From executive presence coaching to giving companies an edge with emotional intelligence, Rich Bracken does it all. And by all, we mean those things, plus being a DJ, and emcee, a client service expert… the list goes on and on. He’s even built a playlist of “must sing out loud songs” to give you the energy to complete your to-do list.
In today’s marketing tip, we ask what AI knows about your company.
And…as promised here’s the DJ Rich Bracken curated playlist for your listening pleasure: Car Karaoke Playlist
TRANSCRIPT:
Welcome to the Small Business Miracles podcast.
I’m Jeff Randolph. This small business podcast
is brought to you by EAG Advertising and Marketing.
We’re going to talk about marketing and we’re
also here to celebrate entrepreneurs. We have
marketing news and advice that business owners
can use to keep moving forward. Today we’re talking
to entrepreneur keynote speaker, DJ, MC, and
emotional intelligence educator, Rich Bracken.
But first, we have another marketing tip to talk
about. Have you ever asked yourself, what would
an AI pull from my website? Well, it turns out
that’s the new golden question. And fortunately,
you don’t have to wait long to find out the answer.
Just go do a search on the AI platform of your
choice and find out. It’ll be happy to tell you.
The results it gives aren’t an accident. We know
what’s going on behind the scenes, and the method
is going to vary by platform. So if you don’t
like what you saw in the response, you can work
on that. And here’s what we know to be true right
now. To win in this new landscape, your content
on your website needs to be, first, structured
clearly. Think headings, bullet points, short
paragraphs. It needs to be supported by metadata.
Those are the behind -the -scenes coding tags
that help search engines read your pages. And
it has to be built on authority. So trust and
credibility and accuracy now impact both AI and
traditional search engine optimization. So we
can… do deep dive here because this is having
a real impact on businesses right now so for
today’s quick marketing tip just start just go
ask go ask several different platforms and if
the results surprise you or if they terrify you
we have some resources on the website that can
help point you in the right direction and that
is today’s small business All right, I’m here
on the feature interview section of our show,
and I’m with Rich Bracken. Rich, welcome to the
show. Thank you so much for having me. I’m excited
to be here. Yeah, you are. So let me walk through
this, because you are a keynote speaker, you’re
a DJ, you’re an emcee, you’re a client service
expert, a consultant focused on emotional intelligence,
and so much more. I didn’t even get through all
of the tabs of the website to know all of the
things that you do. Your bio says… You simply
won’t meet anyone like him. And I agree. Give
us an idea of your journey so far, because there
are a lot of things that you’ve crammed into
this career. Oh, my gosh. Between my career and
my life resume, it’s bonkers. Let’s not even
get into the life resume. We don’t have time
for that. There’s so many good things there,
though. Oh, OK. OK. But honestly, I have this
journey that has the same. points of interest
along the ways of serving people, helping people,
you know, creative ideas, how we bring emotion
into work, because I think that is a lost art.
And maybe it wasn’t even an art to be lost in
the beginning, but I feel like it’s something
that needs to be more of a focus. And so along
my journey, I’ve tried to figure out ways that
I can be that person, be that example in an organization,
or be that example to colleagues or whomever.
to be that source of positivity, that source
of a differentiated approach to things, but truly
caring about what’s going on and bringing emotion
into the workplace. Because I think there is
that separation of, oh, I’ve shown up to work.
I’ve got to be this person. I’ve got to put on
this facade. And that, to me, if you’re leaving
your true self behind, you’re not contributing
what you should be to your organization. Yeah,
yeah. And your career so far has led you to,
I’ll point to the time where we caught you. And
that was at the Greater Kansas City Chamber of
Commerce Small Business Awards luncheon. And
you are the keynote. Yes. and a dj right you
but but not really at the same time you like
your your dj stuff was there and you found a
way to blend the the dj side into the emotional
intelligence side it was a an amazing keynote
you crushed it absolutely so like everyone there
was like we’re dancing like people are standing
up at a chamber event and dancing in at a meal
at a lunch like at a lunch not even at a dinner
where there were cocktails it was a lunch this
was a dry event Like, you know, some people could
have snuck off to a bar ahead of time, but most,
I’m guessing, aren’t in the agency world and
didn’t do that. Right, right. Like, you were
able to combine all of those things. Maybe talk
about that event, even, and kind of the DJ set.
