Jeremy Ryan Slate’s Path to Success and Authentic Brand Revolution

Pamela Bardhi: Hi, I’m Kevin Harrington, an original shark from the hit television show Shark Tank. And you’re listening to the underdog podcast.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: All we know is all the time barking like some underdogs. Underdogs.

Pamela Bardhi: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Underdog podcast. Today I have an incredible guest here with me, Jeremy. How are you, my friend?

Jeremy Ryan Slate: Hey, I’m great. I appreciate you having me.

Pamela Bardhi: I appreciate you being here, my friend. It’s like we were just talking about summertime. We’re chilling. Life is good, nice and easy, and then, like, you know, everyone’s out there doing their thing. And then meanwhile, we’re always grinding, right, exactly.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: I think I feel like that’s my hardest problem. Pam is like, I don’t know, I’m also married to my business partner, so we don’t, like, shut it off. Do you know what I mean? Like, we live what we do, and I think often that can be hard. So it’s like, sure, there’s family in between, there’s all this other stuff, but it’s like, I live my work. You know what I mean?

Pamela Bardhi: It’s a lifestyle, and that’s interesting, I mean, it’s entrepreneurship. I mean, and even on the real estate front too, like, it’s the same, it’s the same thing. Like, it’s really a lifestyle that you sign up for. You know, it’s not just like work. Then sometimes that balance becomes interesting, if you will. Right. That will totally dig into all that. Oh, man, I can’t wait to get into your entrepreneurial journey. And really everything you’re doing with command, your brand and all these magical things. Before we get into all that, I want to reel it all the way back. Because I always love to hear the point of origin, right?

What did you want to be when you grew up, Jeremy

So, question for you, Jeremy. What did you want to be when you grew up?

Jeremy Ryan Slate: Actually I didn’t have a preconceived notion of what I wanted to be when I grew up, if that makes sense. Didn’t really know what I wanted to do, right? I was just somebody, like, I’ve always enjoyed history. I’ve always enjoyed learning and things like that. And I guess the weird part about my life is at eleven years old. Got a newspaper route, and that’s when you could still do those. Like, I don’t think they let kids do them anymore. But, like, I had one from when I was eleven until I was 17.

Started with 80 customers and I had like 320 by the time. I, like, gave it up when I was 17, so I had, like, substantially grown that, and you look at that. And I was making a lot of money delivering, like, stupid newspapers. Like, I was making five grand at Christmas every year, like, people were really nice and friendly. And I guess if you look at it, I’ve always kind of naturally been an entrepreneur. But then in college, I was like, hey, let’s go the route of being a teacher.

Kind of, like, what I looked at doing, and I’ll be honest with you, I wasn’t very good at it. Like, I definitely wasn’t very good at that. And I got, you know, kind of burnt out really, really quickly after grad school. I just found my way back into entrepreneurship by chance. But it wasn’t something like I was ever like, oh, I want to be a fireman. Or I want to be a doctor, I want to be an astronaut. Was just kind of, like, I don’t know, like, I like learning about stuff. What do I do with that?

Pamela Bardhi: I love that. And for you. So, like, growing up, who or what was, like, a big role model for you or had a big influence.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: My dad was a really big influence on me, so my dad used to play professional baseball. But he got, like, injured, he got. Which, cause he’s not a big guy, my dad’s five nine, but he was throwing over 100 miles an hour. With this curveball that used to drop, like, two and a half feet. So, like, that’s not really great on your elbow. And then this was in the days where, before they kind of, had surgeries to fix the elbow and stuff. Like, they can know where these guys are just, like, out for a year, and then they’re back going.

He had some injury issues and never really made it to actually, you know, the majors ran like that. So I was always a huge baseball fan, I loved baseball. I played so much baseball, and I think a lot of it was I was following what my dad did. Which I guess, in some ways is interesting, because my dad didn’t finish high school yet. Went to grad school and did a lot of different things. In some ways, I also diverged from that path, too. You know, I love it.

Pamela Bardhi: Well, I mean, growing up, did you watch him play at all, or was he.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: He was kind of. So my parents were older when they had me, so by the time, which is interesting. Because my dad could still throw a baseball pretty hard. But not, like, as hard as you would need to throw it to play professionally anymore, right? I’ve heard stories of, you know, my dad could throw baseball over 100 miles an hour. You know, but by the time, like, my dad didn’t have me until he’s in his mid thirties and everything else. It was a different life by that point, right? Like, a lot of guys are retiring from baseball by that age. For me it was like golf and fishing and baseball and stuff like that. But it wasn’t really like me watching him play, you know.

