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March 31, 2025

Evolving from a One-Person Show to a Full-Fledged Media Company – PCI 436

Evolving from a One-Person Show to a Full-Fledged Media Company – PCI 436

Embark on a journey from a humble closet recording setup to the realm of full-blown media empires. In this episode, we dive deep into the solo podcaster’s struggle—juggling every aspect of the show—and unveil the first steps to scaling your passion. Discover how to delegate tasks, streamline your workflow, and diversify your income streams, all while keeping your creative spark alive. With insights drawn from success stories like The Ringer and My Favorite Murder, we explore how to transform your one-person operation into a dynamic media brand without losing your sanity.

The Solo Podcaster Struggle

  • The reality of being a solo podcaster: juggling content creation, editing, marketing, and monetization alone.
  • Funny examples of “wearing too many hats” (e.g., the podcaster who is also the unpaid intern, the social media manager, and the IT department).
  • Signs it might be time to scale:
    ✅ Overwhelmed by tasks that don’t involve actual podcasting.
    ✅ Episodes are getting bigger, but time isn’t.
    ✅ More opportunities (sponsors, partnerships, guest requests) than you can handle alone.

The First Steps Toward Growth

  • Outsourcing vs. Hiring – What should you delegate first?
    • Editing and production
    • Show notes and transcription
    • Social media and marketing
  • Finding the right people – Hiring freelancers vs. in-house help.
  • Building Systems – Why automation and processes matter before adding people to the mix.

📢 Pro Tip: Start small! Even outsourcing one task can free up time for bigger-picture growth.

Monetizing Beyond Sponsorships

  • Expanding revenue streams beyond ads:
    ✅ Courses & coaching
    ✅ Memberships & exclusive content
    ✅ Live events & speaking gigs
    ✅ Podcast production for others
    ✅ Brand partnerships & consulting
  • How successful podcasters are leveraging their platforms to create sustainable businesses.

For ex: The Ringer (Bill Simmons)

  • Started as: The BS Report, a sports and pop culture podcast by Bill Simmons, originally under ESPN.
  • Grew into: The Ringer, a full-fledged media company producing podcasts, video content, and written articles, later acquired by Spotify for over $200 million.
  • Key Growth Factors:
    ✅ Expanded beyond sports to cover pop culture, tech, and entertainment.
    ✅ Hired a team of expert podcasters and journalists.
    ✅ Built a diverse podcast network with multiple high-performing shows.

Becoming a Full-Fledged Media Brand

  • Branding beyond the podcast: Turning your show into a recognizable brand.
  • Expanding your content ecosystem:
    ✅ YouTube or video podcasting
    ✅ Newsletters, blogs, and social content
    ✅ Merchandise & branded products
  • The Power of Collaborations – How partnering with other creators and companies can speed up growth.
  • When to consider forming an LLC or media company structure.

Pro Tip: You don’t have to do it all at once—grow at a pace that feels right.

Case Study: My Favorite Murder (Karen Kilgariff & Georgia Hardstark)

  • Started as: A casual true crime podcast between two friends in 2016.
  • Grew into: A massive brand with millions of listeners, live tours, a best-selling book (Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered), and a full media company (Exactly Right Media), which now produces multiple shows beyond My Favorite Murder.
  • Key Growth Factors:
    ✅ Built a dedicated community (Murderinos fanbase).
    ✅ Expanded to live events, book deals, and merchandise.
    ✅ Launched a podcast network to help other shows grow.

Lessons Learned & Takeaways

  • Biggest mistakes to avoid when scaling.
  • The mindset shifts from “podcaster” to “media entrepreneur.”
  • Encouragement for podcasters who feel stuck: “You don’t have to be the next NPR, but with the right steps, you can turn your podcast into something much bigger than you ever imagined.”

Thanks for listening to Podcast Insider, you can subscribe to new episodes out every Monday.

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Hosting customers can schedule a one-on-one call with Todd or a tech checkup with Mike at todd@blubrry.com and mike@blubrry.com

Stay tuned for more episodes and visit our website for the latest updates and resources.

00:00 - Introduction to Building a Media Company

01:00 - The Journey of Solo Podcasting

03:10 - Balancing Time and Life as a Podcaster

06:04 - Evolution of Podcast Technology

09:12 - Outsourcing Podcast Tasks

13:02 - Monetization and Expanding Content Opportunities

19:05 - Real-World Success Stories in Podcasting

24:05 - Legal and Business Considerations

30:08 - Vision for Podcasting Future

31:10 - Closing Remarks and Call to Action

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Welcome to Podcast Insider. I'm Mackenzie Bennett, marketing

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specialist at Blueberry. And I'm Todd Cochran, CEO

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of Blueberry. Today, we'll discuss how anyone

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can turn their one person podcast into a

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full fledged media company.

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You're listening to Podcast Insider, a weekly podcast

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bringing insights, advice, and insider tips and tricks

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to help you start, grow, and thrive through

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podcasting

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with the support of your team here at

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Blueberry Podcasting. Welcome. Let's dive in.

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Todd, I know you're speaking from a personal

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experience here, so I think we're gonna have

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a really good episode.

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Yeah. You know, it was,

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we we're we're gonna go way, way, way

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back today because,

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you just never know what's gonna happen when

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you start a podcast. That's for sure.

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That is true. Yeah. Well, I like to

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surprise you with some topics sometimes and,

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sometimes when they're more involved in your background

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in podcasting, it's fun for me.

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You know, it really began and it's probably

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what happens is a lot of podcasters are

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like, I got this idea for a show

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and

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they're trying to make a decision whether or

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not they're gonna do solo,

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if they're gonna do some of the co

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host,

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if they're going to have a team

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and

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but I think a lot of people

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start out,

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you know, I think it's more often than

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people realize start out as being a solo

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solo podcaster.

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And,

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you know,

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I learned this very early on and, of

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course, there was there was none of the

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tools that we have now, but

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in the real the reality of being

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a content creator,

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editor,

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marketer,

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you know, all these things, all these hats

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you had to wear,

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you didn't realize it. And and the thing

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is we didn't even think about it in

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those early days. We're just okay. Let's get

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the show done. Now there wasn't social media

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in those early days so you didn't have

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that distraction,

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but you did have the distraction

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of how do I get people on my

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website?

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You know, how do I get traffic here?

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And there was other ways that we did

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that,

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which are now extinct. Some of those marketing

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ideas that we use in those early days

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are, you know, we we used to go

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to forums. You know? Who who yeah. I

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I don't belong to any forums anymore. Maybe

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a goose a a Google group or something.

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Like, all the comments on every different platform,

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that's the forums now. That's where people are

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learning how to do things. The closest thing

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I feel like people still have is Reddit

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and Discord.

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Yep. And and you really are the,

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the unpaid

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intern when you begin. You know? You're You're

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the social media manager, the IT department,

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sales.

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Really, there's Simultaneously

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CEO and unpaid intern at the same time.

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That's right. And Yeah.

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It's it can be overwhelming, especially if you're

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working a regular job, you have

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a family, you have a partner,

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maybe you've got kids. You know, there's there's

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always something. There's life.

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And,

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and and and that that doesn't change.

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And

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but one thing that we don't

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that we can't change is time.

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Time is That is true. Time is not

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infinite.

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I've always wondered what would happen if I

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had twenty six hours in a day and

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I would probably just be more tired.

