Latest / Scene Projects Sports Network / Tim Neiman on Podcasting, Coaching, and Life Lessons from Sports
Transcript
- 0:14Welcome into the Scene Project Sports Network.
- 0:16I am your host Bubba Starts, and with me today is former baseball coach now turned author and
- 0:22podcast host, Tim Nyman.
- 0:24Tim, welcome to the show.
- 0:26Thank you so much for having me, Bob.
- 0:28I'm excited to to be with you.
- 0:29I much appreciate it.
- 0:31Yeah.
- 0:31I can't I can't wait.
- 0:32Obviously, there's gonna be some baseball talk, but there's gonna be a lot more talk about your
- 0:38new podcast, Straight Lines, and everything that you're doing to refire, after your
- 0:44baseball coaching career came to a close recently.
- 0:47So before we get into all that, we'd love to give you a little bit of time here.
- 0:51Give us a little bit of your backstory, and then we'll pick it up from there.
- 0:54Well, thanks.
- 0:55Sounds good.
- 0:56So, I just retired August 4 from, DeSales University where I was a head baseball coach
- 1:03for thirty six years.
- 1:05I started real young.
- 1:06No.
- 1:06Just kidding.
- 1:07But thirty six years, and, it was a it was a great run.
- 1:12It was a great place for, you know, my kids to grow up.
- 1:16It was a great place to, you know, have young people come and learn education and using
- 1:23baseball as a vehicle to their success down the road.
- 1:27So thirty six years, I just thought it was time.
- 1:31Coached in 1,401 games at to sales.
- 1:36I won 868, and you can do the math from fourteen o one.
- 1:40Those are games I wasn't very good in.
- 1:42So the kids play.
- 1:44They win.
- 1:44I, you know, I just try not to get in the way.
- 1:48But it was a lot of fun.
- 1:49It was great.
- 1:50But I just felt it was time and walked away.
- 1:53I had been approached about hosting a podcast, which, you know, I I had a little background.
- 2:00I'm I'm the color analyst for the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs AAA club.
- 2:04So I I feel like do Sundays and fill in some other days when the two main guys aren't there.
- 2:10So that's a lot of fun.
- 2:11So have a little podcast, a little, I mean, a little experience in front of the camera.
- 2:17But the podcast, I've watched them, listened.
- 2:19I didn't know.
- 2:20Said, sure.
- 2:21Why not?
- 2:22And what do you wanna talk about?
- 2:23I said, well, not really a whole lot of baseball.
- 2:26I mean, I could I could do that all day long.
- 2:29I'm really interested in life lessons and leadership and business and people that might
- 2:34have a story.
- 2:35And I I enjoy that very much.
- 2:38And we got that rolling.
- 2:39I know we're gonna talk more about that.
- 2:40So that's what I've been busy.
- 2:42I I published two books before retirement, and a third one is coming out this October.
- 2:49That is going well.
- 2:51And, you know, I'm just I'm happy.
- 2:53This is the old thought process, and I'm not smart enough to come up with this blah blah
- 2:58blah, you know, something to do, something to look forward to, somebody to love, something to
- 3:03believe in.
- 3:04And if one of those things evaporate or go away, you gotta fill them in pretty quick.
- 3:10So I think I did that.
- 3:12I'm enjoying my time, you know, here in post retirement, but I'm very thankful to DeSales
- 3:17University for those thirty six years.
- 3:20I did spend three years as a pitching coach at Kutztown University before that and coached
- 3:26American Legion baseball.
- 3:28And also, there was an associate's scale for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Milwaukee Brewers
- 3:34for a little bit of time.
- 3:35So all those things have molded me into, you know, I who I am today, I guess.
- 3:41And each and every one of those stops have had plenty of, learning opportunities and
- 3:48experiences and stories.
- 3:50So kinda thankful I'm here today, and it is what I'm doing.
- 3:56Do you
- 3:56feel like your, you know, vast experience being in front of a a group of young men and coaching
- 4:04that that's prepared you for, you know, this second phase now?
- 4:07I know you just did a a speaking engagement as well and being in front of a camera.
- 4:12Although we're often now, you know, in our you know, in the booth, whether you're calling the
- 4:18game or you're, you know, in your studio there doing your podcast, that you're speaking one to
- 4:24many.
- 4:25And do you feel like that coaching career kind of gave you a lot of the skills that you're
- 4:29using now and made it a pretty easy transition?
- 4:32Yeah.
- 4:33Bubba, I think that's a really good question because I think it has.
- 4:37Not only are you talking to your team, there might be 35 players or 32, whatever, you decide
- 4:43to carry that year.
- 4:44It's not just them.
- 4:45It's also their parents.
- 4:47It's also the alumni.
- 4:48It's also the administration.
- 4:50And there's a lot of people that, you know, kinda rely on the information.
- 4:54I put out a weekly newsletter while I was at the sales called this week in bulldog baseball
- 5:00after this week in baseball, and I love the song.
- 5:03Right?
- 5:03I forget what it's called.
- 5:05Drawing a blank.
- 5:07I'll come back to gathering storm.
- 5:09That's what it is.
- 5:10The intro to this week in baseball.
- 5:13I'm like, alright.
- 5:13I'll send this out.
- 5:14They I love I love this.
- 5:16So even though you're not speaking directly, you kinda sorta are because they loved it.
- 5:21And I think I think all that definitely has helped me.
- 5:25I think a lot of people can be shy.
- 5:28You know, between the lines, it's, you know, it's 90% of it way back in the day now, so
- 5:34we're kinda fifty fifty.
