From Budweiser Frogs to the Ability Machine: How Creativity Unlocks Hidden Talent with Tom Woodard

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Welcome to We Built This brand where we pull back the

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curtain on the people, the ideas, and the sometimes

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challenging processes of building something that matters.

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I'm your host, Chris Hill, and today we're talking to Tom Woodward.

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Well, Tom, welcome to, we Built This brand.

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It's great to have you,

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Chris.

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It's great to be on, man.

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I, I'll just say it.

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I mean, you, you've got the microphone, you've got the voice.

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Like I, I have a feeling you've got maybe a little bit of a background in radio.

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Tell, tell me about where you got started.

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I'll go back to kind of the beginning, if that's cool.

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Yeah.

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I stole my father's guitar when I was eight.

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So that, that kind of was my beginning.

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And, uh, I would sit in my room and write songs and wanted to grow up and

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be James Taylor and, and, uh, you know, that was, that was kind of my goal.

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And I met a guy that was doing jingles in, uh, in the eighties, late eighties.

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And he, uh, he said, Hey man, you ought to come to work for me sometime.

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It was at a party on a Friday night.

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I was in retail and he, um, I quit my job Saturday.

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Showed up at his door on Monday morning and said, uh, I'm here.

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And he said, do I hire you?

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And I was like, yeah, man, you did on Friday night.

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Must had a few too many beers.

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But, um, uh, he said, if you can sell something, I'll let you write it.

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And so there was a, a beautiful moment right there in the eighties

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where I, I saw, uh, creativity and commerce sort of come together.

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And, uh, I got in the jingle business and about two weeks

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later, I, uh, had the opportunity to write a, a jingle with

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a guy at, uh, for a little school called Brunell College.

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Uh, and uh, we wrote a thing called Make a Move for Tomorrow,

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and that was the beginning of my jingle career, which

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was, um, oh, I don't know, almost 30 years, 25, 30 years.

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All the jingle World changed in 2000 when they started using existing music.

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Uh, but I had a really fun career doing, uh, voiceover work.

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Um, embedding myself in creative teams around

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the country and selling and, and producing music.

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Wow, that's, that's really cool to me.

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Um, you know, obviously working in audio and stuff as we do at Hubble Pod,

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there's just this, um, fascination that I always have with, um, people

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in the audio world, especially jingles and that creative side of things.

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'cause, you know, you grow up with it, like, it's just,

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it's a prevalent part of your background to hear these

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songs and jingles that come along from time to time or.

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Are there any, um, any noticeable ones that, that you may be recognized for?

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Yeah, we did.

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Uh, you know, I've been really blessed to work

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with a lot of cool people all over the country.

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We worked on the always Coca-Cola spots out of Atlanta.

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Uh, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis actually wrote the spot, but we got to

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produce all the country versions and work with major artists that way.

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And we did Dollywood's Jingle for about seven years,

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which is a lot of fun to work with Dolly every year.

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She's an amazing human being.

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Um, worked on the, somebody, uh, did somebody say

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McDonald's campaign with Bob Mullo out of DDB Needham.

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Some days were made from Michelob out of, uh, outta St. Louis.

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And then the thing everybody, you know, back in 95, we

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were called in late 94 by a creative team out of, uh, St.

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Louis at Darcy that said, Hey man, can you make a frog, say Budweis.

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And, uh, I said, why don't we do three?

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And, uh, they had pencil drawings, put 'em with the audio track we created.

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And um, I ended up being the voice of Bud of the, of the frogs and my

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buddy Ronnie Brooks and Brian Steckler were the voices of Wise and her.

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And, uh, it lasted about seven Super Bowls.

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It really taught me a whole lot about the impact of advertising at that point.

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I remember that was like, and I, I'm not just saying this like.

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Every year when the Super Bowl would come on.

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Those were the commercials.

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I look forward to the most.

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I, I've always been, as a kid, I was a big fan of the

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Muppets and stuff like that, so the character aspect

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of how they built all that stuff always fascinated me.

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And then as the years progressed, you know,

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I think they moved more towards CGI, but.

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It was a, it was an interesting evolution in marketing and advertising

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at that time, and so that's really cool to say you were a part of that.

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Yeah, it was fun, man.

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The very first spot was done by a guy named Stan

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Winston, and, uh, the, the agency had hired Stan.

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He had just completed Jurassic Park in Congo, and he created what's

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called animatronics back in the day, pre CGI and AI and all that.

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Got to fly out to LA and work on the Warner Brothers set.

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And six guys had to manipulate each of those frogs.

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It was amazing watching that work and, and

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at the time that, you know, Stan was huge.

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I mean, those movies were really big and so I was just humbled as a

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Nashville boy to go out to LA and, and get to hang out with those guys.

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And then, uh, we got to work with Gore Binki and in spots two and

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three, who ended up doing the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

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And so it's just things like that that.

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That make advertising brand work, uh, audio production work really fun.

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It's the people you get to work with.

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Yeah.

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That level of creativity and being able to say that, I mean, Stan

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Winston, I, I know Stan Winston just as someone who, um, again, on the

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creative side, like in addition to audio, I made costumes for years.

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And so the stuff like cosplay characters and things like that.

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So seeing, like knowing that that was a

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part of it too, I could just imagine how.

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Magical.

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That was how cool that must have been to, to be a part of that.

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And that's really neat.

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Yeah, it was really cool.

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As you developed all that, have you pretty much done, I mean, was this,

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was this business of yours just freelance doing this all this time?

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Or were you part of an agency?

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Like what kind of, um, career-wise, like where were you in that regard?

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I started, um, with this guy that, that kind of hired me into the jingle world.

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I, I worked with him for, oh, probably three or four years, and then shopped

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different shops or moved to different shops, was sort of the biz dev guy.

