Latest / The Life-First Solopreneur / 148. [Re-Release] Creating Reciprocity, Relationships, and Revenue with Business Podcasting with George B. Thomas

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148. [Re-Release] Creating Reciprocity, Relationships, and Revenue with Business Podcasting with George B. Thomas · The Life-First Solopreneur

• 0:00
  George B. Thomas: When you're building a community by adding value, you're building trust, you're building reciprocity, and therefore, the sales process becomes really, really easy.
• 0:11
  Intro: Welcome to the One Person Business podcast, the show for solopreneurs, consultants, and contractors who are ready to take charge of their business and reclaim their freedom. Join us as we bring you inspiring stories, invaluable insights, and practical strategies from successful solopreneurs and industry experts, empowering you to create a thriving business that aligns with your unique goals and allows you to live life on your own terms. Here are your hosts, Joe Rando and Carly Ries.
• 0:41
  Carly Ries: Welcome to the One person business podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Carly Ries.
• 0:45
  Joe Rando: And I'm Joe Rando.
• 0:47
  Carly Ries: And if you are listening to this podcast or watching this podcast today, chances are you like podcasts. But have you ever considered it for your own business? That is exactly what we were talking today with none other than 2 time guest, George B. Thomas.
• 1:02
  George B. Thomas: Let's go. Let's go. Two times. I get the word written.
• 1:07
  Carly Ries: George, for those of you who don't know, has made quite a name for himself in the marketing world, especially when it comes to HubSpot. And he is also quite the podcaster himself. He has hub heroes, sidekick strategies, marketing smarts, beyond your default. All of those are podcasts that you should subscribe to. And now we get him today.
• 1:25
  He is the best person to talk to on the topic, and, honestly, he's just one of the best people you can ever meet. So, George, welcome to the show. We are so happy to have you here today.
• 1:35
  George B. Thomas: Thank you. Thank you. Carly and Joe, I'm super excited to be here. I hope over the next, you know, 20, 30, 40 minutes, our conversation, that the solopreneurs that are listening to this are gonna be able to either go from what they aren't doing to doing something or doing what they're doing to something better. That is my whole goal for the time that we spend here as we have this conversation.
• 1:57
  Joe Rando: A noble goal.
• 1:58
  Carly Ries: Yes. We will share that with you. And, George, I feel like there are so many podcasters that we could talk to in podcast for business, but we really wanted you on the show because you have such a unique take on it, I think. And for you, it starts with the brand, and that is the core of it. And that's why I love your take.
• 2:15
  So can you walk our audience through, the role that having a brand plays in business podcasting specifically?
• 2:23
  George B. Thomas: Yeah. And I think there's even a foundational point that I want people to put in their brain as I go forward to answer this is that we are having, a dramatic conversation in one direction. We're not having a podcasting conversation. We're having a podcasting for business conversation. They are 2 entirely different things, and you would pull different tactics and strategies based on you're doing it for business or you're doing it as a passion project.
• 2:50
  I do not do the same things in Beyond Your Default as I do in Hub Heroes and things like that. So with that understanding that we're talking about business podcasting, I think for solopreneurs, this conversation comes down to 2 fold. 2 things that they should be paying attention to. One is a podcast is gonna be one of the things that will expedite brand growth or building a brand. You can go from a whatever you are about in your solopreneur business, 0, to whatever you wanna become hero around those topics because you are creating valuable content that people can listen to or watch if it's video or audio based.
• 3:32
  Hopefully, you're starting with video then going to audio. Anyway, We'll probably talk about that down the road. But being able to get yourself out into the world and start to build the brand around the things that you wanna be known for, 1, podcasting is the easiest way to start. And what I mean by that is it's not the old school where you'd had to have, like, this account, that account, some aluminum foil, and, like, hold your leg up in the air, and, yep. We got a podcast.
• 4:00
  What's an RSS feed? I don't know, but we're live. Like, those days are gone. You can literally go over to transistor.fm. It's one of my favorite podcast, audio hosting companies.
• 4:11
  I'm not affiliated. I don't get money for saying this, but it's one of the easiest to just get a podcast up, get it live, get it out, and share it with all the places like Amazon, Spotify, Apple. there's one button pushes that you can just get your show to 7, 8, 10 different locations because you have to be thinking, everybody has their own favorite podcast app. So we need to make sure we're on everybody's favorite podcast app, but it's easy to start. And the other thing is it is very easy to add value.
• 4:43
  You can have an outline. You can even have a script, but please don't sound like you're reading a script. But you can literally if you decide not to do video, nobody has to see your face. Nobody has to see your background. They just get to hear the words out of your mouth, and so you can start easy.
• 5:00
  You can start to add value, meaning content into the world. And the biggest thing and the difference of podcasting versus business podcasting is it's easy way that you can start building a list. And when I say building a list is that all these kind of solopreneurs are out there, and they're like, I gotta be on Facebook. I gotta be on LinkedIn. I gotta be on Instagram.
