Back to Business | Interview with Charles Antis

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James Fratzke: [00:00:05] Hi, I'm James Fratzke, and this is Back to Business: COVID-19 & You, powered by Fratzke Media.

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James Fratzke: [00:00:17] Before we get started, I wanted to share with you that today's episode of the Back to Business podcast is brought to you by Infinity Bank. Infinity Bank is Southern California's newest bank, specifically designed to help you and your business succeed. When you call Infinity Bank, you will speak to a real person who works in the office, not someone in another state or even another continent. The people at Infinity Bank are business owners just like you. So they understand what it takes to own and operate a business, especially in times like these. Call Infinity Bank today. I have personally spent time with both Bolla and Victor, the CEO and president. They will work with you to find ways to help. Don't waste any more time hoping your bank will get back to you. Call them today at 657-223-1000 or visit them at go InfinityBank.com.

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James Fratzke: [00:01:12] Hello and welcome back to the podcast. Today we're talking to Charles Antis, the CEO and founder of Antis Roofing and Waterproofing. And this business has been a staple in Orange County for over 30 years. So I was really excited to get on a Zoome call with Charles and just talk about some of the ways that him and his team are reacting to this pandemic. And the conversation went in a direction that I really actually appreciated. And I think you will, too, because in this time, it's so easy to think about this scarcity model of keeping our budgets tight and not spending on things that don't directly impact the growth of our business. But when we get into with Charles, is this idea of giving back and bringing in other brands to come together and to help each other out and to help out the community. So let's jump into it. Please enjoy my interview with Charles Antis.

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James Fratzke: [00:02:08] Charles Antis, everybody. How the heck are you?

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Charles Antis: [00:02:11] I'm great, man. Excellent to be here with you, James. Good morning.

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James Fratzke: [00:02:14] Good morning to you. Now, I want to start with kind of a big question. You know, Antis Roofing has been around for over three decades, 30 years. Is this three month period with the COVID-19 pandemic just the craziest time ever or what?

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Charles Antis: [00:02:30] It's been really it's been really crazy. It's been crazy because it's affected everybody differently. It's crazy because we have to deal with the truth of what's out there and and the truth of the homes where all the employees go. That's why it's crazy. It's familiar. And that I have always had challenges being an entrepreneur and doing things wrong at times. But this is a challenging time for sure. It's a sobering time. I think that the main point I'd make there, though, is we haven't felt it yet. We haven't felt it yet. Now, that sounds insensitive. And I apologize to those that are that are not working or having a difficult time. But we haven't felt the way this is going to feel when the tail wags at the end. You know, it's we don't know and nobody knows. But there's a very good chance that we will all look back and say, oh, my God, yes, this was the biggest period. I mean, we were in a soft real estate market and commercially a year and a half ago, but we didn't know it. Looking back, we can see it when we look back at this time, we're gonna go, well, that was the that's what happened right before this. And that's it's a sobering time. And I'm very up on staying focused on what's out there. I'm very up on being plugged in to you and to everybody that governs everything. And also being plugged in to those people that do good in the community that that can help us as we move forward and reinvest some of the ways that we communicate and we do business. So, yeah, it's it's a tough it's an interesting, exciting, tough, challenging, beautiful.

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James Fratzke: [00:04:16] Yeah, no, absolutely. And, you know, one thing I want to get into the to the giving back part, but before we get into that, you know, you're in the construction industry. How has that been kind of trending or tracking along with the pandemic? Because some industries are impacted differently than others. What are some of the things that you're seeing?

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Charles Antis: [00:04:37] Well, I think there was an initial big fear came up throughout our industry. Coast to coast and the roofing industry, I just turned off the National Roofing Contractors Association board and I'm on the Roofing Alliance boards, other national boards. And there was an initial big fear of us not being able. Of us being halted and doing that essential service that we all do. Dude, we're like firefighters with a home or a hospital is invaded by the worst thing, water. Who's going to be there but us. And so for us, that wasn't it was clear to me there was a panic in the industry that was, I think, the first place where I knew I was to raise my voice because I didn't know what to do when this hit. Wow. I don't know what's happening. I don't know how to feel it. I don't have many stories to contextualizing. Compare I. But then there was a couple of things I was able to jump on with my experience. So it's an interesting time.

