Funkin Up O&G Sales
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0:51 All right. Welcome back to another episode of Energy 101. We have a very special guest today, Mr. Jeremy Funk. Again, I feel like I say this half the time, but a very good friend of Digital
1:01 Walk Hatter's and our resident Denver champion, he is in Colorado. He was in town recording some podcasts for his podcast, which we can plug a little later. What the fuck? Yeah, what about now?
1:15 Okay. What the fuck? Honestly, my favorite title. You guys came up with it. We did. I want to. Yeah, I know. I think it was Julie. It's probably my favorite title. I wanted to call it
1:28 Personalities. Focus on personality than one gas, but what the fuck is so much better. It's so much better. And it goes with my business too, a funk feature. It does. Yeah. I dig it. You're
1:38 always using some kind of like, what is it called when you use a name for all the name names? Yeah. What is it called? Is it called something? It's called Funking
1:50 We'll go with it - Okay - Today is a special episode. We are going to talk about something that's not as maybe nitty gritty topical some of our other ones, but we're going to talk about sales 101 in
2:03 oil and gas and how it's different in other industries. So, Jeremy, do you want to talk to us about your path in oil and gas? This is when I was like, plug the podcast, as he's talking about it
2:13 -
2:15 So, yeah, I mean, it really ties into my whole background So, some of you guys know this, maybe not as well, but my name is Jeremy Funk. I grew up in New Hampshire, really in the middle of
2:26 nowhere, and went to college just outside of Boston. I went to Brandeis University. And my plan for my career, at least as far going back as like first or second grade, was that I wanted to be a
2:39 lawyer. Like I really wanted to talk. I wanted to litigate, right? And I wanted to make an impact But then as I went to school, like. nonstop for the first 22 years of my life. I'm like, I
2:51 don't want to go to school anymore. Like I need a break from school. I want to do something different, but I also want to make a lot of money. So how do you do that? Well, at the time, this was
3:02 during the first Tech Boom where you saw a lot of startup companies like Napster, for example, and even things like Microsoft and Apple like kind of come into their element. And some of the guys
3:16 that were in my fraternity at Brandeis who had similar personalities were outgoing and social that didn't go to law school or business school got into sales. They were either selling like
3:26 pharmaceuticals and I'm like, yeah, I'm not that interested in that. Farm sales are huge. I feel like I had a lot of friends I did that too. Yeah, medical device sales, pharma sales. And like
3:35 in the medical device space, it was like, yeah, you're actually in there for the procedure. It's really cool. You're like advising the doctor. I'm like, I will faint. No chance. Not for me.
3:44 No I saw some people getting into this like technology sales thing, like driving nice cars, having expense accounts, wearing nice clothes. And I'm like, I think my personality is like yours. I
3:56 wanna do that. So I was like 23 years old. I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I was like, I think sales. I think the sales thing has some legs to it. So at the same time too, I wanted to be
4:09 somewhere else. Like spending the first 23 years of my life in basically like a hundred mile radius in Northern New England. I'm like, I just want something different. I wanna go somewhere else.