• 5:22
  I gotta be on I'm getting tired just listing out the platforms, let alone actually interacting with them. Create your own platform that people wanna come to, and that's your podcast. But make sure they can subscribe to the show notes. Make sure they have a form somewhere that they can tell you this is the type of show or the next topic I'd like you to cover. again, we'll dive into this a little bit more, but what I'm talking about, it's the easiest way to build a community.
• 5:48
  When you're building a community by adding value, you're building trust, you're building reciprocity, and, therefore, the sales process becomes really really easy. That's one fold, by the way. 2nd fold. 2nd thing that I wanna talk about is extending the brand. Okay.
• 6:03
  You've taken the time, you've built that brand, but now you can use the podcast or another podcast because you're so comfortable with doing it to serve the community over time at maybe a deeper level or a different level. You can start in your podcast to offer products and services, but what I want everybody to hear is I'm not saying start a podcast and start selling, selling, selling, pitching, pitching, pitching, selling. Start a podcast, add value to the world, and if you use the subtle sell, hey. We happen to do a workshop on that. What?
• 6:37
  A tease, a bug in the ear. Let their brain actually discover the fact that over 2, 10, or 20 episodes, you know what, dang, got it? I've heard about that workshop enough. I wanna get the workshop. Now all of a sudden, you're selling a workshop, and you didn't even sell a workshop.
• 6:52
  Your podcast did because you slightly mentioned it over several episodes. So you can start to bring in your products and services, and here's the thing that I think most podcasts, especially for business podcasts, are forgetting is getting that listener feedback, giving them a way that they can commute with, communicate with them, whether this, again, be a form where they're giving you a a content ideas, whether this is, you know, giving them a community where they can actually chat with you, you know, like, you know, we can all have conversations with Facebook Messenger and Facebook Groups. There's things like Circle and Mighty Networks. Like, how can you listen? How can this become a conversation engine that can end up equaling conversions, that then is driving revenue to the bottom line of your business?
• 7:45
  Those are the two main things I would think about.
• 7:47
  Joe Rando: So I have a question, George, because we've talked about podcasting before. And, you talk about, you know, basically about how it's building your brand. Right? You're using the podcast to build your brand. But if I understood you before, there was some aspect of, you gotta define your brand before you start your podcast.
• 8:06
  George B. Thomas: Oh, you need to know how you wanna show up for the world. Right? And you need to know the topics that you're passionate about and wanna talk about. And as a matter of fact, at some point in the podcast, we may even dive a little bit deeper. I have this kind of pyramid metric, Joe, that I talk about as far as, like, making this a principle, repeatable, scalable, thing.
• 8:30
  But I do wanna answer your question a little bit deeper. For me, and the podcast that I do, I know I'm showing up as a certain type of human being. I'm showing up with a certain type of brand or a slice of the brand. Now, let me explain what I mean by that. Carly, at the beginning of this, listed off the jeez.
• 8:54
  I need one more podcast, I think. But she listed off the podcast that I do. When it's the Hub Heroes, I'm coming up and I'm pulling the slice of my brand that is the HubSpot expert. Right? It's all about HubSpot CRM, CMS, marketing, sales, service, but I'm also showing up as I'm part of a brand because there's 3 to 4 people, sometimes a guest on that show, and we're talking about the, strategies and tactics that HubSpot users could use.
• 9:24
  That's fundamentally what that brand is and how I need to show up. When I show up for Sidekick Strategies, the part of, my brand that's showing up is helper. Okay? I'll get I'll I'll tie this all together here here in a second, is helper. Meaning, I'm helping the guest who is the hero of the sidekick strategy show be able to, get the information out in a way that the audience is gonna be able to understand and move forward with.
• 9:51
  Helpful. If I go into Marketing Smarts, which is a podcast that we do, I know, again, my job is to show up as being helpful, but also be happy. And when I say happy, what I mean is be entertaining. Because when you think of b to b marketing, it might not be the most exciting thing that you've thought about diving into, but we can create a show that's actually gonna be a little entertaining, but educational along the way. And then beyond your default, I show up as the human side of me.
• 10:21
  This is literally a passion project where I'm unpacking what life has taught me as a 51 year old businessman who owns an organization or a company that started out in a 1 room log cabin with no running water and is a high school dropout? What lessons did I learn to get here? And so how do I wanna show up? How do you wanna show up? If you pay attention to any of my content, I literally say at the end of my podcast or at the end of my videos, don't forget to be a happy, helpful, humble human.
• 10:57
  That is who I'm showing up. These are the slices that I bring. I'm happy, helpful, humble human that helps people with HubSpot. I'm a happy, helpful, humble human that helps humans just in general. Like, I'm a happy, helpful, humble human that creates valuable content and puts it into the world on topics that I'm passionate about.
• 11:19
  Joe Rando: So there's the George b Thomas brand, but then which is authentic, and then that's basically applied to different areas slightly differently in order to be appropriate for the particular content.
