Marketing That Matters (on In Good Company with Mike Thomas)

Mike:
Well welcome back to the In Good Company podcast where we believe that the best parts in business happen in good company. And I got great company today. This is Sean Pritzkau. Me and him have so many stories, which I am going to grill him on later just to share and welcome you into some of these stories. But Sean is one of those guys that when you meet him, you trust him and you know that you're getting the true Sean. He's one of the only people in my life that I've met where I think I said this to him back in the day—I was his leader in a previous role at a church—and I felt intimidated to lead him because of how trustworthy and encouraging and, again, really how good of a leader he was. So without further ado, I got stories for days. I do want to welcome to the podcast, Sean Pritzkau.

Sean:
Mike, it’s been a bit. It feels good. I love you and your wife. You guys are absolutely incredible people. Again, could sit in that bucket for the next two hours, but we will move into your story. For those that don't know you, give us a little bit of rundown. Where did you grow up? What's kind of your story? What are you doing for work—all that fun stuff?

Mike:
Sure. Well Mike, thanks for having me. This is really great to be here. Love what you've done with the place.

Sean:
Thank you.

Mike:
Yeah, I mean, bit about me—I was born in San Diego, and I lived there for 10 days, first 10 days of my life. Been a Rochesterian ever since. Yeah, I grew up in Greece, New York. Don't usually say that out loud. I joke that—yeah, we’ll cut that. No, I mean, I grew up around here. Michael alluded—we know each other from ministry, so I know we'll dive probably deep into the story, but I don't know how quickly you want me to jump in. But yeah, grew up in Rochester and kind of jumped into ministry and made a lot of connections. And then since then, have started a company. So about eight years ago, I went off on my own consulting and coaching full-time. Help people grow their audience and grow their reach and hopefully affect some sort of change in the world.

Mike:
Yeah, and day to day you are—and again, we'll get into it—you’re a big believer in people. And again, I’ve seen that throughout your life. When you do something, you do it with all that you have, with all that you are. And I think being a lover of Rochester, being someone that grew up here—you are a Rochester champion, bro. Like, when I think about people that love Rochester, it’s like Steve Carter, Sean Pritzkau. Like, there’s other people that love Rochester, but you guys are true champions of this space. What has it been like for you to be able to create a business that is housed here, that is right in downtown Rochester, where again you grew up, and now you can really give back to this region? What has that been like for you?

Sean:
That's a great question. I love that you mentioned Steve. Steve is one of my best friends. We went to college together, lived together at some point. Now we feel like we live together—we share a studio, or we co-work together. Different companies in the same space. And yeah, I mean, honestly, he helped me understand my love for the city I lived in. Like, he grew up in Saratoga or something, and in college we would go and explore the city and he knew more about this place that I had grown up in. And I had been here my whole life. So through that lens of like quote unquote “outsider,” someone that came into the city, you get to see it with fresh eyes. No, I mean, I love the city and I love living here and working here and being here. I think, like I said, I was born in San Diego, and I think part of me always thought I would end up in San Diego. And there's actually around the time when I started my company—it was like the first time I had flexibility where I literally could move. And Shannon and I, we went out to San Diego for a month. We did like a, "Let’s just pretend we live there for a little bit and see if it was the right fit." And everything about it felt perfect. But when we thought about it, prayed about it, had like this gut feeling about it, it was like, you’re supposed to be in Rochester.

Mike:
What do you do with that when everything—

Sean:
Yeah, right? And both of us too were like, man, one of us, come on, we should fight about this. No, we felt like we were supposed to be here. So you’re like, what do you do with that? You just lean into it. Fully embrace it. Bought a house here, have my office here. And I mean, one of the benefits of being in a city like Rochester, where the size of a city like Rochester is—you can go to a café or a restaurant or a concert or anything, you’re going to see people you know. And like I love what you say with the podcast of being in good company—like, when you live in Rochester and you exist and you embrace the city, your friends become colleagues, become co-workers, become referrals, become—there’s great people in the city. And once you build relationships and foster them, they can be good for life, they can be good for business, they can be, you know, all around.

