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The Amazing Authorities Podcast
The Power of Staying Visible: How Andy Lyons Turns Age, Experience, and Community Into a Podcasting Advantage
00:46:09
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- [00:02]
A
Welcome to the Amazing Authorities podcast, where game changers, visionaries and category leaders share how they built their brands, platforms, and global influence. Your host is Mitch Carson, international speaker, media strategist, and creator of the Instant Authority system. If you're ready to learn from those who've done it and want to become the go to expert in your space, you're in the right place.
- [00:31]
I'm excited, truly excited. Today's guest, Andy Lyons, or Lyons, it depends on if you're French or not, how you pronounce her name, is a fellow senior citizen and we're both proud and she's open about her age and so am I. Andy, welcome to the show today.
- [00:51]
B
Oh, my gosh, Mitch, I am so delighted to be here. And yes, let's age out loud and proud, folks. Don't be caged by your age. Put it out there. Don't be afraid to be the oldest person in the room.
- [01:03]
A
I love the maturity status. I love the idea that the 65 is the new 45 or even younger. Couldn't it be?
- [01:16]
B
And here we have a great learning moment right off the bat. So what we want to do in the pro aging space space, Mitch, is we want to say 65 is 65. The minute you start cutting off some decades and years, you're minimalizing the incredible depth of experiences, lived experiences, and institutional knowledge that you have built over decades. So we just say 65 is 65 or 70 is 70. We embrace this. And it's really hard because so many of us have been indoctrinated with biases, with thoughts about aging that we always are looking well. I feel like I'm 40. Well, okay, that's great. You can feel high energy and that's wonderful. But you're 70 or you're 65. Own it, rock it, live it, work it, and be proud of it. And, and this. Flipping the script about aging is so empowering on many levels. I bet you didn't know that the World Health Organization declared retirement an epidemic, costing societies billions of dollars. Why? Because people, they're excited to retire. I don't need to work anymore. They get home, they might play golf, they might travel. But after a certain point of time, if they've lived to the age of 65, they're going to live a good 10, 20, 30 years more. What are you going to do, Sit there and binge on Netflix? No, you're going to listen to Mitch, find out how to write a book. You're going to do all these other things and you have to have the self awareness you have to put yourself through some of the tough questions like what could I do that could fuel my passion, my purpose and my pocketbook. It's such a fascinating time and I love interviewing these folks on my podcast, Don't Be Caged by youy Age about how they are shattering those age related expectations and stereotypes. I'm so fascinated. And it can be something simple or it can be something where I interviewed one woman who had never even done a pull up Mitch until she was 64. And it took her a whole year to do a pull up. Well, when she turned 72, she made the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest female ninja athlete. What the heck? So, you know, there's a lot of things folks are doing and the best I want to say side effect from these conversations is the younger folks are going, oh my gosh, I'm so excited to turn 60, to turn 70, to turn 80, because they keep hearing folks saying, I'm having the best decade of my life.
- [04:14]
A
You, you touched on a few great points there.
- [04:19]
Where do I begin? There are so many. I first want to go back to what you started with when people look forward to retirement and it's an epidemic. I totally agree. Because if, and I'm going to address the male gender slash male sex, I could get in trouble. You still, you're still in America, so you have to be careful. I don't. So I'll just speak. I'll leave the woke stuff to the side. A, men who are men retire and within five years they typically die or even less break their hips and that's it. Because if the mind shuts down, the body follows. I think the mind is our guide. And if you don't, you're not challenged mentally. And it doesn't mean with a high stress level of what maybe we did when we were running around running businesses and. But if you're not involved doing something, I believe that the statistic for men, it's stronger for men than women and largely because we're both baby boomers, that generation. And earlier the men worked and women maintain the house and there's no shame in that. It's just the way it was.
- [05:28]
B
Right.
- [05:29]
A
And it's shifted to where more women in the workforce and still are today, you know, the younger generation, it's, I think it's balanced out. I don't know the stats. So I think you're probably more informed about that. Andy?
- [05:41]
B
Well, yes, I mean, there's definitely different levels of folks who have been working. The bottom line though is we have so much of our social connection provided to us by our work in the world.
- [05:57]
And even if you had a job that you really just crawled your way through the last few years because just you were done, it doesn't mean you are done. And it doesn't mean you can't learn something new. And this is what we have to remember that is so important. Your brain does not stop growing and learning. In fact, it peaks at the age of 59 in the sense that it's really firing on all those cylinders. And the. There's science behind that. And so as long as we keep building our neuroplasticity by learning something new, another piece of technology, learning how to become an author, write a book, tell a story, become a speaker, try new things. You and I are seasoned entrepreneurs. I. I've been unemployable since 1992.
