Corporate Natalie 0:02

You're there every day, 12 hours a day filming. I thought I'd be able to film my parts after, but the whole plan I made up in my head just didn't happen. We planned to film bits in the house, like a hype house of us living together as millennials. That was a big idea we had, but it totally didn't happen.
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Ross Pomerantz 0:21

We're also rewriting your lines because you thought they were dumb. We needed something funny.

Natalie 0:25

Well, I'm rewriting them. We're scrapping the whole thing. I'll notify the whole team now. Then, we'll rehearse. We have to memorize our lines the night before. It was such a grind, but I loved it. And I want to do it again.

Ross 0:49

We're back on the Beyond Quota Podcast. We're going tri-hosting today, which is absolutely insane. Pouyan is the CEO of Scratchy, Ben is a minion of Scratchy, and Corp is Scratchy-adjacent. We are joined by the corporate queen herself, Natalie, Corp Natalie, Corporate Natalie, on all platforms, streaming everywhere right now. Check it out. But we're here to talk about S.A.D. (Sales Are Dope), the production that is probably the most important television show of the last 30 years. You could argue it's kind of like The Sopranos, but a comedy.

Natalie 1:32

There are shows, and then there are historical moments. Yeah. And I think this falls into the latter.

Ross 1:36

That's what people are saying. That is what all seven people who have watched the show are saying. Let's talk about the process. I mean, obviously, I'm well aware of it, but we want to hear it from you. When did you get involved in this project?

Natalie 1:50

It wasn't an initial request to be in it. It was more like, what are your thoughts on this? What character resonates with you, if any? After a first read, it was very clear that Katie was the obvious choice, the kind of bitchy, savage character that was pretty innate to me. So I jumped right in. Throughout the whole thing, both of you were willing to let me add a touch or change a few things or help a little bit with the creation after it was already perfect, but just needed some help here and there. Living together probably helped, too. That was the most exciting part, watching it come to life and molding how it looked from what we initially thought would happen. From the start, I was so excited that I quit my full-time job. I was like, "I have to go down to LA for a month and throw it all away."

Pouyan 2:56

So, Natalie, you left your corporate job to join this crew and create this series. How much do you regret it now?

Natalie 3:09

Yeah, huge regret. No, I think it's a testament to how much I believed in the script and, obviously, both of you. It was such a risk. It was so much more time-consuming than I could have ever imagined. I thought, "I'm kind of a side character. I'll have days off. I don't really need to be there." No, you're there every day, 12 hours a day filming. I thought I'd be able to film my bits after. I had this whole plan that I made up in my head that just did not happen. We thought we'd film bits in the house as a hype house of us living together as millennials. That was a big idea we had, but it totally didn't happen.

Ross 3:49

We're also rewriting your lines because we thought they were not funny. We needed something funnier.

Natalie 3:53

Well, we're rewriting everything. Yeah, we're scrapping the whole thing, and we have to notify the whole team now. Then we're rehearsing, and we have to memorize their lines the night before. It was just such a grind. But I loved it, and I want to do it again.

Pouyan 4:03

That's what I was going to ask, actually. You did it once. Would you do it again? It sounds like you would. Why?

Natalie 4:09

I would do it again. The process was one of the most fulfilling things I've done. I think being a content creator is a lonely endeavor. I sit here at my desk filming myself making jokes. I have no one to bounce off of, no team. Obviously, I do other things, but being in a room with people who I respect, who are funny, and being able to ideate and do that is amazing. I see that the sketch writers in LA do that every day, filming constantly. It's like a big think tank, and we do that sometimes on Saturdays when we film and stuff. It's not the same as a month of just creating.

Pouyan 4:47

Did this experience influence your own content creation at all?

Natalie 4:51

Yes, it's inspired me to want to write something long-form. Just seeing how you are able to actually do this, from an idea to having a premiere with 300 people and releasing a show and a series, is something that I view as so untouchable and unimaginable. But you did it. And I mean, if you can...