Mike:
Yeah. I think it feels like, just at a human level, it feels good to support businesses that you know the people behind. And whether that’s a café or it’s a restaurant, it’s like—to walk into an establishment that isn’t maybe this big national brand—although I did have Starbucks this morning, so I apologize—but like, it just feels good. It feels like you are supporting kind of that greater city. Again, you’re a part of really the move in the city. One of the parts of Rochester that those that are from here are going to appreciate and understand too is—Rochester has this unique story to it where it’s the city that used to be. Like, Kodak used to be awesome, and the city used to be bustling with whatever, right? Xerox, and like all the stuff that used to be. What do you feel like though, with the emergence of like Parcel 5, and like The Lawn, and like some of the events that are now coming back in the city, the creative energy that feels like it’s kind of being blown back in—what do you think for kind of even the future of Rochester? Like, where do you kind of see the next maybe 5-10 years?

Sean:
I know, it’s a loaded question from a guy that just lives in Rochester, but I know—I need to tap Steve for this. You need to bring him in. But yeah, there’s a creative current and energy that’s happening through the city. I think if you work here and you live here, you feel it. And I think there’s this concept of a “boomerang” of people that leave Rochester, come back, and it's like they experience the city in a new light. It still has the same essence, but then you come here and you’re like, "Well, that didn’t exist when I lived here," and "this wasn’t a thing," and "people weren’t excited to go to Parcel 5." And it’s the only place I know that we call it a parcel, right?

Sean:
Yeah, so there’s—I think there’s a current coming through. I think if you think of the city, like you were mentioning Xerox and these big businesses and companies, like 2025 and beyond, it’s a new era. And there’s so much remote work, and there’s people that are coming into the area because they can not only just get a good job here, but they can get a great property, they can build a home here, build a family here. I met someone in my neighborhood who used to commute, lived closer to New York City, commute 45 minutes, 60 minutes, hour and a half one way. Right? And so that is three hours that they’re not with their family and they’re not working—they’re just doing the cost of business to go to work, right? So Rochester is a place that you can build a family, build a home, build a business, and you spend your life and spend your time doing what matters.

Mike:
So let’s dive into your business, because I feel like one of the things you’ve done a great job of is—the business that you started eight years ago probably looks very different than what you’re actually doing today. And why I say you’ve done a great job with that is you’ve actually been able to listen to your client base, like evolve with what the needs of the businesses that you’re trying to serve are. But give us a snapshot of what your business is, what do you guys do, who’s kind of your preferred client? If somebody’s listening that maybe would need the help or the support from a business like yours, what are the pain points and things you help them overcome?

Sean:
Yeah. It’s funny when people ask what I do. I have my hands involved with a bunch of different things. But my primary business is—I work as a marketing strategist and consultant. And I come alongside people—primarily people who, their business is connected to something greater that they’re doing. Whether it be, I mean, it could literally be a nonprofit organization, or they’re a for-profit organization that has a social purpose or social benefit to it. And I work alongside people to help them grow their audience, grow their business, grow their impact. I don’t know—I’m kind of like the person who comes alongside and helps you build a strategy along what you’re doing and making sure that what you’re doing is intentional and you’re building something that over time is achieving the goals and the objectives that you want.

I started out really freelancing and doing design and web and things like this. And I would ask questions that just felt like they were appropriate. And in many ways, I felt like it was probably convincing people not to hire me. So if you come to me and you want, let’s say, a website for example—great, websites are expensive. Why do you want a website? And they’re like, "Maybe I don’t." But frankly, people would—and they’re like, well you learn people actually don’t want websites, they want customers. And we’re like, let’s figure out how your website is going to get you customers. Or maybe there’s something preceding your website that maybe you don’t need that. Maybe you need a website, you just don’t need it yet. You need to figure out who your audience is, or who’s your ideal customer, or what is the unique value that you provide that others don’t. And that’s going to get you much further than what the investment would be in a website. And then when you go and launch your website, you can do it confidently knowing that, "Oh, we know who we’re looking to reach, we know what we offer, we know our messaging, we know we’re positioned in the market, and now we can hit it out of the park with our website redesign."

Mike:
That’s great. Yeah. I think again, watching your journey has been really cool to see. Just from my perspective—as our marketing agency, we kind of serve a different arm of the marketing, the total marketing pizza, so to speak. We’re a different piece.

Sean:
Don’t say pizza yet.

