← The How To Podcast Series - Podcast Co-Hosts, Practical Podcast Tips, and Podcast Community
The How To Podcast Series - Podcast Co-Hosts, Practical Podcast Tips, and Podcast Community
E687 - We Ask Ralph About Podcasting, The Business of Podcasting and Content Creation with Guest CO-HOST Ralph Estep Jr.
00:48:36
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- [00:00]
A
Okay, we're rolling, everybody. Welcome back to the how to Podcast series. I get to meet great people in podcasting, some of the nicest people, humble people yet have a great voice in podcasting who are supportive. They want to encourage people on their journey. They have tools and resources to help all of us in podcasting. I know from hearing from my audience that my audience wants to know. Know more about making money with their show, about doing it the right way, looking for people who can help them to answer their financial questions around content creation and money. And I can give you a little bit, but I can't do what my guest today can do. Ralph Estep Jr. Is here with me today. He. He has it all mapped out and creates great content, shows up in this world of podcasting. And I'm sending you to him as I want you to go meet this gentleman and work with him directly. Whether it's a quick chat or hiring him to work with him directly one on one, you're going to love this guy. And I have a lot of respect for Ralph, and the fact that he has time for us today is great. Ralph, welcome to the show. Welcome to the how to Podcast series.
- [01:09]
B
Thank you, Dave. I appreciate all the accolades. That was very kind of you to say.
- [01:13]
A
It's excellent to have you here, Ralph. I know that you have cows. You have cows, and I'm so interested. How many. How many cows do you have?
- [01:22]
B
So right now I think we've got 18. We had seven babies born back in November and December. I actually have a farmhand who handles that for me. But we're actually raising Black Angus wagyu beef now.
- [01:35]
A
Wow.
- [01:36]
B
So we had. I've always been. I've been doing Black Angus for about 10 years now, and I kind of got tired of doing it. And so a fellow that lives down the street from me raises chickens. He's got chicken houses for Purdue.
- [01:47]
A
And.
- [01:47]
B
And he said, Ralph, he says, would you ever consider somebody coming and raising beef on your property? I was like, yeah, that would be great. When do you want to start? So we sent all my beef to the auction and he started a new form. And I'll tell you a funny story, Dave. So back in November, in the mornings, I walked my German Shepherd. Her name is Piper. And her and I were out on our morning walk at about 5 o' clock in the morning, and I looked over in the pasture and I was like, that looks like a calf over there. And sure enough, we had a baby born. So I caught. His guy's name is Ryan. I said, Ryan, guess what? You got a calf? He goes, can't be. I said, ryan, if I need to explain to you how that works, you and I need to have a broader discussion. Well, it turns out he didn't realize the cows he had bought had all been bred, which was a bonus for him, because now we've got seven little ones running around, and the farm is just full of life. And it's just a great time right now on the farm, but it's cool. As I look out my window, my podcast studio, I can see a couple of a big mama Black Angus right out the window right now. So it's kind of a humbling experience. When I'm having one of those stressful days as an accountant, I just go out there and hang out with the cows.
- [02:49]
A
Your background, Ralph, like in podcasting, it goes back a long time. You've been. You've been doing this for a while, right?
- [02:55]
B
Yeah, it started in 2017, actually.
- [02:57]
A
Good.
- [02:57]
B
I started as an accountant. I've been doing accounting since I was 8 years old. A lot of people say 8 years old. I'm like, yep, I grew up in it. My dad's an accountant also. But I started my podcasting journey back in 2017. I was trying to get some exposure from my accounting firm, and I was approached by. I guess it's. I can't think of their name, but the big media company that has radio stations. Oh, what's it? I heart Media. Excuse me. I couldn't think of it. They approached me and said, hey, would you be interested in doing some AM radio shows on Saturday morning? I said, well, that sounds kind of fun. And they said, and we'll. We'll give you a good price for the time. I didn't realize at the time, you know, I was paying them, but it was a good exposure point. And one of the reps said, here, one of the things you can do is you can flip this into a podcast. And I was like, okay, what's a podcast? I didn't really. I mean, I had basic understanding of what it was, and they said, oh, yeah, you can do this. So that's when my podcasting journey started back in 2017. And I did that in earnest. 2017, 2018, into the beginning of 2019. And then I had what a lot of content creators go through, and that's burnout. I wasn't really giving myself the proper time, wasn't doing the right things, and I just kind of stopped it for a while. And. And then back In November of 2023, I said, you know what? I'm going to do this again. My son and my wife, my oldest son and my wife and I had taken a trip to Germany, and we went to visit Germany. My son's a big history buff. And we actually went to a concentration camp, Dave. And that's where it really changed my life, because I was standing in Dachau. And, you know, when you're there, you can watch Schindler's List, you can watch all kinds of things on TV about the Holocaust and concentration camps, but until you stand there on the same ground where somebody had been before and so many people lost their lives. And I thought to myself, I'm a Christian guy. I thought, you know, Ralph, what are you doing with your sorry self? And it was that moment I said, I need to figure out a way to give back. And when I got back to the States, I said, you know what? It's time for me to start doing something. And I launched what at that point was called Ask Ralph. The whole purpose of that was to ask me financial accounting, tax questions. And I started working with Dave Jackson from the school of podcasting. And he says to me one day, he says, ralph? He says, who's Ralph? And I said, well, Dave, you know who I am. He goes, no, no, no, you don't understand. Your audience has no idea who Ralph is. And at that point I was like, wow, that was really an eye opening experience for me. And I said, so I decided to change the name of my daily show to Financially Confident Christian. And that's because my goal, big hairy goal, is to make people financially confident Christians. And I said that in November. I said, I am going to do this every day for three years. Because everybody told me all the gurus said, you need to do it for three years to make it work. And I said, I will do it every day for three years. And I have done just that. And it has been an amazing journey. I've launched several other podcasts. I have a weekly sermon series which is called Truth Unveiled with Ralph. I have a business podcast, which I sort of have on the shelf right now called Grit and Growth Business. And then I also have the Content Creators Accountant, which is a show I launched back in December. All of these are audio and video. And then of course, I'm also the executive co producer of the podcasting morning show with Mark Ronick. And that's been a great experience where I've really got to meet people like you, Dave, and other people in the podcasting community. And I really love the people I'm working with.
