Labor Day Special: Take Control with Independence at Work

Cindy Keyes: Labor Day. We get the day off to celebrate work, which is a little ironic when you think about it,
Justin: Right, it's the one holiday where yeah, it's like we talk about work but the idea is like we don't we're not working. We're partying, right? We're at the pool.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: I know for us in Texas, it's like the last good pool weekend. It's still gonna be hot enough
Cindy Keyes: Yeah. Yeah.
Justin: to swim until Halloween, but this is the weekend where we're gonna barbecue. One last time, got football going. It's one of the best holidays.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah, it just signals the end of summer, right? Like I think it's what Memorial Day is when it starts. Is that what it is? And then Labor Day kind of closes it out.
Justin: Yeah. But you know Both of these holidays have some real meaning going back to their origins. So that's what we wanted to kinda talk about today and explore. Get into it and
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: then talk about how it relates to what we're all doing now.
Cindy Keyes: Exactly, which is why we're doing this episode. I mean, Labor Day was born out of a fight for something specific, right? you know, independence, control, and control over your life, your hours, your conditions, your own worth. and so I think that's the conversation we're gonna have on this show and and something that we have every week, I mean every day with in the being in independent sales.
Justin: Yep, so we'll talk about freedom. Kinda like Memorial Day too, but
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: freedom isn't the absence of work. In fact it's quite quite the opposite. It's how you work, who you work with, and who's holding the terms.
Cindy Keyes: Exactly. All right. so let's get into it. Everyone sees the brand. But nobody sees the build. I'm Cindy. And I'm Justin. And this is The Matrix Master.
Justin: Lal la la la Labor Day, we're going to explore
Cindy Keyes: Mm-hmm.
Justin: what a Labor Day is all about.
Cindy Keyes: All right. Welcome back to the matrix method. I'm Cindy Kees.
Justin: I'm Justin Parchman. Today we're gonna be talking about something a lot of aesthetic sales reps feel but don't always say out loud. the freedom that comes with independent sales and on the flip side the discipline that it takes to maximize these opportunities.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah, because freedom, you know, without a strategy, it just turns into a slow kind of leak, a trickle. And we've seen it, right? So today we're breaking down what real independence in this industry looks like, how to use it instead of just having it. And we're gonna pull in a surprising parallel from a partner of ours, superpower, okay, so quick history, nobody asked for. Labor Day came out of a labor movement fighting for basic dignity, you know, reasonable hours, fair, pay, safe conditions, and people organized because they had zero control over the terms of their own work.
Justin: Yeah, if you think about it, you know, I reading the history of Labor Day and it came about in the eighteen eighties. And really it's like a reaction to the industrial revolution, right? people come into this country in waves and waves for freedom, right? And then sure, like you can live kinda wherever you want, you can work wherever you want, but The only catch is you have to work in a dirty factory and you're you know you're 12 years old and you work every single day, no days off. maybe you're getting paid well, maybe you're not. You know, so it was really born out of people organizing, you know, the first unions and the first people to get together and say, Hey, you need to appreciate us and respect what we do, right? So so now, you know, a century later. I guess a century plus forty years later. I'm like, hmm,
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: a century after 1884 was when I was born. So
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: so a century later we're you know, we're talking about what we're doing now. We've got this whole other model. And obviously we have pretty pretty cool jobs and aesthetic sales. Right? I can't really complain the way maybe a a mill worker in New Jersey in eighteen eighties, you know. probably had some real complaints. but look, now we're talking about a whole new model. You know, it's the gig economy now. We're we're exploring our own things. We're launching our own businesses. And you know, maybe you're starting out in this field, but you know, most of our friends are are looking for independence.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah, you know, that's the flip, right? You're not negotiating with one employer anymore over scraps of control or perceived control. And as a 1099 rep, you are the control. You know, there's no quarter there's no quota technically, right? I mean, but yes, you do still need to sell if you want the company to keep you, right? there's still that. It's it's a partnership, right? Like if you're not going to contribute to this partnership, there's no reason, even on the other side, that they should keep you. So as much as we support independence and sales, it doesn't just mean you sit back and do nothing. It's a partnership. And so, but you're not like the only punishment and the only fear really comes from yourself, right? Like if you have a slow month, it's not. You're not fearing that, I'm gonna get that dreaded call from HR. I'm on a pip now. And no, I I need to really push myself to hit these targets, otherwise I lose my job. Like, you know, those are conversations you're gonna have your with yourself, right? Because if you're not contributing to that partnership, they may not keep you. And and that makes total sense on both sides. And but you do get paid on what you actually produce. And I think that's the flip side, you have control over that and that's a great feeling.
Justin: Right. I mean the the risk and reward is right there facing you every month, right? So you know, yes there's expectations, but you know, you'll know pretty quickly whether or not maybe I should have made a few more sales last month. You know, maybe I need to push a little harder. Maybe this one product isn't fitting my portfolio the way I thought it would be, right? These are all business decisions you can evaluate without a lot of time wasting like corporate bureaucracy type activity. That's the one thing I really don't miss from the W-2 world is the meetings to just show each other this theater of what we're all doing to earn our paychecks, right?
Cindy Keyes: Yeah. Yes.
Justin: I mean like I've always been a sales guy from the beginning, so everything that I do is like for the purpose of making sales and making money for my company myself. But we've all been in those calls, those meetings where everyone's just like tap dancing, performing. Meanwhile, like who wait if we're all here, like who's selling stuff right now?
Cindy Keyes: Exactly. And I see that all the time. And I remember sitting with other executives and you know, some of us that were were more actively involved in the business and we are so frustrated with so many meetings because we were like just like we spend all of our time talking about what we're doing. We have no time to actually do what we need to do because we don't even have time to transfer down the vision and the strategy down to our teams so that they can do what they need to do and then be able to transfer down to their teams in that trickle effect because all we do is sit in meetings with each other, with one-on-ones, with board members, with I it just over all over the place. And I I hear a lot from reps who are in W two companies and they are just so frustrated, especially companies that get them on the phone. Or get them on calls the last week of the month. That is their time
Justin: Right.
Cindy Keyes: to really push and hustle. And now they have to get on a call and and then have me like, no, you've got to turn your camera on because we don't trust that you're not whatever you're doing, right? And so we wanna so it's like, okay, you turn it on the camera. So you're either gonna see somebody sitting in their car, who knows where they're really at, right? Like Just because they have their camera on doesn't mean that they're actually out selling. and two, in their office. Well, you know, as a salesperson, do you want to spend all your time in your office? Right? Last day of the month, totally understand. You really want to get call and get everybody and get all those orders in. But it it's just so funny when I get when I hear from people and there's like, yeah, like the micromanagement. and the perceived that they're working, but it just makes them feel like no they're not being trusted and to do whatever it is they they need to do. So then they don't try.
Justin: Sure. Well and you know, if we're talking about the specific segment of like a sales team, like that's a transactional job. Like you should be
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: transacting. Yes, there's training. Yes, you know, there's feedback. Like, hey, let's have a
Cindy Keyes: Mm-hmm.
