68) Marketing Expert and Founder of bknown Brendan Kaminsky - SeventySix Capital Leadership Series

[MUSIC] Welcome back everyone. I'm Ty Jackson, producer of 76 Capital's leadership series with Wayne Kimmel. Today, Wayne speaks with marketing expert and founder of Beknown Branden Kaminsky. Thank you so much to Rush order teas for their help putting together this episode. [MUSIC] Rush order teas.com has been Philadelphia's number one customer parallel company since 2002. Whether you need one or a thousand shirts, Rush order teas can handle any order on any deadline. Start designing online today in their online design studio or give them a call at 1-800-620-1233. That's rush order teas.com. Philadelphia's home for customer parallel. Welcome to the 76 Capital Leadership series. My name is Wayne Kimmel and I'm your host and managing partner of 76 Capital. These sports tech venture capital fund. On this show, I interviewed top sports entrepreneurs, athletes, executives who were shaping and many times changing the sports business industry. You can follow me at Wayne Kimmel and definitely follow 76 Capital on all social media networks as well as this podcast. And subscribe to it. I mean, it's one of the things that we just love doing. And of course, if you're an entrepreneur and if you're building a company in the sports industry, whether that's a sports betting company, eSports company, or anything in the media industry, reach out to us. We would love to connect with you and hear all the things you're doing. And of course, want to give a shout out to Steve back at the station. Our producers doing a great job back there making everything happen and pushing all the right buttons. But now we got to get right to it. We have a great guest today. His name is Brendan Kaminsky. He is the founder of Beknown, the social media and branding agency focused on clients all around the world in the sports, media and entertainment industries. He's working with people that many people you'll know, whether it's a Stephen A Smith, Adrian Wojderowski, Adam Schaefter, Ronnie 2K, and all the great things that Brendan has done in his career. You can follow Brendan at B Kaminsky on Twitter as well as on all other social media networks. And now let's get right to it. Brendan, welcome to our 76 Capital Leadership Series. Thank you, Wayne, for having me. I've seen a lot of these on social media and I am humbled and honored to be included on one of these. So thank you very much. Well, it's exciting to have you on our show. You are definitely one of those entrepreneurs and leaders in the sports business industry right now. Truly one of the leaders in social media. Someone that everyone should hear about all the things that you've done in your career so far. And one of the things that we do on our 76 Capital Leadership Series is we want to hear from all of our guests and how they got started. So let's start from the beginning. We're both Philly guys. Love to hear your story of growing up and what it was like. Was this something that you were thinking about somehow you're going to get into the sports industry in your career? Just love to hear your story. Yeah, I'm sure my dad would love to take all the credit. Growing up in Philly, we've got that Philly connection you and I do. But yeah, growing up in Philly, we went to, you know, ton of games, you know, sixers, season tickets, Eagles, season tickets, watch sports, all the time, played sports. So certainly was in the DNA, was in the blood. You know, we used to, I mean, where it started, like meeting players and me and my siblings became obsessed with going to sixers games early on or early before the game, probably about two hours before and getting autographs and meeting the players and, you know, certainly certainly loved it. And it was just, you know, something that, you know, for me, I think I always wanted to follow my passion, always wanted to. If you were to ask me when I was younger, like, are you definitely going to be in sports? I wouldn't have said yes. I'm sure a lot of people around me would have said that. But for me, it was about following the passion and, you know, eventually went to UNC, which has a, we have some sports going on at UNC. But yeah, my freshman year, we won the championship in '09, college basketball championship. And so just sports has always been in the blood, always been in the DNA. And always for me, I've wanted to follow, you know, what I've, what I will enjoy doing and what will make me happiest. So I've had some experience outside of sports entertainment and I learned that, you know, I didn't like to do it as much, right? And I think it's, it's always good to know what you, what you don't know and, you know, and what you don't like to do. So for me, that's what I learned for working at some things outside of sports. But, Brad, you were talking about, you know, when you were younger, going to a lot of Sixers Games, who were some of the players on the Sixers? Did you get to know players back then when you went out there early? Did you try to meet them? You know, how did it all, what were you guys doing? Yeah, you know, it's interesting, Wayne, is we always went to see the players on the visiting teams. We, you know, certainly when Iverson was on the Sixers, it was, it was, you know, as exciting as it's ever been, being in Philly and, and rooting for the Sixers, but then when you left, the team wasn't as great and we always would be like, when Dwight Howard comes to town, when LeBron comes to town, when Kevin Durant, like, we would always target those games to try to get the autographs and try to get, you know, just anything like memorabilia from them. So, no, I mean, didn't get to know any of the players, you know, like some of the visiting, you know, teams like, you know, my brother, for instance, with like Charlie Bell, like every time he would come to town, he would like give his shoes away and I had a pair of his shoes as well, but no, I mean, we were fans, we were young and, you know, to, you know, just, just see the players. So, but yeah, it was always a visiting teams. And my senior year, I think I went to something crazy, like 32 of the 42 games and we always tried to go early. So, had a big collection, never knew where it would take me, but really just did it as a hobby. Absolutely. Well, look, you mentioned your