The Value of Self-Branding

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(upbeat music)

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- Welcome to Inside the Ohana.

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I'm Dan Darcy, Chief Customer Officer at Qualified.

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And today I'm joined by a great friend

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and also high school teammate, Joe Houston.

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Joe, how are you today?

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- Hey Dan, I'm doing great man.

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Thanks for having me on.

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I'm looking forward to this.

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- All right, so I wanna dive right into

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our first segment, Ohana Origins.

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Joe, how did you discover Salesforce

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and start your journey?

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- You know, let's take a step back.

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Tech wasn't really a field that I thought

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I was gonna get into.

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I grew up kind of in entertainment,

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dancing and acting and doing those types of things.

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But as a kid, I also kind of really had

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an affinity for technology.

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So I pretty much embraced it.

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I mean, to the point that I taught myself

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how to code from books from the library, right?

1:02

But really kind of where that journey started

1:04

is I got an internship at Oracle.

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And I was working alongside one of your previous podcast

1:10

members, Robert Zimmerman.

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And really what happened was that I was interning there.

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They gave me a bunch of accounts

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and this was in the Renewal's department.

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They gave me a bunch of accounts to renew that just,

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they were not responsive.

1:27

And I took the time to kind of learn what Oracle was

1:30

and learn more about it.

1:31

And I was able to bring in a significant amount

1:32

of money in a short period of time.

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And then, you know, they offered me a permanent job

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and then here we are.

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But kind of the interesting thing is that time

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was during the dot com time.

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And there was a lot of new companies and technology

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was starting to really take off a little bit more

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and there were new companies coming out.

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And people were rapidly leaving Oracle

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going to all these different companies.

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And a lot of those companies were starting to fail.

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And here's a fun fact you probably didn't know.

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Someone from Salesforce actually called me on my desk line

2:03

at Oracle and said, "Hey, you wanna come over

2:06

"to Salesforce?"

2:07

There's a lot of your colleagues that have come over.

2:10

It's a great place.

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And, you know, I took the interview,

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but I kind of was like, "Man, I don't know

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"about this whole startup thing."

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Well, fast forward to saying like,

2:19

darn, I should have made that move.

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So, you know, I ended up staying at Oracle

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and then I continued my journey

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at another FinTech company,

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Advent Software, Assistant in Sea Technology,

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as it's called now,

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where I actually worked with Mike Marvullio,

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who is the SVP of Renewal Sales now.

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And so, you know, I stayed in contact with Mike.

2:46

I had always wanted to work at Salesforce.

2:48

I attended probably so many dream forces,

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even not working at Salesforce

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that I just really wanted to work at Salesforce.

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And so, you know, I continually applied

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and I kept looking and something came about.

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And here I am.

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- Awesome.

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I love that story.

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So tell me a little bit, like what year was it?

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What was your job, your title?

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What was your initial impression of Salesforce coming in?

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- Yeah, so started in November,

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end of November 2015.

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And I, you know, I was at that point in my career

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where I was ready for a new challenge.

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I think at the company that was at,

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I kind of had hit that,

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that tier of where I could go, right?

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And Salesforce presented a challenge to me.

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Salesforce was a place I always wanted to work.

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But that experience coming in was just, you know,

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they use this term, it's like drinking from the firehose.

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There's so many moving pieces and so much going on.

3:40

But the one thing I have to say is the culture

3:46

was very embracing.

3:47

Everyone was there willing to help.

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And that wasn't something that I had experienced

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at a lot of other companies that I worked at.

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But it was also a lot because things moved really fast

3:58

at Salesforce and things were moving fast, right?

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And so I had to kind of pick it up and go

4:03

and really get going.

4:05

But it was something I embraced because that work ethic

4:09

kind of reminded me of Oracle in some ways

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and that people really were on top of their stuff.

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And so that was something that was kind of missing

4:18

from the previous places I had been and I was like happy, right?

4:23

So excited to work there,

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but it was a lot of information to take in

4:27

and a little bit of time.

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- Joe, what would you say is the biggest success

4:31

you've had while working with Salesforce

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or something that you're really proud of this far?

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- It was the opportunity to speak on the main stage

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at Dreamforce and open up the CSG keynote.

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But not just once.

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- But what can you explain what CSG stands for?

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- Sorry.

4:48

- Yeah.

4:49

(laughs)

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- The customer success group.

4:52

So the renewal segment that I'm in

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is under the customer success group.

