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Building Authentic Connections Through Podcasting with Alex Sanfilippo
July 03, 2024

Building Authentic Connections Through Podcasting with Alex Sanfilippo

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What if you could transform your passion into a thriving business? Join us as we sit down with Alex Cancelipo, the visionary founder of PodMatchcom and host of "Podcasting Made Simple," who reveals his remarkable journey from aspiring minister to influential podcaster and entrepreneur. Alex's story is a testament to the power of genuine human connections and the unexpected twists that lead to profound fulfillment in unconventional spaces. Learn how his encounter with real estate mogul Brandon Turner exemplifies the magic moments that make podcasting an extraordinary medium for building authentic relationships.

Ever wonder how a faith-driven inspiration can evolve into a groundbreaking platform? Discover the origins and growth of Podmatch, a service that revolutionizes the way podcast guests and hosts connect. Alex shares the divine motivations behind its creation and how its inclusive beginnings during the challenging 2020 era fostered a welcoming community for all. Get practical tips from Alex on enhancing your podcasting skills by embracing transparency and authenticity, countering the often curated nature of social media with real, relatable human experiences.

From blogging to podcasting, and from adversity to purpose, Alex's journey is nothing short of inspiring. Hear about his transformative shift from a money-driven career in real estate to finding his true calling through faith and service. Learn about the inception of "Creating a Brand" and its evolution into "Podcasting Made Simple," along with unconventional strategies for podcast monetization. Alex's heartfelt advice encourages listeners to embrace their unique voice and creativity, overcoming feelings of inadequacy to share their message with the world. Don't miss this episode packed with wisdom, practical insights, and heartfelt stories that will resonate with podcasters and listeners alike.

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Thank You for Listening, I hope you enjoyed this episode and that it encouraged you.  Please like, share, and leave a review.  

Chapters

00:00 - Passion for Podcasting

07:33 - Podcast Growth and Faith Integration

11:44 - The Power of Transparent Podcasting

21:38 - Finding Purpose Through Adversity

24:45 - Podcasting

29:54 - Building Partnerships and Finding Niche

39:27 - Embrace Your Unique Voice

Transcript
WEBVTT

00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:06.274
Hello everyone, thank you again for joining me on another episode of the Dorsuos show.

00:00:06.274 --> 00:00:09.666
Today we have a special guest with us.

00:00:09.666 --> 00:00:11.952
His name is Alex Cancelipo.

00:00:11.952 --> 00:00:22.768
He is the founder of PodMatchcom, a software that automatically matches podcasts, guests and hosts for interviews.

00:00:22.768 --> 00:00:24.751
It's actually a website.

00:00:24.751 --> 00:00:39.656
Alex is also the host of the top-rated podcast Podcasting Made Simple and a lead educator in the podcasting industry.

00:00:39.656 --> 00:00:49.487
Alex's sole focus is to serve independent podcast guests and hosts so that they can grow their influence and resume so they can better serve their listeners.

00:00:49.487 --> 00:00:53.234
Alex, thank you so much for coming on the show today.

00:00:54.039 --> 00:00:55.704
Dorsey, I'm seriously honored to be here.

00:00:55.704 --> 00:00:57.090
I was telling you before we got started.

00:00:57.090 --> 00:01:00.509
I've been enjoying listening to your show, so it's really cool to be in this seat.

00:01:00.509 --> 00:01:07.191
I'll be real with you, though I'm probably going to skip my episode when it comes out, so I'll jump ahead, not listen to myself when it comes out.

00:01:07.191 --> 00:01:11.007
I'm just kidding, I'll go back and listen to it, but you've got a really great show and I'm just honored to be here.

00:01:11.007 --> 00:01:11.900
So thank you for what you do.

00:01:12.341 --> 00:01:21.051
Yeah, no problem, and I'm going to start off with a little icebreaker question and who's your favorite person that you've gotten to interview?

00:01:25.319 --> 00:01:25.621
Oh man, that's a.

00:01:25.621 --> 00:01:28.055
That's a tough icebreaker question, because now everyone else is going to feel subpar and I don't mean for that to happen.

00:01:28.055 --> 00:01:29.501
You know somebody who I really enjoyed.

00:01:29.501 --> 00:01:30.608
I always.

00:01:30.608 --> 00:01:34.221
I immediately just mentioned the first person came to my mind, but his name is Brandon Turner.

00:01:34.783 --> 00:01:45.350
He's a real estate guy and I've done really well, but the the first time I was supposed to interview him, we got on a call like like we're supposed to, and he's like, hey, man, he goes.

00:01:45.350 --> 00:01:46.552
I'm so sorry he goes.

00:01:46.552 --> 00:01:47.734
I don't really work anymore.

00:01:47.734 --> 00:01:52.189
He goes, but I have to sign contracts and be available for certain things.

00:01:52.189 --> 00:01:52.352
He goes.

00:01:52.352 --> 00:01:53.540
I have one that's going to come at any minute unexpectedly.

00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:58.307
He's like, can we just talk and not record and we can just schedule another time?

00:01:58.307 --> 00:02:00.784
And this is a person I really shouldn't have had access to.

00:02:00.784 --> 00:02:01.525
People in real estate.

00:02:01.525 --> 00:02:03.268
Uh, really go after him.

00:02:03.268 --> 00:02:05.731
They're like always looking for him and we just talked for 30 minutes.

00:02:05.731 --> 00:02:06.873
He's like, oh well, here comes that call.

00:02:06.873 --> 00:02:09.156
He goes just let me know when I need to come back and we'll record.

00:02:09.156 --> 00:02:11.736
And we built this great rapport just in that little bit of time.

00:02:11.736 --> 00:02:20.008
And he's also a fellow believer and I got to hear I'd only heard his real estate stuff, so I got to hear his faith stuff as well, and he's somebody I just really respect again as a man of God and a business owner.

00:02:20.008 --> 00:02:28.489
So that was probably for me someone that has really always stood out.

00:02:28.789 --> 00:02:36.811
Okay, I had a similar situation like that happen and I have to now go back and have them interview me.

00:02:36.811 --> 00:02:53.292
I was having problems with Social Security and I was waiting for a call back from them and I was supposed to be on a podcast interview and I was like you know, I hopped on and I was like, hey, I'm waiting for the call.

00:02:53.292 --> 00:02:54.864
Can we do this another time?

00:02:56.389 --> 00:03:00.941
Yep, you know, that's just, that's humanity, and I think it's so important to remember that.

00:03:00.941 --> 00:03:15.776
Even in something like podcasting, sure, somebody's listening to it and that's who we're serving, right Is the listener at the end of the day, but it's sometimes refreshing to know that, oh, these are just human beings like me, a listener right, that just sometimes have life happen and you got to just roll with the punches sometimes.

00:03:21.219 --> 00:03:21.640
So I respect that.

00:03:21.640 --> 00:03:21.901
That's cool.

00:03:21.941 --> 00:03:23.424
Why are you passionate about what you do.

00:03:23.424 --> 00:03:36.157
You know I love serving people and maybe that sounds like strange to say, but really when I dove deep into my faith at first I was like I'm going to start serving at church, maybe work at a church one day, and that was kind of my mindset.

00:03:36.157 --> 00:03:36.980
Cause I'm like, cause I.

