What if the most powerful personal growth tool isn’t found in books or seminars, but in being a guest on a podcast?
If you're a purpose-driven professional aiming to grow your influence or deepen your self-awareness, podcast guesting may offer more than exposure, it can become a transformational tool. In this episode with PodMatch founder Alex Sanfilippo, we explore the often overlooked inner benefits of being interviewed: refining communication, developing confidence, and uncovering self-discovery through meaningful conversation.
- Discover how guesting on podcasts sharpens your communication and listening skills in real-time.
- Learn why vulnerability and imperfection are assets, not liabilities, when building trust with an audience.
- Hear how real-time reflection during interviews can lead to profound self-discovery and personal clarity.
Tune in now to uncover how simply being a guest on a podcast can unlock the next level of your personal and professional development.
˚
KEY POINTS AND TIMESTAMPS:
02:10 - Introduction to Alex Sanfilippo and the Power of Podcast Guesting
07:22 - Beyond Exposure: The Hidden Benefits of Being Interviewed
14:57 - Refining Your Message: Clarity Through Conversation
22:43 - Building Confidence: Speaking with Purpose and Presence
30:29 - Self-Discovery: Uncovering Insights Through Dialogue
37:15 - The Role of PodMatch in Connecting Purpose-Driven Professionals
42:08 - Practical Tips for Maximising Your Podcast Guest Experience
˚
MEMORABLE QUOTE:
"Be patient, slow down, be willing to let the journey take effect - build the proper muscle that you need to receive what you eventually want to get."
˚
VALUABLE RESOURCES:
🎙️Step into podcast guesting:
https://personaldevelopmentmasterypodcast.com/guest
˚
Personal development inspiration, self help insights, and actions to implement for self improvement and living with purpose.
˚
Personal development, self mastery and actionable wisdom for self improvement, self help and living with purpose and fulfilment.
Inspiring insights to help you cultivate emotional intelligence, build confidence, live authentically and embrace your purpose. Discover practical tools for self-improvement, personal growth, self mastery, mindset shifts, healthy habits, meditation, wellness, spirituality and self growth—empowering entrepreneurs, leaders and seekers to create meaningful success and lasting happiness.
Join our growing community at MasterySeekersTribe.com, where self-mastery seekers come together for connection and growth.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Agi Keramidas (00:00):
What if the most powerful personal growth tool
isn't found in books orseminars, but in being a guest
on a podcast, welcome toPersonal Development mastery,
the podcast that helpsintelligent, busy professionals
develop self mastery and gainclarity so you can thrive in a
(00:23):
fulfilling, purposeful life. I'myour host, Agi Keramidas, and
this is episode 510If you are looking to expand
your impact and grow on a deeperlevel, this conversation with
the founder of PodMatch, AlexSanfilippo explores how going as
a guest to podcasts can become apowerful tool for personal
(00:46):
growth. By listening to thisepisode, you are going to
discover how guesting onpodcasts sharpens your
communication and listeningskills. You will also understand
why vulnerability andimperfection are assets and not
liabilities in building trustwith an audience, and you will
(01:10):
hear how real time reflectionduring podcast interviews can
lead to profound self discoveryand personal clarity. If you are
seeking authentic personalgrowth through meaningful
conversations, then this episodeis for you.
(01:34):
And one more thing — stay with me until the end of the episode. There is a unique and possibly unexpected invitation that might be just what you need for your next step forward! Now let's dive into the conversation!
(02:12):
Today's guest is someone who I'mreally excited and honoured to
have on the show, AlexSanfilippo, Alex, you are a
podcaster and the founder ofpodmats, which is a platform
that automatically matchespodcast guests and hosts for
interviews. You are passionateabout helping independent
(02:35):
podcasters grow their influenceand revenue so that they can
better serve their listeners.
Alex, welcome. I am delighted tohave you with me here today.
Alex Sanfilippo (02:47):
Agi, thank you so so much for having me listen.
The honours all mine. I'm justhappy to be here. I love the way
that you've shown up for the podmatch community, and just the
way you show up as a podcasteras well. At time recording more
recently, you passed 500episodes. But listen, I know
you're just getting started, soagain, thank you for what you
do, and thank you for having mehere. It's
Agi Keramidas (03:06):
truly an honour.
It is. The feeling is mutual. Sothis is a great to start with
today's conversation. Or what Iwould like to focus the
conversation is on the benefitsof going as guest on podcasts,
however, not the, let's sayobvious benefits that you gain
(03:29):
visibility businessopportunities or these things
more the, let's say personaldevelopment elements of going as
guests to podcasts. I will, Iwill leave that aside for the
moment and what I want to say.
(03:51):
And I will start thisconversation with Alex. And you
know, also for transparency,because we mentioned podmats, I
have been personally usingformats for two and a half years
now. And you know, the onlything I will say it's been a
game changer for personaldevelopment mastery, but also a
(04:14):
game changer for my own growth.
And I'm sure we will discussabout this later on. So what you
may not know, Alex is also thatyou have been one of my greatest
mentors throughout this journey.
So I'm simply starting thisconversation with a Hartford.
(04:34):
Thank you, and I will leave itto that really, but I wanted to
share it because it is true. Andthank you very much,
Alex Sanfilippo (04:43):
man, that means so so much to hear. So I just, I
will just say thank you.
Seriously, so excited to be heretoday, and I love that we're
talking about podcast guestingfrom a more non conventional
approach when it comes to theresults from it. So I just
that's, that's a gift to get tobe here to talk about this. So.
Again, just honoured, happy tobe here, and thank you for the
kind words like making my daybefore we even get started.
Agi Keramidas (05:08):
Thank you. And I will start with something that
you wrote, and you were talkingabout the hidden that's how you
call it, the hidden value ofpodcast guesting. So let's talk
about this hidden value that youcall of podcast guesting, and
there were two elements in that,one was communication, and the
(05:29):
other was self discovery. Solet's pick each of them and
break it down and see how thishappens. And we can start with
either of the two. But let'sstart however. You want to
start, Alex, I think I've spokentoo much more than I usually do
on my introduction.
Alex Sanfilippo (05:48):
You know, I immediately think I love that
we're gonna talk about these twothings. And again, this is truly
a gift to be able to talk aboutbecause, yes, the obvious
things, it grows your businessgives you more influence. Like
all those things, they aregreat. Everyone wants to talk
about those. But the reality isthat hidden value side, as you
mentioned, I think, is theactual, real benefit of it. And
I'll just quickly share a shortstory to kind of kick us off.
(06:09):
And I was recently on a hikewith my wife and another couple.
And I say a hike. I live inJacksonville, Florida. It's as
flat as can be. We call ithiking when we just go on a
trail. So we were quote, unquotehiking. So we're walking. And my
friend's wife, I know him reallywell. I don't know her nearly as
well. She's one of my wife,Alicia's friends, but she said,
(06:32):
Alex, I've never met anyone whoasks questions the way that you
do. She's like the way you askquestions make me think in such
a unique way. And like I and allthree of them agreed. And at the
time, I wasn't saying, I'm notsaying this to sound pride or
anything like that, but at thatmoment, I just said, Hey,
listen. Like, I don't wannareally take credit for that.
I've been asked these questionsby podcast hosts that led me to
(06:53):
learn to communicate my answerand also have some element of
self discovery that actuallychanged my life. And so I was
like, so I just am mimicking thequestions I've heard great
people ask me and so, and theywere kind of like, okay,
whatever. Alex, right, you know?
But the reality is, that's thetruth of it is people like, wow,
Alex asked really greatquestions. He can also answer
questions in really unique ways,and it's because of this medium.
(07:17):
And so I shared that story justbecause I think that that's,
that's that hidden value, like,it's what we learn in the
process. Now, Agi, you and Iboth admitted to this
beforehand, before hit record,but we didn't know this from day
one, like we didn't get intothis saying, I know the hidden
value. It took me, like, 300episodes to realise that. I
don't know how long it took you,I'm guessing, not as long
something like that. Okay, itjust took a little bit. So for
me, if you're hearing this, andyou've never thought about
(07:40):
guesting, and maybe you don'teven know the more obvious
benefits of it, but you'rehearing this, this is something
that's gonna be really specialfor you to discover now, because
it is going to fast track yourpersonal development, personal
personal mastery, like all thosethings, get fast tracked when
you step into this lane whereyou start communicating. So Agi,
I'll turn back over to you. Idon't mean to take over, like as
(08:02):
a host, but communication, Ithink is a good place to start.
I don't know if you have aquestion or you want to give an
idea around that, but I thinkthat'd be a good place for us to
Agi Keramidas (08:09):
jump into. It's a great place to start with
communication. And I will, frommy own personal experience, I
will simply add that mycommunication is so much
improved over these years that Ihave been doing the podcast and
going as guest on other podcastsand interviewing people, and
(08:30):
that, to a large extent,happened because I listen
better. I think it starts, youknow, it's you were saying about
asking questions the way thatyou ask questions, and the
impactful questions come fromdirectly paying attention and
(08:50):
listening carefully. You know,it is a this is a skill, for
sure. I have learned to do that,so that is really my comment on
what you said, it begins withlistening carefully, and then
the question comes, shall wesay? You don't I don't know if
(09:11):
that is your experience. I don'tnecessarily have to think about
the questions. The questioncomes to me more that's the best
way I can describe it,
Alex Sanfilippo (09:22):
yeah, for me on the communication side,
especially as a guest, listeningis absolutely key. And that
sounds very obvious, right? Likewhen you and I say that to
people, but the reality is, mostpeople aren't listening. They've
got their phone right next tothem. Maybe they've got their
notes in front of them, sothey're reading their notes,
thinking about what's the nextthing I'm going to say, they're
(09:42):
distracted by something else.
And the best advice I ever gotwas from a friend. Scott O'Neill
is his name, and he just hadthis saying where he said, Alex,
just learn to be where your feetare. Learn to be where your feet
are. My feet are planted infront of a microphone and a
camera right now with my friendAgi. Be where I am being asked
questions. The best thing I cando is be fully present right
(10:02):
there in that moment, not fivesteps ahead, being like, okay,
he's gonna ask me this, thenthis, then this, and then I
gotta answer that right like,don't do that, just right here.
