Starting Over in a New City

Micah Elliott of Blackwater Market Comics and Coffee details his life overhaul from a long career in design to starting over in a new city.

Micah shares his journey of building a community in Mansfield, Ohio, and the challenges of navigating fear and doubt in new ventures. The conversation highlights the importance of authenticity in business, the impact of parenting on identity, and the struggles faced by Gen X and Millennial parents. They also explore grassroots marketing strategies and the financial paywalls that can hinder business growth. Throughout the discussion, Micah emphasizes the need for genuine connections and the cultural bridges between different regions.

Kaila Sachse and Micah Elliot discuss the evolving challenges of modern parenting, the importance of building a support network, and the current job market dynamics. They emphasize the need for authenticity in business and the role of AI as a tool for creativity. The discussion also highlights the significance of community connections and the art of pivoting in one's career.

ABOUT MICAH ELLIOT

Micah Elliot (Mr. Magenta) is the creator of Blackwater Market Comics & Coffee (BWM Comics), an online comic and coffee shop blending comics, caffeine, and creativity. With decades of experience in design, Micah brings a sharp eye for aesthetics and a deep love for geekdom to every project.

Micah is a lifelong comic reader and a fierce supporter of indie creators. He’s also the creator of Sarducci, BWM Comics' hyper-caffeinated alley cat mascot and chaotic ambassador. Whether he’s home-roasting beans, curating back issues, or launching creative projects, Micah is always chasing new ways to tell stories, build connections, and celebrate the things we love.

bwmcomics.com

--------------------

Custom Apparel & Accessories by Virtue
Whether you're promoting your business or expanding your brand, Virtue has you covered.

Save 10% on Drymile
Use code BUB on drymile.com to save on waterproof socks, gloves, and more.

Squarespace for easy-to-manage websites
There's a reason why we've been building websites with Squarespace for almost 10 years!

Receive $20 for Buzzsprout podcasting
Start podcasting with Buzzsprout, the easiest software for hosting, promoting, & tracking your show.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Transcript

Micah Elliot (00:00)
You know, there is mastery in authenticity, right? Cause like you just said, I'm not this guy moving into a new town, just trying to like start a business and make money, make quick money. You know what? people want nothing more than authenticity.

Kaila Sachse (00:10)
Yeah!

Welcome to the Bringing Up Business podcast, where we talk about business and parenting. I'm your host, Kaila Sachse, toddler mom and owner of a marketing and creative agency called Yumari Digital. Yumari Digital is on a mission to help small businesses grow with effective websites, marketing, and branding. I'm excited to chat with today's guest, Micah Elliott, also known as Mr. Magenta. Micah is the creator of Blackwater Market Comics and Coffee.

an online comics and coffee shop where comics, caffeine, and creativity collide. All of the good things. After

Micah Elliot (00:54)
of them.

Kaila Sachse (00:56)
Whether he's curating back issues or cooking up creative projects,

Micah is always finding new ways to tell stories, build connections, and celebrate the geeky things we love. Micah, I'm excited to dive into your story and welcome to the show.

Micah Elliot (01:13)
Kaila, thank you so much for having me. It's great to be here.

Kaila Sachse (01:15)
Yeah,

yeah, yeah, I've been so excited for our chat. We just jive on this level that is so much fun. And so I'm just excited to catch up with you and talk about your story.

Micah Elliot (01:28)
Yeah,

these days there's just no room for anything else other than just making as much fun as possible.

Kaila Sachse (01:34)
I feel like, you know, life is so short, we might as well enjoy it as much as we can and live it the way that we want to live it. So I think that's that's something that where where you and I really resonate together.

Micah Elliot (01:45)
For sure, it's so weird that

Next thing you know is you're doing production design for the next 25 years, just trying to build a comic book shop. I didn't even realize, as much as I've been reading comics for nearly my whole life since second grade, that I wanted to make a comic book shop until COVID hit and I was tired of my 25 year career.

Kaila Sachse (02:08)
I can't even imagine like what it was like to make that switch from 25 year career to having your own, gig going on. like how, how was that transition? What inspired that? Because at that point you were already a dad, you were established, I would, I would say in your career. So to make a jump like that is huge. I mean, what, what prompted that?

Micah Elliot (02:26)
yeah.

Yeah, BWM comics was pretty much the last thing to take effect. the local music career growing up in the 20s, the 25 year branding and design career, getting married, having two kids, COVID hitting and realizing that, I mean, once COVID had pretty much made people

kind of sit back and like, what do I want to really do with my life? do I want to be sitting in front of this computer and, in my case, just making banner ads for my entire life or do I want to take everything that not only that I've accumulated being, comic books and, and, and toys and figurines and stuff, or do I want to take all of that stuff that's just taken up so much space?

Use everything that I've learned in my whole 25 years career of building web platforms, designing brands and everything in between and just kind of throw it all together. Learn how to build a business, learn how to make an LLC and then just start, moving towards something else. Luckily we're in an age where you can build a business online.

Kaila Sachse (03:52)
Mm-hmm. ⁓

Micah Elliot (03:52)
for incredibly

cheap, especially if you know how to build everything yourself. But for me, was trying to find a transition from the necessity of having to have this career in order to feed my children and survive to moving it into a world where my wife and I can create a new business in a new city.

We lived out in Arizona for 45 years and decided one day, well, let's not live here anymore. And we had, my wife has a family in Ohio. we just dropped everything and moved out to Mansfield, And after discovering that this was.

Kaila Sachse (04:26)
I

Micah Elliot (04:38)
Literally the place that we wanted to plant our roots and give our children an opportunity to grow in. Well, now why not just take every idea that we've had and try to, you know, merge it into a business. this little spot called Mansfield, Ohio, it's where, the Shawshank redemption was, was filmed. And so there's a lot of history.

Kaila Sachse (05:01)
I didn't know that.

Micah Elliot (05:04)
to this little town that I've never heard of. And also there's no comic book shop. So there's also like not other things that they'd like. There's no valet service, You know, all these things that we have on the West coast that you just take for granted. Now they don't have all this over here. So there's kind of opportunities for people who

Kaila Sachse (05:18)
Wow. Mm-hmm.

Micah Elliot (05:27)
want to build things and, you know, want to create new things. And especially in my case, you know, wanting to create an atmosphere, a therapeutic comic book shop, where it's not just a comic book shop, but it's a coffee shop too. it's got the ambiance of everything in a, in a, in a little up and coming town. That's really putting a lot of effort into bringing up

the downtown area and investing in, to help build up these small businesses to come out to a town that's actively trying to make that happen. that only enhances, the drive to make it happen.

Kaila Sachse (06:08)
Yeah, so when I lived in LA and then made the move to a small town, I don't know if I shared this with you, but I used to live in LA, I spent like a good decade there, and it got to the point, this was also during COVID, where my husband and I were like, okay, let's move, let's be closer to family, let's switch things up a little bit. And it was a huge culture shock to go from big city,

to smaller suburb. And I remember being so worried about how that was going to translate for my business because at that point I had already had my freelance career established and I'd made, what was it, like 90 % of my clients out in LA. And then the rest of them were either international or across the US

But I say all this to say because I was so worried about how that was going to translate. I remember having a conversation with my life coach at the time. Amazing, amazing man named Andrew Della Rocca. He was, he was pivotal in helping me change my mindset because I, here I was living in fear and worry and you know, stuck in that place. And he's like, Kaila, you have so much to offer. Bring your fruits to this new place.

And I say that because that's what I'm hearing from you. you made a major cross country move from Arizona to Mansfield, Ohio. You moved from this place that feels like it's poppin, it's energetic to a place where it's up and coming and they're looking to revamp themselves. So I can only imagine what was going through your head at the time. did you experience any sort of fear, worry, doubt or?

Were you more in a transitional, ready to move forward in a new place?

Micah Elliot (07:59)
Well, I was ready to move forward, but I think I live in this constant state of existential fear and, and stress. So that was really nothing different. But I mean, coming from Phoenix, where there's 7 billion people to a town that's, that's, I'm not sure exactly sure how many people are here, but it's definitely smaller than Phoenix.

Kaila Sachse (08:24)
Yeah.

Micah Elliot (08:26)
in the West coast, people engage each other, whether for the good or for the bad, but people do talk and things kind of move out there in the West coast in the Midwest. It's, it's much different. it's more slow paced.

There are great things about a small city. There are difficult things about a small city in the same way. The city in a small city. It can be a little more difficult to break into. People's vision, you know, it break into people's ability to consider you.

Kaila Sachse (08:48)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Micah Elliot (09:06)
we've been here for about three years. There've been some, some pitfalls, but we have certainly maintained, a steady fire, and, and unbreakable will to, contribute to this huge thing that's happening in Mansfield.

Kaila Sachse (09:27)
Yeah.

Micah Elliot (09:27)
To fill voids where things don't exist, in Phoenix and I, know how it is in LA. It is a culinary adventure. Your stomach has no ending of the amazing things that you can stuff it with. Right. It's LA and I, and I'll, and I'll put Phoenix up against New York or LA or any of that. Like we've got.

Kaila Sachse (09:36)
my gosh.

Yes! Ugh!

Micah Elliot (09:53)
food out There are just any type of taste that you want. There's something to to capture that. A little different. It's a little bit. There's a lot of fast food places, but it's really hard to find like a good Italian food place. You know, there are people all over the world who come into this little city. And what we're trying to do out here is to bring

Kaila Sachse (09:59)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Micah Elliot (10:19)
their knowledge into this little city that

that there is genuine passion, not just from citizens, but from city council members and from the mayor herself, putting a lot of effort into building this place into something that could be recognized and, and coming from Phoenix.

I see so much potential

so right now we're Kiki and I are, are,

in year three, really still trying to get our, our bearings, find our ground. Things are, are definitely looking up. with Blackwater market comics, We're popping up shops around Mansfield and really trying to get out there in front of people. but the grand vision is yeah, that, that brick and mortar shop.

Kaila Sachse (10:56)
Cool. Cool.

Yeah.

Micah Elliot (11:03)
You know, a place

where we can, I would say vomit our style all over this, you know, this cool comic book and coffee shop. Branding is a big thing for us. So color and atmosphere is really important We've got this grand vision. And the more and more people that we talk to out here in Mansfield or Ontario or Ashland.

Kaila Sachse (11:09)
you

Micah Elliot (11:25)
There really is a lot of drive for wanting new things out here and we're just doing everything that we can to move that forward.

Kaila Sachse (11:36)
Yeah, it sounds like part of your passion is coming from within. You've got this drive that is fueling itself and also you are echoing the enthusiasm of the town itself.

Sounds like the mayor is doing all that she can and the community is doing all that they can to help build this place up into something vibrant and and even more exciting. So I can imagine this this two-part system for you where that is what is keeping the ball rolling. Would you would you say that that's about accurate or is there anything else that is also driving you in this?

Micah Elliot (12:18)
yeah. yeah. It's not just that, but we have the benefit of seeing things from a completely different point of view. the, the, the mayor, the city councilman, the citizens, they see the great things happening in Mansfield, but they lived in Mansfield their whole lives. You know, we're coming from an area that has completely different things.

Kaila Sachse (12:37)
Mm-hmm.

Micah Elliot (12:42)
So for us, it's a much more primal.

fire, because this is new. And now we're here after, 45 years of really trying to do everything that we can in Phoenix.

Arizona ⁓ is dead last in child education. And it's really shown in the last couple years that our children have been in the public schools out here. The first year was really tough for them. They were,

Kaila Sachse (12:58)
⁓

Mmm.

Micah Elliot (13:21)
it no fault of their own, they were a grade level behind. But after a year of, the great public schools out here in Mansfield, doing everything that they can to teach these kids, with all of the cuts and everything that's going on, my children have benefited, for at least the past few years.

Kaila Sachse (13:29)
Yeah.

That is...

wow.

Micah Elliot (13:41)
And so there's so much going on out here that we have not had in Phoenix, that we're ready to put everything we can into, helping contribute to making, this city better, even if that means like, on a Saturday, going to pick up trash,

Kaila Sachse (13:58)
Yeah.

Micah Elliot (14:02)
⁓ you know, know that the more, the more people contribute to positive things, the more positive things happen. Right. So that's been proven time and time again. And it's now it's, our duty to encourage people to be positive and encourage people to, put others needs before their own and to.

Kaila Sachse (14:11)
Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Micah Elliot (14:24)
You know, just say, okay, I'm going to try this or in my case, I get, ⁓ really judgmental on myself at times. And I, and I'm very hard on myself. I don't necessarily, you know, is it, is a designer, you kind of at times have to put aside your own desires. You know, if I'm working on a logo for a client,

Kaila Sachse (14:51)
Thank ⁓

Micah Elliot (14:51)
And I understand

this client's message and I understand this client brand. And I understand what they're, how they're trying to translate that brand into a, you know, visual identity.

Kaila Sachse (14:56)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Micah Elliot (15:06)
Sometimes I have to take my ideas and put them aside, know, in order to, you know, the, the clients broad vision of everything. But at the same time, sometimes the client doesn't necessarily know what they're talking about. know, even in their, in their, in their own business, maybe they have, you know, sometimes clients have rose tinted glasses, and don't see the broad aspect. So.

Kaila Sachse (15:10)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Micah Elliot (15:31)
For me, at times I'm able to put aside the things that I like and the things that I want to see out of, ⁓ you know, a brand or something or a project in order to see things through the client's eyes or in order to see the broad message, you know, as a whole. And at times my designs and my ideas work for that, but at times my ideas don't work for that.

Kaila Sachse (15:42)
Yeah.

I can see a crossover between how, you know, as a designer, you're focused on your client's vision in helping to build that up to what it could be, fulfill that potential of that brand while also allowing space for you to be able to infuse your input and your ideas too, as a design professional. And I can see how that translates into

business on a bigger, broader scale and even parenting on a bigger, broader scale. We can only benefit from listening to our children and what they have to share because they are humans too. And they have their own perspectives and, listening to our customers and our clients and what they have to say about things. So, you know, I could picture the future of BWM. Somebody walks in and

and has some feedback, you know, I'm sure that the shop is going to be dope. I can already picture it like I'm picturing a really casual. We got some hip hop going on like what? don't know. I've got I've got a really cool vision of what your shop could be. I'm sure you've got visions, Yeah.

Micah Elliot (17:09)
yeah. Well,

well for a brick and mortar shop, it know, for what we're doing, has to be a coffee shop first, right? You walk in, you've got the smell and the ambiance of a coffee shop. love that. We're from the West kind of Cowboys. So we kind of like that wood, you know, that cabin feel, but then, ⁓ our accent brands are branding colors. Our accents are magenta and lime green.

Kaila Sachse (17:15)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Ooh. Ooh.

Micah Elliot (17:38)
So you kind of put that up against not just the wood atmosphere and the wood ambiance, but these beautiful pieces of comic book artwork, you the comic books themselves that aren't just a trove of amazing stories, know, fantastic and just absurd, crazy stories, but the artwork itself, you know, contributing to the look and feel of the ambiance of that.

that place, there's a therapeutic entity to a comic book shop. The comic book collectors, they don't just go into a comic book shop to buy comics. It's not just about buying comics. when you cross that threshold, reality ends. both libraries and comic book shops have that

unique ability that truly when you cross over that threshold, nothing outside of that door matters. If you mix that, if you mix that we Kiki and I know how to relay that message by connecting with people, right? If you have that as the background while you're trying to connect with people, while you're making them, you know, their one true

Kaila Sachse (18:41)
Yeah.