00:03:36.980 --> 00:03:53.168
I realized that, like Jesus has shown me the example of serving and loving others, loving the father and I wanted to do that and in my mind I couldn't do that unless I was in ministry and I came to realize that you know what you can actually serve and love people anywhere and that can still be a passion for you.

00:03:53.168 --> 00:04:12.656
It sounds strange to people that aren't walking with Jesus, that don't have this perspective of like I'm here to serve, not to be served, but once you gain that perspective, it's your entire life, it's holistic and so many of us disconnect our careers, our jobs, the things that we do, and our faith.

00:04:12.656 --> 00:04:16.771
So where we serve and love people, right, that's churchy stuff and the rest of it's work stuff.

00:04:16.771 --> 00:04:20.507
And for me I just had the realization that you know what?

00:04:20.507 --> 00:04:23.165
I'm probably not going to be in ministry.

00:04:23.165 --> 00:04:30.482
I did have some opportunity to volunteer and to even be staff at one point, which I decided not to take because I just didn't feel peace about it.

00:04:30.482 --> 00:04:32.809
And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with ministry.

00:04:32.809 --> 00:04:34.322
I think that's a very high calling.

00:04:34.704 --> 00:04:37.370
For some reason, I just felt like God was telling me this is not for you.

00:04:37.370 --> 00:04:42.189
And what I have realized is what is for me is being in the business world.

00:04:42.189 --> 00:04:51.105
And so for me, I was thinking like, where do I find people that I love to serve?

00:04:51.105 --> 00:04:58.196
And podcasting very quickly became that, because I'm also a people person and I find a lot of business is very and I'm a systems guy as well, but, like a lot of businesses, very systems driven, automations driven, all that right.

00:04:58.196 --> 00:05:03.569
But, dorsey, what we're doing right now, like this, is human to human and for me I'm like man.

00:05:03.569 --> 00:05:12.911
That's where I want to show up and serve, and podcasting just gives such a beautiful medium to be able to do what we're doing right now Having a great conversation that I know that will live on.

00:05:12.911 --> 00:05:14.004
There'll be a legacy behind it.

00:05:14.004 --> 00:05:21.803
So for me, I'm passionate to serve people and podcasting just happens to be the lane that I feel that God really put me into to do this at the highest capacity.

00:05:22.165 --> 00:05:30.190
Yeah, when somebody interviewed me about almost four years ago now somebody interviewed me for their podcast I was like you know what?

00:05:30.190 --> 00:05:32.952
That was a lot of fun, that was really cool.

00:05:32.952 --> 00:05:37.456
And I was asking them, hey, how did you get started, what did you start using?

00:05:37.456 --> 00:05:46.514
And they were telling me, oh, I use Anchor, which is now Spotify Anchor.

00:05:46.514 --> 00:05:48.521
And I was like you know what, let me try this, Let me see what happens.

00:05:48.521 --> 00:05:55.966
And you know, it took me a little while, but it started to steamroll and started to snowball and now I'm enjoying it.

00:05:55.966 --> 00:06:05.968
You know, I may not always, I may drop the ball sometimes and have to pick it back up and then start interviewing people again, but it's what I enjoy doing.

00:06:06.850 --> 00:06:13.470
Yeah, and Dorsey, I see your name come up a lot, so I see you're making some moves, that's for sure.

00:06:13.470 --> 00:06:16.687
Next time I see you disappear for a little bit of time, I'll be like.

00:06:16.687 --> 00:06:19.749
I'll be like, dorsey, where are you at, don't fall off, where are you?

00:06:19.749 --> 00:06:21.341
Right, I'll check in next time.

00:06:21.341 --> 00:06:27.428
But yeah, you've done a very good job building a reputation and brand that it appears for me a lot online at least.

00:06:27.889 --> 00:06:28.290
Thank you.

00:06:28.290 --> 00:06:46.031
Obviously, you're the founder of PodMaxcom, so that's what you do in the podcasting space, but you also are the host of your own, so tell us a little bit about that and tell us about how you started Podmatchcom.

00:06:46.793 --> 00:06:55.805
Yeah, so, first off, I had a show before Podmatch, so my introduction to podcasting wasn't through software, it was through just being a podcaster.

00:06:55.805 --> 00:07:00.271
Again, I had this idea of I want to serve people and a podcast seemed like a really great way to do that.

00:07:00.271 --> 00:07:11.994
So I started a show and, in the process, really fell in love with the craft of podcasting, did realize that there was some areas that things needed to happen right, like some areas for improvement to make it better for both guests and hosts.

00:07:11.994 --> 00:07:19.502
And that's where the idea for Podmatch came from was actually me being a podcaster myself and I was podcasting out business and I did some faith stuff as well, which is really cool.

00:07:19.502 --> 00:07:33.290
But when I started Podmatch which, for anyone listening who's not familiar with it, it's a service that connects podcast guests and podcast hosts for interviews it's actually how we got connected through Podmatch and basically I would say it works like a dating app, but instead of connecting you for dates, it connects you for podcast interviews.

00:07:33.290 --> 00:07:34.432
Works really similar to that.

00:07:34.432 --> 00:07:42.180
It's got a similar kind of technology, and so when I started that, god really blessed it from day one.

00:07:42.180 --> 00:07:49.199
It just started doing really well and I am so thankful for that.

00:07:49.199 --> 00:07:49.874
I feel that I had very little to do with that.

00:07:49.874 --> 00:07:50.646
I felt like the idea came from God.

00:07:50.646 --> 00:07:52.793
I felt like the launch date came from God, like all of it, and so I give God full glory for that.

00:07:53.415 --> 00:07:58.744
And at that time, after we launched, when we started growing, I realized there was a big need for education as well.

00:07:58.744 --> 00:08:02.329
And so here I am, a podcast about faith and business.

00:08:02.329 --> 00:08:04.754
And people were like, well, how do I podcast better?

00:08:04.754 --> 00:08:10.803
What do I do to be a better guest?

00:08:10.803 --> 00:08:11.346
How do I be a better host?

00:08:11.346 --> 00:08:12.874
And these questions were coming up a lot and I remember talking to the team.

00:08:12.894 --> 00:08:22.064
I'm like you know what, as much as I love my faith in business podcasting journey, I think it's time to sunset that and bring that to a close and move fully into podcasting education.

00:08:22.064 --> 00:08:30.408
So my show now is called Podcasting Made Simple, and it's about making podcasting simple on either side of the mic.

00:08:30.408 --> 00:08:33.120
So, whether you're a guest or host, the whole idea is can we simplify, demystify even the process on the way?

00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:37.370
And that was a really personally tough decision for me From day one.

00:08:37.370 --> 00:08:38.413
After making it happen.

00:08:38.413 --> 00:08:40.101
This was 100% the right move.

00:08:40.101 --> 00:08:42.625
So I always just tell people I'm 100% podcasting.

00:08:42.625 --> 00:08:50.436
I mean, even my podcast is about podcasting, so and that's kind of like the whole, if you will, evolution of what I've done as a podcaster.

00:08:51.019 --> 00:09:05.130
When you started PodMax, was it strictly meant to read or meant to help people of faith, or were you just strictly like hey, whoever wants to use this can use it?

00:09:06.033 --> 00:09:08.366
Yeah, originally we just didn't know.

