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How Rejection Built Speke Podcasting · Your Mic

0:00
Hey, it's Freddie Crews, heads up.
0:01
This episode of Your Mic is going to sound a bit different.
0:05
That's because instead of steering the conversation,
0:07
I am the one in the hot seat.
0:10
That's because my clients has them a med and Mac Neff
0:13
from Integrity Bank and hosts of Banking on Integrity
0:18
asked me to be on their show,
0:20
a speak podcasting client show that is.
0:22
We talked about bouncing back after life in the corporate space,
0:26
building something entirely new like speak podcasting
0:30
and why community matters more than ever.
0:33
If you enjoy this episode, please do me a favor
0:37
and head to their show,
0:38
Banking on Integrity, subscribe and binge listen.
0:43
I'll be glad you did.
0:50
This is Banking on Integrity,
0:52
a podcast that takes a deep dive
0:54
into Houston's entrepreneurial spirit.
0:56
You'll hear from business owners from across
0:59
various industries throughout the greater Houston area.
1:02
You'll learn what makes them tick,
1:04
how they bounce back from failure,
1:07
and what they're doing to drive Houston forward.
1:10
Up us spread the word by sharing the show
1:12
with your family and friends and by subscribing
1:14
on your favorite podcast platform.
1:16
My name is Hasam Ahmed.
1:18
My name is Mac Neff and we are the founders of Integrity Bank.
1:23
We're always banking on integrity.
1:31
Today I have the privilege of visiting with an individual
1:34
that we've gotten to know very quickly and Freddie,
1:40
that's the only name.
1:41
What is your full actual name?
1:43
Because I'm dying to hear,
1:45
I just can't believe anybody would name their child Freddie.
1:49
Alfredo Lopez, El Verado, the third.
1:52
No, nice.
1:55
That isn't real name.
1:57
But I do go, it's Alfred, not Alfredo,
1:59
and I go by Freddie because,
2:01
and that's a long story that we can get into,
2:03
probably bore your audience to tears,
2:04
but I go by Freddie because my grandpa went by Freddie
2:08
and I'm the third.
2:11
That's a good reason to do it because of somebody
2:14
that was in your life and very important
2:16
and being able to be named after.
2:19
That's very impressive.
2:21
Thank you.
2:22
Freddie is the principal of speak podcasting.
2:24
He is not a guest because he actually built the studio
2:27
that we were in both symbolically and physically.
2:31
He's been in the studio every single episode
2:33
that we've had the pleasure of recording,
2:35
Mack and I were talking and said,
2:37
how have we not done an episode with Freddie?
2:39
A is gratitude, B, to frankly share with you
2:42
how incredible over producer he is
2:44
and to make the world of podcasting seem a lot less
2:48
intimidating than it could be to our listeners
2:50
who don't have the pleasure of working
2:52
with the gentleman like him.
2:53
So Freddie, welcome to the studio again.
2:55
It is an absolute honor to be a part of your show
2:58
and I was telling Mack and I know that I've ridden this
3:02
in multiple emails, you'll get bored to tears,
3:04
me telling you that every time I'm around you
3:07
and your business partners,
3:08
it makes me want to be a better human.
3:10
And this is operating the roadcaster board
3:13
and going in, taking the memory card,
3:15
putting it in my Mac and chopping up the audio,
3:20
that's nothing, what you all have built here
3:22
in Integrity Bank and it's the truth
3:25
with all of our speak podcasting business partners
3:27
is that y'all have done all the hard work
3:30
and what I do and what my video team does,
3:33
that's the fun part and we get the fun part,
3:36
we get the easy part and what you all have done
3:38
is just it's incredible.
3:40
Well, thank you for that but more importantly,
3:42
what you're able to do for us is to be able to make
3:46
a better communication with people that we deal with
3:49
constantly and don't have the expertise that you do
3:53
to make it sound so perfectly consistent
3:57
and moves right along and so I thank you for that
4:01
and I guess the first question is
4:03
what got you initially motivated in wanting to do podcasting?
