Ever feel like the universe is nudging you toward an unexpected path? Zeke Rempel, the visionary behind XYZ Media, joins us to unravel his own twist of fate, transforming from a tech enthusiast to a podcasting powerhouse. In a candid conversation, Zeke invites us into his world, detailing the delicate art of juggling the inception of a business with major life events such as tying the knot and stepping into fatherhood. His experiences illuminate the intricate dance between personal evolution and professional ambition, offering a hearty dose of inspiration for all you dreamers and doers looking to pivot your passion into a livelihood.
Zeke's narrative is a masterclass in resilience, underscored by the intimate tales of overcoming self-doubt while catapulting into the realm of entrepreneurship. As a creative soul first, he had to navigate the often turbulent waters of business management, learning to sport the multiple hats of a CEO. His openness about the challenges faced—be it the fight against imposter syndrome or the endeavor of rebranding—provides an unvarnished glimpse into the real grind behind the glamor of owning a successful company. Listen in and find the nudge you need to embrace the fluidity of your journey and the courage to step out as the face of your own brand.
Our exploration doesn't stop there, as Zeke and I dissect the mechanics of podcasting as a tool for authentic networking and business growth. We exchange thoughts on why podcasting is more than just a platform—it's a bridge connecting real stories to real people, fostering a sense of community and trust in an increasingly digital age. With Zeke's personal blueprint on expanding a podcast production business, and our musings on the strategic pivot of 'The Jay and Brian Show' to a more purpose-driven podcast, this episode is chock-full of actionable wisdom. So, come share a moment with us, and let's grow together in this adventure called life, paved with grit and illuminated by the raw, unedited tales of those who dare to lead.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're tuned in to the Grit and Grow podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hey everybody, welcome to the Grit and Grow
podcast, the show where we deepdive with awesome entrepreneurs
and we kind of get to what theirfears are, their concerns are,
their visions for change,ultimately, what motivated their
pursuit to turn their ideasinto reality.
We are your hosts.
I'm Jay.
I'm Jay, I'm Brian, and welcometo the show.
You might notice that we're ona different set today.
(00:31):
More on that in just a littlebit.
We've got a really, really coolguest.
He's a great friend of ourstoday.
His name is Zeke Rempel.
He is founder and CEO of XYZMedia, which is a podcast
business.
He knows this business, cole.
He's been doing it for quite awhile, right out of ASU.
He went into.
It was film editing andanimation, I think I saw as well
(00:53):
.
He managed the broadcasting fora church for a little while as
well.
I won't hold the ASU thingagainst you, by the way.
I come from a family ofpodcasting selves, but Zeke's an
awesome guy.
He's one of those people thatwe've met along the way.
That's really kind of enrichedour show, the Grit and Grow
(01:14):
podcast, we've learned a lotfrom, and so, zeke, thanks for
being on the show.
We're going to talk a littleabout podcasting, because that's
what you do.
It's a passion of ours,obviously, and thanks for having
us.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Perfect.
Thank you for having me on theshow.
I feel like you know me betterthan I know me.
I went through my background.
I was like oh yeah, I did doall those things.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
We try to do our research.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Yeah, you did.
No one's ever done the researchon me before, so it was
actually funny to hear that.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Yeah, um, you know, normally I we open the show
letting everybody know that ourpodcast is brought to you by my
City Lender Home Loans and myCity Office A little different
since we're not in our homestudio, but this is a beautiful
studio.
Thanks for having us.
We're apparently also broughtto you by Ghost Energy Really
good drinks if you're in themarket for it.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
It's very sweet.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
I am wound up.
I will tell you that right now,and I am not even halfway
through this baby.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
So I mean coming right out of school, you went
right into film production.
What pointed you in thatdirection?
Speaker 3 (02:12):
So I actually went to school thinking I wanted to
code, okay.
A lot of people told me I shouldprobably be coding because
that's kind of, you know, beforeAI was.
Ai before this was likebuilding apps and software.
That's kind of what everybodythat was in the creative space
that I looked up to were like Iwish I just would have coded and
I would be fine.
So I thought I wanted to go toschool and work for Intel which
(02:32):
Intel was in my backyard, ryanChandler and just make a good
salary and slowly as I wentthrough college, my.
I didn't think I had a creativebone in my body, because my
brother is a musician, nowworship leader, writes music
Awesome.
My dad is a writer, actor, manythings, loves to do all kinds
(02:54):
of stuff.
He's an incredible pastor.
Incredible pastor.
Now I'd say he's just verycreative altogether, does all
kinds of things, and so watchingthem growing up I was like, um,
don't think I'm creative.
I was more of a techie, so Iwas like I just like to
understand tech and knew how itworked.
But when I was in high school Idid really like graphic design
(03:15):
and video editing, which wassome of the classes that I took,
and I just thought there waslike the crossover of like maybe
my brother, my, my dad kind ofin me and learning the tech
stuff.
So as I was going throughcollege, I noticed that I hated
everything that was coding.
I just I learned Java, I learnedSwift, which you guys, if you,
if you know what that is, it'slike the Apple language and
(03:36):
eventually I was like I'm goingto make a change because I am
not liking this.
And so, luckily, I was indigital culture major at the
time, which I still don't knowwhat digital culture is, I still
don't know what it stands for,which is funny because my thesis
project was to make a video forthem marketing and I still had
no idea what digital culture was, and so.
(03:57):
But what I let you do is tokind of pick a concentration of
of the tech industry and kind oflearn the theory of it as kind
of what their basis was.
So I got to take some classesin the film school as well as
the coding classes.
So I was always like the onekid that was like, or the one
student that was in film classesbut actually wasn't in film
(04:18):
school.
So they're all talking about,like their final thesis of, like
what documentary are theyfilming?
And I had to go into my otherclasses and like what is this
technological thing I'm buildingfor my thesis?
Because that's what I was doingon the other class.
So that's when I realized Iwanted to do that.
So, on my own time, I startedlearning more and more about
animation, vfx, which I thoughtI wanted to do that first, and
(04:42):
then I just started applying forjobs.
I literally remember applyingin one of my last classes, so I
got you kind of you may knowthis but I got married, had my
honeymoon, graduated college andmy wife got pregnant all within
the span of like three months.
I just life just sped up for meand I got my first job right
(05:03):
there.
I remember applying in one ofmy last classes and I actually
didn't walk cause I started thatweek, um so, and then I started
my job and it was a podcastcompany, and so that started my
journey into realizing thatpodcasting was something I could
relearn.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah, so creative for sure.
Technician for sure creativefor sure, technician for sure,
absolutely.
But being a creative and atechnician is very different,
totally different topic frombeing an entrepreneur like very
different starting your ownthing, so, and that's what our,
what our, what our show is allabout.
And what we want to really kindof understand is how did you
make, why did you decide to gothat route?
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Yeah, so I was working at Rensselaer Media,
which is the company I got hiredat, for I would say I graduated
college in 2019.
And so I was with them up untillike around COVID time.
My boss started to go throughsome issues, some private stuff,
and there was this big meetingwith all the employees and
(06:03):
slowly I was like the lasteditor left.
All the editors either gotfired or quitting.
One of my brothers always jokesaround that I was like
sabotaging everybody else so Icould become the lead editor,
but that wasn't the case.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Yeah, I know, I wasn't behind the scenes.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
I wasn't doing anything.
I was just the most stableperson.
I think is what it was.
And so I was the last personleft, really with this other
manager, and they just wantedthe company to fold.
They wanted to go find newthings to do and I basically
said, well, I mean, I likeservicing my clients.
Can I just take the clients andgo do my own thing?
And so then I made a deal withmy old boss to basically take
(06:40):
all the existing clients withoutyou know cut ties pretty much,
and I got to take the socialmedia accounts, some of the
resources, which were some ofthe cameras, some of the
furniture, and kind of go my ownway.
And I guess that's how I becamean entrepreneur, because I just
didn't want my clients to findanybody else.
You know, I basically was theirvideo editor for some of my
(07:01):
clients.
First day I started on the jobwas when two of my clients
signed on, and two of thoseclients have been with me ever
since, so I've been editingtheir so you found, though, that
you were.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
you found a passion in podcasting.
Yes, first of all.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
First, of all yes.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
But then what was the switch?
What happened that?
You said, okay, well, I'mpassionate about this, but now I
want to kind of take it andopen this to the public, because
you could have just kept almostan internal referral base from
your existing clientele.
But then now you're marketing,you're promoting, you've got a
(07:42):
whole nother element to whatyou're doing today.
That's different than when yougot hired on with Rensselaer
Media.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Yes.
So what was that?
Probably that switch happenedwhen I realized the existing
company was going down and theroof of where I could grow
stopped.
I mean, like there was, I hitthe ceiling and I knew now that
I had a young child at thispoint, or on the way, whatever.
(08:12):
I think it was all around thesame time Maybe I was having my
second around this time that Ineeded to make a change, or else
I was going to have to just gofind a job somewhere else and I
had been given so much freedomat that job that I didn't
realize I had until it was goingto be swept under my feet
Because, basically, at thispoint my boss wasn't around at
(08:35):
all, it was just me managingeverything.
I was the only person goinginto the studio, I was the only
person talking to clients, whilemy boss dealt with stuff, and
so what switched was not onlydid I love to work with podcasts
I think there was a clearaction that like, hey, this is
where content is going.
It can be a real game changerfor a lot of people but I also
(08:59):
knew that I wanted to lift thatceiling and be able to provide
for my family and achieve goalsthat I think if I just stayed
like I think about, if I wentand worked at Intel coding wise
and just did the W2 thing, I'dyou know you can get raises, but
like what can?
There's no more outside of thatthan achieving you know,
getting those races or maybegetting promotions or whatnot.
(09:21):
And I wanted to be able to bemore creative with what I was
doing and be like hey, I couldyou know if I had a great year I
could make a lot of money.
And then if some years, if Ijust wanted to not work,
flexibility was great and so Ididn't want to lose that.
I think it was what and more ofthe fear I think, kind of turned
me to be like I should look atthis entrepreneur thing.
(09:41):
I remember I went to a smallgroup at my church that was just
starting up talking aboutentrepreneurs and they're like
hey, zeke, it says that you're avice president at your company,
should come hang out.
I was like I'm the vicepresident, is that what it says
on LinkedIn?
So then I went and I told themmy situation and they're all
like, oh, you need to start yourown company.
And I was like, are you sure?
And then at that point.
(10:02):
Then I was like okay, maybe Ishould be an entrepreneur.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
So, up until like six months before I did it, I
didn't know.
Well, I got to stop you forjust a second, like I.
What I want to say is that so,when we first met, which was
maybe seven, eight, nine yearsago somewhere in there, uh, when
we met, when I met Zeke, zekewas uh, he was a student and he
was a club soccer coach.
Yes, I was so you have gone like180 degrees in a different
(10:30):
direction and all I can say isI'm really proud of you and what
you've accomplished.
I think young people need tohear this and they need to see
this like the heart and thespirit that you have to kind of
go out and forge your own wayand make your own path Like
kudos man.
I think you're doing an awesomejob, thank you.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Cause sometimes I don't know what I'm doing.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
We're proud of you, so it's awesome, proud to know
you.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Thank you, appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Um, it's so it's.
It's fascinating to me and Iand I think it's it's one of the
things we really want toexplore on this show with
entrepreneurs.
I think a lot of entrepreneurssort of become that either by
choice or because they have to,but it's an interesting thing
when you're a creative andyou're passionate about the
(11:17):
content, especially when itcomes to, like, youtube videos
and podcasting.
But then adding that layer ofbusiness owner on top, yes, and
so I'd love to explore that alittle bit more like how, how
adding that business owner sideto it is going for you.
How has it affected family lifeand you know where is your
business today?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Yeah, so adding that business like layer to the cake
was extremely hard for me.
Like I said, I likedflexibility.
I like to be able to kind ofwork on things I want to work on
.
And I had a lot of freedom atmy previous job, so when I took
over and started doing my ownthing, I thought it was gonna be
the same thing, cause I'm likeI already was running everything
.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
But how do you take, how do you take passion and turn
it into profit?