Justin: meeting to get your feedback on something. Okay, great. Send out a survey or just do a quick meeting, not in the last week of month. And not, you know, we gotta do a product training. How many times have you sit on like a product training where everyone's asleep? And then at the end they're like, you know, in about two weeks we'll have brochures, and like you're like, this product isn't even ready. Like, what are we doing? Like, cut to the chase. Let's get to how can I make money and when, right? Like,
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: so you know, what I love about our space that we're in with Companies that are raising independent Salesforces, our friends and network that are doing the independent thing, is you can really evaluate where to spend your time and you can see the ROI on it really quick. Right? Like any new product launch, it takes you some time to get some momentum. You should know really soon whether or not time equals money with this product. Right?
Cindy Keyes: Exactly. Even with our affiliate
Justin: So
Cindy Keyes: program that we're kind of building up under Matrix, all I think about is how can I help all of you? the everybody that's in our affiliate network, like what are the tools I can give them? And then what tools do I need to get from the companies that we work with? And, you know, and it's really a has to be a really good partnership. Like they need to be very supportive. you know, there's one company we're working with right now, they have been incredibly supportive. I mean, anything that we've asked for, anytime we wanted to get on a call, any kind of training, they're they're on it. And they're just so good in that support. And so now it's kind of like, okay, now what does what do our affiliates need? Right. Like, let's make it as easy as possible for them to make the introductions and to, you
Justin: Right.
Cindy Keyes: know, build that part of The biznes.
Justin: Well you know, I I think I think it's a good opportunity that you bring up the affiliate program because that term is kind of obtuse, you know, like other companies
Cindy Keyes: Mm-hmm.
Justin: use affiliate and it may mean something different. what we mean when we talk about our matrix affiliate programs, which are starting to grow and get really robust, is really like a simple way for y you guys to get paid By giving referrals. You know, you're
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: out in the field anyway. Like, we're not asking you to hold a contract and compromise your other contracts, right? Or maybe you're a direct rep and you're like, hey, I keep referring companies to superpower. Or I keep referring
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: people to a peptide vendor because it's like my brother-in-law, whatever. Like,
Cindy Keyes: Ha ha.
Justin: we can help with that, and you can make good money.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: Telling your friends about cool stuff that they want. Like, and it adds up. You know, I get all these these little messages in my inbox from Superpower and and some of our other affiliates that we're starting to to grow with, and it's like, great.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: These are these are programs we believe in anyway. Might as well
Cindy Keyes: Exactly.
Justin: tell a friend and make a little money on it.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah. And you know, and I think it's true what you brought up is that it's not competitive. Like they're not, it's not a sales rep position. Because I mean, people can open up an Amazon affiliate on there and have a link of products that they recommend and they can post it on their social media. They can send it to their friends and family. And if they want to buy something, well, guess what? You make a percentage of that. That's what affiliate means. And Companies that do it well, they make it as easy as possible. And so the company, and and we can even say it here. So if any listeners are out there who are looking for a peptide comp company that they can be an affiliate for, definitely reach out to us. we we have a lot of peptide companies who come and want to work together and and they all have their strengths in different areas. and you know, it depends on what you're looking for, right? And what their products are.
Justin: That's what it's all about, right?
Cindy Keyes: Yeah. So there's
Justin: So
Cindy Keyes: definitely a lot of opportunities. and we're slowly building that up. but it does take a lot of time. You know, we go back and forth with these companies and these and networks to make sure they have everything that we need to be able to support this the team. And So there's something for everyone, depending on what it is they need. Right. Yeah.
Justin: Right. You know, and we talk about affiliates, but you know, one of my favorite contracts where we're looking for a few people on the West Coast, I don't think they'll mind if I say their name, but Monarch. so a lot of people know Monarch. this is the kind of opportunity where If you were especially you know, you're new to independent work or maybe you've been an independent for a while and you just want to upgrade your product portfolio, what's cool about working with a company like that is they're a distributor. And distributors get access to new really new and diverse product lines.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: So I was talking with our our client at Monarch yesterday. I said, hey, give me an idea of what some of your independent reps are making, you know, selling peptides, selling PDRN, selling exosomes, and referring capital deals. And he said, My reps are making anywhere from five to twenty-five thousand dollars a month.
Cindy Keyes: Wow.
Justin: And that's usually before they're even closing the capital referrals. So they refer a capital deal over to the territory rep that is in charge of capital sales. It's kind of a different sales cycle, it takes a little longer. You refer it, they close it, and they get a ten thousand dollar bonus.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: So it's like, wow, that's really powerful. You know, so definitely hit us up if you are especially if you're on the West Coast. I know that they want to grow their team nationwide, but This is something that I think is a great opportunity. And I started my career the same way. I worked for a distributor that was based in Dallas and they're no longer around, but they did really, really well, you know, for 20 years. And for me, it was great training. I got exposure to lots of different products. I got and I got to meet people who were really tactical salespeople. And that was a CEO that was like, hey, if we're not selling, we're not meeting. You know, that
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: was my first exposure to a pretty big company that was not run like a bureaucracy. You know,
Cindy Keyes: Yeah. Yeah.
Justin: it's funny, once we grew to where we had like lots and lots of people and direct employees, I remember at one point he was like, You guys are turned into bureaucrats. You need to get back out there and start selling. I was like,
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: You're right. So that's a great thing about working for for these distributors, you know, Monarch. You know, there's other ones that are a direct opportunity like Cortessa, they're doing really, really well. But that's something where, you know, if you're looking to hit your wagon to new and diverse product lines, do it.
Cindy Keyes: Well, and I think Marnark, I went to their office, their corporate office. They're just good people. And, you know, I think that's also something that's really important is, you know, who are you working for? Are are you know, are they sleazy and slimy or are they good people who want to, you know, build solid relationships and, you know, working on, you know, really supporting their team. I think that's what was that caught my eye. I'm a very operational person. So I can see, you know, I'm always looking at, okay, well, how does this work? And so how does this make it easy for reps to do the job? And I think they have a really good system in place. and like you said earlier, specifically looking in the Northern California, I think the Northwest. So any listeners out there, yeah. And it's not and so it's not just
Justin: Yeah, Seattle, Portland. Bay Area, Seattle, Portland.
Cindy Keyes: devices. they do have other products, right? Like consumable.
Justin: Yeah, yeah, they've got they've got skincare, microneedling, exosomes. he told me they're now working with peptides. Right? And
Cindy Keyes: Mm.
Justin: you know, and I said or e even if there's a rep who already has a peptide line and they love it, he said, as long as it's legit and th that we don't see that as a conflict of interest, we want more partners, more feet on the street, and you know, you can open up your trapper keeper when you're in front of your doctor and it's got a great diverse portfolio of solutions. And that's the thing, like you know, when you're you're now your time and money equation is one to one. You're in charge of your own destiny now. Right. So
Cindy Keyes: Mm-hmm.
Justin: when you walk into a clinic, you've got to have a solution. And you know, as long as you're focused and you're not Sloppily pushing all your solutions at once.
Cindy Keyes: Ha ha
Justin: Right? Because I've seen that too. They're like, I'm the rep for. And then they show like a long scroll of like 10,000 products. And you're like, that's a little bit of a turnoff. But let's talk about, Doctor, how would you like to grow your practice? I feel like I could be doing more with peptides. Keep bringing up peptides. It's a hot topic. but
Cindy Keyes: It is.
Justin: you know. I think I could use something for submental fat. we have a laser for that. Let me connect you with the laser app. Bing bong, like ten thousand dollars. Like.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: solution for you, solution for me. Right?
