Hello everybody, SUN listeners, this is Eric Nutting of the Growth coach of St. Petersburg, Florida with another exciting episode. We’re recording live from Naiman Creative Studios. I’ve got my friend Jordan Rosenberg here running Soundforce as always.

And my guest today is Cary Reich. Kerry, you and I have never had a proper one to one and we brought this up when we were kind of socializing on Friday or whatever it was. And we always say, hey, let’s get a one to one going.

We see each other semi frequently. We’ve known each other for about a year, maybe a year plus. And I said, hey, I’ve got this episode I’m recording.

Let’s do a one to one right here. So that’s exactly what we’re doing. Welcome to the program.

As always, I want to give you a chance to introduce yourself to the audience, tell them who you are, what you do, and then we’ll have a one to one conversation. Carrie, welcome to the program. Thank you, Eric.

Did you say SUN listeners? I love that. I don’t think I noticed that when I was listening to you and your wife have an amazing conversation. But yeah, I never thought why don’t we have a one on one and just it put broadcast it to the world.

That’d be awesome. It’s kind of fun. Yeah.

So let me see, where should I start? I won’t go with the Steve Martin line from the Jerk, but. Which is one of my favorite lines. But I won’t go there.

So I have been in Florida now for. Oh my gosh, for how long have I been here? What’s 80, 44 years? Oh my goodness, really? 44 years? I think. Yeah, yeah, but I am, yeah, 44 years I’ve been in Florida.

But I was on the. I always tell people I was on the 50 state plan in college. So.

44 years from where, where, where were you before that? That, that’s part of the, part of the story. I always said when I was on Johnny Carson, which I never obviously got on. Is this like Johnny Carson? It is like Johnny Carson.

I was on the 50 state plan in college, so I moved around the country. Gotcha. Grew up in New Jersey.

Okay. Moved to, not moved. I went to school for my first year at Brandeis University and in Massachusetts.

Decided that was not where I needed or wanted to be. Moved out to Denver to University of Denver to study hotel restaurant management. I thought I was going to like open a restaurant, you know, be the channel guy there, whatever, entertain and whatnot.

Decided too many hours, not enough money and didn’t do that either. And then I took a little bit of time off. I had found a job during the summer, one summer.

And of all things, I was selling advertising and newspapers over the fall. Oh yes, kind of, kind of fun thing. It’s actually something you see.

And this was the company that created this, this concept which now a lot of the major newspapers, including the Times, had a similar thing. But I did that in Denver. They opened an office in Fort Lauderdale.

I moved down to Fort Lauderdale with. Well, supposed to be with a buddy of mine that we hung out a lot, played golf, did all kinds of things that summer in Denver and he took a different job. So I found myself there in Fort Lauderdale by myself.

I mean I had family but. And eventually left that company through some other things. Actually started my own for a little while.

Decided that wasn’t for me and I went back to school. Ended up going up to Gainesville and spent two years in Gainesville. Packed that in with some creative.

Part of the vocal jazz troupe was in the marketing department. Unbeknownst to my. What my career was going to become, I was invited as part of the marketing team to the advertising department for their annual American Advertising Federation collegiate competition.

And at the time it was the project they’re working on was Maxwell House, in addition to doing the market research, actually wrote a jingle for Maxwell House. Who the heck knew that that was going to, two and a half years later be my actual career? Crazy, right? Yes. So that was kind of fun.

And then I also had the pleasure. I always tell people this because it’s fun. A lot of people know it, some don’t.

But I had the pleasure of being Albert the Alligator, the school mascot for the University of Florida Gators, many, many years ago, probably longer than many of you listeners were even alive. You just ruined that illusion for me. I thought Albert was Albert.

I know. Well. And you’re not.

So the funny part of that though is because you’re not. I mean, the rule of mascoting, you don’t talk. Exactly.

I was Starburst the unicorn. Yeah. But the year that I was Albert was the same year they brought yearbook back after how many year hiatus? I don’t know why but.

And there was a two page spread called Albert Unmasked. So if you go back to the 1983 Tower yearbook, you will see a two page, really cute young kid. Yeah.

Can I say that about myself? So, but, but it’s interesting. So for somebody that always thought in their life they were going to be some famous recording artist, imagine two Things in your life which can certainly create emotional stress. One is you’re the most famous.

Sorry, famous person or figure in all of Gainesville. Sure. But nobody knows who you are because you’re in a costume.

All right, so. And then you jump to. You have a career writing jingles where people all over the country and in some cases all over the world have heard your voice and have no idea too.

So let me jump in for a second because I asked you where you were before this and the answer is everywhere. But we didn’t get. And I asked you to introduce yourself, and we didn’t really get a chance to tell the people what you do.

They might read it, but you haven’t told them. And when we’re in networking events, you and I. Yep. You introduce yourself with a jingle.

I do. Are you. Is that something you’re willing to do right now for us? Absolutely.

If so, can you do it slowly? Because I never get the chance to. I think you’ve done it so often that you kind of blow through it. Right? Yep.

