IAM2822 – Leader Passionate About Helping Businesses Deliver Value to Their Customers

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Transcription:

Troy Riemer 00:00
You know, in order for us to really understand who our client is and who they're going after, we have to embody that audience or, you know, that mindset. So we're not just doing the same designs over and over again. We're actually delivering something that speaks to those people.

Gresham Harkless 00:49
Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I Am CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Troy Reamer of Red Clay Creative. Troy, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Troy Riemer 00:58
Thanks for having me.

Gresham Harkless 00:59
No problem. Super excited to have you on. And what I want to do is just read a little bit more about Troy so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing.

Gresham Harkless 01:05
And.

Gresham Harkless 01:05
Troy is passionate about helping people and businesses achieve their dreams of success. He has worked with hundreds of businesses to deliver value to their customers. With a background in finance and marketing, Troy dedicated the last few years to developing the website division of a marketing company in the Washington, D.C. area. His successes led him to focus in on those skills with Red Clay Creative. Troy believes that hard work, communication, and integrity are integral to any relationship and strives to help businesses with those core values at his foundation. Troy, are you ready to speak to the I Am CEO community?

Troy Riemer 01:37
I'm ready.

Gresham Harkless 01:38
Awesome. Let's do it. So to kick everything off, I wanted to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story and what led you to get started with your business.

Troy Riemer 01:45
My CEO story? Maybe I should have had the questions sent to me beforehand. No, honestly, I always wanted to be an entrepreneur. It's kind of funny. I wanted to be a copywriter in college, and I was a marketing major, and then I thought it was too vague, so I switched to finance because I'm like, this makes sense. And it seems to be harder for the other people in my class, so I'll do this. And then like, I was a financial advisor for a few years, and after that, my friend was like, hey, you know, you know business stuff, you know, finance and things. Do you want to help me run my marketing company? I was like, that sounds awesome. So it kind of came full circle, you know, like, I didn't think I was Going to end up in marketing after all that. And, you know, I guess I couldn't fight the creativity side of me and. Yeah, so that's kind of how I ended up with Red Clay Creative. We worked together for a couple years, me and my friend John, and then we decided to split, go separate ways. We just had different ideas on where we wanted to take the company, and now I couldn't be happier. I think we're both going to be more successful because of it.

Gresham Harkless 03:03
Nice. Well, I definitely appreciate that. Just like you said, you know, you can try to move away from stuff sometimes, but it's like a magnet. Whether, you know, you hide from it or not, it can kind of pull you right back to where you're supposed to be. It sounds like.

Troy Riemer 03:15
Yeah, it's funny how that is. I don't know. I don't know why it is, but it is.

Gresham Harkless 03:20
Yeah. Just don't fight it. Just go with it. So I appreciate you for doing that. So I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper here, a little bit more about Red Clay Creative team. Taking me through exactly what you're doing, how you're helping some of the clients that you're working with.

Troy Riemer 03:34
Yeah. So with Red Clay Creative, I. What I learned from the marketing agency is, you know, we were doing a lot of different things. We were doing ads, websites, logos, videos, photos, pretty much everything on marketing, everything under marketing. And what I learned from that was that people got the most joy and we had the best retention from the design work and the website work that we did. And that was actually the stuff that I liked doing the most. So when I started Red Clay Creative, I was like, you know what? I'm just going to hone in on a few key services, design and websites. And, you know, I try and keep it simple, as it says on my business card, websites plus design. But basically, we do all kinds of marketing material. Design, website design, and then we. We actually do the development as well. But we try and stay in that wheelhouse. We have plenty of people that we refer out for other types of work. Yeah. And then sometimes marketing strategy falls under there. But I'd say we. We stick to the branding stuff.

Gresham Harkless 04:40
Yeah, that. That, that makes perfect sense. And, and have you found, like, there's definitely been, you know, successful for you and your team as far as being able to kind of hone in on those core services and services that you feel like you. You guys excel in?

Troy Riemer 04:53
Yeah, it has. I mean, it makes it easier because you're not trying to do too much. It's like, okay, maybe one week, we have two logo projects and a website project. But it's not like we are trying to film a video, go out to location, and then design a logo, you know, on the side while we're there.

Gresham Harkless 05:13
While doing Facebook ads.

Troy Riemer 05:15
Exactly. Yeah. So we're not doing too much, and I think that just gives us a little bit more clarity, and we become better experts at the work that we're doing.

