February 18, 2025 • 25 mins
Season 3 Episode 1 dives into the transformative journey of podcasting, emphasizing the importance of overcoming fear, establishing consistency, and engaging with an audience through storytelling. Listeners learn about structuring podcasts into seasons, leveraging personal experiences for business growth, and the unexpected benefits of sharing their voice.
• Overcoming the fear of sharing your voice
• Utilizing seasons as categories instead of time
• Season 1 will focus on trade and membership in trade groups
• Emphasizing networking in season 2
• Leveraging podcasts for business growth in season 3
• Including camping and prepping gear reviews in season 4
• The importance of authenticity in podcasting
• Practical strategies for improving audience engagement
“Whistles In The West” was written, recorded, and produced by Durracell, exclusively for use with Trader Stu’s platform, always rocking the cowboy hat. The track is protected under U.S. Copyright rights to use have been granted specifically to Trader Stu for content and promotional use related to his brand and media presence.
contact:
📧 durracellmusic@gmail.com
🌐 www.durracell.com
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The thoughts and views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the host and do not reflect the official policy or position of Metro Trading Association. Although the host is an employee of Metro Trading, this podcast is intended to educate entrepreneurs on the benefits of professional trading, regardless of their location. Additionally, the host reviews various pieces of camping gear due to the association of trade, barter, and prepping.
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Find all our important links—including our LinkedIn, MetroTrading.com, and Michigan Renaissance Festival info—at:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello from the Trading Post.
This is Trader Stu.
Wow, I can't believe how longit's been since I've done a
recording.
I wanted to mention I don'tknow if you heard the last
couple episodes or whatever sowhat I did was I was trying to
get over the humps.
I always tell people, you know,just hit record, don't worry
about it, upload it and getyourself out in the ether.
(00:23):
And I had two episodes that Idid early on this is back in
October I think and I took themdown and unpublished them.
They didn't have you know manydownloads several or whatever
and the fact is that Ire-uploaded them, not thinking
about I already kind of fixed it.
I rerecorded them anyway.
(00:45):
So I was trying to just playwith the numbers on Buzzsprout
and the episodes and the uploadsand all that stuff Right, and
get over, kind of like they say,the hump of the fear factor.
So I was trying to just helpsomebody out the other day and
get them over that fact ofthey're going to have their
(01:06):
voice out there, right.
So I was kind of like, you know, I got some stuff out there on
mine that I took off and I'mgoing to re-upload them just to
show that I kind of like so whatyou know.
And anyway, I went back and Iwas going through all my
episodes and I was like, wow,this is redundant.
I already redid that.
(01:28):
So if you heard those, it wasjust because I was playing with
Buzzsprout and then also helpinganother fellow member of our
group set up theirs, theirpodcast, and so just trying to
get them over the hump and I'mgoing to talk about that in a
little bit because this episodeor season so I'm going to do.
(01:51):
Then actually I'm going to kindof go through my idea that was
given to me through people onAlignable, kind of through the
networking thing anyways, asideas on how to organize things.
And we were talking aboutseasons on one of the groups and
you know I don't really need aseason.
I guess the whole idea of thiswas just to record every Monday
(02:16):
and then that didn't happenbecause you know weeks go by so
fast and then things don'thappen.
And then I'm like you know whatI'll do Tuesdays.
The whole idea was Mondayrecord, upload on Tuesday for
Trade Tuesdays.
But I think just the way,because weeks play out and how
they are going and I can't stayconsistent with uploads and this
is one of the things you needto kind of look at when you're
(02:37):
doing your podcast, because thisis all about how to get your
business to do podcasting or getyourself to do podcasting for
your business, or however youwant to look at it.
However many employees you have, or if you can dedicate
somebody to do that for you,then just take that, however
you're looking at it.
But anyway, so I'm going to doseasons instead of episodes,
(03:02):
kind of, so I'm going tocategorize everything by season.
So the idea is let me get mycalendar out of the way here.
I kind of made some notes.
There's an idea for you whenyou do your podcast and say you
have something like this, likemy idea.
So the whole thing with thetrading post was supposed to
educate business owners,entrepreneurs, on the benefits,
(03:26):
perks of trade and the wholething was going to be just three
episodes, that's it.
Not even publish this thing outinto the ether and just have a
platform that I can have apodcast on as low bit rate to
send in an email.
So most of my job is educatingpeople on what trade is and then
(03:50):
all of a sudden, you know, oncea business owner understands it
, generally they want to sign upright, but the whole point is
trying to get people tounderstand it first, and then,
once they understand, we're goodto go.
Well, it's not so easy toexplain, sometimes over the
phone or they're busy or they'rerunning around, you know.
So I was like here, here's apodcast, here's a link to the
podcast.
Just listen to these threeepisodes or whatever, and then
(04:14):
hopefully you'll understand it.
You know at that point, andthen I'll follow up with you or
you can call me back or text meback or email me back or
whatever like that if you'reinterested or not, back or email
me back or whatever like that,if you're interested or not.
That was the whole premise ofit.
It was never meant to be whatit's becoming.
This is an accidental and now Iknow what some of these people
on YouTube talk about like anaccidental success.
I'm not saying I'm successfulyet per se, because I'm not
(04:38):
really making money with thepodcast, but also, at the same
time, I guess I am successfulbecause, inadvertently, the
podcast is becoming known.
So when you do a podcast foryour business, you don't look at
it as a money generatingfeature.