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James Fratzke: [00:05:37] Yeah. Absolutely. Well, let's get into the. The charity piece, because if anybody knows you personally here in Orange County, you are very involved and Antis Roofing is very involved. What are some of the things that you've been doing as a company to try and react in a positive way with the community amidst this kind of pandemic?

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Charles Antis: [00:06:00] I would like. I think I thank you for asking that. And I love talking about you being in and in corporate social responsibility, though I must confess, I was clueless. You know, I sit on the board of Nash. I'm sorry. Ronald McDonald House locally. I'm on the capital campaign, a double the size of the house. And I sit on the board last 10 years. Still do. Habitat for Humanity in other boards. And yet in all these places, I was paused and what I could say and should say. And so I just sat there until something happened. And what happened? And it took me 10 days to hear it. But the first thing I heard was, oh, my God, there's people in our community. There's young now. They're not going to school. And there's old people that don't have food and couldn't hear it right away. You know, if it's a novelty, sometimes when you first discover a homeless person before you realize he has a name and a story, you know is a novelty. So when you first hear this, it didn't hit. But then I heard it again from my my V.P. of H.R. Susan Degrassi. And then I heard it again on social media. And I one of my friends who from Waste Not OC Mike, he says, Charles, this is the biggest dilemma we have right now. And then it hit me. And so, you know, I did it raise my hand, what do I do? And he directed me to Second Harvest. And I went down and did the truck brigade. And I brought food to two elderly people in our community. And let me tell you, when I went inside those homes, I'm not inside, but to the front door, they hadn't seen anybody. It's like they come out from a war bunker and they. Thank you. And and then one of the seniors they gave the food to, she pulled up a used toothpaste and an old hotel bar soap and said, can you help me with this? And it was like, wow, how do I how do I touch these people? How do I help? Is this enough? But it became clear to me what was needed in the community and it was powerful. And then, you know what? These people, every bit everybody I dropped food off to, you know what they said? They said they said, bless you. You know, they said God bless you or they said bless you.

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Charles Antis: [00:08:14] And they said it over and over again. And I walked away. And I don't know. My experience in life is whenever somebody says that when they really mean it, I feel blessed. And so that was my first experience. And, you know, it's funny because I've talked about that a lot and I've tried to do the truck brigade again. I even showed up again last week and I forgot I was in my Escalade not my truck and they couldn't deliver. And I'm trying to set up another date right now. I haven't done it that much, but I, I did what I could. And you know what it did? It made me connected to what's now. And it opened up the conversation to so many other things that I can now see. The next thing we saw was blood and security. I didn't see it. We have a board member and Susan Degrassi at American Red Cross. And this was last year. We were anointed the Corporate Hero Award for Southern California chapter of American Red Cross. I'm going to be honest with you. I did not feel like we deserved that. I was I just felt funny about it, you know, because there's companies that do so much more. But now we're you know what? Tomorrow we're doing a blood drive. Here, we're doing a super drive. We're having like 60 people is going to treat 200 people. You know, we're doing next Wednesday another blood drive next month. We do a blood drive every Wednesday. So we're roofing company and we're a blood receiving company. And you know what I get out of that is what people get out of that. I get to hear these stories. I mean, this guy this guy comes in and tells me a story about. I joke with this guy said, hey, give me blood from both arms. And he sent me a story later and he said he grew up in a country. I believe it was Lebanon where there was a civil war and things fighting was so bad that people were dying in the hospital. But nobody could get to the hospital to deliver blood because of the fight, because of the war. He said the biggest man in the village one day heard this, and he walked and braved it and stormed into the hospital, opened up his arms. It said, take what you need, put both arms and don't stop till you have what you need. And he tells the story how that ignited passion in the countryside. And then everybody else showed up to give blood. And when he told me that story was more than what these people show up to give blood, because there is a dutiful servant that doesn't normally tell his story that we're hearing now. But it also just captures of what this what we can do in a pandemic. You know what is really needed? I mean, who would have thought that the space that we were going to lease out was going to be needed because we needed this big space to be safe during because all these small spaces were canceled? Who knew that it would happen? And so that's happening now. And now, you know, we know we talked earlier about how I'm helping with the California Love Drops, the wing dashes where we're bringing food, frontline people. And you know what? I've been doing that for almost a month now. And this is touching. Is it is it takes me a long time to catch up. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Look what we're able to do. But I just say yes. When people like Wing Ask because Wing is one of those people, Wing Lam of Wahoo's Fish Taco, who creates good. He's been doing it for a long time. That guy's donated more tacos. Two more things to benefit people and kids than I've ever seen. And he knows how to talk about it. I learned how to talk about my giving by watching wing talk about his gift, you know? But right now, it's those stories that matter. I'm still calling and talking to my Ronald McDonald donors, we're still doubling the size of the house. But right now, we're really just checking on our donors. How are you? How are you guys doing? This is not a time for me to ask somebody to. I just it has to flow from me. Philanthropy has to flow. We if we talk about that more, I'll tell you how how to line up with what's real with you. I know a lot of tools that I've allowed myself to be authentic in the moment and present doing the things that really awaken me and and breathe and bring an aliveness to my life. And that's why I'm on these boards. I would if we get to that. I would love to talk to how other people can bring that into their lives, into their businesses and to the people.

