Episode 028 – CT Thorn

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Automated Transcription

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Richard Matthews 

Hey, hello and welcome back to The HERO Show.

 

My name is Richard Matthews. I’ve got on the line, CT Thorn.

 

Are you there?

 

CT Thorn 

Hey guys. How are you?

 

Richard Matthews 

Yeah, glad to have you here.

 

So let me do a quick introduction for you.

 

And let’s see.

 

So, CT you’re a social media marketer, graphic designer, Tech Guru.

 

You’ve got a podcast yourself.

 

You said, you work in the automotive space.

 

And you do automotive sales professionally, as well.

 

 So, when we start the show of – its pretty simple.

 

We’d like to talk about where you are now.

 

So what’s your business like, now?

 

What is it that you do?

 

What do people come to you for?

 

CT Thorn 

Oh, well, again, thank you so much for having me

 

As a guest on your podcast.

 

I’m excited to be here.

 

 I actually live in Prattville, Alabama,

 

Right outside of Montgomery, Alabama.

 

I’ve been on automotive sales

 

Now for almost a decade, plus.

 

I have a few different things

 

Going on right now. I’m at e-commerce,

 

I have a T-shirt website,

 

Which is http://ctdesignsandapparell.com.

 

I’m also a graphic designer and social media marketer.

 

It’s a kind of a service 

 

I offer with graphic designing.

 

I offer social media marketing

 

To most of my clients, as well.

 

So, I’m mostly on the producer side of things,

 

When it comes to assisting with the social media.

 

Richard Matthews 

So you produce, help them produce graphic design work

 

And everything and- And work on,

 

The kinds of things actually posting, to the posting the social media things that –

 

I guess, to generate leads and other things like that?

 

CT Thorn 

Absolutely. So, I create their content for them.

 

Of course, know, depending on what field they’re in.

 

Their days can be pretty busy.

 

–lay in the automotive spare time sometimes on my hands.

 

So, I’m able to be flexible,

 

And do that in conjunction with being in sales.

 

So I’m able to create their content for them,

 

Get it posted, run the Facebook ads,

 

As well as, listening.

 

Listen to the client to see exactly

 

What they’re trying to do.

 

And we work together as a team to basically get their page out there.

 

And branding it professionally.

 

Richard Matthews 

Nice. So yeah, we were just talking on one of my episodes

 

Previously with a guy named Dustin. About how the importance of

 

Like getting your business off the ground

 

While keeping your full time job.

 

And it sounds like that you’re in that space,

 

Right where you have your full time job,

 

But you’re starting your business as a side hustle.

 

So that’s a good way to do it.

 

‘Cause a lot people, they just jump in headfirst,

 

And they don’t have any safety net or backup plan.

 

And that’s what I did.

 

I had my business on the side number of years ago

 

Until it was one where I could replace my full time job.

 

Is that one of your goals or do you want to stay in automotive sales forever?

 

Like, what’s your what’s your plan there you plan on eventually growing in your agency,

 

Where you find you can replace that?

 

CT Thorn 

Well, I will say, I’m basically

 

I’m on a glider, right now. I’m kind of going with the wind will take me.

 

I have no plans of actually leaving the automotive space

 

Because I really enjoy it.

 

I get to assist people, you know, put smiles on their faces

 

Their family faces, all while doing everything

 

I do outside of the dealership.

 

So, I’m doing them all together keeps me really, really busy.

 

And I’m a creative guy.

 

I like to make sure I have a lot of things up in the air all at one time.

 

It just keeps me focused, keeps me driven.

 

Richard Matthews 

Nice. So let’s talk a little bit about your origin story.

 

If I may say, every hero has origin stories.

 

Where you started to realize that you were different that, you know.

 

Maybe you had superpowers, and maybe you could use them to help other people.

 

Right? Where did you start to develop or discover the value that you bring to this world?

 

CT Thorn 

You know, I? That’s funny, you asked that question.