We're going to monetize it,you're going to get exhausted
(04:58):
and ran down and you won't getpast seven episodes.
I think they say I mentioned itin one of my episodes Most
podcasts fail, I think, afterthree episodes.
I think they say I mentioned itin one of my episodes most
podcasts fail, I think, afterthree episodes.
And I get it because afterthree, if you're doing one a
week, that's a month, you know.
And they're on their fourth one, that's a month.
And you usually lose steam bythat point in time.
(05:18):
Think about if you are a fitnessbuff or whatever and you're in
a gym, like I used to be, everyday and I just wouldn't go to
the gym for the first two weeksof January.
Right, it would be swamped,it's packed and you're waiting
for machines and you got theseNew Year's resolutioners coming
in and kind of ruining the gymfor you and what you got going
(05:41):
on and you're like you know what, whatever, I'm going to take
two weeks off and they'll begone by end of January and for
the most part I was always rightand I get that.
It's with anything.
It's not just podcasting, it'sfitness, it's, you know, a new
routine or a new promise toyourself or whatever you want to
do, and some things just don'tlast or make it, and that just
(06:03):
goes true with anything.
So don't get frustrated, keeppushing on, keep hitting record
and go for it.
So, anyway, I have digressedBack to the structure that I'm
trying to do for the podcast andan idea to help you organize
yours.
So my season one.
I'm going to do four seasonsjust to try and keep it.
(06:23):
You know, I like the fourseasons of Michigan and also
anything more than that.
It just seems to get crazy inyour head and too hard to
organize.
So I've whittled this down fromseven seasons originally down
into four.
So season one is education,about trade, and having members
being interviewed is the wholeidea right.
(06:44):
And having members beinginterviewed is the whole idea
right.
So discussions on thefundamentals of the trade and
barter system and then the guestappearances.
That's season one.
Season 2, networking.
I am getting pretty heavy backinto networking again.
It took a while to spin up intoit and hit all the chambers and
events and things of thatnature.
I'm finding more and more onEventbrite.
(07:06):
Now I'm looking to host my ownnetworking events in the area,
in the Metro Detroit area.
If you're in Michigan orSoutheast Michigan and want to
uh, check it out, I willannounce it once it gets
launched.
But right now I'm going throughother preliminary things and
planning and things of thatnature to try and get it going
(07:26):
and basically it's going to benetworking for kids or with kids
, rather.
Uh.
So I a lot of chamber eventsare after work, you know, and
I'd rather be home or hangingout with my kid than I would be
out networking.
So I thought, well, hey, mygrandpa used to bring me to his
networking events back inFrankenmuth chamber events and
(07:47):
Lions Club and VFW and Legionand all that, and I always
thought it was so cool, so I'dlike to do the same for my son.
So here we are.
It was so cool, so I'd like todo the same for my son.
So here we are.
So season two is aboutnetworking and highlighting the
events that I've attended andtell you about them and maybe
you will find interest in it andgo to one, maybe even tips and
(08:09):
strategies for effectivenetworking.
I got a couple of ideas rightaway that I can think of that I
could talk about.
I've been networking for God.
Well, I mean, if you don'tinclude my grandpa and hanging
out with him at Frankie Muthwhen I was a child like probably
seven, you know, 10 years oldor whatever.
I've been at it since I workedfor ADT Security and that was
(08:31):
back in 2009, I believe it was,or 2010, maybe, and I was the
vice president of BNI group thatI was in and you know chamber
events and all that stuff.
Right, it's back in my twenties.
So, anyway, I'll talk aboutthat and then maybe interview
interviews with contacts andpartners I've met through
(08:52):
networking.
I could even do something likethat too, which, my God, that'd
be, that'd be, that'd be anendless amount of episodes right
there, cause I have so manypeople I've met through
networking through the years.
Anyway, uh, season three I woulddo about leveraging the podcast
for growth, and this is thisone.
Right here, I'm going to makelabel this episode as season
(09:12):
three.
Uh, episode one, and it'sbecause this episode is about
that.
It's about, you know, peoplewanting to start a podcast to
leverage their growth in theirbusiness and make them the
industry expert and talk aboutwhat they do.
And no better way than, youknow, podcasting, about talking
(09:33):
about what you do, and itautomatically makes you an
industry expert, from what I'vealready kind of noticed, and
actually people want to talk toyou more about your podcast than
they do about your business,which is really fun as well.
It's a nice ice breaker andI'll get to that in a minute.
So the episodes could be on howto use a podcast to promote and
grow your business, and thenpersonal success stories or
(09:57):
struggles and that's kind oflike what I like talking about.
I love struggle stories andgoing through the pains and I
think that'd be kind of fun justto document all of that in the
podcast.
And normally no one really doesthat.
I guess Everyone always justwants to project their success
(10:17):
and then people think they're anovernight success or overnight
millionaire, when in fact theygot hundreds or thousands of
hours or episodes or years in 5,7, 10 years, whatever, into
becoming the overnight successand you don't see the last
decade that they poured into it.
You know and you don't.
(10:37):
You don't see the last decadethat they poured into it.
And then also on season three,practical advice on the podcast
production, marketing, audienceengagement, equipment, maybe
even and time, and you know,just kind of go through
everything on what it takes tohave a podcast for business
growth, because if you're onYouTube, as I I am, I'm looking
at it all the time aboutmarketing and growing a business
(10:59):
.
They just talk.
Everyone talks about.