Cindy Keyes: And you build on that with the relationship as more
Justin: Yeah.
Cindy Keyes: and more as the relationship
Justin: Yeah.
Cindy Keyes: grows, you understand their business, you understand their services. Where are they where are their opportunities? It's like, hey, you don't have, what do you mean you don't have a RF microneedling machine? Right. And it's like, you know, you're seeing patients for X, Y, Z, you're already using these. If you add in this into the protocol, you can enhance your business this much more.
Justin: Yeah. Well and then and then when it works out, you know, one of the downsides to working for one company that sells, you know, one or two things is like especially as a capital, I I loved being a capital rep. Like they take a lot of crap for being like love and leave But it's kind of the nature of the business. Like if I sell you a laser, you really don't need a but another laser
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: for that until this one breaks. Right?
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: Or your practice gets so big that you need two of them and you can afford to pay for two of them and all that. Right? And like what I love about having being independent and having a divorce a divorce, a diverse
Cindy Keyes: Divorce.
Justin: people get divorced too. Try not, try, try to keep it together. I'm like holding my ring. Try to keep it together. Keep it together if you can, please. But No, the the the good part about having a diverse portfolio is, you know, when you sell that capital and you don't have a good reason to even go back there other than checking on them, how you doing, here's some donuts, you have more solutions you can bring to the table. Guys, you know, I've got a great new PDRN. It's like a thousand bucks to buy to get started with it. You wanna try it? Like Yes, no? Okay. I'll come back around next month, say hi, see how you're doing. And I have something else to sell you that you might actually like and might actually help you grow your business even more.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: That's what I love about having a, you know, A, having like a diverse portfolio, and B, like having the freedom to to do that.
Cindy Keyes: Mm-hmm.
Justin: Right? And having the freedom to try new products and see where it goes. You know, one of the things it took me a while to get used to is like sometimes a new product is a great idea, but functionally is a turd. Right?
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: And I just think, well, thank God I didn't like work directly for this product that ended up being a turd.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: Right? Because it might take the company a long time to get this right.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: But if you're independent and flexible, you can say, you know, to your client, you can say, like, Hey, this is a good idea. Taking off tattoos with this little thing, for example, was a good idea. But it didn't really work. I'm sorry, let's move on to something different. Right?
Cindy Keyes: Mm-hmm.
Justin: So, not to call out any any one product, but that was a real experience I had where I was like, I sold like four or five winners in a row, and I felt like I'm on top of the world.
Cindy Keyes: Ha ha
Justin: And then we sold an absolute turd, and it was like, no.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: No idea.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: But we learned a lot from that.
Cindy Keyes: And I think that's the problem with when you have just one company. You are shackled. And I think I mentioned that on prior episodes, you're shackled to the decisions of that company. And if it has good leadership, great. You will grow and everyone will be happy and everyone will have get paid and have a great time. If you have poor leadership, poor decision making, then you're stuck. You know, you're stuck with. the decisions that they're making. And I think that's
Justin: Mm-hmm.
Cindy Keyes: the the key difference. And so it is, you're giving it's a give and take, right? If you want that freedom, if you want, and it takes a certain person, I think that's something that's really important. there is so much that can be achieved in working for a good corporate job. there's so much that you learn because the infrastructure and the structure is there. I, you know, every so much of what I've learned, I learned at L'Oreal just because they have the infrastructure to teach you. and then that experience was fantastic. And so I'm not, you know, so even though we are always talking about the benefits of independent, it's not for everybody. Some people would rather have that structure, and that's okay. And you can still build a really great business that way. And But I think our message there is to the leaders, like make sure that you are listening to your team because your foot soldiers who are out there doing the work, they know this business. You may, you know, be Ivy League educated and you know all, you know, maybe worked for big global corporations and you know all these fancy terms and you know how to engage with private equity and and whatever. don't ever, you know, be humble. Don't ever think you're better than your sales team. Don't ever think you're better than your company, the people who work for you, who specialize in their departments. you need to you need to really, really respect what they do because they are your link to your customer. Right? You can't sit here
Justin: On
Cindy Keyes: on this high hill thinking you know everything.
Justin: Well and in the spirit of Labor Day, you know,
Cindy Keyes: Yes.
Justin: and we've kinda gone off script from our our Labor Day mo motif, but in the spirit of Labor Day, like celebrate your people. Like
Cindy Keyes: Yes.
Justin: did you ever work at corporate and and the boss was like, Hey guys, have a good Labor Day weekend and like thank you.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah. Yeah.
Justin: I've never seen that.
Cindy Keyes: Mm-mm.
Justin: I w I would, you know, like I'm not going to be a corporate manager ever again. But if I were, I
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: would do that. I would, you know, like, hey guys,
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: enjoy your weekend. Have a barbecue.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: Like, you know, you guys all got a a hot new barbecue sauce on your desk on me or something, you know? Like, here's a gift
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: card of chilies or something. Like, thank you for
Cindy Keyes: Yeah. Yeah.
Justin: Working working your tails off to make us rich. Why not?
Cindy Keyes: Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. It's appreciating. It's a pr yeah.
Justin: Why not? Like, let's celebrate that.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah. It's appreciating. And I think that comes through.
Justin: You know, like you see like on Veter Veterans Day, they'll be like, you know, yeah, you know, thank you to all of our veterans that work here now. Like, hey, Labor Day, thanks everyone.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: Don't call or email me. This weekend, no one's allowed to call or email each other.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: Have fun. Forget that you work here. Thank you. And we'll see you on Tuesday. We love ya.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah. And we don't realize how great it is actually in America and the rights that we have here. And as much as we don't like to like as people, we don't like to be over regulated, but it is actually good when we do have certain regulation. It's like sometimes regulation is a pain, but it does protect us, right? Like the reason why we have regulations on what we could put in our water, you know. we
Justin: That's right.
Cindy Keyes: want the tr We want the drinking water that we have coming out to be safe and it needs to be regulated, right? So I th you
Justin: Sure.
Cindy Keyes: know it's like we do live in a in a great country that has so many opportunities and so many freedoms that we don't think enough about. and you know, going back to kind of Labor Day, it's like celebrate your work, celebrate the freedom that you have, and celebrate the fact that like there is this country where you know anybody can build whatever career, whatever life that they want. You really have that choice. and you you're not forced to only take XYZ job because that's all that's there. You know, or
Justin: Yeah.
Cindy Keyes: this pay because that's what is in you know given to you from the state or, you know, your country. There there's a lot.
Justin: Right. you know, and shout out to President Grover Cleveland. He's no longer with us, of course, but
Cindy Keyes: Ha ha.
Justin: he he and their Congress at the time moved to establish Labor Day as a national holiday in eighteen ninety four. So about ten years after the Labor Day parties started. I think they realized after a workers' rights riot called the Pullman Strike, Congress and the president came together and said, you know what? We shouldn't be having these violent uprisings at work. That's crazy.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah. Yeah.
Justin: Like you said, our country is about coming here, working kind of whatever you want to do, you're free to do it. So we shouldn't be having like violent work riots because
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: your boss is oppressive and you all get a day off in September. Like,
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: that's pretty cool. So thank you, government. We don't really thank you enough on our podcasts. But, you know, we should give you some credit.