4:08
Speak podcasting should never even exist
4:12
and I'll tell you why.
4:13
At the end of 2021, I was approached with an offer,
4:19
if you will, you both know that I used to work on the radio
4:23
for a very popular radio station
4:26
and I wasn't for lack of a better term satisfied
4:29
with the offer and so this was around November
4:32
and I had walked out of the meeting
4:34
and didn't talk to my boss for a week
4:37
and we were great friends to the point
4:40
where I actually had a text message relationship
4:43
with her husband and to give you an idea of how close we were
4:46
and so I was hurt and sort of angered
4:49
and I told my wife that's okay because, you know,
4:54
I'm Freddie Cruz and I'm gonna find a job,
4:56
dang it, there were other words that were used
4:59
and well, November passes, December passes,
5:03
guess who didn't find a job?
5:05
The starry honey, happy new year,
5:07
I'm gonna find something by the end of January
5:09
February at the latest, Valentine's Day comes around.
5:13
Freddie's still unemployed.
5:15
March comes around, April comes around
5:17
and I pick up some freelance work
5:20
and I end up with a job interview
5:22
and this is hundreds later, gentlemen.
5:25
400, I lost count after 455 applications.
5:29
I had a handful of interviews,
5:32
a lot of form rejections.
5:34
I think I still have the folder on my desktop to remind me
5:37
of while I'll never work for somebody ever again
5:40
or even try and it was the last interview
5:43
that I decided, hmm, maybe I'm just cut out
5:48
to be an entrepreneur because I have handled
5:52
so much rejection and indifference
5:54
and when I go back to losing count at 455 applications,
5:59
I only got about 50 some odd rejections
6:01
so that's a lot of indifference and a handful of interviews
6:05
that think six or seven.
6:06
And so the last interview, the straw that broke
6:09
the camel's back was, it was a job that paid quite literally
6:17
a quarter of what I was making in my highest income year.
6:22
And so I was telling the big upstairs,
6:24
look, I'm humbling myself, I'll do anything.
6:26
I'm sorry, it was the ego, it was the ego, it was the ego.
6:30
I promise, look, this is me humbling myself
6:33
and I didn't get the job and I looked at
6:35
and I really wanted it too, by the way.
6:37
Not just because I want to work,
6:38
but because I really thought it was a great company.
6:41
That shall remain endless.
6:42
And so after I got the very nice rejection,
6:45
not a form rejection, very nice rejection letter
6:48
but how well the interview was, yada yada.
6:51
And I go on their website and I'm feeling really bitter
6:54
and poopy pants and I'm like, huh, I can do all that.
6:57
Well, I can do that.
6:59
Well, I can do, wait a minute.
7:02
And so then that was the first iteration of what I do.
7:06
And so yeah, that's, what month was it?
7:09
That was April, April, I said April earlier,
7:13
I think it was April, maybe May, when I decided.
7:16
And so I had an author website
7:18
because I was toying around with writing
7:20
while I was on the radio and it was just,
7:22
it was a place for my fiction books
7:24
and so I'm like, all right,
7:26
if I'm gonna be serious about this,
7:27
I need to retool my website completely,
7:30
make it about the business and what the offerings were.
7:33
And so that was that.
7:34
And so the first iteration was Freddie, Cruz,
7:36
Creative, Works, Long, Boring Name.
7:40
And if the previous, you know, hindsight's always 2020,
7:45
that all the trouble I have finding a job,
7:50
it didn't teach me that, well, no one knows who you are
7:53
and creative works really means nothing.
7:56
And it's really long and it's a boring name.
7:58
And so at that time, and this is going back into 20,
8:03
oh, like nine months a year, a year later,
8:06
and I'm like, I need to really,
8:09
really think about what I'm doing here.
8:11
What's going right?
8:12
Oh, podcast production's going right.
