RPF0166-Why_I_Podcast

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00:00:55.000 | Today on the show, I'm going to answer one of the most frequently asked questions,

00:01:00.600 | and I'm going to use it as a framework to teach you how I think about business.

00:01:05.600 | And the question is, "Joshua, why do you create this daily show?"

00:01:09.200 | Don't you realize that's dumb?

00:01:11.200 | For various reasons, which I'll go over for you.

00:01:13.400 | So I'm going to share with you why I host a daily podcast and why you should copy me.

00:01:19.100 | Not necessarily in hosting a daily podcast, but why you should copy my way of thinking.

00:01:26.200 | Now, of course, it's up to you to decide if you should or not, but I'll give you my best defense today.

00:01:32.500 | [Music]

00:01:48.500 | Welcome to the Radical Personal Finance Podcast.

00:01:50.900 | My name is Joshua Sheets, and I'm your host.

00:01:52.700 | Today is Friday, March 13, 2015.

00:01:56.700 | And today, it is a Q&A show.

00:02:00.100 | I've gotten this question many times, and today I'm going to answer it.

00:02:02.900 | But it's just one question.

00:02:04.700 | And I'm going to use it as an opportunity to give you some ways to think that hopefully will help you

00:02:10.400 | in your own business and in your own life.

00:02:12.900 | [Music]

00:02:21.300 | Today, I'm going to share with you some behind-the-scenes ideas on the business of Radical Personal Finance

00:02:28.000 | and what I'm thinking.

00:02:28.900 | And I'm doing this for a few reasons.

00:02:31.100 | I've received a lot of concern from caring listeners who said, "Joshua, how can you maintain this pace?

00:02:36.700 | I really like the show, and I want it to continue.

00:02:39.500 | And I'm concerned about your ability to maintain the pace.

00:02:42.100 | So I want to share this as far as my reasons for doing it."

00:02:44.500 | I've received some criticism, and I'm not doing this as a reaction to criticism.

00:02:47.900 | I don't mind the criticism.

00:02:49.300 | People say it's just simply too much.

00:02:50.700 | My only complaint about it, I love the show, but it's just simply too much content.

00:02:53.800 | I'm going to share with you the reasons why I do it the way that I do it

00:02:58.400 | and why I do it even in the face of some of the criticism that I get.

00:03:01.600 | And I think you'll find it interesting.

00:03:03.500 | I think you'll find it helpful.

00:03:05.200 | So even though the show is going to be a little bit me-focused, it's actually all about you.

00:03:08.900 | I'm creating it to serve you.

00:03:11.100 | I have tried over the last probably 60, 70 episodes to do less of the behind-the-scenes content on the show.

00:03:19.400 | And so I haven't talked so much about everything that's going on behind.

00:03:23.500 | That's primarily due to some of the advice that I've gotten from the audience

00:03:26.200 | where people have said, "Joshua, hey, I really love the show,

00:03:29.000 | but too much making the sausage and not enough sausage was one email that I got,

00:03:33.600 | which was really, really helpful."

00:03:35.600 | But this content I think will be helpful for you no matter what business you're in,

00:03:40.100 | even if you're not in your own business.

00:03:42.100 | You're just simply working in somebody else's business.

00:03:45.100 | I think it will be helpful for you.

00:03:46.800 | And it will especially be helpful for you if you're in any kind of media business,

00:03:50.600 | especially podcasting.

00:03:52.400 | I think frankly a lot of the advice that's given in the podcasting world is simply bad.

00:03:56.900 | People give bad advice and say, "Do this because it's worked for me,"

00:04:01.100 | without actually understanding and illustrating the principles behind their advice

00:04:06.200 | and being able to say and understand why something has worked for them.

00:04:10.600 | And so I'm going to share with you why I'm doing what I'm doing

00:04:15.800 | and leave it up to you to judge whether it's good advice or not.

00:04:18.300 | Obviously I think it is, but you have to let the results and the logic stand for itself.

00:04:24.100 | And even though this show is going to sound very me-focused,

00:04:28.300 | I just want you to understand that it's not.

00:04:31.400 | I want you to understand my reasons for doing what I'm doing and my way of thinking,

00:04:35.600 | but ultimately time will tell if I'm right or wrong.

00:04:37.800 | And if I'm right, then maybe you'll have some insights into why I was right if my comments are accurate.

