Manufacturing eCommerce Success
Manufacturing eCommerce Success with hosts Curt Anderson and Damon Pistulka dives into interviews with industry leaders and professionals that provide insights into various aspects of Manufacturing eCommerce and inspiring entrepreneurial stories.
Manufacturing eCommerce Success
Episode 109: Sustainable Growth Through Hybrid Customer Journeys (Guest:
Are you ready to create sustainable growth for your manufacturing business?
Join us for the MFG eCommerce Success show to explore “Sustainable Growth Through Hybrid Customer Journeys” with our guest, Mark Vanderwarf. As an experienced producer, consultant, and third-generation millwright, Mark has mastered helping businesses simplify, scale, and showcase sustainable business models.
Mark’s expertise in growth consulting, revenue generation, and automation makes him a leader in strategic development. With over two decades of experience across critical infrastructure and manufacturing sectors, he specializes in delivering tailored systems that streamline operations and boost profitability.
Mark is also the Founder of SMFGX—a community driving sustainable manufacturing practices through innovation and collaboration. Their mission is to merge human-centric processes with eco-friendly technologies to shape the future of industry.
Mark Vanderwarf - https://www.linkedin.com/in/markvanderwarf/
SMFGX - https://smfgx.com/
SHA-BAM! - https://sha-bam.com/
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All right, everyone. It is Friday and you know what that means. It is time for manufacturing e-commerce success. And I am Damon Pistolka, one of the co-hosts of this humble show today, and I'm going to turn it over to my friend co-host, Curt Anderson, brother from another mother, take it away, Curt Dude happy Friday, damon man.
Curt Anderson :are you sitting down for this one? I am sitting down today. Man, is this a? Oh my God, Can you just feel it?
Damon Pistulka :Yep, we're ready to go, can you?
Curt Anderson :just feel it. Mark Vanderwarf, dude, how are you man?
Mark Vanderwarf :I'm good, I'm good. Thank you so much for having me here today.
Curt Anderson :Curt and Damon, oh my goodness gracious, what an honor, what a privilege, way overdue. And so you know what? Damon, sit back and get comfortable. Everybody. Just sit back and get comfortable.
Curt Anderson :Because, mark, first question, pop quiz how many businesses? I want you to list every business that you own, right? I want to hear I'm just kidding, you got a lot going on. We're going to dive in. Yeah, yeah, we'll dive into your list in one minute, but before we go there, I do have another question. So we've got Mark Vanderwerth and just dude, fierce advocate for manufacturers, just an amazing human being. We've got so much covered today, but before we go there, I sent you a bunch of questions. I'm not asking any of them. I got a different one for you. You ready? I love it. Not asking a single one, I'm just kidding. So, hey, mark, when you're a little guy growing up, when you're a little guy growing up, who was your hero? Who did you look up to? Who was just like that person to just worship the ground? You walked up, walked on. Who was your hero as a little guy growing up?
Mark Vanderwarf :absolutely. My father, my, my dad was my hero. I mean absolutely 100. I was uh. Besides that, I was raised by wolves in northeast wisconsin and him and my mom were pioneer frontier spirit all the way. I mean, from from making candles from scratch to I mean you know it, and my mom was just an absolute integrator and my dad was a complete visionary and they just tackled everything. It was amazing. Like I have the best, I still have the best parents ever, like it's. Of course you don't get to change parents, but you know.
Curt Anderson :I wouldn't if I could. Well, great answer, I love it, pioneering. And so what? What's dad's name, please, gary, gary.
Mark Vanderwarf :Vanderwarf.
Curt Anderson :All right.
Mark Vanderwarf :So check my feed out and you go back to father's day, you'll see a poem that I wrote about him being a Melwright, and I'm a third generation Melwright. So my grandfather was Melwright. My mother's dad was millwright right, she married a millwright and then she gave birth to a millwright. So just I mean, god bless that woman, god bless that woman.
Curt Anderson :So just, it's in your blood, in your dna, just can't help it. So all right, big shout out to Gary. So when gary catches this on a replay, damon what do you?
Damon Pistulka :Well, we need mom's name too Debra, debra, gary and Debra. So that's cool as heck how you grew up in Northeast Wisconsin, right? Yep, what was one thing? Because I got to just understand growing up, pioneer lifestyle, what was one thing that you grew up with that was common, that other people would go, wow, that's, that's not the way that we grew up uh, yeah, that's pretty easy.
Mark Vanderwarf :Um things, things, several things that were common, but I mean I would just say like the, the access or the immediacy of survival, like generally. But like that meant like hunt, catch, kill, eat, sleep, groom, like yourself, right, yeah, and that. So that meant you know, not just not, I mean just any first amendment, you know, weapons, weapons, second Amendment, stuff, like I mean like it was. Like you know the Constitution was a big deal like to pioneers. It still is. Like you know you'll see it like on the wall at the dining room table right next to the you know the guy with praying hands and the lady with the praying hands. You know, yeah, I mean, it's everywhere. I actually just sent a bunch of those coffee mugs with those pictures on them out for Christmas to people.
Curt Anderson :Well, absolutely love it Okay. So, hey, and speaking of Northeast Wisconsin, damon, how about this handsome guy here? So Greg Nishu in the house Can't wait. You know, greg, less than a month. What? Four weeks from today you're going to be stuck with. We're all going to be in person here, mark right Hanging out in Austin, texas, is that right?