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So, I

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think there's a meme out there that shows,

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okay, we're gonna all of a sudden that

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something happens in the in space and all

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of a sudden the Earth,

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slows down a little bit and we we

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have twenty five hours, I think there was,

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the general consensus is we would spend it

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sleeping. You know, that would be the

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the the extra time that Certainly what I

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would wanna do. But I but I don't

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know if we would would we would we

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use that additional hour to sleep?

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A phrase that I like,

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I'm showing my millennial is we all have

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the same twenty four hours a day that

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Beyonce does. Oh, that's true. And and she

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accomplishes

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so much that can be said about so

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many people. But,

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going going back to what you said of,

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like, when you were starting this

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and there were kinda less distractions, I think.

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There was there was probably more focus on,

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like

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and more time being spent on the technology,

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like the equipment, the gear that you were

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using, that type of stuff and figuring out

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like how do we make this get on

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to everyone's phone? People don't have smartphones yet.

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How do we get it on everyone's iPod?

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That type of stuff. Yeah. And I think

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now that that time,

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that twenty four hours that we have is

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just

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how is the technology changed to give us

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that time back. I mean, that's one of

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the reasons you made PowerPress. Yeah. And, you

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know, and one of the reasons too is,

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you know, the very early days, I think

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even new podcasters struggle with this today is

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I bought a $14

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microphone from Walmart or someplace and

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that thing was, you know, tinny.

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Tinny was the you know, it was horrible

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audio.

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And, you know, so then I went and

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spent $50 or something at

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some place that sold microphones

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and I used that for the first year

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and, you know, things got better over time.

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But, yeah, we were overwhelmed with the tech

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and then trying to explain, you know, oh,

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I'm doing a podcast or what and get

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this cross eyed look and, oh, this you

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you can have an app.

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No. Actually, there was no apps. You could

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have a program

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to put on your desktop

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that if you plug your m p three

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player in, if you have one

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Yeah.

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It will sync and magically you can take

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this with you. And and people are like,

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why would I do that? And that's why

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people often listen to the shows on their

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computers. But,

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you know,

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luckily today, we have this opportunity

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to

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not have to be focused on the tech.

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We don't have to focus on worry about

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publishing our show. That is a very straightforward

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process.

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Even social is getting easier.

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So as a solo podcaster,

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you have this ability now to produce a

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pretty high quality content

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with a minimal amount of time. I still

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today

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take the same amount of time produce an

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episode as I did twenty years ago, but

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I get so much more done

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in those two and a half hours.

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You know? So much more done.

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And,

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before, if I did in those early days,

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if I would have had to have added

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social

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that that that that that that, I'd be

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like, no way. I I couldn't have done

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it. It had been ten hours of work

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just for one hour. One of those

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those things is, yeah, you're spending the same

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amount of time, but the quality of everything

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has just gone up. Yeah. I think that's

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across the board for everyone.

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And I think too what happens is then

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you grow. And I know for many, many

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years, I was solo, solo, solo.

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And then I made a little money, and

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I decided my time

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was valuable.

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So I actually,

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still to this day, I pay someone to

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do my show prep. Now I still have

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thirty

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to forty minutes of prep to do after

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they've done an hour and a half, but

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I got that hour and a half back.

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And for

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and Right. That to me

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was

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time is money. So it was well worth

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the

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the the expenditure of hiring that person to

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help me. And then in that person came

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from my show.

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So I, you know, I basically said, hey.

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I need someone to help do show prep.

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You gotta be geeky.

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You gotta like these topics.

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I'm gonna give you the keys to the

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car and how to find the content

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and it was

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just, you know, he's been doing it now

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for me for,

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I think, more than ten years and

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it's like my brother from another mother. He

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Yep. We're synced. It's very rare that I

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will throw something out that he has found

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in prep.

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I'll add some stuff from time to time.

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But so I think when it comes to

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outsourcing

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versus hiring,

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you

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should delegate what you can.

234
00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:22,279
Mhmm. Social media can be done by people

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that listen to your audience and sometimes they'll

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do it for free.

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It's very true. That's that's a fairly easy

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one to do as long as you have

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some someone

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trustworthy. Trustworthy. You know, you've built that relationship.

241
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You didn't you had this somewhat of a

242
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relationship with this person who helps you with

243
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your show notes or with your show prep

244
00:08:40,355 --> 00:08:43,475
Yeah. Before you essentially started working together in

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that capacity. And and I think it's also

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good

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that, I mean, I know some people are

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sticklers and they're like, I want this to

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be a % completely mine.

250
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My brain only is on this. But when

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you when you open it up to other

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people, the out like, whoever you're hiring or

253
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outsourcing some of the work to, it does

254
00:09:01,910 --> 00:09:02,410
evolve,

255
00:09:02,835 --> 00:09:05,475
You know? And it it becomes something bigger

256
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than yourself.

257
00:09:06,514 --> 00:09:08,035
And and I look at the evolution of

258
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my show notes over the last year.

259
00:09:10,355 --> 00:09:12,595
AI has changed completely. I I don't have

260
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Absolutely. I don't have to hire nobody. The

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AI is

262
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does the show notes, and I take

263
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five minutes to edit,

264
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you know, 500 words.

265
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And

266
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it's rare that I have to change too

267
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much.

268
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And it's it's good. And now

269
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I don't do any editing. I'm very

270
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some people

271
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this show is edited.

272
00:09:38,134 --> 00:09:38,634
Mhmm.

273
00:09:39,095 --> 00:09:41,915
But I don't edit my two primary shows.

274
00:09:42,055 --> 00:09:44,475
I because it was also this trade off.

275
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I had to make a decision.

276
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Yeah. Was it gonna

277
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be family? Do it I have enough time

278
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for family

279
00:09:54,679 --> 00:09:57,100
or would I sacrifice family time for editing?

280
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Because editing at the time was gonna have

281
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I'd have to sacrifice more time. I said,

282
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okay. I just cut the ends. It is

283
00:10:03,605 --> 00:10:04,884
what it is. I just had to learn

284
00:10:04,884 --> 00:10:05,944
to be a better podcaster.

285
00:10:06,485 --> 00:10:08,345
Especially when you have longer shows like yours

286
00:10:08,404 --> 00:10:10,745
when they're like an hour plus. That is

287
00:10:11,044 --> 00:10:13,845
insane to edit on a weekly or you

288
00:10:13,845 --> 00:10:15,764
were doing like sometimes twice a week for

289
00:10:15,764 --> 00:10:17,210
years there. So, yeah, that's a lot of

290
00:10:17,210 --> 00:10:19,649
time. But some of those tools now like

291
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Descript

292
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will help you with if if you're not

293
00:10:23,809 --> 00:10:26,049
too what's the word? I don't wanna use

294
00:10:26,049 --> 00:10:27,730
the word I wanna use. If you're not

295
00:10:27,730 --> 00:10:29,110
too wrapped around the axle.

296
00:10:31,235 --> 00:10:33,475
And you're just willing to take out some

297
00:10:33,475 --> 00:10:34,454
ahs and umms

298
00:10:35,154 --> 00:10:38,355
and not get too tight in it, you

299
00:10:38,355 --> 00:10:39,875
can be in and out of the script

300
00:10:39,875 --> 00:10:40,855
in thirty minutes.