- 5:35I think you need to be a really good communicator.
- 5:39I think people respect the gen the gen genuineness of it, the intentional part of it,
- 5:49the the authenticity of it all.
- 5:52I think people really respect that, and they learn to trust you and, you know, hence, you
- 5:59start to create a following.
- 6:00And I always said, you know, you've got all these wins.
- 6:02I'm like, well, after 36, you tend to accumulate something.
- 6:06Right?
- 6:07So you accumulate wins on the field, but I think the greater wins are off the field with
- 6:13the kids that have graduated and the impact that you've made.
- 6:16And now I look at it, you know, Bubba as an opportunity to to make an impact on other
- 6:21people telling some of those stories, some of those experiences that there's so many
- 6:27parallels.
- 6:28Right?
- 6:28And you know this from sports into business and the life.
- 6:32And baseball seems to have even more of them.
- 6:35It really is America's past time and certainly biased.
- 6:38But I think it translates so easily from the failures that you experience, you know, as a
- 6:45player and a coach and everything else and how you deal with that and move on from that
- 6:49adversity to make an impact on others.
- 6:51So I'm kinda even personally, I mean, I'm trying to convey those ideas and also in the
- 6:57guests that I've had, have them tell their story too.
- 7:01And a lot of common denominators in in those guests is always kind of a great time.
- 7:06So, a lot of fun.
- 7:09Yeah.
- 7:10And I don't know that there's a a greater sport other than baseball, to really learn those
- 7:17lessons through and to have so many parallels like you said.
- 7:22You know, football can teach you a lot, but because of a shortened season, you don't have
- 7:27the ups and downs necessarily that you do in a full baseball season.
- 7:31And, you know, especially in the major leagues, a 162 games, a lot happens in those six months.
- 7:37Right?
- 7:38So even in the college ranks that you're gonna have ups and downs, and you're gonna have days
- 7:43where you're not your best and and you don't put it up there.
- 7:46And then you're gonna have those days where you are at your best, and you're on top of the
- 7:50world.
- 7:50But it's finding a way to contribute, through all of that.
- 7:54And I think there's a lot of, a lot of times in life that we aren't our best and for whatever
- 8:00reason that may be, but you still have to show up and to perform.
- 8:06And and whether that shows up on the stat sheets or in the win column, is kind of
- 8:11regardless that that you need to continue to show up, you know, mostly for yourself rather
- 8:17than anyone else around you.
- 8:19Oh, that's true.
- 8:20I you've gotta be consistent and you've you've gotta show up.
- 8:24You've gotta you know, one of my guests was Kevin Daley, former Harlem Globetrotters, a
- 8:30captain for ten years with the Globetrotters.
- 8:33Then tremendous guy as a speaker.
- 8:35He's awesome.
- 8:36But I said, Kevin, how do you handle it, you know, throughout the course of the year?
- 8:40Now they're always gonna win.
- 8:41They're always gonna beat the Washington generals.
- 8:43You know?
- 8:44But I said, how do you handle it?
- 8:45Because it is a performance.
- 8:46It's a show.
- 8:47And he said, look.
- 8:48You know, I need to show up every day.
- 8:51He said, because of maybe the first time somebody came to this to this Globetrotters and
- 8:56watched, might have been a birthday present or somebody's seven apart, might have been their
- 9:00first time.
- 9:01And regardless of what I felt, you know, that morning or I woke up and I man, I'm just tired.
- 9:06We traveled twelve hours.
- 9:08I mean, all that plays into it, but could be somebody's very first time.
- 9:12Could be a ten year old in there that never saw the Globetrotters, and you're making that first
- 9:17impression.
- 9:17And he said, also, it could be somebody's last time.
- 9:20And I thought that was impactful as well or, you know, maybe, you know, senior citizen went
- 9:25and, you know, gonna get some smiles that day.
- 9:28And and he Kevin's like, it could be his last time or she.
- 9:33And, you know, I just I felt like, to your point, probably, is to show up and and be
- 9:40responsible and be accountable for whatever you do in life.
- 9:44You have to be.
- 9:45And if you don't, you know, deliver that impression and I had a mentor one time call me
- 9:50managing perception.
- 9:52Yeah.
- 9:53I think that's pretty true.
- 9:55You know?
- 9:55Whether whatever is going on inside or mentally, whatever, this outward perception has
- 10:00to convey itself, you know, to whoever it is you're with and, you know, whoever it is you're
- 10:05trying to impact, it has to come out.
- 10:07Because I think people see that authenticity.
- 10:10They they kinda know, the BS meter goes off sometimes, and I think people know that.
- 10:16And but I think people love peep love others that are genuine, and they can they they trust
- 10:23them.
- 10:24They're believable.
- 10:25And I think that's really important.
- 10:28Yeah.
- 10:28And and especially working, you know, as you did for, you know, three decades plus in the
- 10:34college ranks that you're not just building trust with your players.
- 10:38You're building trust with their parents.
- 10:40Right?
- 10:41And and bringing in new players, prospective players, and and, you know, and and more times,
- 10:47you're probably trying to sell the parents that you're trustworthy and you're going to do the
- 10:52best for their for their boy more so than selling the player.
- 10:57Right?
- 10:57It's easy to take a 17, 18 year old kid to show him a good time for twenty four hours on a
- 11:03campus visit, tell him they're gonna win a bunch of ball games and and have them there.
- 11:07But you have to build that trust with these parents, and I think that makes you uniquely
- 11:12poised now to be very successful in the podcasting world because that's really what it
- 11:17is.