Just listen really intently withno distraction around you. To
me, that's where the answercomes from, and it's not like a
sound bite, because there's somevery trained media
professionals. They'll come onand you ask them any question,
(10:23):
they will twist it to theirnormal answer, and no offence to
them. They're trained to dothat. But there's not a lot of
self discovery happening. It'salready happened previously. So
for me, I'm always working onthat. I tend to be a little bit
distractible, like it's easy forme to be distracting. That's why
I don't keep my phone in theroom, like my phone is nowhere
around me, because if it goesoff, I'm going to look at it,
and then I might miss the realcore of the question, or the
(10:46):
heart behind it, like, where'sthe emotion from the host? And I
think that just learn the bestway you can communicate is
really, truly listen. And Iguess the best example I can
give of this and Agi, you've hadthis experience, because I've
had some coaches on here andstuff like that over the years,
their job is mostly just tolisten to actually hear what
someone's saying so that theycan respond or let that person
(11:08):
just talk it out themselves.
They're just pushing peoplealong, learning to do that as
someone who really enjoyshearing the sound of my own
voice and talking, which ismaybe a little weird, has been
so helpful I talk less around myfriends now, which is maybe a
weird thing to say, but I'velearned that, you know what,
they've got great things to say.
(11:28):
And I might actually learn if Ijust be quiet and listen a
little bit, learning that levelof communication has just I
can't even express how much it'shelped me. It has changed me as
a person.
Agi Keramidas (11:38):
Me too. I don't what you mean that,
unfortunately, it's very commonthat when two or more people
having a conversation, usuallywhen there is a small gap,
someone jumps in to fill in thatgap with whatever it is, which
you know it's nice not to Bethat person and just allow for
(12:01):
the more natural pace of theconversation. Can I bring it
back? Because we started talkingabout communication or improving
communication, but from thepoint of being a guest or going
as guest on VOCA so I would liketo hear your thoughts on that
particular element of improvingcommunication.
Alex Sanfilippo (12:25):
Yeah, for one of my old podcasts, I used to
interview guests, and I'll flipto me being the guest a moment
here, but the most common thingI heard from people that were a
guest I was interviewing abouttheir book is I kept on saying,
I really wish I would have beenon this podcast before I
finished the book, because youbrought up a good point that I
never thought about, and or theyfeel that they didn't articulate
it well. So flip to being theguest like you said. It
(12:47):
clarifies our message. And thething is, if I'm talking and I
can see you on screen right now,right if I'm saying something,
and I'm trying to learn tocommunicate, well, trying to
make it clear, but you keep onhaving to ask follow up
questions. He's like, Okay, Ithink you're saying this. I'm
guessing you mean this, right?
If you're saying that, and I'mactually listening, like we
said, that's kind of the core ofthis thing, right? The
(13:07):
foundation is that listeningability. I can realise, you know
what, I'm actually maybe notcommunicating this very well
yet, like, there's obviouslyroom for me to grow in this. And
I guess a really funny example Ican give is the first time I
ever went to a conference afterwe had launched pod match. And I
got in this room, there'sprobably a couple 100 people
there. It was after COVID andstuff like that, and people like
(13:30):
so what do you do the firstperson I explained pod match to
Agi, it took me about 10 minutesto explain it. 10 minutes, you
explained it in like fiveseconds, right? And that's
great. And so for me, I was like10 minutes. This thing's only
two hours long. I can't talk tomany more people. More people.
The next person was nineminutes. The next person was
eight minutes, the next personwas seven, so on and so forth.
Until the latter half of theevent, it was taking me, like,
15 seconds to explain it, andpeople were getting it faster.
(13:53):
If you have to say so many wordsto explain something, typically,
it might be an indication thatmaybe you don't have the clarity
yourself of it yet, because ifit takes you that long to
communicate it, it's really hardfor someone to receive that.
Even if they're listening reallyintently they want to, it's
still a lot. But you can say,You know what? This is, what I'm
(14:13):
articulating in as few words aspossible. It only comes with
reps, but people understand it alot better. And for my own
communication skills, I tend toover talk. And I don't mean to
like I talk a lot, but I havelearned to hone it in so so much
and say less words, but say moreof the right words in less time.
And that right there from like,the ability to communicate
really well. It that is, that isa game changer. Use that word
(14:36):
earlier in our conversation likeit is an absolute game changer
to be able to do that, the waythat people receive what you
say, when you can do it thatimmense clarity. It changes
things. It changes the waypeople listen to you, the way
they respond to you and foryourself. Learning it that well,
you have this level ofconfidence. I don't think you
have without that.
Agi Keramidas (14:56):
Confidence is another big topic, and I would.
Park it. Park it for now. AndI'd come back, you know, to what
you were just saying thatinitially took you way much
longer to explain what you weredoing. And then by practising,
practising, it took you much,much less. And you reminded me
(15:17):
of that phrase that says, If youdon't, if you can't explain it
simply. You don't understand itwell enough. And that applies to
even complex topics, which, youknow, the nature of our
business. It's not a complextopic. It should be very easy
to, you know, articulate, shallwe say? So that was the comment
(15:39):
in the communication. And oneother thing that came to my mind
about being part in aconversation and communicating
and listening was the differencebetween listening to understand
and listening to reply. Manypeople, if not most people,
(16:00):
listen to reply and that, Ithink that's where it twists. We
don't have to have the replyradius we do. And I know I'm
going back to the otherdirection again, but
Alex Sanfilippo (16:13):
yeah, I like that. You brought that up in my
personal life, I have peoplethat I'm more acquaintances I
know, and they they listen toreply, and it is, for most of
us, very obvious. When you'rearound that type of person, you
kind of feel like that. You'rejust a shell. They're looking
straight through you, right? Andthey're just like, I just want
to say my next thing. They'renot usually the most relational
(16:35):
people, or they're not the mostsuccessful relationships when it
comes to even friendships intheir lives, right? The person
that listens with the intent ofhearing and understanding,
though, that's the person that Ialways see that's surrounded by
so many people, because everyoneelse knows that that person
actually cares from the veryleast, learning to do that
through podcasting. That's abeautiful thing that you will
(16:55):
take into your romantic andfriendship relationships in a
really big and meaningful way.
I'm glad you brought that up.
Agi. That was a good point.
Agi Keramidas (17:04):
Let's say someone is listening right now, and they
are considering guessing, butthey are perhaps held back
because exactly their message isnot clear enough, or they
consider it not to be clearenough. What would you say to
someone like that,
Alex Sanfilippo (17:23):
I actually think that that's okay. It's
part of the process. It's selfdiscovery. When you can come on
a podcast, if you feel like it'snot quite ready, maybe spend
some time reflecting, take somenotes. But if you wait till
you're ready, you're probablynever gonna do it. It took me
nine months to launch mypodcast, not because I didn't
know how to do it, but because II kept on wanting to be perfect
(17:46):
or better, right? I think thatso many of us get stuck in that.
And the reality is, if I go backto my previous podcast before,
the one I have now, my podcastnow is about podcasting, because
it's really all I do. But myprevious one was about
entrepreneurship. I brought aguy on. It was his first time
ever on a podcast. He'd neverdone anything media related.
Media related ever, and it wasone of my most popular episodes
(18:06):
ever. And when people emailed inor message in, they kept on
saying this one just felt reallyreal. It felt really raw. I
could tell that person had neverbeen asked any of these
questions before. Didn't reallyknow how to answer them well,
but knew his craft really well.
Knew who he was really well. Andso again, I think that if you
feel that you're not ready, goback to the drawing board for
yourself, right? Who am I? Whatdo I believe? What do I really
(18:29):
know that could serve somebodyelse and then just show up, put
yourself out there. The reasonpeople really liked that episode
so much is because it felt likejust another human being
talking, which often is betterthan someone who has been there,
done it all, and is perfect,because that's so far from all
of us, right? Like, how far arewe from that? And so, you know,
I actually think of your podcastcover art, Agi, which I really
(18:53):
love. It's somebody pushing arot like a boulder up a hill,
right? If there's someone at thetop of the hill yelling at you.
Here's how you get to the top. Ialready got mine up here. That
can be a little bit helpful. Butwhat's more helpful is someone
coming right beside you andhelping you push it, saying,
Hey, I've never been to the top,but I can tell you that both of
us to meet together be easier. Ifind that the podcast guests
that show up really raw andmaybe don't have it all dialled
(19:14):
in yet, or the ones that arehelping push that rock right
next to somebody else.
Agi Keramidas (19:20):
Thank you for this answer. I think that is for
the person who needed to hearthis. It's very good. Straight
to the point. Let's bring ittowards the self discovery
element, because that is,indeed, I believe, apart from
(19:40):
the communication, of course, isa big part of it. But when you
are knowing yourself better,that is, I believe, a benefit
that for many comes unexpected.
I know, and you were saying ittook you a while to realise it.
It didn't come in the beginning.
I realised that some. Pointthat, Oh, my God, this person
(20:03):
I've never been asked thisbefore, I have to articulate my
thoughts, and that was myexperience of self discovery in
the sense that I have toarticulate some thoughts which I
never had before, apart from myhead. And you know, the sound of
(20:24):
language inside the mind is verydifferent than the actual sound.
It is quite distorted up there.
So when you speak it out, it is,in a way, revealing, I think,
revealing about what it isinside that you have and you
bring it out, I have sometimessurprised myself. Oh, okay, I
(20:45):
never said anything like thatbefore. So this is my, let's
say, introduction to the selfdiscovery element of being a
guest at podcasts. You know,
Alex Sanfilippo (21:00):
you shared a little about this. I'm not gonna
call it a specific time, but I'mgonna call out two specific
episodes of your Show, Episode500 and episode 501 and I
encourage everybody, if you'venot heard those yet, finish this
one, but then look up episode500 and 501 I think you'll
really get a lot out of that.
You'll hear more of of what Agihas learned and what's been
taken from this show. But whatyou really said there was key,
the one word that stood out tome. Stood out to me is
(21:22):
revealing. Revealing is to methe perfect description of of
what we're talking about here. Ihave said some things as a guest
on a podcast that when I saidit, I was like, I should write
that down. And it's not becauseI was I was lying or making
things up on the spot. It's justI had never articulated that
way, and it actually clicked forme, oh, that is what I'm doing.
