Becoming the Visionary: Building Brands, Faith, and Legacy with Bryan Smeltzer

What does it take to build something that truly lasts? In this powerful episode, host Dionne Malush sits down with Bryan Smeltzer, the visionary strategist behind brands like Oakley, TaylorMade, Adidas, and K-Swiss. From his blue-collar beginnings to leading global business transformations, Brian shares how resilience, authenticity, and faith shaped his journey, and how those same values can ignite your own.

Together, they explore what it really means to stay passionate through burnout, lead with vision through adversity, and build brands rooted in authenticity and purpose. Brian’s story isn’t just about business success; it’s about staying grounded in faith, family, and the courage to keep seeing what others can’t.

If you’ve ever felt stuck, lost your spark, or wondered whether it’s too late to start again, this conversation will remind you: it’s never too late to become a visionary.

Connect with Bryan here:

Website: https://bryansmeltzer.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryansmeltzer/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bryansmeltzer33/

Chapters

• 0:00 Meet Brian Smeltzer
• 1:56 Blue-Collar Roots And Risk
• 3:45 Pivot From Aerospace To Apparel
• 6:40 What Makes A True Entrepreneur
• 8:54 Perseverance And Consistency
• 10:50 Visionary vs Manager
• 14:33 Lessons From Oakley And Jobs
• 17:13 Turning Failing Categories Around
• 21:10 Creativity Meets Engineering
• 23:30 Reigniting Passion And Avoiding Burnout
• 27:40 Switchback Leadership And Vision

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:02

What does it take to really become a visionary? Not just to talk about innovation, but to live it, build it, and teach it. Today's guest is Brian Smeltzer, and his career reads like a masterclass in creating impact across every level of business, from launching his own premium apparel brand to leading global strategy for powerhouse companies like Oakley, Tailormade, Adidas, and K-Swiss. Brian is the best-selling author of The Visionary Brand and the Visionary Leader, host of the top-ranked podcast The Visionary Chronicles, and the president of Liquid Mind, where he helps brands break through stagnation and launch into bold new futures. But what makes Brian different isn't just his track record, it's his blue-collar beginnings, his relentless mindset, and the way he teaches others how to actually build brands that last. This is a conversation about risk, reinvention, and staying visionary, no matter how many times the game changes. So, Brian, welcome. It's so nice to meet you, and I'm excited to have you on today.

SPEAKER_00: 0:55

Thanks, Deanna. I appreciate it. I look forward to it.

SPEAKER_02: 0:57

So I always like to start with this one question. Was one thing you want people to know about you that they may not expect?

SPEAKER_00: 1:03

Well, it's mainly my upbringing. I said I was in Southern Cal now, but I was actually born in North Dakota.

SPEAKER_01: 1:10

Nice.

SPEAKER_00: 1:10

Uh I always kid around. I always say it's a little bit like seeing somebody who's an Eskimo. Not a lot of people see people from North Dakota. So but my upbringing was was quite a bit different than where I'm at today. I was a very I was a very blue-collar upbringing. Which uh come back in the day I didn't so much appreciate until I got older. So it gave me a significant amount of independence as I grew older. And, you know, coming out to California, I really just had the clothes on my back. And I just kind of came out with a whim and had my engineering degree intact and said, well, let me just take a venture out to the West Coast and let's just see what happens. And that resilience really paid off for me.

SPEAKER_02: 1:47

I love that. And you've definitely helped some of the most iconic brands on the planet grow. But your story didn't start with boardrooms or billion-dollar logos, did it?

