Washed Weekly: Well, Some News
On your knees in the Mattel Ranchos parking lot.
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On The Will News…
by
Yesterday on the episode titled ‘Some News & Some Cialis’, which is a funny name given the context and subsequent conversation surrounding this episode, Will shared the news that he’d be taking a step back from co-host of Circling Back so that he could devote more time to the Sunday Scaries brand. You all have lots of questions and theories about what’s going on, so I’m going to answer as much as I can for you today. We’ve always said we’re a transparent company, so the curtain is coming off.
I’d like to start by sharing that I was sincerely thrilled to see a subreddit thread with 200+ replies only 16 hours after we finished recording the episode, along with multiple other spinoff threads with numerous replies about this subject. It was a welcomed reminder that so many of you care a lot about what it is that we do at Washed. Whether your comments are positive or negative, it truly warms my heart that you, at minimum, care enough to speak up on the matter. So, thank you.
We read and hear comments from listeners all the time that listening to CB has gotten some of you through difficult times in your lives, that we feel like friends to you, are an escape from the bullshit life throws at you, etc.
That sentiment is reciprocated from all of us, but more to the point, we are sure not to make any decisions hastily. We understand their impacts and we always keep the listeners at the top of our minds when making decisions that affect this business and our properties. Our listener base is extremely important to us.
Keeping you all happy and engaged is good for business, but also we just care about you all and what you think of what we’re doing here. After all, you are all the reason why we’re able to do this job that we love so much.
After reading this, if you feel like I didn’t answer your questions or respond to your concerns, it’s not because I’m avoiding them. It’s because this is all I can really think to say on the matter. Aside from anything too personal, I will be happy to reply to any further questions you drop in the comment section.
The below are questions and comments from the Reddit threads. Alright, let’s get into it.
Please give us some sort of insight to what’s going on.
I know it’s fun to speculate and theorize about nefarious stuff going on behind the scenes that we are withholding from you. I’m sorry to disappoint you but that’s simply not the case here.
It sincerely didn’t feel like we were intentionally holding any information back from all of you during the announcement segment, but in hindsight, we probably moved on from the subject too quickly. I do apologize if it seemed that way to anyone. To me, it felt like it was the beginning of a very long conversation that would play out over the coming months on the podcast.
Don’t forget that we do content for a living and much of that content is based on our personal and professional lives. We have much to discuss moving forward, and we will.
Will has been building the Sunday Scaries brand since before his time at Grandex even. Before podcasting was even a medium. We’ve watched it ascend from a small account into a recognizable lifestyle brand that is now able to sustain him financially.
That’s a great success story and something of which we’re all proud to have been a part of, and Dave and I fully support his desire to focus on it more.
To emphasize this again after addressing it on the podcast, Will is not going anywhere. He is still very much a member of Washed Media. Brett is still handling sales inquiries for him. He will continue to use our office and our studio. And he WILL still be a presence on our podcast properties, including Circling Back.
This move, which I called a “half-step back,” will enable him to operate more freely within the company. If he wants to work from home on a Monday and churn out content for a demanding client, he’s now able to do so. He can now travel for work without the guilt of missing time in the office. If he had a neighbor’s car towed over the weekend and wants to sit in on Circling Back and tell us the story, that seat is always available to him.
He’s going to be on Circling Back next week, as a matter of fact. He’s probably going to record with us a lot.
I really look up to all of the guys, but dropping this bomb on a random epi and having all of a five minute discussion about it feels a little strange given that the pod and brand is as much about the people behind it as it is the content. Business is business, but if there was ever a time to pull back the curtain, I think now would be it.
A fair criticism. If it felt to all of you like we didn’t make a big enough deal about this move on Wednesday, that’s probably because, to us, it didn’t feel like a big enough deal to fully eulogize Will’s “departure,” because that’s not exactly what’s happening. If he were leaving the company, yeah, that would be a difficult pill to swallow for all of us and we’d have given Will a proper sendoff.
Things are going to change a bit, but we’re looking at this as an opportunity to reset and freshen up our approach with Circling Back.
Randy still has a microphone in front of him and will have a bigger presence on the show. We might drag a desk and a mic into the studio and make Brett work from it while we record so we can call on him throughout. We will bring in guests. Known guests and new guests. We have new segment ideas. The show will continue, and it will still include all of the stupid banter that won you over to begin with.
And again, Will is going to record with us quite a bit.
Dude hung his boys out to dry. Sad!
This literally could not be further from the truth. Will is a huge part of this family and a best friend to Dave and me. He’s also not the kind of person to leave anyone out to dry.
