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Podcast Monetization Is Delicious w/ Rory Paquette · The Delicious Culture with Jon Francois

0:00
I'm reaching like this for the receptionist and
0:02
she's asking me for my insurance card or something
0:04
passed out boom on the floor. I'm out. That was
0:07
it. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't take them
0:09
to breath. I actually thought I was done. I'm
0:12
like, wow, this is what it's like to suffocate
0:14
to death. And I get the ground. Hey, delishies,
0:22
grab a plate and taste the delicious culture.
0:23
I'm your host, John Francois. We are feasting
0:26
on food, pop culture, and lifestyle with podcaster,
0:29
Rory Paquet. Paquet. Close pocket. Paquet. Okay.
0:35
So like a hot pocket. Not quite, man. You're
0:37
killing me right now. Wait, what is that last
0:40
name? Like, is there a nationality that belongs
0:42
to it? Yeah, it's French. So it's Paquette. Oh
0:45
my God. Another thing you and I have in common.
0:46
So P -A -Q -U -E -T -T -E. I remember we, so
0:50
you were kind enough to have me on your podcast,
0:52
The Podcaster Nation. And I remember we were
0:55
talking about like 10 things that we had in common.
0:58
So I guess one of them, you can include the fact
1:00
that we both have French last names. I'm Francois,
1:03
you're Paquette. All right. And we both grew
1:07
up in New Britain, Connecticut. I was born in
1:09
New Britain, Connecticut Okay, okay. We were
1:11
both born in New Britain, Connecticut, but you
1:13
moved like what like once you came out of the
1:16
womb pretty close Yeah, a couple years in it
1:18
was like let's let's go check out New Jersey.
1:20
We'll be in West Orange We'll be in Brooklyn
1:22
and that you know, we ended up out in Illinois
1:24
and Indiana after gotcha So you didn't stay in
1:26
Connecticut? You're like you just like wet you
1:29
just left the the state and just went for hit
1:32
the ground running The crap running. Yeah. Now
1:36
I would assume, does that have anything to do
1:38
with like what your parents did for work, if
1:41
I may ask? A hundred percent. Yeah. My father
1:44
at the time was working for the YMCA and he got
1:48
transferred out to Illinois in Chicago. And so
1:51
we moved out there. And then after my parents
1:54
got divorced, we moved to Indiana. So I was in
1:57
Illinois for about three years, and then I've
1:58
been in Indiana the rest of my life since I was
2:01
10. So yeah, you can do the math there on your
2:05
own, but it's been a long time. All right. All
2:07
right. A very long time. So I have many pleasant
2:13
memories of the YMCA. I mean, my parents used
2:16
to take me there for summer camp all the time
2:18
when I was a kid. So what did your dad do at
2:23
the YMCA, if I may ask? Yeah, he was the director.
2:25
So he was a director of the Y. So he's like the
2:29
whole general manager type deal, but he was the
2:32
top guy at the Y ran the whole facility. And
2:35
they moved him out to Illinois at the time to
2:37
revamp kind of a beat up Chicago facility and
2:40
redo it, bring it all up. That kind of thing.
2:42
I've always never really understood the point
2:46
of the YMCA. And I say that in a generous way
2:50
because to me it's like, oh yeah, this is the
2:52
place where I did summer camp as a kid. But then
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the abbreviation of it all, doesn't it stand
2:58
for Young Men's Christian Academy? Mm -hmm. Yes,
3:01
it does. And then it morphed over the years because
3:04
they wanted to bring in more people and they
3:06
wanted to be more secular and not just be a Christian
3:11
place. Are you able to describe what the original
3:15
purpose of the YMCA is and then what it became
3:18
now? Sure. The original YMCA was basically almost
3:21
like a homeless shelter. It was founded on Christian
3:24
principles of trying to help others and everything
3:26
else. And so it was for young men only because
3:29
back in the day when it was founded, anybody
3:32
who was looking for shelter and that type of
3:34
thing, they had women and children that they
3:35
would shelter, but the men had nowhere to go.
3:37
And so what they did was YMCA was formed, basically
3:39
saying, hey, we want the men to also have a place
3:42
they can go separate, of course, so that you're
3:45
not having men and women and children all in
3:47
this same area. And the women and children had
3:50
all these different places they could go, and
3:52
the men finally had a spot they could go to besides
3:54
just sleeping on the street. Right. And from
3:57
the beginning, have we always had the... the
3:59
swimming pool and the camp features, or did that
4:02
just evolved over time? So how did it get to
4:05
where it is now, where it has that kind of reputation?
4:10
The homeless shelter was a tough thing to kind
4:12
of go by, but when they had men who were living
4:14
there, they were like, all right, we have to
4:16
give them activities to do. So what do we do
4:18
with men, right? Well, back then they said, hey,
4:20
we're just going to give them physical activities
4:22
and keep them active and get them healthy. And
4:24
then they can get back out and they can get jobs
4:26
as laborers and stuff like that. So they basically
4:29
let them swim, they let them run, they let them
4:32
jump, they let them play basketball, weights
4:35
came in. The whole idea was to help men almost
4:38
rehab themselves and get back into the working
4:40
world and get back on their feet. Gotcha. I'm
4:43
an Uber and Lyft driver in Burlington, Vermont,
4:45
and typically I will drop off and pick up people
4:49
from the YMCA there. And now it seems to be like
4:53
preschoolers and their moms that I'm dropping
4:56
off and picking up. quite know like where we
4:59
are with the YMCA and, and is there still a YWCA,
5:04
a Young Women's Christian Academy, or is that
5:06
not a thing anymore? Cause I remember that being
5:08
a thing. Oh, there is. Okay. All right. And that's
5:12
very different. Oh, how so? Well, the YMCA has
5:15
morphed into almost like a health club that sort
5:17
of caters to low cost families. Everything there
5:21
is cheaper. It's about kids and stuff like that,
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like you mentioned, camps. So they're not the
5:29
high $300 a month health club. You know what
5:32
I mean? You can come here. We have community.
5:36
We have lots of sports, place for the kids. So
5:40
it's low cost for families. The YWCA really has
5:43
turned more into battered women shelters, really
5:46
helping ladies who have gone through hard times.
5:50
Maybe they're recovering from addiction or whatever
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it is. It really morphed more into, especially
5:56
the battered women shelter part though, they
5:58
have a huge program there for that. So again,
6:01
I just happen to know that. Interesting. Yeah,
6:05
I'm not an authority on any of this stuff. I
6:06
just happen to know these things. So you're definitely
6:08
more of an authority than me. My goodness. So
6:11
I wonder, huh. Yeah, that is very different from
6:13
the, yeah, the YWCA seems to be quite different
6:16
in its concept than the YMCA. And I wonder if
6:20
there's anything in the YMCA where, you know,
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if men are going, it could be going through something
6:25
similar, maybe a battered, unfortunate, abusive
6:28
situation. Do they have the tools for that at
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the YMCA? Or is it just purely like, oh, this
6:33
is a place where men can find community and then
6:35
do physical activities and things like that?
6:37
No, YMCA really is sort of archaic in that area.
6:41
So, not to speak poorly about them, but the idea
6:44
of men getting treatment for mental health is
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still, you know, not real popular and there's
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not a lot of options. And men really are stigmatized
6:52
as soon as they say, you know, I need help in
6:55
any way or shape or form. So, yeah, there's not
6:57
a lot of that there now. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
6:59
yeah. The stereotype seems to be that like, oh,
7:01
if you're going to, you know, try to get like
7:03
sort of this emotional help, so to speak, then
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that's more likely to... you know, be resonant
7:11
with the women than the men. And that's not true.
7:13
But yes. So I mean, the YMCA and the YWCA, I
7:17
mean, it goes back how many years? Like 100 something?
7:19
I do not know the answer to that question. You
7:21
know what? And this is where this is where the
7:23
internet comes in, Roy, because I'm going to
7:25
like look this up. YMCA found it. I know. I know.
7:28
You're laughing at me. This is this is the this
7:30
is the the mess of a podcast that you that you
7:33
got yourself into. It was founded in London in
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1844. I did not even know that. Interesting.
7:42
Wow. I thought it was a US born thing, but London
7:45
has it and the YWCA founding 1855. So both of
7:49
them are from the 19th century. Okay. Hence why
7:53
we used to think back then that men didn't need
7:56
mental health stuff. Exactly. We still think
7:59
that, unfortunately. Yeah, I know. Unfortunately,
8:01
unfortunately. All right. So we have the YMCA
8:06
in common. We have New Britain, Connecticut in
8:09
common. I have a college roommate from back in
8:12
my freshman year at the University of the Arts
8:14
of Philadelphia that was named Rory. So take
8:16
with that what you will. You were kind enough
8:23
to have me on the podcaster nation to talk about
8:24
this silly delicious culture podcast but what
8:28
I really am still trying to figure out is how
8:31
You have six podcasts and you are not going insane
8:36
So do you mind telling everybody what those six
8:39
podcasts are like what they're about and how?
