Audio Transcript
Announcer:
Hey everyone! Welcome to Tom’s Tip’s Podcast. Your place for obscure movie references, cats facts, and everything MagHub related. And now your host MagHub Product Manager, Tom Bellen!
Tom:
Hello everyone and welcome to the MagHub podcast. I am your host Tom Bellen, Product Manager for MagHub. Joined by my Marketing Director, Zach Gilbert. Sorry, I’m a bit rusty. It’s been, I don’t know how many months since our last podcast. I don’t even know what release we should call this without released last five or so.
Zach:
Pretty sure it’s 2020.
Tom:
Release, yeah, 2020, we’re looking back in 1999. We’re looking back at 2019 with Zach and a lot has changed since our last podcast, which I think was in October. For me, a couple things that have changed in this new year. I have a new son. That’s a small change, slightly different change. I think my cat no longer has diabetes. I don’t know how that happens, but I guess it happens. And there’s been about three releases of MagHub.
Tom:
But those are the only things that really have happened to me in my life since our last podcast. I don’t know. Zach, anything of interest has happened to you?
Zach:
Since October?
Tom:
Yeah.
Zach:
Christmas. Thanksgiving has happened. New Year’s happened. No, nothing personally has happened to me.
Tom:
Oh, so you view life in terms of holidays. So those are big moments for you. You’re a big holiday guy.
Zach:
Well I mean, I don’t want to come to work on those days. So yes.
Tom:
Oh. Big holiday guy. You’re just a big just not working guy.
Zach:
Yeah, basically.
Tom:
Which I just don’t believe because you always say you stay up late working all these places. So, I don’t know. I feel like that’s a bit of a lie. I think you like to work.
Zach:
I do.
Tom:
So you know that’s the case. I don’t get any time off now though. Because now, with two kids, it’s not twice as hard. It’s a higher number than that as hard. It’s not fair having two kids. I don’t know how anyone does it more than two. Maybe at that point they’re just broken, and they don’t have feelings anymore. But I just, I don’t, because you have a child.
Zach:
I do.
Tom:
So you know the pain of the one.
Zach:
Just one.
Tom:
And now two is just, I mean, they’re everywhere. Everywhere you look, there’s a kid just taunting you and it’s just nightmares. So, I feel like I go to work and then I come here and then I go back to work. But we’re working through it. We’re working through it. It’s fun. It’s fun.
Zach:
Good.
Tom:
Two boys though. I feel bad for my wife. Two boys, me, I guess I’m also boy, pretty much. Then two male cats. She’s just surrounded constantly. And it’s funny though, because her dad had two daughters and female animals too. Flipped roles. But it’s been good. I was glad to have the time off, but I missed the podcast. I missed our conversations. What was most missed about me while I was gone for five, six weeks? Now’s the time. Tell me these things. Yeah.
Zach:
I’d say random facts and random trivia. You bring life to the party when it comes to that type of stuff. I mean, even when you weren’t around, we still felt you around because you’re always on Slack talking to us anyway, so it’s really not like you were ever gone. Just saying.
Tom:
I thought you were going to say you missed all the random coffee cups and trash I left around the office because I forgot about it. But I guess not so much.
Zach:
Do you think I would miss that?
Tom:
I don’t know. You never know. People have different things that they like, idiosyncrasies of people. Maybe people would say, hey, there’s a random cup of coffee over there. I’m going to take a sip. Maybe I’m doing a nice thing. Maybe it’s like the girl from Signs. There’s a point of why I was leaving all that stuff around and when it wasn’t there, then the world collapsed. I don’t know. Swing away. Swing away.
Tom:
Alright, and talking about swinging away and hitting home runs, what about these MagHub releases over the last few months? So, it’s been a while to that point, so really, we have to go back to November and talk about some of the things we did and maybe you can refer back on some of the comments we got from customers that went through it. But a lot has happened over the last few months. We updated all of our left-hand menu stuff, we’ve updated all of our template editors to make it much easier so people can customize all their sites including in the new left-hand menu so people could update their logos and their colors and made that consistency. You don’t have to do any of the coding. Same thing, after updated proposal templates, we’ve made some changes there too with six sections that we recently had, we added a new ad inventory report, which I know in the release notes was mentioned as my baby. I had been pushing that for a long, long time to get better view of that inventory.
