About Fred Gillich
From humble beginnings designing album covers to founding the Milwaukee staple, ‘Too Much Metal’ Fred Gillich invents his goals and realizes his path to achieving them
Can you share with us one of your most successful or favorite networking experience that you’ve had? (4:45)
“I did Riot Fest in Chicago in 2006, I had done Summerfest and a bunch of street festivals, the set up was dumb. They put all the vendors in a basketball court, it just looked dumb. Well suddenly, a bunch of shoppers came in and they ran lollapalooza and they asked if I wanted to do it. Just by them noticing the setup and the cool stuff, I had noticed that some people (out of the city) realized that what we were doing was cool. So, when the West Coasters saw it and thought it was cool, it was a cementing of “a cool kid club.”
How do you stay in front of and best nurture your network or community? (10:20)
“It’s more of just listening. Putting yourself into space where you can listen, like when it’s sales time or work time, you must do that. I try to get in front of people who are doing “cool stuff,” I need to find out what matters to them, especially if they are I different disciplines. Those make good riffs. If you get lucky you can steal some tricks and reinvent them for yourself.”
What advice do you have for business professionals looking to grow their networks? (14:50)
“You have to love what you are doing. If you’re just growing your network for sales, or some schemer-type dude, you are going to get found out. If you don’t like what you do you’re not going to grow your network. You can have your friends, but you also must have your business friends, when you find out that all of your friends are your business friends that’s when you find out you are rich. You end up trading back and forth and that’s how it grows.”
Digital networking or traditional networking? (18:00)
“I find that the digital thing works great as an introduction. But especially in my world, I am trying to get people to like what I do. So, when you have that digital introduction, and then people see you in real life, they go ‘Oh I’ve seen you online!’ and then the conversation goes from there. I find that from the digital side it can be the more exciting for the real-life meet. I’ve figured out that people’s digital personality is so different than their in-person personality, so that’s when I’ve begun listening.”
If you could go back to your 20-year-old self, what would you tell yourself to do more of, less of, or differently regarding your career? (25:55)
“I probably would have partnered with someone who is more like minded. In the business world sometimes, that’s probably not the best thing to do. I probably would have taken myself a little more seriously too, you know so I didn’t get the affirmation that people liked what I was doing till later. I was probably a bit too guarded with some of my stuff, but those experiences were lessons learned. That’s part of it. So, take it seriously but don’t take it TOO seriously because you don’t know how it will connect.”
Who would you love to connect with and do you think you could do it within the 6 degree? (28:45)
“I could do that with a lot of people. But I just don’t care. I used to have that fame thing with certain people, but I don’t care. I realize they are doing exactly what they are doing. I want to keep certain people at that level, there’s that level of imagination there, but it’s like a fuel to keep going…
… I read their books, I watch their movies, I listen to their music. I don’t want to know why they did it. You get that type of stuff in a panel discussion, but I don’t want to meet to them 1 on 1, I would rather just see them and listen to what they have to say. If it happens organically – sure, that’s fine.”
What book are you reading right now? (34:22)
“I only read in the winter because I have a lot of time, summer is my busy season. Well, the last book I read was by Studs Terkel, it was on Americana, bout how people do things, it’s kind of like a sage/philosopher type storytelling.”
How do you advocate for Milwaukee? (36:10)
“I’ve always been Milwaukee proud, man, from the baseball hat. A lot of people don’t know how cool Milwaukee is. There’s a lot of cool people here, and most the time I am talking about other people’s stories. This person has the best shop, here or there. “
What is your biggest design do and what’s your biggest design don’t? (43:00)
“At the moment, it’s do not use the state of Wisconsin in anything. I am seeing it everywhere. Right now, the do, is if I’d like to see a lot more of, it’s a raw approach to design. It’s been so by the book for a while, there’s so much of it, that it all begins looking the same. If you can create your own language through design, then keep doing that.
Of all the shirts you have designed what are your favorite? (46:00)
No favorites. I don’t make things to like them, you know? I don’t know what they are when I make them – it’s just a dumb answer. I love them all.”
Any final words of advice for our listeners with regards to growing and supporting your network? (58:22)
“Pay attention to what your network does, listen, keep them honest. Let them know how to improve if you see a way they can, just communicate.”
You can get in touch with Fred by going to: