How A Creator Landed Sponsorships Without Big Numbers

The doors at GMP Podcast Studios are closing, but the vision is getting louder. I’m pulling back the curtain on how we went from music tours and award-winning videos to building a creator-first HQ—and how five sponsorships came together before the follower count said we “deserved” them.

You’ll hear the real origin story with Third Twin, from paying for studio time to filming the Honesty video with a full crew and script, then carrying that energy through festival wins and wild New York moments. When COVID halted shows, we turned the stage into a platform: a podcast studio built for creators and entrepreneurs who want visibility that leads to revenue. I never planned to be on camera, so I built a spotlight format that puts our guests first and quietly builds relationships that travel farther than any algorithm.

The most practical part? How we secured sponsors without big numbers. I mapped our mission to a community credit union’s business spotlight and pitched a fit they couldn’t ignore—then repeated the play with Travel Portland after they saw our setup and intent. Along the way, I share why visibility is focus, not fame, and how a simple, clear value exchange beats CPM math when you’re still growing.

We also get tactical about the next phase: redefining our niche, tightening mission and vision, and evolving Thorn City Syndicate into digital brand management for creators and founders. Production that ships weekly. Sponsorships that align. An ad product built for the way brands actually buy. Plus, a call for producers and partners ready to learn the craft and help keep the red light on.

Subscribe, share this with a creator who needs a boost, and leave a review with the one sponsorship question you want answered next. Let’s build platforms that help you be seen, be heard, and be remembered.

Transcript

Closing One Studio, Starting Another

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Thorn City Spotlight Show. I'm Naeem Hall, the Thorn City Podcast Guy. Here to help creators and entrepreneurs step out of survival mode and into the spotlight. We share real stories, practical strategies to help you turn your voice into revenue and your passion into impact. If you're able to be seen, be heard, and be remembered. Let's get it. These episodes mark the end of an era, the final recordings inside GMP Podcast Studios before the doors officially closed. And the beginning of something brand new. Thorn City HQ. Today, I'm breaking down how I landed my first podcast sponsorships before the numbers and before anyone believed it was possible. Because visibility isn't about fame, it's about focus. Welcome to the Thorn City Spotlight Show. Let's see. I might as well start at the beginning. I am Paul, the Thorn City Podcast Guy. I'm a podcast producer, content creator, entrepreneur. Recently accepted the fact that I'm a content creator. It's not the space I wanted to be in, per se, in front of the camera. I want to be the content creation behind the camera. But I never really saw myself as the content creator in front of the camera, but we're here now. That's where I'm at. I'm a content creator, the host of the Thorn City Spotlight Show. And founder of Thorn City Syndicate. This entrepreneur journey and world is a beast. It's not for everybody. I started in 2014. So 2014 is when it started. My best friend, named Third Twin, Roy Moore the Third. He's a hip hop artist growing up, I believe. He was 14 years old when he signed his first record deal, record contract. Locally with a local businessman. Mike Harrison, shout out to Mike. So all through high school, and once we got out of high school, he was always a hip-hop artist. He always rapped. And I don't know how old we were, but at some point he got caught in the fast life. Got hooked on pills and alcohol. That's what the fast life is about. Fast money, women, money, and alcohol. So that was what he got into. And so my guy was doing really bad, man. He was doing really bad. And I didn't like seeing my brother like that. So I decided to pay for some studio time. Told Third, man, we're gonna get you back in the studio. Need you to do some music. It was a lot of local music going around at the time. The local music scene was really hot. And I needed some third twin music, man. There's a few artists out there I like that I was hearing good music from. But I'm biased, third twin. He's better than all of them. He's better than everybody. Top five, dead or alive, if you ask me. Like I said, I'm biased. And he's always told me there's no best, only favorites. Once you get into that upper echelon, it's really about your preference. Who do you like? A lot of people like Kendrick Lamar, but I know he's good and he can rap, but he don't really do it for me. I don't really like his style of rap, but I wouldn't ever say he's a weak rapper because he's he can write. It's just not for me. Third twins for me. It's like I said, I think he's the best. So we got some studio time. We did a few songs. We traveled, we did some shows. We went to, where did we travel to? First show back was down in Eugene. The Get Money Stop Hating tour. That was the first stop on the third comeback down in Eugene. So we did that show down there. We did some shows here in Portland. Then the Get Money Tour. Like I said, it was a tour, so they had a bunch of dates. So I found a couple dates that I liked. So