8:43
Exactly. Do you not burn out and want to take
8:47
a hostage? I don't mind at all. I appreciate
8:50
the lead in. Thank you so much. Yeah, I have
8:52
six podcasts that I host. personally. The podcasts
8:56
that I have are Power of Man, where we deal with
9:00
fathers and husbands who are having all sorts
9:02
of issues, especially mental health issues, and
9:05
give them a safe place to actually talk about
9:06
those things since they're vilified in the world.
9:08
And that's kind of what that's morphed into.
9:11
We do a lot of work with veterans through that
9:12
podcast also. I also have a podcast which you've
9:14
been on called The Podcaster Nation, which is
9:17
for podcasters about podcasters done by a podcaster.
9:21
There you go. Sorry, I can't even help it. Just
9:23
launch right into my office. No, that's okay.
9:24
You remind me of when I used to work for West
9:26
Hartford Community Television in my hometown,
9:28
West Hartford, Connecticut, and their slogan
9:30
was, for the community, by the community. I like
9:32
when you use one particular word and you just
9:35
use for and by and and because it just makes
9:38
it sound all... They really try to let you know
9:41
that they want to have the perfect mission statement,
9:43
but yeah, go ahead. There you go. So that's the
9:46
second podcast. Four podcasters, bi -podcasters.
9:49
Yeah, go ahead. Exactly. My third one is called
9:53
Wake Up the Lions. That's a Christian podcast
9:55
for folks to come on, share their testimonies,
9:59
talk about how God has influenced their lives
10:01
and encourage others to do the same. Then my
10:05
fourth podcast is step up to the mic. And then
10:08
I created that one for my speaker clients. I'm
10:12
a coach as well as a podcaster. I coach public
10:14
speaking amongst other things. One of the issues
10:16
we had was I ended up having to drive to a different
10:19
state to literally video one of my clients just
10:23
doing a speech because he couldn't figure out
10:25
how to get. a recording done of his speech. And
10:28
I found I was having that trouble with a lot
10:30
of my students. They couldn't get anybody to
10:32
actually help them really put out a decent product.
10:35
So I said, you know what? I'm going to create
10:36
a podcast. So step up to the mic is for aspiring
10:39
and current public speakers who want to come
10:42
onto the podcast and literally do their talk.
10:45
So they come on. I introduce them like you're
10:47
on a stage. I disappear. They do their talk uninterrupted.
10:50
That way at the end of it, they have a link that
10:52
they can send out to event planners and that
10:54
type of thing and apply for speaking gigs. And
10:58
so that's what that one is. The fifth one is
11:01
the right path podcast. It's my newest one and
11:04
it has completely exploded. It really has kind
11:09
of wiped me out. It kind of put me on the ropes
11:11
for a little while. Well, tell me more about
11:13
that. Yeah, it's for authors. It's W -R -I -T
11:16
-E, right? So the right path. for authors and
11:19
we don't come on and go, so tell me about your
11:21
book, or so what made you write a book? We go
11:24
into it and we talk about the author story, the
11:27
real stuff that's behind it, the process of writing,
11:31
how they actually wrote it. Um, what goes into
11:35
that, where that came from, uh, sort of the deeper
11:37
story behind it, what they're trying to accomplish.
11:39
We talk about publishing, we talk about the business
11:41
of it, how do you market the whole bit. And,
11:44
uh, apparently there were a lot of authors hungry
11:45
for that kind of storytelling. And, um, we, we
11:50
have like 40 episodes published. I have 80 episodes
11:52
already done in the tank waiting to go out. I
11:55
have over a hundred interviews scheduled on top
11:59
of that for people who want to be on the podcast.
12:03
It exploded like nothing I've ever seen, uh,
12:06
which helped. And, you know, to give you an idea,
12:08
we launched episode one, which is just me talking,
12:10
you know, but the intro like, Hey, this is what
12:13
this podcast is going to be about. Here I am.
12:15
Um, we had 500 downloads in the first hour. Wow.
12:20
Great. What in the world is going on? So that
12:23
took off. My sixth one's unique and it's part
12:26
of my commercial division of my business. It's
12:28
called Restoration Nation. We are building that
12:31
one. It's active, but we're building it right
12:33
now and I'm talking to restoration specialists
12:35
and working with them to kind of tell their stories.
12:38
And then I have another 16 podcasts that I help
12:43
host for businesses that are out there. So I
12:47
help them host their business podcasts through
12:50
our, again, my commercial division. So how many
12:52
recordings are you doing in a day? Because I
12:54
thought it was the sixth podcast. You're telling
12:57
me 16 other podcasts that you're working on.
12:59
So what is a day like? Basically, what are the
13:03
most recordings that you've done in a day? 15.
13:06
in one day and I scheduled 90 minutes and that
13:09
was one day and that's my absolute best. Usually
13:13
a day is anywhere from 12 to 13 interviews or
13:16
coaching calls and they're 90 minutes a piece.
13:19
I start at 4 a .m. I go till midnight. I sleep
13:22
for a couple hours. I wake up, do it again. I
13:24
do that six days a week and on Sunday, I rest.
13:28
Get ready to go for the rest of the week. The
13:31
Bible says the seventh day is the day of rest.
13:33
I mean, at some point you got to stop brother
13:35
or your body is going to stop for you. Right.
13:37
Exactly. Exactly. Do your shoulders hurt? Do
13:40
your neck hurt? Because like, I mean, it seems
13:43
like we're in a similar hunched over seated position
13:46
over our mic. And I mean, I only do this one
13:48
podcast and I mean, the most I could do is like
13:51
maybe like three or four recordings. in a day
13:54
like once a week and you know at the end of it
13:56
yeah I mean I feel like I just need to get new
13:59
bones and muscles and and just get caffeine or
14:03
I like I don't know I just feel like I'm 25 %
14:05
of a human after I record just three or four
14:08
episodes of my one podcast along with all the
14:11
producing and editing and such that I do so the
14:13
fact that you're doing this but like you're doing
14:16
it with multiple podcasts I've lost count I mean
14:19
what are we at like 30 now like what so 16 plus
14:22
Like, what's the absolute total of podcasts that
14:26
you are involved with? I host six. I help put
14:30
out and basically either co -host or host for
14:32
somebody else, 16. 16 plus six. Right now, it's
14:38
24 that I'm involved with. Wow. In the last couple
14:41
months, I have graduated five that were all commercial.
14:47
and we got to a point where I had trained their
14:50
people. For one company, it's their HR lady.
14:53
Another company, it's their receptionist who
14:55
just loves what she's doing. One of them, it's
14:57
their head of marketing, and he loves that 100%.
15:00
They've all gotten to the point where they don't
15:02
need me anymore doing it, and they've taken it
15:04
over and learned enough to go do it. And so they've
15:08
graduated now and now they're just on my maintenance
15:10
plan. You need something, you call me, right?
15:14
I'm kind of on like retainer. Yeah. So what I
15:17
love about what you do is that it's not like,
15:19
you know, self -indulgent bullshit like what
15:21
I do. Like literally all the podcasts that you
15:23
do, like the common thread is that they're helping
15:27
somebody, they're benefiting somebody else. It's,
15:30
it's a, it's all very selfless. Like you're,
15:33
you're looking out for men's mental health. You're,
15:36
you know, speaking on a religion that obviously
15:38
has a deep meaning for a lot of people who are
15:41
involved in that. Um, and then, uh, God, you,
15:45
uh, authors, like obviously there's a lot of
15:48
aspiring authors out there who want their stories
15:50
and their, their books to be heard. So you are.
15:55
podcasting in service of others and service of
15:59
a variety of communities. And I like that because
16:02
I think it's very easy to be a multiple podcast,
16:06
podcaster and say, all right, here's my podcast
16:11
about my favorite cup for today. And here's a
16:13
podcast about why I think ramen noodles are the
16:18
best meal ever. And you could still have it beyond
16:20
college. Like it literally could just be, you
16:23
know, you talking about Oh, really? Well, you
16:26
know what? I haven't had them in a while. I will
16:28
say they aren't salty. And there was a moment
16:30
where I thought that ramen noodles were actually
16:31
healthy for me, but I was in college. So of course
16:33
I thought that. But yeah, I mean, I just I think
16:38
what you're doing is great. And again, maybe
16:42
to answer this question, how do you not pass
16:44
out as I just the secret is caffeine? Yeah. Caffeine.