brother Wesley. And I, one of the things I loved the story, I was listening to a podcast of our mutual friend Jeff Eisenbahn. And I taught you and Wesley talked about a story on his podcast, Eyes on the Prize of Your High School Basketball, your best high school basketball game. I mean, he could share a little bit with our audience here on our 76 Capital Leadership series, a little bit about your basketball career. And your best game ever. Well, I did not anticipate that question coming. And frankly, I don't think anybody in the world wants to hear about my basketball career. But yeah, my brother and I played on what was called 13. There was Barney J.B. and then 13. We just did it for fun. For me, I didn't. I admittedly didn't want to put together a big commitment. And I know how intense our program was in high school. So, we just kind of took the easy route. But yeah, we had a game where what you're referring to, where we were down big and half. Our coach gave us this huge pump up speech. And in the second half, we just took off. And I think we were down like 20 points and came back and won it. So it was really fun. But the best, my best game, which I don't remember if I talked about this in Jeff Eisenbath's podcast, was when I scored 40 points in a game. I had 40 points in, I think it might have been my last game in my career. I was signing autographs after the game. It was a whole thing. No, I can't. I'm just kidding. I'm not a guy. But, no, it was fun. We had a lot of playing basketball and it was fun to play with my brother. That's awesome. And your brother is also in the media industry as well with Colin Cowherd. That's pretty awesome that he's there at Fox with that. And again, we're really excited to have Brendan Kaminsky on our 76 Capital Leadership series. Brendan is the founder of Beknown, the social media and branding agency focused on clients in the world. All of his clients are in the sports entertainment industry. And let's talk about, you were at UNC. Was this when you were there, were you thinking about, I'm going to leave here and I'm going to get into the sports industry and I'm going to somehow end up it. You did at ESPN or one of those places. What were you thinking about and what was your path from college to your first job in the industry? Yes, so when I was in school, one of the big things that I tried to do is do things outside of the classroom. And I think that's some of the best experience I got. So I was able to be a campus representative for EA Sports and CBS Sports and run campaigns for them. So I was able to run campaigns to drive people to Facebook and to drive people to like the CBS sports page or the EA Sports page. I would throw video game tournaments on campus. So it was all new. This is back in 2010, 2011. But the biggest thing that I was able to do in college was there was an EA Sports contest to drive people to an app, a game called Bullock Storm, and whoever got the most votes for their college, basically you could go to the app once a day and you could watch a video. You could like them on Facebook and you could get votes and like I could vote, you could vote Wayne. And basically as a rep, you try to get as many people to vote for UNC or Kansas or Indiana or whatever. And we got to go. the most votes at the end of the six week campaign. And Snoop Dogg came and performed in EA Sports, gave us a free concert. And so that was the first thing that really opened my eyes. I'm like, wow, like, I just got people to go to this Facebook app and then Snoop Dogg came and performed and I got to meet him. Like, that's the thing that I was cool. And it was a good resume booster to talk about. It was a good talking point. So I did that. I did the CBS Sports. But no, I'm not going to sit here and say that I did the CB-- that I knew that I'd be in sports. I interned at Bloomberg my junior year of college. And it was a really good program, really prestigious, pays pretty well, coming out of school. And so that was-- and a lot of people go have their junior year internship. It's like, OK, this is maybe where I'm going to work after college. So no, I had no idea. I didn't know what I was doing on a college until April or May. And I graduated. I can't even remember these days when it was. But it was somewhere around there. So I didn't know what I was doing. And I just ended up working at a startup and built some relationships and eventually met someone who knew someone that worked at ESPN and ended up getting there. Well, it's a great story. And you ended up at ESPN. And so when you first went to ESPN, what was the first role in job description that you had there? I was a social media coordinator. And I was what's called a project. So I wasn't even full time. It's essentially being full time. Just that after the year, they can decide to extend or not to extend. So I mean, I've got benefits. I believe I had benefits. But a social media coordinator worked in College Football. I remember my contact called me and was like, hey, you still interested in working at ESPN? There's an opening. It's basically tweeting for College Football. I'm posting on Instagram and stuff. And I was like, yeah, I'm definitely interested. It's ESPN. Candidly, I don't know College Football, which is weird for me to say now, but growing up in Philadelphia, never was in the cards for me. I didn't care about College Football. And when I was at UNC, it's all about basketball. So I said that to him and I was like, look, we're just trying to get the right people. Once you get in the door, things can change. But yeah, I was working in College Football, live tweeting games on Saturdays, covering College Football live each morning. And it was an amazing experience. And from there, then I ended up working on NBA and College Basketball and other brands that were more suited towards me. I remember the first year when I was doing College Football, there was a College Football Award show, which they still have. And this was in Orlando. And on the red carpet, we set up what's called a Twitter mirror, which I don't know if they still have it. But it was awesome just thinking back to it actually now. I was the one in charge of being at the booth. And so what happened is each player at College Football Awards would come up and sign an autograph. And then you could click tweet. It would go to the