4:22 So loaded up a car with two of my best friends and moved side on scene to Boulder, Colorado, no job. I have like 1, 500 to my name. That was like mostly my parents writing me a check for like a
4:34 thousand feet. Good luck kid. Like after I paid my rent deposit, I had like 220, which was almost enough to get a mattress So I'm like, I need to get a job. So I went on, I think it was
4:47 monstercom and started just looking for like entry level tech sales jobs. The first job that I had was definitely not an oil and gas as well before any time that I'd spent in this industry, but I
5:00 was selling storage area networks that ran over the internet. And at that point in time, like this is pretty relatable because if we need more data on our phone, you can like add an extra terabyte
5:12 of cloud storage for what, like 250 - Yeah - Yeah - Like 3 - Yeah - And back then, my first job selling storage area networks was like, you'd sell a physical box that was for one terabyte of data,
5:26 20, 000 - Oh my gosh - Right -
5:31 Oh my
5:36 gosh - So it's a really high powered industrial fan to cool it down because the box got really hot when it was plugged into all those servers and all the data was coming. So these were like pretty
5:41 big deals. And in my first job, I'm so glad that I had this at left-hand networks. They ultimately sold to Dell, but I made 85 cold calls a day. Oh, that's a lot. For the first year and a half
5:54 of my career. And that was like, talk about cutting your teeth, like a lot of rejection, like even figuring out like how to track everything in salesforce and how to consistently make calls and
6:05 like keep people quiet around you because I was in a little cubicle But my first base salary was 28, 000, plus like a little bit of commission. And after a year and a half of doing that, I'm like,
6:17 I can't do this forever. Like I have to do something different. So I sold my way into a better sales job where I was then closing deals. I didn't really know what I was doing, but found a good
6:27 company, rally software. They were a startup. I think I was employee number 11. They ultimately went public pretty cool for me to. to be at a company that raised money. Like I remember people
6:40 drinking champagne and like eating grapes and cheese. Like we just raised 8 million. I'm like, I have no idea what that means - But great - But I think that's good. That means you don't have to
6:50 worry about payroll - Yeah -
6:59 So it was - That sounds like us - Not on the 8 million - Not yet - That's common. That's common. But it was cool. And that was actually a company. This is 2005, 2006, that the term SaaS and
7:07 cloud, they were already using it. Right? So fast forward for like a year and a half later, I was hit up by a recruiter that said, there's a job that I want you to apply for. We wanna put you in
7:21 the room selling accounting software to oil and gas companies. And my first thought was, didn't oil and gas like die in the 80s or something? Like is this still - Yeah - In the industry, I'm from
7:32 New Hampshire Like there's no oil and gas up there. check your oil when you're getting like somebody filling up your gas. You get an oil change every 3, 000 miles and you fill up with gasoline.
7:44 That's all I knew. So I'm like, really? Like, is this like a growth industry? And they're like, they're gonna pay you a lot of money. Like, just shut up, dick
7:54 jugs - Yeah, it's like sold - So this was like conveniently end of 2007, early 2008, and right at the time when the shale revolution started, there were now like hydraulic fracturing and new tech
8:05 needs to extract oil and gas. New shale plays, right? So you're hearing about the Marcellus shale, right You're? seeing more things happening in the DJ base and in my backyard out there. And it
8:17 was really eye opening because the tech was far behind other technologies that I'd sold. I actually fell asleep the first time that I saw a demo of the accounting software. I'm like, oh man, this
8:30 is so dry - I think I would do it in the user interface. I'm sure was like.
8:34 No colors - Yeah - Well, it's funny that you said that, 'cause I feel like multiple times are guests on here or other podcasts are in the office. That seems to still be a very prevalent theme that
8:45 the industry when it comes to tech is just still gonna be behind - Well - Or still is behind some other industries - In a different way I feel, because it's very advanced when it comes to like -
8:57 Exactly - Downhole technology or offshore technology, but like software - Yeah, they're using that - Yeah - Yeah - Yeah - So that was actually one of the things that I saw as an immediate
9:10 opportunity and part of why I fell in love with oil and gas tech was the tech being used in the field and especially like miles down hole and then going directional is like the same caliber of
9:23 technology that you use to put people on the moon - Yeah - It's like really, really incredible stuff to be able to do that. But then in the back office you had like very old archaic 1990s looking
9:35 technology, no use of cloud. Companies didn't even want to talk about cloud 'cause it was like, I'm not putting my production data, my financial data where I can't see it. I'm like, yeah, but
9:44 you log into your online banking account - I feel like they're banking - I feel like it's even like, they are probably like, think they're not tech savvy. So they won't want to learn something new.
9:54 And I'm like, you know, probably the most tech savvy in the world It's more just like, I think cultural and fear of change a little bit and also consider it like, at this period of time, because
10:07 of like the pretty significant downturns in oil and gas in the 80s and into the 90s, that most of the people were really old. So those are the last people to get iPads and iPhones, smartphones and
10:20 even like log into online bank. So things had not shifted yet. And I was like, okay, there's a real opportunity here 'cause this industry embraces new tech. They just don't embrace it in the back
10:31 office. So before you could even think about like AI and machine learning and some of these like major advancements, what companies needed to do was just like be able to leverage the internet,
10:45 right? Be able to convince people in their organization that we should digitize and get away from paper. And that's still a process. Like that I'm 15 years kind of into this journey now. And as
10:58 younger generations come into it, you're seeing more digitally lead transformed oil and gas companies, which is awesome. But what that's done is created all of these new companies, all these
11:09 startups that to the buyer kind of sound the same - Right - Which kind of led me eventually, and I'll get to that to start in my own business because someone that they trust and that they can listen
11:19 to, that's not just pushing a product, needs to come in and explain the differences in some of these technologies and how they can benefit from them and not to get fooled into the next shiny looking.
