Trading Secrets - 277. Cam Fordham: From Music Partnerships to Global Brands—Building a Full-Service Agency Fueled by Vision, Relationships, and Execution

Episode Date: February 5, 2026

This week, Jason is joined by Cam Fordham!Cam is the mastermind behind some of the biggest digital marketing campaigns in entertainment and sports history. From helping artists and athletes building their online presence to running an agency that connects global brands with massive audiences, Cam’s story is all about vision and execution. What started as a few digital partnerships in the music space has led into a full service creative powerhouse, managing content for some of the most recognizable names in the world.Cam dives into how he bootstrapped while scaling the business, his connection with Todd from Raising Cane’s, and the moment he couldn’t believe the numbers in front of him. He breaks down which events drive the most impressions, the most effective marketing tactics he’s learned, and the importance of honesty, relationships, and maintaining a human element. Cam also shares his perspective on the future of content, Get Engaged’s investment arm, how to bring fresh ideas into tired spaces, the toughest challenges in his industry, the benefits of LinkedIn, where he sees AI heading, and wraps up with a rapid-fire round. Cam reveals all this and so much more in another episode you can’t afford to miss!Host: Jason TartickCo-Host: David ArduinAudio: John GurneyGuest: Cam Fordham + Get Engaged MediaStay connected with the Trading Secrets Podcast! Instagram: @tradingsecretspodcast Youtube: Trading SecretsFacebook: Join the Group

Welcome back to another episode, Trading Secrets. I'm your host, Jason Tarnick. Welcome to the pre-market trading segment. It's Thursday. We got another episode out. That's two episodes this week with an absolute marketing genius, Cam Fordham. You were going to hear the ins and outs of digital marketing like you've never heard before. Some of the biggest companies in the world he's working with.

Stay tuned for this episode. It's going to be amazing. And wait until the recap. 20 minutes in the weeds. We're also giving away the signed book from Mike the Situation. And we have more giveaways coming. So to enter a giveaway, just give us five stars, a review, things you'd like us to talk about.

Maybe your biggest takeaways, but remember to give us five stars. David, we ended the podcast, and we said, I've asked you one question. I said, one word, how you feel it? So you'll have to stay tuned to what he said. But this is a new little tactic I'm doing in meetings. It's a new little thing I'm doing with friends. Just check-ins. One word, how you feeling?

It kind of sets the stage for where we should go next. All right, one word, how you feeling? Because they hear mine in the recap. This is the intro. How are you feeling? One word. I feel dialed right now. A whole dangerous.

You know, like January. I did the dry January up until the point I said I was going to break which is 29th. Drink a little bit, had some fun. After it, I'm like, no, I'm good. You know, not been the cleanest four days. Dialed with work. Just dialed. Diled.

Jason is the Jason that it's, he's capable of a lot, folks. and Cam is capable of a lot, as you'll hear in this episode. You get a little bit of recap there. You get a little bit of Blake and G recap, but something that we're excited to share. You're not used to hearing us on Thursdays. So you're hearing us in the intro on a Thursday. You're hearing us in the recap on a Thursday.

If you stay tuned to the recap, you just might hear a little more from Jason and David on Thursdays in the future. So that's my little tease for the episode. That's my little tease for the recap. Take them away, Jason. What are you got? Last thing I got is in the recap.

We talk about some of the guests that we have coming out. and there are some big ones with a lot of things happening in their life, and we have some more that I didn't share. But those that I shared, you might want to stay tuned to the recap. But enough of you and I, David, just try it. Just try it. Check in with people. One word, how you feel it?

It can help customize that conversation and adjust it a little bit differently based on that answer, which can help you connect a little bit better. Let's ring in the bell with the one and only Cam Fordham. Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets. Today we are joined by Cam Fordham. Cam is the mastermind behind some of the biggest digital marketing campaigns in the entertainment in sports history, from helping artists and athletes building their online presence to running

an agency that connects global brands with massive audiences. Cam's story is all about vision and execution. What started as a few digital partnerships in the music space has evolved into a full-service creative powerhouse, managing content for some of the most. recognizable names in the world. Today, we're talking about the business of engagement, how digital media makes money, how influencer deals are structured, and how Cam built one of the most connected agencies in entertainment and in the industry camp. Thank you so much for being on sharing secrets. Thanks for having, Jason. It's a long time coming, man. We've been talking about this for a while.

We've been talking about this for a year or two, and super happy it worked out, and great to see you, good to be here. I remember, I don't think I've ever told you this story. 2020, I was just starting to think about starting our little boutique talent agency. And one of my buddies in town was like, have you met Cam? And I said, you know, I've heard his name around, but I haven't met him yet. And he's like, the guy's everywhere. And this guy's dad owns a private jet. And we were pulling into the airport because we're just coming from his place in Florida. And there, literally, as he said, at 10 minutes before, you're there, you're like filming something with a jet. You had four clients. I'm like, is that the guy you were just telling me about? He's like, yeah. You have made one of the biggest

splashes I've seen in this space. Everyone listening right now, you think of an actor, you think of an athlete, you think of someone who is relevant at the top of their game. And I'm not talking, you know, C, B-list, I'm talking the biggest players. You're with them. You're there. You're killing it. And this all started in 2016. In 2016, when you started it, was this the vision that you're currently living today? You know, I always knew it had a lot of potential. We kind of were just going with the flow and working hard and doing a lot of favors. It's a lot of teamwork. It's a lot of effort. You know, I have really good business partners. You know, they, we all do different things. We all have different personalities, but we balance each other out super well. You know, starting in 2016

in Atlanta, you know, we started with, you know, a few rappers in Atlanta helping them out with merch and meet and greets. Who are the rappers you worked with? So Wakaflaka, TI. And then it just kind of went from there. You know, we started, you know, branching off into other genres and then brands came to play. You know, we saw that you had the CAAs, the WME's, UTAs that represented talent. They were very good at doing so. You had the Havas and the Densus that focused on out of home and traditional commercials, but you didn't have a lot of companies in the space that represented digital first content, socials, talent. And so we wanted to represent the brands. Interesting. So right from the onset, you were like, okay, we see those players like,

like CAA and WME, they're working with, you know, the Tom Brady's, the George Clooney's. Sure. We're going to do it different. We're going to go right to the brands. So you started working with the brands. And again, you guys start in 2016. Dude, I talk to brands today and they're still like not understanding social media. So back then, it had to be even harder sell. What were some of the conversations like when you started getting going for the brands to be like, I need to be on top of this? We focused on culture. Back then, there wasn't a lot of benchmarks or KPI's you can really look into or measure. You know, it came over time on how you measure the ROI and spend.