So I want to hear the whole jingle in its glory. So tell people the name of your whole jingle. I don’t even remember, but are you serious with me? Are you going to make me look it up? Now? Wait a minute.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. And wait. Are you telling him you don’t remember your own full jingle? When’s the last time you did the whole thing all the way through? That’s why I don’t remember it.

I am the jingle rider and the sole provider, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that’s all I ever really catch. Well, that’s all you need to catch.

And that’s so. So the funny part about that is. That is so funny.

Okay, first of all, tell the people the name of your company. Okay, So I have a split personality. Uhhuh.

So the name of my company, which is my forward facing agency, brand, if you will, is Sound branding ideas. Sound branding ideas. Sound branding ideas.

Intentional. I didn’t want the company to be about my name. Okay.

And I wanted to have something. In fact, I. It was kind of a. When I first made the brochure, it was kind of fun.

I took the three words and I defined them. So sound and I put different things, like solid, you know, logical, whatever. And the ending one, of course, was music and audio.

And then branding talked about different things and then ideas. Because at the end of the day, my unique selling proposition are ideas. Okay, so let me stop you right there.

Again, Carrie Reich, Sound branding ideas. Tell people briefly what you do. So I am, AKA the other brand of mine.

I’m a jingle writer. A jingle writer. I am the jingle writer.

Right? Yes. To your point. What you’re asking me to do is go, I am the jingle writer, your top of mind provider.

I write the songs that make the whole world buy. I write the songs that make them. Give you a try.

There are some lyrics that literally I haven’t sung in 10 years, so I don’t remember. But at the end I sing to bring in both names. I am the jingle writer, your top of mind provider.

Creating sound branding ideas. Yes, that’s the tag. And if you actually, you will see and hear both of those on my.

Any video you see online, my Facebook ads, anything that for instance, when I, I do a lot of nonprofit work. Okay. And I do it as an in kind donation.

So whenever they have the program, there’s a QR code. When you scan the QR code, you’re going to see and hear me. You’re going to hear it open with my animated open and my sing and then me thanking them for supporting whatever the organization is.

And oh, by the way, if you’ve ever considered a theme for yourself. And then it closes with the jingle. So it’s something I’ve been leaning into a lot lately, which is I can make your print come to life.

Oh, very cool. Because if you have a QR code anywhere, whether it be on a coupon, on a direct mail piece, on the side of your truck, anywhere, if somebody scans it, it can take them to a landing page with a video that could start with your jingle and your message. And, and so it just expands the use.

I mean, the today’s world, it’s so different. I was on a podcast about a month ago and he said, what’s different between 1985, when you started in this interesting 2024? And I said, well, in 1985 there were three TV stations. Then Fox came along, so there were four.

And that was kind of it. Couple of independents. Now there’s 2,000 places you can watch TV on camera.

It’s crazy. But what’s also cool is I can serve an ad to you, Eric Nutting, who’s about to watch whatever your favorite show is on Peacock or Hulu or whatever. And I can serve it to you specifically because I know that you are my ideal customer.

They call it Avatar now. I don’t know why I think those are blue funky people in a movie. That’s exactly.

That’s the term they use. Now. What’s your avatar.

Yeah, but I can serve you. And they had not wondering. Well, they say according to Nielsen, there’s 20,000 people watching this morning news.

That’s great. No, I’m paying to watch to send my message to Eric. Yes, right in his home, on his screen, wherever he’s watching.

So the ability to focus in and even more measurable is phenomenal. Well, I want to. There’s so much, there’s so many questions I have.

So first of all, I was surprised when I visited your website and you just backed it up for me. 1985, that’s the year graduated high school and I just assumed we were the same age. So do you want the truth? Why are you better preserved than I? Every time I sit with somebody go why? Yeah, I do want the truth.

What’s going on here? Jeans Dad’s 99. How old are you? I will be ready. By the way, would you Medicare people stop calling, texting, emailing and mailing me? We’re not ready for you Medicare.

No, we are. I’m going to be 65 on August 14th. Well, goodness and gracious.

I honestly, I would peg you for like your 40s or something. Thank you. Yeah, it’s crazy to me and I’m 57 and I feel like I’m 80.

I don’t know what an 83 year old feels like, but you know, I’m just saying. But you’re clean shaven again. I’m clean shaven, yeah.

So I bounce back and forth between hippie dumb when I don’t have time to shave and I try to surprise people by shaving once a quarter. Probably not great for my personal brand, but I’m just sharing myself with you fine listeners since you’re, you’re here and sticking with me on the journey. So 1985, here’s my question or my next question for you.

When I think of jingles and you know you and I talk about Barry Manilow and. Right. How successful he was in the jingle, you know, business.

They used to be what about 60 seconds? So a jingle. And they still are. Okay, so a jingle for me, what I write back in the day.

Yeah, we even wrote a whole 60 second full thing. And I even have one, believe it or not, that I’m working on right now. That is a 60 second full sing.

Most jingles today that I write because nobody has the attention span to listen to. That’s a challenge. I start with 30 seconds.

And even from that 30 seconds like the one you heard me sing, there’s a whole 30 second full sing. But the more important part is the intro and the outro, because if I can, in five seconds, whether it’s McDonald’s going or it’s like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Speaking of Barry, and it’s funny you mentioned, because I know we probably mentioned this before.

