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- [00:00]
A
Hey, before we jump into the show, I wanted to give you a heads up that my free YouTube strategy class is available right now on demand@thinkmasterclass.com on the class, I reveal the one YouTube strategy we use at Think Media to generate over 330,000 views every single day. So if you're new to YouTube, this will help you start right and avoid mistakes. And if you're a YouTube pro, this training will help you multiply your your growth. This class is 100% free and you can watch it now on demand@thinkmasterclass.com now let's jump into today's show. Who's the podcast for too? Are you making selfish content or service content?
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B
Most podcasts don't fail because of bad content. They fail because of bad strategy.
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A
The art of asking the second, third, and fourth follow up question. You have a chance to interview the biggest guest of your life. And a mistake a lot of people make. They Write down the 10 questions they want to ask them, that person answers, and. And then they go, great. Question number two. Instead of saying, can you just unpack that a little bit more? Okay, so this is just our opinion of after uploading 500 episodes, this is again, assuming you want to make money. I would die on this sword. Not saying it's for everybody, but I think every episode should have a goal.
- [01:17]
B
Sean Cannell has published over 500 episodes, built a podcast that's generated millions in revenue, and today I'm gonna ask him to unpack his hard earned lessons from the last five years to help your podcast have a strong start, grow faster, and actually make money. Sean, you are over 500 episodes deep into this podcasting journey. What is the first thing you'd pass on to someone who's thinking about starting this?
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A
You know, at the time of recording this week, we posted our 500th episode. So it's been quite a journey. I've made a ton of mistakes, learned a lot of lessons, and I really believe that this conversation can help shorten the learning curve for somebody that wants to start or scale their podcast. My first, the first of really 13 ideas in this episode is obsess over adding massive value. Obsess over adding massive value. So at least personally, I would say it's like we're so busy in today's world, and podcasts are even memed to some point with people just getting on and yapping, you know, just sharing random ideas, whatever they're thinking about. And is it substantive? Is it meaningful? Is it valuable? Is it structured? Is it organized? I would Say, obsess over the audience, understanding who they are, and then obsess of saying that, like, I am desperate that if they give me the honor or the privilege of clicking on the audio version or the video version of my podcast and spending some time with me, that by the end of that, they would say, man, that was a satisfactory experience. I learned some things, I took away some value. And so I think people make a mistake of just pressing record and talking for an hour. There's this mistake that people think podcasts have to, like, just be an hour. They gotta be 90 minutes. It's like, no preparation, research, structure. That is absolutely an obsession of, like, how good can I make this? And think about VPM stands for value per minute. As someone is listening through your podcast, how much value per minute are they getting? I know for some things, I, like, generally clicked on it and I want the conversation, but sometimes you're hanging. You're like, man, last seven minutes have been waiting. Yeah, do I want to keep going?
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B
Yes.
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A
Others, you're just, like, on the edge of your seat. Because there's a level of value per minute, and value can come in the forms of entertainment or stories or humor. It doesn't just mean, like. In fact, if all you do is stats and points, you start getting people's ears and eyes glazed over. Like, it's too much. But there needs to be value in there, and your income is directly correlated to the amount of value you add to the marketplace. We believe that as a law at Think Media, like a law that God has woven into the universe, that if you add massive value to other people, that your income will go up as a result. Of course, you gotta have a business plan for that, but that's how it works. So if you add massive value, then the byproducts and the things you want to happen will happen. Followers, subscribers, growth, views, trust, brand building, obsess over adding massive value.
- [04:18]
B
You know, Sean, one thing for me, and I know that this actually is a. A bit of a trigger for several people, is you. You crack open a podcast, you start listening, and you do kind of like, you're. You're waiting, you know, you're like, I'm waiting for. The thing that I clicked on in my least favorite way to enter a podcast is the whole like, well, how's it going?
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A
Yes, right?
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B
And it's like, well, now walk me through. Like, it's. I'm clicking in for a topic, and maybe there's a guest or something, and we're starting with, like, their life story. When they were in elementary school, and it's like, no disrespect, I just don't, like, know you yet.
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A
Yes.
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B
So if I'm clicking in on something, how do you. How do you think about preparing thoroughly for an episode?
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A
This is a philosophy thing, and I think this particular Think Media podcast is an extension of my personality. I feel the same. I don't like that now, by the way. Maybe some people do. All right. You know. Cause it's like a weekly thing. It's very relational. What'd you do over the weekend? Like, they have.
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B
That's right. Yes.
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A
They have that portion. Like, how are the kids?
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B
Like, how was dinner?
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A
Yeah. You know, that's just. That's not what we do here. We. What I think you need to ask yourself, though, is, have we taken a step back to objectively analyze. Is the podcast working? I know there's different audiences, there's different tones. Sometimes there might be some women that are doing podcasts that kind of want to have this, like, girl talk tea with me. Get ready. And so I'm not actually going to be. I'm not judging what is valuable, because if that's the tone and the vibe and the circle of women you're going to gather, then, yeah, that makes sense. Like, the people really resonate with that. So things can be different, but there just has to be value in there. And if that is a part of their commute. And I also could think about it in terms of percentages.
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B
Yeah.
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A
I listened to some of those opening segments where I'm like, okay, we're 13 minutes in. We're still just as opposed to. Maybe there's a quick. Yeah, if you strip all the personality at it. We can be almost a little overly surgical here because we've, like, never started a podcast.
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B
I was like, I don't think we've ever done that.
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A
Zero times.
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B
Sean, how was the banya, you know, last week?
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A
500 episodes. And we've never. Those things maybe been woven in story and relationship, but again, it's a definition of value. And I think, who's the podcast for, too? Are you making selfish content or service content? Selfish content is like, I wanted to sit down with Nathan and just, like, shoot the breeze. And I think I'm so smart and just hear myself talk. Yeah. Or am I obsessed with the viewer and thinking about what would add value to them? What would they find interesting? People connect with people. They connect with stories, and they connect with the fact. I did go to the bonion last week. That's not bad.
- [06:44]
B
Sure. But, and it's probably fair for that stuff to come out in the conversation too, right? Like, I love how you've taught me this about, like, stacking. There's a lightning round, so to speak, at the beginning where it's like, let's just get into the. Let's, let's confirm the click. It's no different than a YouTube video. Right. Where it's like, I'm clicking into this podcast and I'm just confirming you're here for the right reason. And now after that buy in, is there. Well, sure. Now there's a little bit of bandwidth and breathing room where we could talk about something to build connection and so on. Okay, so lesson number two is about preparing thoroughly. So what have you learned about this?