Yeah, you should start apodcast and that'll help you
grow your business, becausethere's only I think this last
stat was 350,000 podcastsworldwide, as opposed to I
believe it's YouTube channels,or 7 million YouTube channels
worldwide.
So you get a much greaterchance of getting an audience on
a podcast than you do ongetting it to YouTube.
(11:23):
Season four I want to do morereviews maybe.
Even so, camping and preppinggear and the reason why this
just happened to be somethinginadvertent.
That happened on an alignablechat room that I was on, and
they have these breakoutsessions and it's like speed
networking, and when I set themin trade, I always say trade
(11:47):
slash, barter, because itdepends on who you're talking to
.
They're like oh, yeah, I'm aprepper too, or I love prepping,
or I don't know.
Yeah, that's cool, you're aprepper.
I'm like, okay, well, I meankind of, I guess I don't think
I'm that much of a prepper.
I guess I'm a prepper a littlebit.
I mean I have, you know, acabinet of food, you know.
(12:08):
If that makes me a prepper,then so be it, but I mean I
guess a little bit.
So, anyway, I'd like tohopefully one day get sponsored
by maybe some camping andprepping gear, because really
this is a trade and barter, youknow, podcast, it's a the
trading post and what cooler wayto get funding to help me and
advertise.
(12:28):
But then to, you know, do thatfor camping and prepping and I'm
not even get paid for it.
But really if I use somethingcause we camp in the summertime,
and then just kind of talkabout it and if it's worth it or
not, you know, I've always beenkind of a reviewer.
Anyway, back in my YouTube days, and that was actually one of
my channels I was going to dowas reviewing things, and it
(12:48):
never took off, because mostthings, well, they don't,
because YouTube is a hard, toughracket to get into and so well,
hey, I'll add that on to Season4 at the very end, and so I
could talk about the reviews andvarious prepping and camping
gear.
I guess that's the same thing,camping and prepping gear.
Really it's usedinterchangeably.
(13:09):
As a matter of fact, that's howmy wife got me to start camping
again, because she was like, oh, wouldn't it be great if you
got to like, try out and useyour prepping things that you
have and then use it for campingand then actually get some
hands-on experience with it andtry it before the lights go out.
I'm like, yeah, you know what?
I guess you're right.
So, by the way, I used to sayup, down, swear, left and right,
(13:31):
that I would never, ever campagain, because I've had multiple
deployments, you know, in theAir Force.
I was in the Air Force, I wasin SEER school, so you think I
would love camping because I'mSEER certified or SEER trained.
But honestly, that was enoughfor me.
It was, I guess, at the time.
But now that I got kids, thekids love going to campgrounds.
(13:51):
And so here I am, doing what Iswore I'd never do again, and I
love it though.
I mean it is fun, the kids loveit.
I didn't even see my oldest,the stepson.
He's gone.
The campgrounds have a rule aslong as you're over eight years
old, you can run the groundswithout parental supervision
around, and as soon as we get inthe gates, he's gone.
(14:11):
He takes off.
He's like can I get out of thevan and I'll meet you guys.
What you know?
What spot are you guys in?
We'll tell them the number thatwe're in and and that's it.
He'll either meet us there orwe'll see him later or whatever,
but he loves the freedom at thecampgrounds.
So, and my other son, he's waytoo young, yeah, he's a toddler,
but he already loves it becausehe loves being outside and the
fact that we're outside with himall day, all night, all day,
(14:31):
all night.
He is just like into it.
He loves it.
So here I am, camping again, uh,anyway, and I get to use my
gear and I get to futz around.
I love futzing.
So, um, you know, playing withfire, I've always been a fire
bug.
So there, there it is.
You know, maybe that's one ofthe first things I'll talk about
.
I got this thing from, uh, uh,what's the?
It's a camp stove.
It uses a little fan blower, soyou can, you know, use like
(14:58):
pine cones and twigs andbasically you can boil water
with very little.
It's really really cool to use.
I used it the other day.
It was fun.
Anyway, and you know, to gettips for the right gear and
making the most of it in seasonfour for camping and prepping
gear reviews.
So I did them in the order ofwhat I thought was the most to
least order of importance.
(15:19):
I guess is the only way I couldreally think about it, you know
not.
Season one, education and trade.
Season two, networking.
Season three, leveraging apodcast for business growth.
And then season four, campingand Prepping, gear Reviews, all
right, so let me get a bit moreinto other ideas I had.
(15:42):
So the Alignable if you're noton it yet, by the way great
platform.
It's like aspect of LinkedIn,but you don't get people asking
(16:03):
for jobs like you do on LinkedInor all the all the busyness,
all the.
You know you can getsidetracked on LinkedIn as you
can in Facebook, so it gets ridof all that.
And alignable is all aboutbusiness owners, entrepreneurs,
sales folk helping people out,and then it's like the giver's
(16:24):
gain.
So they say you know you put10% out and you'll get 10 times
back or 100% back, whatever,like that right.
So you help someone out, theyremember you, they drop you a
referral, basically kind of athing, and then suddenly, by the
time you know it, you knowyou're getting sales unalignable
and it just comes, comes likealmost inadvertently.
It's really fun.
You learn a lot.
I use it for a learningplatform because they have the
(16:50):
breakout rooms, like I mentioned, and you meet people from all
over the country.
And the whole premise ofAlignable started out, though,
as a local networking only, soyou can like LinkedIn.
I don't think you can really dothis.
You can narrow down where youwant to find connections at.