16:48
There you go. Caffeine. How many cups of coffee
16:50
are you having a day? Okay. For those watching
16:55
on Spotify and YouTube, Roy held, I think you
16:58
held a coffee cup. Coffee cup. And then, you
17:01
know, the travel cup, which is also full to refill.
17:04
And in case that runs out, I have the big vat,
17:06
which I heat up every couple hours back here
17:08
in the, what's it called? Yeti cup. So you have
17:13
three different sources of coffee that you keep
17:15
on standby throughout the day to make sure that
17:18
you're good to go? Every episode. Yes. Every
17:20
episode? Every episode, every session you got.
17:23
I drink coffee from 4 a .m. until I'm done. And
17:26
then I put it away and I'd go just to water for
17:28
a couple hours. Probably so I don't die. And,
17:31
you know, I wake up the next day and I go right
17:33
back to coffee. I could not do that for me. I
17:35
only do like my mug of black coffee a day. And
17:39
if I do anything beyond that, you know, given
17:41
my anxiety and my colon, I mean, I would just
17:43
have jittery shits like all day. If I was in
17:48
your position, it would just be, it would just,
17:50
it would literally, I would have to interrupt
17:52
podcast episodes. I'd have to be like, all right,
17:54
it's been five minutes. Let me take another jittery
17:57
shit and then we'll do another five minutes and
17:58
then we'll. repeat the cycle. Like, um, so your,
18:01
your, your body obviously can, can take, uh,
18:04
all that coffee that you're ingesting every day.
18:06
Yeah. It's not like I started doing it last week.
18:08
You know what I mean? So, I mean, I've built
18:10
myself up the tolerance for coffee and I only
18:12
use one kind of coffee and it's a great coffee.
18:15
And you know, I, that's it. It's called freedom
18:18
Hill coffee, man. Given the way that you pitched
18:20
that to me, I, I'm not surprised if you will
18:23
have a podcast about freedom Hill coffee and,
18:25
and helping. They're a major sponsor of. They're
18:27
a major sponsor of the Power of Man podcast.
18:30
There you go. There you go. There you go. And
18:32
that helps. That helps. That helps. If you're
18:35
familiar with the Buscast podcast from Bussprout.
18:38
Oh, yeah. Yeah, they say that that's actually
18:41
the greatest way to... monetize your podcast
18:45
is to not just do like run -of -the -mill advertisements
18:48
for stuff that you probably don't care about
18:50
but like Endorsements like things that you actually
18:52
use that you actually care about that you actually
18:54
can vouch for And it sounds like you are endorsing
18:58
freedom Hill coffee as the coffee for podcasters.
19:00
I will absolutely endorse freedom Hill coffee
19:02
all day Yeah, it's a great coffee. I actually
19:05
do drink it. I've proven it on my show many many
19:08
times But they also a portion of their proceeds
19:10
go to to help veterans. And so that's also very
19:13
important to me. And it's something that we talk
19:15
about in our podcast a lot. So it's a very good
19:18
fit, very good sponsor, and they're great people.
19:20
But it's also fantastic coffee. And that is one
19:26
way to monetize your podcast, my friend. One
19:29
way. Not the way. One way. It's one way. Yes.
19:33
Yes. Yes. Yes. There are hundreds of ways to
19:36
monetize your podcast. Give me some of them.
19:38
Why not? Let's hear. Okay. I mean, well, obviously,
19:42
you know, the sponsorship is a great way. You
19:44
can run any number of projects off of your podcast
19:47
from making an anthology out of it, from charging
19:50
for different parts of the podcast, from utilizing
19:53
the people that come on the podcast to sell products
19:55
too. You can turn anything into coaching. You
19:58
can take your podcast and combine it with your
20:00
social media, and then you can go into a whole
20:02
different sponsorship level of what you do. People
20:06
do not have any idea how to monetize. And I'm
20:08
sure you've gone over... this on the Podcaster
20:10
Nation, correct? I talk about a lot on Podcaster
20:12
Nation, yeah. I actually teach a course on it,
20:14
yeah. There you go. I did a seminar on it a little
20:16
while ago, and I have that available in case
20:19
anybody just wants the seminar piece, but yeah,
20:21
and I actually teach a one -on -one meet with
20:24
you, how do you do it, how can I help you personally
20:27
with what you've got, monetize the living daylights
20:29
out of it. There isn't any reason that a podcaster
20:32
shouldn't be making money for what they're doing.
20:34
It just, it breaks my heart when we don't do
20:35
that. So I could use your expertise. I'm an advocate
20:38
man. There you go. I could use your expertise
20:40
because in the past I've used, are you familiar
20:42
with the, uh, the website popcorn? Oh yeah. Yeah,
20:45
yeah. Yeah, so I've used them for for little
20:48
advertisements here and there. And then time
20:51
went by and I started to put more focus on both
20:55
the content that I was creating and growing more
20:57
of a following because I have this idea in my
21:00
head that if I'm not getting at least an average
21:05
of a thousand downloads per episode, then it's
21:08
not worth like seeking out advertisers and sponsors.
21:12
Now you have your eyebrows and your eyes open.
21:14
in shock because you think that is a big number
21:16
to reach for, but like it's, I don't know. I
21:19
just feel like it's a minimum number and you
21:22
clearly disagree. So tell me why. How many episodes
21:25
do you have? How many episodes do I have? Yeah.
21:27
How many episodes have you done? I think we talked
21:29
to your podcast that I've done over 300. That's
21:32
what I thought. I knew it was a couple hundred.
21:34
So, all right, but it's 300 that you've actually
21:35
put out. Yeah. Yeah, brother. You absolutely
21:38
a hundred percent can be monetized tomorrow.
21:40
You just need to know how. But I mean, with everything
21:43
you've done, all that work, you're sitting on
21:45
a gold mine. Part of what happens, and this is
21:49
not just about you, this is about everybody,
21:50
as podcasters, we've been taught since moment
21:52
one, if you want to make money, here's how you
21:54
do it. And the people who are teaching us are
21:56
the people who are holding all the strings and
21:57
making all the money. And so we've kind of come
21:59
in and they've been teaching us, here's your
22:02
10 cents while I get the 10 bucks. you know,
22:06
popcorn or whatever it was. I've seen that at,
22:10
you know, Buzzsprout and all these other little,
22:12
you know, if they give you an ad where you're
22:13
going to make maybe five bucks doing it, they're
22:15
making a hundred because they're getting like
22:18
10 ,000 people that they're all going to pay
22:19
that little couple of dollars to. Well, you know,
22:22
they're, they're making a heck of a lot more
22:24
by spreading that around their entire platform.
22:26
They know that most of us aren't going to do
22:27
much. They're not, we're not going to make any
22:29
money. We're not going to get the downloads to
22:30
have to pay, but we're trying. because we all
22:33
want to make money. And they count on all those
22:35
numbers that we put out. You know, if you reach
22:37
20 people with a podcast episode and somebody
22:39
else reaches 30 and somebody else reaches 40,
22:42
you know, they add all that up and they cash
22:44
out, you know, um, pod match or not pod match,
22:48
pod fest. Okay. The big, huge, you know, podcast
22:50
right now, getting ready to go that last year.
22:53
And then they started advertising. We don't gatekeep
22:56
in the pod fam. We don't charge for info in the
22:59
pod fam. Come get all this free info at the pod
23:02
fam, right? At pod fest, $750 for tickets. Of
23:06
course. And as long as those two things are on
23:09
different pages, we all buy it. And those podcasters
23:12
were like, oh, I'm going to go. I'm going to
23:13
get all this free information. And if I want
23:15
all the information they have available, all
23:17
I need to do is buy the all -inclusive $750 ticket.
23:20
Yeah, yeah. Dude, that's gatekeeping, 100%. But
23:23
they made all of us as coaches and everybody
23:26
else look really, really bad. You know, when
23:27
they put all those ads out and I was like, I'm
23:29
not going to this now. Forget it. Yeah. So now
23:33
I mean, I, I, yeah. So now, um, primarily I'm,
23:37
I'm using pod match to, to make money. And that's
23:40
how, you know, it is great. Uh, but I don't know.
23:45
I mean, you know, especially when I listened
23:46
to a lot of, um, giant podcasts and you're, you
23:49
know, you're talking the ones that have, you
23:52
know, 50 ,000 or 100 ,000 or a million plays.
23:56
It's hard to not get out of that mindset of like,
23:58
oh, if you want to make money on a podcast, there's
24:00
like a certain download number or social media
24:03
engagement number that you have to reach. But
24:05
you're saying that it could be more so like,
24:08
all right, if you have like six years, 300 episodes,
24:12
this catalog of content, then what I mean, you
24:15
could sell based on the total amount of downloads,
24:19
the total amount of episodes that you've accrued
24:21
over the years. Is that kind of what you're saying
24:23
or like what, what, what, what are you saying?