Tom:
We have some exciting new future things doing with inventories and digital sales over the next few months I’m very, very excited about. So, we might see that report getting expanded on a bit as well. We’ve been deprecating a lot of old stuff. We’ve had around for a long, long time, including the old orders has gone away. We’ve updated the line item popups, so now instead of having to click on that lock unlock lock, that didn’t lock button anymore, you just got a pop up, which you can access from everywhere in the site to make changes to your line items. Working through that part, made some updates to you know how to create opportunities, some different things in the sales side of it. In the sales too, we’ve done a lot of things with the app, made some requests, we haven’t touched that in a while, but we made some changes there, including being able to request access to contacts or companies within the app and also being able to mark activities as private, which is a new feature that’s also been part of this.
Tom:
So if you want to have private activities in the system, you can do that. And even just on whole request process for contacts, request ownership of contacts. So really kind of giving people more control over who asks us what in the system, getting that information in and out. It’s always about controlling your data, which again, to that point, we’ve also expanded in more metaphase views, ability within that tool may have gone through a revamp. So, it’s that reports building tool is getting stronger and stronger and are hoping to have more ways to be able to pull that data in to the platform. So better ways to build custom reports and know if you’re on the MagHub community, there’s a special person there who loves to answer those questions, you know who you are, you’re probably our one listener.
Tom:
He will help on that. So, there’s a lot more communication in the MagHub community about using the data warehouse and taking advantage of all that, using all that parts of the data. Mag builder got some new features into it. We added new filters and MagBuilder, ability to bulk move pages and MagBuilder, bulk add pages anywhere within the tool. I’m just trying to even think of all the other stuff. And then in the recent release we’ve also had our fun new features of what is it, this is where we did all the new AP invoices and PO items and automatically grading services from that set up list items for vendors and we’re having more changes to vendors and how they might interact with tickets pretty soon.
Tom:
And then the drip campaign workflows. I forgot about that one sec. What else, jeez. So now reporting on the drip campaigns and we have some other exciting things we’re looking to do with automation and more communication mechanisms in the next few months. So, I am tired. This is why we do this once a month. Try to recap that all there. I mean-
Zach:
Yeah.
Tom:
It’s been a busy, busy three months. You’re supposed to take this time of the year off like you said, for the holidays and we just keep chugging along.
Zach:
We do.
Tom:
So as usual, what was your favorite thing over the last, maybe you can pick three, if you can think of three. Your favorite things over less three months of releases.
Zach:
So can I do so can I-
Tom:
You can do.
Zach:
From the October release and-
Tom:
Sure.
Zach:
Releases.
Tom:
Yeah, you can do whatever you want.
Zach:
All right. All right. So, I am a fan of the quick add button which came out in October. I think it is super awesome. Yeah, it came out in October.
Tom:
Jeez.
Zach:
Super awesome. So, if anybody that wants to basically do actions with one click, you can totally do it. Just hover over the little plus button and then bam, all these different options. I use it for adding contacts left and right. Super helpful. So, love that one. Changes to the left-hand navigation was in November. So, I like our global searches guy and oh, my gosh so much better. I actually use it every day now, which is nice. It used to be a little finicky, you have to use like special commands, not anymore.
Zach:
Especially searching for reports, that’s handy.
Tom:
Yeah.
Zach:
Like typing leads status report. Love that. And then I also like the customizer built into our system so you can either change the way MagHub looks for yourself and your users or you can change the vendor portals, client portals, subscriber portals, lot of customization stuff. So, I’m big in the interface experience changes that we’ve made for our site. I think it’s gotten better and I know there’s stuff in the pipeline coming that I got to play around with little bit with the sales dashboard, which is pretty awesome. I’m excited to see how that goes so that we can also add stuff that’s marketing dashboards. You can see the leads coming in, but no, I’ve been a big fan of those changes. Those are my top three or four-ish.
