Scales Of Success Podcast

#39 - What Makes It Worth It with Ty Lifeset

• Marcus Arredondo

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What drives you to keep going when the outcome is unclear? In this powerful episode, Marcus chats with Ty Lifeset to talk about risk, reinvention, and why chasing what energizes you might be the smartest move of all. It’s a conversation about creative grit, letting go, and finding joy in the work itself. Whether you’re an aspiring creator or seasoned founder, this episode will remind you that the journey is the reward.

Ty Lifeset is a seasoned creative, entrepreneur, and founder known for building standout brands and bold ideas. With a background in advertising, screenwriting, and podcasting, he blends strategic thinking with genuine storytelling to bring fresh ideas to life.

Learn more about Ty Lifeset:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylifeset/

Pyramid the Podcast
X: https://x.com/pyramidthepod1
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3DAtD0Ub6n1VS5U8ASHICk?si=c52e2921474541f0
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pyramid-the-podcast/id1701838206

Episode highlights:
(2:36) Defining what’s worth pursuing
(6:59) Business with friends: Risk or reward?
(11:44) Lessons from a failed startup
(13:34) The importance of diverse teams
(19:48) Conviction, perseverance, and blind faith
(25:49) From screenwriting to CAA
(30:46) Scaling an agency through relationships
(34:36) Launching a decentralized consultancy
(40:50) Creating "Pyramid the Podcast"
(46:36) Unexpected joy and audience impact
(50:35) Pressure, passion, and living fully
(53:48) Outro

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Note: The transcript was generated by AI and may contain errors.

Ty Lifeset

(0:00) It just is a little bit more gut, I think. (0:03) It's a little more gut, like you've got to have a little bit more of that intuitiveness. (0:08) I just feel like if you start getting into this, what do people think, you really can start to like ping pong yourself.(0:15) And ultimately, it's like you get farther and farther away of like, what do you think? (0:19) What do you actually think?

Marcus Arredondo

(0:20) You know? (0:21) Today's guest is my friend Ty Lifeset, a dad, founder, and screenwriter whose creative momentum never needed permission. (0:26) After Ritual, his direct-to-consumer startup, which entailed him packing orders at 1 a.m. with a baby in tow, collapsed under pressure. (0:33) He turned that failure into fuel. (0:35) We talk about his leap into screenwriting, why creative projects should haunt you, and how fulfillment, not just scale, can justify a business. (0:41) From city council speeches to serendipitous CAA meetings, Ty built a career by chasing what energizes him, even when it didn't make sense on paper.(0:49) I especially loved his take on how discomfort keeps him sharp and how launching a decentralized consultancy and pop culture podcast gave him joy when traditional winds fell flat. (0:57) His story is about trusting your instinct, redefining success, and following the signal when no one else hears it. (1:03) Let's start the show.(1:05) Ty, welcome. (1:06) Thank you for coming on. (1:07) I'm so excited, man.(1:08) It's been a long time.

Ty Lifeset

(1:09) Happy to be here. (1:10) Yeah, it has been a very long time and I'm excited for this.

Marcus Arredondo

(1:14) Okay. (1:15) Well, it's a joy to have a fellow podcaster. (1:17) It's weird to be labeled that and to acquiesce into that identity personally, but as you could tell by any listener, he's got a killer mic and his voice sounds sexier than I remember it, to be honest.

Ty Lifeset

(1:34) Really? (1:35) You weren't, it wasn't the first thought? (1:37) I'm talking to Ty now.(1:39) He's going to bring it.

Marcus Arredondo

(1:41) Oh, I knew you were going to bring it.

Ty Lifeset

(1:42) He's got a high voice game.

Marcus Arredondo

(1:43) You have great voice game, but it's like amplified, you know? (1:46) Yeah, with this mic right in my face.

Ty Lifeset

(1:49) Totally.

Marcus Arredondo

(1:51) By the way, thank you. (1:52) I want to go in a bunch of different directions. (1:54) So for the benefit of the audience, you and I have known each other for many years, but we have lost contact for probably 15 plus.(2:01) You didn't have a daughter the last time we hung out. (2:05) So it's been quite a while. (2:07) I have, you were always one of the most fascinating people.(2:10) I loved hanging out with you because I don't know many people that are funnier at all. (2:15) So consider that the bar, the gauntlet being dropped there. (2:19) I want to talk about Pyramid, the podcast.(2:21) I want to talk about Envoy and Hoopla Doopla. (2:26) But I wanted to kick this off because you had mentioned in some of the pre-conversation sort of going through the process of what's worth it. (2:35) And I just want to kick the conversation off because I feel like we can go in a bunch of different directions.(2:39) But maybe you can help define how you look at what's worth pursuing. (2:44) Because you've got a lot of entrepreneurial endeavors, you've had, you've been an employee at certain places. (2:52) You are no longer that exclusively.(2:54) You've got your hands in a bunch of different things. (2:57) So from a father perspective, from a husband perspective, from a business perspective, how do you assess what is worth pursuing?

Ty Lifeset

(3:04) This is, so we're going to start with a small question. (3:06) Yes, a small one. (3:08) A small one.(3:08) A real nuanced, detailed one. (3:12) Yeah, so you look, everybody knows this over time where I think in our business pursuits and ventures, worth becomes very much financial. (3:26) And as you start to move from business to business, you elevate in your career, you're sort of looking at where is going to be the opportunities that are going to lead to the most financial success.(3:38) And I get this question a lot from people where they're asking me, hey, I've been doing this thing for quite some time. (3:48) Could be a blog, could be a podcast, could even be just like a small, you know, e-commerce venture project. (3:55) You know, maybe they have a partner, old friend of theirs, family member, whoever it is.(4:00) And they're like, look, how do you know when to stop? (4:04) Like it's, the business isn't necessarily growing at the scale we wanted it to, maybe not at the speed we wanted it to, but how do you know when to stop? (4:15) And I think at that point, you know, you need to ask yourself, well, what are you getting out of it?(4:21) Are you able to connect more closely with this friend that maybe you wouldn't have otherwise done that? (4:28) You know, Marcus, you just said in this intro that we haven't spoken in years yet. (4:32) When you and I were together, we had fun, good energy, good jokes.(4:37) You know, you and I would have probably loved to have some venture over the last 15 years where you and I saw more of each other. (4:44) And so for me, that becomes value. (4:47) That becomes the worth where you get to have that face time, those meaningful moments.(4:53) Because, you know, I think probably a lot of people don't recognize their energy and how they feel and their perspective after having those interactions with people. (5:04) Like when you and I are making something, we're producing something like this podcast right here, we're going to walk out of this thing. (5:10) We're going to feel energized.(5:11) We're going to feel great. (5:13) We're going to feel good that we reconnected. (5:15) We're going to be happy.(5:16) We're going to, we're going to be full of insight, full of new learnings. (5:19) And I think that's, that's a really important thing. (5:21) And so, you know, as part of being both what I would say, um, on the steady lane of growing an advertising career, but then also being a serial entrepreneur, not all of those ventures led somewhere where there was like massive financial gain, but they all led somewhere where there was like really incredible moments in the journey that we were having.(5:48) And so that's, I think that's just a perspective that people have to have. (5:52) And that I think we'll get to what is worth it because that, because then you're looking back and saying, what was gained?