24:25
And basically you can tell that I need to, you
24:27
know, take a class from you once we get off to
24:30
get off Mike. So, cause yeah, I mean, I'm to
24:33
me, I just, I don't know. I just, I just feel
24:35
like if I'm not like a, a smart list or a lot
24:37
of school charistas or Joe Rogan, like it just
24:40
like it's, it's hard to make a living out of
24:42
this. Let me, let me do this. Um, first of all,
24:45
I would love to help you with any of this. you
24:47
know that so anytime we can have this conversation
24:49
but if for your listeners let me give them a
24:52
little something um now you're not on your phone
24:54
right now right you're on a different kind of
24:56
setup computer okay so do you have your phone
24:57
with you i do okay can you access your facebook
25:00
and go into your dashboard yeah okay now you
25:03
don't have to share this with your public if
25:05
you don't want to okay but i'd be curious if
25:07
you went in there and you pop the dashboard button
25:09
the first thing that's going to come up for you
25:11
is going to be Total views last 28 days. Total
25:14
views last 28 days. Yeah, correct. Yeah. Okay.
25:17
Do you want to share that? If you don't, it's
25:18
okay. That's fine. Um, so total views last 28
25:22
days on my personal Facebook page, not the podcast
25:25
page. Uh, 5 ,445. Okay. Great. And then you have
25:29
a podcast page in addition to that. I do. Yes.
25:32
Yeah. Facebook podcast pages is not that great
25:36
compared to like Instagram and TikTok and whatever.
25:39
But yeah, we could go on that if you want to.
25:41
Right. And so if you look on the Instagram, for
25:43
instance, and check your views last 28 days,
25:45
you can go on TikTok and do the same thing. I'm
25:47
just curious. Uh, sure. Uh, so going to my professional
25:50
dashboard. I hope you all are listening to this.
25:53
I'm giving you guys gold. Yes, please. Um, so
25:55
insights from June 18th to the July 17th. Is
25:58
that close enough to 28 days? Sure. Yeah. Good
26:00
enough. Uh, 13 ,000 views. And that's Instagram
26:05
or TikTok? Uh, that's, that's my Instagram. Instagram.
26:08
Okay. That's great. 13 ,000 views. Perfect. All
26:10
right. And then TikTok is probably higher than
26:12
all those. What do you got on TikTok? No, God,
26:14
no. I mean, TikTok, I'm definitely struggling
26:16
with TikTok because I'm not an actual TikTok
26:17
like advocate. So, uh, but I could, I could,
26:22
yeah, I could certainly. So if I go to TikTok,
26:24
how do I. If you hit your, uh, your icon, it
26:28
takes you to the back. And then, uh, I think
26:30
in TikTok, I think it's under analytics. Yeah.
26:32
I'm going from memory here. And I apologize if
26:34
I, it's kind of like, you don't know your own
26:36
phone number. You know, but okay. Okay. So, um,
26:40
what, what's like, what are my views in the last,
26:43
uh, seven days or 28 days? You said, yeah, just
26:46
28 days. If you could, yeah, you can probably
26:48
click the qualifier and turn it to 28 or 30.
26:51
Okay. So from, uh, so 10, it looks like 10 ,000
26:57
views in the last, uh, 30 days. Okay. That's
27:01
good enough. You ready? It's not great, but it's
27:04
good enough, I guess. No, it's definitely good
27:06
enough. You should be monetized today. And I'm
27:09
not even joking. And I'll say this out loud.
27:11
I'm monetized on Facebook. I qualify for monetization
27:15
on Facebook. I do not qualify for monetization
27:17
on Instagram, TikTok. And I checked. I checked.
27:19
They told me that I'm not qualified. But Facebook,
27:22
I am. And I've made $1 so far, I think. None
27:25
of that matters, brother. The idea to looking
27:28
at this, and I hope everybody who hears this,
27:30
and I hope you hear this, and I hope any podcasters
27:32
out there hears this, this part I'll give away
27:34
for free anytime. The way to do this, I've been
27:37
in sales for decades, and one of the things I
27:39
sold along the way was billboard advertising.
27:42
Billboard advertising is gigantic still today.
27:45
If I'm leaving my, I'm in Indiana, and if I go
27:47
heading down the pike to Chicago, and I'm on
27:50
I -90 heading into the city, there are billboards
27:52
everywhere. Okay. On every side of the road,
27:54
they're gigantic. They're there all the time.
27:57
And all those advertisers are paying upwards
28:00
of anywhere from five to $10 ,000 a month because
28:04
they are getting 800 ,000 views on I -90. Okay.
28:10
Now they're paying for views. They're not paying
28:12
for engagement. No one's ever run up and hugged
28:15
a billboard. When I drive by it, I don't blow
28:17
a kiss to the billboard. I don't like it and
28:21
give it a thumbs up. Nobody cares. I view it.
28:25
People are paying gigantic money for views because
28:28
that is what billboards are about. We keep trying
28:32
to market our podcasts like they're TV or something.
28:36
Or like they're standing on the corner handing
28:40
out a business card. your podcast, your social
28:44
media, everything altogether, your total views,
28:49
that's money. And when you can walk into an advertiser's
28:51
office, if you walk into the local beauty salon
28:54
or a realtor in town or an insurance salesperson,
28:58
they're all independent contractors. They're
28:59
all buying advertising from the kid who's selling
29:02
the soccer calendar for his school. They're buying
29:05
the placemat at the local cafe. They're buying
29:08
the beer list over at Wings, whatever it is in
29:11
your town. The coffee shop, they're making sure
29:13
they get their name on the coffee cup that comes
29:16
out once a year and gets put in there. They're
29:18
spending five. to six hundred dollars every three
29:20
to six months doing those advertisements for
29:23
much less than twenty eight thousand views which
29:27
is what you've got today and you haven't even
29:30
started building your social media up with my
29:32
program so you know what well the thing is is
29:36
that I'm I know how to produce content but I'm
29:40
terrible at the business side of it so My thing
29:43
has always been, and I've talked about this with
29:45
my therapist, like, oh my God, if I could just
29:47
like hire somebody for the shit that I'm not
29:50
good at and I don't want to deal with and just
29:53
deal with the creative end of it, that would
29:54
be great. But both fortunately and unfortunately,
29:57
this very DIY content creator space that we're
30:00
living in today, like you could do everything.
30:04
And I don't know if I'm the type of person that
30:07
it has the bandwidth like you to do everything
30:10
to like control the monetization and to, you
30:13
know, like, I just want to create the content
30:15
and, and, and, and go about that. But like, um,
30:19
what do you say to those types of people that
30:21
are just like, Oh God, like I, I need an expert,
30:24
but I may not have money to pay them. And it
30:28
starts with monetization of the content. No,
30:30
I hear it all the time. And you know, we, I actually,
30:32
I've started and I run an agency, a steel core
30:36
marketing group. which we actually will do social
30:38
media for people and take care of that. I have
30:41
a couple of authors, for instance, that we work
30:43
with where they don't want anything to do with
30:44
it. We log into their account as them. We run
30:47
the account as them. We post every single day.
30:49
They grow. Everybody's happy. They send us a
30:51
check and they sell books. Works out great. But
30:54
you have to charge a pretty penny for that, right?
30:57
Cause that's like, you know, marketing is a great
30:59
skill to have. That's a little more expensive,
30:59
that program. The most effective program that
31:03
I have is teaching people how to do it themselves.
31:06
And my whole thing is, it's kind of like, you
31:09
may not be old enough for this because you're
31:10
kind of a young buck, but back in the day, you
31:14
know, they never wanted us to use a calculator
31:15
for math. Okay. They always wanted us to like
31:18
do it ourselves. So in case you didn't have a
31:20
calculator handy and they never envisioned this,
31:22
okay. They never envisioned the cell phone, but
31:24
they basically said, if you don't have a calculator
31:26
handy, you got to know how to do the math. The
31:28
thing of it is, is once you actually learn what
31:30
the strategy is to Posting that gains you views
31:33
and you find out how easy and simple it actually
31:36
is It really is not tough to do on your own But
31:39
someone's got to teach you how to do that and
31:41
I learned it the hard way the hard way hard way
31:45
I bought a program cost me thousands of dollars
31:48
didn't work some things did some didn't but it
31:50
didn't work Went learning on my own did a lot
31:53
of you know testing and stuff bought another
31:55
program more thousands of dollars Didn't work,
31:59
but I learned one thing And I went through probably
32:02
fifteen to twenty thousand dollars worth of wasted
32:04
money and several years of wasted time where
32:08
I only got one little shred of thing that worked
32:10
out of these programs. But what I found out was
32:12
this little thing works. This little thing works.
32:14
This little thing works. And then guess what?