ESPN College Football page. And I specifically remember Jack Prescott being one of those people. And Jack was at Mississippi State. And he was on top of the world. I mean in College Football. And I have pictures. My sister made me a booklet of all the pictures. Amari Cooper was one of them as well. Amira, Abdullah. And it was just like signing the booth. And just looking back on that stuff, it's like, wow, these people became superstars. I never thought Jack would be that. But anyways, it was all College Football. And I never actually realized how big College Football was until I got to ESPN. How did you develop a relationship in the first place with some of the biggest stars on TV? I mean, now you're still working with guys like Stephen A. Smith. And how did you develop that relationship with them and be able to start to work with them and gain their trust? So how did you develop that relationship? Yeah, so we had a situation, not a situation, but in-house, there was a conversation around, hey, we should probably help our internal talent on social. And there was a lot of people discussing it. And our team was going to run it. We didn't know what that-- so my boss at the time, Katie Daley, who runs social at ESPN and is phenomenal. And I expressed interest in leading this initiative. And we sat down and mapped it out on like, hey, we should meet with these personalities. Go and run with it. We had an app to help them send them content called Greenfly, which is phenomenal. If anybody doesn't know Greenfly, and he's sent content to talent, I highly-- and yeah, it was kind of like, hey, Brendan, just go and run with it. There were no specific talent that had to work with us. It was probably the ones that can make a big impact and would make sense. And so it was me just approaching some of our biggest talent. So Steve and I are just sitting down with them and saying, you need to be doing more on Instagram. Here's what you should be doing. And here's how I can help. And interested in some or not. And the end of the day, they won't require to work with us. But it's just, I think, if you have the confidence-- and for me, I have full confidence in social and strategy. That I just decided to run with it. And especially when you're working with big time talent, one of the most important things is to really show that you know what you're talking about. Because the minute that they snip that you're a little indecisive or that you might not totally be aware of what you're doing, then they might not trust you. So as a matter of building that trust, and I felt like I had enough reps, the 10,000 hours or however many hours that I know how to build on Instagram on Twitter. And I know the things that make accounts tick or make fans like and share and retweet. So it just became a thing. And we got by in and we saw numbers. And I think that I had the experience right before I was there. I was, which I didn't talk about. I was working directly with Harrison Barnes on his social media and really helping him. Well, he was on the Warriors to leverage his platform. So I had the talent experience and some relationships. And it just became something that was really enjoyable. Was able to build a team around it. And it just influencers and talent are really drive social. Like people want to follow other people. And so they're getting a lot more power when it comes to social media. And so we need to, ESPN was like, we need to equip them. We need to give them the tools and resources and partner with them. Well, Brennan, it sounds like you have a lot of fun in what you do. It sounds like it was a lot of fun. And I'm sure there was a lot of hard work at the same time. But when you're working with the talent at ESPN, so who were some of the different people that you worked with? Yeah, so yeah, I mean, Steve and I, Wage, Adam Schepter, Jalen Rose, Rachel Nichols, Matthew Barry, Ariel Hawani, Field Yates is great. Laura Rutledge, a lot of folks. And if I admitted anyone, nobody wants to-- I don't know. Any of these talent want to watch me. But if I have admitted anyone, I'm sure I did. I apologize. But it's-- yeah, I mean, we really worked with most of the big personalities. And I can't take all the credit because I was able to build a team who I had someone who was working with all the college football talent. And she just crushed it, whether it was Herb Street or Maria Taylor or David Pollock. So we just like to partner with other folks that really understood the value of social. And honestly, for me, with what I'm doing now and still working with ESPN, but with what I'm doing now, I like partnering with other people like yourself, Wayne, who understand the value of social and want to grow, want to learn. For some people, they might be like, you know what? I got a good life. And for me, I just want to continue doing what I'm doing. And it takes real work, as you know, to like grow your Instagram and grow your LinkedIn and Facebook and whatever other app comes out, TikTok, CloudGauss, right? It's a beast, right? And so you need people that are really invested. Well, it's great to have you here, Brennan, on our 76 Capital Leadership Sharies, just so everyone knows again. This is Brennan Kaminsky. You can follow Brennan at B Kaminsky on Twitter, on Instagram. It's a great follow. And it's amazing all the things that you're doing at your new company, that you're the founder of Be Known, the social media and branding agency. Brennan is truly a social media expert. So for our audience out there, whether they're watching this show or they're listening to the podcast, any of you can share some of your pro tips. So there's certain couple of things that, if you wanna be the next Steven A. Smith and you're a young broadcaster today or you're just trying to grow your own social accounts. What are some of, what are a couple of things that you would recommend to people to help them? - Yeah, number one, the first thing that comes to mind is cross platform. It's very important to not be honed in on only one or two platforms because you have different audiences, right? Like for me, when I post, for instance, like I just released a video for the agency that was like a hype video that was like, here's some things that we do and this is the name of the company and I released it last week and it was really amazing. important