My. My whole get in the jingle business is it worked for Barry, it might work for me, and 40 years later, I’m still singing jingles and not Barry Manilow yet. Well, but that’s my narrative.

I. You know, that I. That I tell myself, but someday. I’ve always said my story was when I was old enough to appeal to the people that like that kind of balladeering, that I would launch that part of my career. And I’m going to be 65.

I think I’m old. Old enough. This just in.

Hang on. We’re getting a call here. Hang on.

And we knew we planned on this or a message anyway, so we’re both entrepreneurs. We tend to listen to and speak to entrepreneurs, and we always have kind of our devices on because we’re. We want to stay in touch with our.

With our clients. And that’s what’s going on right now. I will be your eyes, listeners, as this magic happens in the studio.

I am feverishly watching Carrie text a client or potential client. And we are trading. No.

What are we trading? Stock? No, we’re not trading stocks. That’s not what we’re doing. We’re not trading stocks.

So. So as long as we’re here, full disclosure. You never know.

You know, when you. When you’ve done something for 40 years and you do it all over the country, I mean, that’s the part of the. One of my fun party tricks is you can tell me where you’re from.

And I could probably list off five or ten. Okay. Mariners Baseball Radio Network.

I did for one of the radio stations that carried the Mariners. Freaking awesome. So actually, one of my more fun.

I thought one of my four fun, creative slogans, because it was where the Mariners come to play. By play. Oh, I love it.

Yeah, they did, too. That’s why they. You know what year that was? Dave Niehaus, voice of the Mariners, 15, 20 years ago.

Okay. Makes sense. Yeah.

But You’ve been here 44 years. I’ve been here 30. Yeah, yeah.

So. Yeah. And the call.

But anyway, so. So this was just. I. I had a call this morning, right.

Knowing we’re doing this. He said, hey, I got a meeting with a client. Can you sing something to him? And I said, maybe.

Maybe make it part of our, part of our podcast. I’m just, you’re kind enough to kind of adjust your schedule around these things. So I appreciate that.

And that’s, that’s kind of what I just said. Well, let’s just, let’s just make it happen. Yeah.

So if he’s ready. But anyway, so we talked about 60 second jingles kind of being reduced to 30 seconds kind of being shaped because of our short attention span theater now. Right.

And, and most jingles that you hear, even there’s a song and there’s, you know, it’s funny. Jingles come and go in waves, I think, but they’ve never gone away. There have always been jingles.

In fact, as long as there have been radio programs, there have been music to identify them. Whether it’s, you can trust your car to the man who wears the star when it was the, you know, the Texaco Radio Hour. All the great.

You know, when I do a speaking engagement on the power of music and, and I rarely actually play jingles, I play TV themes. It’s more fun. I was going to say I’ve.

That was one of my favorite things about watching old TV was the, was the jingle for the sitcom or the show or whatever. And that’s what I do in my speaking engagements. And those are literally play and people I would have a contest and I say who can.

And within seconds, two, three notes, somebody in the crowd, if not everybody in the crowd recognizes and knows the song. And why I do that is a lot of people think you have to advertise all the time and spend millions and millions of dollars to create top of mind. And when I play those TV themes, right.

I’m playing something they heard once a week, maybe even in syndication. I mean, things have changed. Literally binge and watch something every day, all day.

But most people at the most, you know, like when I grew up, I think the I Love Lucy theme I watched were not the originals, they were reruns. And you know, you could watch it once a day. Right, Right.

But people can afford to, whether it’s posting on social or literally buying traditional meeting media once a day. And if you have that consistent message, and that’s why I play those because literally within seconds you can recognize, know who they are. And then I’ll do something where I’ll, I’ll pick out a couple of.

And we’ll do a little audience participation where I’ll ask them to, I’ll start a jingle and they’ll finish the jingle just to show them the power of games were so good. I remember having the K Tel albums back in the like late 70s, early 80s, and there’d just be a whole album of theme songs. I. I must have.

I think it was Sammy Davis Jr. On the Beretta theme. Must have played that thing like 20 times, you know, over and over again. Keep your eye on the sparrow.

And those are, those are great little hooks. Yeah. So have you written for tv? Have you written.

So I haven’t written for TV per se. I’ve done a couple of films. Theme.

I. I’ve done a couple of like streaming show themes over the years. I just did one actually for. Unfortunately, JP Peterson left the market, but he and Serena Fazan had a show, the Lighter side of Sports, and it was streaming on Red House.

Streaming. A little plug for you guys. Thank you.

But it was called the Lighter side of Sports and we did this fun kind of almost countryish type of tune. You know, he’s Peterson and she’s Fazan. And when it comes to sports, they just go on and on and on.

And it was just a fun light thing that they play as an intro and outro to the show. But because he’s not here anymore, the show is. Not anymore.

Yeah. So that was a fun one. I’ve done several themes for podcasts.

That’s something that I’ve been doing most of those, you know, it depends on who’s using it and why they’re using it. Yeah. In terms of whether they’ll, you know, have the budget to do something.