Marcus Arredondo

(5:58) So there's a lot that you provided there. (6:01) And I, I really appreciate how in depth that is. (6:04) Let me just address one thing, which is cause you're a creative, right?(6:09) And you do creative stuff with people you like doing creative stuff with. (6:13) I'm curious how you approach that from. (6:16) I mean, any venture is going to be creative to some degree, but there might be more, let's say for this podcast, for example, I I'm doing it.(6:25) I I'm not monetizing it. (6:26) I I'm not sure if you're monetizing your podcast, but there's a scratching of the itch. (6:31) There's something that you're walking away from all of the things that you said about the value, the energy, the perspective, the learning momentum, all of that stuff I think is really valuable.(6:41) How do you reconcile that? (6:42) Where and, you know, to the extent that it's worth bringing up now, but, you know, in some of your ventures that you, the startups, the entrepreneurial ventures where there's actual capital being deployed, have you taken on investor money? (6:55) How do you reconcile working with people you do like or how might you respond to people who say, I don't like doing business with friends or family?

Ty Lifeset

(7:04) Yeah, that's a good question. (7:05) And that, that also comes up, you know, you, you've been in this enough. (7:10) You start to realize where the challenges might be, but again, back to what I originally said, which was, there's still value there in the sense that you get to connect more closely with family and friends just by pursuing something together.(7:29) There is a value there. (7:31) Yes, there are inherent challenges and issues that come up. (7:34) I have, you know, you and I were discussing about one of my first ventures, which was a ritual, which was, I hope you go into this cause I'm very curious about it.(7:45) So this was a grooming, a grooming business. (7:48) This was when men's grooming was kind of growing and we saw an opportunity to sort of, because, you know, this is the thing when you work in advertising, you sort of are, um, you're sitting front row at a lot of different types of businesses. (8:06) You learn a lot of like how business works, who their audience is, demographics that they're after, where white space might exist, all of those things.(8:15) That business was founded out of, well, okay. (8:18) What if a couple of kind of brand guys came in and said, we're going to do something that is sort of like bucking the trend of beauty, we're going to just be real dudes about this and real broey about it. (8:35) And so we, we came up with the idea of like, there's nothing that addresses shit, shower, and shave.(8:40) Yeah. (8:41) I can swear on this, right? (8:42) Of course.(8:43) Of course. (8:43) I don't do shit. (8:44) Even a swear right now.(8:45) I don't, I don't know, but yeah, barely, um, shit, shower, and shave, which was like, that's the way a guy gets ready. (8:51) Like everyone's said that since they were young. (8:54) So we're like, if we could just come up with a product, a kit that essentially addressed every single one of those things.(9:01) Yep. (9:01) And so we did that. (9:02) We were actually one of the first to launch the product, which is now known as a poop hurry, which everyone knows about.(9:09) Um, uh, we did a shaving cream and aftershave, we did a product that cleaned your razor blade so that it reduced like razor bumps and whatnot.

Marcus Arredondo

(9:20) Yeah.

Ty Lifeset

(9:20) We did all of that. (9:21) We didn't know what the hell we were doing. (9:23) Like we, we had no idea.(9:25) We, but somehow we were able to find people, source information, get products, get someone manufacturing it, get a company to bottle it, get someone to distribute it. (9:35) We just, we turned over every stone. (9:37) We were kind of fearless in sort of scratching for it.(9:40) Ultimately that business did not work out because we didn't really know what the hell we were doing. (9:45) We probably should have just gone with those poop drops, which were aptly called nature calls. (9:51) Um, our, our main distributor who was a friend of mine was like, why are you not doing the, just the drops?(9:56) Like, why are you continuing to manufacture multiple products across the portfolio when you guys have full-time jobs, you have a one-year-old you're downstairs in your basement, packing up shipping and shipping stuff out until like one o'clock in the morning. (10:12) And so it's like, this is unsustainable. (10:14) Why not focus on the product that's outselling every other product you sell by, you know, tenfold.(10:21) Yeah. (10:21) Ultimately that pro that, that business went bankrupt. (10:25) And the reality of it is that I don't talk to my business partner anymore from that.(10:30) You know, that, that all, that ended up being a bad experience from the outcome. (10:34) When we were in it, we were in it. (10:36) Like we, we had a lot of joy together, a lot of fun.(10:39) I think, you know, what's funny about nostalgia is when I look back on that, I look at back at all the positives, the way nostalgia works. (10:47) Yeah. (10:47) Like I'm not necessarily looking at the fact that that was the end of potentially like a friendship, you know, of a former colleague of mine and we worked together on it, but I look at it as like, man, that thing that we did over the course of like four years, five years was really cool.(11:03) And it's funny the way that works, but that's, but you know, you're right. (11:06) That is one of the downfalls that could come from this is that you could walk into a situation like we did and we basically created something that we think was really great, but we didn't have necessarily the financial acumen to make it great and to take fully full advantage of it, but we were, we were young enough to like be fearless about it and just do it, you know?

Marcus Arredondo

(11:30) Well, I think there's like a, there's a benefit to being sort of naive in some ways, because it allows you to break through a threshold that, you know, you really get in your head about as you get quote unquote wiser, you know, you sort of know the downfall, but did you take outside money on, on ritual?

Ty Lifeset

(11:48) No, that was all bootstrap. (11:51) That was all us. (11:52) We had people who wanted to, to give money to invest in it, but we didn't know what the hell that meant at the time.(11:58) Like there was no cap table. (11:59) There was no like, there was no, it was not built to be like a proper business. (12:03) It was built to be like a, you know, fly by the seat of your pants, e-com type business.

Marcus Arredondo

(12:09) Yeah. (12:09) And this was before e-commerce was what it is now.

Ty Lifeset

(12:13) Yeah. (12:14) E-commerce was just beginning. (12:16) And I'll never forget.(12:17) We were, we were one of the first people who created a flash website. (12:22) We remember way back when, and we had commerce as part of it. (12:26) And everybody was like, you're an idiot.(12:28) Because at that point, Google was not, their little spiders were not going into flash.

Marcus Arredondo

(12:34) Yeah.