Micah Elliot (19:04)
drink, you know, that coffee drink that the coffee drink is unique to anybody. What did it, whether it's, you know, loaded with 16 different, you know, sugars or whether it's great black, you know, that, feeling that people get when they sit down with a hot drink, the world is behind them and they finally have some ability and some

Kaila Sachse (19:05)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Surp-sir.

Yeah.

Micah Elliot (19:33)
time to sit down and read, right? We're putting it in under that umbrella of comic books, right? Cause that's what we love. That's what we, that's what we know. And in my case, that's, that's what got me reading.

Kaila Sachse (19:36)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, that sounds so zen and it sounds like a really nice getaway from reality which we could all use some getaways and some time to decompress. You mentioned...

Micah Elliot (20:03)
And you know who deserves it? know who

deserves it? Mansfield deserves it. Mansfield deserves it because they don't have it. You know, there are places where you can buy comic books, which I give all respect to those places, but they're not comic book shops. They're not that therapeutic shop. And so what we want to do with a comic book shop with Blackwater Market Comics and Coffee is say, okay, well, we've known what

Kaila Sachse (20:08)
Yes!

Yeah.

Micah Elliot (20:33)
comic book shops have been for our whole lives. So what is the next level of the comic book shop? There are businesses out there that are comic book and coffee shops. think if anything COVID taught us rather than the fact that we are incredibly able to manage our own selves and manage our own time without somebody looking over us and saying, ⁓ you need to be in that seat eight hours.

Kaila Sachse (20:59)
Mm-hmm.

Micah Elliot (21:00)
It doesn't exist anymore. we've proven our ability to succeed beyond our wildest dreams Just sitting in front of this machine, right? I'm the most powerful person in front of this machine You are the most powerful person in front of this machine You don't have to wake up at 7 get on the road to get in, you know in a seat at 8 o'clock you know, and we there there's opportunities for that, but

Kaila Sachse (21:09)
Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. ⁓

Mm-hmm.

Micah Elliot (21:29)
But, Mansfield, we have an ability to create something new for the people out here. it's baby steps and we're a year in now. And so we're just making small steps and moving forward and, things are really picking up and things are looking good.

Kaila Sachse (21:39)
Yeah.

I love it.

You mentioned earlier that there are paywalls. What type of paywalls have you run into and what are some paywalls that someone who's starting a business should expect?

Micah Elliot (23:06)
the big paywall right now is finding funding to clean out a retail shop to then purchase, you know, supplies. And I mean, there are paywalls every everywhere I'm looking, the ideas don't stop bouncing until they hit that paywall, So, you know, we're from the DIY.

Kaila Sachse (23:23)
Yeah.

yeah.

Micah Elliot (23:30)
community in the punk rock and, goth scenes in Arizona And so we know that you got to do the hard work. the, marketing funding all goes towards stickers, right? You know, in getting that brand in front of people, because it's that grassroots effort that

Kaila Sachse (23:45)
Yeah.

Micah Elliot (23:55)
You play in the long game, you know, that builds the community in the end. And we're not, we're not looking to just make a comic book shop. You know, that's not, that's not what this is about. This is about building someplace for a community that doesn't have it. know, it's not right that me as a comic book, you know, lover, I

Kaila Sachse (23:57)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, they're-

Micah Elliot (24:24)
don't want to have to travel like an hour just to go to a comic book shop on Wednesday. You know, I feel for the community that I've joined in with that, you know, wants to build up their city. And I want to contribute to that. We want to

Kaila Sachse (24:29)
Mm-hmm. Right, right.

That's so beautiful and symbiotic because you're not going into a place saying, okay, I'm gonna change this whole place up and shake it, just completely renovate it and scrap all of its history and all of what makes it the place that it is today. Instead, you're honoring it. That's beautiful.

Micah Elliot (24:59)
No. Well,

I have this weird insistence that I'm going to be the one human being in, in America's history to build a bridge between Phoenix, Arizona and Mansfield. I just feel that there's so much from those two random communities that are so far apart.

Being involved in the, in the music community and in Phoenix, it's easy to get excited because there's so much awesome stuff going on just for your, your listeners out there. If y'all like local music, or if you are in interested in just having crazy fun times at a local music show or any kind of music event, go to Phoenix, go to Phoenix, go to Tempe, go to Tucson.

You know, it's still the wild west and the music shows out there are still just off the wall, whether it's metal, I mean, anything jazz. mean, there's really blues. There's this great music out there. So that's my, that's my commercial for Arizona is amazing music community. But I, I've lived in that, you know, in Mansfield has a music community itself. And so I see these things from two, these two different areas.

Kaila Sachse (25:59)
⁓

Oof.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Micah Elliot (26:22)
that I know could work together in this amazing, the skate scene in Phoenix is nearly equivalent to this skate scene in Ohio or in Mansfield. So I want to be this person that, that champions bringing people to Ohio and Ohio bringing people to Arizona, just because I see so much that, that is common between those two states that could really benefit from each other.

Kaila Sachse (26:27)
Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. cool.

Micah Elliot (26:51)
Trying new things. But anyway, that's one of weird.

Kaila Sachse (26:51)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's so rad.

Earlier you mentioned grassroots marketing and I think that there is a lot to be said, especially for the bootstrapping business owner who doesn't necessarily have the funding and who is going about things in a more DIY fashion. Guerilla marketing can be extremely powerful. I'll never forget this one instance that I had with an artist. We were...

My husband and I were at some show, I forget what it was, but he walks over to us and he pulls out a bunch of stickers from his pocket. And he doesn't say anything. He's just looking at his stickers, but he's in front of us who he's commanding our attention. And we're like, okay, what's this guy up to?

Micah Elliot (27:39)
Is this passive-aggressive, or is this here? This is kind going to be a problem.

Kaila Sachse (27:40)
Should I be worried?

I'm a little scared, but I'm also intrigued, so I'm gonna stick around. right. So he pulls out a sticker, and it's about the size, it's a little bit bigger than his palm, and he hands it to us. It's a circular sticker. Okay, cool. One of us, husband and I, take the sticker. Then he reaches back into his pocket. Again, doesn't say anything, doesn't make eye contact, doesn't...

Micah Elliot (27:47)
Remember in this audio... ⁓

Kaila Sachse (28:08)
It doesn't prompt anything. And he pulls out another sticker. And this one is slightly smaller than his palm. And he does this, I kid you not, 10 more times until the final sticker is the size of a pinky nail. And they're all the same sticker. It just scaled all the way down.

Micah Elliot (28:26)
Please, stack in

this.

Kaila Sachse (28:28)
Yeah, and I'll just, it's brilliant because it took our attention in a way that, you know, if you were to buy a big billboard in Times Square, I mean, that could get lost in the sauce. But the way that he commanded us with these 10 scaled down stickers, mean, that is so creative.

Micah Elliot (28:49)
That is brilliant. ⁓ There's brilliant. Did he say anything to you or did he just leave these in your hand and then walk away? So here's the next question. Did you visit the website on the sticker or did you engage in that business afterwards?

Kaila Sachse (28:55)
That's it, we just left him in our hands and walked away.

Absolutely,

of course, of course we did. It was fascinating because on the back he had a QR code. That's all he had to do. That's all he had to do.

Micah Elliot (29:09)
There it is.

You know what I do with all of my stickers? I tag the back of it with the website, the website in the social media. So there is a value to these unique personal connections that you make with people, whether it's stack, whether it's like stacking a bunch of stickers on top of each other.

Kaila Sachse (29:22)
Brilliant. Brilliant.

Yeah.