Sure, sure, sure. But I mean, speaking of themes for podcasts, we have a theme song that you guys hear on the intro on The Outro of SunLeaders podcast written by Jordan Rosenberg. He is, you know, the gentleman who is in charge of all the sound for name and creative and for the sunleader.

So he wrote the theme song. And Carrie doing what he does, he says, you know, I’m a Sun leader and I like this. And he put some lyrics to it.

And what we’re working on, what we hope is that we’re going to be able to incorporate all of this into our episode. I don’t know if we’re going to have it in time for the time this is released, but that is what we’re working towards. It’s going to be fun, it’s going to be awesome, and we’re looking forward to that.

Yeah, we’re going to involve and we’re going to invite some of the additional sun talented sun leaders to come to the studio and actually record it with Us. So it’s not just me. It’s a group of people.

But, yeah, it’s fun. I just had the. It was interesting.

I was on a podcast last month. It’s called Deep Dives. Matthew Samuels, who used to be a CBS News producer, has this podcast, and he had this kind of rocking, screaming, rocking music.

And I heard it and I’m like, I said, oh, I. I got. I got something. I think just.

It would be kind of fun. And I just sang this thing. And they were like, oh, we love it.

Can we play it for your episode? And I said, absolutely. And so they played it for my episode. And now, because I just listened this morning, they.

They have adopted it, the melody, very cool for all their episodes, you know. And, you know, so I said, yeah, just credit because, you know, you listen to podcasts where they talk about, you know, music and theme by so and so’s. I’m going to take us off on a trail here for a second because on my drive in today, I usually commute on a motorcycle.

It’s raining. I was in a car and I was listening to a podcast, podcast radio. It was a deep dive on Rolling Stones, Give Me Shelter, and they were breaking out the tracks, and it was so incredible.

That way is really very impressive to me. So why I had to include that, I. I don’t know. But it was just really interesting to hear the solo tracks of Keith Richards.

He played all the guitar in that Mick Jagger, who I don’t really personally give credit for being a great vocalist. To hear his track isolated was really incredible, and to hear the story behind it was very interesting to me. So you have a demo on your website.

And what I want to do, because I think it’d be fun, is it shows this full range of the work you do. We usually have somebody advertise on the episode, but I want to play your demo in this podcast. So, listeners, here is Cary Reich’s demo.

Give it a listen. We’ll be right back. Cary Reich, the jingle writer here, and I want to thank you for taking a few minutes to listen to my demo rather than just have you listen to a montage.

I thought I would share a little bit about how each came about and who they were trying to reach. Keep in mind what you’re about to hear was written with specific goals and audiences in mind. I hope you enjoy.

The first is for Jess Jewelers, a freestanding custom jeweler who allowed me to play with his name and use it as part of a figure of speech. Say yes to Jesse Say yes to Jess Jewelers A true gesture of love, Jess. Some clients want that jingly jingle sound as you will hear now for both Selfieville in Monterey, California and Echo Improvements in Virginia.

Give yourself a thrill in Selfieville. A picture perfect experience. Give yourself a thrill in selfie.

Build a wish. A perfect experience. Echo, Echo Sunroom and Awning for quality that bears repeating.

Echo, Echo Sunroom and Awning for quality that bears repeating When Rusty Wallace came to town with a new dealership, he wanted a fresh hip hop sound to introduce their new location and appeal to their target demo. Rusty Wallace and Ray Jafeca. They’re your favorite satisfaction makers.

Cause out here on Clinton highway we’re getting known as the easy to buy way. See innovation that excites from people focused on treating your right. Sometimes remembering a phone number is the goal, as evidenced by this country version of a popular attorney in Alabama and a service provider who branded their number as their slogan as well Injured in a wreck wandering.

What the heck? Dial 333-3333. No matter your circumstance, you should call Steward Vance at 333-3333. So when your cars collide, get a tiger on your side and dial 333-3333.

Acidic loving heating and roofing where our Numbers are response time 592-ASAP in this next sample, an independent car dealership wanted people to celebrate getting financed for that car they dreamed of owning. Need a car but can’t get credit? We can help you get it. Come do the DOT Finance Dance USA Motorcars With a job and something down, you can drive that car you found.

Come do the DOT Finance Dance USA Mother Car. These next two are a couple of bluesy pieces that are fun as well. The northernmost of the barbecue for you.

Come see why everyone’s grinning. Barbecue. That’s award winning Big Daddy’s Barbecue, the northernmost Southern barbecue for you.

If it doesn’t go bang, don’t say dang. Take it to Gun Tech. Whether you took your gun or bothered you couldn’t rebuild it Had a missing part and didn’t know that you spilled it or you went to pull the trigger Heard that dreaded click.

Now that’s a sound that’ll make you sick when you need to be at one with your favorite gunsmith. Take it to Gun Tech. If it doesn’t go bang, don’t say dang.

Take it to Gun Tech. Every once in a while I get asked to create something for a local franchisee and these next two showcase how we can make that happen while writing Some new ideas while respecting the corporate message as well. Gonna see clearly now with Window World.

