The Journey of a Swiss Army Knife Skillset - 232 Creative

What does it really take to build an agency from scratch and keep it going for over a decade? In this episode, Ryan Stets of 232 Creative shares the unfiltered journey of evolving from freelancer to agency owner, navigating uncertainty, and adapting to constant industry change. You’ll walk away with practical insight on resilience, decision-making, and what it takes to grow without losing direction. 

Key Takeaways

• How handling rejection, client loss, and setbacks shapes stronger decision-making 
•  The hidden reality of agency ownership beyond the creative work (operations, HR, finances) 
•  Why staying adaptable, especially with shifts like AI, is critical to staying relevant 
•  How environment and early influences can shape your approach to entrepreneurship

Transcript

232 Creative

Russel 0:01

Welcome to An Agency Story podcast where owners and experts share the real journey, the early struggles, the breakthrough moments, and everything in between. I'm your host Russel Dubree, former eight figure agency owner, turned Business coach. Sold my agency and now helps agency leaders create their ideal business. Every agency has a story, and this is your front row seat. This is an agency story. Welcome to the show today, everyone. I have Ryan Stets with 232 Creative with us here today. Thank you so much for joining the show today, Ryan.

Ryan 0:39

Yeah, thanks for having me, and glad we could make this work. I know that we've. Tried a few other times and I was, I was sick, but here we are.

Russel 0:46

Yes. What's the third time's the charm here and, and getting this scheduled and done. And yeah, happy to be here today and looking forward to a great conversation. If you don't mind, just start us off right outta the gate. Tell us what 232 Creative does and who you do it for.

Ryan 0:59

Yeah, sure. We're, uh, creative and marketing. See in Pittsburgh, we do everything from branding, advertising, marketing strategy, social media management, graphic design, email marketing, videography, website design and development. So basically, if you need it, we can do it. We like to consider ourselves like that one stop shop here.

Russel 1:20

Well, we'll certainly figure out how you handle and juggle all the things marketing. But before we get there, let's, I'd love to talk a little bit more about your background. It's pretty unique and interesting background, but if you don't mind, tell us about Young Ryan. What was he doing? How was he coming up in the world?

Ryan 1:37

Yeah. Um, so young Ryan, he graduated, uh, from Pitt Greensburg. Recruited to play basketball there, played soccer, got a psychology degree. And once I left, uh, or graduated, didn't know exactly where my path was gonna go, knew I was artsy, uh, always said very artsy. So ended up gonna the of Pittsburgh, for graphic. Once I, left the Art Institute, I started doing freelance graphic design work and the goal was always to be my own boss, um, be an entrepreneur and start my own thing. And it took a while till 2 32 was. Finally, you know, the dream. I did some, uh, graphic design work along the way. Picked up a lot of other skill sets, video photography, video editing, website development, because knew that as a graphic designer, that's one thing. But then, you know, what else can I provide to, to clients, customers, and like those. About a little over 10 years ago started with.

Russel 2:51

Okay. So many questions there. Lemme just start with the one of you. You said all these skills that you're picking up. Was those more born out of the, you were selling something that you needed to learn how to do, or was it a creative curiosity and then you happened to apply it to clients here and there were needed.

Ryan 3:08

It was the journey that I took that led me to all of those skill sets, doing the graphic design work. I eventually ended up getting involved with a, documentary and doing graphic design work and being in the art department for that. And in doing that, being on set and pre-production and all that stuff fell in love with the video aspect of things. So that. Interested in. And even when I was at the Art Institute, I bought a camera knowing that when I got out I was gonna try, to do my own thing. And I knew that, having that, that arc background benefit. Because back then we didn't have all this AI being able to generate whatever image we wanted to. We literally had to take the photos so. That's where the photography came into a big outdoor guy too. So, so always taking pictures of nature and waterfalls and things like that. But, and then the website that kind of formed from the one lady that I was working with on the documentary, we kind got this side hustle going of developing websites. I wasn't developing at the time, I was just designing. But then once I realized how much money could be made in. Started learning, develop, and then 2 32 started, we needed to, to generate more revenue and, and websites was one of those things. So started to get into it a little bit more and, and then 10 years later, you know, developed I countless websites even.

