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Your Podcast Is Undefeated...BUT NOBODY CARES · Your Mic

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  Your podcast is undefeated. All knockouts. Everybody in the group chat says you're a genius.
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  Mommy shares every single episode. Your friends tell you, bro, this is better than half the stuff
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  on Spotify. Congratulations. You are Adonis Creed beating up guys in Mexico.
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  Hey, it's Freddy Cruz. Welcome back to your mic, a podcast for new and aspiring podcast hosts,
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  and we are going to go there. One of my favorite all-time movies, my daughter and I, my wife and I,
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  we love watching Creed, the first one. Now in Creed, Donnie, Adonis, he's 15 to no,
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  mostly fighting in little clubs in Tijuana, knocking out local fighters. He's talented. He's hungry,
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  but the level is what it is. I mean, come on, it's, it's Tijuana. Then he walks into a gym in Philly,
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  full of pros and decides to prove himself. He calls out Danny Wheeler, a legit heavyweight,
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  embeds his Mustang that nobody can land a clean headshot on him. Two minutes later, he's on his ass,
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  head rattled, car, gone, ego, taxed. That's the scene the podcast universe plays on repeat for hosts
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  who think 15 local knockouts means they're ready for the entire world. Let's talk about that for a
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  second, because you might be a big fish in a small pond. That's okay, though. You're the only
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  podcast in a teeny tiny niche. Your top of some minor chart, nobody really checks. You're famous
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  at one co-working space and in one slack community. That's your Mexico. But then you wander into the
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  global arena, the podcast universe and you realize there are shows with better storytelling,
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  sharper production, more discipline hosts, and deeper audience obsession. Suddenly,
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  you're 15 and no, doesn't mean much. Does it? In the movie, when Donnie gets cooked by Wheeler,
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  a little Duke basically tells him, yo, you had to learn the hard way. That's not cruelty. That's
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  is how leveling up works. So here's your first gut punch. If your show has never been humbled,
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  you're probably still in Mexico. Humility moment number two, public loss. And boy, do I personally know
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  about losing in public over and over and over again. But back to Donnie. He doesn't lose the car
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  in private. He lost it in front of everybody at the gym. Guys laughed. Cameras were out the car.
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  It was his flex. And I'm really sorry about spoiling this movie if you haven't seen it, but come
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  on. It's actually kind of old. So deal with it. But anyways, that car that he lost, it was his
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  identity. And now it belongs to the guy who just bounced his head off the canvas. And in podcasting,
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  public losses look like this. Dropping an episode you thought was brilliant and watching it
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  underperform brutally. Been there, done that. Landing a big guest and then fumbling the interview.
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  So badly you wins, listening back. Been there, done that. Launching a new format and realizing
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  the audience doesn't care. Been there, done that. Now, you can hide some of it. You can. You can
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  quietly remove episodes, bury mistakes over at a pretend nothing ever happened. But then what's
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  going to happen is you stay small. At some point, if you actually want to fight in a higher weight
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  class, you're going to have to let people see you get punched. Then here comes Rocky.
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  Donnie goes to Philly tracks down Rocky Balboa and asks him to train him. Rocky wants nothing to do
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  with it. At first, he's done. He's tired. He's buried his wife, his best friend, his era. It's all
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  over. But Donnie does not want to be saved. He wants coaching. He wants he needs somebody to tell
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  him. He's not as good as he thinks he is. And then show him how to become as good as he thinks he
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  is. So what does Rocky do? Rocky strips him down to the basics. Footwork, breathing, conditioning,
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  chasing chickens. You know what I'm talking about if you've seen the OG Rocky movies, right?
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  Staring at himself in the mirror and punching the version of him that doesn't believe you belongs
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  there. Now what does quote unquote Rocky training look like for your show? I can tell you what it's
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  not. It's not new gear. It's not a new logo. It's not a new tagline. What it is is learning how to
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  ask better follow ups. Cutting 20% of your rambling from every episode. And I mean from every
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  episode. It's writing hooks that make it impossible to scroll past your clip. It's building a real
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  relationship with your audience instead of yelling into the void. Back to basics is not glamorous.
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  It's you. It's a mic and the uncomfortable realization that the problem isn't discoverability.
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  It's that when people discover you, you're not undeniable yet. Now let's talk about the fight
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  you will lose at the end of Creed. Donnie fights pretty Ricky Conlin. The world expects a massacre.