Window World Simply the best for us. Doing the most good takes an army of shoppers who understand the Salvation Army Family store or salvation and savings go helping hand in hand. From a single vocal to full choral productions, pop to rap, country to jazz.

If you can think it, we can create it for you. And remember, there is no cost or obligation to allow us to work up a demo for you. Thanks for listening and please click the get started now button if you’d like us to begin writing something for you.

So how about that, right? I mean, the full range. I think that’s about four or five minutes. I was so blown away with the different things that you are involved in as you create.

Yeah, that was that. And that’s something I’ve never done before and I don’t know that many people have. And I just thought this would be fun.

So instead of just playing back to back demos, I decided to describe what the client was going for. Because one of the things, you know, in my career when I’m meeting with somebody in person and we’re having a meeting and writing their jingle, I almost never play a demo. Part of the reason is I don’t want somebody tainted by hearing six or seven things and not hearing what they think they want and going, well, then Carrie can’t do that.

So what I do, which is very different, is I play for them their jingle and their message. So I thought it would be fun to, at least in this description, in between the jingles, explain what we were doing, why we were doing, so somebody, when they heard it, could understand, oh, that’s why it’s jazz or that’s why it’s hip hop, or that’s why it’s country or whatever. And what they were trying to convey in the message, whether it be the music itself or the specific lyric, because it’s really in my
world, it’s the lyric we start with.

It really is interesting. Yes. Because the message is going back to the third word in sound branding ideas.

It’s the idea, it’s what, what differentiate you make, what makes you unique. And I’ve always called myself the Forest Seer because sometimes people are so close to their business and their messaging, they don’t even sometimes see for sure that what their message could be. Right, right, right.

You know, now I’m not certainly the only creative guy in the world. There’s plenty of people. In fact, one of the things that I enjoy is when I can take somebody’s existing idea.

Yeah. And show them how to make it just a little better or more memorable. There are some people in my industry and competitors that they’re all about them and if they didn’t write it isn’t any good.

Right. And literally would belittle the creative that this business built their business on. And I’m like, how rude.

Number one and silly. Because if they’ve got something they like and I can just put it to a melody and make it more memorable because then it’s what’s the melody? What’s going to be catchy and get in somebody’s head. Because nobody hums the announcer, you know, and as my former partner used to say, nobody runs around town going, I cannot get that printed out of my head.

Yeah. Well, we have a lot to talk about because we only get about 45 minutes. So I want to talk.

I want to ask you a few more questions on your business specifically, and I want to shift a little bit to leadership and all of the work that you do in the community. So I want to ask you. You’ve got a team.

First of all, you do write both the lyrics and the music. Generally speaking, you just spoke about collaboration, but generally speaking, you interface with the client, you get their ideas, you try to really dig down, learn about their brand. And then you start your.

Your mind starts to do its stuff and you start to think, well, I’ve got this phrase, what do you think of this? And you hit them with it and then you put music behind it. Then we’ve got this production process and you’ve got some vocalists that you work with. Do you do this all locally? Do you do it? Talk to me about your recording process.

Great question. Actually, I collaborate with many studios, several folks. Just over the years, I have found it to be the best way to do this.

Owning a studio is not a fun thing. So I don’t own a studio. Even with my former company where we owned a studio, I would say for the last two or three years, our board was literally down.

And so while our engineer would master and mix everything we had everything recorded at are vocalists, students. So I. And part of why that’s also important is part of my business, in addition to all the networking and trolling, the Internet, as I call it, for clients is I am a partner and have been for all these 40 years to TV and radio stations. So for instance, in August, I’ll be spending three days at a radio station and they will invite clients in to meet me and we will.

I will write jingles for Them. And if we’re successful, which I anticipate we will, there might be 10 or 12 new jingles to hit the air. Now, I certainly don’t want them all to sound alike.

Right. And there are some people out there that they sing everything. It’s all the same style and feel.

Because as a musician, we have a feel and a style. I mean, that’s what makes us what people like about our stuff. Right.

You know, so I certainly wouldn’t want everything to be just carries sound. Right. So I collaborate, actually with musicians and singers and vocalists in studios in la, Nashville, Vegas.

So you say, hey, Orlando, lay down this vocal. How does that work? So, yeah. Okay.

So when we’re. When we are. I actually am in a unique niche that I really fell into these 40 years ago, where there are companies, and I’m one of them, where we have music that is our music.

It’s my library, if you will. I hate to use the term, but it’s what it is. Music we’ve created, and then we license it, and we license it locally.

Gotcha. So it’s no different than when you watch your TV station or your radio station and you hear their id, you know that the. The station has that ID is the same music, whether in Tampa for station X, it might be in Detroit for station Y in Sacramento.

So musically, I have this library of music. And then when I meet with clients, what we’re doing is selecting that a song that’s right for them, writing the lyrics and the melody and putting the two together. And what’s fun about when I’m at a station, what’s really cool.

And I do this also with clients over zoom is we literally spend 30 minutes talking about the brand, the message, whatever. Ideally, they’ve done. They’ve given me some homework ahead of time, but we just kind of talk about it.