00:09:08.366 --> 00:09:12.368
So, to be fully transparent, I had no idea.

00:09:12.368 --> 00:09:15.447
I was like I don't know, so we didn't have any stipulation like that.

00:09:15.447 --> 00:09:23.600
However, from day one, I immediately reached out to anyone I knew who was a person of faith, saying, if you know anybody, bring them to the platform.

00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:30.682
And when we launched, we launched in a very, very early beta.

00:09:30.682 --> 00:09:31.746
I mean, we had no logo, we had typos everywhere.

00:09:31.746 --> 00:09:33.011
It was slow, right, but it worked and that's what mattered.

00:09:33.011 --> 00:09:34.899
So there was no paywall at all.

00:09:34.899 --> 00:09:35.780
Everything was free.

00:09:35.780 --> 00:09:38.423
And so I just told people I'm like, hey, I'm asking you to share it.

00:09:38.423 --> 00:09:44.410
We're not going to charge them for it, we'll keep them free forever, but we want to get a good foundation of people of faith on the platform, because that's what we believe.

00:09:44.410 --> 00:09:48.895
And we want some more positivity happen, because we launched in 2020.

00:09:48.936 --> 00:09:55.542
And I feel the world is always trends more negatively, but that year specifically, negativity was winning everywhere.

00:09:55.542 --> 00:09:57.466
Right, like it was rough and it was a tough.

00:09:57.466 --> 00:10:01.102
I'm not downplaying how tough it was for a lot of people, but I was just like man.

00:10:01.102 --> 00:10:05.551
We need some positivity and, like who's good at positivity, I'm like people who follow Jesus seem to be pretty positive.

00:10:05.551 --> 00:10:12.457
Let's find more of them, and so we really did launch, maybe unmeaningfully, but with a lot of believers.

00:10:12.457 --> 00:10:14.067
A lot of pastors joined right away.

00:10:14.067 --> 00:10:22.106
A lot of pastors and speakers in the faith space, like you, joined the platform right, like people that have a reputation, like you do.

00:10:22.106 --> 00:10:24.109
They joined and it was like really cool to see.

00:10:24.109 --> 00:10:26.390
So it just brought all kinds of people.

00:10:26.390 --> 00:10:36.869
At this point, we're this huge mix and match, if you will, but at the end of the day, my heart stays the same and it's about really spreading a positive message, serving people, and so, for me, that is my faith in Jesus.

00:10:36.869 --> 00:10:39.566
So we still have a very good base of believers on the platform.

00:10:39.586 --> 00:10:53.206
But when we launched to answer your question- we just kind of said whoever wants to join, come on.

00:10:53.206 --> 00:11:02.982
You mentioned in your last comment there about how to be a better guest and how to be a better host For those that might be listening, who may be in the podcasting field or maybe wanting to go into the podcasting field.

00:11:02.982 --> 00:11:07.807
What advice would you give, even to myself, to be a better guest and to be a?

00:11:10.410 --> 00:11:16.823
show up as transparently as you can, and what I mean is don't hold back, and I see so many people.

00:11:16.823 --> 00:11:22.711
We look at social media as our example, and social media is great, has its place, but it's not podcasting.

00:11:22.711 --> 00:11:28.912
They are very, very different things, and so social media really is highlights best foot forward.

00:11:28.912 --> 00:11:30.515
Show people what you want them to see.

00:11:30.515 --> 00:11:38.456
Podcasting is take off the mask and just say it all right, share it, and I find that those are the podcasts that people really love the most.

00:11:38.456 --> 00:11:43.140
And, of course, there are very tactful ways of doing that right.

00:11:43.140 --> 00:11:47.873
You don't want to show up and then like cry and word vomit for an hour and a half and people be like, what did I just hear?

00:11:47.873 --> 00:11:48.114
Right.

00:11:48.114 --> 00:11:52.220
But the thing is like, when, like you asked, like when we launched, did we have like a plan?

00:11:52.220 --> 00:11:55.504
I just said no, we kind of let anyone show up, right.

00:11:56.211 --> 00:12:00.754
And I think that that level of transparency reminds people that are listening that, oh, this is another human being.

00:12:00.971 --> 00:12:28.616
If I would have said, yeah, let me give you the 10 steps we took to launching Right, unless, of course, it is a presentation of some sort, but for the most part it's a conversation and people want to hear a little bit of themselves in any conversation, and so to me, as a podcast guest or host, this takes a lot of pressure off, because now, instead of saying I've got to be that polished professional that people can just look up to and admire in every possible way, now you're saying I just got to show people that I'm human and then I'm trying and I'm just going to take them along the way with me in this journey.

00:12:29.138 --> 00:12:33.163
And here's what I found People learn less and less from people that are at the top of the mountain.

00:12:33.163 --> 00:12:39.386
If they're struggling to get over a giant boulder, that person's yelling at them from the top of the mountain right, hey, just go around this way, do that.

00:12:39.386 --> 00:12:50.701
It's kind of a metaphor here right, but the person's like I can't get over this boulder and you're so far ahead of me, how do I get there?

00:12:50.701 --> 00:12:56.554
What they're learning from this thing out together, that's how people really like to learn, and that, to me, is the power of podcasting.

00:12:56.554 --> 00:13:07.177
So let more humanity be in podcasting, be transparent, take off the mask, share your wins, your losses and just do it in a way that has a story to it, and I find that people really love that.

00:13:07.177 --> 00:13:10.033
And, again, it takes a lot of the pressure off on either side of the mic.

00:13:10.553 --> 00:13:20.176
Yeah, I don't know about the size of your show or anything, but how long did it take you to grow your show to its current size?

00:13:20.176 --> 00:13:25.085
And I got a couple of subset questions to that as well.

00:13:25.990 --> 00:13:31.038
Yeah, so my show originally was my business show that I talked about.

00:13:31.038 --> 00:13:37.547
So I did 158 episodes business show that I talked about.

00:13:37.547 --> 00:13:39.823
So I did 158 episodes Don't quote me on that, but I think 158 episodes of that show.

00:13:39.823 --> 00:13:43.778
And then I just changed the name, changed the title and then 159 and beyond was Podcasting Made Simple.

00:13:44.178 --> 00:13:47.544
At that point I had a very substantial drop in listenership.

00:13:47.544 --> 00:13:48.592
It was about 40.

00:13:48.592 --> 00:13:51.811
I think it was about 40% of my listenership disappeared overnight, which is fine.

00:13:51.811 --> 00:13:59.434
The show was no longer for people that weren't into podcasting and so that's perfectly fine, totally okay.

00:13:59.434 --> 00:14:02.147
But I say that because it means I did already have a little bit of a boost when I launched this thing.

00:14:02.167 --> 00:14:05.677
So right now and you know I don't really look at the downloads much, but I will we have a page.

00:14:05.677 --> 00:14:06.541
We do it publicly now.

00:14:06.541 --> 00:14:08.812
So podmatchcom slash episodes has it.

00:14:08.812 --> 00:14:22.326
Let me just go over that page while we're hanging out here and I can tell you in the last seven days this shows we've had 2,492 people listen to the show and for me I'm extremely happy with that.

00:14:22.326 --> 00:14:29.837
I'm not really too much so numbers driven, but we just have done our best to continuously make it better and better to serve the people that are listening.

