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The 80s Movie That Unlocks Podcasting Success Today! · Your Mic

• 0:00
  The Boring Work won him the championship, and so too will it help you dominate your podcast journey and find success.
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  In this instance, The Boring Work, in your case, it's planning our shows.
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  It's outlining our episodes.
• 0:14
  It's guest outreach, not just trying to find new guests, but also following up with guests after they record an episode with us.
• 0:22
  It is creating social media content.
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  There's the scheduling social media content, which is boring.
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  Pareto's principle, the 80-20 rule.
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  20% of your time is going to be spent actually podcast hosting and recording and talking to guests, networking at an event or something.
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  The other 80% is spent on the boring part, the preparation, the promotion.
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  Accountability is so important.
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  They'll push you to stay consistent so that you're not batch recording and then all of a sudden you're five days away from your next episode and you haven't recorded or even planned anything.
• 0:57
  A great mentor, rather, will share tools and tips and strategies and maybe even connections.
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  He'll help introduce you to somebody who can get you from one step to the next.
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  You're only guaranteed failure if you just hang up the headphones.
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  Put that mic away for good.
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  Wax on, wax off.
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  What the Movie Karate Kid can teach you about dominating the podcast universe.
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  This is your mic.
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  a podcast for new and aspiring podcast hosts as well as existing podcasters who are thinking
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  about hanging up the headphones for good.
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  I recommend you don't.
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  My name is Freddy Cruz,
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  founder of Speak Podcasting, and I love to chat.
• 1:39
  If you have any questions, you want to just
• 1:41
  shoot the breeze about all things pods, you can always hit me up.
• 1:44
  Freddy with a Y.
• 1:45
  That's
• 1:45
  freddie at speakpodcasting.com.
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  Now back in 1984, this movie called The Karate Kid hit the silver
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  screen.
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  It was amazing.
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  I was hooked.
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  Daniel LaRusso, Mr. Miyagi versus Cobra Kai.
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  And about,
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  I would say about three or four Saturdays ago, I had the chance to watch for the first time
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  and I don't know how long.
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  But it got me thinking about some core principles
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  that apply not just to a teenage kid
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  learning how to navigate the world
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  in a completely new environment,
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  but these core principles apply to business
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  and more specifically, podcasting,
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  which is what we're going to talk about.
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  The Karate Kid, yes indeed,
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  The Karate Kid can teach you so much about dominating the podcast universe.
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  And what's crazy is that the movie is 19 years older than the art of podcasting itself.
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  1984 versus 2003.
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  Crazy, right?
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  So today we're going to be talking about these three core principles that I learned when watching Karate Kid.
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  and they are mastering the boring work.
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  They are finding a mentor and accepting that, yes,
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  you're going to get your ass kicked
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  and quite possibly a lot during your podcast journey.
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  So we'll get started with core principle number one,
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  and that is mastering the boring work.
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  Now, when I was a kid watching this movie,
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  I was, what, nine years old?
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  And I was expected because, you know,
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  when they showed the trailer, I was expecting nothing but kicks and punches and dodging and
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  all kinds of just fun karate stuff.
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  I wasn't expecting the boring work, much the way Daniel
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  wasn't expecting to do all the boring work, the painting and the sanding the floors, the waxing
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  on and the waxing off.
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  Well, the boring work is what won him the championship.
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  And so too,
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  will it help you dominate your podcast journey and find success however you define success for
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  your podcast.
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  So in this instance, the boring work, the waxing on and waxing off, the sanding
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  and all that stuff.
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  In your case, in our case, I should say, it's planning our shows.
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  It's
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  outlining our episodes.
• 4:31
  It's guest outreach, not just trying to find new guests, but also
• 4:35
  following up with guests after they record an episode with us.
• 4:40
  It is creating social media
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  content, which personally speaking is fun, but then there's the scheduling social media content,
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  which is boring.
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  And I've got a confession to make.
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  I'm sitting on a batch of about 12 videos
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  at the time of this recording.
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  And I just have other things
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  that I've got to take care of
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  and it just falls by the wayside.
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  Then next thing,
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  this isn't the first time this has happened, right?
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  As a solo, as a founder and a 90,
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  I would say 85 to 90%
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  as 85 to 90% solopreneur.
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  I got a small team that helps me
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  with video production and graphic design.
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  I'm trying to take care of clients
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  because hello, with no clients,
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  there is no speak podcasting
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  and there is no podcast called Your Mic.
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  So by the time all of that work gets done,
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  I'm like, eh, eh.
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  But it's necessary.
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  And here's something that I want us to reflect on.
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  I'm going to introduce you to a principle that will help drive home the principle of doing the boring work,
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  and that is Pareto's principle, the 80-20 rule.
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  It's that only about 20% of your time is going to be spent actually podcasting,
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  You know, hosting and recording and talking to guests and maybe networking at an event or something.
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  The other 80% is spent on the boring work, the preparation, the promotion.
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  And while it's not nearly as glamorous as glad handing with fellow podcasters
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  or speaking to that best-selling author that you have just been licking your chops to interview
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  or having that really amazing solo episode that you outlined
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  and you're just ready to finally rock the mic because you're ready.