Because you could tell you brought… The passion
for two things that you love and do well and
brought them together into one single event.
Yeah, and the journey part of it. First of all,
thank you for the compliments. That to me, it
was emotional for me because I’m a Kansas City
guy to be asked by the Chamber of Commerce to
stand in front of people who I’m a small business
owner as well. So to stand amongst my peers,
especially the top ones in our city, it got me
in the feels big time. I mean, I bring passion
and emotion to every single presentation I do,
no matter where I do it. But that was special
for me. But what happened, so kind of back up
and bring the journey in. So in October
I had been speaking on the side of my career
for a while, about six years. So October
I went out on my own and decided, you know, if
I’m ever going to do this, I need to dive in
%. Time is now. Right, exactly. And so I think
at that point, you know, as a small business
owner, as a solopreneur, frankly, it’s terrifying.
But at the same time, I knew that that was what
I was meant to do. And all along the way of me
speaking, I had this emotional intelligence journey
that I was talking about, how I came through
almost a near heart attack. And that’s what got
me into emotional intelligence. And so as my
speaking career kept building, I kept trying
to find a way to differentiate. And I’ll never
forget a conversation I had with a very good
friend of mine who’s a very well -known keynote
speaker. And she said, you know, I’m trying to
break through this ceiling of differentiation.
I’m trying to get more bookings, trying to raise
my rate, trying to improve my business stance.
And she said, well, you talk about music in your
presentation, right? And I said, yeah. She goes,
didn’t you used to be a DJ? I said, yeah, I was
a national touring DJ for years, open for
Kelly Rowland and Avicii when he was alive. You’re
like, oh, that? Yes. Oh, that little blip on
the radar? Yeah. Let me look at the resume.
years? Oh, yeah, I do recall playing in front
of ,people at Arrowhead Stadium. I do
remember that. I’m glad you brought that up.
And so I thought, you know, how do I incorporate
more music into it? And I had, frankly, I’d sold
off all my DJ equipment years ago. And so it
gave me an excuse, one, to go buy a really nice
new toy. But two, it gave me the opportunity
to blend the best of both worlds that are passionate
to me, like you said, emotional intelligence
and music. It has blown things wide open because
nobody’s doing what I’m doing. And I think especially
from an advertising standpoint or from a business
standpoint, from a marketing standpoint, you
want to find that thing that you’re a category
of one. And right now, that’s me. And so it is
just this phenomenal journey. And like you said,
what I love about it is that it breaks rooms
open. I’ve talked with, you know, I got a standing
ovation. My first standing ovation as a speaker
was with an agricultural and construction equipment
sales company. Yeah, yeah. And I don’t know if
you can, you know, if you’re listening to the
podcast, you can’t see me. Go look at one of
my pictures and you will tell immediately. I
had no business being in that room. Like I walked
in that room. I was the only dude without a beard.
I was the only one without tattoos. I was probably
the only one without tobacco, something in my
system. Sure. And they gave me a standing ovation,
but that to me proves that number one, we all
need emotional intelligence and we all need to
kind of dive into who we are and what we truly
need. And number two, music breaks everybody
up. Right. Right. And, and so that knock on,
and I’ll try to knock on wood gently so I don’t,
I don’t deafen people. But everybody likes music.
I have asked every single crowd that I’ve ever
stepped in front of, who doesn’t like music?
Does anybody not like music at all? And thank
goodness nobody has ever raised their hand. A
cultural level set. It’s the lowest common denominator
for all human animals. And it bonds the room
on that foundational level. We all love music.
We all have something in our bodies that responds
to music. And so that sets the tone moving forward.
And you saw firsthand how I bring in the different
music elements, the polling, the samples that
I play. And again, to your point, to kind of
bring it full circle, if you can get people dancing
at a business lunch in the middle of the week,
there’s something there. There’s magic. And I’m
proud of that. That is one thing I will stand
on. Well, and you kind of… mentioned the the
heart attack and emotional intelligence describe
that a little bit so that because the emotional
intelligence part um is is something that that
you started leaning into because of that sure
Yeah. So I was working in a law firm as a business
development person, not managing my stress levels,
not managing my schedule, my sleep, everything.