Pamela Bardhi: Interesting. Over 100 miles an hour. Holy crap.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: Like, well, he’s five nine too, so it’s like, he’s not a big guy. And like, when you’re tall, you have more leverage, right? So it’s easier to throw baseball harder. It’s a lot on your body for a short guy to throw a baseball hard.

Pamela Bardhi: That’s insanity to me. Like, I, you know, I’ll be in the batting cages sometimes and I’m like, I’m, not. I’m like, I don’t even want to look at the thing shooting the ball. Get afraid.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: I’m like, but yeah, baseball’s like, as a hitter, baseball is a lot of timing though, right? Like if you, oh, gosh, you can get so deep on this. But as long as there’s not a lot of movement on the pitch. You can hit a straight fastball if you can time it. And that’s why, you look at these, a lot of these guys modernly, like, if their baseball moves a lot. Well, that’s why people can’t hit them even if they’re not throwing that hard.

Pamela Bardhi: It’s crazy, man, I love that, though. I love that. And you had mentioned, too, that you weren’t really signing up to be an entrepreneur. But it kind of looks like it’s interesting because.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: But I always naturally had those skills in a way, too. You know what I mean? They like to just kind of do this paper route thing. And like, I was doing door to door sales at like twelve, which I guess doesn’t look safe. You know what I mean? Like, go, let your kid knock on random people’s doors and try to sell them a newspaper. But I was good at it, you know?

Pamela Bardhi: That’s so funny. I was just about to ask, does it cut code knives by chance?

Jeremy Ryan Slate: Yeah, no. Like, no, I was like. So they had this thing, like through the newspaper company. It was an old paper, which I don’t think exists anymore, but it’s called New Jersey Herald. Basically, it was like, our county’s newspaper, and they did this thing called.

Crewing has always been a part of me, but I didn’t pursue entrepreneurship

It was. Don’t know where they came up, the name or what the name even means, but it was called crewing. And they would take groups of kids and they’d go to a neighborhood. They try to sell, like, people in a new neighborhood a subscription to the newspaper. I was always, like, winning all the awards, winning all these different things. Because I would just be like, I would, I didn’t care, I’d knock on anybody’s door. Would talk them through it, and I would get them to buy my newspaper. But I didn’t, like, I guess I didn’t see those things until later in life, you know what I mean? That’s always been a part of me, but I didn’t really, like, pursue entrepreneurship.

Jeremy got his master’s degree in 2011 in the roman empire

Pamela Bardhi: Yeah, but you got into teaching, and then. From there, you had mentioned that your story shifted and you kind of landed in the entrepreneurial route again. So walk me through that whole experience and how you transitioned and pivoted.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: So I got my master’s degree in 2011 in the roman empire. I do think about the Roman empire every day. But it’s not really something like, people are lining up to get jobs for that, right? Because you have a master’s degree, you’re overqualified for everything. Then basically underqualified for everything, entry level, so you can’t really get a job. Ended up teaching at a catholic school because you don’t really need, like, any qualifications whatsoever. They’re just like, so you graduated college, huh? Wanna teach something great? And so I just walked in and did that. Burnt out really, really quick because in my early twenties, I looked super young.

So I had, like, my coworkers trying to give me detention, thinking I was out of uniform. I’m like, no, I work with you. Don’t you remember me? It’s like, it was kind of a weird situation. This was, like, in the advent of, like, when YouTube was kind of a new thing. Kids would every day try to see if they could piss me off and get me on YouTube. And that would kind of be my early experience of my day. They kind of, like, jab you all day long. Seeing where it goes, so I burnt out really quick, I did that for, like, two years. In 2013, my mom ended up having a really bad stroke. It made me look at a lot of what I was doing.

And I’m just like, I’m just not happy. You could, let me do just about anything else and I’d be happy doing it. I quit that job on an absolute whim. Did network marketing for a little bit, which I was really good at, but I just didn’t. Like, I don’t know, the lifestyle and the way of being and stuff that I ended up doing, doing that. So I went from there to selling life insurance, which I was, once again, really good at. Because I’ve always been good at selling things, but I hated the conversations about death and the morbidity of it. Things like that.