- [06:23]
A
Is there. Is there like one central hub for all of these different podcasts that they can find you?
- [06:27]
B
Yeah, I have a media company called Ask Ralph Media.
- [06:30]
A
Okay.
- [06:30]
B
So if you want to find any of my working, you just go to askralph.com I have a team of professionals that help me with all my content stuff. And we put everything there. We put my visits on other people's shows. I write a daily blog article. I wrote a blog article for everything. Oh, and I forgot to mention, Dave, I just launched a live show on Fridays. It's called Financially Confident Christian Live. I'm actually doing that on Clubhouse and, and also on the different streaming platforms. But my goal with that show is really for people to come and ask me those questions that you're struggling with. The whole basis of my Financially Confident Christian show is a recognition that we all get into this place of this cycle of financial shame. And I really want to help people break out of that cycle. But the central hub is askralph.com that's where you can find all of my content. I've written three books. You can look at the books there. Yeah, I do a lot of stuff, Dave. There's a lot going on.
- [07:24]
A
There's a lot going on. I like it. One thing I heard you talk about Ralph in the past. You record your podcast and your solo podcast. You're kind of like staring at a screen by yourself in the room. And you're like, I need some kind of interaction with somebody to kind of keep me on task and keep me recording, keep me engaged. And you've done something I haven't heard anybody else talk about, Ralph. So I'd like you to explain to us what you do instead of recording by yourself, because again, I don't hear anybody talking about this. I think this is a super amazing idea. Can you explain what you do?
- [07:59]
B
Absolutely, Dave. So I have a coach who's been 40 years in Christian radio, and he says to me one day, he said, ralph, you're a reactor. And I said, I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. He says, no, you react to people. He react to people saying things to you. I said, I am so happy you said that to me because I have a 24 inch prompter. People Prompter I'm looking at right now as I look at you, Dave. And they always said to me, well, just pretend like there's somebody you're talking to. Pretend like you see somebody. Well, guess what? I must have failed that in kindergarten because I'M not good at the pretend stuff. So one of these days, one of these days my coach says me says, you know what you should do? He said, you should hire a virtual assistant, and you could ask your virtual assistant to join you in a zoom meeting every time you go to record. And I said, well, his name is Dave. I said, dave, that's a brilliant idea. And I started doing that. And Dave, it has changed the dynamic completely. The lady that works with me, her name is Abby. She's actually in the Philippines. Great lady. We talk three times a day, sometimes ten times a day. But my goal every day is to make her laugh, cry, or give me some response. And when I see that, I know, oh, I'm striking a nerve. I'm making an impact, and it has changed my life, my content, dramatically. Because like a lot of podcasters, I was talking up here because I was talking to fans. And like, she finally, she gives me, like, one of these, you know, if you're. If you're listening to this, I'm waving my hands on. She tells me, calm down, Ralph. Calm down. Take it down a notch. And. But no, Dave. And I don't know anybody does that either. But it has been so impactful for me because now I'm actually to see the reaction on somebody's face because the idea of talking to one person, it sounds good intuitively, but it never worked for me in actually doing it. But this has changed it immensely.
- [09:41]
A
And then the other part that I can see over your shoulder, I see lots of awards from YouTube. You're doing really well on YouTube. How long have you been on YouTube for some of these channels you have, and what you've been doing, because the awards keep coming. Ralph, you're doing something right. Explain a little bit more about your YouTube.
- [09:57]
B
Yeah, I've got. I've gotten three. The Silver Play Awards for 100,000 list or subscribers. The. The one that I started, these basically started in April of 2025. Yeah, April 2025. And it's just grown quickly. I've had some good luck in. I do some boosting. I pay for some boosting through YouTube, and that's got me in front of a lot of audiences. But the one I will tell you that has been interesting is the content creators account. And I launched that on December 7th. And I think, as does this morning, we're like 225,000 subscribers. Because here's the thing, Dave. I'm putting out content that people need, right? I'm putting out content that people are interacting with because so Many people are dealing with these same struggles. So many people are dealing with the stress of. I wanted this to make money because there's a ton of these, I call them coach hustlers out there, promising everybody that you can make a million dollars. You can be the next this one and the Joe Rogans and the, and the, all the other people, you know. And I'm like, wait a second, but you're lying to people. The average person is not going to get to that. But here's what I can do for you. I can help you build a system to make sure that if that happens, you'll be know how to structure your money. But even if it doesn't happen, here's how we can start to look at reality and show you how to make a couple nickels here and there. I was just working with a lady. I was, I was an interviewee on her show a week or two ago and she says, Ralph, she says, the interview's done. She says, can I ask you a personal question? I said, sure. She says, I don't make any money with my podcast. Could you give me some ideas? I said, absolutely. I said, I offer a 15 minute discovery call. I said, follow that link and let's do it. Because last week we had our meeting and I just went through her stuff and just basic stuff and she said, oh, I never thought about that. She ended up adding, buy me a coffee, which cost her zero. Now, is she going to get $1,000 a month from this? Probably not, but is it going to help offset some of the costs? Yes, it will. And that's the thing. I think I bring fresh eyes to it because I'm actually a believer that you should start your content as a business from the beginning. Right now a lot of people say, well, yeah, but what if you're a passion project? Okay, that's fine, I'll give you that. If you're a passion podcaster, it's a hobby, great. But still have a system because at some point you're going to want to potentially write off some of those expenses. Or maybe you do have a sponsor or you get some affiliate income. Now you've got a structure built to, to have that ready to go when you start to see some dollars rolling in.