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And I was able to basically open up the keynote

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for the customer success group at Dreamforce

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on two different occasions.

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In addition to that, I was able to wear a custom suit

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each time that I actually made.

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- Well, tell me a little bit more.

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Like what did you do on stage?

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- You know, so it's interesting.

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I think this is, I talk about this synergy

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and the ability to kind of bring a passion of mine

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and my work life together.

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So in the initial year,

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we had kind of a Wizard of Oz theme and I was essentially Oz.

5:40

And I came in and really hyped up the crowd,

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it was later in the day.

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And got the crowd hyped up and ready to go

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and really spoke about what we were planning to deliver

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and got them excited to be prepared to hear that.

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And, you know, the second year, it was more of the same.

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And it was well received.

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In fact, the suit that I wore last year to Dreamforce

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went extremely viral.

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Mark Benioff retweeted it

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and it got over two million views

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across all platforms, including LinkedIn.

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Now, if you could go back and really just talk to Joe Houston

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who's just starting out at Salesforce,

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what advice would you give to yourself?

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- You know what?

6:23

I would say that, you know, right out of the gates,

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be myself.

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I think, you know, you start a new company

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and you have this idea of how you want to be perceived

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and you tend to kind of hold back a little bit, right?

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You tend to be a little bit cautious of the things you say

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and what you do, which is understandable.

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But I think I probably would have allowed myself

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to be a little bit more authentic right out of the gates.

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And I think that would have maybe opened up

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some different opportunities,

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which have now presented themselves.

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But that probably would be the one thing

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that I would change differently.

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- How would you describe, you know, the AHANA?

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And like, what does it mean to you?

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- You know, it's really interesting.

7:08

I think the AHANA has a very, very unique culture.

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And what I mean by that is it's a very positive energy.

7:18

I got a lot of energy.

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Like, people know that about me.

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I'm full of energy.

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But the energy there is one of truly embracing AHANA

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and family, you know, AHANA meaning family.

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And feeling like there's no one that I can't talk to, right?

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Whether that is a sea level exec or, you know, a VP

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or whoever it may be,

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everyone is very open and willing to have a conversation

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with you or give you their time or assist you

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in helping on your career journey

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or just kind of hanging out and chatting, you know?

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And I think that's really a culture that you don't see

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and especially for a company of that size.

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- You know, that's one of the values I love most about,

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you know, the AHANA in the community is really,

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I mean, you said it well.

8:08

Being able to approach everyone,

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everyone's in it to win it with you.

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And is there to help you be a better person as well?

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Now, are there any special stories or AHANA moments

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that really are just behind the scenes, you know,

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that really demonstrate that, you know,

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AHANA that you just spoke about?

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- You know, I mean, I think the fact in general

8:30

that we have employee resource groups

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or what we call ERGs for many different things.

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You know, we have our African American group.

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We have our LGBTQ group.

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We've got our veterans.

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We've, you know, we've got all of these different groups

8:48

that are, you know, actively doing things

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within our community.

8:52

I think to me, that is one of the most important things

8:56

a company can do.

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And you don't see that as often, right?

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And so for me, I think that is one of the things

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that I'm kind of proud about and having that ability

9:07

to be able to service people that are, you know,

9:10

in my community, right?

9:12

- Yeah, I mean, community is such a strong thing.

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And I mean, I love what you just said.

9:18

And I want to kind of pick a little bit more

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about the community and like about who you are.

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So let's get into our next segment, What's Cooking.

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So Joe, you're on the Renewals team at Salesforce,

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but you also have a side gig.

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What are you currently working on?

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- Yeah, so Dan, I consider myself a busy guy,

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but I don't like to call it busy.

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I have fun in life, right?

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So in addition to, you know,

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being a working at Salesforce as a Renewal Manager,

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I also work with the major sports teams here in the Bay Area,

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San Francisco Giants, Golden State Warriors,

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and the San Francisco 49ers.

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So I've been doing that probably for about six or seven seasons,

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each for all of those teams.

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In addition to that, I am also a content creator,

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social media influencer, ambassador,

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across multiple social media platforms.

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- I mean, that's awesome and incredible

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and definitely unique to the Salesforce, Ohana,

10:27

but how did you get there?

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Like, you know, like tell me about how,

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how did this all come about?

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- So it's really interesting.

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Actually, you know, I kind of jumped into Instagram,

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you know, back in, we'll say, 2018,

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showing off my fashion.

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That was kind of my niche at that moment in time.

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- And played really quick.

