From Snowshed to CEO with David Thomas Tao

Today I had the pleasure of speaking with David Thomas Tao CEO and Co-Founder of BarBend.com a media brand providing platform coverage of news, analysis, training in opinion and strength training sports. David started by training in weight lifting, before it was really well-known, in a snowshed with some buddies and later took that passion for sports along with his skill for journalism and created a successful and unique media company.  Let’s dive into  David’s incredible story and learn how he was able to leverage his passion and skills to create something diverse in a niche market  Things you will learn in this episode: [00:01 - 08:45] Opening SegmentI introduce today’s topic I welcome David to the showDavid gives us a bit of his background Barbend.comBecame interested in strength sports which wasn’t well known at the timeCreated a sense of community [08:46 - 21:40] From Snowshed to CEODavid tells us his story of how he started They had to start lifting in a cold snowshed since gyms wouldn’t take them inI talk about the value of hard laborDavid talks about how the market started to open upCrossfit paved the way to open this niche Strength sports started becoming more mainstream David talks about his story going into the fieldStarted working in journalism for fitness brandsBecame a brand consultant for corporate wellness Started travelling around marketing gymsDavid met his co-founders on a project Combined their strengths to pursue Barbend [21:41 - 32:49] Learning From Early Struggles  David talks about the start of BarbendAt first it was hard to know what they wanted to beBetween blogging and live eventsNot being as revenue orientated as they should of beenDavid talks about the importance of revenue streamsTheir are a lot of different ways to make moneyWhere to go deep and where to go wide How thin are you spreading yourself and how are you allocating resources?You can’t go all in on one platformDiversify yourself and monetize all your contentDavid talks about how to add value rather than just creating noiseTreating things professionally and diversifying Divide and conquer  [32:50 - 44:45] The FOCUS FIVE SegmentWhat book have you gifted most often? Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyGetting humor in your lifeIf you can get an hour of somebody's time and ask questions, who would that be and why?Andrew Carnegie What is one thing you believe that most people don’t?The future of strength sports is femaleStrength sports will permeate society Morning routine; How do you start your day?Not a morning personMaking sure to hydrate before caffeine What is the best place we can connect with you online?See below for social links.Final words from me Tweetable Quotes:  “If you don’t have a critical mass of awareness, it’s very difficult to build an audience…” - David Thomas Tao “We are strongest when our money comes from a lot of different sources and not all our eggs are in one basket.” - David Thomas Tao “All we can do is get better and better and make sure that the experience our people have is improving over time, and I think that's easier to do when you have a team that can give feedback to each other…” - David Thomas Tao Resources mentioned in the episode:Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy You can connect with David on Twitter, and Instagram. Be sure to visit his website https://barbend.com/ to learn more about what he does and how you can become a part of it. Don’t forget to check out the Barbend Podcast to get even more awesome content from David.   LEAVE A REVIEW + help someone who wants to explode their business growth by sharing this episode or click here to listen to our previous episodes. Are you working HARD but not really moving the needle on anything? You should check out my POWER LIST and find out how you can get more done to move your business, project, or relationship closer to where you want it to be. Let’s go! To know more about me and all the real estate opportunities you can find, check out my website at Hansstruzyna.com. Get the chance to talk with me for FREE. Set up a call using this link https://calendly.com/h-struzyna/15min Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.