to host it everywhere, right? Like the person that's following me on LinkedIn is maybe different than the person following me on Instagram. And sometimes all it takes is one person, right? One person that's on Facebook that only follows me on Facebook, it doesn't follow me on LinkedIn and sees the video and is like, oh, we would love to do some work with you, we'd love to do business, you know? And you never know what that's going to amount to. And so for fans, you know, like I've had a talent before say, well, I don't want to put it everywhere. They already saw it on Instagram, right? And it's like, well, you might have a lot of similar followers. Like if you're a big fan of Wayne Kimmel, you'll follow him on Instagram and Twitter and LinkedIn. But if you're more moderate, maybe you just follow him on Instagram, right? And so if Wayne's not putting that content on Instagram, that person might never see it. So I think the cross-platform is really important. Another one is just being organic and really being a human. I think some mistakes people make. Like if you're an athlete, you know, and you have a brand partnership and you put up, you put out something that's really robotic, that will be seen by the fans and it won't engage as well. So it's like having someone behind you, they really help guide you. Or even for yourself, just really just treating your fans like regular people. And I think that's the biggest opportunity with people. If you're an influencer celebrity, it's just to like make yourself relatable, make yourself somebody that could be a friend, you know, or a colleague or a family member of somebody else around you. You know, there's a bunch of tips. Instagram is a monster, which is, you know, to no surprise of anybody at all. But I think from a marketing standpoint, like then is arguably the biggest opportunity. Love all the platforms, but like, you know, in TikTok is also a huge opportunity. But just like making visual video content really important and just knowing that like, hey, growing from 50 to 100 followers can be super impactful, right? Like you know, not everyone's going to have thousands and thousands of followers. But if you double your audience, like that's still big. And that can lead to opportunities. And all it takes is one, right? All it takes is one person to reach out and be like, Oh, I want to invest in your company. And that person could give a huge number or one person to lead to a partnership or one brand to reach out. So that's something I'd like to always think about that just like hit, hit big once. And that's all it takes and use social as a way to drive it, you know, in all the different platforms, not just one or two. Well, I think that's amazing advice for anybody quite frankly. I mean, you know, you got to continue to put out your message on all platforms at all times. You know, I'm sure you have some, you've had some examples in your career so far, Brennan, where you've actually, you've seen this happen. You've seen where you started, whether it was working with an athlete or working with someone and they, you know, they kind of had that moment where they had that post or the thing that they sort of put out there. Is there been a couple of things that you come across across your mind right now of things that have happened like that? One post that really took off that I haven't, you know, thought about in a while or talked about it in a while is so on Instagram, right? You can make gifts. You can put them into Giffy and then you can use stickers for your stories. We did that with some talent. And with Stephen A, I explained to him the importance of doing it because then he could use them on his Instagram stories, right? So examples are like, you go on Instagram story type in Stephen A, you'll have one of him doing a swipe up or you'll have one of him, you know, being like, that's blasphemous or, you know, like one of him just laughing, you know? So it's like having those makes, you know, helps your brand, you know, brand, but it helps to give an opportunity for people to just use your content on their on their pages. So there's a, you have to, you have to shoot that in front of a green screen. We did it in New York. I put together a list, I told Stephen A, I'm like, hey, we should do this. You know, it took him a while to be like, what are we doing here? Like, why am I wasting on? And then finally, he's like, hey, I'm ready to do it. And, you know, my colleague who was shooting it had gone to the bathroom and, you know, you don't want to keep Stephen A waiting, right? He's sitting in front of the green screen. So I have to do his radio show in like 10 minutes. He's like, what's going on? And I was like, okay, let me get her Kayla come on over and she came and shot it. We did it. And it was very close to not doing it, but we did it. And it was awesome. We cut all the videos over to my Instagram. So we also had the raw video, right? Of the, just him of me talking of Kayla, just like shooting and like being like, hey, move over to this way or make sure you're in the shot and me being like, all right, say stay off the weed, stay like last semester. Like he just did it. And I had that behind the scenes video. And I was sitting in my computer for like two or three months. And I finally sat on like, you know, what? He should post this. And I bought about it before. Part of me was like, is this two behind the scenes? Will it be, you know, two behind the curtain that he wouldn't want to share? But I was like, there's nothing here that would be, you know, two revealing. So he posted it and people loved it because it was like, it was like me saying, hey, Stephen, I say stay off the weed. And then he's like, all right, stay off the weed. And then he just went crazy. You know, I ended up getting like, I think it was like 1.8 million views on Twitter. It was a really good social thing. And it just made me, you know, if reinforced the idea of simplicity, you know, works so well on social sometimes. And this was just like, hey, let's just, let's just post this like video and let it run behind the scenes. And so that one just took off. And it was really, it was really an example of like, sometimes don't think too complex about it. And so that was a huge hit. Planning your next corporate event or need branding apparel for your