IAM2759 – Sales and Marketing Expert Helps Businesses Leverage Media for Growth

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Full Podcast Interview:

Full Audio Transcription:

Hector Santiesteban 00:00
to sort of bring personality to that company, to bring real human connection, authenticity, you know, relatability to a company. And, and, you know, we do that through media, whether that's a, a podcast or a video or a short clip on TikTok.

Gresham Harkless 00:41
Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I Am CEO Podcast, and I have an awesome guest on the show today. I have Hector Santi Esteban. Hector, excited to have you on the show.

Hector Santiesteban 00:50
Thanks for having me, Gresh. I'm excited to be here.

Gresham Harkless 00:52
Yeah, super excited to have you on to talk about all the awesome things that you're doing. And of course, before we do that, I want to read a little bit more about Hector so you can hear about some of those awesome things. So he's the founder of Amplify Media, where he's helped dozens of businesses leverage media to grow their bottom line. He's the father of two young kids, lives in Southern California, and has worked in sales and marketing since he was 17 years old. And I had the pleasure of being on Hector's podcast. It was an awesome conversation. Uh, we got to connect a little bit and learn about some of his philosophy, which I'm super excited to kind of dive into around podcasting and media and all those things. But I was listening to one of his interviews and it was really cool because I'm a big believer in that if you don't know who you are, go back to what you did as a child. And I'm sure we'll probably probably dive a little bit into this, but seeing those seeds planted and how that has blossomed into all the awesome things he's doing is gonna be super phenomenal. So Hector, excited to have you on the show. Are you ready to speak to the I Am CEO community?

Hector Santiesteban 01:42
Let's do it.

Gresham Harkless 01:42
Let's get it started then. So to kind of kick it off a little bit, I rewound the clock. I touched on a little bit. Let's rewind the clock, hear a little bit more on how you got started, what I call your CEO story.

Hector Santiesteban 01:50
You know, outta high school, I ended up getting a sales job and became a sales manager and sort of went on this, this sidetrack, you know, getting into the sales world and, and built a huge sales organization and, and, you know, a lot of accolades and that sort of stuff and realized that that wasn't going to be the, you know, it wasn't for me. You know, I, I was, I was sort of this soulless sort of, uh, you know, 25-year-old who had more money than any 25-year-old should ever do, but spent all that money, you know, looking for impact and looking for purpose and looking to sort of find myself. And so when I found out I was gonna have, uh, you know, my ex was, was pregnant with our first kid, I knew that I had to find something else to do for, for work because I was spending 60, 70 hours at the office. I was miserable and I just would— didn't know that it wouldn't allow me to be the, the sort of parent that I wanted to be. And so I read a bunch of books, uh, in 2015. I read 50 books that year, you know, and that was when Gary Vee was sort of coming on his, on, onto the stage. And so that was one of the books that I read and I, you know, sort of figuring out what path was gonna be next. And what was interesting is I saw that he wrote a book called Jab, Jab, Right Hook., and it was this, a, a book on, on how to leverage social media to grow your business. And I go, well, you know, this is sort of revolutionary at the time. This was 2014, 2015. And, uh, so dove into that world, dove into online marketing and internet marketing and sort of did everything under the sun to try and make money. We, uh, we had a website agency, we did paid ads, we did branding, we did logos. I mean, literally if someone would pay us to do something, we'd be like, sure, we'll do it for you. In about 2018, I had somebody come to me who had said they had this podcast and, uh, you know, can you help me make the little clips for it? Can you make the little videos for it? And I said, sure, we know how to video edit. We know how to make the little clips and, and whatever. And then I had another person come to me and another one. And by the, you know, I looked up and all of my clients were sort of podcasters doing social media for them. And I was like, there's something to this podcasting thing. As sort of, you know, that developed, you know, the, the podcast ecosystem developed over the next several years and then they had a big boom after COVID and such. We sort of leaned into it.

Gresham Harkless 03:52
Into it. And so we vertically integrated and we went from a podcast marketing company where we, to a podcast production and, uh, you know, media company where we do the, you know, we do the full, you know, the full stack for, for podcasters. But over the last couple of years, I've sort of realized that, you know, podcasting has sort of evolved and people are, you know, now it's video and now it's on YouTube and all these sort of things. When, when really what I was in love with going back to the John Elway thing was like, oh, it was media. It was taking these people and bringing their, their thoughts, their, their emotions, their philosophies, their their ideas and sharing them. And, uh, and now there is this opportunity where people are listening to podcasts for 3 hours, 4 hours at a time sometimes. And so for me, I just, I have all, you know, I, I sort of saw the, the writing on the wall with how does a, a business stand out and separate itself in this sort of very cluttered, busy world where there's all these distractions. And it's like, well, authenticity, truth, and relationships are sort of built over time. And so now we've sort of built our company to do just that and to help, you know, what might either— otherwise be, uh, a stuffy sort of company to, you know, that is faceless or nameless to sort of bring personality to, to that company, to bring real human connection, authenticity, you know, relatability to a company. And, and, you know, we do that through media, whether that's a podcast or a video or a short clip on TikTok or whatever it may be.