- [12:29]
A
One of the things I talk about on the show, Ralph, is if you don't have the intent to make money with your show from day one, like you talked about. Still, as podcasters, we need to create an engagement loop with our audience where we ask a question, we post something, we get interaction between us and our audience to have silence and never and never in kind of entice our audience to be active and responding. It's even harder to start to create, well, like money around your show and income. So if you can create that engagement loop, that's a good starting point right from the beginning. All right. Am I kind of on the same wavelength with you in that for.
- [13:07]
B
Absolutely, I think. And I think it goes even before that. Like a lot of people say to me, ralph, when should I be setting up the systems? I said, before you hit record. And they're like, wait a second. But I haven't done anything yet. I'm like, yes, exactly. Because you need to know your why and you need to know how you're going to measure success. Now, for you, it might be, I want this many listeners, I want this many pieces of feedback, I want this much money. But you got to know those from the front end so that you can measure those things. And that's why, whether it's a financial system or a feedback system or a CRM system, you've got to have something set up from the front end so you can measure am I being successful? That's why people pod fade after eight episodes. I think Mark said on the show this morning, after three episodes, it doesn't surprise me because they're sold this basket of lies to begin with. They don't have any idea of who their audience is. They don't know who they're speaking to, why they're speaking to them. And then let's just say you have all those things. You don't know how to measure success because if you're going to measure it based on downloads, you're going to be upset most of the time because the truth of the matter is you are going to struggle with that one. I struggle with mine. Like it was this slog every day. Like nobody wants to hear me. It was soul crushing. But then when I finally said, as a Christian guy, I finally said, if one person reaches out to me once a month and says something to me, then I've reached that one person. It's like the story of Jesus, you go after the one lost sheep. And I think of the same thing in my podcasting journey, especially for my my Christian based stuff is if I can reach one person's ear, if I can reach one person's heart, then it's well done, good and faithful servant. But you got to know at the front end what is that measurement? Because if you don't know that you're going to just wail around and you're going to stop doing it because you're going to be. I don't even know if I'm doing well or not.
- [14:56]
A
So what are a couple of those practical things we need to keep in mind? We have new podcasters listening, setting up their show right now. What are some of those things or key things you would encourage listener to do at the beginning of their show?
- [15:07]
B
Well, first thing is set up separate accounts for business and personal stuff.
- [15:11]
A
Yep.
- [15:11]
B
Consider your podcast a business. From day one go. You don't have to go and get a business account, but set up a separate checking account, set up a separate credit card and everything you spend for your podcast for your content creation goes on there. And every single dollar of income that you get, you notice I said income. Be careful about using the word donations.
- [15:31]
A
Thank you.
- [15:31]
B
I'll get on a little pet peeve thing right now because so many people use the word donation. If you are not a 501C3 and I'm speaking to a U.S. audience right now, for people in the U.S. i'm sure Canada probably has something similar. But if you are not a 501C3, you cannot use the word donate. You can use the word support. You can use the word encourage, but donate means something. So in other words. But getting back to answering your question, set up some sort of basic rudimentary keeping things separate system. It doesn't have to be complicated. You don't have to go spend thousands of dollars. It can be a notebook. But just try to keep things separate because that's the biggest struggle is what we call in the accounting trade commingling people just co mingle stuff. So that's the first thing. Second thing is like you said, think about how you're going to build engagement. Do you have an email list? Do you have a Patreon site? Do you have some sort of buy me a coffee? Do you have a simple PayPal thing, some way for your audience to communicate with you? Those are the things that I would really jump into at the front end. But no, the donate thing just drives me crazy. I hear that term bounted around all the time. It's gotten so bad now on Ask the Podcast Coach Dave Jackson show on Saturday mornings, every time somebody says that, he goes, I can hear Ralph screaming through the screen right now, stop saying that. And here's the worst part. I'm a complete transparency here. I was looking at my website the other day and, and I use pod page and it said donate at the top. And I'M like, oh, I can't do that. We got to fix that right away. Because some. There was a little bit of an update, I guess, and they changed the titles. I was like, no, Ralph, you got to speak what you're talking about, dude.
- [17:09]
A
I have, I have parroted your, your belief and your, your, that truth to my audience as well. Because of you, Ralph. Crediting you as well, because I've heard people say that all the time. Yeah, donate. And I think the big thing that comes into play in Canada we just called a registered charity, but is the fact that at the end of the year, your audience that have been quote, donating to your show all year are going to say, hey, Ralph, can I get a receipt for my donations for 2026? And you're not a registered charity. You can't issue a receipt. Right, right.
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B
And Dave, the worst part of that, though, is so many podcasters think they don't have to report that as income.
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A
Right?
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B
That's the other side of it. It's not a donation. That is income to you. You need to put that on your tax return. Even if you're a hobbyist, that needs to get put on your tax return. If it's not, guess what? That's tax evasion. Tax evasion is what Al Capone went to jail for.
- [18:01]
A
Right.
