- Duration: 20 min
- Platform: zoom
- Source: Read.ai 01K3VJQHP4PE7F89PB8E176ZF2 (https://app.read.ai/analytics/meetings/01K3VJQHP4PE7F89PB8E176ZF2)
Transcript
[Andrew Safranko]: What’s up, guys? UNKNOWN_SPEAKER: I’m good. [Michael Houck]: Andrew, you’re back on this side of the pond. Yeah. Yeah. UNKNOWN_SPEAKER: Finally. [Andrew Safranko]: After like five weeks. [Michael Houck]: Hey, nothing wrong with an extra week on a night, maybe not vacation, but an extra week doing fun stuff, you know? [Andrew Safranko]: Yeah. Doesn’t stop right you know it is you’re still working so it’s like at some point that time is over you’re just opposite time of all day every day it starts to like that get you a bit well you can you can end your day with uh with like in a nice onion pancake uh breakfast you know uh I went I ended I ended my day a couple times on a rooftop patio so that was kind of nice that’s nice that’s good Yeah. [Andrew Safranko]: How are you guys doing? [Michael Houck]: Yeah, good, man. I have something that I need to get to earlier than expected today. It’s a little further away from where I am than I thought. So I want to make sure we power through this. I don’t think we’re going to need the full time, but I just want to talk through, obviously, Warren’s newsletter and also, you know, Symphony, who’s still paying their even though they’re not ever responding to you. And then also, we don’t need to talk about this on this call, but just want to give you a heads up. I’ll probably have one or two new folks to send your way in the next, like, I’d say two weeks. [Andrew Safranko]: Okay. Yeah, just let me know. We can chat about that later. No problem. [Michael Houck]: Did I lose you? UNKNOWN_SPEAKER: Yep. [Andrew Safranko]: Oh, I’m still here. You got me? [Michael Houck]: So yeah, I guess let’s talk about Warren first. So how’s that going? I haven’t heard anything from him. I am having a call with him next week to talk about doing threads for Kayla, because her following on Instagram is so huge. But yeah, I want to get a sense of the newsletter, how that’s going, any sort of concerns or challenges or anything like that. [Andrew Safranko]: No, yeah, it’s going really well. It’s grown quite nicely. Stats are very consistent. We’re usually mid-50% open rate on it weekly, which is great, and that’s including new subscribers being added all the time. Content-wise, they’re super happy. I work with him, and he’s got a couple other marketing folks. It’s a pretty well-oiled machine at this point. The main bit is just Slightly trying to gear it towards Sauna’s a little bit more. So we’ve been like chatting a little bit a little bit about that I’ll share weekly metrics with him as well And so now he’s got a good sense of like weekly how many people you know It’s like a good 20,000 people reading it now weekly So yeah, no So far so good. I think he’s happy as well He’s pretty content. We have a very easygoing relationship and Yeah, so far so good is he is he seeing people like because it is his goal just to build it up to a large subscriber count like say top of mind for them or is he trying to get like an actual like return for his like sauna business Yeah, so I know that there’s there’s definitely a thought around getting more but initially it wasn’t that so I think now that he’s got a good sense of like the numbers and this was like a Conversation him and I had I want to say like two weeks ago I think now yeah, it’s gonna be a little bit more geared towards it. So I’ve got I’ve got a re-up ideas and content topics for him Probably mid to mid-september. So I’m gonna try to gear it more towards Plugging sauna like content without like it being obvious if you will so yeah, I know that he wants to do a little bit more of that like we just yesterday’s issue was like, was plugging a bit of it. And then the week before that as well. But, you know, obviously trying not to just be like, oh, cause they definitely have it as a separate brand, like a partnered brand, if you will. So don’t want to like over exasperate Sauna’s in fear of the readership kind of getting a clue what’s going on. [Michael Houck]: Has he, has he said anything? Has he given any feedback? I just want to make sure that we’re hitting on everything he wants. [Andrew Safranko]: He hasn’t even talked to me at all, so I don’t have any context here. Yeah, no, he’s good. He’s happy. No issues. We chat weekly. Myself, him, and a girl named Abby, who I think is a social media slash marketing person. They’ll get feedback on the drafts and sort of topics and ideas. But he’s also leaned on me to kind of steer that as well. And he’s kind of directed his team to me as well, saying, like, Andrew is your person when you want to, like, put more emphasis on writing and things of that