Latest / Networking Unleashed: Building Profitable Connections / Networking Unleashed: S1E34 An Interview with Vince Quinn and Michael A Forman

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Networking Unleashed: S1E34 An Interview with Vince Quinn and Michael A Forman · Networking Unleashed: Building Profitable Connections

• 0:16
  Hello, and welcome back to Networking Unleashed,
• 0:20
  Building Profitable Connections. Welcome back
• 0:23
  to the show, folks. I'm your host, Michael Foreman,
• 0:26
  and you're listening to the podcast where networking
• 0:29
  is more than just awkward handshakes and bad
• 0:32
  coffee. It's an art and a talent. But here's
• 0:36
  the twist. It's an art and talent you can actually
• 0:39
  learn. Yes, even if you're the person hiding
• 0:43
  in the corner at every event pretending to check
• 0:46
  emails. Networking isn't just a nice skill to
• 0:49
  have. It's a game changer. When you get good
• 0:52
  at it, you'll wonder why you didn't start sooner.
• 0:55
  More connections, more opportunities, more profits.
• 0:59
  It's like unlocking a cheat code for life. So
• 1:02
  whether you're the life of the party or the just
• 1:04
  let me stay at home and text type, we've got
• 1:07
  something for you. So stick around. And let's
• 1:10
  turn those awkward small talk moments into big
• 1:13
  wins. I have a guest today who is so experienced
• 1:19
  in networking that I don't think that our podcast
• 1:23
  will have enough time to reign him in. I'd like
• 1:26
  to introduce Vince Quinn. And Vince is the co
• 1:29
  -founder and creative director of SBX Productions,
• 1:34
  where he helps businesses launch and improve
• 1:37
  their podcasts. Without me butchering it anymore,
• 1:41
  I'm going to introduce Vince and let him tell
• 1:45
  you a little bit about his background. Vince,
• 1:47
  how are you? I'm great. And hearing your intro
• 1:50
  talking about bad coffee and awkward handshakes
• 1:52
  and people in the corner and all that, it just
• 1:54
  hits me so hard. So I love all of that. I think
• 1:57
  it's so spot on of the experience. So great work
• 2:00
  by you. But yeah, a little background on me.
• 2:03
  So kind of a fascinating journey. I ended up,
• 2:07
  I started my career in sports talk radio. I did
• 2:09
  sports talk radio for 10 years in Philly. I'm
• 2:12
  a Philly kid. Everybody in Philly is an animal
• 2:15
  as a sports fan. I think that's well publicized.
• 2:17
  I was one of those animals. I was a leader of
• 2:20
  the animals in a sense. So I was doing all of
• 2:22
  that for a while. saw where the radio industry
• 2:24
  was going, decided, let me get into podcasting.
• 2:28
  And I've been able to transition all of that
• 2:30
  experience of producing and hosting and everything
• 2:33
  else in that space and now bring it to businesses.
• 2:36
  So yeah, helping them with their processes. So
• 2:39
  everything with the production of who's doing
• 2:41
  what and what equipment do we need and how is
• 2:43
  this getting on socials? And really beyond that,
• 2:45
  coming up with the strategy is the most important
• 2:47
  thing. And I think people get so caught up in
• 2:50
  the production side that they lose sight of what
• 2:52
  do you actually want to do? do with this? How
• 2:53
  are you maxing out the potential of it? And one
• 2:56
  of those big things, and obviously fully related
• 2:58
  to what we're talking about here, is guests.
• 3:00
  Thinking about the guests that you want to bring
• 3:02
  on shows, getting yourself featured on other
• 3:04
  shows, thinking about that in a very strategic
• 3:07
  way and developing good processes there. There's
• 3:09
  so much to get into with all of that stuff. And
• 3:12
  that's what's so fun about it for me on a personal
• 3:14
  level. As you can tell, I love to talk. So being
• 3:16
  a chatty guy, having the opportunity to meet
• 3:19
  so many interesting people and help them. connect
• 3:22
  in their own way through a show is just so much
• 3:25
  fun. That's what I do. That's great. You mentioned
• 3:29
  how you transitioned from radio to podcasting.
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  Give me a little bit more of how you transitioned
• 3:36
  helping businesses with their podcasts. Yeah.
• 3:40
  So first, it was two leaps. The first leap was
• 3:43
  realizing that radio is just a bad future for
• 3:46
  me as a guy of this age with the state of the
• 3:48
  industry and having to get out of there and making
• 3:51
  the transition into podcasting as my full on
• 3:54
  professional commitment. And that was a big jump.
• 3:56
  I was a nationally syndicated host at 30 years
• 3:58
  old. That was huge. And I had people telling
• 4:01
  me, don't do it. Don't leave. But I saw where
• 4:04
  the future was of podcasting and where it was
• 4:06
  going for radio, and I made the jump. So that
• 4:08
  was the first step. And then the second step
• 4:10
  was really when I first made that leap into podcasting.
