Episode 001: Welcome Home
Taira (00:03.16)
Alright T.
First episode, apartment 24B.
Taira (00:11.927)
I'm excited that we're finally sitting down and creating some content together. You know, we've known each other for the last, we've known each other for a long time, but the last three years I think we have really been engaging with one another from a business standpoint and all of that. And I think for the first episode, I think we just let the people know who we are, where we came from, how our paths crossed.
Taylor Smith (00:22.039)
Yeah.
Taira (00:39.259)
and what this outlet is meant to be and where we're going. So I think I'll let you take the mic first and tell the people who you are.
Taylor Smith (00:48.118)
Well, long story short, my name is Taylor Smith and I'm the creative director and co-founder of Boom House Creative Agency in Los Angeles, California. And my path to getting here was, it was interesting. You and I both know we come from a musical industry background. I tell people all the time, you know, we went to the same college just at different times.
So I, my, my bug for music came, I want to say around the age of 16, 17, um, had family who was in the entertainment industry and that sparked my intrigue in the space. And I remember my first time walking into a commercial studio, I was probably 16. And from that moment on, I knew like, Hey, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. You know, you see a big console, you feel like you're driving a spaceship. It was like, Hey,
this is it. So you know, graduated high school, my whole like graduation portfolio was all music based. That was the path that I wanted to go on. Knew about Full Sail because it used to always be in the back of like the Source magazines or the Vibe magazines. That was the advertising they did at the time. But leaving high school,
I couldn't afford it, parents couldn't afford it, so I took the traditional route of going to college. Went to college, went to Dominguez Hills with the plan because they had a recording program, but that recording program wouldn't start until, you know, junior year, after you finish all your basic general education requirements.
That didn't work for me. I remember second semester really not going to any classes, just spent the bulk of the day in my dorm rooms. I lived on campus, had a laptop, and friends were like, just come and record. Cause we had like whatever basic generic software at the time to record audio. And that's how I kind of cut my teeth in knowing how to record.
Taylor Smith (03:00.678)
um After that semester kind of getting kicked out of Dominguez Hills were not being not somebody getting kicked out not being asked to come back because grades didn't make sense um and then going enrolling myself kind of in the Full Sail and then telling parents after the fact about what happened.
Taira (03:14.027)
Right.
Taylor Smith (03:24.87)
But we were able to, my mom was able to make it work and went to Full Sail at the time. You know, those loans were aggressive as I don't know what. But packed up, you know, went to Orlando, Florida. I remember it like it was yesterday.
And that's when it started. So did that whole course, graduated on time, came back. And I remember it got the ball rolling immediately. I don't think I spent, from the time I got back to LA, I think I already had a job pending once I got back with a producer who wanted me to be, he's like in-house engineer who had an amazing studio down in like the Silver Lake Echo Park area. Worked with him for a few years.
And then just meeting people on the course of my career, a buddy of mine was interning for Geffen. And I remember him leaving and calling me, he was like, T, hey, I'm leaving my internship. Do you want it? And that was, I remember pre, that was end of 06.
07 comes, I had been in communication with the A&R coordinator who I was going to work for, a guy named Sean Suggs. And we had been in communication. He gave me a start date and that kind of took me into a whole another place. Cause I was accustomed to working for one producer, one studio to now being engulfed in this ecosystem of what the music industry was really about. And mind you at the time, I'm maybe 21, 22.
and you're getting thrown in. And that's when they found out, oh, you have a recording background. So at the time I didn't have an office, but they made this little office room for me on the fourth floor, Santa Monica building. And they put a Pro Tools rig and was like, yo, we're just gonna have you cut audio for like doing ringtones and little promo things all day.
Taylor Smith (05:30.25)
and that's what I did for a while and they would compensate me off the books. And that led to another A&R coming in one day and saying, hey, our A&R for a session canceled. Can you do it? And I was like, yeah, whatever. He was like, this is the rate, this will be, can afford to pay you for the day. And at the time at 21, that's the most money I've ever seen in one day.
Taira (05:37.547)
Okay.
Taylor Smith (06:00.01)
It was like, hey, be at Chalice Studios, so-and-so time, this is what you got to do. That turned into day one at Chalice, day two at Larabee North, day three at Record Plant. In a span of a week. And then from that exposure, meeting the right people, shaking hands, kissing babies, playing politics within that universal music system.
Taira (06:14.761)
All the players, all the players.
Taylor Smith (06:30.038)
just me as an engineer, as a mixer, just took the career somewhere else.
