In this flexible and adaptive episode, Tyler Horsey, CEO of Nuclear Networking, Inc., shares how he transformed what he learned in the US intelligence services into a thriving agency that helps business scale.
You will discover:
– How to thrive in the age of AI
– Why to ignore the advice of your friends and family
– Why you should pay for the advice of strangers
Episode Transcript
Scott Ritzheimer
Hello, hello and welcome. Welcome once again to the secrets of the high demand coach and I am here with yet another high demand coach in more than one sense of the word, and that is Tyler Horsley. He founded nuclear networking after his career as a US Federal officer and having worked for two government agencies and a military contracting group. Now nuclear networking is a business growth agency created in 2010. And Tyler’s grown that organization over $5 million in five years. And it’s ranked in the top 5% in the nation on the Inc 5000 list. And then he sold it to a private equity group in which he is now a partner and they’re doing some extraordinary things I can’t wait to unpack. So Tyler, thanks so much for being on the show. It’s such a pleasure having you here. And I’d love to jump into what you’re doing and how you’re helping organizations and companies and even some of the philanthropic, philanthropic work that you’re doing. But before we get there, I’d love to just take a step back. And before he got into new nuclear networking, and you started this, this new journey, what were you up to? And how did that ultimately lead to this amazing company?
Tyler Horsley
Sure, yeah, happy to be on thanks for having me on. Look forward to the conversation too. And prior to nuclear networking, I kind of covered a little there worked in federal law enforcement, for two different agencies, IRS, which is not a fun place to work at all, and people hate you. So there’s that. And then department Homeland Security, I was very much a big advocate for anti terrorism. But that was a great cause. And pursued a career there did well went to military contracting. And that’s kind of where the two worlds met for me, primarily, because I was doing a lot of logistics, a lot of intelligence work, and secondarily learning, marketing, oddly, like, specifically SEO, because if I can kind of see under the hood of the sites in a legal manner, in the civilian world, mix up marketing significantly easier. And so that just really, I love the idea of exclusive knowledge. And that’s kind of how I transitioned into marketing so.
Scott Ritzheimer
That’s fascinating. That’s fascinating. Well, well, let’s just unpack that for a moment. So exclusive knowledge, just what does that mean to you? And how have you built a company around it?
Tyler Horsley
Sure. Exclusive knowledge, to me, really stems from how can I be a quality resource and provide value to people who need something in a specific niche that is not common knowledge, examples of that outside of marketing could be an attorney, your personal injury attorney and litigation, family law, etc, you have exclusive knowledge sets that other people don’t. And even if they have it, from a common sense standpoint, having that legally, concrete is pretty important. That’s essentially what you’re paying for. Right? The only difference there is, that’s primarily related to hours. And which I think hits a scale roof, eventually, you can’t work a million hours a week. And so therefore, your your knowledge base, you’re going to stop making money at a certain point or try to try to hire, whereas marketing in AI spaces that I love, are more scalable, right? So yeah.
Scott Ritzheimer
I love that. So it’s an interesting concept, because I think you know, this area of to borrow your phrase exclusive knowledge has changed quite dramatically over the last 510 years, and is about to change even more over the next five to 10 years, right? You take everything from your attorney, to your CPA to your local real estate agent, right? They all used to have this gigantic body of exclusive knowledge for years, if you wanted to buy a house, and you wanted to know about that house that was for sale, you had to go through an attorney to find out anything about it, right. But now with the rise of the Information Age, the internet coming up AI, that body of knowledge is getting arguably bigger and bigger, but also smaller and smaller in terms of what we can control and what we can maintain. So there are entire industries that have kind of may establish themselves on I know, something that you don’t know. And I would say a number of those industries are under threat. What’s your take on that? How’s it going to change? And how can how can folks prepare themselves for it?