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  We were talking with a lot of entertainment shows.
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  It was a lot of people who thought, I'm going
• 4:17
  to be the next big sports show, and I'm going
• 4:19
  to be Joe Rogan and all that kind of stuff, which
• 4:21
  did not happen. But working with all those people,
• 4:25
  I learned, one, I had to be a business owner
• 4:27
  and develop that. mentality of, okay, here's
• 4:30
  all the different things that go into making
• 4:31
  an effective business for myself. And then being
• 4:34
  able to then apply it to the business mindset
• 4:37
  and start upgrading my clientele to where I was
• 4:40
  working with business owners, established entrepreneurs.
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  I'm working with some organizations now, larger
• 4:45
  organizations. So doing that kind of thing has
• 4:48
  been so refreshing because I can relate to them
• 4:51
  as a business owner and know what their marketing
• 4:52
  issues are and be able to apply all of that stuff
• 4:55
  over. So it took me a while to figure everything
• 4:58
  out and bring it all together. But now that it's
• 5:00
  here, it's one of those things where I look back
• 5:01
  and go, oh, this makes all the sense in the world.
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  Like it's, yeah, of course I'm doing this. It's
• 5:05
  perfect. It makes perfect sense. Okay. So how
• 5:08
  do you help clients define a clear purpose for
• 5:12
  their podcast? Yeah. So the question is, you're
• 5:16
  starting a podcast. What do you want to get out
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  of it? And I think it's got to be a selfish answer,
• 5:22
  really. Sometimes people hem and haw of what
• 5:24
  the reason is. But if I'm helping you build the
• 5:26
  show, you need to be honest about it. When I
• 5:28
  was working with entertainment shows, people
• 5:29
  had a hard time saying that my goal is that I
• 5:32
  want to be famous. And so if you want to be famous,
• 5:34
  that's a very specific route that you want to
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  go and your whole approach and energy and the
• 5:39
  kinds of content you produce. That's a very specific
• 5:41
  lane from a business side. A lot of the times
• 5:44
  people are looking for more sales, right? That's
• 5:46
  ultimately what they want to get, or they're
• 5:49
  just looking to generate awareness. The process
• 5:51
  is good, but people just don't know that they
• 5:53
  exist. So they need to get the word out more.
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  So no problem. Let's do that. But I think a lot
• 5:58
  of times. People, it's complicated because podcasting
• 6:02
  is an industry that does not have good precedent
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  for a business owner. Like the common blueprint
• 6:07
  is not an easy thing to follow because what we
• 6:10
  all know is entertainment shows, right? But so
• 6:12
  you don't think about these business podcasts
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  that might have only 500 downloads, but you know
• 6:17
  what? They're killing it because the people that
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  listen are buyers and you are getting constant
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  sales from that audience, repeat sales, whatever,
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  like you're building super fans. So there's a
• 6:27
  lot of value in that, but people don't. No. So
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  initially when they come in, it's complicated
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  because the intent is to some degree like sales.
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  What I typically hear up front is I want to make
• 6:38
  more money and I'm doing the podcast because
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  I want to monetize the podcast. But monetizing
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  a lot of times to people means sponsorships.
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  But nobody sponsoring your business podcast odds
• 6:50
  are unless you have good connections and things
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  like when you're just getting started. It's your
• 6:54
  marketing for your business. So sponsor yourself.
• 6:58
  and figure out what that strategy is to amplify
• 7:01
  the services, the products that you have, and
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  connect those things and constantly talk about
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  subject matter in that space. So that's really
• 7:11
  the biggest thing that I'm doing in terms of
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  purpose is finding out what that actual deep
• 7:16
  down business goal is, and then making sure everything
• 7:19
  we do around the show is aligned in a way that's
• 7:22
  helping them actually commit to that goal. That's
• 7:25
  number one for me. That's great. Because really,
• 7:29
  when somebody gets into podcasts, from what I
• 7:32
  found, it's one of two reasons. One, just because
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  they enjoy it. They enjoy talking to people.
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  But the other one is monetizing it. And they're
• 7:40
  looking as an extra stream of money coming in.
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  And you really hit monetizing on the head. Okay.
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  But do you have... Give me just one, two, or
• 7:51
  three effective ways that a podcaster, one who
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  is really not just starting out, but has been
• 8:00
  around for a while, what is an effective way
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  for him to monetize? Yeah, so the biggest thing
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  is I treat it two different ways. One of them
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  is if you're getting potential clients that make
• 8:11
  sense for you, being able to source those people,
• 8:13
  build relationships, and not necessarily directly
• 8:16
  sell, but build a good relationship. establish
• 8:20
  yourself as a professional and get into their
• 8:22
  networks, right? That's the value of it. If you're
• 8:25
  able to flip somebody that you talk to during
• 8:26
  the conversation into a client, all the better.