(21:45):
But I never figured out how tosay it, really, until this
moment when somebody asked me ina really unique way. And I know
we already talked aboutlistening being the
foundationist thing, but itmatters so much, because when
someone asks you a question thatno one else has ever asked you,
even if it's kind of the samequestion, just in its own unique
way that might be, what finallyreveals to you how to answer it
correctly. And so for me,figuring out how to answer these
(22:10):
things correctly is has beenlike that, that deep moment
where you're like, Okay, Iactually I need to write this
down. Like I need to now thinkabout this. And for me, like I
don't, I don't. Right afterthis, this interview is over
when we're done recording. Idon't have anything booked after
this, because what I've learnedto do is leave some space for me
to then go self reflect on it,to write it down like there's
gonna be something from thisconversation that I learn and
(22:30):
grow from. If I just put thingsback to back to back to back, I
lose that opportunity. It getsdiluted throughout the day,
right? So if I'm like, Okay,thanks for having me on. I gotta
go. And I jumped straight in mynext meeting. I'm now going now
going to probably forget some ofthose moments, and while they're
fresh, it's great to leave thatspace. Plus, if we have a great
conversation, want to talklonger we can, right? So you
want to leave that space I'm notthinking about we got to hurry
(22:52):
this up, but also leaving thatroom to say, okay, Alex, you
shared a few things in thereyou've never, never mentioned
before. Why did that come up?
What kind of made this sparkhappen inside of you? And for
me, I want to make sure that Ireally honour those moments, and
I'm a firm believer in havingpen and paper handy, even in
business and life. Have ithandy, because when you write it
(23:14):
down, it does something it Idon't. I'm not like a
neuroscientist or anything likethat, but I know it starts to
reprogram the waves in your minda little bit when you start
writing things down. So thingsdown. So I think that as things
are revealed to you, as you'recommunicating, write them down,
leave that space. You'll come upto your next interview or your
next conversation, more awarethat self discovery really
(23:34):
begins in that moment.
Agi Keramidas (23:37):
Now I realise that from your from what you
just said, now that this is veryimportant task, shall we say?
That is or opportunity. Forgetabout the task, because it
sounds like it is something thatyou have to do an opportunity to
assess or to reflect on theconversation or what happened,
(24:01):
and reflecting on a call or anexperience after it has
happened, or reflecting at theend of your day about today, it
is really an essential habit.
What was the phrase that thelife worth living is a life
worth documenting. So I thinkthat is also in a way you're
(24:22):
documenting when you write down.
It doesn't have to be somethingmagnificent, but something that
you learned or could do better,or reflection. Reflection brings
lot of self awareness when youreflect.
Alex Sanfilippo (24:41):
I really like that quote. I never heard that
one before that. That's good.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna, that's onethat I'll go right down to that
point. You know, I actually, ifit's okay. I had a question just
given what you do, had aquestion for you on this topic,
if, if that's all right. I
Agi Keramidas (24:54):
was afraid that this,
Alex Sanfilippo (24:58):
well, I just, I think that so many. Of us, we're
we're not really confident inwhat we want to share yet, and
not that we're scared to talk oranything like that, but like
what we what we feel convictedabout talking about, or our own
personal life, like we're notready to open that up yet. And
opening up and learning to dothat is really big on our own
(25:18):
personal development,development mastery, right? Is
like that. That journey requireswe open up, that we overcome
that fear. You've had all kindsof get kinds of guests on here,
and you've been a guest on, Idon't even know how many shows
yourself. What are your thoughtsto somebody who's like, okay, I
can share it. I think I'm ready,but I am terrified to open up
that box. What are people goingto think? What are they going to
say? What if I cry? Right? Like,what do you say to someone who's
(25:41):
in that space? Because, again,you've seen it on both sides of
the microphone, I'm sure. Thank
Agi Keramidas (25:45):
you for bringing this up. And you didn't say the
word, but the word that came tomy mind when you were describing
that was vulnerability and beingthat. It certainly is. I mean
being vulnerable and sharingopenly about yourself, of
course, to the extent that iscomfortable, appropriate, you
(26:10):
know, all those things, but itis a necessary element in
personal growth. By expressingthat because, you know, our main
I believe reason for not wantingor being or hesitating to do
that is the fear of judgementfrom others. What if they don't
(26:33):
like it? What if I don't say theright thing? What if I whatever,
whatever else fear might comeup. And I think by actually
getting over that and startingto be vulnerable and share to
some extent, to the extent thatyou want to share, but some
(26:55):
things that some people mighttake it in a way that you know
could be the not the way thatyou want them to so what it is a
very good, good lesson and pathand and journey to becoming more
(27:16):
confident, becoming betterbecause at the very end, what's
important is you are sharingsomething about yourself. Could
be an event, could be a belief,an aspiration, a fear. Usually
it is, I think, the fears andthe aspirations that we're very
reluctant to serve for differentreasons. So yeah, for a moment
(27:42):
there, Alex, I felt like I was aguest on my own vulnerability.
That is
Alex Sanfilippo (27:50):
the word.
That's exactly it, you know, andit made me think of a time when
I was on a podcast and I criedon the podcast, and I'm not
usually one to do that, like Ihappen to be a follower of
Jesus, and like I shared mystory of hitting rock bottom and
finding Jesus for the firsttime, and I just started crying
on the podcast, and I couldn't Icouldn't help it. It was a very
(28:13):
vulnerable moment for me,because I'm not much of a crier.
Anyway, I don't really hold backtears, but I don't feel the need
to cry much, if that makessense, but I realised that what
I was doing was being justcompletely raw from a
transparency level, and I justwas willing to put myself on the
line. And that level of comfortjust kind of gave me the the
space to be able to to actuallyhave that moment where, like,
(28:35):
this raw emotion just came up.
And I know I'm using the wordraw a lot, but that's, that's
what it came down to. So for me,it was like I was willing to be
transparent. I was and I had awillingness to put myself on the
line, like I was sharing what Ibelieved, even though many
people don't share that belief.
I was like, You know what? Thisis me, and it it helped me grow
in my confidence. Thatvulnerability helped me grow in
my confidence as a communicator,as as a man, as a person, right?
(29:01):
Like, it just helped me reallycross this line that I feel that
I never crossed before. And itwas on a random podcast where we
were probably talking aboutpodcasting for the most part,
right? But this topic came upand and to this day I can set to
be a gift like that was reallyan opportunity for me to again
share that vulnerability whichcaused me to grow in my
confidence.
Agi Keramidas (29:22):
Thank you for sharing that. And I think that
the we might think, or one mightthink, that if you start crying
without expecting it, or on a onpodcast recording, that might be
a bad thing. However, I thinkthat is very much relatable. So
(29:43):
how many of us, if we seesomeone you know well enough
when they speak about something,I think I would personally pay
more attention to this, becausethere is emotion there involved.
So that is much more compellingthan someone you know speaking
when. Without that element. Soit is. You know, there is so
(30:05):
much conditioning that's notright to cry, or what would
people say, or this or that. Butas you said, on the other side
of it, there was confidence. Andwhat is more important benefit
out of all that, and it's veryit's important the confidence
and the relatability that youhave with people when you are
(30:30):
being vulnerable, because peoplealso have cried, people also
they can relate with that ratherthan, you know, a polished
version in immaculate speech, orwhatever else might be so and
personally, I'm on my own. Youknow, don't think that I am
(30:52):
comfortable to speak aboutanything yet, but. But you know,
the more I do it, and the moreI'm asked questions that I was
unprepared for. With this, it ishappening.
Alex Sanfilippo (31:05):
It's all a journey, right? Like it really
is, and I think that that's tome, the beauty of being a guest
on a podcast is it's a journeylike you're growing and
learning, like we're not waitingfor a destination that we've
arrived at before we get on apodcast. Some of my most
impactful podcasts when I didn'tknow the answers to things
because I hadn't done it yet forme, like I talk about my
(31:26):
business sometimes on shows, andI don't know what I don't know
yet. And we're not like thebiggest company in the world,
and I'm figuring things outevery day, but like being in it,
being in the trenches and beingwilling to share that
vulnerability, once again, thatdoes two things. One, it shows
someone a case person's human.
He's on a journey, just like me.
Journey just like me. He mightbe a step or two further. That
can help me, right? You can helpme roll this, this, this giant
(31:47):
boulder up the hill, becausehe's right there with me. But
two, it also sometimes I findthe answer, right? The thing
I've been struggling with in myown head, when someone asks me a
question, we already top ofthis, but like I start finding
that and that, once again, thatis self discovery at the finest.
It's you're kind of like a coachright now, and I'm kind of the
person that you're coaching inthis moment. You're asking me
questions that no one else hasever asked me today, Agi, so I
(32:09):
am answering them the best Iknow how to. That's like you
being a coach and me being theperson who is getting coaching,
the person who's gettingtherapy, right like I'm in that
seat right now. It's a gift tobe here, and I think that's what
I want to encourage people tothink about. The hidden value of
podcast guesting is, yes, youlearn to communicate really
well. That's super helpful. Butthe self discovery piece, it's
worth its weight in gold, evenif no one ever listens this
(32:31):
episode, which I know is not thecase for your podcast, Agi, but
let's just say it never goesanywhere. It's just you and me
here. This was worth its weightin gold.
Agi Keramidas (32:40):
I agree. I agree very much. Can you talk about,
since we're talking about thisparticular a moment, that you,
Alex, as a guest, being a guest,you were asked something that
taught you something verysurprising about yourself.
Alex Sanfilippo (32:59):
Yeah, the when I first got started, I
definitely dealt with some dealtwith some imposter syndrome,
because I thought I needed tohave all the answers. And I went
on a podcast I really had nobusiness being on. It wasn't the
right fit for me to be on, butthe person was asking very, very
deep questions, kept on askingthem. And I did my this sounds
bad. I did my best to make upanswers I can come up with, and
(33:19):
I was very new at this. I regretanswering things not fully
truthfully, right? But thequestion started getting so
intimidating and so tough. Itwas also a live show, by the
way, so it was streamed live tothe audience, so it was a
different level of this is myfirst time doing that, and he
asked me a question. I don'trecall the question exactly
which, it's not reallyimportant. What was important
(33:41):
was my answer in that moment,which was this a long pause, I
don't actually know the answerto that. He's like, you want to
take a stab at it. And I waslike, I don't know. I have no
idea what to say. And that wasmy answer. And we end up
wrapping up the conversation alittle bit later, and I kind of
felt bad, like I was like, Man,I couldn't answer that question.
(34:04):
Like, man, Alex, come on. Like,you gotta be better on your feet
than that, right? But after theconversation, we cancel, shut
down the live side of it, and itwas just me and him in the room,
and he goes, Man, I have to tellyou, I respect you so much. I
was like, okay, like I didn'tknow to say. He goes, when you
said, I don't know the answerand I have no idea what to say.