SPEAKER_00: 1:56

No, it was it was very much um when I started, uh, when I did come out to California, I started an aerospace of all places. People go, geez, aerospace, how did you start an aerospace? I I mentioned that because it's very interesting the transition I made in aerospace because I had an engineering degree in aerospace, but I quickly found out that I like talking to people. And I had a very creative mind. So an engineer um really wasn't my culture. And so um, in order to make a transition into consumer products, is where it really made a left turn for me. And I didn't have any experience in consumer products. So I tell this story because I work with a lot of entrepreneurs and they ask me all the time, well, geez, how do you get into consumer products? And I said, it starts with sewing buttons and and and and sewing sewing shirts. And and that's really what I did from the ground up was start from the ground up and learn things from the very beginning. I wasn't born with a golden spoon in my mouth, and I didn't anticipate that's how I'd be. I'm transitioning to consumer products, but I saw a vision, and the vision was that I wanted to be in consumer products, and I started my own company from scratch. And again, uh I I throw this out there, Dion, because I say people throw the world on the word entrepreneur out pretty loosely. And I'm more selective. Uh when I say entrepreneurs, it isn't starting with$20 million or making$25 million. It's starting with nothing. You're making something out of nothing. Yeah. And so for me, that's really what the what the experience was is that you have to be in an entrepreneur's shoes, understand what they're going through, and be able to provide advice to them. So I quickly found people that provided advice. Um, one of them was the former president of Quicksilver, Bob McKnight, who started with nothing. And to this day, he's still a friend of mine. So I really consider that to be an anchor for those out there looking to make a transition. Number one, it's not too late. Number two, you have to start from the ground up. And number three, you have to have a vision and you have to be very, very diligent in that vision to make it come to reality. So yeah, I didn't mine was a very interesting, it's a it's a very interesting transition that I made and everybody comments on it.

SPEAKER_02: 3:56

So yeah, it's pretty definitely interesting. And you just said something when you said it's not too late. So how old is too late?

SPEAKER_00: 4:03

I don't think it's ever too late. It's interesting. I get people and entrepreneurs that come to me, whether they're um 15 years old and they're 50 years old. It doesn't matter how old you are, it's a matter of how much perseverance you have. And I say consistency you have. And perseverance is is one thing. It's a principle that I set out in the book as well, the visionary leader. And the other thing is that I talk about consistency, is that being able to take step by step. You know, don't look at the mountain as a mountain, be able to leap over it. Take it step by step, and eventually you reach the top, but you have to take a step at a time. And people get frustrated, people get impatient. I get it. But if you want to establish a vision, it's going to take you a long time to achieve it. And it's something that is not a fast process. If it is, you've easily taken shortcuts and eventually that catches up to you.

SPEAKER_02: 4:49

So you've been called a visionary strategist. What does that actually mean?

SPEAKER_00: 4:53

I really think it's it's a matter of understanding really what the principles are behind being a visionary. And when I wrote the book, The Visionary Brand, it was interesting because I had been with people uh with brands, actually iconic brands that people are very familiar with. You had mentioned a couple of them, Oakley and K-Swiss and Taylor Made and Adidas. And I found it interesting that from the inside out, it looks much different than the outside in. People have a perception of boy, they're such a visionary brand, and not all of them are visionary. And so when I was ingrained or I call it into my bloodlines, I was in a company. The very first one where I met a visionary was Jim Gennard, the founder of Oakley, um, who's truly a visionary. Because Jim again started out with I don't know if you're familiar with Oakley. Um, I was always curious with Oakley, just kind of a side note here, but I was always curious with Oakley. I go, how Jim, why'd you come up with that name? And he goes, actually, it was the name of my yellow lab dog.

SPEAKER_02: 5:42

Uh that's what it came from.

SPEAKER_00: 5:44

Yeah, that's Nikai. It came from the name of the name of his dog. I said, Well, it's such a strange name. And he goes, Yeah, it's just my dog's name.

SPEAKER_01: 5:50

So I just love that.

SPEAKER_00: 5:51

But Jim was a visionary. Jim started out selling moto grips on uh motorcycles and and and had an idea of where he wanted to take Oakley. And so I kind of started looking at what does it take to be uh a visionary? What are those principles that visionaries have and what makes them different? The bigger question, Dion, is you know, what makes them different? And I always say, what's the difference between a visionary and a manager? And visionaries are able to see the future and realize that future through other people and have enough humility to give credit to others along the way. And that builds a passionate team around you, one that's very dedicated. I use Steve Jobs quite a bit as an example in my books as to yes, he was tough, but at the end of the game, end of the day, and the the results that were part of what the team accomplished, nobody would trade it for anything. And so when you look at visionaries, number one, there's very few of them. I outlined 17 of them in the book, and they go back generations, all the way from Socrates to Jesus to all the way to Gandhi and Elon Musk today. And it's just generational. And 17, you think, well, that's four or five hundred years.

