The Business of Meetings 22: The Secret to Getting Unstuck is Starting Ugly with Chris Krimitsos
I’m delighted to be speaking to another amazing entrepreneur today! Chris Krimitsos is the creator of the Podfest Multimedia Expo. And he is joining me today to share some funny and inspiring stories, and to talk about podcasting, his take on entrepreneurship, and his new book, Start Ugly: A Timeless Tale About Innovation and Change.
Chris’s bio
Chris Krimitsos is a speaker, a business leader, and a source for growth. He uses his unique skill set to bring the perspective of success from both sides of an event and to empower his audiences towards greater opportunities for succeeding in business. He is a passionate professional who is driven to make a difference, and he has been described as a changemaker, a motivator, and an inspiration.
Chris truly understands the kinds of challenges that event organizers face, having facilitated more than 2000 events himself, under the umbrella of Tampa Bay Business Owners, which he founded in 2008. The success of that organization, regionally, helped Chris with the launching of a national event, the Podfest Multimedia Expo, which he managed to grow to over 975 attendees in just five years, due to his skillful way of communicating key messaging to the podcast community.
Earlier in his career, Chris hosted and produced two TV shows, and one of his projects has been archived in the Library of Congress. Currently, he is making a global impact as a filmmaker and producer under the CK Productions banner, after having successfully created the documentary The Messengers: A Podcast, which obtained worldwide distribution and theatrical screenings.
Chris is currently President of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) Tampa.
Becoming infamous
Chris grew up in New York. He moved to Florida, looking for the freedom to express his ideas. He had always wanted to create a television show, and soon after he finally got the chance to do that, a physical fight broke out between two guests on his live television talk show. The footage got leaked to the press, and Chris landed up in trouble with the management of the TV station.
Although nothing like that ever happened again, that incident set Chris on a course where he eventually got thrown off the TV station.
Guerilla marketing
Chris then created a business group. And in the early days, while trying to find speakers for his business group, Chris invested whatever money he had in paying speakers to come and speak. One of those speakers was Jay Conrad Levinson, the author of the book, Guerrilla Marketing.
No money for marketing
Chris loves marketing, so he assumed that everyone would know Jay Conrad Levinson, and at least 500 people would come and hear him speak. After paying him, however, Chris was left with no money for marketing, and very few people turned up to hear Jay Conrad Levinson speak.
Filming a promo
So Chris decided to film a promo for the book, Guerilla Marketing. And ironically, he ended up using the Guerilla Marketing technique to sell Jay Conrad Levinson’s books!
A life full of experiences and colorful characters
A long time ago, Chris decided to fill his life with experiences and colorful characters. So he has lots of stories and colorful tales to share.
Although he loves business, he’s good at it, and he's interviewed many big Titans of business over the years, he has seen many of them doing the same thing over and over, for the last forty years or so, and that does not hold much interest to him.
Unique people
Chris is intrigued by unique people. And he loves events.
Through his events, he has had the opportunity to create a lot of different experiences for himself and others, and he has also been able to meet lots of people and create lots of colorful stories.
Lessons learned
Chris has learned from all his experiences.
From his experience with Guerilla Marketing, he learned that although he was paying far too much for speakers, he had still created a lot of value. And that experience also changed his philosophy on big-name speakers.
Getting Gary Vee to Speak
Chris was able to get Gary Vee to speak at his local event before Gary was a big deal, and he did it through a self-liquidating offer. Hear how he made it big even before he knew what the next big thing was.
Functionalizing your art form
Chris has also learned to functionalize his art form.
He explains that functionalizing your art means getting to know how you work and then functionalizing it in a way that people can see it for your specific DNA, or blueprint. In that way, you can find the people who are the right fit for what you do, and you can grow from there.
Community is Chris’s specialty
Chris has created his community and tribe over the years. And through that, he has seen that community is his specialty.
Links and resources:
Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) Tampa
The Guerilla Marketing website
Books mentioned:
Guerilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson
Start Ugly: A Timeless Tale About Innovation and Change by Chris Krimitsos
Connect with Eric:
On LinkedIn
On Facebook
On Instagram
On Website