Ty Lifeset

(12:34) So we were not getting any of the SEO from any of it. (12:37) But the two of us were like, but man, it moves and it's awesome. (12:41) Like it was like, it animates.(12:43) That's the brand. (12:44) It's like, you know, it's, it's like, we're, we're trying to break through all these other businesses. (12:48) And we did, you know, to some degree we did, but we didn't really approach it from like a fine-tuned SEO, SEM type business philosophy.(12:56) We approached it from like, let's make a really cool brand and organically stuff will happen.

Marcus Arredondo

(13:01) What do you take away from that partnership experience? (13:04) I mean, how do you look at future partners? (13:08) And I'm not trying to dig up, you know, negative dirt.(13:10) I'm just curious when you look back on that, there are obviously lessons learned. (13:15) Sometimes, you know, part of the reality of the world is relationships have their, they take their course. (13:22) And sometimes that just is part of it.(13:24) I think that's part of business and maturation of just an adult human as well. (13:29) But do you look at it differently now? (13:32) Would you give yourself advice back then to do something from a different perspective?

Ty Lifeset

(13:38) Yeah, you know, it's kind of funny. (13:41) The, I mean, the, the holes in the partnership were obvious. (13:45) We were two creative minded individuals coming from relatively the same world, the same kind of career path.(13:54) And we worked really well together because we were collaborative in other creative campaigns and whatnot with clients, but obviously that left holes. (14:07) There were holes, there were holes on the business side, there were holes on the financial side. (14:11) And, you know, over time, I think the learning is like anything is to make the team as diverse as possible.(14:23) And what ultimately ends up happening, and I have some friends that are really, (14:28) really great at this, is almost everybody wears a lot of hats, you know, like, (14:35) and that's what you find, like this guy may know everything there is about setting (14:39) up the financial aspects of a business, but he also has a creative gene or she (14:44) also has a creative gene and she wants to also participate in like, what's going (14:48) to be the name of this new product?(14:50) And, you know, if we create a video, what is that video saying? (14:54) Like, and so I think it's just building out more diverse teams and not being afraid to split the pie even more, because at the time you're sitting there being like, all right, this is a solo venture or this is a two-person venture. (15:11) But specifically in realms where you don't know a ton about it, you have to diversify the team and you have to be unafraid of just splitting up that pie.

Marcus Arredondo

(15:21) Yeah. (15:21) Annie Dukes, who's a professional poker player, wrote a book called Thinking in Bets. (15:26) And one thing she highlights is that great poker players aren't necessarily better, they just make fewer mistakes and they fold quicker.(15:34) How do you view when something might not be, do you think ritual went on too long or do you think it took its natural life and fell when it did, how do you take those lessons and apply that in your other entrepreneurial endeavors?

Ty Lifeset

(15:51) Well, I think that like any entrepreneur, I am very optimistic about things. (15:59) So all my, my initial answer would always be that it didn't go on long enough. (16:04) And had we stayed around another six months, you know, Bloomingdale's would have picked us up, you know, it's like, it's just kind of how that goes.(16:12) And so, you know, I do think that like with anything, luck is made through hard work and, but you gotta take a lot of cracks at it and, you know, you don't know when that next call, that next email, that next whatever DM, whatever it is, that's going to ultimately open up another door that you're going to walk through.

Marcus Arredondo

(16:33) Yeah.

Ty Lifeset

(16:33) Um, and so, you know, my learning would be like, keep it around as long as it possibly can, as long as you truly believe. (16:43) Yeah. (16:43) I think that's, I think the second you stop believing and you stop getting the value out of it that we discussed earlier, you're not enjoying this anymore.(16:52) It's just a weight on your shoulders. (16:55) Um, then that's where you sort of have to, if it's literally changing like your disposition about the business, then you, I think that's the point where you have to ask yourself, is it time to get off?

Marcus Arredondo

(17:06) I feel like it's really, um, sage advice. (17:09) I sort of wonder, I can't help but think as, um, cause you're a creative as, and you're a writer, right? (17:16) Um, when we talk about your screenwriting and sort of how you got down that path, but through the act of writing, from my experience, this is something like, you know, I was talking to my dad about quite a bit of how it sort of exposes more of who you are.(17:29) Uh, you really don't know how you think until you actually start putting things on paper and having to organize your thoughts in some way. (17:34) I'm not by trade, anything creative. (17:37) I have written creatively in the past.(17:40) I'm curious if you feel that that has allowed you to identify what triggers you better, what is, and here's where I'm going with this, because I sometimes wonder as a serial entrepreneur, you get into it and like in anything, you want to start getting into shape and you've never lifted weights, you know, the first two weeks are going to suck. (17:59) It's just brutal. (18:00) Uh, until you start sort of getting momentum and you got to fight through a certain tranche before things get better.(18:08) How do you ascribe, you know, what is scratching your itch and when you become delusional or you start being influenced by hubris, you know, you know where I'm going with this?

Ty Lifeset

(18:20) Yeah. (18:20) I mean, I think, I think so. (18:22) Do you mean like what, when do you, when do you find, when do you commit, when do you find a lane to pursue it?

Marcus Arredondo

(18:28) Yeah. (18:28) How do you identify what your voice is, what your, what is actually working, what (18:33) you feel good about doing, it's worth pursuing without, how do you defend (18:38) against the blinders that you can be so consumed in something that you just want (18:43) to see it through, and maybe I'm just asking from my own perspective, because (18:47) there are things that I've done where I sometimes question, and you know, this (18:50) podcast is a perfect example. (18:51) It's like, you know, what are you getting out of it? (18:54) The number of people I told that I was going to start this podcast and what, you know, the idea was about is like the number of blank stares I got was overwhelming and if you don't have conviction about it, especially, you know, I think there's probably benefit to having like a partner in there and this is, you know, having guests is a little bit of a partnership on an ongoing basis.(19:11) But when people sort of doubt you, you really need to hold your ground and really have that conviction to go forward. (19:21) Even now, however many episodes in I am, I do struggle with like, oh my God, is this worth it? (19:28) You know, the effort required to do it.(19:30) And then I have these conversations where I'm like, man, that was amazing. (19:34) I, that was fucking amazing. (19:36) I love these conversations.(19:38) And so you get this little nugget of, okay, you're on the right path. (19:41) You're doing the right thing. (19:42) You're learning something.(19:43) You're being put in touch with the right people, but there is some perseverance and blind faith that I think is required.