Speaker 3 (12:01):
That was now that I knew, knew the numbers now that
I knew how much money that thecompany was losing.
Now looking at the behind thescenes and figuring out tax
situation.
There was a huge tax situationwhen I took over the company.
That needed to be figured out.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Um and then rebranding it rebranding.
It was a whole nother thingwhich I kind of liked rebranding
I do want to actually get intothat a little bit too, because I
love the branding of it too.
Okay, thank you.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Yeah, I got to rebrand it, which branding is
one of those things I thought.
I wanted to be a graphicdesigner too, to an extent which
I think what.
I do.
We can go further down, butlike designing thumbnails and
all that, it kind of encompassesall the talents that I think
I've kind of learned over myyears.
But anyways, adding thatbusiness layer was really hard
(12:47):
for me, because then impostersyndrome is a really hard thing
to deal with because, again, Iwas a creative I would just.
At that point I just I feellike I just mastered being a
video editor, a podcast producer, doing all these cool things.
Now I have to learn how to dosales calls with people and
convince them to come into mystudio and manage a business
manage accounting and managingaccounting managing editors was
(13:08):
a whole nother thing.
Communicating Um this is how Iwant to see it, and knowing that
some of these kids that I'mmanaging don't wake up to like
one in the afternoon and edit tolike two in the morning, and
that was a whole nother ballgamethat I had to manage.
I'd say the first year of mybusiness was me just trying to
figure out.
What am I, what is my business,what do I want to do?
(13:29):
I still feel like I'm stillfiguring that out a little bit
to an extent now, but I at leasthave a clear direction of what
I know works, and I'm just nowat that point where I'm scaling
in that direction, but that'sjust it right.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
As an entrepreneur, I mean.
One of the driving forces ofstarting your own business is
being able to foster your ownvision, your own culture, your
own direction, and it seems likethat's you know.
You're really on a good pathwayto accomplish that.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Congratulations again .
It's limitless.
What you're doing is limitless.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
And you know I think you made a point earlier which
is also a recurring theme on ourshow is that you recognize that
as a business owner and anentrepreneur, you're sealing.
Yes, you can make a greatliving as a coder, but you're
sealing both financially, Ithink, and from a joy and
fulfillment standpoint is muchhigher when you do get to build
(14:23):
your own thing but it doesn'tcome out.
A lot of anxiety, a lot of fear, um, a lot financial ups and
downs, um.
So talk to us about that alittle bit.
So how, how has this venturebeen for you financially?
Speaker 3 (14:36):
So I'll just be real.
I mean, like when I firststarted the business, I told my
boss I was like I can't do thiswithout a little bit of help,
and so I did sell a bit of mycompany when I did start out to
get a cash investment, so thatbasically what that did is it
gave me a salary during thepregnancy of my second child,
cause when he told me he's likeI can either help you find a new
(14:56):
job or you can take thisbusiness, but I'm gonna have to
take a percentage of it with abit of a cash influx.
So that's very much whathappened, and that first year I
pretty much just lived off thatsalary by figuring out the
studio when that money was gone.
That was really scary becauseat that point, you know, I had
to get things going and therewas obviously months when, you
(15:17):
know, I didn't get paid and thatwas a bit disheartening.
And you know, when it comes todealing with finances, I feel
like the thing that I had tokeep in check the most was my
confidence, cause it could just,you know, if you just judge it
based off of that, you know it'shard, and so I'd come home at
night and be like well, I don'tknow if I'm going to get that
(15:37):
second paycheck this month, andthen I then I get stressed about
it.
And then you said family.
You know, almost like we talkedabout this, maybe in a
different conversation, but wementioned that they just want
you home, they just want youthere, and when you bring that
weight into the room with them,they sense it?
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Oh yeah, Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
That almost like they take on exactly the what is it?
The energy that you have, andso the good thing to do, the
right thing to do, is to notyou're not shielding it from
them.
You do have to put on a bit ofa like, a filter filter, things
will be all right, because youwant.
You also want the family to begood and to recharge you and to
(16:18):
be happy and then.
But you also have to deal withthose internal feelings of like,
yeah, I'm a little stressedright now, you know I'm bitten a
fish out of water.
But I'm gonna have to deal withthose internal feelings of like
, yeah, I'm a little stressedright now, I'm a bit in fish out
of water, but I'm going to haveto figure this out, but I will.
The thing that you have toagain your confidence.
You've got to be confident togo in the next day that I'm
going to be able to figure itout.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Yeah, Awesome, Switching gears a little bit,
because one of the reasons wewere so excited to do the show
is because you are a podcastingpro and we we have a an extreme
passion for podcasting,obviously, Um, talk a little bit
(16:57):
about the direction ofpodcasting, Like, what, um, what
, what, what should people?
What should?
Either people who are thinkingof starting a podcast show or
somebody who's who's gettinginto the podcasting business?
Where, where is this?
Where's this going?
What, what is, what are thetrends in in the podcasting
world?
Speaker 3 (17:11):
I love that.
I love that question becausewhen I first got hired, my my
studio was only doing audio only, okay, so I mainly got hired to
be the video person attached toit, because video podcasts were
just now kind of becomingintroduced as a concept it was
back in 2019.
And they also were editingYouTube videos for other people,
so they were kind of combiningthe two and I'm thankful they
(17:33):
did that, because I started tosee the benefits of having a
video podcast and I think atthat time short form video was
just becoming a thing, TikTokwas just coming onto the scene
through 2020, 2020, to the COVID, and what I started noticing
was that a lot of successfulcontent need to be authentic.
(17:55):
I'm also an editor, so highlyedited stuff is great.
You got Mr Beast with all thesedifferent retention breakers
throughout the video.
They're great, they're good atwhat they do, but you lose a bit
of authenticity.
I don't know what Mr Beast ison a personal side.
I don't know who really does,but that's not his brand.
But for businesses, you need tobe authentic because you need
to be able to buy from them.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
That's great and know them.
Yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
And what I noticed with podcasting it literally
just documents.
You're flying the wall in aconversation of somebody and
what it did a really good jobwas capturing it in an hour-long
conversation.
But what that gave potential todo was content redistribution
and you could get as manyshort-form clips and you could
even grab YouTube chapters asyour videos, which Joe Roken
(18:39):
does.
He does his 10-minute clips andthis just opened the door of.
I kind of opened my brain up.
I'm like why isn't everybodydoing this?
This is really easy, not easy.
It's easier than making YouTubevideos and doing these highly
edit produced stuff.
I was like more people need tobe educated on why podcasting is
such a great thing and a greatstrategy.
(19:00):
So what I kind of went on thisjourney was like I need to
either start a business helpingpeople with this, which I kind
of did.
I kind of went in thatdirection and I also need to
help people continue theirjourney into podcasting, because
people get disheartened prettyeasily when it comes to looking
at numbers and because podcastsare judged a little bit
(19:22):
differently.
They're not so based on viewsand it's downloads, it's audio
and videos just a little bitdifferent and, plus, a lot of
businesses doing podcasts needto judge it based on leads and
conversions.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Networking has been huge for us.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Networking is a great , great thing that I always talk
about and it pretty much peoplejust love being interviewed, I
mean you're interviewing me andI love it.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
It's like the unintended consequence of
podcasting is networking.
It's unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Networking is one of those pillars I always talk
about.
That's great for podcasting.
I'd say authenticity networkingand then the amount of content
you're able to capture.
I I love the concept thatpodcasting is the most.
What's the word?
I can't, I'm trying to think ofintimate way of marketing.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
It's the most intimate way of marketing,
because you're literally able tohave it.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
I mean you literally are hearing everything about a
person through all theirpodcasts and yeah like hear
their life story and all thepodcasts I listen to, I learn
more and more about this personbecause they were real different
parts of their life, whendiscussing with the guest or
what's going on with their life,and you figure so many things
out and you're and all of asudden you're like I really
relate with this person.
I want to buy a house.
(20:33):
I'm going to connect with thatrealtor because I really connect
with them.
Or I want a business coach.
This person is exactly who Ithink I need to hire, so you get
to know them a lot more and I'dsay, if you're a good person,
podcasting is just going to besuccessful for you.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
If you're a bad person, I mean, it's not going
to be obvious.
It's going to be obvious.
I think one of the reasons whypodcasting resonates so much
with Jay and I is that we're inthe relationship business
Exactly.
We're in the business ofgetting a little bit below the
surface and understanding whoyou are as a person.
(21:10):
But we're also I think both ofus share this of us because
we're able to be genuine notonly together, but with you or
with our guests, and I think itis probably the primary reason
why podcasts, why the genre isgrowing quite a bit, is because,
unlike the highly produced youknow, mr Beast videos out there,
podcasting it's, it's you're,it's like a real person, you
(21:34):
know, and we don't say everysingle word exactly correct and
sometimes fumble through ourintroductions and stuff like
that.
Absolutely.
I, you know, we, we, jay and Ihad a conversation on a previous
show about, about nerves infront of the camera and for some
dang reason I always get alittle nervy when I'm about to
introduce the show, but thenonce we get into it, it's like
it's easy, it's awesome.
Once you get going, yeah, butthat's one of the reasons I love
(21:57):
podcasting is because I feellike and enjoy other podcasts
because it is, it's just, it's areal person.
You get to see their genuineside a lot more than on a highly
polished, highly producedYouTube video.
Exactly, youtube does have aplace for disseminating your
podcast and reaching more people, especially with YouTube music
really coming online um,recently moving from Google
(22:19):
podcasts to music, but um let'sgo back to a little bit on the
uh like taking your passion,turning it into profit.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Okay, I think, um, we could elaborate a little bit
more on that.
Sure, because I think there's alot of people that think they
want to do something, especiallywhen it comes to business, when
you turn a hobby.
Let's say I can relate to this.
Years ago I used to own andoperate a mobile electronics
like a car audio shop.
(22:47):
This was back in the mid-90s,the late 90s and early 2000s,
when it was the mid nineties tolate nineties and early two
thousands.
When it was, you know,everybody had a bump in sound
system and the car was laid outand dropped and on airbags and
all this stuff.
And that was really reallypopular back in the day, um, but
one of my fears about taking mypassion for car audio and
custom cars and turning thatinto a business was that I was
(23:10):
about to kind of muddy the waterand mix these two things that
you know one one thing that Iloved doing and I was really
passionate about it and it wasreally more of a hobby for me
than anything else and then turnit into this.
Now I've got to, like I've gotto make this business make money
doing what I love, like is thisgoing to be possible?
(23:32):
And it was.
It was a trial for that time inmy life, for sure.
But you know, how does thatrelate to your experience with
what you've created here?
Cause this is really, reallyawesome.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
I'd say that was a big struggle for me because I'm
being more from the creativeside.
Editing is definitely.
You have to have creativejuices, I say, to make a good
product.
So I'd edit two or three videosa day.
That third video of the dayprobably wasn't as creative as
the first one because you onlyhave so much in a day.
I always say You'd have to getlike refreshers, go on a walk,
(24:07):
hang out.
I'd hang out with my wife.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
You'd get tired Watch movies.
Your eyes get tired.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Exactly.
You need to consistently beinspired, and now I'm handling
more of the business side ofthings.
I definitely would get burntout when I'd edit three videos a
day and it made me not like itas much I would say.
Now, from a side of maybemanaging people that do it for
me or educating a little bit onhow to do it, I'd say my love
(24:31):
for it is still there, it's justdifferent.
It's still, it just looks alittle bit different.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
So are you more attracted to the business side
of it now or the creative sideof it now?
Probably the business side.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
Right Because, because you've discovered this
now through the process You'vetouched on it, I would never go
back from being an entrepreneurnow.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
I can't, I I opened the window.
I can't, I can't, I haven'tcovered the curtain, so to say.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
I can't go back because I the power of it.
There's so much more power tothink, cause you get to have
more control over the abilitiesand where things are going and
finish products.
You have more influence.
And so the reason I say my lovefor it has changed is because I
actually get to see the endresults of it and actually, like
I've been a part of so many ofmy clients that have been
(25:17):
building podcasts or YouTubechannels and now that's like
they get to work for themselvestoo, because they did it and I
help them do it.
You know, like they startedcoaching businesses.
They get to sell digitalproducts.