32:16
This little thing works. I mean, you put all
32:18
those little tiny things together and then you
32:20
run it. And then all of a sudden you're looking
32:22
at a hundred thousand views. You're like, Oh
32:24
crap, that worked. That's what I had to go through
32:28
to do it. Um, I have students all over the internet
32:31
right now. And I mean, I can give out names.
32:33
I mean, anybody who's listening, go check out
32:34
Adam Swedenberg. Like, I understand. Like, so
32:39
I understand. Right, so I understand like like
32:42
like I look at YouTube and I see that something's
32:45
got like a hundred thousand five hundred thousand
32:47
a million views like that makes sense to me that
32:50
you can effectively sell that because it's There's
32:55
just something about YouTube where it's like
32:56
you look at those views and it doesn't matter
32:59
how long someone watched the content for. I mean,
33:02
because they, I think the minimum is like 30
33:04
seconds and it counts as a view. So it could
33:06
be 30 seconds, five minutes. It could be the
33:08
whole time. As long as it counts as a view, then
33:10
the advertisers will come running. I don't know.
33:12
There's just something about podcasting where
33:16
I, and maybe this is an old school way of thinking
33:18
where it's like, sure. Like I could. sell with
33:22
views, but is the audience going to be engaged
33:25
enough to buy what the advertiser is selling?
33:28
Because if the advertiser is not getting new
33:31
customers off of this, then they're wasting their
33:35
money with me. That's, that's just my fear. If
33:39
that makes sense. You know what I mean? Like,
33:41
yeah, like, cause like I, I have a pretty quiet
33:45
small audience. I don't know if I would have.
33:48
an audience that would be engaged enough to buy
33:51
what the advertiser is selling. So I don't want
33:53
it to be like, oh, the advertiser is selling
33:55
their stuff on my thing. And it's just, you know,
34:01
they're not getting a bang for their buck. Does
34:04
this make sense? It does. And you're not alone
34:08
in the way you think. Okay. A couple things on
34:11
that is that the the beer company that buys the
34:16
big ad on I -90 going in Chicago. They're not
34:19
worried about whether or not they're getting
34:21
a sale off that billboard. Really? That's hard
34:23
to believe. They know they're getting branding.
34:26
They know they're getting branding. And what
34:28
do you mean by that? They trust the big picture.
34:30
Because whether anybody likes it or not, you
34:32
have almost a million people seeing their brand
34:35
and their message every day. You know what I
34:37
mean? Well, not every day, every month. I mean,
34:39
a million people almost. It's like 800 and something
34:41
thousand. Yeah, but at the end of the day, they
34:46
need revenue. They need customers to keep their
34:49
business going. So if I were them and I have
34:55
my billboard up there and I'm not seeing a financial
34:59
return on it, I would question if the billboard's
35:02
actually working. So how, I don't know, maybe
35:05
I'm not understanding you, but how can you rely
35:08
on branding more so than actual customers giving
35:12
you a sale? Because the thing that is, is that
35:14
unless you are running an ad in a newspaper with
35:16
a coupon, where the customer walks in and hands
35:18
you the coupon, you're never actually going to
35:20
know where your customer came from. And so what
35:22
you're trying to do is you're getting the name
35:23
out there. and the way you get the name out and
35:25
the way you work your brand and businesses know
35:28
this is that as many people as possible see and
35:32
ingest your brand and your message that inevitably
35:35
turns into money down the road there's no way
35:38
to actually check and see who's buying from where
35:41
no matter what the customer tells you because
35:43
there's always another story okay i may say uh
35:47
you can ask me all day long where did you go
35:50
to buy uh you know how did you hear about my
35:52
company Right. Hey, you walk into my store. How'd
35:54
you hear about my store, John? Well, you know
35:56
what? I saw it on TV. You may have also seen
35:59
it in the newspaper. You may have also heard
36:01
it on the radio, but you remember the TV ad.
36:04
Right. And then what really brought you in? If
36:07
it's a refrigerator store, you didn't come in
36:09
because you saw the TV ad. You came in because
36:11
you needed a new refrigerator. Okay. And something
36:14
in your mind triggered that name. And when you
36:18
really break it down, Did you just grab your
36:19
phone and Google refrigerator sales? No, probably
36:22
not. You know what I mean? Did you, did you go
36:24
in and Google like, Hey, you know, where's the
36:26
store? You know what I mean? I mean, who knows?
36:29
Or did you say name sounds familiar? I don't
36:31
have any idea why. So the thing of it is, is
36:34
that's really how we buy and businesses know
36:36
that, but we, as consumers who are not running
36:38
multi -million other businesses, we don't get
36:40
that. I spent years in sales, selling this exact
36:43
stuff to these exact people. And that's why I
36:46
have students who have 20 ,000 views on social
36:49
media and 50 downloads per episode. And they
36:52
are getting advertisers who are giving them checks
36:54
for $750 at a time. This is what happens. Wow.
36:58
How often are they getting those $750 checks,
37:00
like per month? I have one guy who sells $125
37:02
a month and he sells it upfront, either three
37:05
or six months. And if it's three months, he takes
37:08
off 50 bucks. And if it's six months, he gives
37:09
you a free month. And they write him a check
37:12
for $750 every six months. And he's got seven
37:16
of those guys. Do their math. The wife and I
37:19
have bills to pay. I think I need to take your
37:21
class. He's getting 60 downloads an episode.
37:24
Yeah. Right. So people go, well, that's not really
37:27
monetizing the podcast. It's monetizing your
37:29
social media. Now the podcast is part of the
37:31
delivery. Okay. The podcast is part of how you
37:34
deliver your ad. So I do a live read every single
37:37
time. Okay. That I do an episode of Power Man
37:39
podcast. I do a live read for my coffee sponsor.
37:42
You're right. Right. Real simple. Okay. Uh, I
37:45
mean, I can do it for you if you want. Sure.
37:47
Go ahead. Please. You have the voice for it.
37:49
And if you're a friend of the program, you know,
37:53
let me take a sip of my preserved, my preferred
37:55
beverage right here. And then I'll take a sip.
37:59
Oh, if you're a friend of the program, and I
38:00
know you are, then you know what we're drinking.
38:02
That's right. It's Freedom Hill Coffee. Add Freedom
38:04
Hill Coffee on Instagram, look them up and check
38:06
them out. Deep, dark, rich, bold, and beautiful.
38:08
Just like my wife. Folks, they do all the right
38:10
things for all the right reasons, and they support
38:12
veterans, which is one of the things that we
38:13
love the most. If you're a veteran out there,
38:15
I want to thank you and your family for everything
38:17
you've done. Because if you're out there doing
38:19
what you're doing and sacrificing, folks, I don't
38:20
even get to speak on this podcast. And I know
38:23
because they've tried to shut me down before.
38:24
Folks, if you're a veteran and you found a home
38:26
here, we love you, and we're glad you're here.
38:28
So does Freedom Hill Coffee. Look them up and
38:30
check them out at Freedom Hill Coffee and Instagram
38:32
and tell them Power of Man sent you. Let me get
38:34
one more sip of this before I talk to this young
38:36
buck on the other side of the screen from me.
38:39
You're a natural. You are a natural. Yeah, dude,
38:43
I'm telling you, there are so many ways to monetize
38:45
it. I didn't know this is what we're going to
38:46
talk about today, but I love it. So, you know,
38:48
hey, look, I like to let the conversation go
38:51
wherever it goes. How did podcasting find you?
38:58
Because I know you had mentioned you were in
38:59
the corporate world prior to podcasting. You
39:02
had mentioned a near -death experience in the
39:05
ER. So can you... I know. Can you give me that
39:12
story? Can you work up to how you got into the
39:15
podcasting space and why? What motivated you?
39:19
Sure, man. I was in real estate. So there's two
39:23
different answers to that question, but I'll
39:24
go fast. I was in real estate for a long time,
39:27
owned my own company, five offices in two states.
39:29
We were doing great. 2008 hit us. We spent the
39:32
next five years trying to survive and watching
39:35
it just die in front of us. And unfortunately
39:38
we lost everything. And I mean everything. I
39:42
rebounded, came back, worked multiple jobs. It's
39:45
all kind of a long story, but bottom line is
39:48
we made it back. And a lot of me making it back
39:51
was I moved into public speaking. When I owned
39:53
my own companies, I put together training programs
39:56
for real estate and things like that. And so
39:59
I created seminars that I would do for my own
40:02
agents. And then I started going to other offices
40:05
and charging them money to train their people
40:08
on how to do it. And so I sort of became a public
40:10
speaker. Then I branched out to different states
40:13
and started building that business. And then,
40:15
of course, everybody's favorite, you know, incident
40:17
hit and public speaking got shot down, you know,
40:23
roughly six years ago when, you know, all that
40:25
stuff happened. Yeah. And then COVID is what
40:28
you're talking about, everybody. I was going
40:29
to say, I don't know if you want to talk about
40:30
it on your podcast, because you make a shadow
40:31
band as soon as you use the word. Yeah, no, it's
40:34
fine. It was a big thing that happened. I've
40:36
talked about COVID before, yeah. Okay. I'm just
40:38
making sure. Some people are sensitive about
40:40
it. I was trying to be courteous to you, brother.