So it was a lot of selling at first, but as we started making impact and motion, people started to catch on. And, you know, during COVID, you know, that's where we really hit our strides. So a lot of these brands pulled a lot of their out of home, you know, their radio spots, their billboards and really focused on digital. Yeah. And that's where we kind of took it up a notch, went from 25 employees to 100 in the span of a year, year and a half. Wow. And how many employees you guys have now? We have 10015. So off is Atlanta, Nashville, New York, and the team in L.A.

That is crazy. One of the things a lot of our entrepreneurs will ask is when you get started, do you sell fund or do you use OPM, other people's money? How have you kind of navigated the idea of raising capital while growing? And what's that looked like from your vantage point? People raise money. People bootstrap. We decided to bootstrap. You know, there was a couple years where we just didn't take really a lot of salary and kept pumping it in. And then, you know, like I said, we exploded during COVID around 2020, 2021. And that's when we started really excelling. That is pretty good. If you think about that, your bootstrap, don't take salaries, take profitability, reinvest it. Correct.

Then you own the large percentage. And now you look how big the companies become. No doubt. So it's a little hard at first. Yeah, yeah. It's not comfortable. But then, you know, I feel like if you see. keep the mission, stay focused, stay in your lane, it will work out.

Exactly. Now, you guys have worked with a wide range of clients. You got Netflix, Amazon, NBC Universal, MLS. And then you've executed campaigns with some of the biggest influencers in the world, Drusky, Alex Othio, Theo Vaughn, Snoop Dog, Kigo, the list goes on. One thing I'll never forgets the conversation we had at Raising Cain's. And I had the pleasure of having Todd on the podcast and talking to him a little bit. But he credited a lot of, of the marketing strategies to you. And I came to you, I'm like, dude, is that? Like, were you really the one that, like, thought about this a lot?

Because I think what's so crazy and impressive with Raising Cains is they took a concept like chicken fingers. And if there's any form of relevancy, any, you mentioned earlier, any form of pop culture, they are there. Talk to me about what that strategy looked like as you were coming up with it. Yeah, for sure. So I actually went to LSU. That's where I initially met Todd.

Yeah. So I noticed, I think it was about two. 2018, they hadn't really done many things with talent. They weren't really involved with social as much. And I just saw an opportunity. So I went to Todd. We started helping him with socials and they kind of gradually went from there. But I'm going to credit Todd. He really understands culture and relationships and people and digital and he thinks outside the box and he listens. And they combining with he has an amazing team, you know, his co-CEO, A.J. Kumar, it's a hell. of an operator. So everything kind of fell in place because all those boxes were checked. So it made

our lives a little bit easier in our jobs. So I just think, you know, Todd understanding that the food quality being good and the ways we can plug and play them in within culture, it's worked. And I mean, it's crazy how far they've grown. I think when we started, they were at like 200 plus restaurants. Now they're at over 1,000. Wild. over in the span of six, seven years. Yeah, and I think I read something recently that his net worth is not over $20 billion. You can't make it up,

but a lot of it has to do with the product, a lot of it has to do with operations, a lot of it has to do with marketing. Of all the things, what moment to you has been like, everyone's talking about it? This was a moment that I can't believe the numbers and the return

we saw from a marketing perspective. So what we just did with perplexed the AI, their top AI company, They have a new browser called Comet. Okay. So it's basically like chatGBT. It's more task-based, et cetera. But, you know, we were set to help them launch the app and bring in talent into the fold.

And, you know, our benchmarks for about 200 million impressions and views. And I think we hit as of a week ago, 425. Wow. With our spend. So I think we, you know, they really took it up a notch with that launch. And that company is really looking to. to make some plays and that's impressive and exceed perplexity AI stay on top of it now you and I before the interview I was asking you about f1 because I like guys I just know if if there's an event

cam's going to be there and he's going to be kicking ass to the event but you got f1 you got the super bowl you got the hamptons there's so many events that happen in an annual basis which of those would you say create the most impressions is it the super bowl I think so I think Super Bowl is our elite event okay we we have sweets at the stadium that we bring talent on in for, but also we have these night parties from 12 to 5 a.m. We're not competing with any of the other big brands, you know, during that, that 8 p.m. to 12 p.m. hour. So we own the night. So I feel like, you know, we have a good group of people that come in. We say no photos. People end up doing it anyways. But like that whole weekend is super special. You know, people, we give a world-class experience

with, you know, flying people in on private planes and, you know, putting them up, et cetera, in a really nice hotel. And I just think those moments are, you know, people get to meet people and network and people that they haven't been able to get in front of before. And they're just special. With all these experiences you've been to, tell me about like one of the best marketing tactics or lessons that you've learned through all these experiences that have been effective. Yeah.

I think with talent and the events, you try to pair talent with other people in their genre. You know, say it's a Drewski and a Theo Vaughn, you know, they're comfortable. They understand. man, they speak the same language. You'll end up getting good positive feedback and interaction between the both of them. Artists are the same way, actors and actresses. So I think pairing people within the genre helps. I like that.

That's really smart because you take like two comedians. They might have different audiences. Right. Put them together. It's like a big, big splash. So when you're working with the brands, what are some things that you think about that allows you to say, this is who I want to pick? And then the second part of this question is, how do you decide how much someone should be paid for that?