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A
Okay. I mean, after posting 500 episodes and studying other great podcasts, you know, I remember hearing Tom Bilyeu from Impact Theory. Yeah. Talking about if he was going to have a guest on, he prepared 10 to 12 hours, if not more for the guest. Now, okay, disclaimer. Someone goes, well, how could I ever compete with that? You know, he's doing it full time. He exited his company, so he's able to do that. Okay, well, maybe you can't prepare 12 hours, but I would hit the other extreme. Too many people are not preparing at all. I heard, actually a friend of mine recently say, yeah, you know, one thing I probably would get better results is I go into these podcasts. I don't even prepare anything. I don't think about the title. I just actually, the moment I sit down, amazing. I just start going with the flow of what I want to ask and I'm like, yeah, your numbers reflect it. Now, by the way, if your point of the podcast is to connect with some people, sure. And you're. If you've decided that it's a side thing for you. But that. Right. That math right there is just going to show us the difference between winners and losers. Yeah. Somebody over here prepared 12 hours and somebody over here prepared no hours, or somebody over here prepared 12 minutes versus 12 hours. The actual amount of time matters. Now, let's also talk about. We're living in a world where AI can help you prepare truly a lot faster.
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B
Yes.
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A
It can help you research guests. It can help you even look quickly, analyze the transcripts of other times they've been out there or different things. Assuming you're doing an interview, bottom line is, I think if you try to take all the preparation out of it, that'll show if you're like reviewing your notes and it was all AI, but you're not really organized, so maybe you can't prepare 12 hours, but you should probably prepare more than 12 minutes. And that goes for solo rounds or interviews. You know, hours and hours of preparation went into this batch we're shooting. Right? Your preparation, my preparation. Planning on the plane, Claude. Research Studies, ChatGPT Research. And Mind you, we're shooting multiple episodes. We. But bottom line, for whatever results we've gotten, I mean, if, you know, 50 million views on YouTube and whatever, you know, 5 million downloads or something, and millions of dollars generated, if there's, if these points have any authority, prepare thoroughly. Yeah, Prior planning prevents poor performance. Like the preparation gap is where most podcasters fall short. And, and, and the last thing I'll say to the point people just press record and talk for an hour. Yeah, that's what I see a lot. They don't even prepare the conversation. I'm going to start a podcast with my wife. We're going to start talking about marriage, and they sit down and like, all right, honey, so what do you want to talk about today? They're actually like planning already after they press record. Well, we did fight last week. Maybe we. Oh, that's a good idea. We also went to out Rachel's and there was some conflict there. Why are you planning session? And again, if that podcast is blowing up, then fine. But that podcast is probably getting seven views.
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B
Yeah.
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A
Ten listens. Prepare thoroughly. Structure some stuff. Learn the game. Prepare thoroughly every single time.
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B
This is probably the point that most people could just take and run with right away. And we've got several more we're gonna go through, but if you just stopped for a second and put in more time to think about what you're gonna do before the microphone comes on, results are gonna change. So number three, lesson number three here has to do with communication. And this is huge because the whole point of the podcast is communication. So what have you learned about the art of communication? The art of interviewing people?
- [10:32]
A
Yeah. So I think becoming a student, if you really want to go deep in podcasting, becoming a student of not just other great podcasters, but other legends like Larry King, you know, other legends like Barbara Walters. Like, if you watch just great interviews, period, 60 minutes, and you just are now watching it from a different lens, that's again, assuming interviews. And if you watch solo rounds or just powerful communication, That's a universal YouTube principle. Let's go a little bit deeper. I've learned such things as the art of asking the second, third and fourth follow up question, especially if you want to unpack things from a guest, you know, right now we're working off of predetermined points that I planned out. Right. When you're interviewing a guest and maybe you have a chance to interview the biggest guest of your life. And a mistake a lot of people make is they Write down the 10 questions they want to ask them.
- [11:22]
B
Yes.
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A
They ask them the question that person answers and then they go, great. Question number two. Instead of saying, can you just unpack that a little bit more or ask me about a detail and go deeper and deeper and deeper and actually be present in the conversation. And let me mention this as a mistake, as I have sometimes a propensity to become so surgical, slowing down to really get into the conversation. Maybe because my way of doing a solo round is so surgical and caffeinated compared to. That's the combo, you know, maybe a deep what's the tone? What's the vibe? Yeah, how can we let the conversation breathe? What are we going to do that's going to come out of you studying the art of communication? You can still figure out your vibe. Now, I'm not everybody's cup of coffee or cup of tea, but I think people get that. Maybe that's why they like the Think Media podcast, because we're going to try to pack in value.
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B
Yeah.
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A
We might listen to another podcast that's very much about anything that we really want it to breathe. Those are different formats, different places. Notice how elite communicators, they build rhythm, they draw out emotion, they keep people engaged. And then be willing to just start wherever you're at, but embrace the journey that after you do this, I mean, I've been doing this five years, I've been doing video much longer. You could become great at this. It's figureoutable, it's learnable if you study, if you keep learning. Not just, where could you be in the next six months, where could you be in the next six years? If you commit to continuing to level up and study the greats?
- [12:51]
B
What have you learned about the difference between going through your outline through the questions you have, but then just what happens when you, the guest you're interviewing is there and you bump up against where they take it? And how have you learned to keep us where we were or follow it where the guest takes you?
- [13:08]
A
So I have learned that it never replaces preparation. You should always, like we said in number two, prepare thoroughly. But then you want to have a willingness to let it go. And it's not bad that you let it go. You prepared 15 questions. But where that person took it at question number three is a thread you followed for the rest of the time. That actually would be the advanced podcast or that goes, I'm, I'm over prepared because I maybe learned some things, some parts of their experience, but I didn't even know we're going to be here. So I'm not going to abandon that with obsession of my outline. I'm going to follow that. I think some of that you just learn by intuition and, and, and then by the way, it's a risk. You're like, all right, we're leaving the path and let's head down this road. I think the other thing would be if that road is starting to get weak, it was good for a while. Is that, yeah, the strength to come back.
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B
To come back.
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A
The power of the outline is that you could throw it out or you could also use it to pull you back into an organization of the conversation. I think the other thing I would say here though, and this goes back to obsess over adding value. This is a bonus tip. I didn't even listen. Obsess over fighting for the audience, not necessarily yourself. That's probably one of my biggest podcast insights, meaning this. The real question is like, who's the podcast for? Mind you, if it's for you to ask guests whatever you wish you could ask, and people love being a fly in the wall because of your curiosity. Certain podcasts have succeeded, certainly podcasts have succeeded because of that. But what I've found is like, okay, if a guest mentions a term that's kind of more advanced, the better you know your audience. I know the term, but I'm going to ask a question about that term. Not actually for me, but for the audience. That's where you have them in mind first. And your real time filtering every word they said in real time, steering the conversation to deliver on the promise of the prepared topic, to deliver on adding value to the audience, and for delivering on that, okay, individuals I'm talking to, I want to contextualize this again, you might say, well, that works for somebody with a big budget, but what about the beginner? The beginning that's fighting for not just your audience, but maybe the different types of people in your audience. So I think that, yeah, like to the point of leaving the outline or not following your own curiosity is good, but you gotta go back to first principles like, what's this for? And if, if a podcast really resonates with an audience, it's usually led by a host that deeply cares about understands and is crafting conversations to serve that audience in a specific way.