Russel 4:44

Yeah,

Ryan 4:45

we even give a, yet

Russel 4:46

everybody needs a website. I'm curious too, go back even a little bit further that and your sharing of obviously a great sports career psychology degree. What happened or didn't happen between graduation psychology degree to then say, you know what? I'm gonna go do this art thing. How did that come about?

Ryan 5:03

Yeah, it was a, a summer job that I had at a place called Homes Build Hope. Basically just it helped people out with, housing Section eight and things like that. And basically when anybody would leave the property, I would go in, fix it up or in the maintenance part basically I was painting, I was doing all sorts of that maintenance work. And I was thinking about going into sports psychology. So it was researching. Are good for that, what programs I could get into. But it was just like one of those things that I'm like, you know, I know what I. NBA or MLB franchise or something big like that. But, that always isn't, gonna be the case. I can't even remember. I think I was sitting on my couch in my apartment at the time in the summer and commercial for the Art Institute came on and I was like, Hmm. Like I had, I had actually at the time had a friend, her name was Gita. She did this, basically the same thing. She went to Pit, got an English degree, and then went to the art institute for a graphic design degree. And I was like, I wonder how she's doing. And then contacted her and I was like, what'd you think of the artist? She's like, it was incredible. Like, I, I'm so glad I did it. And that kind, yeah, that spiraled into to go a visit with my, my family, with my parents, and, uh, eventually enrolling the associate. Yeah.

Russel 6:33

So they didn't give you too much grief about going after two degrees?

Ryan 6:36

No. I'll say my dad did it. My dad, he worked, uh, for a printing company, so he was all for it because, printing and graphic design kind go hand in hand. So he kind of industry, and knew the need and everything like that Now. My mom, on the other hand, she was a little less enthusiastic about me gonna the art Institute only because of the cost. The loans from Pit Greensburg and then let's just say that Art Institute wasn't exactly cheap you pay for what you get. They had, everything that you would need, everything like that. But she was. Like I said. She got, she was fine with it once I started doing it and realized how much, I loved it and everything like that, but initially she was just concerned about how much I would be paying for the rest of my life.

Russel 7:29

Well, if, if mom is listening it, it's worked out and so that, that pain is in the past. And then, if I understand right, there's no more Art Institute anywhere now. Is that correct?

Ryan 7:39

I know there's no, there's not one in Pittsburgh anymore. I, but I do believe, yeah, they went bankrupt and business. Shady things from basically what I've seen in the news and everything like that. But I'll say that my time there was great. I cherish it and learned so much. And that was one of the benefits of me going there at the time that I did, is I had already gone through four and a half years, at Pick Greensburg. So when I left and when I went to the art institute, it was like, okay. I got the college experience outta the way, now I'm gonna focus and this is gonna be my career, so this is what I have to learn. And I, I went, head first into it and'cause I was in a class with a lot of. They, I don't think the artists who called us freshmen or anything like that, but like first year or whatever. But um, yeah, they were all young and skipping class. You skip class. The artists, like you had like sometimes like one class. Every week for four hours. So if you miss it, like it's not like, your typical scenario where you have like three times a week or anything like that. So, but like I said, I enjoyed it.

Russel 8:52

That explains a lot actually. We used to do a lot of work with the Art Institute here in Dallas, uh, for recruiting and we go to the portfolio shows and, interact with all the students and stuff and great, great hiring source for us. Now, now that makes a little more sense. There were definitely, a handful of folks in every portfolio show that just, amazing portfolios really with it. And then there were some folks like, what, what you, what have you been doing for, uh, this last four years? You might need round two. But that makes a lot of sense. And sounds like any other typical college anywhere, it sounds like you spent a, a fair amount of time. And freelance. I don't know if you've shared, what was the catalyst for saying, I wanna make this something more serious, bigger than just myself. What inspired that?