8:14
And so I'm on a run about a half mile down,
8:17
down beller Boulevard in Richmond.
8:19
I'm like, well, podcasting, what are you doing?
8:22
So this is sort of the creative in me.
8:26
I'm like, all the words that are involved
8:28
with podcasting, talking, microphones, speaking,
8:31
speaking, sparrow, one of my dogs, Zeke, speak.
8:36
Oh, wow, it's a play on words.
8:37
It can be cute.
8:38
And well, I love dogs.
8:40
And well, Houston's homeless animal population
8:43
is miserable and that's on a good day.
8:47
So it's a purpose-driven podcast production company.
8:50
And so that was the birth of speak podcasting.
8:53
That was the current and second iteration of what we do.
8:58
Out of the two, you picked the right one.
9:00
Let me ask you this.
9:00
I want to go back before we talk about speak podcasting
9:03
and specificity.
9:05
You said, I realized, well, never work for anyone again.
9:08
Answer that question.
9:09
Why will Freddie Cruz never work for anyone again?
9:14
That was in my choice to make.
9:16
I think the job market decided that I was unhierable.
9:22
And so I'm just mirroring back to the job market.
9:26
That, OK, you don't want me.
9:29
Well, I guess I'm just going to have to put my own table
9:31
together if I, and this is coming from somebody
9:35
who's always been traditionally employed.
9:37
There's not an entrepreneurial bone in my body.
9:39
There just isn't.
9:40
I wasn't the kid that had a lemonade stand.
9:42
I wasn't flipping baseball cards when I was a teenager.
9:45
I didn't, you know, I wasn't mowing lawns for $30
9:47
to yard during the summer.
9:50
That just wasn't me.
9:52
I've always been the employee.
9:56
And I just didn't know it.
9:57
I didn't know it.
9:58
And for some of us, it takes longer than others.
10:01
There are some people.
10:02
You see the sort of cliche stories of the lawyer
10:05
who in her mid-30s decides that it's not for her
10:09
because she's hired of 20-hour days.
10:11
And she's building somebody's empire.
10:13
And now she's going to open up a bakery in New York.
10:17
I didn't learn that lesson until way later on in my life.
10:21
And so, again, I just, that choice wasn't mine to make.
10:27
How did you get your first podcast job?
10:31
Who was it in general, at least if you don't want
10:34
to mention the name, but just what was the business
10:36
or the entity that made you feel like, well, this was
10:40
a good day.
10:41
I was glad I did it.
10:43
My first podcast client was The Rose.
10:47
And they are currently our longest podcast client.
10:51
And this was right when I was like, OK, well,
10:55
I don't know how to, I don't know anything
10:57
about owning a business.
10:59
Again, remember, I'm a lifelong employee
11:02
all the way down to my first job at McDonald's.
11:04
I've only ever known to report to a boss, OK?
11:10
And so I'm like, all right, well,
11:11
I'm watching Alex Formosi one day on YouTube.
11:14
I'm like, OK, well, just start to reach out
11:16
to people on Facebook.
11:17
So I reached out to Dorothy Gibbons,
11:18
who's the co-founder and a very dear friend of mine.
11:21
And I'm like, hey, would you like to meet up for coffee?
11:25
And that works, except we didn't meet for coffee.
11:28
I'm paraphrasing the exchange here,
11:29
but she's like, Freddie, if you're
11:31
going to sell me something, you're going to come to me.
11:34
And so I went to her office with an,
11:36
and you all have seen the presentation.
11:38
I mean, it's not a template, but it's, OK,
11:42
it's a personalized template, sort of a presentation
11:46
with, here's what the Rose's podcast can look like,
11:48
just like you all saw what Integrity Banks podcast
11:51
could look like.
11:52
And so I go there with a deliberate plan of, hey,
11:54
this is what we can do for you.
11:56
You need a podcast.
11:57
And it must have been the win that I needed,
12:00
because her response was after all the talk about why
12:04
the Rose and he's a podcast, Freddie,
12:06
we've been wanting to have this for years.