40:42
If they don't know it's real, then that's their
40:44
problem. COVID got hit. hit us and that all got
40:48
shut down. And so I was like, Hey, all right,
40:50
here we go. What are we going to do? And I decided
40:52
to listen into another podcast that I was listening
40:55
to. The guy was like, here, here's how to start
40:56
your own movement for this. Uh, you know, it
40:59
was helping men at the time and here's how you
41:01
do this. And I went, all right, you know what?
41:02
I really should be doing this. And my wife said,
41:04
you'd be great at a podcast. You got a great
41:06
voice, blah, blah, blah. And I went, well, all
41:07
right, we'll see. Cause I didn't really relish
41:10
the idea of just sitting there and talking to
41:11
a mic at the time. I mean, I was used to talking
41:14
to lots of people and being real. and, you know,
41:17
giving this presentation thing. And, but I said,
41:20
all right, we're going to try it. And, you know,
41:21
so I ordered the mic and everything else and
41:23
then I left it sitting in a box for like six
41:25
months and I was like, yeah, I'll get to it.
41:27
I'll get to it. And I was doing other stuff.
41:29
My wife, I'm sitting there talking to her one
41:31
night in our living room and she looks at me
41:33
and she goes, you know what? Just stop. Why don't
41:34
you just go record something? Just do it. Okay.
41:40
Okay, hon. That's the secret. So I went down
41:43
to my basement office at the time and, uh, you
41:46
know, fired it all up, plugged it all in, did
41:48
my first episode. It was awful. You can't even
41:50
hear it. I was like, all right, so what happened
41:52
here? Fixed a couple of things, did it again.
41:54
It was much better the second time. Uh, still
41:57
terrible, but much better. And I could hear it.
42:00
And I went, you know what? Publish episode one.
42:03
And we, we went from there. After I kept doing
42:06
it, I found that I really did love it. And so
42:08
I tried other podcasts. I tried to branch out.
42:10
We made some other forays trying to do some things.
42:14
Had some projects that were near misses. I tried
42:17
to do an impact recruiting podcast once where
42:21
I was going to talk to college coaches and athletes
42:26
trying to get into college and kind of put those
42:27
guys together. Really didn't come together. Ended
42:31
up canning that thing after about 15 episodes.
42:33
So that was gone. Tried some other stuff. Why
42:36
did it not work? That one? Why did that one not
42:38
work? The coaches didn't understand what I was
42:43
trying to do. And they were like, I don't want
42:45
to be featured on your podcast. Get out of here.
42:47
And I'm like, you don't really get what I'm doing
42:49
here. I'm trying to put your message out so that
42:51
athletes who are listening to this will. we'll
42:53
see you and then the athletes were all about
42:56
it because they were like I'm getting featured
42:57
on a podcast is great and the parents were all
42:59
like what is it you're really trying to do you
43:01
know and so I'd be interviewing the kid parent
43:03
be sitting there at the table looking at me like
43:04
what's your angle buddy you know I was like comfortable
43:08
really it's a podcast yeah and I mean even some
43:11
friends of mine Like their kid was a top recruit
43:13
and I'm interviewing him and the mom is looking
43:15
at me like, you know, Rory, I just don't understand
43:16
what you're doing right now. And I think you're
43:18
up to something. I'm just trying to get the message
43:20
out there. Are you joking? There's no charge
43:22
for this. I'm not, I mean, what in the world?
43:25
Um, there was so much distrust with the whole
43:27
thing. I went, I don't, I don't need this in
43:30
my life. I'm doing great with the other podcast.
43:32
I'm out. So kind of threw that one away. Um,
43:35
but you know, you do that, you start stuff, you
43:37
try it, you throw it against the wall. If it
43:38
doesn't stick, you can it, you move on. And I
43:40
think everybody gets so worked up like, Oh no,
43:42
what if it fails? So what then do something else
43:46
or try a different podcast. If it fails, it fails.
43:48
Throw the garbage, hit record and do it again.
43:51
Yeah. And you learn, you learn. Really? You'll
43:55
either learn how to do this thing better when
43:58
you fail or you'll learn that it's not for you
44:01
and you'll do something else. So there's really
44:03
no harm to failing. That's something that I'm
44:05
continually trying to learn is that it is okay
44:08
to fail. Like you learn more from failing than
44:10
you do succeeding, so. Yeah, but that's how I
44:13
got into the business. You know, the whole near
44:15
-death thing, it was my second near -death experience,
44:19
unfortunately. Jesus Christ. Tell me why you're
44:23
almost dying, Roy. I had probably all the coffee,
44:25
brother. Yeah, that'll do it. Give you a heart
44:28
attack, you know? This one was not on me, really.
44:34
Well, it was on me. I mean, I let it go, but
44:36
this was not me trying to take my own life or
44:39
anything like that. It was years ago, several
44:43
years ago, and I was working. I was doing podcasting,
44:46
still part -time, but doing a lot. And I'm really
44:50
turning it into a business while I was doing
44:51
it. And then I was working a full -time job,
44:53
you know, which full -time for me was 60 hours
44:55
a week, you know, in a sales role. And I was
44:59
killing myself. And basically it was like, I
45:01
started just feeling bad all the time. And I'm
45:03
like, all right, what's going on? And I'd feel
45:05
like I had real bad flu. And then I'd have a
45:07
week or two of, oh, okay, I'm past it. And then
45:08
it would all come back. And after like, you know,
45:10
six or eight months, I'm going, why do I keep
45:12
losing this and having to come back? What am
45:14
I doing? you know, that makes me keep getting
45:16
sick again. It's not like I'm, you know, in nursery
45:18
school all day, you know, or something with kids
45:20
with germs running around. Um, so I was like,
45:23
I didn't, I didn't get it. Um, well then one
45:25
time it got real bad and I couldn't shake it
45:28
and it got worse and worse and worse. And I'm
45:30
sitting there with my wife on a Friday night
45:31
and, uh, timing it almost like, you know, we,
45:34
we timed her contractions when she had the kid.
45:36
It was like, they're getting shorter and shorter
45:38
and shorter. And I'm like, hon, I'm timing this.
45:41
If I don't, if this keeps up, maybe another,
45:44
10, 15 minutes, I'm not gonna be breathing. And
45:47
she's like, are you kidding me? And I said, no,
45:48
we gotta go. And so she threw me in the truck
45:51
and she drove and she broke like 15 laws and
45:54
she got me in the emergency room faster than
45:56
any ambulance possibly could have. I walked in
45:59
the doorman and I remember it like it was yesterday.
46:02
I walked in, the door is open. I'm reaching like
46:04
this for the receptionist and she's asking me
46:07
for my insurance card or something, passed out,
46:09
boom, on the floor. I'm out. That was it. I couldn't
46:12
breathe. I couldn't take them to breath. I actually
46:15
thought I was done. I'm like, wow, this is what
46:17
it's like to suffocate to death. And I hit the
46:19
ground. Yeah. I woke up with, you know, stuff
46:22
sticking out of me and everything else. And they
46:24
were, you know, had kind of brought me back and,
46:26
and that wasn't even the near death part. What's
46:29
the near death part? My God, you're describing
46:32
all this and it's just, it sounds awful already.
46:35
It was awful. It turns out I had been carrying.
46:38
a really horrible pneumonia for over a year.
46:42
My left lung was totally full of fluid and frozen
46:45
around the outside with the fluid that was literally
46:49
like frozen into like a gel or something. And
46:51
my right lung was about halfway done. So I had
46:54
been operating on half a lung. out of two full
46:56
ones. And it was just getting worse and worse
46:59
to the point where the half a lung couldn't carry,
47:00
you know, my frame anymore, couldn't, you know,
47:03
keep me moving. And, um, and I had no idea. So
47:06
they tried four or five different procedures
47:08
to like sort of vacuum it out and clean me up.
47:11
They couldn't get it. It was too bad, too much,
47:14
too frozen, too everywhere. And so the doctor
47:18
finally came to me after like three weeks in
47:20
the hospital trying all these different things.
47:21
And he said, listen, we're at our wits end. We
47:24
have one thing left to do. Um, and it's this
47:26
big, huge surgery. We're going to cut into you
47:28
this gigantic, um, you know, wound. Uh, they
47:32
cut into me in my back and, you know, it was,
47:36
it looked like a big, you know, huge shark bite.