Micah Elliot (29:41)
You know, there is mastery in authenticity, right? Cause like you just said, I'm not this guy moving into a new town, just trying to like start a business and make money, make quick money. You know what? The one thing that we, that we lack these days, as Americans and as humans, there's so little authenticity and people want nothing more than authenticity.

Kaila Sachse (29:51)
RIP, everyone. Yeah!

Micah Elliot (30:07)
mean, I'm a

I'm a movie buff and like, this has been some of the most depressing years, you know, for movies ever, the rehashing of old stories and, know, not necessarily that that's, that's a bad thing, but I mean, where's the authenticity gone? Where's the authenticity gone? And in the things that we buy, you know, the people who, who lead there isn't, there just doesn't seem to be an authenticity.

Kaila Sachse (30:10)
Mm-hmm.

Right. Right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Micah Elliot (30:36)
So when you come across that in small doses, it makes a huge impact. And I'll give you an example.

I don't know anything about business. I just, I had a bunch of comic books. I love coffee.

Kaila Sachse (30:48)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Micah Elliot (30:51)
I thought, okay, well, let's make an LLC. So I got on my computer and thankfully we live in an era where doing research to try to figure out how to make a business is right there. It's right, you know.

Kaila Sachse (31:04)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Preach that to the people in the back.

If "I don't know" is not an excuse in this day and age. There is no "I don't know." Yeah.

Micah Elliot (31:11)
Yeah, no, no, no. Listen,

I don't know. And I did. I don't know. I don't know anything about business. remember thinking, okay, well, like, I want to make this legitimate, because I have to pay taxes. And like, I want, I want to make this legitimate, I want to make a business that, you know, maybe someday we can build up and hand over to the kids, you know, and build them street cred along the way. your dad owns a

Kaila Sachse (31:16)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

⁓ you're that? You're Your dad is that guy? Yeah.

Micah Elliot (31:44)
I mean, you

know, you get that brand in front of people, you get that low, that solid logo in front of people, and then they start seeing it. They start seeing it. They start thinking of it. Right. But, you know, there's, there's, there's, there's an ability for, for authenticity to make its way into this sea of inauthenticity. And it really just takes

Kaila Sachse (31:52)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

I believe that.

Micah Elliot (32:11)
It just takes a little effort. just takes a little effort. You know, I, okay, we'll start a business comics and coffee. Okay. We'll learn how to build an LLC. Okay. Well done and done. Okay. So now those we're done. now, okay, well let's build a website. Okay. Done. Okay. Let's launch this business. Okay. Well, it's been a year. It's like, well, baby steps actually work, you know, and I know it's, it's hard to get

Kaila Sachse (32:13)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Micah Elliot (32:40)
focused with all of these things that are involved with building a business and making things happen. But if you can make a list of just the important list and the secondary important list, go through each one of those one by one. Well, okay, that one's done. Okay, check that off. Check that off. I don't want to do that one, so let's go down to this one.

Kaila Sachse (32:54)
Yes.

Yes.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Micah Elliot (33:06)
You know, there's so many opportunities in the day, so many moments in the day to just do little things to help improve your business, to help improve your overall life. And it's a matter of just breaking through the, I don't want to do that, you know, or breaking.

Kaila Sachse (33:16)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Micah Elliot (33:25)
You know,

self-inauthenticity, right? The inauthenticity to self.

Kaila Sachse (33:29)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, it is

Micah Elliot (33:33)
We get caught

in the social networks, they hurt that. The more we spend time on these social networks, not engaging in positive things, not engaging in our dreams, it's there for us to just grab. And I think we forget that sometimes because we're so bombarded with

in authenticity.

Kaila Sachse (34:04)
Ooh, there's, oh, there's so much to unpack there. I feel like social media is the new Keeping Up With The Joneses. now instead of looking over at everybody else's well manicured lawns and saying, why don't I have that? Why don't I paint my house and white? You know, whatever, whatever. Why can't I have XYZ? Now all we do is doom scroll and, and look at our own lives as if our own lives aren't worth anything,

when in reality all we have to do is put the phone down and focus on what you call the baby steps, which is brilliant. That's all we have to do, one step at a time.

Micah Elliot (34:40)
You know, I don't know what it's like for you, but like I was born in 77. So like we've had, I've had, you know, the gen X generation, we've had so much experience, you know, we're analog, we're digital. We research in the library, you know, we, we've been on the internet since its inception.

Kaila Sachse (34:58)
Yeah. ⁓

Yeah, yeah,

Yeah.

Micah Elliot (35:08)
and, we've been conditioned into this constant state of work, this consistent, we have to be working between Kiki and I right now, we have, I believe seven jobs between us. And, you know, we're still, we're still struggling.

Kaila Sachse (35:27)
Whoa, wow.

Micah Elliot (35:33)
You know, we're still trying to really find our, our, our bearings and that or he resonates with every American out there, you know, working tirelessly to just to make ends meet. I feel like Gen X has been worked into an area in our minds. And I don't know what it's like for other people, but for me,

Kaila Sachse (35:33)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Micah Elliot (35:58)
I enjoy doing things. enjoy building things. I'm a graphic designer. I'm a web designer. I enjoy making things, you know, making digital things, making print things. ⁓ but when I'm not doing something, when I'm not shoving a project into, you know, the emptiness, I feel worthless. Like, I feel like, it's not right.

Kaila Sachse (36:05)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Hmm.

Micah Elliot (36:25)
You know, I know it's not right,

Kaila Sachse (36:25)
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Micah Elliot (36:27)
but I feel like if I'm just sitting down and like watching a movie with my kid, I feel like I should be doing something, you know, or if I'm, you know, doing laundry, like, or watching a movie, feel like I should be doing laundry at the same time, you know? And it's like, no matter, you know, no matter how fulfilled I make myself with

Kaila Sachse (36:35)
Mm-hmm. Yep. Yep.

Yeah.

Micah Elliot (36:55)
creating things and doing things, whether it's freelance projects or whether it's, you know, building things for BWM comics. There's this innate sense of like, you're not doing enough.

Kaila Sachse (37:10)
Mm. Mm-hmm.

Micah Elliot (37:12)
And I,

but it's there and I feel like it's, and I feel like it's there for a lot of Gen Xers.

Kaila Sachse (37:20)
yeah, yeah. So I'm millennial, So I was taught how to use computers from early elementary school, but we were also still analog, know, talking on the phone, getting wrapped up in those long spirally cords that were always getting tangled. And that was our childhood. and then I remember

Like the introduction of MySpace being the big thing in high school, you know, like that's what we were all on. That's how we all socialized when we weren't together in person, which we were together in person a lot too. So it was definitely that balance. But I'll say that that productivity bug has definitely bit me as well. I also struggle with my identity and my self-worth being tied up in that. And it's hard to...

It's hard to differentiate for me, at what point in my, in my self-deprecating by not working or thinking that I should be working right now versus like, am I actually enjoying the task? for example, my maternity leave totally self-funded

So I fully planned on three months postpartum recovery and no work. I had a team set up to help me with certain tasks and keep the business running. But after month two, my mental health started to take a hit and I had to get back at my desk because that's where I felt alive. That's where my identity was. And you know, for better or for worse, I don't know if that's right or wrong, but I will say that getting back to my desk.

helped me reflourish as a mother and help find myself again. Because that identity shift is real. Becoming a parent is a life altering event. It is something that people don't, people mention it, but I feel like it's taken too lightly. how was it for you and Kiki when you became parents? did you face major identity shifts or was it just like, okay, we got kids now?

Micah Elliot (39:30)
Yeah, I think for us, we, you know, we were ready. We're Kiki and I had, we got our, all of our partying out in our twenties and we didn't actually meet until, our thirties, well, late twenties. but again, we made sure that all the partying was out of the way. So by the time that we were ready to have kids, we were ready to have kids. You know, we were already a year

Kaila Sachse (39:52)
Yeah.

