know so and welcoming them. So it’s kind of like welcoming people as much as you’re welcoming ideas. So don’t throw prejudgment at people and throw a prejudgment on ideas. Right? So that’s a good way to think about it.

00:25:56:18 – 00:26:16:15

Nick McGowan

So we mix the business and the people with what’s happening in life and just business and all of that. I think there’s there’s that brainstorming session that we can we can have with people, but we have to allow for it and we have to allow for people to be open and feel honest and feel like they can throw things around.

00:26:16:29 – 00:26:33:14

Nick McGowan

And I still see some of that within different Zoom calls and some people where you can tell they want to say something, but maybe they’re a little sheepish or somebody else has said something to them, whether that’s not such a great idea or what have you, but ultimately creating that safe space to be able to make sure they know they’re totally good.

00:26:33:14 – 00:26:54:14

Nick McGowan

That’s typically when I see those moments, I’ll I’ll see it and then it’ll come to and they’ll say, Hey, I want to bring this up. I feel a little silly with it or whatever. And you’re like, Yeah, bring to the party. So allow her space. Exactly. And even on the personal side. So if we jump to the mental health side, there’s there’s a lot to be said for just allowing for safe space.

00:26:54:22 – 00:27:05:29

Nick McGowan

And I think a lot of people need to have at least somebody that they talk to, you know, now, do you have mentors or some of those mentors from before or people that you are you still consider part of your inner circle?

00:27:07:15 – 00:27:48:11

Joe Tertel

Yeah, I think some of the mentors that I’ve had in the past, in the past themselves or some have moved on in other areas. But I think it’s important to to even even if they’re your friend or now fiancee, that you can bounce ideas off of. And really, a lot of the times for me, I just need someone to listen like, let me let me say these words and shake your head, say yes, you know, or just feel like now, but just listen so I can kind of get them and verbalize these ideas so that I can start once they’re out, I can start to craft them, right?

00:27:49:12 – 00:28:13:11

Joe Tertel

And then I can craft them into something that is bigger. But if they’re out and if they never get out, then there’s nothing to build from, you know? And if they’re if they’re terrible, once they’re out, you can get rid of them quicker. They’re not like stuck in your head. So yeah, I’ve had some mentors that have been really, really good at that, really challenging me.

00:28:13:28 – 00:28:38:20

Joe Tertel

All right, let’s get those ideas out. Let’s get those things out. Write them down on a piece of paper. Write them down on a whiteboard, you know, and and start to work through those ideas. And it’s kind of like you’re writing a song, right? You know, you start putting a couple chords together and see what happens. But if that’s kind of in your head, you’ll never be able to.

00:28:39:12 – 00:28:44:13

Joe Tertel

The world will never hear it. And even if the world doesn’t hear it, that’s okay. As long as you get it out. Yeah.

00:28:45:21 – 00:29:12:19

Nick McGowan

Yeah. Especially with the songwriting. I know there’s so many different ways that people write. You could write an entire book and probably would seven entire podcast episodes and shows and everything with how people write music and how they work through it. Because how they translate and kind of expel that stuff from them. I found that over the course of time I, I get better with just taking steps, just take an action and then figure it out.

00:29:12:19 – 00:29:36:27

Nick McGowan

And you kind of alluded to that with a couple chords. Put it together, sing something that’s around the same key and see like what comes of it. Start messing around and start tweaking. Yeah. And, you know, kind of goes along with the brainstorming and all of that. So with the stuff that you go through where before and I’m going to jump a little bit, you had said before that you look for those things that you can tweak and you can do better with.

00:29:37:06 – 00:29:50:12

Nick McGowan

Now obviously you have to take some sort of action to be able to get to that door where you go, Hmm, I think I need to tweak this, but what are you working on right now that you have found that you had to tweak and what’s working for you to help with that?

00:29:52:11 – 00:30:19:01

Joe Tertel

Yeah, I mean, if I’m putting together strategies for some big campaigns or, you know, for the organization with right now, how do we grow? How do we grow our business? How do we grow, how we sell more products? How do we talk to a specific audience? I think what’s really important is understanding who that audience is, understanding who those you know, what those products are, understanding who wants to buy these particular products.

00:30:19:01 – 00:30:40:20

Joe Tertel

You know, what’s the features, what’s the benefit. So understanding all of that and being okay to not to understand that you don’t know it. All right. You know, I came into this position understanding digital marketing, not understanding medical devices.

00:30:41:03 – 00:30:41:12

Nick McGowan

Mm hmm.

00:30:42:00 – 00:31:15:06

Joe Tertel

I and I and I said, all right, this is a new industry I’ve never been in. So going back to what we talked about earlier, I know what I have to focus on now to improve myself and this organization right? So I got to better understand health care. I got to better understand auscultation, I got to better understand how the heart works, how to better understand those things that I’ve never really, you know, had had, like, education on or never really thought twice about, right?