Ross 5:15

Well, I mean, if for what it's worth, I can certainly give you the shortcuts that are the mistakes that we've made that have been expensive to make. There are definitely, like, what I think is really cool about all of this is that none of us are professionals in the Hollywood sense. We do our things. I don't think that watching your performance, nobody's going to watch that show and be like, "Oh, they couldn't do it like that, like this couldn't be done in some bigger font." I think what so many people were pleasantly surprised not to that, like, I'm certainly not offended, their bar was low, I'm actually pleased the bar was low. What we went out there and did, when people saw, they were like, "Oh, my God, I didn't realize the magnitude of what this was." I just think the thing I'm most appreciative of was that we hear about all these film sets where people are screaming at each other. There are egos, but all we did was laugh and just not shut the hell up for like six weeks.

Natalie 6:10

I think it was great that we were the comedy, and then the crew was so professional and creative. It was a very good balance. And I also think that, in general, your ability to access the LA Hollywood, just even where to start without it, feels so inaccessible as a creator living in Silicon Valley. There's such a disconnect between the content we make here and what's done in LA.

Ross 6:35

I'm curious because that brings up a point that people ask me about all the time. I'm curious about you. Do you feel impostor syndrome? If so, how does that manifest? How do you deal with it? I think a lot of people deal with it in various aspects of their life. How do you think about it? Do you ever feel that?

Natalie 6:53

I feel a lot of impostor syndrome with acting. Yes, because I think there are people who train their whole life, do reads, and are turned down. They are just grinding in this really thankless world of Hollywood acting. I solely and entirely got this opportunity based on my following and the content side of things. I have no acting experience. I think the impostor syndrome comes from having a little bit of a leg up. I just started making videos in my room, and I get to bypass people who have gone to serious acting theatre school. It just doesn't seem fair. But I can do it. You know, and I think the lane that it's in, it felt like it wasn't acting at times. It was just within a range of something that I'm comfortable with. But that's where the impostor syndrome comes in for me.

Ross 7:49

I mean, I think pulling off the show, it still felt like even the night before the premiere for me. I was like, how do we cancel this? How do we not do this? Because what that

Ben Gould 7:59

Ross was going to puke in his lap when the show started. In the theater, he was so pale, sweaty, just gripping the armchairs.

Ross 8:10

Well, I was telling me it was like every time you laughed at a joke, I got a little bit more just like,

Natalie 8:18

I think we're so self-deprecating, and with you, actually, with this, I noticed you are not self-deprecating about this. You're very proud of it. You speak very seriously. Obviously, it's the biggest compliment of your life. But I think it's important to put that self-deprecating shit that we do all the time aside and be like, this is your dream and your goal. You did it, and I think absolutely proud of that.

Ross 8:44

The hard part, right, is when you have ambition. Once you have something, you want more. You always want more. For me, it's hard. I still feel an immense responsibility to everybody who worked on this to get a second season. I feel an enormous pull and push. I have to sit back and say, "Holy shit. We did this. We pulled this off." I know somewhere in my soul that I feel that, and there are moments where all that matters is that we pulled it off. But I want Dylan, Sarah, Talon, and Steven to have a chance. Steven left Hollywood, right? He's moving to Austin because he's so jaded over the scene, which I get. There's so much bullshit there. There are so many talented people in this world who deserve a chance and who gave us so much time, effort, and talent. I will be very disappointed in myself if I can't figure out how to do this one more time.

Pouyan 9:47

Yeah. This is interesting for both of you. You've both created these personalities and this content. You did it without many resources, and they've both been wildly successful. You've now created this series that is truly generational, as we talked about. What those seven people said is maybe a historic moment for this country. I guess I'm just wondering how much of Hollywood's structure might change. You just don't need the reliance on it that much for production, creation, or distribution.

Ross 10:43

Distribution is our limit. Natalie and I both have audiences, and we can scream at the top of our lungs at them so many times. Many of them are conditioned to just watch us do our bits. Once we do something outside of that, they're like, "Oh," and it doesn't immediately click. But for us, it's just a distribution issue. It's all about money and budget.