12:08
And we just didn't know how.
12:10
I'm like, certainly this is not that easy.
12:15
For those who don't know, what's the Rose do?
12:17
It's an incredible nonprofit local organization
12:19
to tell everybody, Freddie, what impact
12:21
they've made on our city, which is incredible.
12:23
Yeah, so the Rose started in 1986,
12:25
and they provide mammograms at no cost
12:28
for the uninsured, in fact, three insured women
12:32
can go to the Rose, get their mammogram,
12:35
and it'll help one uninsured woman get screened.
12:38
You'll see their vehicles on the freeways, quite often,
12:41
when you're stuck in traffic, it's
12:43
a full of a lot of wonderful impact.
12:45
Like I said, on those who may not otherwise be able
12:49
to get screened, and frankly, the rest of them,
12:52
the insured are gonna need to get screened anyway,
12:54
so you may as well do it at a place
12:55
that makes that investment in others.
12:58
So that was the first one.
12:59
Did you feel like, at that point,
13:01
proof of concept, or were you still unsure
13:05
about what the road ahead looked like?
13:07
I felt 10 feet tall and bulletproof when I left that office.
13:10
And again, I really think that was the,
13:12
that was a win that I really needed,
13:14
because after that, it was a bunch of nose.
13:17
It was a bunch of nose, and I think I was probably
13:22
just pitching the wrong people.
13:23
And pitching, that's a whole thing too.
13:26
It's like, well, why are you pitching?
13:29
Why not build relationships?
13:31
And so I'm learning, this is a whole experiment.
13:35
This is, and I love having, I love having the business
13:40
and everything that goes with it.
13:42
Before this current recording,
13:45
we're talking what you were talking with,
13:48
Mr. Cheng Wu, and he was talking about
13:53
how he'll quit, I'm paraphrasing here,
13:55
but he'll quit when he's not,
13:57
when he doesn't wanna learn anymore.
13:59
It's a, having a business is a consistent,
14:01
it's constant learning process.
14:04
And he's right.
14:06
If you're not learning every day something about your business
14:08
or how to grow it, or how to nurture it,
14:10
or, oh, I'll never make that mistake again,
14:13
then what, what are we doing?
14:15
Well, from an entrepreneurial standpoint,
14:17
I would agree with you 100%.
14:19
And what it shows is that you are,
14:23
even though you didn't think you had it in you,
14:26
you were willing to be a risk taker.
14:28
And that is a huge plus for you,
14:33
and it does help you get through all of,
14:37
as you said, the huge amount of knows.
14:41
And at some point, when you start getting a lot of them,
14:44
it kinda makes your back get stronger and straighter,
14:48
and you go, I'll show you, I'll show you.
14:51
And then after maybe a hundred of, I'll show you,
14:55
you do get a little more humble,
14:56
and you go, well, maybe I've gotta change my presentation,
14:59
just a little bit.
15:01
And, but while you're doing it,
15:04
you had the comfort level of knowing,
15:07
you knew how to edit and do different things,
15:09
and I'm sure that has gotten better
15:11
each and every time you've done one.
15:14
Because I know, from my vantage point right now,
15:17
there's a whole bunch of what you said
15:19
that's gonna probably be edited out,
15:21
because you go, God, I didn't really say that then.
15:24
I will edit out whatever you want me to edit out.
15:28
You do an incredible job of your work,
15:30
certainly with us, we're honored.
15:32
Every time we have the pleasure of seeing you,
15:34
when you come by for a recording day,
15:35
Freddie, it really is a change of pace,
15:37
and change of tone in our mood,
15:39
and not just between Mack and I,
15:41
but frankly, everybody else, our guests that come in here,
15:44
you've been an incredible host,
15:46
and taught us how to be hosts.
15:47
So, really honored to have this conversation with you today.
15:50
So, I know you've got a banking relationship with us.