- [18:01]
B
You got to be very careful with the words that you use in any dollar that gets put into. We'll call it the kitty. Right? Any money that gets put into your show is got to be reported as income. Now, that said, you can write off expenses, your subscriptions, your gear, all those type of things. But again, you've got to build that system at the front end so that you know what those things are. Because the IRS doesn't like creativity. They like, they like crystal clear stuff. I work with auditors all the time, and I'm just waiting for my first content creator audit. And the, and the content creator said, well, I'm just being creative in the irs, going, yeah, we don't accept creativity over here.
- [18:38]
A
And the other thing too is as podcasters, we're very public facing. So if you're on every week saying, hey, Ralph, thanks for the $500 donation. Hey, Dave, thanks for the $200 donation. You are just putting out content into the world, acknowledging your audience, but you're also. They can track everything you're saying. So as you're putting that into the world, you're, you're proclaiming that I'm making money with my show, except not on your taxes. And that's not a good.
- [19:03]
B
We call that an audit trail. You have created your own audit trail at that point and they are going to bury you because it's right in your RSS feed.
- [19:12]
A
Right? Be careful, everybody. Be careful. What other things as a new creator or an existing creator, Ralph, that from your content creators background that we can kind of tap into, we can help people with. What are some things that people get wrong? What do they say when they come to talk to you?
- [19:29]
B
I think a big thing also is the decision about setting up an entity, whether that be an LLC or a corporation. How do I pay myself? Those are all complicated things. And there's a lot of clowns out there on Reddit and TikTok telling everybody, well, go do this and go do that. You know, as it always goes in podcasting, it depends. But you need to solicit the assistance of a professional to talk through your particular circumstance. There may very well be a great point of having an llc. There may be a great point of having what we in the States call a subchapter S corporation, but that's not what you're going to do at the front end. But you need to understand those things. That's another thing, Dave, I think a lot of people miss out on is they all of a sudden have that great month and they're like, oh, now I got a problem because I have money that came in, I've got that sponsor, and now Uncle Sam is beating down their door pending April 15, and they've got nothing in place. That's when it makes sense again. Go back to before you started your content. What was your intention? Meet with somebody like me? Let's talk about your options to at least set the framework down that you can always decide, well, do I pull the trigger on this now or do I pull the trigger on it later?
- [20:34]
A
You Talked about that 15 minute call with you, Ralph. Expand on that a little bit more. What, what happens? How do people get to do that with you?
- [20:41]
B
Yeah, it's simple. You just go to content creators, accountant.com Help me. It's really that simple. You just, you get a link to my calendar and you and I look face to face each other. I'll talk to you about what you're doing. My goal is to not sell you anything. My goal is to help you and understand what you're doing. Now, that could turn into something else. It may turn into a consultation. You know, I've got clients that we do payroll for. I've got clients we do bookkeeping work for. I set up LLC and S Corporations. But my goal at the front end is to really understand what's going on. Like this lady I met with the other day. We took 15 minutes. I gave her three or four ideas of ways to monetize her show. We talked about, do you have systems set up? She goes, no, I never thought about that. So we're going to set up. She's going to set up systems. Now my, my thought process there is at some point, if this starts to grow, she's going to remember, oh, that guy Ralph, he was a big help to me. And she goes and tells other people. So that's the whole reason that I do it.
- [21:35]
A
As far as coaching and advice that is not specific to a certain state in the US I have a global audience for my show. Who do you like to work with? What other countries have you worked with? So the people listening.
- [21:47]
B
I work with people all over the world.
- [21:49]
A
Good.
- [21:49]
B
That's the cool thing about technology. I never forget I had a zoom call with somebody in. I want to say it was Kazakhstan or something like that last year. I mean, I've. I've met people all over the world, so sometimes the translation is a little bit of a struggle. But the truth of the matter is money is money, and what I deal with is money. And the thing is, the beauty about United States is a lot of people want to use our banking system. So even though people may have content or maybe in other countries, they want to have some onshore stuff here because they trust the banking system here more than other countries. And that's why, as of right now, my accounting practice, I'd probably say 15% of my clients are actually people from overseas.
- [22:32]
A
Wow.
- [22:33]
B
So. Which is a pretty cool thing. You know, it's kind of neat. Like, there are many people I've never met in person. Funny story, Dave. I have some people. I do. I do a lot of tax work. And I have some clients I've never met face to face. They just drop their stuff off. Well, I guess it was about three or four months ago. I was at the grocery store and this person walks up to me like, hey, Ralph, it's so great to finally meet you. And I looked at this person, like, I don't know this person at all. And they said, what's such and such a name? And I said, I still don't. I recognize the name a little bit. And then he says, I work. I said, oh, now I know who you are. I remembered a W2 from their tax return, but that was so cool because, like, I've never met this person, but there's a trust thing. I say to people all the time, your relationship with your accountant in some ways is deeper than your relationship with your spouse. Because I gotta know it all. And there's a lot of stuff that a lot of people don't like to put out there in the public domain. So if you're working with somebody, make sure you trust them. It is super important. That's the one thing. I work with a, I just hired a new publicist, but I worked with a public, a public service business a couple years back because I really wanted to try to build the brand that is me. And the guy sits down in front of me, he goes, ralph, he says, let me ask you a question. He said, what business are you in? And I said, well, I'm in the accounting business. He looks at me and he goes, not really. And I'm like, I hired the wrong dude. Like he didn't see the sign when he walked in. And I said, oh, I got it, I got it. I'm in the tax business. You missed that part. He goes, no, no, no. I'm like, dude, I'm paying you. You can't even read the sign. Third time I said, I said, well, I'm in the consulting business. And he says, you know, all those things are right. He said, but you didn't hit the main one. He said, you're in the relationship business. Well, guess what? As content creators, we are all in the relationship business.