- [06:46]
A
I love that. I love what you wrote. They're unemployable. There's no way I could be employed. No way. I'd be a caged animal. I just. You just can't put. Yes, I totally got that. I said, I must have this woman on my podcast. I love it. Yeah, there's no way.
- [07:01]
B
It's easier for us to adjust, Mitch. So, you know, for the listener who may have been an employee their whole life, I have a deep appreciation for how hard that transition can be. But there's so many wonderful ways to express yourself. I interviewed a woman. She's 72. She retired from free. 40 decades of being a CPA. Okay, now that's as dry a bone of a business that you could possibly.
- [07:24]
A
Do black and white.
- [07:27]
B
Her undergrad had actually been in theater, and so she got trained to be a voice actor, and, oh, my gosh, she set up her home studio. She is out straight with business. As a voice actor, you just can't imagine that, right? But that was a passion she had. And there's a wonderful book out there called Don't Retire, Rewire, and it takes you through exercises, it asks questions, it helps you connect the dots so that you can go out and pull on some threads. Some people say, oh, everyone tells me I'm great at flower arranging. Well, maybe they go and start flower arranging for someone, and then they realize they really hate it. They liked it as a hobby, but they didn't like it as something to earn money at. But maybe they wanted to go work in a kitchen or they want to read to preschoolers, or they want to whatever. But you brought up a really good point, Mitch, and that is, as we age we now have not only our financial portfolio, but we have our energy portfolio that needs real management. And so you're going to carve out time in your day to relax, to do the things you want. You're not going to go at that high pace. And frankly, you don't need to or have to because you can also get picked up by corporations nowadays because our generation knows how to do things that the millennials and the Gen Zs are completely flummoxed by, which is picking up the phone and calling someone, going out and meeting people. But you also have the decades of, what I call that institutional knowledge from working. I don't care whether it was at the post office or you were the lunch lady at the elementary school, learned so much during those years that that knowledge is so valuable. And you don't need to spend 40 hours anymore because you made all the mistakes and you know how to do things a lot faster and more efficiently so you can get it done in 20, 25 hours.
- [09:32]
A
Well, you're flipping the script on what let's say the 40, 45 year old CEO believes she thinks or he thinks. Oh, you're my dad's age, my mom's age. You're gonna not understand technology. You're not gonna understand how to deal with these people where the opposite is true. We need to be embraced. If I thought about that, do I become a Walmart greeter, you know, have an mba and is that where I'm gonna go and use all those years of skills of taking two companies public and doing. I mean, I've got my own resume and my background and not dissimilar than yours. You know, I've been an entrepreneur and think, am I going to downgrade if I ever decide to fully retire and then do a fun job? Am I going to go and work at the local community center and say welcome to the community center or welcome to Walmart? I don't think so. I think. And it's fine if that's what people want to do. No judgment. I just judge it for myself. That would.
- [10:37]
B
Right?
- [10:38]
A
Could you do that?
- [10:40]
B
No, no, no. It wouldn't work for many of us.
- [10:42]
A
Yeah.
- [10:42]
B
You know, no matter what your career has been, we have been lit up in life. So we need to stay visible and connected and feel like we belong. And certainly 30% of our age group is definitely happy taking care of the grandkids.
- [10:57]
A
Right.
- [10:57]
B
Going on long walks and doing all that, that's great. But this 70% of us have to have a reason to get out of bed and that is about being not only fulfilled, but bringing our fully expressed self to the world. When I held a monthly pitch event here in Boston for three years for founders where they pitch their business to raise capital to a live audience. And we had investors that were judges and would ask questions as well. I would often hear, and it would be, well meaning, okay, Folks would advise the founder if they were getting too complicated or too into the weeds about their business. They'd say, explain your business as if you were telling your grandmother. And you know, I jumped up out of my seat when I heard that, like, what are you talking about here?
- [11:45]
A
Hot button?
- [11:46]
B
No, very hot button. Because it was never grandpa. So to me it was gender day jism. But also, what the heck do you think we were doing in the 70s? So I wrote a post recently called Boomers are tech Legends, not tech challenge. And I talk about how we went from manual typewriters to electric typewriters to learning how to code and not only do that, start using personal computers and doing all of those things. We had to train people, we had to teach people how to do that.