Natalie 11:17

Do you think we could build a set here and bring the right people and do that here? It's such a different language and currency. Down in LA, you have deer media and these huge podcast hubs. Here, we couldn't even get a studio. We're all virtual right now, which is what most podcasts based here do. But if Ross and I wanted to get a studio with mics and cameras and just have that, it doesn't exist here. It's so easy to do in LA. That's just one side of it. But I'm thinking, do you really think that the Hollywood dependency...

Ross 11:57

I mean, when I say Hollywood, I'm thinking of Netflix and HBO. I'm barely even caught up, no offense to Steven, who I love. I'm like a Steven Hart Stevens, who worked in Hollywood. But when I think of Hollywood, I think of network producers and network talent. We still have to go to LA to get crew and people involved, but we just need the money. We could find those people who aren't necessarily unionized. There are so many talented people, we could find them. We absolutely need the physical location of LA; otherwise, it's just money. All I want to do is bring back the same people, bring back the same crew with a few substitutions here and there. But I do think we need those people who speak that language and have the Hollywood training, not so much like Netflix, HBO, FX, ABC, or the network folks.

Ben 12:48

It is interesting because I have a cousin who's been trying to be an actor for a decade and has had small parts here and there. But he's kind of sick of LA and the prices and everything there. He's like, if I wasn't in this industry, I would have left five years ago. But for the 90% of people who are trying to make it in the industry, whether it's writing, set design, directing, or acting, they're all there. And you just need that talent base where it hasn't become remote or virtual. And I feel like that is something that you just can't replicate somewhere else, at least at this point. Maybe in New York or something like that, but you kind of need the Hollywood infrastructure to make it happen.

Ross 13:52

For me, that month will always be in my memory in some way, and I have random highlights that pop up. Do you have moments or scenes or whatever? It doesn't have to be onset; it can be offset. Moments that you think about as defining moments of those five weeks?

Natalie 14:07

Well, I think just for any actor or actress, "That's a wrap on Katy" was kind of a big, teary-eyed moment at the end. When you say your last line of the series, that was exciting. I think hearing you pull everyone together and talk through tears and say your bet was very inspiring. And there were just little moments that defined such a great overall experience, like hanging out at the house and just laughing our asses off for a whole month. It was so fun. I just remember being so happy.

Ross 14:45

Pulling up next to you, all of us giving you the bird while you're sobbing through the fact that some dude just broke up with you.

Natalie 14:58

Wait, that was so funny. Should we tell that anecdote? What happened? I was loosely talking to this guy. I was in LA, and then yes, and...

Ross 15:10

you were driving back. We saw you. And all of us are just like giving you the bird like, honking at you. And you're like, Yeah,

Speaker 1 15:17

I was like, I'm gonna call him like in the in the car and yeah, we stayed around like, totally flipping me off. Like, like, I'm like crying because he was like, I don't see this going.

Ross 15:30

Oh, that's not...

Natalie 15:34

It's so fun being with a bunch of guys though. Like hearing you guys try to console me was great.

Ross 15:39

There, there child. It's okay.

Natalie 15:44

She must be on her period. What's going on? Oh my god. That's so funny. That was a good memory.

Ben 15:53

I was gonna say another funny memory that this brought up was kind of in a similar vein, but just a little different. I think maybe you went out after that happened. And me and Rohan and Corp are chilling at the house. And we stay in we watch a movie. And it's like, 11-1130, it's like midnight. We're all getting kind of tired. And we're like, is she gonna get home? Like, I'm a little worried about her. Like she should we go pick her up like should we send someone to? And we all separately texted her like, hey, just call us if you need anything. Text us that you're safe. Let us know when you're home. Just text us when you're home. That's it. There's there's lemon pound cake in the fridge if you want any thing when you get home. Literally.

Natalie 16:46

Literally I have like four missed calls from all of you. Like is everything okay? I'm like it's 11pm like, I'm 24 years old. Let me live.

Ross 16:58

nothing good happens after midnight.

Pouyan 17:09

I noticed a change in Ben, when he came back.