Tyler Horsley
My take on that eventually, in specific to our industry marketing in general, a lot of the busy bee work that is automatable. And I’m talking more so than what people might be thinking if they have exposure to marketing and SEO and some of those tasks. We’ve actually already found a way to automate over 50% of the on site SEO process entirely without humans. And we are not, you know, any majorly funded Microsoft AI company. This is just us. We’ve been doing this for five years, plus in the AI space been doing marketing significantly longer, but we had natural language processing five years back prior to chat GTP even being cool. And so what people are really going to pay for at some point in time in Mexico, the exclusive knowledge positioning while that was one of the initial motivators to get into this space. If your marketing is not a way to sell that, right, I know something you don’t know the type of thing that’s really off putting it, nobody wants to buy something they don’t fully understand, right? So like the trust piece there. But essentially what I see marketing where I see marketing and even just 10 years is primarily you’re going to be investing in sophistication and strategy mindsets, not execution, like execution, primarily, is automatable, for the most part, but that strategic mindset and how humans think, and best ways to kind of position that you call it a fractional CMO, if you will, I think that’s really it’s going to be really, really high level customer service on steroids with an MBA and marketing attached to it. And I think that’s kind of where our industry is headed.
Scott Ritzheimer
That’s fantastic. So we kind of got this background, we got some of the context, I’d love to know, what would you say some of the most important work you’re doing right now?
Tyler Horsley
Just as a, as a marketer, or as a person?
Scott Ritzheimer
For your clients Yeah. For your clients.
Tyler Horsley
Yeah, yeah, no worries. The most important work I think we’re doing right now is helping clients bridge the gap before they spend any money on marketing at all, really trying to and even conversationally understand their identity. Who are they? And one of the questions that I ask folks is, if I put you in a group of 10 other competitors, and you are in an auditorium of 1000 people, and I gave you 10 seconds, to tell me why you’re different than everybody behind you. What would you say? And most companies stutter and or fail, or they resort back to kind of the common, bold headlines on the website. We do quality work. We’re on time, we’ll call you back. It’s like, Yeah, well, I mean, 14 other companies already said they would do that too. Like, what is the core differentiator? What’s the loss leader? What’s the real value add? We call them scroll stoppers? And like, shows up? Because like, if I’m scrolling, what is going to catch my eye, not just from an from a creative standpoint, but like, what value? Are you willing to offer me for free that pierces through the noise and makes me stop and pay attention to you? So that’s what we’re doing now that I think really matters? Because there’s plenty of companies out there that just drive traffic? Yes, oh, keyword ranking, paid ads, like all those things are important. But if you drive them to a message or a page that doesn’t convert, all that falls apart, and you actually killed trust in the industry, because typically, business owner blames the marketer for that.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So true. It was fascinating. The other day, I was watching my nine year old, and he was looking through YouTube. And it’s just like, just blurring by all these options, then all sudden, boom, I’m gonna watch that, you know, it’s like, how do you how do you bottle that up? Yeah. And I think, you know, it’s just shorter and shorter and shorter in that first introduction is more and more important. What would you mean, if you could unpack that quickly? What, what would you say are some of the first things to think about are the first couple steps into how do you achieve that kind of scroll stopping power?
Tyler Horsley
Sure. One, just unpacking some of the process. So just from a brief experience here, we actually have packaged this up into kind of a proven process, it’s actually a two to four hour workshop. So it’s pretty, pretty expensive. But what we find out very quickly, is just like you and I are chatting right now, if you can get a coffee or a beer in front of a founder, and ask them to passion about why they’re in the space, what problems they’re trying to solve, how they got in there, and what value they bring, I guarantee 80% of that conversation is not on their website. It’s just not because we sell X, we are the best roofing company. It’s like, man like you, why didn’t you tell me that you were a BNC? And why isn’t that through there. And so one of the biggest things is like, look, friends and family for entrepreneurs are there to cheer you on. But they shouldn’t be there to advise you. Because friends and family do not have business acumen. They’re not gonna save you from smashing into a wall. They don’t know any better. But they are there to encourage you because they believe that’s great. But surround yourself with mentors in business who have done greater things than you have that can tell you. No, I have no idea what you do. I just went to your website, I don’t understand what you do in 20 seconds, kill the defense, immediately throw that away. That’s that will not serve you in a listen to what they’re saying. And that’s one of the biggest areas where even for free, you could do that tomorrow. Right? And so that’s, that’s one of the things that I try to encourage people to do is like, get other opinions from strangers. See them? Like please destroy my website. Do you understand what I do? There’s 10 other competitors pick your favorite one and don’t tell them which one is you? Like, that’s gonna give you the best learning and ask them why. Right?