They get to do all these thingsbecause I helped them do
something.
Now, if I just stayed behindthe curtain and was just their
editor, maybe I becamesalary-based with them.
I wouldn't really care becauseI'm like I'm just helping you
(25:38):
build your vision, you know but,now that I'm more in control
and have more say and, like you,did this because some of the
knowledge that I added into itNow.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
you're kind of like a valuable business partner.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Exactly.
That's kind of how I like tosee it, as I'm a bit more.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
This is kind of where we're all going together, is
that not?
Only are we collaborating onthese shows, but now we're going
to be collaborating on abusiness level.
That we're as a partnershipit's good.
It's actually going to onlyjust help everything that we're
working on together grow.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
Yeah, exactly that was probably.
That was actually one of thefirst things I learned.
How to pitch my company waslike we can be your editor and
you can just pay us a flat fee,sure, but you're not going to
use us to your full capability.
If you, you let us partner withyou, be a little more invested
with us, we, your success willbe our success.
And when we want to be able topost you on our Instagram, say
(26:28):
like, look at the success,numbers, numbers, we want to be
able to refer you business ifanybody needs, um, your services
or products.
You know we want to bealongside you and I think that
this podcast is great.
I mean being able to come onyour show and to collaborate a
little bit more and I get tomeet, maybe some of your people
that are a part of your networkand your show and listening on a
(26:50):
constant engagement.
I think that'd be really cool.
Yeah, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
It's been great on so many levels to do this show.
I mean, you know, interviewingentrepreneurs on the surface Yep
, it's awesome.
We love learning from otherentrepreneurs about how they
approach things, what theirperspectives are, and then and
then finding businesspartnerships with them as well
has been great.
I'll do a little commercialbreak right here on behalf of
(27:16):
Zeke.
So, as we mentioned earlier,zeke owns XYZ Media and he's got
just a beautiful,professionally built podcast
studio here.
We're going to have links toreach out to Zeke down in the
description.
Whether you're just startingout you have no clue what you're
going to do with your podcast,or you're an experienced
podcaster, but you're lookingfor a fresh set or a nicer set
(27:38):
to do your show and you've gotto reach out to Zeke.
He can come alongside you, helpyou produce it, help you in the
post-production.
So look for that link downbelow and Zeke's your guy.
So but and and getting to again, I've said this probably three
times on this podcast because Iwas so excited to come on the
show to interview a podcasterwho's also a pro pod.
(27:58):
He, you know, runs aprofessional studio.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
This is very unique.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
It's awesome and and again.
One of the great things thathave come out of podcasting is
just the people we've met andthe, the perspectives that we've
we've picked up from it that weapply to our business and our
daily lives, absolutely yeah.
So what nuggets can you what,what?
What advice do you have for forpeople out there that might be
(28:21):
wanting to start their ownpodcast studio business?
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Ooh, that's a great question.
I've actually thought aboutwhere I want to go next with my
business, and that was one ofthe things that I considered.
I think I like being a littlemore on the ground level with
podcasters, but I have somegreat notes for people that are
thinking about as a like a gigthat they want or a business
they want to start.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
What's the first thing?
What's the first thing, what'sthe most important thing they
should keep in mind as they'regetting it started.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
Don't start it in your house.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
I'd say OK uh, why is that?
Speaker 3 (28:53):
I would say a lot of people build out their studios
in their home, which is great,you know.
And if you can find people inyour network that can like to
come to your house, and you know, it's great.
You can tax write-offs and allthis amazing things.
Yep, it's in your house, you'realready paying for it.
But when you're not in aprofessional state uh, or
professional or professionalmanner of like a business,
(29:17):
there's definitely a, like awhat's the word I want to look
for?
Speaker 2 (29:22):
I know where you're going with this, because we
believe the exact same thingwhen it comes to whether it's
our mortgage business or thepurpose for my city office, for
example.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
Perfect yeah, absolutely Professional.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Professionalism yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
And when you walk into a studio, it's all an
experience.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
A lot of things about podcasting.
It's an experience AbsolutelyTotally.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
I mean, I'd say that for many, even being loan
officers, and people come tomeet with you and ask you for
advice, you want it to be a niceexperience.
When you go into someone's,like not only are you going to a
home address that they alwayshave, now they can keep in the
record book if they get mad atyou or anything they I mean like
(30:01):
your business.
You know where you live.
Yeah, they know where you live,but you're a little protected.
But at the same time you walkin.
You just from a professionalstandpoint, I think your
business is way more marketablefrom a podcast studio
perspective if you're in acommercial space versus a home,
because also, like your home, isyour home.
Like if you want to have afamily and all that, like
they're going to be on the otherpart of the house doing
something, or your wife is goingto be somewhere or wherever it
(30:21):
may be.
You got kids somewhere, maybethey're at daycare or whatnot,
but like all their stuff's goingto be there.
So like there's only so manythings.
It won't feel homey.
It'll feel homey.
You don't want it to feel homey, you want to feel like a studio
.
Yeah, so I would say that wouldprobably be my biggest thing,
and I think a couple otherpodcast studios that I've talked
to would absolutely agree.
And I think you guys alreadykind of mentioned you do too,
(30:43):
yep.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
So, yeah, what are your, uh, what are your biggest
pain points right now?
Or concerns going forward as a,as a business owner, as a
podcaster?
Speaker 3 (31:01):
as a podcaster.
As a podcaster, I would say,just finding the time to edit
marketing stuff within my clientstuff I think it's the biggest
thing taking time to.
I always feel guilty when I putresources into myself over my
clients, when in reality I thinkmy stuff is what's going to
generate more business than justmaking my client stuff look
better and tweaking with it,even though I I love my clients
and I've always thankful for tohave them and that their
(31:22):
finances and their you know it'sprobably taking care of me.
But the business can't growunless I pour into it, and so
for me, pouring into it, I have,I have to do some more stuff.
I always feel guilty about that.
I think that's a struggle thatI didn't realize I would have.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Like you feel guilty that you need to make more
content.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
Like starting my own podcast, for example, when I had
you guys on it.
The reason why I pushed it offso much from starting my company
is because I'm like I'd ratherjust build my client's podcast
the best they can be, because Ifeel like my time is better
spent there.
But I learned the hard way thatthey can just walk away, yeah,
(32:02):
and you know all that successlike, yeah, I helped build them.
It's like seeing an editor on aresume like you edited for mr
beast like five years ago.
It's like are you what part ofthis, what stage of their growth
were you at?
Were you a centerpiece?
Were you not?
You don't know.
Yeah, so I learned prettyquickly that I need to be doing
something to document my companydoing good things, and I think
(32:27):
having a social media presenceand maybe editing my clients and
in our marketing work is also.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
And your stuff is great.
By the way, yeah, thank you.
And entertaining, yeah, work isalso.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
So your stuff is great, by the way, yeah, thank
you and entertaining.
Yeah, I noticed that I neededto not only document my client's
stuff that we were doing forthem in a creative manner, which
takes editing and time, but Ialso need to do stuff for me so
that maybe I can be pushing theboundaries of what my clients
and future clients could bedoing and it's also kind of a
model like.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
It's like yeah exactly you.
This is an example of what thetype of content we can create
for you.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
And plus, if I'm successful, then it's only works
in my favor.
It completely adds credibility.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Yeah, I mean, there's the marketing side of it, I can
see for sure.
But but also it's kind of likeI'm thinking of the concept of
self-care that my my wife talksabout on her podcast, where if
you're not immersing yourself inwhat your clients are
experiencing, a you're going tobe able to improve it probably
(33:24):
much better because you're awareof what they're experiencing,
and then again it does build thecredibility.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
I was going to say that credibility is huge.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
You know I'm not just good behind the camera and I'm
sure you know that's reallyimportant to your clients coming
in here, that you can managethis whole process for them and
produce something that looks andsounds amazing.
But if you're successful on thecamera as well, to me that
would take credibility to awhole other level.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
Yeah, and I'd say that's probably the next hardest
thing about doing it.
I'd say, walk into that nextpart of your question, which was
running the business.
It's being the focal point ofyour business.
I'm so used to being behind thescenes and even like working
for a church, like I'm thebroadcast producer.
I just do that behind thescenes.
No one ever sees me.
I'm always wearing all black,so like if I come out to fix a
(34:13):
camera or whatnot, I'm like aghost.
You don't know that I'm thereRight.
But now doing conversations likethat, I listened to my podcast
over and over and over againcause I want to make sure that
I'm like I'm saying uh too muchor I started over my words, I
get too excited here, I need toslow it down.
But then also looking at, uh,you know, I said oh, right there
(34:38):
.
I say you think about it.
You know I said oh, right there.
I'd say you think about it.
You start to think about beingthe focal point and how you need
to improve and that's a wholenother like pressure that I
didn't realize would be kind ofhard to do.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
I think you'll find this too, and, brian, I think
you probably would agree with meon this is that our the
marketability of our studio.
A lot of it has to do with usactually hosting, like, this is
the home of the grit and growpodcast, and so the
marketability of it, I think, isheightened because it's it's
the home of the grit and growpodcast, right?
Speaker 3 (35:07):
you know, you just made a good point, because I
think when people ask about mystudio, they say, oh, what
podcasts are in your studio?
They always ask me it's the xyzpodcast yeah, and now I can say
it's the home of it's the homeof the xyz podcast, because
there's some other podcasts thatare explicit that I can't quite
advertise that recording hereand I'm like I can't really
market that.
So but you can market your show, I can sure can market mine,
(35:30):
that's for sure, it's familyfriendly, it's clean yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
So getting back into the rebranding of the company,
rebranding for marketingpurposes, I think this is also a
really important topic to cover.
How did you come up with theXYZ Media name and branding?
Because the branding is reallycool too.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
That's funny.
So we were thinking about I wasactually.
This is one of the times thatmy boss added a lot of influence
on me.
We had a meeting and this iskind of the times that my boss
added a lot of influence on me.
We had a meeting and this iskind of the same meeting.
We realized that I was anentrepreneur, kind of.
We realized, like you, yourdecision to take the client
tells me you should just haveyour own business.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
You could be doing this on your own.
Yeah, you could be doing this.
He kind of encouraged me alittle bit, that's cool.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
And so he kind of was like, well, here's some company
.
He just some company.
He just started writing on awhiteboard with me and he wrote
my name down.
He goes zeke media, he's likerample media, and he started
playing with all his names andhe and he goes your social
handle should be xyz.
And then, and then I was likewhat about xyz media?
And he goes oh, that's perfect,and that's how I started there
it is, but I still can't havexyz.
(36:31):
It's totally taken on socialmedia but that's okay, I'll
maybe I'll it someday orsomething.
I'll buy it off somebody if Iget too famous.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
So we're telling people, like we're telling our
podcast clients now that youknow we're going to introduce
you to Zeke Rempel, he's goingto take you from A to Zeke.
Yeah, there you go, and itsticks.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
You know, it's funny when I, it's easy to sell when I
have conversations with peopleand they're always like just do
the X Y.
When I have conversations withpeople and they're always like,
just do the XYZ in thebackground brain I'm like that's
my company.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
That's exactly what I .
It's hard for me.
You're always that like go-to.
Yeah, like that's my companynames.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
You know that it's always a plug.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
XYZ business, so yeah .
Speaker 3 (37:07):
XYZ media is the brand, that's the main brand,
but I'm figuring out that Ican't really market that because
it has a podcast in its name orit doesn't have XYZ YouTube
channel or anything like that.
So I'm actually kind of in themiddle of shaping that.
Xyz Media is kind of like myparent company, which is like
the company that serviceseverything, which is not only
(37:29):
the studio which is a part of it, it's also educational products
that I'm going to sell, which Iam selling.
I'm doing programs.
Some people on YouTube andstuff like that.
And then also it's going to bewhere my podcast is kind of home
to, to help people.
Yep, like the XYZ podcast.
It's kind of under thatumbrella too.
So the podcast studio isactually called XYZ podcast
studio.
Now, that's what the Instagramhandle is, okay.
(37:49):
So people just like, just wantto know about the studio.
It's so much easier to find xyzpodcast studio yep, and I
actually found that my marketinghas like skyrocketed since I've
done that change.