00:04:44.200 | And if I'm wrong, then later we both can sit down and listen to this show and dissect this

00:04:50.200 | and maybe I'll be able to understand where I made a mistake, where I erred off the path.

00:04:55.000 | So even though this is me-focused, then I want you to know that I'm doing it in an effort to help you,

00:05:03.200 | not to simply promote my own ideas.

00:05:05.200 | At the core fundamental, on the most basic reason that I do the show in the way that I do it,

00:05:12.200 | is because I believe that the format that I've chosen is the best format for serving you, my audience.

00:05:21.200 | And there are a few reasons for that.

00:05:23.600 | I believe it's best because the idea of having somebody who's there with you on a regular or even daily basis

00:05:31.400 | to give you encouragement and inspiration is incredibly powerful.

00:05:37.200 | Life is not easy.

00:05:39.200 | Life is frankly tough.

00:05:41.200 | And so having somebody who's there with you and able to walk with you through that journey

00:05:46.200 | and be a constant and regular source of encouragement and inspiration and even hand-holding,

00:05:52.800 | virtual hand-holding, can be tremendously powerful.

00:05:55.800 | More than anything, I see my role as a coach, a teacher, and an encourager.

00:06:03.800 | And I think back over my financial journey, and I simply remember how important –

00:06:07.800 | for years it was the Dave Ramsey show for me, how important his show was to me in years past,

00:06:13.800 | especially if you're familiar with my story when I was working my way out of debt in college.

00:06:18.800 | And I was working like a crazy man.

00:06:20.800 | I was working 40 hours per week at a job.

00:06:22.800 | I was taking 19 hours of senior-level business classes, which were not easy.

00:06:27.800 | And I was studying all the time and working all the time with the goal of graduating debt-free.

00:06:33.800 | And I remember so much just how valuable the Dave Ramsey show was in my life,

00:06:38.800 | that constant and regular source of encouragement.

00:06:41.800 | At the time I was working these very weird hours.

00:06:44.800 | I had negotiated even though I was in a traditional 9-to-5 office environment and in a traditional schedule.

00:06:51.800 | I had negotiated some flexibility over my hours with my employer so that I was doing my work,

00:06:57.800 | but I could do it on my own hours scheduled around my classes.

00:07:01.800 | So I was working these very strange hours.

00:07:03.800 | I'd be in the office at 9 o'clock at night when no one else was there,

00:07:06.800 | but I was in there finishing my projects and doing my work so that it would be there on my associates' inbox.

00:07:11.800 | I would say on their desk, but in their inboxes the next day ready to go.

00:07:14.800 | And it's a little bit lonely to be working in the office late at night in a big empty corporate office,

00:07:21.800 | sitting there working on PowerPoint presentations.

00:07:23.800 | And I just remember how helpful his daily encouragement was

00:07:30.800 | and how helpful it was to hear all of his callers telling their stories

00:07:34.800 | and just how much I enjoyed that consistent, consistent inspiration and encouragement.

00:07:39.800 | It really made a big difference in my life.

00:07:40.800 | And I believe that I want my show to have the same effect for you.

00:07:44.800 | I also fundamentally believe it's the best format to serve the audience

00:07:48.800 | because of the amount of content that needs to be shared,

00:07:54.800 | the amount of in-depth teaching that needs to be presented,

00:07:58.800 | the amount of unbiased education that needs to be created that's not being done.

00:08:05.800 | And so I feel a burden to get this information out there.

00:08:09.800 | That's the overarching theme of why I do it.

00:08:12.800 | But I do also have some personal selfish reasons why I do the show the way that I am doing it,

00:08:19.800 | some very carefully thought out business reasons.

00:08:23.800 | I'm going to share all those with you.

00:08:25.800 | In creating the show, more than anything – and this is where we've switched from you-focused to me-focused

00:08:31.800 | and the rest of the show will be me-focused.

00:08:33.800 | But it's built on the foundation of serving you.

00:08:35.800 | That's why I wanted to start with that.

00:08:37.800 | More than anything, I'm simply scratching my own itch

00:08:41.800 | and I'm creating the type of show that I wish were there for me.

00:08:46.800 | And I really have nothing else to go on as I create the show.

00:08:51.800 | And I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing because how can I do what somebody else wants?