Mike:
Piece of the pie. I know, it’s 12:18. I am starving. That’d be sick if mid podcast, comes in—nice little local spot just right here.

Sean:
Sponsorship opportunity.

Mike:
That’s what I’m saying. Hey, it’s wide open, it’s wide open. So anyway, one of the things that’s just been cool to watch in your story is that you have been able to evolve. And I think that it really is—you evolve or you die when it comes to—even look at the marketing trends over the past eight years. Like TikTok was not even around when you started. Or, you know, different web platforms or different ways in which people were reaching customers—influencer marketing, and like all these other concepts. I think about when I went to college, like Facebook—I needed to have my St. John Fisher email address in order to create a Facebook. And the marketing principles I was learning, like, they were beneficial and of course the base level principles make sense, but the tactics—they didn’t exist to where we’re at today.

Sean:
Right.

Mike:
So speak to being able to evolve. Again, for a young person listening that maybe feels like they’re in their early 20s and they’re like, "I got this, bro. I got this figured out. I’m going to scale this business." What does it mean to constantly be in a place of learning, evolving, and nurturing your current client base?

Sean:
Yeah, it’s a great question. I mean, I think it’s incredibly important to be able to think at high level and build a strategy and help understand what you’re looking to do and achieve. And on the other end, you need to be able to direct people where they’re at and meet people where they’re at. And if they’re on TikTok, go on TikTok. And you’ve never had a TikTok account and that didn’t exist yet? You need to embrace it and learn it. So I think that’s a constant challenge for a lot of different people—they need to, especially if they’re small, they need to think up here and they need to act down here. And that can be extremely challenging, right? So that’s why someone like you, or like me, can come in and help bridge the gap and do some translation work.

You mentioned college, right? Like Instagram—it did exist. It came out when I was in college. It did not exist, right? We jumped on these platforms and embraced them because they were fun. And this is jumping into kind of part of my story—how I got involved with this is just like, I was just using these tools to connect with people and help grow the things I was involved with. But that was before a marketing program was saying, "This is how you use Instagram to grow your audience and attract more followers and people." And the programs weren’t teaching you how to do this, right? And there weren’t jobs for this yet—which might be dating us a little bit. But like, we kind of created these jobs as we were going, and created these strategies.

You mentioned Steve—like, I remember Steve creating an Instagram account for the college I went to, because it didn’t exist yet. I definitely didn’t study marketing as a degree program. Let’s be very upfront—I did not go to school for marketing. And I remember even having interns and people who were studying marketing, and they’re like, "I’m learning so much in the trenches working with you." That like, "I’m learning some higher level things in school, but very practically, I feel like I need to go out there and do it." And I think there’s a going out there and doing it part that’s really, really critical and important. You don’t find it in the textbooks. Because frankly, the textbooks are already outdated.

Sean:
Things are changing so frequently. And sometimes it’s overwhelming to keep up. And there’s something about like, you don’t necessarily always have to keep up, but in some ways you have to keep up.

Mike:
Yeah.

Sean:
And I think it’s, how can you learn and grow with the things that are already in your hand? Like for you, it was the phone. And you guys were learning Instagram, and it was like the gross little filters that you got to pick through from Instagram. Like, where were you when Instagram came out with the video feature?

Mike:
Oh yeah.

Sean:
It was like, oh my gosh, this is a photo-sharing app and now we can do video? And then I remember somebody posted like a high-quality video that was not from iPhone. And I’m like, “How did they do that? Can you import that video in here?” Like, I just remember all of those changes happening in real time. And I think we live in a time right now where AI is coming. And it’s here. And AI agents and like all these things that are coming down the road, where—we're laughing about social media, but don’t get too locked in and comfortable in the tactics of what you’re offering. Listen to the customer. And what you said at the beginning, bro, is gold: I realized they didn’t need a new website. They needed more customers. If you can always understand what your tactics are delivering them, then your tactics will continue to change. But I think where businesses fail is they get so locked into the tactic that they actually miss out on getting that outcome.

Sean:
Mm-hmm.