SPEAKER_01: 6:56

Yeah, that's many.

SPEAKER_00: 6:58

Um yeah, it's just, you know, not everybody has the principles I outline in the book. And the same thing with the visionary brand. I said the visionary brand, not a visionary brand, because there wasn't a visionary brand. Apple was close, but even with Apple, they didn't have all the principles of a visionary brand. Um, so so it's interesting, yeah. There's a lot of principles that visionary leaders have. And when I talk with people and I say, hey, what is a visionary leader and what type of advice do you give people to achieve that? I go, again, take it step by step and understand what the principles are and stay consistent with it.

SPEAKER_02: 7:29

That makes a lot of sense. And I know you've worked with a lot of big companies, right? We talked about Oakley, Adidas Casewis. Tell me about a time where you faced a massive adversity in a corporate role and then you had to lead through it.

SPEAKER_00: 7:40

Well, I, you know, I've had several. Um, I always called my career like a pirate. Um, I walked the flank many times in business development, and that's where my perseverance and and being an entrepreneur really came in handy and being an being an engineer because I had this combination of creativity with the technical background, which is very rare, and one that I found to be extremely useful in business development. And so the first was probably when I went to Taylor Made and Adidas, where they had a failure in a lot of product categories that they wanted to turn over to somebody that could build it again from something into nothing. Now, these were established brands, but people have to understand just because they're an established brand doesn't mean all categories of products are successful. In this case, they weren't. Um, so we took a base of product and it was an extremely challenging takeover of the categories. In this case, were soft goods and accessories for Taylor-made Adidas, and we had to turn them around fairly quickly. And we were able to do that and achieve success. You know, started out, and and again, I'm not saying that this is a small base of business, but you know, you start out with a$10 million base of business and you grow to about$60 million in three years. Um, you started out with a big challenge in the very beginning. And I pat not myself on the back, but the team I hired that was able to see the vision that we set for the brand and the company. And and and again, I say it's very challenging because if a brand or a company turns over product categories to you, it means that they've kind of given up. So they've given up both on on the category and they've given up on trying to support it. So you can imagine no support in trying to come into a new company and build something from nothing is very challenging.

SPEAKER_02: 9:21

It makes sense. And we always get to see the success side of it, right?

SPEAKER_00: 9:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 9:24

Don't see the other side, which you obviously have. And I I they can't never thought of it like that, where they just, you know, they're not working with it anymore. And then they hand it over to someone like you who sees something in it and takes it from 10 million to 60 million. Is that what you said?

SPEAKER_00: 9:39

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's uh it was it was a it was a fun ride, but there's a lot of scars and bruises along the way in order to achieve that. I can tell you there's a lot of uh a lot of a lot of band-aids along the way.

SPEAKER_02: 9:52

I was just talking about this today about having the left brain and the right brain. I feel that I have the creative and the technical. I'm not like an engineer, but I do love the technical side of things, which most creative don't, you know, there it's either one or the other. So I feel like I have a little bit of it. And I and I love that because it definitely makes us stand out in that in a crowded space because it's unique. So one thing, you know, as a business owner myself, and I have been for most of my adult life. I, you know, I had a real estate, I have a real estate company now. We have about 200 agents, 205, I think today. And then I had a graphic design agency before that. In the middle of it, I was a real estate agent, but that's you know, running your own thing. We get burned out, right? We play it safe. How do you keep your mindset sharp and your vision bold through burnout and like how do you do it? What is some tips that you could share with our audience?