So I tell people, you know, by the age of 25, I had worked in every major commercial studio in this city. Now, granted, I don't know how many are still around, but at the time, like that was the place to be. That was before like the emergence of home recording became a thing, before Pro Tools became so accessible to everybody. So you didn't have, and especially when you had like a big label behind you, they wanted to see you in the studio doing things the right way.
my stint in the music as an engineer, I kind of pivoted more in the production world. We would, at the time, Boom House was focused on the record industry. And then we did more, we managed a few artists, we did some sync deals for artists, did a lot of work with like MTV, VH1, placing music in certain TV shows. Because that's when reality TV was kind of, I feel like, on its super incline.
like MTV, VH1, all these cable networks at the time, which they were called, was just, you know, reality TV heavy. So they were just in the hunt for just music that they could put in between cuts, in between the commercial break, what they call a stinger. You know, it bumps in between certain points of the show. Did that for a while. And then to be honest, you know, the music industry changed and I got burnt out.
because I did it so aggressively for so long, you just get tired of it. And you get tired of running that rat race of trying to get a placement, of trying to get a gig, trying to get a check. And for those who can do it, I applaud you. At the time, I couldn't do it. And then at the age of 25, I had went back to Full Sail sale.
Taylor Smith (08:28.874)
because I knew I needed some business sense to be successful. Ended up going back and getting my bachelor's degree in entertainment business and marketing, Full Sail sale. At the same time, my son was coming into the world. Cause I remember Shane was born the day I took my college, my last course is final. He was born that morning. And full transparency, I failed that final.
Taira (08:53.983)
Wow.
Taylor Smith (08:58.998)
but my grades were so exceptional throughout the course or throughout that degree program, I could have failed it and still graduated on time. So it just, you know, everything lined up the way it did. And now to get us here where we're in marketing, advertising, branding, content strategy, content production, all this cool stuff, I tell everybody, all this came out of my love for shoes.
Sneakers sneakers brought me into this sneakers brought me into what an advertising agency was Um, I remember watching a documentary. I can't remember the name, but it was a doc on
the whole Brand Jordan Nike experience, how campaigns were rolled out. And I remember Scoop Jackson, he mentioned Widen Kennedy. I didn't know what Widen Kennedy even was at the time. I used to think, hey, all these cool campaigns were things that Nike produced in-house.
And I'm coming to find out it was this ad agency in Portland who had worked hand in hand with Nike since the inception of the company. And they rose up through the ranks together. And that's what Widen Kennedy did. They were the agency of record for Nike for all the creative, cool things we saw as consumers that made us want to buy the product. And that just took me somewhere else on just wanting to be in advertising, wanting to be in marketing, wanting to be able to tell stories.
so consumers can relate to a product and being kind of that in between person of a brand, of a product, and who they talk to every day. So that's, yeah, that's my story and how I got here. And I'm pretty sure, you know, I have a long career left, but that's definitely where we're at.
Taira (10:52.579)
That's really dope. And you know, it's funny that you went back to Full Sail, right? And decided that you wanted to have that business acumen, which is why I decided I wanted to do my online master's program with Full Sail. It was because I wanted that entertainment background. I wanted to know more about the marketing and the business side and the branding and all of those other parts of it that we know, you know, I thought.
Taylor Smith (11:16.095)
Yeah.
Taira (11:20.355)
Originally my dream was to be a label owner, be on a label. My story started, my love for music has always been since I was a kid. You know, being in the band, playing the clarinet, learning all these different instruments. I thought I was going to be an architectural engineer. That's what I thought I was going to go to school for. You know, my mom is my mom is an education, you know, and she stayed.
Taylor Smith (11:39.07)
Oh shit, okay. Interesting, okay.
Taira (11:47.499)
finding programs or things for me to do during the summer. She sent me to the Colorado School of Mines. If anybody knows about Colorado School of Mines, probably one of the top engineering program schools in the country, probably one of the hardest schools to get into academically. And they had a program which would introduce you to all the different areas of engineering. So you got a chance to experience and see all the different fields.
Taylor Smith (11:50.472)
Yeah.
Taylor Smith (12:05.003)
Okay.
Taira (12:14.959)
And I remember the program director, he was into music. And he said, look up music engineering. I said, I like the engineering stuff, but I really wanna do music and figure out how I can do music long-term. He said, you ever heard of music engineering? Look up music. And I was like, no. I think that this was going into my sophomore year of high school. And so I went home, I mean, went back to the dorm room because I was staying in the dorm.
Taylor Smith (12:18.083)
Okay.
Taylor Smith (12:28.579)
Yeah.
Taira (12:44.295)
my first dorm experience, music engineering, and Berklee School of Music, College of Music in Boston first came up. That was my first, and then I was like, oh. So those are the people who work behind the scenes and work the boards and all of that kind of stuff. I was like, okay, I'm interested, I've bought in. And then came down to college time, deciding where I wanted to go to college. And I remember it was three places. It was Berklee.