I can’t relate. I don’t understand. You don’t
know what stress is. Don’t know what you mean.
No one listening. Right. Nobody has ever felt,
everybody that’s listening, I’m glad that you’ve
never been stressed because I will take, I will
fall on that sword for everyone. Ignore the rest
of this. Right. But I, you know, one day I’m
sitting in my office, I thought I was having
a heart attack. I had all the symptoms of it.
You know, arm went numb, sweating, heart rate
was going through the roof. So I drove myself
to the ER, got checked in, doc comes in. I’m
hooked up to the EKG machine. Doc comes in and
says, good news, bad news. Good news is it’s
not a heart attack. Bad news is it’s a massive
panic attack. Let’s talk about some stuff. And
so we dive into my lifestyle, what I’m doing,
not doing. And he said, you know, honestly, I
have a very stressful job myself. I’ve been studying
this thing called emotional intelligence. There’s
this book called Emotional Intelligence .
You got to go pick it up. It’s fantastic. It’s
practical. It’s easy read. And it’s really transformed
my life. So I do that. And the book is wonderful.
Lots of practical things, lots of great applications.
And then so I study the book, make the changes,
see the proof. And then I combine my passions
that I have this knowledge. I want to share it
with people because I want to help. And then
I also had the personality that my dream job,
and I’m just putting this out there in the ether,
my dream job is to host The Price is Right. It
has been since I was five. And so then I start
on this journey. And now come full circle, I
guess maybe eight years later, I’m now the brand
ambassador for that company that wrote the book
Emotional Intelligence .So it is truly a
full circle moment. But that helps me also bring
the levity of the fact that I’m not just up here
telling you something you should do. I’ve lived
this. And I live it every single day. And it
was, I mean. You got a prescription for a book
on emotional intelligence. That’s not something
we normally write. It was the lowest co -pay
I’ve ever had in my life. Let’s get into the
emotional intelligence piece in thinking about
what it does for a business. Not just the CEO,
but also the… company culture itself to talk
about because you, you, you, you speak on that.
You, you consult for those kinds of things to
tell me, tell me more about what it can do for
the organization. Yeah. So, and I shared some
of these statistics during the chamber event.
And so a lot of the things that I talk about
are performance based, but it’s, it’s everybody
investing in themselves to raise their performance.
So the organization can thrive overall. And so
it’s statistics like % of your performance
has to do with your emotional intelligence. So
you can be really, really smart. But if you can’t
carry on conversations, if you can’t manage your
emotions, if you can’t listen to people, you’re
not going to perform at the level that you should
be. Companies that are investing in emotional
intelligence raise their revenue by %. They
have a times higher likelihood of outperforming
their competitors based on the investment in
emotional intelligence. But it raises innovation.
It raises communication, teamwork, all these
different things. But at the same time, too,
a lot of the culture of your organization, if
you are an emotionally intelligent organization
consistently, if your leadership is showing emotional
intelligence habits and features, people are
going to want to come to your organization. And
your team, your employees are going to want to
talk about your organization to attract that
talent. So it’s really important that organizations
invest in this. And I will say the one thing
that makes me cringe more than like black licorice,
which I can’t say, is when people call emotional
intelligence a soft skill. Because that dismisses
the true value of what it is. I keep calling
it a critical skill until everybody changes their
mind. Yeah. Yeah. It seems like. There are a
lot of things that a business will do to get
a competitive advantage. We’ll do everything
from, hey, let’s improve morale by sending everybody
to pottery class or let’s do a cooking class
together to any of the business things that you
might invest in to get an advantage. But the
numbers you’re throwing out, soft skill or not,
whatever you call it, there’s real… power there.
There’s real advantage that you can get from
it. So there’s data galore on how it helps the
organizations on all levels, on all, not just
the CEOs, but you know, your, your entry -level
employees. But like I said, there’s so many different
characteristics of your business and so many
characteristics of your teammates and colleagues
that improve through emotional intelligence.
And so it really, to me is the best ROI activity
any organization can invest in. And I’m, yeah,
I’m a little bit biased because I’m passionate
about the topic, but I’ve seen it in action.