I've gotten so much moreinteraction with people, people
interested to come in, becauseit's in the name because it's in
the name and people know whatit is.
And I've also been more activewith like doing stories about
what I'm doing and that's awhole nother ballgame, just
(38:11):
being more active on oninstagram.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
Yeah, that was another change we made.
So for the grit and grow podcastit went from originally it was
real talk with jay and brian,and then and then it went to not
long, though it wasn't too longbefore we we went to the jay
and brian show and then we weslowly too slowly in my opinion
realized that that nobody reallyknows who jay and brian are and
(38:34):
and we also didn't really havethis amazing direction for our
podcast.
We were interviewing reallycool people.
We had Jim Reynolds on the show, major League Baseball umpire,
and that was cool for me becauseI grew up playing baseball and
I got to ask him all thesequestions.
But once we realized that wewere really passionate about
entrepreneurialism and smallbusiness owners and wanting to
(38:54):
also help promote smallbusinesses in our community.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
Well, it seemed like that was our primary guest that
we kept going back to wasentrepreneurs and local
communicators and influencers.
It seemed like that was ourdirection.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
We wanted the podcast name to say to state out loud
what is our show.
And so we, through a lot ofsort of trial and error and
what's available and what's not,we landed on grit and grow
podcast.
It takes a lot of grit to be anentrepreneur and a small
business owner and to to weatherthe ups and downs and to um.
You know, anybody who's been anentrepreneur has experienced
(39:28):
having the last 20 bucks intheir wallet but still having
that grit and that commitment toto push through and and see it,
see it through, um, and.
But we realized that we stillneeded to grit, and that's
awesome and grow right.
Every small business ownerwants to grow, but we still want
to say clearly who it is.
We're actually who it's for,and so that's, it's the grit and
grow and, in our logo,entrepreneur podcast, and we're
(39:51):
hopeful that that that reallydoes help us reach that next
level that we think we can.
Speaker 3 (39:57):
I think.
So I mean, you mentioned beforethis that YouTube kind of
picked it up a little bit.
You got kind of an influx fromthe managing channels on the
back end.
The right verbiage is veryimportant and most people that
I'd say there's an importance ofpersonal branding and including
your name on everything.
But to get there to know thatpersonal branding and including
(40:18):
your name on everything, but toget there to know that to get to
where your name means something, you have to use the right
verbiage and to reach the rightpeople.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
It's with Jay and Brian.
Speaker 3 (40:28):
still Make sure that stays as a hashtag, though,
because you never know whenpeople really want to deep dive
into your content and let's sayyou well, and because it was,
that was one of the hesitationsthat we had to get away from the
name the Jay and Brian show wasthat it was the Jay and Brian
show for three years you know,and so we have all this you know
, brian mentioned, uh, jimReynolds.
Speaker 1 (40:47):
Jim was great, uh, great guests Uh, but he
announced his retirement frommajor league baseball on our
show and so we got picked up.
The J and Brian show got pickedup from his announcement of his
retirement across all thesedifferent like sports media
giving the J and Brian showcredit for plugging the J and.
Brian show for.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
Jim announcing his retirement on our show.
Speaker 1 (41:10):
So I was really hesitant to like oh my gosh, we
give up all this.
You know this, you knowindirect exposure.
That we got you know throughhis announcement and anyway we
decided that it was going to bebest it was hard.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
It was hard but we, you know, we kind of had a you
know for lack of a better termyou know kind of a come to Jesus
conversation about where wewere at with our podcast and I
think ultimately we really welooked at it and we said, you
know, our podcast and I thinkultimately we really we looked
(41:43):
at it and we said you know, our,our, our subscriber base, our
viewer base is really not crazybig yet and and we we can pivot
and change, and I think thiswill.
This will be a really positivechange for us, because it really
is what we want to do with ourpodcast, who we want to talk to,
how we're going to deliver it.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
And it really is what our listeners and viewers
expect from us.
So it is our product and so allwe've done is just kind of, you
know, more, narrow it down, tomake it more specific, and I
think because of that, our, ourchannels, our influence, it'll
just continue to grow.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
And it's a perfect example of of of Jay and I, and
like our history of beingentrepreneurs and like let we
need to go in this direction nowyeah, we need.
We need to change this up.
Speaker 3 (42:18):
And I think that I think it goes for all businesses
.
Speaker 2 (42:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (42:20):
Even, I'd say even like content creators and doing
anything.
I mean, the more broad you are,the harder it is to actually,
you know, make a footprint.
Speaker 2 (42:29):
Well, yeah, that's.
That's a, I think, a key andyou're you're also an expert on
this but to establishing apodcast, you want to be as
specific as you possibly can inthe beginning yes, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (42:40):
I think as you, which part of what I really do is I
help content creators or peoplewho have existing followings add
a podcast to their strategybecause they have become so, um
successful in their niche.
But to get to that level, theyhad to, they had to pick it like
, add something that's going toreally yes, like, find that
(43:00):
audience that you can reallyconnect with and pretty much
provide for you in a way, if youreally want to talk about it
that way, and then, once you'veachieved that, I offer that next
step of like well, I can't dothis for the next 20 years of my
life, what am I going to do?
So then?
Adding a podcast to it justgets them to chase their
curiosities a little bit more sothey can have conversations a
little bit outside of theirboundaries but still talk about
(43:22):
the stuff they know about.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
It just adds a lot more freedom and flexibility,
and it's less two-dimensionaltoo, because you've got the
legacy of the content.
These podcast shows are goingto live on, probably forever.
Speaker 3 (43:34):
Yeah, and are going to live on probably forever.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
Yeah, and if it's on YouTube, it really is going to
live on forever.
Speaker 3 (43:37):
I would say and YouTube is probably out of all
the platforms, I think it'sprobably going to be around the
longest.
I mean, like I've had an influxof business from people on
TikTok because of the fear thatthey're going to lose everything
.
So TikTok influencers have beenstarting to create podcasts and
it's not like they can just,you know, they have to just
leave their tiktok.
You know strategy behind,because they can still post
(43:57):
their clips from their podcaston tiktok and just, yeah, you're
just adding more content andyou can get like what four hours
of your month that you do, youcan get four episodes.
Uh, that's just endless amountsof content, really.
So, yeah, that was that'sanother part of my business.
I help people kind of take thatnext step of like freedom to,
kind of, because if you're inthe content grind, you know I
(44:20):
mean you guys kind of know thisit's hard.
Speaker 1 (44:23):
Yes it is hard, it's a train of content that just
never stops.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
It is hard.
You got to keep putting it outthere.
Yeah, it doesn't stop.
So what's next for XYZ Media?
Speaker 3 (44:38):
What should everybody know about where where xyz
media is going?
Yeah, so I kind of mentionedI'm kind of pivoting into more
of the educational realm, okay,of helping people with their
youtube channels or podcasts.
I've launched my podcast tokind of talk about uh, which I
had you guys on.
I don't know if that will be up.
We'll.
We'll figure it out because ofschedules.
Speaker 2 (44:53):
I don't know where they're at with their episodes.
Speaker 3 (44:55):
I don't know where they're at with their episodes.
I don't know where I'm at withmy episodes, but, uh, I started
my podcast to kind of uh, givepeople a little bit more uh
behind the curtain of, like,what's going on with, to get to
the X, y, z, so to say.
So, entrepreneurship is kind ofalong the line, along the lines
, but I also want to interviewpeople outside of
entrepreneurship that maybe arejust successful stay-at-home
(45:15):
dads.
You know, they figured out thexyz to be a great dad, you know,
and so I like that term, xyz,because it's so universal.
I could do it for podcasting,but I also can do it for the
show, because what I'm reallycurious about is just how to be
the best version of myself.
And I think that asking thosequestions that you know, some of
the conversations we've had onthe show can have gotten a
(45:36):
little emotional, like with mydad Talked about being adopted
and, you know, figuring outwhere does he go from here, you
know, and does he ask about hisbirth parents and all that.
So asking those questions arereally powerful.
But then it's also on the funside.
It's like asking a contentcreator well, how did you get to
like a million subscribers?
What was that journey.
Like you know what was that X,Y, z?
(45:58):
Because it's just we're in aworld of such so much finished
product.
Yeah, and Instagram.
You see, you know finishedbodies of going through gym
transformations.
You see people making so muchmoney with their nice cars and
then in 30 seconds, in 30seconds, 60 seconds.
And I think that's been aroundfor social media for a long time
(46:19):
but I think that my generationspecifically needs a little bit
more of a framework, becausethere's also people trying to
sell everybody on education andall that, and I just want to
have conversations like how didyou get there?
How did you acquire?
knowledge and any of it and it'sagain, to be the best version
of yourself doesn't mean youhave to be a business owner.
You could again, you could justbe a dad, just wanting to be a
better dad, and so some episodeswill appeal to others, some
(46:41):
episodes I'm starting kind ofbroad, which is probably what
I'm telling people not not to do.
But I also want to chase mycuriosity and I'm more using it
as a model, a model for mybusiness.
And if it goes somewhere, great, if I, you know, really get the
data and say all my viewers aredads, then I'll produce more
dads content, obviously, andI'll lean into it.
But I think for now I just wantto chase my curiosity.
(47:03):
So I'm doing that.
Xyz Media, again, is startingmore educational products and
the podcast studio.
It's growing.
I'm in this space for probablyanother two years.
I'm in this space for probablyanother two years, but I'm
hoping I'm at the growth ratewhere I'm probably going to
outgrow this and need more sets,more individualized rooms so
people can record at the sametime.
Right, I'll need more staff.
(47:24):
So things are growing and ifyou want your studio, you want
your podcast to be hosted in astudio, we can help you.
And oh, also, I'm alsolaunching one other thing.
It's still in the works, uh,but it's actually a travel.
We come to you and we're batchrecord your content oh cool.
(47:45):
So we've had a lot of peopleask what is the price to bring
our studio to them wow, okay, sohow do you go about this?
Speaker 2 (47:54):
so I've kind of mapped this out.
There's a lot of moving parts.
Yes, there are.
There's a lot of moving partsto this.
Speaker 3 (47:59):
So I have a friend that's a wedding videographer.
He goes all over the country,he's a high-end one and I kind
of picked his brain a little bit.
I'm like, how do you?
Because his break is biggerthan mine and I'm a podcast, he
has more gear than I do.
I picked his brain a little bit.
So basically, my battle plan ishow it would work is that I
rent out Airbnb in that citythat maybe is visually appealing
(48:24):
, and I pretty much bring myteam to the Airbnb and set up
our studio in a controlledenvironment.
Oh my, Awesome that soundsawesome, and then we schedule
out the days to be hey, you cancome in film as much content as
you can.
You can probably book out twoor three days, come in batch
(48:44):
record and you get maybe two orthree months' worth of your
episodes, and then we just haveall your footage and we go home.
That's kind of like the upperhigh-ticket offers that we're
thinking about offering.
We've had a couple of peopleask us about it, but it's a lot
of work to figure out.
Speaker 1 (48:59):
travel have you tested it yet.
Speaker 3 (49:01):
So there's, our test is coming up.
Okay.
Thinking about someone'sinterested in it, okay.
The other caveat to that isthat it's building people's
studios and then going intotheir spaces and helping them
build that a little bit.
But, honestly, I'd rathereducate somebody on how to do
that themselves, because everyspace is different, and so maybe
(49:22):
selling, like you know, sometype of more education well,
everybody has a different ideaof what they want their studio
to look like and feel like, andthat I feel like capturing that
would be a lot harder, yeah,whereas if we go to airbnb, we
just set up something that theythink they would like Most
people, just at that level.
People just want it done forthem.
(49:42):
They don't want to think aboutit.
Yeah, so if you're building outyour own studio, you should
care.
You're going to care a littlebit more about what it looks
like, and so I'd rather answerquestions about what things they
should buy, versus this is whatyou should do, yeah.
So, yeah, I think that's kindof it Awesome, I mean.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
I this has been such a really cool car.
I want to keep talking to Zekebecause I feel like I'm,
learning so much Um but um sogreat having you on the show and
thank you again so much forwelcoming us into your studio,
from from a film editor to tobroadcast producer to um,
ultimately, podcast guru and andbusiness owner Zeke.