Then the final thing I did was I sold products on Amazon. Actually went to China, and I bought a whole bunch of products and privately labelled them on Amazon. But I screwed up, actually putting it on the website. Ended up giving away $1,000 worth of product for $20 by mistake. So that was the end of my Amazon journey, and I basically ended up working at a friend’s marketing agency. I taught myself how to build websites. And I got to start a podcast just as a hobby, and it literally took off. We had 10,000 listens in our first month. That led me to doing a lot of what I’m doing now.

Pamela Bardhi: That’s amazing, and, you know, it’s amazing to hear these stories, right? Because look at you now, Jeremy. I’m sure a lot of people do, they’re like, oh, my God, Jeremy’s always been successful and all that, right? And it’s like, this is the reason why I started this podcast. It’s honest to God, because, what I was seeing was, like, everyone was seeing the social media version of things. Not seeing what it took to get there.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: Social media is not real life, and I guess that’s the interesting thing. Part about it is, we started this company in 2016, and I would say the early years are hard, right? Like, you want to get things going, you want to be successful. But I’d say we’ve had a pretty successful company. For, like, I don’t know, at least five years now of that time. The whole men thinking about the roman empire thing popped up last year, and then we were kind of even late to the bandwagon. My wife’s like, honey, you’re suddenly relevant.

You should, you know, start doing podcasts about this. I’m all of a sudden, like, going on all these big shows that I’ve listened to for years. And I’m starting to get people around me going, wow. Like, you know, what you’re doing for a living finally paid off. I’m like, paid off? I have 20 employees, like, of course it paid off. But, like, people don’t quite get it until they see all the other stuff that comes with it. Do you know what I mean? They don’t, and I think that’s why social media just isn’t really real life.

Pamela Bardhi: Not at all. And I’m like, what it took to be that overnight success. Like you said, Jeremy, all experience years, and then all the sacrifices in building what you’ve built. I’m sure we’ll get to that as we get into your story.

Jeremy Ryan Slate started his podcast in 2014; there are 3.5 million now

But, like, you know, starting that podcast, how did that come about? And then how did you continue to scale and kind of build your brand from there? Because that’s fascinating.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: So I’ve been a podcast super fan for, like, ever. I was an early adopter to listening to the guy that actually invented podcasting, Adam Curry. He had a show called Daily Source Code, which is for developers, and I got pulled into that show. And then this is, as a listener, and I was so I was listening to podcasts for years. Then when all these things didn’t really work out, I’m like, well, I need a creative outlet of some sort. That’s where I ended up actually starting my own podcast. Because I needed some sort of an outlet, and I didn’t, like, so I guess to backtrack it. We started first in 2014. It was terrible. Nobody liked it, nobody listened, and I ended up quitting about six months in.

So I went out and I got some education. I learned how to do it a lot better and launched the show that I currently have. Though the name’s changed over the years, it used to be the create your own life show. It’s become, in the last couple of years, the Jeremy Ryan Slate show show. It is interesting that I learned a lot by doing it wrong the first time. And I learned a lot about the tech of how to actually do it, so it was, I think it’s. The thing you have to consider is when I started my show, there were 250,000 podcasts out there. There’s, like, 3.5 million now.

So the space of who’s out there is a lot bigger. Don’t know if what I did in those early days would stand out as much now as it did then. Just because it was kind of less of a sphere of people. We just took a lot of motion early on. I texted everybody on my phone to try and get them to subscribe. Emailed every email I had to get them to subscribe, I facebook messaged people until eventually it blocked me. And wouldn’t let me do it anymore because I knew if, like, all right. Well, this is kind of my last shot to do something right? Like, because now I’m just working for a friend’s agency part time, and it surprisingly worked out.

Pamela Bardhi: That’s amazing.

You initially resisted figuring out how to make money with your podcast

Well, I love that you took it as a creative outlet. And then really, like, so it came from, like, passion first, right. I think, what happens a lot, that.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: Was a struggle early on, too. Because the struggle of it was, I initially resisted figuring out how to make money with it. You know what I mean? Like, no, I couldn’t. This is my art form. I can’t litter it by having advertisements. What do you mean? So I do think I did initially slow myself down by how I viewed it.

Pamela Bardhi: Absolutely. Well, also, just the fact that you decided to do it out of passion and love. And a creative outlet first rather than for money.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: Right.