Ross 17:13

Shell shock.

Ben 17:16

Years older.

Ross 17:17

He was extremely depressed. I don't.

Ben 17:20

Dylan kind of said that after the show ended, he was in kind of a low because it was like, you know, this all encompassing thing, kind of like what Natalie was saying earlier, it's like you're doing it, you're waking up at six, you're going to bed after editing at midnight, and then you're getting up and doing it again. And you're exhausted. But you're like you have so much adrenaline for these four or five weeks or whatever. And so you're just giving, like everything that you have into it and it's so rewarding. But when it's over it is like this kind of weird feeling of like, like all of a sudden the car stops and you're just like floating a little bit.

Natalie 18:00

My inspiration as a creator was completely gone. I was like, depressed. Like I couldn't think of anything. I just sit down here with my room light and film myself. Where's the camera? Where are my co-stars, you know, like what's happening?

Ross 18:15

It's hard to explain to people until you go through it like, you know, Misery is not the right term, but like nothing bonds like shared misery, like there's a shared grind. You go through the struggle. All the people

Natalie 18:27

People think like - this is such hard work. Like I'm the most tired person on earth. Like I'm constantly complaining. I'm like, miserable if I don't have like seven Red Bulls, like I just I would always ask to leave early. I'm like the kid that's like, Can I leave? They're like no. And I would always just be in awe like everyone's energy like the entire crew. Everyone bought me was so energetic, so willing to do it. People like investment banking is hard. I'm like, this shit is hard.

Ross 18:56

Well we had Shane on the Red Bulls ready with the Red Bulls.

Natalie 18:59

I mean, these people work through the night no one's looking. I'm like looking around. I'm like, does anyone want dinner? Like I haven't eat like what's? I've only like 12 mushes in the last hour I'm starving.

Ross 19:08

Exactly. All your daily vitamins in a mush despite what it says on the package.

Ben 19:14

I mean, I will say besides the mush the our diets while we were there did not help because there's this crafty which is craft services. So all the snacks are cheezits, Doritos, like all of your favorite snacks from when you were nine years old. Unlimited. Are you kidding me soda and so it's just your eat it you start eating it like we had to train ourselves to be like alright, I'm not going to start till like 10:45am today because yesterday I was having Fruit by the Foot for breakfast and you just have your body go to a weird place

Ross 19:53

It does have fruit in the name so you could argue...

Natalie 19:55

I literally had a wedding like the weekend after we wrap. And I was like, Okay, so can we get a seamstress to get this bridesmaid's dress to like be sewn on? So great, awesome. Thank you. Continuity issue there. And living with guys. I was like, this is horrible. I don't know if I can do that. I need some separation.

Ross 20:16

Well, you had the you had the equinox hook up, or was it was Bay Club symbol.

Natalie 20:22

I did an equinox hooked up, but I didn't have time to go.

Ross 20:25

Working 16 hours. So when are you gonna go?

Natalie 20:28

I went one night at 9:30pm I was like, this isn't I mean...

Ross 20:31

This ain't gonna do it. You know, maybe you're out at nine o'clock. I know. We're just worried sick about you back in the apartment. Like,

Natalie 20:39

I'm breaking curfew. Yeah, I mean, it's not worth it. I

Ross 20:42

You don't want to get stern talking to from Raj.

Natalie 20:48

Pouyan, can I hear about a little of your you talked on the other episode, we can just cut this but of your experience when Ross approached you with with the idea how how that went for you?

Ross 21:28

He threw up in his mouth. Sorry, I was not expecting that.

Pouyan 21:36

You know, it's actually Ross, you may have to you may have to remind me like, it all blends together. I don't like I don't remember the moment. There wasn't like this magical moment where Ross came to be almost like, you know, angel saying and it's like, here's the script. Oh, my gosh, we have to do this. I'll I think we it was I think it was more of a casual conversation over a long period of time. Right? I think when we first met you, you had this idea. And it just evolved. And so it feels like it just kind of gradually grew from like this little nugget of an idea, at least from my perspective, right? If like, oh, maybe. And then it kind of gained a little bit more momentum. But I do think there was one point where also like, I think we're going to, I think this is going to happen like, which like, he I remember he's saying he was committed to doing it. And when I heard that I was like, okay, you've committed to doing this before you've pulled them off. You've done it if you're truly going to commit to this thing. Like I have no doubt you're gonna make it happen. That's what I remember Ross.