- [24:16]
A
Wow.
- [24:16]
B
Once you figure that out, then your content will start to click because it's all about that relationship. It's all about building that one on one relationship with that one person that's coming to you. It's no different in the business world. And that's the thing that, you know, that's why my business has been successful, because I want to build that relationship. That's why I do everything I do. I want to build that relationship with that person that says, you know what? I know the guy. I know the guy.
- [24:40]
A
The one thing I love about what you do as well, Ralph, is not only do you help people and talk to the content creator community, you are one of us. That's, that's the big thing when I, when I meet an expert who doesn't participate in the community, but kind of parachutes into the community, sells their wares and leaves. You live here with us, you know what it's like to do all the things. So when we try to explain to you what our intent is or our process or our approach, you're like, yeah, I know. I have done the same thing. And I, I love that you have that common bridge with us. And it's not just podcasting. Right. That's why I, like, it's not in your name that you're like the podcasting accountant. Right? You are content creators. You're like helping whatever content you build. You can come work with Ralph.
- [25:30]
B
Yeah, because I get the stress of it. I get the stress of logging into my Captivate account and seeing how today's episode went.
- [25:35]
A
Right.
- [25:35]
B
I get the stress of going on the YouTube and be like, my completion percentages, oh, this is horrible. People bailed after 30 seconds. I get it. I get the stresses of trying to write a script and trying to figure out what content is going to land and the stresses of trying to put the email system together in kit and trying to deal with gear. And like, I just, I just got this new heil mic in my, my studio and, and I've been using the Shure SM7DB. I love the thing. Well, I got this new one because it looks cool, it lights up on the inside, but, man, trying to figure this out with my rodecaster and porting it into eCamm, it's like, whoa, I am way over my skis. I'm a really good accountant, but this stuff is a challenge, dude. Like, I got headsets in now because I was hearing feedback like, that's this. I built a studio. I mean, this is all cool stuff. But no, I understand the day to day stresses that the content creators, the podcasters are going through because I'm living it right along with you and I'm learning it as we go. I guess what I bring to the table is the business side of this.
- [26:33]
A
Yeah.
- [26:33]
B
So I'm able to take all those things and say, hey, I understand the business side. Best compliment one of my clients ever gave me was, ralph, you understand things and you can, you can speak in my language. So for the content creators, I speak your language. I truly do. I get it.
- [26:47]
A
So on that then, Ralph, we. We talk on the Podcast Morning show now, formerly Podcast Morning Chat. We talk a lot of podcasting stuff and I hear you every day. Come on and share some pretty passionate pleas to the podcasting community. From your perspective on where we're going as podcasters, where. Where we've come from, you. You really tapped into the history of podcasting in the future of podcasting. I think you're a great example. What are some of the things right now as a content creator for your own content where you things are Going really well. And something that you're kind of struggling with as well.
- [27:25]
B
I honestly think the whole YouTube thing, the whole video thing, and I'm going to upset a lot of people, but I think that's the future. I really do.
- [27:32]
A
Really.
- [27:33]
B
I don't think audio goes away. Don't let me. Don't, don't. Don't let me take it in. But, Dave, the reason I've done that is I've reached out to people. I'm. My coach always says to me, he goes, ralph, you're like the most outgoing guy I've ever met. I just get on and call people. I get on LinkedIn and just reach out to people. Rob Greenlee is a great example of that. He's going to be on the podcast, a morning show here coming up Friday, as we record this. And basically one day I just, oh, he's on LinkedIn. I'm going to reach out, say, rob, I'd love to be on your show. People like you just said that to him. I'm like, yeah, I sent him a text, an email, and I said, rob, I'd like to be on your show, because here's what I can do. But that's where I've been able to tap into that, Dave, because I went back and Talked to the OGs like Dave Jackson and Rob Greenlee. I reach out to people that are like yourself. I mean, I just reach out to people and say, hey, tell me about what your journey has been. I think we're in a tough spot right now. I think we're really going to see a. It's going to be really hard for the independent podcasters to survive, I think, because the way that this industry is going is you're going to either be at the top or at the bottom. And I think a lot of people are going to get stressed out about that and say, I just don't want to do it anymore. I just can't compete. Just the AI Slop is an example of that, right? And AI Slop is putting out stuff that it doesn't. I think it's Inception point. AI. I listen to Janine, right? And I just cringe. I'm like, yeah, but that's great. So you think you're a doctor now and you're going to put out AI Slop. I think the thing is so along, all those things that I said, negative. I think there's a huge opportunity, though, too, and I think there's an opportunity to be you. I think there's an opportunity to speak from the Heart. I think there's an opportunity to tell people about your journey, to tell people about why it matters to you. I think that we have to move away from being so scripted, we have to move away from being so formatted and just be the average person that's going, you know, that's why I feel like I'm rambling. I don't mean to, but, like, my Truth Unveiled with Ralph show is a. Is a weekly sermon show. I have no religious training, I am not a theologian, but I speak to people from the standpoint of, here's what culture is telling us, here's what the scripture says, let's talk about this as human beings. And it just resonates with people, Dave, because I think that people are so tired of the people in the ivory towers telling them how to think. And I think that's the place where podcasters can really make an impact, is talk about what it's like to work that shift job, to come out of that warehouse and to then get into content creation. Because guess what? That's what your audience is living through, too, right? And if you can tap into that and realize that these folks are just like you. They've got the same stresses that you've got. They've got to say, like you and I talked before, you're a recent grandfather. I'm going to be a grandfather here soon, right? I'm going to talk about that on my show, right? Because guess what? There's a lot of people in my audience that are going to go through that. I'm going to talk about the money side because my wife's already told me, guess what? When it comes to our grandson, money is no object. I'm like, holding the phone. Wait a second, slow it down here. We gotta think about budgeting. But that's what I think the opportunity is. I think there's a lot of. There's a lot going on where we see in more networks, we're seeing more people racing to the top, the big names, and it leaves this big gap for the independent podcaster. But I think there's still a place for the voice of somebody, just a common person, who just wants to talk about things and just everyday terms. But you cannot let AI write that for you. You've got to. And I've battled that myself, Dave. Like, I've gone through my own journey of let me let AI write my scripts. I'll never forget one day I was recording and Abby was on the other side, and I'm reading this AI script, and I said something I was like, I don't believe that. Why am I even saying that? That doesn't make any sense. And I told her that day, I said, we got to stop. This needs to stop. So now what I do is I write the ideas and I let AI kind of mold it into a, you know, a way that makes sense. But, like, I had to stop. It was so easy to just let AI speak to me. Now I actually have an issue with AI because I think it's very biased. I think AI is that it tells you what it wants you to hear. The. The quote, cultural norms of thing. And. And I am not the cultural normal thing, which sometimes gets me in a little trouble.