So if I'm just a, you know,metro Trading Association I'm
the sales and marketing managerfor them I only really care
(17:13):
really to work with the GreatLakes region, right, because I I
mean, trade is only good, asgood as the local people in the
local economy.
It's all about buying localright?
So I, even though I can kind ofhelp maybe work with somebody
in Florida, it's really hard tofind a reciprocal, mutual
beneficial situation with thatbusiness owner.
(17:36):
So I mean, even though theymight be able to sell because
they're a, you know, onlinee-commerce, uh, how can I get
them to spend?
And they're only, you know,businesses are only as good as
they can spend and sell, um, sothat's why I like Alignable is,
I can narrow it down to justMichigan, ohio, even Indiana,
illinois.
(17:57):
So there's that Um and I wantedto also get into.
They have a podcasting groupson there as well to help you out
.
But you know, people think thatjust because you're a podcaster,
you kind of like know it all orwhatever I guess, which is kind
of fun and cool because you getto be the expert.
So I was literally called upand messaged the other day to
(18:18):
help one of my members that's inMetro Trading, to help set him
up with a podcast.
And I'm like it's really easy,man.
You just you know, log in,buzzsprout, walks you through it
, done, deal.
And he was just like I don'treally got time to deal with
that or, you know, I don't wantto figure it out.
You know, could you help me out?
I'm like, well, I'll stop byand walk you over how to do
(18:40):
everything.
I just sat up and I was therefor probably I don't know 15, 20
minutes.
He really appreciated it andhe's off to the races now.
All he's got to do now isrecord.
I've got to set him up with allthe different ways to listen to
his podcast and all that stuff.
To me it was easy.
I went through it to him.
(19:01):
He didn't want to deal with itand you know it's all done now,
so it's cool.
So I hope he does well with it.
He does security for computers,virus, antivirus and things of
that nature, so all right.
So one more thing too if you'rethinking about starting a
podcast, don't try and beperfect with it, so it'll only
(19:24):
disappoint you because youreffort to downloads is really
high in the beginning.
Just like with anything a newjob, you're going to have a huge
upload cost of time and effort,maybe even a little bit of
money that you have to investinto it before you really get
rolling, that you get to investinto it before you really get
rolling.
(19:44):
I noticed that with the YouTubeit's a lot more because, of
course, you get the video aspectof it too, and everyone always
asks me if I'm going to do videowith the podcast and, honestly,
if I could get away with justaudio only, I will.
I understand the marketingaspect, however, of uploading
some video.
Obviously, with the Joe Roganshow, I know he's, you know he's
(20:04):
above, way above the standards,you know whatever he's $18
million an episode, I think hegets.
So he.
But I only really watch.
I don't listen to his podcast,I don't.
I see his hits on YouTube andthey're funny or whatever
interesting.
I see his hits on YouTube andthey're funny or whatever
interesting, but it's onlybecause of YouTube that I know
(20:28):
of Joe Rogan, really because Idon't listen to him on Spotify.
So, that being said, just hitthe record button, get over that
hump, like I mentioned earlier.
Get your voice out there, getover your butterflies, get over
the fear factor.
Nobody's going to listen to it.
Don't even advertise it if youdon't want to Just record it and
submit it.
Publish it, get it out thereand don't say anything and
(20:48):
you're going to get a couple oflistens and downloads or
whatever, just through kind ofan organic reach.
Or maybe, if you've got goodtags or you've got good keywords
in your title or whatever,you're going to get found just
by, you know, people searching.
If you don't want to mention iton your Facebook page, then
don't.
I didn't, and because it wasn'tsupposed to be like what it is
(21:11):
now anyway.
So, get over that pump and justget it out there.
And you know, just talk aboutsomething and that's it.
Like I said, at least it ain'tYouTube.
You know you have to deal withthe lighting and the angles and
the video editing and, uh, youknow all.
And then you got sound on topof it and all that, everything.
So, uh, the podcasts are greatbecause it's great for the busy
(21:34):
business owner, because you have, you know, so much less to edit
and honestly, I am trying toedit as little as possible,
because the editing is whattakes all the time that's.
I mean, when I was doing videoediting for a job I was in, I
figured about an almost an hourper minute, but I was doing a
hands-on, educational, you knowfor the company, kind of.
(22:00):
You know big, big, kind of bigproduction, I guess you could
say, or everyone's going to seeit.
So it was more time.
You can probably narrow it downto maybe more like a 15 minutes
of editing per minute of video,but even though that's still a
lot of time, you got fourminutes of video and that goes
by so fast.
That's an hour of just editing,you know, and that's it.
(22:21):
You haven't done anything elseto it yet, with all of the
description and the tags and themarketing of it and everything
like that, right.
So it's a lot.
At least with podcasts, if youjust, you know, get through it
and upload it, you're good to go.
I was just kind of readingthrough here.
Oh yeah, I wanted to mention tothe podcast when you're out
(22:42):
networking just mentioned, youhave a podcast and maybe put it
in your on your business cardand it's a great icebreaker when
I'm out networking.
I'm like you know, I'm a thesales guy or member application
God, I'd think of a better namefor sales and marketing manager.
But anyway, you know, I workfor Metro trading and I started
a podcast and everyone's likeOoh, you know, wow, cool.
(23:04):
I'm like really I didn't, Ididn't think that was that big
of a deal.