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James Fratzke: [00:12:20] Well, I think that's a good kind of Segway to to get into some of that, because one of the things that stood out to me when you were telling some of those stories and some touching stories. Thank you so much for sharing them with us. It was, you know, in this time, the first thing that we think about is a scarcity mindset. You know, OK, let's hoard as business owners and just make sure that we can brave the storm. But there are some industries, again, that are you know, as I'm thinking about supermarkets, for instance, you know, a lot of their sales are up 15, 20, 30 percent. And it's like, OK. You know, how do we get out of that scarcity mindset? And if our business is doing well, how do we get into an abundance mindset? And just talking about the importance of getting back in a time of uncertainty. But what are some of the positive kind of benefits that could be both out in the community, but also just to the morale of the team? I mean, what are some of the positive benefits of giving in a time that it's kind of hard to get?

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Charles Antis: [00:13:22] Well, I, I. Great question. I'll talk around it a little bit. I think that, yeah, if you're able if you're if you're making money right now and you still don't know what the future is going to hold. So invest in your community, man. Build up stock. Now, you're not making money right now. Invest in your community. It might be a little more challenging. You might have to borrow. You might have to be serviced and love and and plans, but invest. And you might be showing up, you know, with Wing delivering food to frontline workers. But do what you can. I think that it's it's really important today because today we're in a time where inauthenticity is raging. And by that, I mean, you know, I remember as a kid hearing about I think it was World War II. I'm not. I love history, but I make mistakes. But there was an enormous propaganda. Propaganda was a thing of the past. And there was a there was a propagandist that would that would work on the U.S. allies. And her name was Tokyo Rose. And and I I hope that I'm right to cut that out, if that's just like, dude, you are so far off. But I always was fascinated by that, that people could hear misinformation and believe it. And now we live in a world where most of the stuff that shows up on our feeds might be angled one way or the other. From what you are, the data that you read from credible sources says, wow. And we see how it's politicized and we see it in America. And it's scary no matter where you sit. But it's hard. Doesn't it feel like the same thing you saw happening in Britain first and we see it everywhere then inauthenticity is raging. What I say about you and what you say about me and what I say about myself and what you say about yourself is more far off than it's ever been. What a time. What a time to nail it. What a time to nail it. You know, this is this is crude, but I've known people as a lot of the listeners will, who have gone to prison. And there's this awesome, awful fact that everyone that's gone to a state prison will tell you that when they join, when they went to prison, they were forced to join a gang when I first heard that "poof". Absolutely, and it's the only way they can survive and protect themselves, and that's the only way the other gang members can protect and feel protected. It has to fall in order. And we have the same thing. But we we live in this thing where there's like this currency of social good today. And and we don't know it's tangible yet because we haven't started trading in it. But it's about to become a thing. I make fun of cryptocurrency because I don't understand it. And then I make fun of cryptocurrency people that claim they understand it when they explain it to me completely. You know, it's tangible yet. But this currency is becoming tangible. And right now, all you've got to do it to claim a piece of this is to show up. It's a little uncomfortable. You've got to show up in a real way. So what that means is you have to be aligned with cause that is real to you. I mean, it's got to be real to you. And even if it's not the popular thing that everyone else loves it, it'll still help your brand and help you thrive. But if you're going to get involved for the sake of your company with something that you love, that's also going to fulfill you. You have to need that. You have to need it for YouTube. Then it has to be aligned with who you truly are in your essence. And there's some ways that you can figure that out. But let's let's imagine this. Imagine you have this cause like