- [31:38]
A
Really? Really.
- [31:39]
B
You know, there's some things I say, and people are like, yeah, what do you do? Back down a little bit on that. But if anything you can say about RALPH is RALPH stands for what RALPH stands for.
- [31:47]
A
Right?
- [31:48]
B
And I think that's important.
- [31:50]
A
So for your content creation, when you have multiple shows, and I. I kind of know what that feels like when you have multiple shows, is there one that you gravitate to, kind of like when you have time? In my day, I've got X number of hours to work on something. I seem to gravitate towards this show as kind of my priority, and then the other ones fall in line. How do you kind of balance this?
- [32:09]
B
Well, it depends. Like, I got to be honest with you, it almost depends. Week to week, it depends what my mindset is like. I just got done tax season in the US and so to be blunt with you, the content creators was kind of like, okay, I'm doing this all the time right now, so this doesn't really. It doesn't excite me. And that's when I pivoted more into my religious sermon show. I was really finding a lot of value in that. Now that I've got a little bit more breathing room, I'm pivoting more back into the content creators accountant side because I see such a need there. I see creative people who have the best opportunity, but they just don't have the system set up to really be successful. And that's where I think I can help people. That's why I sponsored. I'm the title sponsor of Empower podcasting 3. Because Mark and I were talking one day, I was like, mark, you know what? This is the ideal. These are the people I need to be in front of, because these are the people that need my help. If you're a big podcaster, you got a team of accountants, you got A team of attorneys, you've got a network. But it's the, I'll use the word small guy. I don't mean that in stature, but it's the little independent person that it has an opportunity. If they just had somebody like me to help them to build the systems to keep them out of hot water with the IRS and with the state. That's where I see my impact. So to answer your question, I really feel like that's my mission right now, and that's why I just hired a publicist. And she's actually going to be on the podcasting morning show next week. But she's going to help me sort of get out there in front of audiences of creators who need to hear my message. Because it's one of those things, Dave, like a lot of people don't know what they don't know, right? And if you don't know it and you've not heard your show or one of the other shows I've been on, you're like, I never even thought about that, Rob. I hear that all the time, Dave. People say to me, you know what? I never even thought about that. And that's a big deal.
- [33:52]
A
That's why I'm glad you're here. I, I love, I love the community too, that we talk about at the beginning with Mark's community with Empowered podcasting, the conference and the podcast Morning Chat SL show. It's. We're in this middle gap right now where I'm still trying to get my mind around it, but the change in the name, but talk a little bit more about the community. Like Ralph, you came into the community. It hasn't, wasn't really that long ago, but in a short time you've really kind of. The community's really embraced you. We really love having you there.
- [34:22]
B
Well, there's a story there, dude. So it was last, I guess the last September was the. I had never been to a podcasting conference.
- [34:28]
A
Really?