Mark Vanderwarf :That is the idea. Industrial Marketing Summit in Austin, Texas. SHA-BAM! is a proud sponsor and I've been asked to help to facilitate the Marketing Automation Roundtable, Business Automation Roundtable, the CRM stuff and all that Awesome. Anyways, I'll let you guys drive the bus.
Curt Anderson :I think, well, let's just keep. Well, let's go here for a second. Okay, first off, I had the honor privilege you know you and I've been on linkedin for a long time had the privilege of meeting you in person and, dude, I tell you, you made such a lasting impression on me. It was just and and what a difference. Let's go here for a second, mark, because I want to dive into you, your background. You unleashed, unraveled, dropped the curtain on SHA-BAM! last year at the Industrial Marketing Summit. But before we dive into that, just let's talk about manufacturing first. You talked about grandpa being a millwright, your dad, you know like, was there any point in time? You're like you know what I'm going to kind of break, like, was there any point in time? You're like you know what I'm going to kind of break, like I don't know about this manufacturing thing, or is it just like you just had no choice, like you were all in on manufacturing?
Mark Vanderwarf :Oh, I don't, I don't think I had a choice. I mean I think I think you know God just put it, put it in me right away, like he was like how things work, insatiable curiosity, you know there's. There's no can't or won't like. There's just do like, uh, I I just as early as I could remember remember it was. You know construct connects and legos and how things are made, and you know and. But it was also bio and tech and everything right, because, like microwaves came out, tvs, you know, flat screen TVs, video game systems I mean I was the true 80s child.
Mark Vanderwarf :You know like don't come home until the lights are on. You know, like Tony Hawk's first skateboard I mean I saw that shout out to Chris and the Automation Ladies and stuff. I mean just stuff like that. And then moving to Southern California and I get to meet and hang out with you know a lot of idols and things and just find out like these are my friends now and these people are just showing up and doing stuff and they're changing the world. You know it's amazing. Yeah, that's awesome.
Curt Anderson :Yeah, it's in my blood all right, awesome damon, we got a couple of people harry's in the house. Yeah, we do.
Damon Pistulka :Let's get it first of all, greg's giving a shout out to the industrial marketing summit. He says it's going to be great. And then harry, thanks for stopping by today. Har. Harry Flares, happy Friday. Thanks again. We got someone that can't see your name. They're watching from Pakistan. Thank you, love it that you're listening today.
Mark Vanderwarf :We got.
Damon Pistulka :Andrew Plymer.
Mark Vanderwarf :Plymer. Oh, Andrew, nice.
Damon Pistulka :Almost known Mark for almost two decades, and he says you're a great guy. Well, we agree, andrew. All you people there. Thanks for dropping the comments. Keep them coming, that's right drop.
Curt Anderson :Drop a note in the chat box, let mark know you're here. Connect with mark on linkedin. I tell you he puts out amazing, incredible content. Just guy of integrity, just passionate helping other folks. So, mark, we're going to dive into uh, you're just uh, the serial entrepreneur on steroids that you are. I want to before we get there. Okay, in your DNA manufacturing, it's in your blood. Pioneering family up in Northeast Wisconsin. Think us through, like twenties, thirties, like you know what kind of led you, you know, on your entrepreneurial journey. How on earth does somebody own 27 DBAs? Like, just walk us through a little bit of like what really got the fire burning for your entrepreneurial journey?
Mark Vanderwarf :Oh man, yeah, it just. I was around entrepreneurs. My uncles, my aunts, my grandparents, everybody I knew just actually grew up my preteen years in the southern suburbs of Chicago, so, and actually right near the Indiana border, a little town called Crete, and then Chicago Heights, Sock Trail, Salmon Hawk, Plano, Bologna Sandwich all that stuff you know, and I threw a joke in there. And you know youano bologna sandwich, all that stuff you know, and I threw a joke in there. And if you know, you know, but yeah, and so you know, I also part of my journey around the Great Lakes and everything is. I found out that there's about probably 12 different ways to say a yeah, right, A, A, A, A, yeah.
Mark Vanderwarf :They sell them different and everything right yeah.
Mark Vanderwarf :So, yeah, I mean so it started. I mean our neighbors. I was like six years old and we had an elderly lady that was widowed and she was our, my backyard neighbor. Right, we lived on a corner and our backyards kind of were cornered up to each other and she would pick weeds and garden and cut things and all she did all day was tool around in the garden, sit out there and, you know, sip lemonade or whatever you know, and she would engage with me because my sandbox was one of those green turtle sandboxes with the lid. With the lid, like I mean I had, if you watch, oh, what is that show? The Goldbergs or Gold Gold, yeah, goldbergs. I used to Goldbergs, yeah, yeah, like 1980 something or whatever.
Mark Vanderwarf :Like take that show, that house, those people to come and go. Like that show was my early 10, 12 years, like it like crazy. But that lady, you know she took it on me and you know she asked me to come help her with stuff and then when she went on trips or to visit other ladies, she would ask me to weed the garden and do stuff and she started with paying me. She started with paying me with snacks and stuff and and then paying me with, you know, money or helping. You know she was just sweet to my parents and everything and she had lived there because we lived in the same house that my grandparents, uh, lived in, and so we moved into their house and so she had, you know, spent years and years and years with my grandfather and my grandmother, you know, ed and carol, and the whole family, um, my aunt barb and my uncle ed, and just like all this stuff, and so then we moved there she anyways, that's where it started. So then it started lawn care, uh, picking weeds, doing you know manual labor type stuff, but also just organizing, and then occasionally just to spend time with her and like chat, she would like compensate me for like being her friend and I mean like here's this, I don't know. I mean I don't know how old she was, but I mean she had to be in her 70s or 80s or something right. And here I am, I'm, like, you know, seven, eight years old, whatever, right, six years old, like uh, yeah, and and. But we were friends, you know. So she was like one of my first early like friends besides my parents and stuff that I remember. And then we had neighbors neighbors across the street, you know um and the, the cannons and the capolettis and all these other people. Like you know, it was just like really tight neighborhood. We had the baseball Diamond across the street, skateboard, ramp parks and all the stuff. I mean it was crazy. I've lived the best nine lives. Anybody can live.