Cindy Keyes: You know, it's it's a balance. You gotta have both, right? You gotta ha have something. I mean, even like in the residential areas, I like people hate having HOAs because it's like you gotta
Justin: Yeah.
Cindy Keyes: go through so much to get like your front lawn remodeled or whatever it is. Like, you know.
Justin: Sure. Yeah.
Cindy Keyes: you gotta get your pa but it's a pain when when we are maybe normal. I mean not normal, but just like your average everyday person, right? But when you have somebody who may be a little who may have like, no, I I don't I I would like to have trash on my front lawn. I would like to paint my house, you know, fuchsia pink. I d you know, I don't know, right? Then
Justin: Yeah, or I think of like, yeah, cousin Eddie is out front, you know, dumping the dumping the septic tank into the sewer, you know, like it's good that's
Cindy Keyes: I mean Yeah.
Justin: when you call that's when you call the HOA and be like, hey, this guy's been parked out here for like two weeks. Like you
Cindy Keyes: Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Justin: know, you're going to the neighbor's house. I do think people should talk to their neighbors more. You know,
Cindy Keyes: absolutely.
Justin: like give a little knock and say, Hey, how long is your R V gonna be here in front of my windows.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: but that's a case where it's good to have a little little bit of order to things, you know.
Cindy Keyes: A little regulation, yeah. Because it does impact because it does impact your life. It does you know, because it impacts the property value of your home, right? The safety of
Justin: Sure.
Cindy Keyes: people around you. And so there's like that perfect balance of regulation and freedom,
Justin: Right.
Cindy Keyes: which is
Justin: I probably would be a violator to I mean listen, I I grew up white trash, right? So like the other day I I got a flat tire while mowing the grass and I
Cindy Keyes: Ha ha ha.
Justin: I took the tire off right there in the yard and left the lawnmower there like for a day or two. And that's like you driving by and you see like a a lawnmower up on like a on a jack, like in the middle of the yard, like it's not a great look.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: It's not a great look.
Cindy Keyes: Well, we don't even have lawnmowers out here because we don't have real grass most of the time. Yeah.
Justin: Yeah, I guess I'm Astroturf, right?
Cindy Keyes: And then even the ones that do have grass, usually there's gardeners that just kinda come, knock it out, and they leave. That's the California life, right?
Justin: Sure. Yeah. I mean you know, out here it's you have a whole acre of wild jungle you gotta try and
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: control. Right? So
Cindy Keyes: But our the on the flip side, our lot, well at least my lot, is probably the size of just your house. So
Justin: Yeah.
Cindy Keyes: my entire lot, including my yard and my house and my garage, everything,
Justin: Yeah.
Cindy Keyes: it's probably the size of your house. Yeah.
Justin: I mean, that's fair. That's fair. And you know, it's funny, the more space you have, the more you fill it with crap. Like my neighbor down the street's got
Cindy Keyes: Yeah. Yes. Very true.
Justin: a boat and I'm like, does he even fish or anything? Like I think
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: it's like a it's like a wakeboarding boat. I've never seen him hook it up. It's always there
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: just with like a cover on it. And we don't have an inch away, but if we did, they'd probably be like, Hey, what's with the boat? Like, find a marina.
Cindy Keyes: Exactly.
Justin: Yeah.
Cindy Keyes: Exactly. And it's so true. It just right. Like you have so much space. You feel like it has to be something there. And I have to say, like having smaller space the older that I get, the more I appreciate less and smaller spaces. you know, when we moved into our house, it's as old as I am. I mean, it's literally built the year before I was built I was built. I was born.
Justin: Ha ha.
Cindy Keyes: Okay, it's Friday, y'all. Like we are just yeah. Well, I used to
Justin: I knew it. I knew you were built in Silicon Valley. I knew that. I had a feeling.
Cindy Keyes: I used to say I was like, Well, I'm made in Taiwan, so you know, because that's where I was born. I am made in Taiwan.
Justin: That's funny. You know, I had a friend that reminded me of I had a friend who a handsome guy. Shout out JJ, he's a good dude. and he was from Taiwan.
Cindy Keyes: Mm-hmm.
Justin: Like, not from Taiwan, but Taiwanese heritage. He wasn't born there, but like
Cindy Keyes: Horn. Yeah. Okay. okay.
Justin: and I don't think they do this anymore in like high school where they do like a bachelor auction. To raise money. Yeah, this sounds kind of antiquated,
Cindy Keyes: No. I don't think so.
Justin: but yeah, we would strut out, you know, the handsome dudes of the school, and like ladies could bid on them, and it was like to raise money for the PTA or something. And yeah,
Cindy Keyes: my gosh.
Justin: like so like, you know, your girlfriend could be like a hundred dollars, right? Or or your grandma or your mom, you know. And So I was the host, I was the MC of I was the auctioneer, I guess. Because
Cindy Keyes: my gosh.
Justin: I was like Mr. Personality of that group. It's not saying a lot. and I remember saying he's up for auction. And I remember saying, Hey, look, he's made in Taiwan, but he's not cheap, ladies. He's not cheap. And that got a pretty good laugh from the crowd, but I don't I don't know if a school today they would be like they would allow any of that.
Cindy Keyes: think so because even at Disneyland in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, it used to be an auction, like a like for women, like where they it so it was the pirates, right? They would have women and they would auction them in the ride, right? And they actually changed that. So now they're they have figurines like auctioning off art and stuff like that because it just wasn't politically inappropriate to be auctioning
Justin: Not appropriate. Yeah.
Cindy Keyes: off women. for pirates to auction off women on a pirate ride in Disneyland. I I I I know, I mean I th I I I don't I don't know.
Justin: Yeah, it's a ride. Like I were were pirates even doing that? Yeah. I I didn't see that in any of the Johnny Depp movies, but also those were made in like the two thousands, you know? So Pirates
Cindy Keyes: Exactly. Yeah. okay, so how did we get to talk we
Justin: How did we get here?
Cindy Keyes: started in Labor Day talking about how great it is to be and then now we started talking about auctioning and pirates and You know, I think it we Yes.
Justin: But you know, we're free to do it, you know, thanks to all those workers who were, you know, digging in the mines and sewing, you know, sewing in sweatshops and schlepping fabric from one factory to another, ten year old kids, right? All those people all those people that work their tails off to to build w the country we were lucky enough to be born in. You know, so
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: thanks thanks to them, we can get paid to sit here and talk crap about auctioning pirates and stuff. Right? Like
Cindy Keyes: Well, you know, you you bring it's like, yes, it's a it's such a great country, but it's also kind of when you look at like my background, I'm not born here. I'm you know, my family are immigrants, and my parents came here literally with just their savings and came out here and wanted and decided to start a business. And they had several businesses and several things that they tried. that didn't work out and finally something stuck. And I think that is that is what's so great about this country. It's like you have that opportunity to build something and be able to have that opportunity to kind of like you know create whatever life you want. Right. Like my parents came with really just their savings and you know started a sandwich shop and didn't Do well. And then, you know, I mean my dad's tried all kinds of other things. He sold women's clothing at some point. He sold artificial plants. And you had my grandma sitting in the back putting arrangements like artificial plant arrangements, right?
Justin: Thanks.
Cindy Keyes: And you know, and then he got into furniture, and furniture is kind of what stuck, but it it's just you try a little of everything, and there's no And I think that's what's actually kind of really good about this social media kind of generation now, that there are people who can build any kind of business. It doesn't have to be like a brick and mortar, it doesn't have to be
Justin: Right.