It depends on the creative, the location of the campaign, the timing of the campaign. Does this talent have similar interest in what the campaign entails? So price-wise, it just all depends on fair market value and understanding what people are getting for deals, what different genres of companies are asking for what. you know, if you're in the AI space, you're probably going to get offered a little more because it's a little bit more competitive. If you're in QSR, it all depends on if you want exclusive rights and if you want NIL or not or how long you want to license that NIL. So it just, there's so many factors and KPIs, but our team internally, we've come up with a formula. Okay. And it depends on

brand to brand, you know, what their KPIs are. Some go over cost per impression, which is CPI. You try to stay between one and five cents. That's a good net backout. So, man, I could go for days, but it just, you have a feel for it once you get rolling. So you kind of have a formula to it. And then you also have the, obviously, the KPIs that come based on your formula. And then you're using a little bit of art, like a little bit of like, is this in the strike zone? Is it not? You've seen a million campaigns.

Sure. You've seen some flop. You've seen some like just blow the hell up. Right. Let's say there's a small business owner right now listening to this or there's an influencer, creator who wants to grow. What advice would you give them based on the success you've seen? seen other people do effectively.

I'd say not all are going to work out. Yeah, it's true. And it's okay. It's all about learning and understanding why it didn't work out. But also, are your goals too high? Have you set the bar at a level up here where it needs to be right here? You know, you've got to be honest with yourself. So it all depends.

But I'd say it's like any entrepreneur. You know, always learn. It's okay if something doesn't go right. Yeah. You know, you can turn it around. There's always tomorrow. Always. Just keep perfecting and working at your craft and keeping your team energized.

Just keep hammering. Now, one thing I got to ask is you're always with someone that I'm like, damn, cancel with that person. Damn, you know, people that I'm like, that is pretty cool. How do you build relationships? And then even we'll talk a little bit about some of the businesses you invest in, you own. But how do you build relationships and get into business with people who are like the

most highly demanded humans in the world? like a Morgan Wallen or an Alex or some of these people. How do you build these relationships? What's your secret? What's your trading secrets? I have a knack for relationship building. And that's kind of my strong suit and always want to do right by these guys or girls. I think that's a good point there too.

It's like do right by people and don't be intimidated. They're just people. Like yes, they're put on this platform all the time. But they're just people. All right. Get engaged. I don't know how much you can share. If he can share.

We do talk finances on this podcast. Sure. Are there any type of numbers or anything connected to a revenue, a revenue growth or anything financially driven? You could tell us a little bit about the company? What I can say is we have grown at least 25% year over year since we started. Wow. Do you think that this space, like the creator economy, the influencer economy, social media, if you had the crystal ball, do you think that type of growth is going to continue? Or do you think there's going to be massive disruption?

I think it is only growing. Yeah. Like you said, with AI, that will start blending in. But you will always need a human element. I think brands will get smarter about the way they spend. I think it's very key and crucial when you do a lot of these talent deals to understand name and likeness, being able to boost content and put paid media behind it. And I feel like content is going to be king and is going to keep going.

Okay. But that's a little secret sauce there of like behind the scenes, like what brands can do to differentiate when they're working with influencers. I always, I get this question a lot, and I know how I answer it. I'm curious how you answer it. People used to spend marketing money, magazines, commercials, billboards. A lot of them now are spending it through digital, like with what you do. I always get the why. What's your answer? Why are they not spending it on there as much or billboards? Why are they spending it with companies like you? So don't take this the wrong way, whoever's in that industry. Sure. But when's the last time you went to the store and bought a magazine? But how often

are you scrolling on your Instagram all day? I mean, that's the new age. That's where people are. That's where our audience rests. Like, that's why brands are spinning there. Billboards are still solid. Radio spots are solid, people on their car, but like, this is what people are doing all day.

And what content are you going to get that stands out that stops the scroll? That's why content's king. Interesting. It makes sense. And I think when you think about the impressions, like think about the, on the perplexity campaign, 450 million impressions. How many people watch Super Bowl? 150 million? How are you going to get 450 million impressions just from even watching the biggest event in the United States? So it's like

the algorithm has set itself up so that people are going to continue to stay on their phones. They're going to interact with ads more. And when you compare it to that, there's just no competing in the space. No question. And it's it's a more effective spend, in my opinion, most of the time. You know, we did a Super Bowl digital spot with a talent. Yeah. With a brand. And, I think, you know, for an average spot, don't quote me, it was like three to six million. Sure. Yeah. Somewhere around there, right?

And, you know, I think all in, we did this with a bigger impression count, you know, by 2x that a natural spot gets for like two, two and a half million. Wow. So. That's pretty crazy. You know, when you compare the efficiency of it. And I get the splash of a Super Bowl spot. I'm not hating on that at all.

Like some brands, like that's useful. Yeah. For sure, it's all about that bang. But I just impression wise and impact from what we. saw and downloads and signups. I believe that what we did on digital had a better net effect. When you're looking at brands, do you have certain industries that you're thinking about now that are behind on social media? I think the airline space needs a little. That's true. Reinvention. I think airline and hotels are like so behind on digital. So we have Airbnb as a

client. So I think they're ahead of the curve, but the traditional hotels aren't all the time. You know, some are. But I think the candy space. space could be cool. I think that makes sense. Like finding industries that are like tired on social and just being like those are the industries that we can amplify and make the biggest difference. No question. Which is cool that you started with rappers. And now do you find that there's one specific like niche of, let's call it celebrity or public figures that have the strongest communities? I don't think there's one that's the strongest. I think the music community, they have their ways and they have their people that get along. And,

Actors and actresses. What I have seen is I believe creators do try to help each other out because that's what they do for a living. That's how they make their money. You know, actors and actresses and athletes, they have a profession. Football is what they do every day or doing a movie is what an actor or an actress does every day. And the brand deals come secondly. Sure. So I feel like there's a little bit more collaboration and understanding around our world with creators. Yeah. Talk to me about this. What I think is really cool is get your hands in everything. Like you're in tonight we have an event. We're going to Craigs Nashville. Craig's LA, of course,

is the original Craigs where like everyone's been. So we're going to that. And you have the real tea. I think you have investment in the Texas Rout Rangers major league pickleball team, outlaw beer. So tell me a little bit about your investment arm and how you're building equity in some of these companies and just what the companies are. And talk to me about that. For sure. So naturally, with our business, we have our ear to the streets. We understand what's coming up, what's relevant. We've been able to set up an investment arm of get engaged that we can either deploy capital or we can do a combination of service exchange plus capital or however it works out. So that's been great. And then personally, I've set that up as well, launching capital into founder-led brands that impact culture. So Craig's being one of them. Yeah. Craig and I have been friends for a long time from LA. I would take a lot of business meetings there. We naturally gathered a friendship and... See, he's friends with everybody. I told you. So I just felt a lot of passion around Craig's. I've closed a lot of business deals. I just have a lot of history there.