Mike:
One of my favorite parts of our podcast that we do—it’s very easy to see like your great YouTube videos, your great polished LinkedIn, your beautiful family, your dogs, your life, your house. Like, “Oh my gosh, it’s easy to be Sean Pritzkau. I mean, look at his life.” Right? Fails of the Week is what we call this. I want people to know, hey, this is not just—"Oh yeah, life is easy, we’re doing great." Like, it doesn’t have to be from this week, but what is a story that you feel like could just be a fun one to share with our audience of, "This is just like a big fail." It could be as silly as like you’re bumping out the office and a pipe bursts and it floods the whole—like whatever. Like there’s just stories of business. I could talk about this building, this space, and the many fails that have gone in. But would love to hear.

Sean:
Oh I love it. Yeah, I mean, pick a day. Like, I have failures all the time. I was actually working with a designer this week and we had a mistake on a project. She was super apologetic. And I’m just like, "You want to talk about my mistakes for a little bit? Like, we could talk for hours." Right? Got plenty of them. No, I mean, I think if I was thinking like the biggest fails of my own work—like, you know, I’m a solo business owner, right? So clients are my livelihood, right? And so I think the biggest failure—like, more like the hardest moment I’ve experienced in business—was like 2020. A significant part of my—a significant amount of my work was helping people market events. Large events. And you know, February comes around—let’s set the stage—my wife and I bought a house, bought our first house, you know. She’s full-time student. I am self-employed. Two years into it, right? So getting a mortgage is—they don’t make it easy for people like us.

Mike:
No.

Sean:
And so we, you know, buy this house. We’re starting to renovate it, right? We were like taking down drywall.

Mike:
Oh yeah. Shannon on Instagram.

Sean:
Yeah, yeah. She was—you know—Joanna Gaines influencing. Yeah. And yeah, so like, literally our living room is studs, right? And it’s February 2020. And we all know what happens in February 2020, right?

Mike:
Yup.

Sean:
And 100% of my clients drop. Overnight. I am helping people go in public to large events—sometimes stadiums, right? Like, I am deep in this event world. Live event world. And overnight, that changed.

Mike:
That changed.

Sean:
Right. Sean’s like, "I'm now selling branded masks. You can put your logo on these masks."

Mike:
Exactly.

Sean:
And very—like, my wife and I met through music, right? I’m sure we’ll talk about all this stuff. Like, we also like, on the side, would get hired to do events and be a music director and things. And no more music events. Not even our side hustle could continue.

Mike:
That’s a fail of a decade.

Sean:
That’s a fail of a decade for sure.

Mike:
Yeah, yeah. So how did you pivot from that? Like, I mean, obviously everybody—not everybody had that big of a drop—but it’s like, everybody had to make an adjustment to where we were. What did you do?

Sean:
Yeah. Well, I mean, a huge part of it—the learning experience—was like, you do not want to rely on—in some ways, it’s like one client. You don’t want one client to be just like the 70% of your work, right? Because one client goes, your business goes. Very similarly, just even like one vertical, or this one—like, live events was a huge, significant portion of my revenue, right? So, you know, I’m learning to step back and say, well how do I make sure that I have multiple income streams or multiple things going on so if one flops, it’s not going to take everything?

So I mean, during that time it was the art of the hustle, I guess. Like, I’m very like anti-hustle culture. But when that happens, you have no choice but to hustle. One of the spaces I went deep in is this no-code visual development space. And so helping people—not like where I was helping people attract a large audience and get them to a very specific thing, like often a space—and move towards like, how do I help people in that space connect online?

Mike:
Right.

Sean:
So it wasn’t going to a building, but it was going to a... whatever. And I know in that space, I mean the first project that we worked on was—I helped a café essentially recreate GrubHub. And so like, how do you get those customers who want to support you and want your product, but do it in a different way? So it was essentially like strategically helping companies through that time, because I was not the only one who had a crisis going on. So it was like, how do I serve clients and help them stay afloat during a difficult time?

Mike:
Restaurants specifically, like all that stuff was brutal. I mean, that was a wild time to be alive. We were like Lysol-wiping our groceries. I mean, it was—it was intense.

Sean:
Yeah, that was insane.