10:48

And for the folks who are listening to this,

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Joe is wearing an incredibly awesome blue blazer

10:55

with some flowers or floor,

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that's a floral blue blazer.

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How would you describe it, Joe?

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- Well, it's floral.

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There's actually a few cardinals on here,

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believe it or not.

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- Yeah, I think it's like...

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- Yeah, so fashion is something that I'm passionate about.

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I've always worn suits.

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I pretty much wear a suit every single day,

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or at least a blazer, jacket, you know,

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and that's also part of a brand that I have built

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within Salesforce as well, the guy with the suits.

11:24

But essentially what happened is during the pandemic,

11:29

we were, you know, at home and walked down,

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and in my free time, I just started making content, right?

11:35

Going with TikTok trends or Instagram trends

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and making videos, really to kind of entertain the community

11:41

and make people laugh, right?

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Or have fun.

11:44

And so what happened is that during that process,

11:49

I just started filming everything that I enjoy doing.

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And one of the things that I enjoy doing is camping,

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or a lot of people like to call it "clamping."

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And I made, you know, a video of my camping experience.

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And over the course of the year or two of the pandemic,

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I became better and better teaching myself

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how to create content.

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And I had a video that went viral.

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I had a camping video, glamping video

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that got, you know, over 15 million views.

12:22

It went viral starting on TikTok.

12:24

I went from 2,000 followers to 45,000 followers

12:28

in a matter of days.

12:30

And then I had, you know, a lot of large accounts

12:33

hitting me up wanting to share my content.

12:35

And so now, I mean, realistically, that content

12:39

that I have been posting has billions of views

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at this point in time and is constantly being reposted.

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- I mean, I just want to take a step back here

12:48

and think about this.

12:48

I didn't realize that story.

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The pandemic was definitely a very, you know,

12:53

trying time for a lot of people,

12:55

but you made something of it

12:57

and you actually entertained folks,

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even myself, you know, about the energy you brought.

13:03

And I remember you transforming your living room

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into an outdoor space, which was pretty awesome.

13:10

So, I mean, I just wanted to say thank you,

13:12

but this, that's an awesome story.

13:14

So I want you to brag a little bit about your following.

13:16

I mean, I think going viral and getting 45,000 followers

13:21

overnight is pretty awesome,

13:22

but what other fun stories do you got?

13:24

- Yeah, so, I mean, you know, this really has morphed itself

13:29

into something a lot greater.

13:32

I am trending around almost 200 followers,

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200,000 followers across multiple platforms.

13:39

Lately, I've been going viral on YouTube

13:42

and gaining of 100 followers per day

13:44

or subscribers as they call it.

13:46

But what's really happened is I've also got a lot of companies

13:50

reaching out to me, asking me to promote their brands,

13:54

to promote their products everywhere from Amazon

13:59

to the company from the tent company.

14:02

So, you know, this has really become kind of more

14:07

of a opportunity to really brand myself in a different way,

14:11

but I didn't see, see in the past.

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In addition, it's a bit of an outlet.

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I get to do something that I'm passionate about it

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and really engage with the community.

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And in some cases, monetize it as well.

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- Yeah, I mean, look, obviously,

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you're very familiar with community such as Salesforce, right?

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And expanding beyond the Salesforce community,

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you're driving a lot of goodness into the world.

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But, you know, thinking back to obviously starting back

14:41

at Salesforce, you've learned a lot of lessons.

14:43

But what lessons would you say if you're applying any of those

14:46

that you've learned working at Salesforce to, you know,

14:49

the content creator role or to, you know, your sports role?

14:53

- I think in general, time management is extremely important.

14:58

And I don't think that people put enough emphasis

15:03

and enough planning and strict strategizing.

15:07

And I think that's one of the things

15:08

that's great about Salesforce, right?

15:10

They're always looking ahead, they're always planning.

15:13

And for my current role, it's extremely important

15:16

that I plan out my time.

15:18

And I really understand how long it takes me

15:20

to do a certain action.

15:22

And so as that relates to, let's use the sports teams,

15:25

when, you know, I'm working at a game,

15:27

it's live entertainment, right?

15:29

And it's a live game.

15:31

So there's a lot of different things that we do

15:34

at certain timeouts and certain periods in the game

15:37

that we have to prepare for.

15:39

And we can't miss those.

15:40

If a timeout happens, we have to be ready to go

15:42

to execute that.

15:44

And so, you know, when I look at time management at Salesforce,

15:47

there's a lot of moving pieces.