Yeah. So when Craig was talking about coming to Nashville, I was like, man, I would love to be a part. I would love to help bring some of my friends in to invest. You know, I invested personally. Okay. And I just felt like Nashville needed Craigs. Yeah, a family style comfort food atmosphere. Yeah, it makes sense. And then when you bring, it seems like you've done such a good job at putting kind of like the spider web or the puzzle together. Because when you bring investors into Craigs, I believe what you're also doing are bringing

other celebrities and public figures you've worked with before. And now you're providing value to them because they're going to get an investment opportunity into this restaurant. but you're bringing a ton of value to Craigs because they're going to get the public appearance of these celebrities at the restaurant. Is that part of the strategy? It's all about bringing in the right people that can help move the meter. And at the end of the day, care about the vision and want to bring their community to Craigs. So, you know, I bring people only opportunities that I invest in or I feel good about.

I'm very strategic and smart about what I bring people. Like, for example, real tea with Morgan Wall and... That tea is great, by the way. In outlawful. It's like really good. It's like low sugar too, right? Yeah. So it's low sugar, no calories, no carbs.

It was, you know, a few years back. I just texted Morgan because he hadn't really done a lot of brand deals at the time. I was just asked him if he liked tea. He grew up liking tea. You know, his grandma made it, et cetera. So it made sense to pair him with real tea. And he's been an excellent ambassador with us. We're going to have a big 26.

That company's rolling. We have awesome operators with Blodin and Lee Furstein. and, you know, the same for outlaw beer. You know, after the bud light stuff came out. Yeah. There wasn't a light beer that was America's next that people could relate to. So we decided to do outlaw beer. We brought in Hardy and Co. Wetzel and their outlaws to the core.

So it just made a lot of perfect sense. And it's been fun, man. It's like a puzzle piece on the investment side. And so it seems like you're finding these gaps, like like real tea, like tea drinkers. typically it's like super high sugar and it's terrible for you. So you're finding gaps of like, okay, Morgan, you like, let's make a healthy tea. Or like a beer, beer company. Like there was a marketing collapse, right? So let's go find an opportunity for a marketing opportunity. Is that a lot of your strategy when you're creating these brands? Exactly. We look at tired spaces. How can we,

bring in what we do best into a tired space? We talk a lot about the show, early stage investing and a lot of, you take a lot of hits. You try to get a couple singles, one grand slam, and you're going to have a last strikeouts. Have you had your grand slam yet within other than of course get engaged as grand slam? Sure. But if you had one with an investment into one of these businesses yet? So I've had Owen that in that sold and made some money from that. But I don't think we've had our grand slam yet. I feel like over the next two, three years with some of these brands that we put money into will be, we'll be happy campers. Yeah. But man, I'm excited about everything. You know, I try to deploy capital. Like I said, if I feel really, really.

passionate about the brand. And I like to be an active investor. I don't like to just put money in and throw up the piece sign. I want to connect them to different people and make sure my money's working for itself. Makes sense. I love it. What is the hardest challenge that you're dealing with currently in your industry in marketing and digital and working with brands and also some of the biggest public figures? What's the hardest challenge you got? I think at the end of the day, social media is constantly changing. Constantly. It really is. There's a new algorithm. weekly, there's this, there's that. So I think really understanding where everything's going, being a student of the game,

we hire a lot of young people because young people naturally are into social media. They're on it. They're in the weeds. So, you know, I credit a lot of what we do to our leadership. We have very strong leadership that has been with us for a good amount of time. And we're constantly evolving. Yeah. Of all the platforms right now, so there's obviously Snapchat, there's YouTube, there's

Instagram, TikTok, people are using LinkedIn now. Where are you seeing the most success with your dollars spent? Instagram is probably number one. Interesting. Still even with the TikTok. I think so. TikTok's probably second. Okay.

But every platform is useful for the audience that it speaks to. But what I've seen lately, you know, for our business and recruiting and the whole nine yards, LinkedIn is a phenomenal. platform that we're really starting to get more involved in. I'm getting involved with it personally. Our company is as well. There's a lot of things you can open up on LinkedIn. It's great. We just had, Remy Bader just came on and she said, I don't respond to anybody's DMs. But if you DM me on LinkedIn, you will always get a response. So I also think accessibility to people. It's easier on LinkedIn, I think, than some of the other areas. And then my other question for you is people are doing

their annual reviews. So a lot of people go to their boss to ask for a raise. You guys got a 125 people that report up. You got a lot of people asking you for raises. Right. So what would you give, give a trading secret or someone? What is a good tip that an employee could come to the boss and ask for a raise? What are things they should do? Give them some advice. Sure. I mean, we have a rating system within our company that we look at. But if you want to raise within our company, I'd say a presentation on, why. You know, what were your wins over the year? Where did you struggle? What resources do you need to make your life and your job more efficient. So just be proactive with it. Yeah. You know, we're fair guys at the end of the day and we'll make that decision. But I'm always a person that says advocate for yourself.

I like it. Come prepare with the presentation. Think about the value you add and put it all on the table. Right. If you had to talk to you, I want to go back in time. You're sitting here at 2025, 100 plus employees, companies blown up. You got investments all over. You're working with some of the biggest public figures out there. Back in, you go over to yourself in 2016. and you would say, don't do this. Like, this is what you did in the last nine years. There's one learning lesson you would give that kid that started the business at 2016. Don't do this.

What would the answer to that be? I don't think there's a scenario that truthfully sticks out. I think I would just tell myself, it's going to be okay. Keep believing in yourself. Stay tight with your team. Keep learning. Keep adapting. And you'll be a happy camper.

I love it. All right. Let's do a little rapid fire here. Come on. What is the biggest dollar amount you've seen a brand spend on an influencer? There's one talent. Yep. That I've seen probably 15 million for a deal.