 

I recently had an episode on my podcast to hear me out podcast about superheroes and happen superhero-like abilities.

 

And so as a kid growing up, you know,

 

I was always the nerd in school.

 

And, you know, I’d always kind of be at the top of my game,

 

Whether it be schoolwork or just get things done.

 

And so I guess coming up,

 

I always had the ambition to be bigger

 

Than what I was that day.

 

And when I say that, being bigger than what I was that day is.

 

I was looking for the next big thing, you know,

 

I was looking for something that I could reach for

 

That was greater than the current state I was in.

 

And so I guess I would say,

 

Even as a young child,

 

I always wanted to just be you know, when I walk into the room,

 

I wanted that presence to be felt.

 

And I wanted that presence to help enlighten others

 

And help uplift people.

 

Basically, I wanted to bring the energy

 

To whatever I was involved in.

 

And so I guess, my superhero ability, as a kid,

 

I’ve always wanted to just be that positive person

 

That no matter what was going on,

 

No matter what the scenario was,

 

I could come in, and I could be that light for someone.

 

So I guess…

 

Richard Matthews 

Yeah. Do you have any defining moments that you remember

 

Growing up where you’re like, I’m going to go into business for myself someday?

 

Or, is it just so something that happened naturally,

 

As you were growing up and that, and getting into stuff?

 

CT Thorn 

Yeah, I was a part of a lot of groups growing up

 

Whether it be school related

 

Or outside of school related.

 

Always, for some reason, I just start out

 

As just a member.

 

And then I’d always found myself in a leadership role.

 

And, not that I’ve always wanted to take the leadership role,

 

It’s just that I was just kind of drawn into it.

 

And other members, are part of the same groups that I would be a part of,

 

They feel that too, and they’d actually insists

 

That I basically take over.

 

And so I guess coming up,

 

You know, always know I had a quality of leading.

 

And in any great business or business plan.

 

When you’re talking about leading, you want to be a great leader

 

In the people that are with you,

 

They trust and believe in you.

 

I think that helps, you know, you lead a lot better.

 

Richard Matthews 

Yeah, that makes sense. So, its just sort of telling that you sort of grew into over the years.

 

So, talk a little bit about your superpowers.

 

Nowadays, in your business, right? It’s what, what is it that you specifically do or build or offer this world that helps solve problems for other people?

 

Things we like to say, the things you use to help slay your clients’ villains, right?

 

What is your superpower in your business, today?

 

CT Thorn 

Okay, well, I’m very service-based,

 

And I’m very service-oriented.

 

Basically, my superpower would be

 

Helping you get over the hump.

 

A lot of my clients are stuck,

 

Especially, creatively.

 

There, they trusted me to be able to deliver.

 

And so they have a game plan, but they don’t really know

 

How to attack the day.

 

I guess, I was saying I’m their general.

 

I can help them,

 

Promote their brand, build it from scratch,

 

I’m able to create content.

 

Basically, I can take what’s in their minds, and produce it

 

– The content. So, I guess my superpower

 

Would be to, basically,

 

Be a great delivery guy.

 

Richard Matthews 

So you’re, you’re helping people really deliver their message,

 

Right, and get it across to to their people.

 

Which is, definitely a needed skill,

 

Right?

 

You know, I tell people, like, especially in the service-based industries,

 

Most of the service-based centers, are like this,

 

Where the clients that you serve, have the thing that they do,

 

And that’s the thing they want to keep doing, right? So they bring in other professionals

 

To help them accomplish, you know, other goals, right?

 

Be that marketing, or copywriting or, you know,

 

Tracking or whatever it is they need to have help with.

 

They bring in professionals to do that, right? Because,

 

 Just as an example, a dentist wants to work on teeth.

 

They don’t want to be a social media marketer.

 

And that’s where they bring in someone like you that really helped them get their message across.

 

CT Thorn 

That is right, that is correct.

 

There are so many things and so many avenues

 

And ways in business.