301
00:10:41,475 --> 00:10:43,654
If you are an editor, if you

302
00:10:45,069 --> 00:10:47,549
wanna spend more time, you you again need

303
00:10:47,549 --> 00:10:49,870
two two, three hours. But then do you

304
00:10:49,870 --> 00:10:51,250
outsource that to someone?

305
00:10:52,269 --> 00:10:53,709
So then you have to find the right

306
00:10:53,709 --> 00:10:54,209
people.

307
00:10:54,829 --> 00:10:56,909
I think there's also like if when I

308
00:10:56,909 --> 00:10:59,475
was editing our episodes, when I was doing

309
00:10:59,475 --> 00:11:02,054
this by myself for, you know, years ago,

310
00:11:02,914 --> 00:11:03,815
I was

311
00:11:04,195 --> 00:11:05,955
getting fed up with the mistakes that I

312
00:11:05,955 --> 00:11:07,475
was making in the show. So I just

313
00:11:07,475 --> 00:11:09,715
stopped making them in general. They just I

314
00:11:09,715 --> 00:11:11,315
was like, I don't wanna edit that out

315
00:11:11,315 --> 00:11:13,420
next week. So I'm just not gonna do

316
00:11:13,420 --> 00:11:16,087
it. Right. Yeah. And I've done enough episodes

317
00:11:16,087 --> 00:11:18,420
now that even though I may say,

318
00:11:19,087 --> 00:11:21,754
it's it's just gonna have to live in

319
00:11:21,754 --> 00:11:24,754
the content. Person. And, you know, and be

320
00:11:24,754 --> 00:11:27,355
honest with you from episode to episode and

321
00:11:27,355 --> 00:11:29,115
this is gonna be true for creators. Some

322
00:11:29,115 --> 00:11:31,595
episodes I get doesn't man, I knocked that

323
00:11:31,595 --> 00:11:32,894
baby out of the ballpark

324
00:11:33,274 --> 00:11:34,815
and then sometimes I'm like,

325
00:11:35,514 --> 00:11:37,054
that one wasn't so good.

326
00:11:37,514 --> 00:11:38,014
And

327
00:11:39,929 --> 00:11:41,850
but also that becomes into a whole another

328
00:11:41,850 --> 00:11:44,330
topic that we're not covering today is sometimes

329
00:11:44,330 --> 00:11:45,389
you shouldn't record.

330
00:11:45,850 --> 00:11:47,290
You know? If you've got a cold and

331
00:11:47,290 --> 00:11:49,529
you're feeling like crap, don't record. Save it

332
00:11:49,529 --> 00:11:51,769
to another day. I mean, whenever we were

333
00:11:51,769 --> 00:11:53,529
picking a time to record this today, you

334
00:11:53,529 --> 00:11:54,995
were like, I'm gonna be better if we

335
00:11:54,995 --> 00:11:55,735
do it before,

336
00:11:56,115 --> 00:11:58,115
you know, 1PM in the afternoon. Right. You're

337
00:11:58,115 --> 00:12:00,455
like, I just am. Yeah. Because I'm overseas

338
00:12:00,514 --> 00:12:03,075
right now, and it's it's midnight here. So

339
00:12:03,075 --> 00:12:04,535
once it gets to about two,

340
00:12:05,315 --> 00:12:06,389
my clock starts

341
00:12:07,429 --> 00:12:08,230
you know, I start

342
00:12:08,790 --> 00:12:10,870
it doesn't matter that I'm working to five.

343
00:12:10,870 --> 00:12:12,330
I still am not as productive.

344
00:12:12,950 --> 00:12:15,450
But but I think as as shows progress,

345
00:12:15,990 --> 00:12:19,269
you find automation and processes that help and

346
00:12:19,269 --> 00:12:20,009
find people

347
00:12:20,790 --> 00:12:21,529
and then

348
00:12:23,085 --> 00:12:24,924
it turns into okay. If your if your

349
00:12:24,924 --> 00:12:26,785
show's growing, then do you monetize

350
00:12:27,884 --> 00:12:30,044
and There comes the gravy. I think after

351
00:12:30,044 --> 00:12:32,125
you've kind of gotten yourself into that good

352
00:12:32,125 --> 00:12:33,105
spot of

353
00:12:33,485 --> 00:12:35,884
I'm doing this. Other people are doing this.

354
00:12:35,884 --> 00:12:38,389
Mhmm. We're putting out, like, quality

355
00:12:39,170 --> 00:12:41,009
output every episode. Right. It has, like, a

356
00:12:41,009 --> 00:12:42,769
flow. It has a routine. It has something

357
00:12:42,769 --> 00:12:44,389
that advertisers can

358
00:12:45,090 --> 00:12:47,350
rely on. Mhmm. Like, it's it's predictable

359
00:12:47,730 --> 00:12:48,550
in that sense,

360
00:12:49,490 --> 00:12:50,610
kind of the way that, like, a safe

361
00:12:50,610 --> 00:12:52,309
driver is a predictable driver.

362
00:12:52,804 --> 00:12:54,644
That same goes for a podcast trying to

363
00:12:54,644 --> 00:12:56,485
get monetized. And I think a lot of

364
00:12:56,485 --> 00:12:59,605
shows now have realized that, the content they're

365
00:12:59,605 --> 00:13:01,384
creating can lead to a book.

366
00:13:02,004 --> 00:13:02,504
Mhmm.

367
00:13:03,044 --> 00:13:04,184
Courses and coaching.

368
00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:07,639
If you're building a really big audience, maybe

369
00:13:07,639 --> 00:13:09,500
some sort of event.

370
00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:11,899
Or merch. Merch.

371
00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:13,980
I've never I did merch,

372
00:13:14,519 --> 00:13:17,159
but my audience was never into my merch

373
00:13:17,159 --> 00:13:18,620
and maybe it's just because

374
00:13:18,975 --> 00:13:19,875
I'm not an

375
00:13:20,414 --> 00:13:23,154
artist. So the merch was just like logos

376
00:13:23,214 --> 00:13:25,214
of my show. It was who wants to

377
00:13:25,214 --> 00:13:28,034
wear a Geek News Central logo on their

378
00:13:28,414 --> 00:13:30,654
shirt. That's you know, that's you got to

379
00:13:30,654 --> 00:13:32,429
be a super fan to do that. I

380
00:13:32,429 --> 00:13:33,070
I I think,

381
00:13:33,470 --> 00:13:36,830
they kind of excel in the the comedy

382
00:13:36,830 --> 00:13:39,230
section probably where it's, like, you know, where

383
00:13:39,230 --> 00:13:40,509
it's jokes that you can put on a

384
00:13:40,509 --> 00:13:42,110
shirt, something like that. But, yeah, it's

385
00:13:42,909 --> 00:13:44,049
all of that is,

386
00:13:44,427 --> 00:13:46,745
you know, you can do memberships, exclusive content.

387
00:13:46,745 --> 00:13:49,384
We do premium podcasting here. So does Apple.

388
00:13:49,384 --> 00:13:49,884
Yep.

389
00:13:50,264 --> 00:13:52,125
All of those different things that you can

390
00:13:52,504 --> 00:13:53,004
really

391
00:13:53,544 --> 00:13:55,565
add to your show whenever you want.