we flew down to Miami. We did a show at King of Diamonds, which is no longer there. That was a big club. Oh man, it was huge. Talking about fun. We got to go to South Beach. Um, we got caught in a rainstorm, so we I didn't know June was a rainy season down there. But it was still nice to be in Miami. I've never been to Miami. Check South Beach out. Say we did the show at the King of Diamonds. Wish I had the footage, because y'all would never believe me when I tell you. They passed me the mic and I got on stage. Oh boy, it was fun. Let's just say I had a few drinks in me. Had a few drinks in me, and they said what they called Thurs name, and so I'm just walking up there with him. I didn't plan on going on the stage, but they passed me the mic, and I was on one. I ain't gonna lie. It's feeling good. It's a good night, good times. So they passed me the mic, and shit, I performed. Good times, I tell you. So yeah, we did the show down there. Get Money Stop Hating tour was in Houston. So we went to Miami, and from Miami, we went to Houston, the Jet Lounge. That was dope. It was packed in there. That was fun down in Houston at the Jet Lounge. Then we came back to Portland and did some more shows here. Then we went to LA. We came back, then we went to South by Southwest. Who did we do that show with? I can't remember the name of those guys. But we actually did a show with them here. They were South by Southwest. So we went down there, down Austin, Texas. South by Southwest was tight. They say it's not the same after COVID, but it was dope. It was tight. We found a club. Me and Third, we don't always have the we gonna look like we somebody. So we look like we're somebody, and Third's always he's as good with the mouthpiece. So we found a club, and that's the club we went to every night because when we pulled up, they said, come on. Long ass line. They just let us in. We had our little spot in there, and the waitresses were to take care of us. The last day we went back to that same bar during the day, and they were having like a some crawfish. I don't know what they call it, but there was just crawfish everywhere. And I can eat crawfish, but the only thing I like about I don't like about crawfish is you do a lot of work to get a little piece of meat. You get a little piece of meat from the damn crawfish. But I took some some third twin merch down there to the bartenders, and so they was behind the bar and they was rocking the third twin stuff, and so I actually did that. Third did that in Miami. He actually gave the girl, he gave the girl his Thorn City chain. It was brilliant. He was seeing Third smart, he was brilliant. Took the Thorn City chain and he gave it to the bartender. So she was rocking the Thorn City chain all night while she was serving behind the bar down in Miami at the King of Diamonds, so that was pretty tight. She was bad too. I had to find a picture and post it. But yeah, so like I said, we were in Austin at the South by Southwest, and they was they we gave them the merch, and they like I said, they did it again. They rocked the merch behind the desk. And something tight happened when we was down in South by Southwest. It was a It's a brother out of Chicago, H3 Entertainment show. I did something on them online. I think he had a magazine or something. I hit him up and we got into the got into his magazine. So I'm chilling in the bar. Third's outside, down in Austin, Texas. And he had no clue, but he ran into show. And show was like third twin. Yeah, yeah, I'm third twin. Oh yeah. And so we took a picture with those guys from his men and his artists from Chicago. So that was tight to be down there. Somebody recognized Third Twin, and he likes that type of stuff. So it was pretty tight. So yeah, we came back from South by Southwest. We went to LA. We did a show in LA at the world-famous Viper Room. Uh, y'all gotta stay tuned for the documentary. Because some funny shit happened, and it's gonna be in the documentary. I guess I didn't mention that. This whole time, since 2014, um I bought a camera and I'm capturing, recording everything. So we got a documentary coming. Third guy married recently. So that's a perfect way to wrap up the documentary somehow. But now we just got a few interviews left to get. Few interviews left to get, man, and put it all together. I thought about it the other day. I wanna look up, I'm gonna look up when those deadlines are for festivals, whether it's the next deadline or the one after that. But we enter some festivals. It's gonna be tight. I promise you we're gonna win some awards. We won some awards with the honesty video. So the honesty video. I didn't talk about that. Was this before? Yeah, this is before the traveling, I think. The honesty video. We shot a few videos. I needed a video. I went to Mike Harrison, the ComPlus, who signed third when he was 14. Told him I needed a video, and so he introduced me to my current business partner, Justin Gaddis. GMP. Um, we wanted to do a like like a real video, like they do down the stars do, Hollywood. Um shit, they do them here too, but it's gotta be a budget. When I say real video, a video with a budget behind it, not you just like the other ones we did, where we just pick the location, we run and gun, and we hop out and we shoot, and he rap, and then we put it together. No, we want to do a real video. My guy Justin writes a script. We put a budget together, we hire a