- 11:17And being able to convey that trust with your audience and to grow that over time, It doesn't
- 11:24happen overnight.
- 11:25Now, thankfully, for you, you've, you know, had the wherewithal to be building the newsletter
- 11:29and to be communicating with people for a long time.
- 11:32So a lot of the skills you're using are not new to you at all.
- 11:36It's just a matter of kind of a repackaging of that into the straight lines podcast now.
- 11:42What's been the most, I guess, surprising part for you moving into now the podcasting space
- 11:49and, you know, more so than talking in front of a group or or, you know, a a newsletter, But
- 11:55now being a host and having guests on and becoming an interviewer, what's been some of
- 12:00the surprises, good or bad, or good and bad rather, that that you could share with us?
- 12:05Well, that that's also a good question.
- 12:08I mean, that was a neophyte, you know, when the podcast were, you know, in the apps and the
- 12:15electronic stuff and I mean, I need so one of the pieces of advice I've always given
- 12:19everybody is surround yourself with good people.
- 12:21And I did it in baseball, and I'm doing it doing this stuff so that somebody come in and
- 12:26get me the RODECaster setup and the streamer and just make me look good and tell me what
- 12:32buttons to to press when it's time to go.
- 12:35And so, thankfully, yeah, I've I've been able to continue that, you know, thought process.
- 12:40You're not gonna surround yourself with good people.
- 12:44It's you know, I I people think you turn the camera on and go.
- 12:48Right?
- 12:48You just don't go.
- 12:50As you know, it's you know, you gotta be a little bit prepared, a lot of prepared.
- 12:56You know, I do as you do probably.
- 12:58Know, you've got some questions always asked, kind of a safety net outline I'll send.
- 13:04And, you know, the conversation goes wherever it goes, and I always allow that to happen.
- 13:08At there's sometimes I might have 15 questions and, you know, I might might use two of them.
- 13:13And that's okay.
- 13:14That's really probably better.
- 13:16But you need a you need a safety net just in case somebody stoned you, which doesn't really
- 13:21happen too much.
- 13:22But putting the outline together, doing some bio work, you know, there's there's behind the
- 13:28scenes stuff that you've gotta do.
- 13:30And then when the product's done, you know, it's get it edited and all other stuff.
- 13:34A surprise good for me so far is how well it's taken off.
- 13:38I mean, I'm well beyond my dreams.
- 13:42And I don't know how these numbers are.
- 13:45Again, I let somebody else look at those.
- 13:47But I know from when we launched in mid October to mid February, we reached a quarter million
- 13:52people on all social medias.
- 13:55You kinda combined, you know, YouTube, newsletter, anything.
- 13:59So any social media.
- 14:00So we're getting about 30,000 views on Instagram a month, which is pretty good.
- 14:05So I you know, here's a guy who doesn't know I don't know what I'm doing.
- 14:09Just having fun, and maybe that's why it's done so well.
- 14:12But, I use a service pod status, and it's been in the top 5% of Apple management in six
- 14:20different countries, which is kinda crazy.
- 14:23But in The US, Canada, Germany, interviewed a guy from Bonn, Germany, interviewed a guy from
- 14:29Hamburg, Germany.
- 14:30Then we had Bulgaria getting in.
- 14:32They're all 10 people over there that like me, I guess.
- 14:35I don't even know 10 people in Europe, let alone Bulgaria.
- 14:38And then The Netherlands and Sweden, you know, out of it was crazy.
- 14:43It's just out of the blue, and I think depends on the on the guest and that sort of thing.
- 14:48But what's also interesting is how the world is so connected.
- 14:53It's it's really this big, planet, but we are we are bonded by technology and the Internet
- 15:01and, you know, everything else that's out there.
- 15:04And it becomes a very small world, you know, in a lot of ways.
- 15:07So to be able to reach I'm I'm getting ready to to do a podcast with the French Federation
- 15:15baseball chairman.
- 15:17So he's in France.
- 15:18You know?
- 15:18So I'm gonna do that.
- 15:19Hopefully, goes enough English.
- 15:20I gotta lean in.
- 15:21Then I learned a WhatsApp.
- 15:22I use WhatsApp now because that's what they use in Europe.
- 15:26Okay.
- 15:26I don't know.
- 15:27So whatever.
- 15:28That's been really good.
- 15:29I think some of the on the on the flip side, the technology doesn't work or the mic's not
- 15:35where you want it, not in you really need to have be out in front of that.
- 15:38I've learned that because you just can't flip the mic on and the system on at 09:30, you
- 15:43know, or whenever we're gonna do this.
- 15:44And all of a sudden, there's a malfunction.
- 15:47That that's a problem.
- 15:49I've been fortunate enough to have guests that can really communicate and would go back and
- 15:53forth.
- 15:53I had one former major leaguer home, and he was good.
- 15:57Bobbed in youth baseball.
- 15:58There's a lot of stuff.
- 15:59But I first started out with a bum, I'm like, I'm gonna have to kinda, you know, throw some
- 16:05lifelines in there and kinda get him out of it.
- 16:08I was kind of reserved a little bit, but but good in a good way, just his personality.
- 16:13So now I gotta figure out as this went on, and it didn't take long, maybe five, ten minutes.
- 16:18I got the personality out, find find what it is he, loved, you know, and was really passionate
- 16:24about.
- 16:24And then the rest was piece of cake.
