Technology
383 - Meet The Voices in Our Community of Creators
In this episode, the co-hosts of the podcast share personal stories and insights about their journeys in the podcasting world. They discuss their creative processes, the tools they use, and how they s...
383 - Meet The Voices in Our Community of Creators
Technology •
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Interactive Transcript
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Good morning podcasting morning chat. Today is Tuesday, October 7th, 2025, and today we're
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pulling back the curtain on us. Get to know the voices behind the mic as our co-hosts
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swap stories, share their journeys, and reveal what keeps their podcasting fire lit.
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So if you're listening live on Clubhouse, hit the share button, bottom left hand side
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of the screen and share it however Clubhouse lets you, and if you're catching us via podcast
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or YouTube, please share this episode with a fellow podcaster if I can speak. And now
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give us about 30 seconds and we'll get things rolling. Thanks for being here.
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Good morning again podcasting morning chat. Thanks so much for being here. I am your host,
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Mark Ronik, and currently on stage with me, we have producer Ashley Feller, Nick Nalbach,
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DRF and Sid Meadows. Before we get into everything this morning, and good morning to Roy Field,
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who's just joined us in the audience. Before we dive in, did want to share with you,
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I've been playing around Nick Nal knows this well. I've been playing around with Sora
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too. I got access to it. I got an invite code from my friend Gil, some of you know from
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empowered podcasting our conference and also he's joined us here a few times as well. He
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got me a code to get in and I've just been playing around with it right now, trying to get
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to know it a little bit. And really it's no different than prompting chat GPT, but I'm
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playing around with it. I've done a few things I've shared online if you want to see it. Mostly
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podcasting toys. I did an 80s commercial of a podcasting kit and that one I thought went really
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well. I thought it looked pretty realistic and then I did one on podcasting action figures.
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The first one being Joe podcaster and it was Joe Rogan and I thought it was great. Although
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they're not getting the traction I thought they might on social media, but so be it. I enjoyed
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making the content. DR, did you want to say something? That was amazing. The resemblance to Rogan
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was just amazing. So I'm going to give everyone a tip. Thank you, DR. I'm going to give you a tip.
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If you are playing with Sora, one of the things that I don't like about it, it's somewhat limiting.
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They were boasting open AI was they were boasting about the fact that really you could pretty much
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create anything you wanted, even if it was something copyrighted until the people that own the
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rights opt out. So I thought for sure this would be for a little while anyway, we'd be able to
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kind of create really like I said, whatever we want and not the case anymore. I mean, it was less
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than a week since that new Sora 2 came out and already I noticed I was having trouble and
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somebody commented on my Joe Rogan action figure and said, I can't get it to make Joe Rogan to save
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to save my life. And here's the trick. It's kind of meta and I don't mean Facebook. So what I do
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and Nick, this you'll remember this from our next Gen podcaster days when we were teaching
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podcasters how to do this. If chat GPT or an AI model tells you they can't make something
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because of copyright issues, what I do is I describe what I want them to make without saying what it
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is. In other words, with Joe Rogan, I fed chat GPT a picture of Joe Rogan and I said, describe
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this person. I don't even think I hinted that it was Joe Rogan. I just said describe this person
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as if you were describing him to an artist who was going to make some sort of recreation of this
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person because I didn't want to get too specific about painting versus drawing because I thought
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it might cater to that specifically. And sure enough, it gave me all the physical traits of Joe Rogan.
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And then what I did was I went, oh, then what I did is I told it to then make it an action figure.
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Make the Joe Rogan image that I've given you, the description I've given you, turn it into an
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action figure. And it did. And it looked a lot like Joe Rogan. Then I took that image and I uploaded
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it to Sora of the image of the action figure. And I said, make a commercial, a toy commercial about
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this fake action figure. And that's all it took. I mean, I know this sounds like a bunch of steps,
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but if you really want it to do something that it's telling you it can't, you just got to go
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back and have it describe the thing or the person without using the name. And it seems to work
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almost every time. So there you go. There's a little tip for you. Nick, have you started playing with
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it at all? Sora too. I know I got you access to it. I started playing. I said a little bit yesterday.
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My first prompt went through because I was pretty vague and I just wanted to see what it came up with.
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And then I tried to get a little bit more creative and fun with it. And then I got hit with the
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this against our guidelines. Yeah. I tweaked the prompt and then I was like, this is against our
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guidelines. I tweaked it again. This is against our guidelines. And then I was like, I'm probably
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going to get banned. But I just can't give it a rest for a little bit. And I'll probably play with
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it again today. But I didn't want to press my love. I've gotten some of this and I shared one with you
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this morning that I did of me dunking a basketball in an empty arena as if I'm practicing my
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dunking. And I wanted it. I wanted to wear the Michael Jordan outfit. 23 with the whole uniform,
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the Chicago Bulls thing. And I first tried it. And it said, nope, no can do violation. So I then
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again had chat GBT describe the uniform without mentioning Chicago Bulls without mentioning
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Michael Jordan. And when I fed Sora that description, it made me the Chicago Bulls uniform. I
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mean, it even said bulls on the uniform. I didn't tell it to say that. I think it just kind of
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intuitively picked it up. I wanted to ask you about that because I was listening to it through my
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car speaker. So I didn't have like super clear audio. But I mean, it sounded pretty close to your
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voice. Yeah. And I can't for Android users since we don't have the Sora app yet. We actually can't
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clone ourselves like you can't do it on the next step app. So what did you actually have to do
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to clone yourself? I know we we speculated on it the other day when we were talking about Sora
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to what was that process to actually the clone of yourself. It's so easy, Nick. It's a little scary.