Mike:
So one of the things—and I think it’s a good transition to dive into—I think one of the things that maybe, I mean, nothing can really prepare you for that time, but I think that, you know, as we kicked off this podcast, you and I spent some time working in ministry together. And for those that maybe have either held a really high-level volunteer role or you’ve worked in ministry, there’s really a whole lot that goes into that. That could be a completely different episode for a different day. But I think having to overcome, like the transitioning from this really meaningful work—kind of the overworked, underpaid, like “I’m slugging it out for the mission, just keep moving”—how much of that experience, and we can come back to that, but how much of that experience do you think has prepared you or propelled you when things do pop up that maybe don’t go your way? You’re able to pivot, you’re able to maneuver and really make a difference.

Sean:
Yeah, that’s a great question.

Mike:
I’m just trying to stump you.

Sean:
No, definitely not stumped, because yeah, like what you’re alluding to—working in ministry or working in volunteer roles where resources just aren’t flooding you and you don’t have everything at your disposal—it just keeps you on your feet. And I think, I don’t know, that’s kind of like a hallmark of my whole life and career has just been like thinking on your feet. Not necessarily just being reactive, but having the skill set to be able to react when things don’t go your way or you don’t have the resources available to you to do what you would want to do.

And in many cases, like I do a significant amount of work in the nonprofit and social impact space. And those spaces are notorious for not having like a dedicated person who does the dedicated thing. It is “we have a guy who does A, B, and D,” right? Like wears multiple hats. And you and I have been in spaces where we’ve worn so many hats—sometimes hats that don’t feel like they fit us, they maybe don’t look good on us, right? You’re like, “There’s no one to do that thing. I’m doing the thing.”

So I think—I mean, it’s more or less a skill set and a muscle that you develop over time. That when uncertainty comes, you’re like, “Well, I just need to embrace uncertainty and do what feels right and use my past experience and what I’ve learned up until this point to react to this present moment.”

Mike:
So I don’t talk about this a lot, but this is great because we share this experience. This is a great opportunity—I think a great place to do it. For those that have worked in vocational ministry, I think you and I shared a similar desire when we were young where it was like, “When I grow up, I want to be a pastor. I want to be a youth pastor when I grow up.” And again, I was young, and I do think that was right, and it was some of the most rewarding years of my life. But it was almost this idea in my Christian faith where it was like, “This is almost like Christianity 2.0.” Like, “I get to graduate to become a Christian that is really able to do meaningful work now.” That was kind of my—as I look back, I think that was part of it.

But when I became a youth pastor—some of the most rewarding times of my life—but when that season came to a close, there was a true, which doesn’t get talked about a lot, there was a true psychological mind-f that happened where I had to go, “Does God still love me? Am I still anointed? Is His hand of favor still on my life?” Like, deep, deep questions that even today, I still have to process and figure out. In that process between working in your calling and making that step out to go and start your business—number one, have you had similar things that I’m describing or am I just on my own? And number two, how have you been able to navigate that—really ripping your kind of your old dream job versus your current reality?

Sean:
Yeah. You’re really trying to stump me now.

Mike:
I also just want to make sure I’m not crazy.

Sean:
No, not crazy at all. No, we very much shared very similar experiences. Yeah. I mean, very much. I think what you’re alluding to is having your life be oriented in a specific direction that is like, “I am just walking out what I’m made to do, and this is what I’m supposed to do.” And there’s an understanding of who I am and it’s aligned with this thing I do. And then when the thing I do changes, you’re like, “Well, this is who I am, not what I do.” And when things change, it causes a bit of a crisis, right?

So I very much had a similar experience. And yeah, I mean, it was something to wrestle with. And I think it’s funny—coming out on the other side of that experience, I feel more integrated now than I ever have. Knowing that I’m doing what I’m supposed to do and who I am. But the journey to get here was very, very difficult. And I think a big part of it is just that understanding of who you are and how does that line up.

And if you’re someone who—specifically being in ministry—what comes with it is you’re just in front. You’re in front of people. You’re in front of, especially in the digital world, you’re just very integrated with what you do, and people draw connections between what you’re involved with. And so it’s not just like, you know, where if you switch from one job to another job, you’re like, “Oh, I moved, and I can change my LinkedIn title, and now I’m doing this thing, and everyone understands that I worked at this place and now I don’t and I work at this place.” Right?