Mark Vanderwarf :Anyways, teen years move up to Northeast Wisconsin. My dad enrolled in a Bible college in order to become, to start a camp ministry and learn how to do that and figure that out. And in the process, you know, I was exposed to camp campers and camp ministry and people going in and out. And then, you know, going from the city life. I mean, when I was in kindergarten it was literally you had to walk through a metal detector and you know there was three classes, each had a thousand, so there's like 3000 kids in my kindergarten right, and then went to like very large private schools in the chicago suburbs and then move up to northeast wisconsin to little bitty, bitty, bitty, tiny private school that had like 40 people in the whole school. Well, you know. So then I go to like little house on the prairie, like schoolhouse style stuff, yeah, and I go from metal detectors and everything to show and tell with like knives and machetes and arrow and all this stuff Right Dead animals Right Right Right and I got my hunting license when I was 12 years old.
Mark Vanderwarf :You know, started way before that. I mean, I learned to drive when I was nine, got my first motorcycle out of the classified ads in milk crates, you know, and helped, helped my dad, helped me put it together, but just by going and buying the manual from the dealership, you know like. So you know. So. Then I got into extreme sports and motocross and skateboarding and snowboarding and skiing and making up our own sports. I mean we used to ice the deer trails on the hill and put on our hockey skates and race down the deer trails, right, and then we're like doing tricks, like bouncing off of the trees it was like parkour meets, like downhill mountain biking on hike, on hockey skates, you know, yeah. And and then we're putting ski ropes behind snowmobiles. My dad's got a front end loader, skid loader thing and we're building tracks with bumps and jumps and stuff and we're taking the snowmobiles on loops and we're making, like you know, snowboard, motocross, hybrid sports. You know, like we're.
Mark Vanderwarf :I made my first, you know, I made my first.
Mark Vanderwarf :But I made one of my early bidirectional skateboards, warped the wood myself and like machined trucks out of, you know, on a CNC or not a CNC, but on a drill lathe and all that stuff. You know, boat propeller shop learned stick mig TIG welding when I was like 13. And then my dad went to Germany to build a paper machine for a pretty good construction company, industrial construction called CR Meyer and Sons in Wisconsin, and he worked for them for a lot of years, a lot of years and also Bolt and also a bolt, uh, b O L D T and anyways, so he went. He was gone for a whole entire summer and he left me the keys to the truck and the and the keys of the business. And he was like he told my mom, take him wherever he needs to go and just let him, let him do his thing, and he's going to keep the business alive. Well, not only did I keep it alive and weld all the parts and fix it, and so I was selling and doing, at 15 years old, right and wow, so.
Mark Vanderwarf :So building up with my dad's you know, inland propeller business and then and then through my 20s, you know. Uh, so I, I made it to like number seven in the state of wisconsin for race and motocross. And then, yeah, while I was on like chess club and in the music in in band I was playing marching band with an electric guitar with a battery, with a battery speaker marching band with an electric guitar.
Mark Vanderwarf :Yeah, one of the big songs was la bamba. You know, it was like we were doing a football field. That is awesome, that is absolutely awesome, yeah. So it's like, just went through all of that stuff and then, uh, but so the motocross thing, like, so they introduced the triple jump when, like, jeremy mcgrath started doing cross ups and stuff, right yeah, and you know, he had a honda cr 125 and then a 250 and all this and that was before four strokes, right, so this stuff's just screaming. And it was just like I. We built a triple jump in our group called the dirt dancers and they're still alive and kicking like dirt dancers. Like, go, dirt dancers. There's still a team out there racing and stuff. Nice, anyways, built a triple jump and I ended up botching it come, you know, practicing, and then messed up my shoulder, messed up my knee, while I'm recuperating from that, you know, uh, neighbor, a neighborhood, uh, girlfriend of mine, uh, elizabeth, she came over and she was teaching me songs on acoustic guitar. Well, that, never, left.
Mark Vanderwarf :So then I got into music while I was healing up, right, you know, rock climbing and all that other stuff Cool, I was starting guard on the basketball team. I was just talking with my friend, mike Dunford. He's a serial entrepreneur and stuff as well in Michigan and worship pastor at an awesome church down there too with Daniel Patz and stuff. So you know, I grew up I had like the rich dad, poor dad, I had all the I just exposed to everything. It was just I, I wouldn't trade it for anything Like the memories I have and all the people I've known and everything I've learned has been amazing. So then in the twenties, you know, I was like started doing recordings, public shows, live events, I learned, you know, I was like started doing recordings, public shows, live events. I learned, you know, outside of, uh, major cities, these little towns surrounding major cities just love to bring in people. They're like, you know, come, come over here, we'll do whatever you want. So we started doing, um, you know, going to like town halls and like community things and get involved in like. You know, I didn't realize it was politics at the time. I was just like, oh, I want to play, I want, I want my band to play, you know. So then started putting on these little festivals and things. And then, yeah, long story short like, started helping produce those later in life and so I was kind of like a band manager, producer, artist and repertoire, started writing and recording.