crew, posted an ad on Craigslist for someone to do the script treatment. So take the script and put it into format to where we can go show up on set and know what we're doing. So that's what we did, and we got a hit from some pretty big guys in the comic world, the Panda brothers. Our guys Arnold and Jakob Pander. They're world-class artists. Their dad's even more of a world-class artist. Hink Pander. Y'all look up Hink Pander. So yeah, Arnold responded and said he wanted to do the treatment. He put together an animatic video. Uh animated video of his of what he thought the video should do, what we should do for the video. So once he's once he agreed to do that, he asked us who was going to who's actually gonna shoot the video for us, and so we was just gonna do it ourselves once we got the treatment. But we seen some of their work and we like, damn, these people, they're good. Let's let them do it. So they put together a budget for us. We raised some money. It wasn't cheap. They showed me that number. I said, Oh yeah, we can't do this. But we wanted to do it, and when we determined to do something, we gonna do it. So it was a big number. I don't know where I came up with the money, how I came up with the money. There was a time of a lifetime to do a real music video like that, put the crew together. I don't know if y'all know what the Grim TV show is about. It was shot here in Portland, but we had a bunch of people from the Grim TV show. Shout out to all those people. All them. Man, they did their thing. So we rented a spot. It's actually right down the street from here. They don't do productions there anymore, but we did it over Thanksgiving weekend. Nobody had nothing going on, and so it was expensive, but they still gave us a deal. Could have been more expensive. So we took two days and we shot the video. He was in the depths of his addiction at that time. So he was loaded on set. They didn't know, but I knew. But I know one thing about third. When it's lights camera action, he finds a way to get in the character. No matter how many pills he owned or how many drinks he had, he gonna perform to the highest. So that's what he did. Shortly after the video, Third Wing got clean, man. He checked himself in the rehab for probably the fourth or fifth time he had been trying, but they say it usually don't happen on your first try. So you just gotta keep trying, man. He never gave up. He checked himself in, and this time it worked. He just celebrated eight years clean. I'm telling you, he don't do anything. He don't drink, he don't smoke weed, he don't smoke cigarettes. Only thing he I think he might drink coffee. That's his one vice he might have now. But he's clean of everything, man. I'm so proud of that guy. We entered that video to some film festivals all over the world, not just in the country and the nation, but all over the world. And we won a few awards all over the world. We got accepted in the 10 festivals, and I think we won four. We won four awards for best music video. We got to travel to New York to the hip hop film festival. First time in New York. That was tight. To not only go to the Big Apple, New York, but actually have a reason to go. And so the film festival was tight. The hip hop film festival, even though they cheated us. But I ain't mad at them. We had the experience of a lifetime. We ran into a couple people, ran into my guy, Mitchell Jackson, out there. The author. What's that big award author's win? Pulitzer, I think he might have one of those. He's a big deal. He's from Portland. We ran into him in the bar. Just randomly walked into a bar, and my guy Mitch was there, so that was tight. We ran into a brother walked up on us. He asked who we were and what we was doing. And he turned out to be Charlucci. I look up Charlucci. He's a big deal out there in New York. And he took us in to meet Eric B. He said we had just missed Rakim, but we got to meet Eric B. So that was dope. Man, it was just tight. We actually shot a music video when we were down there for Rebel. Arnold was with us. I'm glad we brung Arnold just for that. To get the music video. And he was doing our social media at the time, so it was only right that we have him there. I was doing good. Man, we said, Arnold, do you want to come? Alright. We get you a ticket too. So I'm glad he came, though, because we was able to shoot a video, man, and that video will live on forever. Rebel. We shot it on the stoops out there in the neighborhood in Harlem. We shot on the subway and then we shot at Times Square. And you ain't supposed to shoot. You gotta have permits and paid probably thousands and thousands of dollars to shoot there, but we figured out a way to do it, and we did it. And so that was tight. Man, so we came back. I think we had a good six-month run down at Jack London. It's at the bottom of Rialto's. We got the Rialto's pool hall upstairs, and downstairs they have a music venue called Jack London. We had Sunday nights down there. We called it Soul Sundays. We did an open mic night down there, basically. Third will perform, and then we invite some people and we share the stage with them. So we had a six-month run. Shout out to my guy Rich Hunter for hooking that up for us. That was tight. I wish COVID wouldn't hit because I think we was just getting our footing down there and people were starting to show up, but it was still tight to have a uh what I like to call what they