me, like you can't imagine a child being left to hurt. It is unimaginable to ignore sick children. Then you would align with me on the rock because I'm a board member of Ronald McDonald House locally. Man, we can't ignore sick children were about keeping the families safe and close to their kids so that they can heal. And so there's a magic alignment there that's so much stronger than gang affiliation. I mean, you know, if you look on somebodies boarded, you went to USC and you found out that we went to USC. Man, they just went up 30, 40 percent. But when you think that everyone deserves a decent place to live and you see this person you just met serves on the board of Habitat for Humanity, man. Your alignment with him just went up a thousand percent. Him or her. Right. I catch myself saying him, and that's not what I mean. So, no, I just. Powerful. Although it's powerful what you can get to when and then you have this. You can have an aliveness in you you you mentioned earlier. There's this hoarding mentality where this abundance. So I have a confession to you, James. I sometimes wake up in the morning and and I don't want to say I have even recently I don't want to projected have woken up in the morning and I don't know what it is. It could have been a bad dream that I don't remember. But it's to hang on to hang on to everything. And it's that is that is a corrupted version of myself that is not my high self. But I use that series of tools in the morning, you know, journaling and stuff takes me a couple hours and I snap out of that and I get into a sense of this is a magic day. Don't overly define how it is. But I expect that today I'm going to be able to lift people and things and awaken people and feel one with my team and develop people. And I write those kind of goals down every day. I don't write those, I'm gonna make a million dollars, I've done that before, and I think it worked. But I believe it's not what's most important to me today. So today I really aligned. And I can tell you it's possible to get there. And by the way, if any of your listeners want to know how you can look, you can follow me on LinkedIn Charles Antis at LinkedIn, then I see only social media that I'm really active in. Our company is very active in a lot of other stuff, but I am really collaborative. I believe that the only way I can keep this and grow with it. And the future is so much different than what we've done so far. I mean, I have to give this away. I have to share and create with you. So I will I will always share if you want. My listeners want to know what we're doing and I will let you contact me. Charles at Antisroofing.com Because I believe we have to collaborate. We're better together. That was we were saying that before Corona We're ready to go. Right.

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James Fratzke: [00:19:58] All right. I want to take a quick break and pass it over to our Head of Client Strategy here in Fratzke Media. Lisa. Lisa, take it away.

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Lisa Fratzke: [00:20:07] Thank you, James.

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Lisa Fratzke: [00:20:08] I'm really excited to talk to this audience today because we've been talking to a lot of our clients at Fratzke Media and truly believe that now more than ever, it's important for mid-sized businesses to connect with their customers online. I think we've all seen that COVID-19, has had widespread impacts on companies, our employees and our economy. We fundamentally believe, Fratzke Media, that the rebound will be digital. If you don't know where to start and you want to make digital your competitive edge, we can help. Visit Fratzkemedia.com to schedule your free consultation. Our digital marketing experts specialize in helping mid-sized businesses like you leapfrog the competition. We look forward to talking to you soon.

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James Fratzke: [00:20:50] Thanks, Lisa. All right. Let's get back into it.

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James Fratzke: [00:20:53] You know, you mentioned team, and I'm I'm really curious, what are some of the things because we can go back and talk about what happened. You know, two months ago, around March 13, 14, 15. But I'm interested in moving forward as we get back to business. What are some of the things you're doing with your team, both the frontline workers and your executive team and the people that work in that corporate building? What are some of the things that you're thinking about moving into the future to help keep them safe? You know, just make sure that that you can keep the business going forward.