Mark Vanderwarf :When I was like 16 I started doing, you know, uh, making dj music, uh under the name dj tracer, and was releasing that stuff down in like the chicago warehouse scene. So we were doing like technos and raves and stuff. And then, wow, so then went to detroit a few times for some of those d and raves and stuff. And then so then went to Detroit a few times for some of those D town house parties and stuff. And then I mean it was just like it just kept going and escalating and and meanwhile I have this whole life in manufacturing.
Mark Vanderwarf :I got into the building trades, you know, as a millwright, and I was in my early twenties and, um, surprised my dad just by showing up to one of his jobs one time and and like he's reading the name roster and he's like Mark Vanderwerf, and I mean I could just see this team coming out of his ears, you know it was like what are you doing here, son, you're supposed to be in college. I was like aren't you proud of me, dad, and he's like I'm? I am not. He's like I want better for you.
Curt Anderson :And so I'd say that's, that's awesome. Let's grab a couple of comments. Yeah, we got a couple of them.
Damon Pistulka :So David says, David Turner says glad your beard is growing back.
Curt Anderson :First of all, I, you know what, and for the record, I think you're handsome either way, mark, I think with or without you're just spot on, you know I, I, I mean, I know you guys are messing with me, because it's actually jim mayer that yeah, yeah yeah, I mean it's so funny.
Mark Vanderwarf :I've run into over over the years Jim and I. People have called me Jim so many times at shows, people have called him Mark and I finally met him in person for the first time and it was actually Chris Lukey that thought Kind of put that together. Well, no, he went up to Jim and he was telling him stuff. And then he came up to me and he was like yeah, I would just told you all this. I'm like oh what? And then he's like wait, you're not Jim, you're Mark. And then he was like you guys got to meet each other and he like grabs us and we were at the same networking event and then we met each other at MDM West.
Curt Anderson :And I saw, I saw the picture. I saw you posted the picture of the two of you next to each other. So I you know what? I think you guys both look super handsome, with or without.
Damon Pistulka :So, yeah, we got another one from Harry he's talking about. I grew up, mark, on Hammond and Hedgewish border. Yeah, um, and John's Pizzeria in calumet city was our favorite place oh yeah, awesome, harry, thanks for sharing that.
Mark Vanderwarf :We, our favorite place was not too far from that, but there's a. It's now a chain, but it's called a. Really it was pizza and if you know, you know, and if you don't eat, it's just the best kept secret in chicago. But aurelio's pizza, uh, the original location in crete. Uh, joe, aurelio is the founder and my uncles grew up with his kids and met their like so and then, yeah, anyways, I had a franchise opportunity with them and stuff. I wish I would have took it, but right well, hey, we got one more from andrew one more from andrew.
Damon Pistulka :He said love you, mark. Do you still have that white album?
Curt Anderson :yes, the beatles white album in in the plastic like brand new damon, I'm so old, I had the white album on eight tracks, so how's that one for you, man? So we're going, we're going to wait that. So all right, dude, man, like time is flying and like we got a ton to cover today so let's slide, let's fast forward.
Curt Anderson :so, uh, industrial marketing summit last year you announced dropped the curtain on SHA-BAM! Yes, you've got a couple other exciting things that we're going to talk about. Let's do a little reveal party. First off, let's talk about Shabam.
Mark Vanderwarf :Who and what is SHA-BAM! , how you know, simplify and scale, that's a way for businesses to tackle business and marketing automation, business development. So you know products, services and solutions can all be done with SHA-BAM! as your back end. And you know audience awareness, eyeballs, right. So the awareness piece, that's so all your, all your top funnel marketing, all that communication piece can all be done in SHA-BAM! as well. And then we help you close the gap between timing and price in order to make a sale. And so all of those I believe business is run by communications and those clear communications and those processes to help you close the gap, help you make sales right. And so those conversions, those sales that you make, are part of branding, educate, surprise, delight, know, like and trust, all that. But I've distilled that all down to just warmth and confidence. So, is there warmth? Is there human integrity? There Is there, I know you, I like you, all those things are rolled into that, but I think it's just warmth, right. And then I think you can put no, like and trust and all that stuff. You know paying, budget, decision, fulfillment, post-sell. I'm giving away all my Sandler secrets there. But again, if you know, you know right. But there's so many great sales trainings out there, but what I'm saying is that can all be distilled into confidence, right? That integrity, that trust, will I do what I say I'm going to do If you shake my hand, do we mean, yes, you need to get it in ink? You absolutely have to. You got to make contracts.
Mark Vanderwarf :So, yeah, shabam is 30 plus tools built uh and supported on the high level platform and we are a high level implementation and integrator. Okay, so, at at the highest level of high level, you've got all that right. That's the bare bones, the back end of shabam. You've got all that right. That's the bare bones, the back end of Shabam. We've also added in lots of other tools and tips and tricks and we provide support, automation, ai and AI agents and all those things right. But we've taken one step further with my coaching and consulting and differentiator being industrial marketing, industrial. You know critical industry sectors, right? So anybody that was alive and kicking during the pandemic they got a little note from their CEO that they could be on the freeway.