- [12:18]
A
Thank you, Bill Gates, who's a of our baby boomer group.
- [12:23]
B
Think about when you needed a carbon copy of something, you actually put carbon paper in between. Oh yeah, the paper. And now we not only had to learn how printers worked, not from just making photocopies, but also how a printer worked to print something out from a computer. I mean, when we used to replace the inkjets, you'd get it all over yourself. We would have rotary dial phones and then we had the answering machines. And all the things that we have had to learn over the years, using a camera that had nothing automatic about it, completely manual with film you had to load it to. Then learning how to use where we're at today. Same thing with smartphones. We are brilliant. No generation has had to adjust and adapt to technology like ours. So I want to remind folks who are listening, even if you think that you might be quote, stupid around tech, you're not. You're not doing all those things too. You have.
- [13:28]
A
It's a mindset, isn't it? It's a mindset that we accepted that we're tech challenged, but we're not. Because we had to do long math, long form, arithmetic and division as opposed to using a calculator and learning all that basis. Write essays by hand in pencil and or pen instead of using chat, GPT and getting past all of the structure of good grammar versus poor grammar. I believe that there's something to be said for manual to teach us the frameworks first.
- [14:00]
B
Yes.
- [14:01]
A
It's too easy now.
- [14:03]
B
Yep. You brought up so many good points and how we had to learn. When I put this article. Yeah, I put it up on Reddit. The boomers are tech legends, not tech.
- [14:13]
A
I'm going to have to look that article up.
- [14:14]
B
Yeah, you're going to have to. It's. It's a stroll down history. The comments from people, I still get goosebumps from them today. One of my favorites was a woman who was in her chemistry class in 1970. Something 72, I think. And the professor said, and those of you with handheld calculators, you have to sit in the back. And she looked at her friend and said, what? What's a handheld calculator?
- [14:38]
A
Oh, my gosh. Oh, my God. What's up, Beeper? And I. And I had talked about my very first calculator my mother bought for me in 1972. I begged her, begged her, begged her because I got accepted into an advanced placement algebra class when I was 12. And she.
- [14:57]
B
Smarty pants. Wicked smart is what we'd say here in Boston.
- [14:59]
A
Smarty pants. Yeah, there. There you go. But I bought. She bought me this Texas instrument calculator. It was $200. It was my birthday gift, Christmas gift, everything. Big ten key calc calculator. It was so basic. Didn't have any logarithmic functions. No. No cosi. Nothing. Texas instrument came out with something for a lot less money with more functions later. But that was the.
- [15:30]
That was the. I'm sorry, I don't.
- [15:32]
B
People save money. People save serious money to have that calculator, right?
- [15:38]
A
Oh, yeah. And I used it and I loved it. Oh, my gosh. You know, and it plugged in. It wasn't battery operated. It plugged in. So I thought, oh, boy. And people just don't appreciate how easy things have become and the laziness, you know, and kids are in their phones and not interacting as humans today. Now, I want to talk, Andy, about something you've done. You've embraced. Both of us have embraced a platform which wasn't around for our media choices as young professionals. Now we're older professionals. I would say mature. I'm going to suspend the old word and I'm going to thank you for that. But you started podcasting years ago.
- [16:22]
Which was a new person platform or newer to media platform, and then you've done something. You've addressed the pain point of podcasters. We're lonely.
- [16:33]
B
Right. Isolation is a real thing.
- [16:35]
A
Tell us what you've Done in New England.
- [16:37]
B
Oh, well, thank you so much for asking. So I needed. And as we age, finding community is so important. It is. The number one ingredient for longevity is having community. Not what you eat, not what you exercise, all of this community. But the downside of that as you age is that you become a lot more discerning who you're going to spend your precious time with. Right. And so when I was looking at ways to increase my community locally, I really was craving in person, because I was there when we all got online Back in 2008, 2010, all of those years. And it was fun to meet people from around the world, but with AI coming in so heavily and you're not knowing what's real, all of that, I wanted to look into people's eyes. And so I thought, well, who do I love hanging out with the most? Indie podcasters. And I knew that we didn't have anything local that was for podcasters, and I didn't want to make it too local. I mean, I could have gone Boston or Massachusetts. I said, no, I'm a New Englander. We got six states here. Why don't I call it the New England Podcasters Group? And In March of 2024, I gathered, I don't know, about 10 or 12 people and said, hey, you want to talk about this? That I knew that were in the. The area of New England. So we all got on a zoom call and I said, what do you think of this idea? And they go, we love it. In fact, said one man, Jack Wang, I know the perfect place to have our event every month I go, where? And it was a cable access TV studio.