00:31:15:16 – 00:31:42:21

Joe Tertel

So, but I don’t, you know, the marketing piece, that’s all. That’s the easy for me, right? Yeah. So that’s what I’m tweaking now. I’m tweaking my strategy, my marketing strategies for audiences that I’m learning more and more about. And you know, it, it’s different from a specific a retail or a regular retail business like I’ve been in the past or a CPG company.

00:31:43:25 – 00:31:55:07

Joe Tertel

So that’s what I’m tweaking. How do I better understand how to hit a specific audience in, you know, in what? I’m good at the marketing side too.

00:31:55:21 – 00:32:13:03

Nick McGowan

Now, from the marketing side, we know that we obviously need to know the people you want to go after. You need another demo, you need to know all the details about them. You need to build that person and all of that. When you do that, you sit yourself into their shoes and figure out how they can use the product that you have.

00:32:13:14 – 00:32:17:12

Nick McGowan

You think that helps you with questions, with strategy, or do you not do that.

00:32:18:23 – 00:32:40:05

Joe Tertel

A little bit? I mean, a little bit. You know, I try to look at it as in, you know, what’s the environment that they’re in, the setting that they’re in and what? And then how can they why do they need our product? Right. And then, you know, what are their individual needs? And that’s where I put myself in their shoes.

00:32:40:12 – 00:33:01:24

Joe Tertel

Like, what do I need during this moment? Right. And by understanding that need, then I can start to filter in. Well, this is this is what our product does. This is the benefit of our product during that time of year need. So understanding that and then the other piece of it, which is really important is, all right, now I understand their need.

00:33:02:03 – 00:33:25:28

Joe Tertel

How do I sell that shit to them, right? Like how do so I understand their need. Now I have to go find them where they’re at digitally and I have to have the right message that talks about that need right and satisfies that need. But then I also the trickiest part is, all right, I’ve answered all those things.

00:33:25:28 – 00:33:53:15

Joe Tertel

How do I find them at the time? They’re ready to buy, right? Or just to make them aware that this product is out there and that when they are ready to buy, I am there for them. So it’s put in this 360 degree campaign together and understanding. I put myself in the shoes of that person, understanding their needs right, and understanding their purchase behavior.

00:33:53:15 – 00:34:11:09

Joe Tertel

And when when are they going to be willing to purchase again? It’s different than retail. You know, it’s it’s not like I’m going to go to, you know, go to the store every single week, you know, or go to the pharmacy every single week. And I can get a buy one more thing. It’s it’s much different than that.

00:34:12:29 – 00:34:38:11

Joe Tertel

So yeah, it’s, it’s but I use a lot of research again as I’m talking to a lot of in this case doctors and nurses and, and other people. EMT is to understand, are aware what are your needs and how can our products potentially fill those, some of those needs and then building stories around them. That’s where some of the design and creativity comes in from.

00:34:38:20 – 00:35:01:05

Joe Tertel

You know, my undergrad and growing up, you know, being a designer, it’s like, how do we write that story? How do we build story for that individual so that when he or she is ready to make a purchase, we’ve written a story, we’ve put it into their head that this is the product that they need to buy. And why?

00:35:01:15 – 00:35:34:24

Joe Tertel

Because other doctors have had offers this, you know, building those stories. And it’s really fun. I mean, that’s a really fun challenge, understanding this and, you know, for me, it’s it’s it is a really cool challenge. And again, I’m I’m open to ideas and crazy ideas and, you know, I’m bringing all those things to life. And again, that’s what becomes fun in my job.

00:35:34:24 – 00:35:53:28

Nick McGowan

It’s it’s almost like the hunt because you’ve got the yeah, you’ve got the business side with that minor that you have and the creative side that business little minders like, Yeah, we can do all this, but how the fuck are we going to sell it and ignore all these people and that hunt trying to find those people that connect to them.

00:35:54:04 – 00:36:20:12

Nick McGowan

And I really wish that more marketing folks had a business first mind, then just the creative first mind. But it’s a balance. You have to figure that stuff out and you have to balance the. So on the note of balance, you’ve got work, you’ve got your fiancee, you’ve got music, you’ve got all these other things. How are you finding balance in your own head right now and what are you doing that’s actually helping you manage your mindset throughout each day?

00:36:21:26 – 00:36:48:18

Joe Tertel

Yeah, it’s I mean, it’s a great question. You know, there’s times that you got to step away, right? And you’ve got to kind of just clear your mind. You know, it might it might be as simple as just take a quick walk, you know, and and take a couple deep breaths. You know, for me, it is you know, I’ll take a small walk during the day.