392
00:13:55,945 --> 00:13:57,705
And there's been a lot of people that

393
00:13:57,705 --> 00:13:59,245
have, over time,

394
00:13:59,940 --> 00:14:02,179
as they built their show have built in

395
00:14:02,179 --> 00:14:04,340
a build into being a speaker, you know,

396
00:14:04,340 --> 00:14:06,120
paid speaker at events, keynoters,

397
00:14:07,620 --> 00:14:08,920
in in their perspective

398
00:14:10,420 --> 00:14:12,580
topic field that they're doing within their shows.

399
00:14:12,580 --> 00:14:14,865
So if you're a business show or tech

400
00:14:14,865 --> 00:14:15,605
show or

401
00:14:16,065 --> 00:14:18,225
whatever you're there there is a place for

402
00:14:18,225 --> 00:14:20,884
you to go and address your peers

403
00:14:21,345 --> 00:14:22,325
and or

404
00:14:22,705 --> 00:14:24,804
inform people. So there's all kinds

405
00:14:25,184 --> 00:14:25,924
of opportunities,

406
00:14:26,384 --> 00:14:28,785
and I think that's what oftentimes podcasters forget

407
00:14:28,785 --> 00:14:30,379
about. They get so focused

408
00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:32,620
on making money

409
00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:35,799
Yeah. That they forget about all the other

410
00:14:35,799 --> 00:14:37,960
opportunities that are available to them that their

411
00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:39,580
content is going to unlock.

412
00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:43,000
That's the real value in podcasting in my

413
00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:43,500
opinion.

414
00:14:44,184 --> 00:14:46,105
And the skills that you acquire doing it.

415
00:14:46,105 --> 00:14:47,784
Yeah. I remember the first time I was

416
00:14:47,784 --> 00:14:49,625
asked to speak to I went to Las

417
00:14:49,625 --> 00:14:51,164
Vegas and spoke to

418
00:14:52,105 --> 00:14:53,245
the Cook County.

419
00:14:54,424 --> 00:14:57,164
It was basically 500 or 600 teachers,

420
00:14:57,839 --> 00:15:01,039
and I'd never really done a keynote before

421
00:15:01,039 --> 00:15:01,539
and,

422
00:15:02,559 --> 00:15:04,480
that was, you know, your first one when

423
00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:06,159
you're you're in front of 500 people and

424
00:15:06,159 --> 00:15:07,699
you're trying to impress them,

425
00:15:08,639 --> 00:15:10,879
is and, of course, podcasting is new at

426
00:15:10,879 --> 00:15:12,659
the time. So it was pretty easy

427
00:15:13,164 --> 00:15:15,164
to have a, you know, good presentation. But

428
00:15:15,164 --> 00:15:17,184
still, you know, walking on that stage,

429
00:15:17,965 --> 00:15:19,884
your slides better be good or, you know,

430
00:15:19,884 --> 00:15:21,904
you don't you don't wanna get booed off.

431
00:15:22,205 --> 00:15:24,605
Yeah. But again, those are the you know,

432
00:15:24,605 --> 00:15:26,524
that was a paid deal. I I I

433
00:15:26,524 --> 00:15:27,904
earned my first real

434
00:15:28,700 --> 00:15:30,779
speaking check from that event. And,

435
00:15:31,419 --> 00:15:33,419
I didn't ever dreamed, you know, two years

436
00:15:33,419 --> 00:15:35,440
earlier that that would have even been possible.

437
00:15:36,139 --> 00:15:38,399
I actually saw something the other day that

438
00:15:38,860 --> 00:15:40,720
the the job market is

439
00:15:41,524 --> 00:15:43,764
not so awesome right now, for lack of

440
00:15:43,764 --> 00:15:44,585
a better word.

441
00:15:45,044 --> 00:15:45,544
And

442
00:15:46,004 --> 00:15:48,485
with with the introduction of so many different

443
00:15:48,485 --> 00:15:50,325
technologies and AI right now, a lot of

444
00:15:50,325 --> 00:15:52,085
companies are saying, like, they were coming out

445
00:15:52,085 --> 00:15:53,705
with, like, this is actually

446
00:15:54,085 --> 00:15:56,325
skills that we need you to have. And

447
00:15:56,325 --> 00:15:58,360
public public speaking was one of the ones

448
00:15:58,360 --> 00:15:59,820
on there. Oh, that's interesting.

449
00:16:00,679 --> 00:16:02,059
Yeah. Because it's like,

450
00:16:02,679 --> 00:16:04,379
you know, anyone can have

451
00:16:04,759 --> 00:16:05,259
AI

452
00:16:05,879 --> 00:16:07,639
write anything for you at this point, but

453
00:16:07,639 --> 00:16:09,720
you still have to be present and have

454
00:16:09,720 --> 00:16:10,220
that,

455
00:16:10,554 --> 00:16:12,475
you know, be able to converse with other

456
00:16:12,475 --> 00:16:14,495
people and really get your point across

457
00:16:14,875 --> 00:16:15,375
poignantly.

458
00:16:16,075 --> 00:16:18,875
And, I think podcasting is probably something good

459
00:16:18,875 --> 00:16:20,475
for a lot of people. I know we've

460
00:16:20,475 --> 00:16:20,975
had,

461
00:16:21,915 --> 00:16:23,535
podcasters who've done, like, Toastmasters

462
00:16:23,915 --> 00:16:26,139
before, which is just like a whole public

463
00:16:26,139 --> 00:16:26,639
speaking,

464
00:16:27,899 --> 00:16:29,279
Yep. Club organization.

465
00:16:29,980 --> 00:16:31,519
So it's it's definitely

466
00:16:32,299 --> 00:16:34,399
not a bad thing to have

467
00:16:34,700 --> 00:16:35,519
on your resume

468
00:16:36,940 --> 00:16:38,620
just saying like, yeah. I do a podcast

469
00:16:38,620 --> 00:16:39,759
because it does encapsulate

470
00:16:40,575 --> 00:16:42,654
so many different skills that you're that you're

471
00:16:42,654 --> 00:16:45,615
talking about. So there's definite levels too. You

472
00:16:45,615 --> 00:16:48,415
know, we've got an example of Bill Simon

473
00:16:48,415 --> 00:16:51,054
who started as the BS report as sports

474
00:16:51,054 --> 00:16:52,355
and pop culture podcast

475
00:16:52,910 --> 00:16:55,710
on ESPN and that grew into Ringer, which

476
00:16:55,710 --> 00:16:57,870
is a full fledged media company and there's,

477
00:16:57,870 --> 00:16:59,230
like, $200,000,000,000

478
00:16:59,230 --> 00:17:00,910
or something that they were That's huge. They

479
00:17:00,910 --> 00:17:03,250
were bought for. And then you have

480
00:17:04,590 --> 00:17:07,250
someone that had nary a presence.

481
00:17:08,345 --> 00:17:10,424
I think a Ming Yang Fogarty and Grammar

482
00:17:10,424 --> 00:17:10,924
Girl.

483
00:17:11,465 --> 00:17:13,965
And she started with just this show.

484
00:17:14,345 --> 00:17:15,865
And then all of a sudden she's got

485
00:17:15,865 --> 00:17:16,684
12 shows.

486
00:17:17,065 --> 00:17:18,125
And then she's

487
00:17:18,585 --> 00:17:21,384
basically being represented by a major media company

488
00:17:21,384 --> 00:17:23,085
and then she has multiple books.