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So if you remember what we had heard and talked about last week, I think it was when we announced
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Sora to that it was available, all you have to do is read three numbers. They were all two digit
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numbers. So it was like 33 52 89 or something like that. You just have to say three numbers looking
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straight ahead at the camera. And then you had to look to the left and then it instructs you to
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look up and that's it. That was all it needed to recreate me and recreate my voice. And you're
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right. I thought it sounded pretty spot on that is mind blowing, especially where we were like.
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I'll say a couple months ago with Hagen, I was looking into creating the clone of myself and it was
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you have to be standing like full body of yourself with a very clear backdrop of a green screen type
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thing if you have it. And it was like you should be talking at the camera for 10 20 30 minutes.
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And with that information, it can generate your AI clone. Now seeing three words essentially is
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generating your full body. Yeah. I do appreciate that. Hagen asks to do the full body shot because
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it's basically really trying to capture everything about you from head to toe. Whereas this one,
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it's basically from my shoulders up. So yeah, that's a cool feature. But way too many other things
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you have to do this makes it scary simple. And I do mean scary simple. So yeah, just thought I
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share this because as content creators, I think there's probably some curiosity out there that you
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probably you may have come across it on your feeds, seeing all this AI generated content that looks
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really damn real. It's pretty crazy. And I just suggest if you want if you have it access to it or
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maybe to a similar AI app, just have fun with it. Just play with it to get to know it really because
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I found myself again getting a little intimidated to get started with it. I was looking at all the
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it you can go through on the app. You can actually scroll and see other people's content much like
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you would on a on TikTok. You can just swipe and scroll and like and comment and all the things.
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And I was seeing all of that and I was starting to freeze like, what can I create? What can I do?
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But then finally, just something came to mind. I just got a random idea and just started playing
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around with it. So I encourage you if it's of interest to you, just play with it. See,
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see what you can come up with. Don't put any pressure on yourself. But I will say the thing that I
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will absolutely use this for is B-roll for my short form content, especially when I'm trying to
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keep people engaged on my TikToks and Reels. I'm going to absolutely use some of that in my content.
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One more question for you. I didn't see yesterday when I was playing around with it, but did it specify
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in the app how many videos or credits or anything like that you get per day, month?
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Not at all. I don't know of any limit. Of course, I haven't really tested it or pushed the boundaries.
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I've probably done a handful of videos so far. But yeah, it does not say you have these many
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credits left or anything like that. So I say, create freely until we hear otherwise.
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So today's topic really is all about the people you see here on this stage. And if you have
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questions for them, I don't want to be the only one asking questions to our team. So if you have
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any questions that pop up throughout the morning and you're listening live, come up on stage and
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join us. And this will lead into something more down the road. Nick actually suggested this when I
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let our team know we I was going to be interviewing our team today. Nick was saying it would probably be
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a good idea for us to do some one on one interviews to really get to know our hosts and also their
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philosophies, their podcasting tips, all the things about them. And we can have an ongoing series
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with one on ones with me and our different team members. So more to come on that. But this is
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going to be a group thing. And let's start with an icebreaker. If your younger self could see
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you creating now, what would they say to you about it? This one I love because I think my younger
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self, I won't take the whole answer up first. I want to hear from others, but I will just say I
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think my younger self would be so thrilled and so proud to know that I was sitting right here.
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I know I'm hijacking the answer already. That I'm sitting right here right now with a professional
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microphone in front of me with a camera pointing at me and with a team of people all talking about
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something that I'm really passionate about and having fun doing. So my younger self would be
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over the moon because my younger self was all about, I'll just use a reference, all about being
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on stage and that stage could mean a variety of different things. But yes, and then I steered away
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from that for a long time and came back to it with podcasting 20 some years ago. All right, I saw
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DR wanted to chime in. DR go for it. If your younger self could see you creating now, what would they
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say? Well, I'm going to put a twist on that because when I talk to people that I have gone to
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school with high school, middle school, things like that and I tell them what I do, they usually
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nod their head and have a big smile on their face and say something like, yeah, that tracks or
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yeah, I could have guessed that or yeah, that fits or I knew that it was something like that
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in that genre. So I knew from a young age I'd be doing something creative and all through
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high school, I was a performer and it was pretty evident to the high school class. So that all
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kind of fits in. DR, I think that some of my friends would say the same thing. They would or at
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least do react the same way as you described it where they would just kind of smile and nod like,
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yep, I could see that I get it. Who else or else I'm going to just have to go down the line if I
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don't have any volunteers. All right, then I'm coming. Let's go to Jonathan. Jonathan, good morning.