Tom:
Gosh, yeah, I forgot all that happened at that point. And I also forgot we added all the other analytics of the… We did a lot over the last two months basically, and I wish I could say it’s slowing down, but no, we got some big, big new features. Again, as you kind of hinted to the dashboard, we actually have something that’s hidden secret away right now, but we are basically going to be rebuilding how you kind of interact with gadgets and kind of consolidate some pages into one. As we get to navigation, trying to think of ways where instead of having to go to three, four places to do things. You could just take all those main things you work on a lot and put it in one spot, make it more user friendly, drag and droppy type of stuff, updating their gadgets.
Tom:
It’s been awhile. That homepage hasn’t been touched maybe since I’ve been here, really. So, trying to tweak that a bit. So, I’m excited for that part of it. And also, some exciting things with integration. We actually have a Zapier feature focus next week. Internally, we get a little preview of what I’ll be doing on that feature focus, which may be entertaining depending on how you are entertained. And how we tie in a lot of that stuff is going to be a big part of this next year. And yeah. But you know what’s also exciting about this time of year though, is the movie season. Oscar nom’s just came out. This is also a fun time of year because I find that in this time from now for the next month or so is when the movies that people thought were going to be good when they made them get released because they were actually terrible.
Tom:
And so they were originally thinking, hey, we’ll do these as Christmas time movies, awards season. But then they kind of get forgotten about and put into January. I’m looking at you, Monuments Men. Movies like that are coming out right now. So, it’s like, oh, you guys thought that was good. And then they just try and pretend like it didn’t happen right before the Oscars. Which makes me a little worried about that Birds of Prey movie that’s coming out. I feel like that’s going to be a disaster because if the timing of it. Why in February? It’s not a normal time. It makes me wonder if that’s good or not. But I do enjoy the Oscars. I’m pretty good at predicting it because it’s always the same easy predictions. I don’t know. Zach are you a fan of the Oscars, Golden Globes, any of that stuff?
Zach:
So I don’t really watch them. My wife will usually turn them on, and she’ll watch them. I did watch the SAG Awards, so I think that was cool. Yeah, I think that’s a neat awards show. But no, I don’t watch them as much as I probably should, I guess.
Tom:
I don’t know if you should watch them.
Zach:
Okay.
Tom:
I don’t know if there’s anything in the should side. I like to watch the Ricky Gervais intro just because I like Ricky Gervais. That was interesting for the Golden Globes, but I think it was the SAG Awards, I didn’t watch it, but it was the first time ever that a completely international cast won-
Zach:
Yes.
Tom:
For best cast for the movie Parasite, which I have not seen.
Zach:
It’s good.
Tom:
Because again, I have two kids, I can’t see movies anymore. Movies don’t exist. Though, thanks to Zach, I’ve introduced my wife to Die Hard.
Tom:
Who again, she does say that Die Hard is a Christmas movie. So, there’s another one that I can’t. What I always find interesting too at the Oscars, again, my biggest Oscar snub of all time, they should have won best picture did not, is still Mad Max: Fury Road. That should’ve won best picture instead of Spotlight. It’s BS. Critics need to be more adventurous.
Zach:
Sure.
Tom:
But it’s always fun when you see actors who start, or writers start in a weird way. And if you look back in the past, they were this small or weird community actor and then they were nominated for Academy Award. When Jonah Hill got nominated for Academy Award, it’s like, how did that happen? I remember you from Superbad and from 40 Yeah Old Virgin holding this little fish thing to Catherine Keener. It’s just so funny when you look back at those things that happen.
Tom:
So here’s my Oscar themed a trivia question for this podcast. So, do it is. There’s actually a person nominated for a best director who starred, well, I shouldn’t say starred. He had a cameo, a very good cameo in a movie and also wrote and directed a film with Will Ferrell. So, which a director nominated, who actually did also direct Will Farrell in the movie and start as a lude cameo of it. What’s the director’s name? Or again, what was the movie? If you can get both of those, of the current best director nominees. Should be pretty obvious. I’ll just give you a hint. It’s not Martin Scorsese, believe it or not, Martin Scorsese has not directed I think Will Ferrell. Or maybe it is or maybe they all did and I’m wrong in that part. But there is one particular one I’m thinking of.