15:54
You have a continued representation with the Rose,
15:56
and what their focus is.
15:58
What other industries does speak podcasting represent
16:02
in the form of producing or being part of their production
16:06
on their particular podcast?
16:08
Can you name some others?
16:09
We have four doctors, three of them are MDs,
16:12
and one of them is, she's a scientist,
16:15
and she's Dr. Beatta Lerman,
16:17
who's a founder of Simless Streets, Cancer Survivor.
16:21
Doctor tells her, and no one's heard in terms of well,
16:24
sugar feeds cancer, so no more sugar,
16:27
and she's like, well, I love chocolate, so no,
16:31
no one's gonna tell me that I can't have chocolate,
16:33
so she went out and she created a sugar-free chocolate.
16:36
Incredibly delicious.
16:37
Yeah, very, very good, very, you don't miss the sugar one bit,
16:41
and so that's her business,
16:42
and her podcast is Heal Me with Chocolate.
16:46
And we have Dr. Eddie Patton Jr.,
16:50
who's a neurologist.
16:52
We have Dr. Angelist Stern,
16:54
who's one of our other longest clients,
16:56
and she's a facial plastic surgeon,
16:58
her show is Beauty Unveiled,
16:59
and we have Dr. Terry Ann Samuels,
17:01
who's the host of The Menopod.
17:03
She's a Euro-Gynecologist,
17:05
and yeah, so The Menopod is for women who refuse to pause.
17:09
Mm-hmm.
17:10
Oh, very nice.
17:12
Yeah, they named that, or were you influential in that?
17:15
Her husband named that.
17:17
Wow, her husband, yeah.
17:19
Talk about a lack of experience.
17:20
You know, we appreciate you working with us,
17:28
and creating the phrase, banking on integrity.
17:32
And I would love to say that,
17:34
husband, I came up with that,
17:36
but you were the creator of making that happen,
17:39
and it flows so very well and makes us let every episode
17:43
that we do kind of revert around people that are good people,
17:48
that understand what the word means,
17:51
and just try to be very positive,
17:53
and in the entrepreneurial business world of Houston,
17:57
to have more and more people that are just thinking
17:59
about doing things the right way.
18:01
And I think that it's a joy to me,
18:04
and everybody to be able to see people succeed,
18:07
and more importantly, doing it in the right way.
18:10
Absolutely.
18:12
I want to know what's your favorite thing,
18:14
and this is kind of me putting my interview hat on,
18:17
and I'd like to get an answer from each of you.
18:19
What is the one thing that you've learned
18:21
from your clients, your business partners,
18:24
who you have on your show?
18:25
What's the one thing that you've learned
18:27
that you can take into both your personal
18:29
and professional lives?
18:30
For me, as I just mentioned,
18:33
you get to know a little bit more about the people
18:36
you're dealing with on a daily basis,
18:38
when you're able to just sit down and start talking,
18:41
and asking questions from each of us
18:44
about how human every individual is,
18:49
and how vulnerable they were at some point
18:53
in their career, their personal life, or whatever,
18:57
as far as a failure in one business,
19:00
and it took two or three more,
19:01
or there was a death in a family,
19:04
and you realize how deep down and human everybody is,
19:09
that you don't deal with on that daily basis,
19:12
it's more of a business,
19:14
but we try to feel like everybody that walks into our bank
19:18
is part of our integrity family,
19:21
but what I'm always amazed with,
19:23
even though I know of them for possibly many years,
19:27
at the end of a podcast, I go,
19:29
wow, I didn't know that about them,
19:30
and I'm so thrilled that we had the podcast,
19:33
because I know a little bit more about them.
19:36
I couldn't agree with everything you just said anymore,
19:39
but frankly, maybe in a little bit of a different angle,
19:41
I would say, also, we're in such a rush in life,
19:45
and everything is a bullet point,
19:48
and my bio can't be more than X amount of characters,
19:51
and so we don't take time to listen to each other,
19:54
to share a story.