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What would your younger self say if they could see you creating now? Good morning. My younger self
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would be like, who the hell is that? Why is that? Because I was never ever and I tell the story
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of my business all the time. I was never ever in front of the camera. I was not the person that
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would be talking. I was always behind the camera always creating in a different way, but not in
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front of the camera. Not, yeah, it wasn't until about six years ago, I actually would get in front
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of the camera. I love that. So what did get you in front of the camera, Jonathan? Why don't you
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share? I know this may be a question that you've answered in the past. It's been a long time
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since we've all gotten to know each other again and for our audience, especially new people.
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So, yeah, please share. What got you in front of the camera? What got me in front of the camera was
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the fact that you needed to be in front of the camera in business. It started to become a necessary
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evil is how I viewed it. I had to start to show up in front of the camera. I did not do it well.
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There was a 10, well, it turned out to be a 100 video challenge, but it was marked as a 10 video
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challenge. Then we finished that challenge and I had to do 100 more videos straight. I did those
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and that's what got me comfortable actually showing up on video, realizing that it could be done
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and that I wasn't going to die just because I was there. That challenge is what changed my business
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before that. I wasn't getting any traction and definitely started to feel it right after that
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challenge. Interesting. Thank you, Jonathan. I appreciate your answer in the sense that
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you felt like it was a necessary evil. Now, I'm sure we could argue it isn't necessarily
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something you have to do in all of business, but I certainly know in a lot of areas of business
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getting on camera can only help what you're trying to promote, help you potentially grow,
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etc. But certainly not something you have to do, but I get where you're going with that, Jonathan.
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Thank you for answering. I'm curious about you. If your younger self could see you creating now,
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see you podcasting now specifically, what do you think your younger self would say?
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So I think my younger self would say it's about time. It's about time that you use your
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voice for good. It's about time that you come out and share all the thoughts you share privately
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with people and help them in a public way rather than a private way. So I think that's what my younger
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self would say. It's about time. Sid, do you think your younger self would be surprised that you
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were doing it? I know it's about time kind of implies maybe not, but I mean talk about Jonathan
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for a second. Is that something similar where you'd be like your younger self would be like,
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what are you doing? You're actually on camera. You're actually doing a podcast. Would it be surprised?
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So when I was younger, I was thinking about this history actually. When I was younger,
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like in elementary school and high school, I grew up in the country. I grew up in Mississippi
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and everything's in the country. I was a member of the 4H Club. My mom actually started a 4H Club.
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I did a ton of public speaking. That was one of the core things that I did when I was in 4H
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was public speaking. Then I get out of high school and I go off to college and I'm not really
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doing it. Though my degree is in broadcasting and journalism and my mass communications
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are my degrees in. I never ever actually thought I would use it until I started my business.
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You have to remember too. I was in my 50s when I started my business and I was 53 when I started
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my podcast. When I actually grabbed the microphone and said, okay, let's do this thing. I was in my 50s
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and there was so many of you guys started a lot younger than that. I started certainly later in life
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in doing that and putting myself out there. I remember somebody said to me one day,
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I was too long after I started my business to actually make videos and put online. At that point
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time it was at Facebook. I remember doing my first video. It was just like God awful. I had
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the camera way up high. I had a t-shirt on and my hand was shaking so the camera was shaking.
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It just sometimes takes a while to put yourself out there. That's why I say it's about time
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because I was a late starter if you will as it relates to being in the content creation.
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Love that. Thank you, Sid. Thank you for digging into that and we are that you were just thinking
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about all that too. Thank you for sharing that, Sid. I want to go to Rich because as I said
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to kick things off on this particular part of the conversation, we have some new people here.
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Unfortunately, we don't have Phil better here today but we'll do a one-on-one with him for sure.
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And of course we'll get to know him as the days go on as well. But Rich, I'm going to wrap up
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this question with you. So what would your younger self say to you if they could see you creating now?
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Hey, good morning. My younger self, very much like DR, it was like a natural progression. So I think
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I would totally get it. I started always doing things in public speaking with like the boy scouts
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and stuff like that. Kind of like what Sid was explaining with his 4-H club. And then when I was
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doing, when I was in college, I did college radio all four years and then some I continued with it.
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And then I was always very involved with music and doing music related projects and things like that.
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So when I got on to social media, it was just like, oh, you can create content. Okay, that's
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awesome. Then this is what we have to do then. So it was kind of like a very natural progression for me,
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all life events leading up to it where it was sort of just, yeah, just natural, I would say.
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Yeah, natural progression. Yep, that makes sense. Cool. Okay, cool. I love that we have, it seems like
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we have all every end of the spectrum here. And I didn't forget Ashley. So I'm going to come to you,
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producer, Ashley. Good morning to you. Yeah, what would your younger self say about you as a creator now?