Curt Anderson :Those are our people right, Nice, All those essential folks. And what I love is so you're flashing the colors of high level. We just had Sean Clark, the founder and CEO of High Level. He was on our show a month ago and just what a dynamic solution. And so again, you're doing great work, helping manufacturers and Damon we've got Gail was in the house here today.
Damon Pistulka :Oh I know, we got Gail Robertson man.
Mark Vanderwarf :Gail.
Damon Pistulka :We just have to stop for a moment, because Gail stopped.
Curt Anderson :We got to just take a moment and savor it Gail.
Damon Pistulka :We're sending a ton of love we're rolling out the carpet. Yeah.
Mark Vanderwarf :Hello all.
Curt Anderson :This is a run by communication.
Damon Pistulka :This is a run by communication, so true. And FYI, dave Chrysler, the Chrysler Club, he understands that too. We'll talk a little bit with Dave about systems. Yeah, absolutely yeah, andrew, again he's like I'm using Shabam for my gig, and scheduling for students and invoicing had made my process super easy.
Curt Anderson :Hey, yeah, well done Mark, well done Andrew.
Damon Pistulka :Good job, Andrew, you know making people's life.
Curt Anderson :Look how he's making people making the world a better place. Yeah, Look how he's making people, making the world a better place. So, Mark, great job. Again, we're coming to the top of the hour. Yes, we are so if you're jumping to a next call. So you know, make sure you connect with Mark on LinkedIn. Go to his website, check it out. He's doing all sorts of amazing things. Gail says love you guys. Grab that one.
Damon Pistulka :Damon. Oh, it says love you guys. Thank you for the warm welcome. Thanks for being here.
Curt Anderson :We need gail. It's been. It's been way too long we need to get gail, you need we need to connect. You need to get back on the show here. Yeah, we miss you. So, mark, uh, okay. So, folks, industrial, anything else that you want to share as far as, like, ideal clients that should be connecting with you about shabam, because we're going to slide in. You've got another exciting announcement. We're going to into Anything else you want to share about Shabam for folks that should be reaching out to you.
Mark Vanderwarf :Yeah, absolutely, I mean any, any anybody that has a they're flying solo or a small team, like we definitely synergize well with folks that are, you know anywhere from. You know $50 that they're earning to. You know $50 million, right, you know, and and worked with several, uh, fortune 1000 companies um, integrated Shabam alongside of of other systems. Um, you know I've worked with Salesforce and HubSpot and Dynamics and Pipedrive and all CRMs. And then you know Monday, right, asana, clickup, all these other project management tools. You know Microsoft Project and all that stuff, airtable. You know building and synergizing all these things, integrating, connecting, zapping, apis, all that. So, if any of that stuff is confusing or you don't, you know you're not comfortable with, like, oh, two Open REST APIs or webhooks, or you know what's a UTM and all that stuff, right, like we can help with all those things. But basically, you know, if you want to connect your business plan to your customer's customer all the way through that customer experience journey and you want clarity of mission and vision and story, right, and you want to connect that and make sure that that communicates entirely through your culture in your company, your vendors, your prospects, your converts, right, like, you don't need, you don't need leads. You don't need sales. You don't need any. You don't even need a thousand raving fans. I'm going to disagree on all that. You need converts. You want people that have a paradigm shift, that align with your faith, freedom and country and all that stuff right.
Mark Vanderwarf :So I believe in investing in these critical industry business owners that are creating companies that build community and culture and do all these things that affect their communities, their cities, that affect their counties, their country and, ultimately, these continents, right? And so I believe in investing in a powerful small few amount of people that are believing in stewardship, sustainability, longevity, human-centric, planet-friendly people, processes and technology that are investing in others. That these people are the most servant-style leadership, unsung thankless heroes that I've ever met in my entire life, and everybody has a distorted view of them, and what makes them so powerful is that they power through and they take it. They take it on the chin. They let people talk bad about them. They let people think that it's all about the money. People make up their own narrative and these people power through anyways, and they are the salt's all about the money. People make up their own narrative and these people power through anyways, and they are the salt and light of the earth. These people are some of the best people I've ever met, the hardest workers collar that are. You know the, the crew leads the, the foremans, the, the superintendents of you know the trades or the craft or the thing, right, and you know I'm.
Mark Vanderwarf :I saw a disconnect because I came up on my tools all the way through into the business side, all the way through project planning, estimating, all that stuff, business development, and then I went in marketing and sales and then I went to work for a small boutique, acquisition and merger, a&m and to help you know, now I help scale and grow companies, right, and so Shabam is the system that kind of gives me the 80, 20 that I put in there and so that customer journey we call it a CXM instead of a CRM because it go way beyond the sale and it's it's, it's way more meta than that, right.
Mark Vanderwarf :So if you guys want clarity on conception of connecting all these Tony Hawk skateboard tricks and just, you want to hit a thousand, 3000, 10,000 points, like, and you want to do curve rails and you want to slide through and hook it all together like that's. That's what we do with shabam high level. I got to meet all the founders at uh level up summit. Uh got to talk with everybody, have the support of their dev team. I've got to meet the the great people at h Pro Tools and Extendedly and a bunch of these other service solutions. We can help you put all these things together. Big announcement came out custom objects, which means that you can now build just about anything you want in the platform. So custom opportunities, custom fields, custom everything. So we help you get up and running, get started, stay supported, do all that stuff with Shabam. And that brings me into the segue of this sustainability piece.
Curt Anderson :We got an exciting announcement, Damon. How about Harry's comment here?