• 11:34
  Carly Ries: Well, George, you make podcasting sound very appealing. I know we are podcasting as we speak. But for people who aren't, you mentioned the pyramid metric and that you have this pyramid that you refer to for business podcasting. Can you walk us through that?
• 11:50
  George B. Thomas: Yeah. I can. And it's funny because it was built because I needed a way to visually show all the moving parts of this because what can fundamentally happen is you can be like, start a podcast, and then people are, like, I don't even know what that means. Like, sure. It means go find a tool, go find a mic, and start talking.
• 12:12
  And so, I'm sure that I can give you a graphic that can be on the show notes. So as people are listening to this, if you head over to lifestar.com and you go to the episode, we'll have a screenshot that you can look at while we're actually talking through this. Yes. What did I just do? I made you go somewhere on the podcast so you could actually interact with the LifeStarr brand.
• 12:36
  This is a lesson that you might take and run-in your podcast after you're done listening to this today. Now, I'll stop waxing fun.
• 12:43
  Joe Rando: I won't suggest that you put it up on the screen here for the YouTube viewers then.
• 12:47
  George B. Thomas: Oh, there we go. There we go. I could. I could. But, no, go over right now.
• 12:52
  Open up a new tab, and go over to LifeStarr and look at the screen. So here's the thing. There's a lot of moving parts, and so the first place you have to, think about because one of the words that is key to your future success is consistency. You have to be consistent with the content that you're creating.
• 13:12
  You're gonna wanna be able to talk about it for weeks, months, years, forever, and so you have to find out what's the topic of passion. That's number 1. When you find out that topic or topics of passion, you need to figure out, do they actually tie back to what it is we do that drives revenue for the business? Because there has to be some sort of correlation. Otherwise, we're just podcasting, and we're not doing business podcasting.
• 13:38
  So the passion topics and what drives revenue for your business have to collide together. Then if we think about the next step of that, we're starting to have that topic. We wanna create a buzz. Hey. We've got a show.
• 13:50
  We're creating a show. We've launched an episode of the show. Here's a clip from the show. The show's on YouTube. The show's on hey.
• 13:56
  Look. We're growing this way. We're growing that way. We're bringing this person. Anything that you can do to talk about it, you're creating a buzz.
• 14:04
  K? You're creating a buzz. You're creating that valuable education. You're creating those conversations on the Internet, so that you can start the conversations. Again, if I go to start the conversations, this literally means your conversion or your list strategy.
• 14:21
  We'll get to that here in a minute, but it's starting conversations with humans, because I don't want you to get stuck on the marketing side. I don't want you to think this is let me start a podcast around a topic I'm passionate about, create a buzz so that I can convert them to a customer. You are skipping a whole big part of the journey if that's the way you think about it, but it's starting the conversations. Conversation might start in your inbox because you said something that just moved somebody. Conversation might start by them subscribing to your podcast.
• 14:50
  Conversation might start by them suggesting an episode so they can see how you would unpack your brain on a certain thing. But as you start these conversations, what you're doing is you're building your tribe. You're building that community. People who, like the way that you talk, like the way that you think, like the way that you entertain or educate are gonna start to circle around you, and you'll end up building a community with actually not even thinking that you're building a community. That's a real piece there that people need.
• 15:21
  Your goal in your strategy isn't to go build a community. It's to create helpful content for humans and have conversations, and then poof, it becomes a community. Now, we can talk about in a minute of giving them a place to go and live and all that good stuff in the future, but if we do this topic of passion, create a buzz, start a conversation, build your tribe, at the end of the day, we end up with a very, very powerful brand. So, how do we take those steps that I just said and think about them in the marketing and sales perspective? Simple.
• 15:53
  Topic of passion means educate, execute, educate, execute. What I mean is you educate yourself on something, you execute it, and you turn around and educate others how to execute it. That, by the way, is a it just fundamentally in life is how you become a master at your craft. Educate, execute, and then educate others how to execute it. After that, the creative buzz were creating valuable educational content.
• 16:22
  I almost went into my word. I like to say edutainment. I wanna entertain you, and I wanna educate you. But you can create valuable educational content, because I don't want you to feel like it has to have an entertaining, level, because that's very, like, what is entertaining to you is maybe not entertaining to me, but just be your authentic self, and it'll be entertaining and educational to the tribe that wants to be around you. Which, say, that starting, conversations, that's your conversion.
• 16:50
  That's your list strategy. I've already mentioned it a couple of times. Subscribe to the, podcast. What are your show ideas? It's a form.
• 16:59
  Come join the community. It's a place where they can convert. We can understand how they are, and and we can drive these deeper conversations. And then building that tribe, all of this content, it's because I want them to be in the earbuds. I wanna be in their earbuds.
• 17:14
  I want them to take me on a plane. I want them to take me on a train. I want them to take me on a hike up a mountain. Shoot. I even had a lady that emailed Marcus Sheridan and me and said that she was listening to us in the shower one day.
