Latest / The Dept. w/ Omar El-Takrori / The Best Content Strategy For Entrepreneurs in 2026 | The Dept. #133

Transcript

The Best Content Strategy For Entrepreneurs in 2026 | The Dept. #133 · The Dept. w/ Omar El-Takrori

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you could have something out there running evergreen for you, they can create like no interest for people to want to sit with you, connect with you, buy from you, purchase from you,
• 0:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm so excited to be joined with the person behind some of your favorite podcasts, and we're going to go all in on what it takes to win with podcasting.
• 0:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Winning at podcasting, I think bare minimum, you have to do video in audio.
• 0:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: Having an audio podcast, you are truly a hobbyist, and you can let that go at that point.
• 0:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: If we're not looking at it as an extension of your marketing arm and the duality that it has, it is the most front facing thing you see on the internet right now.
• 0:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Can you talk about some of the best ways to monetize the person that just is winning the podcasting?
• 0:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: How do I make money with this?
• 0:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe I'm getting 400 views per podcast.
• 0:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yep, I think it depends on what you do, but the number one or the number two way to depending on where you're at and positioning is.
• 0:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for joining us on the department Jessica Hurley.
• 0:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much for having me.
• 0:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was blown away.
• 0:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: We met in Atlanta about a month ago speaking at the podcast summit and I was actually blown away at your business model and I'm an economics guy and I'm also a lifestyle guy.
• 1:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think there's a lot of creatives even that are going to get value from this conversation or creators who could produce podcasts and charge a lot of money for it.
• 1:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, people open up studios and trying to 50 bucks for an hour or something.
• 1:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, these are the people I get approached by all the time, but go ahead.
• 1:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I think we actually have so many ways we can go with this.
• 1:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I would like packaging print in perspective.
• 1:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
• 1:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: So we go pricing because I feel like you have a pricing gift based on building an agency.
• 1:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know that I have a pricing gift, but we can do pricing.
• 1:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think this all came from mess and learning it all the hard way.
• 1:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 1:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm an Aries and I'm hardheaded, so I have to learn everything the hard way.
• 1:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: Why did you even build a business around podcasting to begin with?
• 1:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I have such a really cool story on this, and I'll keep it short.
• 1:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: There is a woman online, her name is Ronnie Brown.
• 2:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you guys don't know who she is, founder of Grosseo.
• 2:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: And eight years ago, I started my podcast because my son's father at the time,
• 2:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: you have to start a podcast like everyone comes over here asking you for advice and I was like no I'm a director of a national nonprofit, nobody's going to care and it up doing it six months in I'm just doing it as a hobby and I ask Ronnie Brown to be on my podcast and she does and I'm at work still obviously I'm still in my corporate job and she calls me while I'm at work.
• 2:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: And says, hey, what did you do?
• 2:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, what are you talking about?
• 2:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: And she's like, I'm getting non-stop DMs from this episode.
• 2:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I said, well, you have 200,000 followers.
• 2:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I have 2,000, so it must be all your followers.
• 2:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: And she said, no, no, no.
• 2:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: You don't understand.
• 2:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: I launched a podcast six months ago.
• 2:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I didn't get this kind of traction or results.
• 2:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: What did you do?
• 2:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I said, well, what did you do?
• 2:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: And she told me.
• 2:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I said, oh, well, you did it wrong.
• 2:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: And she was like,
• 2:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: What do you mean I did a wrong?
• 2:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I said, well, I would have done this, this, this, this, and this, she said, oh, yeah, no, I don't have time.
• 3:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, well, I'll do it.
• 3:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: I just did the research for six months, so I'll do it.
• 3:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 3:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: And just give me all your logins, and I'll take care of it, and she was like, you sure?
• 3:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: I say, yeah, and we relaunched it three days later, and she was in the top 40.
• 3:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: Wow.
• 3:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: and she called me and I think this is the part and this could like this part of the story could stand for anyone regardless of where you and I are at right now where our peers are at right now the things in which we could do we think one of the best things that we can do to be impactful to other people is to offer them a program or a service but this is something small that someone did for me that changed my life she said oh my god I was trying to figure out that for six months can you send me an invoice.
• 3:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I didn't have a business, I didn't want a business of time, I wasn't coaching, and I started PayPal for like six hours.
• 3:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, what do I invoice?
• 3:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: Someone for someone that I just had, I was going to do them a favor.
• 3:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: I kid you not on the invoice, I built her $250, eight years ago, and in the comments I said, and like please laugh at my expense.
• 3:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: I literally said, especially ladies listen to me.
• 4:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: I
• 4:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: and press that and the next morning I woke up and I had a notification that she had paid me 1250.
• 4:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: She added a one.
• 4:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: I was like, is it missing a zero, but she added a one in front in the front and I was like this $1250 for something I build you for $250 that I didn't think was a service.
• 4:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: Wow.
• 4:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so I called her and I said, hey, did you make a mistake?
• 4:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: And she's like, no, I paid you what you're worth.
• 4:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: I've been trying to find somebody to do this for me for six months and you did it in three days.
• 4:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Please go do this for other people and let this be your floor.
• 4:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: A And it shot at the Ronnie Brown.
• 4:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: It took me a couple.
• 4:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: Probably took me a couple months to wrap my brain around what I was offering and a good two years to brand it, give it a brand identity to really understand how to sell it and pitch it and package it.
• 4:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: And that was all she wrote.
• 4:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's how I started developing podcasts for other people.
• 4:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: So you have a unique skill being behind the scenes and orchestrating a lot of people's podcasts.
• 5:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I know there's a lot of people who have been thinking about starting a podcast, who've been dabbling with their podcasts, winging it with their podcasts.
• 5:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh my God.
• 5:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Can we talk about the business of podcasting in this year with all things considered AI and all that stuff?
• 5:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh my God, where do we begin?
• 5:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: We can begin at what do you see is winning right now for people with a podcast?
• 5:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's a couple things, winning at podcasting, I think bare minimum, you have to do video in audio.
• 5:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think being having an audio podcast, you are truly a hobbyist and you can let that go at that point.
• 5:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think if we're not looking at it as an extension of your marketing arm and the duality that it has, it is the most front facing thing you see on the internet right now.
• 5:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so you now have the ability to have a show on YouTube that runs evergreen in a way that you are discoverable.
• 5:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then that's a whole other thing we could get into about how the browsing and the searching and the way people find you on YouTube is completely different than the social media algorithm.
• 5:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: We now have data that shows that more people find podcasts on YouTube than they find them from the conversion of Instagram to get to them on YouTube.