But I am fully aware gettingmore aware now that a lot of
people wish they could or want,want to do something, and then
they think about it and thenwhen they meet somebody who's
actually done it, you know it'skind of a it's a cool thing to
see somebody do something thatyou, you want to do yourself.
(23:26):
I guess it's kind of it's theonly way I can think of it
because I even though I did youknow, I was in youtube and all
that I deleted the channel andall that stuff because it was
kind of distracting and keptcoming back to it and it was
just filling my time withnothingness and I was getting
nothing out of it.
And, uh, I got, you know, Ithink I was at it since 2017 and
I changed the channel nameseveral times and it was just,
(23:47):
uh, I, yeah, it just kind offlamed out.
It was over it.
So, anyway, just start yourpodcast and get going with that
and you know, see what happens.
Um, and I guess that's it.
Hello from the Trading Post.
This is Trader Stu.
Wow, I can't believe how longit's been since I've done a
recording.
I wanted to mention I don'tknow if you heard the last
couple episodes or whatever sowhat I did was I was trying to
get over the humps.
I always tell people, you know,just hit record, don't worry
about it, upload it and getyourself out in the ether.
(00:23):
And I had two episodes that Idid early on this is back in
October I think and I took themdown and unpublished them.
They didn't have you know manydownloads several or whatever
and the fact is that Ire-uploaded them, not thinking
about I already kind of fixed it.
I rerecorded them anyway.
(00:45):
So I was trying to just playwith the numbers on Buzzsprout
and the episodes and the uploadsand all that stuff Right, and
get over, kind of like they say,the hump of the fear factor.
So I was trying to just helpsomebody out the other day and
get them over that fact ofthey're going to have their
(01:06):
voice out there, right.
So I was kind of like, you know, I got some stuff out there on
mine that I took off and I'mgoing to re-upload them just to
show that I kind of like so whatyou know.
And anyway, I went back and Iwas going through all my
episodes and I was like, wow,this is redundant.
I already redid that.
(01:28):
So if you heard those, it wasjust because I was playing with
Buzzsprout and then also helpinganother fellow member of our
group set up theirs, theirpodcast, and so just trying to
get them over the hump and I'mgoing to talk about that in a
little bit because this episodeor season so I'm going to do.
(01:51):
Then actually I'm going to kindof go through my idea that was
given to me through people onAlignable, kind of through the
networking thing anyways, asideas on how to organize things.
And we were talking aboutseasons on one of the groups and
you know I don't really need aseason.
I guess the whole idea of thiswas just to record every Monday
(02:16):
and then that didn't happenbecause you know weeks go by so
fast and then things don'thappen.
And then I'm like you know whatI'll do Tuesdays.
The whole idea was Mondayrecord, upload on Tuesday for
Trade Tuesdays.
But I think just the way,because weeks play out and how
they are going and I can't stayconsistent with uploads and this
is one of the things you needto kind of look at when you're
(02:37):
doing your podcast, because thisis all about how to get your
business to do podcasting or getyourself to do podcasting for
your business, or however youwant to look at it.
However many employees you have, or if you can dedicate
somebody to do that for you,then just take that, however
you're looking at it.
But anyway, so I'm going to doseasons instead of episodes,
(03:02):
kind of, so I'm going tocategorize everything by season.
So the idea is let me get mycalendar out of the way here.
I kind of made some notes.
There's an idea for you whenyou do your podcast and say you
have something like this, likemy idea.
So the whole thing with thetrading post was supposed to
educate business owners,entrepreneurs, on the benefits,
(03:26):
perks of trade and the wholething was going to be just three
episodes, that's it.
Not even publish this thing outinto the ether and just have a
platform that I can have apodcast on as low bit rate to
send in an email.
So most of my job is educatingpeople on what trade is and then
(03:50):
all of a sudden, you know, oncea business owner understands it
, generally they want to sign upright, but the whole point is
trying to get people tounderstand it first, and then,
once they understand, we're goodto go.
Well, it's not so easy toexplain, sometimes over the
phone or they're busy or they'rerunning around, you know.
So I was like here, here's apodcast, here's a link to the
podcast.
Just listen to these threeepisodes or whatever, and then
(04:14):
hopefully you'll understand it.
You know at that point, andthen I'll follow up with you or
you can call me back or text meback or email me back or
whatever like that if you'reinterested or not, back or email
me back or whatever like that,if you're interested or not.
That was the whole premise ofit.
It was never meant to be whatit's becoming.
This is an accidental and now Iknow what some of these people
on YouTube talk about like anaccidental success.
I'm not saying I'm successfulyet per se, because I'm not
(04:38):
really making money with thepodcast, but also, at the same
time, I guess I am successfulbecause, inadvertently, the
podcast is becoming known.
So when you do a podcast foryour business, you don't look at
it as a money generatingfeature.
We're going to monetize it,you're going to get exhausted
(04:58):
and ran down and you won't getpast seven episodes.
I think they say I mentioned itin one of my episodes Most
podcasts fail, I think, afterthree episodes.
I think they say I mentioned itin one of my episodes most
podcasts fail, I think, afterthree episodes.
And I get it because afterthree, if you're doing one a
week, that's a month, you know.
And they're on their fourth one, that's a month.
And you usually lose steam bythat point in time.
(05:18):
Think about if you are a fitnessbuff or whatever and you're in
a gym, like I used to be, everyday and I just wouldn't go to
the gym for the first two weeksof January.