business, rushordertis.com is Philadelphia's home for custom apparel. Rush order T's can handle any order on any deadline. Give them a call today at 1-800-620-1233. Art is running online in their state of the art design studio at rushordertis.com. That's amazing. Those are amazing things. I mean, when you start to think about this, I mean, you know, look, first of all, Brennan, you look like you enjoy what you do, right? I think like as an entrepreneur, as a business person, it's one of the things that we, you know, talk about all the time on our 76 Capital Leadership Series of making sure that you're doing something that you love to do. And many of us, like you and me are very lucky to work in the world of sports, to work in the world of tech, to work around entrepreneurs and athletes who people are truly trying to achieve, you know, very, very high, you know, and go after these really gigantic goals. It's just so much fun. So now that you think about it now, you've created this new agency called Be Known. You're the founder of that. You're working with, you know, some of the top talent across sports and entertainment. What are some of the things that you talk with them about, about how they, you know, what they, you know, what they need to do, how you can work together with them, and how you, how you help your clients really grow their, their own brands. Yeah. So I love what I do. And I think that's important for, you know, anybody, but, you know, a lot of people, I think, just thinking big picture about what you just said, Wayne, is they try to find the perfect job? Like, oh, I don't want to take this job because I don't think this is what I want to do with my life, right? Or like, I want to wait till, you know, I can work in an amazing place, like 76 capital, right? Or something, something along those lines. And, you know, sometimes you have to get a job to know what you like and you don't like, right? And so for me, I always try to tell that to folks is like, hey, just take a job. Like, if you go to 76 capital or Be Known or Bloomberg or whatever and you're like, I hate this. It's like, well, that's great. Because now you know that you don't like to do it. And so you can get a job that maybe, you know, puts you in a direction closer to the things that you did like to do. So that's number one. Number two on like how to work with clients. I mean, I make myself and my team available. Like when you're working with talent, you need to build trust and you need to really make sure they know that you're accessible. Accessibility is a big thing. Work life balance is also a big thing. And when you're working in sports and ripman talent, it's not the easiest thing in the world to do. But I think the trust factor is one. Number two is like, like we want to be full service, right? Like if you need us to make content, whatever your ideas, let us know where they are for you. If you want to do a strategic partnership with a tech platform, if you see something that somebody else did on Twitter and you want to do it, we have the relationship to go to them and talk to them. If you have things as little as like, hey, I want to be verified on Instagram, you know, we will not help you. Now we, that is just the most common thing people ask. But no, certainly like we can do all those things and it's important. I think, you know, for me, you know, I'm working at ESPN for six and a half years and working around sports. You build relationships and those relationships can help you, you know, like can help you with your clients and what you're doing and I pride myself on, you know, just just meeting as many people as possible and having a diverse network. And you know, you never know where relationship might lead. I think it's kind of connecting the dots with talent. And just showing that results matter, right? And we look at analytics. So we will talk to you about analytics. We will give you reports. We will actually know, hey, this post didn't do as well. And this execution's not gonna be good for you to do. And we'll be honest about it, right? Like, I don't wanna be cookie cutter. I don't want us to be a yes man. You know, it's sometimes hard when you're working with a big talent to sort of let them know, you know what, that wasn't really smart to do. But there's a way to do it. And, you know, if they have trust in you, that you know what you're talking about, which half the time I think I do, the other half I'm just figuring out like we all are. But if they have the trust, they'll listen to you. And so trust, accessibility, two of the biggest things. - Completely agree. And you also talked about relationships and Instagram as an example. And we're very fortunate to have our mutual friend, Dave Seethy, who's the head of sports for Instagram, honor of 76 Capital Leadership Series in the past. Great guest, great guy, doing incredible things at Instagram. And, you know, let's talk about relationships. I mean, I think that's one of the key things in business and life and certainly in sports, where things matter, right? It matters a lot. And I think a lot of people, you know, that's where you talk about the level of trust that you have with some of your talent. But you talk about relationships. Let's talk about how, you know, your relationship with the Stephen A. Smith or an Adrian Woodrow-Ausky, or Adam Sheff, or Ronnie 2K, I mean, how did you really build that those relationships with them? - Yeah, yeah. First shout out to Dave, love Dave. Immutual friend. If Dave happens to make it this long into the podcast, we love you. He's a big time, no, so I don't know if Dave's gonna get here. But shout out to Dave. Number two, relationships. So yeah, I mean, you know this as well as anyone, but definitely to educate others. I think for me, you lead with your work. You lead with your work ethic, right? To build relationships with anybody, you need to show that you care, right? So if it's a friend, if it's personal, you need to show that you're reliable. They need you, you're available. If they're in a situation and they need your assistance, then if you show that you're reliable for them and that you're honest and care about them, and then you have friendship, right? If someone's not there for you, you might have a friend. When it comes to like professional relationships, when it comes to talent, you know, I think