But yeah, in ministry it’s something that is integrated with everything you do. So when someone sees you go from one thing to another, it’s like, “What happened?” Or, “Who are you anymore?” Or “Did you change?” And it’s just—it’s sticky.

Mike:
Yes. I think that’s all really well said. Because, you know, if you’re—and we know this—but if you’re living for the approval of other people, you’re going to make a rotten pastor anyway. So like, if you’re working in ministry and you really need that affirmation, you really need that exterior validation, that’s going to be a slippery slope. And unfortunately, we’ve seen the effects that can have on people—in ministry, outside of ministry, whatever.

For someone that’s maybe wrestling with that—where they’re in maybe a ministry role right now, or they’re in this volunteer role, but they have a lot of questions. Or they don’t want people to think that they’re not doing okay, but they feel like their season has changed. Or they feel like there’s this new chapter ahead. What advice might you have for them in terms of kind of that bridge season of transition?

Sean:
Yeah, I think—this is just my own personal experience—I remember having a great amount of confidence in what was the right decision to make, or what was the right move to make. But there was an element of like, I needed to delay or not do what I thought was right because it was for someone else.

And I think there was this element of martyrdom. And it sounds very intense, but to think that like, “Hey, this is the right decision for me. This is the right decision for my family. This is the right decision for whatever.” But to say, “I’m not going to do it because it’s going to make someone else disappointed,” or “I’m not going to be able to serve someone in a certain way anymore”—those are all valid thoughts and emotions, but it can just really be harmful. So I think if you’re in a spot where you’re like, “I know I’m supposed to make a transition or a change, but A, B, and C, and D...” a lot of those reasons, if you were to take a step back or someone else was to look at your life and maybe counsel you through this, those things aren’t as critical and important.

Mike:
For sure.

Sean:
Right? So like, definitely taking care of yourself and doing what you know you need to do is huge.

Mike:
Yeah. No one’s going to fight for the things that God has put in you to fight for. So you could have a boss at a non-church job, you could just have a boss that isn’t going to say to you, “Hey, you should take your wife on a date on Friday.” Like, no one cares. I mean, he does, I guess, but like—it doesn’t really matter. It’s, “I need you to do this task. I need to make sure that what I’m paying you to do gets done.” Right? And so for you to really put up those boundaries, those barriers to be able to do that, I think—obviously that speaks volumes for someone that is their own boss.

I think one of the hardest parts about being an entrepreneur is—you don’t have a boss. So when you are your own boss...

Sean:
You do. It’s just like—

Mike:
Yeah, or you have 17.

Sean:
Right, because you have all these clients. Yeah.

Mike:
Yeah. I mean, I think one of the questions I have would be: how have you been able to put your own barriers and boundaries up? Because kind of the running joke is, “I quit my 9 to 5 to work 9 to 9,” or whatever it ends up being. But how have you been able to balance wanting to build a brand, wanting to build a business, but still having a house that’s under construction, still having a wife that you want to spend time with and grow? How have you been able to balance that?

Sean:
Yeah, I mean, I think in past lives, past roles, past jobs—if I was working overtime or I’m working on something and it’s like midnight and I’m doing something for work—I could blame someone. I was like, “Someone is making me do this.” Right? Now if I work at midnight on a project—who am I blaming? I’m the only person to blame.

Mike:
Dang.

Sean:
So there’s a transfer of responsibility in a lot of those things. And I much more prefer it that way. Like, if I’m going to blame someone, I don’t want to blame anyone else. I want to blame myself. I am responsible for my work and my actions and the quality of what I do and the outcomes for clients. Ultimately, if these things are within my level of control, right?

So that’s the thing—like, you spent $150 on coffee this week? As an example. That’s your fault. You made that decision. You gotta live with it.

Mike:
Right. Right. I probably did. Just as an example. Just random example.

Sean:
Right. So yeah, there very much are things in your control. So transitioning to working for myself or having a company—I dictate the way we work and the way that we do work and how it’s being done. I think a lot of that is—you just need to be present and be clear with your expectations.

A big part of the way I work is that I do things non-traditionally. And I love it, because it’s my company. It’s not someone else’s. So there’s an element of “do things how you want to do them.” And ultimately, we are providing an outcomes-based service. So if this takes you two hours or two days—the end client doesn’t actually care.

