People Trust People: The Future of Brand Trust w/WORKWEEK: Co-Founder & CEO Adam Ryan | Ep. 355

Do This, NOT That: Marketing Tips with Jay Schwedelson l Presented By Marigold

GURU Media Hub

Growth, Education, Email, Business, Revenue, How To, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Profit, B2b, B2c

5 • 715 Ratings

🗓️ 13 June 2025

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

You never know where someone’s career will take them, and Jay Schwedelson is totally fascinated by Adam Ryan’s unconventional path—from ninth-grade American government teacher to building the B2B creator community platform Workweek. Adam breaks down why the future of content and community isn’t about brands, but about real, trusted personalities—and why “community” might be the most overused word in marketing right now.

Check out everything Adam and his team are building at Workweek, and explore their creator-led communities and content: https://workweek.com/

Best Moments:

(01:45) Lesson plans at 6:30 AM and why Adam left teaching for good

(02:33) Your career isn’t linear—scroll Adam’s LinkedIn if you need proof

(04:45) People crave learning from individuals, not faceless brands

(07:45) When you need trust, a real human should lead your newsletter—even if it’s ghostwritten

(11:13) Why most brand “communities” flop and how Workweek thinks differently

(14:06) Engagement loops are the secret sauce to keeping communities alive

(17:01) The TikTok lesson: relevance is everything for ongoing community value

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	What up? Welcome to Do This Not That, the podcast for marketers. I'm Jay Schwelteson. Let's dig into some tips and some randomness.
0:12.6	We are back for Do This, Not That podcast, presented by Marigold, and I got one of the smartest dudes that we've ever had on the show.
0:20.2	All right. So if you asked me, all right,
0:22.5	you could pick the brain of one person about where it's all headed,
0:25.8	you know, content marketing, creator marketing,
0:27.6	events, all this stuff.
0:29.5	Who would I say?
0:30.3	I would say Adam Ryan.
0:31.7	That's who I would pick.
0:32.8	So Adam Ryan is the co-founder and CEO of Workweek,
0:37.0	which is this amazing B2B creator events,
0:42.3	community platform that has just been exploding the last few years. But before that,
0:47.3	the guy was the president of the hustle, which is very cool, gets acquired by HubSpot.
0:51.3	Before that, he wasn't just working at Procter and Gamble and Red Bull and Under Armour and every other
0:56.3	amazing company.
0:57.4	The dude was a ninth grade American history teacher.
1:00.3	That's when I peaked in my intelligence.
1:02.1	It all went downhill from there.
1:03.7	This guy has done it all.
1:05.4	And I cannot wait to dig into all sorts of stuff.
1:07.8	So Adam, welcome to the show, man.
1:09.4	Oh, Jay.
	...

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