- [18:17]
A
Oh, I love it.
- [18:18]
B
Isn't that great? And they. Not only did they have a great TV studio there, but they had a podcast studio and it had plenty of parking. And so they host us, and they've been hosting us since May of 2024. And. And of course, just like an entrepreneur, we check out our value prop. Is this a problem people want to solve? Right. So first you find out that, yes, there's interest. People kept coming. I set it up so that it was the same second Saturday of every month. And the reason it's a Saturday is I wanted people to be able to drive without traffic, to come and gather.
- [18:53]
A
Now, do you. Did you advertise this on Facebook or did you set up A group? A LinkedIn group? A Facebook group? How did you. Where did you get. Or a meetup group? Where did you find your community basis?
- [19:05]
B
I set up a Facebook group, but I used the base of people I had reached out to, to then reach out. And then I used Eventbrite. Okay.
- [19:18]
A
Eventbrite.
- [19:19]
B
Through Eventbrite. Okay. But it was also the consistency coupled with when people came, they felt so welcomed and so celebrated and so remembered. And what I really loved is that it wasn't about me, Mitch, being in front of the room. I was there to create the space and the place and the good vibes. Right. And, you know, certainly a format for the event, which is come in a little housekeeping. We do a huddle where we go around the room quickly and tell everybody who we are in our podcast and where we. You know, we're in the New England area. We are. And then I would always pause for a little bit and then have a featured speaker. Could have been anybody in the group, really, for the.
- [20:02]
A
Okay.
- [20:02]
B
Almost for the first year, somebody in the group had a specialty, right? Whether it's video podcasting to monetizing, to interviewing all the things. But then I started bringing folks in as well. But after one year, I looked at everybody and I said, look, clearly we're here. A year later, it's going really well. We keep expanding. We've got people tuning in via the Zoom Room now, so people can tune in virtually if they can't get here. We need to fund this. For any kind of organization to be sustainable and have longevity, we have to fund it. So I'm starting a membership.
- [20:41]
A
So you started dues. Dues, yeah.
- [20:43]
B
Yep. And I just said, yeah, 100 bucks a year. It'll always be that way for the founding members. And then, you know, so that was wonderful. And then for my own convenience, because it was. I was tired of trying to chase everybody to where they were on social media. Even though I did have an email list, I still felt I needed a website. Is. And. And one of our members who was a website gal. Design gal, she built a wonderful website for us. I got a. By the way, I got a food sponsor within two months. So always having food has been wonderful. Thank you, Mopod. But what happened was, you know, I. I needed a place to house everything, so I looked at all the different community platforms, and I chose Circle. So. And I created a community pod garden so the members can go and continue talking amongst themselves. We have a virtual monthly huddle. We have folks now who are joining us that are outside New England because as. Although we're rooted in New England, we're open to all. And so how many members? We are up to 40 paid members. We get in person on average, 20 to 25 folks a month in person and through Zoom, anywhere from 5 to 10 via Zoom. And it's growing all the time.
- [22:02]
A
That's fantastic. Now, do you. Do you get sponsors like a Riverside or Streamyard?
- [22:08]
B
I get. I get discounts from platforms, so buzzsprout gives us a discount. Pod Fest gives us a discount. Pod Match Pod page. So I've got, excuse me, a lot of discounts from folks, but I definitely want to get more sponsors.
- [22:23]
A
Yeah, I was just curious, like, if Streamyard wanted to sponsor an event and have a speaker come in and then give a discount and. Or help the feature that I was thinking of, that I want to create an Asia, because I live in Thailand, principally when I go back to Vegas to shoot my show, but I live here and I want to create a podcast conference for the Asian community. Oh, that's like a Pod Fest, but in Asia, because it's growing. It isn't at the rate that it is in the US but it is growing and I want to be able to participate.
- [22:56]
B
And the beauty of podcasting, like a lot of technology, it democratizes our ability to connect with people. And as you age, as I mentioned earlier, that connection is so important. And the. One of the best ways, as you know, because you've interviewed so many fascinating people, is through podcasting. And after you. You pay or invest for your microphone, that's your biggest investment. And then maybe the camera on top of your laptop. Really, the platforms, compared to when you and I started, or I don't know when you started podcasting, but when I started in 2012, we had nothing like this. It was just darn hard. And you had to work a lot of hours to get anything produced. Whereas today we have Riverside or Streamyard, as you mentioned, we have all the editing tools that are really inexpensive and platforms. PodPage gives you a website for your. Your podcast. You might spend $50 a month to have this rich experience of sharing your own voice, your creativity, challenging yourself. Do I want to interview, do I want to talk about something that's important to me? It's just such a great medium, Mitch. Right?