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Creative guy.

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And then I ended up starting a couple of small companies.

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Uh, we had studios in Nashville, Chicago, uh, and so

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yeah, I was always on the production side of things.

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We worked with agencies, they were our clients.

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Um, I always wondered why agencies didn't

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have in-house broadcast and in-house music.

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And my, my bosses and partners would always say,

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stop wondering that and let, let them hire us.

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And so, um, we had a, a little, uh, a studio apartment in, uh,

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downtown Chicago and that became sort of a base for us to get

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to work on a bunch of great Kellogg spots and McDonald's spots

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and SeaWorld and some, just a lot of fun stuff up in Chicago.

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One of my favorite broadcast, uh, agency markets in the country.

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Yeah, that's, that's, that's a good way to put it.

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'cause I've often wanted the same thing running a podcast production company.

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It's like, why don't you do this in how,

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wait, no, I'm not gonna ask that question.

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Don't ask too many times.

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That's right.

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I mean, ultimately it comes down to, some

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of that stuff can be Feast of famine, right?

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Like once you've written a song, you might use it for a year or two, or.

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The Budweiser frogs, you know, being used for seven plus

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years in their commercials and even longer, just in terms

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of how long they were able to make those ad runs last.

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You know, I, it makes total sense to me why, why we do the freelance folks

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in this industry do what they do and have that place in the industry.

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That's right.

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And another cool anecdotal story is it was only

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supposed to be one frog spot, and it was gonna be things

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throughout history where you had heard the word Budweiser.

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And I don't know if I'm supposed to tell this, but I'll tell

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it anyway to your listening audience, but, um, we had one where

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they were gonna be building the pyramids, Budweiser, and then

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you had New York City traffic and you had all these different

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places that we had heard the brand Budweiser, uh, over the years.

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And the frogs hit in the Super Bowl nine, five, and.

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As they say, the rest is history.

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It was, uh, it was an amazing, humbling run if you'll, um, very humbling.

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So you've grown over the years doing all this, and now

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you are running an organization called Ability Machine.

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Tell me, tell me more about that.

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How did that get started?

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Yeah, about 10 years ago.

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Um.

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I had my own little ad agency, like I said, you know,

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um, the Beatles revolution and disco music for Burger

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King and all that sort of took over the jingle industry.

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And I got into the agency business and was blessed to work

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with several agencies in Nashville and helped build those.

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Started my own thing about 10 or 12 years ago, uh, kind of rebranding

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a big convenience store chain here in Tennessee called Dailies.

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Went to twice daily.

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And alongside of that, my brother and I started a little company working with

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people with disability packing boxes, uh, and doing some logistical stuff.

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Started, uh, that company and, and I fell in

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love with, working with people with disability.

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Kinda realized that I'd probably been working

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with people on the spectrum all my career.

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I mean, I think the, the world, you know, if you go to

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agencies, they've got that one floor where creatives create.

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And, uh, and that was this ping pong table and a punching

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bag and all the crazy dartboard and all that stuff.

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And I think a lot of those guys were probably

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on the spectrum and didn't even know it.

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So when I started working with guys with intellectual

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disability, like I said, I fell in love with it.

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And I, and then I got mad at myself one day thinking that only people with uh,

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disability could pack a box, clean a, uh, a table or stock a shelf or whatever.

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And so we had that on one side of this warehouse studio that we have here.

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And, um, the other side was the agency.

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And I said, what would you do guys if you came to work at the agency?

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And one guy said, I'm making a movie.

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I'm writing a book.

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Uh, another guy drew an illustration in about 30 seconds, it was blew me away.

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And so I bought four IMAX and put 'em along the

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back wall and started letting these guys create.

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And it was amazing to watch what creativity did

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for someone with an intellectual disability.

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And um, so we saw amazing things happening, just God, things

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happening where, uh, people were coming out of their shell.

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They were building confidence and community.

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And so we started a little company called On the

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Avenue, and it was just a daytime studio where people

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would come and create to build confidence in community.

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And then we formalized that as I started bringing some of those folks

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over to real live setting and real live work that we were having at.

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Uh, whiteboards and, and conference tables.

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And, and the window of someone with that intellectual disability

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really opened a, a whole my eyes to a whole new world and

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really reopened my eyes to some of those guys, like the guys

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that called, uh, to say, Hey, let's make a frog, say Budweiser.

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And I think those windows, um, Hans Asperger has a, a statement that

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says, uh, for success in science and art, a touch of autism is essential.

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And so I think it's a different window that, um, brands hire marketing and

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advertising people to give them, uh, they've got great business acumen, they've

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got different things, but they may not have that creative messaging window.

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And so that's kind of how we got into it.

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And then about a year ago, we decided to make this really official and about.

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A few months back, uh, the good folks at Raven Public Relations and

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um, at Lewis Advertising kind of helped us build the brand together.

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Uh, we had this name, the Ability Machine, and, um.

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You know, we, we got started and, and it hit the,

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the airwaves and it's being very well received.

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We're, again, very humbled by the reception.

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That, that's fascinating to me.

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I've always felt like, just in my experience with those that are handicapped

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in some way or, or disabled in some way, that quite often they're not.

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They're, they're not at the level of inadequacy that I think a lot

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of people would've perceive just based on what they're defined as.

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Um, especially with autism and things like that.

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Um, I mean, we, we do a lot of work in tech.

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I, I mean, we, we see people in that spectrum and

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dealing with that, that, you know, tech is the perfect.

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Place for them.

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And they're very smart, very intelligent people and I

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00:10:54,270 --> 00:10:56,910
think that it's really cool that in the creative world you

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were able to give them opportunities to do that as well.

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'cause that's definitely gonna be more empowering than just moving

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boxes around or packing things or being limited to such a small, um,

235
00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:10,050
sphere of, Hey, you can only do this because you have this disability.