11:30 thing because somebody built a nice dashboard. Right. Yeah. Wow. I didn't even think about it from that. I think that kind of put it into perspective for me is because I think every industry you
11:40 have all of these people coming in trying to sell you something that do sound exactly the same. I know when we were kind of vetting check-in software to use for our conferences and stuff. Like, I
11:51 feel like I maybe talked to four or five and for the most part, they all did the exact same thing. You know, little differences here and there I mean, I'm very happy with who we went with, but I
12:01 can't imagine doing it on a bigger scale. Like an oil and gas. Yeah. I mean, so the competition has become much more fierce, for sure. It used to just be enough of a differentiator to have a
12:16 product that could digitize your processes, your workflows, your assets. Now it's more of like, which one of these do I choose? So being a trusted partner as opposed to life. a pushy salesperson
12:29 is more important than ever - 100 - And you see it too with a lot of the companies that you work with that come in here and that are on startups that you guys talk to, these are technical founder led
12:40 companies. They're passionate, but they don't know how to lead a sales process, right? So how do you go about doing that? And how do you not make the mistake of hiring a salesperson that is pushy
12:53 and that puts the wrong face on your brand? Like it's a real challenge And you see some companies really thread the needle, like Combo Curve. I know you guys have talked about them before. They've
13:01 done a great job, right? They've got passionate founders, they pick their niche, they stuck to it and now they continue to execute on it and build sales practices kind of in the mold of the types
13:13 of people that started the company. So they're still like connected to it. They're not that big, but their challenge I think will be as they grow maintaining that like entrepreneurial spirit and
13:23 culture and not just being another big oil and gas company, which tends to happen. That is very true, especially combo curve specifically grew. I talked to them last night, they're at like 150
13:35 people now. Like that was insane. Overnight. So yeah, keeping that same drive almost. And I think Armand and Jeremy do a great job at bleeding down, but it's like how far you can reach all those
13:49 150 people. So you really have to And also like delegating, right? Which is so hard to do when you're an entrepreneur and you're passionate about your craft. Like how do you actually take the
14:05 reins and hand them to somebody else? And I'm sure that's something you guys deal with with. That's like hitting me right now. Yeah. Trying to figure out right now is where to delegate and it's
14:17 very hard. Yeah It's hard getting because like you said, like processes, you have to get those together
14:26 All right, here you go - I mean, totally, like even when Tim and I first started tripping over the barrel, I think you were doing the editing on the weekends, right - I never did the editing,
14:36 but yeah, everything else - That was, yeah. So show our - Yeah, yeah - Teaching us how to use then-caster, like off hours. And that was like pretty impactful stuff for us. And then when I'm
14:49 like, okay, I'm doing this, what the funk thing? And you're like, okay, talk to Jules. Like, wait, oh -
14:55 That's different. But yeah, you did it. And now I hit you up at first, I'm like, nah, this is Jules thing - Yes, it is - I'm gonna talk doing to She's - it about her great - She's awesome - Yes,
15:05 yep - You guys have such a great culture here, and I'm really proud of you guys for doing this podcast - Thank you - Like, I think it's, the industry needs to see more women in these positions and
15:18 be able to show how passionate you are. And just how much you guys have learned even, 'cause this sort of started almost as a joke, Well, we don't know anything about oiling gas. Oiling gas is
15:27 the same thing - Yeah, right - Right - Yeah - And now you're like, you're probably getting like fairly technical through osmosis, just learning about - It's really fun talking to people and hearing