Tom:
So he was in the film and directed Will Ferrell. Do you know who that is, Zach?
Zach:
I do.
Zach:
I’m not going to spoil it though.
Tom:
Do you know the movie too?
Zach:
I do.
Tom:
Oh man. See? Right on the same page. Well hopefully, no one ever gets these anyway, so I’m trying to make a little bit easier to that part. So that’s that one. So hopefully people answer. But so anyway, I mean, this has been a long podcast. We’ve had a lot to cover. I will say as well, one thing I totally forgot about to mention that’s really was the highlight of last three months is the hint of dark mode.
Tom:
Our Star Wars themed intro, the second to epic, whatever you call it. We’ll be going out soon chapter. And that will be going out soon. That storyline will continue. So, for those who are interested in that story, don’t worry. There’s a follow-up to that, but we will make sure that we do this podcast again more regularly now that I am back. Maybe not spiritually, but physically, I’m literally here.
Zach:
Sure.
Tom:
Well yeah, but anything else you want to say to close up the 2019 year and kick off 2020, Zach? Anything you want to talk about to the people?
Zach:
So I have three things that I want to talk about. First one is, with the last Star Wars chat or soft Wars.
Tom:
Oh yeah, sorry.
Zach:
Yep. Pardon me. We had a Juggsy child icon that came released with that one. And I know obviously in the future we’re going to have a dark mode theme, but what does chapter two give us? Do you have an idea for what you want to give our listeners and our MagHub users for chapter two?
Tom:
As far as what’s in the storyline?
Zach:
Well, I’m just saying, we did a feature improvement on our system. We gave them-
Tom:
Oh yeah. So well, then we gave them the logo. We will also be, as happens in our release, and we’ll probably do this more and more. After our main release, there are times or there are small features of things that we didn’t quite get to, that we kind of put in mid-release or something that customers have kind of wanted to expediate for payment or whatever. So we will be releasing that with some of the changes that some people may have already noticed or fixes, but I don’t think we’re releasing another logo or another child, but we will make a line alert with it.
Tom:
Some of the changes we’ve made since our previous release. Now you’re going to make us what, you want us to make another child thing?
Zach:
We’ll figure it out.
Tom:
We’ll figure out something. Oh man, there you go, more work to do.
Zach:
Yeah. So, my other two things is this one is not relevant to MagHub. Did you see the trailer for Color Out of Space with Nicholas Cage?
Tom:
Oh, is that his, color space, is that the one where he’s playing himself or something?
Zach:
So this one is based on the H.P. Lovecraftian kind of stuff and it’s very eighties retro. So, I highly recommend all of our listeners to check it out. It’s kind of a horror movie. So, the only reason I say this is, there’s one comment on one of the trailers, so you have to find out there on YouTube. And this person explains perfectly this mentality of H.P. Lovecraftian Color Out of Space and how Nicholas Cage is the perfect fit for this movie. So, if you can find that one comment, I highly recommend reading because it will blow your mind. But I can’t find it anymore. So that’s not much help there, but highly recommend it and trailer was amazing. And then the very, very last thing I want to say is MagHub Fall Forum tickets are live. You can go on MagHub.com/fall forum/. You can buy them now. We are going to be attending Wrigley Field. We have a suite that has all these great food and stuff there as well. So that’d be really fun.
Zach:
We did take all feedback from past forums and we’re going to combine into one. We are also sending out a CEO letter and a golden ticket to all of our CEOs. So if you’re a CEO or a president or an owner of a publication and you use MagHub, you’ll be getting a letter here shortly, inviting you to basically come to our fall forum for free and also have a dinner/luncheon with our CEO and owner to kind of discuss new business opportunities, ways to integrate MagHub more into your lives, which is all we really want. And then obviously, our goal is to make this the biggest MagHub fall forum ever. So that is my last thing.
Tom:
All right. Yeah, a lot of stuff in this one. Well, I appreciate your time, Zach, and again, we will talk for the 8.7 release, which is coming up here in just a few weeks. All right, well everyone have a great start to your year and hope your resolutions are still intact.