236
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I think that's really neat.

237
00:11:11,130 --> 00:11:11,250
Yeah.

238
00:11:11,250 --> 00:11:13,170
We see it as not a zero sum game.

239
00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:14,940
I think so many people thought, well, if you can't

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complete the job 100%, you shouldn't be at the table.

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And what we say is, Hey, just we've got a seat at the creative table for

242
00:11:21,345 --> 00:11:24,915
you, so come in and bring your ideas and, and we'll finish 'em together.

243
00:11:24,915 --> 00:11:27,435
It's a, you know, Nashville's a very collaborative town.

244
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You're just down the road from us and you

245
00:11:29,445 --> 00:11:31,755
know, it's an old co-write town of songwriters.

246
00:11:31,755 --> 00:11:34,875
And, uh, so we just think collaboration is, you know, the way

247
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that it's always been an advertising, why not allow somebody with

248
00:11:37,845 --> 00:11:41,415
a little bit of a different window to bring their 10 to 20 to 30

249
00:11:41,415 --> 00:11:45,615
to 50% to the table, and then as a group, let's finish the job.

250
00:11:45,680 --> 00:11:48,709
So that's how we work with existing agencies and existing

251
00:11:48,709 --> 00:11:51,739
in-house, uh, marketing, uh, departments and brands.

252
00:11:51,859 --> 00:11:52,640
What was the moment?

253
00:11:52,640 --> 00:11:55,849
I always like to say, you know, we, we always have this moment of, um,

254
00:11:56,239 --> 00:11:59,420
confirmation that we're on the right path, that we're doing the right thing.

255
00:11:59,810 --> 00:12:01,849
Um, you know, call it the voice of God speaking

256
00:12:01,849 --> 00:12:03,739
to you and confirming this is what you're doing.

257
00:12:03,739 --> 00:12:06,949
Call it, you know, just a good product market fit.

258
00:12:07,280 --> 00:12:09,439
Um, what do you think that was for you?

259
00:12:10,040 --> 00:12:10,505
You know, it's, it.

260
00:12:11,325 --> 00:12:13,995
I blame God and give God all the credit for this every day.

261
00:12:14,025 --> 00:12:16,485
And, and so we'll, we'll, we'll throw it his way.

262
00:12:16,545 --> 00:12:19,935
Um, but, but what I would say is we, we did a, a

263
00:12:19,935 --> 00:12:23,145
redo of a store here in Nashville for Gogo clusters.

264
00:12:23,145 --> 00:12:24,405
It's a little candy bar.

265
00:12:25,155 --> 00:12:25,275
Mm-hmm.

266
00:12:25,515 --> 00:12:27,135
That, uh, that has all kinds of ingredients in it.

267
00:12:27,405 --> 00:12:29,625
And we got hired to come down and kinda look at, they were

268
00:12:29,625 --> 00:12:32,295
doing a retail store down off Broadway here in Nashville.

269
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So I was consulting them for about a year.

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And they were one of the first people that we actually brought our

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00:12:38,555 --> 00:12:42,305
guys from Army Avenue to the table in a real marketing situation.

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And one of my guys was drawing purple Gogos and doing different things.

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But they all had this amazing window and inputs into the

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conversations we were having around the creative table.

275
00:12:51,995 --> 00:12:54,665
And so I would say that was the brand that brought.

276
00:12:55,349 --> 00:12:59,640
Um, all this together for me in sort of an aha moment, if you will, uh, that

277
00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:02,969
you're talking about, where it was like, man, I think this could really work.

278
00:13:03,329 --> 00:13:05,939
Uh, the, the brand itself was kinda like, what's going on here?

279
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And I explained to 'em what we were doing and they loved it.

280
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They had a great heart and, um, we, we, we did video work for

281
00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:15,329
them and rebranded the store and did a lot of different design

282
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work and it was a very meaningful not placated work, uh, you know.

283
00:13:20,205 --> 00:13:22,785
And I thought, again, back to old agency days, uh,

284
00:13:22,814 --> 00:13:26,175
Chris, you know, not every writer, uh, creative director,

285
00:13:26,175 --> 00:13:30,135
art director team got their campaigns, uh, to, to air.

286
00:13:30,525 --> 00:13:33,975
Uh, so why would we just disallow someone from having an opportunity?

287
00:13:34,915 --> 00:13:36,835
Uh, whether it made it to error or not.

288
00:13:36,835 --> 00:13:39,595
So, um, that's kind of the, I would say, goo goo clusters.

289
00:13:39,595 --> 00:13:41,635
I would, I would give them the credit and blame

290
00:13:41,635 --> 00:13:43,495
for the whole thing thanks to the Bradley family.

291
00:13:43,765 --> 00:13:46,675
I mean, I remember goo clusters had a resurgence a few years

292
00:13:46,675 --> 00:13:50,275
ago, so that's probably tied to what you all were doing then.

293
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A little bit.

294
00:13:51,145 --> 00:13:51,685
For sure.

295
00:13:51,955 --> 00:13:52,675
That's really cool.

296
00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:56,520
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306
00:14:35,910 --> 00:14:40,319
So how does one, um, get involved with, um, the ability machine?

307
00:14:40,319 --> 00:14:44,609
If, if, if you say you've got a, a bright young, you know,

308
00:14:44,699 --> 00:14:48,660
guy or gal that wants to be involved, um, how does that work?

309
00:14:48,780 --> 00:14:50,040
How do, how do you hire for that?

310
00:14:50,310 --> 00:14:51,780
Yeah, it's a couple of ways really.

311
00:14:51,780 --> 00:14:55,395
Um, it's funny, when we started being an employer pack in boxes, uh, you know.

312
00:14:56,109 --> 00:14:59,530
People kind of flocked to us and, and said we're, you know, most

313
00:14:59,530 --> 00:15:03,400
people with disability, about 85% are unemployed or underemployed.

314
00:15:03,459 --> 00:15:04,239
And there's a reason.

315
00:15:04,239 --> 00:15:07,599
I mean, it's tough, uh, to, to be very competitive in the marketplace

316
00:15:07,599 --> 00:15:11,500
doing anything, uh, with a team of people with dis with disabilities.

317
00:15:11,530 --> 00:15:15,459
And, um, what we found though was, uh, through on the avenue,

318
00:15:15,729 --> 00:15:18,250
we were training people in video production and editing.

319
00:15:18,940 --> 00:15:22,330
Um, design and all of that, and, and they matriculated

320
00:15:22,330 --> 00:15:24,640
over into real work and it was like, well, great.

321
00:15:24,640 --> 00:15:26,650
So we have sort of have a training ground and on

322
00:15:26,650 --> 00:15:29,230
the avenue, but then other people were introduced.

323
00:15:29,230 --> 00:15:31,360
I've got, um, an illustrator out of Philadelphia.

324
00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:34,870
I've got a graphic designer out of, uh, Fort Collins, Colorado.

325
00:15:34,935 --> 00:15:37,364
I've been around this game for a long time, and so once we

326
00:15:37,364 --> 00:15:40,724
kind of hung that shingle out and, and this word's getting out,

327
00:15:41,025 --> 00:15:43,785
people started sending us their books and their reels and stuff.

328
00:15:43,785 --> 00:15:45,944
And, and a lot of guys, it's really interesting.

329
00:15:45,944 --> 00:15:47,444
A lot of guys can do the work.

330
00:15:47,655 --> 00:15:49,724
It's maybe they can't go get the work, maybe they don't

331
00:15:49,724 --> 00:15:52,155
have the social skills to work with the agency or with the

332
00:15:52,155 --> 00:15:55,425
brand and bring that to fruition, but to complete the work.

333
00:15:55,694 --> 00:16:00,015
Um, they're, they're a great partner and so, um, we help.

334
00:16:00,225 --> 00:16:01,395
Bring that to market.

335
00:16:01,425 --> 00:16:04,665
So literally people just started calling my phone or stopping by our studio

336
00:16:04,665 --> 00:16:08,085
here in Nashville, or, you know, sending me a reel, uh, through email.

337
00:16:09,015 --> 00:16:11,535
So, uh, we, we found people all, all over the place.

338
00:16:11,535 --> 00:16:13,725
And what we found is one of our guys says

339
00:16:13,725 --> 00:16:15,645
this, it's really for, it's a great line.

340
00:16:15,975 --> 00:16:18,495
And he said, y'all ain't ready for my creativity.

341
00:16:19,305 --> 00:16:20,745
And I felt that was so cool.

342
00:16:20,745 --> 00:16:22,485
He said that one day he is about a 60-year-old

343
00:16:22,485 --> 00:16:24,525
guy who had never been asked to be creative.

344
00:16:24,945 --> 00:16:28,995
And so he had the 60 years of creativity built up into him and, um,

345
00:16:29,595 --> 00:16:32,415
and, and it just comes out every day and some amazing work he's doing.

346
00:16:32,595 --> 00:16:32,955
Yeah.

347
00:16:33,195 --> 00:16:33,405
Yeah.

348
00:16:33,735 --> 00:16:36,465
What, um, what kinda work does he do, if you don't mind me asking?

349
00:16:36,465 --> 00:16:36,555
I'm

350
00:16:36,555 --> 00:16:37,095
curious.

351
00:16:37,155 --> 00:16:37,215
Yeah.

352
00:16:37,215 --> 00:16:39,615
He does colorization in and, and illustration.

353
00:16:39,675 --> 00:16:43,905
Uh, he, uh, we've created a, a, a character called Juan

354
00:16:43,905 --> 00:16:48,615
that is, uh, one of his kind, a rap alter ego, and he

355
00:16:48,615 --> 00:16:51,945
does video, uh, editing and he had never used a computer.

356
00:16:51,945 --> 00:16:53,505
And so to see that kind of work.

357
00:16:54,135 --> 00:16:54,705
Change.

358
00:16:54,705 --> 00:16:57,075
And, and, and he, he may work alongside some of

359
00:16:57,075 --> 00:16:59,325
my guys that are over at, uh, the Ability machine.

360
00:16:59,325 --> 00:17:01,335
And every now and then, you know, you punch a

361
00:17:01,335 --> 00:17:03,075
few buttons and, and he's a part of the team.

362
00:17:03,075 --> 00:17:05,805
So again, it's, it's about opportunity.

363
00:17:05,925 --> 00:17:09,885
Somebody gave me an opportunity many years ago to, to uh, start blade

364
00:17:09,885 --> 00:17:13,454
editing tape and start, uh, doing voice work and, and if I hadn't

365
00:17:13,454 --> 00:17:16,185
had that opportunity, then I might not have had a career in it.

366
00:17:16,605 --> 00:17:19,035
Um, we don't promise everybody a career in it.

367
00:17:19,899 --> 00:17:20,349
Why not?

368
00:17:20,349 --> 00:17:22,750
I give everybody an opportunity, and that's what this is.

369
00:17:22,750 --> 00:17:26,920
Uh, this, this company and this kind of mission and ministry is all about.

370
00:17:26,980 --> 00:17:27,790
That is really cool.

371
00:17:27,790 --> 00:17:30,190
And, and I noticed you called it a ministry too, just,

372
00:17:30,190 --> 00:17:34,570
um, I'm curious how that also plays into this business.

373
00:17:34,570 --> 00:17:36,610
How it, does it have something to do with how it's

374
00:17:36,610 --> 00:17:40,629
structured or your heart for servicing God through this?