489
00:17:23,579 --> 00:17:24,079
And

490
00:17:24,539 --> 00:17:25,039
now,

491
00:17:25,819 --> 00:17:28,220
basically, she still does her show, but everything

492
00:17:28,220 --> 00:17:30,779
is managed by her team and she has

493
00:17:30,779 --> 00:17:33,259
a full fledged media team and it just

494
00:17:33,500 --> 00:17:34,400
and she was

495
00:17:35,339 --> 00:17:36,319
she wasn't Oprah.

496
00:17:37,544 --> 00:17:39,964
She wasn't Bill Simons. So, again,

497
00:17:40,744 --> 00:17:42,365
the growth path is,

498
00:17:43,384 --> 00:17:44,764
possible for anyone.

499
00:17:45,544 --> 00:17:47,244
You don't have to looking

500
00:17:47,784 --> 00:17:48,284
hey.

501
00:17:48,744 --> 00:17:51,565
I was an aircraft aviation electronics technician.

502
00:17:52,319 --> 00:17:52,980
So, you

503
00:17:53,359 --> 00:17:53,859
know,

504
00:17:55,279 --> 00:17:56,419
anyone can do

505
00:17:56,880 --> 00:17:59,039
this. Right. Anyone can do this. And you

506
00:17:59,039 --> 00:18:00,019
don't have to have

507
00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:01,539
a complete

508
00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:05,519
grasp of the English language either because believe

509
00:18:05,519 --> 00:18:06,500
me, I've destroyed

510
00:18:07,195 --> 00:18:08,634
my fair share of,

511
00:18:09,515 --> 00:18:10,335
of words,

512
00:18:11,035 --> 00:18:13,914
speaking and written over the years. So thank

513
00:18:13,914 --> 00:18:14,815
God for Grammarly,

514
00:18:15,355 --> 00:18:16,575
at this point. But,

515
00:18:16,955 --> 00:18:18,734
you know, you can build,

516
00:18:19,809 --> 00:18:21,890
into something big and, you know, go back

517
00:18:21,890 --> 00:18:24,470
to the Bill Simons exam Simmons example,

518
00:18:25,250 --> 00:18:26,549
expanded beyond sports.

519
00:18:27,090 --> 00:18:29,910
Yep. Had a team of experts and of

520
00:18:30,289 --> 00:18:33,269
podcasters and journalists and, again, build a diverse

521
00:18:33,410 --> 00:18:33,910
network.

522
00:18:34,605 --> 00:18:37,184
And, you know, when we built tech podcast,

523
00:18:38,605 --> 00:18:40,204
we're just a bunch of hobbyists. We had

524
00:18:40,204 --> 00:18:42,365
no clue, but we end up moving in

525
00:18:42,365 --> 00:18:45,664
those early years, like, 20,000,000 downloads a month

526
00:18:45,964 --> 00:18:48,200
on that little network. Now that's That's amazing.

527
00:18:48,480 --> 00:18:50,980
Small considered compared to today.

528
00:18:51,519 --> 00:18:52,019
But,

529
00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:55,619
again, these are the folks that were

530
00:18:56,320 --> 00:18:58,960
had no media experience whatsoever. So I think

531
00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:00,900
this is the excitement about,

532
00:19:02,164 --> 00:19:04,565
the potential of becoming a full fledged media

533
00:19:04,565 --> 00:19:05,065
brand.

534
00:19:05,765 --> 00:19:07,464
Yeah. So when you are

535
00:19:07,845 --> 00:19:10,164
kind of in that stage of becoming a

536
00:19:10,164 --> 00:19:12,565
full fledged media brand, you were you were

537
00:19:12,565 --> 00:19:15,464
branding outside of just your podcast. You are

538
00:19:16,019 --> 00:19:17,240
a full website

539
00:19:17,539 --> 00:19:19,700
brand. You have your reputation. It is not

540
00:19:19,700 --> 00:19:21,559
just people know you

541
00:19:22,100 --> 00:19:24,420
in the app on their phone. Yeah. This

542
00:19:24,420 --> 00:19:26,900
is this is like a whole thing that

543
00:19:26,900 --> 00:19:28,980
people are doing. It has you have a

544
00:19:28,980 --> 00:19:31,325
newsletter. You have merch. You have products. You

545
00:19:31,325 --> 00:19:34,224
have social media content, you probably have

546
00:19:34,605 --> 00:19:36,804
some type of YouTube video presence For sure.

547
00:19:37,005 --> 00:19:39,244
In some capacity. Yeah. It it the list

548
00:19:39,244 --> 00:19:40,944
goes on and on. Yeah.

549
00:19:41,325 --> 00:19:41,825
And

550
00:19:42,765 --> 00:19:43,265
oftentimes,

551
00:19:43,565 --> 00:19:46,029
I think back to when we formed tech

552
00:19:46,029 --> 00:19:48,450
podcast, there was originally seven of us

553
00:19:48,990 --> 00:19:51,090
and we just said, hey. Let's

554
00:19:51,710 --> 00:19:52,930
it's so funny. We

555
00:19:53,470 --> 00:19:55,390
we we launched it as a business model

556
00:19:55,390 --> 00:19:56,130
as a coop

557
00:19:56,990 --> 00:19:57,490
and,

558
00:19:58,110 --> 00:19:59,970
here's one thing I've learned about coops.

559
00:20:01,525 --> 00:20:04,345
Don't build co op. Co ops don't work,

560
00:20:04,884 --> 00:20:07,285
because you know, everyone's supposed to in the

561
00:20:07,285 --> 00:20:09,224
co op do equal amount of work.

562
00:20:09,525 --> 00:20:11,144
Yeah. In a network,

563
00:20:12,005 --> 00:20:13,765
you're gonna have to have someone that's gonna

564
00:20:13,765 --> 00:20:15,365
be the lead. Someone that's gonna do the

565
00:20:15,365 --> 00:20:18,309
heavy lifting. The coop was was me, you

566
00:20:18,309 --> 00:20:19,849
know, doing the heavy lifting

567
00:20:20,230 --> 00:20:22,549
and and and, you know, bringing ad deals

568
00:20:22,549 --> 00:20:25,750
and the collaboration and organization and all that.

569
00:20:25,750 --> 00:20:28,490
But that partnering with other creators,

570
00:20:29,509 --> 00:20:30,730
we all rose together.

571
00:20:31,955 --> 00:20:33,815
Yeah. We had one team member.

572
00:20:35,315 --> 00:20:37,015
He was making so much money.

573
00:20:37,555 --> 00:20:39,795
He promised me. He said, Todd, promise, promise.

574
00:20:39,795 --> 00:20:43,015
Never ever never ever mention how much money

575
00:20:43,394 --> 00:20:45,015
I'm making from the show.

576
00:20:45,555 --> 00:20:46,035
And,

577
00:20:46,789 --> 00:20:49,289
it was a healthy 6 figures and

578
00:20:49,990 --> 00:20:50,710
he said,

579
00:20:51,349 --> 00:20:53,529
I'll be he's retired now so I'm safe.

580
00:20:53,589 --> 00:20:55,589
He said I'll be I'll be fired by

581
00:20:55,589 --> 00:20:57,349
my company if they find out I'm making

582
00:20:57,349 --> 00:20:58,970
this much money on this show.