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  But for me, for example, like I started my own
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  show for the business, total proof of concept
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  of everything that we do. And it's very matter
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  of fact, right? I'm a business owner that makes
• 8:39
  a podcast about business owners who have podcasts.
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  So my guests are business owners who have podcasts.
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  I invite them onto the show and we talk about
• 8:50
  it. Hey, you started the business. Why did you
• 8:52
  start the podcast? How do those things tie together
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  for you? So for me, I'm talking with all these
• 8:56
  kinds of entrepreneurs that I want to speak with.
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  There are people that I'm building good relationships
• 9:00
  with. Sometimes I end those conversations and
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  they say, I'm actually looking for help. And
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  that's a great win for me. And other times I'm
• 9:07
  just following up, making a good connection on
• 9:09
  LinkedIn, trying to stay in touch and hope that
• 9:11
  down the line, it leads to a good referral because
• 9:13
  I'm an actually engaged person in their network.
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  So from a relationship building standpoint, if
• 9:19
  you want to get those clients and get in front
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  of people like that's one way to do it, invite
• 9:23
  those people onto the show or use your show as
• 9:26
  a means to go out and get on other shows. And
• 9:28
  then beyond that, the other strategy is strategic
• 9:31
  partners and highlighting what you do and who
• 9:34
  does it for you, especially if you're a business
• 9:36
  that has multiple employees. One of the things
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  that you can do is get certain people like I'm
• 9:41
  working with a real estate. agency. And if you've
• 9:44
  got an agent that, okay, they're in the industrial
• 9:46
  space within your firm, great, bring them on,
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  talk about what they're seeing in the market,
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  showcase what they do, get your mortgage brokers
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  that you work with, get them to come on and how
• 9:54
  you have these relationships and like having
• 9:56
  the ability to make all these other people look
• 9:59
  good, generate content that features them, cross
• 10:02
  promote on your accounts. All of those things
• 10:05
  are good for everybody because if you're doing
• 10:07
  business, they're doing business. If they're
• 10:09
  doing business, you're doing business. And so
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  how can you strengthen those relationships and
• 10:14
  really accentuate everybody and your network
• 10:17
  and your value for the customer? So those are
• 10:19
  like two easier things that people can accomplish
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  based on what they've got. And usually when I'm
• 10:24
  working with a show, that's what I'll encourage
• 10:26
  them to do. One of those two things. Wow, that's
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  great. Everything. It sounds so in line with
• 10:32
  what I talk about. but you are specifically for
• 10:36
  the podcast. And it's great hearing another way
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  to think about the networking. I believe in the
• 10:43
  one -on -one or networking events because I go
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  to a thousand of them, just like you. But this
• 10:50
  takes it from a whole different concept. How
• 10:53
  do you assist clients in crafting a compelling
• 10:56
  podcast message? So it's a lot of conversation.
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  I think the interesting thing is people don't
• 11:03
  realize how sharp and unique and pointed their
• 11:06
  opinions can be because they just haven't had
• 11:09
  to present it in that format. But in the world
• 11:12
  that we live in, and this is the thing that I
• 11:13
  learned just doing radio for 10 years, because
• 11:15
  sports talk radio is you're going to have this
• 11:18
  sharp. question or this sharp opinion and it's
• 11:21
  this one or two sentence thing that you can say
• 11:24
  that gets everybody's attention they understand
• 11:25
  exactly what you're talking about and then you
• 11:28
  can go and discuss it and by forcing people to
• 11:31
  answer these questions of okay why do you think
• 11:35
  this and exploring deeper you tend to uncover
• 11:38
  these opinions that you've always operated on
• 11:40
  and but you haven't fully expressed and by being
• 11:44
  able to dig to those certain levels of things
• 11:47
  it it showcases the personality it makes the
• 11:50
  episode stand out it's a it's all about depth
• 11:53
  versus breadth, if you will. Like it's how specific
• 11:57
  and deep can you go with your expertise? And
• 11:59
  the more you can do that and start there at the
• 12:01
  beginning of your conversations, the more you're
• 12:03
  going to blow people away and separate yourself.
• 12:05
  So for me, for example, I talk about different
• 12:08
  things with production processes, or I did an
• 12:11
  episode that's going to be out soon about guest
• 12:13
  booking and what I've seen with different guest
• 12:16
  booking agencies. And for me to spend a only
• 12:19
  eight minute episode or something, it's not very
• 12:21
  long, but to spend eight 10 minutes going, Hey,
• 12:23
  I see all these issues with the guest booking
• 12:25
  industry. If you're doing it, here's the things
• 12:26
  that you need to be worried about. And here's
• 12:28
  some specific things that I'm doing to counter
• 12:30
  all of this. There's really not episodes about
• 12:33
  that. Like people aren't making that kind of
• 12:34
  content, but I've got that experience. It's relevant
• 12:37
  to my wheelhouse. It's relevant to my audience.