 

You don’t want to, you know, you can overwhelm yourself

 

If you try to do a little bit of it all.

 

And so, I guess where I come in is I’m able to be that creative in your corner.

 

To help you produce those ideas,

 

And to actually help take what’s on paper

 

And produce it for you.

 

And a lot of people are basically trapped in their thoughts.

 

They’re not able to, they know what they want to do,

 

But they don’t know how to push it out there.

 

And so I’m able to assist with that

 

Being in social media marketing.

 

Richard Matthews 

You make a lot of sense.

 

So, the other side of a superpower is your fatal flaw.

 

Right? Superman has his kryptonite, I tell people I suffer from

 

Or used to suffer from,

 

You know, like severe perfectionism,

 

Which is a terrible, you know. I’d spent hours working on getting something

 

To be in exactly the right spot and realized later

 

That it had nothing to do with producing revenue.

 

And I had to put teams and processes in place to get you know,

 

Myself out of my default mode of wanting to do that.

 

So curious, what would you say your fatal flaw is, in business?

 

And more importantly, what have you been doing to help curb that

 

For other people who might suffer from the same thing?

 

CT Thorn 

Well no, if I hadn’t really sit back

 

And think about what my kryptonite would be,

 

I would say time.

 

Time is definitely my kryptonite.

 

I don’t think there’s enough hours in the day

 

For what I do.

 

I always run up against a time frame.

 

And I think that’s my kryptonite

 

Is not having enough time in one day

 

To actually deliver as much as I possibly can.

 

And so if I had to sit back

 

And think about what limits me from getting the things done,

 

I want to get done, I would have to say time.

 

Richard Matthews 

So how have you been been managing that?

 

Have you been either reducing, like the number deliverables you have or have you been working on

 

Increasing the amount of staff that you have available to deliver things?

 

What has sort have been your, what are you working on 

 

To help solve that?

 

CT Thorn 

Well, I have a few different processes in place right now

 

That I’m currently building.

 

I have a content calendar that allows me to basically

 

Keep everything in a block, you know, space.

 

And I’m also putting teams in place so that

 

We can accomplish things together,

 

I can basically take bits and pieces

 

Of what I’m currently doing, and give that work

 

To people that I’m training to help me

 

Build my agency, basically.

 

So I am putting people in place,

 

And I’ve been putting the tasks in tiny little blocks,

 

So that I can make sure I get everything done in those blocks

 

And move on to the next task.

 

Richard Matthews 

That’s a really important thing.

 

It’s one of things I discovered in my HTC recently, is that,

 

I can, maybe put ten, twelve hours a day into my business,

 

Or, I can hire a person or two and put an hour or two

 

Into training them

 

And putting processes together and get 20 hours of work a day out of the same.

 

It’s like leverage effort.

 

CT Thorn 

Yeah, I’m sorry, go ahead.

 

Richard Matthews 

As it’s just a far more effective is interesting to see you’re here,

 

You’re going to the same point your business.

 

CT Thorn 

Yeah, the toughest part is, like you said,

 

Training someone to have that same mindset as you. 

 

To be driven and to actually think like you think.

 

Especially, when it’s something

 

That you’ve created.

 

You created a space, and you want to train them to do the things you’re doing,

 

And how you done them.

 

So that the job is to get done the same way.

 

So your client doesn’t notice any drop off.

 

That’s the toughest part about the training process,

 

But working one on one with people

 

And allowing them to kind of see what I do.

 

It does help me help them to help me, so.

 

Richard Matthews 

Yeah, my tip on training people

 

Is to follow what I would call the Wwihn process. And it’s W-W-H-N,

 

Which stands for

 

When, What , Why, How, Now.

 

So I’m going to teach an employee or teach a VA how to do something,

 

Make sure you cover not just what it is, and not just how to do it.

 

But what it is. And then the why, like why do we do it this way.

 

Because when you get into the why, you’re actually start teaching a bit of your thinking.

 

And the more of your thinking, you can teach them the more stuff you can replace for yourself.