00:36:48:26 – 00:37:15:18

Joe Tertel

So I walk in the morning, take a small walk during the day. And mostly it’s with the dog on sand. And then to even clear further, sometimes you guys just got to veg in front of the TV or watch the sports or, you know, pick up the guitar and just strum a couple chords. Not that you’re writing anything, just strum a couple chords, play a couple scales, you know, get those fingers moving and just kind of let all of that out.

00:37:17:08 – 00:37:43:18

Joe Tertel

And for me, that’s, that’s that’s my meditation, right? That’s my, my moment of clarity. You know, those type of things are, are ways for me to clear kind of get set for the the, you know, you know. And the other thing, Nick, that helps me, I don’t know if you do this, but I like to take, you know.

00:37:43:18 – 00:38:03:14

Joe Tertel

I’ll show you. I like to take posted or a little piece of paper once a week or a couple times a week and make my own checklist. And you can do it digitally, but I like doing it on a piece of paper. Yeah. So you do the same thing and you feel really good when you start to cross stuff off that list.

00:38:03:14 – 00:38:26:13

Joe Tertel

And, and that’s, that’s one of the other things I like to take a look at that list before I wrap up for the day and take it. And then, you know, pull that list out in the beginning of day. And it’s not about, oh, shit, I got this stuff I got to do tomorrow. I like to look at it the other way and say, This is what I accomplished today and feel good about it, you know?

00:38:26:13 – 00:38:42:04

Joe Tertel

And then that makes then when I turn the computer off for the day, I’m like, All right. I did accomplish at least something. So other ways to look at it other ways and think about it, other ways to kind of keep yourself sane or.

00:38:42:27 – 00:39:14:17

Nick McGowan

Yeah, I was talking to somebody of the day about the hustle culture and how you I maybe it’s like ten years ago we were all like, man, we just need to grind, grind, grind, grind, grind, do all this work. And now you’re like, fuck all of that. Like every ounce of that because you’ve been through that and you’ve got to take some time away where even if you’re doing the things real, like, Oh, I can just accomplish one more thing, I can just do this, one more thing, I can do this one more like a warm halfway done this, or I may as well just do this one other thing.

00:39:14:25 – 00:39:45:04

Nick McGowan

The next thing you know, it’s 10:00 at night. You’ve got to be able to pull yourself away to be able to do stuff that just not what you were just focusing on. So those little winds of picking up the guitar and just strumming a proper chord and just feeling that big ol e minor or that open day or whatever and just allowing it to ring out, I think probably speaks to our souls a little differently than people that aren’t musicians, but they’re like, I’ve no idea, just name letters at this point.

00:39:45:04 – 00:39:48:05

Nick McGowan

This is stupid.

00:39:48:05 – 00:40:15:23

Joe Tertel

But I agree and I know that this is bringing back all the way to the beginning. I was a part of that hustle culture right? I was part of a doo doo doo doo, you know, 8:00 to 10:00, 8:00 to midnight, going back at it. And that’s why it took me so long to find someone to put up my shit, because, you know, I was doo doo doo and a lot of that doo was myself.

00:40:15:23 – 00:40:37:12

Joe Tertel

But then a lot of that doo was, you know, I just get the next thing done. I needed everything off this list. Everything off this list needs to be checked before I could go, before I could go to bed, before I could call it a day, everything. And now, as I’ve kind of grown, it’s not about getting everything off that list.

00:40:37:24 – 00:41:02:18

Joe Tertel

It’s making that list achievable, prioritizing appropriately, and then looking at it, as in, I don’t have to worry about getting this stuff done today. Look at what I’ve accomplished today. And I think by doing that, it’s probably made me easier to live with yourself.

00:41:02:18 – 00:41:07:01

Nick McGowan

Or you mean her living with you, like in your own head? Yeah.

00:41:08:00 – 00:41:09:06

Joe Tertel

Oh, yes.

00:41:09:06 – 00:41:32:14

Nick McGowan

BOTH Yeah, that’s a it’s such a crazy web that we can get into with all of it, you know, where you can just say, Well, I’m doing these things because I’m excited about it. I really like what I do. So that doesn’t give you the license to just be an addict. You got to be mindful and you got to be aware and be able to pull that shit back.

00:41:32:28 – 00:41:55:08

Nick McGowan

Well, you know, I appreciate you being on here and I know that we can talk about a lot of stuff, but I want to be mindful of the creativity that we talked about before, because whenever we get into conversations, we talk about creativity and how everybody is creative, but not everybody thinks that they are. So even that person that’s listening to us talk about music or whatever, then that may not be their jam.

00:41:55:22 – 00:42:05:27

Nick McGowan

But on the creative side, what sort of advice could you give somebody to be able to help massage that creativity out of them, even if they don’t think they’re creative.