• 17:27
  Kinda freaked us out, but, hey, it's good to know that people are listening to your podcast. I want them to have the ability to take me wherever they're gonna go. You, as a solopreneur, want to enable the people that could potentially buy your products and services to take you wherever they can go. So do I preach about starting with video? Yes.
• 17:46
  But do I make it a mandatory thing to have an audio podcast that people can easily get to and take anywhere? Absolutely. But the moral of the story is over time, they like you, they know you, they trust you. You have, taken the balance, you know, the 2 scales, and and one has hit the ground filled with reciprocity. And so why would they work with anybody else?
• 18:14
  You're their long lost friend that they've spent 272 episodes learning and and, massively changing the way that they do business or live their life or whatever your product or service is. Why would they go anywhere else? And the very tippy top of this pyramid, the last thing, because it shouldn't be your focus, but it is the outcome, Cha ching. You start to get paid.
• 18:39
  Carly Ries: That was a great ending. I know. I was like, woo hoo.
• 18:44
  George B. Thomas: it's like the roller coaster ride, and we just went over the hill. Woo.
• 18:48
  Carly Ries: I didn't know if you were gonna say something after that. I was like, oh my gosh. Like, what next? And it was like, oh, that was the best way to end that. So that was amazing. it's funny because I feel like the tee up with the brand and then just this pyramid, you would think that that would set people up for success for success. Excuse me. But even with all of that, it can still be intimidating. Like, if you have a road map, it's still like, oh my gosh. I'm putting myself out there.
• 19:16
  Actually, I was listening to one of your recent episodes of beyond your default. And you said that you didn't think you had a voice for podcasting, which is hilarious to me because you have one of my favorite voices ever. But you were saying that that was an intimidating thing for you because you didn't think you had a voice for a podcast. So you obviously got started. Now you have 4 podcasts.
• 19:41
  For people who are excited about this, how do they just get out of their own way and just do it?
• 19:46
  George B. Thomas: Yeah. That might be the most difficult part. And what's fun is you can manufacture probably what I'm about to say, and then I'm also gonna just kinda bring up some questions that I want you to ask yourself. I probably would have never started a podcast. In my own head, believe it or not, my voice sounds squeaky, and my voice inside my head kind of annoys me.
• 20:08
  Not so much anymore, but back in the day. And Marcus Sheridan was like, we're gonna start a podcast. I'm like, dude, you know. I hate my voice. No way.
• 20:22
  And he forced it. Like, if your boss tells you you're gonna start a podcast, you start a podcast, by the way. And so we started podcasting, and we got about 6 months into it. And then we went to Inbound, which is HubSpot's big, conference. And I kid you not, Carly and Joe, I kept hearing, like, dude, we love your podcast.
• 20:39
  You sound like a radio announcer. I'm like, what? Oh, man. Yeah. And buttery smooth.
• 20:46
  I could listen to you all day long. I'm like and so here's the thing. What I thought was my biggest weakness end up being my largest strength over time. Because once I embrace the fact that people actually like to hear my voice, then we went from podcasting to video tutorials, create, events, speaking on stage. Like, it was the unlock.
• 21:08
  And I would challenge people to look at the thing that is holding you back and spend more time on figuring how to unlock that than anything else that you might be trying to do because you don't understand the dominoes that will fall once you make that decision. Now, you have to ask yourself, why do you feel this way? Why is there a level of fear? Why is it intimidating? I don't think it'll be all of these reasons, but I think it might be one or several of these reasons.
• 21:39
  So for instance, man, I just got a fear of public speaking. Do your podcast in your closet, then there ain't nobody there but you, a computer, and your mic. Like, it's not like you're literally stepping out on stage. Also, on that one, please, please realize the power of post production.
• 22:01
  You can mess up 72 times and chop that junk out and make it sound like you are the smartest, dopest communicator on the planet. So, like, just let your brain out, and don't be afraid of what you're gonna say or how you're gonna say it because it can be edited before it goes live, and you're not in public. If it's your perceived lack of experience, well, who am I? Why would they wanna listen to me? Ladies and gentlemen, you are one step above millions of people on the thing that you do on a daily basis.
• 22:44
  You are having imposter syndrome or you're having the curse of knowledge, meaning you've been doing it so long you forgot that it's freaking special. And so you have to force yourself out of this thought of who am I and just simply teach at the level that you can teach, understanding, again, there are 1,000, if not millions of people that are 1, 2, or 17 steps below the words that are gonna come out of your mouth. Also, I wanna just kinda pivot for a second, and I hope everybody's realizing this, this all ties back to the fact that you fundamentally care about the humans that you're gonna impact with the thing that you're doing. Like, you're doing this with a purpose. You're doing this with a passion.
• 23:30
  So, the public speaking, the lack of expertise should be, like, screw it. Let's go. Time to rock and roll. You might actually be sitting here going, well, George, I'm not the most technically savvy person on the planet. Sweet.
• 23:48
  Hire somebody to help you. Watch a YouTube video. Take a course. Whatever you gotta do, have your nephew come over and set it up for you or your child. Yeah.
• 24:02
  Set up your grandchild.