Right, it would be swamped,it's packed and you're waiting
for machines and you got theseNew Year's resolutioners coming
in and kind of ruining the gymfor you and what you got going
(05:41):
on and you're like you know what, whatever, I'm going to take
two weeks off and they'll begone by end of January and for
the most part I was always rightand I get that.
It's with anything.
It's not just podcasting, it'sfitness, it's, you know, a new
routine or a new promise toyourself or whatever you want to
do, and some things just don'tlast or make it, and that just
(06:03):
goes true with anything.
So don't get frustrated, keeppushing on, keep hitting record
and go for it.
So, anyway, I have digressedBack to the structure that I'm
trying to do for the podcast andan idea to help you organize
yours.
So my season one.
I'm going to do four seasonsjust to try and keep it.
(06:23):
You know, I like the fourseasons of Michigan and also
anything more than that.
It just seems to get crazy inyour head and too hard to
organize.
So I've whittled this down fromseven seasons originally down
into four.
So season one is education,about trade, and having members
being interviewed is the wholeidea right.
(06:44):
And having members beinginterviewed is the whole idea
right.
So discussions on thefundamentals of the trade and
barter system and then the guestappearances.
That's season one.
Season 2, networking.
I am getting pretty heavy backinto networking again.
It took a while to spin up intoit and hit all the chambers and
events and things of thatnature.
I'm finding more and more onEventbrite.
(07:06):
Now I'm looking to host my ownnetworking events in the area,
in the Metro Detroit area.
If you're in Michigan orSoutheast Michigan and want to
uh, check it out, I willannounce it once it gets
launched.
But right now I'm going throughother preliminary things and
planning and things of thatnature to try and get it going
(07:26):
and basically it's going to benetworking for kids or with kids
, rather.
Uh.
So I a lot of chamber eventsare after work, you know, and
I'd rather be home or hangingout with my kid than I would be
out networking.
So I thought, well, hey, mygrandpa used to bring me to his
networking events back inFrankenmuth chamber events and
(07:47):
Lions Club and VFW and Legionand all that, and I always
thought it was so cool, so I'dlike to do the same for my son.
So here we are.
It was so cool, so I'd like todo the same for my son.
So here we are.
So season two is aboutnetworking and highlighting the
events that I've attended andtell you about them and maybe
you will find interest in it andgo to one, maybe even tips and
(08:09):
strategies for effectivenetworking.
I got a couple of ideas rightaway that I can think of that I
could talk about.
I've been networking for God.
Well, I mean, if you don'tinclude my grandpa and hanging
out with him at Frankie Muthwhen I was a child like probably
seven, you know, 10 years oldor whatever.
I've been at it since I workedfor ADT Security and that was
(08:31):
back in 2009, I believe it was,or 2010, maybe, and I was the
vice president of BNI group thatI was in and you know chamber
events and all that stuff.
Right, it's back in my twenties.
So, anyway, I'll talk aboutthat and then maybe interview
interviews with contacts andpartners I've met through
(08:52):
networking.
I could even do something likethat too, which, my God, that'd
be, that'd be, that'd be anendless amount of episodes right
there, cause I have so manypeople I've met through
networking through the years.
Anyway, uh, season three I woulddo about leveraging the podcast
for growth, and this is thisone.
Right here, I'm going to makelabel this episode as season
(09:12):
three.
Uh, episode one, and it'sbecause this episode is about
that.
It's about, you know, peoplewanting to start a podcast to
leverage their growth in theirbusiness and make them the
industry expert and talk aboutwhat they do.
And no better way than, youknow, podcasting, about talking
(09:33):
about what you do, and itautomatically makes you an
industry expert, from what I'vealready kind of noticed, and
actually people want to talk toyou more about your podcast than
they do about your business,which is really fun as well.
It's a nice ice breaker andI'll get to that in a minute.
So the episodes could be on howto use a podcast to promote and
grow your business, and thenpersonal success stories or
(09:57):
struggles and that's kind oflike what I like talking about.
I love struggle stories andgoing through the pains and I
think that'd be kind of fun justto document all of that in the
podcast.
And normally no one really doesthat.
I guess Everyone always justwants to project their success
(10:17):
and then people think they're anovernight success or overnight
millionaire, when in fact theygot hundreds or thousands of
hours or episodes or years in 5,7, 10 years, whatever, into
becoming the overnight successand you don't see the last
decade that they poured into it.
You know and you don't.
(10:37):
You don't see the last decadethat they poured into it.
And then also on season three,practical advice on the podcast
production, marketing, audienceengagement, equipment, maybe
even and time, and you know,just kind of go through
everything on what it takes tohave a podcast for business
growth, because if you're onYouTube, as I I am, I'm looking
at it all the time aboutmarketing and growing a business
(10:59):
.
They just talk.
Everyone talks about.
Yeah, you should start apodcast and that'll help you
grow your business, becausethere's only I think this last
stat was 350,000 podcastsworldwide, as opposed to I
believe it's YouTube channels,or 7 million YouTube channels
worldwide.
So you get a much greaterchance of getting an audience on
a podcast than you do ongetting it to YouTube.
(11:23):
Season four I want to do morereviews maybe.
Even so, camping and preppinggear and the reason why this
just happened to be somethinginadvertent.
That happened on an alignablechat room that I was on, and
they have these breakoutsessions and it's like speed
networking, and when I set themin trade, I always say trade
(11:47):
slash, barter, because itdepends on who you're talking to
.
They're like oh, yeah, I'm aprepper too, or I love prepping,
or I don't know.