47:38
look like a great white tried to eat my shoulder.
47:41
Yeah. Uh, so that's what it looks like in my
47:43
back, but they, they cut me open and pulled everything
47:45
out ribs in a whole bit and vacuumed out my lung
47:49
and then tried to get it restarted. And they
47:52
gave me about a 20 % chance of making it. And
47:56
that is terrible. So how the hell are you still
48:01
here? I don't know. Um, I really shouldn't be
48:05
here. today. I'm not even joking because, you
48:08
know, you get, take a guy who's, you know, 50
48:10
years old plus who has been beaten the heck out
48:13
of his body for years. He's exhausted. He's living
48:16
on coffee. He's working double shifts, you know,
48:18
that guy does not go in with a 20 % chance to
48:20
come out the other side and make it. He just
48:22
doesn't. So I went into it thinking that was
48:24
it. And when I woke up, I was like, okay, if
48:28
this is heaven, this sucks. Right. Right. Yeah.
48:31
And I'm looking around and I'm like, did I actually
48:33
make it? Are you kidding me? And the doctor told
48:36
me later on, he said, I don't really know how
48:39
you did this, but brother, you have the heart
48:41
of a Clydesdale. And I was like, you're kidding.
48:45
He goes, no. He said, you have one of the strongest
48:47
hearts I've ever seen in my life. And they just
48:49
plowed you right through everything. And I went,
48:52
well, all right, that sounds like a Disney movie
48:53
almost, so I'll take it. Right? Wow. So you have
48:58
a new lease on life and what do you do with it?
49:00
You're drinking 20 cups of coffee a day. Dude,
49:02
let me tell you, let me tell you. When you're
49:05
recovering for three weeks in the hospital and
49:08
you've watched every rerun of Welcome Back Cotter
49:10
and Big Bang Theory that you possibly can watch
49:13
on the hospital television, you're sitting there
49:15
quietly at night talking to your wife. My wife
49:17
never left my side. She was there the entire
49:19
time, slept in the room. And you have a lot of
49:23
talks. You have a lot of talks about everything
49:25
in your life. And I, that was a big decision
49:27
point for me because I came out of that and I
49:29
said, I'm never working for anybody else again.
49:31
I don't know how much longer I have on this planet,
49:33
but I'm going to do what I love. I'm going to
49:35
keep finding ways to make money at it. I'm going
49:37
to, you know, this is going to be my business.
49:39
I'm not spending another day doing something
49:41
I don't want to do. And she said, let's do it
49:44
for as long as we got. And that was years ago.
49:47
Yeah. That's it. And it's sad that it typically
49:52
takes a near -death experience for people to
49:54
realize that, but yeah, that's what happens.
49:55
Once you literally are reminded that life is
50:00
short, then yeah, that's how you take control
50:03
of it. Right in my face, man. The the lesson
50:06
so the lesson is for those of you listening find
50:09
yourself in your death experience And then you'll
50:13
find that oh, yeah, you definitely should do
50:15
skydiving full -time for a living which is also
50:17
a near -death experience But if it's what you
50:19
want to do and it's safe then do it Don't wait
50:22
till it's too late, man We got to do three delicious
50:28
questions because I know we're running out of
50:29
time soon so Yeah, what's a delicious meal you've
50:33
had lately, Rory? Most delicious meal ever in
50:35
my entire life is chicken manicotti that I make
50:38
myself on my own recipe that I created. Nothing's
50:41
ever, ever touched it. Really? And how, like,
50:45
what's the foundation for this recipe? How did
50:47
you find it? How did you discover that it was
50:48
for you? I just created it one day. I'm not even,
50:51
not even joking. I'm a really good cook. And
50:54
so it's one of those things where I took a whole
50:55
bunch of different principles and I said, what
50:57
if I did like all these different, really tasty
50:59
things and combinations, put them all together
51:02
and made this chicken. you know mix with like
51:05
peppers and mushrooms and and i like pulverized
51:07
all the the vegetables and stuff and you know
51:10
diced them all up so small you can barely taste
51:11
them but the flavors there and it's in and it's
51:13
all meshed with the chicken and maybe i put a
51:15
little cream cheese in with it and then you make
51:16
sure you got this special sauce which i make
51:18
by itself all over here this is a big huge production
51:22
when i make it it takes the whole day um but
51:24
every single piece of it is homemade except the
51:26
cream cheese i mean i don't go churning that
51:27
i do buy it philadelphia cream cheese helps me
51:29
out with that one but everything else is homemade
51:32
you pack it into a manicotti shell and you cover
51:34
it and more sauce and you know Maybe a meatball
51:37
or sausage or something else and then you put
51:39
some cheese on the top and man That is just the
51:41
best meal in the world. How many years has this
51:45
recipe been with you? Created it when I was in
51:48
my 20s. So it's been around for a couple of decades
51:50
Yeah, and nothing has matched it since no that
51:54
no better meal since no I mean it honestly there's
51:57
nothing that has that perfect Oh my god. And
52:01
I've eaten a lot of food, man. You know, I'm
52:02
not skinny. Wow. And I've got to try this meal
52:06
because like to have that one recipe that you've
52:09
made for 30 years and know that there's no other
52:13
meal that can match this. For 30 years, that's
52:16
a lot of meals. Hasn't topped it yet, man. I'm
52:19
wide open too because I'm not like, oh, nothing's
52:21
ever going to break my record or beat my manicotti.
52:22
I'm like, I would love to have a meal that's
52:25
better than my manicotti that I don't have to
52:27
spend a whole day making. Haven't found it yet.
52:30
Wow. Just have it, man. That's all me. I'm telling
52:32
you right now. That is insane. Oh my God. I'll
52:35
send you the recipe, you know. Please, please.
52:38
I cannot wait to get that. You're a delicious
52:41
pop culture obsession. This is a TV show, movie,
52:43
book, podcast, play, music, just anything you're
52:45
watching or listening to that you want to share
52:47
with us that you're loving. I know. I was ready
52:48
for that question, man. And I tell you, it's
52:50
so tough because like I have a series that I
52:53
just like love and I watch all the time. But
52:55
then there's a group of movies that I was raised
52:57
on and I'm like, okay, you know, where am I going
52:59
to be? What's really the answer to this question
53:02
that John's going to ask me? And I have to just
53:04
go with the... Yeah, it's a tough one because
53:08
they're so close, but I've got to go with the
53:12
Rocky genre from start to finish. Oh, the Rocky
53:17
movies, so Investor Stone. Yep, Sylvester Stallone,
53:19
the Rocky movies from start to finish. I grew
53:22
up on them. I didn't really have a dad. The one
53:25
I had was awful. So, I mean, that's kind of been
53:28
like my father figure. I learned about life from
53:30
that. I learned about, you know, not giving up,
53:32
how to battle back, you know, everything, dude.
53:36
I mean, that probably helped raise me, those
53:38
movies. And they're still going on. I mean, now
53:41
there's one that says, you know, I play Rocky
53:43
coming out. Seriously? Oh, yeah. Sylvester Stallone's
53:46
making a movie about him making Rocky. Dude,
53:50
I'm telling you, it's my whole life. Anything
53:52
with Stallone in it is like just my thing. So,
53:55
you know, that's my pop culture stuff, bro. Because
53:57
last I checked the Creed movie franchise with
54:00
Michael B. Jordan and originally Sylvester Stallone,
54:03
but I know there were some creative differences
54:04
and Sylvester Stallone dropped out. I thought
54:06
that was the last iteration of Rocky, but Sylvester
54:09
is still trying to cash in on this and he's now
54:12
making a... documentary about how he made Rocky,
54:16
or a movie about him. Wait, tell me what it's
54:20
about again. There are two different documentaries
54:22
that have come out in the last couple of years.
54:23
Both are about him and his life and how he did
54:25
a lot of different things. He has a documentary
54:27
about him and his family. He also has a very,
54:29
very popular series called Tulsa King, which
54:32
is on. I've heard of that, yeah. Right, and I've
54:33
seen every episode of that at least. three or
54:36
four times, each one, for sure. But he also is
54:39
now coming out with a movie where another guy
54:41
plays him. He's not actually in the movie as
54:44
himself. It's a guy who, you know, I guess really
54:46
does kind of pull off being Rocky. But it's the
54:49
story of Sylvester Stallone playing Rocky and
54:52
building the movie and how everywhere he went,
54:54
you know, with the movie, everybody wanted someone
54:55
else to be the Rocky guy. And he said, no, I
54:57
play Rocky. I'm Rocky." They were like, nobody
55:00
wanted to give him any money or any backing for
55:02
him to be the star. They just wanted to buy his
55:04
screenplay because it was written so well. He's
55:08
insisted. He's like, no, I play Rocky. He gave
55:11
up all kinds of money, all kinds of stuff. He
55:13
even had to sell his dog at one point. It's a
55:16
really cool story. Sell his dog? Wait, what?