Ryan 9:31

You know, the dream was always to start my own agency or create one and, um. The freelance was that, I guess that learning period and along the road, like I ask people and when you're in your late twenties and you know you have a steady paycheck coming in, a lot of people aren't, take the risk of losing all that to go and do. It is a guarantee. I had built up like a nice little, clientele in the freelance world that, could possibly come over to that. But, a lot of people weren't willing to make the, but that was, like I said, that was always the goal. And that's why along the road of doing freelance that I, I picked up so many skill sets because I was like, this is only gonna benefit in the long run, whether it ends up just for the rest of them. Bigger picture. You know, the end goal that I'm trying to, I think one of the biggest that I did have a, a fulltime career, a fulltime position at an engineering firm doing graphic design, um, and marketing. Apartment. And

Russel 10:38

while you're doing all this freelance work

Ryan 10:39

that's how it actually started was, oddly enough, the girl that I was talking about who went to the Art Institute, Gita, um, she was pregnant and she was gonna be on maternity leave, and she's like, Hey, I'm gonna be out for three to four months, and they're looking for someone to step in. You're doing. It was originally, it was like I was just part-time, contractor working there. But then, it wasn't, I definitely wasn't the taste of the corporate world that made me go fulltime because they did ask, came back to go fulltime and I accepted it was steady paycheck and the health benefits. but in being in that corporate world, literally sitting in a cubicle. Doing, the grind, wearing a shirt and tie, I'm not a shirt tie, slacks kind of guy. It just fueled the fire. And I mean, to Be honest, like they actually let go. They, they were going through some financial troubles. A lot of people were laid off being one of them, and that was the spark that started 2 32 because I was unemployed at the time, still doing freelance, but it wasn't. It wasn't bringing in the amount of money that I needed or was used to at that point of my life after having a full-time career. So that's when the drinks started flowing and Mike and I had a conversation at a happy hour and was created.

Russel 12:01

So enough pain and then Yeah. Maybe the a little alcohol catalyst, yes. To, to get you over the hump here and. So partner right out of the gate. Um, how similar or how different were you guys? How did, how did, just even going back to the very beginning, how would, how'd you guys decide to sort of split up your business roles?

Ryan 12:19

We say that we're a marketing and creative agency. The creative aspect is kind of where I was sitting now. I obviously had a lot of, had the classes from the art. That's thing. Just teach you about, the aesthetics and the art and creative aspect of things they bought, taught you about the business. And that's, one thing that I took away, was thinking not just about how this is going to look good, but what the goal is of the piece and how it's gonna benefit it. And how to market things for, visually. But yeah, I was the creatives, the website side of things, and he had a PR degree and big communications and things like that. So he was handling, I also had some sales training and a previous, uh, position, so that was kind of his side of things. And we do have different personalities. Not complete yin and yang, but I think it helped. I was a little bit less, uh, conservative. I guess he's kind the back sometimes because I have high expectations or goals or anything like that. But, um, we make it work and obviously for 10 years.

Russel 13:37

Well, yeah, clearly I've had to figure out some things. I mean, when you just think about that dynamic, a lot of times what comes up in a conversation with partnerships is, for all intents and purposes it's like a marriage just without, the intimate side of marriage. But you've gotta learn to communicate. You've gotta learn to solve difficult challenges. At some point you have kids that are your clients and or your team. Yeah. So what has been the key? To keeping the marriage strong 10 years into this?

Ryan 14:05

Ah, man, that's a good question. I think ultimately just, you get to a certain point in the business that it does become, like you said, like a marriage, repetitive I guess in a sense. You know what I mean? Like, every day can be the same. I think the one thing that keeps us going in a sense is, is the different clients that we have brought on. Like we don't have, like, we only work with this type company anything like that, like. If you know your morals in, there's no issues we'll take you on as a client. So I think having that, that we don't have necessarily, a lane keeps us in a good mindset together because we're always trying to learn something new, I guess, about the business and about each other and everything like that. So I think that's a good. A good part of the relationship is always, always having that, that new thing to learn and to go through together. So

Russel 15:09

keep keeping you on your toes and, yeah, doesn't sound like you're referring them to the old ball and chain yet, so that's always a good, good sign. I guess when you think about the business today versus when you started, how much has it evolved or not evolved? Like what is, what is the, how different does it look today than, than when you first started, other than just your normal stuff like size and stuff like that?

Ryan 15:30

Yeah, both have ultimately changed. I mean, obviously after, 10 years isn't. A, a super long time, but there's

Russel 15:38

a lot of, a lot of, there's a lot. Just to be fair, there's been a lot happening in the last 10 years.