Taylor Smith (12:52.501)
Gotcha.
Taylor Smith (13:02.05)
Yeah.
Taira (13:13.807)
It was Miami University in Miami, University of Miami, and then it was Hampton University. For folks who don't know and know me, I'm essentially a third generation Hamptonian. My mom went to Hampton, her godmother went to Hampton, and it wasn't on purpose necessarily, that was the plan, but it was, I wanted, not to stomp the yard, but drumline. Drumline had came out, right? So in successive years,
Taylor Smith (13:16.438)
Okay.
Yeah. OK.
Taira (13:43.647)
Then Drumline came out and it was like, ooh, I want that college experience. I wanna do that, right? So it was like, okay. Then it came downtime to college and then you did all the research. And Hampton at the time was the only historically black college that had a music engineering program. You know, I laugh when, yeah. I laugh today because there's people who know me for the last three years only know me for being in marketing operations.
Taylor Smith (13:47.982)
Got you. Yeah. Got it, okay.
Taylor Smith (14:00.305)
I never knew that.
Taylor Smith (14:10.528)
Okay.
Taira (14:10.575)
never knew that my bachelor's and my background is in music. My early career experience, the reason why I moved to LA was because of music. But, you know, got to college, had that normal college experience, started going through my music engineering program, internships. I had a group of friends that were all in music, DJ. One was a writer.
Taylor Smith (14:16.727)
Yeah.
Taylor Smith (14:36.942)
Okay.
Taira (14:37.659)
And then my really good friend at the time, shout out to Yazid, Ya Money on the beat. He was the producer, he needed studio time, he needed access to a studio. And at the time we had this artist called Blake Kelly, rock star music group, Joe Stunna, all of these guys. I was their engineer, you know, put out our first kind of project in college and that was my first taste of it. But I was the...
Taylor Smith (14:54.55)
Okay.
Taylor Smith (15:05.774)
Okay.
Taira (15:07.291)
Music major among marketing and business majors. So I was learning through them, you know, this is when Fast Company was becoming popular. And so I started getting educated and familiar in all of these things, right? Realizing that, okay, at the time, you know, you had like Rockefeller Group, you had Murder Inc, you had all of these music entities. I was like, okay, this is how we're gonna roll. We're gonna be this music entity.
Taylor Smith (15:11.479)
Got it.
Taylor Smith (15:31.587)
Yeah.
Taira (15:36.967)
We're going to do business together, build our career and our lives together, and we're going to move forward. So, um, Twitter, thanks to the, you know, the, the influence of Twitter, I was sending out my, I remember my senior year getting ready to graduate, I was just sending out my resume to anybody and everybody, right? You know, thanks to the part of social media, the internet, you can find anybody, look up credits, know studios. And so.
Taylor Smith (15:59.199)
Yeah.
Taira (16:02.843)
Um, was sending out my resume, sent my resume out to someone here in LA. They were like, Oh, where do you want to be an intern? Cool. He paid for my ticket and everything. And then that was just like the first chapter of this part of my life, right? Moving to LA, being in the studio, working with songwriters, right? Um, working on keeping the schedule, um, together and looking back, a lot of the things that I started doing.
Taylor Smith (16:09.751)
Yeah.
Taira (16:29.587)
word because of necessity, right? Like, oh, I'm gonna take on the role of an assistant. I'm gonna manage, you know, the calendar. I'm going to, you know, manage invoices. I'm going to be in contact with the repair companies and, you know, you know, are the artists and all of these things. So, you know, the foundation of me being this operations person, being this person who kept things together and kept shit in order started from that point.
Taylor Smith (16:57.454)
Got it.
Taira (16:59.095)
And so that catapulted me into working with the producers, Midi Mafia. I'm doing, they had a small boutique, little label agency called Brand X. And I think those two years, I went from here to here. Right. And it was because, you know, we were a four man team.
Taylor Smith (17:06.752)
Okay.
Taylor Smith (17:18.251)
Yeah.
Taira (17:23.911)
You know, my boy, he did all of the admin management side, but it was my duty to schedule posts, content. You know, we had a roster of different multitude of artists and who had all different things going on for them. Right. So it was okay. Release schedule. We didn't have a publicist. So I was writing, you know, the public, you know, the public write up, you know, the press release. I was.
Taylor Smith (17:33.931)
Okay.