They go out on a tour of the station, meet their favorite DJs or whatever personalities. If it’s a TV station, in the meantime, I’m writing and messaging, putting it together, and then we come back together in a conference room, and I sing it to them live. And they get to hear their drinking.

Like, oh, my God, I love it. Really cool. Yeah, that’s awesome.

And it’s. And as long as the music is something. Because when I license it, it’s exclusive to them.

Yeah. In their market. So as long as it’s something, I usually don’t play something not available, but occasionally, if there’s something that I know is really right for the vibe and the feel and the style, at least for the performance of the presentation.

I may use something that in the final iteration will be something different. Right. That will go in the studio and we’ll recreate and edit and change up the music a little bit.

The melody and the lyrics are all mine. So that part we keep but. And.

Or very often. Like. I’ve had the pleasure of working with a couple of home services companies where we did national jingles for all of their brands.

Yeah. And we still. We started the process because it was a good way to get.

Are we in the ballpark? We would start still with some of the music to say, okay, so this is. You want big band. This is a couple of examples.

Once we land on Love, the tempo, the energy and the style, then again now, then we get in the studio and we. We record original music. So that.

That is something that doesn’t matter where they run it. It’s available and. And not somebody else’s.

Well, still so much to cover and time is ticking. And I think we could talk about this for a long time, but I want to just say one phrase to you and get your reaction from it because we’re creators in this room. I do.

I still do voiceover work. Right. Both you and Jordan write music.

You’re creative nonstop. So I’m going to say Cool Reflections. Tell me about Cool Reflections.

Cool Reflections was the. I’d like to say. All right, I’ll say one of the top two or three jazz bands in the Bay Area, Belinda Womack, who’s still actually July 19th at the factory, will be part of a jazz holiday preview thing and is going to be performing.

I won’t. I haven’t performed with Belinda for years, but we. I had an opportunity to.

To join her band back in the late 80s and was the keyboard player and rope music. We had a little album we put out. Thought we were going to tour the world and, you know, go from there to, you know, being that Barry Mano guy that I’m still waiting to be, but, you know, different circumstances.

And then got married. This might sound a little familiar. Different things happened and I ended up not continuing on with.

With Cool Reflections at the time, but we. We literally. We had.

We had some great times. We opened for some great people here. We did do some touring.

The European tour didn’t happen and kind of after that thing started, but we were. We were doing, you know, we opened for George Benson, Joe Sample down. They’re incredible, right? Literally people that were here in the 80s.

We were the house band of Salinas in Hyde Park Village, back in the day. It was a. It was a great time.

We had a lot of fun. And. And.

And then what. What kind of part of what happened is at that time, the band went from kind of smooth jazz more to more straight ahead traditional jazz, which is like a whole nother language on the piano. Right.

And I was learning it and good at getting good at it, but I think it was just. At the time, it was. It was time to.

We just kind of went a little bit different direction. So let me ask you quickly. I’m going to give you three minutes on this, because I really want to talk about the work you do.

So three minutes or less. Tell me where you want to go creatively in the next, you know, 30, 40, 50, 60, 80 years. Tell me, where do you see yourself headed creatively? Can I tell you after I meet with my therapist I haven’t hired yet? Absolutely.

Well, yeah, but just give me a hint, and then we’ll. We’ll catch up after the therapist. So.

Gosh. Next. So creatively.

So I’m always writing. I. I have some ideas that I’ve been playing around with as far as I’m working on a potential TV show that I’d like to work with. I. My bucket.

One of my bucket list goals is to write a musical. Oh, yes. You.

You gave me. You told me this great idea. I love it.

I think it’s so. And I’ve have several of them, and I think the challenges. The.

The day. The day gets in the way. Day gets in the way.

Sure. Day gets in the way. Yeah.

And I was just literally this morning thinking about, you know, one of these days, I’m just gonna do all the things that I know to do when it comes to time management and figuring out how to put all these things together. And I. I literally. It was this morning, I said, well, maybe what I really need to do is, you know what? Tuesday is creative day.

Not gonna do anything. Tuesday is creative day. I said, the piano.

Write and do whatever. It’s a great idea, you know, and just not do zoom calls, not have jingle calls. Go networking and doing all the things we do and just say, that’s Tuesday.

Yeah. Because, you know, can we do that? I don’t know. I haven’t tried yet.

But I encourage you to do it. I would love to hear this musical. Yeah.

Well, I. There’s, like, I said, there’s so many of them that we just got to pick one, though, right? We got to pick one horse and ride it. Yeah. And then the other Thing I do need to lean into is, you know, I had a conversation with my.

One of my eldest child who is actually living partly. She’s on there on Broadway in a great show, and we were having lunch and I said, you know, okay, we’re on the air now. I thought, you know, being.

Being a recording artist, that was, you know, to meet girls. Well, I’ve got the best one in the world. Married for going on 34 years.

This, this August, I. I don’t need that anymore. And she called on me and said, yeah, no, I think you still want to be. So, you know, I. My, my torment is, do I still want to be the next Barry Manilow? Although people have said to me, stop saying that.

Say you want to be the next Cary Reich. And. And my narrative has been when I’m old enough to appeal to that.

I think I said that before, but that I wouldn’t actually start performing. I think the thing I need to do is just go out and start playing. This is my takeaway from all this.