• 6:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like we're so worried about the real and the trailer and the
• 6:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: the clip but it's like they're going to find you on YouTube so that's all you're you're marketing to an entirely separate audience and epic which is the name of my company stands for an acronym at stands for Evolve Passure Consciousness Media and it's because we prioritize doing this for people that are doing incredible work in the world and transformative work already you just need this is like we're like a fractional media team and
• 6:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Saying that to say that your podcast is an extension of your marketing arm.
• 6:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you could have something out there running evergreen for you, they can create like no interest, authenticity, connection, community.
• 6:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you think they're getting in front of people, makes a connection all the time, this is the exact other way to do it to for people to want to sit with you, connect with you, buy from you, purchase from you, retreats with you.
• 6:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is the way to do it.
• 6:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think when you add that component to now where we're at with,
• 6:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: bigger brands, what are they shifting to?
• 7:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Storytelling.
• 7:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Short stories, micro dramas, connecting with their audience.
• 7:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: They know now that media is oversaturated.
• 7:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: I can't just come to you and say, by the skin care product, but I can most certainly tell you a story about a mom who's exhausted for 13 months who finally has stopped and told everyone in her life pause.
• 7:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to take care of myself and the first way she decides to do that is through a skin care product.
• 7:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like we now have to tell stories and extension of ourselves so that people can see themselves through us and get permission through our story.
• 7:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's really good.
• 7:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: How else are you going to do that?
• 7:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because that's a podcast.
• 7:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think some people's approaches is a creative outlet and then they're like, maybe I can make some money with this.
• 7:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I think I like to contextualize the conversation.
• 7:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: If that is you change the way you think about it because this is a business and you can make really good money.
• 7:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: having a podcast and you should make really good money having a podcast.
• 7:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: Can you talk about some of the best ways to monetize?
• 7:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let's just, for devil's advocate sake, the person that just is winging the podcast, how do I make money with this?
• 8:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe I'm getting 400 views per podcast.
• 8:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yep, I think it depends on what you do, but one of the things we see is obviously like the number one or the number two way depending on where you're at in positioning is to sell ancillary items right so and I think like Rashard from you I also this on his podcast is like you will because
• 8:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: It is not that if you build it they will come right and we hear this all the time.
• 8:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's like people like why have a podcast and I'm like Oh the entitlement and like you do not just get to make money because you have a podcast Yeah, you have to now build a business around it.
• 8:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is a marketing arm of your part of your existing brand and then then how can you use this to be an extension of your What you currently do so can you sell ancillary items can you?
• 8:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Because now you've built a media, you have to look at your podcast as a media platform.
• 8:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so if I was putting, if this show was on a network, the network would look at it as content with 30, or 300 eyes a month, what can we do with 300 eyes a month?
• 8:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, we can place three ads and now we've identified what audience listens to this podcast.
• 9:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: So you own that media.
• 9:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: So you're now creating a runway of media that you say, what can I do with this?
• 9:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Do I want to do?
• 9:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Do I want to sell my retreat?
• 9:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Do I want to sell my coaching program?
• 9:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Do I want to sell my journal?
• 9:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: Do I want to sell my Patreon?
• 9:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: My community and in what ways in which can I do that?
• 9:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: So your first thing is your Ansular items, right?
• 9:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: And you can bake those ads into your own media, right?
• 9:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: So you're not you're not borrowing the platform.
• 9:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: It is actually your platform.
• 9:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: also underrated use of throwing in ads in your YouTube videos is, number one, doing it, yes, pausing the video and talking through what you want to offer, but people underutilize the power of just a QR code mid-conversation.
• 9:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh my god, pop up like a lower third of like a QR.
• 9:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh my god.
• 9:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean it's happening people put it on this green and and then also if you are going to do an ad Don't put the the QR code at the very end of the ad leave it up for the entire duration of the ad The cheapest as are the enrol.
• 10:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, don't put it at the end put in the middle drop it on the lower third I mean when people were like hey, this video is sponsored by Squarespace Squarespace is a cool and then they go blah, blah, blah And they're like at the end they're like go to this website
• 10:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's like a little bad for the brand, but hey, but that's why you're listening and we're watching this podcast.
• 10:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: So that's really good.
• 10:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Next steps, ancillary products or even lead magnets and stuff like that.
• 10:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Lead magnets, absolutely.
• 10:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then I think the next is, and wherever this falls, right?
• 10:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: So monetization on YouTube.
• 10:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm sure you talk about this at length.
• 10:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: We've seen something really cool lately where everyone's talking about the fact that YouTube is changing there.
• 10:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: The 8,000 watch hours and the 2 million on shorts, but like YouTube is still a proponent of watch hours, which is long-form content.
• 10:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: Long-form content is literally built for podcasts.
• 10:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Every podcast is in its natural state is 45 minutes to 60 minutes.
• 10:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: So if you can keep people 9 to 10 minutes, that's far longer than the average influence or video.
• 10:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: So if you can drag people in that way, like we've taken three channels in the last six months and gotten the monetized
• 11:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: So just by good storytelling, they were starting at zero, they had like a okay brand on socials, but because the content was good, YouTube was pushing them in the algorithm, they were on the browser in the search feature boom, now they have visibility, they're monetized in less than three weeks, like put your content out there because good God, you could at bare minimum make the money back for your cost of production, your staffing, or whatever low hanging equipment cost you've had to put out there.
• 11:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's crazy, the Ben if talking about ancillary thing, there's ancillary benefits to podcasting, which is number one, if it is a marketing engine for your business that you can write off travel.
• 11:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh my god.
• 11:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like.
• 11:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Why do it for that reason if that's the only reason?
• 11:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so you can write off your vacation if you just you know invite somebody on a podcast on a trip The other ancillary benefit is networking.
• 11:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, maybe this won't get you know a gazillion views But like our relationship could turn into something just by connecting at the conversation before and after we talked about the same bags We have them like you know the connection that's made
• 12:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you don't know the power of one relationship, one connection until you see what can happen from that.
• 12:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: These are all ancillary benefits.
• 12:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: But dude, you can be compensated to market your business.
• 12:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: And not directly, like literally that Google is paying me, I think last year we made $85,000 on YouTube, which is like,
• 12:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was gonna do this anyway and like if I take that 85k and then put it in ads to run to something like paid ads to sales event or something I'll make I made millions of dollars with that ads been so it's just it's powerful but I don't I want to now shift the conversation story telling yapping in 2026 people just change the word and that's what
• 13:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have been talking, but I think but more power to her.