 

And then you know, forced to teach them how to do it.

 

And then the now is like perspective, right?

 

So you share stories, your case studies.

 

Okay, here’s how we did this in the past, why it works, right?

 

Examples, things like that, really help drive home

 

For your people and —

 

It helps to replicate yourself.

 

CT Thorn 

Right. I totally agree with you.

 

This is great when you look at it.

 

Richard Matthews 

Now, so and I’ve flipped a little bit talk about your common enemy, right?

 

Every superhero has their enemy,

 

That thing they fight against, right? And think about it like this,

 

If you could remove one thing from your clients life,

 

Or their mindset.

 

When they first hire you throughout the course of relationship with them,

 

That stops you from being able to get great results from them,

 

What would that thing be, if you could wave your magic wand, and just remove it.

 

CT Thorn 

I would want to remove

 

The fear of not being able to bring in more clientele. (chuckles)

 

I think a lot of my clients,

 

They’re afraid that they’re not going to be able to produce, right.

 

So finances come into play.

 

And a lot of my clients would start out small.

 

And so they don’t have a lot of finances to spend

 

As far as to put a team in place,

 

To get things done, to acquire more customers,

 

To be able to support their business.

 

So if I could just wave a magic wand

 

And get rid of that fear that they have,

 

I think that is something that I want to do.

 

Because if they’re positive about what we’re going to do

 

And accomplish as a team, starting out small.

 

I think that’ll — to know that they’re energetic,

 

And therefore thinking like that.

 

Richard Matthews 

Yeah. And then you could actually like get in and, and help them do the work.

 

 They’d be ready to hit the ground running, so to speak,

 

If they weren’t afraid of – the results.

 

CT Thorn 

Let’s take a —

 

Richard Matthews 

And it’s it’s a common objection a lot of spaces do is like, you know,

 

Is this actually going to produce for me?

 

Because that was going to cost me time and energy and money.

 

And I want to make sure that it’s going to produce,

 

And a lot of times it takes time to build.

 

So it’s not just like I’m going to spend, a hundred dollars today on social media.

 

And tomorrow, I’m going to make a thousand dollars.

 

CT Thorn 

Everyone thinks

 

 There’s a magic formula

 

Where X plus Y equals Z.

 

And it never happens that way.

 

But you have to remain consistent,

 

That you put in the time and the effort to build anything.

 

And I just want to take that worry away from my clients

 

And let them know that “hey, we’re building something it takes time.”

 

Rome was built in a length of time

 

And not overnight.

 

Richard Matthews 

So you’re driving force.

 

So Spider Man fights to save New York, Batman fights the Save Gotham,

 

Google fights to index all of the world’s information.

 

What do you fight for in your business?

 

What’s the thing that you stand for or your mission?

 

CT Thorn 

Oh, my mission is always remain creative.

 

I love being around other creative people.

 

I love culture.

 

So I like positivity.

 

And I want those things around me,

 

It helps me accomplish.

 

My goals for myself, as well as

 

My clients.

 

Yeah, just being a forward thinker,

 

And having an open mind is important.

 

When you’re working with me to know that

 

We’re not in a box.

 

We think outside the box, when you work with me,

 

We’re going to be as creative as possible.

 

I don’t care if something was done one way before.

 

we’re going to look at different avenues

 

To accomplish that task in a different way

 

So that we can be unique and stand up.

 

Richard Matthews 

So what would you say creativity,

 

If creativity is the mission, 

 

How would you say that serves your clients?

 

If they haven’t had creativity in their business before?

 

CT Thorn 

Well, I think what it creates is,

 

In any business, you’re going to have competition.

 

And in any field, things are done a certain way

 

To get a task done and when you’re creative and unique,

 

I think that helps your business or your brand stand apart.

 

And so, that’s my whole mission

 

Is to help you stand apart from someone else

 

Allow you to be kind of in your own space

 

In that maybe same field.