Gresham Harkless 05:12
Yeah, absolutely. Which is why I love that you, you're able to do that and of course be able to see that for your clients and customers. ‘Cause I think it's so— such a huge thing to not just understand like, you know, kind of like to some degree what they do, but I think to understand that that secret sauce, the thing that makes them unique and how they can start to showcase that is, is such a huge thing. Is that a little bit on like the process of like how you work with your clients, how you serve them? How do people like kind of know like, hey, maybe I should consider a podcast or— and what do you kind of take people through? What does that kind of look like?

Hector Santiesteban 05:39
Yeah, I think the first thing that they have to realize before it even makes sense to have a conversation is like, do they want to— do they have something to share? Do they have wor— something worthwhile to share and worthwhile to talk about? Because a lot of people will, you know, the, the big hurdle that they get up is like, is anyone gonna wanna listen to me? Do I have anything worth saying? And usually I, I would say most, most people do, at least most business leaders, but people who have been in the industry for a while do. And so just having them realize that they have something worth saying is huge. The other part of it is a lot of people, they, they realize that and they go, I've been doing decades of, you know, I've had decades of experience. I wanna turn around and I wanna help the next person or help other people who are getting started or who can benefit from that sort of information. And so I think that's sort of the first thing, and I can't really get them to make that sort of decision. They've sort of gotta wanna make that on their own. But assuming they do, then the next part is like, well, who is— who's gonna listen? Who are we talking to? I'd say the first step is like really honing in on what we call it our, you know, our ideal target listener. But like, who is that person that we want to, to listen to the show? And if it's not just one type of person, can we create a couple of buckets to really identify those people. And then the next step is like, okay, it gets so much easier cuz it's like, well, let's just make content for them. Let's just create stuff that those people are gonna resonate with.

Gresham Harkless 07:00
So with that, what would you consider to be what I like to call your secret sauce? And I, I, I wonder if it's a combination of what you kind of chatted around because I feel like your ability to be able to explain what that is and, and sounds like to be able to have that understood by clients and say, okay, I can do that. Do you feel like your ability to just kind of simplify that and understand that as part of your secret sauce?

Hector Santiesteban 07:19
Yeah, I think so. You know, I, my idols or my, my people that I grew up sort of idolizing were the Walt Disneys, the Vince McMahons, the Ted Turners, the people who created networks of content or created lots of different content. And, and I think most, mostly what I'm learning now is that it's the stories that make all the difference, right? It's this ability to connect via storytelling. And so, so I think, yeah, my, my secret sauce is being able to see how do we make the content fit into the business because anybody could go in and just create a podcast and just talk for an hour and put up a bunch of episodes, but very few of them will have it integrate into the business.

Gresham Harkless 07:58
Wanted to, uh, switch gears a little bit and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or even a habit that you have. What's something you lean on that makes you more effective and efficient?

Hector Santiesteban 08:09
Right now it's AI for me. And, um, you know, for me, I really love leveraging AI as sort of a, um, a thought partner in the sense of a lot of people will use it to write stuff for them. I use AI mostly to ask me questions and get me thinking about stuff. And so what I will do is I'll, you know, one of my mentors, Jeff Woods, he sort of, um, popularized this idea that before getting an output from, you know, an AI, whether it's ChatGPT or Gemini, whoever you use, make it ask you questions. And so it'll say, you know, ask me questions about this. You know, the, the, the little hack is tell it, give it a maximum. So I say like 3 at a time with like a max of 15 because, you know, otherwise it could get overwhelming. But then what I'll do is then I will take those answers and I'll actually voice note those answers into my iPhone. I'll transcribe those, those answers and then put those back into the AI so that I've got my, it, it's got my, my sort of my idea dump in there. And, uh, it's much easier than me typing the, the answers back, but now I'm able to really get some depth into my responses. And, you know, at the end of it, now I'll, I'll do 3 or 4 or 5 voice notes to, you know, back to the AI. And now I've got a such a deeper— it has such a deeper sense of my context and the output that it gives me is, is so much better. But oftentimes what I find is just in me articulating and me verbalizing those things in my head, that is like 80% of the, of the magic. Just be giving me the chance to think through these things and, and go, ah, that maybe that doesn't sound right. This sounds better, or whatever it is. But taking it and then allowing it to do in a voice note, um, has like compressed the time.

Gresham Harkless 09:52
You, you might have already touched on this, but I wanted to ask you for what I call a little bit more of a CEO nugget. So this is a little bit more word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It could be something around general business, but it might be something you would tell your younger business self if you hopped into a time machine, or potentially advice you might give your favorite client.