- [34:29]
B
Really, I had never been. And Dave Jackson had said to me, you know, you really should try this one. He said, I'm going to be there. And another guy, no, Mark and Craig, all these guys are going to be there. I said, well, this will be cool. I don't know too much about these conferences, but I'd like to meet Dave face to face. And I talked to Mark and Craig and some other people. I said, I'm gonna go. And. And it was, it's. It's about an eight hour drive. I got my truck and drove down there and I gotta be Honest with you, dude. I got there the night before, and I'm looking at all these people. I'm like, man, I do not fit in with this crowd. This does not seem like my folks, really. And I'm thinking, ralph, what have you done? So I went up to my room, got up the next morning. I'm an early riser. I've just lost £200. I've been really working out and trying to get my body in check. So I'm. I'm £3 away from being £200 down. So every morning for me is all about exercise. So the first day of the podcasting at the epc, I went down to the gym, and I'm pumping iron. Well, then I'm thinking, you know, I hear about this show this guy does. I'm gonna go sit in the lounge, get some breakfast. And I sat down, and in walks Dave Jackson. I knew him from his picture. And before he had walked in, another guy was sitting over there. And I think, you know, I think that's Mark. You know what I'm gonna do? Because I'm an extrovert. I'm gonna go over there and introduce myself. Now picture this day. I am so sweating. I got. I. I probably had a stink on me pretty bad. And I walk up to Mark, and I'm like, are you Mark Ronick? He goes, yeah. And I introduced myself, and he's like, oh, it's so great to meet you. And then I just. And then Dave Jack Jackson came down, and I was going to shake his hand, but he gave me a big hug. I'm like, dude, you probably stink like me now. So anyway, so I'm sitting there and I'm watching this morning show. And after the show was over, I said, that's really cool. I had no idea what clubhouse was. I didn't know what any of those things were. So then I went through the show and all this kind of stuff, and I keep on hearing about this show. I got back home, and I said, I'm going to log into this clubhouse thing. I have no idea what this clubhouse thing. I. I thought it had something to do with, like, Spanky, our gang or something. I had no clue. And so I log in there the first day. Well, the first day, I can't get in. I'm like, what's going on here? You got to get invited. I didn't realize this. So I was like, okay. Well, so then I send Mark an email. I'm like, dude, I met you at the conference. You see my, like, a nice Guy. But, dude, what's up with the walled garden? Can I get in? So I got in the first day, the next day, and then I just started contributing, and, you know, it wasn't too long. And then Mark says, you know, I'm just going to bring you up on stage. And then he said, you know, he says, you really got a lot to say here. I'm like, that's cool. And then he says, you know what? You can kind of be a regular. And then all of a sudden, one day, he says to me, he says, would anybody be able to step in and host for me? Because I don't remember what was going on. He had to travel or something. Like, yeah, I'm like, I could offer that. I have no clue what I'm doing. I think I can figure this out. And from then on. Dude, it's been great. Like, we. We sort of partnered up here a couple months ago, and it's been a great. And the community has just embraced me, and I've embraced them. I realized these are my people, right? And I've met so many wonderful people through this, people who just care about what they're doing, but bigger than that, they care about each other. And I think that's the difference here. You know, like I said, as a Christian guy, I'm a believer in community. I'm a believer in building each other up. And I think that that's, you know, this next chapter in my life. That's what I want to do. I want to be known for the person that helps build people up. I've been financially successful. I've had the cars and the vacation homes and the watches, and it's like, you know what? That didn't fill me. What fills me now is working with people and seeing people's smiles and, you know, dealing with success and helping them get through the tough times. It just. That just absolutely fuels me at this point, Dave, and that's why I'm. I'm really loving the community. It's just been great. I'm so much looking forward to this year's podcasting conference, because when I was sitting in the. In the audience last year, I said, I'm going to be up on stage next year. Yeah, I said that to myself, and I had no idea and no clue where this was going to lead me. But I'm not a believer in things just happening by by chance. I believe there's a mission here, and I'm just trying to fulfill God's will for my life. And I think that's where he's leading me right now.
- [38:23]
A
Do you think that was a gap that was unmet for you before going to that conference, that community side?
- [38:28]
B
I think it was because in a lot of ways, like, I, I recorded the show by myself. I talked to a piece of glass, and I don't know that I had the people to bounce ideas off of. I didn't have the people to really interact with. And we don't always agree. You know, Mark and I have some vehemently different disagreements about things, and we've worked through ways of making that clear and making that be a positive thing. We've learned not to, not to text during sometimes because that sometimes gets taken out of context because there's no verbal to that. And I've had to realize that sometimes, you know, I'm going to say things that he's not going to get and he's going to say things that I don't get. It's kind of like a marriage, Dave, to be honest with you. And, but, but it's been great. No, it's been. It has definitely been the piece that I was looking for. I just, I love, I look forward to, to the morning show every day. I put a ton of effort into it because I see the dividends not just for me, but for everybody. That is a part of that and I just want to see it be successful.
- [39:24]
A
Ralph, you got lots to do today. I appreciate you making time again. If you can kind of wrap us up the kind of the way we do in the podcast morning chat show, I would love for you to kind of wrap us up and give you the mic and I'm going to go sit with the audience like I do. Go sit in the audience. You're on stage. Can you kind of wrap us up and give us some motivation for us as new creators around our content, setting it up the right way? Motivation, whatever's in your heart right now, I'd love for. To give the mic to you. I'm going to go sit back and enjoy.
- [39:51]
B
Absolutely. So the first thing I would say is have a passion for something. Don't do it for the money. If you're going into podcasting or content creation for the money, stop. Don't go forward. I'm not saying you can't make money, but don't start there. Start with something that is impactful to you. Understand that. Why? Why are you going to turn on the microphone if you don't know why you're turning on the microphone, Don't. A lot of people would say, but wait a Minute, Ralph, you're telling people not to start. That's not what I'm saying. Go back and revisit your why. Once you have your why, then start to think about who is the audience I'm trying to attract, who are the people that need or I want to hear this message. And then the second step to that is go figure out where they are, where are those people? And once you figure that out, then say, okay, how am I going to measure my success? It's really three parts. My why, my who, and how am I going to measure success? And just realize, this is a long term deal, this isn't going to happen. And maybe you're lucky and it happens overnight. That's fantastic. But it's a long term strategy and you got to put in the hard work. And this is hard work. This is probably going to be some of the hardest things you ever do, but it works. And you will grow as a person in ways that you never would have expected. The dividends from this are so much larger than you can even anticipate as you're thinking about this, you are going to meet wonderful people. You're going to get those feedback things that you weren't expecting, how people were impacted by what you said. But just realize at the front end, this is a lot of work, but it can really be so, so great. You'll be grateful for it at some point in your life. But build the systems in front. Talk to experts, talk to people that can help you. That was my biggest thing that I didn't do, Dave, is I didn't go find the people to surround myself with who already knew how to do this stuff. I tried. Well, I can figure this out. I'm a pretty smart guy. I got a master's degree in accounting. I can figure this out. Don't take that approach. Go talk to people. Because here's the thing I found, and I'm rambling a little bit, but here's the thing I found is most of the people want to help you. Like, it's amazing to me how many people. I say, hey, I got this new Rodecast Pro 2. They're like, Let me get on a call with you. I'm like, okay, do you want me to pay you? Absolutely not. I want to help you. I'm like, that is cool.