Yeah. And our organization trains people on how
they can be more emotionally intelligent. And
then also how they can kind of, we do like a
train the trainer thing that organizations can
holistically become more emotionally intelligent
by using their internal resources and, and prescribed
by a doctor. Like it doesn’t get better. Exactly.
Exactly. Also for black licorice. I think it’s
genetic. I think you either have a gene that
you like it or you hate it. There’s nobody who’s
like, oh, black licorice. Yeah, I get every now
and then I dabble with it. Yeah, exactly. No,
it’s one. It’s on off one zero. Exactly. I put
it up there with snakes and spiders, too. No,
same. So another topic that you talk about is
is executive presence, specifically to help leaders
and salespeople stand out from the crowd. Talk
about that work and some of some of the things
you do there. Yeah, it’s a wonderful opportunity.
Again, part of executive presence is emotional
intelligence. So that’s how I learned about executive
presence. It’s the road. Yeah, exactly. So it
was the entry, you know, the gateway drug into
executive presence was emotional intelligence.
But executive presence is really that gravitas.
Like, what are you doing? How are you showing
up? How are you communicating with people? How
do people feel about you when you walk in the
room? Right. And it’s everything from your personal
brand, your communication, how you are as a public
speaker, how you’re conveying information, how
you’re taking really hard data, crunching it
down to a story. All of those things make up
your executive presence. And there are hundreds
of millions of dollars that are lost every single
year because executives can’t communicate effectively.
Salespeople can’t communicate effectively. Which
alone is, you know, again, there’s a hard number
there associated with the idea of improving executive
presence holistically in the organization as
well. But, you know, when I talk with people
about public speaking, because I also do public
speaking coaching, they’re like, oh, my gosh,
I can’t understand how you get up and do what
you do. Like, number one, I was born without
that fiber, so I’m lucky. Like, I was born without
the fiber of liking black licorice, and I’m born
with the fiber of loving public speaking. Like,
I’m just never afraid of it. They’re on opposite
genes. They really are. They really are. And
thank goodness I got that combination. That’s
right. But when I coach people, I talk to them
about what are you talking about? What is your
perspective? That is where the confidence is
built because everybody gets up there and thinks,
well, I’m going to say something and somebody
else is not going to believe me or not see me
as an expert. I’m like, your perspective makes
you an expert of one. Right. And how do we communicate
that to an audience? How do we communicate that
to our team? So understanding how you can be
more present, how you can convey confidence in
public speaking is all about executive presence.
And I like the way the personal brand side of
that is included. You mentioned personal brand
and, you know. what, what your reputation is
before you walk in the room. Oh, absolutely.
And so what are you, what are you putting out
on LinkedIn? What are you, how are you communicating
with people? I like all the way that comes together.
Yeah. And I think one of the best compliments
that I’ve gotten from a personality standpoint
is the idea that, you know, when I go and speak
with a company or I, I, you know, engage at a
conference, somebody will say, Oh my gosh, you’re
exactly how you are on social media, which is.
That’s sad. It’s a great compliment, but it’s
sad to say that that’s the state of social media.
There is a difference between the personality
of online and in person. But two, how you show
up is everything. Your social media presence
is huge. But if you think about, for anybody
that’s listening, think about the three people
that you feel most confident and comfortable
around. They’ve got a presence to them. Nobody
really feels comfortable and confident with somebody
that comes in and is mumbling and is negative
and doesn’t know how to communicate. We have
a different feel and a different vibe when that
person walks in the room. We all have been there.
We’ve all experienced that. So if you go to that,
you have a version of that for you. You don’t
have to be them. But if you improve your presence,
your confidence, your public speaking, even your
appearance at times, it has a big impact on your
executive presence. Yeah, for people watching
in any kind of short that we do on this. that
are going to see the shirt I’m wearing and the
clothing may not match up to what we’re doing.
This is a pre -th of July shirt. I love it,
though. I love it. To me, it shows your personality.