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Charles Antis: [00:21:26] Well, I. I love my team and I think we're being adaptive and we're doing good in the moment. But as much as I love my team, as much as I love myself, none of us are as adaptive as we need to be yet. It's the knowledge and you know, that is where it's almost always true, is true in the age we're moving into any way. And now we have this COVID and there are all these unknowns. So change you have to lead. You have to want you have to get in front of. So with me. I need to reach my team and I need us to because I want us to all be here next year. But I know we're gonna be doing it a little bit differently. I just don't know what that is. So how do you do that? You got it. You got to teach them that you're going to invest in them. And how do I do that? I have stories I tell them. I had something happen two months ago when I was still in shock. What's going on? I hadn't really raised my voice. She probably heard I was pretty as quiet as I'd been in the last two years. It always sudden are we feel the gate open during dinnertime. We look out the backyard and somebody in my backyard peek of COVID. And, you know, I get out there and I realized, oh, it's the pool guy. That's where it is. I guess he's an essential service. I'm working out in my head and he sees me. He doesn't make eye contact with me because he's not comfortable. There he goes. Hey, Charles. Hey. And by the way, I like Nick. I didn't really know, Nick. I didn't have. He is my pool guy for less than a year. Wasn't that close of a relationship. But then he says. He says, I brought something for you. I thought that was odd, especially then. So what's that? So I was thinking about your kids. How you know, they're going to school and now it's taken away and they're alone. And he pulls it out a little blow up in inner tube at a little beach ball. He didn't invest more than 10 bucks. But, you know, it's a small company and he's lost some accounts, I'm sure. And he's got a marketing spend and he's got and he's. And he did something. Did he give something of value? He did it at a time that I didn't know what to think. He gave me one of the first tangible stories that had happened to me. That was a person reaching out to somebody in the time that we were in an unprecedented times. And so it really made a profound impact on me. And he's now a pool guy of all pool guys. I mean, it's funny how that works when somebody shows interest in you. I mean, that's a big lesson in itself in marketing right there. But it also shows investment in your company. And I think that's what I'm trying to teach my team. We have to invest. Now, it's not enough. It's not enough that we have to invest more. I use the example of my team because I'm telling them we have to be frugal. We have to be frugal. And then I'm saying we have to invest with the best. Yes, we have to do both at the same time. You can't deny that's what it is. You can't be wasteful right now. But you can spend money on your community. You can spend money on your team. I use the example of Audrey Schneider. She is our V.P. of Finance. And I think she's a fantastic finance. And I'm so proud and invested in her that I. I pay for her to go to Vistage and Vistage investment when you count the time off or work and what you spend for it. It's easily 20 grand a year. And and I brought that spend up to my team with that amount and saying, hey, what's your Vistage not. I couldn't afford it if they all. But you know the nature. Right. Some people are showing up now. Now, we just found another thing. We're likely going to get them started with a Disney customer care training program. You know, if they're not going to raise their hand, we're going to give them ideas. We're going to we're going to work on change. Right now, we're talking about working with Second City TV or another deep blue strategy about, hey, how to get out of the normal thing. We have to think big. And by the way, the whole concept that Second City TV, if they come work with their company. So I saw them in Chicago at the Ronald McDonald House World Get Together. Second City TV does this thing on Thursday nights. It's called Taboo Night. And these are the acts that ultimately get to TV and said make it seven that live Taibu night. You're supposed to only bring stuff to the stage that would no way be allowed on TV. And if you start there, you end up with gems. And that's the point when business