Ross 22:43

Yeah, it was a conversation. That was a few conversation because we talked about like reality show, right? We were talking about like, these ideas. And we had this script. And I was like, why I want to shoot this like sitcom. And like, you were always about it. You were always about it. And it was like, then eventually got to a point was like, alright, we're picking shooting dates. I better figure out how to race I was like, looking into loans. I was like, I'm doing this I will figure it out one way or another. Fortunately, it was like, you know, you and bravado and then filling in the gaps. But yeah, yeah, thank God, I asked you in 2021.

Pouyan 23:21

So a couple of things stood out to me. One is, you know, I get a lot of founders that I'll talk to that are asking for fundraising advice. And there's, there's a close parallel to I think this experience that Ross probably had. And what I will share with other founders is if you feel like you have to convince somebody a lot, then it's probably just not the right person. Like you want to try to find somebody for whatever idea you have that is somewhat related to or connected to that idea already in some degree. You shouldn't feel like you have to completely convince somebody or your your worldview for them to be on board. And so I think you know, I the reason I was so excited to join this and support it was I independently I was like this should exist I don't know when what form but what I know is there is some incredible stories in sales. I've lived some of them and that story is told and so just from that perspective, as like, it's awesome that Ross is working on this because I just thought like this should exist. But I think it was the first time I actually experienced Ross's and nervous. And I've seen him you know, we're together a lot. But it was awesome. Like that call. He was like Ah, okay, umm. So... and I was like, Hey, let's just chat. What are you working on?

Ross 24:41

Money. Please, please. You'll never get it back. I promise.

Pouyan 24:51

No, because usually, you know, usually Ross just carries his swagger and it's this air of confidence. And I was like, whoa, this this feels a little bit different. We know it's an uncomfortable experience if you've ever been through it

Natalie 25:03

when the comedian crumbles.

Ross 25:05

Yeah. You know, it's like I've sold my whole life, but I'm guaranteeing, you know, ROI. So, can I have your money now know our ROI. But you know, it's one of those things that like, I because I don't know how it's gonna go, you don't know how it's going to work like you haven't made this product before, like you don't? I have no idea like, I'm asking you this, I don't know who's going to be in it. I don't know, like, what the location is going to look like. I've never, like seen some of Stephens work. But like, you know, I just, you know, there's a lot of faith that you just kind of put into it.

Pouyan 25:39

Yeah, no, but I think that that parallel, there's a very close parallel to that to honestly creating anything and asking for your first few dollars, right that you call it like a friends and family round or that seed round, because that's all you have is your reputation, and then your faith that you're going to do something and you're asking people to believe in that. And you're not saying necessarily believe in the idea what you're saying is believe in me that I'm gonna get this idea to reality. And again, you're not Ross and I've worked together long enough. And I, it seemed that so that's why I was like, it wasn't even a question. In my mind. It was like, yeah, if anyone's going to do this, it's it's Ross driving it.

Ross 26:18

And I drove that bus right off the cliff baby. And you're all coming with! Going back to like the like your bits and so forth. How much of it is improv for you? And how much of it is like written? Or like, what is your creative process for writing kind of your sketches?

Natalie 26:33

As you know, I don't write. Right. So this is just very new, just even sitting down. Typing. I'm like, you just have like a goodwill. Like, how does this work? Very improv. All right, like, alright, a title. All right, like the coworker who, and then I'll press record and film myself. I think I need to, like, lean into the like, even short form writing to have, like, Here's what a script is, here's how you do it on the script. Because that's very hard for me, I'm in because you can't tell like actual actors to do to do that. You have to have a line for them to say, I'm like, here's the concept. Alright, let's just film.