375
00:17:40,635 --> 00:17:44,375
Like, I, I'm just really curious like what, what element that plays in it too.

376
00:17:45,060 --> 00:17:48,270
We started all this, we weren't a bunch of counselors that wanted to use

377
00:17:48,270 --> 00:17:52,110
creativity and say, Hey, let's draw a rose today, everybody and all that.

378
00:17:52,110 --> 00:17:54,870
We were really creatives that sort of started counseling.

379
00:17:55,260 --> 00:17:58,530
And so families would bring their individuals or their adults

380
00:17:58,530 --> 00:18:01,410
to us and I would say, look, I'm gonna mess things up big time.

381
00:18:01,440 --> 00:18:03,420
I'm gonna use the wrong words.

382
00:18:03,420 --> 00:18:05,100
We're gonna, we're gonna say the wrong thing,

383
00:18:05,460 --> 00:18:06,660
but we're gonna love them like Jesus would.

384
00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:08,180
That's what we would say.

385
00:18:08,629 --> 00:18:11,090
And we don't have a baptismal in the agency.

386
00:18:11,090 --> 00:18:14,210
We're not converting people, but just the teachings of Christ

387
00:18:14,210 --> 00:18:17,629
teaches us to, to, to love each other, uh, as we love ourselves.

388
00:18:17,629 --> 00:18:20,450
And so, so that was kind of the methodology.

389
00:18:20,450 --> 00:18:23,570
And so, uh, the ministry is just to be kind and, and be

390
00:18:23,570 --> 00:18:27,590
opportunistic and be, um, generous with our resources and our gifts.

391
00:18:27,590 --> 00:18:28,940
And so, um.

392
00:18:29,335 --> 00:18:33,625
I think it's more of a, a, a thread through the, the fabric of

393
00:18:33,625 --> 00:18:38,365
our company than it's a part of our, um, you know, our logo and

394
00:18:38,365 --> 00:18:41,815
our part of our brand that we, that's public facing, uh, kind of

395
00:18:41,815 --> 00:18:45,085
a quiet under the, um, uh, you know, we just treat people right.

396
00:18:45,145 --> 00:18:46,525
I think that's the main thing.

397
00:18:46,705 --> 00:18:49,705
No, I, I understand you don't necessarily have a, a giant

398
00:18:49,705 --> 00:18:52,885
Jesus fish on the, on the side of the business or anything,

399
00:18:52,885 --> 00:18:56,005
but you're, you're, you're doing what you're called to do.

400
00:18:56,065 --> 00:18:56,255
That's right.

401
00:18:56,850 --> 00:18:57,270
That's great.

402
00:18:57,300 --> 00:18:57,960
Well put Chris.

403
00:18:57,960 --> 00:18:58,320
Thank you.

404
00:18:58,360 --> 00:18:59,400
I I may write that one down.

405
00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:04,110
Well, we, we have it recorded so you can come back and find it, so.

406
00:19:04,620 --> 00:19:04,780
Oh, that's awesome.

407
00:19:04,890 --> 00:19:06,000
Well, that's, that's really cool.

408
00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:08,940
So, um, you, you said that you landed on the name the

409
00:19:08,940 --> 00:19:12,210
Ability Machine and that Lewis helped you all develop that.

410
00:19:12,210 --> 00:19:14,910
Tell me a little bit more about that process and how you

411
00:19:14,940 --> 00:19:18,540
came to, um, name your business, the Ability Machine.

412
00:19:18,615 --> 00:19:19,425
Yeah, it's great.

413
00:19:19,605 --> 00:19:20,655
A really good question.

414
00:19:20,745 --> 00:19:22,395
Um, I had it written on my board.

415
00:19:22,455 --> 00:19:24,315
Um, my, my, the holding company that I have is

416
00:19:24,315 --> 00:19:26,745
called Westwood Avenue that birthed on the avenue.

417
00:19:27,135 --> 00:19:30,345
And then I'd always, as I started working with guys with disability, had

418
00:19:30,345 --> 00:19:33,855
the words, the ability machine written on the board, uh, in my office.

419
00:19:33,885 --> 00:19:35,895
Raven came in one day and said, what's that?

420
00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:39,590
I was like, well, if I start an agency, uh, here in my

421
00:19:39,590 --> 00:19:42,110
latter part of my life, I, I think that's what it would be.

422
00:19:42,110 --> 00:19:44,030
And we would intentionally hire people with disability.

423
00:19:44,030 --> 00:19:45,920
And, uh, they took us to Lewis.

424
00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:47,720
And Lewis said, you know what, I, the machine,

425
00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:49,580
it's just not a, that, I don't like that word.

426
00:19:49,580 --> 00:19:53,060
That's too, uh, clinical and too steely.

427
00:19:53,060 --> 00:19:54,860
And you know, these are human beings.

428
00:19:54,860 --> 00:19:57,800
And I was like, yeah, but when we put 'em all together, man, it's a machine.

429
00:19:58,540 --> 00:20:01,870
And so they brought us four or five designs, beautiful work, Robert and

430
00:20:01,870 --> 00:20:06,100
Nancy and their, all the, all the team at, at Lewis were, is just amazing.

431
00:20:06,130 --> 00:20:08,650
And we sat down and looked at one of the color schemes and one of the,

432
00:20:08,830 --> 00:20:12,940
one of the, uh, actual logo pieces and kind of married those together.

433
00:20:12,970 --> 00:20:16,060
It's a triangle with three circles and, and it's everybody

434
00:20:16,060 --> 00:20:19,570
working together to create a synergistic look and feel.

435
00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:20,530
And so.