we. We think inside the box. We think inside the box. When we write it now we think we're being adapted. We're just working from home because we have the electronics. It's actually more convenient to have more time. No, we have to be adaptive. And that's why I love hanging around with people that are more hit from us right now. You know, the advantage on this is wrong for me to claim, but one advantage of those companies like restaurants that are hit hard right now that are scrapping to survive, those ones that are scrapping to survive. Those guys are teaching their team to be alive, present, authentic and adaptive in the moment, day by day and communicating with each other while they're doing it with with teamwork and nobody holding on too tightly to anything. You know, that's that's where they're advantages. And that's that's the ull that I'm afraid of for all of the organizations that I represent. And I sit on the boards of a lot of organizations. I'm concerned that we just lowline or we do one thing that works, right? No, we've figured it out. No. Just figured out one thing out. And last week was like five years ago in real time, if you go back and check. You know, so we're we're just in a time. Change in adaptivity. That's what I'm teaching. I can't say it enough. I'm going to figure out new ways to say it. There's I already have another story of an avocado tree blossoming in my backyard that pushed energy when we thought it was dying. It push energy to every little look and cranny. And then everywhere there's sun. Now there's avocados and all the other avocado tree lit. All those other buds go to waste and invested to find out where the new strategies were. And, you know, I'm seeing that everywhere. And I think that I have to push to change in adaptivity. And I also have to push get involved in the community and build the alignment with brands that people can trust you. Because, by the way, I was saying all of this two years ago. Right now, it's so escalated and true. And, you know, even this thing right now that we're going through, I don't talk politics. I just don't. But it is hoped, politicized and will be for ever. It'll be there'll be two different encyclopedias written on it. There'll be a hundred thousand. You know, it's like we need to get to what's real. And I'm all about talking about what's real when I'm in Ronald McDonald House. We're talking about what's real. When I'm out with we feeding frontline health workers men, when we these health workers came out of this senior center we were went to a couple of weeks ago and they like they haven't seen light. You know, they were and they were just so proud that they had zero COVID and they were so grateful for the meals, just like the nurses last night did a post. I linked them this morning. I wanted to get that up before I met these nurses, man. They had these masks on, but their eyes were so smiley. They were so grateful. And when I get to go experience that, it like fills me up for the next month. And so that's it fills my team up . I brought it employee last night. Arly Hernandez, the first time you got to go do this. And we were hanging out with KOLS, Wing Lam, all these awesome people, Monster Energy Drink and we're able to do this really cool thing together. And now you know Arly, I mean she's awesome anyway. But now I'm so happy for Arly and I, we got the story together and we're going to get the whole sales team out there right now. We're going to bring a bunch of property managers out there. You know, it's like it's it's contagious. Doing good is contagious is gonna think of a better word. You know, it's to set you on fire and you have to spread that to other people. And then it gives you presence and then people come to you to do more. And then, you know, always it's like Wing Lam has his own orbit and I get to hang out with them, which is orbit's I get to hang out with all these people with this that just bring good all around them and they have trust around them. And Wing Lam, call me, he'll say what you do this and I sometimes I pull out my wallet. You know what? I trust him because he does good. And that's I think we're going to get back to that. You know, all this contractual Western thinking of money, money, money, profit, profit, profit. The people that aren't smart enough to figure it out for themselves. I'm done with that. I think I think we're done with that. We just don't all know it yet. That's the world we're walking into.