 

For example, if I have real estate agents,

 

Or if I work

 

With restaurant owners,

 

Everything is pretty much done in a blueprint 

 

In those types of business.

 

The groundwork has been laid

 

And people do things a certain way to get to to another light.

 

Well, I like to think outside the box,

 

How can we differ from what’s been done before

 

To accomplish the same goal.

 

So being in that creative space with my clients,

 

It allows us to basically accomplish

 

The same goal as your competition,

 

But we’re doing it in a totally different way.

 

And it takes brainpower to come up

 

With different ways to accomplish the same goal

 

Because there’s more than one way to skin a cat, as you all know.

 

Richard Matthews 

Yeah, it sounds to me almost like

 

Your mission is to be an innovator for businesses, right?

 

Wherever you want to help you want to bring innovation to bear on

 

The problems that they face.

 

So, it takes a creativity to do that.

 

Creativity is a medium to deliver

 

That kind of a mission.

 

CT Thorn 

Right? I mean, if you want to think about something,

 

Think about a bottle of water.

 

We all drink the same bottle of water and it’s getting boring over time.

 

But if you add a splash of lemon or kiwi.

 

Yeah, see, there you go.

 

You know, you want to ge a little bit of something different to it.

 

And it would sell,

 

For I think, in that normal bottle of water.

 

And so we’re not doing things totally different.

 

We’re just adding elements

 

To accomplish maybe the same goal

 

The goal of you drinking that water is to hydrate

 

And to get that water in your body, well.

 

And that splash of lemon and kiwi is accomplishing

 

The same goal, its just a little bit different.

 

Richard Matthews 

Making it stand out a little bit on the store shelf.

 

And you can have you know, the plain water bottle and you got your water bottle that has lemon on it.

 

Yellow stands out.

 

CT Thorn 

Absolutely. I bring something different

 

To the table, basically. (chuckles)

 

Richard Matthews 

Bring in the lemons to the water.

 

That’s, fun.

 

So, let’s talk a little bit about your tool belt,

 

The heroes tool belt.

 

Maybe have a big magical hammer like Thor,

 

Or you have one of those fancy belt, like,

 

Tool belt that Batman’s got.

 

Or maybe you just really love how you can organize all of your thoughts

 

Or your social calendar on Evernote or in,

 

You said you mentioned social calendar. What are what are some of the tools that you use

 

To accomplish this innovation

 

In your clients businesses?

 

CT Thorn 

Well, I’m glad you brought up comic boook heroes

 

And I will say I’m a big Marvel fan.

 

So, I’m leaning more towards

 

Thor side than Batman. (chuckles)

 

I wish I had Thor’s hammer.

 

But anyway, so I use a Google Calendar

 

Has saved my life.

 

You mentioned Evernote, I use apps,

 

Like Box. Mostly cloud-based apps,

 

Where I can store it in a box.

 

And it’s out there, where I don’t have to store it at home.

 

Or if I gotta run to my laptop, if I got my mobile phone with me,

 

I utilize apps that are cloud storage based.

 

So that I can access information,

 

Basically like Tony Stark. If I want to

 

Do another Marvel comparison,

 

I want to be able to reach and grab at any time.

 

You know, if I need a bits and pieces of information.

 

I can quickly access them

 

through those cloud-based servers,

 

And pull down that content

 

or that tool

 

or that tasks that I have to accomplish at that moment.

 

So, any cloud based app

 

Out there I recommend.

 

Richard Matthews 

So, you mentioned a minute ago that Google Calendar saved your life.

 

And it’s interesting, because it’s been a recurring theme on this show

 

Is how calendars are important to entrepreneurs.

 

So I’m curious to hear your take

 

On how Google Calendar has saved your life.

 

CT Thorn 

Okay, so before, and I’m not a big writer,

 

But before,

 

I was writing text down on paper,

 

And trying to use, maybe like,

 

The reminders and the iOS devices,

 

Because I’m a big apple guy.

 

They send me reminders and everything.