- [15:43]
B
Man, this is powerful. We are three lessons deep here. And by the way, we're going through 13 today. But we actually did a part one where Sean went through 12 additional lessons that he's learned through the five years and 500 episodes of doing the Think Media podcast. And so I'd encourage you to absolutely check that out so you can get the comprehensive 25 tips, maybe some bonuses in there about how to go forward with a podcast to help you this year. But Sean, let's go to number four here. Off the idea of interviewing and crafting and having your outline. How do you even get guests? This is a very common question, like, what have you learned about getting guests on your show? Because I'm sure people want to jump with, how do I get that big name, that one person? But what's been your process?
- [16:27]
A
Yeah, so I could share some very tactical things here. So number one, start with accessible guests and understand the latter. So let's tell a story of actually a famous podcaster and author named Tim Ferriss. He wrote a book called the Four Hour Workweek, and he was actually very public with this methodology of actually how he growth hacked his book amongst people in the startup culture, entrepreneur culture, and that book went on to become a bestseller. Is what he realized is if he wanted to get the attention of A list celebrities, let's say, like probably almost always inaccessible, the Rock, Kim Kardashian, Oprah, whatever, But he's also like, if I try to mail them a book or get them on a podcast, like, they're not going to pay attention. So then he asked, well, who's the B list that knows the A list? And then he asked, who's this C list that knows the B list? And he had broke this whole thing down. The way he actually originally was able to get his name out there and get some awareness was by being very intentional about reaching out to like, C list individuals that he could discern were connected to these other people, add value to them or bring them on, they'll be more open to do it. And then seeing that, doing something excellent and having them introduce you to the B list and the B list can open the A list. That's understanding the latter and being willing to put in the work. So you're gonna start with less known people. Secondly, though, never underestimate just the cold ask. You know, there's a podcast that I've been on a couple times here in Vegas called the Digital Social Hour. I believe and then it's Sean Kelly who runs that. And I can't remember who it was, but he got someone outrageous super early on. They're like, how'd you do it? He's like, I just cold emailed them. I cold emailed 100 people. He just happened to say yes.
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B
Wow.
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A
And before the show was off the ground, like, it was super early. So that'd be the volume game of just knowing that and we could get into in another episode. There's even ways to write those emails and how could you position it? And even the ask is not selfish. But of course you're trying to add value. And if you can't add value with viewership or listeners, there's other ways. The last thing, though, would be timing. So somebody will ignore you if you're emailing them, tweeting them, DMing them 364 days a year. But on the 365th day, if they're launching a book, if they're launching usually like, again, if it's an expert, they're launching a book, then they're going on a podcast tour. And they might just be saying yes to everything at that point or to certain levels. So they've ignored you. And that's happened with a couple big guests on Think Media podcasts as well as video influencers, where I just kept asking. So then here's an action Item. Create a Dream 50 list, which is an Excel spreadsheet or a Google Sheet with 50 of Just Dream guests. And by the way, it might save you time to not put the Rock or Oprah even on the list because that may be never accessible, you know, whatever. So dream 50, you know, I don't know. Like, I just would really love to interview, you know, the President. All right, well, you just might not get to that level. But. But the like a realistic of a mix of maybe a B's and C's, and keep working through it because it's a good reminder what I would do manually. I mean, thank God today I got Think Media has grown into a team and whatnot. But I've built things up. And this was also A lot of people don't know the video. You could say more than 500 episodes. Because in the video influencer days, we interviewed probably 500 entrepreneurs and creators. So there's more like depth, especially with the interview model. And I would cycle through once a quarter or twice a year and hit everybody up on that list. And I might hit up all 50 people and hear nothing. Ghost Town. And I just never took it personally. And then I would just cycle back through later and it was, you know, it's like, better having a short pencil than a long memory. A weird quote if you overthink it. But what does it mean? It's better to write things down than try to remember by just opening up the list, it would remind me to go to Instagram, go to Twitter and just batch tweet everybody, batch dm, everybody cold email them, see if there's a different assistant they have on LinkedIn, and do the real work. And so, you know, fast forward to today, and it's like we've had Gary Vaynerchuk and Cody Sanchez and Patrick Bet David on the podcast and on video influencers Casey Neistat and some of the biggest YouTubers. And so it was through all of the above. Patience over time, being intentional, never taking it personally, never feeling entitled or being offended because someone was Their people are busy at every level, just being willing to keep on the hustle. Do the little details and you'd be shocked over time how the guests can scale up and then they start count compounding because, like, how do you become the diary of a CEO? I don't know. It's an interesting question, but at this point, you know, Stephen Bartlett can get anybody. Yeah. So at whatever level people are playing. And the other thing is like, don't overthink that. This has to be the model, this point you could throw out. If it's about more of like a local business, local town, you're interviewing your real estate agent, you're interviewing like school board members. And because it's like leading to, you know, networking and business, not even about listeners, there's a lot of different approaches. Not every podcast has to be about, quote unquote, micro famous people or whatever. But it is always a hack to bring on big guests. And there are ways to do it. You know, as we've just shared, I
- [21:49]
B
love that such fire tips there. Start with accessible guests, work that ladder, have some patience. It's wonderful. I kind of want to rapid fire these next couple here. Sean, we'll go fast. Yeah. Number five, you say to give without exception. What does that mean inside of a podcast?
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A
And so I'm saying that also in relation to guests. So when people. People can feel when you're transactional. So as much value as that's true for your audience, it's true for your guests. And so the posture when you say give, by the way, they're giving to you, they're taking their time to even respond to come on your show. If it's a guest. So ask how you can add value. You know, one of my early interviews on Video Influencers was Lewis Howes, and we did not have a following yet. He had a pretty big following, so he's pretty busy. So I actually reached out to him on social media. He did see it, and I was like, hey, Louis, love to have you on the show. Would love to buy. He was launching the School of Greatness book. And sometimes people do like bulk orders. I would love to buy 50 of your books or something. Or 20. Whatever I could afford is a couple hundred bucks.
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B
Yeah.
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A
Not crazy, but it was at least this attempt to say. And then I was like. And then give those away to people who comment on the episode. Oh, wow. So you're creating things. You're asking, how can you give? How can you? And then also, yeah, so give as much value as you can to your audience and give as much value as you can to your guest. And also realize that of course, there is the taking of the time that the person to record that with you, the time of your audience, the calls to action that you give in your video. The point is just trying to ask, how can I give more than I take? Your income is directly correlated to the amount of value you give to the marketplace. So being obsessed with adding value, some people have said, I'll donate to a charity of your choice. That's again, you can do this without money. And that's if you're reaching out to guests. But it's a different tone because you also think about, how much inbound does somebody have? Will you come on this show? Will you do this? Will you do that? And even the words you use, the way you could do the reach out and then maybe saying, like, this is my workflow, and trying to think of something that would be truly valuable to them, that's the big idea.