do in Vegas, a residency. Third had a, he basically had a residency down here. Every Sunday night, he was gonna do a show. He's gonna do some songs. Him and my guy, shout out to TJ Wickett. That was our DJ. They was tight together. Wicked's a real old school hip-hop DJ, vinyl. All the real old school hip hop DJs, because they still only do vinyl. When that's all he does is vinyl, so they was tight. So we had that. We did we did a show at Roseland with Bone Thugs and Harmony sold-out show. Now that was dope too. I think we've done a few shows, but we hadn't never done a sold-out show. So to open up for Bone and do a sold-out show was pretty tight. I remember going out and getting the computer and stuff setting up, and it was a few people in there. And then going back to the back and then coming back out front to see where we was at and when we was finna go on and just being jam-packed in there. And I was like, wow, damn. That was tight. So that was tight to see the legends bone and open up for them. Then we did the album release party for the EP. We did put out the EP. Put out the four songs on the EP, streaming on all the platforms. So y'all check out the Honesty EP. Let's see. My stories, first song. Did what I had to do, featuring Sassy. The Honesty and The Rebel. Four songs. That's on the EP. Y'all go check that out on all the streaming platforms. We opened up for Black Alicious down at the Star Theater, right across from the Roseland. And that was a good turnout, actually, too. So that was dope. Then COVID hit. Music stopped. No more shows. Man, we was just picking up steam. I know it's finna do something. Life be life it. And so COVID stopped everything. So you gotta do audible. Figure out the next move. So my guy Justin was roommates with a good guy named Tim James, the health hero. He sells health supplements. Business wasn't doing so good. So they decided to start him a podcast. So he can market and advertise his products and services, his coaching services, through the podcast. That's all a podcast is, really, man. That's market and advertising. So you're either gonna sell your marketing advertising spots to somebody else, or you're gonna market and advertise your own shit. So you're always gonna make most money if you do your own shit. You can sell spots for a few dollars here and there, but it ain't gonna add up to you making a whole bunch of sales. So that's what Tim's done. He's a man, he's been off and running. He just released 250 something or 280 something. He's getting close to 300 episodes. He never missed a week. So he's just been going strong, man. He recently rebranded his show from the healthy roll to Tim James Unleashed. Shout out to Tim. But that's how we got into the podcast business, man. So after Tim, we started shooting a couple other podcasts. We were renting some studio space downtown. Eventually, like I said, he hit me up. I was like, man, we should really get into this podcast stuff. So the GMP brand, Gaddish Motion Productions is the production company. The Orange City Syndicate is the management company. And so we came together to open up the GMP podcast studios. That's how I got into the podcast business. So after a few years of helping other people launch their podcasts. I'm sitting in the office back there by myself, just in my thoughts. And that's this thing, this journey with business and entrepreneurship. Sometimes you just gotta sit back and reflect and try and figure out the next move. What can you do to move the journey along? And so that's what I did. I was sitting back there. That's where I'm at now, also. What can I do to keep the journey alive and on the move? But back then I was thinking, what do I do? How can I help my business? His business, our business. I said, talking to myself, try and convince other people that they need a podcast for their business. So I said, you should probably start a podcast. So I said, probably should. Um I didn't want to. I'm an introvert. I don't like to talk. A quiet person, I'm chill, I'm behind the scenes. I'll talk if we're in a meaningful conversation and I got some good input, but I don't just some people just talk to me talking. That ain't me. So I wish I had a little more extrovert in me. But it is what it is. You are who you are. But I did come to the conclusion that I needed a podcast, and so I said I'm gonna do it. Came up with the Thorn City Syndicate Spotlight Show. It's really one of the oldest tricks in the book as a spotlight show. Because talking to a couple different business people, and they said, you know, what really helped them take off is it's not about what you can do for yourself, what can you do for others? And so the spotlight show is what I came up with, the Thorn City Syndicate Spotlight Show. All about the power networking, forming strategic alliances, and that's business in a nutshell for you. Those partnerships and alliances and people who can open up doors that other stuff can't open for you, money can't open for you. Being in business for 20 years can't open for you. But if you have a relationship of 20 years with somebody who's in position to do something, that door can open for you. So that was the theory behind the spotlight show. The power of networking and former strategic alliances. So started the show. Um, one of the other main reasons I wanted to start the show was because I hadn't been able to figure out out of all the podcasts I started, I