• 24:03
  Joe Rando: I have a 12 year old.
• 24:04
  George B. Thomas: Yes. I have a 12 year old come set it up for you and have them show you how to just press the record button and the upload button. What I'm saying here, figure out ways to simplify the complex. And if technology is complex, then figure out a way to make it real easy for you to rinse and repeat your content. It might, by the way, because I mentioned content, be the creation process.
• 24:27
  Well, I create the podcast, and then I have to create clips, and then I have to have show notes, and then I have to have an email that goes out, and then I have to and you have to yourself out of even recording the first episode. Just take it easy. Take a chill pill. Do what you can when you can do it and add the layers in as you go. It doesn't have to be a 100% perfect revenue driving engine, community building engine, brand building system from the get go.
• 25:00
  Listen. One, Hey Okay podcast is gonna be more power than no podcasts. 10 okay podcasts is gonna be way better than no podcasts or no videos or no whatever. So, if it is the content creation process, realize there's a method to your madness. You just need to think about how can you ideate ideas to talk about, and how can you organize the steps that you need to take from it being an idea to being live and people being able to get back to it.
• 25:37
  Simplify the complex. Last but not least, if it's man, this is a big commitment. Darn straight. But anytime you step out of being a, what I'll call, default human and decide that you wanna go beyond your default and you wanna put a dent in the universe and you wanna serve a community, if you wanna serve a community, hey, you in the back row, if you wanna serve a community, it's all about being committed. It's all about being consistent.
• 26:13
  So thinking about, I'm gonna do this podcast because it's the easiest way for me to serve the humans to get past the hurdles or to reach the aspirations that they're trying to achieve. And I know if I do that, I reap what I sow, and so I'm gonna reap, cha ching, get paid.
• 26:36
  Carly Ries: And the roller coaster. Whoo. Woo hoo.
• 26:40
  Joe Rando: So, George, can I just dig in on one? One of the interesting ones to me that you mentioned is the idea of not knowing what you know. What you said basically of like, you don't even realize how much you've learned. And I kind of had that experience when we started podcasting, and it was interesting.
• 26:58
  What I ended up doing was I created something called the Solopreneur Success Cycle, And I kind of put together a flywheel of a solopreneur business, and I went through it. And I ended up creating a page on the website. You actually helped us with it, I think. And it ended up being 25,000 words. And so literally could be like a book. And I had no idea until I sat down and wrote something that to help people, and it made such a difference because now I always feel like I have a place to draw from.
• 27:31
  George B. Thomas: Yes. So I love a couple things about that. 1, ladies and gentlemen, if you didn't go over to LifeStarr to actually look at the pyramid, you should go over to LifeStarr and look at the Solopreneur Success Cycle and what Joe's talking about. But, also, you, make a valid point of I have something that I can point back to. Every episode that you create is something that you can point back to in the sales process, in the marketing process, in the service process.
• 27:59
  Your content is the engine for everything that you're trying to do, just know that there's that layer of it that we're probably not even really talking about today. But, Joe, it's funny because to hear you tell that story, I said something last week to somebody. I said this. I said, man, I love when you ask me questions on the show because I get to learn how I think about them. Like, there is so much in our brains, and we just don't know what it is until we give it a place and output it.
• 28:33
  And your podcast is one of the easiest place to put the output of your brain into the world. Like, you know how many things I've taught myself just because I've been asked a question, answered that question on a podcast, and then be like, hey, dang. Maybe I should follow my own advice.
• 28:52
  Carly Ries: Yeah. Absolutely. And the other thing I'll throw in there is I have never met nor listened to a podcaster say they love their first episode. Say that they were like, it was the best. I'm so good at this right out the gate.
• 29:04
  Every single person I've talked to or heard, I even think I think John Lee Dumas said it on our recent podcast. He's a big podcaster. He's, like, listening back to my older stuff. Like, everybody starts from the beginning. Nobody goes and be like, I'm the best at this.
• 29:19
  George B. Thomas: Yo. It's cringey. one of the things that I wish I had was, my first video tutorial or the first podcast episode that I ever did. But what I want everybody to realize from what we're talking about is there is gonna be a messy middle. There's gonna be where you're just figuring out, but, if you just keep pushing forward, if you just keep hitting record, if you just keep publishing, there becomes a time where you're like, this is so easy.
• 29:53
  Right? I mean, before we even hit the record of the show, I came on. You saw I was super happy, and I was like, yeah. I looked at my calendar, and I get to create 7 pieces of content today. To most mere mortals, that would be like, what?
• 30:08
  What are you doing today? And me, I'm like, I'm energized because it's just become so easy over time to hop on the mic, get in front of the camera, add value, hit record, publish, and understand at the end of the day, like, I am impacting my little space, my universe, and the humans that will be able to see that.
• 30:31
  Joe Rando: Can I make a point though, George? And I think it's important. I mean, maybe you didn't out of the gate, but you have it. You have a gift, you know. And I can do this for 10 more years, and I won't be where you are because you just you're built for it.