• 12:39
  And knowing that opinion allows me to differentiate
• 12:43
  myself. Those are the kinds of things that I
• 12:45
  have this natural sense of, aha, you've hit on
• 12:47
  like this good thing that we can dig into for
• 12:50
  a topic. It's basically the more specific you
• 12:53
  can be about defining your opinion and boiling
• 12:56
  that down. Like, why do you feel this? Why do
• 12:58
  you feel that? Almost three, four layers deep
• 13:00
  on a baseline opinion. That's when you know that
• 13:03
  something's really sharp, really good, really
• 13:05
  unique and going to resonate. I gotta tell you,
• 13:08
  if any of my listeners are interested in starting
• 13:11
  a podcast. I would just call Vince because he's
• 13:16
  got the knowledge, he's got the experience, and
• 13:19
  I'm telling you everything. We're not done with
• 13:21
  the podcast by any means, but I'm just saying
• 13:23
  with all of your experience and the way that
• 13:27
  you go about talking about the processes, the
• 13:30
  monetizing, the everything else, you do it in
• 13:33
  such a way where it always will benefit the podcast
• 13:37
  host. So I just want to thank you for that itself.
• 13:42
  And you talked about the processes. What key
• 13:45
  processes do you focus on to improve podcast
• 13:49
  production? Yeah, so first off, it comes down
• 13:53
  to the show planning. Because pre -planning is
• 13:56
  what's pre -production. What are you doing to
• 13:58
  plan these episodes out and make them as strong
• 14:00
  as they can possibly be? One of the biggest issues
• 14:03
  that people get into a lot of times is editing.
• 14:05
  And editing might involve taking out chunks of
• 14:08
  the conversation. That's because you might not
• 14:10
  have a full grip on how you wanted to structure
• 14:13
  that argument and cover the entirety of the episode
• 14:16
  or developing the interviewing skills to get
• 14:19
  to a point where all of the conversation is totally
• 14:21
  on point and relevant and tight and concise.
• 14:24
  So there's things in editing that post are because
• 14:27
  the preparation was not as good as it could be.
• 14:30
  The episodes are too long, things like that.
• 14:32
  So it starts there and with the messaging and
• 14:35
  things that we've talked about. And then beyond
• 14:37
  that, it's just a lot of regimenting, basically
• 14:40
  checklists of, okay, the episode is done. Who's
• 14:44
  responsible for what stages? Where is all of
• 14:46
  this going? And how are we doing this as efficiently
• 14:49
  as possible? So if that's with the editing, and
• 14:52
  this is a problem, I think, with a lot of solopreneurs,
• 14:53
  especially doing all of the editing and taking
• 14:56
  everything on. And when you think about the time
• 14:58
  consumed to do all of that versus your value
• 15:01
  as the business to go out and do other things,
• 15:05
  don't edit. You don't need to do that. I understand
• 15:08
  at first, hey, I'm getting a feeling I don't
• 15:10
  want to invest in this. But by investing in an
• 15:12
  editor, you are reinvesting in yourself as an
• 15:15
  executive. And when you're considering that trade
• 15:18
  -off, it's an easy one to make. So it's things
• 15:20
  like that. So bringing in help if needed or teaching
• 15:23
  people to just be more efficient if that's what
• 15:26
  they need. I do coaching sessions where I'll
• 15:28
  sit down and say, hey, you're doing the editing.
• 15:29
  Okay, let's talk about the tools that you use.
• 15:32
  Let's talk about some different technology that's
• 15:34
  out there that can streamline this for you. And
• 15:36
  how can I cut down the time that you're spending
• 15:38
  on that? So if you don't want to put that money
• 15:40
  out, how can I at least get you time back? from
• 15:42
  being more efficient. And then from there, it's
• 15:45
  other things like, do you have a social media
• 15:46
  scheduler? So instead of doing things where natively
• 15:49
  you're posting it on each single platform, put
• 15:52
  it in one place and be able to have it go out
• 15:54
  to all the platforms you have. So that kind of
• 15:57
  stuff is really essential. And just really, and
• 15:59
  here's the last thing when it comes to production,
• 16:01
  it's really huge. I want people and I'm desperately.
• 16:05
  begging people to do this is work ahead. Have
• 16:08
  three, four weeks of episodes that are ready
• 16:11
  to go and don't worry about it. Like the stress
• 16:14
  that people put on themselves arbitrarily to,
• 16:18
  oh my God, I got to get this out right now because
• 16:20
  if I don't edit it tonight, I'm skipping dinner
• 16:22
  because I'm going to edit tonight and I need
• 16:24
  it out tomorrow and I got to get the post. It
• 16:26
  drives people crazy and it's a common stress
• 16:30
  that people have, but it's such an avoidable
• 16:32
  stress. So I really, at the very beginning, with
• 16:34
  all of those things in mind of pre and post and
• 16:36
  whatever, it's how can we do this in a way where
• 16:39
  we can get you breathing room to operate? So
• 16:41
  if you're sick, you go on vacation, your guests
• 16:44
  cancel, like whatever happens, you've got that
• 16:47
  room to maneuver and you're not stressing. So
• 16:49
  it's tying all of those things together and doing
• 16:52
  that as quickly as we can. Absolutely. That's
• 16:56
  great. Vince, I'm telling you again, you've done
• 16:59
  it. You've done it. And I think you've got the
• 17:01
  podcasting, the, not the... exactly the coaching,
• 17:05
  but the instruction and the structure of the
• 17:09
  podcast down to such a point where any of my
• 17:12
  listeners, they'd be a fool not to contact you.