Ross 27:13

Let's just spitball.

Natalie 27:17

But not everyone is an improv artists like, no, but you know, I'm creative. I need to. And I think also the, the plot the like, storytelling is, like, I have a lot of quick jokes, and you know, things that I think are funny, but what's the arc of like, what am I trying to say?

Ben 27:35

It is funny seeing Nat doing like, the corporate bro stuff, the first time we ever film together, it was like Ross and I had this script planned, like, setting, exterior, okay, over the shoulder, and then we're done with it. And then this is when, like, I learned that I was no longer cool or hip anymore, was when Natalie was like, Alright, let's do some tech talks. And at this point, we hadn't done Tiktok. And Natalie was like, hold the phone, press this button. And I'm like, which, which button is it?

Natalie 28:09

What is this thing?

Speaker 3 28:13

And then we just do it. And we did like four or five super quick and for Ross. And I was just like, what, just, what is this? What just happened?

Ross 28:22

She's like, just lip sync the sound and we do one take and I was like, Oh, I think I missed that part. She goes, that's fine. That's fine. My mouth doesn't line up. That's fine. No one gives a shit. It's fine. And I was like, It's all right. And then it goes out there and athlete banks, like absolutely crushes. I'm like, okay,

Natalie 28:38

but I need I need that perfectionist lens of I do want to do something that because I was thinking like with this project. And when you were saying like, how is this different? How do you feel about like, it's, you can't change it. Like, I think with any bit, we do any ticket like you can delete it, even when we like record a bit like a business jargon. Romance is a big one we did like it took a while to record, there's a lot of editing posts, whatever, like, we can absolutely delete that and kill that and they won't exist anymore. Like, that's fine, you know, but like, this is like, you have to get it right. You have to know what's right. You have to have faith in that and it like just lives as this evergreen piece. Like, you know, forever and that's so scary to me, like we have so such the ability to just abandon ship at any point,

Ross 29:20

right? That is definitely a major differentiator in terms of like content versus like, long form scripted stuff. It's true. Like there's so many things I wish I could change

Natalie 29:29

Yeah, talent and just shooting the shit with your iPhone, but it's

Ross 29:33

just it isn't. I mean, we live in a world where that plays, right like that's like, you know, we can rip out a few sketches. And, you know, like, we can spend for example, like we can spend six weeks shooting the show and all eight episodes combined have less views than any stupid little tick tock sound will do. You know, like on a random day, which is crazy. But that's just how it is. And I think like that's where you have to care at least somewhat about the craft and art and like appreciate that you did it versus like the result, which is something I personally have issues or struggle with at times.

Natalie 30:08

Failing is tough. It's like if this video fails, we delete it like I'm not you know, it's hard to accept.

Ross 30:13

Yeah. How do you how do you stick with like, you know, like, I know you have any for exam like how often we've taught we joke about this because, you know, I'm like in every comment, I'm in every comment every DM, like, just taking the hate internalizing it, realizing it's true, hating myself. It's a vicious cycle. You know, how do you kind of like,

Natalie 30:34

looking at this guy like link posted on LinkedIn, it's like a bot with zero followers like one comment and like, I don't give a how do you? How did you?

Ross 30:43

Do they will revolve around me destroying him in my mind? Today's

Natalie 30:48

Yeah, you write like, six paragraph response, like, Well, I'm sure when you wake up, you stupid muscle. I'm like, how did you craft this? It's like, a it's like a thesis for Yeah, I don't I don't do that. I mean, it's different. Like, the videos we make. While you're in the comments with a lot, a lot of the stuff you do, but I think I would feel different if I had people depending on me and like, you know, that it was a bigger project, I'm sure I would. The the, how it was perceived would be really important to me. With myself it just like I've, you know, I gotta put gotta put me first with like, I can't just let that stuff tear me down. It also just like unproductive time, like, I don't I don't screw anything up. It's

Ross 31:35

extremely unproductive.