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah. Wow, so you’ve you’ve kind of you’ve got this unlocked, right? You’ve obviously figured something out with the level of success you guys have achieved as an organization and, and you’ve also been able to take the step of helping others achieve success, right? One of the misnomers is if I’m very successful, I can make you successful, right, you can just follow In my footsteps, and we all know the greatest quarterbacks don’t necessarily make the greatest quarterback coaches. So what have you done to translate that success that you guys have experienced as a business to help others succeed?
Tyler Horsley
So I’ve done that both on a personal level. So side investments, either angel or active investor, working with the operators. And so kind of give you an experience here on both ends. So one, I guess, from the client facing or partner facing standpoint, just the nuclear networking lens. Education is key, right. So we do work in a space where a lot of folks don’t understand. And if they don’t understand, that already creates a gap in trust. So the first time that they don’t get rich, after paying you for a week, you’re already on the defensive, and they don’t see you as a partner. And it’s not look, it’s not their fault, either. It’s they don’t need to be an expert in what we do. And I know, I’m not an expert, electrician, you know, what, what have you? And so making that and putting that into a digestible format so they can understand the why, like, Do you know how your cell phone works? Every mechanic the accelerometer inside, you don’t need to, but you know, what the cell phone does, and the why that you have it and how convenient it is. And so kind of bridging the gap, a 30,000 foot view, here’s what we’re doing and why. Why are we building backlinks to a website and how to backlinks, tier one and tier two link building help rank increase with qualified content, we go down the road on that. But really, it’s earning Google’s trust just like humans, the more people that you can get to back you up and agree with who you are and who you say you are. And vouch for you, the more trust you have more trust you have, the higher you rank, people that will click for people versus the technical banter. So on the on the investment side of Tyler, right, taking off CEO hat and going into angel investment side, I actually don’t know, every single thing about organizations, internal operations, and more. What I do instead is I invest in operators first. So I’m going to find someone who knows everything. I always use this example. This is our latest acquisition, but auto company that’s really random. I do you know, real estate investing land Dev, I have quite a few other things. But why a high tech company? Well, on a data side, I found a huge gap that happened to be in Denver, where tons of people 14,000 people a month are looking for artists. And not a lot of people are doing the marketing well. And I happen to have a friend who trustworthy friends that doesn’t negate paper, by the way, good paper makes good friends. So do the legal side, right? But basically, I invest in people, like look, instead of working for someone that didn’t work out. It didn’t work out for this individual. It’s like, why? Let me find you. We started a company overnight, my hot tubs grew that to 2.6 million in two years. Yeah, there were fears and pain and all these things. But like, I didn’t work there day in my life. But what I did do is create the website positioning, Rankin first made sure that business was coming in the doors digitize automated as much as possible, especially in companies like that, manufacturing some of the blue chip companies or blue collar companies, if you will. There’s a lot of antiquated bio keeping transaction systems. And more than that. And all coming from digital marketing, I can tell you how to automate like half of this, like that saves money, right? And so that’s kind of how I’ve applied the learning and empower other operators to reach those goals as well. And it really just came from the marketing foundation.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah, yeah, it’s fantastic. Another question for you here. And that is, what is the role of philanthropy in kind of the life and arc of a business leader or founder?