- 16:27So I think I think that can be a challenge if you don't really know the guy real well or or,
- 16:32and then find those things that they like and pull it out.
- 16:36But it's been great.
- 16:38And, as you know, guests start finding you.
- 16:41And I try to put the brakes on it a little bit sometimes because I don't get too far ahead,
- 16:46but, you know, I could easily be as you are, you know, the rest of the year easily.
- 16:51And we do them once a week.
- 16:52But I am gonna do starting in July.
- 16:55July 7 will be the first edition of a a regional edition, if you will.
- 17:02So it's gonna be straight lines Eastern Pennsylvania, and I'm gonna roll it out July 7.
- 17:08The thought is there's so many people that would love to be on a podcast, but they're
- 17:13never gonna get asked.
- 17:14I mean, the the one you do, what I do, they're very national and even global to a little bit
- 17:19of a a sense.
- 17:20But, regionally, there's a lot of population where I'm at, and I'm gonna roll it out because
- 17:27you know, how about the doctor, the restaurant owner, you know, the nurse, you know, whatever
- 17:32profession or anybody with a story that people might be interested in.
- 17:37And I think it'll do pretty well.
- 17:38So not that I needed anything else to do, but, we're gonna roll one of those out once a week
- 17:44also, starting in July.
- 17:46And we'll see what happens with that.
- 17:48I think it could go very well, and I know tons of people here in the Eastern Pennsylvania
- 17:53corridor especially.
- 17:54So we'll see.
- 17:56But you gotta have a you can't be afraid to take a shot, take a chance as you know too, but
- 18:01I mean, you can't you can't sit back and wonder, jeez, I wish I would've.
- 18:05Just do it.
- 18:06And things don't go well.
- 18:08You pivot and move on to something else.
- 18:10That's all.
- 18:12Yeah.
- 18:12Or you pick up, you know, a fourteenth podcast or, you know, I I I just I enjoy the
- 18:18conversations so much, and and that's why I've created as many as we have, you know, because
- 18:25the media world wants you to be, you know, so niche and that's the way that they want content
- 18:30to come out, but I'm not niche.
- 18:32I have varied interests, and I have things in conversations that I want to have that are
- 18:37outside of music.
- 18:38And that's, you know, how the sports network developed.
- 18:40It's how RealBiz, you know, to reach out into the business world and have those conversations
- 18:44developed.
- 18:45And, yeah, like you said, it's easy to get it out there quite a ways, but I just I don't want
- 18:52to stop and limit that.
- 18:53And maybe I will go to a daily eventually.
- 18:55You know, as it sits right now between all the different shows that I'm doing, I do between
- 19:01eight and fourteen shows a week.
- 19:04Right?
- 19:04And now we're starting to branch out into, you know, possibly some coverage with some local
- 19:09baseball teams and and, you know, semi professional or professional or amateur.
- 19:13Like, it just doesn't matter to me.
- 19:15There's stuff out there that needs to be talked about.
- 19:17And whether it's always me or it goes into being someone else's bag down the way, somebody
- 19:22has to start it.
- 19:23And I feel like that's where a lot of people get hung up is in that early going.
- 19:28They know how to have a conversation.
- 19:29They could be taught how to do some certain things, but when it comes down to the branding
- 19:34and the the setup of a Facebook and a YouTube channel and all of these things that people
- 19:38just get completely stalled out on and it and it completely halts that progress.
- 19:43And, you know, for me, because of the experience of creating, I don't know, 25 of
- 19:47them or whatever at this point, that, it's relatively easy for me.
- 19:51Right?
- 19:52I can spend a few hours and get done what it would take someone else, hours just to learn
- 19:56and ride that, you know, curve out into.
- 19:58And whether that becomes something that we do as a service and creating things for other
- 20:04people, we'll see.
- 20:06But I'm just enjoying the moment and having these conversations.
- 20:10And I look at, you know, most of the friends that I have now came from doing the podcast.
- 20:16You know?
- 20:17I was able to kind of cycle in an entire new group a new roster.
- 20:21Right?
- 20:21Cycling over from year to year and, you know, all of these awesome amazing connections that
- 20:27that I've been able to build.
- 20:28And for you, I know that's gonna be something that you really cherish, in this phase of your
- 20:34life is the doors that it's going to open for you and the, you know, the new relationships
- 20:40that you're going to to get to, you know, build with, you know, people that are you know,
- 20:46whether they're in the baseball or sports world or whether it's in your local business economy
- 20:51and putting these people out on their nonprofits, obviously, I have a a penchant for
- 20:56serving those who, like you said, will will never be asked by someone else necessarily to
- 21:02come out and do that.
- 21:03And and there's so many people that deserve that spotlight that, I commend you for for
- 21:09starting this.
- 21:09And I know that Eastern Pennsylvania is just the beginning, of your regional series, and I
- 21:14look forward to following straight lines and and everything that you're doing for many years
- 21:19to come.
- 21:20You make you make some great points too.
- 21:22Like, I'm a baseball person, and most of these things have evolved out of that, you know,
- 21:28relationships.
- 21:28But the most favorite conversations I have are not baseball related.
- 21:33You know, I you know, the Kevin Daley, the Carlin Globetrotters, Kristen Sheehan played
- 21:38like a champion in South Bend, you know, that was fun.
- 21:42Had Tony Iinella, who's the the CEO of the Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce.
- 21:47It's the sixth largest in the country.
- 21:49And I thought, wow.
- 21:50This is cool.
- 21:51I just recorded a guy that's Mike Lynch.