- [24:00]
B
Well, and this is such an invitation to get creative. That's what pumps me up about this is like, good luck. Just doing the same thing that everybody does. And I actually remember Stephen Bartlett from Diary of CEO, kind of breaking down one of his systems for, like, trying to reach out to people. And he was talking about these different methods of communication, like these different lines, and some are just naturally more clogged than others. So there's a difference between trying to get someone on your podcast by just shooting them an email to, like, the whatever support thing. Good luck. Right. But it's that actually there's more volume there than even potentially a social media profile. Direct message for someone like him, though, my goodness, is going to be huge. But then there's even a difference between paying for access to try to get on a zoom call or something that's closer. And there's a difference between paying to get into an event, paying extra to be able to get into the meet and greet section. Like, he was just walking through. How serious are you about trying to get in contact with this person? And getting creative about ways to touch base.
- [24:52]
A
Side note, that's, again, if you really want to go deep with somebody, it could also be if you just become their customer. Like, you're very reason, like, or you buy a ticket to their event and so you get into that room. Like, I've had some very significant people on the podcast that I also. I did not expect them to come on my podcast. I hired them for their mastermind or their group coaching program, but then thought that's kind of like the no expectations, I hope. And that's the best posture of marketing. Networking. The best posture of networking is not some weird transactional thing, but it's just being aware that, like, if I invest in this person, I invest in this program, there's some proximity there. And I'm also there entirely just for that reason. I respect this person. I'm excited to learn. But then on the other side of that, okay, like, they're so busy now, they're actually, like, at least seeing you or hearing you. And when you reach out again, it's the very busy person from, like, let's say a customer versus a non customer, you know, versus a community member versus a non. I mean, sometimes adding value is being the most vocal person in their comments. And you could guilt me to going on a show if it's like, I've seen you comment on the Think Media podcast for five years. Hey, I launched a show finally. Sean, would you come on? I'd be like, yeah. And they'd be like, why'd you do that person's show? They've been listening for five years.
- [26:10]
B
I know you.
- [26:11]
A
Yeah, that's a great. Yeah, there's different. That's the. I think the. The principle is clear. And when people think that way, they'd be shocked by the doors that would open on the other side of giving without expectation.
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B
That's so strong hitting these next couple here. So lesson number six is all about AI leveraging AI tools. And I'm actually really curious on about this. Like, how are you using AI as a part of your podcasting process?
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A
Well, for these solo rounds or these are co hosts, but, you know, the way we're doing, it's not like an interview with somebody else. I'm using ChatGPT and Claude Research very deeply, I mean, with very nuanced prompts. And so they'll research 550 sources. A lot of that was what's happening in the creator economy, maybe about a specific situation. What are the latest trends in marketing and video marketing? As we were preparing this batch. So I'm using deep research. Yeah, I mean, thumbnails. We do have a designer on the team, but we're doing variations. Or I do some thumbnails from scratch using Nano Banana and other software. I will talk out whole episodes and sometimes my prompt could be 5 to 10 minutes, but then I let AI actually outline it so it's my thoughts and my ideas. But then that 10 minute prompt turns into the outline of the podcast. I will absolutely research guests that are coming on. A lot of times I'll download if they've been on three other podcasts or however many. I'll download the transcripts, put Those all in NotebookLM, then get all those transcripts and say what are some of the common themes? Or have they taught any frameworks? It helps me prepare for my episodes. Bottom line is this goes. It goes really deep. And there's many more ways to use AI than I'm just describing. I mean, you could get into repurposing AI editing if you're using a tool like Riverside. It has so many AI things that'll do like the first version edit of your interview with somebody. And so it's possible to start magic clips is I think one of the things they call it for repurposing. We have a resource called videopodcastguide.com it's a checklist for getting started with podcasting. It's got resources of our favorite tools for every budget. And the point here is you want to stay current or you're going to get left behind. So when it comes to AI tools in today's world, I would, I mean, it's probably been a couple years. Is that accurate? I mean, it's 2026, you know, in 2024, like when did we first get on chat GBT? It just. The AI rabbit hole goes deeper every day and it's overrated in some ways. Like it's. I'm still preparing, I'm still putting in the actual time, I'm still putting in real work, I'm still. AI is making us dumber if you're letting it. I'm still actually working just as hard cognitively. Yes, But I'm outsourcing certain things to it and I'm tempted sometimes to be like, oh, I'm in a rush, let me just let that. Whenever I review, if you will like the raw outline AI gives me. Yes, it's not, it's almost there, but it's like I better go back and fix some things. So it just still takes cognitive energy. That's what I'd say.
- [29:09]
B
That's great. So number seven here is all about data analytics. I even think a lot of people don't even know about analytics when it comes to podcasts. Like what even to look, what to care about. What have you learned here?
- [29:20]
A
Well, we use Buzzsprout and that'll give you audio analytics. There's also even better analytics if you dive directly into Spotify or Apple. Of course YouTube has YouTube Analytics. You're looking for patterns, definitely what topics and formats get the most views or downloads. Yeah, success leaves clues. So make part twos on the topic and data will reveal things that you couldn't otherwise see. Here's a modern day hack. If anybody wants to get more views on their content. Go into your YouTube studio, go into advanced analytics, go into isolate it down. So you're not looking at shorts or live streams, but just in your video uploads because those would be your long form podcasts. It's going to show you 50 results on the page, but if you export it, it'll give you 500 results. Make sure to adjust the length of time for the analytics to not just be the last 28 days, but adjust it to be the last year let's say and depending on how long your podcast has been going, then click export and you might want to re listen and rewind this part for the full checklist. Then take that file and put it in. I'm going to say Claude. I pay for multiple chat. I know a lot of people left ChatGPT to go to Claude. It's always changing. Claude's crazy though. Upload that file into Claude and then put in this prompt and say hey, I just gave you the last year of analytics of my video podcast. Assuming that's what it is, you could just do this for your YouTube channel, right? Of my long form videos, what are the trends, what are the patterns, what are the things I'm not seeing? What are the adjacent topics or follow up topics to not just copy but like what can you see inside of this data? And then keep talking to AI about layers deep of that particular export and then you could think about different ways of Slicing that export, that just was a very geeky way of doing it. But that could be studying your data. Now I will say this, and Kyle Anderson and I were just talking about this. We did this with the Think Media podcast and we're looking at the results Claude gave us. And I was like, this is next level. Like, this is. And ChatGPT is good at it too, sometimes. And sometimes you like use an AI tool and you're like, wow, this is so cool. And then you're like, yeah, I knew all of that. Like, that's actually like pretty obvious.
- [31:42]
B
Yes, Yes.
- [31:42]
A
I could have just went to my popular videos. Like, it's pretty like Claude was hitting
- [31:46]
B
some nuances like reading between the lines.
- [31:49]
A
Reading between the lines. And then. And basically what it said, it was basically like, you should make these videos next. And you pair that with my understanding of YouTube and psychology in general. And I was like, dude, these are bangers and they feel fresh. So that's kind of an advanced way to study your data.