SPEAKER_00: 10:37

Yeah, I kind of outline this in both books actually. It's interesting because people will will tell me, and I say one word they need to focus on is passion. And you have to have a passion around what you do. And and people will say, Well, I like my work. Well, do you like your work for three weeks or do you like your work for three years or three years? I mean, it's a matter of figuring out. And I go back to Steve Jobs. I, you know, he he Steve at the very end there just said that, hey, do something, don't waste your time with something you're not passionate about. And many times that I see with leadership and leaders that I talk with in the industry, where they get into a stage of what you would say, Dion, as as burnout, almost every instance is because they just lose passion. The fire in their belly is no longer there that they had in the beginning. Now, how do you reignite that is probably the bigger question. You know, I I like the industry that I'm in, I just don't have the passion anymore. How do I reignite it? Well, the reignition of that is done through visionary leaders, they can instill the passion back into their team and not only reinstill that back into their team, but also be humble enough to share the credit so it builds a passion and a loyalty and an authentication with them that they believe in long term. And when we were going through COVID, you know, it was interesting. Many people were saying, gee, we're gonna lose all kinds of good people. How are we gonna get more people to join our company, our brand? And I came out and said in many podcasts, I said, the brands that are authentic, the brands that have a team and a vision and have stuck to their principles are never gonna worry about people and great team leadership because they're always going to be able to define who they are, both short term and long term. So people want to be associated with those brands because of their longevity. There's a reason Nike's been around for generations, and that's what I talk about in the visionary brands is there's very few generational brands when you think about it. Exactly. Ones that have been around for generations, and they've been around for generations because they instill a vision. Number one, number two, they keep the passion burning inside the bellies of those that are part of the team, and they are passionate not only internally but externally. When you think about Nike, there's a passionate community and culture around Nike that is instilled and protected by their team internally, and so that is something that never changes, and it just is a long-term passion. So, you know, I always say just one word for me is passion. Either you have passion around what you're doing or you don't. Eventually it catches up to you, and that's burnout.

SPEAKER_02: 13:01

Yeah, I can tell that some days in in in this industry that I'm in because I I'm passionate about creativity, talking to other people, but I'm not so passionate about real estate, the vehicle. It's crazy. It's hard every day. Something different. Some of the things that I hear, like I hear happen in a real day. So let's talk about igniting that again. Like how you get burned out. It's been for me, it's been eight years owning the brokerage. And you know, you have eventually a lot, a lot of people like leave your company, even the people that you think and trust and they're part of your life, then you realize that they're here for a season, right? How does someone get it back? And is it possible? And is it worth it?

SPEAKER_00: 13:37

Well, I I would say again, I go, I go back to, you know, it's this, I I I kind of call it this. Um, you know, many times I use the term switch back leadership. And what what it means is that as you go through things like COVID, you go through things where you face barriers. And how do you work through those barriers? Do you stay authentic or do you take shortcuts? Do you change your principles that you based your company on, or do you stick with those principles? And how do you get it back? Is that you have this vision that's consistent and switchback leadership. What I mean by that is that some people lose their destination of where they eventually wanted to go and what their vision is in achieving that goal. And people get burnt out because they don't know where they're going. The leader doesn't have a clear vision. And you personally may not feel like I'm contributing. And as a result of that, you lose your passion for wanting to be part of this brand, team, service, product, whatever it may be, because you don't know where it's going. And more often than not, and you probably have seen it, Deion, is that that you'll talk to people, and I talk to leaders and team, you know, interesting because kind of an analogy is that I talk to leaders of brands all the time. But where I find the most intriguing answers is I talk to the team members. You know, are you are you passionate? Do you think your leader is authentic? Do you think they have a vision for the future? And if they have a vision, do they stick to it or they do they switch back and forth on it and and really not look to achieve and give you the tools and resources necessary to us to succeed? And those are things and questions that come down to the team level. If you see a lot of turnover, I can almost guarantee you that that's triggered from the top. And there's no passion there, there's no vision. And how you reignite that is that number one, you have a vision. Number two, you take steps towards achieving that vision, and you don't try to leap and take shortcuts to get there. That could be a vision that's a 10-year vision, a five-year vision, a three-year vision that consistently gets updated every year. And people and a visionary at the top will tell you, hey, Dion, this is where we were, this is where we're at today, and here's the next steps that we have. And here's your contribution to ensuring that we achieve that vision going forward. And you also had the humility to give people the leniency. And I and I say safe is risky. This is Seth Godin's quote, but it's very effective is that you know, you get into like what you were working in in graphic design, you get into product teams, you get into where there's a lot of creativity and there's a lot of risk involved with marketing, which I had marketing team, sales teams, product teams. And I always say the most frustrated designers on the planet are concept car designers because nothing ever leaves the bush. It's always it's it's you talk about they're the least passionate designers I've ever seen. And I go, Why are you guys always so down? And they go, Well, none of our designs ever make it to market unless you work for Lamborghini or Ferrari. So so it's really the step process. When people lose their passion, it usually comes from the top, number one, because there's not a clear vision and there's no authentication and building and and and succeeding and achieving that vision. The second thing is that there's a step process to achieving that vision that keeps people engaged to achieving that vision. And they also need to give credit and allow people to take risks. Failure, I say fail fast, succeed sooner. You know, that that's that's kind of the culture you need to be in in order to be passionate. So there's many industries where you just can't you can't get it back unless the leader is going to instill that in the team underneath them and consistently be able to do it. That's why there's so few visionaries.