00:08:58.800 | I don't know what somebody else wants, but I know what I want.

00:09:00.800 | And I figure there's probably some other people out there just like me who want what I want.

00:09:05.800 | And so I just need to create what I want and let those other people find it.

00:09:08.800 | And for me, here's what I want.

00:09:10.800 | I want – and I've always wanted – one show that has lots of unique, in-depth content that makes me think.

00:09:20.800 | I don't want to have to go and spend all my time searching the internet for the latest, greatest podcast feed.

00:09:25.800 | I don't want to wander around and have 11 different podcast feeds on 11 different topics

00:09:30.800 | that I have to look through all their episodes and see which ones interest me.

00:09:34.800 | It's much more convenient for me to have one feed on my phone right there every day that has unique, varied, and in-depth content.

00:09:44.800 | That's what I wish existed.

00:09:47.800 | There's so much advice in today's world about the right way to do it, the right way to blog, the right way to do a podcast.

00:09:55.800 | Let's focus on podcasting.

00:09:57.800 | Don't fall for it.

00:09:58.800 | If you have any interest in starting a show, if you have a show, and frankly in many businesses, don't fall for it.

00:10:04.800 | Taking the advice that somebody says this is the right way to do it is like saying to someone in 1993, "Here's the right way to use the internet."

00:10:14.800 | It's absurd.

00:10:16.800 | We are at the very dawn, at the forefront, the pioneering forefront of this new medium for communication.

00:10:27.800 | The world of ideas and the things that can be done is massive.

00:10:32.800 | Now, I do think it's important to focus on what other people are doing well and understand why it's working, understand the principles for what other people are doing well.

00:10:43.800 | But don't fall for this, "This is the right way to do something."

00:10:46.800 | It's nonsense.

00:10:47.800 | Try what you have in mind and scratch your own itch.

00:10:51.800 | Experiment.

00:10:52.800 | Test.

00:10:54.800 | See what works.

00:10:55.800 | It's an amazing and exciting and brand-new frontier that we live in where you can try so many different things.

00:11:03.800 | And throughout history, so many great businesses are simply built on the idea of creating something that you wish existed, whether that be a physical product or a service or a podcast content.

00:11:19.800 | So for me, I think of myself at 15 years old, half my life ago.

00:11:23.800 | I'm almost 30, so 15 years ago.

00:11:25.800 | And I say, "What would I have wanted to find when I was 15 years old?"

00:11:31.800 | And my show is 100% a reflection of that.

00:11:35.800 | That's it.

00:11:36.800 | It's as simple as that.

00:11:38.800 | This show is what I wish I had when I was 15, and I was desperately searching for all of the information that I could find.

00:11:47.800 | And I would go out and I would read all these books, and I would go out and I'd buy all these tapes and these CDs and these seminars and these courses, and I spent thousands of dollars trying to educate myself.

00:12:00.800 | But the reality was what I was looking for was this show.

00:12:05.800 | And since that's what I can create because I know what I wanted when I was 15, that's what I focus on creating.

00:12:12.800 | Now, obviously, I need to listen to the audience, but I can't listen to the audience too soon.

00:12:19.800 | If you're a chef and you don't like the food that you're making, then you probably shouldn't be making it.

00:12:26.800 | So you've got to start with making food that you like.

00:12:29.800 | Then at some point in time, listen to the patrons of your restaurant and ask them what they like.

00:12:35.800 | But you've got to start with at least liking the food that you create.

00:12:38.800 | So for me, that's it.

00:12:40.800 | I'm simply creating the show that I wish were there for me.

00:12:43.800 | Everything about the format of this show is what I wish existed when I was 15 years old.

00:12:49.800 | But there is more to it.

00:12:50.800 | The next thing that I chose is I knew that I needed at the beginning of starting this show, I knew that I did not have any skills as a broadcaster, any practiced skills.

00:13:01.800 | I had worked over the years on my public speaking skills.

00:13:05.800 | I've worked over the years on my communication skills as much as I've been able.

00:13:08.800 | For years, I – how old was I?

00:13:13.800 | When I was in college, I joined Toastmasters and I practiced all my speeches and I entered speaking contests to try to learn how to communicate effectively.

00:13:22.800 | I have focused on other forms of communication.

00:13:26.800 | I've worked to teach at different places.