He's like, no one has everanswered a question on this
(34:26):
podcast that way. And he goes, Iknow people are not telling the
truth when they're answeringsome of these questions. He
goes, and that's okay. He goes,but the fact that you just owned
it said so much about you. Andso for me, to this day, I still
look back. I shouldn't have beenon that podcast in the first
place. I had no business beingthere, but I did learn that, you
know what, it's okay. When Idon't have the answer. And
instead of trying to BS my waythrough it, I'm just going to
(34:46):
openly say I don't know. I'm notsure. I don't know how to answer
that. And that is perfectly fineto be able to do, if anything,
it shows a level of confidencein what you do know when you say
I don't know about that, so Ican't comment on it. So that for
me, has been very much sofreeing. It kind of freed me
from that idea of impostersyndrome, thinking I had to have
all the answers to be worthy ofbeing on a platform.
Agi Keramidas (35:10):
It's very useful.
I agree with you that sometimeswe say, well, I don't know or
and it's very useful forimposter us, for I'm bringing it
back to something for someonethat might be fearful about
being vulnerable. Actually, Iwill leave that because it is
irrelevant. So one thing, and Iwill mention that, which is
(35:33):
digress, sometimes I have them,and it comes with experience
with a conversation, I have asense of whether it's going in a
way that it shouldn't go, and Ihave the tendency to bring
myself back while speaking it.
So I hope it doesn't sound veryweird, but it just happened now
(35:58):
I was about to go somewhere, andno, see, that's part
Alex Sanfilippo (36:01):
of being a good communicator. That's what you've
learned through podcasting. Yougotta pivot in real time. And by
the way, I gotta say, like beinga guest is great, being a host
is really great, as well being ahost, though I find to be really
tough, because you have tolisten to my answer. But also
think about the people that aregoing to be listening at the
same time, making sure it'sgonna be valuable for them. And
you have to course correct. Icannot tell much respect to have
for you doing over 500 episodes.
I know you're still just gettingstarted, but, man, it's so much
(36:27):
more work. So a round ofapplause for Agi everybody. It's
a lot. But anyway, I respectseeing you process in real time
and pivoting. That's a greatcommunication
Agi Keramidas (36:36):
skill. It's also, you know, vulnerability in this
sense, because it is, in a way,it is a mistake. You one could
say, or, you know, it is notpolished, or I could have
avoided it altogether, but itis, it happened as part of one
to one conversation betweenhumans. So I think it is
(36:58):
relatable, as I was sayingearlier. We are all. We all make
mistakes, simple ones, or, youknow, we forget what we're about
to say next, or whatever thishappens. I will ask you, Alex,
as we're going to start wrappingthings up little by little,
(37:20):
let's direct again, the next, atleast the next comment to
someone listening to thisconversation, a busy
professional, all right, thathas been intrigued by this
conversation and realising thatthere is more to go In as guest
podcasts than what had thoughtbefore. What's one? Let's say
(37:44):
simple, actionable step onecould take listening to this to
progress with it, the journey.
We use this word journey in thelike. So the first thing
Alex Sanfilippo (37:56):
I'll share, we've kind of already talked
about this point a little bit,so I'll give two things, if
that's okay. But of course, penand paper matters. Sit down.
Think about what it is that youwant to talk about. And yes, it
can be your business, but youwant to, you want to have your
journey inside of it, becausejust talking about business,
that's what advertising is for,right? Like there needs to be a
personal touch. It needs tocontain you. Pen and paper.
(38:19):
Writing that down is the bestway to kind of discover how
those things have parallels, andwhere you can kind of bring it
all together. You don't need tomap out exactly what you're
going to say, but know theapproach. Because I will say
this, there are a lot ofpodcasts out there, and they're
not all going to be the rightfit. And if you don't do that
first, you might start jumpingon every show that will have
you, and there will be a lot ofthem that will have you, but you
might realise that, like, Man,I'm not really growing or
(38:40):
developing in any properdirection. Because we're talking
about golf, we're talking aboutparenting, we're talking about
business, we're talking aboutskiing, right? Like, it could be
all kinds of things, and it'sjust like, Okay, what am I doing
here? We never want to be theperson that's running aimlessly.
We want to make sure that we'reon target, we're heading in the
right direction. Yes, you pivot,you course correct on the way.
But that's the very first thingI think that matters. Once
(39:00):
you've done that, it's all aboutdoing the outreach. You can't
just be like, I'm ready to be aguest on a podcast and sit
around you need to start doingthe outreach. Then, by the out,
the best way I've found peopledo outreach is just make it
human to human. Listen, I loveAIS and stuff like that, and
they have their uses. But like,if you're gonna reach out to be
a guest on a podcast, mentionedlike, Hey, I love what you're
(39:22):
doing. It aligns with what who Ithink I'm able to serve as well.
I'd love to share this message,because I think it would help
benefit some people. I'm nervousmyself, right? You can even say
that, but I think this isn'treally helpful. So I'm stepping
up to do it if you share in areally, really human way, and
not being like, here's all theachievements I've done, here's
all this. It makes such adifference, because what I find
is the good podcast host,they're looking for a human to
(39:44):
have a conversation with, and ifyou open up with a robot or
something that feels robotic,versus just you being raw, like
we've talked about, you aregoing to diminish your chances.
But I always tell people, youhave to be willing to do some
outreach if you want to be aguest. So first. Figure out the
right lane of shows and thenstart doing the outreach.
Agi Keramidas (40:05):
That's good.
Thank you for the double, of
Alex Sanfilippo (40:09):
course. Thank you for allowing me to share
too. Sure,
Agi Keramidas (40:12):
why not? You can add a third one. If I'm good, if
you have
Alex Sanfilippo (40:15):
a third one, go for it. If not, we're okay.
Agi Keramidas (40:18):
No, no, I'm good also, since we had this
conversation, Alex aboutparticularly them, the benefit
of, you know, being asked thesekinds of questions that at least
the insightful hosts on the hostthat do the podcast in a certain
(40:41):
way, this is very, very usefuland very we used the word
revealing earlier, and it canbring about a lot of awareness
or self discovery, As we weresaying. So I think with that,
(41:02):
I'm connecting it to also podmatch as a way, ideal way I will
add, from my point of view, toget out there and become
instantly visible to I don'tknow how many, I don't remember
how many 1000s of podcasts thereare there, but
Alex Sanfilippo (41:23):
I don't know either, so let's go 1000s. Thank
you,
Agi Keramidas (41:29):
Alex. As we start wrapping this up to questions,
which I always ask, and thefirst one is, what does personal
development mean to you?
Alex Sanfilippo (41:42):
Yeah, personal development, to me, is extremely
inwardly focused. It's, it'swhat happens when you're alone
with no distraction, no screen.
Perhaps you are doing somethingthat you love, like, for me,
it's going on a walk, andspecifically a way, I live in a
city, so it's away from thecity, like that's that's what
personal development means tome, is when I'm there and I'm
listening to myself. And I wasscared of that for years, by the
(42:10):
way, like getting alone,listening, being silent, where
personal development happens. Iwas terrified that because I
didn't want to know who Iactually was. I liked wearing a
mask of who I thought otherpeople wanted me to be. That's
not personal development. That'sbuilding up a wall between you
and who you actually are. Forme, personal development is that
time alone and where you justlistening to your thoughts and
you're letting it position whoyou become in the future.
Agi Keramidas (42:31):
Thank you. And hypothetically, if you could go
back in time and meet your 18year old self, what's one piece
of advice you would give him
Alex Sanfilippo (42:42):
after punching him in the face, because that
would be step one. I knoweveryone wants to say that,
right? Like that would be it. Iwould say. I'd use a quote from
Proverbs actually out of theBible, and it says, an
inheritance gain and haste won'tbe blessed in the end. And I
think 18 year old Alex needed tohear that, to be patient, to
slow down, to be willing to letthe journey take effect, to
(43:03):
build the proper muscle that youneed to receive what you
eventually want to get. I neededthat as an 18 year old because I
was very, very ambitious, butnot willing to wait. You are
patient now, then I'm working on
Agi Keramidas (43:17):
it. I'm asking because I'm past my 50 now, and
I'm still working on mypatience. It seems like it is
the theme of my life. Patience,
Alex Sanfilippo (43:27):
yep, patience.
It's a virtue. It's something Ithink it's a lifelong journey to
learn, right? And that's thebeauty of our personal and self
development, right? Is that isthat it can be a journey. So
Agi Keramidas (43:39):
thank you, Alex.
I will, before I close, I willrefer, and actually you can also
add your thoughts on it, becausewe have been talking about going
as guests, and I will certainlybridge it to podmats, because it
is how we connected, and all theother things that we mentioned
earlier. So I will invitesomeone listening now to if they
(44:04):
are interested, to cultivate theself awareness via going as
guests, to go to personaldevelopment mastery
podcast.com/guest and there youwill also see my the profile of
my podcast, and actually was inAlex. And please also say it
(44:28):
after me that I was thinking ofhaving some conversations, some
interviews with listeners of thepodcast. And I think that would
be a very interesting prospect,so I blended a lot of there in
one short thing. So that is forme, you know, pretty much my
(44:53):
start of the conclusion fortoday.
Alex Sanfilippo (44:59):
Alex. I think that I like that a lot. I've
never heard of another hostdoing this before, but, like, we
just talked about the hiddenvalue of being a podcast guest,
and then you said, and here's away you can actually do it, like
personal development masterypodcast.com/guest, listen if
you're hearing this and you'relike, I might have something to
share. Do it the very least.
Agi. And you might decide maybenot, but it's probably gonna be,
(45:21):
yeah, let's do it. And I lovewhen I hear a podcast having
their listeners on. It doesn'tneed to be every episode, but
doing that, I think, builds sucha great connection. They listen
people that they're hearingthis. They're here because they
like you, right? Agi, hopefullythey like you. That's why
they're here. Hopefully they'rehere because you've developed
some sort of trust with them.
Yes, for you, the listener, thisis going to be a safe space for
you. If you're like, I want toget started with this. This
(45:42):
might be a really great groundfor you to get started. So I
love that you shared that asour, as our, like, call to
action at the end of this thing.
I think it's absolutelybrilliant, and it's gonna, it's
gonna fast track somebody'spersonal development mastery
journey. And I'm excited aboutthat,
Agi Keramidas (45:56):
Alex, I want to thank you very much for this
conversation today, I want towish you from my heart the very
best with continuing yourmission of helping podcasters
like myself and 1000s of others,I will leave it to you for
(46:17):
parting words and any finalmessage to the listeners, yeah,
Alex Sanfilippo (46:21):
and Agi, thank you again for having me.
the last thing I say,Seriously, this was just this
was a blast. It was so great tobe here, and I really respect
you as a host. The last thingI'll say to listeners, I'll
leave you with this, is thateach of us has greatness and
creativity within ourselves. Youhave greatness and creativity
within yourself. I believe we'reall created beings. And as
created beings, we are createdto go and create ourselves and
(46:42):
to continue moving that forward.