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I think she would say thank you for staying the course and staying true to yourself and very close
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to the original life projection. I remember being a little kid and they ask you in school,
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I'm sure everybody's done this. What do you want to be when you grow up and they ask you to write
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a little paragraph and draw a picture. And I remember saying that I wanted to be a news anchor
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and also a musician. So I would say this is pretty close. So I think my younger self would say thank
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you for staying the course. I love that. Thank you, Ashley. Yeah, my guess was that your younger
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self would say something along those lines just knowing you as a musician. I imagine most musicians,
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and this is just my perspective. I imagine most musicians think about creating music and performing
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that music or putting that music out there for the world. So I podcasting certainly feels like a
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natural progression for a musician in in some regard. Thank you, Ashley, for sharing. And since we
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have somebody from the audience joining us now, Janade, good morning. Did you want to answer this
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question as well? Go for it. And if anybody else from the audience wants to come up and share,
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I'm cool with keeping this question going as well. Go ahead, Janade.
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Morning, everyone. Yes, this is a very fun question for me because I dropped out of theater class
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in college. I was like, what? I was doing front of camera. I was doing front of people. No, thank you.
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And even though I've been behind camera for 30 plus years, it was a really big change. And
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it all progressed over time. I am, as I got comfortable with my own voice, with my own
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conversation with other people. And so my anger self would probably say, wow, that is a change. You've
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come out to be somebody that I didn't think was possible, which is really funny because when I
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took a test like a long time ago, it said that I'm a that I'm a communicator. And I'm like, no,
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I'm not. I'm an introvert. I don't talk or talk to people. So it would be a pretty interesting
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talking to that young me now. Thanks. Very interesting. Janade, say that last thing that you just
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said again, because I had a thought and then it just escaped me. The younger me would say,
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that's a very interesting route that you've taken. And you know, be really weird like to see that
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are like, how did this even happen? Yeah, it's so funny how we change as we get older sometimes.
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And it's also funny to hear like with some people, this was just rooted in us. We almost even
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though we didn't know what maybe what podcasting was when we were kids, there was just something instinctively
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brewing inside us that we knew we were going to somehow put ourselves out there share a message
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with the world, right? It's really cool to hear. Okay, thank you, Janade. I'm going to keep things
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going in this conversation here. So let's talk a little bit about your early days of podcasting
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for a second. What's something that you've learned since you started podcasting that you wish
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you knew earlier? You know, think about those days when you were first getting ready to press
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record and put out your first podcast recording. What didn't you know then that you wish you knew
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right now? Make sure my equipment was plugged in. Is that so that's a thing? Jonathan, you actually
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didn't have any plugged in and you recorded an episode. Mine was mostly plugged in, but Mimi's
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was definitely not. Yeah. So perhaps a checklist would have been a good thing to know about
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ahead of time. I love that. Yeah. Yeah. Sid, did you have something you wanted to share too?
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So a long time ago, somebody says I'm in the mean. I was just blown away. He said, you know,
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Sid, done is better than perfect. And I think his podcast or sometimes we strive for perfection.
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And it doesn't have to be perfect. I think the more raw and real that it can be, the more you will
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identify with your audience, that's definitely something that I learned. Like it, yeah, you can
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script it, but you don't have to like read the, be robotic and read the script, right? People want
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to see the real new and so perfection is going to be the in and e of success in this case, I believe.
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Ooh, I like that a lot. And yeah, I've heard that one before and it really hits home when you
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stop and think about that message. Yeah. Thank you, Sid. I think that's an important one to hold
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on to. And I see we've got some other people that have joined us and including co-host Matt Bliss.
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I'm going to go to Matt first and then we're going to keep going down the line. Matt, what about you?
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What's one part of podcasting? I'm sorry, what's something that you've learned since you started
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podcasting that you wish you knew earlier? Good morning. Good morning, everyone. I have been
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reflecting on this a little bit, been on a bit of a retrospective trying to think about what
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podcasters should and shouldn't think about themselves over the last few weeks. So it's apt that
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you asked this. One of the biggest things I think is that people have to stop thinking and I would
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like to tell myself to not to think that the first podcast you do is going to be not perfect the
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same way that Sid said it, but I think everybody needs a practice podcast being the first podcast.
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And that means doing a show, not letting the perfection stop you, but also, you know,
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greasing the wheels a little bit and finding where the itchy points are for what you want to do.
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I think podcasting has become an optimization point for people because everybody is saying
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how easy it is. And tech companies are selling products that say just buy this and
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you know, it just becomes super easy. The only thing left is for you to step up to the microphone.