wasn't able to figure out how to get a sponsorship for somebody's show. Because there's a few ways to get sponsorship. Like I said, if you know through relationships. The other easy way is to just have a bunch of eyeballs on your show, views and viewers and subscribers. If you got those numbers, you know, you can get those people to sponsor you because they only care about who you can put them in front of. But when I started my show, I didn't have the numbers. So I started working on the relationships I had actually. So shout out to my guy Drake Cutt over there at Wooden Fish. He hosts something called Successin' Me. He has a Successin' Me program at one of his Wooden Fish locations. Where weekly he would invite a speaker and people to just meet up and talk business and see if there's a meeting of minds and how somebody can help somebody. And so I went to one of his meetings. And at that meeting, he had Rivermont Community Credit Union Bank speaking. So I made a connection, introduced myself, and got their card. It's a great event, man. If y'all are free, go to one of his events. I'm gonna try to get him on here and come talk about what he's done because he's a smart brother. He got a lot of haters out here, but if you're doing something, you're gonna have haters. That's just part of the game plan, but they hate him. You still have your love, and the ones you focus on, the people who love you and appreciate what you're doing, and you helping them. Hey, so what's it about? Who can you help? So I came back after that meeting, and I looked into Rivermart. How can I connect with these people? So I found out the Rivermart, they host a monthly spotlight on one of their local businesses. I said, the spotlight, they have a spotlight. I got the spotlight show. So I put together an email, hit my assistant up, chat GPT, when I put something together and I hit seeing. And I pitch them an idea of you guys got a spotlight. So maybe who's ever near your spotlight, maybe they can be in my spotlight on my spotlight show. And so that's what we did. I actually went and they put me in the spotlight over at the bank. I think I've done a couple of them. I put the proposal together and they say, Yeah, we'd love to sponsor your show. I was only asking for a sponsorship for one episode, really. So you got to get your foot in the door. And so they said, yeah, we'll sponsor four episodes. It was at the end of the year. It's like right now, we can't do it right now. Our funding's up for the end of the year, but top of the year, we'll get back to you. And yeah, we'd be happy to sponsor a couple episodes. So top of the year rolled around. And what do you know? They hit me up. And so they sponsor four episodes. And so I said, Yeah, there it is. It's uh you can get a sponsorship, it's all about relationships and who it's not always about the numbers of people you can put people in front of. You just gotta have something, you gotta be serious about something you're doing, and if it correlates with what they're doing, you have a meeting of the minds and you come together, and so that's what we did. So they sponsored four episodes, man. So I appreciate Rivermarket Community Credit Union for that. And then through the Rivermarket Community Credit Union, they told me they were hosting a meetup somewhere, I forget it was a local bar. They invited me. So I went. And I met quite a few people. I probably should circle back around on some of those people, but I met somebody there that worked for Travel Portland. And so I connected with him. He said, Man, if you ever need the space to shoot your podcast at, you can use the Travel Portland space. I think they had just gotten to this new space. They hadn't been there for so long. So I said, Bet, yeah, let's do it. And so I hit him up. Probably a month or so went by, I hit him up and said, I'll shoot the episode down there. Can I get you on the show? He said, Sure, absolutely. But I would like to bring somebody else with me. And so that's what we did. We showed up, did the podcast down there at Travel Portland. And I got this thing I like to do when I'm interviewing people. You just throw something out there and see what happens. And so I don't remember exactly what I said. They looked around, they seen our setup, they seen all the stuff we had going there's land, this cost of money. Yeah. Cost a couple dollars, but we spotlighting you. No, we want to sponsor you. So shit. Yeah, it worked. So man, they sponsored that episode, man. So I got a total of five sponsors when I was setting out to get one. Just to see that I can do it. And so that was dope. So that I'm gonna fast forward a little bit to today now. Business is tough, I tell ya. This entrepreneur journey, it ain't for everybody. But you gotta keep you gotta find a way. You gotta find a way. When you got something good, and I believe we got something good, I know we got something good. Gotta find a way to keep going, man. So I'll always been on my Uber DoorDash Lyft hustle so that ain't never stopped. That's easy money. If you like to drive. So I'ma always get my few hours in. Every day. If we ain't got nothing going on at the studio, I'ma be out driving Uber and Lyft DoorDash. Really more Uber and Lyft these days. I did Uber and Lyft. Let's see. I started. Actually. Uber Lyft wasn't here at all when I started. Uber wasn't even here when I started. But I seen, I don't know where I was at, I