Micah Elliot (39:54)
into our marriage. And so we had, taken the our path of life and we had enjoyed ourselves so much, growing up in in Phoenix that when it was time for, kids that we were, all set and ready, ready for that. ⁓ I think the reality of it is a totally different.

Kaila Sachse (40:15)
You

Micah Elliot (40:17)
Different story because yeah, you're right. I mean, I don't want to put a divide between those who have kids and those who don't, but I mean, you understand what it's like not having kids, but only parents know what it's like having kids. And it's, and I've heard people explain, having kids like it's like, it's like having your heart.

Kaila Sachse (40:30)
Well put, yeah.

Micah Elliot (40:38)
just walking around outside out of your chest and it's you're still alive because your heart's there pumping hearts there grow in your hearts. They're doing things, but you know, your heart's not here anymore. It's like out there. Now you've got to watch out because you got that heart safe, you know, so it's a different mindset. You know what you what's important to you all of sudden. It's like

Kaila Sachse (40:41)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah

Micah Elliot (41:06)
I don't want to go to shows anymore. I don't want to go out to the bar until 3 a.m. So it's a totally different mindset. then COVID changed everything. And now we're professionals trying to thrive our work.

Kaila Sachse (41:07)
Yeah, yeah.

yeah.

Micah Elliot (41:31)
and make money for our family, you but now you're a professional and you're a daycare. And so now your nine to five is not just you doing all of the things that you need to do throughout your day. Now you're also taking care of your children because you can't afford to have anybody else take care of them. And in some cases, you know, I don't trust anybody else to take care of

Kaila Sachse (41:40)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, yeah.

Micah Elliot (42:03)
future historians will have a really interesting job, breaking down.

What it was like living as a Gen Xer, as a millennial,

while our parents had all, all that they had to deal with raising their families. I think the boomer generation doesn't understand completely all of the new experiences that these younger generations and I'm talking like Gen X and everything afterwards, everybody was an adult from Gen X on.

Kaila Sachse (42:34)
Mm-hmm.

Micah Elliot (42:38)
had a completely different living family professional life experience than anything before. ⁓ You know, not discrediting any other, any generations, anything like that. history in the future will really have an interesting time deciphering, you know, not just the physical duties that, parents had to do during this time, but the emotional.

Kaila Sachse (42:45)
Yeah. Yep.

No. No. Yeah. Yeah.

Micah Elliot (43:07)
and the financial toll and just living in a world where

you at times you feel like why are all of my problems outside of my ability to deal with like my family life is great you know like my we live in love you know and happiness but it's like why can't i make the bills you know we have seven jobs between us and we can't make the bills it's like

Kaila Sachse (43:21)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

It's the weirdest dichotomy of like, the outside world is exploding, but my inside, what's happening in between our four walls here at home, it's chill, it's love, you know? Like granted, raising kids is challenging, right? But it's, there's.

Micah Elliot (43:40)
Thank

Sure, that's

history has proven that. I know. That'll never change. That's just you're to be a parent buckle up.

Kaila Sachse (44:01)
Right.

Micah Elliot (44:05)
Because this ride is not going to be easy. That's never changed over time.

Kaila Sachse (44:08)
It is not for the weak.

No, no, but yeah, like you mentioned, like there are new challenges that the parents of today do have to seriously address and think about. one of them is the cost of childcare and how that's playing out. I'll say in 49 states, because it sounds like New Mexico has their stuff together and they are covering the cost of childcare. And I believe higher education. Right.

huge and they've actually noticed the poverty line. They've noticed that the number of people living in poverty has lessened since then. covering the cost of child care covering the cost of higher ed is actually helping their society. Surprise news flash that helps.

Micah Elliot (44:57)
Right. Yeah.

I think that, but that's been, that's been proven that actually helping people increases, people's will to live and like ability to survive, despite what the, the narrative is on the, the social world. mean, everybody knows that helping others is what helps society.

Kaila Sachse (45:07)
Yeah, it's

Yeah. Yeah.

Micah Elliot (45:24)
And not

just leaving people to just, you know, ⁓ pull yourself up your bootstraps. Well, that's what everybody does. Everybody pulls themselves up by their bootstraps, you know, sometimes people need help. and I hope that we can get back to a place that, remembers that and understands that. there is, there is a world online and there's the Facebook world, right?

Kaila Sachse (45:28)
leaving a map.

Yeah, yeah.

Micah Elliot (45:47)
There's the Instagram world and the social media world. That's not reality. You know, that's not real. That's just simply there's there's

Kaila Sachse (45:53)
Yeah.

Micah Elliot (45:56)
There's plans there, you know? And I think the more we can focus on our small families, you know, in our small communities and most definitely the small businesses.

Kaila Sachse (46:07)
Yeah.

Yeah, you know what's helped?

before I became a mom, they, in doctors and the care team helping me through pregnancy, they constantly said, hey, do you have a village? Do you have people who are going to help you postpartum? And I wasn't really sure how to digest that because we had just moved back. My husband and I are very independent.

human beings, we tend to be the ones to take care of others instead of receiving and asking for help. And so the concept of getting help postpartum was just like this airy fairy, yeah, sure, whatever. We'll see if people come through for us, you know, a little grim, but that's just how we digested that. over time, after becoming a mother, I realized that, wow, that advice of

having a village, creating your village is sage. It has completely changed the game for me. I have friends who I can call up and vent to, I have friends I can text and just check in on and they check in on me and we all have each other's backs. This is something that I wish was more widely talked about, which is the concept of creating our own village. instead of just hoping that people will come and save us.

we can actually actively go out and check in on people and create those relationships.

you had to move from Arizona to to Ohio and I can imagine there was a shift in your village. Like what did that look like for you guys?

Micah Elliot (48:55)
We were the village. I mean, we didn't know anybody. didn't know anybody out there. It was, it was, we knew that, we knew that, there was a better greener pastures out there for our kids. Metaphorically and physically, right? I mean, we're in Ohio and it's just this beautiful green land, you know, kind of excessive green in some cases.

Kaila Sachse (48:57)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Micah Elliot (49:18)
I mean, we came out here not knowing anybody. Luckily, we're engaging type of people. And also it's nice having a business behind you too, because you're not just like, some D bag just coming out here and like, I need some greens.

We've got a legitimate business and we're, well, we're Micah and Kiki out here from Arizona. You know, there's weird alien people who just decided to come out to Mansfield of all places and people don't understand, the first thing you say, well, why did you come to Mansfield? And we have to remind it because your city's beautiful. Because you have a million things to do out here that I and my family cannot do in Phoenix.

Kaila Sachse (49:35)
you

Yeah.

Yeah.

Micah Elliot (50:02)
So, so finding a, finding a new support zone has been a support units. Just it's been really difficult, but we're friendly people. So it's easy for us to make friends. We've made, some great friends out here so far. ⁓ we like to have dinner parties, we love karaoke. So, we kind of tend to bring a party.

Kaila Sachse (50:14)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Micah Elliot (50:28)
with us, even just spending time with people. so that's, that's made it, made it really easy, but we're lucky because we're outgoing people. if I put my, my geek hat on, I'm not getting out too much, you know?

Kaila Sachse (50:32)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Micah Elliot (50:45)
I had to break out of my, my comfort zone after working from home since COVID. And then now we're moving into this new city and now we need to, get out and meet people. it, it's, it's easier for us, but, know, and sometimes it's, it's a little scary, especially in a new area.

Kaila Sachse (51:03)
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. No, I think, I think there's something to learn there. It's, it's the breaking out of the comfort zone. It's the understanding that, Hey, people aren't going to come to us. The community is not going to come to us. We have to go out into the community in order to engage with them and also see them for who they are and like embracing their essence instead of just throwing our ideas onto them. So it's, it's getting to know them.