• 13:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, no creditable job.
• 13:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: She found the different way to say an old thing, which is the game.
• 13:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: But what is your framework or storytelling?
• 13:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: What you said those podcasts that took off?
• 13:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, what does a podcast have to have for that storytelling element and I would even say I'm not even I'm more on like the let's just give the game and like the like one two three you as you can imagine But yeah, what how did someone become great at storytelling or put to together a great story
• 13:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is good.
• 13:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think it is, it's 100% based on the story, your ability to storytelling, identify the thing that is, makes you unique and don't be afraid of a niche.
• 13:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I also think,
• 13:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: The host has a path to have a little bit of charisma.
• 13:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's important.
• 13:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, there's been many occasions where I'm like, you go have to find it.
• 13:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, there has to be that good balance of a speaker of like, because we also coordinate a lot of guests that are on shows.
• 14:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: And there's always situations where I see where there's like one person where a host is like, man, I thought they were gonna be a little more.
• 14:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: you know, lively with that and it's like you have to bring energy and passion and purpose to your storytelling but I think I get really excited now because I've been doing this for eight years.
• 14:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: I get really excited now like where we get your educators right and God bless y'all because I am not that like if somebody was like you got to get on here for a week and teach people how to no, no, let me just can I just do it for you?
• 14:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Can I just identify the story and do it for you?
• 14:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: but I get really excited now when I get really niche things and it's almost what many people would author a book about.
• 14:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, hey I'm an expert who's been studying grief in the impact of grief and so I want to we just published a podcast called Grief Is a Language and it's by an author who wrote a book called We Go On and it is
• 14:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: literally architecting this story through guests of like grieving the tangible and intangible things from people that have physically lost someone that they love and where the story ends and begins and finding hope and joy and loss at the same time to how we grieve intangible things where it's not necessarily like a body in the ground but it is a relationship it is a losing our health it is our identity changing in its entirety and we don't know where to begin like
• 15:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think things like that.
• 15:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think if somebody came out with a podcast right now around like how to regulate your nervous system and and how many instances do we discover that we are unregulated or we don't.
• 15:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: And what are the signs and the symptoms when you blink or when I go like this it is that I am unregulated and how do I find the resources and the people or how have people in high.
• 15:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: level positions found ways to self-regulate.
• 15:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like I think we're all searching for solutions and connection and community and I think if you were to create a podcast around something that people are really looking to solve in the same way in which they would pick up a book or search it on YouTube, you could really win right now.
• 16:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, I think there's still space for the important conversations because I'm going to say this too.
• 16:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Something I've seen in the last three months is I've gotten it, pitched to me in 30 different ways.
• 16:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Is high level folks wanting to have dinner, table style, authentic conversations, where it is like major, like series A founders, raking in huge investments, crossing, you know, multi,
• 16:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: and men and women are like, I want to have that den of king style dinner table we're making drinks at the table type conversation and I want to talk about the fact that when my first negotiation came across my desk I had to call my attorney and was like what does this mean?
• 16:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like or the first bill I got for over six figures I was like
• 16:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if I'm ready for this like there are I'm seeing a lot of high quality folks wanting to have really authentic conversation so that other people have permit not only permission, but they can see what it's like that it doesn't matter how high this goes it's just a different hard yeah it's a different scared
• 17:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love it.
• 17:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: Is that make sense?
• 17:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 17:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hey department fan, pausing the podcast to talk about this life-changing sponsorship.
• 17:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's me.
• 17:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sponsoring the podcast and the sponsor of this podcast is the content to cast challenge which is a five-day live.
• 17:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: coaching experience.
• 17:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: I put on for creators, entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants, and service providers.
• 17:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you feel like you're stuck in business or maybe there's more to business and to revenue, I'm telling you that you don't have an offer problem, you don't have an industry problem, and you probably don't even have a sales problem.
• 17:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: What you have is an awareness problem.
• 17:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: And this is why I have the content to cast challenge because I believe transformation happens on a two-way street.
• 17:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: And how do you know if you're the
• 17:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're listening to this podcast.
• 17:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is for you.
• 17:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is your moment So to take the challenge or jump on the weightless scan the QR code on the screen or check out the link down in the description below Let's get back into the conversation Are you because you produced podcasts so a high Quality individual which I love that someone maybe a hike income earner has been doing well Thank you for defining that because I did not want people to think that I meant that and a wave it.
• 18:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, no, I said it
• 18:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: But what you're essentially saying is people who have something to offer.
• 18:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, people that are performing at a very high level.
• 18:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yep.
• 18:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: But they can't be so consumed with the nuances or the strategy behind the distribution of the conversation.
• 18:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, correct.
• 18:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so them just being put in a context where they can have a conversation that is high level because of their life.
• 18:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then let someone be a fly on the wall.
• 18:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: and let somebody be a fly in the wall.
• 18:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, I guess my brain is trying to go, like, how do you make that work?
• 18:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, for distribution, for maximum distribution, or are you focusing on like, no, the fact that they got it out is like, a win.
• 19:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, like you mean, like in my role, where do I get from there when I get that?
• 19:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, because I think what I would love for people to get is, okay, I don't have someone to do that, but I'd like to just freely record and just tell these stories and then get the max distribution later.
• 19:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Ooh, okay, I hope I'm answering this correctly.
• 19:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I think something that I do, that I get complimented on a lot, that I don't necessarily see as a framework, which we do this a lot, right?
• 19:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's like something we do naturally, ours own of genius that we don't envision as a framework is just taking the thing and tearing it apart.
• 19:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: People come to me with such good ideas, and I'm like,
• 19:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think the quality of your relationships and the content you put out will be based on the quality of the questions that you ask.
• 19:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so I just asked really good questions.
• 19:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so it's like, OK, so tell me, all of the stories about the times in which you were performing at a high level, if we go back to that example, you were performing at a high level and you didn't feel like it.
• 19:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, what were people around you saying?
• 19:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: What did your kids think?
• 20:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: What did your team members think?
• 20:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, I want to call with your team members.
• 20:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: I want them to tell me what it's like to work with you.
• 20:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: I want you to tell me about the times you felt shame.
• 20:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: I want you to tell me about the times that you met someone and it was the most seen you'd ever felt.
• 20:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: Was it another founder?
• 20:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Was it another mom?
• 20:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: Was it another like, give me all of these instances and then I want to, because a lot of times, in most cases, in my company, we write the content as well.
• 20:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so, we script out the entire episode.