00:42:05:27 – 00:42:31:17

Joe Tertel

New, crazy ideas? And I think it’s the brainstorming that we talked about right before. You feel like there is no crazy ideas and we’ve talked about this before over beers and stuff. You know, I strongly believe anybody’s everybody’s creative. And it’s how you look at problems that make you creative. You don’t have to be an artist. You don’t have to be a musician.

00:42:31:17 – 00:43:03:15

Joe Tertel

You’re have to be a, you know, a painter to be creative. That’s what we made me really think of when we define that word. But how you look at a problem and how you solve a problem, that’s what makes creativity. And, you know, and you look back, you know, I have a niece and nephew and my nieces, they come at a I mean, she’s seven years old and she become this really good artist.

00:43:04:10 – 00:43:30:25

Joe Tertel

Now, her mom’s an art teacher, but that so that helps. But, you know, one of the things is you probably think about this and we can all think about this at some point, you know, at seven years old, you’re drawing anything and everything. And it’s until that moment that someone says no or that’s really not that good is when you stop.

00:43:30:25 – 00:43:53:10

Joe Tertel

And I think I’ve been fortunate enough to have nobody say that to me or when they’ve said it to me, it’s been, Hey, this is how you can improve that, right? So so we’ve all we’ve all been creative, right? We grew up being creative with, you know, there’s a point in life where you’re really young and you’re really creative and you’re throwing out crazy ideas.

00:43:53:22 – 00:44:15:08

Joe Tertel

And it’s when you start getting, you know, in your teens and people start saying, oh, that’s not cool, right? That’s not, you know, don’t do that. You start getting judged. Yeah. So what I would challenge everybody to is and speaking about creativity, what I challenge everybody to do is get rid of the prejudice, get rid of those ideas around nothing.

00:44:15:19 – 00:44:43:23

Joe Tertel

You know, there there are bad ideas. Just throw all that ideas out there and throw that concept out there and just say, hey, here’s ideas. Here’s here’s an interesting solution to this particular problem and then kind of work through it. And there are bad ideas, right? But we should we should be able to identify them as bad ideas after the fact.

00:44:44:03 – 00:44:54:17

Joe Tertel

Right. You should be able to to do that. So yeah, hopefully I hopefully that get some guidance around my whole idea of everybody’s creative.

00:44:55:16 – 00:45:18:17

Nick McGowan

Sure. And tossing out those bad ideas is part of the part of the process. You know, even when you’re thinking about what are we going to do for dinner tonight? Or we could do hot dogs. No, I don’t want a hot dog. We can do baloney sandwiches. We’re going backwards. We could do steak, you know, like you think through that stuff and you have to figure that out without just first thing and being like, Oh, that’s how this works.

00:45:18:17 – 00:45:24:29

Nick McGowan

And that’s what we’re going to do from there. Well, Joe, appreciate you being on, man. Where can people connect with you?

00:45:26:16 – 00:45:51:16

Joe Tertel

Yeah, so you can always find me on my website. Joe Turtle Dcoms okay, sweetie, are go and, you know, find me on there. You can find me on LinkedIn pretty quickly and easily. And then if you want to find the band and here’s some good rock and roll music, you can find us on Facebook and that’s Facebook.com slash the Miley and Nick, thank you for having me.

00:45:51:16 – 00:46:01:09

Joe Tertel

This was a I always enjoy talking to you and spelling out some some crazy ideas and some crazy concepts. You know, it’s always fun.

00:46:02:02 – 00:46:06:04

Nick McGowan

And then, well, I appreciate you being on and we’ll have you on in another point. Thank you again.

00:46:06:14 – 00:46:14:16

Joe Tertel

Thanks.

00:46:15:14 – 00:46:43:23

Nick McGowan

Another great conversation on today’s episode of The Mindset and Self-mastery Show. So what would you consider yourself to be and would you say you’re a creative person? What would you say you are after listening to this episode? Or would you say maybe at least a little bit more creative when you think about just being aware of it and problem solving and the things that you do on the daily, you’re probably more creative than you thought.

00:46:43:23 – 00:47:12:04

Nick McGowan

And so what did you think of today’s episode? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the conversation, and if you enjoyed the episode, please jump over to iTunes. Subscribe Rate. Keep a five star review to help us get sound and help others hear us. And if you really enjoyed the show today, go ahead and share with your friends and check out the show notes for more info info for Joe and check out other episodes on the mindset and the Self-mastery Show account as well as our YouTube channel.

00:47:12:07 – 00:47:34:19

Nick McGowan

You can just search the mindset and self-mastery show will pop right up. Thank you again, Joe, for being on the show, for being honest, raw and real with us. Thank you. And thanks to you for joining us today. And remember, your mindset matters and so do you.