that there's a lot of people around talent. You know, there's millions of people and they're getting pitched up all the time. For me, I like to stay good at what I'm good at, right? It's good to know what you know and know what you don't know, right? So if I know that I'm being asked someone, like someone came to me recently, I was like, "Hey, I want a PR person. Can you help me do PR?" And it's like, I might have relationships, but that's not my thing, you know? Like, I'm not gonna sit here and say I'm a PR expert. But if you're asking me to help with social media and take advantage of your online presence, I will help you. So I like to stay in my lane, and that's what I'm doing as part of my new venture and new agency. It's like, I know social media, we know how to build your brand, we know how to build your following, connect you to partners, it might make sense. That's what we do. And so I think for me, when you ask about some of these high profile talent, for me, you let the work speak for itself, right? If I wasn't good at what I was doing, maybe people would consider me a nice guy, maybe people like me, right? Maybe I'm relatable. And maybe they're like, oh, he's a good guy. But if you're good at what you do, you become more valuable, right? And so at the end of the day, to have a professional relationship with high profile people or high profile companies, if you're good at your job, like the rest will take itself, will take care of itself. The same goes for an MBA player, right? Like if you're not the most marketable person in the world, but you're an MBA superstar, you will be marketable in some capacity, right? You will have brands coming to you, quite Leonard, right? Not the biggest personality. Has a good amount of deals off the court. He's got new balance. He's working with X2, a company I know well, great energy drink company, and he's making money. And because he is who he is, a lot of people want to work with him. So I think that's the biggest takeaway is provide value. And that's something that I like to do, and I'm sure Wayne here the same, is like, I like to provide value and let the rest take care of itself, right? It's like, I've read this book by Adam Grant, "Give and Take," "Wart and Professor." And he talks about three types of people. There's givers, takers, and substitutes. Takers are people that take and just expect not to do anything in return. Substitutes give something to somebody and expect. It's like, oh, since I did that for somebody, they owe me something. And if they don't give me what I ask, then I'm gonna be angry about it. And then there's givers, people who do something for somebody, and don't expect anything in return. And the studies show that givers are the most successful. And the end of the day, if you do stuff for someone, and you provide enough value, the universe will come back. Or that person will be like, you know what, Brendan hooks me up on that one thing, I'm gonna hook him up with this thing. And so that's something I always think about. Provide value and let the rest take care of itself. - That's tremendous advice. And as we start to really wind down here on our 76 Capital Leadership Series with Brendan Kaminsky, the founder of Be Known, I mean, it's amazing. You've got out there and created your own social, medium, branding agency, which probably wasn't even a thing when you were in high school or even in college. And now you're out there doing it. It's really incredible. When you think about what you've done so far in your career, which I know they're gonna be amazing things that you're gonna go do, not only just in the future, but probably in the next couple of months. But just thinking back right now, what are some of the things that, some of the moments that when you kind of look back now, you're like, wow, that was just so cool doing, what was that thing? - Yeah, yeah. Well first, thank you for all the encouragement. It's been really exciting for me to build this and to continue to grow in my career. There's been so many moments being at the SB's. I mean, I always watch the SB's on TV, but I was part of some initiative that ESPN was like, you're gonna be sent to the SB's and just basically enjoy it. And I was like, this is amazing. Going on the red carpet, I was like, what am I doing here? Being able to sit in the lower level and just, so those are the moments, I mean, when you travel on behalf of ESPN, those are the moments when you realize like, wow, like ESPN is this shit. I don't know if you can curse, but it's like ESPN, we, that's when you realize, 'cause you can be sitting in the offices in Bristol, but when you're like courts at the NBA Finals or in the red carpet of the SB's and you're fortunate enough to be in that situation, it really puts perspective on things. And it shows you that like hard work pays off. Those are the cool parts about the job that people see on Instagram. They don't see the long hours working in Bristol from 10 o'clock to 3 a.m. or whatever it might be. So that was cool. I mean, I think that definitely when Harrison Barnes was in the finals and I was working at ESPN and I'm like courts at the finals and like shooting content with him right before he's about to play in these games and like he was willing to be a correspondent and which helped me get there. So thank you Harrison for getting me to the NBA Finals, which he knew and he was helpful in that regard. But like doing that was so cool. And then him saying like, hey, if you wanna, you know, there's like a team charter. If you wanna like go on that, like let me know. And then me being like, yeah, like that would be incredible. And then like me letting him know before one of the finals games like, yeah, I would love to do that. I wasn't planning on going to the game but now ESPN said I could because of this opportunity. And then like him going to the locker room and it's like 30 minutes before the game and he's like, yeah, you're all set. I'm like, aren't you about to play a game? So like stuff like that happens. And then obviously, and then of course I'm so dumb. Like obviously, and then I go to the plane or whatever. And it's family and friends, right? I'm so dumb in the moment. I'm like, yeah, I'm gonna be on the plane with the whole team. It's like of course, like I'm not gonna be on the plane. And it's like there's a