15 million for a deal for an influencer deal? Holy smokes. Oh, is it an actress. Yeah, of course. Yeah, obvious at that level. But damn, all right, there we go. And obviously that includes some kind of social media component of all the public figures and influencers.

By the way, some of this AI space, astronomical numbers going around. What do you tell me more? I mean, yeah, 15, 20, but these are year-long deals. As far as how much they're spending on marketing and advertising. For one talent. I mean, not all, but like they have their pillar talents, the one to three talents that they have that are doing out of home and commercials and marketing, but these dollars are significant. I was in rapid fire mode. The AI is taking the outside of rapid fire mode.

Well, I do have a quick question on AI. There's a lot of discussion. If you read the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, New York Post, over your read. There's a lot of discussions now about AI and the direction it's going like it's taking off. And then there are some investors right now that are calling it an AI bubble. Remember the movie The Short, that specific investor, right? He just shorted a lot of AI companies. What's your take on where AI is going?

I think it's real. Yeah. It's coming. Yeah. The advancements are from where it was five years ago to where it is now are astronomical. I mean, I think it keeps going. Now you'll always need a human element in my opinion. opinion. Is it going to make some things easier to hire for than others? Sure. But there's nothing

like this. Yeah, I agree with that. All right. We're back to rapid fire. So of all the talent that you've worked with, you've done a ton of deals with some big talent, who is the most creative person that you've worked with? Most creative. I'd probably say Drusky. Drusky. Yeah. Okay. Well, the next one was going to be who's the funniest. So you can't say Drusky. Who's the funniest person you've ever worked with? It's got to be Theo Vaughn. Like in person is he's as funny as. as you would expect. Absolutely. He is what he is.

I remember we were at one event. Here's one thing I was blown away by Theo Vaughn. We were at an event for Raising Cains. Right. And there was a lot of people that have done a lot of successful things in this room. He went up to every single person and shook their hand and introduced himself.

Every single person I watched it. Like I was, I was blown away by that. He's a great dude. He really is a great dude. Okay, so we got the funniest. We got the most creative. We saw the biggest deal that you've ever done.

This is a personal question. What is what is, one thing you spend too much money on. You know you spend too much money on and you're not going to change it unless you go broke. I'd say flights. All right. I'd say flights. I'd say flights. Honestly, though, like clothes maybe this year. Yeah. But I feel like clothes is an investment. I feel like you need to look decent. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm not sure. I'm not really a heavy spender. I'm going to spend on things. Like I'm building a house right now. But it's going to be a really good investment. I got in at a good time when I bought my lot. And day one, when I moved in, it should be a three, four X. So like,

you know, I just, I feel passionate about spending in areas that will net a good return. I like it. That's a businessman, if I've ever heard one. All right, get engaged. Everything's changing. You said everything's changing. That's the only constant in this space. Where do you go from, you have an investment arm. You got a personal investment arm. And then you have get engaged. Where do you go with the business from here? What do you expect? Well, like, if we look at get engaged in 10 years from now. What do you think it looks like? What's the dream? So every day is different when you ask me that question. Yeah. But I would say we're growing towards more of a brand incubator. Okay. So we want to really start to get involved with brands from the ground up, from the

conception stage. We want to help raise the capital. We want to be a part of the whole marketing arm and decision. We want to bring in badass operators that we know. and scale brands and tired categories. I think that's where we're moving towards. Yeah. Working on our own IP. Right, because once you do that and you hit one of these grand slams, totally.

It's done. You get it. Do you have a dream of when you want to be retired by? I feel like I always need to be doing something, so I don't think I'll ever, like, truly retire, but do I want to slow down and start working towards more charity components and different things? I'd say by 4550.

I love it. And do you have a number in your head of like, this is my dream to make this much on an annual basis or for my company to be worth this much one day? I don't because I just have so much fun with the process. It's like a puzzle piece to me. Making money and financial is awesome. Like, don't get me wrong. It gives you a lot of freedom.

And when it comes to salary or what I've taken dividend-wise, like, I've already met those expectations from when I was 18 looking at myself. When you were 18, what were those expectations? You know, you wanted to make a certain seven figure a year, you know, but at the end of the day, if I can look out for a team and I can help people and make an impact on what I like doing every day when I wake up, that's all that matters. That's pretty cool. Growing a team, growing a business, growing your investment, personal growth, the business growth, it's all happening.

It's pretty cool to watch it. We've had the pleasure of working with getting engaged. Now, we've talked about Super Bowl. Two seconds. Can I brag on you real quick? Yeah, I'll take it. I will say. I know you've said a lot of awesome things about me and so appreciative, but I want you to look at

yourself as well. The fact that you've started an agency, you have this podcast. What are you all on, episode four or five hundred? Yeah, we're up there. You have this team. Like, that's no easy feat, bro. So you're in it. I appreciate that.

And I just wanted to congratulate you and you can look in the mirror night saying you're doing some special stuff. We're doing that. I appreciate that. That means a lot coming from you. Let's end with this. Like, what's your Super Bowl? What's your Grammy?

You look at your trophy case. What's that one thing? You're like, damn, I can't believe we did that. As crazy it sounds, I don't think we've had that moment just yet. I think we've had a lot of amazing wins, but I think the best is yet to come. You know, we haven't won a Can Lions yet. I think, you know, that's a goal of ours that we've liked to strive for. And I think we're close.

I think we were in the running. I think we're in the top three last year for one category. So that's something. There's other different awards and metrics we look at. But at the end of the day, you know, I just get excited about the process. I think to get to where you've gotten, you have to be excited about the process. And you can't keep looking into all different directions. You have to like stay in the weeds.

And that's how from 2016, you got a company with 125 plus employees. So you haven't hit your Grammy yet because you're in the operations. You're grinding. You're building this business 100 plus employees. So then I think one of the questions we've got to wrap with is how do you decompress? How do you just like live a life that's not always. in the weeds. I'm kind of asking for myself here too. But give me some tips. I feel like this year I've really focused on mental health. It's hard to travel around all the time beyond this plane

and this time zone. So I focused on my body a lot. I cold tub, I sauna, I steam, you know, I'll walk. I'll take some breasts. But I've really learned and studied a lot of this biohacking. So I have a doctor that I go to and I take some peptides. And I'm actually going to his facility. facility in San Diego, but I'm going to do this blood filtering where they take out all the toxins and heavy metals and parasites in your system and they filter out all the blood in your body and replenish it. Wow. And they do stem cells as well. So it's insane. This doctor, his name is David Perez. Okay. Has been able to do with with clients that I know and friends that have gone to him. Yeah. I mean, he literally can turn your body clock back years. Wow.