19:55
What I love about what you've allowed us to do with this
19:58
is not just have that individual share something
20:01
that we never knew before, even though we may have known them
20:04
for 10, 15, 30 years, but then to memorialize it,
20:09
and to be able to revisit that,
20:10
and to share that with their children,
20:12
or their circle of influence,
20:14
and then to create new friends because of that exchange.
20:17
That's been the thing that I am so proud of.
20:21
Freddie, you're not gonna respond positively this,
20:23
so I'm gonna say this to everybody else who's listening.
20:25
We have no idea what we're doing,
20:28
and Freddie is incredibly patient with us,
20:30
and if you ever have any inclination to record anything
20:33
at all, call this gentleman, and look him up,
20:35
he's a friend and he's somebody
20:37
that's gonna be incredibly valuable to your success,
20:40
and to making your dreams come true.
20:41
That said, the environment of the comfort of the exchange,
20:45
the discussion, the sharing of ideas,
20:48
we don't do that enough.
20:49
Everybody's so rushed to win the game, whatever that game is,
20:53
and even if you win it, you realize what did I get?
20:55
You got a stupid prize,
20:56
and I'm gonna put it in the closet that I don't care about.
20:59
Matt, can I talk about this so often?
21:00
Our real wealth is the relationships we have.
21:03
You've made us wealthier.
21:05
Well, and one thing has a mention to me in the last day,
21:09
or so, Matt, how many podcasts do you think we've done now?
21:13
And it's happened so quickly,
21:15
but yet it's been going on since what, April, March?
21:19
And I didn't even think about it,
21:22
and I'll ask you, Freddie, how many podcasts have we done now?
21:27
26, and I only know that number,
21:29
because Hasam said it this morning.
21:32
I only say the same thing over and over to different people.
21:35
Well, and it's true.
21:36
I am blown away that we've had the pleasure of dealing
21:39
and visiting with 26 people,
21:42
and it's not always at all about what a lot of people say
21:47
when we say, we'd like to interview you
21:50
and talk to you in a podcast,
21:53
and they look at me and go,
21:55
well, Matt, I mean, I've known you a long time,
21:57
but I'm sorry to say,
21:59
but I don't even bank with you right now.
22:02
No, that's not the point what we're trying to do
22:05
is to find people that have been successful,
22:08
that have the right ethics,
22:10
that have great stories to tell,
22:13
to maybe incentivize other people,
22:16
to go, you know what, I bet you I can do it.
22:19
So what we're trying to do is lay the seed
22:22
in the groundwork for possibly having somebody come up
22:27
with an idea that, you know what,
22:29
I can be a podcasted guy,
22:31
and I can do what this Freddie guy does.
22:34
I'm pretty good at knowing electronics,
22:37
and maybe I'm gonna try that.
22:39
So for us, the real pleasure has also been
22:43
the ability just to let other people out there
22:46
not know integrity bank,
22:48
there's a bank on every corner.
22:50
The only thing I would say that I've probably said
22:53
in one or two of other podcasts, you know,
22:55
if you don't bank with integrity bank, that's okay.
22:59
Bottom line, if you're just having to bank
23:02
with somebody, somewhere, do it with a community bank
23:06
that really understands how to have one-on-one relationships
23:11
and is willing to stretch and bend a little more
23:14
out of the norm than some of the big, big regional banks
23:18
and national banks that if you fit in their little box,
23:22
they'll give you the time of day.
23:24
But if you're outside of their box, have a good day.
23:28
And so for me, I think we're enjoying doing this
23:33
and maybe for the few people that hopefully more
23:37
are listening to this, they will say,
23:40
wow, I never thought about it that way,
23:42
or just a light bulb goes off in their head to go,
23:46
maybe I can try this on my own.
23:48
It is an inspiration.
23:50
We look at people at very different stages
23:53
of their entrepreneur horizon.