• 30:43
  And that's great. But there are some podcasters out there and some that I listen to regularly that aren't really very good at it. I'm probably one of them that aren't very good at kind of presenting on a podcast. Their voice isn't, you know, animated and they kind of, screw things up and they forget their train of thought, but they're presenting material that is of interest and they're getting the right guests if they have guests. And people forgive that if you're giving them something that helps them Or something that interests them.
• 31:15
  So I just think it's important to know that, you know, not everybody's gonna become George B. Thomas. But, you know, even some of the biggest podcasters going, I don't know if you mentioned them before, Lex Fridman, really big in kind of the science world. A huge podcast. And I mean, I like the guy.
• 31:33
  He's very likable, but when you listen to him, he's not really that great, in terms of his voice and his pronunciation and all this stuff. He's kind of, you know, he's vulnerable and honest and that's all it takes.
• 31:49
  George B. Thomas: That's all people want. You don't have to be a GBT. Right? You don't have to be hyper dynamic. You don't have to have focused on, like, great communication and, read books, and you don't have to watch your game tapes.
• 32:04
  I do. Like, I'll listen to a podcast, watch a video. Where did I mess up? How can I get better? Like, you don't have to do any of that.
• 32:10
  Joe, what I love about what you said and then, by the way, I'm gonna pivot and tell you what I don't love about what you said too. But what I love about what you said is, just be your authentic self and bring to the plate the conversations that people need to hear, and they will love it. Listen. I don't need some shenanigan,
• 32:33
  you know, entertaining, dude if I'm trying to listen to a podcast on neuroscience. I need I need a neuroscientist, which I know is gonna maybe be a little dry potentially, but I wanna learn that information. Right? If I'm listening to a manufacturing podcast, you know, it might not be the sexiest podcast ever, but I'm gonna learn what I need to learn about manufacturing. So you gotta take that as you as the solopreneur.
• 33:02
  What voice? What tone? Who are you? How do you wanna show up? Boom.
• 33:07
  Show up and just do that for your podcast. Now Joe did something on this podcast, and the only reason I'm gonna bring this up is because how much I like Joe and how much I know Joe. If you're sitting here and you negative talk yourself, well, I might might be this type of guy or I might not be that type of guy or if you start to make excuses for who you are. Ladies and gentlemen, nobody cares about your nose, your face, your ears, your hair, your weight, how you sound. They don't care.
• 33:41
  They simply care about the words coming out your mouth. That's it. So be your best advocate and be like, I know. Out of all of them that God has given me, I can come up with some dope words. Let's hit record.
• 34:01
  Joe Rando: I didn't mean to say that I wasn't providing value.
• 34:06
  It's a good point. And you know, it's one of those things where I honestly one of the things I hated the most was going to video. I didn't mind doing audio, but going to video was like, No. I don't wanna do it. And everybody was telling us we had to do it.
• 34:20
  I think you were one of them. Yeah. Super powerful. It was it was like, no, I don't wanna do video. It's, you know, like, I wanna be able to wear my LifeStar t shirt, but I did.
• 34:30
  So There you go. There you go.
• 34:32
  Carly Ries: Well, so I think we can all agree that we're all in this together. We all make mistakes. We all start at the beginning and improve as we go. And those mistakes, you can learn from them. But when it comes to business podcasting, there are mistakes that you can make that actually are detrimental, and it doesn't have to do with the recording itself.
• 34:50
  George, can you touch on a few of those mistakes that you see a lot of people make and how they might be able to avoid that?
• 34:56
  George B. Thomas: Yeah. It's interesting because as I was thinking about this question, I've started to realize how they kind of pair together a little bit. And what I mean is, first of all, I really love the question, but we as humans get in our head so much. So if you think about business podcasting, the first thing they're gonna be like, if they're good marketers or business owners, we gotta measure this.
• 35:29
  We immediately gotta know if it's successful. If we don't have 12,000 downloads in the first 15 minutes while work podcasting isn't for us, and so they worry about the numbers too soon. And you can tie that back to the fact that, listen, you got the messy middle, you got the ugly beginning. How about you get past those points before you really start to focus about the numbers and what it's driving and where it's going? There's, you know, when we're born, we have to become, teenagers before we become adults.
• 36:03
  We have to crawl before we can walk, before we can run. Your podcast is gonna be the same way, so give those numbers the time to grow that they need instead of being so focused on them immediately. But the second thing that I'll say right on this, this is what I mean by pairing, is they don't worry about the numbers at all. Like, they're like, wee, this is fun. Let's just hit record.
• 36:23
  Who cares? Oh, for the last 7 months, only one person has been listening to it? What do you mean we should have been promoted on social? What do you mean we should have been doing clips? What do you mean we should have been emailing our historical database? they're missing all the tactic and strategies to make sure that the numbers are actually doing what they should do, that the content is doing what it should do. So don't do it too soon, but make sure you are focusing on the numbers at some point.