Ryan 15:42

Oh, yeah. It doesn't seem like a long time, but it like to go back and look at even some of the work that we did, like we have a YouTube channel and we originally, like YouTube was like blowing up and things like that with businesses trying to use it as a marketing tool We tried and, or did. To go back and look at those videos and be like, oh my God, what were we thinking What were we doing? Like, I feel like deleting is the best option right now. but yeah, I mean from a business standpoint, internally, like just the growth and the knowledge that we have gone through in 10 years. It's professional now, and we might not be able to go up against, some businesses just, because of, maybe financial reasons or staff and everything like that. But I would hold us to, a high standard. But even just the industry alone, everyone knows AI and what it's doing to the, at least specifically the creative industry. It's scary and at the same time. It's exciting because, we have all these new tools, we have all this, new ways of generating anything really, whether that be video graphics and, photography and whatever it is. But at the same time, you get these clients that come and call and be like, yeah, we, we uset to design this logo. All we really need is to, for you to, just make this one change to it. And it's like, well, okay, so now you know, it's. People are starting to pick up that, all these this AI platforms can do some of the things that, of the services that we're providing to people. So it's scary, but you just have to embrace it and use it as a tool for yourself and your business to grow. But yeah, I mean, 10 years ago thought of just being able to type. Usable. It was not even a thought.

Russel 17:41

Well, certainly I'm not a creative by any means. It certainly enhanced my creative capabilities. You know, what I could do in Microsoft Paint back in the day.

Ryan 17:49

Right? Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

Russel 17:50

So, you know, people like myself appreciate the democratization of it, but I can see if I was really adept at that tool and overnight, little Johnny and his computer could do something similar risk,

Ryan 18:02

yeah, and that's the crazy part about it, is that like even the, the people that. Don't have that capability Or that mindset. now do in a sense you know what I mean? Because you can basically tell, All of these platforms of what you're looking for, it'll spit out. you can make the adjustments even though you're not a creative or, even writing, whether that be website content social mediations, or you don't have to be trained. You have someone who's trained, I guess, in a tech if you wanna get technical on how to do that, uh, for you.

Russel 18:38

Yeah, I still gave the best and it ever does is like a b. So, long Long way to go there for sure. But I think it does bring up an interesting. Conversation. I mean, I don't know how you follow broader trends in the agency slash marketing space, but certainly to say, right, there's a movement towards more specialization, whether that be industry or whether that be service or, or a combination thereof. You're going against the grain a little bit in your current approach. How. Intentional. Are you about that? That's your, your long-term future or just if you are, how are you looking in comparing yourself to that differentiation and trend? The other way.

Ryan 19:17

Being in some of the services that we have, there are a lot of trends, whether that be, obviously with social media, websites, that's another, big thing that, people might not realize that there are a lot of website trends. even obviously graphic design. There's a lot of things that, you know. When you look around advertising or whatever it might be, you're like, oh, everybody's doing this now. Like, and then it becomes a fad and then the next thing picks up. And you do, I mean, you have to figure out your own way there are a lot of trendy things in, in the creative realm and even in the marketing and, and all of that. So you do have to stay on top of it. It happens so fast sometimes, You know what I mean?

Russel 19:57

Yeah. It sounds like maybe you're in the blaze your own path.

Ryan 20:01

I try. And, and yes, while right now it might work, it might not be a good longtime strategy, but, um. Yeah, I mean, I, I try to, to be the, the black sheep I guess if you wanna call it, but it's like, okay, well here we go.

Russel 20:18

Yeah. Well, you know, that's one of the things, and I think it even influences how I approach the work I do, is. Ultimately, at the end of the day, there's many ways to go about running an agency business, and certainly some things make some parts easier than others and other parts less easier than others. But, what I've truly seen now, and especially through the podcast and many folks I've talked to is there's many ways you can go about this. Ultimately, I say the net sort of measuring stick. Is, is it helping you create the life you want? So I guess I'd post That question too, if it's not too close to home, just to say, you know, is the work you're doing and how you're showing up in the world leading to the life you want?

Ryan 21:01

Uh, hopefully after 10 years, I will say that that what I had envisioned back starting this, and even before that, the end goal wasn't necessarily where I'm at at the moment but there, there's still a lot of journey left because the one thing you know. That I didn't realize that I'd be doing in 10 years was like, so much administration, company work, taking, accounting and hr, having to, to handle the entire business outside of the things that I do like to do. But there are, I mean. There are times where a project comes across the table and it's like, yeah, this is why I'm doing this. And not only that, but the family.