- 21:55He's the pastor of North Star Church in Kennesaw, Georgia.
- 22:023,000 congregate.
- 22:03I mean, life changing.
- 22:06Life changing.
- 22:07And a little baseball here.
- 22:08Not much.
- 22:08That conversation, not much at all.
- 22:10And I like to learn from the people that have other things going on.
- 22:16You know, Tom Gillespie in Hamburg Hamburg, Germany.
- 22:19Yeah.
- 22:19He's a he's the international scout director for the pirates.
- 22:22But what he does, he has played global, and they build, you know, fields and little leagues
- 22:29and all kinds of stuff in Africa, all over Africa, and other places in the world.
- 22:34Like, they were in Ukraine before all that mess started, and they were in Israel before that
- 22:39mess started.
- 22:40But they go to these kinds of places that aren't exposed to it and built.
- 22:44Those are conversations I love.
- 22:46I love to hear what people are doing that human story, you know, a human network.
- 22:52And, you know, it has opened up extremely a ton of doors.
- 22:56And, you know, I think you'll find too, and, know, people are really open to sharing a
- 23:01story.
- 23:01It's just a matter of something I had worked with a a storyteller in Boston, and he goes
- 23:06well, early on.
- 23:07It's probably two years ago.
- 23:08He goes, you know, coach, you have a warehouse full of stories.
- 23:12I just gotta find a way to get them out of you.
- 23:14And I think as as host, like you and I do, that's kind of the concept.
- 23:18How do I get that story out of them?
- 23:21First of all, do I know the story?
- 23:22What is it?
- 23:23And is it compelling?
- 23:24And then how can I get that story translated and out to the public?
- 23:29And I think that's a good way to go about, you know, these these interviews, like, if you
- 23:35wanna call them or to me, they're just conversations.
- 23:37And I think people can learn from them.
- 23:41I used to say, if you go to coaching clinic, I went to a baseball coaching clinics all of my
- 23:45life.
- 23:45If I got one thing that day, it was six it was okay.
- 23:49It was worth my time.
- 23:50And I think I look at that same way as a podcast.
- 23:52You get one thing out of this.
- 23:54You got one thing out of my keynote, last Wednesday.
- 23:58It was worth my time.
- 24:00And then and hopefully, I made a little bit of an impact.
- 24:05Yeah.
- 24:05And I think what is so great about the podcasting format is that it's not just an
- 24:10interview.
- 24:11Right?
- 24:11I think it's easy to get caught up in, that, especially for people that aren't familiar with
- 24:17the the kind of structure of how these go is that there's a give and take.
- 24:21You're not just pulling that story out and opening their door, their to their warehouse
- 24:26and digging through all the dark corners.
- 24:29Right?
- 24:29You're sharing bits of yourself, and the more, you know, you can share of yourself, the better
- 24:34the conversation is because it might trigger a a memory or something that they weren't ever
- 24:39thinking about.
- 24:40And so many of the things like, you know, you were alluding to that you wouldn't know.
- 24:44People that come at it from a very surface level and if they were going on to the TV news
- 24:49or something of that nature, you have a three to five minute bit if you're lucky, and they're
- 24:55going to touch on that big moment and that's it, and you're not gonna really get to dig
- 24:58underneath surface.
- 24:59And that's why I've fallen in love with long form conversations, you know, and it doesn't
- 25:04really matter where you start.
- 25:05My podcast was completely about music.
- 25:08And all of a sudden, you know, over the course of the last twelve months, I found myself, you
- 25:14know, conversations with world champion bareback riders.
- 25:18I was in a presser with Ronda Barber, Chris Carter, and Sirneck Faldo.
- 25:23You know?
- 25:23Like, I and I didn't even really have the sports network at that time.
- 25:28Right?
- 25:28No one was inviting me from that.
- 25:30It was just a matter of like, hey.
- 25:31We need more media people here talking about this thing.
- 25:34We know you have your podcast.
- 25:36Can you come and join us?
- 25:37And now that I've been able to kind of file those away and put those on the resume that I'm
- 25:45able to go and open up even more doors.
- 25:47And now, you know, this week's episode that'll air on the on the network is with the, you
- 25:52know, season ticket premium seating manager of the Minnesota Vikings.
- 25:56Right?
- 25:57Now it's just door after door that keeps opening, and someone who didn't have a a long
- 26:02history in sports or in broadcasting is now opening doors in both of those areas.
- 26:08And who knows what comes of this over the next three decades of my life before I I retire from
- 26:14this.
- 26:14And who not?
- 26:15I don't know.
- 26:16I I don't think retirement's in the cards for, my generation.
- 26:20We'll just kind of, like you, work until, we can't any longer, and the nature of the work
- 26:25changes.
- 26:26I I think that's all.
- 26:28Oh, I think you're right.
- 26:29And, you know, again, there's something to do, something to look forward to.
- 26:33And, you know, I didn't you know, I remember my wife saying, hey.
- 26:36When you retire, you're not gonna sit around.
- 26:38I'm like, oh, that's ingrained.
- 26:40You know?
- 26:40So I certainly am not doing that.
- 26:43And I figured I'd be to broadcasting and some of the other things, I've been doing the books.
- 26:48But, you know, it turns out it's not enough, and this thing has blossomed into, you know,
- 26:52unimaginable heights, and that's, like, exciting.
- 26:56And, you know, we as opposed to that two or three or five minute clip, if you're lucky, on
- 27:01the local news, you're reaching a very defined, confined area of people.
- 27:07Right?
- 27:07But the podcast is everywhere.