Pamela Bardhi: What happens is a lot of times everyone looks at opportunities like this and it’s like, oh, I can monetize.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: And I can do this.

Pamela Bardhi: And I’m like, guys, guys, back it up. Like, if it doesn’t come from love and passion, you’re only going to get so far.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: I think it’s not even just love and passion. Like, I think that’s part of it. But I think also a bigger part of it is, like, you know, you’re so right about people. Putting the cart before the horse about like, hey, how do I monetize and how to do this? But I think one of the things people fail to do is I tell people, if you’re going to start a podcast. Be willing to do this for a year without having any headway. Because you have to figure out if you’re doing an interview show. Not everybody is, but if you are, how do you interview if you’re doing more of a monologue show? Well, how do you, you have to write a basic script at some point. You don’t just turn the camera and rant.

I’ve met a small percentage of people that do. So I’m not going to say that doesn’t work. But for a lot of people, like, you have to slowly build some ability, right? And you have to do that over time, and I think people want that gratification right away. I think when that happens, the thing you do is you don’t put the audience and the audience’s needs first. You don’t build something for other people, you build something for yourself. If you build something just for yourself and you don’t build something for an audience. Well, there’s nothing to make money off of anyway, right? Like, you know what I mean, I think that’s the problem people screw up with right in the beginning.

Pamela Bardhi: Absolutely.

You made some pivots when you first started podcasting

And that was going to be my next question to you. Is kind of digging into what were those pivots that really made all the difference. When you did shift into the podcast and basically recreated it and came back with it, that had.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: You mean like, is like, changing the name or, start a new show or what about that?

Pamela Bardhi: Well, when you had, first started and then from where you made some pivots to it. And made some changes, that really made it.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: Oh, got it, got it.

Pamela Bardhi: Yeah.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: So I guess if you look at that, because I think a lot of people do this, right? Like, I blame the opportunity, right? Oh, podcasting sucks, you know what I mean? That was kind of like where I was at, like, you know what I mean? How many times have people started a business, real estate’s terrible, or who would want to do marketing. You know what I mean, how many times have you failed at something and that’s the way you looked at it? We always blame the opportunity immediately. I think it’s not often enough. We look at it and we say, well, maybe if I knocked on some more doors. Or maybe if I learned to be a professional more.

For me, the thing was, I had to learn to be a professional at what I was doing, right? I didn’t, but I initially blamed the opportunity, and I think a lot of people out there have probably done that. Right. But you find that, I know grant cardone talks about this with sales, right? You know, he hated sales. In the beginning, he hated sales, but then he got better at it and worked at it. Worked at it and worked at it. You kind of get to this place where you get so good at something, you start to love it. And I think we have to realize, a lot of times it’s building your skillset. You’ll find that many times, it’s not the opportunity, it’s you, right? Like, there’s.

So if you can make yourself better at it, I think that’s the difference. That was the difference between having a show in 2014 that nobody listened to. And that I had for a few months versus having a show that I’ve had since 2015. Which we’re in nine years of that show, like, almost a decade of podcasting. It’s, you know, have we had changes in there? Absolutely. We had dramatic content changes about four years ago. But at the same time, I’ve been able to build something with staying power because my approach was so different. I was working on, what can I approve personally? Not what can I improve about the opportunity? Do you get what I’m saying?

Pamela Bardhi: I love that. Well, it’s a whole reframing of the mind, if you will. You know what I mean? It is almost like, you know, like Tony Robbins says this all the time. It’s not happening to you, it’s happening for you. What are the lessons in what you’re doing and what are some different ways that you can do it? Right? So I love that you introspectively went in and not like, oh, f podcasting, it sucks. Like, oh, there’s too many people.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: No, I did initially, like, I definitely did. And then I looked at it, I’m like, all right, I don’t know how old I was at that place. How old was I in 2014, I was 25, right? Or around there. Like, maybe almost 20, no, 26, right? Somewhere in there. Anyway, I look at that, and I’m like, I’m this old. I’m working part time at a friends marketing agency. I just got married, I have no idea where I’m going in the future. This is kind of pathetic, right? I think sometimes you have to look at something and kind of have that rough moment on yourself. Right. To be willing to actually do something better.

Pamela Bardhi: Absolutely. And, you dropped so many golden nuggets, you were talking. I absolutely love that.