• 20:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: So you scripted out, but what about the whole story?
• 20:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: So storytelling, oh, you're doing the pre, this is like a pre-worked.
• 20:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Pre-production, yeah, so we write all the episodes.
• 20:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I think one of the things that's understated is like in my role, I will spend, I will not shoot a show for some, we will not shoot a show for someone without six to eight meetings in advance with you the team or the talent.
• 20:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: I have all the rules today.
• 20:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, why?
• 20:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because we didn't have six to eight meaning.
• 20:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: We did not.
• 20:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I obviously connect the expertise and that's the front facing part of the conversation.
• 21:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then we will go into more story later in this conversation, just letting you know.
• 21:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
• 21:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I mentally have six to eight meetings in my mind before conversation.
• 21:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: Go, here you go.
• 21:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: you're like, I know you and I got it and I get it.
• 21:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, but you're talented and you do this, right?
• 21:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: 100.
• 21:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so also the avatar of people that I work with are typically people that are already doing great work in the world.
• 21:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: And they want that to be extended through me and they're like, I just want to show up and be the talent.
• 21:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Tell me what to say, tell me what the best episodes it will work and if they have an existing YouTube channel, we can typically pull the data and I can literally tell you what's going to work, what your people want more of and how we can create an hour-long episode and by God don't start the damn thing with Omar, tell me a little bit about yourself.
• 21:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like nobody wants to hear that, you know, like I joke about that all the time when I'm on somebody else's podcast And I'm like, they don't care about me.
• 21:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: They care about what they care about themselves and they care about what my brain could do for them Oh my god
• 22:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, do you know how easy it is to one, one, if you're gonna do a podcast, unless you're just having open dialogue in front of people, do not have someone join you that you, you yourself, in fact, are not enthusiastic and excited about it.
• 22:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, I wanna start with what about you, I admire that I've seen online so far.
• 22:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: We can go backwards and forward from your timeline of your story, but if I ask you to tell me a little bit about yourself, like I'm asking you to tell me about 30 plus years of your life, and by God where do you start?
• 22:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and then it's like shoot one is just going to end.
• 22:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: And when are they going to get to the good stuff?
• 22:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Which is here.
• 22:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Start with the good stuff.
• 22:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Here's how you start with the good stuff.
• 22:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: Go.
• 22:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: You start with the good stuff by just simply defining something.
• 22:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: So if you have someone that has the experience expertise, the ability to define something, it creates a moment of authority.
• 22:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: Tell me what's working right now in podcasting.
• 22:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: That was me giving you the floor to define something.
• 23:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you're ability to define it, it wins the viewer or the listener.
• 23:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: I can trust this person.
• 23:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: I can trust this person based on their answer.
• 23:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the reality is, the answer could be whatever you want.
• 23:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: But how you answer that is what gives the game.
• 23:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 23:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then talk about what, so, okay.
• 23:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: So that's the definition of that.
• 23:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's how you can win.
• 23:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, what are the biggest mistakes people are making?
• 23:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's...
• 23:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so I mean, a big idea is that's where I get very practical on a podcast is let's lead with practicality and let's just define something and then we'll go into more it can get looser later.
• 23:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Looser later, exactly not at the beginning.
• 23:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Don't start loose.
• 23:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: You've got a couple minutes to keep people in fault and that's all you've got.
• 23:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 23:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think I'm also big on and I think this is just in particular for the avatar that I work with is and this may not be necessarily the case for educators, but there should be some.
• 23:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: is I'm big on like vulnerability and transparency in the content.
• 23:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's like people are not going to be able to give themselves permission or see themselves in your content.
• 24:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: If there's not some level of charisma and vulnerability, it's like you give me a little bit of humor but give me a lot of like
• 24:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Who you are where you're at?
• 24:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, it's simply said, be willing to throw yourself onto the bus.
• 24:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, I don't want to see you perfect.
• 24:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: Right.
• 24:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: I want to see the hard parts.
• 24:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: I want to see what you questioned.
• 24:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: I want to know that even though you are in the, you know, three million and up club, that there are moments where you've had a quiet week and you've been like, oh, shit, is this falling apart?
• 24:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: I want to know what that felt like and I want to know that when I feel that now I'm still going to feel that later.
• 24:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: I just need to I need to sharpen this muscle.
• 24:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's it.
• 24:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, and I think the I'm just so glad that I had an the intuition to to go all in with podcasting when I started my coaching business because that was the reason why I did it.
• 24:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: I had a belief and which is true in my opinion is that there are people who want
• 24:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: the unedited raw version of something, like, and how can I say that?
• 25:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because we're humans.
• 25:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 25:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you go and you learn things.
• 25:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: And when you learn from a teacher, they're not always, they're not edited.
• 25:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, if they sneeze in front of you in a classroom setting, they can't go backwards and cut out that sneeze.
• 25:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, like,
• 25:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And some guy on Instagram made a observation on my brand overall.
• 25:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: He gave my brand like a whole like here's why Omar is always one of the Oh, I love that.
• 25:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: I love when people do that.
• 25:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: But one of his biggest things was like something I didn't really quite put together But that was a great observation is that I put my thinking on display
• 25:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: and how I process something, and because when I look up and maybe ask me a question or just my curiosity is rooted in humility.
• 25:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
• 25:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is all stuff people feel that hyper-production, fast-editing, and jump in and outcuts is going to
• 25:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Rob people from experiencing the human.
• 26:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, and in genuine inquisitiveness, like I heard you say curiosity and it's like, you're allowed to come on here and be inquisitive.
• 26:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: You're allowed to come on here and be like, hey, I don't know this, so I thought it would be really cool to talk to you.
• 26:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it gives people an opportunity to be like, oh, there's always more, there's always more depth.
• 26:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's always like being inquisitive and curious on your show is, is literally the thing that your listener is going to be the most excited about.
• 26:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: People forget that they loved Oprah.
• 26:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: because what did Oprah do?
• 26:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oprah was not.
• 26:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, she's an incredible speaker now, but back back when we watched it, I'm aging myself when I watched it.
• 26:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't like you'd be watching it on TV.
• 26:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: She'd be interviewing, you know, Dr. Phil or someone else about weight loss, and they would tell their story and you'd be watching it on TV and you'd be like, yeah, but how did they lose 10 pounds in a month?
• 26:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: And Oprah would go.
• 26:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, that sounds really good, but I'm curious.
• 26:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, somebody out there's thinking, how did you lose 10 pounds?
• 26:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you'd be like, that's what I wanted to know.