Hector Santiesteban 10:07
I'm a big believer of getting the right people on the bus in the right seats. I sort of came up in a world where, you know, in the business world where I was, or excuse me, the sales world where I was sort of out of place. You know, the skills that I was great at weren't necessarily conducive to winning in that industry. You know, they, they were just much different skills or, or excuse me, not that industry at that sort of position. And so it's sort of like that, uh, saying of like, don't judge a fish fish by how it climbs a tree. It's like, I'm, I'm looking at all these, you know, I'm hanging out with all these cats who are freaking good at climbing trees and they're getting all the way up and I'm sitting at the bottom flopping around going, why can't I climb up? Thinking that there's something wrong with me, thinking that there's something, you know, that I'm, I'm flawed in some way or that I'm not good enough. You know, all these self-worth sort of things start to creep in when I go, oh, actually I have a different skillset. My skillset is better in this regard. My skillset is better over here. And so just understanding that. And, and you know, there's all the tests, whether it's Kolbe or Wealth Dynamics, or, you know, I'm a big fan of Working Genius, but just really starting to realize that in the same way that a, a chessboard has different pieces, and it's not like a pawn is any like less significant than a bishop, but they have different, they have different skill sets, they have different abilities, they're, they have different uses and they're all well dignified, you know, in humans. Humans are all, you know, they're all people in themselves. So it's not like one is any less than the other, but it's how do we find the, the place that this person is going to thrive, to really thrive instead of just getting by. Because if you can have people on your team who are excited about what they're doing and it's tapping into what they are, you know, naturally great at, um, you're gonna get such a better output than somebody who is being forced to do something that they hate doing.

Gresham Harkless 12:01
So, um, now I wanted to ask you one of my absolute favorite questions, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. Our goal is to have different quote unquote CEOs on the show. So Hector, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Hector Santiesteban 12:11
A CEO is someone who is a, a leader of people and a leader of organizations. I used to call myself a CEO, but I was the only one on the team. And so, you know, there was— I, I think that that is— maybe someone can call it that and, and fine, you're serving in that role. But I think a CEO really starts to come into play where, when people become involved and you're, you're leading people towards a, a common goal, right? A common something, common outcome. And I, and I think that that sort of needs to be more than just providing a service, right? That there's an executive is, you know, a chief executive officer is, uh, is someone who is, who's creating something. And I think the other side of it is that an executive cheap executive means that you need to— there needs to be other executives, right? That there are other leaders. And so ultimately, once a CEO gets there, it's, it's a leader of leaders. And that I think is, is, uh, is sort of what, what it becomes.

Gresham Harkless 13:13
Truly appreciate that, that definition. Of course, I appreciate your time even more. So what I wanted to do now was pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know. And of course, how people can get ahold of you, find about you, the team, all the awesome things you're working on, your podcasts Let us know where you find you.

Hector Santiesteban 13:28
Yeah, I think the thing that I'd say is like, ev— everybody has a show in them or everybody has a message worth sharing. Even the ones who, who, who think that they don't, they do. And for me, I found that just talking is the easiest way for me to share that message. You know, I was also in, you know, speech and debate and, and, and theater in high school around the sports, you know, when I couldn't play sports. And so for me, just getting that message out was always it, it felt like if I didn't, like something was wrong. And I think there's a, there's a quote from the Gospel of Thomas and I'm gonna, I'm gonna butcher it, but it says something to the agree— to, to the degree of that which we express will save us and that which we keep inside will destroy us. And it's like we all have these things that we know are supposed to be out and, and in the world, but we're not doing it for whatever reason. Fear, insecurity, you mentioned imposter syndrome, all these things that hold us back from, from putting that message out there. And I think that is a big big, big challenge. As far as me, you know, I'm, I'm probably most active on LinkedIn, Hector Santia Esteban. Uh, there's actually two Hector Santia Estebans and the other guy, he beats me on Google 'cause he's a doctor. So, uh, but I've got him on LinkedIn, so, uh, you can find me on LinkedIn. Um, our website is AmplifyMedia.com. We're spelled, uh, A-M-P-L-A-F-Y because, uh, I started the company when it was cool to, uh, misspell things. And I also grew up in LA. And so that was also, you know, a little testament to my, you know, those who are watching the video, they can see my Lakers hat here. And, and then also, you know, if you go to our website, I'd be happy to spend some time with any of the listeners and go over and talk through your media strategy, or if it wants to be a podcast, whatever it is, and just help you see how you can take the message and the experience that you have developed over, you know, your, your years of experience or your years of time and how that can, you know, turn into some sort of media platform. Um, and that's A-M-P-L-A-F-Y media.com. Awesome. Awesome.

Gresham Harkless 15:26
Awesome. Well, I truly appreciate you, Hector. Of course, to make it even easier, we'll have the links and information in the show notes so that you don't— make sure you're not going to the doctor Hector, you're going to the, the Hector that helps out with the, the podcast. So we'll have all that information in the show notes. I love, love, love that last message you left us with. I'm a big believer in the parable of the talents, which basically says if you're given gifts, you're supposed to give those gifts out. You're not supposed to hoard them and keep them because they're not given to you for you to hoard them, not given to you for you to just keep them in your pockets. They're given to you to give,— to, to send them out, to use them, to show like what is potentially possible. So leaving us with that reality that we all have a show within us is such a powerful thing. And I think if we start to realize that we do have talents, we do have gifts, we do have abilities, something that no one else has done in the way that we've done it, it's imperative that you share that out. So I love that you make that easier. You help people to understand exactly what that is. And of course, I appreciate you, appreciate your time, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.