583
00:20:59,429 --> 00:20:59,929
So,

584
00:21:00,234 --> 00:21:02,315
you know, so also for those of you

585
00:21:02,315 --> 00:21:04,634
that are building something like this and you're

586
00:21:04,634 --> 00:21:05,615
finding success,

587
00:21:06,875 --> 00:21:08,954
don't go to work bragging about it. Just

588
00:21:08,954 --> 00:21:10,954
kind of, you know, yeah, I'm the end

589
00:21:10,954 --> 00:21:13,115
of this podcast thing. Yeah. I got some

590
00:21:13,115 --> 00:21:13,615
merch.

591
00:21:14,220 --> 00:21:16,559
Yeah. The YouTube's doing okay. But

592
00:21:17,019 --> 00:21:19,259
just make sure if you need Move in

593
00:21:19,259 --> 00:21:21,980
silence. Move in silence and make sure that

594
00:21:21,980 --> 00:21:24,000
that you keep your JOB protected,

595
00:21:25,980 --> 00:21:26,480
because

596
00:21:26,779 --> 00:21:29,934
collaboration can lead to big things. Now I

597
00:21:29,934 --> 00:21:30,434
started

598
00:21:31,134 --> 00:21:31,715
a business

599
00:21:32,815 --> 00:21:33,315
early.

600
00:21:36,815 --> 00:21:38,174
I I was lucky enough to get a

601
00:21:38,174 --> 00:21:38,914
book deal,

602
00:21:39,375 --> 00:21:40,894
and the book deal was done on a

603
00:21:40,894 --> 00:21:42,115
October.

604
00:21:42,470 --> 00:21:45,029
But then when GoDaddy sponsored the show in

605
00:21:45,029 --> 00:21:46,170
02/2005,

606
00:21:46,869 --> 00:21:49,029
I got to thinking, okay, which way to

607
00:21:49,190 --> 00:21:51,190
and and I went overboard. I went full

608
00:21:51,190 --> 00:21:53,130
c corp from the very beginning.

609
00:21:53,430 --> 00:21:56,230
That was dumb. I shoulda just went, with

610
00:21:56,230 --> 00:21:57,369
a limited liability

611
00:21:58,075 --> 00:21:58,575
corporation.

612
00:21:59,595 --> 00:22:02,075
You know, talk to your tax accountant before

613
00:22:02,075 --> 00:22:04,795
you do anything in forming a company or

614
00:22:04,795 --> 00:22:07,595
or get a tax accountant to ask which

615
00:22:07,595 --> 00:22:09,295
type of business you should form.

616
00:22:09,994 --> 00:22:12,700
AI is also not a tax accountant.

617
00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:15,740
No. It can mess you up. So I

618
00:22:15,960 --> 00:22:17,500
I I shut down the corporation

619
00:22:17,799 --> 00:22:19,099
in 02/2019,

620
00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:21,960
built a new company entity for my personal

621
00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:23,660
self. So now I have an LLC

622
00:22:24,974 --> 00:22:26,914
and it's easier tax wise.

623
00:22:28,095 --> 00:22:30,654
And it's is a corporation. I was paying

624
00:22:30,654 --> 00:22:31,795
taxes on

625
00:22:32,255 --> 00:22:34,575
the company earnings and then if I paid

626
00:22:34,575 --> 00:22:37,134
myself, then I was paying taxes on that.

627
00:22:37,134 --> 00:22:39,134
It's just too stupid. Just pay the taxes

628
00:22:39,134 --> 00:22:39,634
once,

629
00:22:40,410 --> 00:22:41,390
on the LLC.

630
00:22:42,090 --> 00:22:42,590
But,

631
00:22:43,210 --> 00:22:44,670
so again, talk to your

632
00:22:45,049 --> 00:22:47,049
tax accountant and find out what's right for

633
00:22:47,049 --> 00:22:47,549
you.

634
00:22:48,090 --> 00:22:49,630
I also did it for protection,

635
00:22:51,529 --> 00:22:53,769
and I wasn't being controversial. But if you

636
00:22:53,769 --> 00:22:54,830
are doing controversial

637
00:22:55,210 --> 00:22:55,710
topics,

638
00:22:57,234 --> 00:22:58,694
that might get you sued,

639
00:23:01,075 --> 00:23:02,934
it might be good to do an LLC

640
00:23:03,075 --> 00:23:05,575
or sooner than better and protect your home

641
00:23:05,875 --> 00:23:07,714
and any assets you have and put your

642
00:23:07,714 --> 00:23:09,414
show underneath the LLC.

643
00:23:10,200 --> 00:23:12,679
And, it doesn't completely protect you, but it

644
00:23:12,679 --> 00:23:14,119
does give you a little more

645
00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:18,200
It's certainly not bad advice. Yeah. But again

646
00:23:18,279 --> 00:23:20,359
It it does lead us into the example

647
00:23:20,359 --> 00:23:21,579
though of

648
00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:24,815
My Favorite Murder by Karen Killigraf

649
00:23:25,515 --> 00:23:26,654
and Georgia Hardstock

650
00:23:27,034 --> 00:23:28,095
because that show

651
00:23:28,394 --> 00:23:30,714
blew up. And that is I mean, murder's

652
00:23:30,714 --> 00:23:31,214
controversial.

653
00:23:31,515 --> 00:23:33,774
Mhmm. To talk about that for sure.

654
00:23:34,474 --> 00:23:36,575
And so they just started doing this

655
00:23:37,049 --> 00:23:39,690
as, you know, two friends together and it

656
00:23:39,690 --> 00:23:40,190
absolutely

657
00:23:40,490 --> 00:23:40,990
blew

658
00:23:41,370 --> 00:23:44,350
up. That show gets insane downloads. They have

659
00:23:44,570 --> 00:23:47,529
a wild community. They do live events. They've

660
00:23:47,529 --> 00:23:49,950
come to podcasting events that we've attended.

661
00:23:51,224 --> 00:23:53,384
They have a whole network now of similar

662
00:23:53,384 --> 00:23:54,365
shows. So

663
00:23:54,744 --> 00:23:57,305
I'm sure that they evolved from doing this

664
00:23:57,305 --> 00:23:58,525
just, like, together,

665
00:23:59,144 --> 00:24:01,065
you know, in their living room to an

666
00:24:01,065 --> 00:24:03,065
LLC, something like that. And they they probably

667
00:24:03,065 --> 00:24:04,684
went from zero to a thousand.

668
00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:07,400
And and also legal advice is good too.

669
00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:09,000
And there's a lot of, folks out there

670
00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:11,980
that do legal advice, a couple of podcast

671
00:24:12,039 --> 00:24:12,539
specific

672
00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:15,559
folks. I think of one Gordon Firemark that

673
00:24:15,559 --> 00:24:18,220
does legal advice, and it's not an endorsement.

674
00:24:18,279 --> 00:24:19,340
I just know him.

675
00:24:20,454 --> 00:24:22,534
And I He's just very relevant. He's very

676
00:24:22,534 --> 00:24:25,335
entertainment law. Yeah. So, you know, and it's

677
00:24:25,335 --> 00:24:28,474
it's good if you're seeing success to,

678
00:24:29,255 --> 00:24:31,414
you know, and maybe you need to have

679
00:24:31,414 --> 00:24:32,714
some papers formed

680
00:24:33,119 --> 00:24:34,880
and contracts and that kind of stuff. So,

681
00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:36,559
you know, just yeah. And you have to

682
00:24:36,559 --> 00:24:38,640
treat it as a business too. So and

683
00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:41,039
the advantages is if you're running it as

684
00:24:41,039 --> 00:24:43,599
a business, then there are x advantages of

685
00:24:43,599 --> 00:24:45,140
running in it as a business.

