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The Founding Father Who Proves Your Small Show Is Enough · Your Mic

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  in honor of the 250th anniversary of these United States,
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  let's talk about the least sexy founding father,
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  and why he should vaporize your obsession
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  with views and followers.
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  His name has been Franklin,
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  and Ben is what happens when a scraggly old dude with gout
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  decides he doesn't even care what the room thinks he looks like
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  as long as he can still play the long game.
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  This is your mic.
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  My name is Freddie Cruz,
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  and we are talking about how one old printer with bad joints
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  and good ideas can rewrite the way you see your show.
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  Before there was even a United States,
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  Franklin was out here running a proto-substec
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  under fate names, roasting powerful people in a newspaper
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  as silence do good.
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  He was only 16.
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  He was already talking about how essential it is
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  that folks can criticize their rulers
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  and debate public issues in print.
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  This guy, he spends his life defending
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  what we now wrap in the phrase freedom of speech,
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  freedom of the press.
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  Not because it's cute, not because it pulls well,
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  but because he understands something dark and simple.
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  If you want to rule people,
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  you start by choking the flow of information
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  and scaring people into silence.
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  So when you sit down and record your show
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  that you think doesn't matter,
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  you're not just doing content marketing.
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  You are stepping into an argument.
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  This man bled and limped his way through 250 years ago.
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  You're taking your place in a very, very old fight
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  about who gets to talk, who has to shut up,
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  and who holds the mic.
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  The city is Philadelphia.
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  It's the constitutional convention
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  and Franklin walks in pushing 80.
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  He's in pain.
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  He's got gout, kidney issues, chronic everything.
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  Next to guys like Hamilton and Madison,
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  he looks like the dude wandered into a law review.
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  A bunch of those younger delegates
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  don't even think he's a big deal.
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  To them, he's nothing more than a mascot,
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  a living logo for the revolution.
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  Cute to have him there,
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  but not the future of this new nation.
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  And yet when the whole thing is about to fall apart
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  over disagreements, who do they ask
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  to give the final speech to pull everyone together
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  and get them to sign?
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  That frail, unimpressive, old printer.
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  He stands up barely and basically says,
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  look, this document is flawed.
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  I don't agree with all of it,
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  but I don't trust my own judgment enough
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  to think I'm right and everyone else is wrong.
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  Let's doubt ourselves just enough to be united.
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  He's not the loudest voice.
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  He's the one the room trusts when it actually matters.
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  Sometimes, okay, oftentimes, my dashboard
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  makes me look like that old dude with gout.
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  My YouTube views, embarrassing, my follower count.
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  People might think, this guy, this guy,
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  this Freddie guy, not impressive.
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  Meanwhile, my company, speak podcasting,
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  is over here working with literal icons,
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  institutional non-profits, an actual bank, doctors, lawyers,
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  people like that.
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  And if somebody judged me by the optics,
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  they'd miss where the real power and influence is.
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  Founders in that room at the constitutional convention
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  in Philly, they judged Franklin's body and age.
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  History judged his impact.
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  Now, let's do this.
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  Let's ship him to France on paper.
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  He's old, he's soft, he's sick.
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  Ben's not exactly a Marvel superhero.
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  In Paris, they lose their minds over him
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  during the revolution.
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  He leans into this as simple American sage, persona,
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  fur cap instead of powdered wig,
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  plain clothes instead of noble cause play.
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  French women start wearing wigs,
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  styled after his cap.
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  They hang on his jokes, his letters, his presence.
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  He is somehow a sex symbol, not even lying here.
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  This man, he had believers and swiftees
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  before believers and swiftees were ever a thing.
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  They call themselves Franklinistas.
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  Yeah, let that one sink in.
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  Franklinistas, in powdered hair.
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  They literally wore cringy hats for him.
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  And he uses this weird little cold
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  for something deadly serious.
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  He's there to get France to fund an arm, a rebellion.
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  He turns salongasup, old man charisma and chess games
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  into ship's guns and loans that keep
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  the American revolution alive.
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  Remember that constitutional convention we just talked about?
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  It would never have happened without that trip to France.
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  But notice what he does not have.
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  He does not have mass reach in the way we worship it now.
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  There are no viral clips, there's no trending page.
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  He has the right people's attention in the right room
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  at the right time.
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  He's got depth, not breadth.
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  He monetizes trust, not impressions.
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  And that, my friend, is your playbook.
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  You're not screaming into the void for a million strangers.
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  You're building something specific and sharp enough
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  that when the right person hears you, they move money.
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  They move strategy.
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  They move their career in your direction.
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  From the outside, you are the guy with the tiny show.
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  Inside the right circles, you're the person they text
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  when it's time to make something real.
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  So let's tie this back to the 4th of July.
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  Independence didn't come from muskets and marching.
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  It came from pamphlets, essays, newspaper wars.
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  Franklin's entire life is one long experiment
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  in using words, jokes, pseudonyms, and public debate
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  to pry open the minds of people who'd rather stay comfortably
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  obedient and make no mistake.
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  The vast majority of colonists, they
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  didn't favor the revolution.
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  Ben understood this.