Taira (17:53.415)
doing the descriptions for YouTube and you know, now I needed to know how to put the end card up. I needed to know how to do all of these things. Instagram was just launching, okay, how I'm gonna clip, learn how to clip these, okay, I'm gonna open up my little program here and I'm gonna create my little 30 second video, add my little bumpers and be done with it. So being through that experience, I learned how to speak the language, right? And learn the terminology that needed to communicate with photographers, videographers,
understanding the different components and the things to just, you know, of that side of the business. Then, you know, all good things come to an end. And then you get burnt out, right? Like working with artists, managing artists is a 24-7 job, right? And it's really and truly you have to be organized to help
Taylor Smith (18:28.159)
of
Taylor Smith (18:33.663)
Yeah, that they do.
Taira (18:52.283)
someone else be organized in their life. So whether it's negotiating deals, you know, sponsorship or brand deals, you know, old Navy and being on and having to be on that artist and that talent case, like, hey, we need these deliverables, like, where are you with this? You know, it gets tiring, you know? I did a small mini tour with, you know, an artist, all of these things. I was the driver.
the coordinator making sure that we were on place on time. So you get burnt out real quick, you know, and that was when I said, let's do something fun. I want to do something fun. My first chance to get into the cannabis space was and it became the receptionist at a dispensary.
Taylor Smith (19:24.942)
Absolutely.
Taylor Smith (19:30.925)
Yeah.
Taylor Smith (19:35.586)
Ah, OK.
Taira (19:42.615)
At the time it was still medicinal and all of that. So then I got a chance to really understand, okay, how does the cannabis business in itself work? And then of course, you're working with a small business, limited hands, once again, now I'm helping with social media, I'm helping with the email marketing. So I think a lot of things that led me to this point was simple curiosity and then meeting the right people at the right time.
Taylor Smith (20:00.151)
Yeah.
Taylor Smith (20:06.828)
Okay.
Taira (20:11.563)
and I guess having a good work ethic, you know, at the end of the day, helped catapult me to this point.
Taylor Smith (20:18.263)
Okay, fair. I feel like I speak. It's like listening to you say that I remember.
Taylor Smith (20:25.998)
Towards the end of the career in music, we managed an artist who was in the UK. So she lived in the UK, and at the time they had given us a deal with Sony Music Japan. So now we're having to coordinate.
me here, artists in the UK, A&R team and label head are all in Japan. And we're coordinating, number one, getting her to the US because all of the producers she liked to work with were here, no one really in the UK. And then we also were working with press in the UK. So trying to coordinate all these things as a 25, 26 year old at the time, really, it's either going to make
Thank you.
You know, and granted the artist is no longer in the business. She and I are still incredibly really, it's one of my closest friends to this day, but that really like taught me what that business was about. I think going into it, you going into it, you go into it naive, thinking it's fun always like, oh, I'm just going to the studio and hang out or do whatever. So I remember it got to the point for me as an engineer. People will be like, how much has come
And it's like, for what? Like, this is my job. Like, you can't just pop up, I just wanna hang out and be in this, like, bro, it doesn't work that way. Like, I have a certain amount of hours to get things done. And if not, then we're gonna like low-key ass out because no one's booking this studio again for another 12-hour block. So figuring out that business-
Taira (21:50.432)
Right.
Taira (21:55.048)
Right.
Taylor Smith (22:10.382)
aspect of it, going back to school, getting that business and marketing degree and understanding it. And I remember one of my professors telling me, I'm at the time, I didn't really do the work. I would just kind of show up for a test. And I remember the professor saying, have you taken this class before?
because you don't seem to really be engaged in these group sessions, in the day-to-day coursework. Before at test you come in and you can get a top grade. And I had to explain, most of the things you're teaching the class, I've already done in real life. So it's easy for me. I don't have to be here and hear you talk to understand what the outcome is going to be. I get it. I've done it, and I've gotten paid to do it. So that was kind of my, I don't know.
whatever you want to call it, but my way to get through that degree program is already having done it in real life. And then again, like you said, like I think we all had to be scrappy in the beginning. You know, me getting into content production didn't come from my, I always loved visuals and I appreciated them for what they were. Because I was the kind of person who would buy a magazine, buy a book just to look at the pictures.
Taira (23:12.607)
Gotcha.
Taira (23:34.772)
Mm-hmm.
Taylor Smith (23:35.474)
So I think that passion of visual, visual storytelling and the need of needing a photographer or a video person for assignments said, hey, do you waste a budget? Do you spend a budget on hiring someone for X amount of days to get X amount of output that you may or may not like for this project? Or do you go buy a camera, figure it out? And...
Do it the way you in your mind want the outcome to be and get things done and just learn as you go. And that's honestly how my photography career started. By just, couldn't afford to hire someone.