- [32:08]
B
For the person who's starting though, at what point do you do this? Like, at what point do you go ninja? At what point do you shift from just trying to get more uploads out?
- [32:15]
A
Here's what you do. In a previous episode, you had mentioned when you were trying to get your personal finances right, you didn't even look at your bank account. Yeah.
- [32:22]
B
Right.
- [32:22]
A
And what a lot of people in personal finance will tell you to do is just look at your bank account every day. I just heard this, you know, very successful individual say, start looking at your bank account every day for your business. You can do it personally too and things will start improving. That's a habit most people don't do.
- [32:39]
B
Yes.
- [32:39]
A
So what should the beginner do? Just look at your data at least weekly, if not daily. Look at it. Be like, I don't even understand this. I'm definitely not seeing patterns. You will. It might take six months now. It's going to go even faster if, you know, you get inside of like our coaching. Right. That we do atviral video coach.com it's like now you're looking at the data with them, they're sharing the screen. Some of our one on one coaching clients give us like channel manager. Right. So we, it's totally safe to do, but they allow us to come in and like be the YouTube strategist.
- [33:12]
B
Yeah.
- [33:13]
A
I mean, that's another way to hack things too. For some listeners you might be like, Sean, you know, all these tips are kind of, I'm too busy, I'm A business owner and I'm an entrepreneur. Well, if that's your situation, then you should outsource it. You don't necessarily have to be. You hire a YouTube strategist, hire think Media to do this for you. Help you study your data, help you design which episodes to make next. But bottom line is for sure, it might even take months, if not years for it to make sense. But then years later, you're seeing patterns, you're understanding how things work. You can grow in it over time
- [33:44]
B
and developing that habit from the beginning. Like we're just going to start looking at things. It's great. Lesson number eight is around community. You said you want to build community and listen well, that's the part I'm interested in. What do you mean by listen well?
- [33:56]
A
Yeah, well, listen well. When you're doing a one to many video podcast, where can you actually listen? Well, the only place people can comment is YouTube comments. Yeah, I would love to hear your thoughts. Like if you're watching the YouTube version of this, I read them. I actually read them all. Don't reply to them all. But like I'm in there more than anyone else on our team by the way. Like, you know, I own the company, so I guess that's not like a flex. Like people got lives and it's like, but, but like I'm in there and so where can they comment? YouTube comments on audio. You need to ask for reviews, but like read the reviews. And what's cool on YouTube is you could even go deeper as your audience grows because you might be like, Sean, there's not a lot to listen to. I'm still at such low numbers. But your community tab, your posts tab, you could fire off a question or do a survey. If you go on email list of any size, bottom line is listen. A hack for this is early on. Talk to people. This is so underrated. And most people won't do this. Many of our students have invite people onto a Zoom group meeting and get three people there.
- [35:04]
B
Yes.
- [35:05]
A
Like, hey, I'm doing a free Q and A on Zoom. You know, you're getting 100 downloads at whatever time Saturday morning. It's kind of scary. And like get four people on there and have a conversation. You would get, by the way, the level of depth you're going to create with those four people. Back when I was starting like our YouTube course, it wouldn't have been just think media viewers. It was just think media viewers. I had phone conversations with people I hit up that were watching the content and that eventually I Was like, following on Facebook, like, DM'd them and like, hey, can we talk? And like. And I actually wanted to give them some free YouTube coaching, which became the first testimonials when VRA was just an idea in my head. And not even. But it was like one to one. That's the. That's the mentality is like grassroots. This applies to everybody. But then, of course, it scales. It scales up. So this. This actually shapes you. I'll give you one final big idea. You know, Some people know Dave Ramsey. He created a program called Financial Peace University. I think his company now is 1000 to 1400 people or something. They do like $300 million a year or whatever. Huge media empire. And I was at a meeting in Nashville, meeting with the director of Entree leadership in a small room in their big office. I'm super inspired being there. I'm getting all these ideas. And one of the things that was so interesting at the time as a team of a thousand people, and I believe his name was John, and he was saying, you know, what's unique about our company and the people we serve and the mission we're on? They said. He said, dave understands our community better than anybody else. He goes, he is more connected and closer to our community than anybody else on the team. So he's hired a lot of people. He has other co hosts and personalities now. And they said he's still. And then he also said why. He said, and one of the reasons why is because to this day, he used to be three hours a day on radio, answering questions, talking to people. Now it's like two hours. And I think now he's delegated it more. But he was like. Because he was talking to people and he was listening to them. Now that, by the way, there's a reason to. You might be like, that's not my format. One of the reasons I launched the show Coffee with Kennel eventually, because you need people to actually show up. But I brought people on via software to actually be live on video, not just phone. And I actually did. I launched that after I went to Nashville, heard that about Dave, and then felt. And I was like, I have to get back to talking. And so, you know, again, we're in different place. We talk to people at our in person mastermind, you know. Yeah, yeah, we talk to people on our Zoom meetings. There's a lot of different touch points. I want individuals to catch the spirit of what we're saying. Like, just be obsessed with listening, connecting, hearing the emotions, the thoughts, creating opportunities, looking for opportunities that's gonna shape your show more than any strategy doc or stupid AI prompt. Talk to real people and build community.
- [38:07]
B
Oh, that's so good. Keep your ear to the ground as long as possible. Lesson number nine here is every episode needs a cta, which would stand for Call to action. Can you break down what a call to action is first?
- [38:21]
A
Okay, so this is just our opinion of after uploading 500 episodes. And this is again, assuming you want to make money. And this is also. I would. I mean, I would die on this sword. Not saying it's for everybody, but I think every episode should have a call to action. CTA stands for call to action. And it would include, like, some of the call to actions we've done in this episode have included videopodcastguide.com that was something to do. It's something that is free. It's something that is truly free, by the way. Now I'm like, justifying that, but, like, it really. It's so valuable. But it's like anyone who follows Think Media knows that. Yeah. We're also going to educate you about our products and services and offers. And we're just on a mission to give more value than we ever, you know, incredible free value. If you do some of our paid stuff, it's even more valuable, you know, but that's a call to action. Another call to action could be as simple as. And this is what I think everyone should learn from. If you don't encourage people to leave a review, you know, it's hard to get them. Even if you do. It's almost nearly impossible. It's a ridiculously low percentage, the level that you do it at. We used to do these competitions where, like, if you leave a review, we're giving away, oh, yeah. A digital product. So it was like, leveraged for us. But, like, we're really. And we're going to look at the reviews that were left, and we would go to that far to get like four reviews. So you got to, you know, so that could be a call to action. And then if you're also. Your brain breaks because you're like, I don't know what my call to action would be then. Then that's. You should maybe figure it out. Especially even if you were early on doing a fitness podcast, you could quote, unquote, make up a sponsor. And I'm not saying be unethical or even claim that they really did sponsor you, but you could just say, like, today's episode's brought to you by such and such health product yeah. You know, if you use my code, because maybe you get that maybe it's just an affiliate relationship.
- [40:13]
B
Yeah.