- [42:05]
A
Yeah.
- [42:05]
B
But just remember, to whom much is given, much is expected. So make sure you do the same for somebody else.
- [42:11]
A
Ralph, thank you so much. Everyone will have all the links for Ralph. The conference for power podcasting. We'll have Links for everything, Podcast, morning show, everything. We'll put them in the show. Notes for everybody. Come follow. If you have you've been on Clubhouse and you left, come back because you're going to meet again great people like Ralph and everyone else in the crew over there as well as well. You can catch them on YouTube. They stream it on live on YouTube as well. So you can watch all this shenanigans live on on YouTube. It's a lot of fun. And Mark was just on the podcast a few weeks ago, so glad to have time with him as well. But again, Ralph, thank you so much for making time for this. Love what you're doing. I love how you show up and who you support in the community. I'm a big fan of all the things you're doing and you're very inspirational to talk to as well. Ralph, thank you so much for making.
- [42:55]
B
Thank you, Dave. And, and make sure you come see me on Thursdays when I wear my cowboy hat.
- [43:00]
A
There you go.
- [43:00]
B
Thursdays I wear my cowboy hat on the live show. So make sure you check that out.
- [43:04]
A
Excellent. And the sound effects and all the songs and everything for Dr. And everybody. It's so fun to hear all that stuff. It's great.
- [43:10]
B
Absolutely excellent.
- [43:11]
A
Thank you.
- [43:12]
B
Thank you, Dave. I truly appreciate it. God bless you.
- [43:14]
A
Excellent, everyone. Information is always in the show, not notes. Go support Ralph and all the great things he's doing. Reach out to him. That 15 minutes of time could change the whole trajectory of your podcast. Spend some time with Ralph. He'd love to talk to you. Thanks so much, Ralph. Hey, thanks for listening to the podcast all the way through to the end. I love having these great guest co hosts on the show to share their podcast with you. You have some homework to do. What I'm asking of you is to go check out our featured guest co host today, go over and listen to their podcast. The links are always in the show notes. I'd love for you to go and give them your love and support. And I think if we can all do that for each other, podcasting will be a lot more fun for all of us. So it's time to do what you've asked others to do for you. It's time to do for this guest co host links in the show notes. Go over and check out their show and leave them a review. Do the follow. Go listen to their episodes in full. The entirety of an episode, which again shows to the apps that it's a good podcast because you're going there and you're staying to the end. It's probably one of the best ways you can help a podcast to grow their audience and be shown to more people is by simply going and listening wherever you listen, to the very end, like you're doing right now here, this is the perfect way to signal to wherever you're listening on. This is a podcast worth promoting and all of the apps want you to stay on as long as possible. So go over and listen to our guest co host episode and listen. Leave them some feedback. If they have a buy me a coffee, send them a coffee. If they have a speak pipe, send them a voice message. If they have an email, send them an email. If they're on Instagram, send them a direct message. Do something to support our guest co hosts. They've given up their time to be here with you, to be here with me, and we can give that back to them with time and attention. Our love, our support. Thank you for doing all that for me as well here on the how to Podcast series. We'll talk to you soon for our next episode. Hey, you're still here. Great. Yeah, I love having Gus on the show as a co host and having Ralph on the show. What a great guy. What I get from this conversation, and I just wanted to kind of leave this with you as well as kind of this bonus piece at the very, very end, is that community is the. The backbone of podcasting and to do everything on your own is not the best solution. So Ralph's use of reaching out and having somebody come on as he records a solo episode, Spectacular idea. Attending conferences and being part of the community in person. Great idea. Helping people first, not to make money from people first. A great idea. There's so many things in this, in this episode with Ralph that I think all of us could really put into practice, no matter what our intent is. And again, as you start your show, whether you want to make money with your podcast or not to think about from the beginning, how can you cultivate a reactive audience that responds to your questions and responds to your emails and leaves you comments? That's fertile ground down the road if you do decide to have a sponsor or make money with your show or buy me a coffee or whatever, because you've built in that reciprocal relationship between you and your audience. So starting that from the beginning is a great idea. And as you develop your show over time, you built it the right way. It's a lot easier to build it in advance than to retro autofit your podcast, go back in time and start all over again. And put in the the structure after the fact. When you look at a house being built, they do all the stuff behind the walls first and then they add on everything else. So don't build your house with the furnishings first and hanging pictures on the wall and then worry about what's behind the wall. Build your podcast the right way. Build your podcast with intent, with a goal in mind for your show to change, to change lanes after you've been podcasting for a few years or a few episodes and say, I used to do this, I used to think this. Now I want to switch and do it this way. It's going to be a lot of work, a lot of effort, and you're not going to see the results that you're going you would have seen had you built it the right way from the beginning. So reach out to Ralph. I really trust this guy. And that 15 minute call would be a great way for you to get some clarity around your podcast, get some clarity around the financial side. And if you want to work with Ralph, I know he'd love to talk to you about that as well. But that 15 minute call could be the best 15 minutes that you've ever invested in your podcast journey. So reach out to Ralph and then let me know, how was it? How did you, how was your interaction with Ralph? I'd love to hear your feedback and how Ralph helped you. Let me know howtopodcast ca. Take care. Talk soon.