Mike:
It’s what you said at the beginning. “I don’t need to build a website—I need to help them get more customers.” Here are the tactics that can help them get more customers.

Sean:
Yeah. And I think a lot of people lean into the way that a client thinks it should be done. It’s like, if they knew how to get the outcome, they wouldn’t come to you—they would just do it themselves. So a big part of that is, like, you know, hourly billing for example—a lot of people, when they start out in marketing, doing creative work or consulting or whatever, they tend to bill by the hour. And the client probably doesn’t want 20 hours of work. Or 40. Or 160. They probably want the thing that you’re doing. And if you do it quicker, they’re probably going to be happier. And they’re going to get the outcome sooner.

So there’s just things like that where—there’s a traditional understanding of how things have always been, but it’s your business. It’s your work. And if you know what’s in the best interest—and as long as you’re always acting in the best interest of the client—then hold strong to your boundaries, your expectations, the way that you work, and you’re probably going to do a better result.

Mike:
You come with a lot of knowledge, a lot of experience, but I also think a big reason for that is—you have always been a great gatherer of people. Build other people up. You invite other people’s opinions around the table. You’ve done a great job of that over the years that I’ve known you. Speak about some of the nonprofit board seats that you’ve just entered into, some of the opportunities of how you’ve been able to really build this beautiful marketing community right here in Rochester. And again, you guys just got done with an incredible event. Just talk a little bit about some of the things that you’ve been involved with locally.

Sean:
Sure, yeah. Kind of connecting some dots here—we talked about how I love the city of Rochester. I’ve been self-employed eight years. I’m very much an extrovert. I might be the most extroverted person you’ve ever met. And I’m not the person who is like the center of attention always, but like—I just need to be around people. So me being alone for like 15 minutes is like, that’s a lot. Like I’m starting to get hives. Get me around people.

So the great irony of being self-employed for eight years is—primarily working by myself. In a room, by myself. We used to work in an office with 40 people running around everywhere.

Mike:
Right.

Sean:
Yeah. So one of the opportunities I had, I think three years ago, was to join the board for the American Advertising Federation of Greater Rochester. It’s a regional organization—it’s connected to a national organization. But what interested me in that was, I get to be part of a team again. But I get to hold the team kind of at arm’s length. This is not my livelihood. This is not my career. It’s a 100% volunteer board. But I get the opportunity to be on a team of 19 amazing people in the city.

So now I’m the current president of the American Advertising Federation of Greater Rochester. We do creative programming for the city’s marketing and advertising community. We have Rochester Advertising Week in the fall, and then we just had the American Advertising Awards show, where we have 300–400 people come out. Everyone submits work and we get to award that work to those doing incredible things in our city. And that’s not just our larger agencies, but smaller agencies, in-house teams, freelancers, students.

Mike:
Awesome.

Sean:
So that’s one of the big things I’m involved with here locally. And it’s a great time. Great way to connect.

Mike:
Yeah, I think there’s a common misconception where people feel—as their business grows and develops—that it’s almost like that lone-wolf perspective of, “I don’t actually want to collaborate, because I don’t want to waste my best ideas and have somebody steal them.” Or whatever. And unfortunately, I think there is a portion of people that—again, this podcast is called In Good Company—we know that we are better together. That as this grows, we all grow.

For someone listening that maybe feels like they’re having to hoard their secrets or to gatekeep information, what kind of challenge might you have for them as they try to grow whatever it is they’re working through?

Sean:
Yeah. No—you don’t really remember selfish people. You remember generous people. People who freely give of their time, their resources. They give the shirt off their own back for you. Those are the people that stand out. And on one level, I think that’s just a good thing to do. If you just truly care about the people you serve, then why hoard whatever knowledge or skillset you have that could be a benefit to them?

But one level, that’s just good business. Good to do. But I think there’s this principle of reciprocity. If you do something good for someone, something’s going to kind of come back around. You can think of that on a spiritual level. You can think of that on just a practical level. But it’s contagious. The more you give, the more you serve. And I am not—my wife is the psychology student, right? She’s studying this. But there’s an actual principle here, scientifically, or human... I don’t know.

Mike:
Human-wise?

Sean:
Psychologically.

Mike:
There it is.