686
00:24:46,375 --> 00:24:48,154
But I would always say have a conservative

687
00:24:48,295 --> 00:24:50,934
CPA. Don't have a a CPA that is

688
00:24:51,015 --> 00:24:53,015
oh, we can take this one deduction that

689
00:24:53,015 --> 00:24:54,775
and this and that. That's where you run

690
00:24:54,775 --> 00:24:57,194
into getting trouble with audits. But a conservative

691
00:24:57,255 --> 00:24:58,855
CPA and a good lawyer will save the

692
00:24:58,855 --> 00:25:00,154
day every day of the week.

693
00:25:00,779 --> 00:25:03,259
Yeah. I mean, that right there, that sentence

694
00:25:03,259 --> 00:25:04,160
leads us into,

695
00:25:04,940 --> 00:25:06,940
wrapping up the episode is what are the

696
00:25:06,940 --> 00:25:08,640
lessons learned and the takeaways

697
00:25:08,940 --> 00:25:11,340
of people going from just, you know, doing

698
00:25:11,340 --> 00:25:11,840
this

699
00:25:12,460 --> 00:25:14,539
in at their house to a fully fledged

700
00:25:14,539 --> 00:25:16,664
media company still maybe in their

701
00:25:17,285 --> 00:25:19,625
house. Lesson learned, don't do a co op.

702
00:25:20,244 --> 00:25:22,325
And it's so when I so how I

703
00:25:22,325 --> 00:25:23,945
got how I transitioned

704
00:25:24,565 --> 00:25:25,545
the co op

705
00:25:25,924 --> 00:25:27,464
was we had an agreement.

706
00:25:28,309 --> 00:25:30,630
So the coop wasn't working. So I said,

707
00:25:30,630 --> 00:25:31,130
listen,

708
00:25:31,750 --> 00:25:34,549
we're gonna buy you I'm going to buy

709
00:25:34,549 --> 00:25:35,529
you out.

710
00:25:35,990 --> 00:25:38,250
Yeah. And I bought the seven out

711
00:25:39,109 --> 00:25:39,609
and,

712
00:25:40,789 --> 00:25:42,809
and and they got it under a different

713
00:25:44,615 --> 00:25:45,755
different legal

714
00:25:46,294 --> 00:25:50,714
so Entity. Entity and and and basically, it

715
00:25:51,014 --> 00:25:53,014
treated it as and and it still is

716
00:25:53,014 --> 00:25:55,335
treated as a true business. So, you know,

717
00:25:55,335 --> 00:25:56,554
just again,

718
00:25:58,059 --> 00:26:00,539
I again, ChatGPD is not a replacement for

719
00:26:00,539 --> 00:26:03,019
legal support, but I think that if you're

720
00:26:03,019 --> 00:26:05,119
going to go full fledged media company,

721
00:26:05,500 --> 00:26:08,059
it's good to have the right tax set

722
00:26:08,059 --> 00:26:09,119
up, the right,

723
00:26:10,140 --> 00:26:11,119
the right legal

724
00:26:11,500 --> 00:26:12,000
infrastructure.

725
00:26:13,204 --> 00:26:16,085
And but don't get scared. These are all

726
00:26:16,085 --> 00:26:16,825
good things.

727
00:26:18,005 --> 00:26:19,785
Yeah. You're you're protecting yourself,

728
00:26:20,404 --> 00:26:23,684
because there's something worth protecting there. Yeah. And,

729
00:26:23,684 --> 00:26:25,704
you know, the second company I formed,

730
00:26:26,085 --> 00:26:28,820
I used LegalZoom to set up the LLC

731
00:26:29,759 --> 00:26:31,519
and to make sure I had all the

732
00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:32,740
because I basically,

733
00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:35,380
knew what I needed,

734
00:26:35,759 --> 00:26:37,680
but I also know that I needed a

735
00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:40,799
binder of specific things, bylaws, rules, you know,

736
00:26:40,799 --> 00:26:43,365
these types of things and LegalZoom helped me

737
00:26:43,365 --> 00:26:44,265
with that. Now

738
00:26:44,565 --> 00:26:46,244
probably the lawyers off there like, oh, you

739
00:26:46,244 --> 00:26:48,904
shouldn't use them, but it worked for me

740
00:26:48,965 --> 00:26:50,565
in the second company that I said. But

741
00:26:50,565 --> 00:26:51,065
again,

742
00:26:52,085 --> 00:26:54,164
if you if you're feeling stuck, you don't

743
00:26:54,164 --> 00:26:56,105
have to be the next NPR, but

744
00:26:56,690 --> 00:26:58,529
but the right steps, you can turn your

745
00:26:58,529 --> 00:27:00,470
podcast in something much bigger

746
00:27:01,250 --> 00:27:04,049
than you ever imagined. I I remember coming

747
00:27:04,049 --> 00:27:06,369
home from because the show originated when I

748
00:27:06,369 --> 00:27:08,130
was on travel in Texas, and I came

749
00:27:08,130 --> 00:27:11,285
home and and I'm explaining this to Shoko,

750
00:27:11,345 --> 00:27:13,525
my wife at the time. And I'm like,

751
00:27:15,825 --> 00:27:17,664
I'm doing this and she's like pointing a

752
00:27:17,664 --> 00:27:19,424
finger at me and she says, okay. You

753
00:27:19,424 --> 00:27:20,944
got two years to figure out how much

754
00:27:20,944 --> 00:27:23,500
make money. And I had I wasn't thinking

755
00:27:23,500 --> 00:27:26,059
about making money, you know, but it put

756
00:27:26,059 --> 00:27:27,200
me in this mindset

757
00:27:27,660 --> 00:27:28,480
of, okay.

758
00:27:28,940 --> 00:27:31,019
You know, this this is costing money at

759
00:27:31,019 --> 00:27:32,460
the time and it was very expensive to

760
00:27:32,460 --> 00:27:34,080
do a podcast in the early days.

761
00:27:35,255 --> 00:27:36,615
I've got to figure out a way to

762
00:27:36,615 --> 00:27:38,934
make this sustainable and it really put me

763
00:27:38,934 --> 00:27:39,674
in the right

764
00:27:40,054 --> 00:27:40,554
mindset

765
00:27:40,855 --> 00:27:43,275
and I wasn't completely focused on

766
00:27:44,294 --> 00:27:45,914
the sponsorship piece.

767
00:27:46,534 --> 00:27:48,554
A book deal came before the sponsorship

768
00:27:48,855 --> 00:27:49,755
deal. So

769
00:27:50,099 --> 00:27:51,940
yeah, you never know what doors are gonna

770
00:27:51,940 --> 00:27:52,599
open up.

771
00:27:53,140 --> 00:27:55,299
Yeah. I think you, you hit the nail

772
00:27:55,299 --> 00:27:56,579
on the head there is you can't just

773
00:27:56,579 --> 00:27:58,660
think of yourself as a podcaster or content

774
00:27:58,660 --> 00:28:00,740
creator. You know, if you if you want

775
00:28:00,740 --> 00:28:02,740
to evolve like this, you have to just

776
00:28:02,740 --> 00:28:04,119
think of yourself as a

777
00:28:04,674 --> 00:28:05,654
as a entrepreneur

778
00:28:06,035 --> 00:28:09,234
in some capacity. And and Blueberry exists for

779
00:28:09,234 --> 00:28:10,855
one reason only.