 

But it just wasn’t as organized,

 

I would say for me,

 

And it wasn’t as interactive

 

As Google calendar is.

 

So once you plug in everything in Google Calendar,

 

 It kind of basically color codes

 

Your sections

 

And put things in time slots for you,

 

I can pull it up on my big screen,

 

I can pull up on my laptop,

 

I can basically see the outlook of my day.

 

And so that allows me to visually say,

 

“Okay, I got 20 minutes before this task

 

Has to either be completed

 

Or have to move to the next step, and where I can come back.”

 

But Google Calendar allows me

 

To put things in little boxes and slots.

 

Get them done within a nice time frame,

 

And move on to something else.

 

Richard Matthews 

And then you found that’s been — really instrumental in getting things done

 

Is actually having your day planned out.

 

So, you eventually like that?

 

CT Thorn 

Absolutely, I don’t know

 

How to function without having the calendar on a daily basis.

 

When I went to calendar structured days,

 

My life got a little bit more simpler.

 

But in the past, I didn’t take on as much

 

As I’m taking them now.

 

So without that structure, I’d lose my mind.

 

I’d have to have things in time slots,

 

I have to do them a certain way so that I don’t forget,

 

Or I don’t lose a client over

 

Not being able to produce things in a timely manner.

 

And so Google Calendar allows me

 

To structure my day in advance.

 

Follow to that schedule to a tee,

 

And not deviate from it.

 

And it helps sort my life out so much easier.

 

I don’t know how I function without it in the past.

 

Richard Matthews 

Yeah, it’s interesting too. You mentioned that after moving to a calendar,

 

And you’re able to get more accomplished.

 

You were able to increase your client base because your day had more structure

 

So that’s, it’s really powerful and an interesting thought that a calendar

 

Can be such a powerful tool in an entrepreneur’s tool belt.

 

So, I’m going to talk about – Last question,

 

We generally get into is your guiding principles.

 

So actually, this is – I missed one.

 

Let me go back up a little bit. It’s your own personal heroes.

 

So Frodo had Gandalf, Luke had Obi Wan, Robert Kiyosaki had Rich Dad,

 

Who are some of your heroes were they real life mentors?

 

Or are they authors or speakers where they peers who were just few years ahead?

 

And how important were they to what you’ve accomplished so far?

 

CT Thorn 

You see this big smile on my face, man.

 

Because my dad is my local hero.

 

That man is probably the most driven guy

 

I’ve ever met in my entire life,

 

Coming into this world.

 

My dad is a very hard worker from day one.

 

Even as a kid up until now.

 

I would say my national hero,

 

And the guy I follow when I’m in this creative space will be Gary V.

 

I love listening to Gary V content, man.

 

He’s just so–he’s so authentic,

 

Richard Matthews 

He’s on fire all the time.

 

CT Thorn 

Always on fire. He’s always got a burn in his belly.

 

And a lot of people out there that are influencers,

 

You don’t know if they’re being authentic or not.

 

Their path may not be, what they’re telling you,

 

That may not be their path, but you’re being —

 

Very relatable.

 

And he just gives you the cold, hard truth.

 

You know, and that’s what we need.

 

We don’t need feelers in this world.

 

I mean, we don’t need them want to hold our hands

 

And we need the truth.

 

And we need some type of structure.

 

And so my dad helped me create that structure,

 

Coming up as a kid.

 

And I would say following Gary V. over time,

 

There are some others out there, Daymond John.

 

In automotive sales,

 

I’ve looked into Grant Cardone and his content.

 

There are a lot of guys out there,

 

Lewis Howes.

 

There are a lot of influencers out there that I kind of listen to

 

To help keep me motivated.

 

And I take in their content now

 

Richard Matthews 

And how important have these heroes been to what you’ve accomplished, so far?

 

CT Thorn 

They’ve been instrumental.

 

There are times, you know, and I think this is with any person

 

That’s looking to build anything,

 

There are times when you just want to give up.