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  Speech is dangerous.
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  Speech is messy.
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  Speech is necessary.
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  Your podcast, especially if you actually say something,
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  sits right in that tradition.
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  It's about as American as you could possibly get.
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  Every single time you tell the truth about your industry
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  instead of selling a fantasy.
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  Every time you admit your show is not a numbers monster,
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  but still a revenue generator that your colleagues
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  are envious of.
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  Every time you push back on the religion
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  of whatever it is your industry is obsessed with,
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  every time you share the story,
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  nobody else in your niche wants to tell,
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  you are exercising that exact muscle.
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  Franklin spent his entire life defending.
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  You're not just talking into a mic.
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  You're refusing to be subdued by silence
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  or by other people's shallow scoreboards.
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  And I want to talk about vanity metrics for a second
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  because this is where people get wrecked.
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  From the cheap seats, YouTube views
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  might almost be nonexistent.
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  Follow accounts are not blowing anybody's minds.
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  Engagement looks quiet to the loudest people in your feet,
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  but then when you zoom in on reality,
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  think about the people that you are serving.
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  That, my friend, is Franklin in France energy.
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  The aristocrats in Versailles did not care
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  whether he could fill a football stadium.
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  Football stadiums didn't even exist
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  back in the 18th century.
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  No, they cared whether he could be trusted,
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  whether his ideas made sense,
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  whether aligning with him helped them win their long game
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  against the British.
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  Your people, they don't care if you've got a million followers,
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  they care that your show helps them not sound stupid,
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  not waste money and not quit on themselves.
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  If a stranger glances at your numbers and sneers,
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  who the hell cares?
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  They're not in the room where it happens.
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  They're not the ones signing checks.
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  They're not the ones working with iconic clients.
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  You are.
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  So if you're a host sitting there
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  and you're thinking, my show's going nowhere,
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  I should probably quit.
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  I want you to be blunt for a second.
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  You and me, let's do it.
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  You might already have your version of a French loan
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  and a Franklin needs to cult,
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  and you're just refusing to see it.
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  Ask yourself this.
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  Have I had even one DM or email that said,
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  I needed to hear this?
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  Have I had one peer text me a screenshot of my episode
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  and say finally, someone said it.
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  Is there even a tiny cluster of people
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  who rearrange their day when my episodes drop?
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  If yes, you have the seed of a Franklin style following.
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  It might not be massive, it might not be flashy,
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  but it's 1,000% real.
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  Now, layer on impact metrics that actually matter.
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  Retention and completion rates
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  replies to your newsletter.
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  The quality of guests and clients the show is pulling in.
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  The fact that your P&L looks better than creators
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  with five times your audience, that is a big one.
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  Suddenly, small show starts looking like underestimated
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  juggernaut, if you know what I mean, I'm sure you do.
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  Franklin's contemporaries did not fully grasp
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  what he was doing in those French drawing rooms.
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  Your contemporaries don't fully grasp
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  what you're doing on your mic, and that's fine.
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  Oh yeah, it is.
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  A, okay, because history is long
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  and the receipts always pile up.
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  So, as you're grilling hot dogs and yelling at your kids
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  not to blow their fingers off with fireworks,
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  this independent stay, here's your homework.
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  Stop worshipping the wrong kinds of numbers.
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  The founders never risked their necks
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  so you could base yourself worth on a YouTube counter.
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  Treat your show like Franklin treated the press
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  as a weapon, as a lab, as a sacred obligation
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  to say things that are true and necessary,
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  not just popular, except being underestimated.
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  Be the gaudy old printer in the corner,
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  whose words actually move the room,
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  not the shiny new influencer everybody forgets in six months.
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  Build your own Franklinistas, make your own cult of people
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  who'd wear cringe hats for you if you asked,
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  because your work changed something real in their lives.
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  Remember, it doesn't take a massive audience
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  to fund their revolution.
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  It takes the right people paying attention
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  and a host who refuses to shut up.
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  You want independence?
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  Start by declaring it from the algorithm.
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  Then go make something so undeniably useful
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  that like Franklin, you're shaping the future
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  even if you don't look impressive to the naked eye.
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  And if you're listening to this
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  and you're thinking, all right, all right, I get it.
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  I'm Franklin and France, but I still don't know
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  what they held to do next with my show.
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  That's exactly why this podcast exists.
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  So go back and binge listen if you haven't already.
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  And if you want to step by step way
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  to turn this rant into an actual plan,
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  not just fluff, grab the speak podcasting roadmap.
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  It's the framework I use with clients to build shows
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  that don't just look good on paper, but that move real people.
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  So here's your next move.
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  Go down to the show notes of this very episode.
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  Click on speakpodcasting.com slash free resources
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  and get that speak roadmap at no charge.
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  Then come back to this podcast
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  and let's build something so undeniable
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  even Franklin East is would have worn hats for it.
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  Because your show might be tiny today,
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  but in the right hands with the right roadmap,
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  it can still topple empires.
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  So get it.
• 12:59
  Speakpodcasting.com slash free resources
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  that is S-P-E-K-E podcasting.com slash free resources.