Russel 21:51

Well, uh, that's so funny you brought up LeBron I mean, I mean, kudos to LeBron for staying in the game that long. I feel like his, his motivation, his passion was to do something. He really Right. It's the first ever, right. No one, no one has ever had a father, son,

Ryan 22:05

I don't think in the NBA.

Russel 22:06

You're a basketball guy. I mean, you might agree that, uh, I don't know that bro's, NBA caliber quite, uh, but it happened.

Ryan 22:13

Yes. I'll, I'll keep my judgment just in case LeBron is listening, um, to myself, but. They're exactly, they, I just feel maybe there could have, you know, could have been somewhat a little bit, uh, better for, for the, when he got drafted in Tim, but

Russel 22:30

may maybe

Ryan 22:31

to each thorough.

Russel 22:32

Yeah. Right, right. Yeah. It's a, it made for some good ticket sales, I'm sure.

Ryan 22:35

That's right.

Russel 22:35

Um, well, marketing. Yeah. You know, it's funny, it just makes me think of. You know, I think a lot of folks get frustrated with the timeline of where maybe they, when they set out, or just how long they feel like it should take to be where they want to be. And, uh, I use my story all the time to say one, there is no promise of time, but if you keep on going, you're, you'll get there one way or another. I even just used the part of my stories like, man, when, when we were at our worst, and I don't mean five, six years into it, like, we were just probably this close to just not, not being around the next day and then all of a sudden, right, 2, 3, 4, 5 years later we are, king of the hill and not too long after that selling the agency. So it's really crazy how close, I always say that to just how close you could be without even realizing it sometimes is just the craziest part I feel like in this whole game period.

Ryan 23:25

Yeah, I mean there's definitely that the, the highs and lows. And sometimes the highs can be extremely high and then the lows can be extremely low because that is, I mean, there's a lot I feel that goes into, that rollercoaster ride, the economy, how, well, I mean, you're dealing with other people's, your business kind of relies on how well people's businesses are doing. When everyone's doing good, there's money to be made. Like COVID, everyone, you know, during that whole period, I mean, a lot of people were struggling, but I think it, not to go back six years, but it was probably a good thing for at least the marketing industry because then, at least us in general, everyone. How much their digital presence Was lacking and how much, how their website wasn't performing the way it needed to be, or their social media accounts weren't up to par with everyone else. So while, I don't wanna make money off of failing people, but at the same time it helped people realize that they needed to, to be more marketable and have the tools and. To get better. I mean, you're like, we had so many people reach out after that and be like, my social media, I need to, I need to have a social media presence I need to have a better website. it's we've been saying this before COVID, but now that everyone's online not going into stores or anything like that, the personal touch has gone that. Yeah, realize. The digital world could be a huge thing

Russel 25:00

Yeah. Yeah. That's something, it used to be right when I first started the podcast, we were talking so much about COVID and, and we were just a couple, two years removed off that. So that was before AI was coming about. That was really the hot topic on everyone's mind. But, it really was a fast glimpse of what you're saying. And I don't even realize how much I think in the moment, back in my own journey.'cause we had our agency back in the oh eight. Crash Mm-hmm. Um, but how much it coals the field. Right. And, and there's the, the kind of really the survival of the fittest. Those that, that did make it through. Obviously went on to do other things, but those that did sort of got to better reap the rewards afterwards that there were just fewer competition and, times are changing and economics are coming back. But all that, to your point, the, the 20 22, 20 23 were certainly the roaring 20 of our generation, in the agency space. And, we'll continue to see how that. Goes in the future, but mm-hmm. Keep on chugging, maybe just the, the name of the game of that, that conversation thread.

Ryan 25:56

Yeah. Yeah,

Russel 25:57

sure.

Ryan 25:57

Um,

Merging Skills

Russel 25:58

I want to get to this idea, right? You're, you're clearly a Swiss army knife of, of skills in multiple ways, especially, we talk about those in the sense of hard skills, but I'm really more just curious back your, your early days of the skills you're acquiring, right? When you think about your sports career and when you think about psychology degree, how much of that do you feel like. Influence your approach within the agency today?