15:41 what they're passionate about. I think my favorite episode has been Diana. And she is so passionate about just technology and energy. And I think it's - Diana who - Grower - Oh, I've heard amazing
15:53 things - I've seen her speak, but I've never met her - You owe me, yeah - Yeah, sure - Yeah - I was thinking maybe you were talking about Diana Zank, 'cause she'd be a good one - Oh, we have an
16:02 add on - We need to have an add on - We need to have an add on - And Denver - Yeah - I actually was gonna try and steer the conversation this way when we, you know, plugged what's coming up. 'Cause
16:12 I know you being in Denver, us being in Houston too, you know, pretty heavily oiling gas cities. So wanting to get your opinion on kind of where Denver's at and where you think as a city, Um,
16:24 differences between Denver and Houston and we are very excited to bring out into tech night there in April. So what do we have to look forward to? I'm really excited that you guys are doing that. I
16:34 get to MC it. It's fun in my backyard. I get to promote it. And I think that the Denver community will really embrace it. Awesome. So a couple of differences between Denver and Houston
16:45 politically, the climates are very different. Yeah. Right. This is far more conservative Texas is a red state. Colorado has become like a very blue state And that's changed in the last 20 years
16:54 too. But as far as like networking goes, Denver is a better networking city than Houston, because Houston is almost like four cities. So
17:05 when you do an event, you're like, well, where do we do it? Do we have to do one in the woodlands and one in Katie and downtown and one in the Galleria? Whereas Denver, it's like you just do it
17:15 downtown, like in downtown or within a mile of like the direct, like 16th street mall and people will People in that work in downtown Houston don't hang out unless it's Nate or something. They
17:27 don't hang out in downtown Houston, they go home. So they're house in the suburbs or a memorial or Katie or wherever they went - It's like an hour away - Yeah, everything. Tim and I always used to
17:36 say like, we gear our podcast for a Houston commute, which is 45 minutes - Yeah, exactly - It's so true - It's gonna be 45 minutes driving - Yeah - So weird fact, I will not listen to a podcast
17:48 unless it's 45 minutes - Really - Like if it's like 30, I'm like, that's too short I'll get like, I don't wanna have to find another one when I'm driving - Right, we were - It's so true - Yeah,
17:56 we were just doing a podcast right before this. And I actually think that we all really got comfortable at about 30 minutes. So you tend to get the best content after that point - Yeah, yeah -
18:08 Right? Unless it's just like a dut of a guest - Yeah, then you're like, no - So a little bit more about Denver. So people will stay afterwards in Denver and there's a real culture of hanging out.
18:22 downtown and stopping by for a drink or staying late for a networking event. And a lot of that did disappear during COVID. So you guys putting this event on in Denver is good for the community.
18:35 It's really good for the oil and gas industry. And I think it's also good for digital log catters because most of the stuff that you guys have done, you did one thing in Midland, I think. But for
18:43 the most part, it's here. Right. So to people in Denver, it's like, they're cool, but when are they going to come up here and do something? And now it's like, yes, there's a big event coming
18:51 up April 5th, right? April 5th. And we're hoping to as the team grows and as our community grows in Denver and Midland Oklahoma City that we can have people like you who are kind of facilitating
19:01 community events on behalf of DW. And keeping that kind of momentum going with, hey, like coming up to Jawaal Catters, grab a beer after we're, you know, more because everyone knows the heart of
19:12 our company is community. So building our community and other cities and other states that have longed needed someone like us to come in and kind of shake things up, I think is going to be.