- [24:11]
A
Well, you learn so much from other people because we are isolated. And masterminding is probably one of the biggest keys to my success as a business person, learning from other people. I'm going to tune in virtually for your next New England event. I'm all the way. Love to see what you guys are doing.
- [24:29]
B
Love to have you. I've got a complimentary ticket with your name on it.
- [24:32]
A
Well, I'd love to attend virtually. I Mean to make over to Boston.
- [24:38]
B
Little far Zoom. The Zoom room is happening. It is on fire.
- [24:42]
A
Yeah. I would love to be part of that and learn and maybe do something like that in the future here in Bangkok, for Asia.
- [24:51]
B
Please do. You're going to love it. You're going to absolutely love it. And what you will take. What I take a lot of joy in is watching the collaborations, the conversations that happen. I'm just an observer on the side of the room. And everybody's like, oh, can you be in my shower? I'm having this challenge or. And that's why we do the huddle, because people always have to share a win or a. I like to say a rut row, a whoopsie daisy. And that way everybody gets reminded, oh, I want to talk to Andy over there. I want to talk to Ron. I want to talk to that person about their show or what they're doing. And we have people who come in and say, I need your help. I need to brainstorm on something. And we all go, oh, all right, let's go. It's so wonderful.
- [25:37]
A
Wow. Well, that's great. And I see a book behind you, the New Old.
- [25:42]
B
That's right. I just interviewed Erica Anderson. She is. What is she now, 72? Three, I think. 72 or 73. She lives in Spain, Northern Spain. She is an expat over there. And she wrote this great new book called the New Old, which is how we're all thriving after 65 and all the different wonderful ways that we are using our brains, using our lived experiences to find meaningful adventures. And it doesn't mean you have to go and do that same adventure for the next 5, 10, 15 years. You can do something for a chapter, a season, whatever works for you. But being able to understand that we are not our grandparents.
- [26:28]
A
No. And are you the bobblehead as well?
- [26:30]
B
I look at you. Yes. This is what the New England podcasters gave me after my one year anniversary. And it's based on a photo that somebody took of me that day. Isn't that fun?
- [26:40]
A
I love it. So they. How did they create that? That's one off those.
- [26:45]
B
Yeah. I think angel just sent the photo to a place in China and they, you know, I don't know how they made. Yeah, they popped out one. But honestly, right down to the ring on my finger.
- [26:58]
A
Wow. Fantastic. I noticed that I'm up. You know, I look at the little details of it. That's a great prop. I created a bobblehead doll. I mean, but that took 2,500 of them. To complete an order. That's why I said for a client of mine named Dan Kennedy, who's a well known marketer and he. And people still cherish that. But this was 25 years ago I made that. But it took 2500 of them to order, so that's why. Did everybody get one or is it just for you?
- [27:26]
B
It was just for me.
- [27:27]
A
Wow.
- [27:28]
B
What I'm really fond of is, are the buttons. I hand up buttons all the time.
- [27:33]
A
Let's see though.
- [27:34]
B
I've got. Well, this is my. Yeah, this is all good. This is my age out loud and proud button.
- [27:39]
A
Oh, I love it.
- [27:40]
B
With your. The logo for don't be caged by your age. But we also have one for new income Podcasters and founding members get their button and now members get their button. So when we show up at PodFest, we're like a posse in the crowd.
- [27:55]
A
So is that the biggest podcast conference, PodFest? I went to one. Okay.
- [28:02]
B
Yeah, for indie podcasters it is. And here's what they do. Well, Mitch, they run a tight show, which I appreciate. I like my sessions to start on time and done time, those things. They have good speakers that up your game. But most importantly, it's attendee centric. So I go to Podcast Movement, which tends to be more exhibitor and speaker centric.
- [28:27]
A
Yes, it was. That's where I went in Washington D.C. last year. I went. Very, very good assessment.
- [28:36]
B
Whereas PodFest is about you, the attendee, having a great conversation with another attendee. And they'll tell you, look, if you're in a really good conversation in between sessions or in the hallway and a session has started, stay with your great conversation. You can always get the recording later.
- [28:53]
You know, and I love that.
- [28:56]
A
No, I made some nice connections when I went to Washington.