Ryan 26:21

Yeah. And I think it definitely is a big part of it. I mean, at least starting with the sports aspect of things, being able to perform under pressure and deadlines, when that that clock is taking down and you need to win, being able to keep calm and cool. I think definitely came from the sports side of things and, I think another thing is is not listening to whatever it might be, negativity, whether that be from, a large part of what we do is doing things for our clients and then, we have to deal with their audience or their customers or and their clients. So, in the social media world, put something out it's being able to or even, you know. The hard part, when you get dropped by a client, when a client doesn't think you're performing well for them, or they're going gonna go in a different direction, is to not, you took a loss you took a nail, is to move on. Forget that game, forget that play whatever, forget that client and move on because they're now in the past. then you need to move forward. Uh, yeah, the psychology thing, the, I mean, there's for sure a, a big portion of, um, what I learned, you know, and, and that education put into the marketing side of things because understanding how people think and how people, you know, work. Benefits. There's, there's, there's a big correlation, at least in my opinion, of, you know, I mean, there's a lot of marketing and creative. The goal is to spark emotion or spark someone to do something, to get them to purchase something or, or buy a service or whatever it might be. And understanding the way. The graphic, sorry, the psychology aspect of, of my life was, was not just a waste of a waste of time and, and money. Um, I think it was very beneficial in where I'm now.

Russel 28:30

That's great. That was very hope. If your mom's still listening, that, uh, hopefully

Ryan 28:33

that's for you, mom.

A Family of Entrepreneurs

Russel 28:34

Yep. There we go. Um, all money well spent to where you're at today. Yeah. That's such a, I love going, the psychology bite. Be more expected, you might say, and, and makes a sense at face value. But I thought that was really interesting what you shared about the sports side of, and even thinking my own sports career of how much you have to shut out the noise if you're gonna perform at any sense of a high level. And then, yeah, taking the ls, there's no shortage of LS in entrepreneurship and client work and, and everything like that. So what can you learn from and how can you move on is certainly important key. That's a really great takeaway. One other kind of curiosity about your past is, I lightly remember, you kind of grew up in a entrepreneurial setting, uh, which I just was, was just thought it was just a pretty cool story. If you don't mind sharing that and if, if that has any influence on where you're at today.

Ryan 29:24

Yeah, that's a major part of, of where I am. So basically, you know, growing up, I grew up in a small town just north of Pittsburgh, here, Pennsylvania. Went to a Catholic school, graduated with 39 kids. But in that setting, like my, I learned from both my parents and um, even my grandma, about the being an entrepreneur, my grandma, we lived in. Dub boys on a place called Polish Hill. It's where all the Polish people lived in, in the growing up. And she had a, uh, beauty salon in the basement of her house. Literally you walk down there and all the old ladies were, were sitting around talking, but she was the, the salon rock hill. So she had her own thing going on outside of her normal job, which I found out, at that point when I was young, she was. She was done, but she, worked at a glass plant. Cars work is obviously accessible and she had to walk and, I think, half an hour to get to, to work and then back and being in the north. It's cold. So you know her dedication to not only, you know her job, but then having another career and doing her own thing. Even though it was just for a handful of ladies on Coal Rock Hills, seeing that growing up was inspirational. And then, my dad was a salesman for a printing company. My mom was the city treasurer of New Boys pretty much when I was, growing up. The entire time. But then they started their own little side business, actually two side businesses. They had, I think growing up. Landlord has an income, but then probably right when I gotta college, they started their own wedding decorating business. My dad was still doing, being a salesman, but a little less. But they started a, a wedding decorating business that they made very profitable in dubois. And that was, being from a small town, there's not a whole lot of competition. They did very well, and you know it. My, they were my first client almost in a sense. I helped them design their logo, their social media accounts, their websites and things like that. But yeah, my parents, being, the entrepreneurs, my grandma being an entrepreneur, it was just like I, I grew up seeing people do their own thing and work hard and wasn't necessarily. Dedication that they put into, growing those businesses. Brought up and made successful. I witnessed all of that and that was that was a goal of mine. Like, everyone else in my family tree is being entrepreneurs. So why don't I,

Born or Made?