Yeah, that's cool, you're aprepper.
I'm like, okay, well, I meankind of, I guess I don't think
I'm that much of a prepper.
I guess I'm a prepper a littlebit.
I mean I have, you know, acabinet of food, you know.
(12:08):
If that makes me a prepper,then so be it, but I mean I
guess a little bit.
So, anyway, I'd like tohopefully one day get sponsored
by maybe some camping andprepping gear, because really
this is a trade and barter, youknow, podcast, it's a the
trading post and what cooler wayto get funding to help me and
advertise.
(12:28):
But then to, you know, do thatfor camping and prepping and I'm
not even get paid for it.
But really if I use somethingcause we camp in the summertime,
and then just kind of talkabout it and if it's worth it or
not, you know, I've always beenkind of a reviewer.
Anyway, back in my YouTube days, and that was actually one of
my channels I was going to dowas reviewing things, and it
(12:48):
never took off, because mostthings, well, they don't,
because YouTube is a hard, toughracket to get into and so well,
hey, I'll add that on to Season4 at the very end, and so I
could talk about the reviews andvarious prepping and camping
gear.
I guess that's the same thing,camping and prepping gear.
Really it's usedinterchangeably.
(13:09):
As a matter of fact, that's howmy wife got me to start camping
again, because she was like, oh, wouldn't it be great if you
got to like, try out and useyour prepping things that you
have and then use it for campingand then actually get some
hands-on experience with it andtry it before the lights go out.
I'm like, yeah, you know what?
I guess you're right.
So, by the way, I used to sayup, down, swear, left and right,
(13:31):
that I would never, ever campagain, because I've had multiple
deployments, you know, in theAir Force.
I was in the Air Force, I wasin SEER school, so you think I
would love camping because I'mSEER certified or SEER trained.
But honestly, that was enoughfor me.
It was, I guess, at the time.
But now that I got kids, thekids love going to campgrounds.
(13:51):
And so here I am, doing what Iswore I'd never do again, and I
love it though.
I mean it is fun, the kids loveit.
I didn't even see my oldest,the stepson.
He's gone.
The campgrounds have a rule aslong as you're over eight years
old, you can run the groundswithout parental supervision
around, and as soon as we get inthe gates, he's gone.
(14:11):
He takes off.
He's like can I get out of thevan and I'll meet you guys.
What you know?
What spot are you guys in?
We'll tell them the number thatwe're in and and that's it.
He'll either meet us there orwe'll see him later or whatever,
but he loves the freedom at thecampgrounds.
So, and my other son, he's waytoo young, yeah, he's a toddler,
but he already loves it becausehe loves being outside and the
fact that we're outside with himall day, all night, all day,
(14:31):
all night.
He is just like into it.
He loves it.
So here I am, camping again, uh,anyway, and I get to use my
gear and I get to futz around.
I love futzing.
So, um, you know, playing withfire, I've always been a fire
bug.
So there, there it is.
You know, maybe that's one ofthe first things I'll talk about
.
I got this thing from, uh, uh,what's the?
It's a camp stove.
It uses a little fan blower, soyou can, you know, use like
(14:58):
pine cones and twigs andbasically you can boil water
with very little.
It's really really cool to use.
I used it the other day.
It was fun.
Anyway, and you know, to gettips for the right gear and
making the most of it in seasonfour for camping and prepping
gear reviews.
So I did them in the order ofwhat I thought was the most to
least order of importance.
(15:19):
I guess is the only way I couldreally think about it, you know
not.
Season one, education and trade.
Season two, networking.
Season three, leveraging apodcast for business growth.
And then season four, campingand Prepping, gear Reviews, all
right, so let me get a bit moreinto other ideas I had.
(15:42):
So the Alignable if you're noton it yet, by the way great
platform.
It's like aspect of LinkedIn,but you don't get people asking
(16:03):
for jobs like you do on LinkedInor all the all the busyness,
all the.
You know you can getsidetracked on LinkedIn as you
can in Facebook, so it gets ridof all that.
And alignable is all aboutbusiness owners, entrepreneurs,
sales folk helping people out,and then it's like the giver's
(16:24):
gain.
So they say you know you put10% out and you'll get 10 times
back or 100% back, whatever,like that right.
So you help someone out, theyremember you, they drop you a
referral, basically kind of athing, and then suddenly, by the
time you know it, you knowyou're getting sales unalignable
and it just comes, comes likealmost inadvertently.
It's really fun.
You learn a lot.
I use it for a learningplatform because they have the
(16:50):
breakout rooms, like I mentioned, and you meet people from all
over the country.
And the whole premise ofAlignable started out, though,
as a local networking only, soyou can like LinkedIn.
I don't think you can really dothis.
You can narrow down where youwant to find connections at.
So if I'm just a, you know,metro Trading Association I'm
the sales and marketing managerfor them I only really care
(17:13):
really to work with the GreatLakes region, right, because I I
mean, trade is only good, asgood as the local people in the
local economy.
It's all about buying localright?
So I, even though I can kind ofhelp maybe work with somebody
in Florida, it's really hard tofind a reciprocal, mutual
beneficial situation with thatbusiness owner.
(17:36):
So I mean, even though theymight be able to sell because
they're a, you know, onlinee-commerce, uh, how can I get
them to spend?
And they're only, you know,businesses are only as good as
they can spend and sell, um, sothat's why I like Alignable is,
I can narrow it down to justMichigan, ohio, even Indiana,
illinois.