(50:20):
You've accomplished a lot.
We really appreciate your timeand thank you for being on the
show.
We're going to have, like wesaid, we're going to have links
to XYZ Media down in ourdescription.
We really do hope you reach outto Zeke if you're thinking
about a podcast.
Really do hope you reach out toZeke if you're thinking about a
podcast.
Again, you get creative services.
You get strategizing for how togrow your podcast.
(50:41):
It's not just point and shootwith Zeke and XYZ Media, it's
really the whole package whichmatters so much when you're
trying to plan out a podcast.
So definitely check out whatZeke has to offer.
And thank you guys so much forjoining us again on another
episode of the Grit and Growpodcast.
We look forward to talking toyou guys again someday soon.
(51:09):
Thanks again.
You're tuned in to the Grit and Grow podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hey everybody, welcome to the Grit and Grow
podcast, the show where we deepdive with awesome entrepreneurs
and we kind of get to what theirfears are, their concerns are,
their visions for change,ultimately, what motivated their
pursuit to turn their ideasinto reality.
We are your hosts.
I'm Jay.
I'm Jay, I'm Brian, and welcometo the show.
You might notice that we're ona different set today.
(00:31):
More on that in just a littlebit.
We've got a really, really coolguest.
He's a great friend of ourstoday.
His name is Zeke Rempel.
He is founder and CEO of XYZMedia, which is a podcast
business.
He knows this business, cole.
He's been doing it for quite awhile, right out of ASU.
He went into.
It was film editing andanimation, I think I saw as well
(00:53):
.
He managed the broadcasting fora church for a little while as
well.
I won't hold the ASU thingagainst you, by the way.
I come from a family ofpodcasting selves, but Zeke's an
awesome guy.
He's one of those people thatwe've met along the way.
That's really kind of enrichedour show, the Grit and Grow
(01:14):
podcast, we've learned a lotfrom, and so, zeke, thanks for
being on the show.
We're going to talk a littleabout podcasting, because that's
what you do.
It's a passion of ours,obviously, and thanks for having
us.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Perfect.
Thank you for having me on theshow.
I feel like you know me betterthan I know me.
I went through my background.
I was like oh yeah, I did doall those things.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
We try to do our research.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Yeah, you did.
No one's ever done the researchon me before, so it was
actually funny to hear that.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Yeah, um, you know, normally I we open the show
letting everybody know that ourpodcast is brought to you by my
City Lender Home Loans and myCity Office A little different
since we're not in our homestudio, but this is a beautiful
studio.
Thanks for having us.
We're apparently also broughtto you by Ghost Energy Really
good drinks if you're in themarket for it.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
It's very sweet.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
I am wound up.
I will tell you that right now,and I am not even halfway
through this baby.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
So I mean coming right out of school, you went
right into film production.
What pointed you in thatdirection?
Speaker 3 (02:12):
So I actually went to school thinking I wanted to
code, okay.
A lot of people told me I shouldprobably be coding because
that's kind of, you know, beforeAI was.
Ai before this was likebuilding apps and software.
That's kind of what everybodythat was in the creative space
that I looked up to were like Iwish I just would have coded and
I would be fine.
So I thought I wanted to go toschool and work for Intel which
(02:32):
Intel was in my backyard, ryanChandler and just make a good
salary and slowly as I wentthrough college, my.
I didn't think I had a creativebone in my body, because my
brother is a musician, nowworship leader, writes music
Awesome.
My dad is a writer, actor, manythings, loves to do all kinds
(02:54):
of stuff.
He's an incredible pastor.
Incredible pastor.
Now I'd say he's just verycreative altogether, does all
kinds of things, and so watchingthem growing up I was like, um,
don't think I'm creative.
I was more of a techie, so Iwas like I just like to
understand tech and knew how itworked.
But when I was in high school Idid really like graphic design
(03:15):
and video editing, which wassome of the classes that I took,
and I just thought there waslike the crossover of like maybe
my brother, my, my dad kind ofin me and learning the tech
stuff.
So as I was going throughcollege, I noticed that I hated
everything that was coding.
I just I learned Java, I learnedSwift, which you guys, if you,
if you know what that is, it'slike the Apple language and
(03:36):
eventually I was like I'm goingto make a change because I am
not liking this.
And so, luckily, I was indigital culture major at the
time, which I still don't knowwhat digital culture is, I still
don't know what it stands for,which is funny because my thesis
project was to make a video forthem marketing and I still had
no idea what digital culture was, and so.
(03:57):
But what I let you do is tokind of pick a concentration of
of the tech industry and kind oflearn the theory of it as kind
of what their basis was.
So I got to take some classesin the film school as well as
the coding classes.
So I was always like the onekid that was like, or the one
student that was in film classesbut actually wasn't in film
(04:18):
school.
So they're all talking about,like their final thesis of, like
what documentary are theyfilming?
And I had to go into my otherclasses and like what is this
technological thing I'm buildingfor my thesis?
Because that's what I was doingon the other class.
So that's when I realized Iwanted to do that.
So, on my own time, I startedlearning more and more about
animation, vfx, which I thoughtI wanted to do that first, and
(04:42):
then I just started applying forjobs.
I literally remember applyingin one of my last classes, so I
got you kind of you may knowthis but I got married, had my
honeymoon, graduated college andmy wife got pregnant all within
the span of like three months.
I just life just sped up for meand I got my first job right
(05:03):
there.
I remember applying in one ofmy last classes and I actually
didn't walk cause I started thatweek, um so, and then I started
my job and it was a podcastcompany, and so that started my
journey into realizing thatpodcasting was something I could
relearn.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah, so creative for sure.
Technician for sure creativefor sure, technician for sure,
absolutely.
But being a creative and atechnician is very different,
totally different topic frombeing an entrepreneur like very
different starting your ownthing, so, and that's what our,
what our, what our show is allabout.
And what we want to really kindof understand is how did you
make, why did you decide to gothat route?
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Yeah, so I was working at Rensselaer Media,
which is the company I got hiredat, for I would say I graduated
college in 2019.
And so I was with them up untillike around COVID time.
My boss started to go throughsome issues, some private stuff,
and there was this big meetingwith all the employees and
(06:03):
slowly I was like the lasteditor left.
All the editors either gotfired or quitting.
One of my brothers always jokesaround that I was like
sabotaging everybody else so Icould become the lead editor,
but that wasn't the case.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Yeah, I know, I wasn't behind the scenes.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
I wasn't doing anything.
I was just the most stableperson.
I think is what it was.
And so I was the last personleft, really with this other
manager, and they just wantedthe company to fold.
They wanted to go find newthings to do and I basically
said, well, I mean, I likeservicing my clients.
Can I just take the clients andgo do my own thing?
And so then I made a deal withmy old boss to basically take
(06:40):
all the existing clients withoutyou know cut ties pretty much,
and I got to take the socialmedia accounts, some of the
resources, which were some ofthe cameras, some of the
furniture, and kind of go my ownway.
And I guess that's how I becamean entrepreneur, because I just
didn't want my clients to findanybody else.
You know, I basically was theirvideo editor for some of my
(07:01):
clients.
First day I started on the jobwas when two of my clients
signed on, and two of thoseclients have been with me ever
since, so I've been editingtheir so you found, though, that
you were.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
you found a passion in podcasting.
Yes, first of all.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
First, of all yes.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
But then what was the switch?
What happened that?
You said, okay, well, I'mpassionate about this, but now I
want to kind of take it andopen this to the public, because
you could have just kept almostan internal referral base from
your existing clientele.
But then now you're marketing,you're promoting, you've got a
(07:42):
whole nother element to whatyou're doing today.
That's different than when yougot hired on with Rensselaer
Media.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Yes.
So what was that?
Probably that switch happenedwhen I realized the existing
company was going down and theroof of where I could grow
stopped.
I mean, like there was, I hitthe ceiling and I knew now that
I had a young child at thispoint, or on the way, whatever.
(08:12):
I think it was all around thesame time Maybe I was having my
second around this time that Ineeded to make a change, or else
I was going to have to just gofind a job somewhere else and I
had been given so much freedomat that job that I didn't
realize I had until it was goingto be swept under my feet
Because, basically, at thispoint my boss wasn't around at
(08:35):
all, it was just me managingeverything.
I was the only person goinginto the studio, I was the only
person talking to clients, whilemy boss dealt with stuff, and
so what switched was not onlydid I love to work with podcasts
I think there was a clearaction that like, hey, this is
where content is going.
It can be a real game changerfor a lot of people but I also
(08:59):
knew that I wanted to lift thatceiling and be able to provide
for my family and achieve goalsthat I think if I just stayed
like I think about, if I wentand worked at Intel coding wise
and just did the W2 thing, I'dyou know you can get raises, but
like what can?
There's no more outside of thatthan achieving you know,
getting those races or maybegetting promotions or whatnot.
(09:21):
And I wanted to be able to bemore creative with what I was
doing and be like hey, I couldyou know if I had a great year I
could make a lot of money.
And then if some years, if Ijust wanted to not work,
flexibility was great and so Ididn't want to lose that.
I think it was what and more ofthe fear I think, kind of turned
me to be like I should look atthis entrepreneur thing.
(09:41):
I remember I went to a smallgroup at my church that was just
starting up talking aboutentrepreneurs and they're like
hey, zeke, it says that you're avice president at your company,
should come hang out.
I was like I'm the vicepresident, is that what it says
on LinkedIn?
So then I went and I told themmy situation and they're all
like, oh, you need to start yourown company.
And I was like, are you sure?
And then at that point.
(10:02):
Then I was like okay, maybe Ishould be an entrepreneur.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
So, up until like six months before I did it, I
didn't know.
Well, I got to stop you forjust a second, like I.
What I want to say is that so,when we first met, which was
maybe seven, eight, nine yearsago somewhere in there, uh, when
we met, when I met Zeke, zekewas uh, he was a student and he
was a club soccer coach.
Yes, I was so you have gone like180 degrees in a different
(10:30):
direction and all I can say isI'm really proud of you and what
you've accomplished.
I think young people need tohear this and they need to see
this like the heart and thespirit that you have to kind of
go out and forge your own wayand make your own path Like
kudos man.
I think you're doing an awesomejob, thank you.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Cause sometimes I don't know what I'm doing.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
We're proud of you, so it's awesome, proud to know
you.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Thank you, appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Um, it's so it's.
It's fascinating to me and Iand I think it's it's one of the
things we really want toexplore on this show with
entrepreneurs.
I think a lot of entrepreneurssort of become that either by
choice or because they have to,but it's an interesting thing
when you're a creative andyou're passionate about the
(11:17):
content, especially when itcomes to, like, youtube videos
and podcasting.
But then adding that layer ofbusiness owner on top, yes, and
so I'd love to explore that alittle bit more like how, how
adding that business owner sideto it is going for you.
How has it affected family lifeand you know where is your
business today?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Yeah, so adding that business like layer to the cake
was extremely hard for me.
Like I said, I likedflexibility.
I like to be able to kind ofwork on things I want to work on
.
And I had a lot of freedom atmy previous job, so when I took
over and started doing my ownthing, I thought it was gonna be
the same thing, cause I'm likeI already was running everything
.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
But how do you take, how do you take passion and turn
it into profit?
Speaker 3 (12:01):
That was now that I knew, knew the numbers now that
I knew how much money that thecompany was losing.
Now looking at the behind thescenes and figuring out tax
situation.
There was a huge tax situationwhen I took over the company.
That needed to be figured out.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Um and then rebranding it rebranding.
It was a whole nother thingwhich I kind of liked rebranding
I do want to actually get intothat a little bit too, because I
love the branding of it too.
Okay, thank you.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Yeah, I got to rebrand it, which branding is
one of those things I thought.
I wanted to be a graphicdesigner too, to an extent which
I think what.
I do.
We can go further down, butlike designing thumbnails and
all that, it kind of encompassesall the talents that I think
I've kind of learned over myyears.
But anyways, adding thatbusiness layer was really hard
(12:47):
for me, because then impostersyndrome is a really hard thing
to deal with because, again, Iwas a creative I would just.