How did your podcast grow organically from a side project to a business

The podcast itself. So when you made those restructures, if you will, you know, how did you pivot into your business now? How did it turn into command, your brand and all of the things? And kind of the lessons that you learned along the way and the hardships.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: So I think initially. As I said, I started this more as a side project or an art form or an outlet. And then you realize, if you want to keep doing this, you have to figure out how to make money with it. Right? Like, I think that is really important. Initially, what we started doing is we started running a lot of affiliate ads for products that I really use and enjoy. That’s still a strategy we employ today. I think for most people, advertising on a podcast is not the way you’re going to make money. It’s affiliate ads, like, actually talking about products you like that have a good commission. That’s been, for me, how the show’s always made money. But what started happening is I didn’t have intentions of building an agency.

I didn’t have intentions of doing what we’re doing now. But I had a few people start reaching out to me. Saying, hey, can you help me do what you’re doing? I’m like, what? Start a podcast? So we actually started a production agency, and I had no idea what I was doing. One of the things we did to launch a brand new podcast. Because my wife’s background is actually in Przen. We started getting people’s media before their show launched to tell them it existed. The most effective media was actually putting people on other podcasts. And we found that since our clientele were so busy, they’re kind of like, I love podcasts.

This is fun. I’m enjoying these conversations, but I’m actually getting the most return off of being on other people’s shows. Can we just do more of that? And so we ended up dropping the production agency. Which is interesting because we brought that back about six months ago. Now, with all the AI tools, cost has just come down dramatically. But we’ve just focused on doing a better job at getting people on podcasts. It grew really fast, you know, like, initially, the first year or two, it was about three of us. And now as we go into 2024, I think we have 18 on our team, so it’s been really cool. Kind of like where we started, where we’ve come to.

Pamela Bardhi: That is amazing. And, I mean, I just love how organically it grew. But I’m sure that there were a lot of lessons in between that time that you were learning. Like, you were mentioning the pivots of, like, dropping the production and kind of getting into this other side. Which is more like guests on podcasts.

When you pivot, how does it fit with your basic purpose

So, like, I mean, for an entrepreneur out there who’s maybe got a business right now. That either they’re looking to kind of, like, pivot, right? Like, how do you recognize the pivot? How do you really realize that it’s not working?

Jeremy Ryan Slate: That’s the best way to put it. No, but, and that’s a really tough question, and it doesn’t have any perfect answers. Right? Like, I think the thing you have to look at, gosh, this, it’s a really tough answer. Because I think, like, I’ve pivoted several times in my life. Some of the pivots were really small art, and some of them are dumb. I guess you have to look at when you pivot. How much does it fit with what your, I guess, core belief system is or your core ability is right? Because I think often people will pivot just for money. And sure, you might make some money right away. But you’re going to find that it’s not something you want to keep doing. You have to find out, like, how does it fit with your basic purpose?

How does it fit with the thing you want to do? Does it further that basic purpose? Right. I’ve had a lot of pivots in what I’ve done. And the pivots have always, for the most part, when they’ve worked out, it’s pivoted with my basic purpose. When it hasn’t, it’s because I’ve tried to, like, make money or take advantage of an opportunity for far too. If it doesn’t align with your basic purpose, why you’re doing, what you’re doing. Like, for me, I’m, at my core, even though teaching didn’t work out, I am a teacher. So if things align with teaching, they work really well for me.

Like, you know, why have people really been interested in what I’ve had to say about the roman empire? Well, not because I’m the smartest person out there about the roman empire. You know, I’m only an MA, I don’t have a PhD. And if you put me against, next to somebody that has a PhD. It’s going to show how much I don’t know. But I’m really good at explaining things to people in a way that they can understand, right? That is my core purpose at what I’m good at. I think that’s why whenever something’s worked for me, it’s been keeping it as close to my basic purpose as possible.

Pamela Bardhi: I absolutely love that. And this correlates with, like, brand in general, too. It’s like I feel like the brand transcends everything, its mission, all of that, right? So I would love to dive into, like, the brand piece of it, too, because that really, that magnifies. You know, they say that authenticity is the highest vibration known in this universe alongside love, right? When it comes to brands, those authentic brands are the ones that really step in and you can feel it. That’s where success comes in, right? Like you said, if you make a decision based on money, it’s only going to go so far. Right.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: Well, and I think it’s a scale, too, right? Money is always the lowest on it, like the kind of, the higher you go up that scale. The more you get towards actually, like, doing it for purpose and doing it for helping. Right, like, I guess the more somebody feels like they can help, the more alive they are. The less they feel like they can help, the less alive they are. And so I do think it’s not black or white. It’s definitely, like a scale you go through.