So bought a little Sony camera and started shooting, asking a buddy of mine, Preston, who was like a great photographer and still is, I would ask him a million questions. Like how, what's and why's.
until it got to the point where now I understood it. Now I'm shooting on a regular basis. Now they're paying you to shoot. Now brands are paying you to shoot. And this is now a skillset I have in my wheelhouse that I just pull internally for when BoomHouse takes on client work. It comes within that scope of work that can be executed to a professional outcome because I've...
cut my teeth on so many projects over the years, but it all came out of necessity and just having to be scrappy at the time. So yeah. Yeah.
Taira (25:09.147)
That makes sense. That makes sense. That makes perfect sense. So today now when people say, what do you do? Who, where, what is your role? What is it? What is it that you, what is it that you say? How do you describe yourself and brand yourself these days?
Taylor Smith (25:19.959)
Yeah.
Taylor Smith (25:27.018)
I brand myself simply as a creative director. That's, and that word, you know, I think that word is taken out of context a lot of times because to understand kind of what a creative director does, it has to be, it's very industry specific because me as a CD in marketing.
or advertising isn't the same as a CD in the apparel world. A fashion creative director doesn't do what we do in this space, but my job is to ultimately sell an idea to a client and sell a story to the consumer. Now, how that story is crafted, how it looks, that's a team project, that's a team support.
I have, you know, I can call on multiple people to come in and put the puzzle together, but it's my idea to pitch the puzzle, present the puzzle, and to make sure it's executed correctly at its highest level at all times.
Taylor Smith (26:32.074)
Yeah.
Taira (26:34.852)
That makes sense. I think there's so many different opportunities in today's time, right? For someone who has a multitude of skill sets to make a career for themselves, right? Not just have a job, but have a career. And I think that's why we sort of became freelance entrepreneurs and business owners is because I think there was a lot of...
Taylor Smith (26:48.095)
action.
Taylor Smith (26:56.642)
Yes.
Taira (27:01.259)
I hate saying politics, right? Because it wasn't politics, but it was a lot of opinions and you have protocols now that you have to go through, right? I remember, you know, it is no secret and people will know, you know, I was at REVOLT for about two and a half, three years, and I think my experience coming in and out of REVOLT was, hey, this is your first corporate job and your first corporate environment, but it's still...
Taylor Smith (27:16.396)
Yeah.
Taylor Smith (27:25.646)
Mm-hmm.
Taira (27:27.259)
of the culture, right? So it doesn't matter. We should be able to go in here and we're going to move the needle. We're going to do all of these types of different things. Um, because that's what, you know, um, someone who's in consumer marketing, that's, you know, if you're at REVOLT that's what you're doing, right? You're quote unquote revolting. Um, but then it gave me, you know, it was an eye opener of like understanding, like there is
Taylor Smith (27:44.428)
Yeah.
Taira (27:50.015)
people that have that these things have to go through right and make decisions. It can't just be like, oh, we have an idea. Let's just test the theory and get it done. It has to. Oh, what's the numbers behind of it? Oh, who who's going to green light it? Who's going to approve this? Who's going to go through all of that? And, you know, even today, when we talk about client services, as we'll probably talk about that multiple times throughout this podcast.
Taylor Smith (27:56.801)
Yeah.
Taylor Smith (28:01.026)
Yeah.
Taira (28:16.239)
almost in a way you do the same thing with client with clients you go through that same kind of oh we they go back and forth they don't trust it right but i think the difference is it's like you're choosing to spend your money with me right you're choosing because you had all you have multiple options of other people other agencies and things that you can go to but you're choosing to spend your money with me trust me right
Taylor Smith (28:24.15)
year.
Taylor Smith (28:30.539)
Yeah.
Taira (28:43.067)
Allow that what you like about who I am. Let me influence that in your organization. Let me help bring ideas to you that you might have not thought of before. Let's not, you know, and I think we talk about it, we discuss it all the time with clients and a part of the reason why this podcast and Apartment 24B was created because we wanted an outlet, right, for the ideas that we presented for clients or...
for them to have legs to grow somewhere to do something, right? I think business owners sometimes getting their own way of being able to really make, bring things to life. They're too busy looking at, you know, left and right, looking what other people are doing rather than putting their blinders on and trusting the vision that they have for themselves. And I think...
Taylor Smith (29:23.981)
Yeah.
Taylor Smith (29:34.027)
Yeah.
Taira (29:35.387)
That to me is the greatest part of being an entrepreneur, being an agency owner is being able to put those blinders on and focus on the thing that we, where we want to go in our vision versus the vision for someone else.
Taylor Smith (29:42.956)
Mm-hmm.