Micah Elliot (51:30)
Right. And the reality is that you have to. You have to get out there and you have to engage with people and you have to meet people and you have to let people see who you are or else nothing's going to get done. Nobody's going to come to you. One thing that is really weird in this post-COVID world

working remotely that, now remote work is just all over the place. trying to find remote jobs is nearly impossible. for example, I was recently, taken down to part time at my,

Kaila Sachse (52:06)
Interesting.

Micah Elliot (52:12)
full-time job that I've been out for eight years.

which is just devastating, But, you know, what, what can you do other than start looking for jobs, right? I don't know if you've looked for jobs in the last couple of years, but it's a completely different dynamic and it's a whole different world.

Kaila Sachse (52:22)
Right.

Micah Elliot (52:34)
I myself have 25 years of branding experience. my resume, my portfolio, speaks for itself. but when trying to find a remote job, you don't have the ability to get in front of people. And when you can spend an entire day filling out an application or, meeting the criteria of what any given job wants you to do. In some cases, it's filming a.

Kaila Sachse (52:40)
Yeah.

You're right.

Micah Elliot (53:00)
video of yourself, you know, all the hoops that you have to jump through. Nothing is guaranteed. I myself tried applying for over 230 remote jobs and not one, not one, not one got, you know, any kind of response. And even to make things worse.

Kaila Sachse (53:02)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Ouch.

Micah Elliot (53:29)
The responses that I did get were scams, were people out there actively hunting, people looking for jobs. So I don't know. I don't even know what to do, in this, this, this era. But what I'm getting at is that the, the opportunities that I have landed have only been.

Kaila Sachse (53:32)
Mmm.

Micah Elliot (53:55)
Locally have only been for me getting in front of people meeting people I can sit in my desk for three months and just send out Application after application after application after application and I'm not saying you shouldn't do that because I mean if you're looking for a job You got to do anything you can

Kaila Sachse (54:13)
Mm-hmm. ⁓

Micah Elliot (54:21)
And even if it means sending out 200, 300 resumes, but you got to look locally and you got to get in front of people.

Kaila Sachse (54:33)
It's like that old adage, like it's not what you know, it's who you know, right? There's still a very massive value in networking. So that's what we have to do, we just gotta get out.

Micah Elliot (54:38)
Thanks. ⁓

And we

got to get out. for me and Kiki coming into a completely new town, a new city that has its own small town pitfalls. That's been probably one of the most difficult things, I've done in my life, moving into a new town already having a career and that

something happening and then having to find something else. It's, been tremendously difficult, but the only thing that's shown any promise is actually getting out there in front of people. for me, being a designer who works in front of the computer all the time and doesn't get out too much, as much as I'd like, like I had to force myself. I really had to just say,

Kaila Sachse (55:26)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Micah Elliot (55:32)
just shut up, get your haircut, you know, nice outfit and go talk, go talk to them and go sell yourself. Cause ultimately, your resume and your portfolio can only say so much. I think it's important that when you're going out there and looking for jobs that you're selling yourself, you're, you're, really selling.

Kaila Sachse (55:36)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Micah Elliot (56:00)
Not just your skillset, but what's more important is your, your work ethic and your ability to, to have a drive I know it's not an easy thing, but man, you have to do that. You have to do that.

Kaila Sachse (56:06)
Mm-hmm.

Micah Elliot (56:15)
I'm really curious what it's like for some of your listeners out there who have gone through, some hard times with careers and past five years, it's just been a rough time Like in my case, like, well, let's just take comic books and mix it with some coffee and, know, build a

Kaila Sachse (56:25)
Right.

Micah Elliot (56:32)
website and try to make things happen.

Kaila Sachse (56:36)
Right, right. It's the art of...

Yeah, I'm glad you did that too. It's the art of the pivot, right? When we come up against something that is apparently a dead end, what do we do? Do we just lay down and end our career and that's it? Or do we say, okay, well, can I still do with the skill sets that I have and what skill sets can I add onto that? And also, who do I know? Who's in my network?

It's during those moments where it's time to start thinking out of the box and thinking creatively. what can I do with the resources that I have and then how can I obtain more resources?

Micah Elliot (57:15)
Right, but more importantly, pushing yourself out of that box. It's hard to get out of that.

Kaila Sachse (57:17)
Yeah,

it is, it is. It's super easy to get stuck in a rut. And I think that's where my curiosity was coming from in the very beginning where I was asking like, what's fueling you? Because it's not easy to get out of a rut. It's not easy to try something new. And when we have something that is fueling us, whether it's a passion to move towards something or something is drawing us in because it's so exciting,

Latch onto that. It's totally okay to just lean into that, ride the wave. Explore it.

Micah Elliot (57:51)
Well, yeah, explore it. I mean,

you know, there's a starting point, right? There's a starting point that starts with one thought, but the further, the more you get into that, and then ultimately, where does that go? it's doing those little tasks. What I was talking about, like, just get that thing done, get that thing done.

Kaila Sachse (57:57)
Yes!

Micah Elliot (58:12)
You know, skip over that, go to that other thing. You got to stay motivated and you got to stay focused on what it is that you want to do. And I mean, there's no guarantee. don't have, I have no guarantee that I'm going to build this business into the monumental universe shattering comic book shop that I see in my head, but

I know that it's not gonna happen if I don't do these things. I know it's not gonna happen if I don't just try.

Kaila Sachse (58:46)
Yes, it will 100

% fail if you don't even start.

Micah Elliot (58:50)
But then there's so many pitfalls. Like, I mean, what's it like for you?

You spent, okay. Each one of these podcasts is its own universe of a project. You've got 15 million things that you have to accomplish with every single podcast. You've got to you've got to promote, you've got to design, you've got to post, you've got to write. You've got to do all of these things every single time you do this. And you put.

Kaila Sachse (59:00)
Yeah. Yeah.

It's true. That's true.

Micah Elliot (59:25)
all of this effort and you put all of this time into all of these things to get two likes and you know and and you the only thing that you can guarantee is that nobody's gonna see you and then nobody's gonna care unless you keep at it unless you keep doing it

Kaila Sachse (59:34)
Right, right, right, right. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Right. Right.

Mm-hmm.

That's right.

Micah Elliot (59:52)
And I mean, nobody will care if you don't do it. And like I write these blogs and I write these posts and I always get done with the last post or the last blog. I think, ⁓ man, this is going to this newsletter, they're going to love it.

Kaila Sachse (1:00:06)
This is the one. Yeah,

yeah, Yeah. You just never know. Yeah, yeah.

Micah Elliot (1:00:14)
two of you, one click, you know, that

can't, that cannot deter you from doing the thing that you can't rely on response, right? And you can't rely on advertising and you can't rely on boosting posts. Like nothing works. It's true. Nothing works. The only thing that can work

Kaila Sachse (1:00:30)
No, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Micah Elliot (1:00:44)
Is your drive to make this thing and it's never going to otherwise. And you're not going get the results that you want. And you're going to be sad more than you're happy. But are going to feel they're not going to bring me down. You know, they're not going to tell me I can't do this, you know, in, in, and you will get beat down by.

Kaila Sachse (1:00:47)
Yep. Yep. It's... Right. Right. Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Micah Elliot (1:01:13)
Not getting the response that you want and that internal and like that's the world we live in, in this pay to play social media thing where you have to buy that blue check mark or you pay, for clicks or whatever. I don't think any of that works. The only thing that can potentially work is.

Kaila Sachse (1:01:26)
Yeah

Yeah. Yeah,

Micah Elliot (1:01:38)
the fire, to do the thing, to take these baby steps towards the thing that you really ultimately want to do. Cause like buying, buying the ads, the boosting the ads, like you're not going to get any result from that. You know, more money that you put into social media to get the result that you want in advertising.

Kaila Sachse (1:01:57)
Yeah.