Tyler Horsley
I think we’ll look there’s the I certainly don’t want to tell anyone you know what to do. So just speak from experience for myself. And I also would give you a caveat before we even dive into the reason people people are philanthropic is usually different, right? There’s different motivations. On the best side in the world, you have your mother teresa’s, on the worst side of the world, you’re the guy writing a check to feel good about himself and he doesn’t actually care about what he’s doing. Ironically, money still helps so like that person is still providing value. But my unique instance I had a pretty major health crisis and over the series of two years, your your sharp ear performer as well like on this platform that you have, it’s like my my thought process slowed down I had brain fog for two years and it stopped and that is the biggest weird spear in my life like terrifying. Two years, man. Like one week is scary. And in the scarier part of that because I’m a fixer, but I do I see problems I try to run into them and solve them. You know, eg went to neurologist had an MRI went to my GP, all these things everybody said we don’t know what’s wrong with you. That’s even worse. Turned out later, I had almost an entire adrenal failure because I found an endocrinologist and it was hormonal. And I had been working and burning the candle As it both ends and turns out, and this was in my 20s, your, your body is not invincible. And if you just keep burning the candle at both ends, like you will you could actually, like, permanently damage your body. Right. Yeah. So after that entire journey, which is a whole nother podcast to be honest with you, it’s, it’s like, wow, how can I look at my life differently, I’m still going to be a performer and hustle as much as I can, because that’s just a part of my DNA. But one I need to reserve sacred time for myself. So I do silent retreats once a month now, it’s very strange, the first like three times you do it, by go sit in a room in the mountains for eight hours by yourself, no electronics, just a journal prayer and meditation. It gets really quiet by like, minute three, you’re like, man, and so like, I just been practicing those two just to just recoup and revive and, and think, and in addition, you know, I won’t work on weekends, I will not do it. And almost to the extent that if I get a phone call on a weekend, I immediately get upset, and it’s very strange. It’s like, jeez, it’s your mom, chill out, man. Like, oh, yeah, that’s fine. But like I’ve set up these guardrails, because I know the true consequences of not setting up those boundaries. And nobody thinks straight and isn’t a creative mindset, to really cast and create a vision for a company. If all you are stressed, 24/7 it’s just not going to happen, right? You’re reactive, and you’re executing, you’re not thinking and planning and mapping. In total, for me all the way back full circle to philanthropy. I was like, genuinely, I didn’t know if I would make it through that time, because I didn’t know it was wrong. And I kept declining. So I was like, Well, I essentially have kind of a second chance. And, you know, it’s, it’s dark, but it’s like, if I get hit by a bus on the way home, does nuclear networking matter? To these businesses matter? Does my bank account really matter? It’s like, No, this is a tool set and a gifting that I have or a talent that I’ve grown. It’s like, what can I do? And how can I repurpose that and actually help impact other people’s lives, multiply this, and that’s what was important to me may not be important to other other people. That’s totally fine. That’s, that’s my driver in the why behind why I’m philanthropic.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah, well, well, and, you know, it’s, it’s so true. I found this to be, you know, actually equally true of those who engage in philanthropic endeavors, but also in the genesis of businesses, right? So many times businesses start out of those places of difficulty and pain. And and I love that in both of those answers, you’re talking about the redemptive side of that, right? How can I help others avoid this, and then even on the, on the business front, the thing that differentiates you is the disappointment beforehand, it is the pain beforehand, it is the, in some circumstances, just tragedy, right. And being able to not not to harness it in like a mercenary kind of way, but harness in a way of really doing remarkable work, both in the for profit and nonprofit world. So I love that thank you so much for sharing. It’s a powerful story, and one that I think we can all benefit from. I’ve got a question for you that I like to ask of everyone. And it’s this, what is the biggest secret that you wish wasn’t a secret at all? You know, what’s that one thing that you wish everybody listening today knew?