436
00:20:21,449 --> 00:20:25,229
Everything we do is intentionally working with people with and without

437
00:20:25,229 --> 00:20:29,129
disability or with and without creativity or whatever, bringing

438
00:20:29,129 --> 00:20:32,520
different windows and different folks together to accomplish the

439
00:20:32,520 --> 00:20:36,600
final, uh, look and feel of whatever campaign we're working on.

440
00:20:36,959 --> 00:20:41,235
And so, um, the brand, uh, definitely, uh, if you go

441
00:20:41,235 --> 00:20:43,770
to the ability machine.com, you can see all that there.

442
00:20:43,770 --> 00:20:46,199
And, and the team at Lewis just knocked it out of the park.

443
00:20:46,199 --> 00:20:47,310
They're phenomenal.

444
00:20:47,699 --> 00:20:51,419
And then Raven has gotten us all over the country right now, and I'm so blessed.

445
00:20:51,449 --> 00:20:55,379
Uh, we're on your podcast today and, uh, couldn't be any more happy.

446
00:20:55,530 --> 00:20:57,149
Well, yeah, I mean, we're happy to have you here too.

447
00:20:57,149 --> 00:21:01,110
I always love when I, when I, um, read a little bit about what you were doing

448
00:21:01,110 --> 00:21:04,080
with the, the ability machine and everything, it just really fascinated me.

449
00:21:04,080 --> 00:21:08,879
I've, I guess, accidentally fallen into, um, times in

450
00:21:08,879 --> 00:21:11,189
my life where I've had the opportunity to help with.

451
00:21:11,639 --> 00:21:15,330
Um, you know, the disabled and the handicapped and things like that.

452
00:21:15,330 --> 00:21:19,350
And it's always been an inspiring thing to be a part of, and it's always been

453
00:21:19,350 --> 00:21:22,710
something that I've, I've come to really enjoy and has been really satisfying.

454
00:21:22,710 --> 00:21:26,399
So, you know, as, as a younger entrepreneur, it's really cool for

455
00:21:26,399 --> 00:21:29,250
me to see you going, Hey, I've gotten to this point in my career.

456
00:21:29,250 --> 00:21:31,169
It's something I've always had a passion to do, and.

457
00:21:31,740 --> 00:21:33,390
Now we're getting the chance to do it too.

458
00:21:33,420 --> 00:21:36,660
'cause it just shows me what other options for, I mean, genuinely

459
00:21:36,660 --> 00:21:39,660
ministry, helping other people and you know, doing something that's

460
00:21:39,660 --> 00:21:43,110
beyond yourself and beyond your business for other organizations.

461
00:21:43,110 --> 00:21:44,220
So I think it's really cool.

462
00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:45,660
Thanks man, I appreciate that.

463
00:21:45,750 --> 00:21:46,220
Uh, there's a book.

464
00:21:46,545 --> 00:21:49,695
By David Brooks called Second Mountain, an amazing book,

465
00:21:49,755 --> 00:21:52,155
uh, about we built our first mountain for ourselves.

466
00:21:52,815 --> 00:21:55,335
I was a very selfish young man, just like a lot of people,

467
00:21:55,395 --> 00:21:57,915
you know, out building a career, doing things, uh, for me.

468
00:21:58,455 --> 00:22:01,365
And, uh, yeah, it's, it's awesome when you can do something

469
00:22:01,365 --> 00:22:05,505
that's productive, that meaningful, and, uh, also serves others.

470
00:22:05,510 --> 00:22:05,670
It's.

471
00:22:05,975 --> 00:22:08,495
It's really humbling and a lot of fun to sit back and watch.

472
00:22:08,735 --> 00:22:09,485
Absolutely.

473
00:22:09,485 --> 00:22:09,965
Absolutely.

474
00:22:09,965 --> 00:22:10,264
It is.

475
00:22:10,264 --> 00:22:13,895
Well, as we look towards, um, the future, where do you see, where

476
00:22:13,895 --> 00:22:16,774
do you see this organization going and how do you see it growing?

477
00:22:16,834 --> 00:22:17,705
Yeah, it's a great question.

478
00:22:17,705 --> 00:22:22,054
I, um, you know, I, I've, since this, the, uh, Raven put out an

479
00:22:22,054 --> 00:22:25,264
article in, in Fast Company, which was a, a really strong article.

480
00:22:25,715 --> 00:22:28,924
Uh, and we've gotten calls from Toronto, London, New York,

481
00:22:29,254 --> 00:22:32,225
uh, with interest, uh, of wanting to, to work with folks.

482
00:22:32,765 --> 00:22:34,775
We don't wanna be an agency of record.

483
00:22:34,805 --> 00:22:36,695
Um, I'm not, we're not buying media.

484
00:22:36,695 --> 00:22:39,245
We're not, um, you know, we're not doing a

485
00:22:39,245 --> 00:22:41,345
lot of the traditional things in that regard.

486
00:22:41,345 --> 00:22:42,875
Don't wanna hold hands every day.

487
00:22:43,265 --> 00:22:46,745
We're really a project based company to, to strategically

488
00:22:46,745 --> 00:22:49,565
employ people with disabilities, to support.

489
00:22:49,979 --> 00:22:52,590
Ad agencies with their work and to support

490
00:22:52,590 --> 00:22:55,620
in-house marketing firms, uh, with their work.

491
00:22:55,620 --> 00:22:58,260
And so that's kind of where I see it growing.

492
00:22:58,320 --> 00:23:00,270
I don't know that we'll ever have other offices maybe.

493
00:23:00,659 --> 00:23:05,340
Um, but it's, um, you know, the, the work is growing here in Nashville

494
00:23:05,399 --> 00:23:08,760
and Nashville is, is growing as, you know, being down the road from us.

495
00:23:09,120 --> 00:23:11,580
Uh, it's an amazing, uh, thing that's happened

496
00:23:11,580 --> 00:23:13,439
in the last 10 years, uh, being a native.