• 17:16
  Okay. So can podcasters leverage their shows
• 17:19
  for networking? Oh my God. There's so many great
• 17:23
  ways to leverage it. But the biggest thing is
• 17:26
  there are guest platforms. And this is the easiest
• 17:29
  thing if you want an introductory way to get
• 17:31
  acclimated to podcasts and use them as a way
• 17:35
  to just build all these new connections. So a
• 17:37
  couple out there that are common and very affordable,
• 17:39
  Podmatch is one. There's another one called matchmaker
• 17:42
  .fm. Going to either of those, putting up a profile.
• 17:46
  People will message you to come on your show.
• 17:49
  You don't know who they are. They've got all
• 17:51
  these different skill sets and things, which
• 17:53
  is why sometimes you should say no because everybody
• 17:55
  is applying to be on your show. So sometimes
• 17:56
  please say no to people. But beyond that, yeah,
• 17:59
  that just opens the door without even trying
• 18:02
  to all of these different people all across the
• 18:05
  world, all these industries that are looking
• 18:06
  for opportunity and looking for connection as
• 18:08
  well. So do that. But also, yeah, use it as an
• 18:12
  opportunity to reconnect with people. If you've
• 18:14
  had a past client, for example, and you did great
• 18:16
  things with them and they don't need you anymore
• 18:18
  because things went so well that like they've
• 18:21
  progressed beyond you. Awesome. Bring them back
• 18:23
  on the show. Get them to give a testimonial basically
• 18:26
  about what you do. So it's an opportunity to
• 18:29
  reestablish connections. It's an opportunity
• 18:31
  to build new connections because sometimes Michael
• 18:34
  is reaching out to somebody going, hey, can I
• 18:35
  get 30 minutes to talk and connect and just meet
• 18:38
  you? People suck. I'm not really into that. But
• 18:41
  if you tell them it's being recorded and put
• 18:43
  on Apple and Spotify, now they're way more interested.
• 18:46
  So it just gives you a natural avenue to build
• 18:48
  those connections. And as long as you've got
• 18:50
  the genuine interest in bringing these people
• 18:53
  on, which I can't state enough, please actually
• 18:56
  be engaged with who these people are and have
• 18:58
  real questions to ask them. But if you're doing
• 19:00
  that. Yeah, the amount of impact that you can
• 19:03
  get is huge. So again, being on guest platforms
• 19:06
  and leaving the door open, you can also message
• 19:09
  people on those platforms to invite them on,
• 19:11
  inviting people in your network, whether it's
• 19:13
  a connection you want to tighten up because it's
• 19:15
  been a while or somebody you want to build a
• 19:16
  relationship with that's relevant. And then lastly,
• 19:19
  and I think this is really the biggest thing
• 19:21
  beyond that, is following up. I mentioned this
• 19:23
  earlier, but like... Connect with them on LinkedIn
• 19:26
  if that's your thing. If you're big on Instagram,
• 19:28
  follow them on Instagram. Like whatever you've
• 19:30
  got to do to maintain that connection and be
• 19:32
  aware of what they're up to because it's give
• 19:36
  and take for everybody, right? I'm happy to come
• 19:38
  on the show, but what are you doing for me? Like
• 19:40
  everybody, I want likes. I want subscribers.
• 19:42
  I want clients. To have that opportunity to connect
• 19:45
  with people, like their stuff once in a while,
• 19:47
  comment on things, just be aware of what they're
• 19:49
  doing. So if you see them in a networking event
• 19:51
  to go, hey, I saw that you posted this thing
• 19:54
  or you just. did that. Congratulations. The show
• 19:56
  is your avenue to do that. It is a tool. And
• 19:59
  so that's the beauty of it. It doesn't have to
• 20:02
  just be this thing that gets listeners. It's
• 20:05
  a really good mechanic to interact with people.
• 20:08
  And so that's one of the ways to leverage this.
• 20:11
  And it's one of the best ways to do it because,
• 20:13
  yeah, everybody wants to come on shows. You get
• 20:15
  this long running content. It's just it's wonderful
• 20:17
  value. It really is. And you touched on the follow
• 20:21
  -up and I'm just going to touch on it very little
• 20:25
  bit because I feel that the follow -up is almost
• 20:29
  more important than actually meeting the person.