• 26:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, she just asked questions on behalf of her audience.
• 26:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: She was her audience's best advocate.
• 26:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: Boom.
• 27:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it's like, can you be your audience's best advocate?
• 27:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: I know my people and my people want to know this.
• 27:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 27:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: They want you to ask this.
• 27:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: So can you have the courage on behalf of all of us to ask these good questions so that I don't feel alone and naked?
• 27:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: So good.
• 27:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like,
• 27:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Where are you at with like the hook of a podcast or is do you have a team like really putting together that like cinematic?
• 27:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh my god, I think that's probably what we're known the most for is I didn't realize how much time and effort and passion I have of a team that's willing to do that.
• 27:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: So right now we have about 16 people in post alone and I think I didn't realize this but every time I talk to someone that's like purchased a studio not you per se.
• 27:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, when other people call me that a purchase a studio and say, hey, how did you build this?
• 27:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think one of the first things I always have to say is like the same people that shoot the content do not edit the content.
• 27:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Right.
• 27:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like we have, you know, personal assistance or PA's on staff that are taking notes.
• 27:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm taking notes as an executive producer if I'm there.
• 27:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, and those notes are going to my team.
• 27:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then we're walking through a framework and using our process.
• 28:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: to create a cinematic trailer a the reels that stick and it is not like your hook in the beginning is literally your best chance.
• 28:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: We see this with the diary of the CEO.
• 28:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's like and you don't have to be doomsday to create a good trailer.
• 28:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like
• 28:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: That is a, that's one thing that's great music, you know, great hook, like great fear factor, doomsday style content, but I think you can take anybody on a journey with anything.
• 28:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it's like we, my team and I, that's probably the most important thing in our process is identifying what the trailer for the season's going to look like.
• 28:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then each episodic trailer for every episode every week, which right now we produce probably 12 to 20 weeks.
• 28:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's what you're calling the hook
• 28:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, because we do that as a custom intro, and then we also do it as a real.
• 28:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 28:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so we consider it as like an episode's trailer.
• 28:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: How are you going to give me phone mode?
• 28:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: I feel like I need to watch.
• 28:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: Give me the best parts of the episode, but tell me a mini story in 90 seconds.
• 28:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: Make me feel like I need the end of this story.
• 29:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Good.
• 29:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: I see the feeling.
• 29:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: I feel the feeling.
• 29:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: I want to be a part of this now.
• 29:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: So whether it's a podcast about pursuing yourself after 50 or grieving the loss of someone or your identity in your life or
• 29:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: Identifying your heartbreak and how to go deep in relationships and marriage I want that first 90 seconds to make me feel like that's exactly what I've been looking for Okay, I have two things out.
• 29:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let's start with the premise of season-based approach to podcasting because I I don't Yes, I'm just on you're just on and I guess when you're on to skip weeks
• 29:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I would give myself three or four weeks a year.
• 29:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'll probably take off, but yeah, I've heard you say that you'll work with people for 12 episodes, or 8 episodes.
• 29:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: In my brain, I'm like, isn't that wasting the work if you take a break?
• 29:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'd let to know your philosophy on having a season approach to podcasting.
• 29:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: this is such a good point.
• 29:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think seasons are for busy people that don't necessarily need to monetize and are just doing this as an awareness play.
• 30:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so, and you'd be surprised because then you go, well, who the hell is that?
• 30:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: And there are so many people out there like that.
• 30:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: I get fin tech companies banks.
• 30:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: doctors, non-profit organizations that are like, we do not need to monetize this.
• 30:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: We need this to drive traffic to everything else that we do, and we're already really busy.
• 30:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I'll say 12 episodes times too is 26 episodes in a year, there's 52 weeks in a year that's half of that.
• 30:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: So if we record with you twice a year, I now have a bi-weekly podcast for you for the entire year.
• 30:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: So you only got to see me twice a year.
• 30:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: We'll write the content we'll coordinate your guests and now you have bi-weekly content going for you while you're at conference while you're doing this while you're building out all these other things on all of your platforms and we're managing and publishing all of that and telling the story alongside it.
• 30:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: So we're building an ecosystem around that.
• 30:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: So that is like my primary client in the business that I have.
• 30:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: that's really cool.
• 30:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think what's also something very underrated is, if that's because you said something that probably went through, went over people's head, I don't need to monetize this.
• 31:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: You can have things you don't monetize.
• 31:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's just like, that's, I think you, that's a good permission.
• 31:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's like we I know we talked about how to monetize and I do that at the front end because all people people care about money.
• 31:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, but like oh, awareness is valuable Oh, yeah, like reputation is valuable the number one question.
• 31:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: I usually get asked by people like you is Omar
• 31:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: How the heck does your videos look and sounds so dang crispy?
• 31:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, the reality is it's the equipment I use and you'd be surprised how inexpensive it could actually be.
• 31:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I've compiled all my gear and I've updated the list and I wanna give it to you.
• 31:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: So if you're listening or watching this, just hit the description box below and I'll send you my gear guide for every budget.
• 31:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now let's get back into the conversation.
• 31:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Can we go back to this layer though?
• 31:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's like I'm listening to you say that and you said earlier like, hey, there's all these ancillary benefits of podcasting like if I could go into all the podcasts that we have produced and think about the benefits that they got there were outside of monetization to lead it led to far larger things that were not just a couple dollars like
• 32:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: I've had nonprofit organizations when telly awards and those telly awards led to them in emails to be able to say we're now on a award winning show and that award winning show landed them six figures in sponsorships and advertisers on the podcast from health organizations.
• 32:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then it's like I have two girls right now that have huge visibility.
• 32:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: They've turned on a lot of brand sponsorships, but they're recording a Disney next month.
• 32:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: because of the visibility that the podcast has gotten.
• 32:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know that they make a ton of money off of it on the back end, maybe enough to recoup their production costs, but they're filming a Disney next week, and they have major partners.
• 32:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, that's what it is for them, and they're one of them is represented by a very large influencer agency now.
• 32:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: So it's like, is this got to be, and I say this all the time for me is that my primary client is not hinging their podcast on the entirety of their celebrity or their success?
• 32:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is just another thing that is an extension of their marketing arm that they could use because aren't we all playing the visibility game right now?
• 33:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: I did.
• 33:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: And let's not reduce that to anybody like when Michelle Obama launched a book.
• 33:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: She was on a podcast run.
• 33:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 33:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: There is not a Russell and Sierra Wilson every time they launch a product, they go on a podcast run.
• 33:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: The presidential election will go on a run.