SPEAKER_02: 17:16

Yeah, would and you know, I've never really heard anyone say it like you did that and and explain it that way. So thank you for doing that. I think that's gonna help a lot of people. So, what is the most common branding mistake you see companies making today?

SPEAKER_00: 17:28

Well, I I would say number one, and it and and and it kind of goes back to passion, but I would say another, I like using words because it just makes it simple for everybody is authentic. And the branding mistake that people make is that, and I'll use Oakley as an example because people, you know, respect the brand and they kind of gee, I wish I was in the four walls of these strategic meetings with a brand like Oakley. How do you guys keep that going? And a word that Jim would always use is we need to be authentic. And what it means is don't take shortcuts, don't be in a sales channel that you shouldn't be in. For example, if a brand has a product that's considered best in class, you can't be in a good level store distribution and expect people to respect the brand and say you're best in class, but then on the backside, you're selling to a retailer that's not best in class. So that's an authentic from a sales standpoint that branding loses its equity as a result of where the product is sold. That's number one. Number two is on the marketing side that you have to be anchored in who you are. And I'll use Patagonia as an example. Patagonia, Yvonne Shenard, when he positioned his brand, he was authentic. He never ever changed what was important to him. And that connected and resonated with not only the team, but people that purchased their products were proud to wear Patagonia. As much as the product was great, the messaging was even better. So I say authentic. These are just two examples of a product and a sales side where people aren't authentic. And the biggest mistake that I see with every single brand, and I caution them, is be authentic. And they always ask me that question. Well, what do you mean authentic? And I talk about where you're selling your product and what's your messaging? Are you saying one thing and doing another? I mean, it's a disconnect between what the visionary or the leader of the company says and what the brand actually does.

SPEAKER_02: 19:16

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And I call right now in our company for the last year or two, I've been really working hard to be that, to be authentic. And we're not having to recruit anymore. We're attracting people, right? Agents are attracted to us. They're calling us and saying, Hey, I I want to know more. In fact, today I was on a call this morning with an agent that's considering coming and she said, Every day I talk about you. And I said, What do you mean? Every day we talk about your posts that you share, your stories that you tell. And I I thought, oh my gosh, that's important, right? If they're out there talking about me in a good way, that's authenticity, somewhat, right? I think they need, and so at the beginning it was all about excitement. We were fired up, we disrupted the market, we came into Pittsburgh totally different than the same companies who've been there a hundred years, and we did something different. So the excitement was huge. That was a real easy way to get agents to join our company. And then it happened, right? Things shifted and the market shifted. And then the same thing you're all you're saying here. So then now I got back to just being real and who I am. And it's it's working. So I thank you. And everybody that's listening, I mean, you know way more than I do, Brian.

SPEAKER_00: 20:18

And it's like I'll say D my congrat, congratulations. And one of the big things that that I see out there are if you stay authentic and and people are gravitate towards your company and and you as a person, you know, without you being somebody that you you're not, you know, congratulations. That's that's a huge aspect of it because there's a lot of fakes out there. And eventually people are I always say, I always say, listen, people catch on. People are smart, they know when they come inside your company and they were drawn in because of a character that you're not, eventually they'll catch on. So hey, it's it's okay. And but but you need to be because it's a struggle every day for you as well if you're not authentic.

SPEAKER_02: 21:03

You're playing something that you're not, and it's yeah, sometimes you don't even remember it's like lying, right? You don't even remember what you said.