Cindy Keyes: a s you know, a service or a product. like they're I mean, people are selling their knowledge, their advice. They're selling so many things and they're able to create a business out of it. And, you know, and and we have the freedom to really talk about anything that we want. And and because somewhere, somewhere out there, someone is going to want that service or product.
Justin: Yeah. You know, I saw an Instagram the other day of like these four guys who were had been in their early twenties and they were they did a real creative, like well well produced for an Instagram reel
Cindy Keyes: Mm-hmm.
Justin: post and and they have a window washing business. You know, in Texas you got these big old houses with windows that you can't reach and like
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: Those guys probably aren't gonna be washing windows into their thirties, forties, fifties. But like more power to it's so it was so cool to see, you know, I guess Gen Z is what they're called, right? The to see those guys saying, Hey, you know, hire us to squeak, squeak and they're like doing like that's awesome. You know, like so many people and and I've worked for rich people in our world. Who started out mowns with their brother?
Cindy Keyes: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Justin: My first business was a landscaping business or I ran vending machines around town. Like you'd find out you know that that spirit is something that's really cool and something worth celebrating as we're all watching football this weekend and getting our last pool days behind us.
Cindy Keyes: Do you know, and actually having that builds so much humility. I think it's so true. Like so many people that I've known who have had great success, you know, they've really started in a very very humble beginnings. And you see that out of them. And there's so much that comes in from that and learnings. I mean, even my first sales job, I was selling door to door telephone service back when we had landlines.
Justin: Nice. Nice.
Cindy Keyes: That it was just You know, going and trying to like, hey, let me take a look at your your telephone bill. Let me quote you a better price and just switch him over, right? Like, you know. But it
Justin: Nice.
Cindy Keyes: but it did teach me a lot, right? Like it taught you to have thick skin. It taught you to like be able to handle the nose. And it taught you that it's not personal. That they're not saying no because they don't like me. They're saying, I mean, maybe sometimes maybe, yeah. I mean, I'm maybe annoying, but but I think a lot of times it's just like no we you know we don't care or we don't we don't have time or yeah no whatever it yeah
Justin: Yeah, just objections.
Cindy Keyes: and those all build up in sales and in your ability to be a good salesperson and to really just kind of feel comfortable going up and talking to people. And I think that's one thing I think I try to teach my kids because They always talk about their teachers about, yeah, I think I'll do really good in that class because my teacher likes me. Like everything is about being liked. And I said, you know,
Justin: Yeah. Like, hmm
Cindy Keyes: it's you shouldn't focus so much on just them liking you. Like you got to do good work. But on the flip side, it's actually a really good thing that they are actually thinking this way because when you do go in the corporate world. Guess what the reality is? You might get in because of your skill, but how well you do in the company is going to be determined by how much your boss and your coworkers like you. That is kind of like the corporate expectation, not just your work.
Justin: But like that is that's a hundred percent true, but it's the production that's gonna get you there
Cindy Keyes: Yes.
Justin: and the production that's gonna keep you there.
Cindy Keyes: Yes.
Justin: You know, so it's like, hey, your teacher might like you, you're a likable kid, you're good kids. But you better do your work too, because
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: that like's gonna melt away if you don't. You know? Right.
Cindy Keyes: Exactly. And they probably like you because you do good work. Right. So they're already kind of learning the skill of you know, beyond just the work. Because that was my fallacy. And anybody who knows me and works with me knows that I I tend to work better with men because I'm a very direct person. I don't know Maybe just being Asian. Growing up in an Asian family is very unique and anybody who's been that they they completely know what I mean. I mean like you're y nothing hurts our feelings because nobody says as mean of, you know, comments as your own family.
Justin: I don't know. I I
Cindy Keyes: So nothing can hurt our feelings. Or maybe my generation.
Justin: I grew up I grew up Caucasian,
Cindy Keyes: Yes.
Justin: which is a different kind, where everyone pretends to be nice but they we actually w really hate each other.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah. no. You're in a
Justin: So I think what you did is you you brought the Asian culture to the Caucasian workplace.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And in the beginning it didn't work very well for me. Yeah. I I mean, because I was I I I thought if I do the work and I'm honest and I and I'll give you an example. I mean, when I had my daughter and I gained a whole lot of weight, I think it was like eighty pounds. I know. It was like a tr tremendous amount of weight. I mean, she was only like eight pounds and I don't know how I gained
Justin: Yeah, no way she was eighty pounds, right? No.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah, exactly. So I come back, I think it was a month later. I went to my dad's company and they had this their warehouse manager. And he's this Chinese guy, and he's like, hey, how's it going? And he's like, You gained weight. And I
Justin: Ha ha.
Cindy Keyes: said, Yeah, I just had a baby. Like, well, congratulations. Yeah, you know, you look bigger. Like, thanks.
Justin: Ha ha.
Cindy Keyes: And My dad would say things I remember 'cause I had rosacea, and I probably still do, but it's under control, but he would go, I thought you work in skincare. Like why is your skin still so bad?
Justin: Wow.
Cindy Keyes: And I'm like, well, it's you know, it's actually rosacea, dad. It's a skin condition, but you know, thanks for noticing. Yeah. And you know, and I grew up with that. And it's so funny because it just it's so normal. But then it's like, if you lose if you're too skin, my cousin was a was the complete opposite. Like she was always very, very skinny. And we would just have family members and strangers not knowing that we understood. Would be like, my gosh, she's so skinny. Or they would look at you like, you're so skinny. What's wrong? Like, you know, what's wrong?
Justin: Yeah.
Cindy Keyes: Like, here, eat some food. But then if you're a little bit thicker, it's like, you gain weight. Like, you know, like don't eat so
Justin: Yeah.
Cindy Keyes: much. Like, you know. And I talked to my mom about it and I said, Why do Asian people do this? And she's like, you know, it's just our way of showing you that we notice something about you. It doesn't, it's not like trying to be mean. It's just more like we noticed. We noticed you gained weight. We noticed you lost weight. I don't know. Whatever it is. And so I remember growing up and I was so annoyed with that. But guess what? I turned into my parents.
Justin: Well yeah. I mean
Cindy Keyes: I have completely turned into my parents. I look at my kids and I said, What are you doing? Like your skin, why are you breaking out? And they'll be talking to me about something. I said, You know what? We should do a facial tonight. Cause I I want to, you know, I was like, don't touch that pimple or or
Justin: Right.
Cindy Keyes: like you need to stop eating so much sweets. Like your belly's getting a little bit, you know, salt. And I literally turn into my parents now.
Justin: Well, you know, I think I think, you know, as you as you talk about that, I it reminds me of like my parents' parents generation. So like whoever's above the boomers, right? Like the
Cindy Keyes: Okay, yeah.
Justin: so the American Great Depression type people, the greatest generation
Cindy Keyes: Okay, yeah.
Justin: they call They were very direct like that too. Like my grandmother would be like, You look like shit. You know,
Cindy Keyes: Mm-hmm.