• 33:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: They go on a run.
• 33:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Laterally, it became a podcast run.
• 33:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: This election.
• 33:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: So it's like, you are, we are all in the visibility play right now.
• 33:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I've, I've said this.
• 33:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think the trend that is already here that we're watching that will continue to evolve is like,
• 33:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: It will not we lost years ago like I want to be on the top 10.
• 33:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, like that's out the window It's like you either want to be award winning You want maybe a revshare deal.
• 33:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: You maybe want an equity play You maybe want large sponsors and advertisers.
• 33:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: You may want to just be consistent
• 33:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: online just because what like how many emails can come from this conversation, how many caracels, how many reals, how many points, it's just, it's crazy how, yeah, the way you're already doing this anyway because you need the duality for your content campaign.
• 34:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: I get brands all the time that are like, hey, whatever happens with this is great, but we just, we just need content.
• 34:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so like if this is going to be five pieces of content a week and it's going to be us also showing off our brand and the transformative work we do, let's do it.
• 34:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: So good.
• 34:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: I even think I'm very underrated.
• 34:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: I have a client in my program who owns a big sandwich chain.
• 34:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Ooh, that's all I'll say.
• 34:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: But he's seeing the power of internally marketing.
• 34:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Ooh, that the executive suite having a podcast for the entire company and every employee and doing webinars weekly for the company.
• 34:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it's not even a
• 34:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: outbound.
• 34:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's inbound marketing.
• 34:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: I got this call a couple years ago and it is there.
• 34:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is happening right now and it will continue to happen is that it is replacing the digital newsletter and in word for companies.
• 34:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're like, if we've got I got a call years ago from Google that was like, hey, we think a podcast.
• 34:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: would be much better internally than a digital newsletter or a conference and then this would lead up to our annual conference.
• 35:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: We didn't end up doing it, but it was like, yeah, this is where this is going is now.
• 35:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: If your people are watching podcasts, what do you do?
• 35:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: You create a podcast internally.
• 35:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: And if you've got 5,000, 6,000, 10,000, 20,000 employees, you've got different departments to do not communicate.
• 35:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: So great.
• 35:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Have a leader.
• 35:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: Interview all the department heads and spend this out to you in where this is now a form of communication.
• 35:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: I thought of this years ago with network marketers who would like, yeah, I have like 1200 people under me.
• 35:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: But you don't need a post-content like on social media.
• 35:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Just create content for them, you know.
• 35:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: And maybe it's on social for them because they help all of you, but that's your target audience.
• 35:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's going to focus the conversation or the content you're sharing.
• 35:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's so good.
• 35:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, one of my favorite things about podcasting is it's in this AI world
• 35:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's the perfect thing to do to show your human, but I'm sure you use AI around the process.
• 36:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.
• 36:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Can you share how you're using AI to produce podcasts?
• 36:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: I find something new every day.
• 36:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, I'm going to give you two.
• 36:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: One, obviously, in our storytelling framework.
• 36:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: So,
• 36:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: I thought that this was like simple knowledge, but here's a easy one.
• 36:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: When a season comes in, we download all of our transcripts.
• 36:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: We drop it into our agents, and it's like they read them, and then it's they know that the job is to, and we've already built a channel for each of our clients that we onboard, and so they know their brand voice.
• 36:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it's like, hey, give me a cinematic trailer for this entire season.
• 36:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then you give me a episodic trailer as well as three reels, two carousel swipes for every episode with timestamps.
• 36:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it will give you that.
• 36:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it'll even give you like, not even how to tell the story from A to Z.
• 36:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: But it will also be like,
• 36:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: Black screen, dramatic music, write the text across the screen.
• 36:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: So it's, we have all over our trailers which, um, if you're hiring editors and they're so task oriented, one of the things I get all the time from people are like, hey, I've gotten us to a million followers, but I can't take this on anymore because me as the talent, I'm still telling people what clips to do and I'm like,
• 37:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: What?
• 37:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: No, don't please God.
• 37:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: Don't do that.
• 37:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: So that allows us to be almost like we're like 98% spot-on and it's almost a never in most cases.
• 37:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: Are people like, oh, this didn't really hit.
• 37:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're like this hit.
• 37:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: How did you use AI for that?
• 37:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: So good.
• 37:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: We can do that in a day.
• 37:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: Are you using chat for that or cloud?
• 37:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Cloud, cloud.
• 37:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then we just used cloud and an AWS server to build.
• 37:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: I just thought this was insane.
• 37:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: We indexed our Google Drive.
• 37:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: library of content.
• 37:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I don't know, maybe frame I, oh, does this, but like wherever all your content lives.
• 37:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, we have almost 50 terabytes of content because of all of our shows.
• 37:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I can't go in my Google Drive.
• 37:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: It'd be like, and this was originally did it for a marketing perspective of Epic to be able to mark a lot of the shows we do.
• 37:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Because we do two or three of these a year, but it's all up here.
• 38:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: like I have to be like oh my god I remember that time that Omar cried on one episode and then like John did this and it was really funny can you go pull all these clips and create something of like a broad perspective of what depicted this year um but now i was like man we could really breathe reach out to brands and do more stuff around like i have hundreds of CEOs that have been interviewed across all of my podcasts
• 38:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I can now go on my Google Drive with this layer of AI, because it's all, all of my media has been indexed and say, uh, finally CEO's talking about income.
• 38:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it will literally show me every show, every episode with the timestamp in my drive of where to find that content, instead of me having to drop in a transcript or so the media being, the video is being indexed, even
• 38:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: every, even BTS, not be Rokes, we haven't gotten there yet, but BTS, if words are used, I know where to find it.
• 38:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: So it's almost like I just had this messy drawer of all these great things, and I was like, oh, when I have time, I'll figure out what to do with that.
• 38:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: And now it's indexed, so I could use it.
• 38:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: So good.
• 38:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm thinking about, oh, and dashboards, my God, if you're not analyzing clots, create a dashboard to keep up with your numbers, which was so funny, because the, um,
• 39:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: I know I need systems in my business, but I got to be honest, I had to become that entrepreneur.
• 39:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm very creative, very flowy, but like the, you have to build systems was like a painstake.
• 39:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: I had to walk through.
• 39:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so when I was building with someone, the dashboard, it was, it was like pulling tea through me.
• 39:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like I was like, but it was, it was to show me every day live at 6 a.m. where all our YouTube shows are, what are the numbers, what are the views, what are the impressions, what are the what, what's the watch time, so that I have that update
• 39:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then I remember how painful it wasn't thinking, why is this going to be useful?