And I think that when weposition ourselves from a
personal development standpoint,and we step into our full
selves, we create so muchbetter, and that's ultimately
what changes the world makes abetter place. And so I encourage
you, get out there, step intoyour greatness, and get out
there and start creating thingsthat really serve the world.
Agi Keramidas (47:03):
Thank you for listening to this conversation
with Alex and Filippo. I hope ithas given you a fresh
perspective on what it means tobe a podcast guest, as well as
offering exposure andvisibility, stepping behind the
mic provides a rich opportunityfor growth, for clarity and for
(47:26):
self discovery. If you've everconsidered sharing your message,
or if you simply want to explorewhat you might learn about
yourself in the process, Iinvite you to take that next
step, you will find a link inthe show notes to join me as a
guest on the podcast, and Iwould love to hear your story
(47:53):
until next time, keep growingand keep showing up as your
authentic self.
What if the most powerful personal growth tool
isn't found in books orseminars, but in being a guest
on a podcast, welcome toPersonal Development mastery,
the podcast that helpsintelligent, busy professionals
develop self mastery and gainclarity so you can thrive in a
(00:23):
fulfilling, purposeful life. I'myour host, Agi Keramidas, and
this is episode 510If you are looking to expand
your impact and grow on a deeperlevel, this conversation with
the founder of PodMatch, AlexSanfilippo explores how going as
a guest to podcasts can become apowerful tool for personal
(00:46):
growth. By listening to thisepisode, you are going to
discover how guesting onpodcasts sharpens your
communication and listeningskills. You will also understand
why vulnerability andimperfection are assets and not
liabilities in building trustwith an audience, and you will
(01:10):
hear how real time reflectionduring podcast interviews can
lead to profound self discoveryand personal clarity. If you are
seeking authentic personalgrowth through meaningful
conversations, then this episodeis for you.
(01:34):
And one more thing — stay with me until the end of the episode. There is a unique and possibly unexpected invitation that might be just what you need for your next step forward! Now let's dive into the conversation!
(02:12):
Today's guest is someone who I'mreally excited and honoured to
have on the show, AlexSanfilippo, Alex, you are a
podcaster and the founder ofpodmats, which is a platform
that automatically matchespodcast guests and hosts for
interviews. You are passionateabout helping independent
(02:35):
podcasters grow their influenceand revenue so that they can
better serve their listeners.
Alex, welcome. I am delighted tohave you with me here today.
Alex Sanfilippo (02:47):
Agi, thank you so so much for having me listen.
The honours all mine. I'm justhappy to be here. I love the way
that you've shown up for the podmatch community, and just the
way you show up as a podcasteras well. At time recording more
recently, you passed 500episodes. But listen, I know
you're just getting started, soagain, thank you for what you
do, and thank you for having mehere. It's
Agi Keramidas (03:06):
truly an honour.
It is. The feeling is mutual. Sothis is a great to start with
today's conversation. Or what Iwould like to focus the
conversation is on the benefitsof going as guest on podcasts,
however, not the, let's sayobvious benefits that you gain
(03:29):
visibility businessopportunities or these things
more the, let's say personaldevelopment elements of going as
guests to podcasts. I will, Iwill leave that aside for the
moment and what I want to say.
(03:51):
And I will start thisconversation with Alex. And you
know, also for transparency,because we mentioned podmats, I
have been personally usingformats for two and a half years
now. And you know, the onlything I will say it's been a
game changer for personaldevelopment mastery, but also a
(04:14):
game changer for my own growth.
And I'm sure we will discussabout this later on. So what you
may not know, Alex is also thatyou have been one of my greatest
mentors throughout this journey.
So I'm simply starting thisconversation with a Hartford.
(04:34):
Thank you, and I will leave itto that really, but I wanted to
share it because it is true. Andthank you very much,
Alex Sanfilippo (04:43):
man, that means so so much to hear. So I just, I
will just say thank you.
Seriously, so excited to be heretoday, and I love that we're
talking about podcast guestingfrom a more non conventional
approach when it comes to theresults from it. So I just
that's, that's a gift to get tobe here to talk about this. So.
Again, just honoured, happy tobe here, and thank you for the
kind words like making my daybefore we even get started.
Agi Keramidas (05:08):
Thank you. And I will start with something that
you wrote, and you were talkingabout the hidden that's how you
call it, the hidden value ofpodcast guesting. So let's talk
about this hidden value that youcall of podcast guesting, and
there were two elements in that,one was communication, and the
(05:29):
other was self discovery. Solet's pick each of them and
break it down and see how thishappens. And we can start with
either of the two. But let'sstart however. You want to
start, Alex, I think I've spokentoo much more than I usually do
on my introduction.
Alex Sanfilippo (05:48):
You know, I immediately think I love that
we're gonna talk about these twothings. And again, this is truly
a gift to be able to talk aboutbecause, yes, the obvious
things, it grows your businessgives you more influence. Like
all those things, they aregreat. Everyone wants to talk
about those. But the reality isthat hidden value side, as you
mentioned, I think, is theactual, real benefit of it. And
I'll just quickly share a shortstory to kind of kick us off.
(06:09):
And I was recently on a hikewith my wife and another couple.
And I say a hike. I live inJacksonville, Florida. It's as
flat as can be. We call ithiking when we just go on a
trail. So we were quote, unquotehiking. So we're walking. And my
friend's wife, I know him reallywell. I don't know her nearly as
well. She's one of my wife,Alicia's friends, but she said,
(06:32):
Alex, I've never met anyone whoasks questions the way that you
do. She's like the way you askquestions make me think in such
a unique way. And like I and allthree of them agreed. And at the
time, I wasn't saying, I'm notsaying this to sound pride or
anything like that, but at thatmoment, I just said, Hey,
listen. Like, I don't wannareally take credit for that.
I've been asked these questionsby podcast hosts that led me to
(06:53):
learn to communicate my answerand also have some element of
self discovery that actuallychanged my life. And so I was
like, so I just am mimicking thequestions I've heard great
people ask me and so, and theywere kind of like, okay,
whatever. Alex, right, you know?
But the reality is, that's thetruth of it is people like, wow,
Alex asked really greatquestions. He can also answer
questions in really unique ways,and it's because of this medium.
(07:17):
And so I shared that story justbecause I think that that's,
that's that hidden value, like,it's what we learn in the
process. Now, Agi, you and Iboth admitted to this
beforehand, before hit record,but we didn't know this from day
one, like we didn't get intothis saying, I know the hidden
value. It took me, like, 300episodes to realise that. I
don't know how long it took you,I'm guessing, not as long
something like that. Okay, itjust took a little bit. So for
me, if you're hearing this, andyou've never thought about
(07:40):
guesting, and maybe you don'teven know the more obvious
benefits of it, but you'rehearing this, this is something
that's gonna be really specialfor you to discover now, because
it is going to fast track yourpersonal development, personal
personal mastery, like all thosethings, get fast tracked when
you step into this lane whereyou start communicating. So Agi,
I'll turn back over to you. Idon't mean to take over, like as
(08:02):
a host, but communication, Ithink is a good place to start.
I don't know if you have aquestion or you want to give an
idea around that, but I thinkthat'd be a good place for us to
Agi Keramidas (08:09):
jump into. It's a great place to start with
communication. And I will, frommy own personal experience, I
will simply add that mycommunication is so much
improved over these years that Ihave been doing the podcast and
going as guest on other podcastsand interviewing people, and
(08:30):
that, to a large extent,happened because I listen
better. I think it starts, youknow, it's you were saying about
asking questions the way thatyou ask questions, and the
impactful questions come fromdirectly paying attention and
(08:50):
listening carefully. You know,it is a this is a skill, for
sure. I have learned to do that,so that is really my comment on
what you said, it begins withlistening carefully, and then
the question comes, shall wesay? You don't I don't know if
(09:11):
that is your experience. I don'tnecessarily have to think about
the questions. The questioncomes to me more that's the best
way I can describe it,
Alex Sanfilippo (09:22):
yeah, for me on the communication side,
especially as a guest, listeningis absolutely key. And that
sounds very obvious, right? Likewhen you and I say that to
people, but the reality is, mostpeople aren't listening. They've
got their phone right next tothem. Maybe they've got their
notes in front of them, sothey're reading their notes,
thinking about what's the nextthing I'm going to say, they're
(09:42):
distracted by something else.
And the best advice I ever gotwas from a friend. Scott O'Neill
is his name, and he just hadthis saying where he said, Alex,
just learn to be where your feetare. Learn to be where your feet
are. My feet are planted infront of a microphone and a
camera right now with my friendAgi. Be where I am being asked
questions. The best thing I cando is be fully present right
(10:02):
there in that moment, not fivesteps ahead, being like, okay,
he's gonna ask me this, thenthis, then this, and then I
gotta answer that right like,don't do that, just right here.
Just listen really intently withno distraction around you. To
me, that's where the answercomes from, and it's not like a
sound bite, because there's somevery trained media
professionals. They'll come onand you ask them any question,
(10:23):
they will twist it to theirnormal answer, and no offence to
them. They're trained to dothat. But there's not a lot of
self discovery happening. It'salready happened previously. So
for me, I'm always working onthat. I tend to be a little bit
distractible, like it's easy forme to be distracting. That's why
I don't keep my phone in theroom, like my phone is nowhere
around me, because if it goesoff, I'm going to look at it,
and then I might miss the realcore of the question, or the
(10:46):
heart behind it, like, where'sthe emotion from the host? And I
think that just learn the bestway you can communicate is
really, truly listen. And Iguess the best example I can
give of this and Agi, you've hadthis experience, because I've
had some coaches on here andstuff like that over the years,
their job is mostly just tolisten to actually hear what
someone's saying so that theycan respond or let that person
(11:08):
just talk it out themselves.
They're just pushing peoplealong, learning to do that as
someone who really enjoyshearing the sound of my own
voice and talking, which ismaybe a little weird, has been
so helpful I talk less around myfriends now, which is maybe a
weird thing to say, but I'velearned that, you know what,
they've got great things to say.
(11:28):
And I might actually learn if Ijust be quiet and listen a
little bit, learning that levelof communication has just I
can't even express how much it'shelped me. It has changed me as
a person.