19:21 hopefully very
19:24 a win-win for everyone involved - Definitely. I'm curious to see, 'cause you guys were asking me, like, how many people do you think you're gonna come? And I'm like, I don't know - Yeah - Like,
19:33 it could be way more than you think - I know - Right? I mean, I guess there's a chance that there's way less than you think, but the odds are, like, people will put this on their calendar and
19:42 they will make it a priority to go. People that are in the tech space, the investors, that work for operators themselves that haven't been able to come down for crawfish boils or in power or fuse,
19:54 right? They're like, I'd like to do that, but I have to work - Right, yeah - And I'm hearing Denver I, have to get on a plane - Yep, right - Right - They don't have the ability to make all these
20:03 trips or even for NAEP. Like, look, I've got a managed production. I've got to run IT. Like, I can't go to Houston this week in party with everybody at NAEP. So, DW bringing this event to
20:16 their backyard. I think showcasing some of the Denver-centric tech companies. And energy is gonna be like a really, really sweet event. I'm excited for it - Awesome, and I'm hoping too, in all
20:27 three cities, to be able to give away a ticket or two to fuse, kind of a all-expense paid trip, hotel flight, whatever. So that to that exact point, people who maybe wouldn't be able to make it
20:39 otherwise can come and experience what we're building down here - 'Cause candidly, I know the Denver people, and there weren't a ton But the people that came to empower from Denver are like Bitcoin
20:52 miners. So we're already in the space. The people that came to fuse, you have some investors and some salespeople, and people that are very intimately involved in the space, you want to expand
21:02 your community - Absolutely - That's what DW's growth is all about. And I think that this event in particular will bring a lot of people who haven't been to any digital wildcatters events before,
21:12 haven't been to any energy tech nights, right? and really start to see like all the things that other people have said and that you guys have put out there about how it's different, about how it's
21:23 transforming the way people network and building a community is going to be eye opening. I'm really excited about that. Yeah. I got a, on this topic, I got a question.
21:33 What tips would you have for people specifically sales guys? Yeah. Girls, sorry, sales people. Sales people. Sales humans. Sales humans
21:44 Going to these events. What should they do? Should they plan out their whole week? Like how do they get the most out of it? The most out of it. Yeah. I mean, I think this is more of a
21:56 fundamental question about how excellent sales people operate. Right. I do think that sales people should prioritize being at this event because a lot of their potential buyers will be there. And
22:10 that's a big deal. Yeah. I also think people should be focused on the content that could possibly come out of it. debrief within their companies, talk about the learnings that they have, and be
22:21 more almost like analysts of the event to understand how the climate of networking has changed and how Digital Wildcatters is playing a role in that. But to bring it back to like sales in general,
22:35 like the best salespeople to me are the ones who understand how to bounce back when they lose, because you're going to lose. Like you're going to consistently be kicked in the teeth You might not
22:47 have the best product. Maybe you didn't have the best contact. Maybe you just got beat by a better salesperson. Like those things are going to happen. But how resilient can you be? How can you
22:57 bounce back? So say that you're a salesperson that's planning to go to the energy tech night in Denver, and then you get really bad news about an account that week. Are you just going to fold it in,
23:08 say, well, I tried, I'm not going to go to this event, or are you going to use that as a reason to go meet, ask more questions, and learn to improve yourself and empower yourself as a stronger
23:18 salesperson - Right - And for me, like this is a story that I've told on my podcast before when I had Chris Dinkler on the Chief Revenue Officer at Inverus. I was flying down to NAEP in 2012. And I
23:31 found out right when I landed, because this is like planes didn't have Wi-Fi as much - Pre-Wifi, yeah - In 2012, but I checked my phone and I found out that I lost a deal, that I was like certain
23:42 that I was gonna win - I hate when that happens - Absolutely worse, and this was NAEP. Like NAEP in 2012 was your event for the year. Now it's like another, it's an important event, but it's just
23:52 another event. Like I have plenty of other conferences and have digital access to people that I didn't have in 2012, but I didn't wanna leave my hotel room. Like I was like, this sucks. Like what
24:04 a terrible way to start the year. I have to give this news to my boss and he has to give it to his boss and we were planning to win this deal and we were gonna hire somebody to deliver the project