Damon Pistulka :Let's hear that SHA-BAM! great name, Mark. What kind of predictive analytics can your service offer? Shabam what?
Mark Vanderwarf :kind of predictive analytics can your service offer? Oh wow, predictive analytics is amazing because it's like preventative maintenance, right? So because it's an all-in-one system and you can also feed in any other data that you want or take any data out of it. So we don't charge per seat, we don't charge for data, we don't charge like. So it's unlimited data, unlimited users, unlimited everything, right? We support your admins, we teach Amanda Fish and then teach others, right? So for for predictive stuff, you can take all of that data and not and and your back office data and all your stats tie it all together with.
Mark Vanderwarf :You know your HR systems, your payment processing systems. We're actually going to be offering our own payment processing. We're going to be doing a private label of uh, of a big, big venture that that's coming up, probably sometime early next year. I'm advocating for the little guy, the guy on the front end, and I'm positioning the business systems to build a matrix, structured community in order to empower all the new generations coming up. You know alpha, zs, ys, everything like, and I want to give them business tools and systems and and access. I'm even working with retired people to provide courses and training and stuff. We're we're connecting the dots and I'm I'm decentralizing and democratizing. So much of this stuff.
Damon Pistulka :That's awesome. That's awesome. Well, we got none other than Dave Chrysler man the one, and only so talk about.
Curt Anderson :we need Dave back on the show.
Damon Pistulka :My mentor.
Curt Anderson :God, I love that guy, so Dave happy.
Damon Pistulka :New Year, hello friends and happy Friday. So we got Muhammad stopped by and said Mark is expert. I agree, definitely know what you're talking about here.
Mark Vanderwarf :Thank you, Muhammad.
Damon Pistulka :Absolutely.
Curt Anderson :All right, so let's dive in. So all right, damon, did you get that drum set yet? Remember we mentioned about getting that drum set. You get the drum roll ready, let's like. All right, let's, let's, let's do. Everybody do your drum roll out there. You guys are having lunch in the East. Whatever time zone you're in, you ever have a little drum roll. So, mark Vanderwerf, what is the big announcement today that you'd like to share with everybody?
Mark Vanderwarf :A big announcement today is that Shabam and a sponsor company, smart Logistics, lgstx, so smartlgstxcom and shabam S-H-A-B-A-Mcom are sponsoring this ecosystem of everything I was just explaining called SMFGX Sustainable Manufacturing Exchange, expo, experts Experience. Like the X stands for the infinite power of the community, and so it can also be strategic marketing for good and excellence. You know they're just letters, so we make them up anything you want them to be. I want to hear what you guys come up with, but I want it to be. You know the South by Southwest of stuff. You know it's going to be online, it's going to be hybrid. We SHA-BAM! has a new product called Gatherport, that's going to be events. We SHA-BAM! has a new product called Gatherport, that's going to be eventsshabam. We're going to be doing virtual summits and conferences just like a real world one. We can even do them hybrid, in tandem with a real world event, and so multiple floors, multiple stages, just like self-directed, guided through your own, your own event, right, and you can have sidebar conversations great for speed networking, all kinds of stuff with that. So that's coming out this year.
Mark Vanderwarf :SMF GX is going to be is this community, and today, right now, you can go to smfgx. com and in the upper right-hand corner. Uh, you're going to you're going to see a little video, and then you're going to see a little video and then you're going to see a little newsletter sign up, sign up for the newsletter to get alerted and things. And then in the upper right hand corner you can click on it and it's going to go to hubsmfgx and so that is the community channels on everything. We're going to be connecting all these experts and it's going to be a marketplace of ideas, a marketplace of to connect the digital thread. Nobody does it all Siemens, ge, vinova, rockwell Automation, deloitte, I mean you name it from consultancy groups all the way through. Nobody does it all Right. And so we need to connect this digital thread, we need to talk to these experts, and you know I worked with the team in Informa to help launch the Sustainable Manufacturing Expo that's going to be next week in Anaheim at MDN, co-located with MDNM West.
Mark Vanderwarf :Super pumped about that and I want to keep that that going. I want to keep the baton going and build a community around all of it for sustainable business models in manufacturing and beyond. Right. And so you know, roi driven scarcity, scarcity software, scarcity, mentality, you know, king of the hill. Insulate, isolate brace I got mine for me that whole thing. Insulate, isolate brace I got mine for me. That whole thing that now it's regulatory driven, now it's, uh, consumer driven and you know like there's all these pieces of why that's it's gonna burn the bridge, right. So investor driven even. Um, so we want to, you know, we want to embrace an abundance mentality and we, we want to model and train people and show people what that looks like and how you can have longevity and stewardship and sustainability in an abundance mindset, right? So that's a lot of what we're doing. I'll be there next week at the smart logistics booth Again smart, lg, stx and we're going to be going around and preaching the gospel of abundance. There you go.
Curt Anderson :Preaching the gospel of abundance. Drop the mic, mr Mark. And so, man, what? And what a privilege that, like you're, you're announcing this. On, on with us, Damon. We've got a few more comments.
Damon Pistulka :Andrew stops by and goes Mark has already filled my life with joy. And then Greg Mishio drops a comment. It's not common knowledge, but Mark does not sleep. He has never actually slept a day in his life. It's the only way he can possibly pull off all the things he has done, so we've got to remember that and figure out how not to sleep. I guess Gail stopped by. What a phenomenal, phenomenal show today. Mark VanderWoorf explained things well and loved the name SHA-BAM!, SHA-BAM! Connect, the digital thread. Wow. Thanks, gail, for the comments.