23:55
You are still early, would as fair to say,
23:57
speak podcasting, you're still in the first few chapters.
24:01
Yes, we just celebrated our second anniversary
24:04
this past summer.
24:05
Congrats.
24:06
Thank you, thank you.
24:07
And speak podcast would not exist without my wife.
24:11
Let's talk about that.
24:12
Yeah, she has been just the, she's been far more patient
24:20
than probably I deserve.
24:23
I don't have the joy or pleasure of meeting her.
24:26
I know Mack and I look forward to doing that one day.
24:28
We'd love to have her come by the bank.
24:30
Maybe we could interview her
24:32
and she can talk about her resiliency, her patience,
24:35
her belief in somebody we're proud to call our friend.
24:39
Freddie, you deal with people with your heart
24:43
and that's not a characteristic that happens a lot in business.
24:45
So I want you to know that people in front of you see it
24:48
and they feel it.
24:50
I know what that support from somebody
24:52
who's incredibly important in your life can do.
24:54
And it's not at the times where you're at the top of the podium
24:59
where you've won and are holding the trophy.
25:00
A lot of people are fans at those times.
25:02
It's frankly, when you get kicked in the teeth.
25:04
And when you get kicked in the teeth
25:06
and somebody's telling you, you're the best I know,
25:10
that's special.
25:11
And I see that in you right now
25:12
and I know that that's what she's provided you.
25:16
There's a little side note on that.
25:18
How long have you all been married?
25:19
Oh goodness.
25:21
We got married in November of 2001.
25:24
So you have an anniversary coming up.
25:26
Yes.
25:28
At the time of this recording is just days before our,
25:31
oh, y'all are the bankers.
25:32
I'm terrible at numbers.
25:34
2024.
25:35
Yes, yes, yes.
25:37
And bottom line, don't forget that.
25:39
Do not.
25:40
Oh no.
25:41
And make sure whatever the date is you have enough time
25:44
to go find a little something to give her
25:46
or maybe make a special voice presentation
25:51
and do what you're doing.
25:53
And if you want to do it and slip it under the name
25:56
banking on integrity and play it for her.
25:58
And here's what I think of you, my dear.
26:00
That might not be a bad idea.
26:03
That is true.
26:04
One of the most impressive things about her
26:07
is that when we met at U of H, and I'm
26:11
going to reference Mr. Wu again,
26:13
because he's fresh on my mind.
26:15
And he's the first individual that I've ever heard,
26:20
talk about the first day that he met his wife.
26:25
And he remembered what she wore.
26:27
Because I remember my wife and what she wore at U of H.
26:33
And we were in a really, it was a horrible accounting class.
26:37
And I'm sorry, y'all are bankers.
26:38
Y'all deal with numbers.
26:40
I went to U of H and we may have had the same professor or two.
26:46
It probably is more about the student
26:47
than it is the professor, though, at least in my case.
26:50
But I've been through some tough accounting classes.
26:53
Yeah, but I remember what she was wearing.
26:55
And I remember the auditorium.
26:56
And I'm like, I need to talk to her.
27:02
And so three weeks later, I guess who finally gets the courage
27:06
to make it across the auditorium and then sit behind her.
27:10
And hi.
27:15
Oh, what a smooth doll.
27:17
The smoothness.
27:19
But she was so uninterested because at the time
27:23
I was working full time on the radio at a different radio
27:26
station.
27:27
And she was so unimpressed by the fact
27:30
that I was a radio DJ.
27:31
And I'm like, winner right there.
27:35
So from that moment, when did you all get married?
27:40
We dated often on for five years.
27:43
Oh my.
27:43
And we've, yeah, we're lucky.
27:47
She sounds wonderful.
27:49
So are you.
27:50
So thank you.
27:51
A pair made for each other.
27:54
And I know how much impact you've had on each other's lives
27:58
and each other's success and the love
28:00
that you have for each other is clear.
28:02
I want to get back real quick before we turn the page
28:04
to speak podcasting.