- [40:14]
A
But you would be including a way to monetize at the start. Of course it would be relevant to the content and to the niche. But zooming out, and this is no surprise to AR students or even our super fans is they're like, yeah. I mean, think of your podcast. Unapologetically synonymous with includes in every episode a call to action to let us know that they have a mastermind or let us know that they've got an upcoming free event, for sure. And so that's why I'd say, like, this would be our model. And I think if you're also annoyed by our call to actions, I think, number one, I'm sorry, Number two, I'm thankful you've been here that long. You're that deep. What you're. Maybe thanks for being a fan, a super fan. To even be aware. You're also underestimating how shallow most of the audience is. Just meaning they aren't that overwhelmed with it. They've only heard it like once or twice, and they needed that third reminder. But your hesitancy to be like, man, I'm sure saying it a lot. Not everybody listens to every episode. People come and go. People start listening to your show for six months. So the discipline, that would be the final idea. It's like the discipline of just being like, what's the call to action for this episode as a part of your checklist. Even if you start early on and you go all the way back to in part one, you're not even starting the podcast ultimately to start money. You're starting it out of passion. It's just you're installing a disciplined practice, like a habit of turning it into a monetization engine. Yes. It's an affiliate year one. By year three, you figured out your online business and your product and your model, and you've gotten used to it and you've gotten better at it. That's just the sword I would die on. I think every episode needs a call to action, and it doesn't just mean a brand deal spot. Although that's one model as well. And there's many different models that you could do there.
- [42:08]
B
How many call to actions do you think someone should put in an episode? What's the limit?
- [42:12]
A
Yeah. So I mean, for us, if it's. If we're going to go 45 minutes on an episode, I'm like, that can handle two or more, but two, you know, if it's 25 minutes on the episode, maybe one. And also, if possible, it's. I think you should do one call to action more than once. Our framework for that is sometimes at the beginning, if we're hitting our checklist perfectly, we might be like, today's episode's brought to you by thinkmediamastermind.com we actually have an upcoming event in Las Vegas. It's two days, but more on that later. Let's dive into the content. It's like a short CTA early.
- [42:50]
B
Yeah.
- [42:51]
A
Maybe a longer one later, but it's the same thing.
- [42:54]
B
Yeah.
- [42:55]
A
These. This podcast series we're doing is kind of ridiculous because we are, you know, in this episode we have like a Riverside brand deal, and then we also have our resource. We just wanted to kind of package all the free video podcast guide stuff as well. And then, you know, we'll let people know if they want to do coaching with us. So if you know the rules, you could break them. But in general, one through line, one call to action. And by the way, you know, if you listen to a big show that's three hours, you realize that like 15 minutes in, they're like purple mattress.
- [43:28]
B
Yes.
- [43:29]
A
And then once you get to the middle of the show, they do like 3ad reads back to back.
- [43:32]
B
Yes, that's right.
- [43:34]
A
So again, but it might be a two and a half hour. I think that's. That's. The framework is like, length of time really matters. If I watch a Hulu show that's an hour long, every 15 minutes, I get a. A block of ads. And so audiences are maybe somewhat conditioned to that.
- [43:50]
B
Interesting.
- [43:50]
A
Yeah, we are less. Not even really pursuing brand deals. I guess there is one here. But it's like the Think Media podcast we've generally used for our own stuff. That's because we have our own stuff.
- [44:00]
B
Yes.
- [44:01]
A
The brand deal model is the kind of primary model of a lot of the bigger shows or whatever. So I know we've covered a lot there, but that's. I think it's like, consider how long it is. Most people might err and it's attention to be managed. Not a problem to be solved. It's attention to be managed. And this would go back to listening. I'm accepting the fact that every once in a while I'll get a comment that's like, wow, you guys promote a lot of stuff. But honestly, honestly, we don't get that comment very much. And if I see that comment one time in the last two months, I'm like, that's not. That's Nothing in a way I respect to the person who said it. Actually I respect, respect the opinion. But if you're listening and people are like, I can't even listen to these episodes, like this is ridiculous. That's assuming YouTube, you know, can comment. You just gotta be paying attention and it's attention to be managed to figure out the flow, the vibe and all of that stuff.
- [44:54]
B
Every episode needs a call to action. Number 10. Your 10th lesson learned here is master repurposing. And this is. I'd love to talk about this. Like how do you get more out of the podcast episode? Maybe people don't even know. Actually you can sit down and record this, but there's like a whole bunch of other stuff you could do from that one recording.
- [45:12]
A
Yeah. So I think the underrated, it's maybe properly rated. People understand. You could shoot a video podcast and cut it into clips. I think the two factors there are, number one, really make sure that the core products actually good. Like to be, you know, blunt, if like your core product is a pile of poop and then you use Opus Clip to chop that into clips, what are you chopping up?
- [45:39]
B
It's a pretty rough visual.
- [45:41]
A
So, you know, so what's interesting is almost like don't repurpose. That's why I say at the right time, like get your core product solid. Like be really proud of that original show. And then if the episode though has good parts in it or is well organized and good preparation is went into it, then repurposing amplifies that episode. But yeah, a podcaster friend of mine who's built a really big show, their, their primary reach has actually been a lot of virality on TikTok YouTube Shorts and Instagram and Facebook reels because of the clips that come out of the show. Awareness for the show can happen in the long form format, but ultimately can go at scale in vertical format. So that's multi platform distribution. It comes up with a whole nother level. You know, one of the things is if you could simplify your tool stack, that's why we love Riverside, is because you could record in Riverside and they have a magic clips thing. It does this for you, which does it for you and then you can still distribute it. That and I think even at the very start, if you have a simple system, getting used to doing that, thinking about eventually how you're going to monetize and then eventually you could probably delegate this. But yeah, master repurposing at the right time, we could go three weeks deep on that because it could go a lot of different ways. You could chop things up or use your video podcast. But don't stress at the. At the start, but definitely be thinking about it if you want to scale your show.
- [47:06]
B
Well, let's talk about monetization a little bit more. You know, this is the next lesson that you brought up. And, you know, people, I think, often wonder, like, okay, like, you know, how. How soon is too soon to build something? Or do I build something first, then do I start the podcast? Like, you said that you should build influence first and the money will follow. How has that rang true in your experience?
- [47:24]
A
Okay, so two different types of people. There's like, the creator that wants to figure out how to monetize their creativity, and then there's the business owner. For the business owner that has an existing offer or service, that's where, like, this line of advice needs to be contextualized. Build influence first, and then the money follows. Well, if we define what that means, if you have 0 views, then no money will follow. So you literally have to build some influence first to get at least one view. So one person could, like, do business with, with you or click your link. But I think the point is, if you're a business owner and you hear the creator advice, you're like, okay, so my first episode shouldn't give a call to action to my business. I don't know what you're talking about. From episode number one, you might be like, and by the way, this is how I help people. You know, you can fill out a survey. Like, if you're on that path. What I would say on the other path is if you are on a pure creator, like, I know I want to do this, and I got a passion, but I'm still trying to figure my thing out. The delayed gratification or the delay of even making things. I mean, the extreme way to say it would be like a cash grab from day one. It's just like, focus on building influence and community first. Like when Lewis Howes, who has the now huge podcaster of the School of Greatness podcast, and I had mentioned I interviewed him early on, he actually said that he goes, the first two years of his podcast, he didn't even think about monetization. He held off on monetization.