497
00:23:13,655 --> 00:23:15,335
Just don't even recognize my city.

498
00:23:15,485 --> 00:23:19,175
So it's, I, I, I would see us continuing to grow inside of ad

499
00:23:19,175 --> 00:23:22,925
agencies and inside of, uh, brands as they bring things back in house.

500
00:23:23,165 --> 00:23:24,815
That's, that's a, that's, I mean, that's

501
00:23:24,815 --> 00:23:26,075
a really good place to be right now too.

502
00:23:26,075 --> 00:23:26,165
Mm-hmm.

503
00:23:26,405 --> 00:23:26,645
So,

504
00:23:27,004 --> 00:23:27,155
yeah.

505
00:23:27,245 --> 00:23:27,514
Feels good.

506
00:23:27,514 --> 00:23:27,905
That's awesome.

507
00:23:27,995 --> 00:23:28,685
Well, very cool.

508
00:23:28,685 --> 00:23:30,605
Well, Tom, I always have a couple of wrap up

509
00:23:30,605 --> 00:23:33,905
questions before, um, before we get done here.

510
00:23:33,905 --> 00:23:34,415
Um.

511
00:23:34,844 --> 00:23:37,334
And these are fun questions to a answer to.

512
00:23:37,334 --> 00:23:40,155
So just, uh, get, get excited.

513
00:23:40,215 --> 00:23:41,955
Um, good.

514
00:23:41,955 --> 00:23:45,135
First of all, before, before we get into the, um, the fun one, um,

515
00:23:45,135 --> 00:23:48,824
what is top of mind right now for you as you look through the industry?

516
00:23:48,824 --> 00:23:52,574
I mean, how, how is your team like potentially

517
00:23:52,574 --> 00:23:55,665
using AI or where do you all stand on that?

518
00:23:55,695 --> 00:23:57,675
'cause I could see some really interesting like,

519
00:23:57,675 --> 00:24:00,044
applications for that with the people you work with.

520
00:24:00,135 --> 00:24:01,520
Yeah, it's, you know, I think everybody.

521
00:24:02,445 --> 00:24:03,465
Was scared of ai.

522
00:24:03,495 --> 00:24:05,804
I think we were all just like uhoh, what's coming down?

523
00:24:06,104 --> 00:24:07,274
I think it's just another tool.

524
00:24:07,274 --> 00:24:11,625
It's a great tool for someone that can do 20, 30, 40, 50% of the work.

525
00:24:11,985 --> 00:24:13,364
It's a great tool to go and research.

526
00:24:13,364 --> 00:24:15,885
It's a great tool to build and throw spaghetti against the wall.

527
00:24:16,334 --> 00:24:20,145
Um, I'm still a believer in human beings sitting and working together.

528
00:24:20,594 --> 00:24:23,475
Uh, but if you have a tool like that and it can get a lot of the work done

529
00:24:23,475 --> 00:24:27,524
in a timely manner and focused, it gives someone with a disability less.

530
00:24:27,595 --> 00:24:29,935
Of a disability and gives them more of an ability.

531
00:24:29,935 --> 00:24:32,875
And so I, I think ai, we're learning to use it.

532
00:24:32,905 --> 00:24:35,035
Uh, we just created a whole series of commercials and

533
00:24:35,035 --> 00:24:38,545
it was a mixture of live production, uh, and AI imagery.

534
00:24:38,605 --> 00:24:40,825
And, uh, they turned out to be very funny for

535
00:24:40,830 --> 00:24:42,955
a, a startup clothing company here in Nashville.

536
00:24:42,985 --> 00:24:47,365
If you can teach an old dog, uh, like me to, to use, uh, AI and to kind of.

537
00:24:47,730 --> 00:24:48,960
Think and dream.

538
00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:53,520
I'm, I'm kind of a vision guy and a, and an idea guy, but what a better tool

539
00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:56,880
than to help bring your, uh, to bring your ideas and your visions to, to life.

540
00:24:56,940 --> 00:24:58,320
I don't think it's replacing jobs.

541
00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:03,100
I think it is making people that aren't scared of it, uh, stronger and better.

542
00:25:03,735 --> 00:25:06,855
So that's how, that's kinda how we, uh, we look at AI right now

543
00:25:06,855 --> 00:25:10,185
and, uh, again, I think it makes all guys with, uh, and girls with a

544
00:25:10,185 --> 00:25:13,335
disability, um, it gives them some tools that they haven't had before.

545
00:25:13,425 --> 00:25:13,605
Yeah.

546
00:25:13,605 --> 00:25:15,705
It's fascinating seeing where it's going, and I agree.

547
00:25:15,705 --> 00:25:18,615
I think it's, it's could be a very powerful tool used the right way.

548
00:25:18,735 --> 00:25:18,885
Yeah.

549
00:25:19,695 --> 00:25:22,064
Well, last question for you before we wrap up.

550
00:25:22,095 --> 00:25:25,605
Um, what brand do you admire the most at the moment?

551
00:25:25,635 --> 00:25:28,335
You know, I went to the one group, um, of some meetings

552
00:25:28,335 --> 00:25:31,365
and got to hear the guys from Liquid Death, uh, talk.

553
00:25:31,365 --> 00:25:35,504
And, and I think, you know, we all want unabated creativity.

554
00:25:35,504 --> 00:25:37,245
Sometimes, you know, please don't look over

555
00:25:37,245 --> 00:25:38,895
my shoulder, let me do what I want to do.

556
00:25:39,314 --> 00:25:42,585
And the story of four or five guys sitting in a warehouse just creating.

557
00:25:42,820 --> 00:25:45,639
These crazy spots and taking and selling

558
00:25:45,639 --> 00:25:48,730
water, uh, you know, it's delicious water.