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  Well, all that boring work is not glamorous, but it's absolutely necessary.
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  But how do you master the boring work?
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  you might be saying, wondering, thinking, pondering.
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  Well, first and foremost, this is what we tell all of our clients that speak podcasting,
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  you've got to batch your tasks.
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  You've got to batch them.
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  I mean, sure, you can record one episode at a time,
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  but why not batch record three or four?
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  An example of somebody who has quite literally mastered the art of batch recording is Dr. Samuels, Dr. Terri-Ann Samuels, host of The Menopause for Women Who Refuse to Pause.
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  during her first recording she had four episodes planned and these were all guests
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  guest interviews the guests were all patients of hers clients and for someone who had never
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  been on a podcast or hosted something like this she rocked it out first four podcast episodes
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  chef's kiss amazing batching it works and it really just off it what it does is you front
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  load the work and offload the rest and of course you got to automate when possible use your calendar
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  links you use a social media planning software these are things that you might already be doing
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  for your business in other areas, well, it can absolutely apply to your podcast journey.
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  You can automate as well your outlining and scripting and planning process with an AI tool
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  like ChatGPT or Perplexity.
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  I prefer the latter over the former, but you use whatever software
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  you want to use to help plan your show.
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  And of course, there's consistency because you can batch
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  record four episodes.
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  But if you don't plan the next session or the next session after that,
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  and then all of a sudden you're three days away from having to schedule your next episode, well,
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  it's all for naught.
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  So batch, automate, consistency.
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  And that is how you are going
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  to master the boring work, the wax on wax off of your podcast.
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  Next up is finding your own Mr.
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  Miyagi.
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  Who's that counselor going to be?
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  The wise sage, the karate kid.
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  Let's face it.
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  Daniel
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  would have been nobody without that adorable man, Mr. Miyagi, Pat Morita, RIP.
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  He's one of the goats.
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  I love this man.
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  In fact, I got a little emotional at the end.
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  A little bit emotional.
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  There may have been some wet stuff coming out of my eyes at the very end
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  when Daniel is celebrating and you see Mr. Miyagi holding his head up high and with pride and
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  he's like nodding.
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  Yeah.
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  Love that guy.
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  But who's your Mr. Miyagi?
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  Who's your counselor that's
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  going to help you to avoid common pitfalls and whatever it is that you are podcasting about?
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  Or
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  who's going to help you avoid common podcasting pitfalls besides yours truly?
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  Who's going to help
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  you accelerate growth?
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  So think about that.
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  Whether it's someone who you can actually meet in person
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  or maybe somebody from YouTube University.
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  Maybe it's someone that you can reach out to via email
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  and so it's it's really finding somebody who's a few steps ahead of you that can help navigate
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  your podcast journey and it really does matter you might be thinking to yourself i don't need a coach
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  coaches are overrated besides i played football in texas and well i had my fair share of experience
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  of experiences with coaches.
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  I concur.
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  But coaches matter.
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  Mentorship matters.
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  Here's why.
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  Because you get perspective.
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  A mentor can see things that you might miss.
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  They'll ask questions.
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  A great coach will ask questions during maybe a 30-minute or 45-minute or 60-minute sesh.
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  They'll ask questions, and then they'll just let you talk, and you essentially talk your way out
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  of something that you've been thinking about, all because they asked the right questions.
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  accountability.
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  Oh man, accountability is so important.
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  They'll push you to stay consistent
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  so that you're not batch recording three episodes or four episodes.
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  And then all of a sudden you're
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  five days away from your next episode and you haven't recorded or even planned anything.
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  And then of course, resources, a good mentor, a great mentor rather will share tools and tips
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  and strategies and maybe even connections.
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  It'll help introduce you to somebody who can get you from one step to the next.
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  It'll help you level up a little faster.
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  So if you don't have a mentor yet, you can start by reaching out to podcasters.
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  And it would help if it was somebody that is currently in your niche.
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  but really if there's someone that you admire that maybe let's say you're um let's say you're
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  the host of a dental podcast but you enjoy true crime reach out to a true crime podcast host
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  someone that you admire never hurts join podcast communities online there are plenty of facebook
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  groups i'm part of several of them so just remember mentorship it doesn't always have to
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  be some sort of formal thing where you show up and you sit in a meeting room and you get grilled
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  for 60 minutes.
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  Although a great coach, a great mentor, a great Miyagi would never do that to you.
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  It's really just about learning from people that are a few steps ahead of you.
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  Speaking of which,
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  we're going to try and do that same thing in October.
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  We are going to be hosting our first
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  ever podcast conference.
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  It's called SpeakFest.
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  You, the podcaster, are going to get to not just
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  mingle and network with fellow podcast hosts and podcast marketers and people looking to
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  reap the benefits of podcasting.
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  You are also going to be learning.
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  We're going to have
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  workshops.
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  We're going to have games.
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  Since it is in October, October 10th and 11th at the National
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  Museum of Funeral History.
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  Since it is in October and it's Halloween themed, we're going to have
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  Halloween themed games to go with those workshops and keynote speeches.