• 20:31
  Okay. The follow -up is so key because 90 % of
• 20:35
  everybody else forget the follow -up. They send
• 20:38
  an email or they do something that there's no
• 20:41
  true sense of a follow -up. And unless you follow
• 20:44
  up, you really haven't gotten that contact. But
• 20:48
  that's a whole nother podcast on a whole nother
• 20:51
  day. What metrics do you use to measure a podcast
• 20:55
  success? Yeah, so growth on the base level, right?
• 20:59
  It's overall growth based on what you're looking
• 21:02
  to do. Because again, like some people, it's
• 21:04
  an awareness play, right? Like my show to start.
• 21:07
  We're early stage with it. I started that show
• 21:09
  in October, and our play was awareness because
• 21:12
  we're a niche business. We're a podcast company
• 21:14
  that helps business owners. We're very niche.
• 21:16
  So with that, our thing was let's blast all of
• 21:19
  our different social media channels and do that
• 21:21
  consistently. Let's post episodes every single
• 21:24
  week. Let's get the newsletter and use the content
• 21:27
  from the show to fuel the newsletter. Get that
• 21:29
  out every single week. We're seeing growth. I'm
• 21:33
  not blowing anything away, but I'm getting small
• 21:35
  growth on LinkedIn, on Facebook, on Instagram,
• 21:38
  on TikTok, on YouTube, all at the same time.
• 21:41
  So that's my metric. Things like profile viewers
• 21:45
  on LinkedIn to me is a metric because I've gotten
• 21:48
  people now on a professional platform to look
• 21:50
  at my profile and say, who is this guy and what
• 21:52
  is he about? proof of attention, I don't know
• 21:55
  what is. So for me, those are the kinds of things
• 21:58
  that I'm looking for in this awareness play.
• 22:00
  Beyond that, it can be things like obviously
• 22:03
  sales, right? If you're bringing people onto
• 22:06
  the show, what is your conversion rate? And that's
• 22:08
  going to be something based on, and it's hard
• 22:11
  because you're not doing these things and people
• 22:13
  aren't getting into these conversations to directly
• 22:15
  sell. But if you can say that you're selling
• 22:17
  one or two high ticket items a year, even on
• 22:20
  your podcast, and you weren't selling anything
• 22:22
  before. To do that through your networking, like
• 22:25
  that is a massive win. So it's always relative
• 22:28
  to the business and the kinds of services that
• 22:30
  they offer, the products they offer and how that
• 22:33
  all works. Like it can be very custom. But if
• 22:35
  you can definitively say that the podcast is
• 22:38
  helping you generate more business than you had
• 22:40
  before and it's worth the investment, which if
• 22:43
  you're doing high ticket, it should be. And like
• 22:45
  the way I do this, I'm not trying to price people
• 22:47
  out to a point where they can't afford to do
• 22:49
  the show because it's their marketing. So it
• 22:52
  doesn't make sense. sense to be like, this is
• 22:53
  an insane cost to execute your show day in and
• 22:55
  day out. It needs to be something that's sustainable,
• 22:58
  but it's helping you sell high ticket as well.
• 23:00
  So if you can get a couple of sales in that degree,
• 23:03
  that's huge. So that's like the baseline element.
• 23:06
  Are you growing? Are you selling more? And that's
• 23:08
  about it. It's true. And I get responses from
• 23:12
  LinkedIn because I'm on all platforms. LinkedIn,
• 23:17
  Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and I get something
• 23:21
  back from LinkedIn. I thought it was great. I
• 23:24
  thought I get between five and 800 impressions
• 23:26
  every time that I put something out there. And
• 23:31
  I felt, oh, that's pretty good. One of my other
• 23:34
  podcast guests goes, well, what type of LinkedIn
• 23:38
  impressions do you get? And I said, oh, between
• 23:40
  five and 800. He goes, oh, that's not bad. When
• 23:43
  you get to 6 ,000, let me know. I'm like, what?
• 23:47
  He goes, yeah, 6 ,000. I'm like, all right. As
• 23:50
  long as I thought I was doing so well, and he
• 23:53
  just absolutely not. But anyway. Hold on, because
• 23:56
  I disagree. Right? It's all perspective and where
• 23:59
  you come from with this. It is. Yeah. If you
• 24:01
  were starting with 200, 300, or you weren't even
• 24:04
  posting regularly, and now you're posting more
• 24:06
  frequently and getting 500, 600, that is a win,
• 24:09
  right? That's the beauty of this. It is a win.
• 24:11
  Yeah, you should. I did. But I was just like,
• 24:15
  okay, when you think you're doing something well,
• 24:17
  there's always somebody doing it better. But
• 24:19
  my metrics go from my YouTube channel all the
• 24:23
  way up to LinkedIn, and I'm getting a decent
• 24:26
  amount of hits. So it's not bad. It's pretty
• 24:29
  good. Give me an idea of what an emerging trend
• 24:32
  in the industry, in the podcasting industry.