- [29:00]
B
I was there too. I don't know how we didn't meet up there. Maybe we did.
- [29:04]
A
Yeah, I know. The little. Or not the little. The fellow who has the big podcast where we met Pod Match. And he was there. I met him at the elevator.
- [29:14]
B
Alex.
- [29:15]
A
Yep.
- [29:15]
B
Alex is going to be in the Pod Garden in end of January talking about PodMatch. And. And of course that's how we met. But what I found interesting. Just a sidebar, Mitch. The attendance at Podcast Movement was half of what it was last year. So the one in Dallas this summer, in August, was half the amount of folks than was in Washington D.C. in 2024.
- [29:43]
A
Why do you think that was?
- [29:45]
B
I think it's. Well, Americans aren't really traveling. We're not spending money. We're tighten our belts. So I think also I believe that they were getting a little too diluted as to who their customer was. And their customer really is the big player podcaster, you know, the Mel Robbins, that level of podcasting. And they were really had been bringing in more and more indie podcasters. And so what they've done is they have merged with south by Southwest. So for their mid year event that's always in March, it's going to be now at south by Southwest. And instead of going to different facilities around the country every August, their annual, big annual event will be in New York City.
- [30:33]
A
That's an expensive platform.
- [30:35]
B
Very expensive. But again, I think they recalibrated because they should be talking to the Don Lemons, the Mel Brooks, etc. And that's where you're going to find a lot of folks.
- [30:49]
A
Why do you think a podcaster like Mel Robbins is so successful? What did she do? What boxes did she check to be one of the biggest podcasters, you know. And Joe Rogan, of course is, he's got the UFC as a platform. He's unusual. What did Mel do or anyone like that?
- [31:06]
B
Well, it's funny you asked because I'm from Boston, so I know Mel when she was an attorney and was on our local talk radio.
- [31:13]
A
Oh, I didn't know she was an attorney. Didn't know her background.
- [31:16]
B
Yeah. So. And I watched her make that transition 2010, 2011, 2012, into becoming an inspirational speaker. And so she just worked the speaking crowd big time. She wrote some books. Right. She then, I believe, just used this wonderful platform to share a bigger voice of self improvement.
- [31:43]
A
Okay. Because she's a sharp woman. I didn't know she was a lawyer. Okay.
- [31:47]
B
Yeah. And so she, and she's good at speaking those sound bites and she's good at talking to you from the floor in her kitchen. Not all of us are good at that.
- [31:58]
A
Well, she's also got guests live.
- [32:01]
B
Right. So she has a bona fide studio that people will come into now. And that's, that's, you know, your top drawer folks, they can afford to do that and have.
- [32:10]
A
And Lewis Howes does that also. Yeah, he's another one that he brings in their very long pod. Joe Rogan does, obviously. But those are. And you mentioned something, it's a financial investment that's a different level. And when justify, because you've been at this so long to make that jump versus those of us that are indie doing this in our spare room or what have you.
- [32:33]
B
Yeah. I can't imagine the Pressure of going that big, you know, I think you just have to decide. I mean, she was very clear that this is where she was going if she wasn't going to get picked up by local talk radio. And, I mean, I'm sure she was thinking she wanted to be the next Howard Stern in a more serious way. Right. And so she started working all the angles, and she went through some really tough years.
- [33:00]
And trying to figure it out. It didn't happen. I mean, again, I saw her speak for the first time in 2010, 2011, and I heard her on the radio a little bit earlier than that as well. So it was, you know, it's been a long haul for her. She's worked really hard to get where she is. So I guess it depends if that's where you want to go. And this is where a lot of indie podcasters, Mitch, get into problems in their head about what success looks like. Excuse me. Right. Because they are thinking it's all about the downloads. But if they put. If they entered a room that had 50 to 100 people in it, they'd be kind of blown away that they were speaking to that size of a group. So I think people who are indie podcasters, one conversation at a time, one listener at a time, think about a room of 20 people, 50 people, 100. If you had that many people show up to hear you speak four times a week, a month, I mean, wow, that would be, I think, a huge success. What do you think, Mitch?
- [34:11]
A
Oh, I agree. I mean, I come from the speaking world, so podcasting, to me, is extremely easy. This. It wasn't difficult or intimidating in any way. And I also had a radio show, a live radio show in LA with cbs. So podcasting, to me was. It is different. I respect it. It's a different platform, different way of going into it, but there's so many crossover talents, Right, that come from my. My particular background and from others. Like you said, Mel Robbins was a speaker and she was an author. And I think in order to grow a podcast, people ought to consider writing a book. And the easiest way to writing a book for some of these people is to just take all the interviews that they've done, put it into a compilation, you know, excerpts from great sound bites of each interview.