Micah Elliot (1:02:06)
I mean, I don't know what it's like for other people, but in my experience, spending money on 200 stickers and going out there and like, ⁓ I'm not saying to put stickers on light posts.

Kaila Sachse (1:02:16)
Yeah.

Micah Elliot (1:02:24)
But there's a great way to promote yourself out there and it's by handing people a sticker or engaging with people or in my case, popping up at local markets. A lot of effort, but it's that effort that gets things done. You know what? It's that effort that is the authenticity.

Kaila Sachse (1:02:28)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

1000%.

Micah Elliot (1:02:49)
and people just want authenticity. And if you can be somebody who emits and puts forth authenticity, then I think you have a better chance in the long run. It's a long game, I can drop a couple thousand dollars to create a unique.

Kaila Sachse (1:02:54)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Micah Elliot (1:03:13)
variant cover of a comic book and I can hire an artist to create this unique variant cover. It'll cost me a crap ton of money and I can try to sell it for so much, you know? Or I can take that money and like...

Kaila Sachse (1:03:29)
Yeah.

Micah Elliot (1:03:32)
rent a dumpster and try to clean out the building, that I want to open a brick and mortar shop. in my view, the long game is what makes things happen. And because people, at least, in, my case, in, a small town, people see what's happening,

Kaila Sachse (1:03:41)
Yeah.

Micah Elliot (1:03:52)
it's the long game.

Kaila Sachse (1:03:53)
Yeah, yeah, no, can tell you. I've worked with I work with small business owners. That's that's my specialty. Whether they have a team of employees or they're solopreneurs, freelancers, that is the gamut of the clientele who I serve. And over almost a decade now, I have noticed two buckets of business owner.

and this includes a solopreneur or freelancer, just business owner, right? You have the business owner who is shelling out cash in hopes of the overnight success, the virality, the instant success, right? And then you have the business owner who is making, just like you say, those little steps consistently over time, and I see how the

Curves are different for each of them, right? So if someone starts off really hot, throws a bunch of money at something, which I'm not saying that money is a bad thing. Money can actually be very helpful. Let's be very clear. Money is important. But when I see the business owner who's just dumping cash into something, hoping it will be the overnight success, usually they fizzle out pretty quickly.

because they don't really have that consistent work ethic like you had mentioned versus the person who's taking those steps consistently. Over time, it feels like their business is going nowhere. It's pretty flat. But then I watched the curve just skyrocket. And all of a sudden, they're getting all of these orders and things are just popping off. Things are happening. And I fully believe it's because they've laid that foundation for themselves.

Micah Elliot (1:05:40)
It's the authenticity divide.

Kaila Sachse (1:05:43)
Ooh, tell me, tell me. Yeah.

Micah Elliot (1:05:44)
Well, it is. mean, yeah,

you can throw, you can throw all this money in. You're right. I mean, who's to say what, what way is right and what way is wrong? I mean, if you've got the money to just throw it, you know, social media and advertise and do whatever, then do it. You know, that's cool. That's great. If I had that money, I'd be spending it differently. but you also, I, in my opinion,

Kaila Sachse (1:05:55)
Right, right.

Yeah.

Micah Elliot (1:06:14)
If you're just the one throwing money at this thing to do, to do the big quick thing, you lack authenticity. There's a small authenticity void there, you know? And that curve comes from what people want, what people are actually looking for. And I mean, if there is one thing that people want

Kaila Sachse (1:06:24)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yep.

Yes. Yes.

Micah Elliot (1:06:43)
It is authenticity because if there is one thing that we are missing it is authenticity.

Kaila Sachse (1:06:44)
That part. Yep.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. My head is about to fall off because I'm nodding so hard. Yes, it's true.

Micah Elliot (1:06:55)
From top to bottom. So you as the drive as the person with the fire who is sick of all of this, nonsense, when you just want to create, you want to create, you want to connect, you're not going to get that in cryptocurrency. You're not going to get that in

a get rich quick kind of a kind of a thing, now, now the use of AI, I mean, I'm seeing commercials of AI telling you how to make money using AI. And like, I mean, if there's if there is a crown of

Kaila Sachse (1:07:22)
my god.

Mm-hmm.

Micah Elliot (1:07:37)
in authenticity, it's, it's, it's up top the head of AI. I don't think we're responsible enough to really decipher, the good things that can be used with AI research and, understanding, the bad things that can be used with AI, which are pretty much everything that's been shoved down our throat, you know,

Kaila Sachse (1:07:42)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Micah Elliot (1:07:59)
And being in

the marketing world, well, now the question is where, where does this take us? Where we going? Where, where as a web designer, somebody who was coding now we've got these AI platforms that just make the website and stuff. so ⁓ we are, I think it, the golden age of inauthenticity.

Kaila Sachse (1:08:01)
Mm-hmm.

Right, right, yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, which gives us a prime opportunity to show up. Yeah, yeah, see, Yep. Yep.

Micah Elliot (1:08:24)
Cheers.

opportunity. That's what I just going to say. We are in a golden age of inauthenticity, which

gives us the unique opportunity at this day and age to create something authentic, to create the thing that you want, that you think is authentic. You, the listener, you, the person who's got this weird thing in their, in their head. You know, we have the tools.

Kaila Sachse (1:08:47)
Mm-hmm. Yep.

Micah Elliot (1:08:57)
We've got the internet, right? And we've got AI to help us organize. Like let's use AI in a way that is beneficial to us. You know, let's converse with it. Let's talk ideas with it. That's one of things that I enjoy. I enjoy talking to somebody who's going to engage back.

Kaila Sachse (1:09:07)
Yes.

Yes.

Yeah.

Micah Elliot (1:09:24)
Question some of the things that I say, there are are positive ways to use the tools that we have at our fingertips there's also a lot of ways to To use that in a negative way

Kaila Sachse (1:09:25)
Yeah, yes. yeah.

Micah Elliot (1:09:40)
we know as a society, we are starting to understand the ills of these tools that we have, but we dwell so much on a lot of the negative that we can lose the sight of.

Okay, well, how do we use this as human beings? know, we, we can use this tool while not succumbing to this tool,

Kaila Sachse (1:10:00)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Micah Elliot (1:10:09)
we can buy an electric vehicle that can help us get to places while not completely resigning to the idea that we don't have to drive anymore. You know what I mean? To sit there like this, like, no, let's use these tools as what they are, the tools to help us move forward into the world and not just, well now I can have this thing.

Kaila Sachse (1:10:22)
Right, right, right.

my gosh. Yeah.

Micah Elliot (1:10:38)
design a logo for me or write this paper. You know, I think I, yeah, I think we need to, at this early stage, we need to really dig into. We are not AI. Okay. We are humans and we can use AI as a tool and as a resource, but we should not become,

Kaila Sachse (1:10:41)
God. Ugh, yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Micah Elliot (1:11:03)
the tools for the AI. And I worry about that a lot. And I worry about that because, you know, we're lazy people, We've lost the idea that we can create the world around us.

Kaila Sachse (1:11:06)
Mm-hmm.

Right, right. We forget that we have the power to create instead of just consume, consume, consume. And that's, I think that that is the beauty of today's day and age is that we have that within our reach still. We do still have the power to create. And after having this conversation, it, yes, as a business owner, there is an opportunity for you to express yourself as a human in your full authenticity.

And that is what's going to help you get ahead. Alongside your work ethic, your consistency, making sure that you are hitting the grind you're showing up, you're keeping your promises, you're staying loyal to the people who are good around you, and just keep going. Just keep going. Be human.

Micah Elliot (1:12:11)
Yeah. And

it's hard to do. It's hard to do that. It's hard to keep going. I mean, when you're not getting the response that you that you are expecting.

Kaila Sachse (1:12:20)
And that's what

we have to be aware of in this day and age with the three second, you know, Amazon shows up at your doorstep today and the instant gratification of scrolling for three seconds, which turns into three minutes. Right, right.