 

There are times when you just don’t feel like doing something.

 

And, and there are times

 

When you’re just in a spot where you think into myself,

 

Thinking to yourself, “Man, what am I doing?”

 

And motivation,

 

Can help heal all of those things.

 

We all need that little nugget.

 

To help turn that key,

 

And help get our motors going.

 

In the morning time is very important for me.

 

I get up in the morning,

 

I read over my big board and when I say my big board,

 

I look at my Outlook for the day.

 

Read Scripture.

 

And then I listen to some motivational content

 

Because we have to feed our brain with something.

 

And when we feed our brain with positivity, man,

 

That just kind of gets the energy going.

 

And so they’ve been very instrumental

 

in helping me

 

Basically, taking that content so that I can be a producer, as well.

 

Richard Matthews 

Absolutely, and it’s amazing how, especially when like –

 

You’re at a stage that you’re at

 

into —  and I remember being there as well,

 

When you still have that full time job.

 

And you also have the business that you’re trying to build.

 

It’s so easy to just want to-

 

When something gets stressful or hard to be like

 

I don’t have to do this.

 

My rent’s taken cared of by my job for good,

 

I don’t have like,

 

You have to actually create the driving force.

 

Because the finances are not going to get taken cared of

 

For that month if you don’t do it.

 

So you have to build that.

 

CT Thorn 

Right, I’m looking at it like turning on tiny faucets

 

And letting them drip, while your main faucet is currently flowing

 

and running properly.

 

I just let them kind of drip into the bowl.

 

Richard Matthews 

That’s a good metaphor.

 

CT Thorn 

My main faucet

 

Keeps everything afloat,

 

and ___ to use fun,

 

And then I turned on my tiny faucets to help keep that tub full.

 

All these little things, I can turn them off wrong.

 

Depending on which one I want to do.

 

That’s my choice.

 

But remain positive, it has to keep running.

 

It helps support the tiny

 

And subtle upgrade for those of us.

 

Or for those that are out there that’s listening, and have a full time job.

 

If you’re still wondering if you need to do anything, find ways to make them all work together.

 

You’re the big cog.

 

You’re the CEO of yourself.

 

You’re that brand, make it all work for you.

 

There’s no blueprint

 

On how you want to produce things.

 

Make it make it your own.

 

So I had to give anybody out there advice I’d say,

 

Take it all in.

 

Use your main faucet to basically keep everything afloat,

 

And turn your little faucets on and off

 

Depends on how you want to exit.

 

Richard Matthews 

Yeah, makes a lot of sense.

 

A good way to think about it, too.

 

So this is the last question, we go skip back to it now.

 

So your guiding principles,

 

What are the top one or two principles or actions that you use every day

 

That contribute to the success and influence you’ve enjoyed in your business?

 

The ones maybe you wish you knew when you first started out on this hero’s journey?

 

CT Thorn 

Well, there are so many.

 

 There’s so many things that I’m currently learning along the way,

 

I do appreciate the journey, though.

 

You know, this process of doing everything

 

As a solo show.

 

Building from scratch, I take pride in that.

 

Because once I achieve

 

ultimate success, whatever that may be,

 

I’ll feel appreciative in knowing

 

That I scratched and clawed.

 

I built it from the ground up, I laid my foundation, and I had my counsel break.

 

I take pride in knowing

 

That the path may be long,

 

But the little thing is I’m picking up along the way,

 

The people’s hands that I shake along the way,

 

At the end of the journey, wherever that path takes me 

 

I would have picked up a network back there.

 

I would have learned a nugget over here.

 

There’s a lot of things that we pick up along the way.

 

So we put them in our bag, and we keep on trucking.

 

And so I take pride,

 

And I really appreciate the journey that I am on.

 

I think

 

It’s teaching me to be

 

A better person in life.

 

Richard Matthews 

So if we were to basically give that a name,

 

It would be “Learning to Enjoy the Journey.”

 

“Learning to Enjoy the Journey.”