28:05
What's ahead?
28:06
How does somebody get to know you?
28:08
Can they reach you?
28:09
Are you open to have somebody else who
28:10
wants to bounce a podcast idea off of you?
28:13
Talk to me a little bit about that.
28:14
I can talk about podcasting the way you all can talk
28:17
about banking all day.
28:18
So please reach me free at speakpodcasting.com.
28:21
Even if it's just a chat, if you have an idea,
28:24
if you're not going to podcast with speak podcasting,
28:26
that's cool.
28:28
I just want you to have a show that is guaranteed
28:30
to last past 20 past 50 episodes.
28:34
And if I can have a conversation with you,
28:36
maybe over a cup of coffee or a lunch or whatever,
28:39
I'm happy to do so because I used to think
28:42
that everybody should have a podcast.
28:44
Now I no longer think that everybody should have a podcast.
28:47
And that's simply because many people go in.
28:49
And before this recording has them,
28:51
you and I talked about how 90% of podcasters
28:55
don't make a past episode three.
28:56
And the remaining 10% Mac, the remaining 10%,
29:00
90% of them don't make a past episode 20.
29:03
So that's why I no longer, I used to think
29:06
everybody should have one.
29:08
I don't think everybody should have one.
29:10
I think everyone should have one.
29:11
If they're willing to play the long game,
29:12
they're willing to go through and have a cohesive game plan
29:16
for why they want to have a show, who their audience is,
29:19
what the podcast is going to serve,
29:21
is it going to be an extension of your brand?
29:23
Or do you just want to talk about football and coffee?
29:26
Because if that's the case,
29:28
and you're willing to just, it's just a passion project.
29:31
Cool.
29:33
So no, why you're doing what it is you want to do.
29:37
From a standpoint of just the last several years
29:41
now that you've been in it,
29:43
approximately in the United States,
29:47
I'm sure you all get statistics on it.
29:49
How many different podcasts are being done
29:52
by small businesses, big businesses,
29:54
nonprofits, churches, whatever?
29:57
Do you even have a remote number on that?
29:59
I'm just curious because everybody seems
30:02
like they want to do them today, just like you mentioned.
30:05
There are last I checked over four million in this stat
30:10
could be wrong, but over four million different podcasts.
30:13
However, only, and this is where the number is varied
30:18
depending on where you read,
30:20
only between half a million to 700,000 are active.
30:25
That's it.
30:25
So of the existing podcasts,
30:28
going back to the people who thought they were going to
30:30
probably be Mel Robbins or Joe Rogan.
30:34
They're a bunch of dead, not dead, but zombie podcasts.
30:38
They're not dead.
30:39
They're not alive, but they're not dead
30:41
because you can go back and listen to John Doe's podcast
30:44
about golf and football,
30:46
but then he gave up after three episodes.
30:49
You can go back and listen to it because it's still there.
30:50
So you all are in a very elite squad of people
30:54
that are actively releasing podcast episodes.
30:58
Mack and I are very clear that we are in that elite group
31:02
because of you and because of your friendship.
31:04
Thank you.
31:05
I couldn't encourage anybody more to reach out to Freddie
31:08
to have that conversation for their education.
31:11
And if that's not an aspiration of yours
31:14
to start your own podcast,
31:15
I promise you again, a friend.
31:16
And you wouldn't be faced with anybody better
31:19
in this city when it comes to his care to our success.
31:23
Freddie, thank you very much for being a guest slash producer
31:26
times 26 or seven times so far.
31:29
We're honored to know you.
31:30
Thank you, I'm honored to know you all.
31:32
Thank you and we appreciate you helping us create
31:36
banking on integrity.
31:38
Thank you for listening to this episode of Banking on Integrity.
31:43
Learn more about integrity bank at itx.bank.
31:47
Please don't forget to share this conversation.
31:49
Subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform
31:52
and leave us a review.
31:54
Thank you.