Pamela Bardhi: Absolutely.

Jeremy, what’s been some of the best lessons you’ve learned about branding

In terms of your lessons on the branding side of things and really the nuggets you’ve learned within your business. Jeremy, what’s been some of the best lessons that you’ve learned or business advice? Or anything as you’ve been building your empire or podcast, whichever one.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: So I think when you look at that. I guess let’s back it up, because my podcast message and my company message were always two different things. And I don’t mean like they were two things that didn’t agree. It’s just that one was more me and one was just a little bit less me. My show has always been very me. Right, it’s always kind of went with what I believe and what I do. We have gotten a lot more into politics and culture and history. Things like that in the last few years because that is very much who I am. We’ve shifted the company with that, too, and it’s actually worked out better because at my core, what am I?

I’m a free speech advocate. Am I a teacher? Yes, but I’m a free speech advocate. That’s what I care about. You know, the world’s just not about, you know, speech we like. It’s about having the ability to say things, and sometimes you don’t like them. Right. Like, words can’t really hurt you but we need to be able to talk about things. So we can get to a better place. And that’s really become what, the core message of what command your brand is like. If you look at it, we have to have these big conversations so we can get to, hopefully better solutions. But you don’t get some place by not talking about them.

So for me, when we look at what our company branding is, it really is this cornice of free speech. Which has aligned so much more with what I am standing for, for a person. And we’ve actually had better media, I’ve gotten more stages, I’ve had more opportunities. I’ve met cooler people when what our company does aligns more with, also personally, what I stand for. Does that make sense? I think it’s not the same for every person. But for a founder, it’s really important because the founder is kind of like the being behind the business. Right. Like, it is. A lot of what I, what my company does is going to be what I stand for.

Pamela Bardhi: Absolutely. Well, there’s authenticity in it.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: Right.

Pamela Bardhi: So you’re vibration, because you are doing your thing.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: Yeah.

Pamela Bardhi: Which beautiful thing, and you’re just being authentically you. So everything just magnifies towards it.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: Yeah, and it takes less effort. Right, I think that’s a really important point. Like, it when you find things are getting really hard or taking a lot of effort. And that doesn’t mean, like, things aren’t going to be hard in life. They are hard things in life, right? Do I hate doing taxes? Yeah, but I gotta do them, like, there are certain things that are hard. But I think when you’re finding that everything takes so much effort. You’re getting very little result or no result at all, well, you’re likely not authentic enough or not aligned enough. It doesn’t mean, you know, work should be easy, but it flows, right? It moves, and I think that’s what’s interesting.

Pamela Bardhi: Absolutely, and for anyone who’s listening, that’s thinking about their brand or is not feeling in flow, right? Because I’m big on this. I’m big on the flow side, I’m like, listen, like you said, it should not be difficult. It’s gotta be you. Why is your business not you? And, you know, I actually struggled with that for years. Like, I was like, oh, no, I’ve got to be this tough, this badass, I can’t be vulnerable. I can’t show this, the entrepreneurial mindset, because I’m in real estate, real estate development, construction, it’s all that tough.

It is that tough exterior, but in the day, we’re human, right? So it was like, dang, how do I make my brand more me about who I am? And then what I realized was there was the whole vulnerability component to it, too. I’m like, oh, shit, I don’t want to get vulnerable. It’s funny how your brand becomes like such a reflection of you and the things that. Like, and it exposes all of the pieces within you. That’s like, shit, you gotta work on that.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: And I think the thing that’s really important. Because I see a lot of people doing this wrong, you need to be authentically you. But not be invalidated or an asshole to others. Does that make sense? Cause I think there’s some people out there, like, I swear, my branding and like, you know, I just. I hate you, and it’s kind of, you know what I mean? Like, I feel like there’s a lot of people out there. That you got to understand what you put out is what you’re going to attract, right? So yes, you need to authentically be you, but you also have to look at. Do I want to attract certain elements of that to what I do? Right, I think that’s really, really important. It’s important to consider that in how you’re putting yourself out there.

Pamela Bardhi: One, hundred thousand percent. And also just be like, in that piece of being authentically. You kind of like recognizing what’s in flow with you and what’s not, right.