Natalie 31:37

You got, you know, they're not everyone's gonna like you. I recently posted a video about that, like, in any area of your life, not everyone's gonna get the jokes we make. They might not be in corporate. They might not find me funny. They might not find women funny, you know? And that's like, that's their issue. And I can't control that. so hear me

Ross 31:57

out. What if you write them an essay, like a really thoughtful, compelling one, and you change their mind through just artful writing strong arguments and evidence?

Natalie 32:06

Yeah, men personally. Yeah. I also am just like, anytime you engage, it makes them feel like you're validating what they're saying. So true.

Ross 32:13

People say that to me, and I hate it. Or I destroy them publicly. And everyone respects me more and they feel small.

Pouyan 32:21

And I'm because it is a competition. Yeah, Ross, we're gonna have to I think we're gonna have to chat you and I just make sure you know

Ross 32:34

I sat outside the pitch black dark last night for an hour and a half. So yeah, I'm good.

Natalie 32:39

I break down. I feel like probably twice a year one of us.

Ross 32:43

Gonna be like, Hey, I'm going through it right now. I don't know what to do. Why are we doing this? Like, what happened? This guy?

Natalie 32:49

I don't want this anymore.

Ross 32:52

It's like what else do you do? All right. Good point. Good point.

Natalie 32:55

Like what happened on like, a date went really bad. Like I thought this was about

Pouyan 32:59

Yeah, after this. Ross, you're gonna get texts from Ben, Natalie and me. Hey, man, you You all right, you guys just checking in and checking in? Just checking in, you know, like, you want to talk?

Ross 33:13

What's next? Natalie, what's next? Tell me what's next? Because I don't know what's next.

Ben 33:17

Plug yourself. Then give us a you know, motivational quote or something?

Natalie 33:24

Well, that's like, when I'm on podcast. And I like okay, just quick, rapid fire. What's the best piece of advice you've ever received? And like, why wasn't like the show notes. Now, what's next, I feel I've talked to Ross about this. I feel as though I'm in a bit of a I just hired a full time employee, which is so exciting. I was like four months ago. So I'm allowing myself to be comfortable in this space of like, I'm not constantly busy and stressed and my hair's falling out. Like I'm like, I'm, I feel balanced. I feel content. I'm like, making content that I'm proud of and happy about when I want to make the content. And I'm kind of just embracing that like, maybe plateau like I'm not in a huge growth like chase phase. I think I'm more I'm there are a lot of things I want to do. And I'm saying I want to do I'm just not like I'm not doing it but I'm kind of okay with that. So I think the writing is like an exciting like thing that I'm carving out some time to do. I think whenever I'm like on stage and I'm asked this I say like watch the show. Comment if you like it engage with it. I do think that's like a big thing that just released and very proud of. But yeah, I don't know. I'm just kind of coast trying to be a LinkedIn influencer is kind of my goal.

Ross 34:37

Join me the waters warm. It feels great. Yeah.

Natalie 34:41

It was great. A lot of affirmation. affirmation. What's next for you, Ross? Are we is there any big projects I'm not aware of.

Ross 34:48

I want to discuss with you at some point about writing an episode of like, discuss the KT arc of season two. I'm still like literally saying was wrapping cold emailing people trying to get them to watch the show. I'm trying to have conversations and see like, explore potential investment in season two or like ways that season two can happen.

Natalie 35:11

How much of your like week, percentage wise is dedicated to the show?

Ross 35:16

I mean, Ben and I will have like an hour like we wrote for an hour last week, I wrote a few sketches that we like then shot, you know, this weekend, but now I'm like, okay, great. We've got three in the tank. And I know you're like you'd like to post all the time, like post every day and so forth. But I'm like three in the tank means I have three weeks, which means I can like focus, like I don't have to stress about like writing a sketch. I can focus on the show right now. And like, you know, if Tiktok sound comes up, or like some random thing comes up, like I'll film it and posted.

Natalie 35:38

You're growing on Tik Tok. I think that's kind of a priority. Right? I feel like

Ross 35:42

yeah, I just I and maybe I'll talk to you about this offline, but I want to figure out how to like direct Tik Tok towards the show. Like how, like, make content?