Taylor Smith (29:50.146)
wholeheartedly and we've experienced it. I know you have, I know I have, yes, clients, no matter how big or small, we'll get in their own way sometimes. I think a lot of times it's not so much, they don't trust.
but clients just want to feel like they're in control all the time. And once you get to a certain level of your entrepreneurial journey in your business, it's certain things that you just don't know. And it's easier for someone like you or I to say, hey, let me just execute. And this is the outcome.
versus having to hold your hand and teach you along the way. Now we can do a recap or a pretense of say, hey, this is what we need to do. Boom, boom, boom. But while we're in the dirt, while we're in the trenches, like let us get it done because we know what happens. So I think that's an issue when they wanna look over your shoulder and give suggestions, but the basis of their suggestions, there's no basis.
It's just, well, I think you should be doing this. Well, why do you think that? Well, I don't know. I just think you should. That to me is the worst because if you're gonna criticize or give input or feedback, have a solution. Don't just talk to me based on how you feel because a lot of this work is a strategic.
job. It's a strategic effort always. It's rarely like, Oh, I put out a campaign because it felt right to put out a campaign. The data, the data isn't generated off of your feelings, off of your emotions. The data is what the math says it's doing. And we have to pivot at times for those performance metrics to keep going at a certain place. Now the storytelling element, yes, that is a hundred percent emotion, emotional driven, but it's still supported by
Taylor Smith (31:47.512)
the data that we pull. So, yeah.
Taira (31:55.657)
Let's pivot a little bit and talk about what are the things, right? We sort of said we didn't want corporate America. We left that corporate America kind of environment, so to speak, right? But I think people think that there's a lack of discipline still in what we do and how we operate, and how you might operate every day.
Taylor Smith (31:56.983)
Okay.
Taylor Smith (32:12.237)
Yeah.
Taira (32:21.767)
Give our listeners an example of what a day in a life is for you during Monday through Friday. And also, what is a weekend like for yourself? Because I think we don't really shut it off at any point in time, right? So, how is your life different? Also, I guess you can say being on this side versus reporting to someone on a day-to-day basis.
Taylor Smith (32:48.682)
So I think, you know, on the corporate side of things, no matter what space or industry is corporate America, you can kind of turn that off. You can kind of leave your work at your desk at five or six o'clock and go in about your day. In this world.
Like you said, it does not shut off because you feel like, hey, I'm gonna do my own thing because I want this freedom, this financial freedom, this be entrepreneur to just make my own schedule, be my own boss. But while you're building and that building process could take 10 years sometimes, you can't afford sometimes to turn it off.
because you're always on the hunt for the next project, the next client to keep the lights on, keep the bills paid, keep gas in your car, keep food in your refrigerator to be able to take care of you and if you have a family, that whole ecosystem. So Monday through Friday, depending on, you know, the bandwidth that I have, the amount of projects that we have on the docket, it could, you know, days will start 530. Like today, I've been up working on a strategy for clients since 530 this morning.
and I haven't done anything for self. And that could be honestly a Monday through Friday thing. I'm at a place right now where Sundays, I don't work. I just, you know, send me a message, but I probably won't get back to you till Monday morning after nine o'clock. It used to be a 24 seven rotation though. Like it just didn't shut off. But you have to, for the sake of your own.
mindset and mental clarity, I've learned you have to kind of step away. Because if you're in it too long, you start like, you start seeing things and you start seeing things that aren't really there because there's no perspective.
Taylor Smith (34:40.498)
You can't compare it to anything because you're just in it. And when you're like a solopreneur or everybody works from their home or remotely, you're not in constant communication with people to bounce ideas off. Like you and I talk pretty much all the time, but when you're on a big assignment, editor could be there, you're here, someone else is there, and everybody's working in their own little silos.
So you don't have that like, you know, let me go to the kitchen in the office and go talk to talk or spread the gossip or whatever, you know. So yes, you do. You have to step away. You do have to set client boundaries with clients. Um, I'm a big, I'm a big thing at this point boundaries. You know, if you need me, send me an email or if you guys are big enough and ready to have a slack ecosystem, let's get on slack. But I, I really don't.
Taira (35:10.94)
Right, right.
Taylor Smith (35:35.952)
and do personal phone calls, personal text messages about work, no, because that's my personal device. Send me an email if you wanna discuss things, because I like to keep a record of conversations. I'm notorious for just deleting, or having my phone, do not disturb for the entire day, unless it's like my son.
But yeah, that's kind of how I work. So going back to original question, it can be a Monday through Friday, 5 a.m. to like 8 p.m. nonstop, working between various projects. And I will set time markers for these projects. Starting first, whatever has the most priority. Because I am a morning person, so most of my creative and strategic ideas and thoughts flow easier for me in the morning.
4 o'clock, it's tough. Like it's like pulling teeth trying to get an idea out of me because I just don't have anything left because everything has been exhausted pretty much before 12 p.m.