As I said in the episode, this decision was a collaborative one from the beginning. Will, Dave, and I started discussing the move in November of last year, have had numerous meetings about it, and laid out the steps together.
Maybe I’m a doomer, but it feels like there’s no way Will is a part of Washed in 12 months.
Wrong. Will owns the same percentage of Washed Media as Dave and I do. He not only has zero plans to depart from this company in the short or long term, but he has a significant financial interest in it succeeding.
I’ve often said the following about each of my co-hosts:
Dave is the funniest person I know.
Will is the most creative person I know.
One benefit of this move is that Will is going to serve as sort of a creative oversight for Washed. He’s now going to be able to look at the company from the bird’s eye view perspective and share with us his thoughts on what we can tweak, add, etc. It’s something I think will prove to benefit this company quite a bit in the long run.
Apologies if it’s asked already, but does Will not being on CB full time include Patreon, or will that remain a three man weave?
Will is going to sit in on Patreon episodes when he wants to. We have some ideas for Patreon that will keep it strong and worth your five or ten dollar monthly investment.
This is a big priority for us. Patreon income has been the most consistent revenue stream for us since our inception, so we will always do everything we can to keep paying customers happy and bring in new ones.
The "Slams Laptop Shut Till Monday" memes were just taking up too much of Will's 10 hour work week in between vacations, so he had to take a step back from Circling Back. I know Sunday Scaries is very popular but is it really anything more than instagram posts and a random podcast some backers listen to? Pls someone correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t understand this. Love the boys not meant to be negative just sad about the news
To put it kindly, you have no idea what you’re talking about. And that’s okay.
To the casual observer, it may seem like managing an Instagram page like SS is a quick and easy way to make a buck, but that’s not at all the case. Sitting next to Will (and Brett) every day has given me an appreciation for all that goes into operating a brand like Sunday Scaries.
Will works in tandem with Brett for much of each day in corresponding with clients, building out elaborate media plans, receiving direction and assets from clients, creating posts, sending them in for approval, having to edit the ones the client asks them to edit, and scheduling everything out methodically among his standard posts.
Sunday Scaries is currently working with two different hotel brands, and both require Will to travel. He’s had to miss multiple days of work to travel and fulfill these obligations.
And that’s just the sponsored ones. Will has built this brand over many years by creating his own, unique style of post that over 900,000 people take in on a daily basis, and that’s the part he spends the most time on.
Calling my shot: [Dan Regester] is joining. It’s the most logical next step. Maybe that’s why he stopped by and “helped produce” a show recently. Jackhammer would bring a fresh and good new dynamic. Plus he’s got built in chemistry with Randy. I would like this (maybe better than if Will was there)
There is definitely going to be an effort to bring in more of the guests we know you guys all love, but we don’t plan to bring in Dan full time. All the names I’ve seen thrown around (Dan, Micah, Duda, etc.) are all welcome to hop on when Will isn’t there.
This move allows us to add new figures to the mix, and we’re excited about that.
In early CB episodes, they used to joke that Dillon was a “majority shareholder” and explained Dillon was 33.34% owner (Dave and Will were 33.33% owner). They don’t really alude to/joke about their ownership structure anymore. Maybe the bit just naturally died off. Maybe they amended their partnership agreement to say “1/3 ownership” instead using percentages. Maybe they tossed Big Game some equity in his compensation package. I really have no idea. But all the comments I’ve heard imply that Dave, Dillon, and Will are all (roughly) equal co-owners.
This move has nothing to do with ownership inequality as some have alluded.
When launching this company, we literally picked numbers between 1 and 10 while sitting in the lobby of a Chase Bank to determine which of the three of us got the additional .1% that made our one-third shares equal 100%. It was a funny situation and not one any of us took seriously. We have always been equal partners, and it’s staying that way.
Since then, we’ve restructured to make it as equal on paper as it is in practice.
And since you brought it up, I am very happy to announce that both Brett and our little zany producer Randy have both been given equity in Washed Media. Congratulate them if you feel like it. They’ve earned it.
Is Retail Therapy pod still going to exist?
Yes. I’m not sure much, if anything, is changing here. Will can add to this if he wants.
Just fell to my knees in the Mattel Ranchos parking lot.
Pick yourself up off the pavement, walk inside, find the bar, and order yourself a Knockout Martini™. Everything is going to be just fine.
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Excellent summary, totally makes more sense as an announcement written out than on a pod. Feel like that creative director role for Washed is much needed as I would like to see the company continue to grow even more than it has. Props to everyone involved
Randy and Brett securing the bag is some understated news here. Huge shouts to them and what they bring to the company. Great summary overall, excited for the future of washed.