559
00:25:48,730 --> 00:25:50,560
It's, it's, uh, it's cool water.

560
00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:52,689
It's fun water, but what a brand they've

561
00:25:52,689 --> 00:25:54,850
created around something God gave us, you know?

562
00:25:54,850 --> 00:25:57,340
And so I, I'm, I admire those guys.

563
00:25:57,340 --> 00:25:59,830
I don't know that, uh, you know, I may not fit their mo of

564
00:25:59,830 --> 00:26:02,480
what they're, what they're, uh, sitting in that, in that room.

565
00:26:03,210 --> 00:26:04,260
I love their brand.

566
00:26:04,260 --> 00:26:05,430
I love what they do.

567
00:26:05,490 --> 00:26:08,850
I love their lack of fear for creativity.

568
00:26:08,910 --> 00:26:11,250
Um, Rick Rubin's new book about creative.

569
00:26:11,250 --> 00:26:12,210
It's about a year old.

570
00:26:12,210 --> 00:26:13,170
It's a great book.

571
00:26:13,170 --> 00:26:13,860
If you hadn't read it.

572
00:26:13,889 --> 00:26:16,710
It basically talks about what that brand is about.

573
00:26:16,710 --> 00:26:18,720
It doesn't mention liquid death, but it just is that,

574
00:26:19,139 --> 00:26:22,830
uh, no holes barred, no, um, restraint creative.

575
00:26:22,830 --> 00:26:26,460
And I think that's, uh, I think we all as creatives wanna wanna be

576
00:26:26,460 --> 00:26:29,100
in that room when that, when, when nobody's telling us what to do.

577
00:26:29,430 --> 00:26:32,430
And, uh, so I'm out of that brand, uh, quite a bit right now.

578
00:26:32,765 --> 00:26:34,535
They honestly, they come up quite a bit on

579
00:26:34,535 --> 00:26:37,505
this show, and I'm, I'm yet to pitch them.

580
00:26:37,505 --> 00:26:42,605
But at some point soon, if, if, unless we have a liquid death, um, employee or

581
00:26:42,605 --> 00:26:46,355
marketing person listening to this, we want to be, we want them on the podcast.

582
00:26:46,355 --> 00:26:49,025
I'll just go ahead and say that now, but yeah, we've, we've had them asked

583
00:26:49,025 --> 00:26:53,135
a lot or commented on a lot, and so we want, um, give them that opportunity.

584
00:26:53,135 --> 00:26:55,865
I'm, I'm thinking about a ridiculous pitch video for it too.

585
00:26:55,895 --> 00:26:57,575
I'm not gonna give away anything, but it'll

586
00:26:57,575 --> 00:26:59,495
be stupid, ridiculous when it comes out.

587
00:26:59,495 --> 00:27:00,245
I'll just say that.

588
00:27:00,245 --> 00:27:00,305
I

589
00:27:00,605 --> 00:27:01,055
love it.

590
00:27:01,110 --> 00:27:01,320
I love it.

591
00:27:03,030 --> 00:27:05,280
Tom, thank you so much for coming on the show today.

592
00:27:05,310 --> 00:27:06,689
Where can people connect with you?

593
00:27:06,689 --> 00:27:08,729
Where can people connect with, um, the Ability

594
00:27:08,729 --> 00:27:11,550
Machine and, um, get involved if they want to?

595
00:27:11,639 --> 00:27:13,320
Chris, thanks first off for having me, man.

596
00:27:13,649 --> 00:27:14,219
Great day.

597
00:27:14,219 --> 00:27:15,300
A lot of fun to meet you.

598
00:27:15,300 --> 00:27:16,229
Love the show.

599
00:27:16,260 --> 00:27:18,510
Um, and, and more power to you.

600
00:27:18,510 --> 00:27:19,649
I hope you can get those guys on.

601
00:27:19,770 --> 00:27:20,939
That would be a lot of fun to hear.

602
00:27:21,330 --> 00:27:21,780
Um,

603
00:27:21,870 --> 00:27:22,014
thank you.

604
00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:24,659
You know, you can go to the traditional sites and,

605
00:27:24,659 --> 00:27:27,240
and follow us on, on Instagram at the Ability Machine.

606
00:27:27,270 --> 00:27:27,750
Um.

607
00:27:28,090 --> 00:27:31,750
You can visit us at www.thehumilitymachine.com.

608
00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:33,580
I got my phone number on there.

609
00:27:33,790 --> 00:27:35,080
I still give out my cell.

610
00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:35,919
I, I don't care.

611
00:27:35,919 --> 00:27:37,959
Just gimme a buzz and, or, or text me and

612
00:27:37,959 --> 00:27:39,580
we'll, uh, we'll get something done together.

613
00:27:39,580 --> 00:27:42,820
It's, uh, easiest way to reach me, my number's on the, on the site there.

614
00:27:42,820 --> 00:27:45,939
So that, that, that's kind of the easiest way, whether you're a client

615
00:27:45,939 --> 00:27:49,870
wanting to work, uh, with us and, uh, see us as a part of your quilt if you're

616
00:27:49,870 --> 00:27:53,560
going to your customers with it or you're, uh, someone with a disability

617
00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:57,100
looking for an outlet for your art, creativity, or your, uh, production.

618
00:27:57,510 --> 00:27:57,960
Excellent.

619
00:27:58,380 --> 00:27:59,910
Well, Tom, thank you so much,

620
00:28:00,150 --> 00:28:00,420
Chris.

621
00:28:00,420 --> 00:28:01,080
Thank you, brother.

622
00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:01,920
Have a blessed day man.

623
00:28:02,160 --> 00:28:02,580
You too.

624
00:28:02,580 --> 00:28:03,030
You too.