Taira (36:38.687)
Are you strict about? Times you go to bed what you waking up that kind of thing and for people who don't know my boy Taylor He's also vegan so he operate in a whole he operates from a whole nother type of level and thinking you okay? I'm he's disciplined. Okay
Taylor Smith (36:56.43)
Um, you know what, going to bed, I try to be in a bed by 10. Like I got to be in a bed by 10. Now at this point in my life, I get up at five o'clock without an alarm. Like my body is just used to that schedule. So I'm just, I'll get up at five and I have an alarm set for five fifteen to make sure I'm out the bed.
But I get up and the first thing I do is, you know, put out a blog post for the company, turn on my, I have a daily list of podcasts that I play while I'm getting ready, while I'm, I'm not the person who like gets out of bed and gets to work. I just, I don't function like that. I'll get up, go to the gym, go running, hop on the bike. I'll work out some form of fashion. Come home, shower, put on clothes.
I don't even care if I just put on sweats and a t-shirt, but I have to take a shower and clean myself. And that clears my mind so I can get that day started as productive as I can.
Taira (38:00.027)
100% I've noticed even to just a different level of energy right and focus it has like Yes, I work from home all the time, but you know what? I'm gonna take a shower put on a little perfume and all whatever lotion my skin You know I'm saying just to feel good about myself. You know I'm saying Even in my schedule it can be real easy to just forget about meals and things like that Like no, I have it in my schedule lunch So I know okay. Hey
Taylor Smith (38:04.93)
Yeah.
Taylor Smith (38:12.393)
Yeah.
Taylor Smith (38:16.546)
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Taira (38:28.651)
2-3 o'clock hey have you thought about dinner is there something already cooked like I have these things in my calendar not because oh I need a reminder or any of those things those things sometimes can get the slip they can you know get the time can slip away from you right calls can be scheduled you know sometimes I don't I can't dictate what time some calls are made or whatever the case may be but I have really started making the practice of okay
Taylor Smith (38:32.216)
Yeah.
Taylor Smith (38:45.387)
Yeah.
Taira (38:56.059)
Make sure I go outside and stand in the sun for a little bit, right? And walk around the block. Cause there was a point in time and period where it would be weeks before I leave the house. I had no reason to leave the house. So it'll be weeks. You know, I even went and got a gym membership just so that it was something for me to do to get out the house. You know, I tried. Right. Go ahead.
Taylor Smith (39:01.06)
Yeah.
Taylor Smith (39:08.301)
Yeah.
Taylor Smith (39:14.39)
Yeah, I mean, that's how we all feel. That's how we all feel, you know, during like that 2020 period. You didn't have to go anywhere. You couldn't really go anywhere. You just sat in the house and you either worked or you didn't. But those days would just fly by. You look up, it's Monday, next thing you blink, it's Friday. And you hadn't done anything, you know.
Taira (39:37.639)
It's Friday.
Taylor Smith (39:42.438)
So yeah, I feel like it's the same thing. When you're in this space like we are, and there's a million others who can relate to this. So to your point, getting out the house, taking a walk, these things you don't realize help just boost self.
boost creativity, boost the thought process, can help you get out of a funk. You know, you could have had a day where things just weren't clicking for you. Ideas weren't flowing, strategies weren't coming, you couldn't type, whatever. Take a walk, like get outside, see other people. Like communicate with others. This is when you appreciate, like in real life communication.
and then you can come back and it, and it puts you in a different mindset. I think when you come back, at least for me, it does. I'll even just go to Whole Foods. You know, I'll go to the grocery store, pick up a few things, but interacting with people while you're there, seeing things, looking at products. So when you get back, you just have a new lens when you approach whatever you were working on beforehand. So yeah.
Taira (40:23.251)
Yes.
Taira (40:48.659)
I love that. Anything else that you do as a solo entrepreneur that keeps you fresh and focused and motivated. I don't want to say motivated, but disciplined in what we do.
Taylor Smith (41:02.686)
Um, I, I study a lot. And when I say study, I'm not like taking classes, but I just study with others who I look up to do. Look at their patterns, their lifestyles. I read a lot. Like most of the books I read are all, it won't be about business or creativity. Um, because I want to understand to me, the mindset is everything. How you come into a situation, how you talk in a situation, how you present yourself in a situation.
And that's a big piece of the battle that I had to learn kind of later in life. That how you represent yourself says a lot because that first impression is everything. So I kind of pride myself on always being a student. I'll never be a master. I'll be great at some point, but I'll never mastered because things are always evolving. Things are always changing. More so now that we live in this digital era.
where at the blink of an eye, you know, things change. Last year this time, the whole AI conversation wasn't the talk of the town. It wasn't in my inbox a million times. There weren't tools readily available that you can use.