Is it, I think I've heard this guy. He's kind of focused on like, anti-aging, right? Anti-aging, but really looking at, you know, autoimmune deficiencies, heavy metals, parasites, like I said, like he's ahead of his time. So I'm actually going for eight days. So you start in San Diego. Okay. And you go to Tijuana for four days because the blood filtering is FDA approved over in Mexico,

but not here. You get nervous for that? Not really, because I've done my research and my study. I've talked to probably 10 people that have been to his facility and gotten an incredible that effect. So we'll see. Once you do that, we'll have to have your back out. But we got to get your trading secrets. So a little bit that we can't learn from a professor. We can't learn from a TikTok tutorial because they're all out there only through your experience. What's a trading secret you can leave us with? I think at the end of the day, what I do best is relate to people

and the relationships I've been able to build. You always deliver for people. You say what you're going to do. You do it. And it's them before you. You know, you're all. You're, You don't really ask a lot. I'm not a big asker of things. And I'll ask you when I think it's meaningful for both parties. But I just like to bring value to people and build relationships, connect people, help them. Yeah.

And I think it feels like in your relationship aspect, you're always figuring out how do I bring value to this person? And inherently, you know, you get what you give and it'll come back to you one way or another. So that's the training secret I've learned from you. Cam, we got to get to Craig's. You got an opening tonight. So we got to go party and have a couple. drinks. Can't wait. So then we can try and detox with biohacking. Where can everyone find everything you

have going on? Your handles, all your businesses. Tell me a little bit about it. So get engaged media is the marketing company, you know, getengagedmedia.com or at get engaged on Instagram. And then at Cam Fordham for my personal for Instagram. And I dab on LinkedIn a little bit. So if you want to go to LinkedIn, same thing. Go to LinkedIn, message them. That's how you'll get a job there. Cam, thank you so much for being on this episode, Trang Secrets. Man, thanks for having me. It was awesome. We are closing in the bell to the Cam Fordham episode. Also, we're going to have to touch a little bit on Blake and G. It's a double recap here on Thursdays.

Trust me to tell you, there are changes coming to trading secrets. This is one of them, but wait till March, wait till April. New social media, 30-minute Thursdays. More to come on that. But we have a two-for this week. And why don't we start David with Cam? Before we do, please go give us five stars. Let us know your biggest takeaway.

because we always have something to give away. And David, I got to give away a signed book from the situation. Wow. So you'd love that episode, right? Loved everyone. Everyone that knows me, knows I loved it. Shout out to Kevin Bowie, who said I sounded a little nasly in part two recap. Sorry, Kevin.

I've got two kids. I've been going a million miles an hour. It's the middle of the hockey season. But other than that, I'm here for it. I showed up for it. Mike, the situation. He's the man. he's the man well jenny r you are going to win a signed copied book from the mike the situation

uh great uh response you gave us here and feedback thoroughly enjoyed both episodes it's truly inspired hearing his story and how he lives every day to help people a lot of people aren't able to get up to help they to get the help they truly need and he is giving those a chance i can't wait to read the book i'm a big time reader wow and i know i will not be able to put it down that's a perfect person for to win this so jenny r shoot us email trading secrets at jason tarkcom Everyone else, give us five stars. I got more stuff to give away next week. I will also tell you, we are hiring an executive assistant, social media manager, a script writer, producer, video editor.

So if you are any of those, send your resume to trading secrets at jason tardic.com. David, let's first start with Cam. What'd you think? Cam, he sounds like he's a little bit of a titan in your industry. Would that be a good way of describing him? I would call him a swinger, man. He just swings. Like the day I met him and things I've seen about him, he's with like the Kardashians.

He's with doing someone Morgan Wall. And he's like he's with the biggest players doing the biggest things. He's very, very, very close with Todd Graves, runs Raising Cain's marketing. And he's young. He's like 34. He's just a hitter. When did you meet him? The first time I met him, I actually remember way back when I was landing in Worth Campbell's

private jet, his dad's jet. And as we were landing, he's like, hey, there's a guy in Nashville, you've got to meet his name's Cam. He's a big player in the influencer agency space. I was like, really? Never heard of them. It's like, you got to meet him. We land. And as we land in that same airport, he is going on a private jet shooting content with like four country stars. I'm like, what? What year? I was, I couldn't believe it. I was like, what? I was like, okay, I got to meet this. What year was that? I'm going to guess this was around 2022. Okay. So 16 he starts.

You go on the show on 18. COVID hits. You start the talent agency. So kind of right around you starting the talent agency, you're meeting this guy? Yeah. No, no, because I started the agency. Yeah, at 2020, I met him. I probably met him.

That was the first time I saw him. I didn't really meet him. Okay. I probably met him in person in 2022 or 2024. Yeah, I don't remember the first time. But the first time I, like, did work with him was in 2023. So I say that because I'm trying to get a scale. of rewired and the business that you do compared to the business that he does.

Is he on the food chain? Where is he? Where is rewired? Are you moving up there? Great question. So I think this is actually a really, really good question. What they do really well, from my understanding, is they are a marketing agency, a digital agency that is working by representing brands.

So brands pay them a retainer. brands give them a fee and they say make my marketing dreams come to life. Majority of the work we do is talent representation. So we are actually representing the talent, not the brands. But oftentimes we do represent brands. But their main business is representing Subway, you know, Raising Cains, these big fresca, big, big brands that AI deal. And then they have to go out and get the impressions for the brands, get the talent for

the brand. So oftentimes we are working as partners, right? Like I have one agent that works extremely close with his company and has done, you know, 20 plus deals with his company where they're representing the brand. We negotiate with them. We get them the talent. We work with our talent. We place our talent to have them do it.