• 39:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then I got like that Friday, I got asked to put in a proposal for the largest contract I've ever done in my life.
• 39:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: And the number one thing that we won the proposal over with was the data.
• 39:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: That was used in the dashboard.
• 39:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Wow.
• 39:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: So it's like, if you are not using this, I know I'm not using it to its full potential, but if you are not using this,
• 40:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: In the ways in which it's added layers to the existing business that you already use that you can speed up cut back on time and have the data for the things that you're already doing by God.
• 40:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so good.
• 40:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Do you mind sharing what that biggest contract was?
• 40:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I don't have the amount yet because I think they're going to come back with a customized approach.
• 40:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: And is it?
• 40:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 40:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I mean, we're talking, are we talking like multiple six figures?
• 40:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, probably in the it's going to probably be over two.
• 40:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
• 40:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: So the reason I asked that is because I believe you've been able to build a really cool business that serves the right people at the right level and I think you have a lot of game to share when it comes to serving the right client.
• 40:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, that took eons of saying, no, this is like one of my favorite things to talk about because I'm eight years in and I think the last year and a half is just where I got to the place where I'm like, I'm allowed to say no, I'm allowed to trust and have faith that what is for me will be for me and I'm allowed to identify that like, there are certain
• 41:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: I want everyone, you know, I was joke about Dave, like he's like, I want everyone to have a podcast.
• 41:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, I want everyone too, but I will not be the one to do it.
• 41:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: I will not be the one to do it.
• 41:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I don't want to have a course.
• 41:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I don't want to outsource what I can offer you.
• 41:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: I love that I get to have a customized approach with somebody.
• 41:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I get to ask the right questions.
• 41:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: And they can tell me what the work in which they do, whether it is, you know, elevating the CEO or the founder, or it is humanizing the brand, or it's telling the story in a way that shows the work in which they do in the world.
• 41:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's what I want to do, and I want to do it with somebody that has a median of marketing budget where they're like, we know that this is a priority.
• 41:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so it's like, and I want it to be a win-win, and you know this, it's, if you're not hedging this on your entire success, then it's a win-win for both of us.
• 41:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to put my all into using my expertise to get you where you need to be, but you already likely have a brand.
• 42:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 42:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: You already likely have a YouTube channel.
• 42:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: You already likely have a substantial community that's following you in waiting for what's next.
• 42:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: So when we put this out at this level, it's going to, it's going to spin.
• 42:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 42:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: So it's like, I want to win win.
• 42:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: I want to marry my expertise with your expertise.
• 42:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: And we do something freaking great together versus like, man, I was expecting better results from that.
• 42:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it's like, you can't do that with everyone.
• 42:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: You can't pick a partner that is at a quarter of where you are and be like, man, I really hope to that.
• 42:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: Do work out better.
• 42:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's like you've got to be on somewhat of an even playing field that where you when you marry these two great things You get something really good out of it.
• 42:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I want those type of clients.
• 42:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: So in the world of Brought go-brought or go-need or you know, and I know there's different contexts where things of this matter
• 42:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: Where do you in the context of building a niche business, like a business that serves a specific client?
• 43:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: What advice do you have for a person to be okay to work through saying no?
• 43:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because I think that's what it is.
• 43:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's like you value your know.
• 43:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: your yes is more expensive your your yes is the cheapest you're know is the most expensive and I'm immediately thinking of this because it's in real time what I'm reading right now I'm reading the science of scaling by Ben Hardy Dr. Ben Hardy I think and um he says our biggest mistake is that we always scale the wrong thing
• 43:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: We skill the wrong things.
• 43:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: We want to be able to do everything.
• 43:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: And he tells a story about a marketing company charging $300,000 enough to get people on commercial television with their product.
• 43:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: And that when the world of Amazon came out, everybody was like, well, I just want like a digital campaign.
• 43:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: And he was like, well, we could only, because it was digital, we could only charge like $5,000 a month for that.
• 43:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: And he started doing that.
• 43:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then he started pushing his team to do that.
• 43:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: And that became the makeup of what they were doing, because they were trying to be a catch-all.
• 44:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: And his mentor came and said, if you let all these people go and you got two clients at 300,000, you would make more than all of this and your team would not be burned out.
• 44:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: So are you willing to let this go?
• 44:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: And he took on all those Amazon clients out of fear.
• 44:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so we scale the wrong things because of fear.
• 44:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: And what do you and I both know that there's a bridge between fear and success?
• 44:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: And sometimes it feels like a really long bus ride.
• 44:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: So it's like if I'm going to say no, then I have to sit in and trust that my body is on board with whom I'm becoming, that the abundance is on the way.
• 44:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: And who I am and my expertise will eventually align with what's coming to me.
• 44:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: but I cannot sit there and say yes to everyone and expect to get all the way where I'm trying to go.
• 44:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: I cannot even even expect to be surprised by God.
• 44:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, people are always like, God, do your big one with me.
• 44:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: God surprised me and it's like, you cannot do that when you are buried under a sea of yesses to all the wrong people.
• 45:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: We know this to be true.
• 45:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
• 45:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: So it's like,
• 45:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: just be willing to say no and sit in it, like go niche, go matter of fact, go narrow in who you serve and serve really, really well because when we live in a world of people that want to be perfect, guess who you're going to be the closest to perfect with?
• 45:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: But the people that you serve really, really well when you stop trying to serve everyone all the time in all the ways.
• 45:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Mm, that's so good.
• 45:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: I am here in Tampa because I paid $25,000 for a two day event.
• 45:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yep.
• 45:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm just going to give you the one thing that precedes everything.
• 45:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it's what you have and that is certainty.
• 45:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like all sales simply comes down to certainty.
• 45:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if you're certain, the reason why it's working for your clients is because you're certain it's going to work.
• 45:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.
• 45:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: And what's funny is when you say yes to everyone, you're actually operating in uncertainty.
• 45:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so then that's going to kill your confidence and that's going to kill the future of your sales because you're not going to be able to see the compound success of doing things that you know for certain will help people.
• 46:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think that's why it works because you're seeing it.
• 46:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then when somebody says no, let's we're going to move on and we're going to table this and I'm sure you have those conversations.
• 46:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: I know in your heart you're like man Cold world I mean what you know I've never gotten to know that I was like oh, that makes me sad Yeah, ever like I'm like it is all what it is supposed to be I have enough and I want to be at the place when you use the word Certain, do I thought there's been so many instances where somebody comes to me with an idea and I'm like Can I make that better?