00:14:29.837 --> 00:14:39.825
So that's where we're at today and I would say it took me probably a year of it being podcasting, made simple, to really find the flow of it and in some ways I'm still working on it, but having a really good time.

00:14:40.691 --> 00:14:41.412
Yeah, that was.

00:14:41.412 --> 00:14:51.505
One of my other questions was should people care about the size of their show or even growing their show?

00:14:55.649 --> 00:14:56.011
growing their show?

00:14:56.011 --> 00:14:56.835
Dorsey, it's such an insightful question.

00:14:56.835 --> 00:14:58.100
I'm glad you asked this because this is so important to cover.

00:14:58.100 --> 00:14:58.943
I feel that we don't talk about it enough.

00:14:58.943 --> 00:15:05.183
I don't think that the top line download number matters as much as most of us think.

00:15:05.183 --> 00:15:10.480
I get that it is the most addictive number to look at, right, like looking at the total download, like I totally understand that.

00:15:10.519 --> 00:15:15.357
But going back to this mindset of service, do for one what you wish you could do for all.

00:15:15.357 --> 00:15:18.623
I think that Jesus set a great example of what this looks like.

00:15:18.623 --> 00:15:29.650
If you think about Jesus' mission while he was on earth, right, like his mission was to set us all free, but Jesus did a lot of what I'll call side quests where someone needed him and he'd go out of his way for that one person.

00:15:29.650 --> 00:15:34.394
And for many of us, if Jesus was like ah, I can't do anything for one person because I got to do it for all of them, right.

00:15:34.394 --> 00:15:37.655
And I think that maybe we need to take from that example and say you know what?

00:15:37.655 --> 00:15:47.663
My show has a niche, has a specific avatar, a person that it serves and there's not a whole lot of them in the world, but I can serve that one person really, really well.

00:15:47.663 --> 00:15:50.245
So I'm going to do for one what I wish I can do for all.

00:15:50.745 --> 00:16:11.296
To me, the most important thing to track is the impact that you're having on people's lives, and so a better metric to look at is what's called completion or consumption rate, and so if you log into Apple or Spotify I'm not going to get too technical here, but basically it's how far your listeners are making to the episode before they drop off, and there are some shows that get millions of downloads right.

00:16:11.416 --> 00:16:14.844
Millions of people are listening to it, but they're only finishing about 10% of it.

00:16:14.844 --> 00:16:18.813
So it's like man, are you impacting their life in a big way If they're just listening to a little bit?

00:16:18.813 --> 00:16:21.304
I'm not trying to be mean about those shows.

00:16:21.304 --> 00:16:28.751
I would much rather have a show with a hundred people listening, or 50 people listening that they're listening to the whole thing, because it means I'm making a difference in their lives.

00:16:28.751 --> 00:16:38.360
So to me, what I track sure, I'm public with our download numbers podmatchcom slash episodes literally shows you what our downloads are in the last seven days.

00:16:38.360 --> 00:16:42.224
But what I look at personally is are people finishing the episodes?

00:16:42.224 --> 00:16:43.424
If not, why?

00:16:43.424 --> 00:16:52.600
How can we have a better impact on them and, at the end of the day, is really what I look at, because I don't want everyone to listen, I just want the right people to listen that it can really serve.

00:16:52.620 --> 00:16:59.136
I thought about you know, trying to find out and maybe I'll get the link from you later on about how to.

00:16:59.136 --> 00:17:03.932
How do I gauge who is listening to the whole show you know?

00:17:03.932 --> 00:17:24.182
And then would that you know help my you know, help my spirit, or help my you know, help me to be happy about that or be like, oh, only only 10 people listening to the whole show out of the you know, out of 100 downloads yeah, I, I can definitely send you.

00:17:24.282 --> 00:17:24.743
Exactly, I do.

00:17:24.743 --> 00:17:28.238
It's a little technical for the podcast today, but, uh, I can definitely send it to you.

00:17:28.238 --> 00:17:34.885
And, and here's the thing, like it a lot, no one ever for me, I've never had an episode go to 100.

00:17:34.885 --> 00:17:35.689
I've gotten close.

00:17:35.689 --> 00:17:39.227
But like people start hearing the end, like I'm out of here, right, like, and I get it.

00:17:39.227 --> 00:17:40.372
That's just human nature to be like.

00:17:40.372 --> 00:17:41.374
Okay, I think I got it all.

00:17:41.374 --> 00:17:48.692
Uh, if you think about, like a movie, how many of us stay for the credits, right, and you're like I'm out of here and technically that's still part of the movie, it's in the same run, uh.

00:17:48.692 --> 00:17:53.261
So, yeah, I try not to beat myself up too much about it, but I do say how can I make this better?

00:17:53.261 --> 00:18:06.179
And it's a really as a host or a guest, it's a really great way for you to know where you should improve.

00:18:06.199 --> 00:18:07.280
You can really learn something from it.

00:18:07.280 --> 00:18:13.375
You know, with that same concept of, or question, you know when we're looking at the downloads and we're looking at.

00:18:13.375 --> 00:18:16.403
You know the numbers of who is listening to the whole show.

00:18:16.403 --> 00:18:22.298
How should we gauge how the show is doing?

00:18:23.801 --> 00:18:26.538
Yeah, my favorite is actually feedback.

00:18:26.538 --> 00:18:31.695
Feedback from other people is great, like example, like before we start recording.

00:18:31.695 --> 00:18:32.814
I don't mean to reference that too much.

00:18:32.814 --> 00:18:37.277
I already referenced it once, but I was talking about Drid uh chakta, I think is how you say it.

00:18:37.277 --> 00:18:41.232
Yeah, listen, everybody's listening to this, watching this.

00:18:41.232 --> 00:18:42.257
However, you're consuming this.

00:18:42.257 --> 00:18:46.351
Finish this and then immediately go to that episode.

00:18:46.351 --> 00:18:53.961
Uh, it's on the the uh dorothy rock show and it was launched on 5-22-2024.

00:18:53.961 --> 00:18:56.885
It's called the Transformative Journey of Prayerful Living.

00:18:57.650 --> 00:19:00.476
Listen, that's great content.

00:19:00.476 --> 00:19:06.017
I'm taking notes, I'm listening to it and I was going back and re-listening to parts because I'm like I want to make sure I catch this.

00:19:06.017 --> 00:19:20.220
It's just that you did a great job keeping it flowing and keeping the conversation just moving in the proper direction, and so for me, that's amazing and you know that today, dorsey, because we're having this conversation, so you knew that right.

00:19:20.220 --> 00:19:25.780
And so, as a host, it's so important that you find a way to communicate with your actual listeners.

00:19:25.780 --> 00:19:33.136
If somebody's like, hey, I really like this episode, just say can I get five minutes of your time or can I ask you a question, if they don't want to get on a call, or anything like that.

00:19:33.136 --> 00:19:36.163
But the more you can do this, the more you can quickly realize you know what.

00:19:36.163 --> 00:19:42.747
What they like about it is this one thing, and I'll give you one real life example here, and this is how I actually improved my show.

00:19:42.787 --> 00:19:47.476
When my show was called Creating a Brand it was that business show I started doing these calls.

00:19:47.476 --> 00:19:48.758
Come to find out.