Your podcast blew up because it all came from authentically you

Which is what you mentioned earlier.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: It’s like that back to core values. You have to have those.

Pamela Bardhi: Exactly. Well, that’s the reason why your podcast blew up. And then also your agency kind of stemmed from that because it all came from authentically.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: You.

Pamela Bardhi: You are the source, right? And it created this beautiful empire for you and just, continuing to grow. Right. Which is amazing. I love that.

Brands are moving in different directions to connect with the audience

I mean, you know, in this one, because I hammer in on, brand because it’s everything. You know, there’s so many brands that are moving in different directions these days to connect with the audience. Because even, like, the tv segments, I have a lot of friends who are tv producers. They’re telling me, they’re like, man, social media is like ruling everything right now, podcasts. And because it’s like, decentralized, media, right?

Jeremy Ryan Slate: Well, it’s been the struggle of legacy media, right? Like they want to tell you, hey, friends are on at 07:00. You have to watch it at that time if you want to see it. That’s not the way the consumer is anymore. Right? The consumer wants to decide what they want to watch. When they want to watch it, and how they want to watch it. And I think that’s what’s really been the struggle of legacy media. They want to tell you that appointment viewing is still a thing and it’s just, it’s not life. I think that’s been the struggle of them trying to figure out what to do in the world we live in now.

Pamela Bardhi: Absolutely. And I think it also ties in with the authenticity of the media, right. Because we’re creating our own content that comes from our soul, not directed by anybody else.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: Jeff yeah, and people want to hear what you have to say about things, right? If people listen to you, they’re interested to see your perspective on things. Like, sure, they could get the news from somebody else and information from somebody else. But they’re here because they like your perspective. And I think that’s a really, really important thing to consider.

Pamela Bardhi: I love that.

So for entrepreneurs who are listening that are like, that have their brains

So for entrepreneurs who are listening that are like that have their brains and all of that. Given this kind of like new age of everything, right, like, of doing business, of media, all of these. Like social influence, what would be your biggest piece of advice, Jeremy?

Jeremy Ryan Slate: I would say, going back to kind of where we started. Be willing to do this for at least a year, find out what your voice is. Because you’re not going to know it right away and continually work at what you’re doing. Right. And that means, like, learn how to be a better interviewer, learn how to have better conversations. Don’t position what you’re doing as making content because that’s right away, like you’re thinking of. All right, I’m going to use this to get other people to watch it. Create something that’s cool and authentic and real for you and continue to improve with that craft. It is a craft. You have to work at it.

Pamela Bardhi: I love that.

What would you tell your younger self based on what you know now

And then one of my favorite questions, which I always save the best for last. But what would your older self tell your younger self based on what you know now, Jeremy, that’s tough because.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: I think, like, I guess here’s what I would say is be willing to be who you really are sooner. Rather than kind of taking 20 years to figure it out, you know what I mean? Like. Cause I’m, I am the person I was at 17, just a little bit more refined. And hopefully a little bit smarter. But, like, I’m very much that same person, I am obsessed with history, I love other people. You know, I am an entrepreneur at heart, but I think I tried to be all these other things for years.

And I think it’s tough because I think you can look at regret, but I don’t really have regret. I’ve learned a lot of different things that I still use to this day. But I think it would be just willing to be who you really are and willing to be that sooner. You know?

Pamela Bardhi: I love that, I absolutely love that. Jeremy, oh, my gosh. And in your world, like, what’s going on in, like, the next few months? Like, what’s Jeremy’s world looking like,

Jeremy Ryan Slate: You know, it’s just. It’s as I had mentioned the whole, like, thinking about the roman empire thing blew up. And I’m still really good friends with my advisor from grad school. He and I are actually in the early stages of co-authoring a book. About the roman kingdom, republican empire, and what we can learn about it to bring it into our world. Because my biggest learning point has been. The just total lack of knowledge people have about anything that’s been more than 100 years ago. So I think there’s a lot of great lessons out there. I’ve just kind of come full circle for me in a lot of ways. I think I absolutely love that.

Pamela Bardhi: I love that, I liked to live in Rome until I was five years old. Oh, wow.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: That’s awesome. Yeah.

Pamela Bardhi: So I was born in Albania, then Rome, Italy, then came to the US when I was five. And then most recently, like, in 2022, I was in, Cairo, in Egypt.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: Oh, wow.