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James Fratzke: [00:30:15] I absolutely love that. And it's inspirational. And the hope is that, yeah, through times like this, it pulls people together. And to your point, we're in kind of this uncharted territory from a political standpoint. I don't talk politics either, so I'm not going to break that rule today. But my hope is that that instead of continuing that divide, that we we get closer together. I love what you said there about, you know, thinking about our communities in a way of we're all in this community together. And if we can help kind of distribute the help in different ways, in the ways that we can, and we can all do it the same. Sometimes it's a penny, sometimes it's a dollar. Right. But, you know, whatever we can do, I think it's important as companies to try to do that. I really loved that thought as we kind of turn third and head home here. I want to just give you the opportunity to give the final word. Is there anything that you'd like to share before we wrap up today that we haven't talked about yet?

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Charles Antis: [00:31:18] You know, we tiptoed around one thing that's happening right now and and that's this group of businesses, a lot of them with a majorly disrupted model right now because of lack of of patrons that are getting together right now in the moment to the people that are protecting us, frontline health, health workers, local police, fire. You know, they'll they're going to show up tomorrow early morning for the blood drive. So all those people that come here to the American Red Cross blood drive, they'll have this refreshment.

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Charles Antis: [00:31:55] Even yogurt's we're going to be taking yogurts, bringing it back from the freezer when they come out. We did that last time, you know, just because that extra little appreciation and what that means to those people when they see Wing there, when they come out and give their blood, as you know, a lot of people that give blood, they're they're scared and they still give blood. And so it's interesting, a lot of people to be appreciated at a normal least somber event is really cool. But I I think that I want to get back to what Wing and KLOS and Monster Energy and hit water. And all these companies are doing it because it's brilliant. It's the future. They're taking what's there right now and taking real needs in the community, which create real stories, which will create real culture in their company, which will create real brand elevation. And as we move forward, we'll all going to we're going to crave Wing's tacos, man. We already crave them because it's the healthiest food at that price point. It has food price point. But, I mean, we're going to crave it because we know with every bite of that food, good is being done. I mean, not just good for kids and non-profits everywhere, but good for businesses that are trying to survive. He's creating innovation in the moment. And I say, hell yeah, I'm gonna go that. You know why? Because I haven't had my pain yet. Our sales are down right now. And that makes sense to me, but it scares me. I don't know the answer, but I think around people like Tim that are innovative in the moment and generous in the moments. Wing's the one whose restaurant is pinched. And yet he's got his workers in there and he's building burritos and delivering into frontline people. I just find that beautiful. And that's happened with us before. We couldn't get anyone else to donate to Habitat. We didn't want to give all the risk for 10 years. We couldn't get another roofer to do it. I couldn't say no. And and that's been such an important story that propels us today of who we are. And that's why we're so good at keeping families safe and dry. And that's why Wing is so good at bringing healthy food to you. And yet, you know, all the brands that show up to do good in the moment. This is real life happening. It's not just the good we're doing, it's the networking. We're creating an innovation and the moment to rebuild the way business is going to be done. This is where handshake's can be made quickly. When you go to lunch with somebody for two years to get to know them, to shake their hand, you could make that same progress in two months if you sat side by side with this person as a board member for Habitat for Humanity. When you get to purpose, real value is created quickly and structure is able to be built at a much faster pace.

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James Fratzke: [00:34:41] I love that. Yeah. That's great. I mean, the concept you've outlined there, it's a win win, win, win, win, win. You know, and I think that now is the time for those things to start to develop. And I. I totally agree with you there. Well, I'm going to say goodbye, Charles. And I really appreciate your time today. Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it.

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Charles Antis: [00:35:07] I loved it.

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James Fratzke: [00:35:10] Well, that was an inspirational interview with Charles, and I really appreciate him taking the time. Before one of his blood drives today to sit down with us and share some of his takeaways from navigating through this COVID-19 world that we're all living in. So in each episode of Back to Business, I'd like to go back into the interview and pull out three digital marketing strategies that we can take into our mid-sized businesses and use them not only to survive, but to thrive in this post COVID-19 world that we're all living in. You know, we believe at Fratzke Media that the rebound will be digital. So now is the time to invest in your digital marketing strategies and how that infiltrates into your 4 Ps, your people, your platforms, your partners and your processes. So let's get into my three takeaways from today's episode. Number one, and I love that Charles is a great storyteller because storytelling translates to all digital channels. So the first takeaway is be a storyteller and more than just be a storyteller, be a digital first storyteller. How can you communicate some of the things your business is doing through your website, social media and other content marketing avenues? My second takeaway is to be collaborative. Now is the best time from a digital marketing perspective to bring in other brands and think about how you can tell a unified story. And right at the end of our interview, I love what Charles kind of dubbed as his new normal of businesses coming together to help each other and to help the community. And my third takeaway here is to be innovative. I love how Charles was talking about different ways to innovate within your company, whether that means, again, serving the community in new innovative ways or even how to serve your team in new innovative ways. And I think that translates really well to digital marketing. Think about your business. Have you invested in the necessary digital marketing channels to make sure that you don't only survive, but you thrive in this new normal? I promise you that the consumer trends that have started before COVID and during COVID of being on our phones and thinking about that digital experience, they're only going to accelerate as things start to open back up. So now is the perfect time to start thinking about how can you digitize your business? How can you use digital marketing channels to better tell your story, innovate and collaborate? Until next time. Folks, I appreciate you spending time with me today, and we will talk really soon. Have a great day.

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James Fratzke: [00:37:53] Well, that's it for today's episode of the Back to Business podcast. You know, if you like what you heard today, join the bank that believes in businesses like these and like yours, Infinity Bank. I was just speaking with Victor and Bolla at Infinity Bank recently, and they shared with me how they find ways to help businesses and their owners succeed regardless of the challenges they're facing. Come to Infinity Bank. They will remind you why having a banker is more important than just having a bank. Infinity Bank, Southern California's best bank.

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James Fratzke: [00:38:30] Everyone, one last thing before you leave. Make sure you go to whatever platform you're listening to the Back to Business podcast on and leave us a positive review. Every rating and review really helps us grow the show and make sure you share it with people in your professional network so we can help other people like you and your mid-sized business get back to business. undefined

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