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But invariably, there is not a single client podcast that I've done where
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and even myself where the first one has been spot on, done the job, thousands and thousands of
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listeners and the host knows what they're doing and they just keep going. I think anyone who's doing
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it independently at least should have, the set aside, a podcast that's just a silly topic or
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something focused whatever. Practice it. My first one was called the Lad Banta podcast was with
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three mates or two mates in myself and we just talked about random topics and I learned so much
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from that first podcast. I think get the first one out the way or first season if you want to work
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with the idea and maybe the short answer there is except what you'll fail at at the start
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by chucking the training wheels on and just preparing yourself to learn what you're going to take
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into the next show. And look, Janayd's jumped into the chat and said, mind blown, I'm still on my first
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podcast. There's always exceptions to the rule. Some people can just get it locked in but yeah,
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practice podcast for your first one. That would be my advice to myself.
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Thank you, Matt. And kind of ironic because you've said something that I've been thinking about
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lately in the sense that I'm feeling with my social media that it's just a little stale.
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The content I'm putting out I feel like it's not hitting and I have been thinking a lot about like,
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well, what do I want to do with my social media? And what keeps coming back to me when I ask that
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question is is to start another account and make it whatever the heck I want to make it. Talk about
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whatever I want to talk about. Make any kind of content. Not pigeonhole myself just in the podcasting
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content creator space. And I think the best way for me to do that to feel the most free is to just
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start a new social media account. Not try to change what I'm doing already on my social media account.
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And just start a new one that gives me the freedom to explore and experiment. And so it feels similar
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to what you're saying, but in the podcasting space, create that first podcast. Don't put the pressure
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on yourself that it has to be a certain way. And instead put the pressure on yourself to find your
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way. Thank you, Matt. I appreciate that. Janay, did you want to comment on that?
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I do because social media is so much so about being social and not a lot about teaching other people.
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So just be yourself and the social media. Like, who is it for? Is it for you? Is it for people that
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you're trying to enroll into something that you're doing, something you're putting together?
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Like, who is the social media for? So think about those things rather than, you know, gaining more
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followership because when you dial into who you really are and show off that side of you on social,
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you will find the people just like you found all the people over here. Yeah, I'm with you there.
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Thank you, Janay. Great point. And I see Matt wanted to chime in as well. Go ahead, Matt.
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I did, but I saw Jonathan's little spicy pepper go up there. I might step aside and let the
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expert jump in. And for those of you listening at home, not live here, the spicy pepper that Matt's
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referring to, that's the little emoji we flash when we want to add to the conversation. So let's go
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to Jonathan and his spicy pepper. Good morning. My spicy pepper wanted to say that, you know,
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I have a really close friend, Brittany, who runs a conference actually in Texas. And she does what I do.
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She helps people with social media. But what she posts on her on her social media is videos of
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her dancing on a treadmill and singing songs from back when we were kids. And she has
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established probably one of the most productive and interesting businesses in Texas. And I mean,
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she's helping the speaks as people put on their conference. She doesn't post anything about
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social media. She doesn't teach anybody about social media. She actually just posts her
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treadmill dancing videos and you know, videos of her lip syncing to songs she remembers. So
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you can create your own business profile out of anything. It's about building that connection with
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your audience. That's really an interesting tip. Thank you. Jonathan, yeah, that it makes sense. I
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often think about that. I see some of these creators out there just making whatever the heck they want
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to create. And they're getting tons of followers and more importantly, tons of business as well.
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Actually, one person that I know that's doing really well who helps podcasters does similar to
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what I do. His name is Dylan Schmidt. And he lately has been making all sorts of content about AI
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and really how it's affecting society positively and negatively. And his, and he made that shift
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recently and he's killing it right now. And it's because in some ways people see what he's doing.
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And they're saying, I want to do that. I want to know how I can do that. And so they'll reach out
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to him and ask him, Hey, how did you do that? And it opens up the door to conversation and
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potentially new business. Sid, did you want to chime in? And then we're going to check in with
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Roy Field who's joined us on stage. I do real quickly. So Mark, you as in you are rarely in your
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social media content. What's in your social media content is your videos, your comic characters and
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things of that nature, Mark to Janage point. Mark is rarely in your social media contents. I think
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if you lean into like what John have been talked about, it put more mark into your social media content,
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you might see some of the growth that you're looking for. I appreciate that, Sid. I would challenge
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that. I do think that I put myself in a lot of my content. I think like the cover images and
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things like that. Yeah, those are, I usually like to do the cartoon-y type things. But I do with
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the exception of maybe the past week or so. I do tend to put myself, it's usually content from
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this very show and it's me either having a conversation with one of you or it's me responding to
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one of you. But I feel like I do, but I do think I'm not putting enough variety of myself out there.
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I'm only focusing on the content that I that I spit out from this show and I'm not doing stuff
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outside of that. And I think that that's also hurting me. Thank you for that, Sid. I appreciate that.
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Let's check in with Roy Field. Roy Field, did you want to be the last one to answer this particular
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question we're asking right now, which is, man, what was, oh yeah, what's something you've learned
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since you started podcasting that you wish you knew earlier? I overproduced. So it's very similar to
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what Sid said about perfection being the enemy of good or I feel exactly what he said, but it's
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fundamentally that point. And I overproduced until quite recently and I always wanted to make some
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kind of audio documentary, but I used too much music. I used it too loudly in the levels, etc.