780
00:28:11,474 --> 00:28:14,515
I was having a phone call in February.

781
00:28:14,515 --> 00:28:16,855
I was talking to Chris Redlinger from GoDaddy.

782
00:28:16,914 --> 00:28:19,440
We just finished the first month of sponsorships

783
00:28:19,580 --> 00:28:21,180
with her, and she said to me, do

784
00:28:21,180 --> 00:28:22,320
you know other podcasters

785
00:28:22,859 --> 00:28:24,799
that would like to advertise GoDaddy?

786
00:28:25,420 --> 00:28:27,279
And I said, yes. I do.

787
00:28:27,740 --> 00:28:29,580
And in back of my head, I'm thinking

788
00:28:29,580 --> 00:28:30,960
there's a business here.

789
00:28:31,654 --> 00:28:32,154
And

790
00:28:32,934 --> 00:28:35,654
that were formulated for a couple of weeks

791
00:28:35,654 --> 00:28:37,894
in my head. And then on my podcast,

792
00:28:37,894 --> 00:28:39,335
I said, I'm looking for a lawyer. I'm

793
00:28:39,335 --> 00:28:41,494
looking for an MBA. I'm looking for a

794
00:28:41,494 --> 00:28:43,835
graphics guy, and I'm looking for a programmer.

795
00:28:44,359 --> 00:28:46,599
And that led to a call that led

796
00:28:46,599 --> 00:28:47,340
to a business

797
00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:49,720
that led to Raw Voice that led to

798
00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:52,039
Blueberry and here we are. That led to

799
00:28:52,039 --> 00:28:54,519
20 later with the two of us here.

800
00:28:54,519 --> 00:28:55,259
Right here.

801
00:28:55,559 --> 00:28:58,380
And it all came and it really centered

802
00:28:58,440 --> 00:28:58,940
upon

803
00:28:59,554 --> 00:29:02,434
a single phone call where I realized there's

804
00:29:02,434 --> 00:29:03,174
an opportunity

805
00:29:04,194 --> 00:29:06,535
bigger than what I can handle myself.

806
00:29:07,795 --> 00:29:08,295
And

807
00:29:08,755 --> 00:29:10,595
I thought I could have done this by

808
00:29:10,595 --> 00:29:12,690
myself. Matter of fact, for the first month

809
00:29:12,690 --> 00:29:14,929
I did because it took us a little

810
00:29:14,929 --> 00:29:16,710
while to get the business up and running,

811
00:29:17,169 --> 00:29:19,569
but I very I transitioned that into the

812
00:29:19,569 --> 00:29:21,349
business immediately because

813
00:29:22,769 --> 00:29:24,849
there was just no way I had enough

814
00:29:24,849 --> 00:29:25,909
CPU cycles.

815
00:29:26,265 --> 00:29:28,105
I was working a full time job, still

816
00:29:28,105 --> 00:29:29,724
in the navy, had kids,

817
00:29:30,265 --> 00:29:31,085
had a podcast.

818
00:29:32,904 --> 00:29:34,585
Yeah. There was no there was no time

819
00:29:34,585 --> 00:29:36,424
left. You you know, that twenty four hours,

820
00:29:36,424 --> 00:29:38,904
I was I used 20 of it up

821
00:29:38,904 --> 00:29:40,605
every day for years

822
00:29:41,389 --> 00:29:41,889
and,

823
00:29:43,549 --> 00:29:45,730
so here we are twenty years later.

824
00:29:46,509 --> 00:29:48,269
Yeah. So you never know. And then you

825
00:29:48,269 --> 00:29:49,630
don't have to be early. So, oh, Todd,

826
00:29:49,630 --> 00:29:50,529
you were early.

827
00:29:51,069 --> 00:29:53,470
Well, no. No. No. It came this idea

828
00:29:53,470 --> 00:29:54,450
came from a

829
00:29:55,115 --> 00:29:55,615
conversation

830
00:29:56,075 --> 00:29:58,894
with someone that was sponsoring the podcast. So

831
00:29:59,914 --> 00:30:02,555
it's not too early for anyone. No. People

832
00:30:02,555 --> 00:30:04,875
are successful every day. Every day. You just

833
00:30:04,875 --> 00:30:06,795
gotta be able to recognize when there's an

834
00:30:06,795 --> 00:30:07,855
opportunity and

835
00:30:08,179 --> 00:30:10,579
and, you know, willing to to go all

836
00:30:10,579 --> 00:30:12,099
in on it. And,

837
00:30:12,500 --> 00:30:13,240
believe me,

838
00:30:14,179 --> 00:30:15,859
it was it was a I I didn't

839
00:30:15,859 --> 00:30:16,679
never imagine.

840
00:30:17,460 --> 00:30:19,140
We would not still be around if we

841
00:30:19,140 --> 00:30:21,539
did not believe in people's podcast either. Yeah.

842
00:30:21,539 --> 00:30:24,384
You know, in in February

843
00:30:24,384 --> 00:30:26,464
when I started the show, never in a

844
00:30:26,464 --> 00:30:27,444
thousand years

845
00:30:27,825 --> 00:30:30,144
would I have imagined that twenty years later,

846
00:30:30,144 --> 00:30:31,605
we'd be sitting here doing,

847
00:30:32,384 --> 00:30:34,384
you know, preparing for a twentieth year in

848
00:30:34,384 --> 00:30:36,724
podcasting at this company. So Mhmm.

849
00:30:37,184 --> 00:30:38,589
Just don't know. Right?

850
00:30:38,890 --> 00:30:40,490
And some of you starting today and who

851
00:30:40,490 --> 00:30:42,269
knows where you're gonna be in twenty years.

852
00:30:42,410 --> 00:30:45,210
So Yeah. So it is possible to go

853
00:30:45,210 --> 00:30:47,769
from, you know, solo podcaster to a fully

854
00:30:47,769 --> 00:30:48,910
fledged media company.

855
00:30:49,529 --> 00:30:51,849
So what's your vision for your podcast future?

856
00:30:51,849 --> 00:30:53,789
Are you happy as a one person show

857
00:30:54,194 --> 00:30:56,855
or do you dream of building something bigger?

858
00:30:56,994 --> 00:30:59,075
That came from Chad's BDT by the way.

859
00:30:59,075 --> 00:31:00,774
Let us know on social media

860
00:31:03,154 --> 00:31:05,474
or send us a voice memo. We'll be

861
00:31:06,289 --> 00:31:08,690
feature you in a future podcast. Thanks everyone

862
00:31:08,690 --> 00:31:09,349
for listening.

863
00:31:10,289 --> 00:31:12,210
Thanks for joining us. Come back next week

864
00:31:12,210 --> 00:31:14,849
and in the meantime, head to podcastinsider.com

865
00:31:14,849 --> 00:31:15,829
for more information,

866
00:31:16,130 --> 00:31:18,769
to subscribe, share, and read our show notes.

867
00:31:18,769 --> 00:31:20,529
To check out the latest suite of services

868
00:31:20,529 --> 00:31:22,414
and learn how Blueberry can help you your

869
00:31:22,414 --> 00:31:24,575
project, visit blueberry.com.

870
00:31:24,575 --> 00:31:27,134
That's Blueberry without the e's because we can't

871
00:31:27,134 --> 00:31:27,875
afford them.