Agi Keramidas (11:38):
Me too. I don't what you mean that,
unfortunately, it's very commonthat when two or more people
having a conversation, usuallywhen there is a small gap,
someone jumps in to fill in thatgap with whatever it is, which
you know it's nice not to Bethat person and just allow for
(12:01):
the more natural pace of theconversation. Can I bring it
back? Because we started talkingabout communication or improving
communication, but from thepoint of being a guest or going
as guest on VOCA so I would liketo hear your thoughts on that
particular element of improvingcommunication.
Alex Sanfilippo (12:25):
Yeah, for one of my old podcasts, I used to
interview guests, and I'll flipto me being the guest a moment
here, but the most common thingI heard from people that were a
guest I was interviewing abouttheir book is I kept on saying,
I really wish I would have beenon this podcast before I
finished the book, because youbrought up a good point that I
never thought about, and or theyfeel that they didn't articulate
it well. So flip to being theguest like you said. It
(12:47):
clarifies our message. And thething is, if I'm talking and I
can see you on screen right now,right if I'm saying something,
and I'm trying to learn tocommunicate, well, trying to
make it clear, but you keep onhaving to ask follow up
questions. He's like, Okay, Ithink you're saying this. I'm
guessing you mean this, right?
If you're saying that, and I'mactually listening, like we
said, that's kind of the core ofthis thing, right? The
(13:07):
foundation is that listeningability. I can realise, you know
what, I'm actually maybe notcommunicating this very well
yet, like, there's obviouslyroom for me to grow in this. And
I guess a really funny example Ican give is the first time I
ever went to a conference afterwe had launched pod match. And I
got in this room, there'sprobably a couple 100 people
there. It was after COVID andstuff like that, and people like
(13:30):
so what do you do the firstperson I explained pod match to
Agi, it took me about 10 minutesto explain it. 10 minutes, you
explained it in like fiveseconds, right? And that's
great. And so for me, I was like10 minutes. This thing's only
two hours long. I can't talk tomany more people. More people.
The next person was nineminutes. The next person was
eight minutes, the next personwas seven, so on and so forth.
Until the latter half of theevent, it was taking me, like,
15 seconds to explain it, andpeople were getting it faster.
(13:53):
If you have to say so many wordsto explain something, typically,
it might be an indication thatmaybe you don't have the clarity
yourself of it yet, because ifit takes you that long to
communicate it, it's really hardfor someone to receive that.
Even if they're listening reallyintently they want to, it's
still a lot. But you can say,You know what? This is, what I'm
(14:13):
articulating in as few words aspossible. It only comes with
reps, but people understand it alot better. And for my own
communication skills, I tend toover talk. And I don't mean to
like I talk a lot, but I havelearned to hone it in so so much
and say less words, but say moreof the right words in less time.
And that right there from like,the ability to communicate
really well. It that is, that isa game changer. Use that word
(14:36):
earlier in our conversation likeit is an absolute game changer
to be able to do that, the waythat people receive what you
say, when you can do it thatimmense clarity. It changes
things. It changes the waypeople listen to you, the way
they respond to you and foryourself. Learning it that well,
you have this level ofconfidence. I don't think you
have without that.
Agi Keramidas (14:56):
Confidence is another big topic, and I would.
Park it. Park it for now. AndI'd come back, you know, to what
you were just saying thatinitially took you way much
longer to explain what you weredoing. And then by practising,
practising, it took you much,much less. And you reminded me
(15:17):
of that phrase that says, If youdon't, if you can't explain it
simply. You don't understand itwell enough. And that applies to
even complex topics, which, youknow, the nature of our
business. It's not a complextopic. It should be very easy
to, you know, articulate, shallwe say? So that was the comment
(15:39):
in the communication. And oneother thing that came to my mind
about being part in aconversation and communicating
and listening was the differencebetween listening to understand
and listening to reply. Manypeople, if not most people,
(16:00):
listen to reply and that, Ithink that's where it twists. We
don't have to have the replyradius we do. And I know I'm
going back to the otherdirection again, but
Alex Sanfilippo (16:13):
yeah, I like that. You brought that up in my
personal life, I have peoplethat I'm more acquaintances I
know, and they they listen toreply, and it is, for most of
us, very obvious. When you'rearound that type of person, you
kind of feel like that. You'rejust a shell. They're looking
straight through you, right? Andthey're just like, I just want
to say my next thing. They'renot usually the most relational
(16:35):
people, or they're not the mostsuccessful relationships when it
comes to even friendships intheir lives, right? The person
that listens with the intent ofhearing and understanding,
though, that's the person that Ialways see that's surrounded by
so many people, because everyoneelse knows that that person
actually cares from the veryleast, learning to do that
through podcasting. That's abeautiful thing that you will
(16:55):
take into your romantic andfriendship relationships in a
really big and meaningful way.
I'm glad you brought that up.
Agi. That was a good point.
Agi Keramidas (17:04):
Let's say someone is listening right now, and they
are considering guessing, butthey are perhaps held back
because exactly their message isnot clear enough, or they
consider it not to be clearenough. What would you say to
someone like that,
Alex Sanfilippo (17:23):
I actually think that that's okay. It's
part of the process. It's selfdiscovery. When you can come on
a podcast, if you feel like it'snot quite ready, maybe spend
some time reflecting, take somenotes. But if you wait till
you're ready, you're probablynever gonna do it. It took me
nine months to launch mypodcast, not because I didn't
know how to do it, but because II kept on wanting to be perfect
(17:46):
or better, right? I think thatso many of us get stuck in that.
And the reality is, if I go backto my previous podcast before,
the one I have now, my podcastnow is about podcasting, because
it's really all I do. But myprevious one was about
entrepreneurship. I brought aguy on. It was his first time
ever on a podcast. He'd neverdone anything media related.
Media related ever, and it wasone of my most popular episodes
(18:06):
ever. And when people emailed inor message in, they kept on
saying this one just felt reallyreal. It felt really raw. I
could tell that person had neverbeen asked any of these
questions before. Didn't reallyknow how to answer them well,
but knew his craft really well.
Knew who he was really well. Andso again, I think that if you
feel that you're not ready, goback to the drawing board for
yourself, right? Who am I? Whatdo I believe? What do I really
(18:29):
know that could serve somebodyelse and then just show up, put
yourself out there. The reasonpeople really liked that episode
so much is because it felt likejust another human being
talking, which often is betterthan someone who has been there,
done it all, and is perfect,because that's so far from all
of us, right? Like, how far arewe from that? And so, you know,
I actually think of your podcastcover art, Agi, which I really
(18:53):
love. It's somebody pushing arot like a boulder up a hill,
right? If there's someone at thetop of the hill yelling at you.
Here's how you get to the top. Ialready got mine up here. That
can be a little bit helpful. Butwhat's more helpful is someone
coming right beside you andhelping you push it, saying,
Hey, I've never been to the top,but I can tell you that both of
us to meet together be easier. Ifind that the podcast guests
that show up really raw andmaybe don't have it all dialled
(19:14):
in yet, or the ones that arehelping push that rock right
next to somebody else.
Agi Keramidas (19:20):
Thank you for this answer. I think that is for
the person who needed to hearthis. It's very good. Straight
to the point. Let's bring ittowards the self discovery
element, because that is,indeed, I believe, apart from
(19:40):
the communication, of course, isa big part of it. But when you
are knowing yourself better,that is, I believe, a benefit
that for many comes unexpected.
I know, and you were saying ittook you a while to realise it.
It didn't come in the beginning.
I realised that some. Pointthat, Oh, my God, this person
(20:03):
I've never been asked thisbefore, I have to articulate my
thoughts, and that was myexperience of self discovery in
the sense that I have toarticulate some thoughts which I
never had before, apart from myhead. And you know, the sound of
(20:24):
language inside the mind is verydifferent than the actual sound.
It is quite distorted up there.
So when you speak it out, it is,in a way, revealing, I think,
revealing about what it isinside that you have and you
bring it out, I have sometimessurprised myself. Oh, okay, I
(20:45):
never said anything like thatbefore. So this is my, let's
say, introduction to the selfdiscovery element of being a
guest at podcasts. You know,
Alex Sanfilippo (21:00):
you shared a little about this. I'm not gonna
call it a specific time, but I'mgonna call out two specific
episodes of your Show, Episode500 and episode 501 and I
encourage everybody, if you'venot heard those yet, finish this
one, but then look up episode500 and 501 I think you'll
really get a lot out of that.
You'll hear more of of what Agihas learned and what's been
taken from this show. But whatyou really said there was key,
the one word that stood out tome. Stood out to me is
(21:22):
revealing. Revealing is to methe perfect description of of
what we're talking about here. Ihave said some things as a guest
on a podcast that when I saidit, I was like, I should write
that down. And it's not becauseI was I was lying or making
things up on the spot. It's justI had never articulated that
way, and it actually clicked forme, oh, that is what I'm doing.
(21:45):
But I never figured out how tosay it, really, until this
moment when somebody asked me ina really unique way. And I know
we already talked aboutlistening being the
foundationist thing, but itmatters so much, because when
someone asks you a question thatno one else has ever asked you,
even if it's kind of the samequestion, just in its own unique
way that might be, what finallyreveals to you how to answer it
correctly. And so for me,figuring out how to answer these
(22:10):
things correctly is has beenlike that, that deep moment
where you're like, Okay, Iactually I need to write this
down. Like I need to now thinkabout this. And for me, like I
don't, I don't. Right afterthis, this interview is over
when we're done recording. Idon't have anything booked after
this, because what I've learnedto do is leave some space for me
to then go self reflect on it,to write it down like there's
gonna be something from thisconversation that I learn and
(22:30):
grow from. If I just put thingsback to back to back to back, I
lose that opportunity. It getsdiluted throughout the day,
right? So if I'm like, Okay,thanks for having me on. I gotta
go. And I jumped straight in mynext meeting. I'm now going now
going to probably forget some ofthose moments, and while they're
fresh, it's great to leave thatspace. Plus, if we have a great
conversation, want to talklonger we can, right? So you
want to leave that space I'm notthinking about we got to hurry
(22:52):
this up, but also leaving thatroom to say, okay, Alex, you
shared a few things in thereyou've never, never mentioned
before. Why did that come up?
What kind of made this sparkhappen inside of you? And for
me, I want to make sure that Ireally honour those moments, and
I'm a firm believer in havingpen and paper handy, even in
business and life. Have ithandy, because when you write it
(23:14):
down, it does something it Idon't. I'm not like a
neuroscientist or anything likethat, but I know it starts to
reprogram the waves in your minda little bit when you start
writing things down. So thingsdown. So I think that as things
are revealed to you, as you'recommunicating, write them down,
leave that space. You'll come upto your next interview or your
next conversation, more awarethat self discovery really
(23:34):
begins in that moment.