At that point I just I feellike I just mastered being a
video editor, a podcast producer, doing all these cool things.
Now I have to learn how to dosales calls with people and
convince them to come into mystudio and manage a business
manage accounting and managingaccounting managing editors was
(13:08):
a whole nother thing.
Communicating Um this is how Iwant to see it, and knowing that
some of these kids that I'mmanaging don't wake up to like
one in the afternoon and edit tolike two in the morning, and
that was a whole nother ballgamethat I had to manage.
I'd say the first year of mybusiness was me just trying to
figure out.
What am I, what is my business,what do I want to do?
(13:29):
I still feel like I'm stillfiguring that out a little bit
to an extent now, but I at leasthave a clear direction of what
I know works, and I'm just nowat that point where I'm scaling
in that direction, but that'sjust it right.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
As an entrepreneur, I mean.
One of the driving forces ofstarting your own business is
being able to foster your ownvision, your own culture, your
own direction, and it seems likethat's you know.
You're really on a good pathwayto accomplish that.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Congratulations again .
It's limitless.
What you're doing is limitless.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
And you know I think you made a point earlier which
is also a recurring theme on ourshow is that you recognize that
as a business owner and anentrepreneur, you're sealing.
Yes, you can make a greatliving as a coder, but you're
sealing both financially, Ithink, and from a joy and
fulfillment standpoint is muchhigher when you do get to build
(14:23):
your own thing but it doesn'tcome out.
A lot of anxiety, a lot of fear, um, a lot financial ups and
downs, um.
So talk to us about that alittle bit.
So how, how has this venturebeen for you financially?
Speaker 3 (14:36):
So I'll just be real.
I mean, like when I firststarted the business, I told my
boss I was like I can't do thiswithout a little bit of help,
and so I did sell a bit of mycompany when I did start out to
get a cash investment, so thatbasically what that did is it
gave me a salary during thepregnancy of my second child,
cause when he told me he's likeI can either help you find a new
(14:56):
job or you can take thisbusiness, but I'm gonna have to
take a percentage of it with abit of a cash influx.
So that's very much whathappened, and that first year I
pretty much just lived off thatsalary by figuring out the
studio when that money was gone.
That was really scary becauseat that point, you know, I had
to get things going and therewas obviously months when, you
(15:17):
know, I didn't get paid and thatwas a bit disheartening.
And you know, when it comes todealing with finances, I feel
like the thing that I had tokeep in check the most was my
confidence, cause it could just,you know, if you just judge it
based off of that, you know it'shard, and so I'd come home at
night and be like well, I don'tknow if I'm going to get that
(15:37):
second paycheck this month, andthen I then I get stressed about
it.
And then you said family.
You know, almost like we talkedabout this, maybe in a
different conversation, but wementioned that they just want
you home, they just want youthere, and when you bring that
weight into the room with them,they sense it?
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Oh yeah, Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
That almost like they take on exactly the what is it?
The energy that you have, andso the good thing to do, the
right thing to do, is to notyou're not shielding it from
them.
You do have to put on a bit ofa like, a filter filter, things
will be all right, because youwant.
You also want the family to begood and to recharge you and to
(16:18):
be happy and then.
But you also have to deal withthose internal feelings of like,
yeah, I'm a little stressedright now, you know I'm bitten a
fish out of water.
But I'm gonna have to deal withthose internal feelings of like
, yeah, I'm a little stressedright now, I'm a bit in fish out
of water, but I'm going to haveto figure this out, but I will.
The thing that you have toagain your confidence.
You've got to be confident togo in the next day that I'm
going to be able to figure itout.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Yeah, Awesome, Switching gears a little bit,
because one of the reasons wewere so excited to do the show
is because you are a podcastingpro and we we have a an extreme
passion for podcasting,obviously, Um, talk a little bit
(16:57):
about the direction ofpodcasting, Like, what, um, what
, what, what should people?
What should?
Either people who are thinkingof starting a podcast show or
somebody who's who's gettinginto the podcasting business?
Where, where is this?
Where's this going?
What, what is, what are thetrends in in the podcasting
world?
Speaker 3 (17:11):
I love that.
I love that question becausewhen I first got hired, my my
studio was only doing audio only, okay, so I mainly got hired to
be the video person attached toit, because video podcasts were
just now kind of becomingintroduced as a concept it was
back in 2019.
And they also were editingYouTube videos for other people,
so they were kind of combiningthe two and I'm thankful they
(17:33):
did that, because I started tosee the benefits of having a
video podcast and I think atthat time short form video was
just becoming a thing, TikTokwas just coming onto the scene
through 2020, 2020, to the COVID, and what I started noticing
was that a lot of successfulcontent need to be authentic.
(17:55):
I'm also an editor, so highlyedited stuff is great.
You got Mr Beast with all thesedifferent retention breakers
throughout the video.
They're great, they're good atwhat they do, but you lose a bit
of authenticity.
I don't know what Mr Beast ison a personal side.
I don't know who really does,but that's not his brand.
But for businesses, you need tobe authentic because you need
to be able to buy from them.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
That's great and know them.
Yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
And what I noticed with podcasting it literally
just documents.
You're flying the wall in aconversation of somebody and
what it did a really good jobwas capturing it in an hour-long
conversation.
But what that gave potential todo was content redistribution
and you could get as manyshort-form clips and you could
even grab YouTube chapters asyour videos, which Joe Roken
(18:39):
does.
He does his 10-minute clips andthis just opened the door of.
I kind of opened my brain up.
I'm like why isn't everybodydoing this?
This is really easy, not easy.
It's easier than making YouTubevideos and doing these highly
edit produced stuff.
I was like more people need tobe educated on why podcasting is
such a great thing and a greatstrategy.
(19:00):
So what I kind of went on thisjourney was like I need to
either start a business helpingpeople with this, which I kind
of did.
I kind of went in thatdirection and I also need to
help people continue theirjourney into podcasting, because
people get disheartened prettyeasily when it comes to looking
at numbers and because podcastsare judged a little bit
(19:22):
differently.
They're not so based on viewsand it's downloads, it's audio
and videos just a little bitdifferent and, plus, a lot of
businesses doing podcasts needto judge it based on leads and
conversions.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Networking has been huge for us.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Networking is a great , great thing that I always talk
about and it pretty much peoplejust love being interviewed, I
mean you're interviewing me andI love it.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
It's like the unintended consequence of
podcasting is networking.
It's unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Networking is one of those pillars I always talk
about.
That's great for podcasting.
I'd say authenticity networkingand then the amount of content
you're able to capture.
I I love the concept thatpodcasting is the most.
What's the word?
I can't, I'm trying to think ofintimate way of marketing.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
It's the most intimate way of marketing,
because you're literally able tohave it.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
I mean you literally are hearing everything about a
person through all theirpodcasts and yeah like hear
their life story and all thepodcasts I listen to, I learn
more and more about this personbecause they were real different
parts of their life, whendiscussing with the guest or
what's going on with their life,and you figure so many things
out and you're and all of asudden you're like I really
relate with this person.
I want to buy a house.
(20:33):
I'm going to connect with thatrealtor because I really connect
with them.
Or I want a business coach.
This person is exactly who Ithink I need to hire, so you get
to know them a lot more and I'dsay, if you're a good person,
podcasting is just going to besuccessful for you.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
If you're a bad person, I mean, it's not going
to be obvious.
It's going to be obvious.
I think one of the reasons whypodcasting resonates so much
with Jay and I is that we're inthe relationship business
Exactly.
We're in the business ofgetting a little bit below the
surface and understanding whoyou are as a person.
(21:10):
But we're also I think both ofus share this of us because
we're able to be genuine notonly together, but with you or
with our guests, and I think itis probably the primary reason
why podcasts, why the genre isgrowing quite a bit, is because,
unlike the highly produced youknow, mr Beast videos out there,
podcasting it's, it's you're,it's like a real person, you
(21:34):
know, and we don't say everysingle word exactly correct and
sometimes fumble through ourintroductions and stuff like
that.
Absolutely.
I, you know, we, we, jay and Ihad a conversation on a previous
show about, about nerves infront of the camera and for some
dang reason I always get alittle nervy when I'm about to
introduce the show, but thenonce we get into it, it's like
it's easy, it's awesome.
Once you get going, yeah, butthat's one of the reasons I love
(21:57):
podcasting is because I feellike and enjoy other podcasts
because it is, it's just, it's areal person.
You get to see their genuineside a lot more than on a highly
polished, highly producedYouTube video.
Exactly, youtube does have aplace for disseminating your
podcast and reaching more people, especially with YouTube music
really coming online um,recently moving from Google
(22:19):
podcasts to music, but um let'sgo back to a little bit on the
uh like taking your passion,turning it into profit.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Okay, I think, um, we could elaborate a little bit
more on that.
Sure, because I think there's alot of people that think they
want to do something, especiallywhen it comes to business, when
you turn a hobby.
Let's say I can relate to this.
Years ago I used to own andoperate a mobile electronics
like a car audio shop.
(22:47):
This was back in the mid-90s,the late 90s and early 2000s,
when it was the mid nineties tolate nineties and early two
thousands.
When it was, you know,everybody had a bump in sound
system and the car was laid outand dropped and on airbags and
all this stuff.
And that was really reallypopular back in the day, um, but
one of my fears about taking mypassion for car audio and
custom cars and turning thatinto a business was that I was
(23:10):
about to kind of muddy the waterand mix these two things that
you know one one thing that Iloved doing and I was really
passionate about it and it wasreally more of a hobby for me
than anything else and then turnit into this.
Now I've got to, like I've gotto make this business make money
doing what I love, like is thisgoing to be possible?
(23:32):
And it was.
It was a trial for that time inmy life, for sure.
But you know, how does thatrelate to your experience with
what you've created here?
Cause this is really, reallyawesome.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
I'd say that was a big struggle for me because I'm
being more from the creativeside.
Editing is definitely.
You have to have creativejuices, I say, to make a good
product.
So I'd edit two or three videosa day.
That third video of the dayprobably wasn't as creative as
the first one because you onlyhave so much in a day.
I always say You'd have to getlike refreshers, go on a walk,
(24:07):
hang out.
I'd hang out with my wife.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
You'd get tired Watch movies.
Your eyes get tired.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Exactly.
You need to consistently beinspired, and now I'm handling
more of the business side ofthings.
I definitely would get burntout when I'd edit three videos a
day and it made me not like itas much I would say.
Now, from a side of maybemanaging people that do it for
me or educating a little bit onhow to do it, I'd say my love
(24:31):
for it is still there, it's justdifferent.
It's still, it just looks alittle bit different.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
So are you more attracted to the business side
of it now or the creative sideof it now?
Probably the business side.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
Right Because, because you've discovered this
now through the process You'vetouched on it, I would never go
back from being an entrepreneurnow.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
I can't, I I opened the window.
I can't, I can't, I haven'tcovered the curtain, so to say.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
I can't go back because I the power of it.
There's so much more power tothink, cause you get to have
more control over the abilitiesand where things are going and
finish products.
You have more influence.
And so the reason I say my lovefor it has changed is because I
actually get to see the endresults of it and actually, like
I've been a part of so many ofmy clients that have been
(25:17):
building podcasts or YouTubechannels and now that's like
they get to work for themselvestoo, because they did it and I
help them do it.
You know, like they startedcoaching businesses.
They get to sell digitalproducts.
They get to do all these thingsbecause I helped them do
something.
Now, if I just stayed behindthe curtain and was just their
editor, maybe I becamesalary-based with them.
I wouldn't really care becauseI'm like I'm just helping you
(25:38):
build your vision, you know but,now that I'm more in control
and have more say and, like you,did this because some of the
knowledge that I added into itNow.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
you're kind of like a valuable business partner.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Exactly.
That's kind of how I like tosee it, as I'm a bit more.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
This is kind of where we're all going together, is
that not?
Only are we collaborating onthese shows, but now we're going
to be collaborating on abusiness level.
That we're as a partnershipit's good.
It's actually going to onlyjust help everything that we're
working on together grow.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
Yeah, exactly that was probably.
That was actually one of thefirst things I learned.