SPEAKER_00: 21:10

So yeah, that's like I always say, you what you see is what you get when you're dealing with me. I go, listen, whether we go out and have a beer or we're you or in an office with me, it's the same thing. I I don't I don't want to struggle with my personality. I said it's just it's just who we are.

SPEAKER_02: 21:24

I like that. Struggling with every personality. That's a professional. You definitely don't want to do that. That's that happened. No. So Rossi, a question about faith. What role has it played in your journey?

SPEAKER_00: 21:34

Faith has played a huge role. I I gave my life to to God when I was there. And and I just walked into the church and said, Hey, you know, I'd always been I had always been faith-driven my entire life because I had to be. But that took it to another level. And so I've just seen so many things in my life, Dion, that that I pray for. And not everything comes true, but I said, I always look back and I said, the things that don't are usually for the best. And when God gives me something, he fortunately, the the best thing in my life is he gave me my wife now of uh, I'm gonna say 30, 38 years. She is my high school prom date from North Dakota.

SPEAKER_01: 22:25

That's a long time.

SPEAKER_00: 22:26

Yeah, yeah. And so, so uh, you know, I was blessed to have her and she's still with me and still still loves me, which is which is huge. But I just think there's so many kids with two healthy children, a beautiful wife that's been with me for 38 years and high school prom date, and all the little things that you overlook in your life are all the result of not just your faith, but also the belief in how this came about. And it just doesn't happen by chance. And I actually put Jesus as a visionary in my book appropriately the last one as the most important one, the number 17. And so for me, that's important that people understand that. You know, I I'm not one that's uncomfortable talking about it. I don't understand why people are, but for me, my faith is is everything, and I wouldn't be where I was today without it.

SPEAKER_02: 23:15

I'm not sure how people get through parts of life without faith. And I don't know, you probably don't know this about me, but my husband had a liver transplant four months ago. And there's been so many, I call them God winks in my life. And when you sit down and you actually look at the things that have happened because of faith and because of God doing them, there's so many. And you know, and this is this is another one. Like we he found out we had to have a transplant. One of our friends said, I'm gonna do it. I know him a map, even though he didn't, but he did. And he, you know, he gave him his gave him 60% of his liver, and we are four months out. Wow. Doing good. It's been amazing. It's been harder than anything I've ever had to deal with outside of my dad dying. Like, there's been two really hard things in the last two years that have a lot of people like, I just don't know how you do it without faith. So thank you for sharing that. And I also, you know, yeah, I'm not afraid to talk about it either.

SPEAKER_00: 24:04

And yeah, what a bl what a blessing, by the way, that to have that. I mean, what a don't get it.

SPEAKER_02: 24:10

And and he didn't have to die for it to happen because I think that takes on another weight on the person that receives it. And someone passes. You know, they have they have that guilt inside where, you know, our friend, he's out there is thriving and doing great, and he gave up part of his body to save his life.

SPEAKER_00: 24:25

Yeah, well, yeah. And I'm sure, I'm sure he was happy to do it and and knows that every day it's a blessing that your husband's alive as a result of it.

SPEAKER_02: 24:33

For sure. And you know, I always I'm a firm believer in there's always something positive and every negative. And a friend of mine said recently that he looks forward to the bad times because he knows on the other side of it it's something so amazing. And the lessons that he learns from the bad time are so good that he can share with other people and he can help them be better. And so I I love that. And so I'm getting used to the bad times. I'm getting used to the struggles. It's been a lot, I can tell you throughout my whole life. But well, I didn't have that silver spoon anymore.

SPEAKER_00: 25:00

I I can tell you most a lot of people, and I talk to leaders on the face side as well as I go, there's a Bible verse for every every barrier you have in life to overcome. And so that that to me is the greatest book to be able to hear God's words and and and be able to open it up when you're in need. And I do it all the time. I I do it twice a day. So it's for me, it's a it's a habit, but it's one that that I enjoy doing every day.

SPEAKER_02: 25:25

I could talk to you for hours, but I know that we have that we have a time limit. But I have to ask you this one last question. Outside of Jesus, who would you say inspires you the most?