We never stop creating. I don’t think you’re ever going to stop creating. Well, I was going to have these ideas, and we just need to son of say, okay, this is the idea.

We’re going to. We’re going to create. You know what, as long as I still enjoy it and it’s fun and the computer hasn’t replaced me.

Yeah. Just actually having a conversation with somebody said, when AI is better than me, I’ll be ready to retire. Yeah.

So. All right, hard shift. We are SUN Leaders.

We really do. And we’re not even a year in, I don’t think in our SUN Leader organization, but we’re trying to continuously challenge ourselves and. And contribute.

And I was blown away. I knew some of this about you, but Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Pinellas County Jewish Day School, Congregation B’ Nai Israel, the First Tea of St. Petersburg. These are just some of the things that you’re involved in, you Big Brother of the Year honoree.

That’s a lot. And I didn’t even know this stuff, and I knew about other stuff that you do. Right.

Talk to me about why you do so much and what you think our responsibility is as citizens in our community and how that kind of relates to leadership. What drives you on that? That’s a great question. I think it’s just, you know, the need to give back and be involved.

I was single actually, when I was a Big Brother initially, and then when I got engaged, was still a Big Brother. In fact, he was in my wedding and just providing that male role model. Now they also have big sisters, so a female role model, having somebody that you can help, guide, mentor, be there for.

Typically they’re single parent households where either mom’s not there or dad’s not there, and therefore the big brother, the big sister. So that’s what that was about and just really expanding and having a, you know, being feeling part of and bringing part of family to people. The first tee, I was introduced through my son, frankly, I was introduced to it more from the side of golf camp and lessons.

What is the first tee? So the first tee is an organization, a national organization that teach life skills through the game of golf. The nine core values. And I can’t speak for all of them, but I can tell you for our, our first tee here in St. Pete, Rick Waltman is the executive director.

And golf is secondary. This is about providing a safe place. We’re on the south side on 22nd Avenue South.

A lot of these kids have no male role models, no adult. Really hard. There’s some kids that are, they’re tough and they come every afternoon.

He goes and picks them up from school in a van. They do their homework, they get their tutoring, they get to work. Because we have some opportunities in the mentoring center that we now have.

And yeah, then they go out and they learn and play golf. And some of them are pretty good. And they have golf camps and things like that.

So my son ABHI has volunteered there. He tutored his bright futures, was tutoring and mentoring kids at the first tee. So it’s really about uplifting these kids.

And so that’s, that’s kind of. And, you know, around a, you know, it’s a game that certainly I’m passionate about and my son is very passionate about. And so you golf a lot? I do.

Not as much as I should and not as well as I used to, but yeah, yeah, that’s, that’s certainly one of my passions. And yeah, in fact, one of my new things that last year we did was a client that is developing a professional golf league like baseball, you know, NBA and mlb. And of course I got to do the music theme for it.

And actually Avi’s getting ready to go there to do an internship out in Idaho where he’s based. And so that’s kind of cool. But yeah, so that, I mean, the synagogue is just, that’s just, you know, synagogue life.

I’ve been on the board and I got voluntold to be the men’s club president. So that just started this Week. So we’ll see how that goes.

Because Mr. Order and Structure not is going to be leading that, that organization. I love that. So hopefully I can.

Awesome. Yeah. I was told once on a evaluation that I had an order instructor score of 6 out of 100, so.

Which is really hard when you own your own business. Yeah, for sure. But not unusual.

I’ll be perfectly honest with you. In the work I do, I meet entrepreneurs all the time. I’m a coach.

It’s not unusual. We have active minds. It’s not unusual to be loved by anyone.

There you go. Funny, funny story. I’ll tell you.

I had a chance to impersonate Tom Jones for a gig in South Africa. Paid a ton of money. There’s just one small problem.

I didn’t sound like him, nor did I look like him. But I took a run at it and it was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. I had a makeup artist come in and try to make me look like Tom Jones.

And it was, I went to a bar to record this demo and it was a, it was a, like an English pub here in Kissimmee, Florida. And this lady looks at me and she goes, and she was British. She goes, what’s wrong with you? You look like a Martian.

And I remember that whenever my wife and I are like joking around going, you know, all the things we’ve done, she goes, what’s wrong with you? You look like a Martian. Yeah, you see, there’s Jordan just brought up. It’s still a handsome fellow.

Tom Jones is, you know, he’s, he’s the dude. He has a killer voice. Looks great.

Absolutely. Yeah. So I, I went through a phase where I listened to Tom Jones for a decade or something.

So, so when, when, when are we going to see you acting though? I’m done. You’re done. Okay.

No, it’s not, it’s not even the same person anymore. No. Every now and then I go, well, maybe, what if.

But I’m just so busy chasing the things I’m enjoying now, you know, and the kids are all grown and, you know, we got a grandkid coming up and I just don’t want to be. You have did. I remember listening.

There’s a oldest nine year spread or there’s a 39 somewhere. See, I have, I have 31 and 29 and 19. And so we, we, we, we were a single child for a while now.