Ty Lifeset

(19:50) And I, you know, absolutely. (19:53) I I'm actually probably to my detriment, completely unaware of what people think a lot of the time. (20:00) Like I, I just, I'm not really concerned about it.(20:03) Everything from like what I'm wearing to like ideas I come up with to what I'm pursuing, it really comes in as a writer. (20:10) I'm glad you started there because I always have a litmus test for my writing and my, and my test is, does it haunt me? (20:21) Oh, does it actually haunt me?(20:24) Tell me more. (20:25) Stay with me. (20:26) Is it something I'm thinking about randomly throughout the day?(20:29) Like, am I, did I just read a story, uh, you know, in a newspaper where I'm like, whoa, you know, that would be really interesting to interject into this idea that I thought of six months ago that I have not yet pursued. (20:42) If it starts to become part of like my lexicon, um, then we're starting to get somewhere of where, uh, if it makes sense to go and pursue it. (20:55) And so like, for instance, with the writing career, you know, I was, uh, in LA.(21:02) It's very funny. (21:03) I was in LA for a long time. (21:04) I wrote a screenplay just because I was like, you know, I think it's, I'm in LA.(21:09) I'm a writer. (21:10) I have to write a screenplay. (21:11) I have no choice.(21:12) Um, so I wrote this screenplay, complete historical fiction. (21:17) Uh, I start to, because I am me, I fearlessly like go out and just start telling people to read it. (21:23) I, you know, I'm talking to other writers who are like, look, I, I can't let you read this thing yet.(21:29) Like, it's just not ready. (21:30) And I'm like, I don't give a shit. (21:32) Like just read this thing.(21:34) I think it's good. (21:35) And so like, I have a feeling you're going to think it's good. (21:38) It's ready when, when off the top of the dome in my mind, it's ready.(21:42) And so I, um, so I, I start just having conversations, um, getting it out there. (21:50) I ended up getting securing managers out of it. (21:53) Yeah.(21:53) Uh, then I end up funny enough, all this happens towards the end of my LA run. (21:58) I move to a different location. (22:00) I'm down now, down in Laguna beach.

Marcus Arredondo

(22:03) Yeah.

Ty Lifeset

(22:03) Um, I, uh, this was part of a, this was actually envoy who you mentioned earlier. (22:08) This was, I joined as a partner, um, adventure, like employee 10 and that thing started growing like a rocket ship. (22:16) I mean, literally like, you know, within a year we were up to 75 people, a bigger office, the whole thing.(22:23) Um, and we can talk more about that, but about a year and a half into that, I was like, you know, I, now that like my brain has been so focused on business and growing the team, hiring, bringing in new business clients, um, that I'm like, I'm just like, you know, I should probably start to scratch a little bit more of the creative writing side.

Marcus Arredondo

(22:45) Yeah.

Ty Lifeset

(22:46) And I, I'm like, you know what, I have this kind of idea. (22:50) It's been running around in my head for a year, another historical fictional idea. (22:55) This one may be more like better for like a TV type property.(22:59) I write the pilot script again. (23:02) I read this thing and I'm like, I think this thing is good. (23:05) I have no idea.(23:05) I'm in a bubble. (23:06) Like I don't pay attention to a lot of stuff. (23:09) I send it out to a couple of people I know who are writers.(23:11) They're like, this is really good. (23:14) I send it, my managers, they look at it. (23:16) They're like, we're handing it to a producer.(23:18) Producers like I'm handing it to an agent at CAA. (23:21) And next thing you know, in five days, I'm in the CAA offices meeting with the agent. (23:27) And he's like, who are you?(23:29) What's your background? (23:30) Where did you come from? (23:32) And I'm like, look, I'm just an ad guy who lives, you know, down in Laguna beach.(23:37) And, you know, I like to write. (23:39) I spend most of my time managing creative teams and, you know, doing all that. (23:44) Uh, been on a million commercial shoots, uh, done a billion photo shoots.(23:49) And I just love entertainment. (23:50) And he was like, I love your story. (23:52) I love everything about it.(23:53) I'm signing you. (23:54) Let's start sending this script out there. (23:57) Uh, sadly enough, again, ventures that end up going wrong is there ended up being a similar property being developed by the BBC that was about the same subject matter.(24:08) I'll be at like completely different. (24:10) Cause mine's historical fiction. (24:11) That one was a little bit more of a documentary approach, but he, they know the business better and they were like, look, probably not pursue this right now.(24:19) Maybe we just put it on ice for a bit. (24:21) Um, but again, like back to what you originally said, it just is a little bit more gut. (24:28) I think it's a little more gut.(24:31) Like you've got to have a little bit more of that intuitiveness. (24:34) I just feel like if you start getting into this, what do people think? (24:38) You really can start to like ping pong yourself.(24:41) And ultimately it's like you get farther and farther away of like, what do you think? (24:45) Absolutely.

Marcus Arredondo

(24:45) You actually think, you know, well, I think artists have a better sense of that than others because, uh, I mean this, I'm really appreciate that you're sharing this. (24:54) I have suffered from that in ebbs and flows, but if there's like one piece of advice I would give to like a kid, it would be like nobody outside of this household, my son, nobody out of this household gives a shit about you. (25:07) And that's a good thing.(25:08) And a bad thing, which is you might feel lonely, but it's super liberating because you got to stop the sooner you stop thinking about how people are going to interpret what suits you. (25:19) Uh, the more freedom you're going to have to pursue the things that are meaningful to you, and you don't find that if you're constantly listening to outside voices, I'm curious when that's work, right? (25:31) Like you're riding on at nights, in mornings, on weekends, you're boxing stuff for ritual, uh, to one in the morning.(25:39) That's hustle, hustle, hustle. (25:41) And when you got a one-year-old you're begging, borrowing, stealing for time. (25:46) And what do you think that comes from?(25:47) Did you come from a family of entrepreneurs? (25:51) Where does that fearlessness come from?