Justin: like my she you know, like she'd be like, You must are you are you drinking a lot? You know, like you you got into college and got fat, bro. you know. and I'd be like, that kinda hurts. But you know, we I feel like between Gen X and Millennial, we took this hard turn into like Self-esteem and making sure everybody feels special and loved, and we're all equally important, and we're all, you know, don't hurt anyone's feelings. I think like the intentions are good, but I do think there was a couple generations where that honesty was kind of lost.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: And then now, you know, those people are grown up like us. And you gotta sometimes look in the mirror and go, Yeah, I need to go back to the gym. Like,
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: yeah, I do look like crap. Like, what am I doing? Right? Like
Cindy Keyes: Well you s you see that in when American Idol first came out. Do you remember that? Where like people would come and they're Yeah.
Justin: Yes, and you have people that are totally delusional that like I am special, I'm important, I'm a star, I sound good. Yeah.
Cindy Keyes: My parents told me I am fantastic.
Justin: And like what was Simon's job? It'd be like, no, babe, you sound like hell. Like you stink. Like I mean And who's who who's the biggest star of that show? It was him. Cause he was the one
Cindy Keyes: Yeah. Yeah.
Justin: who would break the news and say Listen, you you this is not for you.
Cindy Keyes: Exactly. Well, I think there's like a certain type of honesty that needs to happen, you know, when I if if I see my kids behaving or doing something that is not good, I will tell them because I know that strangers or coworkers or friends will think that and may be mean or dislike them or whatever, but they don't know why. So I'm like, hey, I'm just letting you know. And I've said that to my kids several times when I've listened to the way they've engaged with their friends and I'm like, listen, hey, like the way you talk to your friend like that wasn't cool. Like that was not nice, you know? And if you you know, don't like don't say it like that or don't do that, you know, or don't leave people out, or don't whatever, or you know, and they don't even realize what they're doing. You know, it's like they don't realize when they've like left people out or hurt their feelings. And and I feel like it as my as a parent, it is my job to let them know, like, hey, that wasn't really nice. I think that was pretty mean to your friend. And then they're like, okay. And because I don't want them to suffer when they go out in the real world. And that's what keeps happening. It's like as parents, if we are not honest with our kids, they're still gonna go out into the real world. And guess what? Other people will notice what people exactly.
Justin: Right. The world's gonna let know. Right.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: Well, you know, and if you raise early so that they know like you're unconditionally loved, right? Like
Cindy Keyes: Exactly.
Justin: and supported, and you can come to us with anything and we're gonna come to you with anything, and then you can have that conversation where like, hey, I'm not here to insult you, but like if you can't do ten push ups Like you're not I haven't prepared you well for the reality of life. Right?
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: Just one example of like something my son was like in in the beginning he's like, I don't do push ups, I'll never do He's like, let's go to karate, let's let's work on it.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: Right? Now the boy is strong, he's ready, good to go. Right? But I think that's why it's important to condition him that way. It's like let's not, you know, just shine them, make them all feel like they're a star like without any merit, right?
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: But like let know that they're loved and then when it's time to give them some some some criticism or some feedback that's constructive, like they can hear it.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: And and make changes. And we can do it too. You know, I was like, well I can't tell this kid to get his butt in the gym and do karate if I'm not. Like,
Cindy Keyes: Yeah, yeah. You have to show it.
Justin: I better get in there too. Like I better be able if I'm asking him to do that many push ups, I better be able to do it too. You know, like it motivates me.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah. And we have so many tools. Yeah. We have so many tools available to us now. And I think kind of going back originally what we wanted to talk about was like with things like superpower. It's so helpful because it it solidifies certain things about yourself and your health that is in your face, numbers.
Justin: Mm-hmm.
Cindy Keyes: So it's not like, you're telling you know, I'm like telling my daughter, like stop drinking. Like there was a period she was drinking boba like every day. You know what boba is, right? Like the tapioca drink. And that's pure sugar. It's tapioca starts. It's pure sugar. Yeah, it and a sweet
Justin: Mhm. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Right. And liquid. Right.
Cindy Keyes: liquid drink. And I mean, she was drinking that all the time. And I was like, Even if it's like not even on the weight side, like your sugar, your insulin, like this is what's being affected. Right. And now we have the and no wonder why okay. So this is how my brain I keep switching back and forth, but no wonder why GLP ones are so popular right now because everybody is
Justin: Yeah.
Cindy Keyes: insulin resistant at this point because of our lifestyles and because We really didn't have insight into our health. It was more like, stop doing that, go work out, do whatever, right? Like you could go work out, but you could be eating cereal full of sugar in the morning, and then you're eating lots of bread throughout the day, which is all sugar, and it's now you're insulin resistant. But then now we have companies like Superpower, which kind of like shows you what's going on with your body and what you can do about it. That is life changing.
Justin: That and that's that second part, 'cause anyone can go get labs or, you know, weigh in at the doctor and like negotiate with yourself, you know, make excuses. But I love that seeing those numbers, good or bad, some of mine were terrible. Some of mine were surprisingly good.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: and then and then, well, and here's what we recommend you do about it. okay. All I have to do is like walk 45 more minutes a day. All I have to do is like order some supplements, maybe you know, do some hormone replacement type stuff. And it's like so far the stuff that I've been doing as a suggestion from Superpower is changing my life.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: Like the way I feel, the way I look. Like I'm actually looking forward to going back and doing labs again. Because I've done labs with them twice. The
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: first the first one was a little bit of a shock. And then the second one, hey, we're making progress. And then when I do it again next quarter, I'm like, I'm excited about it. Like, and that's that's you know, stuff we can do and everybody should do. And it's an affiliate, so if you're one of our independent people, like you can refer people to it, refer friends and family, do it yourself, and you get a little bit of extra income. It's great.
Cindy Keyes: Exactly. Yeah, we actually have two programs. Like we are actually set up with them where people can actually like have affiliates under them or something like that. I don't remember. But they can
Justin: Yeah. Well I know like if they refer someone using our link then you get like a referral bonus which we happily pass to our people. You know? So
Cindy Keyes: Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. You know, and I think that's great that there's more companies coming out and doing this because you're no longer again tied to control. Like for when we grew up, we were tied to our doctors. If you wanted to get blood work, anything done, it was just you go to your doctor. You never had the freedom. To do it on your own, to take your health into your own hands and be able to look at it and say, hey, I'm gonna take these labs. If my my primary isn't helping me, maybe I can go to another doctor and have them take a look at these labs and see what they think. Or if I can go to a natural path or a functional doctor and be able to have them take a look at it. Hopefully, the next phase is that our insurance system actually starts covering natural paths. and functional doctors and you know these these kind of labs because it's so expensive when you do it through the medical orders
Justin: Right.
Cindy Keyes: versus just getting it done yourself and then having the option to be able to take additional tests. Right. Like sometimes you have to tell your doctor like, hey, I really want to test what allergies I have. And they're like, well you don't need to like why?
Justin: Well the I mean I would argue that the reason it's so expensive is because it's controlled by them. Because you are
Cindy Keyes: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Justin: injecting a middleman where and that's kinda like what Superpower and some of these other companies have done is remove the middleman and say, you know what, your insurance doesn't cover this? Just get it done.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: And then send it to any doctor that you like, but they also have their own in-house practitioners. I got a nurse practitioner at superpower that says, Hey, I saw your labs, and here's what's good. Here's what you need to work on. And then I took that to my friend who's like my kind of like de facto family doc. And she's
Cindy Keyes: Mm-hmm.