00:13:27.800 | I've volunteered with junior achievement.

00:13:29.800 | I thought, "How can I effectively articulate ideas for students?"

00:13:32.800 | This was prior to the time I was a financial advisor.

00:13:35.800 | I was focused on building up my personal skills.

00:13:37.800 | So, I do have a history of studying communication skills.

00:13:41.800 | When I was younger, I would read books on ways to communicate so that I could more effectively communicate in a business setting or in a personal setting or any type of way because communication is one of the most fundamental valuable skills.

00:13:56.800 | It's one of the more highly paid skills that we can develop.

00:14:00.800 | It's incredibly valuable no matter where or when you live.

00:14:04.800 | So, I focused on that, but I never had any skills as a broadcaster with the exception of one short experiment when I was a senior in high school where a buddy of mine – we had an opportunity at a college radio station, which was down in Boca Raton at the FAU College radio station.

00:14:25.800 | My brother was involved there and that's about 30, 45 minutes from where I lived.

00:14:29.800 | And my buddy and I decided to start a Friday night radio show, a music show.

00:14:35.800 | So, we would drive down for – it was over a period of months and these two high school kids, we drove down to the college station and we did our Friday night dance music show.

00:14:43.800 | It was quite fun.

00:14:44.800 | I was talking with them about it the other day and I had forgotten about it until we resurrected the memory.

00:14:50.800 | So, I realized, "OK, I did have some interest even years ago."

00:14:53.800 | But I've never had a radio show.

00:14:55.800 | And so, I don't have by definition any skills.

00:14:59.800 | So, when you're in the beginning of skill acquisition, you need to focus on learning something and applying it.

00:15:05.800 | And there's a balance between learning and doing.

00:15:09.800 | And I think it starts with learning, but then ultimately you really learn by doing.

00:15:14.800 | And you want to do a lot.

00:15:17.800 | So, here would be some numerical proof for – or some numerical reasons why I've chosen to do what I've done.

00:15:24.800 | Since July 1st, 2014, when I relaunched the show after the initial – we'll call it a 10-episode pilot in 2013, I've recorded 158 episodes.

00:15:33.800 | And as I record this again, it's March 13, 2015.

00:15:36.800 | If I were releasing a weekly show, I would have released 41 episodes so far.

00:15:41.800 | So, in essence, compare 160 to 40.

00:15:45.800 | So, in the last 41 weeks, I've recorded almost four times as many episodes,

00:15:50.800 | which means that I've accumulated almost four times as much experience as I would have as a weekly podcaster in less than a year.

00:15:59.800 | It's basically a 400% increase in my skill.

00:16:05.800 | I've learned a tremendous amount just simply by doing four times as much as some other people are doing.

00:16:11.800 | And I've made leaps and bounds.

00:16:13.800 | I've made incredible progress, more than I would have if I were just doing a weekly show.

00:16:18.800 | I've made so many mistakes in the course of this show.

00:16:21.800 | I listened back to some of the earlier shows and I think, "Man, what was I thinking?"

00:16:25.800 | I listened to some of the interviews and I just think, "What was I thinking?

00:16:28.800 | How did I let that interview get out of control or how did I ask that dumb question

00:16:32.800 | or why did I take four minutes to set up the question instead of just simply asking it?"

00:16:36.800 | So, I've learned from that.

00:16:38.800 | But for me, this has been largely about skill acquisition.

00:16:43.800 | The fact was I didn't have the developed skills.

00:16:48.800 | Maybe I had some basic skills, but I didn't have the developed skills a year ago.

00:16:53.800 | And so, everything has been about developing the skills.

00:16:56.800 | And for me, I've had the long-term view on this project.

00:17:00.800 | I am focused on the year 2015 as an area of focus, obviously.

00:17:05.800 | But I'm even more heavily focused on the year 2017 or 2018

00:17:11.800 | because that's when this massive change that is occurring in our society of how people consume audio content,

00:17:18.800 | it will start to come into more and more maturity.

00:17:21.800 | It's still somewhat niche, although it's not nearly as niche.

00:17:25.800 | Listen to Podcasts is not nearly as niche as it once was.

00:17:28.800 | It's changing day by day by day.

00:17:30.800 | But 2017 and 2018, it's going to be much more mainstream.

00:17:35.800 | And so, that's what I've had my eye on.