Russel 32:28

oh, that, that's really cool. I mean, I always love a legacy story there. And maybe someday we'll have, Ryan Junior on here talking about, your imprint on his entrepreneurial journey. Sure. And, maybe he's talking to Russell Jr. Yeah. Um, very cool. Well, I, I think it's a great segue to my last big question for you is, mm-hmm. Are entrepreneurs born or are they made.

Ryan 32:49

Both, I've always been, called poem, product of my environment, and I think that that bodes for what I just told you, you know, I was a product of, of both my, my grandma's entrepreneurial spirit and my parents' entrepreneurial spirit. But not only that, their hard work and dedication and, and how they, they were always the buyers, do it yourself was basically like. What I saw growing up. They're born, I was born into that, that kind of lifestyle with, with them. But at the same time, you need to make it your own and not everybody who is born and has the skillsets and is, is. You know, has that God-given talent uses it. It needs to be, and in my case made too is like I said, because I was just graphic design, but then here comes all these other things that weren't just natural to me. The art was always natural, but. All these other things, had to be made and had to be perfected and learned and still learning, and it's not like I'm done, I'm still still learning to, to better myself and everything like that. So I, I think it's a little. I think it's a little above.

Russel 34:00

Yeah. Fair, fair, fair answer. And truth be told, data says, most folks land somewhere in that genre. And so I, I think that's a great take and if there's a right answer that sounds right to me. But that's what I love about it. There's no one, one def facto answer that question. Well, if people wanna know more about 2 32 creative, where can they go?

Ryan 34:21

Yeah, obviously website, three creative com. Basically the website's gonna have all the links to everything else, Instagram is at 30 Creative. We got a YouTube channel that has, as I mentioned, some really old work on there that you can. Scan over and, and, but a lot of good stuff too, uh, from clients. But yeah, the website, 2 32 creative com,

Russel 34:46

edit to YouTube now. Need to check out that old stuff, but you sound, very, you know, humble about your path and your journey. If we can't laugh at ourself and what we were doing exactly. It makes our, makes us cringe a little bit to where we're at today. It shows you've progressed, shows you're, doing good work in the world, and that's always exciting to see. And on top of that, really just appreciate you taking the time to share your journey, your story today, Ryan. From the importance of blazing your own trail and taking the LS and drowning everything out as well as. Just how we're influenced on this journey and all the different tools we can bring to the trade to show up as our best self. Really appreciate you inspiring us and taking the time to share your story today.

Ryan 35:25

Yeah, appreciate you having me on.

Russel 35:27

Awesome. Thank you for listening to an agency story podcast where every story helps you write your own, subscribe, share, and join us again for more real stories, lessons learned, and breakthroughs ahead. What's next? You'll want to visit an agency story.com/podcast and follow us on Instagram at an agency story for the latest updates.

Ryan 35:51

Oddly enough, 2 32 wasn't a. Our first office and every apple was born in a garage and all these other, small companies were born in these weird places. Literally were in a, was a janitor. It was definitely a closet. There was a cowork space that we was our first office and, all we could afford was this little. Eight feet by eight feet, and it used to be a closet. It was in this building. It was barely could fit two desks in it. Anytime Mike and I had to go to the bathroom, we had to ask, move outta the way. But it was funny just looking, looking back on that, that you. You know, I have all these big companies that started in, in random weird places. And we can say we started in the closet,

Russel 36:48

the, the literal closet. I love that. It reminds me of my own story of, me and my business partner started in a bedroom. It is a really small bedroom and the size of our desk chairs, we couldn't sit, square to our desk, so we kinda had to sit in an anchor. And I, over time I got like this just. Kink in my side just because I was constantly hunched over sideways. And, so yeah, speaking of, yeah. Fond memories.

37:10

Yeah.

Ryan 37:11

Well that's the little closet that we were in, had an air vent that was very powerful. Um, and in the, we basically, at one point it would just, it was right above me. And it would just the, when the ac when it was hot out, it would literally just blow right on me and I'd be like, it would be 90 degrees outside, but I would be like freezing cold. Like you'd have to wear like a sweatshirt to work and, gotta the point where I think we took a granola bar packaging and literally I had, I taped it onto the vent so that it wouldn't blow his heart. But yeah. That's the the things you have to do as a startup, I guess,

Russel 37:47

paying your tuition and being MacGyver in the process.