• 36:49
  Carly Ries: And I wanna reiterate, this is for business podcasting. Like, if you are doing a passion podcast, like, beyond your default like you do, okay, who cares about the numbers? That's your passion project. But reiterating, this is for business podcasting.
• 37:02
  George B. Thomas: Yep. I literally do not look at the numbers of that podcast. I don't care. if I could turn off the analytics in transistor FM for that podcast, I would. Don't care.
• 37:11
  I'm gonna do that no matter what. Hub Heroes, let's just say, ladies and gentlemen, I look at the metrics. Now here's the thing. They don't stay consistent. There's some sort of stat.
• 37:23
  It's like 7, maybe now it's 10. Most podcasts don't make it past, episode 7 or episode 10. And let's even make it worse. Most podcasts, if they started out as weekly or biweekly, by the 3rd or 4th episode had become monthly or bimonthly. Like, no.
• 37:42
  No. It's gotta be consistent. You this is huge. Ladies and gentlemen, if I could tell you anything that I would hope that you would take away from this is once you start, be consistent, because it's 1 brick at a time. It's 1% each and every day. that's what grows your podcast and the revenue and the conversations and everything that we're talking about, it's it's a little hit at a time, little hit at a time, like you're chopping down a tree. Gotta be consistent. The other thing, though, is if you're gonna be that consistent and you are gonna focus on the numbers, by all that is holy, please have a home base to send them to. Don't think that just putting your podcast on the podcast app and then, you know, sending it out to Spotify and Amazon and all those places is enough. Oh, well, we put show notes in Transistor or Lipson.
• 38:34
  We're good. No, no, no, no. There should be a page that they could come back to on your website where there's additional resources, the show notes, maybe the player's there, maybe the video version's there, maybe it's links to other things that you've talked about. Like, there should be a place, a home base, because at that home base, by the way, there should be a call to action at the bottom of your podcast being like, and if you need help with this, ching, we're here. This is what we do.
• 39:03
  This is kind of why we created the conversations and the content so that you could maybe get to this point when it's right for you. I'm waxing a little funny, but, literally, you should have a call to action to a product or service that you do on this page because you're bringing back the home base. Like, the amount of people I've seen podcast and not have a place to send them to, crazy. Speaking of that, I was just talking about call to actions, which leads into selling. It's okay to sell, but way too many people are selling way too soon.
• 39:35
  Episode 1, we've got these 17 workshops that you can get now. We're gonna talk about impostor syndrome. Like, no. no. Please, build the value first.
• 39:45
  Like, with the hub cast, we waited till the 52nd episode to bring up the fact that we had a HubSpot intensive workshop that you could take. 52 episodes. By the way, when we did start to talk about the workshops, it ended up being 6 figures in business 1 year just off of those workshops, and that was the only place we were talking about them. So you can drive revenue with business podcasting. You can sell, but don't sell too soon.
• 40:12
  Or here's the other one, which you'll never hear me sell, by the way, on Beyond Your Default, again, passion project, but business podcasting, if you're doing a business podcast and you've been doing it for 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, consistently, adding value, and you haven't mentioned what you do or a product or service that is around what you do, do that over the next 10 episodes, and then call me and tell me what happened.
• 40:40
  Carly Ries: Love it. Love it. Love it.
• 40:45
  George B. Thomas: But here's the thing. You don't need my phone number. You can directly chat with me by going to community.hubheroes.com because we have the technology.
• 40:53
  Joe Rando: Right.
• 41:08
  Carly Ries: Jenny's number? That song is going in the show notes.
• 41:11
  Joe Rando: What was the name of that band? What was the band?
• 41:15
  George B. Thomas: Oh, see. Now I'm stumped. There we go. We were
• 41:18
  Carly Ries: all at computers, and we could look it up.
• 41:20
  Joe Rando: Right. Okay. The first person that that that emails joe@lifestarr.com with the name of the band gets a free t shirt. Lifestarr t shirt.
• 41:27
  Carly Ries: I like it.
• 41:28
  George B. Thomas: I like that.
• 41:29
  Joe Rando: First email. And Lifestarr.com with 2 r's.
• 41:33
  Carly Ries: Yeah. Well, George yes. There is a shirt.
• 41:36
  George B. Thomas: If you're watching on YouTube. If you're listening to this, Joe is pointing at his chest. He's pointing at a shirt that says l I f e s t a r r.
• 41:47
  Yeah. Exactly. Video.
• 41:49
  Joe Rando: The power of video.
• 41:51
  George B. Thomas: Yep. Exactly.
• 41:52
  Carly Ries: Well, George, I think this episode will help people be successful in their podcasting endeavors if they are wanting to take that route, which after this, they should. But last time we were on the show, we asked you what your favorite quote about success was, and I feel like success changes for people over time. So I wanna ask this to you again. What is your favorite quote about success?
• 42:15
  George B. Thomas: Yeah. So it's funny because, my mind has completely changed around success, and I would even say now more than ever, I default on significance over success, which is why I love this quote by Kathy Calvin. And Kathy Calvin, just so everybody knows, is a prominent figure, president and chief executive officer of United Nations Foundation, focused on connecting people, ideas, resources. Hey. Does that sound familiar?