How to pitch my company waslike we can be your editor and
you can just pay us a flat fee,sure, but you're not going to
use us to your full capability.
If you, you let us partner withyou, be a little more invested
with us, we, your success willbe our success.
And when we want to be able topost you on our Instagram, say
(26:28):
like, look at the success,numbers, numbers, we want to be
able to refer you business ifanybody needs, um, your services
or products.
You know we want to bealongside you and I think that
this podcast is great.
I mean being able to come onyour show and to collaborate a
little bit more and I get tomeet, maybe some of your people
that are a part of your networkand your show and listening on a
(26:50):
constant engagement.
I think that'd be really cool.
Yeah, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
It's been great on so many levels to do this show.
I mean, you know, interviewingentrepreneurs on the surface Yep
, it's awesome.
We love learning from otherentrepreneurs about how they
approach things, what theirperspectives are, and then and
then finding businesspartnerships with them as well
has been great.
I'll do a little commercialbreak right here on behalf of
(27:16):
Zeke.
So, as we mentioned earlier,zeke owns XYZ Media and he's got
just a beautiful,professionally built podcast
studio here.
We're going to have links toreach out to Zeke down in the
description.
Whether you're just startingout you have no clue what you're
going to do with your podcast,or you're an experienced
podcaster, but you're lookingfor a fresh set or a nicer set
(27:38):
to do your show and you've gotto reach out to Zeke.
He can come alongside you, helpyou produce it, help you in the
post-production.
So look for that link downbelow and Zeke's your guy.
So but and and getting to again, I've said this probably three
times on this podcast because Iwas so excited to come on the
show to interview a podcasterwho's also a pro pod.
(27:58):
He, you know, runs aprofessional studio.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
This is very unique.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
It's awesome and and again.
One of the great things thathave come out of podcasting is
just the people we've met andthe, the perspectives that we've
we've picked up from it that weapply to our business and our
daily lives, absolutely yeah.
So what nuggets can you what,what?
What advice do you have for forpeople out there that might be
(28:21):
wanting to start their ownpodcast studio business?
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Ooh, that's a great question.
I've actually thought aboutwhere I want to go next with my
business, and that was one ofthe things that I considered.
I think I like being a littlemore on the ground level with
podcasters, but I have somegreat notes for people that are
thinking about as a like a gigthat they want or a business
they want to start.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
What's the first thing?
What's the first thing, what'sthe most important thing they
should keep in mind as they'regetting it started.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
Don't start it in your house.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
I'd say OK uh, why is that?
Speaker 3 (28:53):
I would say a lot of people build out their studios
in their home, which is great,you know.
And if you can find people inyour network that can like to
come to your house, and you know, it's great.
You can tax write-offs and allthis amazing things.
Yep, it's in your house, you'realready paying for it.
But when you're not in aprofessional state uh, or
professional or professionalmanner of like a business,
(29:17):
there's definitely a, like awhat's the word I want to look
for?
Speaker 2 (29:22):
I know where you're going with this, because we
believe the exact same thingwhen it comes to whether it's
our mortgage business or thepurpose for my city office, for
example.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
Perfect yeah, absolutely Professional.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Professionalism yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
And when you walk into a studio, it's all an
experience.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
A lot of things about podcasting.
It's an experience AbsolutelyTotally.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
I mean, I'd say that for many, even being loan
officers, and people come tomeet with you and ask you for
advice, you want it to be a niceexperience.
When you go into someone's,like not only are you going to a
home address that they alwayshave, now they can keep in the
record book if they get mad atyou or anything they I mean like
(30:01):
your business.
You know where you live.
Yeah, they know where you live,but you're a little protected.
But at the same time you walkin.
You just from a professionalstandpoint, I think your
business is way more marketablefrom a podcast studio
perspective if you're in acommercial space versus a home,
because also, like your home, isyour home.
Like if you want to have afamily and all that, like
they're going to be on the otherpart of the house doing
something, or your wife is goingto be somewhere or wherever it
(30:21):
may be.
You got kids somewhere, maybethey're at daycare or whatnot,
but like all their stuff's goingto be there.
So like there's only so manythings.
It won't feel homey.
It'll feel homey.
You don't want it to feel homey, you want to feel like a studio
.
Yeah, so I would say that wouldprobably be my biggest thing,
and I think a couple otherpodcast studios that I've talked
to would absolutely agree.
And I think you guys alreadykind of mentioned you do too,
(30:43):
yep.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
So, yeah, what are your, uh, what are your biggest
pain points right now?
Or concerns going forward as a,as a business owner, as a
podcaster?
Speaker 3 (31:01):
as a podcaster.
As a podcaster, I would say,just finding the time to edit
marketing stuff within my clientstuff I think it's the biggest
thing taking time to.
I always feel guilty when I putresources into myself over my
clients, when in reality I thinkmy stuff is what's going to
generate more business than justmaking my client stuff look
better and tweaking with it,even though I I love my clients
and I've always thankful for tohave them and that their
(31:22):
finances and their you know it'sprobably taking care of me.
But the business can't growunless I pour into it, and so
for me, pouring into it, I have,I have to do some more stuff.
I always feel guilty about that.
I think that's a struggle thatI didn't realize I would have.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Like you feel guilty that you need to make more
content.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
Like starting my own podcast, for example, when I had
you guys on it.
The reason why I pushed it offso much from starting my company
is because I'm like I'd ratherjust build my client's podcast
the best they can be, because Ifeel like my time is better
spent there.
But I learned the hard way thatthey can just walk away, yeah,
(32:02):
and you know all that successlike, yeah, I helped build them.
It's like seeing an editor on aresume like you edited for mr
beast like five years ago.
It's like are you what part ofthis, what stage of their growth
were you at?
Were you a centerpiece?
Were you not?
You don't know.
Yeah, so I learned prettyquickly that I need to be doing
something to document my companydoing good things, and I think
(32:27):
having a social media presenceand maybe editing my clients and
in our marketing work is also.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
And your stuff is great.
By the way, yeah, thank you.
And entertaining, yeah, work isalso.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
So your stuff is great, by the way, yeah, thank
you and entertaining.
Yeah, I noticed that I neededto not only document my client's
stuff that we were doing forthem in a creative manner, which
takes editing and time, but Ialso need to do stuff for me so
that maybe I can be pushing theboundaries of what my clients
and future clients could bedoing and it's also kind of a
model like.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
It's like yeah exactly you.
This is an example of what thetype of content we can create
for you.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
And plus, if I'm successful, then it's only works
in my favor.
It completely adds credibility.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Yeah, I mean, there's the marketing side of it, I can
see for sure.
But but also it's kind of likeI'm thinking of the concept of
self-care that my my wife talksabout on her podcast, where if
you're not immersing yourself inwhat your clients are
experiencing, a you're going tobe able to improve it probably
(33:24):
much better because you're awareof what they're experiencing,
and then again it does build thecredibility.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
I was going to say that credibility is huge.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
You know I'm not just good behind the camera and I'm
sure you know that's reallyimportant to your clients coming
in here, that you can managethis whole process for them and
produce something that looks andsounds amazing.
But if you're successful on thecamera as well, to me that
would take credibility to awhole other level.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
Yeah, and I'd say that's probably the next hardest
thing about doing it.
I'd say, walk into that nextpart of your question, which was
running the business.
It's being the focal point ofyour business.
I'm so used to being behind thescenes and even like working
for a church, like I'm thebroadcast producer.
I just do that behind thescenes.
No one ever sees me.
I'm always wearing all black,so like if I come out to fix a
(34:13):
camera or whatnot, I'm like aghost.
You don't know that I'm thereRight.
But now doing conversations likethat, I listened to my podcast
over and over and over againcause I want to make sure that
I'm like I'm saying uh too muchor I started over my words, I
get too excited here, I need toslow it down.
But then also looking at, uh,you know, I said oh, right there
(34:38):
.
I say you think about it.
You know I said oh, right there.
I'd say you think about it.
You start to think about beingthe focal point and how you need
to improve and that's a wholenother like pressure that I
didn't realize would be kind ofhard to do.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
I think you'll find this too, and, brian, I think
you probably would agree with meon this is that our the
marketability of our studio.
A lot of it has to do with usactually hosting, like, this is
the home of the grit and growpodcast, and so the
marketability of it, I think, isheightened because it's it's
the home of the grit and growpodcast, right?
Speaker 3 (35:07):
you know, you just made a good point, because I
think when people ask about mystudio, they say, oh, what
podcasts are in your studio?
They always ask me it's the xyzpodcast yeah, and now I can say
it's the home of it's the homeof the xyz podcast, because
there's some other podcasts thatare explicit that I can't quite
advertise that recording hereand I'm like I can't really
market that.
So but you can market your show, I can sure can market mine,
(35:30):
that's for sure, it's familyfriendly, it's clean yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
So getting back into the rebranding of the company,
rebranding for marketingpurposes, I think this is also a
really important topic to cover.
How did you come up with theXYZ Media name and branding?
Because the branding is reallycool too.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
That's funny.
So we were thinking about I wasactually.
This is one of the times thatmy boss added a lot of influence
on me.
We had a meeting and this iskind of the times that my boss
added a lot of influence on me.
We had a meeting and this iskind of the same meeting.
We realized that I was anentrepreneur, kind of.
We realized, like you, yourdecision to take the client
tells me you should just haveyour own business.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
You could be doing this on your own.
Yeah, you could be doing this.
He kind of encouraged me alittle bit, that's cool.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
And so he kind of was like, well, here's some company
.
He just some company.
He just started writing on awhiteboard with me and he wrote
my name down.
He goes zeke media, he's likerample media, and he started
playing with all his names andhe and he goes your social
handle should be xyz.
And then, and then I was likewhat about xyz media?
And he goes oh, that's perfect,and that's how I started there
it is, but I still can't havexyz.
(36:31):
It's totally taken on socialmedia but that's okay, I'll
maybe I'll it someday orsomething.
I'll buy it off somebody if Iget too famous.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
So we're telling people, like we're telling our
podcast clients now that youknow we're going to introduce
you to Zeke Rempel, he's goingto take you from A to Zeke.
Yeah, there you go, and itsticks.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
You know, it's funny when I, it's easy to sell when I
have conversations with peopleand they're always like just do
the X Y.
When I have conversations withpeople and they're always like,
just do the XYZ in thebackground brain I'm like that's
my company.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
That's exactly what I .
It's hard for me.
You're always that like go-to.
Yeah, like that's my companynames.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
You know that it's always a plug.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
XYZ business, so yeah .
Speaker 3 (37:07):
XYZ media is the brand, that's the main brand,
but I'm figuring out that Ican't really market that because
it has a podcast in its name orit doesn't have XYZ YouTube
channel or anything like that.
So I'm actually kind of in themiddle of shaping that.
Xyz Media is kind of like myparent company, which is like
the company that serviceseverything, which is not only
(37:29):
the studio which is a part of it, it's also educational products
that I'm going to sell, which Iam selling.
I'm doing programs.
Some people on YouTube andstuff like that.
And then also it's going to bewhere my podcast is kind of home
to, to help people.
Yep, like the XYZ podcast.
It's kind of under thatumbrella too.
So the podcast studio isactually called XYZ podcast
studio.
Now, that's what the Instagramhandle is, okay.
(37:49):
So people just like, just wantto know about the studio.
It's so much easier to find xyzpodcast studio yep, and I
actually found that my marketinghas like skyrocketed since I've
done that change.
I've gotten so much moreinteraction with people, people
interested to come in, becauseit's in the name because it's in
the name and people know whatit is.
And I've also been more activewith like doing stories about
what I'm doing and that's awhole nother ballgame, just
(38:11):
being more active on oninstagram.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
Yeah, that was another change we made.
So for the grit and grow podcastit went from originally it was
real talk with jay and brian,and then and then it went to not
long, though it wasn't too longbefore we we went to the jay
and brian show and then we weslowly too slowly in my opinion
realized that that nobody reallyknows who jay and brian are and
(38:34):
and we also didn't really havethis amazing direction for our
podcast.
We were interviewing reallycool people.
We had Jim Reynolds on the show, major League Baseball umpire,
and that was cool for me becauseI grew up playing baseball and
I got to ask him all thesequestions.