00:19:48.758 --> 00:19:57.635
Every single person I talked to loved how I asked toward the end of the episode hey, do you have any final thought, word of wisdom to share with the listeners today?

00:19:57.635 --> 00:20:00.061
And I only asked it like half the time.

00:20:00.061 --> 00:20:03.304
I didn't always ask it, but every single person said they loved it.

00:20:03.304 --> 00:20:11.431
And when I go to my consumption rate the episodes that had that last segment people listened for longer and so I quantified it through data.

00:20:11.431 --> 00:20:12.291
But people were telling me that.

00:20:12.291 --> 00:20:13.875
So I started doing that every single time.

00:20:13.875 --> 00:20:16.419
That, right, there is how you get better as a podcast host.

00:20:16.419 --> 00:20:23.655
And if you're a guest, if anyone's like, oh, I heard your episode, ask them what did you love about it, and they might say something that catches you off guard and you're like that's what you liked about it.

00:20:23.655 --> 00:20:25.976
Right, that's what spoke to you.

00:20:25.976 --> 00:20:31.981
Do more of that, and so for me, it interaction, talking to people that are listening to you.

00:20:32.824 --> 00:20:41.883
Now let's talk about a little bit more personal about yourself, and would you share a little bit about your story with us?

00:20:43.250 --> 00:20:50.414
Yeah, I grew up in church, so I'm going to go ahead and start there, but didn't really have a relationship with God.

00:20:50.414 --> 00:20:52.728
Dorsey, I don't know, is this probably common?

00:20:52.728 --> 00:20:59.696
I feel like a lot of people probably say this right, you're brought up in church, but it's like your parents' faith, not really yours, so I don't know, is that common here?

00:20:59.696 --> 00:21:00.579
Do you find that?

00:21:00.970 --> 00:21:03.479
A little bit, you know, depending on who I'm talking to.

00:21:04.049 --> 00:21:07.019
Okay, I just wonder because you've talked to a lot of people, so I was just curious.

00:21:07.019 --> 00:21:24.074
I'm like no-transcript People was hanging around with the wrong people.

00:21:24.074 --> 00:21:32.419
I was very money driven, growth mindset type of guy, but like not in a healthy way, and I'll never forget it, though.

00:21:32.419 --> 00:21:35.384
The world hit a really tough point, and it was.

00:21:35.384 --> 00:21:39.790
I'll never forget it, though I the the world hit a really tough point, and uh, it was.

00:21:39.790 --> 00:21:40.654
I was working in the real estate industry.

00:21:40.654 --> 00:21:42.662
I ran a virtual tour company which was basically making virtual tours of homes, doing some investing.

00:21:42.682 --> 00:21:58.483
And then 2007 hit 2007, eight, nine, and uh, I went from having a thriving business thriving, uh, like I had a at that point like a specifically a rental property that was doing really well let's put it that way like great passive income, especially for an 18 year old kid at that point.

00:21:58.483 --> 00:22:00.758
And uh, and everything crashed.

00:22:00.758 --> 00:22:02.724
My company wasn't worth anything.

00:22:02.724 --> 00:22:11.518
I just gave it away to somebody who was working in it that still wanted to try to run it and I moved into that quote-unquote profitable rental property because I couldn't afford it any other way.

00:22:11.518 --> 00:22:15.256
Like it had to be me living there, because I couldn't afford it anymore and way it had to be me living there because I couldn't afford it anymore.

00:22:15.256 --> 00:22:18.061
And, man, I consider that the lowest of the lows in my life.

00:22:18.061 --> 00:22:26.683
And that's when I really found who I am, who I was, and that's when, to me, my life really began on purpose.

00:22:26.683 --> 00:22:31.642
And so at that point I remember I got a flyer in the mail rock bottom, I mean.

00:22:31.642 --> 00:22:34.435
My friends were gone because the friends were only interested in money, because they had the wrong people around.

00:22:34.435 --> 00:22:36.621
Just nothing was good anymore.

00:22:36.621 --> 00:22:41.478
And I went to the mail expecting to be more bills because that was my life at that point.

00:22:41.478 --> 00:22:47.880
And there was a flyer for a young adults church group and I recognized the address.

00:22:47.880 --> 00:22:52.253
I was like this has to be like literally walking distance from where I live, like this must be like right here.

00:22:52.253 --> 00:22:57.221
And sure enough, it was in a business park across the street and I decided to go.

00:22:57.500 --> 00:23:07.135
I didn't expect to be welcomed, I didn't know what a relationship with God was really like, but I knew that people didn't care for me because I was a total failure, or so I thought.

00:23:07.135 --> 00:23:10.383
And I walked in and I immediately just felt the love of God.

00:23:10.383 --> 00:23:11.792
I can't describe it in any other way.

00:23:11.792 --> 00:23:26.696
I felt the love of God and the more I started meeting people, I started realizing, oh, these people love me because I'm made in God's image, not because of anything I've done successes or failures, or whatever I think of myself and at that moment it changed who I was.

00:23:26.758 --> 00:23:35.323
And at that point, like I said at the beginning here, I started deciding my life is going to be about love and service, because that's what god has shown me and so a little bit more about me.

00:23:35.323 --> 00:23:36.973
That's where it all began.

00:23:36.973 --> 00:23:44.190
I mean, I was probably 20 years old at that point and that's where, like, things really Just were set into motion and that helped me become the man that I am today.

00:23:44.190 --> 00:23:54.595
And obviously I'm still on a journey, still growing, but like it really didn't begin for me until that point what made you get into the podcasting field of your own?

00:23:54.914 --> 00:23:57.380
So how did you get that started?

00:23:58.345 --> 00:24:02.855
Yeah, I was actually shortly after I really gave my life to Christ.

00:24:02.855 --> 00:24:08.944
One of the things I realized I was feeling called to do was actually start blogging, and that was the only option back then.

00:24:08.944 --> 00:24:14.413
By the way, I mean, I guess podcasting was a thing, but who listened to podcast in 2007, eight, nine, right, so I actually.

00:24:14.413 --> 00:24:15.073
How long have you was a thing?

00:24:15.073 --> 00:24:16.996
But who listened to podcast in 2007, 8, 9, right, like, so I actually?

00:24:16.996 --> 00:24:17.737
How long have you been listening?

00:24:17.737 --> 00:24:19.219
When did you start listening to a podcasting?

00:24:19.219 --> 00:24:20.099
What was your introduction?

00:24:21.665 --> 00:24:25.273
Oof Probably well, maybe you know, a few years ago.

00:24:25.294 --> 00:24:31.664
Okay, cool, and that's kind of how I felt Like.

00:24:31.664 --> 00:24:33.429
So I was blogging at this point and a lot of people really just enjoyed the content.

00:24:33.429 --> 00:24:40.269
It was all about overcoming struggles, living for Jesus, really figuring out what that looked like and so just kind of discovering that and I really enjoyed it.

00:24:40.269 --> 00:24:45.852
And then one day I listened to a podcast and I was like that's interesting.

00:24:45.852 --> 00:24:46.835
I was like what is this?

00:24:46.835 --> 00:24:53.609
Because it was actually my job at that point and I saw people I thought they were going to be watching something, but they were just listening.