• 42:47
  Anyway, connecting people, ideas, resources to help. I'm just throwing that out there. Maybe this entire podcast was about those three things, but the quote that success is not just about making money, cha ching, it's about making a difference. And, like, when I'm about to hit the record button, that's literally my focus is, okay, god. How can I make a difference in the world?
• 43:13
  How can I make a difference in the one person that might listen to this or watch this? How can I make a difference in the 10,000 people that might listen or watch this? By the way, you focus on that, success shows up.
• 43:30
  Carly Ries: I feel like we should quote that too.
• 43:33
  George B. Thomas: Focus on different success will show up, George B. Thomas.
• 43:37
  Carly Ries: There he goes. Go to the show notes. You heard it here. Well, George, you know, we love hanging out with you. I think our audience feels the same way.
• 43:45
  We've mentioned a few of the podcasts on the show, and I have to say, we've been talking about business podcasting for so for George, he has hub heroes podcast, psychic strategies, and marketing smarts, for his business podcast. But I have been listening to George's beyond your default, which is his personal podcast. I know he's not gonna promote it as much. It's his personal passion. But man, do I love it.
• 44:06
  And George, I told you I was gonna send you a little recap of what I actually thought. So I'm gonna give you a little snippet here. But if you wanna get to know George B. Thomas, and you already like the guy, you are just gonna like him even more. It is such a good show. I have learned so much about you through, and I feel like I'm closer to you through it even though I get to talk to you on a weekly basis.
• 44:26
  It's awesome. So definitely follow his business podcast, but I am very impressed.
• 44:31
  Joe Rando: I'll check it out.
• 44:31
  Carly Ries: I'm very excited for you for this new passion of yours. So we will link to all those in the show notes. But, George, where else can people find you?
• 44:39
  George B. Thomas: Yeah. First of all, Carly, thanks for that because, I'm really trying to step out. Let me tell a little story, then I'll show how people can connect. I was once doing a business webinar, and somebody was stating something about talking about personal life versus professional life, and I said in a chat pane, this is why I only do HubSpot tutorials. Nobody cares what I think, they care what I know.
• 45:12
  And multiple people in the chat pane said, we care what you think. And it took me years to get to the point where I was comfortable to share some of the things that I'm sharing on this passion project and get to the point where I felt like it was time to activate mentor mode. Podcasting got me to that point, though. Got me comfortable. The making a difference, reaching the success got me to the point where I was willing to do, like, this passion project that thank you again for mentioning it if people wanna listen.
• 45:43
  So let's go to the connection part. If people wanna learn, more about me, it really depends. It's that's a great marketing answer, by the way. It depends. Like, if they wanna find out more about the business, then head over to georgebthomas.com.
• 45:56
  You'll see the who, the why, all of that stuff. If you wanna learn more about me as a human of, like, this guy, first meeting on this podcast, never heard of you before, head over to georgebthomas.com/about. That'll give you a nice little, dip your toes in the water of who I am. Or like Carly said, you could go to beyondyourdefault.com, listen to that podcast, and you'll learn all sorts of fun stuff about me. If you wanna actually engage with me, like, meaning you're not in research mode, and you wanna talk or conversate, then I would send you again over to community.hubheroes.com.
• 46:34
  It's our little nerdy area of the Internet. We've got live chat. We've got resources. There's other community members, so you won't just be talking to me. There's other folks that you can talk to as well.
• 46:45
  But over there, we love to talk shop about things like video marketing, podcasting, HubSpot, sales, marketing service, revenue operate like, there's just a lot of nerdy topics that we'd like to talk about. And so if you wanna engage, then head over there. But those are the best places. Notice, by the way, I didn't reference one social media platform, but you'll find me there too.
• 47:11
  Carly Ries: Well, I think there's only one way to wrap up this show, and that's woo. Woo.
• 47:18
  Joe Rando: What a ride.
• 47:19
  Carly Ries: Woo. George, this has been so fun. Thank you so so much for coming on, Joe. I don't know if you wanna say anything. I don't wanna cut you off if you do.
• 47:28
  Joe Rando: No. Just thanks, George. I've been talking about helping people, and you helped us help people today, and we really appreciate it.
• 47:36
  George B. Thomas: Love it. I appreciate the opportunity, Too.
• 47:39
  I appreciate the opportunity.
• 47:41
  Carly Ries: Come back again. And listeners, if you like what you hear, be sure to subscribe to this podcast or watch us on YouTube, and we will see you next time. You may be going solo in business, but that doesn't mean you're alone. In fact, millions of people are in your shoes, running a one person business and figuring it out as they go. So why not connect with them and learn from each other's successes and failures?
• 48:04
  At LifeStarr, we're creating a one person business community where you can go to meet and get advice from other solopreneurs. Be sure to join in on the conversations at community.lifestarr.com.