Sean:
Of—you know, I give to you, you’re going to feel like, “He did for me, I’m going to do for him.” So I think it’s not only just ethical and good, but it’s good business practice. It’s a strategy—to give to others and you’ll see it come around.

Mike:
Dude. Love that. Happy we dove into that. Last part of the podcast, one of my favorite parts—rapid-fire hot seat questions. These are one- to two-word responses. This is off the dome. Sean Pritzkau just stepping up to the plate, hitting these questions.

Sean:
Let’s go.

Mike:
I know you love sports. So I just want to use a sports analogy. Sports ball. Here we go. We’re going to start with this one, which I love. This first question: would you rather go a day without coffee or a day without Wi-Fi? Deal with it.

Sean:
Go without Wi-Fi.

Mike:
Okay, that’d be like a gift. “I don’t have Wi-Fi for a day.”

Sean:
Right.

Mike:
All right, this one is going to be tough. It really is going to make your heart feel sad. Best coffee shop in Rochester?

Sean:
Fuego Coffee Roasters.

Mike:
Okay, that was easy. Rochester has great coffee. We are so lucky to be in a city where, like, throw a stone—you’re going to find a coffee shop and it’s going to be unbelievable.

Sean:
Right. I have a strong Fuego. My people, bro.

Mike:
Really quick statement on this—I know this is rapid fire. I have a buddy that lives in New York City. He’s from the Bay in San Francisco. He now lives in New York. He has family up in Albany. It’s not exactly a direct route, but whatever. He’s got a path that’s somewhat close to Rochester. He comes out of his way to go to Ugly Duck Coffee in Rochester. Sends me a picture every time. Then he goes back to his route to go visit his in-laws. And I’m like, “This guy drives.”

Sean:
If you were to follow my road trip of anywhere I go and you looked at my Find My Friends location—it would not make sense. Because I am that guy going to the coffee shop that’s an hour and a half out of the way.

Mike:
Okay. Got it. I love it. What is harder: fixing a broken marketing strategy or a bad cup of coffee?

Sean:
That’s a great question. Yeah. They’re very similar, because I think there’s an element of trusting the process. There are principles of making good—it’s science, right? There are things you need to balance out. And I think with a marketing strategy, it’s just like—you need to understand what’s happening and then figure out how do we balance these levels or pull the levers in such a way that fixes the problem.

Mike:
Love it. Let’s go. If you could describe marketing in 2025 in one word, what would it be?

Sean:
Relationships.

Mike:
Love it. What is a guilty pleasure when you need a break from work?

Sean:
We already talked about coffee a lot. I’m a crazy extrovert, right? Like, I work alone in a room and whatever. My guilty pleasure is literally just going to a café and then finding someone—usually a barista—to chat with me for like 15 minutes. It gets my extroverted muscle out and I get a good cup of coffee.

Mike:
I know what that’s like. And then you’re like, “Am I over-talking? Because I’m really enjoying this.” And they’re like, “Sir, there’s a line. There’s people.”

Sean:
“You serve them, this is your job.” I’m like, “Okay, I’ll pay for them too—just as long as we can keep this going.”

Mike:
No, that’s amazing. Last question—I think this one’s a fun one. What is one marketing trend that you wish would go away forever?

Sean:
No offense, everyone—but I really don’t like the little mics.

Mike:
Oh my gosh.

Sean:
They’ve always been designed to be just out of the frame. So why are we putting them right here? This is where the mic’s supposed to be. Why are we showing it?

Mike:
Yes! Also, your iPhone has a mic but you’re still sitting with the mic? We all got mics!

Sean:
I mean, we’re here, we got mics. I guess we could have put it up here...

Mike:
It’s all good. These are pretty-looking mics.

Sean:
Yeah, shout out.

Mike:
Well thank you for the time, bro. I feel like we could talk—we should do a part two. It’d be fun to shoot from your space, on the road. I’m just saying. But thank you so much for the time. Again, for those that maybe haven’t connected with Sean before—please, his socials and website and things are going to be in the show notes. Just one of those guys that is so valuable to have in your corner, both from what he’s doing locally but also the clients that he serves all across the country. Thank you for your time, and thank you for tuning in to the In Good Company podcast, where we believe that the best parts in business happen in good company.

Sean:
Thanks so much.

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