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Fundamentally overproducing. And what it did also is to take away that level of authenticity
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intimacy and what people were listening to was a production as opposed to somebody's vision,
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somebody's voice, somebody's kind of point of view. So overproduction is what I did. That's what
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I wanted to chime in. Thank you for saying that, Roy Field. I appreciate that. And I'm with you
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there. I think that look, and the times could change again, right? But right now, I think the times
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have shifted to more to less produced content, whether it's social media. And in some cases,
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podcasting and please hear me, I'm not suggesting that people should now throw away their microphones,
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throw away their good cameras, etc. But I do believe that a lot of us tend to overproduce the
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content we make because it goes back to what Sid was saying earlier about trying to be perfect.
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And I think that nowadays, in audience audiences are appreciating the more raw side of things.
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They don't want all of that. In fact, I believe it's just again, there's I have no real
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solid research to prove it. But I believe that audiences avoid or get turned off from
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produced and overproduced content because they look at it as, uh-oh,
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what is this person going to sell me or what is that what's this person's mission, right?
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I think when they see raw, more raw content, I think that they stop because they're more curious.
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They want to know what this everyday person is going to talk about or what they're digging into.
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I think there is something to that, Roy Field. And again, that's don't quote me on that. Don't take
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it as the gospel because I don't have solid research behind it, but it's my impression
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spending so much time interacting with podcasting content, social media content, etc.
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DR, would you like to ask a question to the gang?
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I would. Thank you. So what I want to know is, and we'll go around the horn here,
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what's one part of podcasting that you absolutely love? And one part that still
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challenges you or in other words that you hate. What's up with you?
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What do I love? I love about podcasting. I love being able to connect with people. I think
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first and foremost, that's got to be a big reason why I do it. And it's why I do this particular
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kind of show is because I liked connecting with different people and getting their insights,
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their opinions, even if they're not the same as mine. I still like having conversations and
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doing something like this allows me to connect with so many different types of people.
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I think what I don't like about podcasting, that's a really tough question for me because
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even to be honest with you, and I know I've shared this with you all before, I enjoy editing.
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I don't like how much time editing can take, but I do actually enjoy editing. It is like a game
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to me. It's like putting a puzzle together. I guess what it is is that I don't like producing
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it because I just wish I could get to the finished product and get it out there. It does take time
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to craft what you're doing and putting out there. Even if it's not overproducing it,
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there's still a lot of thought and energy. I believe that I have to put into it.
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I'm not the most patient of people. I don't like that part because I don't like waiting.
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I want to just get it out there. That's a testament to what we do here in the morning.
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Granted, Ashley does clean up every episode for us before we put it out there as a podcast,
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but for the most part, this is pretty raw what we put out there. Again, that's not to knock anything
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about what Ashley does because she does make this sound even better once it's a podcast and she
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is cleaning up certain elements of it, but overall the conversation is natural and it's not forced.
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With me, I like the strategy part. I like the pull promotion stuff and I gotta say I really like
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editing. I really like editing because my boss is here. For those that don't know, DR is an editor
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on the ironic media team. Of course, we produce an edit podcast for podcasters all the time.
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The thing that I don't like about it is the fact that I have to be so cognizant of
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SEO, of what's going to grab people's attention and sometimes that takes precedent over the actual
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meat of the subject, diving into really good content. It's really good content, but what is it about
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that's going to get everyone's attention? That's what I got to concentrate on. I don't want to do that.
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I just want to concentrate on to a really good content and I think too much time is spent on
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trying to find the right keywords and the right this and the right that that's going to grab
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everyone's attention. That's the part that I hate. On my old show, DR, whenever somebody said
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something that I really agreed with or thought they were spot on, I would give them a ding.
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I'm giving that to you because that would be my answer now that you've said it because I know
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I've thought it even recently. Whatever the content is that I'm making, I catch myself getting
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too caught up in the strategy part. Are they going to keep listening? Are they going to skip or
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keep scrolling? Did I give a strong enough hook? That's not good enough. Maybe I need to find
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something different. I get so caught up in that and it reminds me I saw Dominic in an interview
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on social media talking about that. In the sense of he was saying, I just make content that I want to
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make. If you don't like it, if it doesn't keep your attention, so be it. I'm creating content for me
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and if you're on board with that, welcome aboard. I love that too because it gives us that freedom
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and creativity is all about freedom. It's all about having that freedom to just do what you want to do
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and see where it goes. To me, in my opinion, it's the people that think outside the box. Those are
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ones that get the most traction. Those are the ones that have the biggest potential to go viral,
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even in some cases, more so than following all of this formulas, the strategies to get all the
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attention to keep people on your content. I think that the creativity wins every time. I really do.