Tyler Horsley
Sure. It’s, I thought about that, right? I have a couple depending on the stage of company that people are in and more. And so I’d say just right out of the gate. The power of thinking and planning is super important for entrepreneurs, it sounds really cliche, but most entrepreneurs are built to break through walls and conquer and build and solve problems. And the problem with that is if the thought isn’t put in well enough, you can sprint right off a cliff. And especially if you’re on your first startup, you know, that can have pretty, pretty devastating consequences. So you know, not just throwing a problem out there. But it’s like, back to that really simple thing. Seek mentorship, I joined EO, when I first started, that’s Entrepreneurs Organization, there’s YPO listed, there’s a lot of those types of things. But I did everything I could to surround myself with anyone who would give me the time of day, who has been lifetimes more successful than I have. And it’s not to fanboy them. And what it’s certainly not is a person that you should go ask for leads or money from Do not ruin that sacred relationship. But it is somebody who can save you a lot of pain, tons of pain, and not just in business, but marriage and a lot of the other life that is around this business and achievement mindset that we have. And so that’s the biggest thing that that looked at. You know, there’s coaching and I obviously believe in that too. But it says surrounding yourself with a consortium of trustworthy advisors, free or paid that can really help you avoid those those pitfalls.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah, that’s so true. That’s so true. All right, so I’m going to shift gears on you a little bit. And I’d like for you to kind of take off your coach, consultant, advisor, marketer, Angel Investor hat and put on your CEO hat jumped on into the ring with us and talk to us a little bit about what the next stage of growth looks like for you and your business, and what challenge you feel like you’re gonna have to overcome to get there?
Tyler Horsley
Sure. So specific to my time, at the time of this recording, I have bought out all my partners ended up selling nuclear networking, the majority of it to a private equity firm here in Denver, which I’m now part, which is great, for many reasons. I’m still the acting CEO. So this is both a hopefully it’ll be value and a warning to previous CEOs or current CEOs. But what we’re doing right now what I see in growth, my highest and best use, as a visionary, we run traction. So I use the term visionary, integrator and more. But as a visionary, I’m still stuck in the day to day. And that’s my own fault, because I built systems around myself, versus building systems around capable people that I trust that can do it. And so I’m working through the weeds on finding somebody qualified. Now, there’s a lot of qualified people out there. But like, it’s not just technical aptitude, and activation, or execution, it’s actually like culture, here’s the huge thing that I’m learning and sometimes the hard way, and it’s sometimes you get these high performers, and who could be a replacement or settlement. So I can go out the more of an industry thought leader help, and ultimately financially grow the organization as well as help our clients. But culture is huge. So I mean, those are really interesting pieces of learning that I actually believe it or not even in all the other companies have sold. To this extent, I have not had this much complexity to kind of solve for that, right. Like, that’s a lot of checkboxes to mark off. And then there’s kind of a dating period, and more. And so that’s the plan. That’s what I’m doing right now. And yeah, it’s a lot of hard work, but I believe that it’ll be rewarding so.
Scott Ritzheimer
Amazing. Well, for those folks who are listening, who are just like, I like this guy, like he’s onto something, he knows what he’s talking about, how can folks find more about you and your work and, and get connected?
Tyler Horsley
Sure, from from a performance marketing side, which the reason I mentioned, this is just, if you already have a startup, or you’re, you know, an SMB or even bigger, if you just want to know, could something be different from a marketing perspective, I’m happy to share that with you for free. So I mean, nuclearnetworking.com is the best resource for that there’s really large buttons, you’ll know where to go, when to push support and marketing. But just in terms of just bouncing ideas off more, you feel free to email me at [email protected].
Scott Ritzheimer
Fantastic, fantastic. So that’s nuclearnetworking.com or [email protected]. Check it out, had a chance to to browse the website and it’s just a fantastic resource. So go check it out. And Tyler, thank you so much for being on the show. It was just an absolute pleasure having you and for those of you who are listening, your time and attention, you know, means the world to us. And so thank you so much for being here. I hope you got as much out of this conversation as I know I did, and I cannot wait to see you next time. Take care.
Contact Tyler Horsley
Tyler Horsley founded Nuclear Networking after his career as a US Federal Officer and having worked for two government agencies and a military contracting group. Nuclear Networking is a business growth agency created in 2010. Tyler grew that organization to over $5M in 5 years and ranked top 5% in the nation on the INC 5000 list and sold that to a private equity group in which now he is a partner.
Want to learn more about Tyler’s work at Nuclear Networking? Check out his website at https://www.nuclearnetworking.com/
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