Gresham Harkless 05:27
Yeah. And I always thought, you know, that was the true, you know, way to reach, you know, mastery, is to continually kind of chop at the tree in the same exact place and continue to mine and hone your craft. Because I think, just as you said, and we kind of touched on, is a lot of times when you are, you know, chopping on this side of the tree, then you're going up a little bit higher, chopping in that side, and then the other side, and then going over to another tree and chop that. It's hard to really start to see that kind of the fruits of your labor, so to speak.

Troy Riemer 05:57
Yeah. Because you're just kind of gnawing at it.

Gresham Harkless 06:02
Absolutely. So now I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And you might have already touched on this, but this is for you or your organization. But what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Troy Riemer 06:13
So I think it's empathy. You know, in order for us to really understand who our client is and who they're going after, we have to embody that audience or, you know, that mindset. So we're not just doing the same designs over and over again. We're actually delivering something that speaks to those people. And so I would say that's our secret weapon.

Gresham Harkless 06:39
Nice. I definitely appreciate that. And I know you kind of touched on and said the word, you know, branding, and definitely correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like a lot of times when you have, you know, organizations and businesses, especially when you have, like, founding, you know, members that have a vision for what they want to implement with their organization, a lot of times that brand needs to take on exactly what that is and manifest itself in the marketing materials and the website and things like that. But if you don't have that empathy to be able to look from their perspective, look from their shoes, then it's hard to really be able to kind of create that end product.

Troy Riemer 07:15
Yeah, exactly. I mean, that's the benefit of working with us versus someone off of Fiverr. Someone off Fiverr. They can do a great job. They could create this cool design. But it doesn't mean that it necessarily speaks to the client that you're trying to go after. And, you know, in a couple months, you may have another designer on Fiverr that just designs something random and different and it's not cohesive, and you don't get. You don't start to get recognized out in the marketplace.

Gresham Harkless 07:45
Yeah, absolutely. And I. I feel like. And definitely, you know, let me know if this is completely off. But I feel like when you do have those, you know, inconsistent, I guess, you know, graphics or marketing materials, it sends. It sends brand messaging, whether you wanted to or not. And a lot of times when it's not consistent, it's not in alignment, sometimes it makes it very confusing to understand exactly what you do and what makes you unique.

Troy Riemer 08:11
Yeah. Like, our goal is, you know, when we design a business card, for instance, you hand that to someone and they're like, wow, this is cool. You know, you really put some thought into this, and then it says they pause for a second at a networking event, and then you're remembered. And I don't know that moment's important because they'll remember it when they pick it up the next day or a week later to follow up.

Gresham Harkless 08:36
Yeah, absolutely. And a lot of times that's, you know, what we're trying to do is all, you know, we're great at our craft and what it is that we do, but I think we always need kind of experts and people that are really great at their craft to be able to kind of communicate that. Because a lot of times we might be a great dentist or great doctor, lawyer or whatever we. We do, but sometimes if we aren't able to. To showcase that, then it doesn't really help us out as far as driving that needle forward.

Troy Riemer 09:03
Yeah, I completely agree.

Gresham Harkless 09:05
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome.

Troy Riemer 09:06
As well.

Gresham Harkless 09:06
I wanted to 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 a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Troy Riemer 09:18
So there's one thing that I. I guess speaking of habits, there's. I have a list of habits that I track every day on my phone, and if I can get all of them, it helps me have, like, a really successful day. It sets me up for success the next day. So I track is waking up before 7am you know, because if you get started off early, you're able to accomplish a lot more. You know, the first few hours of the day, you don't have as many people trying to steal your attention and you can really focus. And then I try and get to zero emails every day. I don't. I don't hit it every day, but I try because that means I'm responding to everyone that needs to be responded to. I'm tackling things, letting my team know if they need to do something or it's just not getting left behind or delaying. And then reviewing my project management tool. Kind of a given goes with the emails. Cleaning up around my house because, you know, if you have piles of clothes just laying around or something, it kind of eats at you. And you need to focus on your personal life too, in addition to your business life and then exercising. So if I hit all five of those things, I have a great day, and so I track those on my phone and that's. I guess that's my hack.

Gresham Harkless 10:37
Nice. I definitely appreciate that. The Fantastic Five. I don't know if you call it that, but that's what I'm gonna call you.