Justin: like, Yeah, I concur, and maybe try this too. And
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: that's that's freedom, baby. Like, that's not like Well, I gotta go find a doctor in network. And then they're like, well, how much
Cindy Keyes: Yeah. Exactly.
Justin: is this drug if I pay cash? And they're it's $2,000 a dose. And you're like, no, it's not. No, it's not.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah. Yeah.
Justin: It's because that's how you make money. And then the doctor has to wait for you to mail them a check, which is not fair to them either. And it inflates everything. It inflates every it's a total, total racket.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: I don't know, we might be demonetized from Spotify saying this stuff, but I don't know, but it's it's a scam. I'm just saying.
Cindy Keyes: yeah. I think that's you
Justin: You know?
Cindy Keyes: know well I i but okay, so we tie it. Let's keep going back to you know, Labor Day and the reason why it started is like so that you can work in environments where you're not controlled by people, you have more freedoms, you have more rights and and I think we see that changing. We see the working, you know, the the people are choosing. More freedom. They're choosing to do multiple streams of income. They're not relying on just one thing. I mean, just what it just within Matrix, we do so many different things. So a lot of people, and everybody knows us as like 1099 sales, right? Like we get we connect our sales reps, we connect the companies that are looking for 1099. But one thing that they don't realize, like there are lot more companies that had traditional W-2 Salesforce that are now going 1099. And that we're seeing so many, so much of that now. Like you really do need to have a really good structure in place for that W two to really, really work well. And, you know, but we also do like we're also able to support these companies in their 1099 because sometimes they don't have like a sales manager. So, you know, we have our sales manager in a box where we can come in. We can add we can do the job of the sales manager, but almost from like a third party, unbiased point of view, where we're just focused on developing, onboarding their sales team for them. And that's a really great value for them, right? and then also just the consulting piece of it. Like we've done a lot of consulting with clients, just divulging our knowledge in and helping them strategize their business, helping them find a, you know, where. the opportunities are and how to overcome the obstacles. So it's like we are doing so many different things and there's really no other company like ours out there, or at least in this space.
Justin: Yeah. Well and and well and furthermore, you know, consulting is not always just advice either. We have real contributors too that will
Cindy Keyes: Yes.
Justin: Help you build your sales training, for example.
Cindy Keyes: Yes.
Justin: Help you build your website and optimize it for AI. Like we have people that w can bring real deliverables besides just good advice. Like like good advice is is great and we have lots of it with our with our network. we can we can bill that out all day long and and you can Take it to the bank or whatever, but we we have also have a lot of other awesome contributors that aren't
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: just salespeople that can come in and like help you build your business for real. You know, so yeah.
Cindy Keyes: And it's not just brands, like even practices. Like we have videographers that can come in and build some amazing video like that you can put on your social, your websites. they can build that for you. They can even work with, you know, companies to build in packages for them. I mean, I think it's really popular for a lot of devices, device companies. to include in their package, right? Like you buy a device
Justin: Yeah.
Cindy Keyes: from us, we're gonna set you up with a marketing package. And that includes a video, includes B roll, includes all these things that you can use to promote your practice and the the brand or the product, which is amazing.
Justin: Yeah. Well and now too, like we're seeing I was talking with my dentist yesterday, which always sets such a great window into like what it's like to be an entrepreneur professional, right?
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: Is how 'cause dentists you know, it's r very much rely on whatever they can get from insurance plus whatever they can upsell, right? And
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: and he told me, yeah, I I was farming out my website, somebody, they came back and they made a nice landing page for us. is an a female Indian dentist, with a chair that looked like it was from nineteen eighties and
Cindy Keyes: Uh-huh.
Justin: in the background was an urban environment. It looked kind of like Singapore. And
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: he was like Hey, thank you, but no. This is not we're a like in our windows it's the woods. And we don't have any female Indians in our practice.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: And I mean, not that we wouldn't, but we don't.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: and we use modern chairs, not this thing with like the spitball built into it, right?
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: Like what I'm getting to is like People are really rejecting kind of that generic, you know AI slop kind of stuff that you know and really embracing like what our video videographers do, which is actually film you sitting down with a patient and saying, like, this is me and this is my practice. Or, you know, on the brand side, this is us, this is who we are, and this is what we sell. Like,
Cindy Keyes: Yes.
Justin: people are craving that. Like, we had a lot of fun with Chad GBT and all these fun and Claude and and it's been fun making like these, you know. videos of care bears doing karate and stuff, like that's fun. But
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: you know, we can this is the real deal. And these people do it on a fractional basis where it's like super affordable to do. And it come in, you know, make a video that like shows people who you really are and like you know, that adds so much credibility.
Cindy Keyes: And they specialize in this industry. So, like, I mean, you know, the videographers that we use, they specifically work with physicians, med spas, longevity clinics, wellness clinics. So they understand that market. And they're not just generic. And even somebody like Dan, I I I get so many messages on LinkedIn now of Companies are like, hey, we're gonna, I can help optimize your website. I could get AGO, G, you know, all of that. And I'm just like, well, no, we have Dan who worked at one of the most successful acquisitions in skincare, in medical skincare, right?
Justin: Right.
Cindy Keyes: it's it's like in the man of time, he's a real person and he understands this
Justin: Yeah, and he's a real person who lives in in America too.
Cindy Keyes: industry. And he can he work with other industries? Absolutely. And he does. He works with some really cool industry. But because he knows the aesthetics industry, he knows this particular industry, he is able to help the Met Spa's, the reps, the brands that function in the space and knows what they need. And I think that is what is key is working with people who know this particular industry in the US. who've had success, who know what success looks like. And this is why like they all in within our our network come from these big successful companies. They're not just like
Justin: Mm-hmm.
Cindy Keyes: one off consultants who decided to go and consult you. No, these are like have, you know, experience in very successful companies.
Justin: Right, and you don't you don't have time for to hire someone that's gonna be a long learning curve, like, I hired this marketing
Cindy Keyes: No.
Justin: agency that and they were they're the best marketing agency that Raisin Caines ever hired. Like well that doesn't have anything to do with plastic surgery, you know, like
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: that's how you end up getting a cartoon of an Indian dentist with
Cindy Keyes: Yes.
Justin: you know, a ridiculous fake city and y you know, like
Cindy Keyes: Exactly.
Justin: you know, we've got we've got real people They can deliver real results for you. Yeah, so
Cindy Keyes: absolutely. And and that's what's really unique. And that's what we we just, you know, we play in that space. you know, and we we have so much that we can do and we do it because we love it. And I think that is key. and I think that is something that we always want people to understand is like we we want to work with you and because we enjoy it or we you know, think you got something great or we just like you. Right. And we do do what we do because we love it. We have fun.
Justin: Yeah, we have the privilege of sitting back and saying, Hey, here's here's some great ideas for you to implement. Here's some things you might want to not do at your own peril. And so
Cindy Keyes: Yes, you can either listen or
Justin: right, so you know, that's a very free place for us to be, but we're we're happy to help you do the work. Right? And that's what Labor Day is all about.
Cindy Keyes: Exactly. We have the people who can do the work. Absolutely. See, there you go, tiny and all back in. We got
Justin: Gotta tie it all back together.
Cindy Keyes: I mean, two people with like ADHD, like we go in all these different tangents. And so we gotta like wrangle it in.