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  And it's going to be a lot
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  of fun.
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  The theme is Speakfest Night of the Living Pod.
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  And if you want to save your spot early
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  because tickets are not quite on sale yet at the time of the recording of this podcast, you can
• 14:22
  to check us out at speakpodcasting.com slash speakfest2025.
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  Next up, you got to accept
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  that during your podcast journey, and I'm speaking from personal experience,
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  you may get your ass kicked a few times.
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  There are going to be some rough months.
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  There are
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  going to be episodes in which you might not get very many downloads.
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  You might think that
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  this one episode is just the best thing you've ever put out, the best words you've ever spoken
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  into the universe, and then nobody listens.
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  That's an example of getting your butt kicked,
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  and it's happened to me plenty of times.
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  But don't fret.
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  Just accept the fact that it's going to
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  happen and, oh well, move on.
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  Learn from what happened or, in this case, didn't happen.
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  What did you do or not do in that episode that you can now apply to future episodes so that when you have something that's going to be very similar to the topic you covered, now you know how to execute better.
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  And then that episode is going to actually perform the way you thought the original one would.
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  So let's get a little tactical.
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  We talk about downloads, right?
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  so let's get back into analytics and this is something that we've covered before
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  but think of analytics as like cobra kai absolutely ruthless remember the halloween party
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  yeah during karate kid we're talking about that some of your favorite episodes again might just be
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  the least popular and something that maybe you didn't really think was going to pop off
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  actually popped off and you're like, ooh, did I do my best during that episode?
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  Because man,
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  it was amazing.
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  And you questioning yourself might actually mean that maybe you're questioning
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  yourself a little bit too hard.
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  You're being a little bit too rough on how you executed that
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  one podcast that actually took off.
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  Go back and reiterate.
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  Maybe, just maybe, the episode that
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  took off that you weren't too, too crazy about.
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  Maybe it was something that you weren't able to
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  spend as much time editing, or maybe it was something that as much as I'm a fan of preparation,
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  maybe you underprepared and you kind of went a little more off the cuff.
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  You did put in some
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  work in preparation, but you didn't go in completely scripted.
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  And that's a sign.
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  That's a
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  sign that, ooh, maybe you're overthinking your other episodes.
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  So here's what the Karate Kid
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  can teach us about getting our butts kicked during our podcast journeys.
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  It's all part of the game.
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  Every podcaster has an episode that flops, okay?
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  This is something that, again, we've talked about
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  this before.
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  Every single podcast host has hit play for the very first time on that board.
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  They
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  have every single one of us.
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  Think about your top 10 favorite hosts.
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  They have all recorded episode
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  numero uno.
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  And that numero uno, that first episode, well, they might just admit it was
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  not their favorite.
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  It was not their best.
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  It was not something they are particularly proud of.
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  And so think about that and then don't be so hard on yourself.
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  And at the end of the day, it's all about resilience.
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  Just like Daniel mastered his
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  crane kick after countless failures, after getting beat up so much, so much so that I'm like, man,
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  Are we ever going to see any fighting?
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  Is Daniel ever going to get out of this movie alive?
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  Well, every setback in podcasting is going to prepare you for future success.
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  So don't get discouraged by the analytics.
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  I mean, yes, you do want to perform.
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  Also, also, don't obsess.
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  It's all part of the journey.
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  my buddy George who
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  he's the host of the Son of a Blitch podcast
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  and he nailed this
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  and so this applies especially to new hosts
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  he treated his first entire year
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  of podcasting as a master class
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  in which he wanted to learn all the lessons
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  and I think that's a
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  genius way
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  of looking at somebody's first days of podcasting.
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  So here's what we've learned today.
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  As you can absolutely apply core principles from The Karate Kid,
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  a movie 19 years older than The Art of Podcasting,
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  you can absolutely apply these principles,
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  mastering the boring work,
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  finding your very own Mr. Miyagi,
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  or Miss Miyagi.
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  And finally, accepting that failure is a part of the process.
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  You're going
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  to get knocked down and you're going to have that sand kicked in your face.
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  And that is okay
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  because you're only guaranteed failure if you quit.
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  It all goes away if you just hang up the
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  headphones and put that mic away for good.
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  You'll never have to worry about low download numbers
• 20:13
  ever again if you just stop podcasting.
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  But at Speak Podcasting,
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  we don't want you to stop podcasting
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  because you've got a story
• 20:23
  that is worth sharing with the world.
• 20:27
  Look, you don't have to hire us.
• 20:32
  You don't.
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  What I want you to do
• 20:37
  is own your brand,
• 20:38
  own your narrative
• 20:39
  before somebody tries to own it for you.
• 20:43
  So get out there, keep your mic hot,
• 20:46
  and if you want to chat podcasting,
• 20:49
  please slide into my DMs on social media,
• 20:52
  subscribe to the show,
• 20:54
  share with your family and friends,
• 20:56
  your colleagues who might get something valuable from this episode,
• 21:01
  and shoot me an email as well.
• 21:03
  Freddie at speakpodcasting.com.