Ty Lifeset

(25:53) I don't come from a fit. (25:54) Well, I guess that's incorrect. (25:55) My, my dad was one of the first people to break off on his own and become an independent record producer.(26:02) Uh, sorry, record promoter. (26:04) And so I, he'd certainly had that entrepreneurial spirit, but my parents were divorced, so, you know, I wasn't with him a ton of the time, but maybe that kind of like, you know, uh, those genes got into me. (26:16) Um, I don't know.(26:18) I, it might be like a little bit of like ADD brain. (26:21) I just like, I like doing a lot of things. (26:24) I like always just feeling productive in whatever I'm doing.(26:27) So whether that is writing or doing some sort of side venture or growing the business I'm in, whatever that may be. (26:36) I just always like to do that. (26:37) I also like, this is kind of weird.(26:39) I don't really know how to frame this. (26:42) I like putting myself into weird situations. (26:46) Yeah.(26:46) I don't, I don't know. (26:47) I can't explain it. (26:48) I like to be uncomfortable.(26:49) I don't, I don't know what it is. (26:50) Like, I just was at a city council meeting and they were talking about some issues facing the town and people were getting up and talking a lot of like bullshitting. (26:59) But I was like, you know what, man, I'm just sitting there.(27:02) I just want to listen in. (27:03) I'm like, I'm going to go up there and I'm just going to say, say something. (27:06) Cause I just want to see how they're going to react to it.(27:08) I want to see how the people around me are going to react to it. (27:11) And I just feel like that. (27:12) Like, I want to put someone on the phone.(27:15) I want to put them on the spot. (27:16) I want to write them an email. (27:18) They have to respond to, I want to go up to them and do that.(27:21) And I, you know, and I don't know if it's just like, I'm in this perpetual skit of like my entire life, or I'm just like, you know, I just want to feel a little bit of discomfort in what I'm doing. (27:32) Um, and so I don't know if that's, I guess it's just a, it's very human to me. (27:37) But I don't know if it necessarily resonates with everybody.(27:40) What did you say at the city council meeting? (27:43) You know, it's funny. (27:44) I got up.(27:45) So we have like, um, a lot of Southern California businesses, actually a lot of California businesses, and I don't want to just pick on California. (27:51) So a lot of businesses all over the world right now, there's a lot of empty store fronts and that's, that's, there's a lot of different reasons for that, but we're having an issue here in Laguna beach where they may have read about in the LA times where people are just trashing the beaches, they're leaving all their crap everywhere, you know, there's been a little bit more crime in town. (28:12) And so I just invoked the old, you know, New York city, uh, you know, point of view where it's the broken windows, uh, theory where essentially it's like, if you have nothing, if you have broken windows and graffiti on walls and no businesses there, you've basically, you know, unknowingly created a psychology of the wild, wild West.

Marcus Arredondo

(28:35) Yeah.

Ty Lifeset

(28:36) And so what I was saying to Laguna was, I was like, look guys, you have a lot of empty businesses and those might be contributing just the idea that there's empty businesses might be contributing to more people feeling like they can just litter whenever they want to. (28:50) So you need to do something to fill those businesses, either with real businesses or pop-up businesses or whatever they are so that the place looks like an organized, um, municipal that like that is actually in control of everything and then people would be less likely to break the rules. (29:07) I think I got like light applause.(29:09) Yeah.

Marcus Arredondo

(29:10) Maybe I was going to say, did everybody erupt? (29:11) And, uh, yeah, I'll choose to believe that. (29:13) I was looking for that.

Ty Lifeset

(29:14) I want to, I want to be carried out of the city council meeting. (29:16) It didn't, it didn't happen though.

Marcus Arredondo

(29:19) Um, let's transition to, uh, Envoy. (29:22) How did that happen? (29:23) Growing from 10 to 75 within a year is pretty staggering.(29:27) That seems like you're drinking out of a fire hose. (29:30) How did all that take place? (29:31) And what do you bring into the table from that experience?

Ty Lifeset

(29:35) That was, so that was kind of one of the early, let's get a four headed monster in here and see, you know, so let's add more people to the equation and see what you can actually do. (29:46) This was brought on because this was part of them leaving of LA and going down to Laguna beach. (29:52) You know, my wife and I were looking for new, a new home.(29:56) And I, you know, I drove down multiple times, met with these three founders, uh, really bright guys and wanting to do very interesting things. (30:08) And this is really early in the advertising where advertising was starting to evolve into being a digital solutions partner for clients. (30:19) You know, what happened for a long time was clients were like, all right, Hey, make a commercial, uh, make a print ad.(30:26) Oh, wait, what's this website thing over here? (30:30) What are these digital banners? (30:32) What's this app?(30:33) And they just kind of started knocking on the door of, you know, we, we don't have the it team to basically build that key. (30:41) Can you guys help us with that?

Marcus Arredondo

(30:42) Yeah.