I think it’s fantastic. I’m very atypical. I
like wearing black clothing, but when you see
me on stage, you saw me. Oh, yeah, yeah. Bright,
vibrant. You’re there. Presence. Exactly. Well,
I’m going to use that as a good jumping -off
point to get us into the lightning round. Are
you ready for the lightning? I am ready. No way
to know what kind of thing we might have. And
I’m going to I’m going to start this out by by
talking about, you know, off of the executive
presence. There are a lot of things you do, whether
it’s speaking or coaching or training where you
have to be on. Are you the kind of person who
just is you thrive on on and you thrive on being
on stage? Or do you get to a point where you’re
like, I can’t people anymore. I need to shut
down. I need to get behind a closed door and
not ever talk again. So yes to both. Um, I will
say I am, I’m an ambivert. So I, you know, yes,
I am completely fulfilled as a person when I’m
on stage, when I’m helping people, when I’m entertaining
people, if I can make people smile and laugh
or think that that fuels me. And so when I get
off stage, I’m engaging with people and I’m talking
with people and that’s great. But the minute
I’m out, I’m listening to Sade, not talking to
anybody. And so exactly. And I did it as a DJ
too. Like I would play my long sets and it would
be loud and high energy and everything else.
And I would have to just tuck in. and refuel
with quiet and with calm. Um, and you know, I,
I will say that I profess my love for Sade all
the time, so that’s not a new thing. Um, but
she is, she is my go -to, you know, I listen
to very calm music whenever I’m not on to refuel.
And I have those days too, where I’m just like,
I can’t people, I’m not going to take meetings.
I have to get head down work done, but also I
need to refuel myself or I’ve got a busy month
coming up this month. I know that I’ve got to
rest now because it’s going to get chaotic for
the next three weeks. There’s a lot of power
in being able to know that about yourself. Oh,
absolutely. This is what I need to be able to
be on next. Correct. Because being on is important.
You’ve got to show up for that. Absolutely. I’m
going to tap into some of the DJ knowledge. This
will also give engineer Theo an opportunity to
drop in some samples. So we’re good here. I’m
excited. This is going to be fun. We talked about
Sade. Do you have a must -sing -out -loud song?
Like if you get in the car, turn it on, you can’t
stop singing. Like it’s a driveway moment. Yes.
And I can make a playlist for you to share with
your audience. There are way too many songs to
fit into one. I will say the most recent one
right now, well, there’s two. So Chris Calico
is a buddy of mine. He has a song called Unstable,
which just has a great mental health message,
but also has a great chorus that he sings out
loud. And hopefully one day I can sneak my way
on stage and sing backup for him. That’d be great.
But then there’s another band called Fame on
Fire that I’m a big fan of that I’ve had. interactions
with them as well. They have a song called uh,
chains. That is just a great, it’s a great driving
song. You know, those great rock songs that you
roll the windows down and you just shout it out.
I won’t sing it now. Cause I want people to listen
to the rest of the podcast. We’ll drop that.
Yeah. I’ll, I’ll, I’ll send a performance later
on for another short. Um, but yeah, I’ll build
it. I’ll build a fun little sing out loud playlist.
That would be delightful. That is wonderful.
Yeah. My next one is, is, um, the song that is
guaranteed to bring energy to the room. Cause
like we talked lunch, uh, at a, at a chamber
event and, and, you were able to get everybody
there. So what is that magical kind of song that
takes you people? So I’ll divulge the secret
here. So my bookend songs are September by Earth,
Wind & Fire. That gets everybody in a good mood.
I think psychologically, it’s one of the most
happy songs in the entire discography of music.
And then the end song is Yeah by Usher. And so
those two songs will work with whatever room.
So I think on the law of averages, now, is everybody
going to be an Usher fan? Probably not. No, but
you’ll feel it. But it works. You’ll feel it.
It works. I think it gets there. I’ll take it
the opposite direction. What DJ classic has had
well over its minutes of fame? And it’s time
to move along. It’s the song you may have to
play it at some point. you know, let’s, let’s
move along now. Um, I’m, I’m going to go with
YMCA now. Now that won’t be necessarily the most
popular response. Um, and I’ve got Theo, I’ve
got a great video clip that I’ll share with you
as well, where recently at a keynote, somebody
shouted out, like, I love improvving and ad -libbing
from the stage. And one of the people in the
audience shouted out in the middle of my presentation,
play YMCA. And I was like, as a DJ, I’m like,
Oh God. Oh no. you know, thankfully I had it
and I played it and I will say this, I maybe
have a little bit more affinity for it because
it caused people to get up and stand up
and do the YMCA. So it works. So it works. It’s
that, it’s that juxtaposition of like, I know
it works, but I don’t, I don’t, I’d rather not.