- [48:52]
B
Yeah.
- [48:54]
A
Now, mind you, he'd already been very successful in a couple niches, but the more you can lean into that mentality, I think, if you will, the better, because people can. You know, there's a level of, perhaps with the level of call to actions, we get People can feel however they want about that, but they might turn it off. You go the opposite thing where it's like, if there is no call to actions, that's it. It's like, build influence first, being the amount of influence you have will infinitely, like, scale the amount of money that follows. And, you know, that's it. But I think we don't have to over process this. But the mistake people could make is like, if you had a health podcast and you were like, you know, six things reflecting six things that made my 2026, like, way better. One thing I did this year was I finally invested in some red light panels, you know, because I learned that it would help my skin and, like, boost my energy and help me recover faster. And, man, do I love the platinum LED ones that I got to, like, not tell your audience and even be like, yeah, by the way, if you want to check out the ones I got, I'll put a link in the description. Like, it's just kind of your tone of what a cash. That's not like a cash grab. It's just service. It's adding value. It's educating people about something you love. So, you know, I hope people don't say, sean, you're being confusing, because I'm saying, go ahead and monetize from day one or don't hold off and build influence first. It's like, I think it's more the vibe and the tone. As much as possible, the more influence you can build again, the more money that's going to follow. So maybe that's the takeaway is think about the tone, think about the audience, think about the pacing, think about, quote, unquote, how hard you're selling. Most people probably should go harder because if they get one negative comment. I knew it. All you guys are doing is like, what is interesting is I'm going to respectfully disagree with a comment I read this week. And they said, you know what I realized is the Think Media podcast doesn't add any value. All you guys do is just promote your. Thanks. All right, well, it's a free world. You're entitled to your opinion. Sure Hurt kind of, too. And I was like, shoot. Dang it. Are we? But then I thought, okay, what's the like to dislike ratio? Like ratio. 98.8% other. The. All the other comments. Yeah, like that same person saying that in the very episode that they were on. This episode was crazy. I can't believe how much value you guys packed into this. Thank you so much. This episode was so amazing. What can happen is people get spun out, especially around this money thing on what John Acuff calls haters math. And that's 99 positive comments plus one negative comment equals one negative comment.
- [51:37]
B
Oh, it so does.
- [51:38]
A
Like, that's the only comment I'm thinking about. Like, holy crap. Like, we don't add any value. And in my, my level of self awareness value could be subjective to the listener. So I do respect that person's opinion. And I also respectfully disagree. I'm like, bro, yeah, we do. I just know the value. I know the hours of research I put in here. I've. This is 13 crafted points. You're saying you got nothing out of this episode? Yeah, dude, don't ever do business with us. Like, don't click a link. Don't buy. Like, so people have come to me like, sean, bro, I'm full time. I'm like, what have you done? I don't know. I just watched your channel. You know, I've gone, yeah. So it's like, I know the amount of value we give. I respect if people dissent with that. And so that's, it's a tone and, and I would say it's, it's almost like a pain threshold. Keep your mind right, keep your mental toughness right. That I don't think you're marketing hard enough if you're not getting anything at least.
- [52:30]
B
Yeah.
- [52:30]
A
And I've heard a math that actually about 5% of your audience, you probably can never make them happy, but will like be unhappy if you do a brand deal. Yeah. If you mention you have something people could do, like there's no pressure. Like, don't. You don't have to click any of these links.
- [52:45]
B
That's right.
- [52:46]
A
Don't click like, don't click subscribe.
- [52:48]
B
Even subscribe.
- [52:49]
A
Don't do it. Just people just sitting on, on the sidelines taking notes. I'm not going to give them anything. All right, I got your watch time though, because you're taking notes right now.
- [53:00]
B
There we go. We made it to here. Number 11 is what we just covered here. And like you said, Sean, you said it really well. These are, these are tensions to be managed, not necessarily problems to be solved. And I do actually, as meta as this is about to be, I do actually want to invite people to head to viralvideocoach.com if you want help working through all this stuff. Because like you said, you could be a creator, you could be a business owner. There's different strategies according to where you're starting and what you're trying to do. And so these are just, I mean fire tips, let alone the first episode or there's a whole nother 12. But even after intaking all of this and let's say you are taking notes, like I would really encourage you if you can bring that to somebody, like don't be battling in your own head and trying to figure out the best start for you because it's going to be different than the person who's next door. And so I would encourage you head to viral video coach.com to apply. It's not for everybody, but you can apply. Give us some information about what you're trying to do, how you're trying to grow and if it's a good fit, you can jump onto a call with someone, with someone from our team, totally free just to help help you strategize and help you walk through the next steps and shoot. You could even say I actually just listened to the podcast where Sean was talking about X, Y and Z and I'm overwhelmed and I'm just here to try to get some help. We'd love to talk to you. Our team is awesome. Viral video coach.com and by the way,
- [54:10]
A
you'll get benefit of that call no matter what. But, so there's like really no risk. But yes, at the end of it, we have offers that you could pay money for and things to sell you that monetize you're monetizing right now and
- [54:24]
B
you're giving a call to action in real time.
- [54:26]
A
And we're very meta as we describe this. But, and, and, or don't do it. Right? It's like, yeah, or don't do it or don't do it. But like, like, and I mean on a very raw level, again, like if you enjoy the quality of this podcast. Yeah, I think, you know, the value we bring, the experience that we have and, and, and why? What would you actually be investing in that? That's a high, that's a high touch opportunity. We have group coaching and one on one coaching to get you actual feedback. So you have a YouTube strategist and a video podcast strategist in your corner. It's priceless. And any money you invest is. The idea is that the amount of value you get will far exceed the money you invest. The amount of value I hope people are getting out of this podcast far exceeds the money they've had to invest. Which is zero. Which is zero. Imagine what it's like to be a part of some of our paid experiences. That's it. But no pressure. Viral video coach.com. it's just weird to talk about it, right? Literally on the tail end. Monetization and cta. Here we are.
- [55:22]
B
That's good. You know, here we go. Here's my next segue into the next one, you know, all right, those lines, we got these final two left, but even on a call like that, we're going to help you do number 12, lesson 12, which you are recounting from your 500 podcast episodes. Think like a business owner from the beginning, which I do think we've talked about. But anything additional you add here for
- [55:40]
A
someone who's starting, yeah, your podcast can become a media company that's bolted onto your existing business. That's the mindset. You're a business owner and you're not just starting a podcast. You're actually starting a media, a mini media company inside of your company. Wow. Now, by the way, the mindset for the creator is actually that you're not starting a podcast, you're starting a media company.