00:17:38.800 | That's what I've been thinking about.

00:17:40.800 | Everything about the last 150 shows has been about skill acquisition.

00:17:44.800 | Now, thankfully, people have come and listened, and that's been incredibly gratifying.

00:17:49.800 | But even if people didn't come and listen, if no one had started to listen, I still would have done it because I needed to learn.

00:17:57.800 | But I believed that the content and the ideas that I had would be helpful to share with others.

00:18:02.800 | So, I owed a responsibility to put it out into the marketplace so that those for whom it could be helpful could find it and could benefit from it.

00:18:11.800 | But I'm still focused on the year 2017.

00:18:14.800 | And we have a major problem in our society that oftentimes we expect to be good at things overnight.

00:18:18.800 | We expect overnight success, and we forget about all the time and focus of learning and apprenticing.

00:18:26.800 | We've got to do that.

00:18:28.800 | We've got to regain that focus.

00:18:29.800 | Now, in years past, we had a much more popular model of apprenticeship.

00:18:34.800 | And so, in an apprenticeship model, you were able to work with a skilled craftsman for a period of years and learn the trade.

00:18:40.800 | That was replaced with the college model.

00:18:43.800 | And so, we now think of college as the place that we go to learn job skills.

00:18:47.800 | Very few college degree programs teach job skills.

00:18:50.800 | It's much more of a well-rounded educational, maybe a liberal arts educational plan, something like that.

00:18:55.800 | But even if we do, consider that a college student will spend four years in college.

00:19:00.800 | Consider that an attorney will spend four years in college plus three years in law school.

00:19:04.800 | Or a medical doctor would spend years and years studying and then interning and residenting, whatever they call it, in medicine before they are considered to be a skillful doctor.

00:19:17.800 | So, why should I expect it to be any different when I'm learning a new craft and a new trade?

00:19:23.800 | Why should I expect overnight success with my show when I have no experience, no background, I've never apprenticed under a skilled craftsman, and I'm making it up as I go?

00:19:36.800 | So, the only thing I can do is just focus on applying myself and learning the skills.

00:19:41.800 | And that's basically what the first three or four years of a show like this will be – is.

00:19:46.800 | That's what it is now.

00:19:48.800 | And again, thankfully, it's grown to the point where I can do better.

00:19:51.800 | But I knew that I needed to build those skills.

00:19:54.800 | So, even in the beginning, if you were to go and listen to the first three – the first ten episodes, I recorded those first ten episodes over a period of about three weeks.

00:20:01.800 | And it was just basically me testing.

00:20:03.800 | Let me try this.

00:20:04.800 | Let me try that.

00:20:05.800 | Let me try this other thing.

00:20:06.800 | And each time, I would take notes on what went well and what didn't go well.

00:20:09.800 | I'm building the skills of a broadcaster, but I can build them four times faster by focusing on an essentially daily show rather than a weekly show.

00:20:22.800 | For me, it's about skill acquisition.

00:20:24.800 | Consider what the parallel to that is in your life and in your business.

00:20:32.800 | How can you learn four times more quickly than everyone else?

00:20:36.800 | This built on a lesson that I learned in financial planning.

00:20:40.800 | In financial planning, there are a tremendous number of interpersonal skills that are simply not taught.

00:20:45.800 | They have nothing to do with technical knowledge.

00:20:47.800 | But essentially, if you think about the role of a financial planner to, as Nick Murray calls it, jump out of the bushes at somebody and ask them about their money, that's not a very comfortable thing for most people to do.

00:20:58.800 | That's not a skill set that we're taught.

00:21:00.800 | No one teaches us in introductory microeconomics 101 how to jump out of the bush and talk to somebody about their money, which is for many people a subject they don't want to talk about.

00:21:11.800 | So as a new financial planner, you've got to learn some of these interpersonal skills and how to build and establish trust and rapport in a very quick manner.

00:21:19.800 | Well, the only way you learn that stuff is by doing.

00:21:22.800 | It can't be taught.

00:21:23.800 | Other than the basic mechanics of ask these questions, it's something that is learned.

00:21:29.800 | So one of the fundamental skills that I observed that made people successful in the financial planning industry was when they started, they didn't sit around and practice to be good.

00:21:39.800 | They practiced enough to go out and learn to be good.