 

It’s sort of like the guiding principles.

 

Everyday comes at you and just realize that we live in today.

 

There is no such thing as tomorrow.

 

And so it’s a word we use to describe a framework for us passing through now

 

And learning to appreciate being here in the moment, wherever that is in your business.

 

CT Thorn 

Absolutely. So if we want to look at it metaphorically,

 

Look at it like dropping a nice, cool,

 

Convertible Camaro down the road.

 

And you’re headed to a destination

 

And you’re throwing all these little trinkets in the car.

 

And when you get to the end of your destination, you can unload your trunk,

 

And you got all these nice prizes and everything.

 

And take them up to your castle now,

 

Because you’ve earned it.

 

Richard Matthews 

Makes sense. So last thing I need to do on the show every time

 

Is something I call the heroes challenge.

 

Heroes challenge is pretty simple.

 

And it’s –Do you have someone in your network

 

That you think has a cool story

 

For their story of entrepreneurship?

 

Who are they and why do you think they should come on this show?

 

CT Thorn 

Well–

 

I have several people

 

In my network right now,

 

Friends that I’ve known ever since college.

 

Current clients right now.

 

I could name a few.

 

Richard Matthews 

Just one. One you think whose got a cool story.

 

CT Thorn 

Well, I can’t be very sure that they’re okay with me announcing their name on the podcast,

 

But I’ll just say-

 

Richard Matthews 

So just do a first name.

 

CT Thorn 

Okay, her name is Lauren.

 

She’s very driven, outspoken.

 

She’s a go-getter like I am.

 

She’s very business-minded and I think

 

She’d love to come on the show.

 

Richard Matthews 

Awesome. Cool. Well, I’ll have my my my team reached out to you afterwards,

 

And we can connect on that.

 

Anyways, thank you so much for being on the show.

 

My last real question is basically

 

Where can people go to find you?

 

If they want to work with you for either your social media, your graphic design work?

 

And what’s the ideal type of client to reach out to you

 

If someone is going to reach out?

 

CT Thorn 

Okay, great. So you guys can email me at

 

ctmarketingagency@gmail.com

 

Guys need assistance with social media?

 

If you guys would like to listen to the podcast

 

It’s HearMeOut podcast on Apple podcast,

 

Spotify, Google podcast.

 

You guys can follow me in Instagram at HearMeOut podcast.

 

You guys can also follow my personal Instagram at chevyguyct.

 

Exactly how it sounds chevyguyct.

 

I’m also on Twitter on that same name,

 

Snapchat and Facebook.

 

So I have multiple ways, you guys,

 

To follow me

 

And reach out to me and send me an email and chat.

 

Richard Matthews 

Yeah, so who would be an ideal client to reach out?

 

CT Thorn 

Alright, so an ideal client for me would be someone

 

That’s just getting started.

 

That’s looking for – looking to build their brand.

 

They don’t really know where to start.

 

This my ideal client, I want to take you from the baby stage.

 

You have to walk —

 

Richard Matthews 

Awesome. Makes a lot of sense.

 

So you can reach out

 

To CT.

 

On I would imagine probably Instagram

 

Would be one of the fastest ways to get a hold of you.

 

So is that a chevyguyct on Instagram

 

CT Thorn 

Yeah, only Instagram at chevyguyct,

 

C-H-E-V-Y-G-U-Y-C-T

 

On Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter – those. Same name.

 

Richard Matthews 

 Nice.

 

CT Thorn 

So you guys can reach out to me in four ways.

 

Richard Matthews 

So if you’re listening to this show, and you’re just getting started

 

And you’re with your business, you’re running a small,

 

A small service-based business, I’m like that and you really want to get your social media

 

Off the ground.

 

Sounds like a CT here knows a thing or two

 

About getting brands off the ground with that.

 

So definitely take the time to reach out to him.

 

Again, thank you so much for hopping on.

 

We really appreciate having you on the show.

 

CT Thorn

No problem and it was an honor.