Agi Keramidas (23:37):
Now I realise that from your from what you
just said, now that this is veryimportant task, shall we say?
That is or opportunity. Forgetabout the task, because it
sounds like it is something thatyou have to do an opportunity to
assess or to reflect on theconversation or what happened,
(24:01):
and reflecting on a call or anexperience after it has
happened, or reflecting at theend of your day about today, it
is really an essential habit.
What was the phrase that thelife worth living is a life
worth documenting. So I thinkthat is also in a way you're
(24:22):
documenting when you write down.
It doesn't have to be somethingmagnificent, but something that
you learned or could do better,or reflection. Reflection brings
lot of self awareness when youreflect.
Alex Sanfilippo (24:41):
I really like that quote. I never heard that
one before that. That's good.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna, that's onethat I'll go right down to that
point. You know, I actually, ifit's okay. I had a question just
given what you do, had aquestion for you on this topic,
if, if that's all right. I
Agi Keramidas (24:54):
was afraid that this,
Alex Sanfilippo (24:58):
well, I just, I think that so many. Of us, we're
we're not really confident inwhat we want to share yet, and
not that we're scared to talk oranything like that, but like
what we what we feel convictedabout talking about, or our own
personal life, like we're notready to open that up yet. And
opening up and learning to dothat is really big on our own
(25:18):
personal development,development mastery, right? Is
like that. That journey requireswe open up, that we overcome
that fear. You've had all kindsof get kinds of guests on here,
and you've been a guest on, Idon't even know how many shows
yourself. What are your thoughtsto somebody who's like, okay, I
can share it. I think I'm ready,but I am terrified to open up
that box. What are people goingto think? What are they going to
say? What if I cry? Right? Like,what do you say to someone who's
(25:41):
in that space? Because, again,you've seen it on both sides of
the microphone, I'm sure. Thank
Agi Keramidas (25:45):
you for bringing this up. And you didn't say the
word, but the word that came tomy mind when you were describing
that was vulnerability and beingthat. It certainly is. I mean
being vulnerable and sharingopenly about yourself, of
course, to the extent that iscomfortable, appropriate, you
(26:10):
know, all those things, but itis a necessary element in
personal growth. By expressingthat because, you know, our main
I believe reason for not wantingor being or hesitating to do
that is the fear of judgementfrom others. What if they don't
(26:33):
like it? What if I don't say theright thing? What if I whatever,
whatever else fear might comeup. And I think by actually
getting over that and startingto be vulnerable and share to
some extent, to the extent thatyou want to share, but some
(26:55):
things that some people mighttake it in a way that you know
could be the not the way thatyou want them to so what it is a
very good, good lesson and pathand and journey to becoming more
(27:16):
confident, becoming betterbecause at the very end, what's
important is you are sharingsomething about yourself. Could
be an event, could be a belief,an aspiration, a fear. Usually
it is, I think, the fears andthe aspirations that we're very
reluctant to serve for differentreasons. So yeah, for a moment
(27:42):
there, Alex, I felt like I was aguest on my own vulnerability.
That is
Alex Sanfilippo (27:50):
the word.
That's exactly it, you know, andit made me think of a time when
I was on a podcast and I criedon the podcast, and I'm not
usually one to do that, like Ihappen to be a follower of
Jesus, and like I shared mystory of hitting rock bottom and
finding Jesus for the firsttime, and I just started crying
on the podcast, and I couldn't Icouldn't help it. It was a very
(28:13):
vulnerable moment for me,because I'm not much of a crier.
Anyway, I don't really hold backtears, but I don't feel the need
to cry much, if that makessense, but I realised that what
I was doing was being justcompletely raw from a
transparency level, and I justwas willing to put myself on the
line. And that level of comfortjust kind of gave me the the
space to be able to to actuallyhave that moment where, like,
(28:35):
this raw emotion just came up.
And I know I'm using the wordraw a lot, but that's, that's
what it came down to. So for me,it was like I was willing to be
transparent. I was and I had awillingness to put myself on the
line, like I was sharing what Ibelieved, even though many
people don't share that belief.
I was like, You know what? Thisis me, and it it helped me grow
in my confidence. Thatvulnerability helped me grow in
my confidence as a communicator,as as a man, as a person, right?
(29:01):
Like, it just helped me reallycross this line that I feel that
I never crossed before. And itwas on a random podcast where we
were probably talking aboutpodcasting for the most part,
right? But this topic came upand and to this day I can set to
be a gift like that was reallyan opportunity for me to again
share that vulnerability whichcaused me to grow in my
confidence.
Agi Keramidas (29:22):
Thank you for sharing that. And I think that
the we might think, or one mightthink, that if you start crying
without expecting it, or on a onpodcast recording, that might be
a bad thing. However, I thinkthat is very much relatable. So
(29:43):
how many of us, if we seesomeone you know well enough
when they speak about something,I think I would personally pay
more attention to this, becausethere is emotion there involved.
So that is much more compellingthan someone you know speaking
when. Without that element. Soit is. You know, there is so
(30:05):
much conditioning that's notright to cry, or what would
people say, or this or that. Butas you said, on the other side
of it, there was confidence. Andwhat is more important benefit
out of all that, and it's veryit's important the confidence
and the relatability that youhave with people when you are
(30:30):
being vulnerable, because peoplealso have cried, people also
they can relate with that ratherthan, you know, a polished
version in immaculate speech, orwhatever else might be so and
personally, I'm on my own. Youknow, don't think that I am
(30:52):
comfortable to speak aboutanything yet, but. But you know,
the more I do it, and the moreI'm asked questions that I was
unprepared for. With this, it ishappening.
Alex Sanfilippo (31:05):
It's all a journey, right? Like it really
is, and I think that that's tome, the beauty of being a guest
on a podcast is it's a journeylike you're growing and
learning, like we're not waitingfor a destination that we've
arrived at before we get on apodcast. Some of my most
impactful podcasts when I didn'tknow the answers to things
because I hadn't done it yet forme, like I talk about my
(31:26):
business sometimes on shows, andI don't know what I don't know
yet. And we're not like thebiggest company in the world,
and I'm figuring things outevery day, but like being in it,
being in the trenches and beingwilling to share that
vulnerability, once again, thatdoes two things. One, it shows
someone a case person's human.
He's on a journey, just like me.
Journey just like me. He mightbe a step or two further. That
can help me, right? You can helpme roll this, this, this giant
(31:47):
boulder up the hill, becausehe's right there with me. But
two, it also sometimes I findthe answer, right? The thing
I've been struggling with in myown head, when someone asks me a
question, we already top ofthis, but like I start finding
that and that, once again, thatis self discovery at the finest.
It's you're kind of like a coachright now, and I'm kind of the
person that you're coaching inthis moment. You're asking me
questions that no one else hasever asked me today, Agi, so I
(32:09):
am answering them the best Iknow how to. That's like you
being a coach and me being theperson who is getting coaching,
the person who's gettingtherapy, right like I'm in that
seat right now. It's a gift tobe here, and I think that's what
I want to encourage people tothink about. The hidden value of
podcast guesting is, yes, youlearn to communicate really
well. That's super helpful. Butthe self discovery piece, it's
worth its weight in gold, evenif no one ever listens this
(32:31):
episode, which I know is not thecase for your podcast, Agi, but
let's just say it never goesanywhere. It's just you and me
here. This was worth its weightin gold.
Agi Keramidas (32:40):
I agree. I agree very much. Can you talk about,
since we're talking about thisparticular a moment, that you,
Alex, as a guest, being a guest,you were asked something that
taught you something verysurprising about yourself.
Alex Sanfilippo (32:59):
Yeah, the when I first got started, I
definitely dealt with some dealtwith some imposter syndrome,
because I thought I needed tohave all the answers. And I went
on a podcast I really had nobusiness being on. It wasn't the
right fit for me to be on, butthe person was asking very, very
deep questions, kept on askingthem. And I did my this sounds
bad. I did my best to make upanswers I can come up with, and
(33:19):
I was very new at this. I regretanswering things not fully
truthfully, right? But thequestion started getting so
intimidating and so tough. Itwas also a live show, by the
way, so it was streamed live tothe audience, so it was a
different level of this is myfirst time doing that, and he
asked me a question. I don'trecall the question exactly
which, it's not reallyimportant. What was important
(33:41):
was my answer in that moment,which was this a long pause, I
don't actually know the answerto that. He's like, you want to
take a stab at it. And I waslike, I don't know. I have no
idea what to say. And that wasmy answer. And we end up
wrapping up the conversation alittle bit later, and I kind of
felt bad, like I was like, Man,I couldn't answer that question.
(34:04):
Like, man, Alex, come on. Like,you gotta be better on your feet
than that, right? But after theconversation, we cancel, shut
down the live side of it, and itwas just me and him in the room,
and he goes, Man, I have to tellyou, I respect you so much. I
was like, okay, like I didn'tknow to say. He goes, when you
said, I don't know the answerand I have no idea what to say.
He's like, no one has everanswered a question on this
(34:26):
podcast that way. And he goes, Iknow people are not telling the
truth when they're answeringsome of these questions. He
goes, and that's okay. He goes,but the fact that you just owned
it said so much about you. Andso for me, to this day, I still
look back. I shouldn't have beenon that podcast in the first
place. I had no business beingthere, but I did learn that, you
know what, it's okay. When Idon't have the answer. And
instead of trying to BS my waythrough it, I'm just going to
(34:46):
openly say I don't know. I'm notsure. I don't know how to answer
that. And that is perfectly fineto be able to do, if anything,
it shows a level of confidencein what you do know when you say
I don't know about that, so Ican't comment on it. So that for
me, has been very much sofreeing. It kind of freed me
from that idea of impostersyndrome, thinking I had to have
all the answers to be worthy ofbeing on a platform.
Agi Keramidas (35:10):
It's very useful.
I agree with you that sometimeswe say, well, I don't know or
and it's very useful forimposter us, for I'm bringing it
back to something for someonethat might be fearful about
being vulnerable. Actually, Iwill leave that because it is
irrelevant. So one thing, and Iwill mention that, which is
(35:33):
digress, sometimes I have them,and it comes with experience
with a conversation, I have asense of whether it's going in a
way that it shouldn't go, and Ihave the tendency to bring
myself back while speaking it.