Micah Elliot (1:12:27)
There it is. There it

lost sight it. Yeah.

That like you don't need instant gratification. Sometimes the hard work takes the hard work, you know, and I mean, what's what's like the basic story that you hear from every single small business the first year you don't make any money, right?

Kaila Sachse (1:12:45)
Yep. Yep.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Micah Elliot (1:13:02)
You barely make anything. Maybe by the third year, you're starting to come even, right? I think that's, I think that is pretty much standard for everything, but the idea is sticking to it, right? That's the hard part because that's the only thing that's going to get you to that goal. That final goal is sticking with it.

Kaila Sachse (1:13:09)
Mm-hmm, yep, yep.

That part, yep. Yep.

Micah Elliot (1:13:30)
And you guarantee, I'll tell you this, you are not going to get the results. You're not going to get like people aren't going to buy your stuff. They're not going look at your newsletters. They don't care about your social media. ⁓

Kaila Sachse (1:13:37)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah,

yeah, yeah, that's that's every beginner's hurdle. If you can get past the part where you're getting no no instant gratification, you're really not you're really not profiting a whole lot if you're if you're not bleeding money, you know, to start with like, if you can.

Micah Elliot (1:14:03)
Yeah.

there's another thing. There's another thing like get used to working with like no budget at all. Get used to doing things that once you sell something, then now I can do this thing. Or ultimately these two things like, now I can get 50 stickers. You know, that's just how it goes. And the more that you focus on, I think the more for me,

Kaila Sachse (1:14:10)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yup. Yup. That's just the hustle.

Micah Elliot (1:14:30)
The more that I focused on those little things and just kept going, you know, I love comic books. love talking about comic books. I enjoy designing. So I put all this stuff together, in this business because I love doing it. and I, I got to do it. someday I got to get out of this career and coffee and coffee is like my answer

Kaila Sachse (1:14:41)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Mainsfield is here for it. I am so excited for your local community to get to have you contributing back to it in such a special, unique, and authentic and amazing way. Where can people find you? Either in real life, on the interwebs. Where are you Micah?

Micah Elliot (1:15:15)
yes. Well,

you can find Blackwater Market Comics and Coffee at bwmcomics.com. You can also check us out on the social networks at BWM Comics. And I want to tell you a little bit about BWM Comics. We're a

Comic and coffee shop like we want to just make an online area for people to come and enjoy look for comic books. We sell amazing coffee beans from a company in Florida. They're called comics on coffee and they are an amazing small family business.

I found them a couple of years ago when I was doing research for starting a business and I knew I wanted to sell coffee from companies that had a comic book type of ethic right or a unique independent business And I found this amazing company called comics on coffee from Florida

Kaila Sachse (1:16:10)
Cool.

Micah Elliot (1:16:20)
Tanya, who is, one of the roasters, her and Tony are the, couple who, who owned the business and created the business. She's a comic book artist. and he roasts the coffee. So their, their whole idea was that she would draw these, these comic covers for the coffee bags.

Kaila Sachse (1:16:31)
So cool.

Micah Elliot (1:16:41)
And they would create their own unique roasting flavors for it. What happened was that Warner Brothers said, hmm, this is interesting. Why don't you make a Batman coffee? We'll just do a dark roast, right? Espresso roast will give you the licensing.

Kaila Sachse (1:16:53)
What?

Micah Elliot (1:17:04)
And turns out it was amazing. I mean, it turns out it was really red, dark roast, right? So they said, okay, well now make us a Superman and Wonder Woman. And so they made a Superman Metropolis Mocha, which is a kind of a vanilla Mocha flavor. The Wonder Woman coffee, it's coconut pecan and

Kaila Sachse (1:17:07)
What?

What?

Micah Elliot (1:17:32)
DC and Warner Brothers said wow, this is really good. Why don't you make Joker coffee Green Lantern coffee? Why don't you make scarecrow Harley Quinn? Let's do a poison ivy And so they made all of these other coffees and this was like while we were creating the company like

Kaila Sachse (1:17:55)
my god.

Micah Elliot (1:17:57)
Now you're selling like DC branded coffee.

Kaila Sachse (1:18:01)
That's amazing. That is testament to taking an idea and utilizing it authentically.

Micah Elliot (1:18:07)
And that's why I wanted to tell you that because they, it was just, it's just Tanya and it's just Tony and they love coffee and they love comics. And they said, let's just make coffee and we'll draw our own stuff. And one, one way or another DC Warner brothers got a wind of it. They ended up making this entire line of delicious coffee, which you can find on bwmcomics.com right now.

but it even went further than that. They said, this is so amazing. Now you have to do Lord of the Rings. And so now they have a whole Lord of the Rings Tea line.

Kaila Sachse (1:18:48)
What?

Micah Elliot (1:18:50)
Yeah. So like if that right there isn't a testament to just sticking with your idea.

And they just, they, they busted their butt doing their own thing. And what it did is that made an opportunity for me and my business to say,

Okay, I'm comic books, but I want like the full package. someday I want to make my own coffee, but in the meantime, I have to find a wholesale, I have to find a company that merges with my brand. And we have, we have so many others lined up that we want to add, to our list. Cause what we want to do is we want to build a small area of.

Kaila Sachse (1:19:14)
Yeah.

yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Micah Elliot (1:19:33)
really unique coffee that people can come to BWM comics, look for comics, but also find this amazing coffee. And right now we're lucky enough to have, comics on coffee partnering with us And it's not just like, I thought it was a gimmick. I thought it was a gimmick at first. I'm like, yeah, Batman coffee. when I

Kaila Sachse (1:19:46)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Micah Elliot (1:19:53)
Then I subscribe to their coffee and I kept trying all these different things. my God, this stuff is like really.

Kaila Sachse (1:20:00)
feel like this is actually

really, really good. Wow.

Micah Elliot (1:20:03)
But beyond

just beyond just selling the comic books and selling the coffee, you know, we are community people. We are we want to better the things around us. So now we have a business. Well, now we have the opportunity to partner with different people, right? Partner with other businesses, partner with maybe in even

Kaila Sachse (1:20:12)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Micah Elliot (1:20:30)
other businesses in our community. One of those partners is with a nonprofit in Illinois called Comic Books for Kids. And so what they do, the president, his name is Mark Weiss. He's an awesome guy. I mean, he is as altruistic as it gets. He's just,

He wants to share the love of comic books and he does everything he can to get comic books in front of kids. But what he does is he gets back ⁓ stock from comic book shops who donate comic books to him. And what he'll do is he'll take those comic books and give them out to children in hospitals.

Kaila Sachse (1:21:04)
Okay.

Micah Elliot (1:21:17)
children who don't get access to reading material or who are just stuck in the hospital all the time and his LLC, donates those comic books to kids. so here's a, an LLC that we can completely align with. every time we sell coffee on the website or in one of our pop-up events.

Kaila Sachse (1:21:23)
Mm.

Yeah

Micah Elliot (1:21:42)
we donate to comic books for kids. and so there's all these opportunities to, expand your brand and to just make a collective of people, creating authenticity.

Kaila Sachse (1:21:45)
⁓

Yeah, yeah, I see you. I see you pushing the boundaries. I see you partnering with amazing partners and I see how you are in alignment with your customer. I'm so excited for the future of BWM and thank you so much for sharing all of your wisdom with us today. I, I'm so excited about how I'm going to think about

using AI as a positive tool and also just reevaluating my daily and making sure I'm hitting all those little tiny baby steps and not worrying so much about the immediate gratification of things. So thank you so much.

Micah Elliot (1:22:35)
Yes. And go out

there and be, you know, be your authentic self, you know, and encourage people to be authentic. You know, there's so much opportunity for us to connect as humans. And we just, we need that so much more now.