Fast forward 12 months, you can't not be in a conversation and someone mentioned AI, VR, AR in the workspace. So you always have to be learning. And to me, that's a great thing. Because the more you know, the better. Parents will always say, no one can take from you what you've learned. And that's the truth.
Taira (42:29.291)
Mm-hmm.
Taira (42:42.544)
Exactly.
Taylor Smith (42:44.702)
And I've been, I think I've been lucky enough to take that mindset and that education across different career paths and being able to work with different clients in different spaces. Because one thing I love about you and I is our careers have always paralleled each other, but not there wasn't like it wasn't set out to be like that. Like it wasn't on purpose. We didn't discuss it. It wasn't a plan.
Taira (43:08.192)
I'm sorry.
Taylor Smith (43:12.458)
We both were in the record industry. We both have spent stints with cannabis companies. Now we're kind of, I want to say more so in the CPG world. I tend to work with some fashion clients sometimes. You tend to work with more tech clients sometimes, but the levels have always been here the entire time. I think that's why, number one, this podcast was created for us to connect with other like-minded individuals who have experience.
experiences similar to ours in parallel to ours who can just relate to this story. Because one thing you know we when we see or we hear about marketing and advertising all this great stuff.
You don't ever, it's rare that people dive into their personal lives, experiences, talk about the ebbs and flows of working with certain clients, projects, how toxic certain things can be, you know, um, why they will never go back to an agency. What took place? I think now the world is becoming more transparent, but for years, it was just always, everything was great. I'm at an agency, I'm this and that, but no, like this, some of this shit,
It sucks sometimes. And people don't realize that.
Taira (44:28.503)
I think also too, as people who work behind the scenes, right? Whether it's going from artists to brands, we have always been the person behind the person. And so now everybody's about, oh, personal brand, personal brand, personal brand. And we're like, I'd rather just hide Homer Simpson into the background. But, right, but I think now it's even more important, right? We talk about, you and I have been talking about this for...
Taylor Smith (44:38.423)
Yeah.
Taylor Smith (44:47.246)
Yeah. Into the bushes.
Taira (44:56.955)
way too far along. And you know, I think this was the first step for the both of us, right? I know you've been putting out blogs and putting out some small content, you know, over the last couple of weeks. But this for me is a big leap from going, okay, I'm going to put myself out there and talk more about these things because these are the things that I'm passionate about. These are the things that drive me. This is the community I personally want to be able to connect with and speak with.
Taylor Smith (44:58.315)
Yeah.
Taylor Smith (45:12.395)
Yeah.
Taylor Smith (45:23.466)
Absolutely. Um, yeah, I think this is long overdue for you. And, um, it was getting to the point where I'm a podcast person. I have certain podcasts on a daily weekly route, take weekly rotation, but I just have to listen to cause it's just insightful. But I'm like, yo, there's no way we can't do the same thing. I know.
We have stories, we have experiences, it's life experience. It's being a human being that these stories need to be shared. And if people gravitate towards it, great. If they don't, okay. But we have to take that next step to put ourselves out there as creators, as entrepreneurs, if this is the world we wanna live in because this world is a very heavily content driven world. So, and I also,
this because now it allows us to test certain things. We have these conversations, we put stuff out there, but it is a playground for us to even R and D certain things that we may have in the back of our mind. Like, hey, what if I pitched so and so, well, you know what? Let's do it internally. Let's kind of see what happens over four weeks and then kind of get the results and then we'll make adjustments.
Taira (46:24.36)
Right.
Taylor Smith (46:48.656)
and now we know it can actually work. So when selling ideation to a client, it's like, hey, we've done it. Like we've cut the 10,000 hours, we know it works. So let's now do it for you. So.
Taira (47:02.135)
Right. We're no longer having to chase the chicken. The chicken is going to come to us now.
Taylor Smith (47:05.574)
Exactly. So yeah.
Taira (47:10.687)
You know, you know, T, it's always a good conversation. I hope that those who tune in for this first episode enjoyed the conversation. And we hope to, you know, provide more feedback. We wanna hear your feedback. We wanna hear your input. Please leave a comment wherever you're listening to this podcast or watching this podcast right now and share your story. Let us hear your story and where you at and how you got to this point in your career and where you're at.
Taylor Smith (47:38.126)
Please, please.
Taira (47:42.139)
Okay. All right. Always.
Taylor Smith (47:42.718)
All right, well, it's a pleasure as always. And I'll be talking to you for sure, but I'll be seeing you next week. All right, peace.
Taira (47:49.515)
Always. Yes, sir. All right.