nature. So, yeah, no, like, it’s been pretty good, which is probably why you haven’t heard much. There hasn’t been any issues at all. It’s been very, very, it’s actually been really good. [Michael Houck]: Okay, that’s good to hear. Blake, anything on your side, style wise, structure wise, that we should be thinking to improve it even further? [Blake Emal]: Honestly, no. I don’t really have any notes here. Cool. UNKNOWN_SPEAKER: Wow, this is an easy one. [Michael Houck]: Yeah, easy. I was kind of surprised with Kayla, but I get it. [Andrew Safranko]: Like, obviously, I think for her, she just wanted to be more present in the audience. But I could see why it causes an issue with her. But like, even Kayla and I were doing really well as well. But I get the financials of it. [Michael Houck]: Yeah, I think that we were like 50, on being able to get Kayla back, but for threads, because she has like 500 something thousand followers on Instagram and like 75K of those already follow her on threads. But the content she’s posting on threads is pretty bad. And engagement is really low, like 10 likes or less per post. And with that size audience, she should be getting a lot more. So I feel like it’s a pretty easy pitch. So I’m talking to Warren. He’s got to book the call, but we were chatting about it. So probably next week or maybe the following week, we’ll get something set up there. Okay. Yep. [Andrew Safranko]: Let me know. Let me know how I can help with that for sure. Like current, I have a good relationship. So if I can help out, let me know. UNKNOWN_SPEAKER: Okay. [Michael Houck]: Maybe I’ll add you to that, to that call then, but I’ll let you know when it gets scheduled. Okay. Okay. Let’s move on to symphony. So I personally, I don’t think there’s a ton here for context. I think we all sort of have the same context, but they are in the process of being acquired or they I don’t even know. They reached out like end of June. So like almost two months ago, maybe it was early July. And so they’re in the process of being acquired and they’re wondering if we could like, I don’t know, basically help them in some way with that, with like the economics of them paying us and like, you know, obviously they’re under contract for the full six months minimum. Try to get creative with some solutions for him. And I never heard back. And it sounds like Andrew, you’ve never heard back either. [Andrew Safranko]: But I’ve never other than the other than the intro call we did, I’ve never spoken to him. [Michael Houck]: And I’ve tried to reach out to him quite a few times. That’s so weird. Well, yeah, they paid, they paid their bills for August. And I think their next renewal is coming up in the next couple days. So basically, until the check bounces, there’s no reason for us to stop. Because he hasn’t notified that they want to terminate. All he said was like, what can you do if we want to, if we do get acquired? So, I can’t do anything more than that. So no reason to, no reason to stop. UNKNOWN_SPEAKER: Okay. [Andrew Safranko]: Yeah, yeah. I’ve been just treating it because I’m fine writing into a black hole every week. I mean, as you said, they’re paying, so whatever it is, what it is. [Michael Houck]: Any thoughts, Blake, on any of this? [Blake Emal]: Well, my only thought was going to be, do we feel like idea-wise we’re still okay? You don’t feel like it’s too big of a stretch to come with good ideas on a weekly basis? [Andrew Safranko]: Yeah, some weeks are more frustrating than others, but actually, funny enough, so Houck, your idea you posted in Slack the other day, I hit up Ben right away, and Ben’s already come back to me with competitors of Symphony, so I am in the process of taking that and using that. I think that’ll be a refresher for me. I’ll probably get a good month’s worth of content at the very minimum from that. So yeah, should be okay. UNKNOWN_SPEAKER: Okay. UNKNOWN_SPEAKER: That’s easy then. [Michael Houck]: I guess let’s just keep pumping it out until he gives us otherwise and then we’ll have a 30 day hold down period from there. [Andrew Safranko]: Yeah, I’m cool with that. [Michael Houck]: All right. Cool. Well, I’ll let you know when new folks come through or what the deal with Kayla is. And we can go from there. [Andrew Safranko]: Yeah, man. I’m down. You know me. I’m good. [Michael Houck]: Blake, anything else on your side? No, man. [Blake Emal]: You’re so reliable, and you’re crushing it. So I appreciate all that. You just make life easy. [Blake Emal]: So I appreciate it. [Andrew Safranko]: Dude, you guys have trusted me. I trust you. Whatever you need, I’m there for you. It’s all good. [Michael Houck]: Love it, dude. OK, well, look, you guys have a good good Labor Day weekend, and we’ll catch up next week once I hear the deal from from.