Does that make sense? It makes perfect sense. An ally in the industry, right? I mean, this guy. An ally in the industry. Big time. And if you think about the, like, so some of the curiosity, like, well, how is he? And I asked Lai's questions.

How are you getting in touch with the Morgan Wall? Right? Some of the most highlight. How are you becoming best buddies with him and then doing a business deal with him? He is partnering when he's, first of all, he's good at relationship management. Let's not discount that. That's incredible what he does. But when you partner with the brand, one of the strategies is you get their budget and their backing to get the access.

100%. And then so you go to someone with a bit, like I'm just making it up. But if Nike gives you a million bucks and you call someone and say, I got Nike. deal, a million bucks. You earn that right from Nike. Nike hired you, which means you're badass. Now you have credibility to go to the big stars. You go to them with a $5 million deal. Now their agents want to know who the hell you are. The competing agents want to know who the hell you are. And now all the people in that space are like, that's my guy. And he's done it so well. It's beautiful. And he's killing it. That's a great place to be in life where you can go to these people, have the

access and then be like, hey, I'm Cam. I also can get you $5 million. Are you interested? It's like, Hey, Cam, I like you already. And now I want to hear what comes out of your mouth. And then he said in this trading secret, he goes, it's all about relationship building. It's delivering and not asking. And so he does it. He shows up. He delivers.

He doesn't ask for anything in return. The client gets what he wants. He goes up on his day. And they're like, okay, I want to do more with that guy. He was a man of his word. He delivered. He showed up. And you could tell, you know, starting 2016, 2016, I love what he said.

He goes, I was doing a lot of favors. So this guy got there by doing it the right way. doing a lot of favors, not asking for a lot in return, building, you know, day by day, deal by deal, client by client, doing right by people, doing right by people, and it got him to where he is today. That's what I, my biggest takeaway in how inspiring his story was, was doing favors. His trading secret was delivering, not asking for anything, building our relationships. It's really, you know, when you break it down, it's like pretty simple, pretty simple equation there.

And he's, he's mastered it. And, man, tell me, have we not heard this a lot? Yeah. Like, have we not heard this idea? of build the walls that come up when you want to work with someone are instantly shattered when you're like, hey, just give me a shot. Let me do a trial. Right. So like you think about the opportunities you want out there or the doors that you can open or the potential income you might have where people might come out swinging from the gate. Oh, I need this. I need this or I need this.

Think about the opportunity that can be created if you just break those walls down by being like, hey, let me work, I'll work for free for two weeks. Let's see how it goes, right? Like, let me, you know, those are the things that we have heard on this podcast over and over and over and over. And now if you think about it, look at what Raising Kane said, right? Todd Graves has been on this podcast, go listen to that episode. When I've talked to Cam about it, Cam will be like, Todd is the marketing genius. He's the engine. But, you know, we've been there right by his side, really helping out.

And look at Raising Key Cain's. Who, what company, quick QSR, right? What QSR, quick service restaurant? I know that was on your to do list to ask. Raising Cains gets the pop culture relevancy that Raising Cains does. I mean, they sell chicken tenders and fries, and they are at every single event. They'll have the hottest party at Super Bowl this weekend.

Every single F, wherever it is, the best people, the kindest people, the biggest players, I mean, and it's chicken tenders and fries. It's unbelievable. At the end of the day, Camp's killing it. QSR, you answered it. CPI, NIL. He answered all of it. You answered all of it.

He talked about how he owns the night at the Super Bowl, 12 to 5 a.m. I already told you next year's Super Bowl, my 40th birthday, we're going. Now we have something to do. So I'm already making my agenda for the Super Bowl next year. We're going to an own the night party on cam, you know,

for Cam for the 40th birthday. So I'm learning. Just inviting yourself. Yeah. That's how it works, right? I got, I mean, I should probably, I'm going to leave him for the Super Bowl here. And then a little bit tomorrow I should probably call Cam be like,

hey, Cam, can you get me in the one-year party? doing favors as you talk about you know delivering not asking i guess that's a little bit of an asking but well we're delivering the podcast right before a super bowl how about that pumping his tires and we're we're pumping his tires i would say we're delivering pretty good i would i would say we're delivering great i'll also say this like a lot of what we're talking about here is the agency space a little bit and in our uh jason tells all episode which is coming i'm getting a lot of dms of people being like oh you're bagging out on it all this stuff no no no it's coming um i think we're going to try and film it just so everyone knows the week of February 17th,

Dave is going to come down to Nashville. That's our goal. But a lot of the, you know, I talk about the dollars, right? And last year was a good year, and I'm going to talk about that. And I want to talk more about the technical mechanics of it. Because I think there are some people in my space that I tell them, you know, what I was able to do and how I was able to do it. And some of them are surprised, like, wow, how did you, you know, how'd you pull that off? And there's a lot of, and I want to get into some of that is the how, because there's a lot of things that other agencies aren't doing that we are doing, and I have the best people in the country that are representing me. And that's what's a big differentiator. So that's one thing I want

to get in. Then there's other people that are very surprised. Like, how did you, you, like, I can't, like, like, like, they're not surprised at all, right? They're like, oh, I think next year you'll double or whatever. So I really want to get into the why of the numbers in JTA, if that's good. Yeah. I mean, you can request it. We'll see if I deliver it. Requests. You're the one that gets interviewed. It's just a request. I'm good with trading a couple secrets on trading secrets JTA. I think that's what it's all about. Yeah. Speaking of trading secrets.

If we transitioned, anything else on Cam before we wrap? No. I mean, I remain marketing maniac. He's killing it. As he said about a couple of things in his industry, he could talk forever about it because he's so passionate about that. I took that from him. I got that feeling out of him. I could talk a lot about how. he inspired me and the success that he's had. And I thought it was a great episode.

So shout out to, I'm going to say, my boy, Cam. Because your boy, Cam, he's the man. If you guys don't know, go follow him, Camp Fordham. And then if you're interested in never working with him, my God, would he be a good mentor to have? So I would, I'd recommend you to shoot your shot. I'm sure he'd be open to those conversations the same way other people were open to him when he was given a shot. Transitioning, Blake and G.