(17:57):
So there's that Um and I wantedto also get into.
They have a podcasting groupson there as well to help you out
.
But you know, people think thatjust because you're a podcaster,
you kind of like know it all orwhatever I guess, which is kind
of fun and cool because you getto be the expert.
So I was literally called upand messaged the other day to
(18:18):
help one of my members that's inMetro Trading, to help set him
up with a podcast.
And I'm like it's really easy,man.
You just you know, log in,buzzsprout, walks you through it
, done, deal.
And he was just like I don'treally got time to deal with
that or, you know, I don't wantto figure it out.
You know, could you help me out?
I'm like, well, I'll stop byand walk you over how to do
(18:40):
everything.
I just sat up and I was therefor probably I don't know 15, 20
minutes.
He really appreciated it andhe's off to the races now.
All he's got to do now isrecord.
I've got to set him up with allthe different ways to listen to
his podcast and all that stuff.
To me it was easy.
I went through it to him.
(19:01):
He didn't want to deal with itand you know it's all done now,
so it's cool.
So I hope he does well with it.
He does security for computers,virus, antivirus and things of
that nature, so all right.
So one more thing too if you'rethinking about starting a
podcast, don't try and beperfect with it, so it'll only
(19:24):
disappoint you because youreffort to downloads is really
high in the beginning.
Just like with anything a newjob, you're going to have a huge
upload cost of time and effort,maybe even a little bit of
money that you have to investinto it before you really get
rolling, that you get to investinto it before you really get
rolling.
(19:44):
I noticed that with the YouTubeit's a lot more because, of
course, you get the video aspectof it too, and everyone always
asks me if I'm going to do videowith the podcast and, honestly,
if I could get away with justaudio only, I will.
I understand the marketingaspect, however, of uploading
some video.
Obviously, with the Joe Roganshow, I know he's, you know he's
(20:04):
above, way above the standards,you know whatever he's $18
million an episode, I think hegets.
So he.
But I only really watch.
I don't listen to his podcast,I don't.
I see his hits on YouTube andthey're funny or whatever
interesting.
I see his hits on YouTube andthey're funny or whatever
interesting, but it's onlybecause of YouTube that I know
(20:28):
of Joe Rogan, really because Idon't listen to him on Spotify.
So, that being said, just hitthe record button, get over that
hump, like I mentioned earlier.
Get your voice out there, getover your butterflies, get over
the fear factor.
Nobody's going to listen to it.
Don't even advertise it if youdon't want to Just record it and
submit it.
Publish it, get it out thereand don't say anything and
(20:48):
you're going to get a couple oflistens and downloads or
whatever, just through kind ofan organic reach.
Or maybe, if you've got goodtags or you've got good keywords
in your title or whatever,you're going to get found just
by, you know, people searching.
If you don't want to mention iton your Facebook page, then
don't.
I didn't, and because it wasn'tsupposed to be like what it is
(21:11):
now anyway.
So, get over that pump and justget it out there.
And you know, just talk aboutsomething and that's it.
Like I said, at least it ain'tYouTube.
You know you have to deal withthe lighting and the angles and
the video editing and, uh, youknow all.
And then you got sound on topof it and all that, everything.
So, uh, the podcasts are greatbecause it's great for the busy
(21:34):
business owner, because you have, you know, so much less to edit
and honestly, I am trying toedit as little as possible,
because the editing is whattakes all the time that's.
I mean, when I was doing videoediting for a job I was in, I
figured about an almost an hourper minute, but I was doing a
hands-on, educational, you knowfor the company, kind of.
(22:00):
You know big, big, kind of bigproduction, I guess you could
say, or everyone's going to seeit.
So it was more time.
You can probably narrow it downto maybe more like a 15 minutes
of editing per minute of video,but even though that's still a
lot of time, you got fourminutes of video and that goes
by so fast.
That's an hour of just editing,you know, and that's it.
(22:21):
You haven't done anything elseto it yet, with all of the
description and the tags and themarketing of it and everything
like that, right.
So it's a lot.
At least with podcasts, if youjust, you know, get through it
and upload it, you're good to go.
I was just kind of readingthrough here.
Oh yeah, I wanted to mention tothe podcast when you're out
(22:42):
networking just mentioned, youhave a podcast and maybe put it
in your on your business cardand it's a great icebreaker when
I'm out networking.
I'm like you know, I'm a thesales guy or member application
God, I'd think of a better namefor sales and marketing manager.
But anyway, you know, I workfor Metro trading and I started
a podcast and everyone's likeOoh, you know, wow, cool.
(23:04):
I'm like really I didn't, Ididn't think that was that big
of a deal.
But I am fully aware gettingmore aware now that a lot of
people wish they could or want,want to do something, and then
they think about it and thenwhen they meet somebody who's
actually done it, you know it'skind of a it's a cool thing to
see somebody do something thatyou, you want to do yourself.
(23:26):
I guess it's kind of it's theonly way I can think of it
because I even though I did youknow, I was in youtube and all
that I deleted the channel andall that stuff because it was
kind of distracting and keptcoming back to it and it was
just filling my time withnothingness and I was getting
nothing out of it.
And, uh, I got, you know, Ithink I was at it since 2017 and
I changed the channel nameseveral times and it was just,
(23:47):
uh, I, yeah, it just kind offlamed out.
It was over it.
So, anyway, just start yourpodcast and get going with that
and you know, see what happens.
Um, and I guess that's it.
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