separate family and friends charter which was still amazing. But yeah, I'm not going with like, you know, all the superstars. So anyways, there's a lot of those moments you think back on the access that ESPN gives. And I think that's another thing. It's like for anyone who's working at 76 capital or you know, other big organizations, if you're at a big event, take advantage of the moment. You never know who you might meet there. There was another one, another one that comes to mind. I'm at the College Football National Championship. And I introduced myself to a guy named Kenny Dictor who runs Wheels Up, who you know, had no relationship with at all. Wheels Up is a monster. That guy's a legend. And I just had mutual friends. I introduced myself and he's like, what's someone? He's like, oh nice to meet you and he's with another guy. And I'm like, hey, do you also work at Wheels Up? And he's like, no, I'm the CEO of AOL. I'm like, oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know. I didn't know. And he gives me my car and it's like just introducing yourself to people you never know where it might catch you. And look, I understand a lot of people. people listening right now and in general, they don't have that access. I'm incredibly fortunate to have been anywhere close to the access I had, but access can be in many different forms. As you know Wayne, you could be at a cocktail event in Philly, and not know that the dream, the person you dream of working with is sitting at the bar, right? And so it's just important to always open yourself up to those things because you never know where it might take you. - Well, Brad, these stories, these little tidbits and pieces of advice that you're sharing with our audience here on our 77th Capital Leadership Series is invaluable. I mean, these are the kind of things that really make a difference and allow people to get to the next level. And I think that, you know, I really appreciate you sharing all of this with our audience because these are the things that a lot of people do wonder how did you get there? How did it even happen? And as you said, it's not like, it's not just a direct straight line there. There's people that you have to, you know, we all kind of go out of our way to help others and try to make this world a better place and make things happen for others. And not kind of looking for something back, but then, you know, if you do the right thing, typically something good will happen. - Yeah, something good will happen. And, you know, it's important to note that I understand as well. I had great access being at ESPN, and I enjoy, you know, I was at these great events, the traditional person might not be able to go to, be able to go to, but to get to where I'm at ESPN, there wasn't a straight path. I wasn't handed it, you know, certainly I had relationships, right, the relationships helped me along the way. But if you do the work, like, that's what people are going to notice and realize, right? Like, people you give, you give, you give back, you provide value, you give a resource, and the right things will fall into place, and it might take time, but, you know, when I did the EA Sports Snoop Dog thing, like, I just applied online, I met someone at school, and then, you know, met Snoop Dogg, and then that was a good talking point to get to ESPN. So, it wasn't like anyone handed that to me. So, there's so many opportunities nowadays, too, when you're in college, I mean, now it's COVID, so there's not many, like, campus rep things going on, and certainly next year, and years beyond, they'll be more of that. But, like, there's so much opportunity, and there's so many ways to brand yourself, in ways that, when you and I, you know, we're in college, like, it just was never like that. - And so, it's incredible how you can build your own brand, and be able to share with the world what you care about, and what you're all about, and do that in a, quite frankly, broadcast that, in whether that's on whatever social media channel you want to, and that's the things that, those are the things that you do with some of the biggest names in sports. So, I gotta ask it, you know, the NBA, we're in the middle of playoffs right now. Everyone, I just got back from Las Vegas, everyone's already talking about the NFL season, and you work with some of the best, you know, who really talk about what's next, and going on within these games, whether it's Woj, on the NBA, whether it's Shafter, on the NFL, well, what should we sort of keep in our eyes out on, you know, for the next couple months from these guys? What are the things they're gonna be talking about, and how do you make sure that you're there to make sure that it gets out to all of us? - Yeah, so look, those guys are wizards, you know, like I can't exactly say like what they're gonna be talking about, you know, like, you know, I certainly work closely with some guys like that in support when necessary. I think, you know, for some of the big things coming up, NBA drafts, you know, when the NBA season winds down, which is Woj is bread and butter, you know, best in the business, like certainly when the NBA draft happens, you know, see myself helping to support him and, you know, figuring out anything that he needs in the NFL. It's like Aaron Rogers, right? What's gonna happen with Rogers? I'm just a guy, I have no insight, right? Like someone's like, "Oh, it's Rogers." It's funny, people ask me, like certainly, like, you know, I know people that know things, but like, I don't know anything. I'm like, you know, I'm a fan, I'm sitting here, watching TV, reading the tweets, right? Like certainly I'm in a different position than a lot of folks, but when certain news comes out, I'm like, "Oh my God, like, I have no idea." So I don't really have any like insider things. I think that with the NBA playoffs, like, so fascinating to see where it goes, cannot wait, you know, to for that and to see like, the clipper is gonna go down, they're down to a recording podcast, that's a big storyline. Steve and I in the Knicks, you know, the more the Knicks, if the Knicks go far, that makes my life more entertaining and more fun because he's more excited and that leads to good content. So definitely rooting for the Knicks. And then other that, you know, I'm a huge NFL fan, so just as the season comes to play. So