So I hope it doesn't sound veryweird, but it just happened now
(35:58):
I was about to go somewhere, andno, see, that's part
Alex Sanfilippo (36:01):
of being a good communicator. That's what you've
learned through podcasting. Yougotta pivot in real time. And by
the way, I gotta say, like beinga guest is great, being a host
is really great, as well being ahost, though I find to be really
tough, because you have tolisten to my answer. But also
think about the people that aregoing to be listening at the
same time, making sure it'sgonna be valuable for them. And
you have to course correct. Icannot tell much respect to have
for you doing over 500 episodes.
I know you're still just gettingstarted, but, man, it's so much
(36:27):
more work. So a round ofapplause for Agi everybody. It's
a lot. But anyway, I respectseeing you process in real time
and pivoting. That's a greatcommunication
Agi Keramidas (36:36):
skill. It's also, you know, vulnerability in this
sense, because it is, in a way,it is a mistake. You one could
say, or, you know, it is notpolished, or I could have
avoided it altogether, but itis, it happened as part of one
to one conversation betweenhumans. So I think it is
(36:58):
relatable, as I was sayingearlier. We are all. We all make
mistakes, simple ones, or, youknow, we forget what we're about
to say next, or whatever thishappens. I will ask you, Alex,
as we're going to start wrappingthings up little by little,
(37:20):
let's direct again, the next, atleast the next comment to
someone listening to thisconversation, a busy
professional, all right, thathas been intrigued by this
conversation and realising thatthere is more to go In as guest
podcasts than what had thoughtbefore. What's one? Let's say
(37:44):
simple, actionable step onecould take listening to this to
progress with it, the journey.
We use this word journey in thelike. So the first thing
Alex Sanfilippo (37:56):
I'll share, we've kind of already talked
about this point a little bit,so I'll give two things, if
that's okay. But of course, penand paper matters. Sit down.
Think about what it is that youwant to talk about. And yes, it
can be your business, but youwant to, you want to have your
journey inside of it, becausejust talking about business,
that's what advertising is for,right? Like there needs to be a
personal touch. It needs tocontain you. Pen and paper.
(38:19):
Writing that down is the bestway to kind of discover how
those things have parallels, andwhere you can kind of bring it
all together. You don't need tomap out exactly what you're
going to say, but know theapproach. Because I will say
this, there are a lot ofpodcasts out there, and they're
not all going to be the rightfit. And if you don't do that
first, you might start jumpingon every show that will have
you, and there will be a lot ofthem that will have you, but you
might realise that, like, Man,I'm not really growing or
(38:40):
developing in any properdirection. Because we're talking
about golf, we're talking aboutparenting, we're talking about
business, we're talking aboutskiing, right? Like, it could be
all kinds of things, and it'sjust like, Okay, what am I doing
here? We never want to be theperson that's running aimlessly.
We want to make sure that we'reon target, we're heading in the
right direction. Yes, you pivot,you course correct on the way.
But that's the very first thingI think that matters. Once
(39:00):
you've done that, it's all aboutdoing the outreach. You can't
just be like, I'm ready to be aguest on a podcast and sit
around you need to start doingthe outreach. Then, by the out,
the best way I've found peopledo outreach is just make it
human to human. Listen, I loveAIS and stuff like that, and
they have their uses. But like,if you're gonna reach out to be
a guest on a podcast, mentionedlike, Hey, I love what you're
(39:22):
doing. It aligns with what who Ithink I'm able to serve as well.
I'd love to share this message,because I think it would help
benefit some people. I'm nervousmyself, right? You can even say
that, but I think this isn'treally helpful. So I'm stepping
up to do it if you share in areally, really human way, and
not being like, here's all theachievements I've done, here's
all this. It makes such adifference, because what I find
is the good podcast host,they're looking for a human to
(39:44):
have a conversation with, and ifyou open up with a robot or
something that feels robotic,versus just you being raw, like
we've talked about, you aregoing to diminish your chances.
But I always tell people, youhave to be willing to do some
outreach if you want to be aguest. So first. Figure out the
right lane of shows and thenstart doing the outreach.
Agi Keramidas (40:05):
That's good.
Thank you for the double, of
Alex Sanfilippo (40:09):
course. Thank you for allowing me to share
too. Sure,
Agi Keramidas (40:12):
why not? You can add a third one. If I'm good, if
you have
Alex Sanfilippo (40:15):
a third one, go for it. If not, we're okay.
Agi Keramidas (40:18):
No, no, I'm good also, since we had this
conversation, Alex aboutparticularly them, the benefit
of, you know, being asked thesekinds of questions that at least
the insightful hosts on the hostthat do the podcast in a certain
(40:41):
way, this is very, very usefuland very we used the word
revealing earlier, and it canbring about a lot of awareness
or self discovery, As we weresaying. So I think with that,
(41:02):
I'm connecting it to also podmatch as a way, ideal way I will
add, from my point of view, toget out there and become
instantly visible to I don'tknow how many, I don't remember
how many 1000s of podcasts thereare there, but
Alex Sanfilippo (41:23):
I don't know either, so let's go 1000s. Thank
you,
Agi Keramidas (41:29):
Alex. As we start wrapping this up to questions,
which I always ask, and thefirst one is, what does personal
development mean to you?
Alex Sanfilippo (41:42):
Yeah, personal development, to me, is extremely
inwardly focused. It's, it'swhat happens when you're alone
with no distraction, no screen.
Perhaps you are doing somethingthat you love, like, for me,
it's going on a walk, andspecifically a way, I live in a
city, so it's away from thecity, like that's that's what
personal development means tome, is when I'm there and I'm
listening to myself. And I wasscared of that for years, by the
(42:10):
way, like getting alone,listening, being silent, where
personal development happens. Iwas terrified that because I
didn't want to know who Iactually was. I liked wearing a
mask of who I thought otherpeople wanted me to be. That's
not personal development. That'sbuilding up a wall between you
and who you actually are. Forme, personal development is that
time alone and where you justlistening to your thoughts and
you're letting it position whoyou become in the future.
Agi Keramidas (42:31):
Thank you. And hypothetically, if you could go
back in time and meet your 18year old self, what's one piece
of advice you would give him
Alex Sanfilippo (42:42):
after punching him in the face, because that
would be step one. I knoweveryone wants to say that,
right? Like that would be it. Iwould say. I'd use a quote from
Proverbs actually out of theBible, and it says, an
inheritance gain and haste won'tbe blessed in the end. And I
think 18 year old Alex needed tohear that, to be patient, to
slow down, to be willing to letthe journey take effect, to
(43:03):
build the proper muscle that youneed to receive what you
eventually want to get. I neededthat as an 18 year old because I
was very, very ambitious, butnot willing to wait. You are
patient now, then I'm working on
Agi Keramidas (43:17):
it. I'm asking because I'm past my 50 now, and
I'm still working on mypatience. It seems like it is
the theme of my life. Patience,
Alex Sanfilippo (43:27):
yep, patience.
It's a virtue. It's something Ithink it's a lifelong journey to
learn, right? And that's thebeauty of our personal and self
development, right? Is that isthat it can be a journey. So
Agi Keramidas (43:39):
thank you, Alex.
I will, before I close, I willrefer, and actually you can also
add your thoughts on it, becausewe have been talking about going
as guests, and I will certainlybridge it to podmats, because it
is how we connected, and all theother things that we mentioned
earlier. So I will invitesomeone listening now to if they
(44:04):
are interested, to cultivate theself awareness via going as
guests, to go to personaldevelopment mastery
podcast.com/guest and there youwill also see my the profile of
my podcast, and actually was inAlex. And please also say it
(44:28):
after me that I was thinking ofhaving some conversations, some
interviews with listeners of thepodcast. And I think that would
be a very interesting prospect,so I blended a lot of there in
one short thing. So that is forme, you know, pretty much my
(44:53):
start of the conclusion fortoday.
Alex Sanfilippo (44:59):
Alex. I think that I like that a lot. I've
never heard of another hostdoing this before, but, like, we
just talked about the hiddenvalue of being a podcast guest,
and then you said, and here's away you can actually do it, like
personal development masterypodcast.com/guest, listen if
you're hearing this and you'relike, I might have something to
share. Do it the very least.
Agi. And you might decide maybenot, but it's probably gonna be,
(45:21):
yeah, let's do it. And I lovewhen I hear a podcast having
their listeners on. It doesn'tneed to be every episode, but
doing that, I think, builds sucha great connection. They listen
people that they're hearingthis. They're here because they
like you, right? Agi, hopefullythey like you. That's why
they're here. Hopefully they'rehere because you've developed
some sort of trust with them.
Yes, for you, the listener, thisis going to be a safe space for
you. If you're like, I want toget started with this. This
(45:42):
might be a really great groundfor you to get started. So I
love that you shared that asour, as our, like, call to
action at the end of this thing.
I think it's absolutelybrilliant, and it's gonna, it's
gonna fast track somebody'spersonal development mastery
journey. And I'm excited aboutthat,
Agi Keramidas (45:56):
Alex, I want to thank you very much for this
conversation today, I want towish you from my heart the very
best with continuing yourmission of helping podcasters
like myself and 1000s of others,I will leave it to you for
(46:17):
parting words and any finalmessage to the listeners, yeah,
Alex Sanfilippo (46:21):
and Agi, thank you again for having me.
the last thing I say,Seriously, this was just this
was a blast. It was so great tobe here, and I really respect
you as a host. The last thingI'll say to listeners, I'll
leave you with this, is thateach of us has greatness and
creativity within ourselves. Youhave greatness and creativity
within yourself. I believe we'reall created beings. And as
created beings, we are createdto go and create ourselves and
(46:42):
to continue moving that forward.
And I think that when weposition ourselves from a
personal development standpoint,and we step into our full
selves, we create so muchbetter, and that's ultimately
what changes the world makes abetter place. And so I encourage
you, get out there, step intoyour greatness, and get out
there and start creating thingsthat really serve the world.
Agi Keramidas (47:03):
Thank you for listening to this conversation
with Alex and Filippo. I hope ithas given you a fresh
perspective on what it means tobe a podcast guest, as well as
offering exposure andvisibility, stepping behind the
mic provides a rich opportunityfor growth, for clarity and for
(47:26):
self discovery. If you've everconsidered sharing your message,
or if you simply want to explorewhat you might learn about
yourself in the process, Iinvite you to take that next
step, you will find a link inthe show notes to join me as a
guest on the podcast, and Iwould love to hear your story
(47:53):
until next time, keep growingand keep showing up as your
authentic self.
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