Curt Anderson :Thanks everybody for keeping them coming.
Damon Pistulka :Keep them coming. Let's keep it rolling Curt, yeah let's keep it rolling, Mark.
Curt Anderson :Okay, so give us the domain again. We'd love for everybody. As a matter of fact, let's crash the server right now Mark.
Mark Vanderwarf :Give the domain again.
Curt Anderson :Where should they go to check you out?
Mark Vanderwarf :Can I dump it in the chat? Even it's smfgxcom and then hubsmfgxcom and you can sign up. Hit the sign up. Underneath all the login stuff it says new user. You know, log, sign up and then you'll have to wait for me to admit you, so you guys can't go crashing the server on me. So I'll admit you one at a time. Got it? That's awesome. And the thing is is you know all of these websites and you can go to MarkVanderwarf. com and see a bunch of you know probably 10 or 12 of the things I've been working on and what I'm into. Markvanderwerfcom and all of this stuff is built on SHA-BAM!. We're eating our own dog food. It's amazing technology of stand on the shoulders of giants. It took us three years to learn it. Me and my business partner shout out to Josh Northrup Um and uh, just so many people we've now got. We just crossed the threshold of 26 companies. And uh, we're pushing almost 80 users now onSHA-BAM! . And uh, we're just getting started like literally All right, I'm putting markvanderwarf. com.
Curt Anderson :If you guys see that, got it Got it. In the chat there and I don't know if it goes to LinkedIn, Damon, it looks like it's going out to a few other socials. Yep, Again, check out Mark. Connect with Mark on LinkedIn. Go to his website, markvanderwarf. com, and again the the acronym if I'm looking at right now S M F G X. com. That's where you want. That's correct. Yeah, Excellent, Excellent, Okay, I know I know we're coming into time, Mark, let's start winding down Like dude, like you know what he's like-.
Mark Vanderwarf :I got all day. You guys are my aspirational identity. You guys are my heroes. I'm so privileged to be here.
Curt Anderson :Oh my God, are you kidding, I'm so excited my hat's spinning around, we're so humbled. All right, let's start. We're going to start winding down here for a couple of things. Things First off. Okay, we want to catch Mark at industrial marketing summit. As a matter of fact, I'm going to be there as well, mark, and so I can't wait to catch your session. And so go to IMS, sign up for it, just go. You know what?
Curt Anderson :Just buy your plane ticket right now. Just go to the website, sign up right now. And I'm telling you, if you talk to Mark, you think he's fascinating. Online, you meet him and, like Mark, I can tell you exactly where we were standing. Like you, like you have a, you have a natural ability of just of giving a lasting impression on people and I and I'm going to say it online like dude, you inspire me to be a better husband and I'm saying and I put it on public Mark, I tell you, are, you're like a Renaissance man. You know that you're like the Renaissance man. So, all right, let's go here. I have a question.
Mark Vanderwarf :Could I just do a quick shout out If if there's anybody out there struggling or they they're trying to figure things out and be there for their loved ones and their family? On a personal level, um, I invite you to check out my personal journey with my wife and I on support friendsorg. Support friendsorg we invite people right into our lives, right alongside of us. On support friendsorg, you can hear our journey of our marriage and and my wife's battle with EDS, ehlers-danlos syndrome and my you know, helping as as a caregiver and stuff. You know, helping as a caregiver and stuff and it's been a huge forcing function for us to just learn how to communicate, learn how to care for each other, learn how to love on other people and allow, through humility and stuff, to allow people to come in and serve us and care for us.
Mark Vanderwarf :That has been the biggest challenge for me as someone that's a I'm a self-made man. I'm pulling myself up by my bootstraps, I'm going to go do stuff and to invite a stranger into your home to come in and fold your laundry or clean your floor because you had shoulder surgery or full replacement from three decades of pulling on wrenches and chain falls, but to allow someone to come in. You know, frail, older people that are more able-bodied than you. It's so humbling, but I can't thank all of them enough my business community, my friendship community, my family community and our church community coming alongside of us with supportfriendsorg. I envision that becoming its own platform where businesses can actually give this away like as a perk for companies, right, so they could have, like you know, b2btailsupportfriendsorg, right, and you could have your employees each have a page, because once you need help, it's kind of too late. Yeah and uh, that communication and those systems, automations and everything you know, we're using Shabam on the backend to to drive it.
Mark Vanderwarf :And so, anyway, support friendsorg Great thing. Learned so much through that. And thank you so much for your kind words. Curt, you are an absolute inspiration and whenever I'm down and out, you've always had these encouraging words, and Damon you as well Just you're. You're just raw power and talent and everything has just been encouraging and helped keep me going. You guys I mean, I owe a lot to you guys, you don't even know on you guys.
Curt Anderson :I mean, I owe a lot to you guys. You don't even know, man, I dropped supportfriendsorg in the chat Again, like all right, david, we usually say this at the very end. I'm going to say it now. Like you know, you got to go back like hit the replay button. You got to catch all this. Please, I encourage you, I invite you, I welcome you. Connect with Mark on LinkedIn. Just what a dynamic individual.