had to be on social media or something popped up. You earn X amount of dollars driving your own car. Doing Uber, basically, cab service. I've actually thought about being a cab driver before, but I never actually did it. But the Uber, I seen Uber, I said, oh damn. I've been off and running ever since 2014. Didn't know what we was gonna call it. We went through a bunch of stuff. My guy Third came up with Thorn City. Thorn City, shout out to Micah, my guy DBS. He said it in the song one time, Thorn City. And that's where I believe Third got it from. So we got the Thorn City, and I put the Syndicate on the end. Syndicate, it really just means company. That's really what it means. I know. When people think syndicate, they think the mob. So, you know. But that's what makes it tight, too. But it really means just company businesses. That's how I found it. I typed in what was it called? Synonyms for company or business. I can't remember what I said, business or company. And they gave me a bunch of words, and the syndicate came up. I said, ooh, that's tight. One city syndicate. Hey, that's it, third. So we ran with it, man. So like I said, 2014, man. It's 2025. We're 11 years deep. A little over 11 years. May 15th. Is when it was my is my anniversary date. So 11 years strong, man. And what I'll tell you, man, I don't regret any moment, any day, any year, any week of this journey. But it ain't been easy. It's not easy. It's fun. It's frustrating. It's tough. It's tough. Business is tough. Being an entrepreneur is tough. That's why it's not for everybody. And everybody can't do it. Everybody, some people just need to do their 9-5. Sometimes. I've had my thoughts of, man, do I need to go back to my 9-5? No. You don't. But I could go back and get my job back at Reed if I wanted it. Shit, I might even be able to get one of the supervisor jobs if that's what I wanted to do. That ain't what I want to do. I don't want to punch nobody's clock no more. I don't mind working. At all, putting in the hours. But independent contractor style. To where I go when I need to go. And you end up, to be honest, you end up doing more work that way. Your regular job, you gonna get 40 hours. You don't put in 40 hours your week and maybe some overtime, but entrepreneurial world, man, who knows? You might work 100 hours, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 100 hours that week. But it's easy to put those hours in when it's for you. When you're working for yourself, it's easy to put those hours in. And so that's where I'm at, man. And it's tough. In business, sometimes you might be doing something and it's working for you. It's working for you, but at some point it stopped working for you. And so you have to think, like I said, you gotta do some self-reflecting. And you gotta sit back and say, damn. What do I do next? And so that's where I'm at. Sitting back again. What we've been doing, it was been working and working, but slowly stop working. That just means you gotta pivot a little bit and try something new and think of new ways. And sometimes you gotta go back to the basics. And so that's where I'm at, man. I had to go back to the basics. My guy Jamal Lane and his wife Christina Lane over at CBI, the Champion Barber Institute. Up on MLK and Killingsworth, they got a barber school over there. They got a couple barbershops around. They were starting a new program to go with their. Like I said, you keep doing stuff, but sometimes you got to do more. And so for them, they're doing stuff, but they got to do more too. And so they got into, they call it the Strictly Business Program to help entrepreneurs out. It don't matter what part of your journey you're at, they can help you. And so that's what I did. I signed up for their program, the Strictly Business program. We've been going for about a month now or so. It's a three-month program. It's been really good for me, man. Like I said, you got to go back to the basics. Because people go to school for this, for business, and you learn a lot of stuff. I didn't go to school. School of Hard Knocks. We just jump in and figure it out as you go. So it's been good to go back and learn some of the basics. Basics to doing a business. I've had business plans. I put together a business plan, but it's time for me to put together another business plan at the point where I'm at now. And so that's what I'm doing with them. We started with our first meeting was a SWOT analyst. It's the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. And so I met with them and we went through the analysts. And we met for about an hour, and they asked me a bunch of rapid-fire questions and put it up on the board, and we talked about it. They walked me through what they thought. Because, like I say, I've known Jamal since high school. He's always been a well-spoken brother, always an honest dean, and somebody you can look at and be like, yeah, that's a good brother. He's doing his thing. When they opened the school up, I went up there and I started getting my hair cut up there. So they've been knowing me for a while. I've been in this spot in business, to be honest, just trying to figure out how do I keep going? What can I do? What's the next move? I'll do the live show. Sometimes I'll have in studio guests. Sometimes I'll do this by myself, and the live show is really just it's a content creation session. But yeah, the strictly business program. It's been