Justin: Gotta wrangle it in, you gotta reel it in. Maybe that's
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: why we're we do what we do, is we like to just pop around
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: like popcorn and like, let me help this company and that company and that company and that
Cindy Keyes: I know. And we get excited. And I mean, and even like, I
Justin: Okay.
Cindy Keyes: mean, I you know, something that you know and some people know that what I'm also working on is building a a business that is specializing in something that is very, very different. Nobody's a lot of people don't know about. And it's called scalp painting.
Justin: yeah.
Cindy Keyes: And it is something that's been around. It's you know, Korea kind of made it popular. but we know that like hair loss and maybe this will be a whole nother episode about hair loss. We could bring in maybe care factor. Let's start talking about hair loss because it's it's a big topic and and a big problem and it's something that a lot of people struggle with. And and so scalp painting is really it's basically tattooing your scalp to create more density. Like a lot of people who have thinny hair in their hairline, and their crown and basically go in and color that create a hairline. yeah. I I mean we could probab
Justin: I've got this fuzz here. It's like blonde fuzz that you can't even see on the camera.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: We need to color in like I have a scar right here that was like where my hairline was at the time.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah. You're gonna have to make a trip out here. We can see what we can do with that. Yeah.
Justin: But I'm gonna have to
Cindy Keyes: Well, and now with the like with even with permanent makeup, like we could even draw some hairstrokes on there for you, you know, some dots. Like a scalp micropigmentation is one
Justin: Nice.
Cindy Keyes: method where they actually put individual dots. But that one it's it takes like six, seven hours because you're literally tattooing little dots into your scalp. But it's really for
Justin: Yikes.
Cindy Keyes: that shaved head look, right?
Justin: Yeah.
Cindy Keyes: And what's great about scalp painting is it's almost like you're using the machine is almost like a microneedle machine. It's like 12 needles that kind of go in and out. And then they we you implant pigment into the scalp. So it creates density. So you kind of need hair there for it to like blend in together. But then it's it's really good hairlines and then you can also draw in hair strokes. There's so many cool stuff out there, but you know, I think that's only just a temporary fix. but it's a fun, it's exciting, it's it's another reason thing that like, you know, I get to do now that I couldn't do when I was working at corporate, right? I had all these
Justin: Yeah.
Cindy Keyes: ideas and things that I wanted to do and I couldn't do it. But now I'm able to build these things.
Justin: Wonder if I could get you to to give me like the Eddie Munster or like you know how Mickey Mouse has like the black triangle that goes like That could be interesting. I mean And then hey if
Cindy Keyes: Yeah. I mean we could try. Yeah.
Justin: I don't like it I can use a Pico laser and just eight eight painful treatments and zap it away. That's all.
Cindy Keyes: And take out yeah. And what's great about I know well what's great about scalp, my well scalp painting, what's great about it, it is not permanent. So because it's only on the top layers
Justin: Mm.
Cindy Keyes: of your skin. So it will fade eight months, a year, you know, a year and a half. It will fade. So unlike scalp
Justin: Yeah.
Cindy Keyes: micropigmentation, which is literally like tattoo dots, you're you're gonna
Justin: No.
Cindy Keyes: probably need laser to get remove those. Yeah. We should have a r an episode
Justin: we know people.
Cindy Keyes: on on hair care and hair loss and products 'cause there's some really good. you know, and and that's one thing I'm planning to do. Yeah. It there it's yeah.
Justin: Yeah, we should have one about tattoos too. We've got some friends that sell those lasers and You know, the carbon wave patch that goes with those lasers, and they can actually
Cindy Keyes: Yes.
Justin: that's a cool technology that we work with. You know, they they take these carbon-crusted patches and they put on the areas where you have cellulite. And then they take the tattoo laser, which is a super powerful laser.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: But you know, a lot of our customers aren't using them all the time because they don't have a ton of people removing tattoos all the time.
Cindy Keyes: Mm-hmm.
Justin: and they put a little optic on it, you fire it, and it changes the energy so it breaks up. the fibrocepate that causes cellulite and
Cindy Keyes: wow.
Justin: then yeah and it's like two, three treatments and smooths that skin out. 'cause really like cellulite is a skin issue. A lot of people think it's like a fat issue, but it's like your s your fibroceptae that's yeah. and these
Cindy Keyes: Yeah. It's the fibers, yeah, are all like pulling in different areas. Yeah.
Justin: Yeah, these lasers are powerful and they can and they said it doesn't really hurt. You just feel a pop and it's really really cool so maybe we should have let's do that let's have a let's have a tattooing episode and let's have a laser episode and whatever our next holiday is we're gonna get
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: one of our star aestheticians on soon working on the schedule with that so I hope
Cindy Keyes: Yeah, that's fine.
Justin: you guys enjoyed this holiday episode and you listened to it not at work but like maybe sitting in the pool
Cindy Keyes: Sitting in the pool, the lake, the beach.
Justin: Like do you think do you think anyone's got their like fake rock speaker next to the pool, like playing our podcast?
Cindy Keyes: Well I yeah, and I hope that the sound quality is a lot better. So we you know, the last one we had some issues and but I
Justin: Yeah. The main issue was I had a fan in my face going and then it was making my voice like So it's fine. I didn't
Cindy Keyes: Yeah.
Justin: I didn't say anything interesting. But
Cindy Keyes: No, it was yeah. Well I yeah,
Justin: You know.
Cindy Keyes: we produce this ourselves, so we are very grateful for the hundreds of people, except when Dan's on, we get our gosh, thousands.
Justin: The thousands of people that listen to Dan and the handful of people that listen to us, we d and we appreciate your feedback. and
Cindy Keyes: We appreciate you so much, said
Justin: We love ya.
Cindy Keyes: I think your wife is our
Justin: Enjoy your labor day.
Cindy Keyes: our top listener. She Yup. So
Justin: My wife is our top fan. And she gives us five star reviews on Spotify. So yeah, make sure,
Cindy Keyes: That's great. Yes.
Justin: you know, get on Spotify, like and subscribe. Hit some stars.
Cindy Keyes: Yeah, Apple, YouTube, anything I that, you know, it's we appreciate it. you know, we're just
Justin: Yeah.
Cindy Keyes: two people kind of trying to build something and trying to help others along the way, but enjoy it and you know, we wanna be able to like wake up Monday morning and be excited of what the week brings, and look forward to getting on calls and you know, the opportunities that come. And, you know, I think that's what Labor Day is about. It's appreciating the fact that we are able to work, that we have opportunities to do good work. And you know, and we're doing what we love. And we hope other people will appreciate that and support that. And remember we can help you. Wherever you are, if you're a rep and you're just like, I, you know, I work for a company, I wanna, I wanna try this, we'll help you. We, you know, we will guide you in that. If you are a practice and you're struggling because there's, you know, a new practice opening up every single day on every corner. And how do you set yourself apart? We have so many resources. I think people don't realize just how many resources we have of truly, truly talented people. that can help them in all these different areas. and then of course for the brands who trust us, who you know, come to us. And we just absolutely really enjoy working with them. So Have a great weekend, y'all.
Justin: Of for real. Happy Labor Day. Enjoy the day off, folks.
Cindy Keyes: Bye.
Justin: Please.
Cindy Keyes: Remember to like, share, and subscribe to our channel. We appreciate it.