00:24:53.609 --> 00:24:55.733
I'm people, I thought they're gonna be watching something, but they were just listening.

00:24:55.733 --> 00:24:56.816
I'm like what are you just listening to this?

00:24:56.816 --> 00:24:57.297
I'm like what is that?

00:24:57.297 --> 00:24:58.660
And so that was my introduction.

00:24:58.660 --> 00:25:00.202
I was like I want to do that.

00:25:00.202 --> 00:25:02.314
So I started actually a, just a Christian podcast.

00:25:02.314 --> 00:25:07.896
It was like 15 minutes a month is all it was, but it was just along the side with that blog and really enjoyed it.

00:25:08.416 --> 00:25:13.319
And then what got me into podcasting on a bigger level is when I launched Creating a Brand, which is now Podcasting Made Simple.

00:25:13.319 --> 00:25:15.059
But when I launched that, that really got me into it.

00:25:15.059 --> 00:25:28.090
And the reason I started that show was because I had been in a career for about 15 years, so during that tough point in my life, I got a job that I ended up doing really well at over a 15-year sprint, if you will and toward the end of it, though, I was like you know what?

00:25:28.090 --> 00:25:31.035
I think I want to be an entrepreneur, but I don't really know what that looks like anymore.

00:25:31.035 --> 00:25:32.757
The world has changed, I'm not really sure.

00:25:32.817 --> 00:25:43.914
So I started a show, and the whole idea was just talking to people who had successfully left a nine to five job to become a full-time entrepreneur, and exploring in and out of how they did it, and I wanted to learn for myself.

00:25:43.914 --> 00:25:49.931
I wanted the free coaching, and I also wanted to bring other people along with me, and that right there really became.

00:25:49.931 --> 00:25:52.875
That set the fire for me.

00:25:52.875 --> 00:26:00.237
Behind me with, like, with podcasting, I was like this is what I want to do, like I know this is what I want to do and how I want to serve yeah and um.

00:26:00.257 --> 00:26:16.721
to go back to a couple more questions about podcasting, I think on actually I think it was on podmaxcom, where I saw that possibly by 2025 the number of listening will grow by another 5%.

00:26:16.721 --> 00:26:20.195
Why do you think podcasting keeps growing?

00:26:21.786 --> 00:26:27.207
You know, I think it goes back to what I shared earlier about the advice for being a better podcast guest or host.

00:26:27.207 --> 00:26:31.397
I think people like the rawness of it, the humanity of it, the transparency.

00:26:31.397 --> 00:26:37.288
If I want to learn something, I used to go to at one point I actually went to social media.

00:26:37.288 --> 00:26:38.112
That was a long time ago.

00:26:38.112 --> 00:26:39.095
I don't do that anymore.

00:26:39.095 --> 00:26:48.092
I find it very difficult to find something that's what I'm actually looking for, without getting lost in the mix of all the funny stuff, which is okay, that's what it's for, right, and I used to go to YouTube a lot.

00:26:48.092 --> 00:26:52.278
But same thing, I'm finding like there's a lot of sponsored content now, so I'm not really getting the best.

00:26:52.278 --> 00:26:57.933
I'm getting what YouTube says you should listen to or watch, and I've always had a problem with that.

00:26:57.933 --> 00:27:02.557
And so what I love about podcasting is not algorithm based, it's all like search based.

00:27:02.557 --> 00:27:16.597
So what I've been doing recently, like when I want to learn about a topic, instead of going to a specific podcast even, I've been typing in what I'm looking for and subscribing like five or six podcasts that go through it and just listening to each of them to start like actually listening and learning.

00:27:16.939 --> 00:27:27.705
And so I think it's growing in popularity because people that have this idea of I want to better myself, I want to go from where I am to where I want to go, I want to transform myself, they realize that podcasts are just a great way to do that.

00:27:27.705 --> 00:27:49.076
And the interesting thing is, if you look at the listenership data and this is not done by me, it's done by companies like Edison Research is one of them that you can go check out, and this is all public, but a lot of them they have shown that the people who listen to podcasts are among the smartest, most educated, most financially well off, or the people that are just the most ambitious to better themselves.

00:27:49.076 --> 00:28:09.200
And that's obviously generalizing it, but the fact is, more so than any other medium of entertainment or any sort of content that you'd consume like podcasting is like the pinnacle of it, and so I think we're seeing more people go into that, into this realm of like I want to listen to podcasts, because people have this desire to change themselves and make themselves better.

00:28:10.045 --> 00:28:10.305
Yeah.

00:28:10.305 --> 00:28:38.173
Do you think it's difficult to monetize the podcast or get sponsorships for a podcast, especially when you're in a like myself, when you're in a specific niche of a podcast, and how would you tell somebody to go about if they wanted to?

00:28:38.173 --> 00:28:46.354
And are there specific numbers where you want them to reach before they try to monetize?

00:28:47.704 --> 00:28:48.809
Yeah, this is a good.

00:28:48.809 --> 00:28:49.990
I'm glad you brought this up.

00:28:49.990 --> 00:28:55.066
A lot of people immediately go to advertising and stuff, which isn't a bad thing.

00:28:55.066 --> 00:29:01.868
I just feel it sells the creator, the podcast host, a little bit short, because we don't get paid a whole lot for those types of ads.

00:29:02.872 --> 00:29:07.150
My thoughts on podcast monetization are very unconventional, I guess you can say.

00:29:07.150 --> 00:29:09.056
I actually had a conversation with the.

00:29:09.056 --> 00:29:14.997
It was like a state of podcasting episode we did on my show and it was called the hidden value.

00:29:14.997 --> 00:29:19.171
The hidden value of podcasting it was with Tom Rossi and we talked about is that there's.

00:29:19.171 --> 00:29:22.451
It goes far beyond just what we may think.

00:29:22.451 --> 00:29:25.577
So a lot of us we think sponsors, we think advertisers and those aren't bad things.

00:29:25.577 --> 00:29:27.412
Those might be the best way for some people.

00:29:27.412 --> 00:29:40.806
But there's unconventional ideas that sometimes will work even better and what we use is we use the example a handful of examples, but one of them that we use was just having like a really niche focused podcast and this was about sponsorship.

00:29:40.806 --> 00:29:44.193
But finding somebody who serves that niche Like.

00:29:44.193 --> 00:29:45.938
Here's my example I like to give.

00:29:46.566 --> 00:29:48.574
I live in Jacksonville, florida, very close to the ocean.

00:29:48.574 --> 00:29:53.809
If I had a Jacksonville Florida surfers podcast, I don't, but let's just imagine I did.

00:29:53.809 --> 00:30:07.517
I could very easily find someone who's building custom boards and say, hey, I want to advertise for your custom board shop on my podcast and I'll take 20% of any sales you make.

00:30:07.517 --> 00:30:08.320
Yes, it makes me an affiliate with them.

00:30:08.320 --> 00:30:12.111
But here's the thing my listeners are exactly the person that that guy wants to work with.

00:30:12.111 --> 00:30:18.273
That's who he builds boards for, is who listens to my podcast, and so that, right, there is just almost more of a partnership.

00:30:18.273 --> 00:30:25.971
It's an affiliate partnership of some sort of joint venture, if you will, because what I also want him to do is anyone who's getting a board from him gets a business card with my podcast on it.