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Sid, did you want to add something? I want to say something to what D.R. just talked about. Most of
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you know that I've had this research initiative to figure out what season seven of my podcast is
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going to be like and how I want to change it. In podcast movement, I heard Courtney Elmer speak
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and I don't know if you need to know her. She has podcast, but she's got podcast called insider
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secrets to a top 100 podcast. In the last three episodes that she's done, D.R. are all about
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KEO, which is podcast search optimization, not search options optimization, not SCO.
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She go listen to that and then I bought her course for 150 bucks and I went through the course
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and I spent a good part of the weekend going through all this research and doing the things that
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she said about podcast STO and we came up with 15 new keywords. I was able to go get the metadata
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from the 10 other shows that are not necessarily my direct competitor, but people that are in my space
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and really lean into how to do this so that I show up better in search and it's fascinating. It's
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called insider secrets to a top 100 podcast. If you are interested in learning about podcast SEO,
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then you should go listen to the last three episodes from her. I love her show. Yeah, I know
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Courtney have gotten to know her a little bit over time at the different podcasting conferences.
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And yes, she's super smart and really knows her stuff. I absolutely. I sign off on that one.
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Check out her podcast as well. Thank you for that. SID. Anyone else want to answer this question
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as far as what are the what do you love about podcasting? What do you hate about podcasting?
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Well, I'll answer it and then you can go to Ashley. So what I love about podcasting is talking to
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people. I love having conversations with people. I love getting to know people. That's why my
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podcast is set up the way it is. I just love talking to people. What I hate is editing, which is why
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I outsource it to someone else. But the part that I struggle the most with is the marketing part of
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it. I haven't paid attention to the marketing part of it. Admittedly, I'm not doing what I need to
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do to help my show, bro, which is what part of this reset isn't all about. So that's what I struggle
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with the most is marketing and getting the reach that I know that my show can have. So I'm learning
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how to lean into some of that and maybe do things differently. Thank you, SID. I'm going to keep it
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moving for the interest of time. Ashley, please share. Yeah. So something I love about podcasting
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is doing it differently with my show. I do all my interviews or most of them outside in nature
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under the trees. I've also done shows in restaurants. I've done them sitting at bars. So I love doing it
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differently. The thing I dislike, which is such a necessary thing, it has to be done. And that's
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archival. After I get done doing all this recording, I've got a couple of cameras. I've got
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multiple audio sources. It's putting them all in the folders and backing them up on all the hard
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drives that I don't love, but you got to do it. Yep. Thank you, Ashley. Appreciate that one.
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Again, interest of time. I'm going to keep things moving. I want to go to rich for a second rich.
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I know you've brought your podcast back recently or I know you're bringing it back.
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Please share what that podcast is again as one of our newer cast members. If listeners could
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take away one thing from your work behind the microphone, what would it be? What would you want
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them to take away? Go for it. Oh, man. You stopped me with the new question.
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If you have the, if you'd rather, I guess you can answer the old one, but I'd like to hear what
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you'd have to say about this one. And again, what's your podcast name? Yes. So I am relaunched
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my podcast. It is 10 minute mentor with rich. So mine is a solo podcast where I'm just educating
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the audience, giving them actionable tips in like marketing communications within that 10 minute
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span. Remind me of the question again. If you're listeners could take away one thing from your work
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on your podcast, what would you want it to be? One thing. Why? I hope they take more than one
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thing away. Basically, I'm sharing what I've learned so that they don't have to keep hitting their
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head against the wall like I did for the longest time. That's all I got. That's okay. I stumped
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you and that's fine. I know I threw out a new question without a big set up. So I get it.
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And definitely check out Rich's show though, because if you're looking for quick advice on
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marketing and communication, then you want it in 10 minutes or less. Rich has got you covered
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there and he's always given good insights there. So check out 10 minute mentor as well.
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And all right, here's what I'm going to do. Let's do a rapid fire round. Okay, so here's
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I'm going to start with Sid. If you don't mind, Sid, I'm just going to throw out a bunch of
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questions. I just want your quick answers and I'll just keep going from there. Sound good, Sid?
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Let's go. All right, here we go. Editing, love it or dread it.
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I hate it. Long episodes were short and punchy. Short and punchy. Go ahead, I'll do them. Short
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and punchy. Okay. Coffee or tea before you hit record or another beverage. The only answer to
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this question is coffee. All right. And as far as your podcast goes, notes or no notes.
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Meaning I'm taking notes or we're putting notes out for people to read like,
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so notes for notes. As far as prep like, oh, no, I have it. I haven't. I have a notes page.
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Okay. It's page as the script on it, the intro script. It has to my ideas of leading questions
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that I want to ask you just to guide me. So make sure I don't miss anything. But yeah, notes.
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One fun fact about you that we may not know. Oh my gosh. So I may have mentioned this once
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before. This is a silly fact. But when I was in college, I'd dance on a TV show called The Hour of
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the 50s. Wow. We didn't know that. What kind of dance? The hour of the 50s.