• 46:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: I want to be excited.
• 46:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: I want when someone comes to me and I do an idea, I'm like, oh, let me pour my guess on that.
• 46:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: And we are going somewhere, like, and I don't want the credit.
• 46:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't want ownership.
• 46:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't want any of that.
• 46:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, just let me pour my guess on that.
• 46:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: And or let me pour my seeds or my whatever it watch.
• 47:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Just that deserves guess.
• 47:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 47:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: I want to do that.
• 47:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: I want to work on that with you.
• 47:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's an award-winning concept.
• 47:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Let's do that.
• 47:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: So good.
• 47:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: So and then in the realm of entrepreneurship, you just said you had like 16 editors or something like that and then you probably have however much other people where it would like how many people do you have on your business in your business working.
• 47:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh my, okay, four recurring contractors, 16 people in that post team, but their editors, graphic designers, copywriters, project managers, so we're probably at 16 full-time and then four.
• 47:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Go, you put a dinner on the places, 16 families.
• 47:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, the stress.
• 47:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm a single mom.
• 47:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: Wow.
• 47:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: And my mom lives with me and I take care of them in my son.
• 47:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you're a boss.
• 47:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think I just had this conversation, thank you, by the way, and we're seeing that compliment, thank you.
• 48:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think I just had this conversation with someone where they said, you don't get, I was talking to a heart surgeon and another doctor, and they're both thinking about coming entrepreneurs, and they were like, you don't ever get scared, and I was like, I remember the first three years wondering when that feeling would go away of like, where you have those moments where you look at your margins, and you're like, I have a master's degree.
• 48:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: I could just go get a job like,
• 48:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: it has recently, over the last couple of years, I don't even think about it.
• 48:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Even when things get hard, even when things get scary, even when things get quiet.
• 48:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, oh, this is just for an opportunity for me to clean up my systems.
• 48:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, this is just an opportunity for me to pivot how I'm messaging, or oh, this is just the result of me being quiet and not, and trying to use humble as a strategy and knowing that I have to speak about and market what I do.
• 48:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: So it's like, okay, well, just jump back in the driver seat.
• 48:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: You road passenger for a minute, get back in the driver seat and let's go because I have certainty and a love and a belief in what I do and I'm just, okay, get back in the driver seat.
• 49:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: So good.
• 49:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think most people who are starting out the podcast game aren't really including that hired help or paying for that studio or paying for that consultant or that producer.
• 49:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, how would you encourage someone to know that doing this alone isn't going to
• 49:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: I was never going to work out because you and I talked about consistency earlier and it's like you can do seasons if money doesn't matter but if money matters or you are trying to get a brand deal or you are an influencer you need consistency.
• 49:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: I work with a lot of networks like I heard and morning brew and a couple others and they you immediately will go into contract for a number of episodes per year.
• 49:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: So your consistency is required.
• 49:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: So it's like you will have to, um, when I think about the team, your number one is like, you don't necessarily need a producer because if you care about the content that you come up with, you have chat to be t at your disposal, you can produce your own content, but you will not make it without an editor.
• 50:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I've even seen people that are like, oh, I have the skill of editing, and I'm like, no, no, no, but you're the talent.
• 50:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Get out of that seat.
• 50:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, yes, I know you were there, and you know what you said, but get that to someone else, get that as a task, and someone needs to edit.
• 50:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, your primary first hire, I don't care if it's overseas, like hire yourself an editor.
• 50:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: that can push out your content and come up with the way in which you want to show up in the world from a deliverables perspective.
• 50:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Do I want to main episode on YouTube every week?
• 50:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Do I want three reels on my socials every week?
• 50:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Do I want reels with copy that call out my audience?
• 50:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like do I want to split test thumbnails?
• 50:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: So okay, so now I need an editor and a graphic designer.
• 50:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: to produce those two things, because now we're talking about 10 to 20 assets a week.
• 50:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: You cannot do that in run a business.
• 50:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so if you are starting a podcast or you are at the, I get this message a lot where people will go.
• 50:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: I did it for a season, but I really want to take it to the next level.
• 50:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's your next level, an editor and a graphic designer, so that you can focus on being the talent and creating content that people want to binge.
• 51:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's really good and what's funny is I used to make videos on a channel called Think Media where I'm telling the world some by the equipment and do it yourself and I just like That's the worst advice in the world like for for someone who like you all you need to focus on creating it
• 51:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Why, why, you don't need the skill of knowing aperture and, you know, audio gain and like batteries and 4k and 3 frame rates like and what's it's it's fun because you get to finicking open up boxes and you set up your own podcast, but then you're just the amount of energy that went into trying to produce it yourself and then you got to set on and be like, I have to find something really good to say and then
• 51:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and the lens is just looking at you in the face.
• 51:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I just think one of the best things, too, is just like find a local studio.
• 51:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: And what's crazy is like a local studio could potentially even be your first brand deal because they're wanting someone it could be consistent.
• 52:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it's like, if you're a real estate professional and you do, and you're have a podcast around the city you live in or the place you farm and the studios in that.
• 52:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I'm just saying, you can get creative,
• 52:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: take away the production aspect of things so you can focus on the content value.
• 52:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: 100% 100%.
• 52:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: appreciate you for doing this on a short set short notice that was so much insight game like you're in inspiration because of just who you're I mean you're just ooze you know like you ooze that you get so much fulfillment in what you do and it's like It's like your your bottled up with like I just want the world to I love it.
• 52:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I love it because I just think that
• 52:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: There is a way to put your content out in the world that can make people feel things, that they don't understand or put words to things, that they don't know how to put words to.
• 52:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: And you just need the right editor and the right person to kind of cure your story.
• 53:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: And now we have AI and it can all be done and you can get the results.
• 53:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's the most important part is like,
• 53:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: getting the results.
• 53:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think people, I think we are, we've got a much shorter gap right now and being able to get the results and the visibility that leads to us to selling something that you can now create a brand online like that.
• 53:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: So good.
• 53:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: We'll link up all your stuff down below.
• 53:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
• 53:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: Where can people find you?
• 53:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely, Jessica Hurley underscore on Instagram, or you can check us out at EPYCepicwithWi.co is where a lot of our shows live.
• 53:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then a lot of your favorite podcasts, you'll see that they are produced or co-produced by epic media.
• 53:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: So epic.
• 53:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, sweet.
• 53:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: They shared you so much.
• 53:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I was fun.
• 53:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, thank you.
• 53:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Such a great combo.