unfortunately, I don't have any insider things to share. Yeah, I defer to follow, you know, WOGSPN on Twitter and Adam Shepter on Twitter. Those guys are the best. In addition to a bunch of other folks, you know, but as far as like, you know, reporting for NBA and NFL, they have it. So we'll see. I'll find out just like you guys probably. Well, I do have one last thing. So I keep saying one last thing, but it's been so much fun having Brendan Kaminsky, the founder of Be Known, the social meeting and branding and agency on our 76 Capital Leadership Series here, but I have to ask you. So a big story breaks. Let's just, we'll make something up, you know, as you said, maybe Aaron Rodgers ends up signing with Phil and the blank team. How, and one of your, someone that you're working with is going to break that story, is going to put out news about it, going to, you know, how, like, what do you do? What if that's like nine in the morning, 10 at night, you know, like in the middle of the night, like, how, how does it all work from like, just behind the scenes thing? Yeah, so yeah, definitely that's part of it. It's a good thing you bring up is like availability, right? Like news could break at any time, 9 a.m., 11 p.m., 2 a.m., when I'm working with woeage for MBA pre-agency, you know, there's no clock in and clock out, you know, it's like, why Leonard could break at 3.30 a.m., and that's when the news is necessary. But for me in those situations, my role is to help folks with their Instagram mostly, right? It's like, hey, they are running the news cycle. Woeage is literally running the MBA, right? He's doing, getting all the scoops for trade, download of pre-agency. How can I help him produce content for Instagram, right? Because he, there's no way he can focus on that. There's no way he can do that. And so for me, it's like making a graphic or if they're talking on TV, making a video that's shareable for Instagram. Maybe Twitter sometimes, but mostly Instagram, because that's more visual platform people want the text updates. So what I'm doing is making micro content and, you know, helping to produce and distribute, you know, via Instagram, right? And that could be in story, Instagram, story form. That could be Instagram feed form. Because in very high pressured moments like that, you have to let the talent do what they're best at and let them run and not get in the way, right? And like, for me, it's like, I don't even want to talk to them unless they like, hey, I need this, right? Because it's like, you're like on top of the world right now. Don't let me get in the way of it, right? And I've seen how stressful can be and how much they care. And honestly, when you see how much they care, it's like, this is so inspiring, right? Like these guys, like, when Chefter is doing NFL free agency, you know, he really cares. He doesn't want to let anyone down. And it's why a lot of these folks have become best to the best and best in the industry. And, you know, it's no surprise. Like the hardest workers rise to the top. And so, yeah, I'm just, I'm just, there is a resource to help them with content and to me, you know, that's the thing. Instagram requires a lot more level of care. You know, you can't just put a text update on Instagram, right? You can now with story or you can do a screenshot of a tweet, but the best things are going to be more visual. So I try to make things more visual. Well, Brendan, thank you. It's been great. It's been so much fun talking with you. I love the fact that we're working on things together with our 76 Capital Sports Advisory Business as well. I hope that we do lots more together. I wish you the best of luck with being known, your social media and branding agency. And it's just, it's really exciting to see the professional growth that you have, you're having right now and all the exciting things that are happening. So thank you so much for joining our 76 Capital Leadership Show. Thank you. Thank you. And I appreciate the friendship over the years and the support and certainly partnering and hope to partner a lot more with you. To anyone that's watching this on video, apologize that my screen is pretty dark. As someone who helps produce others to make sure it's good content on social, I feel guilty and responsible for not having a good lighting situation. But no one really cares about me on video, so I never worry about it. But I might have to invest in a ring light or something. Well, we can help you with that, Brendan. We'll help you. But this is great. This is great. Again, follow Brendan at B Kaminsky on Instagram, on Twitter. And remember, if you're an entrepreneur, an athlete, a student, or just a business person who wants to work in a really exciting company, or wants to start a company in the sportswear, whether it's in the sports betting industry, e-sports industry. sports tech world, sports media world. Reach out to us, reach out to Brendan. We want to hear from you. We want to talk with you. We want to see how we can try to make this sports world even better, because we know this is the time. This is the time that you can truly innovate and transform this trillion dollar sports industry. And this is an amazing time to do it. So once again, thank you, Brendan. I'm Wayne Kimmel, and thank you for tuning into this edition of our Seventh-Sys Capital Leadership series, and just get out there and go make it happen. Just like Brendan said, have a good day, everybody. In Philadelphia, reputation is key. No one knows that better than rushordertees.com. Rush order tees has proudly printed high quality, custom apparel, in Philly, since they started in 2002. They take printing as seriously as their love for Philly sports, cheese steaks, and that statue outside the art museum. No matter the order size or deadline, rush order tees has you covered. Start your design today online, or give them a call at 1-800-620-1233. rushordertees.com, Philadelphia's home for custom apparel. - Thanks so much for tuning in to today's episode of Seventh-Six Capital's Leadership Series with Wayne Kimmel. We really hope you enjoyed it. Follow us on social media on Twitter, and we'll make sure to check out our Facebook page and also go to our website, 76capital.com. Once again, thanks so much for tuning in today's episode. We're looking forward to welcoming you back next week.