• 24:36
  Yeah. So the biggest one that I've seen recently,
• 24:39
  and this is from the way that I've been doing
• 24:41
  it, shows that I consume and people that I've
• 24:43
  had that I've been talking to that are guests
• 24:44
  on my show is people are starting to trend back
• 24:47
  to solo episodes. And I think that is a great
• 24:51
  play because when you're thinking about where
• 24:53
  everything's gone, the guest interview podcast
• 24:56
  has been big for a couple of years now. And for
• 24:58
  all the networking and everything that we've
• 24:59
  talked about, it makes sense like that. There
• 25:01
  is real legitimate value in that. And it's something
• 25:03
  that people should still do. But the other side
• 25:06
  of it is. It's your platform for your marketing.
• 25:10
  And when you want to repurpose all of this content
• 25:12
  into great social clips that showcase you and
• 25:15
  your knowledge, and it can form your newsletter
• 25:18
  and all those different things, then yeah, take
• 25:20
  some weeks where it's just you talking. And if
• 25:23
  that's even six minutes, like I literally have
• 25:26
  multiple five, six minute episodes in the early
• 25:29
  stages of my show. That's fine. Like it's, are
• 25:31
  you making a good point? Is it value to your
• 25:33
  audience? Can you maximize that content? That's
• 25:35
  all it needs to be. If it turns out that you
• 25:37
  can go for 20 minutes, 25 minutes, and it's a
• 25:40
  good conversation, go for it. But yeah, that
• 25:43
  idea of balance between doing the networking
• 25:45
  and building those relationships and to some
• 25:47
  degree sitting down with potential clients, leads,
• 25:50
  like awesome. But yeah, have that other side
• 25:53
  where it's an opportunity for the audience to
• 25:55
  continue to get to know you more and what you're
• 25:57
  about and become a bigger fan of you. Because
• 25:59
  when other people are constantly... always dominating
• 26:03
  the platform you don't always get that chance
• 26:05
  to showcase yourself so that balance it is huge
• 26:08
  and yeah i'm seeing that start to happen a lot
• 26:11
  more i think part of it is because there's been
• 26:13
  like most shows out there are guest focused shows
• 26:16
  and people have decided to make a transition
• 26:18
  there so i'd fully support it it's really that's
• 26:21
  really interesting i was thinking about doing
• 26:24
  that because i'm posting twice a week and on
• 26:28
  a Monday and a Friday or Monday evening and a
• 26:31
  Friday afternoon. So maybe like on a Wednesday,
• 26:34
  I may do that, do a five or six minute post of
• 26:37
  just about my business, about my networking or
• 26:42
  my coaching or something else like that. But
• 26:44
  I think I may take you up on that offer, but
• 26:46
  that's very good information. All right. So here's
• 26:49
  the kicker. You've told me all about your great
• 26:53
  success. about how you transition from radio
• 26:56
  to podcasting. Everything is going so well, but
• 27:00
  what are some of the biggest mistakes that you've
• 27:05
  made and how did you overcome it? Oh my God.
• 27:08
  I used to have there. So I have one business
• 27:11
  partner at the moment. It's me and one other
• 27:13
  guy. There used to be three of us that ran the
• 27:17
  business together. That did not go well. And
• 27:19
  there are a lot of it's a lot of layers to it.
• 27:22
  I could honestly talk about it for four hours.
• 27:23
  But the long story short is I had known the person
• 27:27
  personally before the business got started. I
• 27:30
  considered them a friend. When things started
• 27:32
  to go really bad with the business, I refused
• 27:35
  to see what was falling off a cliff in a lot
• 27:38
  of different ways. I had these major blinders
• 27:40
  on and being able to finally get to a point where
• 27:43
  I realized it's not working. And this whole thing
• 27:46
  is worse than I thought in a lot of different
• 27:47
  ways, personally, professionally. It was getting
• 27:49
  incredibly ugly and making the decision to just
• 27:53
  completely cut the cord. So moving on and just
• 27:56
  being me and the one other person now for the
• 27:58
  business, personally, just, yeah, maintaining
• 28:00
  separation, like everything. And from there,
• 28:03
  too, there was so much clutter around the business.
• 28:06
  So strategically, the things that we were doing,
• 28:08
  it was more we were just doing digital content
• 28:10
  in a lot of different ways, shapes and forms
• 28:12
  versus. being a podcast production company for
• 28:16
  businesses. What I had to do was once we made
• 28:18
  that move is the last like year plus was really
• 28:21
  just trimming fat. Just, hey, is this producing
• 28:24
  podcasts for businesses? No. Is this leading
• 28:26
  to doing that and getting more clients or relationships?
• 28:29
  No. Let's kill that. Let's transition out this
• 28:31
  client. So it was a lot of movement and redefinition,
• 28:36
  but it was also simplicity. And so it's been
• 28:38
  a relief. Just the way things have gone really
• 28:41
  in the past, yeah, year and a half, something
• 28:43
  like that. It's been night and day. And it's
• 28:45
  unfortunate you have to go through a lot of things
• 28:47
  to get there, but the end result has been great.