But once we realized that wewere really passionate about
entrepreneurialism and smallbusiness owners and wanting to
(38:54):
also help promote smallbusinesses in our community.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
Well, it seemed like that was our primary guest that
we kept going back to wasentrepreneurs and local
communicators and influencers.
It seemed like that was ourdirection.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
We wanted the podcast name to say to state out loud
what is our show.
And so we, through a lot ofsort of trial and error and
what's available and what's not,we landed on grit and grow
podcast.
It takes a lot of grit to be anentrepreneur and a small
business owner and to to weatherthe ups and downs and to um.
You know, anybody who's been anentrepreneur has experienced
(39:28):
having the last 20 bucks intheir wallet but still having
that grit and that commitment toto push through and and see it,
see it through, um, and.
But we realized that we stillneeded to grit, and that's
awesome and grow right.
Every small business ownerwants to grow, but we still want
to say clearly who it is.
We're actually who it's for,and so that's, it's the grit and
grow and, in our logo,entrepreneur podcast, and we're
(39:51):
hopeful that that that reallydoes help us reach that next
level that we think we can.
Speaker 3 (39:57):
I think.
So I mean, you mentioned beforethis that YouTube kind of
picked it up a little bit.
You got kind of an influx fromthe managing channels on the
back end.
The right verbiage is veryimportant and most people that
I'd say there's an importance ofpersonal branding and including
your name on everything.
But to get there to know thatpersonal branding and including
(40:18):
your name on everything, but toget there to know that to get to
where your name means something, you have to use the right
verbiage and to reach the rightpeople.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
It's with Jay and Brian.
Speaker 3 (40:28):
still Make sure that stays as a hashtag, though,
because you never know whenpeople really want to deep dive
into your content and let's sayyou well, and because it was,
that was one of the hesitationsthat we had to get away from the
name the Jay and Brian show wasthat it was the Jay and Brian
show for three years you know,and so we have all this you know
, brian mentioned, uh, jimReynolds.
Speaker 1 (40:47):
Jim was great, uh, great guests Uh, but he
announced his retirement frommajor league baseball on our
show and so we got picked up.
The J and Brian show got pickedup from his announcement of his
retirement across all thesedifferent like sports media
giving the J and Brian showcredit for plugging the J and.
Brian show for.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
Jim announcing his retirement on our show.
Speaker 1 (41:10):
So I was really hesitant to like oh my gosh, we
give up all this.
You know this, you knowindirect exposure.
That we got you know throughhis announcement and anyway we
decided that it was going to bebest it was hard.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
It was hard but we, you know, we kind of had a you
know for lack of a better termyou know kind of a come to Jesus
conversation about where wewere at with our podcast and I
think ultimately we really welooked at it and we said, you
know, our podcast and I thinkultimately we really we looked
(41:43):
at it and we said you know, our,our, our subscriber base, our
viewer base is really not crazybig yet and and we we can pivot
and change, and I think thiswill.
This will be a really positivechange for us, because it really
is what we want to do with ourpodcast, who we want to talk to,
how we're going to deliver it.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
And it really is what our listeners and viewers
expect from us.
So it is our product and so allwe've done is just kind of, you
know, more, narrow it down, tomake it more specific, and I
think because of that, our, ourchannels, our influence, it'll
just continue to grow.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
And it's a perfect example of of of Jay and I, and
like our history of beingentrepreneurs and like let we
need to go in this direction nowyeah, we need.
We need to change this up.
Speaker 3 (42:18):
And I think that I think it goes for all businesses
.
Speaker 2 (42:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (42:20):
Even, I'd say even like content creators and doing
anything.
I mean, the more broad you are,the harder it is to actually,
you know, make a footprint.
Speaker 2 (42:29):
Well, yeah, that's.
That's a, I think, a key andyou're you're also an expert on
this but to establishing apodcast, you want to be as
specific as you possibly can inthe beginning yes, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (42:40):
I think as you, which part of what I really do is I
help content creators or peoplewho have existing followings add
a podcast to their strategybecause they have become so, um
successful in their niche.
But to get to that level, theyhad to, they had to pick it like
, add something that's going toreally yes, like, find that
(43:00):
audience that you can reallyconnect with and pretty much
provide for you in a way, if youreally want to talk about it
that way, and then, once you'veachieved that, I offer that next
step of like well, I can't dothis for the next 20 years of my
life, what am I going to do?
So then?
Adding a podcast to it justgets them to chase their
curiosities a little bit more sothey can have conversations a
little bit outside of theirboundaries but still talk about
(43:22):
the stuff they know about.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
It just adds a lot more freedom and flexibility,
and it's less two-dimensionaltoo, because you've got the
legacy of the content.
These podcast shows are goingto live on, probably forever.
Speaker 3 (43:34):
Yeah, and are going to live on probably forever.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
Yeah, and if it's on YouTube, it really is going to
live on forever.
Speaker 3 (43:37):
I would say and YouTube is probably out of all
the platforms, I think it'sprobably going to be around the
longest.
I mean, like I've had an influxof business from people on
TikTok because of the fear thatthey're going to lose everything
.
So TikTok influencers have beenstarting to create podcasts and
it's not like they can just,you know, they have to just
leave their tiktok.
You know strategy behind,because they can still post
(43:57):
their clips from their podcaston tiktok and just, yeah, you're
just adding more content andyou can get like what four hours
of your month that you do, youcan get four episodes.
Uh, that's just endless amountsof content, really.
So, yeah, that was that'sanother part of my business.
I help people kind of take thatnext step of like freedom to,
kind of, because if you're inthe content grind, you know I
(44:20):
mean you guys kind of know thisit's hard.
Speaker 1 (44:23):
Yes it is hard, it's a train of content that just
never stops.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
It is hard.
You got to keep putting it outthere.
Yeah, it doesn't stop.
So what's next for XYZ Media?
Speaker 3 (44:38):
What should everybody know about where where xyz
media is going?
Yeah, so I kind of mentionedI'm kind of pivoting into more
of the educational realm, okay,of helping people with their
youtube channels or podcasts.
I've launched my podcast tokind of talk about uh, which I
had you guys on.
I don't know if that will be up.
We'll.
We'll figure it out because ofschedules.
Speaker 2 (44:53):
I don't know where they're at with their episodes.
Speaker 3 (44:55):
I don't know where they're at with their episodes.
I don't know where I'm at withmy episodes, but, uh, I started
my podcast to kind of uh, givepeople a little bit more uh
behind the curtain of, like,what's going on with, to get to
the X, y, z, so to say.
So, entrepreneurship is kind ofalong the line, along the lines
, but I also want to interviewpeople outside of
entrepreneurship that maybe arejust successful stay-at-home
(45:15):
dads.
You know, they figured out thexyz to be a great dad, you know,
and so I like that term, xyz,because it's so universal.
I could do it for podcasting,but I also can do it for the
show, because what I'm reallycurious about is just how to be
the best version of myself.
And I think that asking thosequestions that you know, some of
the conversations we've had onthe show can have gotten a
(45:36):
little emotional, like with mydad Talked about being adopted
and, you know, figuring outwhere does he go from here, you
know, and does he ask about hisbirth parents and all that.
So asking those questions arereally powerful.
But then it's also on the funside.
It's like asking a contentcreator well, how did you get to
like a million subscribers?
What was that journey.
Like you know what was that X,Y, z?
(45:58):
Because it's just we're in aworld of such so much finished
product.
Yeah, and Instagram.
You see, you know finishedbodies of going through gym
transformations.
You see people making so muchmoney with their nice cars and
then in 30 seconds, in 30seconds, 60 seconds.
And I think that's been aroundfor social media for a long time
(46:19):
but I think that my generationspecifically needs a little bit
more of a framework, becausethere's also people trying to
sell everybody on education andall that, and I just want to
have conversations like how didyou get there?
How did you acquire?
knowledge and any of it and it'sagain, to be the best version
of yourself doesn't mean youhave to be a business owner.
You could again, you could justbe a dad, just wanting to be a
better dad, and so some episodeswill appeal to others, some
(46:41):
episodes I'm starting kind ofbroad, which is probably what
I'm telling people not not to do.
But I also want to chase mycuriosity and I'm more using it
as a model, a model for mybusiness.
And if it goes somewhere, great, if I, you know, really get the
data and say all my viewers aredads, then I'll produce more
dads content, obviously, andI'll lean into it.
But I think for now I just wantto chase my curiosity.
(47:03):
So I'm doing that.
Xyz Media, again, is startingmore educational products and
the podcast studio.
It's growing.
I'm in this space for probablyanother two years.
I'm in this space for probablyanother two years, but I'm
hoping I'm at the growth ratewhere I'm probably going to
outgrow this and need more sets,more individualized rooms so
people can record at the sametime.
Right, I'll need more staff.
(47:24):
So things are growing and ifyou want your studio, you want
your podcast to be hosted in astudio, we can help you.
And oh, also, I'm alsolaunching one other thing.
It's still in the works, uh,but it's actually a travel.
We come to you and we're batchrecord your content oh cool.
(47:45):
So we've had a lot of peopleask what is the price to bring
our studio to them wow, okay, sohow do you go about this?
Speaker 2 (47:54):
so I've kind of mapped this out.
There's a lot of moving parts.
Yes, there are.
There's a lot of moving partsto this.
Speaker 3 (47:59):
So I have a friend that's a wedding videographer.
He goes all over the country,he's a high-end one and I kind
of picked his brain a little bit.
I'm like, how do you?
Because his break is biggerthan mine and I'm a podcast, he
has more gear than I do.
I picked his brain a little bit.
So basically, my battle plan ishow it would work is that I
rent out Airbnb in that citythat maybe is visually appealing
(48:24):
, and I pretty much bring myteam to the Airbnb and set up
our studio in a controlledenvironment.
Oh my, Awesome that soundsawesome, and then we schedule
out the days to be hey, you cancome in film as much content as
you can.
You can probably book out twoor three days, come in batch
(48:44):
record and you get maybe two orthree months' worth of your
episodes, and then we just haveall your footage and we go home.
That's kind of like the upperhigh-ticket offers that we're
thinking about offering.
We've had a couple of peopleask us about it, but it's a lot
of work to figure out.
Speaker 1 (48:59):
travel have you tested it yet.
Speaker 3 (49:01):
So there's, our test is coming up.
Okay.
Thinking about someone'sinterested in it, okay.
The other caveat to that isthat it's building people's
studios and then going intotheir spaces and helping them
build that a little bit.
But, honestly, I'd rathereducate somebody on how to do
that themselves, because everyspace is different, and so maybe
(49:22):
selling, like you know, sometype of more education well,
everybody has a different ideaof what they want their studio
to look like and feel like, andthat I feel like capturing that
would be a lot harder, yeah,whereas if we go to airbnb, we
just set up something that theythink they would like Most
people, just at that level.
People just want it done forthem.
(49:42):
They don't want to think aboutit.
Yeah, so if you're building outyour own studio, you should
care.
You're going to care a littlebit more about what it looks
like, and so I'd rather answerquestions about what things they
should buy, versus this is whatyou should do, yeah.
So, yeah, I think that's kindof it Awesome, I mean.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
I this has been such a really cool car.
I want to keep talking to Zekebecause I feel like I'm,
learning so much Um but um sogreat having you on the show and
thank you again so much forwelcoming us into your studio,
from from a film editor to tobroadcast producer to um,
ultimately, podcast guru and andbusiness owner Zeke.
(50:20):
You've accomplished a lot.
We really appreciate your timeand thank you for being on the
show.
We're going to have, like wesaid, we're going to have links
to XYZ Media down in ourdescription.
We really do hope you reach outto Zeke if you're thinking
about a podcast.
Really do hope you reach out toZeke if you're thinking about a
podcast.
Again, you get creative services.
You get strategizing for how togrow your podcast.
(50:41):
It's not just point and shootwith Zeke and XYZ Media, it's
really the whole package whichmatters so much when you're
trying to plan out a podcast.
So definitely check out whatZeke has to offer.
And thank you guys so much forjoining us again on another
episode of the Grit and Growpodcast.
We look forward to talking toyou guys again someday soon.
(51:09):
Thanks again.
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