You could, it’s a, nobody tells DJ requests what
to play. Let them tell you what to play. They
lose respect for you. They lose respect for you.
You lose control. Not today. DJ Request says,
no, I’m not playing that. Freebird was the other
one. Somebody shouted Freebird and I said, no.
That’s a lot. I mean, if you move it just to
the right spot in the song, maybe. Just no. I’m
just going to shut that down. No. Hard no. Did
you have a coach or mentor or teacher who gave
you some advice that just sticks with you to
this day, that is just solid advice you depend
on? you know, real sticking power there. Yeah.
I, I had the ability to work, um, a contract
marketing job in England back in grad school.
And there was a guy that I worked with named
Malcolm. He was my boss, my mentor, you know,
kind of oversaw my work and I’ll never forget.
We, so we were, we went to dinner and we were
driving back to the, to where my flat was and
we stopped and he goes, can I show you something
real quick? I said, yeah, absolutely. So we stop
and there’s this gorgeous church, like beautiful
church and everything in England is old. So it’s
like, you know, this, and he, he pulls up and
he talks about leadership. And he goes, look
at that church. That church was built in like
something. He said it was built on the concept
of an idea of something that people couldn’t
see. They didn’t have the technology, yet there
are big boulders that make this what it is. And
there are intricate carvings. He said, leadership
to me is this vision. The vision that you can
say to people, this is what we’re going to do.
This is what we need to do. And this is how we’re
going to make it happen. So he said, the fact
that this was created on the belief of something
that you could not see, that people risk their
lives and their health to build with no technology
is fascinating to me. And so that always stuck
with me of how do you get people emotionally
to do something? Because you can, you can. carrot
and stick somebody into doing something, but
how do you convey an emotional moment or how
do you convey a vision that people are like,
Oh my gosh, I have to do this. This is important
for us to do. Right. Exactly. It’s a nice thing.
Well, that is, that is, that is great advice.
That is great advice. I mean, it reminds me a
little bit of, of the same kind of risk that
you would take in building the St. Louis arch
today. Right. Oh my gosh. Like when I, I’ve done
the, I’ve done the tour to, to that. Uh, I, I,
I don’t know if I recommend it. I’m afraid of
heights, so I’m not going to do it. I am the
same way. I am the same way. And so the video
that you watch ahead of time talks about the
conditions, you know, at the time the thing was
built and how, you know, there is a… We didn’t
have OSHA. We didn’t have any kind of safety
regulations. And so you were just at the whim
of whatever kind of baron was cracking a whip.
But they expected X number of people to die on
this project. And watching the clips of people
scaling the side of this thing, building it,
and I’m going, with my fear of heights, I would
come back to the family at the end of the day
and say, we’re going to starve. There’s, we will
just die. There will be nothing we can do here.
This is, this is the end of the road where we
can’t do this, but you know, somebody had a vision
for it and they said, we must build this. Right.
And, and you go, you’re going to have to convince
me quite a bit to be able to make this happen.
Cause yeah, you could, your life is at risk at
that point. Exactly. A giant boulder in, in
Like that’s a, that’s a serious consideration.
Yeah. I didn’t expect to go on a rant on a fear
of heights. Heights in architecture. Did not
see that coming in a lightning round, but here
we are. Here’s my, my last, no, no, let me, let
me go with a different one first. Marketing.
Cause you, you’ve had a marketing career as well.
You’ve, you’ve had some roles that really got
there. Was there something that that marketing
piece taught you that you’ve, you’ve, you know,
kind of kept with you as well, or, or a takeaway
from that marketing career that you’ve had? Yeah.
You know, I will say that in my marketing career,
the one thing that I learned really quickly is
that, you know, so, Sometimes in marketing, we
get mired down and like, we’re trying to drive
sales. We’re trying to, you know, here’s the
brand, all the different things. But at the end
of the day, if you’re not connecting with your
audience, you’re missing the whole point. You
can go out with a great marketing campaign or
you can go out with a great idea or you can go
out with a great product. But if you’re not truly
meeting your clients or your audience with where
they are and where you’re taking them, where
they need to go, you’re missing the whole point.