- 27:10And I think one of the terms I've learned, probably you'll like this early on as well,
- 27:15your coach, your stuff is evergreen.
- 27:17Like, what?
- 27:18What we're growing a tree?
- 27:19What are we doing with this?
- 27:20But it's, you know, it's there.
- 27:22It's for people, you know, forever to be able to find it, listen to it, and and it's always
- 27:29gonna be meaningful and impactful.
- 27:31And I've learned the importance of all that where, you know, as you grow too, Bubba.
- 27:37So this thing's growing and growing and growing more followers, more connections, blah blah
- 27:42blah.
- 27:43But the people that have come on board now probably didn't see the stuff that came out
- 27:48earlier.
- 27:48Right?
- 27:49So, you know, you put a little clip out of I try to do one or two of those a week of a
- 27:54previous guest.
- 27:56And, oh, that's interesting.
- 27:57Well, here's the link if you wanna listen to the rest of it, which you probably should do
- 28:01because I think you'll enjoy it.
- 28:03And I think it's just a constant growth engine.
- 28:06Right?
- 28:07It just keep continues to grow and, you know, you attract partners, sponsors, whatever, and
- 28:14people don't wanna come on and and talk about this.
- 28:18And it's also interesting.
- 28:20I always at the end, I always ask everybody, you know, what are straight lines?
- 28:23And we're gonna do this with you, by the way.
- 28:25What are what are the what are the straight lines for bubble starts?
- 28:28What does it mean to you?
- 28:30And I've dropped 31 so far, probably have 35 in the bank or six.
- 28:36But every answer is unique, and it's amazing.
- 28:39It's so good.
- 28:40And, of course, that'll be another book someday because it's already written.
- 28:43It's writing itself.
- 28:44But people come out and they give you these ideas and thoughts, and it's deep and it's
- 28:50passionate and thoughtful.
- 28:51I mean, it's just so cool to be able to converse.
- 28:54And, you know, here we are sitting, talking to each other and, you know, who'd have thunk it?
- 28:59And and there's so many, like you mentioned, so many other opportunities.
- 29:03And all you gotta do is ask, and I think most people don't they they all say yes.
- 29:08Harley, don't get many nos from time to time.
- 29:11And if they do say no, maybe you don't want them anyway.
- 29:14Right?
- 29:14Maybe you don't want it's okay.
- 29:16I'll move on.
- 29:17Have have a good time.
- 29:18We'll get somebody else.
- 29:19So that's that's been it's been amazing.
- 29:23I'm very, very much enjoying it.
- 29:24As are you, and you're doing unbelievably great things.
- 29:29Let me ask you a question.
- 29:30Do you get burned out with it all?
- 29:31You've eight to 14 shows and I mean, that's tough management.
- 29:35Right?
- 29:36I mean, that's you gotta really handle that.
- 29:38Yeah.
- 29:38Well, one, I don't do a lot of editing.
- 29:41Everything is kind of produced live as this because that's the stuff that I did get burnt
- 29:45out on.
- 29:46You know, a year ago before I had some of the things that I have, namely podcast.ai, which
- 29:51has just completely changed how we do.
- 29:53It's not only our hosting service, but it chops up all of my clips.
- 29:56So even after this episode is done, I'll throw it in there.
- 30:00It handles all of that.
- 30:02That was a game changer for me because that's where I was getting bogged down, not being a
- 30:05videographer, you know, coming from a video or broadcasting background.
- 30:09I could do a 100 conversations.
- 30:10But if it took me a year and a half to get all of those edited, for one, well, now I'm able to
- 30:16just kind of finish that, run it, and done.
- 30:18It it made me able to do those things.
- 30:21I get energy from doing the podcast.
- 30:24Right?
- 30:24So I it's different in that, and and I'm I'll do four today.
- 30:29Right?
- 30:30And Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I I had had some where I was doing podcast interviews every
- 30:35single day and really grinding on that, and I was exhausted.
- 30:38And then I was experiencing burnout.
- 30:40But I found that as I kind of started to batch them, I started to design it, right, but I
- 30:45didn't know until I got in it and was like, okay.
- 30:48Trying to change hats between the marketing side or the editing side and the, you know,
- 30:53searching for new guests or different direction that we want to go, you know, new new potential
- 30:58clients because some of these things have to make a little money sometimes too Yeah.
- 31:02That it was hard to change hats so many times during the day.
- 31:06So I just came down to my schedule.
- 31:07Right?
- 31:07I have the ability to make different calendars for different things, and, I I started to
- 31:12segment my life a little bit better.
- 31:13So I only record, you know, podcast episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but I'll do four in a
- 31:19day.
- 31:19So I essentially get a month's worth of content in a single day, and then it's done.
- 31:24And, you know, for me, I stack so many up because last summer, I spent a lot of my time
- 31:29sitting here when the wife and kids were at home.
- 31:31My wife works at the school that my kids go to.
- 31:35So while everyone was home and we could spend more time together, I was still trapped in the
- 31:40studio until two, 03:00 in the afternoon, and it was really limiting to me.
- 31:44I I wasn't in control.
- 31:45You know?
- 31:45I didn't leave my leave my job at the factory to be a slave to something else, and I realized
- 31:52that, you know, I was creating that.
- 31:54So now I'm able to segment my time a little bit better and, you know, I can go ahead and block
- 31:58off my entire summer and no nothing is going to falter.
- 32:02Everything is already set up and all the content is scheduled out.
- 32:05And like you said, it's evergreen.