good. Like I said, they had me put a new mission and vision together. Like I said, back to the basics, man. Where I was when I got into this business is now where I'm at now. So you got to rethink things sometimes. And like I said, back to the basics. So new mission, new vision. We opened the studio up. And I've been focused on the studio. I ain't really been doing the Thorn City Syndicate management because it started with music and artist management. And so it's really been how do I figure out what I want to do with that? But it turned into management. So I've been managing the studio day-to-day operations and whatever we need. Figuring it out. Managing that way. But I'm getting into the strictly business program, it's allowed me to think about how I can get back into my Thorn City Syndicate management stuff and re-energize that. Because, like I said, I don't see myself getting back into music like that. I don't see any artists out here who I would buy into have the belief in, like my bro, third twin. So you gotta have you gotta have those beliefs. But what I can do is I can do my management company here in this world of podcasting. GMP is a production company. I wish I had this when me and Third was doing it. GMP is a production company and content creation station. So when we come here, we can create all the content we need. Everything's digital now, so Thorn City Syndicate Management is becoming a digital brand management company. What exactly I want to call it, but I can operate like the music business in a sense. Instead of rap artists, hip-hop artists, or whatever kind of artists, you can manage the content creators the same way. So Thorn City Syndicate needs to become the management and how do I want to say it, the lead magnet for this place. So I need to bring people in who needs help managing their brand digitally. And the first order of business is you need content. So you gotta come create here at the studio. So I'm still figuring all that out, how I want to word all that, but the mission is really about content creators and business owners. That's my target market. I've always had a problem niching down. It's really a business is about niche. If you drive, you see all the different businesses open, they're a niche. It's a niche. So they focused on their one business. Me, I've always done a lot. So it was hard for me to figure out what's my niche. And so that's what this is allowing me to do, really, is to niche down, like I really need to do. But I got a new mission, the Thorn City Syndicate mission is to help creators, entrepreneurs by providing creative consulting, high-quality production, and creative content solutions designed to elevate and expand your message so you can be seen, heard, and remembered. I got to get into the advertising dollars. That's where it's at. That's the one thing I haven't been able to conquer in the podcast spaces. It's getting into the advertising money. That's where the money's at. The billions of dollars is coming into podcast advertising these days. So how do I get my own advertising space going? So that's coming. I'll tell you guys more about that later. As part of the strictly business program, getting into that. And then the vision is just to build a network where creators and entrepreneurs can produce, promote, and grow. As a management company, we specialize in podcast production, strategic marketing, multimedia advertising to drive visibility, engagement, and monetization. That's it. So that's the focus. That's the mission, the vision. It's really time for me to tell my story. So it's my face, my voice, my story. The message is we shine the spotlight, build platforms, create content, and tell stories that deserve to be seen and be heard. I didn't just build Thorn City Syndicate and GMP Podcast Studio as businesses, I built them as platforms. Not just producing shows, creating a space for entrepreneurs to be seen, be heard, and be remembered. Thorn City Syndicate's a bridge between vision and execution, providing coaching, production, and training to help creators rise, build, and be seen. So that's the gist of it. If anybody wants to learn how to produce podcasts, I got some thoughts on training. I really need somebody who can do this job. I don't have nobody to do that part. So if I can get somebody here to do that part, which I'm looking for, so anybody out there who's into video, into audio, you want to learn how to produce podcasts and broadcast live how we do, hit me up. And then I got the other side. I'm partnering with a company that will offer all the back-end stuff I need, the social media management, the websites, you name it, I'm gonna be able to do it with them. So that's coming down the line. See y'all stay tuned. Thorn City Podcast guys out here, man. Figure it out, figure away. Damn, it's 9.30. I guess I gotta I got a um some Tim James in me tonight. This talking by yourself is different, but I have some stuff to talk about, so it's easy. But it's tight, it's good for me. It's what I need to get some of this in me. So y'all tune in next week. I'll pick back up where I left off. I think I got what I need for tonight. Thorn City Podcast Guy. I like your boy.

SPEAKER_00 43:45

I appreciate y'all tuning in to another episode of the Thorn City Spotlight Show, where we network the build connections to interviews and discussions. Until next time, I like your boy. Let's see, Thorn City Podcast Guide.