Damon Pistulka :Let's grab Gail's comment. Yeah, gail's comment here. Thanks, gail, for dropping another comment. Humility, very powerful words and definitely needed. Thank you for sharing your personal story, mark. Friends, family, church, spiritual families are so important. Asking and getting help is vital and that's you know. It is, as you said, growing up in situations where that's not the common thing that we're taught to do. It is very humbling and very helpful because if you do it, it may encourage somebody else to do it, and I don't think there is not. I don't think there is a person listening to the show today that hasn't been affected by someone that has taken their life. Yes, you got hurt because of this stupid stuff, or done things with drugs, alcohol, whatever, with because they didn't ask and get the help yes it, it's vital.
Mark Vanderwarf :And here's the thing is we can. We can look out for others. There's signs, there's hotlines, there's all that stuff. But we can. We need to look out and we need to be vigilant for those around us. I mean, my job is making friends and when I'm doing that I can you know, first and foremost, I want to make sure that they're okay on a personal level, yeah, nothing else matters? I mean, it doesn't. So yeah, yeah, amazing stuff. I mean, who knew we?
Curt Anderson :were going here today. So, Damon, how about Harry? Harry's got a comment here, harry thanks for the comment.
Damon Pistulka :Great show, great guy, bravo. Thanks for dropping another comment, harry.
Curt Anderson :Okay, we're going to. We're going to close man. We're going to close out. Tons of mic drop here, mark, as we close out serial entrepreneur, whether you're sharing with your younger self, or maybe somebody out there is just really aspiring to kickstart their own entrepreneur journey, whether they're in their 20s, maybe they're 70. Who knows, somewhere in between, what's the best business advice that you've ever received or that you would like to share? Best business advice that you've ever received or would like to share?
Mark Vanderwarf :Oh man, I don't want to mess it up, I'm going to read it right from my thing here. This is one of my inspirational things. It sits on my desktop right. I combined two things something my father told me growing up and something my wife shared with me about a year ago, and I put it together in pick a path, pay attention, pray, move tenaciously. The message is more important than the messenger, so bring others with you. Pick a path, pay attention, pray and move tenaciously. The message is more important than the messenger, so bring others with you.
Mark Vanderwarf :And that has fueled a lot of my life, but especially this last year, with that new, refined clarity. And I just I didn't realize my ego and my pride and my arrogance was so, so, so big that I just need to simply get out of the way of self and, just like when I'm in flow state playing music, it has to be so repetitive that you can't get it wrong. Right and practice, practice, practice. When something is new, you feel like a fraud and you haven't learned it yet. So you feel like you're faking it and in fact you're facing it. So face it till you make it, reframe that to face it till you make it, and it feels fraudulent, because you're learning, and when you're learning, you just need reps, and so you need to face it. Till you make it, you need to get those reps in.
Mark Vanderwarf :And what you're doing, you're either creating or you're consuming, and if you're consuming, you're taking in something somebody else did, right? So if you're creating, you have the authority, the power, the vigilance and you can put those things into practice, right? So I encourage people to start creating in any gifting that they have, and what you're making and doing is more important than anything else, because we all the rest of us on planet earth we need you, and there's only one of you, and we need your giftings, your talent, your skills, your abilities. I need you, kurt needs you, damon needs you. We can't do this alone. No backbone has you know. There's no, there's no headless monster running out. There's lots of headless monsters, but there's no floating heads, right, like so we need. We need everybody right, and I just really believe in community and family and building just these ecosystems of warmth and confidence.
Damon Pistulka :Just letting it go.
Curt Anderson :Mark, we're just going to. There's nothing that can be said to follow that. We're just going to savor. Hey, let's see if it works. Damon, does it work, does it?
Damon Pistulka :work.
Mark Vanderwarf :There it is.
Damon Pistulka :There it is. Oh, all right.
Curt Anderson :See the hearts.
Damon Pistulka :Yep, all right, here we go.
Curt Anderson :Mark, thank you.
Mark Vanderwarf :I got to get in on this game.
Curt Anderson :There, you go. Try it out dude, try it out, try to drop some hearts.
Damon Pistulka :I'm not using that kind of of computer. I know it won't do it.
Curt Anderson :Yeah all right, I do. Uh, we do need to close out, so yes, yes, thank you so much everybody out there.
Curt Anderson :Man, you've been hanging out with sort of past. However long it's been what? How about great opportunity could stand up. Let's give a huge standing ovation to mark vanderwerf for just absolutely just destroying it today. Positive force, contagious enthusiasm, what, like Damon, I've got to go. I've got to go run through a wall right now. So there's the balloons right there. So, Mark, I want to thank you. I appreciate you, applaud. You Cannot wait to see you in person in four weeks from today and again.
Curt Anderson :I encourage, invite everybody. Check out Mark on LinkedIn. Check out his website. Check out Mark on LinkedIn. Check out his website. Check out friendsupportorg. What a great mission, great organization, and I'll tell you as we close out today man, just go out and be someone's inspiration, just like Mark, and you're going to make the world a better place. Damon, take it away, man, I'm alongside.
Damon Pistulka :All right. Well, thanks so much, mark, for being here today. We appreciate you stopping by the show and sharing with us your journey, what's going on and the great things that are happening. I want to talk to everyone that got into this late. You want to go back to the beginning. You do not want to miss what Mark had to say throughout the show about life, marketing, industrial marketing. Whatever you want to hear in this, around this topic, you need to go back and listen to it from the beginning. And those of you that were listening but not commenting I don't want to forget you because you're out there doing that week in, week out listen to the show. We love that you're there and we appreciate you. Have a great weekend, everyone. We'll be back again next week with another great guest. There you go, shabam.
Curt Anderson :All right, all right.
Damon Pistulka :Finish up.