Ty Lifeset

(30:43) And that's when advertising agencies were like, Oh, the opportunistic ones were like, yeah, what, what can we do here? (30:50) What was interesting with this group was that the agency didn't have to pivot. (30:55) It was born out of that.(30:57) It was basically like, how do we combine the sort of traditional agency brand point of view with the real sort of digital modern tool driven organization? (31:09) And I heard that pitch and I said, you know, that's, that's where it's all going. (31:14) And I said, I'd love to join up.(31:16) And they were kind of more from that world. (31:19) And they wanted someone who was a little bit more from like traditional advertising world who could go in there and speak because it's all the same. (31:26) It's all these, while they wanted to do those things, it's the same CMOs.(31:32) Yeah. (31:32) So who's the person who can go in there and talk to those CMOs in the way an agency talks to them? (31:38) This is more of a innovation approach.(31:41) Very much so, very much so. (31:43) Yeah. (31:44) And yeah, and that was in the normal startup success type stories where, you know, ping pong tables that were for fun suddenly became desks needing more office space, breaking a hole in the wall.(32:00) And so that we could use the neighbor's offices as well for stuff moving across the street where there was like formerly a dental office and completely remake that space into into an ad agency. (32:14) I have to call it an ad agency. (32:16) I don't really know what to call it anymore.(32:17) Some people just say agency now, because it's like, you know, we just do everything, but yeah, we were able to secure some big clients, Vizio, Arlo, Hyundai, just by the nature of how we sounded and what we did. (32:32) And I think what was really interesting, the learning from that, we won, Vizio was the first big client we won. (32:41) And we went in there with the mindset of using technology as a differentiator.(32:48) And we basically created a product for them without them knowing, which was now this is kind of done over and over again, but we created an app that allowed you to visualize what a TV would look like on your wall prior to buying it. (33:06) And we walked into the room and we pitched them the whole business. (33:10) We pitched why we should take over their entire website and e-commerce platform.(33:17) And then we said, oh, by the way, we did this for you too. (33:21) And ended up being great timing because the CMO was also sort of the CTO. (33:28) And he saw that and he was like, oh, this is different.(33:33) Yeah. (33:33) Like go and be different. (33:35) This is different.(33:36) You guys understand brand, advertising, website, and your product agency. (33:44) Like I already see the whole thing. (33:46) And he's like, this is what I've been missing.(33:48) This is, I can go to one team that basically holistically manages all of this stuff because now this is Vizio. (33:56) This is our brand. (33:57) Our brand is our website.(33:59) Our brand is our products that we make now. (34:01) Our brand is the TVs that we put up there. (34:04) It is our advertising, you know?(34:05) So it was kind of all of that. (34:07) And when that, when it clicked with them back to like the writing experience I had, we just had this as a thesis in our own walls. (34:16) And when it clicked with them, we said, oh, it's real.(34:19) We were right about our thesis. (34:20) People actually really do care about this when positioned correctly in sort of a believable, authentic way. (34:27) How did the agency evolve in through COVID?(34:30) Well, COVID is actually, so what ultimately ended up happening like every other agency is went full work remote. (34:39) Yep. (34:39) The agency evolved great.(34:41) I'll, I'm going to tell two sides of the story. (34:43) The agency evolved great because they were limited to just hiring people in Southern California that could commute into an office and to be honest, that was a ceiling that was, we were not a New York agency, we're not, you know, San Francisco, we're not Chicago. (35:01) We didn't have the talent pool.(35:03) We had good talent, but not the full talent pool. (35:05) So this opened up a world of like, we can now really hire people in Toronto, Miami, New York, you name it, we could bring them in. (35:13) So that, that allowed the business to completely scale.(35:17) Ultimately led to acquiring businesses and opening offices in San Diego and in Chicago. (35:22) For me personally, I, it changed my view of what an agency was. (35:29) I just being in the business for 25 years, I know who the good people are.(35:34) The way an agency works is a client comes in and gives you a project. (35:40) And you know who the best people are on the team. (35:43) Yeah.(35:43) And if it's a really high priority project, it doesn't matter what's going on. (35:47) Like, you're like, Hey man, you're working Saturday and Sunday and you're working on this cause like you're the best at it and we need the best. (35:53) If it doesn't really matter, it falls to a lot of the other teams.(35:57) Those teams tend to probably be anywhere from 50 to 60% of them. (36:00) Doesn't mean they're not good quality, creative people. (36:03) It just means they're not the best.(36:04) Yeah. (36:06) And so what I saw was like, wait a minute. (36:09) Everybody's working from home now.(36:11) And I know who the best of the best is. (36:14) So now I could essentially run a decentralized agency with no overhead. (36:22) I don't need any full-time employees because every single person, it doesn't matter if you're a developer or you're a creative or you're a strategist, you're picking up freelance contract jobs.(36:33) All of them have side hustle. (36:37) And so I said, I am going to be the agency for your side hustle. (36:42) And that's when I started my own consultancy almost four years ago, where I essentially go to a client.(36:51) I have great relationships with clients and I say to them, look, I, you tell me what your problem is. (36:58) It's a brand initiative. (36:59) If it's a website, if it's a campaign, you need a video, whatever it is that you need.(37:04) There's some things I don't do. (37:05) I don't do social media. (37:06) So, but I'll hand it off.(37:07) I'll get, I'll make introductions for you. (37:10) And you come to me and you say, I want to do this. (37:12) And I said, yes, I'm going to build you the best of breed team.(37:15) I'm literally going to build you a special ops agency team. (37:18) That is the best of the best to go and do what you need to be done. (37:22) This is not me.(37:23) Like I'm going to get on the horn and call around and see this. (37:26) I have a, I have a team of about 15 people, developers, designers, writers, strategists that I can bring in and they all come to me. (37:38) We I've created, established a relationship where they trust me.(37:42) They like working with me and I can make basically organize everything. (37:47) I can give them like a little bit of creative oversight and some insights. (37:50) And then I can let them do what they do best, which is create and make and solve problems.(37:55) And that is, that is now the new, so how COVID affected that was that previously would not have existed. (38:02) Now, someone who has a full-time job, I can set up a phone call at 11 AM on a Wednesday and they can just block their schedule. (38:11) And it's, and it's, it's that that's changed everything.

Marcus Arredondo

(38:15) How do clients respond to that decentralized process? (38:18) Do you feel like there's any resistance from their side? (38:22) I think that if, I mean, COVID changed how we perceive a lot of that.

Ty Lifeset

(38:27) Yeah, for sure. (38:28) Well, look, what's obvious right away is I'm not going to be your AOR for some major client. (38:35) You know, like I'm not getting some Hyundai say, Hey, we're bringing all the business to tie this team.(38:43) Like I just, I couldn't scale it. (38:44) It just would never be able to happen. (38:46) I, I want to be the tip of the spear.(38:48) So I want to be all points of communication. (38:51) You deal with me, the person who has the power to say yes and no to anything. (38:55) You're not dealing with any other team member.(38:58) So it eliminates that, but for where I, we are strongest is there's been a trend now where a lot of brands are building or building in their own agency marketing departments, they're just making those a bit more robust with more skillsets. (39:15) And so what happens is, is we tend to be the partner for them where there is either a bandwidth pinch of an initiative they can't explore, or an initiative that's coming down the pike that the team is too busy on working on today's issues to focus on what they need to launch six months from now. (39:36) Or in certain instances, there is a limited skillset and where they're like, look, we just don't do this and we need you and your team to go and do this.(39:47) And so, you know, like anything else in this world, it's just growing a great deal of trust. (39:51) It's, it's going in there. (39:53) Telling them what they need to hear, delivering what they need and not making them feel the effects of how a decentralized model would run.(40:02) Because by and large, it runs, it runs as smooth, if not smoother than most agencies, because it's, it's basically, there's no miscommunications. (40:10) It comes, it comes to me and I communicate it out and there's no waste. (40:14) It's, it's a highly efficient approach to it.(40:17) So knock on wood, there's been no like hiccup. (40:20) And in fact, I think in most cases, um, most cases, I think the brands themselves, the companies themselves feel like they're getting serviced at a higher level.

Marcus Arredondo

(40:30) That's super fascinating. (40:31) I want to, I want to ask a bunch of questions, but I know we're coming up on time, so I want to make sure we can, uh, talk about Pyramid the podcast a little bit. (40:38) Yeah, we love it.(40:40) How did that come about? (40:41) What are you taking from it? (40:42) What are you learning from it?(40:44) What do you, uh, how much prep goes into it and for the benefit of the audience? (40:48) Maybe you just describe what the show layout is.

Ty Lifeset

(40:51) Yeah, absolutely. (40:52) So, um, it starts with, um, I'll do sort of the origin story of it first, which is, uh, actually perfectly circles back to, you know, what's worth it.

Marcus Arredondo

(41:05) Yeah.