Natalie 35:51

Yeah. Like if I go to my character trailer, we saw contacts, but yeah, exactly.

Ross 35:55

Like, tick tock tick doesn't give context. So I'm like, what are what creative ways to potentially get people on tick tock to go watch it? But yeah, it's trying to figure out season two, and like, navigate around, like trying to reach out to random contacts, like people like Oh, I know this guy who's like, kind of in Hollywood, it's kind of like they always end up leading nowhere, but it's like, I'm gonna say yes to every single little thing. You know, just because who knows what the next person that's like, hey, I can

Natalie 36:18

write my one idea that you know, maybe will never come to fruition something that I've we've talked about that I would love to do is like speak as many speaking tour with Ross with like some some companies maybe in SF would be like easy for us. But like a kind of performance meets advice, Stan keynotes that kind of some dance

Ross 36:37

like kind of like a Bo Burnham without the musical piece?

Natalie 36:41

No, it's it would literally be like a Bo Burnham like we're sort of acting. Yeah. I don't know. That's like my dream.

Ross 36:47

I have an idea. And we

Natalie 36:49

actually shut our pants before every time and then we go yes. Well, I called.

Pouyan 36:53

I called Ross about the same idea. Remember that? It was a few weeks ago.

Ross 36:58

Which one shitting my pants?

Pouyan 36:59

No, yeah, yeah, getting your pants... No, because I came out of this event, you're in Minneapolis. And I was like, Dude, I think there's something to like going and doing some something like a speaking tour, kind of combining it with maybe parts of the show as well. Where watch the show, there's an event, speak about it, and just getting it on the road feels like there's something there's something there. I'm not

Natalie 37:31

doing a little speaking thing before the show released and like teasing it, but then we are lazy. And like

Ross 37:37

then you find that it's so hard to organize that shit. Like I was doing seating charts up until the last minute of like, the premiere, like I was so deep in the weeds of every little thing. I would like to do kind of a theater. Performance meets like crowd interaction meets multimedia. Like we make fun of PowerPoint using PowerPoint, we use like aI like in the like, and like almost in real time on stage like produce content and like interact with the people with crowd like, there's there's 1,000,000% something there. And I think a lot about it. It's it's I mean, that isn't under like the show is an undertaking that is like an undertaking to make, like a live action performance that you could tour around with and repeatedly do. I think it could be incredible.

Ben 38:24

I do like the idea of a tour bus with, you know, us 4 and Rohan.

Natalie 38:35

Yeah let's downsize the space we're living in. Yeah, let's go on a bus. let's make it even smaller.

Ross 38:39

just sleeping bags and play nightcrawlers. It would be so fun.

Natalie 38:44

That yeah, it's so weird. Because like, as a creator, you want to do all these things. But like the life of a creator, it's like completely dependent on you. It's like an upside down triangle. Like if you leave or if you want to break or like all these initiatives you want to do or so depend on you being there, you're physically doing it your voice your face. So it's like how do you want to invest that time? I don't know. It's hard. When you're like everyone

Ross 39:06

else, like what's the biggest problem as a creator, I'm like, I can't scale myself in any way in any meaningful way. Like, you want to like do more speaking good. You have to go do more speaking you want to make more content good you have to make will make more content, like how can you scale a business and like that I know, you're like you run like to other businesses. I mean, granted the consulting side, like you have to do but like, you know, your placement of of like EAS and so forth like that is something that can run itself at some point. Like that's a well, that's a

Natalie 39:31

goal, but like initially, it's like, you know, I'm rejecting my network of creators to do it. But yeah, it's like, removing ourselves from

Pouyan 39:39

What's the other one? Company that you have?

Natalie 39:42

a virtual assistant company for influencers and creators, so pairing like people just help with the admin side is a lot. Yeah.

Ross 39:52

Well, thanks for joining us.

Pouyan 39:54

Thanks for joining us.

Ross 39:56

I'm sure you'll be back. She always comes back.

Natalie 39:59

Always comes crawling back. Thank you for having me.