And so I’ve worked with organizations like, oh,
we ought to do this. This is gonna be a great
marketing idea. I’m like, for us. And is it going
to really resonate with our audience? Probably
not. It’ll drive some incremental sales. But
is it going to blow us through the roof? Absolutely
no. Or I think this is a great idea. And I’ve
shot down ideas before. I’m like, there’s no
way I’m letting this out the door. There’s no
way. Because it doesn’t match up with what our
audience needs to hear. It doesn’t match up with
going back to the sentiment and the emotion that
you’re creating. It doesn’t give that. Sometimes
the audience wants to hear YMCA. You just give
it to them. And I would, I would resign like
that person at the arch. My family would starve.
We’re going to start. I’m sorry. Sorry. We’re
going to start. Uh, last lightning round question.
Um, the most kick -ass party you’ve ever been
to. Oh, my God. Been to? I mean, you could have
been working, could have been attending. Like,
you’ve seen some stuff. Yeah. You’ve been to
some parties. I’ve been to some parties. I’ve
been to some events. I will say opening for Avicii
at the Midland Theater here in Kansas City was
by far the most energetic. Wow. The most emotional,
the most connected I’ve ever felt to an audience
as well. Um, that group that was there that,
and this was towards the beginning of when the
levels first erupted and he was really coming
on the scene. That’s when he performed here.
And, and even to the point where like his sound
went out in the middle of his set, like the lights
and everything were still on, but the sound completely
shot out. And, you know, for me, it was amazing
because it was just, it was a dream come true
to open for somebody that big. It was a dream
come true to play on the Midland theater stage.
Like that was just exquisite. But in the moment
where his sound went out and of course, you know,
I’ve been there before where something technical
happens and everybody’s scrambling behind the
scenes. So if you, if you think about the song
levels and he’s got that vocal sample that he
drops in there, the, like, so he, so the, the,
you know, they’re scrambling behind the scenes,
the crowds reacting. And of course they all,
everybody comes to a dead stop and he. comes
back in. Once the sound comes back live, he comes
in with just that vocal sample, the original
vote. And it’s like this gospel emotional moment
because that original vocal is so powerful. And
he opens with that. And I’m getting goosebumps
thinking about it. The, the room erupted. It
just, and then he went right into levels and
the roof came off the place. The improv. Yeah.
It was just, it hit that recovery was one of
the best I’ve ever seen. But the energy in that
room was something that I just can’t describe.
Yeah. It was electric. Do you find yourself chasing
that kind of thing all the time? Or is it like,
take it for what it is. It was lightning in a
bottle. You were happy. You enjoyed it. Yeah.
With that one specifically, there’s no way you
can recreate that. No way. And I think you have
to respect each instance as it is. I will say
that the YMCA keynote that I did, the one I just
mentioned. Right. people. It was one of
my favorite keynotes of all time. There was a
different energy about that. So I think subjectively
it’s all very interesting and it’s all very powerful
in its own right. So it’s almost like this trophy
shelf of energetic moments that each of them
has a great memory attached to them. One’s not
better than the other. They’re just all different.
That’s a, that’s a great way to look at it. That
trophy shelf for, for all of those experiences.
Yeah. I’ll take you out of the lightning round.
Congratulations. You survived the lightning round.
Uh, let me take. Tell everybody where they can
find you if they want to learn more, if they
want to book you for literally any of the things
that you do. And that’s the MC side, the keynote
speaker, a DJ, client service. You want to talk
emotional intelligence and move your company
somewhere. How do they find you? Everything’s
at richbracken .com. Content’s there. All the
different services, as you mentioned, are there.
Keynotes that I do are there. Podcasts, blog,
photos, videos, everything. YouTube, everything
is there. So richbracken .com is the one source.
Outstanding. Rich Bracken, thanks for being with
us today. I appreciate you having me. And that
is our show, a fun sample -filled show. Thanks
to our friend Rich Bracken for being here, and
thank you for listening to the Small Business
Miracles podcast. Remember to subscribe, leave
us a five -star rating and review, drop us a
line on the website at eagadv .com if you have
any thoughts. Until then, we’ll be out here helping
entrepreneurs with another small business miracle.