24:14 and lost. And I was like, you know, how do I bounce back from this? Because I can't be like moping around nape and having this lost deal affect the rest of my year since I really needed nape to
24:29 build my pipeline for the year. So I sought out Chris because he was like the best sales guy that I knew and I came up to him and I told him and I could see him kind of smiling and nodding. And I
24:41 was like, I don't get it, man. Like I win, like I don't lose. And I'm like struggling. I'm like walking around like a zombie because I lost a deal that I should have won. And he's like, look,
24:52 man, like you're gonna lose deals - Yeah - It happens. If you won every single deal, you'd walk on water and none of us walk on. So my advice to you is flush it, like put it in the back of your
25:10 mind until Saturday or Monday or whenever it is that you get home from nape. but how you respond to this adversity that you've been dealt is going to say a lot more about you as a salesperson than
25:22 actually losing that deal. And I was younger, like I was probably about 30 at the time, 31. And that was really good advice for me to hear. And like, you don't want to repeat some of the things
25:34 that were the reason that you lost in the first place. But truth be told, like, there is always something that you can take from a loss, probably even more so than a win - Way more - Way more -
25:46 You learn so much more from a loss than you do a win - Totally - 'Cause you don't reflect on a win, usually. 'Cause you're like, oh, I won, like, on to the loss - So it worked, yeah, I'll just
25:55 do it the same way. And then you do it the same way and you lose the next time. So you're like, what did I do - Yeah - Right, so constantly having those, like, deposits of understanding. And
26:05 also, like, from a sales standpoint, and this is something that I like to advise, like, my sales resources and just younger sales folks in general like. It's very important to think about sales
26:17 as a bank. So when you go to a bank, if you're constantly taking withdrawals, there's not gonna be money in that account. And then you can't take out any more money. So if I'm a salesperson and
26:31 I'm always asking for something, can you buy this for me? Can you be a reference for me? Can you do this? For me, you're just asking for withdrawals You need to make deposits with these potential
26:45 customers as well. And those deposits are not always directly sales related - Yeah - Right? So those deposits can be things like, Hey, here's a podcast that I think might be of interest to you.
26:57 Right, take a look. Hey, I'll be in Oklahoma City this week. Can we grab coffee and not talk about sales? Right, not talk about the product that you're trying to get in front of them. And just
27:07 continue to make impactful deposits
27:11 So that when it comes time, creating a referral to somebody, Hey, I think that this guy is somebody that you should talk to. You guys are in the same community and you too should meet. I think
27:21 there's value in that. With no expectation that it's going to turn into a sale. Well, then you've put yourself in a position to ask for a deposit, to ask for something. And that's something that
27:33 I've had to learn over time as well. And it's been a huge boon for my career. So it's like, people ask me like, Well, did you sell this guy? I'm like, That's not how I operate. It's a long
27:45 time. Yeah, this is - Playing the long game. This is a long game. This is an industry that I've been in now for 15 years and was able to start my company, Fung Futures, where we do fractional
27:55 sales, marketing and recruiting, where it's very dependent on having senior level contacts that are open to introductions, that are open to learning about new technologies. only bringing them new
28:09 technologies that I wanted to sell them, it wouldn't work. Right. Right. So having them on my podcast, right, having them tell me about how some of the technologies that they've purchased have
28:21 worked out, having them talk about their pains, right? And pointing them maybe to a solution that I don't necessarily work with the represent is important. So like constantly playing that role of
28:33 subject matter expert advisor while also understanding when to sell and create value that way has been something that I take a lot of pride in and try to work on consistently. I think that's great,
28:45 great advice. And I want to know, you didn't say providing value is bringing cookies. No, but I'm serious. Yeah. Like so many people think that they're providing value because they're bringing
28:58 someone breakfast. Like that's, I feel like there's all like you can see through that. Yeah I love that you're talking about building relationships, making connections like That's really what it's
29:09 all about. And I've seen this play out so many times in Colin's life where he'll just make a connection and or he'll just go to coffee with someone - Yeah - And it doesn't paint like nothing, pans
29:22 out, he's just building a relationship. And then like years later, it's full circle and you can kind of see why that connection was made and something comes from it. But there's no motive there.