Finally it took 10 extra years, but. Empty nesters, which is a, an interesting. I just couldn’t be happier doing what I’m doing.

So. Yeah, I feel. I feel this.

This is serving our purpose. So I. We’re. We’re out of time.

And I want to close with where you see all the great work you’re doing and how you see that. How would you like to encourage SUN leaders to get involved? Not necessarily specifically in the work you’re doing, but just the idea of it. How we continue to contribute, how do we be active, how do we be proactive? How do we get involved in the community? How do we continue to build, sustain and keep this awesome place that we have in St. Petersburg, Florida? It’s a puzzle I work on frequently as we have
this incredible growth.

What are your ideas on that? Well, I’m a big. I’m involved in a couple of chambers and I think they are doing really good work in being out there. I would say, you know, find something that you’re passionate about.

Okay. And there used to be Pinellas Cares, which was kind of a. I think there’s a version of it.

It morphed into 211 pinellas. But there. I don’t know if there still is a overarching like volunteer organization where instead of.

You didn’t have time to commit to being. I’m going to be on the board of this and I’m going to just do this. It was more that as a part of this organization, they had organizations that needed some help and you could like unplug in and say, oh, I’m going to go do a beach cleanup with Keep Pinellas Beautiful.

Gotcha. Going to go over to park and do something with their. Their organization.

Right. One of my more fun non profits because I love doing in kind donations for non profits and the park one especially. And a great art studio to see those kids.

Yeah, they’re not kids. They’re young adults singing their theme songs. Awesome.

They. Every performance they do now, as I’m told by Lisa, is they sing two songs and they sing the We Are park theme. And it’s just.

It’s fun because I like to. Like I said, I like to see things a little differently. Yeah.

I think we. We rebranded. So it’s a proud, amazing, remarkable community.

Yes. This park. We Are Park.

Yes. Which is the second time I rebranded because in Washoe county in Reno, Nevada, they’re known as Washoe Arc, warc And warc. And their jingle is we are really cool.

Very cool. So what I’m hearing is there are plenty of opportunities. Get off the couch.

Let’s do it. Let’s just get involved. Look for Something that you’re passionate about, do a little bit of research.

Most of them, I can speak as an ambassador to the St. Pete Chamber. Most of them all have councils, they have committees and things like that. So if you want to be involved in your community, specifically in the community, I would say whichever community, it is a little plug for chambers, I guess, plug in, find out what is it sustainability, is it education, is it youth, is it growth, whatever.

There are multiple places and ways that you can plug in and, you know, several of them, I mean, I guess they all started probably with, how can I further and get my name out there and my business out there. Right, right, right. You know, some of that and then it just morphed into this feels good.

Yeah. This isn’t just, you know, I will, I will tell you, just a little quick side note, if there’s time. When I first got out of college, believe it or not, I was a stock broker for Merrill Lynch.

And one of the things they tell you in your training is go join your church or your synagogue. Right, right, right. Because that’s where you’re going to meet people.

And I walked into a synagogue in Clearwater at Ahab at Shalom and it felt like family walked in and I was at home and was there for several years and then kind of morphed into B’ Nai Israel’s now down St Pete, and been involved, like I said, for years there and evolved actually in several different organizations. But, yeah, just do it. Feels good.

And, you know, like you said, be a good citizen. Well, I have enjoyed this time immensely. Our first true one to one opportunity.

Actually, it was a one to none because. And I appreciate that. I will tell you, for those of you out there doing a one on one, they say bring a timer.

And what I mean by that is you’ll notice why I said one on none. I asked him one question and it’s only because I had the chance. I felt like I got a one on one because I listened to you and Diane and your podcast.

But the real one on one is, and we don’t have time now to have part two, which is you telling me about you. When I have my own podcast, I’ll have you on to do that. So we got me.

We didn’t get you. So it was a one on none. Well, that’s a challenge.

Let’s do it. We will. I want to give you one more chance to tell the listeners who you are, what you do, and then I’ll close it out.

But thank you so much for being here. Oh, awesome. Thank you for having me.

Carrie Reich, The Jingle Writer Two places to find me soundbranding ideas.com or the easier one to remember is thejingler.com which is where you’ll find that that demo you we played earlier and others as well. That’s the easiest way to find me is right on the website. If you mention the word jingle six or seven times, my ad will probably show up in your feed.

So that’s all you got to do. That’s the way the world goes. AI is listening.

Sorry to say it. I’m a victim of it and I’m a benefactor of it. So.

All right, awesome. So some listeners. This is Eric Nutting with the growth coach of St. Petersburg, Florida, and founder of the Sage Approach.

Carrie referenced a couple times. Our last episode, I interviewed my wife, Diane. She’s co owner of just about everything I do.

Funny how that works. So I ask for your support. Listen to all these episodes, share it with a friend, and get involved with the Sunleaders.

You’re invited wherever you may be. You can join us on Facebook. We just published our website, so get engaged.

And if you’re local, by golly, we’d love to see you. We meet on the first and third Friday of every month. Currently, it is free to visit us and to be a member.

So if you have a chance, visit us on a Friday. Until next time. Thanks so much, Sam.

Because leaders never sleep.