15:48

Things are constantly changing and rapidly.

15:51

And being prepared in what I like to call time blocking my day,

15:55

right?

15:55

So I set a certain time to say, OK,

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I am going to take an hour and I'm

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going to do just this specific thing

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to make sure I get this done.

16:05

And I really need to bring that piece into also my social media.

16:09

It used to be that when I started this, it was on the fly.

16:13

I would just say, you know what?

16:15

I'm going to film a video today.

16:17

It's no longer like that.

16:19

It's almost like a job or a business at this point

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where I strategically have to say, I'm going to go camping

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and I'm going to film content.

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Or I'm going to make this piece of content.

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And I have to write it out and script it and whiteboard it.

16:32

And all of that, that stuff, storyboard it for that matter.

16:37

So I think a lot of the things that I've learned at Salesforce

16:42

are helping me with that as well.

16:44

That's awesome.

16:45

I mean, I don't know how you do it candidly.

16:49

I mean, I see that completely when you think about, you know,

16:55

hey, I just post--

16:56

I mean, I'm in the post content when I feel like it.

16:58

But I know that there's people who want to know or hear from you.

17:02

And if they haven't heard from you in a while,

17:04

they're probably like, what's going on, Joe?

17:06

So with folks aspiring to be content creators,

17:10

how do you find the time or how are you balancing both of those?

17:14

I think people use this term work-life balance.

17:18

And I like to call it a work-life synergy.

17:22

And what I mean by that is you have

17:25

to make time for yourself.

17:28

And you have to find a career that also

17:33

allows you to do that.

17:34

And so I would say for those that are looking to be content creators,

17:38

I would say the most important thing is just get started.

17:43

If there's something that you're passionate about,

17:46

or something that you enjoy doing,

17:48

or something you may take for granted that's just

17:52

a normal part of your day, start recording it.

17:56

Or maybe there's something you want to learn.

17:58

And you don't know anything about it.

17:59

Take people on that journey with you.

18:02

What I have learned about social media

18:04

and how it's changed quite a bit is a lot of the content--

18:09

and maybe a lot of this is back during the pandemic as well--

18:12

is that people just wanted to watch stuff to laugh and have fun.

18:16

And while people still want to do that,

18:18

I think it's transitioning to more of a learning.

18:21

People want to see things that they don't experience

18:24

in their regular life.

18:25

And whether that is something they want to do,

18:27

or something they want to live vicariously,

18:29

that is the content that is going viral.

18:32

Those unique things are those things that I do.

18:35

For me, I can't believe.

18:37

I just took that.

18:38

Everyone knows about camping.

18:40

But that isn't necessarily the case.

18:41

And so you might be surprised that's something

18:43

that you enjoy, that you do on a regular basis.

18:45

Other people might find valuable.

18:48

Being authentic is what you're saying.

18:50

And I think that was one of the lessons, too,

18:53

at Salesforce is really around bringing your host self to work.

18:57

So I love the work life synergy,

19:02

term that you brought up.

19:03

Because I do believe it's like the person you are socially

19:07

is-- should be this person that shows up in the work life

19:10

as well.

19:10

Now let's get into our final segment, The Future Forecast.

19:14

So Joe, what do you envision as the future of the workforce?

19:18

And the way I'm thinking about it,

19:20

looking at you, how this--

19:23

I wouldn't call it a job because it's

19:26

something that's a passion of yours.

19:29

How did that pop up?

19:30

You're working hard, but you're also creating content

19:32

like you do today.

19:33

How do you think about the future of the workforce?

19:35

Dan, I think it's really interesting

19:37

because we had this moment where we completely went remote.

19:43

And now we're regressing and coming back into the office

19:47

and engaging.

19:48

And I think it breeds itself for more options.

19:54

I think now there is something to be said about being in the office

19:58

and being able to turn to your colleague

20:01

and ask a question or just hang out and chat.

20:06

Right?

20:07

And then you've got people that remote that is their thing.

20:11

From a content creation perspective,

20:13

I think you're going to see that more and more in the workforce

20:17

and this hybrid of people that are not only creating content

20:20

for themselves, but they are promoting a brand for potentially

20:26

a company that they work at with that content

20:30

and being a little bit more involved in that marketing

20:33

of that company by showing kind of their own social brand.

20:40

And I think I go back to what you said about being authentic.

20:44

The hybrid of being able to bring my authentic self to work.

20:49

I wear my suits every day.

20:51

I myself, the same person that you see at work

20:54

is the same person I am outside of work.