Yeah. That was, that was a wild episode. I mean, right after the episode, G is like, I feel like a naked mole rat. Like, we literally hit everything and anything. Well, the beauty about Blake and G is when you come on a trading secret's the third time, you don't get a recap because you deserve the entire stage. You're the appetizer, the main course in the dessert. And I thought that they're...

And real quick, though, let me interrupt you. I don't think it's fair. Yes, they've come on three times. They've come on twice in the hot seat. Yeah. So like we had them on where there was six couples. We're in Disneyland. We're working with Disneyland and collaboration.

That was, you know, fluffy little hot-you-do. But in 2023, three years ago, they came on and sat down these chairs. We're going to three-year-later sneak feet. Blake did two before that solo. I believe. He might... 4G came on? Yeah.

Like in 2021? Yeah. He talked to... I know at least once he talked about his DJing career. I think that was the first time that he came on. It was one of our best episodes we've ever done. Shut out Blake. So yeah, they're crushing it.

I mean, they're like, I saw one of their posts the other day being like, can't believe we're two people who had bad luck on dating shows. And it was just like a slide show of like them being the happiest most and love couple. And like I adore how they are with Heath and how they travel together and what a unit they

are and how they share their lives together. And they're just awesome. And they're busy and they're up and coming. And they're, you know, we will keep having them on every year because they keep have new shit to talk about. And they're just, you know, they're, I would say like, O.G. Mount Rushmore Hall of Fame guests that we have. You're never going to have a bad episode with them.

And I mean, just their openness. I mean, talking about, yeah, you know, your goal was to break over a million dollars. Did you break over a million dollars? She sure did. What was your best deal? G. Up 200,000 last year. It was a commercial. Tell me about another good opportunity. Oh, and just two packages of doing, you know, mom. Mom in place. I made $300,000. This is how I made it. This is why I did that brand. That's why I aligned with the brand.

Like, how much was the ring? Talk about the rent. Like, I mean, how much was it? How much did you pay for your health care? Like, they're so open, which, how does love and money impact your relationship? Oh, we're actually in therapy about that. Talking about the deed. So, like, there's so many takeaways from that episode.

And I think it's just like transparency is the way to get things done when you're in a relationship and you're dealing with money and you want to learn about these things. She's so bold. It's kind of like. her whole brand though like it was her whole blend on love is blind it is just who she is she's fiery she's up front and shout out to blake for not just handling it but like embracing it loving it complimenting his life complimenting her life like they are they're great man i i could listen to them all day and and and hear their stories and follow their journey with them and um excited to

see what's next for them excited to see if their family grows um excited for for all that so you know That's, they're, they're just the best. So, got to love it. I got, we have Amanda Batula coming on the podcast. We have Jesse Solomon coming on the podcast. We have Taylor and Clark from Love Island coming on the podcast. We have, I'm working on Carl Radke. We have corporate bro we're locking in.

Vivian 2, your rich BFF is coming on. Corporate Natalie is coming back on at the end of March. So we got a lot, Hillary Musser is coming on, very fascinating up. so coming up here soon. We got a lot of action here, a lot of interviews, a lot of good stuff happening. And we're thinking in March about implementing something called the 30-minute Thursdays. Is that it, right?

Listen, if you're enjoying David and Jason on a Thursday night, then I hope you get used to it. Because 30-minute Thursdays, they could be coming fast and furious. No guests. No guests. Potential. call-ins, potential Q&As, potential listeners coming on the show, covering maybe what's going on in the world,

maybe pop culture, maybe our personal lives, you know, just 30-minute Thursdays, getting in the weeds. Listen, when we were in college, Thursdays were the start of the weekend. Thursdays were the day where we made it through, and we can just look forward to the weekend, we could catch up, talk about lives, build excitement, talk about the week that was. That is what 30-minute Thursdays is going to be all about.

two guys who made it through another week catching up talk about all things trading secrets pulp culture business and life looking forward to the weekend sending each other and you guys off to you know really just come along with our journey i just made that promo up that was elite that was electric i love that he's ripping he's gripping we'll have also if we do this probably try it out for a month see how it goes we'll do video we'll have clips up on social uh we'll probably have a couple cocktails while we do spice it up a little bit You know, we do a lot of business talk here. And yeah, I think I think that's, I think that's it.

You know, there's been a lot, I mean, just think about the last two weeks, you know, Nashville, Nashville Mayhem Ice Storm, drove to Miami, did a fresh event. We had tinks there, a lot of mayhem, some interesting drama, some great drama. It was great. See, this is what we need. We talk about. Then we went to, you know, down where we went to Tyler Cameron's event. We had Rachel Kirkconnell there.

Some Maria was there, Fran from Chicks in the office. a bunch of a girl with no job and boy with no job Ben Claudia got to see that I mean there's just so much to talk about so I think there's a and there's there's finance stuff going on there's different policy changes that happening in the economy that we got to talk about there's so much shit to talk about that I can't talk about when I have a guest on but we're going to keep the guests they're not leaving they're staying keep the guests give the guests their shine anything that needs to be highlighted in a recap type thing we'll highlight it in a 30 minute Thursday we're opening up the window a little bit we're expanding our horizons. But JTA, we're really going to break it down. And JTA, we're going to tell you guys

30-minute Thursdays exactly how it's going to look. It's function, sound, its feel, what you guys can expect from it. We're trying to grow. We're trying to evolve here. So I'm looking forward to that. And if we're bringing that to the podcast, we'll be bringing that to social. So like the Grammys are on, we'll be posting. We'll be ripping all the things with Grammys and Money. Super Bowl on, all the stuff. So there's going to be a lot of action. Trane Secrets podcast will be your go-to source for a lot of these things, money, pop culture, and what is happening. That's all I got though, David. I think Cam is the man. Hopefully I'll see him this weekend. Blake and G. Another top charting business episode and entrepreneurship episode that's out

there. David, you got anything before we're at? No. I've just, it's been nice. I needed this little reset, this little quiet time on the mic. Life is a hurricane. Life is a blender. And it's nice to get the Thursdays. I like this. Give me one word. How you feeling? Perplexed. Okay. Yeah. Perplexed. There it is. We'll end on perplex.

Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Trane Secrets, one you can't afford to miss.