SPEAKER_00: 25:37

Yeah, I would say, you know, Jesus obviously uh is number one. Number, I mean, the the as far as a business leader, for me it was always Steve Jobs. You know, people will say, Well, he was controversial, but you know, there's a lot of pieces to Steve that you know what he went through, the trials, his upbringing, starting from nothing and and building something from nothing, and then kind of the reincarnation and then the reality at the end of his life. And so, but more importantly, just the legacy that he left behind and the inspiration that he left behind, but also the aspiration for others that you can do things that you thought were impossible. And I outlined many leaders, but Steve just stood out. Steve was number one in my book, and Jesus was the end.

SPEAKER_02: 26:21

So that's wild. That's cool. I can't wait. Honestly, I can't wait to read your book. I am today because it just sounds like it's exactly what I need. And what's next for you professionally, personally, what's next?

SPEAKER_00: 26:33

Well, I've got a master course out there on the visionary the my first book, actually, the visionary brand master course. And I've got a a a third book. I'm not jumping into it quite yet, but it's the visionary product. So I've got a triad, and then eventually it'll it'll lead to a master course becoming visionary. So with me, it's it's a few things. One is family number one, you know, along with God and person my life. And then with business, liquid mind, I'm very blessed to have brands that have been with me for a very long time. So that I'm I'm good with, but also being able to write the book, keeping the the podcast, the visionary chronicles, the visionary files is the master course, and then the books. So for me, you know, it's just a matter, Dion, of hey, you only got so many hours in a day. We do make room, make room for family god and and uh vacations, and and then everything else kind of falls in place.

SPEAKER_02: 27:30

Well, thank you so much for sharing that. And tell me about Liquid Mind, real quick before we jump off. Tell me about that.

SPEAKER_00: 27:35

Yeah, so so how it evolved just real quick is is um when I was with the brands, I was with Adidas, Taylor Maid, and Oakley. And one thing I was always frustrated with, because I was the head of marketing and product at each one of these brands and business development. And I always found these these so quote unquote marketing firms had a lot of book smarts, but didn't have a lot of brand smarts. And I was always frustrated by the ability for for I had a lot of plug and play opportunities. So when I left the last brand that I was with, which is an international brand out of out of Japan, I just said, boy, I just a real need out there for a brand strategy firm that's plug and play, but more importantly, has a team that's been with these global iconic brands and understand what it takes to build these brands, whether it be product, marketing, sales, international distribution, whatever it is, and not have to worry about the execution side of it and not disrupt the day-to-day of their team. And that's how how Liquid Mind evolved. And and that's what we work on today and and the brands we're with. Are many brands that I that I worked with in the past? I just said, I don't want to work for you, but I don't want to punch the W 2, but I'm happy to work with your team. So I said, No, I don't have any interest in being part of the brand anymore, but I said I'll I'll I'll certainly support your team and the leaders, and that's kind of how Liquid Mind evolved.

SPEAKER_02: 28:49

That's very cool.

SPEAKER_00: 28:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 28:50

So for our audience, if you're building something bold, if you're stuck between big ideas and real traction, or if you just need to hear that it's never too late to become a visionary, then go follow Brian today. So, Brian, how can they find you?

SPEAKER_00: 29:02

Well, um, the website, Liquid Mind Site, it's um liquidmindsit.com. And we have free sessions as well where where leaders reach out to me or anybody on our team if uh free meeting. And you can also reach out to me at BrianSmelzer.com and and also the Visionary Chronicles. And each one of those, I have the ability for people to reach out to me directly. And I'm more than happy to answer any questions people have free. There's nothing, there's no motive here. It's just a case of helping people and entrepreneurs out. I'm also on the board of UCLA Entrepreneur and Innovation Program and also UCI, where I volunteer my time and help entrepreneurs. So I'm happy to help wherever I can. And so that's how they can reach out to me. And there'll be my email address on there as well that they can email me directly.

SPEAKER_02: 29:51

Well, that's awesome. I appreciate you so much for being here with me today, all the way from California to Pittsburgh. So thank you, and it's been a pleasure. It's been like smiling the whole time. time taking notes myself because there's so many things that you said that are very important to me and where I am in my life. So thank you, Brian.

SPEAKER_00: 30:07

Well thanks so much, Deion. I really appreciate it. It was great to be with you today.

SPEAKER_02: 30:10

You too.