- [56:02]
B
You're starting media company.
- [56:03]
A
And what is a media company? It's a business. And by the way, the math. Maths, meaning that when you look at the podcast industry, it is an industry. And you look at podcasts, they are actually businesses. Now, we do have an episode in this series that's called why you should start a video podcast, even if nobody listens, because there's so many ancillary benefits, the people you meet, the networking, et cetera. But this is a real business, and if you think about it like a business from the beginning, you will think differently if you approach something like an amateur, like a hobby, that's a different level of approaching it than approaching it like a professional and like a business level of planning, strategy, the economics, even the level of investment a business owner knows. Well, if I'm starting a business, the average business is not profitable for usually anywhere between 18 to 36 months. And you could monetize much sooner than that. But if you're in, I'm in it for the long haul business owner mindset. I'm even investing money. Serious people think about good audio, by the way. Bonus tip. A couple bonus ones. Beyond the 25 of the two episodes, when it does come to equipment, your podcast has to sound good. So sorry. We have said, like, who cares about your video quality and whatnot? This is a freaking podcast. What are you doing if your podcast doesn't sound good? You have to get a good mic. I'm talking 30 bucks. It's like, you know, 30 to $50 dynamic USB mic from Plugs in will recommend some in video podcast guide. That's a non negotiable in terms of the quality of your podcast. I don't even know how I got on that. But thinking like a business from the beginning, yeah, it's a mindset thing and you realize that you never know what it can turn into. So even if you just started as a hobby by thinking that way and from a couple years from now. Yeah, 18 to 36 months. There's a reason why a professional would think, okay, maybe not just a $30 mic. Maybe I. Because even I get it. It's scary for listeners that are like, okay, I made it this far with you guys. But to take that leap and to commit to month to month or even a year membership of Riverside, like this is a side hustle. I don't know. I mean even spending a few hundred thousand. Okay, but how does a business owner think they actually. An entrepreneur by definition is somebody who starts a business at abnormal or greater financial risk than your average person. The word risk is in the definition of entrepreneur that you could look up on Webster, Google or ChatGPT risk. The cool thing is there's almost zero downside. There's like, you know, I'm not trying to minimize somebody spending one to $10,000, let's see. And really starting something. Ask yourself, how would you feel about losing $10,000 10 minutes from now, 10 days from now, and 10 years from now? If I lost $10,000 10 minutes from Now, I'm pretty stressed. That really sucks. 10 days from now, I'm probably still thinking about it. I go to a barbecue with friends. I lost 10 grand this week. Or you know, I got it. You know, I had a car repair 10 years from now. I'm not thinking about it. Yeah, yeah, I'm not almost no matter who you are. I can't believe that one time when I really had to fix my car, the whole engine and the transmission, you forget about it 10 years later. That's right. Now if you leased a restaurant and hired staff and like double mortgaged your house and you know, you know what I mean? And then the magnitude of lost your house, moved into apartment because the restaurant failed. You didn't pay some of your staff,
- [59:46]
B
you had to ask your parents for money.
- [59:48]
A
You had to ask your parents for money. There's still some of the people that you hired at the restaurant that you never paid. If you show up in town, they're brass knuckles type of people. They'd actually like fight you. You can't even go to that town anymore. Your credit just recovered in the last three years. I mean, what a brutal.
- [60:04]
B
This is.
- [60:05]
A
What a brutal situation.
- [60:06]
B
Yeah. Yeah.
- [60:06]
A
Okay, well, like, the level of risk again. Starting a podcast with a serious mindset and investing in whatever it is, Tech, gear, software, coaching, like, it's not that crazy. I'm not minimizing the investment, but, like, the. The downside risk is essentially zero. The upside risk is almost infinite because podcasting is growing like crazy. So, yeah, think. Think like a business from the beginning. Build it like a business. Invest like a business owner would. Calculated risks, but smart investments of time, money, energy, planning, structure. All right, landing the plane.
- [60:43]
B
Here we go. Right now, the final lesson learned you. Well, you named it. Is keep learning. Keep learning always. I would love to hear even along the lines of thinking like a business owner. Investing isn't always a monetary thing. It's like knowledge. It's skillset. What have you learned after five years of podcasting when it comes to leveling up?
- [61:02]
A
Yeah, I mean, listen, the point's obvious, and we lost half the viewers that were like, okay, I get it. I know. Keep learning. But for the diehards that, like, kept listening, Shauna. I mean, I think it's just a mentality that, like, beginner's mindset always and you've never arrived. Like, YouTube success is a moving target. I would say video podcasting success is a moving target. These platforms are updating, the technology is updating, the YouTube tools is updating. Audiences are evolving. So learning is like a positioning. It doesn't just mean stay subscribed to the Think Media podcast. It doesn't mean even just learn in one way. It means, like, keep learning from your audience. Keep learning about yourself. Keep, like, just this student mentality. Stay humble, stay curious, keep sharpening the tools. It's a beginner's mentality always. So, I mean, okay, it's. This is a cool milestone, and maybe we'll do this again at episode 1000, but at episode 500, as I sit here, I feel accomplished. I feel like we've had some milestones. I do feel competent at podcasting. I feel confident about it, But I also feel like I'm just getting started. And I feel like I'm a student, and I sit here and I'm like, man, I want to learn more. I want to study more. I want to practice more. And I look at all of the above points and don't stand on any kind of pedestal to share these. I want to say I'm in the trenches with every creator and business owner. Here, I'm still learning. I'm still investing in myself. I'm still practicing. You know when you lob out a statement like, number three, study the art of communicating and interviewing, I'm not like, okay, And I did that, passed that class six years ago, read, talk like Ted and watched two TED talks. I'm good now. No, like, if you're going to get into the art of communicating, that's a lifelong thing to study. Watching comedians learning from their timing, their jokes, they're pacing. Well, you just turned Netflix with the wife into homework. She didn't know you were just watching a comedy special. Now you're thinking different. You're just always paying attention. You're studying, you're taking little nuggets for how to improve and level up your game. I would say that's the mentality. And when you keep on learning and you keep on growing and you keep on evolving, your growth is your future success is absolutely connected to your personal growth today. So keep learning always, and that'll put you on a great path when it comes to video podcasting.
- [63:39]
B
Well, Shaunie, lead by example. Thank you so much for the total of 25 lessons learned between this episode, which is part two, and then our previous episode. I have absorbed this philosophy from being around you for a period of time now, which is one of the most dangerous phrases you could utter is, I already knew that. And so I just wanna challenge you podcasts, like, hey, if you made it to this far, right, maybe this isn't your problem. Cause you're able to, like, listen through all this stuff, but thinking about, okay, what is that next thing that I need to learn or level up? And hopefully between these 25 tips total, you found your sticking point. If video podcasting is something that you wanna take seriously. And so, as always, like, rate, share, review wherever you're watching or listening. This is the Think Media podcast. I'm Nathan Esswine, and I can't wait to connect with you in a future episode.