Pamela Bardhi: Learning all about that was, like, a whole nother. You’re just like, man.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: And Albania was even the heartland of the Roman Empire. Like, that was, like, kind of the central part of it that people don’t realize.

Pamela Bardhi: Right. And I didn’t even realize that until right now. Like, it’s been mentioned, but, like, I didn’t even.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: So important, like, Emperor Constantine was a, Emperor Constantine was a Serb. Like, a lot of, like, central Europe that I think people don’t consider it was actually. It was the heartland of Rome.

Pamela Bardhi: That’s craziness. Yeah, no, and I know that Albania had, like, the Byzantine empire. So it was, like, Turkish empire versus this, like, I knew that whole backstory. It’s just so. Just that you mentioned it, because I’m like, there’s so much to learn. Because history always repeats itself and most people don’t realize.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: Well, I think it repeats itself, but I think it’s more that it rhymes, if that makes sense, right. Because it’s like, it’s not exactly the same. Like, you know, you look at kind of how the US is going economically and whatever. It’s not exactly the same as the Roman Empire, but there’s a lot of things that are similar. So I think history doesn’t repeat, but it does rhyme, you know?

Pamela Bardhi: I absolutely love that. That’s a great way to put it. Cause I’m like, well, the times are very different now, but, well, they are, right.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: Because we have different technology they could have never imagined. Right? So it changes the way things function.

Pamela Bardhi: It’s so fascinating. I love looking at, like, history and, like, seeing what’s been done in the past. So that’s so cool that you’re working on that, I love that, Jeremy. Oh, my gosh. And then any, like, free time, any fun things going on this summer for you?

Jeremy Ryan Slate: We’re actually, believe it or not. I have a lot of trips in studio interviews booked to talk about Rome this year. Which has not been a typical thing for me. We just had our third daughter, so, you know, we’re adjusting to having three daughters now. And, you know, just a lot of good family stuff this summer, you know.

Pamela Bardhi: Well, congratulations. I have twin.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: Thank you.

Pamela Bardhi: Twin girls that are turning.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: Oh, awesome.

Pamela Bardhi: I feel you.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: Awesome. Yeah. I have three little girls. There’s a lot of estrogen in my.

Pamela Bardhi: House that any tips are appreciated. You know, there’s, we don’t have.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: I will tell you, like, the thing you got going easier for you, which we found with the two. And, you know, three, like, she’s not really big enough for it to be an issue yet. But with the two, they watch each other really well. Like, that’s been, like, just having the two of them be able to go sit in the playroom and play. Has been, like, actually a really good thing. So it’s better, I think it’s being a father that’s had one and then had two and then had three. It’s better to have two than one because they amuse themselves then.

Pamela Bardhi: I love that. It’s so reassuring for us on our end. So grateful.

Jeremy: I put together a freebie for your audience

Jeremy and for everyone who’s been listening. Like, I know everyone’s been dying to figure out, where can we get ahold of you, Jeremy? Where are all the magical places that we can find you, my friend?

Jeremy Ryan Slate: Well, I think the most powerful thing out there are conversations like this. That’s why I want to help people understand, like, you know, why do conversations like this matter? Like, how can you go out there and get some attention for yourself? I put together a really great, freebie for your audience called command your empire. It’s going to help them to learn all the basic pr things they need to know. To really understand this new media space and start taking advantage of it and actually winning with it. So if they head over to commandyourempire.com, they can grab that. And that’s going to be the best way to really start taking some action. Whether they want to work with me or not workà with me, there’s some great information over there. They can start winning, so that’s commandyourempire.com dot.

Pamela Bardhi: I love that. Jeremy, thank you so much for all of your insight today. I love the different perspectives and the different nuggets that you dropped this whole time, my friend. Super grateful for you. Love what you’re doing for the people, too. And helping them command their message and their brand to help them elevate in every way possible. So I appreciate you, my friend. Thank you so much.

Jeremy Ryan Slate: Hey, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

Pamela Bardhi: Thank you.

Underdog is a weekly podcast from Underdog. Always dropping on Thursdays

So that’s it for today’s episode of Underdog. Catch us next week. Always dropping on Thursdays. And remember, if you’re interested in real estate or want to learn how to create more money and magic in your life. Check out meetwithpamela.com, and let’s chat. Sending you so, so much love.