- 32:07There's not necessarily something that needs to go out.
- 32:10Now our weekly shows that we do for the sports and and those things are are a little bit
- 32:15different, but those are fun.
- 32:18Those are me and my guys hanging out, talking ball, and I live in a rural area of far away
- 32:23from all of these people that have become my good friends.
- 32:26So those are more of just a hang.
- 32:28And and, honestly, it's built in a way that we have several producers and we have, several
- 32:35hosts that for any one person, somebody can dip out, and it's happened for me.
- 32:39I'm on tour with our music side or I'm you know, kids got a ball game.
- 32:43My wife graduated college last week, so I wasn't able to do my Saturday morning golf show
- 32:48with the guys.
- 32:49But we have a big enough team, and you talked about surrounding yourself with the right
- 32:54people that I've been very fortunate in this, you know, last twelve months from doing it
- 32:59essentially all by myself last year to now having a team that's almost a dozen strong, and
- 33:04everybody has each other's back, whether they're coming from the music side of it or the
- 33:09sports or, you know, our our Patriot broadcasting where we're supporting veteran
- 33:13causes and, you know, veteran voices that we've had all of these people working together in all
- 33:18of this, and, that's where you're going to see it.
- 33:22And and you talked about, you know, are are we growing a a tree?
- 33:24Well, I'm growing a whole forest, Tim.
- 33:27And the point was to plant as many seeds as possible in a short amount of time, over a
- 33:32thousand episodes I've done, in the past two years.
- 33:36And, all of those conversations and all of these wonderful people that then become the
- 33:41partners and the sponsors and and the incredible friends that one day I hope to get
- 33:46to visit in person.
- 33:48And just because we formed this relationship online, you know, spending a little bit of time
- 33:53with each other on a platform like StreamYard, it it builds those bonds.
- 33:58And I think that to me, especially living in a a rural area, right, town of a thousand people
- 34:04in the middle of South Dakota where there's just not a lot I mean, there's eight not even
- 34:08800,000 people in the entire state spread out over a million square miles.
- 34:12Right?
- 34:13So for me, it's been an incredibly rewarding experience, but it's something that I couldn't
- 34:20have even done ten years ago.
- 34:22Right?
- 34:22So I'm very grateful for the opportunities that have befallen me just in the last year of, you
- 34:30know, interviews that I've got to had, conversations that I've got to have,
- 34:33organizations like Operation Combating Veteran Suicide that I get to be a big part of now.
- 34:38And I use that now to support other organizations like the Veteran Golf Association
- 34:43or Wings of Valor and all these people that are doing really great things in the world.
- 34:48And now I have this whole list of skills that even twelve months ago, I had no idea, how to
- 34:55do.
- 34:55Right?
- 34:55And and now we have that, all of the production stuff, and and we're just getting started.
- 35:00Right?
- 35:01You know?
- 35:01I that's that's kind of the crazy part is, like, we've done so much, but we're just
- 35:06really, you know, still kinda dipping our toes in the water as far as what we can do for
- 35:12organizations and to really do the most good in the world is the underlying course of that.
- 35:17I'm not in this to get rich.
- 35:19I could care less about being famous.
- 35:21I mentioned my town.
- 35:22Live in a town that size, you're gonna be about as famous as you'd ever want to be locally.
- 35:27So Sure.
- 35:28There there's not those motivations to me whatsoever.
- 35:31I don't live a life of anonymity as it is.
- 35:35So it's just different motivations.
- 35:37And I think a lot of people that get into podcasting, you know, want to be heard and
- 35:42seen.
- 35:43And for me, I'm trying to have others be heard and seen because of the platform that I've
- 35:49built.
- 35:49You know?
- 35:50Unlike you, I've spent most of my life in the public eye as a musician and building this, you
- 35:56know, public profile that my podcast was a give now.
- 36:00Hey.
- 36:00I have all of these people watching me all the time.
- 36:02Let me bring you into that world and introduce you to them.
- 36:05And some of them are gonna like you, and some of them probably aren't gonna care, and that's
- 36:09okay.
- 36:10That is okay.
- 36:11That is okay.
- 36:12I mean, you're impressive.
- 36:13I for the first time I met and talked to talked with you like this.
- 36:17I'm very impressed with you.
- 36:19You speak well.
- 36:19You do a great job.
- 36:20You know what's kinda cool about the podcasting too?
- 36:22You like the story.
- 36:23It can be flexible.
- 36:25So I had scheduled a former retired secret service agent, right, on the Monday after the
- 36:32incident in Washington, alright, at the hotel.
- 36:37And so I get him on Monday, you know, it's probably gonna air maybe a month or so later.
- 36:42And I know him fairly well.
- 36:44And I said, hey, Mark.
- 36:46I said, we're gonna have to call an audible here.
- 36:48You know that outline I sent you?
- 36:49Just gotta keep it.
- 36:50I said he goes, something must have happened, coach, on Saturday night.
- 36:54Go, yeah.
- 36:55Something happened.
- 36:56So, you know, that's the beauty of it also.
- 36:59We talked the whole it was unreal.
- 37:01We talked all about that sort of thing and his perspective.
- 37:05And at the end, I said, look.
- 37:06Don't because I got a whole bunch of notes.
- 37:08Get up on my I said, don't throw them away.
- 37:10We're gonna come back and we're gonna get those the next time unless, of course, something else
- 37:15happens.
- 37:15So, I mean, that's the beauty of it as as well.
- 37:19So I did that on a Monday, and it came out right away.