20:56

And I love that I have had that opportunity

20:59

to really be able to do that.

21:02

And it's not something that's always easy.

21:06

But I think it's easy to try and feel like you need to fit a mold

21:10

or to follow a certain process or follow a certain way of being

21:15

at work and a different way of being at home.

21:20

But I think I'm really excited about the fact

21:23

that I am out of place where I can do both.

21:25

Salesforce is a company that really does encourage you

21:28

to perform the best for their customers, as well as

21:31

be active in the community.

21:32

But can you give us a little prediction

21:35

of what you think the Salesforce community is

21:37

going to look like in the future?

21:39

Traditionally, people thought of technology

21:42

and thought of software as something

21:45

that only certain people could do or only certain people

21:51

could learn.

21:52

But I think the ecosystem in the community

21:56

is going to grow and expand to a lot of other people,

21:59

myself included, perfect example.

22:01

Interimtainment brought in the tech, right?

22:04

At a moment in time when tech was kind of just

22:06

getting off the ground, so to speak.

22:09

So I think you're going to see a lot of different types of faces.

22:12

I think you're going to see our younger generation embrace it

22:16

a lot more and really navigate the way of the future,

22:21

not just for our communities in the technology space,

22:25

but for the world at large.

22:27

Now you've given a lot of advice to everyone here

22:31

listening and watching.

22:32

But what advice do you have for the workers out there

22:36

that want to scratch maybe that passion of theirs?

22:40

What would you say?

22:41

The only thing that I can say--

22:43

and this is my mantra for this year--

22:47

execution is action, right?

22:51

If you don't take time and start and execute,

22:54

and I can't emphasize that enough,

22:57

then you'll never get there, right?

22:59

And so if you have a passion, don't be afraid.

23:02

I actually-- I mentor a lot of people during the pandemic.

23:06

And the discussion I had is, OK, well, what do you want to do?

23:11

What's your ideal life?

23:12

What's your perfect life?

23:13

What do you want to do?

23:15

I think oftentimes you go to college and you get your degree,

23:20

and you never do what that degree was about.

23:22

But that was, at one point, your passion or your interest.

23:25

And I think now we are in a time where,

23:29

with the assistance of technology,

23:31

you can do and literally be whatever you want to be at this point,

23:35

right?

23:35

Obviously, it takes hard work and focus and doing that.

23:40

But I really want to see--

23:42

I think we can have just a better world

23:45

and a better community of people really lean

23:47

into the things that they're passionate about.

23:49

Well said.

23:50

Well said.

23:51

Before letting you go, let's have fun

23:54

with a quick lightning round.

23:55

Are you ready?

23:56

Oh, boy, here we go.

23:58

OK.

23:59

Secret skill not on the resume or something

24:02

that you haven't posted to social that people know about.

24:06

I can talk like Donald Duck.

24:09

No way.

24:10

Can you give us a little--

24:11

[LAUGHTER]

24:14

I thought it's so happy to be here.

24:17

[LAUGHTER]

24:18

That was awesome.

24:20

All right, best way to spend an evening after work.

24:24

You know, to be honest, I love to socialize.

24:28

I consider myself a social hummingbird.

24:30

So going to a nice restaurant or bar with friends

24:35

and hanging out and socializing is definitely

24:38

one of my favorite things to do.

24:40

Love it.

24:40

Favorite brand of anything?

24:43

That's a tough one.

24:44

That's hard to say.

24:49

I think I'll have to probably go with the tent company,

24:51

because I love that tent so much.

24:52

I spend two or three times a month in that tent.

24:55

Core equipment is the company.

24:58

Nice.

24:59

Now you just won front row seat tickets

25:01

to your dream event.

25:02

What is it?

25:05

Believe it or not, even though he's no longer with us,

25:09

it would be Prince.

25:11

I would have loved to see Prince.

25:12

That's awesome.

25:14

Now, Joe, this has been really just awesome and so much fun.

25:17

But before I let you go, I want you to let the listeners know

25:20

where they can find you across all the social channels.

25:23

And if there's anything else you'd like to share a plug.

25:26

You can find me at Joke Houston SF as in San Francisco

25:31

across all platforms, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram.

25:36

Definitely come out and check out my content,

25:39

and please subscribe.

25:41

Awesome.

25:41

Well, thanks, Joe.

25:42

Thanks.

25:43

Great having you today.

25:44

Awesome.

25:45

Thanks, Dan.

25:47

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