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  Instead, a Donnis Creed shocks Conlin by taking the fight to him and knocking him down for the
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  first time in his career. Conlin, whether's the storm, drops Donnie hard and it looks like it's
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  over, but Donnie hauls himself off the canvas and goes the distance. Now here's where it's a real
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  spoiler alert. Again, sorry, not sorry. A Donnis loses the fight by split decision. Conlin keeps the
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  belt, but he wins the night. The crowd is chanting Donnie's name. Max Kellerman literally says on
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  air, Ricky Conlin won the fight, but a Donnis Creed won the night. And that's where most serious
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  podcasters live. You're not winning the fight on paper. You don't have the biggest show in your
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  niche yet. You're not on the biggest stages yet. But in the small places that actually matter,
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  listeners trust you. Guests walk away feeling seen. Other creators, well, they know that if I go on
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  that show, I better bring my A game. You might be losing the fight right now, but you're winning the
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  night. So how do you apply Creed rules to your show? Rule number one, admit you're still in Mexico.
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  Look at your wins, honestly. Are you dominating a real ring or a tiny scene that's just happy
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  you showed up? Do your numbers look good because you're actually good or because you're comparing
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  yourself to people who barely train. This is not self hate, by the way. It's scouting. Rule number
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  two, go get punched in a bigger gym, metaphorically speaking, not literally. Okay. Now that's going to
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  mean pitching bigger guests who intimidate you. It's okay to be intimidated. Okay, I promise.
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  Submitting your show to festivals, awards, or critique panels, asking a creator you respect
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  to roast your last three episodes. You'll lose the Mustang and that's okay. Rule number three,
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  go get yourself a Rocky. Not a fan, not a cheerleader, definitely not mommy and dad, dad. Get yourself
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  a coach or a peer who's going to say you talk too much here. Your intros are weak. Your sound
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  is fine, but your questions, well, they suck. You can find them in online communities, masterminds
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  or just by trading feedback with other serious hosts. Rule number four, back to basics. For the next
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  four to six weeks, pick one. Just one, fundamental. It could be interviewing, storytelling, sound,
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  or hook writing. Build a mini training camp around it. We're talking books, courses, feedback loops,
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  deliberate practice. Creed doesn't beat Conlon. Remember, I spoiled the movie for you,
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  but he beats the version of himself that walked into that Philly gym thinking Mexico made him immortal.
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  You're doing the same thing when you take the L on a gimmicky format and go back to clean sharp
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  episodes when you kill a segment that doesn't work even though you love it. And when you accept
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  that the only way forward is more reps and better fundamentals. Rule number five, define your
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  quote unquote, win the night. If you only define winning as number one of my category or full-time
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  income or major sponsors, you're going to quit before the montage ends.
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  So decide is a win when a founder DMs you saying your episode stopped them from quitting?
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  Is it when a guest tells you it was their best interview all year and man? That feeling is
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  fantastic. Or is it when your tiny core audience shows up every single week no matter what?
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  Losing the fight but winning the night means the scoreboard doesn't have to validate your existence,
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  the work and the impact do. So here's your challenge. One, and answer this honestly, all right?
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  Where am I still in Mexico? Do you niche where competition is low? Do the metrics you brag about
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  really don't mean what you think they mean? Two, find one, Danny Wheeler moment you've been avoiding
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  something or some one that might humble you. Is it a room, a guest, critique or a arena where
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  you might get punched in the face metaphorically? Three, commit to one back to basics block.
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  30 days of focused improvement on a single skill, track it, treat it like a training camp.
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  There's a podcast I love listening to. It's hosted by Cody Sanchez. It's called The Big Deal
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  Podcast and she always says this one thing. It's something like what doesn't get measured,
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  can't get managed. Well, that applies to business and your podcast. And that's because the podcast
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  universe does not care about your record and friendly sparring. It cares whether when the bell rings
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  for a real fight, you can get off the canvas and keep swinging even if the belt goes to somebody else.
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  Look, you don't have to win every single fight. It'd be boring if you did actually,
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  but if you want to be Creed level, you damn well better win the night. And I could be a rocky
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  if you're down. All it takes is sending me an email at Freddy at SpeakPodcasting.com to get started.
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  And if you know of somebody who needs some Creed level training, who wants a Rocky Balboa,
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  please feel free to share this episode with them. Thank you for listening.