- [35:01]
B
Well, look at. Even in politics now, you gotta start a podcast. Oh, gosh, you know, it's just. It's everywhere. I think it. Go ahead.
- [35:12]
A
What is the best way to start for people that are listening to us? Since you've been doing this longer than me, I I jumped in and started doing three to five interviews a day. I created my numbers and now I'm down to just one a day.
- [35:25]
B
Well, you know, you're again, you've got that strong background. You are a wonderful interviewer. And who's ever listening listener, know that this gentleman here, Mitch, has incredible reviews about what a phenomenal interviewer he is. So you have that lived experience you're bringing to the plate. And so it's much easier to start a podcast, I'd say, of course. Come join us at New England Podcasters. We've helped a lot of people get started just in uplifting, encouraging other folks to do it. But there is these wonderful steps that you can take. There's a lot of people out there if you need hand holding. I know when I launched my podcast in 2012, I hired a producer to hold my hand. And then 52 weeks in, I was like, okay, I've got this. And then I signed up with Blog Talk Radio and started producing my own shows from then on. But if you're very handy and you love to get in and try editing and figure that out, platforms like Riverside make it very easy to not only record, but it looks like a word document when you go to to edit your podcast. Plus, they have this delicious button called Magic Audio so that if your guest sounds like they're coming in through a tunnel, boom. They turn it into practically NPR quality. It's delicious. These are the tools that are out there to make it easy for you. And then my favorite hosting site is Buzzsprout, but there's plenty of others out there. Buzzsprout to me is just intuitive. It's friendly, it's warm, it's easy, it makes sense to use. And that's where you upload your audio and you put your show notes together and you put your artwork in and you can create artwork on Canva. You can hire someone on Upwork or Fiverr, or you can invest in a good graphic designer who will put everything up for you on Canva. But these are, you know the steps. And then I highly recommend interviewing eight people. Or if you're or creating eight episodes, get eight episodes in the hopper where you think, okay, these are great. And then set your launch date. And this is because people tend to want to binge and you can easily go ahead and launch four episodes right away. So they can go, ooh, 1, 2, 3, and 4. And then you start putting them out week by week. But it also gives you the experience to get comfortable with listening to your voice, talking to the camera, talking into the mic, practicing all the different things. And then finally, you just have to have grace with yourself because like anything else you learn, you're not good in the beginning and that's okay.
- [38:06]
A
You'll never be a one timer again, a first time.
- [38:10]
B
And so you're going to get better. And it's really fun to share those stories of things that can happen. I mean, I went live for three years, twice a week. And the technology challenges, even though this was 2020 through 2023, I still could have technology issues. When we were doing live streaming in 2012 using Google, you could count on the fact that you'd have technology challenges. And we've come a long way. And I love that you were in radio Mitch in la. That's so wonderful. I knew when video cameras came out in the 80s. Once I saw myself on video, I said, oh my God, the camera loves me. I want to do video. How am I going to do that in 1986, 87, 88, go down to our local CBS station and get hired? I don't think so. But today, anybody can talk to a camera, talk into a microphone, and you get better and better and better as you go along.
- [39:18]
A
You do, you just have to do it. You. And it's. You don't get big biceps by doing one set of curls. You got to do them over a period of time. You'll start seeing a change after about six to eight weeks. Same with podcasting. You know, and I taught martial arts for years. People say, when can I, when can I be tough like you? I said, 10,000 kicks a day or no, I would do a thousand kicks per leg per day, every day. And then after a while, it just happens. Then you're able to.
- [39:49]
B
Right.
- [39:49]
A
Be more comfortable. It takes wraps.
- [39:53]
B
Absolutely does. And then you get a. You, you have, you find the ability to be talking and then you kind of flub things up and you go, oh, well, I just flubbed something up. But you're human and it's okay. And you move right along and you catch yourself. What I found interesting is I, when I interviewed speakers Mitch, who were, you know, the pros speakers, who would have the whole slideshow and everything memorized and they'd be back and forth on the stage. They had the whole thing. They were more nervous to speak extemporaneously in an interview than they were to give a speech. And that was new to me because I would be too nervous to give a speech where I had to have everything memorized. Right.