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So you were just doing like 50s. It was set up in a soda shop and
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there were like 10 of us and we danced to 50s music every Saturday morning and most Saturday
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mornings it was live actually. I would have paid you good money if you had said interpretive dancing.
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Said, are you a good dancer? Now I have three left feet, but I did it because the friend asked
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me to do it and I learned how to 50s dance and all that kind of thing. It was fun. I had a good time
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doing it. And then the show ended and so anyways, yeah, it was fun. You can't find it anywhere,
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though. I've searched all over YouTube for it. And there's not even a YouTube video about it. So
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I'm sure I've got our momma's and her addicts and where he's got tapes of it. We dressed up in
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50s outfits and all that kind of stuff t-shirts and rolled up jeans and you name it the whole deal.
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What I would pay for those old tapes. I would love to see that.
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Grab grateful they're not available. Let me ask you two personal questions. One,
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beach day or mountain trip. Beach day, 100% used to be a mountain, but I absolutely love the beach,
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especially this time of year. I'm so jealous of Ashley living at the beach this time of the year.
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This app's stunning, beautiful. I got to tell you, I might be able to sway you to come here to the
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population mountains in this time of year when the leaves start changing. They're just now
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starting to, you can tell the green is starting to fade and the colors are going to come shortly
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behind. I cannot wait for that. It is magical. And one more question for you. Said dogs or cats?
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We have both. Well, we have an adoptee cat is my daughter left hers here, but I'm a dog person.
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So let my dogs especially labs and dogs.
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Okay. All right. Cool. All right. I'm going to go to Jonathan. Jonathan, can I do a quick
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speed round with you? Yep. Dogs. Okay. I that I knew.
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When it comes to podcasting habits and preferences, are you a one take guy or multiple takes?
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One take. One take. Okay. Favorite Mike or gear brand?
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I like road stuff. Okay. Yeah. No. Yep. I'm with you on road stuff for sure, although my favorite
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Mike would be sure. Let's see. Who do you usually bounce ideas off of?
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Still me me, even on my solo podcast, Mimi. Okay. So your your co-host got it. And favorite way
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to brainstorm new episode ideas. I do my whole research for a while and then and then create. So
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I come up with the ideas and the research phase. Okay. Cool. And then morning person or night owl.
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Night owl. Well, then I really appreciate you joining us in the morning. Exactly.
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Okay. Texting or voice messages. Texting. What's one thing you never say on the air?
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Well, it's not curse words because I definitely say those on the air. I would never say
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well, I try to never say authentic on the air. So you have you replaced it with my word?
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I haven't, but I might have to. You'll have to go listen to our empowered podcasting recap
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from last Tuesday if you want to understand what that meant. All right. Thank you, Jonathan and
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Rich. I'm coming back to you because I want to redeem, redeem you since I caught you off guard.
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If you weren't podcasting, creating content, talking about marketing, what would you be doing instead?
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Like professionally, whatever, however you want to answer it. If you weren't podcasting,
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creating content, talking about marketing, what would you be doing instead?
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I keep stumping you. I know. How would we like why would say music promotions, but that would be
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marketing? Well, that's promotion. So I'll give it that's fine. You can do that.
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Yes, you did. And Rick, Rich, what's what's one thing a hobby? What's one thing about you that
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maybe the rest of us don't know or I might know it just because I know you better than most of us
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here on stage, but what's one thing the group doesn't know about you? Definitely like my runs.
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I mean, it's that's, you know, a lame answer, but I enjoy running. It's very therapeutic for me.
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And it allows me the opportunity to both clear my head, but also I think some of my best ideas come
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during my run because I just get in that zone and I've had some really good ideas in the past
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during my runs. And I'm like, oh, yeah, thank God I went for that run today.
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I love that and not a lame answer. You're not allowed to say that. That's a great answer. Thank
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you for sharing that rich. And by the way, shout out to Travis in the audience because I haven't
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seen Travis here. Oh, did he just leave? Don't it? I was just going to say hello to him because we
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haven't seen him here in a while. Oh, well, DR, go ahead. Rich said that he gets creative on his runs.
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And I get my most creative ideas in water, whether it's a shower or the pool or something.
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There's something about water where I get ideas for recipes, I get ideas for content,
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I get ideas for song lyrics, who I love with my Nashville. So I mean, it's just really weird how
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water brings that on to me. That's really cool. And so now I know DR when we're struggling for
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content ideas, planning for this show, I'm just going to encourage you to go take a shower.
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Don't be offended when I say that.
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Time for a shower, DR. Yeah.
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All right, well, listen, gang, it is 8 a.m. So it's time to wrap up in a reminder that tomorrow,
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7 a.m. Eastern, we are back live on clubhouse live on YouTube. And we're going to be covering all
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the headlines around the world of podcasting and content creation, the things that will affect you,
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things that will be of interest to you as a content creator. So come join us tomorrow.
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We have lots of good conversations on Wednesdays around all the ongoing around the world of
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podcasting, looking forward to that. And until then, make it a great day, everybody. Take care.