29:32 It's just building relationships - It's God - I was gonna say, I'm glad that you brought up the word connection because I feel like from our standpoint and what you're talking about, there is no
29:42 community without connection. I think that's what we always strive to do here. And when we're putting on events, people, sponsors, partners, always ask, Oh, can we get the attendee list? And
29:51 that's something that we will never do. You know, we want you to come and make the connections. But if you have a certain clientele or a certain company or person that we're connected to, that
30:01 that sponsor wants to get in front of, we are happy to make those connections. We would love to make those connections for you. but we are never just going to, here's a Nintendo list that you can
30:10 blast out to people. That's not our MO and that's not, that's what we're about 'cause it's about genuine connections, building community, not, and we all have to go to sale. We would also be
30:20 giving them bad marketing advice. Yeah, so we're looking out for you. Yeah, it would be - De-evaluating the authentic connections that are made at that event. And yeah, I think, you know,
30:33 going back to Colin and Jake, like I've known these guys for years now, and they were pushing me to do a podcast, I'm like, about what? I don't understand. But I think they had a sense like,
30:45 this is something you should do, this will help you build your own personal brand. And part of the reason that I wanted to do it on the Wildcatters platform and with them is because I felt like they
30:54 had a level of authenticity that I wanted to yearn for and find for myself. I think a lot of times, and maybe it's the generation that I'm in, a little bit older than all you guys. is you felt
31:08 like you had to act a certain way. You had to dress a certain way. You had to behave a certain way to work your way through your career. And then here come these wildcatters dudes, right? Making
31:20 like - You get up on the day - Yeah, it's right. We're in t-shirts - Just suits, yeah - And hats on backwards, right? And throw them pizza parties
31:35 and putting V-logs, vlogs out there, right - V-logs - V-logs - You are all up there - We're not cutting it - Like drones at an oil well and things like that. I'm like, that's cool, right? 'Cause
31:42 they didn't wanna conform to the social or professional means that this industry, which is a little bit further behind things like tech, right, and other markets demanded of people. And a lot of
31:56 people would come up to me and like, laugh at them, you know what I mean? Like, oh, look at those guys walking through nape with the camera, dorks. Yeah, like those guys are cool - Those are
32:05 the darks now - Yeah, that's cool. I'm like, No,
32:09 that's cool. Right? Like they're creating value in a way that younger people want to consume information - Yeah, that happens to us every time we go anywhere, you know, in a little small group
32:20 networking things because we are those people and people come up to us and they're like, Can we talk to you guys? Can we hang out over here? You guys look fun. And I'm like, We are fun - Probably
32:28 because we're not wearing black. I feel like anytime we go to networking things that aren't ours - So everyone that's in the inbox and stale - Yeah, I know - And we try to bring the life. But also
32:39 it's important because we want, like our mission is to teach the world about energy. We can't do that by fitting in a little box, but we have to talk a certain way and be a certain way.
32:54 So this kind of leads me to another question. Advice for people coming into oil and gas. You are a newbie once. do you have any advice or do you like, what would you say?
33:08 Two years, one mouth, like, ask questions and listen and learn. It took me a long time to get to the point where I considered myself a subject matter expert within the space. And even still, I
33:22 have a lot to learn because the landscape is constantly changing and evolving. So ask questions, right? Listen, learn Consume content and information, go to panels and watch people like Chuck
33:36 Yates speak, right? Because there's wisdom and there's so much advice that you can take from that and go up to them afterwards and ask them questions. Because people in this space are somewhat
33:49 vilified because oil and gas is demonized, generally speaking, in oil and gas. And it's frustrating because the people that are in this industry are awesome Like 98.
34:02 of the people that you'll meet are willing to help you, right? To give you advice, to tell their story, to hear where you're struggling and why you're not making the strides that you want to make
34:11 in your career. And I didn't get that in other industries. I felt like it was more cutthroat, someone in the finance and think tech world and in recruiting to an extent. But oil and gas is very,
34:23 very familiar and it's really supportive. So like I don't need to go to NAPE. Like I choose to go to NAPE, right? I choose to put out a podcast every week because I like creating those real
34:35 connections with people that I want to have. And it's been a huge blessing for me to be able to do that, right? So just listen, right? Ask questions
34:47 and find what matters to you. Like I never had a plan to get into oil and gas and then have found myself here and will probably be an oil and gas for my entire career. And things will morph and