00:30:25.971 --> 00:30:27.035
Hey, enjoy your board.

00:30:27.035 --> 00:30:28.746
Here's a great podcast you should be listening to.

00:30:28.746 --> 00:30:31.307
Right, we can kind of build that out together.

00:30:31.307 --> 00:30:34.390
So finding some sort of aligned partnership is something I really like.

00:30:34.911 --> 00:30:38.432
Beyond that, one other idea I always like to share is listener support.

00:30:38.432 --> 00:31:02.848
I think we underestimate the listener's role in our podcast, and what I mean by that is simply saying, hey, I need to invest in a new microphone, I want to level up what I'm doing with my podcast show and if you're listening to this, if you wouldn't mind, I got a donation page and, again, most hosting providers allow that.

00:31:02.848 --> 00:31:03.512
I got a donation page.

00:31:03.512 --> 00:31:07.330
If you can just donate a few dollars, I'd love to be able to do that so I can offer better content for you.

00:31:08.173 --> 00:31:14.396
I've heard of a few people doing this, but I've heard one thing every time, one listener says I'll just buy you the microphone you want.

00:31:14.396 --> 00:31:15.227
I've been enjoying this.

00:31:15.227 --> 00:31:15.909
I'll just buy it for you.

00:31:15.909 --> 00:31:18.256
Not to toot my own horn, I did that recently.

00:31:18.256 --> 00:31:20.338
Somebody's show who I've been listening to said the same thing.

00:31:20.338 --> 00:31:22.048
I really want a new microphone because I want it to sound better.

00:31:22.048 --> 00:31:22.871
I'm like me too.

00:31:22.871 --> 00:31:28.371
Because your content is excellent, I literally mailed them a new microphone and, again, opportunity to be part of the actual community of your show.

00:31:28.371 --> 00:31:37.650
These are just a couple ideas.

00:31:37.650 --> 00:31:40.973
I could go into way more, but I'm going to slow it down.

00:31:40.973 --> 00:31:41.737
Turn it back over to you.

00:31:43.885 --> 00:31:46.815
Yeah, I have a couple of the links on my show.

00:31:46.815 --> 00:31:50.315
I have the Buy Me a Coffee and then I have.

00:31:50.315 --> 00:31:55.270
There's another one that I have from the post about.

00:31:55.270 --> 00:31:58.115
The post about link has a.

00:31:58.115 --> 00:32:01.378
They have a donation page as well.

00:32:02.681 --> 00:32:11.234
Yeah, and I think that's just a great way to do it and then mentioning it but I like mentioning it with real life hey, I want to up, I want to level up and I need a new microphone.

00:32:11.234 --> 00:32:12.807
Right, that gives something specific.

00:32:12.807 --> 00:32:17.453
A lot of us, I think and it's not necessarily a problem but we just say, hey, I'd love for you to donate to the show.

00:32:17.453 --> 00:32:22.079
Give people a reason, right, we're more likely to get a donation with a story.

00:32:22.079 --> 00:32:26.023
It's like a lot of people that do fundraising for missions trips and stuff like that.

00:32:26.023 --> 00:32:35.359
If they just say, just going on a missions trip would love some money, right, it's like, okay, what are you doing?

00:32:35.298 --> 00:32:39.248
If you say, hey, I'm going to a mission trip because I'm going to be feeding the homeless, I'm going to be building them houses, I'm going to be there for a couple of weeks, I'm really going to share the love of Jesus, people are far more likely to say, yeah, I'll give to that.

00:32:39.248 --> 00:32:40.929
That's specific, I want to give to that.

00:32:40.929 --> 00:32:45.011
So the way I like to say is unspecific goals, yield unspecific results.

00:32:45.011 --> 00:32:47.933
If you want a specific result, have a specific.

00:32:48.114 --> 00:33:06.857
Are there a lot of podcasts out there with the Christian genre or faith-based genre out there, and the second part of that question is what should we do to stand out in that genre for the host?

00:33:06.857 --> 00:33:12.531
How should we stand out in that genre and in podcasting in general younger, and in podcasting in general?

00:33:13.854 --> 00:33:17.680
Yeah, so the category breakout of podcasting.

00:33:17.680 --> 00:33:27.679
For a long time Dorsey, you'll find this humorous there was no Christian, there was no Christian category for a long time.

00:33:27.679 --> 00:33:27.940
It was just.

00:33:27.940 --> 00:33:30.307
I think it even said Christianity slash spirituality.

00:33:30.307 --> 00:33:31.307
I was like, come on, Come on.

00:33:31.307 --> 00:33:32.048
So the numbers were a little fuzzy.

00:33:32.048 --> 00:33:33.030
I was like, come on, you know, like, come on.

00:33:33.030 --> 00:33:34.432
So like, the numbers were a little fuzzy.

00:33:34.512 --> 00:33:43.035
I think since then there's a subcategory for Christianity now and I will say it is very popular, it's one of the more popular, and I can't tell you exactly where it fits.

00:33:43.035 --> 00:33:52.255
I don't know numbers off the top of my head, but if you just for anyone listening who is curious, you can actually just Google podcast category numbers and it should be able to show you some ideas around this.

00:33:52.255 --> 00:33:58.568
But one thing I realized, because I was like wow, it's so cool to see christianity so high up there, right, faith being been really big driver.

00:33:58.568 --> 00:34:04.967
A lot of them are churches that repurpose their sunday messages into podcast episodes.

00:34:04.967 --> 00:34:10.827
And so to me, first off, like and I've talked to me like, oh, we don't, we're not trying to get people to listen to it, this is just where we document it.

00:34:10.827 --> 00:34:11.228
It's on.

00:34:11.228 --> 00:34:13.532
We tell people if you want to go listen to the message, go there.

00:34:13.532 --> 00:34:18.771
And so they're not necessarily trying to grow their show like other podcasters that truly are like.

00:34:18.771 --> 00:34:20.675
This is a podcast to reach people, I don't know.

00:34:20.675 --> 00:34:22.791
Right, they're trying to reach an internal audience.

00:34:22.791 --> 00:34:26.047
Most of us are trying to reach an external audience and the Christian space.

00:34:26.047 --> 00:34:26.668
I think it's flipped.

00:34:26.668 --> 00:34:30.271
It's one of the few categories where most people are trying to reach an internal audience.

00:34:30.271 --> 00:34:34.856
Very few are trying to reach the external, and so I always tell people to stand out.

00:34:34.856 --> 00:34:40.161
The best thing to do is really find your niche and your unique angle within that.

00:34:40.161 --> 00:34:46.038
So, yes, it's Christianity or it's faith, right, but how are you going to make that unique?

00:34:46.038 --> 00:34:50.293
And there's a lot of health, wellness I don't know.

00:34:50.293 --> 00:34:51.918
Faith business podcast.

00:34:51.918 --> 00:35:01.398
I don't know all the things right, it's kind of like the trendy buzzwords in the area, right, or health and your faith and these things are great.

00:35:01.398 --> 00:35:21.514
But if you can very specifically say like a podcast for Christ-led founders, getting more specific Christian business owners that run software companies, right Now you're narrowing it down to a smaller niche of people, but it can become more valuable and the thing is, if we don't focus on the top line number of how many downloads we're getting.