55:19
He had to give up his dog for money? Yeah. Butkus,
55:23
the dog from the movies was actually his dog.
55:25
He had to sell him. Um, that's where he got the
55:28
idea for the pet shop, uh, and Adrian and all
55:31
that kind of stuff. And I don't know if you've
55:32
seen the movies, but, uh, and number two. Yeah.
55:35
And so that's where all that came from, uh, was
55:37
because he actually had to sell the dog and the
55:40
lady, you know, kind of helped them out. She
55:41
put the dog up for sale for a lot more than what
55:43
the dog was worth. Nobody bought them and she,
55:46
and he could buy her back. So he went back when
55:48
he finally got some money and bought the dog
55:49
back, you know, and it was, uh, kind of a big,
55:51
big turning point in his life. So he had every
55:54
reason in the world to take the money and run.
55:55
And he said, no. I play Rocky. What was the dollar
55:58
figure on that dog when he sold it and bought
56:01
it back, I wonder. I don't know that, man. I
56:04
probably have it in one of my books about him,
56:05
but I don't know. Yeah, I'll have to look at
56:07
that up at some point. But yeah, no, no. I mean,
56:09
the first Rocky movie, phenomenal. Second one,
56:12
phenomenal. I think both those first two was
56:14
when he was fighting Apollo Creed. The third
56:18
one I think was with Mr. T, wasn't it? Third
56:20
one's Mr. T. Yeah. Yeah. Fourth one was the Russian.
56:23
Um, so I think like the consensus seems to be
56:26
like the first four Rocky movies were great.
56:30
The fifth one was something else. Did you like
56:32
the fifth one? Fifth one never should have been
56:34
made. Yeah. Cause like he was, cause Rocky was
56:37
like, he was mentoring some young kid. Um, I,
56:40
I only watched it once. I don't even know if
56:42
I finished it, but it was Tommy Morrison. Yeah.
56:44
Who was John Wayne's nephew and it's awful. It
56:47
was really awful. He's apologized for making
56:49
like a million times. We all make mistakes, man.
56:51
We've had episodes that we wish we could have
56:53
back. So I forgive him because everything else
56:55
he's done is so fantastic. I forgive Rocky V.
56:58
Right. So I think those first five movies were
57:00
like the 70s through like the early 90s and then
57:03
cut to like 2006 where he makes Rocky Balboa.
57:06
And that was a moving movie. I just thought that
57:09
he went like nice and deep and interesting with
57:12
that one. I went to college in Philadelphia for
57:14
a few semesters. So I got to go to the Philly
57:16
Museum of Art and be with the Rocky statue. That
57:18
was a great moment. Got to take a picture with
57:19
that. And then what did you think of the Creed
57:22
movies? Did you like the Creed movies with Michael
57:23
B. Jordan and Sylvester? They were okay. Um,
57:27
I mean, I didn't hate him or anything. I'm not
57:29
like a lot of folks where we're just hating on
57:31
it all. Um, it was just so different, you know
57:33
what I mean? And, um, I like how they started
57:36
it and I think it probably should have spun off
57:39
sooner, um, into its own thing because it really
57:42
could have been a great story. I thought Michael
57:44
B. George was great in it. I mean, of all things,
57:47
he was great. so but I think the story needed
57:50
to be a little different it needed to kind of
57:52
like take him you know here's one story with
57:54
with Sylvester that's great but then you need
57:55
to just break off and do a whole different boxing
57:58
more modern you know thing but they just kind
58:01
of hung on to everything a little too long I
58:03
think and it was okay wasn't great it was okay
58:06
all right all right I'll take that I think I've
58:09
seen the first two but I haven't seen a third
58:10
one yet which might have been the last and Appropriately
58:13
enough the trilogy last question before we let
58:15
you go. What is a delicious thing? That's happened
58:17
in your life lately Goodness gracious I mean
58:20
there's so many and I think the easy thing to
58:22
do is to kind of go with like, you know birth
58:23
your kids or something, you know in terms of
58:25
that but I Recently found out I have a second
58:29
grandkid coming and my first grandkid is coming
58:31
next month Wow, so recently I found out that
58:34
I'm going to be a grandfather to to kids and
58:37
I know one of them at least already as a boy
58:39
and the other one a little too early to find
58:41
out. I don't know if you can beat that with any
58:44
other thing. Probably not. I found out last night
58:47
from my youngest son that they're pregnant and
58:50
the whole bit. And kind of from what I've observed,
58:54
it seems like when you're a parent, of course,
58:57
you're going to do that thing of like, all right,
58:58
I'm going to discipline my kid, teach him all
59:00
the good morals. You're on high alert. But it
59:05
seems like when you become a grandparent, then
59:07
your shoulders kind of are relaxed and you're
59:11
like, all right, this is not my responsibility.
59:13
I want to spoil the kid and give him gifts and
59:15
visit them. Is that kind of the mindset you're
59:18
taking on as a grandparent or an upcoming grandparent?
59:21
Or are you like, you think you have to be on
59:23
high alert, like, no, I got to, you know, treat
59:25
this as if this was my kid. All right. No, most
59:29
of the time I tell people, yes, that's how I
59:32
am. Well, I'm just looking forward to having
59:33
fun between you and the fence post. And I don't
59:35
mind saying on the podcast, I know my sons and
59:38
there are a couple of goofballs. So I'm still
59:41
going to be dead looking over the shoulder going
59:43
seriously, that's how you're raising this kid.
59:46
You know, and when they get in the little league,
59:48
I'm going to be like, I need to at least be your
59:51
defensive coach over here. No, because there
59:52
needs to be some semblance of a grownup in this
59:56
mix. No, my, my boys are fantastic young men
59:59
and they're going to take care of everything
1:00:00
just fine. And I'll never be out of the dad mode
1:00:03
a hundred percent. I'm sure just for them and
1:00:06
everything to have us do with them. But I am
1:00:09
looking forward to having a little more fun.
1:00:10
And my wife is absolutely. I'm gonna make sure
1:00:14
that she grabs me by the ear and goes, come on,
1:00:15
not your kid, let's go. Pulls me into a little
1:00:19
Italian wife, man. She's gonna pull me right
1:00:20
along and make sure that I behave and that I
1:00:23
just enjoy being a grandfather. So that's the
1:00:25
goal. Yes. All right. Well, congratulations to
1:00:27
you. I cannot wait to see grandfather Rory in
1:00:31
action. Thank you so much for being on the show,
1:00:33
man. This was great. And please plug away. Please
1:00:36
remind people like... where they can find you.
1:00:39
I mean, obviously every podcast on earth you're
1:00:41
going to be on, so just list every podcast on
1:00:44
the planet and let them know to find you there.
1:00:47
No, listen, the best place to find me, honestly,
1:00:50
for all my stuff I do, all the podcasts, everything
1:00:51
else, is just look me up on Facebook. I'm an
1:00:53
old guy. That's where I'm at. And I do all my
1:00:56
work through there. We have a ton of followers
1:00:58
and views and everything else there. Folks, just
1:01:00
look me up. It's my name, at RoryPodcat on Facebook.
1:01:03
It's an open account, public, and I try and put
1:01:06
motivation. stuff up there every day in case
1:01:08
anybody's listening. And that's the best way
1:01:10
to reach me and find out anything going on in
1:01:12
my life. All right. Wonderful. I got a friend
1:01:14
of you there if I haven't yet. So please do.
1:01:17
That'll be something to do. All right. Thank
1:01:19
you, Roy. For those of you listening and watching,
1:01:21
as always, The Delicious Culture with Jon Francois.
1:01:24
Follow it wherever you get your podcasts. Apple,
1:01:26
Spotify, SiriusXM, iHeart, Amazon, et cetera.
1:01:28
If you like the podcast, please rate and review
1:01:30
on Apple and Spotify. I think that still helps.
1:01:33
Does it still help, Roy? Does it still matter?
1:01:34
It still helps. Okay, great. Awesome. Email the
1:01:37
delicious culture at gmail .com with any questions,
1:01:40
concerns, comments, feedback. Follow us on Instagram
1:01:42
and TikTok at the delicious culture and subscribe
1:01:45
on YouTube at the delicious culture. John Francois,
1:01:48
John Francois spelled J O N F R A N C O I S.
1:01:53
All right, we got to do this again. Thank you.
1:01:55
Thank you. Thank you. And I know you're probably
1:01:56
have you got it. You got another recording to
1:01:58
run off to right? That's that's what it's like.
1:02:00
I do. You're right. All right. So with that being
1:02:05
said, everybody, let's deliciousness ring.