- 37:21I put it out Thursday.
- 37:23And, you know, again, those are the conversations I like.
- 37:27And, I mean, you're you're impressive, and time management, obviously, is critical.
- 37:32And I'm on a same boat.
- 37:33I don't edit.
- 37:34I don't do any of that stuff.
- 37:35You know, I need somebody to get it out and distribute it and make me look good, basically.
- 37:40And but I I I worry as this thing is continuing to grow, you know, in our especially in a
- 37:48regional variety as well, how many can I do a day?
- 37:51But I think your advice is is good.
- 37:54It does make me wanna do more.
- 37:56You know, when we're done with this, I'd wanna do another one.
- 37:58And I think I could do that.
- 38:00Maybe start with two a day, three a day, and do them on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
- 38:04I really like that model, and, maybe that's something I can follow in the future.
- 38:09But I'm very impressed with everything you're doing, and, you know, sometimes you throw the
- 38:13mud on the wall, hopefully, something sticks.
- 38:15Well, yeah, you're building a hut.
- 38:17You know, you got a mud hut going, and everything's sticking for you.
- 38:21Yeah.
- 38:21One day, it might be a mud mansion.
- 38:23Who knows?
- 38:24We're gonna keep throwing it at the wall because I just don't I just don't know where
- 38:29it's going.
- 38:30I don't know what we're creating.
- 38:31Right?
- 38:32It's a it's a Jackson Pollock painting right now, but maybe someday someone's gonna look at
- 38:38it and be like, that's an amazing piece of art.
- 38:40And for me, I'm just I'm in the moment.
- 38:43I love the conversations I get to have, the access that I've gained to some really
- 38:48incredible, you know, not just people, but situations.
- 38:50And I was spending most of the money that I was making working full time on experiences.
- 38:56Well, now the podcast brings me all of those experiences for for nothing.
- 38:59Right?
- 39:00We're being asked to join these things.
- 39:02And to me, that's really incredible.
- 39:04And we're I I really just I'm I'm a guy in his garage.
- 39:08Right?
- 39:09A guy in his garage with a webcam, and and the fact that we've been able to kinda grow all of
- 39:14this is impressive.
- 39:16I will, yeah, I will warn you that four is a big number to do in a day.
- 39:22I know that when I get to the end of today and Thursday that are packed schedules that I'm
- 39:28exhausted.
- 39:29Starting with two in a day is probably a great idea, but you also don't wanna be you know, for
- 39:33me, I don't wanna be beholden to, like, I have to show up all the time in this.
- 39:36Like, I would like to take a vacation.
- 39:38Right?
- 39:38I would like some days off.
- 39:39And if the kids have something going on or there's something that comes up, we wanna be
- 39:44able to go and do that.
- 39:45And you talk about being flexible.
- 39:48I had Michael Coco on, his episode aired last week, and he'd come from the music business.
- 39:54He'd worked for MTV and had organized festivals and all these things.
- 39:57And so I'm like, my whole head is geared towards this.
- 40:01Well, he gets on.
- 40:02He's like, oh, yeah.
- 40:03Sorry.
- 40:03I missed your email.
- 40:04Started a new job, like, a month ago.
- 40:06I was like, oh, nice.
- 40:07You know, what's the new gig?
- 40:08He's like, oh, started with a new show baseball called Boomball, a new show baseball league.
- 40:12And I was like, I'm literally in the studio changing it from my music podcast to the sports
- 40:18podcast.
- 40:18I'm like, okay.
- 40:19Well, this has a new home now, and and we're gonna talk about Boomball.
- 40:24Oh, do you have a broadcast partner yet?
- 40:26And what are you guys doing for those and and looking for those angles?
- 40:30And that really is the beauty that people don't see of podcasting.
- 40:35And as a I guess, you know, in the business world, they would call it a lead generator.
- 40:39That's what my podcast really is for me.
- 40:42And if we can find a way for that to continue to grow and compound over the course of, you
- 40:47know, the next ten years, we're already to the point where with a few advertisers and and a
- 40:53few clients during the month, the the bills are paid and and my time is of value to me.
- 40:59And it's gonna continue to just grow and grow and much like yours is.
- 41:03It's gonna continue to grow, and one day you're gonna look back and the numbers will be 10
- 41:08times what they are now.
- 41:09And you'll be speaking on stages in front of thousands of, you know, hopefuls and people
- 41:16that find one thing about what you said to take away with them.
- 41:20And I think that's truly truly amazing.
- 41:23Tim, I don't wanna take up any more of your time today.
- 41:26I'm so grateful to you for coming on with me.
- 41:29We did roll the the scroll with your with your website before our audio people.
- 41:36Go to coach Tim Nieman, that is neiman,.com.
- 41:40Learn more.
- 41:41Get the books, I'm sure.
- 41:42Listen to the Straight Lines podcast.
- 41:44Anything I'm missing in there, coach?
- 41:47I think you got it all, Bubba.
- 41:48I can't thank you enough for having me on today.
- 41:51I'm sure there's plenty more we can do down the road, and we'll flip the we'll flip the script
- 41:56next time.
- 41:57I'll we're gonna get you on, and I'll ask you a bunch of questions as well.
- 42:01But I appreciate you and everything you're doing.
- 42:04I I appreciate you, and and I look forward to being a guest on the Straight Lines podcast.
- 42:09Coach, thanks for spending some time with me this morning, and thank you for being part of
- 42:13the scene.
- 42:15Thank you.
- 42:15I'm most grateful.
- 42:16Thank you very much.