• 28:50
  And I have no regrets. Good. Listen, I've been
• 28:54
  a business owner before, multiple business, pizzerias,
• 28:58
  restaurants, a Ben & Jerry's franchise. I've
• 29:01
  been through it all. I want to end this on a
• 29:04
  very high note. So can you give me a success
• 29:07
  story where you helped a podcast business grow?
• 29:12
  Yeah, so this one's interesting, right? It's
• 29:15
  a bit of an altruistic show. It's called Building
• 29:17
  the Open Metaverse. And it's two technology execs
• 29:21
  in metaverse technology, like high -ranking guys.
• 29:24
  And they are all about community building because
• 29:28
  everything they're doing is open source. So it's
• 29:30
  the idea that this software is out on the internet
• 29:32
  and everybody has the ability to collaborate
• 29:34
  on it and customize it and add to it. And it's
• 29:37
  just as a community tool, it always gets better
• 29:40
  and better. Things like Notion. For example,
• 29:43
  it's a digital workspace and you can do a lot
• 29:45
  of file tracking and things in it. It's a beautiful
• 29:47
  tool that is open source. So there's a lot of
• 29:50
  things like that out there. DeepSeek, the popular
• 29:53
  AI tool that came out, that is an open source
• 29:56
  tool as it's been defined. So things like that.
• 29:59
  What I was able to do with them, just one. Show
• 30:02
  quality, their audio and all was really bad.
• 30:04
  They had listeners complaining about the quality
• 30:07
  of the audio on the show, like on their YouTube
• 30:10
  channel comments would be like, this sounds terrible.
• 30:11
  This is not good. Just improving their overall
• 30:13
  process, making the show better, more concise,
• 30:16
  working on things where their marketing person.
• 30:19
  So their head of marketing was managing this
• 30:21
  show. They're not a podcaster. That is not their
• 30:23
  main goal. I was able to get her. She told me
• 30:26
  literally 20 hours a week back into her life.
• 30:31
  because we took that show back on. So for us
• 30:35
  to manage that whole show, and that was a ton
• 30:37
  of work. You're talking audio, video, the enhanced
• 30:40
  edits to trim the fat, thumbnail. transcripts,
• 30:43
  fully edited everything, posting clips. So we
• 30:47
  took all of that off, relieved the marketing
• 30:49
  side of it. And it's at a stage now where that
• 30:52
  company was actually purchased. They were bought
• 30:55
  in the last couple, in the last six months, I
• 30:57
  want to say. And the marketing contact that we
• 31:00
  had is temporarily retired. She's chilling. She's
• 31:04
  living her life. They made so much on the sale
• 31:06
  that she's good is my understanding of it. So
• 31:09
  yeah, I helped her put time back in the business.
• 31:12
  she's living the life so that's the kind of wins
• 31:13
  that you can get that's great vince that's great
• 31:16
  such an uplifting story about everybody and everybody
• 31:20
  concerned did so well so that thank you for that
• 31:23
  story it was it was very uplifting vince if somebody
• 31:28
  wanted to get hold of you either to be coached
• 31:31
  to have their podcast taken over by you or even
• 31:35
  help with it how can they get hold of you Yeah,
• 31:38
  so go to sbxproductions .com. So think sandbox,
• 31:42
  but we sucked all the letters out of it. sbxproductions
• 31:46
  .com. That's where you can set up a call with
• 31:48
  me. And yeah, happy to figure out just what your
• 31:51
  needs are up front, totally free of charge, whether
• 31:53
  you're launching a show or have an existing show,
• 31:56
  and we'll take it from there. Absolutely fantastic.
• 31:59
  Vince, thank you very much for coming on the
• 32:01
  show. You were a great guest. Michael, thank
• 32:04
  you for having me. This was so much fun. You're
• 32:07
  welcome. Well, hold on, folks. Don't go anywhere.
• 32:11
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  -E -V -V -E -D -U -P -K -I -D -S dot org. Well,
• 33:27
  that's a wrap, folks. A huge thank you to our
• 33:30
  special guests for sharing such incredible insights
• 33:33
  today. And of course, a big shout out to you,
• 33:36
  our amazing listeners, for tuning in and spending
• 33:40
  your time with us. Remember, networking isn't
• 33:44
  about being perfect. It's about being present.
• 33:47
  So take what you've learned today, get out there
• 33:49
  and make some meaningful connections. If you
• 33:53
  enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe,
• 33:55
  leave us a review, and share it with someone
• 33:58
  who could use a little networking inspiration.
• 34:01
  Let's keep the conversation going. You can find
• 34:05
  me on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or my website,
• 34:09
  michaelaforman. Remember, until next time, keep
• 34:13
  practicing, keep connecting, and keep building
• 34:16
  those relationships. This is Michael A. Foreman
• 34:19
  signing off. Take care and happy networking.