Ty Lifeset

(41:05) Close friend of mine lives in Seattle. (41:08) He's looking for a creative endeavor to do, uh, comes worked at Amazon for a long time, uh, comes from sort of the audio visual world. (41:17) Uh, very talented, kind of on air personality.(41:21) And he came to me and he said, look, I want to create a venture thing to do. (41:25) What can we do? (41:26) And I said, well, you know, there's this podcasting thing that like everyone's jumping into and, uh, and you know, we both, you know, we both have pretty good personalities and, uh, you know, maybe we could just record something together.(41:41) And he said, well, what, what would it be about? (41:43) I'm like, well, it kind of has to be about everything. (41:45) Cause we talk about sports and movies and music and food and you name it.(41:50) And so both of us are listeners of, uh, Bill Simmons, the pod father. (41:55) Um, and Bill Simmons wrote a book of basketball, but prior to him even doing that, he had this idea that the, it actually was a friend of his. (42:09) So, um, I'll give the friend credit.(42:11) I don't remember. (42:12) Maybe Gus might've been the friend. (42:13) I forget who, but Bill talks about this.(42:16) He says that he thinks that the baseball hall of fame should be in the shape of a pyramid. (42:21) Because what happens is when you walk in into the baseball hall of fame, it shouldn't be like Ted Williams and, uh, you know, Fred McGriff next to each other, like it should make it feel like, like these guys, when you, on the first floor of the pyramid, like they just barely got in there there by now they're they are hall of famers, but you know, they just skirted in here, you know? (42:42) And they get better as you go up.(42:44) And then once you get to the pinnacle of this pyramid, it's Babe Ruth, it's Ted Williams, it's, it's, it's the big names. (42:51) So what we, what I said to him was, well, why don't we basically make this, we call it pyramid, the podcast, and we rank everything in the shape of a pyramid. (43:02) And it doesn't matter what it is.(43:04) It could be chips. (43:05) It could be beer. (43:06) It could be Arnold Schwarzenegger movies could be Bill Murray movies.(43:10) Yeah. (43:10) Uh, it could be, uh, so we, so we said, that's what we're going to do. (43:14) But then because we're weirdos and we like to have a little fun, we like to get a little bit more niche with what we're ranking.(43:20) So anybody, if you look up like ranked Sylvester Stallone movies, you're going to find a million hits on there. (43:26) So we came up with ideas of, all right, what if we ranked the best and the bands? (43:32) What's an, and the band?(43:33) Well, it's Bruce Springsteen and the E street band, right? (43:37) Right. (43:37) It's Tom Petty and the heartbreakers.(43:39) So like all those and the bands and we'll rank all those. (43:43) And then we had songs that we called, um, uh, well, actually we're just about to launch soon, uh, do tunes. (43:50) So that's any song that has a guy's name in it.(43:54) Um, we're going to, we're going to rank that. (43:55) So we just like people named, you know, you know, we did a, um, a John pyramid. (44:00) We did like a Jack, sorry, a Jack pyramid.(44:03) Um, just anything, anything we come up with, we just are like, let's, let's just do it, anything we have a passion for. (44:08) And I love it because like this podcast that you're doing here, it's evergreen content, it's going to exist. (44:15) It's going to be out there.(44:16) I don't know when people are going to discover pyramid, the podcast. (44:19) It's not like we're out there screaming from the mountaintops about it. (44:24) We're not part of a network.(44:26) We're not monetizing it yet. (44:27) So the value right now is that me and my buddy Adam get to hang out, you know, for a couple hours every couple of weeks and tell jokes and laugh and catch up and, and talk about the same shit we would talk about if we were sitting in a pool in Palm Springs, that's, that's the reality.

Marcus Arredondo

(44:44) Well, what I love about it is that it does feel a little bit like a fly on the wall with a couple of buddies, which is a lot of fun to, to be a part of, even though you can't see us or hear us, uh, we're listening.

Ty Lifeset

(44:54) Yeah.

Marcus Arredondo

(44:54) Where do you think you want to go with it? (44:56) Are you just seeing where, where it goes? (44:57) Do you have an end date?(44:58) Do you have, uh, I asked this for information on, for myself too, you know, as I contemplate what what's going on here, what, where do you, how do you view that?

Ty Lifeset

(45:08) You know, no, no big aspirations. (45:11) I'll say that right now.

Marcus Arredondo

(45:13) Yeah.

Ty Lifeset

(45:14) This is, um, the benefit of this is, is hanging out with a dear friend of mine and laughing. (45:22) Um, but look, whenever you're creating anything and you're putting out to the world, it's not like we're recording it for the two of us. (45:29) And then we just listened to it together.(45:31) You know, we put it on Spotify and put it on Apple podcasts. (45:34) We tell friends about it. (45:36) Um, not like, you know, create not try hardy, but like, you know, or kids, kids like say cringy, it's not cringe.(45:42) Uh, but we, you know, we'll talk about it if people want to talk about it. (45:46) But you know, it's, it's like anything, it's a lottery ticket, you know, it's like, it's like, yeah, someone may scratch it and be like, Hey, yeah. (45:53) Ty, you know, um, what, uh, what do you think?(45:57) Do you, you know, you want to join our network of podcasts that you'd fit right in, we get a lot of requests, you know, from other podcasts, they, they maybe want one of us to jump in to their podcast. (46:07) They want to come in and do ours, maybe do a ranking of something they they're interested in. (46:12) I, we haven't pursued that yet.(46:14) I think at some point we might do that, but you know, right now we're just kind of like feeling it out, seeing what it is, I think we're still continuing to kind of refine it and shape it. (46:22) Yeah. (46:23) Um, and we're getting joy from that.(46:24) Like we're, we're getting joy from, from just, from just that creative process.

Marcus Arredondo

(46:29) Have you found that it's become something slightly different than you had originally seen it to be? (46:33) Has it evolved into something new or is it pretty much in line with what you were expecting?

Ty Lifeset

(46:39) What I think it is, is it's an ignition switch.

Marcus Arredondo

(46:45) Yeah.

Ty Lifeset

(46:46) It's like, I've come out of there feeling great. (46:49) Like I feel like a high level of energy and I was not really fully expecting that. (46:56) I was fully, I was expecting like, we're just going to hop onto Riverside here and we're going to just tell a few jokes and then I'm going to walk off and I'm going to go beyond with my day and get on some client calls and whatever I need to do on days we record or drop the podcast.(47:12) I do have a little extra pep in my step. (47:14) I'm not going to lie. (47:15) I just, it's a, it's a feel good experience.

Marcus Arredondo

(47:17) Have you been surprised by any responses from people you do or don't know, you know, or didn't expect?