00:35:21.514 --> 00:35:22.626
That can make it really valuable.

00:35:23.148 --> 00:35:27.065
A great fictitious example I can give, and I actually shared this in a webinar I was giving.

00:35:27.065 --> 00:35:31.690
I said, hey, let's just imagine I have a podcast with 770 people listening to it.

00:35:31.690 --> 00:35:34.454
Is my next best step to try to grow that podcast?

00:35:34.454 --> 00:35:35.675
There's about 50 people there.

00:35:35.675 --> 00:35:36.657
Everybody put in the chat.

00:35:36.657 --> 00:35:38.940
They all said yes, everyone's like yes, absolutely, you need to grow it.

00:35:38.940 --> 00:35:40.382
You need to grow it, you need to grow it.

00:35:44.105 --> 00:35:45.025
And I said I think you're all wrong.

00:35:45.025 --> 00:35:48.851
I was like, because this fictitious podcast is called United States-Based Billionaires, it happens to be 770 of them.

00:35:48.851 --> 00:35:54.097
I'm like I think I'm reaching my entire audience and of course, that's crazy to think you'd ever have the entire audience or something.

00:35:54.097 --> 00:36:00.215
But the reality is, aren't those 770 people the richest people, probably in the world, for the most part, right?

00:36:00.215 --> 00:36:02.211
Is that not a really valuable audience?

00:36:02.211 --> 00:36:06.148
Why should I say, okay, now let's extend it to this and to that and try to get more and more and more and more?

00:36:06.148 --> 00:36:07.369
No, I'd be much better.

00:36:07.369 --> 00:36:08.331
Sure, that's fine.

00:36:08.331 --> 00:36:18.114
Whatever it's probably in my pocket, you could have that type of opportunity with that group.

00:36:18.114 --> 00:36:21.815
So to me, it's about really narrowing down specifically who you serve.

00:36:21.815 --> 00:36:24.253
That's how you stand out in any category in podcasting.

00:36:24.726 --> 00:36:30.465
So what I hear and this is what I was thinking as well, and I think you answered the question.

00:36:30.465 --> 00:36:46.822
You answered the question, but what I hear you saying is that we should stay with or create a niche, find out what that niche is and stay within that niche and not to worry about who else is out there.

00:36:48.804 --> 00:36:52.273
Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying and the sad thing is I get the drive for numbers and for more.

00:36:52.273 --> 00:36:53.456
It's sort of our human nature.

00:36:53.456 --> 00:36:56.954
I can't tell you how many podcasters I meet, Dorsey, who say they want to be the next Joe Rogan.

00:36:56.954 --> 00:36:59.411
Listen, the world's already got a Joe Rogan.

00:36:59.411 --> 00:37:01.291
Like, let's, how about we be us?

00:37:01.291 --> 00:37:03.231
Right, I'm going to try to be Alex Sanfilippo.

00:37:03.231 --> 00:37:19.525
I think that that's where I can best show up, and Alex Sanfilippo has a limited capacity but likes to be everyone that he gets to work with.

00:37:19.525 --> 00:37:19.864
He likes having a community.

00:37:19.864 --> 00:37:24.050
I'm talking about myself in the third person, but I like to have that community element and because of that I know that I probably will never have a super massive audience, but I'd much rather have the smaller audience where I get to know everybody and talk to everybody.

00:37:24.050 --> 00:37:26.266
If I meet them at a conference in person, I'm not like who are you?

00:37:26.266 --> 00:37:29.286
Again I get to say I know you, We've had a conversation before.

00:37:29.286 --> 00:37:36.510
I just I love that and I find that if we can just say you know what, enough is enough and this is enough for me.

00:37:36.510 --> 00:37:38.492
This is my lane, this is where I'm supposed to be.

00:37:39.592 --> 00:37:40.653
There's just a lesson there.

00:37:40.653 --> 00:37:42.074
I mean, let's go back to Jesus.

00:37:42.074 --> 00:37:55.581
If you look at Jesus' ministry, the amount of people he actually like directly impacted, like let's take the supernatural out the people he actually came in contact with, and how far he moved around, it wasn't really that far, Like it wasn't as many people as many of us would imagine.

00:37:55.581 --> 00:38:05.210
Again, this is firsthand right, Like not all the, not the spirit flowing because he impacted all of our lives right, but like his ministry, I think he set a great example of sometimes enough is enough.

00:38:05.210 --> 00:38:12.548
And when he got around groups of 5,000 people, his action almost every single time was to go off by himself and leave.

00:38:12.548 --> 00:38:14.893
And there's gotta be something there.

00:38:14.893 --> 00:38:16.496
Right, there has to be something.

00:38:16.496 --> 00:38:17.358
I refuse to believe that.

00:38:17.358 --> 00:38:22.882
So I just think the notion of it's always going to be bigger, better, bigger, better is maybe not the right direction.

00:38:22.882 --> 00:38:29.166
I think there's a lot more fulfillment in saying I have the discipline to say this is who I serve, this is how I serve and this is enough.

00:38:29.947 --> 00:38:34.172
Right, Well, thank you so much, Alex, for that and for this interview.

00:38:34.172 --> 00:38:36.173
I greatly appreciate having you.

00:38:37.074 --> 00:38:38.036
Yeah, dorsey, this was a blast.

00:38:38.036 --> 00:38:39.478
You asked me some incredible questions.

00:38:39.478 --> 00:38:42.239
I don't really get asked very much, so I'm excited to share this with my audience as well.

00:38:42.239 --> 00:38:43.280
So thank you again for having me.

00:38:55.085 --> 00:38:55.648
One last question what?

00:38:56.050 --> 00:38:59.085
encouragement would you share with my audience, whether they're, you know, wanting to go into the podcasting field or not?

00:38:59.085 --> 00:39:04.215
Yeah, the encouragement I would provide is to remember that each of us has greatness and creativity within ourselves.

00:39:04.215 --> 00:39:05.521
We have greatness and creativity within ourselves.

00:39:05.521 --> 00:39:13.931
I believe we're all created beings and, as created beings, we are called to create, and that's the art of being creative, which looks different for each of us, right?

00:39:13.952 --> 00:39:17.523
But if you're saying, I want to be in this space, don't sell yourself short.

00:39:17.523 --> 00:39:23.277
If you're like, well, I can't do what Dorsey does, I can't do what Alex does, if you're saying those things, stop.

00:39:23.277 --> 00:39:31.393
You have greatness and creativity within yourself and you're the only person who can share the message that you have in the way that you can share it, because God made each of us uniquely.

00:39:31.393 --> 00:39:38.791
And I just encourage you get out there and do for that one person what you wish you could do for all, and don't let the fear of the unknown stop you or feeling like you're inadequate.

00:39:38.791 --> 00:39:39.715
You are enough.

00:39:39.715 --> 00:39:43.351
You have that greatness and creativity and God has made you to get that message out to the world.

00:39:44.034 --> 00:39:44.315
Amen.

00:39:44.315 --> 00:39:47.293
Well, thank you, Alex again for coming on.

00:39:47.293 --> 00:39:51.226
We greatly appreciate having you and guys and girls.

00:39:51.226 --> 00:40:04.469
Thank you again for listening and please like, share and leave a comment, review on all podcast platforms and until next time, God bless, Bye-bye.