35:01 things will shift, but the idea is once you get into this space, if you think that it's for you, you stay. 'Cause most of us were in a different space before we got into this, like, we didn't
35:13 all grow up in Midland. But still, you worked in a different world too, right? You were in media - I was actually in cybersecurity - You were in cybersecurity - In cybersecurity - Sounds thrilling
35:25 - Mm-hmm - That's really, Mm-hmm - Yeah - And this is fun - This is fun - The process of extracting oil and gas is like a modern day treasure hunt - Mm-hmm - And seeing how companies go about that
35:41 and how they secure massive amounts of financing and then build teams and leverage technology to be able to hit, like, a small box five miles away when you go down and you go over is like kind of a
35:53 magical thing - It's very cool - Mm-hmm. Okay, we gotta do rapid fire since we only have like two minutes left. Okay, biggest misconception in energy - That it's all dudes - Oh yeah, welcome -
36:07 We're here - We're here - We're here, we're here - Okay, the next one, Joel's usually does this. So I'm like, what's the next one - Oh, why should we care - Why should we care about energy? Why
36:19 should the people care about energy - All of our listeners. Why should they care - All the genies - People should care about energy because more and more people keep coming into the world every
36:28 single day We take for granted here energy, right? This electricity. I went to Africa, South Africa in 2009. And I'll never forget being there and just seeing how energy poor they were and how
36:43 that bled into everything else, right? It's easy for us to take it for granted here because everything is digitized, everything is so simple and grid powered. And it's not like that in other
36:54 places in the world. In China, right, there are still places where there's like donkeys. like pulling coal carts to people's homes so that they can heat their homes and have hot food - That's
37:06 insane - Yeah, it seems - It's not like that here, right? So just understanding that energy plays a massive role in the development of Third World countries, and it's very important for us not to
37:20 take that for granted - Yes, that's a great answer. The last one is your most embarrassing story in your career - Oh my God, they're so great - I feel like you did an episode on this. It was like
37:30 your second episode on tripping over the barrel - Oh my God, it actually wasn't that far from here. So this 2014 been have would, and I was at a BHP Billin, right? Before they were acquired by BP.
37:44 And I was with Seven Lakes Technologies, like Upstart Tech Company. I'm wearing a suit, I'm wearing a tie. I gave like a really passionate slide presentation to this group of senior executives
37:56 just like 15 or 20 people in the run. And I actually was like standing up at one point and this is why you need to go at this solution and we're the right fit for you and blah, blah, blah. And I
38:07 was done. I'm like, and now I'll turn it over to Sachin for the demonstration. And I sat down and like my butt hit like right on the front part of the seat - I don't know - And slipped and the
38:19 chair flew back - Oh no -
38:24 Before you were like, What up at the table, right? And I'm literally sitting there on the ground, right? And people just kind of like first like with some concern coming over to make sure like
38:32 everything's okay. But then when they saw that I was all right, they couldn't help but just like cracking up. But like if you want to break the ice in an important business,
38:42 fall on your chair, head over - That was like Diana's story - Yeah - She had a similar story - It was so embarrassing, but like it definitely made the rest of my day - Oh and I'm sure they will.
38:57 Never forget that day - They still brought it up. Like a couple of years later, we were going to an Astros game and there was like a networking thing before and these guys had this shitty and grin,
39:08 right? And they're sitting there and they're like, so. Remember - Remember - I'm like, yeah, you think I'm ever gonna forget that? I don't think anybody in that room will ever forget that. But
39:18 that was an amazing day - That is incredible - And we did eventually win the deal too. So it could laugh about it even more afterwards But like talk about embarrassing, like maybe like look behind
39:29 you when you're about to sit in the chair - I love it - Well, before we sign off Misty, tell us what we've got coming up - Well tonight, well, I guess we'll be airing after wine night. But on
39:43 February 9th is ETN, Houston - Yeah - At first the Heights Theater - When this comes out, that's gonna be like tomorrow - All right - Yeah - So tomorrow - Tomorrow - Come on out.
39:56 I love it - Cool, if you wanna find Jeremy, you can go listen to his podcast, What the Funk, it is on Digital Wildcatters.
40:05 And if they wanna follow you - Yeah, LinkedIn's probably the easiest place - Very easy to find. That cool last name - Yeah, Funk Futures, FunkFuturescom is the website. I'm posting on LinkedIn
40:18 pretty consistently what the Funk on the Digital Wildcatters platform is the podcast. And I was looking to connect and expand my network and meet the great people that make up this industry. So
40:28 thank you ladies for having me on. This was really fun - Thanks for joining us - Yeah, thanks for coming on. We'll see you in Denver - Yeah, it's April 5th.