Ty Lifeset

(47:23) Yeah, absolutely. (47:24) Oh, I get, we get weird. (47:26) Like we just get, um, like some, like, you know, sometimes you have like these friends and like, uh, a wife, like a wife will be like, yeah, we were on a road trip and like, I wanted to throw it on and listen to, you know, the Arnold Schwarzenegger one or something like that.(47:39) And it's just like, wait a minute, you're in the car with our buddy and your two kids and you guys are listening to us talk about Arnold Schwarzenegger. (47:48) It's just like, it's, you know, surreal in a lot of ways, but yeah, we have a lot of those, a lot of people come up to us and tell us that, um, I don't know. (47:56) I, I think that my sense, I could be wrong again.(48:00) Like I'm not, I'm not the greatest at being like my wife would say this. (48:03) I'm not the greatest of picking up like what people really feel and think, but my sense is that I think they really like it. (48:11) Like they're not just listening it to help us.(48:13) Like, they're not like, it's not like putting money in our pocket or anything. (48:16) It's like, I think they genuinely like listening to us. (48:19) And, and my guess is like, in the same way that the same reasons we record the (48:24) podcast to have the opportunity to spend some time together in a way, like they (48:30) get a little bit of time with us when they listen to us, you know, like, Oh, (48:34) this is like hanging, this is like a tie was in this, uh, car with us right now (48:38) driving, but that's kind of like, you know, I find that it's why I think (48:42) podcast is really hard to break into right now anyways, because I have my (48:46) like, you know, I have Bill Simmons, I have Ryan Russillo, I have my guys that (48:50) like I listened to and like, they're my buddies now, like they don't like know (48:55) me, know me, but like, it's just like, I, you know, I want to hear their (48:59) perspective on things, you know, if there's nothing to even talk about, I (49:02) just want to kind of hang out with them. (49:03) And so it's, I think it's a hard, hard to crack in to that space because like you almost have to like, it's only so many hours in the day and unless you're listening at, you know, five X speed, we're all a bunch of chipmunks, um, that I don't know how you're, how you're consuming it all.

Marcus Arredondo

(49:22) I want to, we need to start wrapping this up, but, um, any of the startups you've been involved with that stand out as really pivotal components to your development, things you go back to.

Ty Lifeset

(49:34) I mean, all of them have delivered something. (49:36) I mean, I think, I think Envoy was the longest in duration and then also the most rewarding. (49:44) And so I pull a lot from that experience.(49:46) I also, you know, that's a lot of like the people I'm still in touch with and my network of people. (49:53) Um, yeah, I'm trying to think, I don't, you know, um, there's not like a specific one, um, I think that, you know, this is going to sound a little cliche, but. (50:04) You know, it's a lot of who you were with on the journey, not where the journey ultimately led.(50:11) And that's, I think what you find over and over again, it's just like anything from the past becomes a memory and it inherently be kind of becomes a good memory and anything that's coming up in the future is like, Oh, awesome. (50:26) I get to spend more time with this person. (50:27) And that's always, that's always what I'll take with it.

Marcus Arredondo

(50:30) How do you reconcile the pressures of some of these ventures with the fun, creative aspect of partnering with these people?

Ty Lifeset

(50:40) Um, you, I don't know, you only live twice, Marcus. (50:44) That's what it is. (50:45) You only live twice.(50:47) I don't know, man. (50:48) It's just like you're, you're on this go around live, like just live a little, like, I don't know, like I it's going to sound stupid, but in some people are going to be like, really like who's this idiot, but, um, like, I don't know. (51:00) What's the worst thing that's going to happen?(51:02) Like I've been through, I bankrupted a company. (51:05) Um, you know, maybe at some point in the future I lose an investor money. (51:10) There's risks that can happen.(51:12) The ultimate risk is like not spending as much time with your, the people you love because you're off doing something that you don't necessarily love doing. (51:20) Yeah. (51:20) Like that to me would be like the real, like, man, I'm not living.(51:24) So like all the other pressures that are coming from it, the fiscal pressures, the daily delivery pressures, all of that, you know, that's just that to me, that's life, like, that's just like, that's just what you do to live, you know? (51:39) And so like, it doesn't really bother me as much. (51:42) And I guess maybe just because like, maybe it's because I've faced some of those issues previously and gotten through it when, when you're in it or you're thinking about it might happening, it never feels like you could ever get out of it, like it could, you would look at it and be like, that would end me.(51:59) That would destroy me. (52:01) If I did that deal and it went bad, that would be the end of me. (52:04) It's not the end of you though.(52:05) Yeah. (52:05) It's really not the end of you. (52:07) And it's in, and nothing is as great as, as it seems to be on the outside and nothing is as bad as it seems to be.(52:13) So it's, it just is like one of those things, like anything else, like it's just another thing you got to deal with and you just deal with it, you know? (52:21) So, so that's the, so that's it. (52:22) It's like, it's just is you're asking like, how do I balance the, the kind of, you know, the inherent business pressures with like the creative joy.(52:34) It's all one, it's all one thing. (52:37) Yeah. (52:37) It's all one thing.(52:38) It all takes creativity. (52:40) Like it's a, like you putting together this podcast and you know, all the admin, all the emails, all the stuff that you had to do, all the hiring of this, the getting this thing launched, all that stuff. (52:52) It's like, it's all creative.(52:53) Like you're, you're creatively problem solving constantly. (52:57) And, and, and you know, and the hope is, is that you really love that stuff. (53:01) And that, and that's the stuff that becomes second nature.(53:05) And when it's second nature, it doesn't necessarily feel like work anymore. (53:07) It just feels like something you're really good at. (53:09) And when you're really good at something, it makes you feel good.

Marcus Arredondo

(53:11) Yeah. (53:12) Wow. (53:13) This was awesome, man.(53:14) Thank you so much for coming on. (53:15) Any closing thoughts or things you think we may have missed?

Ty Lifeset

(53:19) I don't think so, man. (53:19) I think we covered it all, dude. (53:21) We, I feel like you covered my whole life in like, you know, an hour here.(53:25) I'm done. (53:26) I'm toast. (53:26) That's it.

Marcus Arredondo

(53:27) I'm retiring. (53:28) Well, I'm going to walk out from this feeling really excited and juiced, so I really appreciate you coming on, man. (53:34) It's terrific to see you.

Ty Lifeset

(53:35) Yeah, dude. (53:35) Like I said, you, you, you, you made my day. (53:38) You made my day when we spoke, uh, you know, a little over a week ago.(53:42) And then, uh, you made my day to day recording this. (53:44) I got it. (53:44) I'm going to have the pep in my step.(53:46) My daughter and wife are going to be like, what got into you? (53:49) What are you so happy about? (53:50) I spoke to Marcus.(53:51) That's what happened. (53:53) Oh man. (53:53) Well, thank you, brother.(53:54) Yeah. (53:55) Thank you, man.

Marcus Arredondo

(53:59) Thanks for listening. (54:00) For a detailed list of episodes and show notes, visit scalesofsuccesspodcast.com. (54:04) If you found this conversation engaging, consider signing up for our newsletter, where we go even deeper on a weekly basis, sharing exclusive insights and actionable strategies that can help you in your own journey.(54:14) We'd also appreciate if you subscribed, rated or shared today's episode. (54:18) It helps us to attract more illuminating guests. (54:20) Adding to the list of enlightening conversations we've had with New York Times bestsellers, producers, founders, CEOs, congressmen, and other independent thinkers who are challenging the status quo.(54:30) You can also follow us for updates, extra content, and more insights from our guests. (54:35) We hope to have you back again next week for another episode of Scales of Success. (54:38) Scales of Success is an Edge West Capital Production.