Troy Riemer 10:43
Okay. Yeah, it sounds like a good idea to. Fantastic.

Gresham Harkless 10:46
There you go. And it makes so much sense. And I love the fact that you, you know, you talked about, especially that.

Troy Riemer 10:51
That.

Gresham Harkless 10:51
That part about, you know, having, you know, a cluttered house or flooding work. Cluttered working area. Because a lot of that clutter can. Can infiltrate, you know, your business and your life, and you're thinking about it. So whatever time and energy you're putting towards the. The clothes that aren't folded or whatever that might be, it's taking you away from, you know, being your best self in the business and, And. And honing in on that.

Troy Riemer 11:12
Yeah, exactly. It's like I just noticed that if I let stuff in my personal life bleed over into my work life, it just has an impact on everything.

Gresham Harkless 11:22
Absolutely. So now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or a piece of advice, or if you can hop into a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Troy Riemer 11:35
I think, you know, you're exactly where you need to be and just keep going after your goals.

Gresham Harkless 11:40
Absolutely. Yeah. No, it made so much sense, and I appreciate you for sharing that with us because I think a lot of times, you know, like, oh, if I, you know, life is sometimes like a, you know, a bunch of dominoes in order. And I think sometimes if you say, oh, I wish I would have moved that domino someplace else, that would mean that the next one didn't fall. The next one didn't fall. So anything, you know, that you're, you're happy about or. Or you feel grateful for in this day and age, if you took one of those dominoes or you adjusted it a little bit, it may not have the same impact that you have and put you in the place that you are now.

Troy Riemer 12:10
Exactly. I mean, how else do we get better at, you know, the things that we're trying to do? Practice, practice, practice.

Gresham Harkless 12:17
Exactly.

Troy Riemer 12:17
That.

Gresham Harkless 12:18
That makes perfect sense. And I think that that's a very big thing that we sometimes kind of miss out on is doing that practice and putting those hours and that time in order to do that and make that happen. So, Troy, I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different, quote, unquote, CEOs on this show. So, Trey, what does being a mean to you?

Troy Riemer 12:39
I think it means being accountable to the people on your team. You know, you wouldn't be in the position that you are unless you have the team around you. And so you really have to work for them to make sure that they're succeeding in order to further the mission. You know, I kind of think of it like you're on a. You're on a boat and this is your crew and you guys are getting to your destination or you're not.

Gresham Harkless 13:04
Absolutely. Yeah. And a lot of times, especially like when you're rowing, you know, you have a whole fleet of people that are rowing, and if one person isn't rowing, one side isn't rowing, then all of a sudden you're going in circles. So you have to make sure that you're all in alignment, you're all doing the same movements towards the same path. Because if you don't, then of course you're not going to get to the goal that you want.

Troy Riemer 13:23
Yeah, that's for sure.

Gresham Harkless 13:25
Awesome. Awesome, awesome. Well, Troy, I truly appreciate your time and what I want to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know. And then, of course, how best they can get a hold of you. Find out about all the awesome things that you're doing.

Troy Riemer 13:39
Like, the big thing that I'm working on right now is revamping our hosting. And so I want to get the word out about that. You know, we just upgraded to a new hosting platform that gives dedicated hosting to all of our individual websites. You know, you can get up to 20,000 monthly visits, and we're putting a lot of initiative behind that effort. Best way to connect with me would be on Instagram or LinkedIn. You can find me Troy Reamer Reclay Creative. I think it's red clay underscore creative for the Instagram. But yeah, check out our website, let us know what you think and if there's anything that we can do to help your community refer to our network. I don't know, just reach out to me. Love to chat.

Gresham Harkless 14:27
Awesome. Awesome. Well thank you so much again, Troy. I truly appreciate it and what we will do is we'll make sure to have those links and information in the show notes as well too so that everybody can follow up with you. But thank you so much for the reminder to definitely make sure that we are all in alignment for one. But two, make sure we're honing in on our craft and what it is that we do best because I think sometimes we can lose sight of that. But again, appreciate you and I hope you have a great rest of the day.

Troy Riemer 14:53
Thank you, thank you. And I want to say thank you to you for taking the time to interview, do these interviews and then also, you know, helping me out with finding a designer. You know, for one of my clients it really came in clutch. So I appreciate that.