- [40:37]
A
I'm 100% extemporaneous. My speaking career and I've been. I've spoken on stages in 63 countries. I have never been scripted. I'd fail as an actor. My view is you've got to pull from the energy of the crowd and go where, you know, you have a structure, some type of a roadmap, a loose roadmap. But. And that's because I put in the reps. And as a podcaster, do you have to put in much thought before you get on a. And conduct an interview now versus the first time was probably stressful.
- [41:08]
B
Very stressful. And also video. So, you know, I was doing video in 2012, but then as my brain aged, I did notice that for me to memorize a script, because I do sometimes want to have a teachable moment where I. I'm sharing a specific piece of information or I have a bio that I want to read for the guest, I would tell people, look, you're going to see me reading. Get over it. I am not going to memorize that.
- [41:37]
A
Got it. Well, that's fine to do. Well, so the New England Podcaster Group, where do they find out about this? Is it on a Facebook group or where is there a website?
- [41:47]
B
We have. Yep, we have a website. NewEnglandPodcasters.group. and you can learn all about us and you can certainly follow us on Instagram. New England Podcasters Group. You'll see all our reels. Just really fun. You just see that we are having an absolute blast. Everybody has clappers. So when we get together, which makes it so delicious, and we love welcoming new folks, come join us, either virtually or in person. We just are very upbeat. Learn, you know, we love teaching folks what we know. And if you want to, you can come into the Pod Garden where we have monthly learnings. When? Tomorrow night, Wednesday night, on the 3rd of December, we've got an Air table masterclass specifically for podcasters. So exciting. So, you know, we do a lot of things like that.
- [42:39]
A
And are you still with Blog Talk Radio?
- [42:42]
B
No, I went from Blog Talk radio to, let's see, for podcasting, I think I just went and started grabbing the audio when I recorded on Google. And then I grabbed the audio and I recorded on Blab. And then I used not Stream Yard. What's the other one that?
- [43:01]
A
Riverside.
- [43:02]
B
No, it begins with S. No, what is that one? I just heard it the other day and I went, oh, yeah. I used that for three years. And it's a little hosting platform. But I went to Streamyard in 2018. I was part of the beta group that those founders used to kick the tires before they launched in November of 2019. And so I started using them then and I used to laugh and tell them I had shoes older than they were.
- [43:33]
A
What do you use yourself now?
- [43:35]
B
I just switched from Streamyard from six years with streamyard to Riverside because of the editing feature and the magic audio. It just made it so much easier for me so I could drop plus they provide clips. So I was able to drop Cast, Magic.
- [43:52]
Descript and Opus clips and save myself some money.
- [43:56]
A
Oh, I use Opus clips. Oh, interesting. So Streamyard takes that away.
- [44:02]
B
Streamyard. I didn't have any.
- [44:04]
A
Not Streamyard. I'm sorry. Riverside.
- [44:05]
B
Riverside. Yeah, Riverside has all the editing, just like you have with Descript, only even better in my opinion, because they leave it crossed out so that you can see the original script and. And then they can. ChatGPT can give you anything you need for a LinkedIn post, all the things, show notes, et cetera. And then Riverside also grabs a bunch of clips from your conversation and so you can download and use those so.
- [44:34]
A
You can leave Opus behind.
- [44:37]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I can also easily, when I go to edit, just drop my background in because I'm all about having a background instead of a black background and a branded. Black. I'm sorry, a branded background. So they make it very easy.
- [44:52]
A
Well, I'm have to look at that. Well, Andy, you've been a great guest today and I'm gonna look at the New England Podcaster group myself. I want to see what you guys.
- [45:01]
B
Well, I'm gonna send you the Zoom link for December 13th if you want to come join us.
- [45:06]
A
I will do that. All right. It might be my morning. Your. Your. You guys, your evening or is.
- [45:13]
B
Is probably the worst time for you. It is at 12 noon Eastern, so that's 12 midnight for you.
- [45:22]
A
I'll be staying up late.
- [45:23]
B
Won't I at least come in for an hour and say hi to everybody? They'll just be so blown away.
- [45:29]
A
Why not? Well, Andy, thank you so much for your time today. All the best.
- [45:33]
B
Oh, Mitch, thank you for one of the best conversations I've had in a really long time. Thank you.
- [45:40]
A
Thanks for tuning in to the amazing Authorities podcast. If today's episode inspired you, take a moment to subscribe, rate and leave a review. It helps more experts like you rise to the top for behind the scenes access and free resources to boost your authority. Head to MitchCarson.com until next time, stay amazing.