00:21:43.800 | I used to spend Saturday mornings with a fellow rep in my office, and we would practice what we call in the business, we call our approach language, which is the memorized script that we start every appointment with.

00:21:56.800 | And we would practice the fact-finding language, which is the questions that we ask to find out and engage with somebody.

00:22:02.800 | And I would practice it on videotape.

00:22:03.800 | We'd practice our phoning language and our phoning scripts of how to set the appointments.

00:22:07.800 | And we would videotape it.

00:22:08.800 | I'd go back and watch the videos and see what went well, what didn't.

00:22:11.800 | I would audiotape myself making phone calls and listen and say, "Would I give myself an appointment?" and understand how to get better.

00:22:20.800 | So you've got to practice.

00:22:21.800 | I'm not saying that everything should be put out for the public to know.

00:22:24.800 | You've got to practice.

00:22:25.800 | But you've also got to do.

00:22:27.800 | And so that's got to be balanced in our approach.

00:22:30.800 | Another reason why I focused on doing the show in the format that I've done is simply because I'm focused on doing what I believe I'm best at.

00:22:46.800 | I'm focusing on my skills and my strengths.

00:22:49.800 | I don't particularly feel that I'm an extremely creative writer.

00:22:54.800 | But I'm a good speaker.

00:22:56.800 | And so I'm focusing on my strengths and doing what I can uniquely do better than many other people.

00:23:03.800 | The reality is producing lots of spoken verbal content does come more easily to me than it comes to many people.

00:23:14.800 | I've got years of practice.

00:23:16.800 | I've got years of skill acquisition in the speech-making world.

00:23:21.800 | More importantly, I have years of pent-up frustration to express over the financial advice that's given.

00:23:27.800 | I have years of ideas that I've come up with that have never been publicized because I never had the platform.

00:23:33.800 | And because of my learning style as a verbal learner, I learn by teaching.

00:23:38.800 | So the most valuable way for me to learn something is to talk it through and to teach it through.

00:23:44.800 | So I'm playing to my strengths.

00:23:47.800 | And so it would be very – it is very difficult for me to say I'm going to be a daily writer, a daily blogger, something like that.

00:23:58.800 | But I can be a daily podcaster.

00:24:00.800 | It plays to my strengths.

00:24:02.800 | I think it's valuable to focus on playing to our strengths.

00:24:10.800 | So not everyone should do what I do in terms of the podcast.

00:24:14.800 | But I believe you should focus on your strengths and play to your strengths.

00:24:19.800 | Another reason why I record a show is simply this.

00:24:22.800 | There's more competition in the podcast space than there ever has been and is getting more and more every day.

00:24:28.800 | And to compete in this competitive environment, I want to push my competitors aside in terms of my audience's focus.

00:24:37.800 | I want people to find my show, fall in love with it, and then stop searching for new content.

00:24:44.800 | That's it.

00:24:45.800 | That's my competitive advantage.

00:24:47.800 | So every show needs to be good that they find it and they say, "Wow, I really like this."

00:24:51.800 | And then by giving a consistent and large amount of content, my hope and my plan is that my competitors' show topics will fall aside.

00:25:04.800 | You as a listening audience won't check their feeds as much as you check my feed.

00:25:09.800 | Their feeds will run out of content.

00:25:12.800 | Mine won't.

00:25:13.800 | And so that helps me build a competitive moat, a point of differentiation between me and my competitors.

00:25:20.800 | That's the key.

00:25:22.800 | So this is part of my competitive plan to capture my audience's attention and not let other people intrude on their attention.

00:25:32.800 | Now, that sounds all very scheming and maniacal, and obviously I don't expect anybody, one person, to just listen to my show.

00:25:40.800 | I personally consume lots of different shows, but I do them primarily based upon the mood that I'm in.

00:25:47.800 | So once I find a show that fits a certain mood, I'm in a mood to learn about this topic.

00:25:52.800 | Once I find a show I'm happy enough with, I stop looking.

00:25:56.800 | If a show is good enough and it has enough content to keep me going, I stop looking.

00:26:02.800 | And that's what I'm trying to do with my financial show.

00:26:07.800 | For people who are interested in the type of personal financial advice for whom I'm a good fit and my ideas and my content is a good fit, my goal is once you find my show, you simply stop looking.

00:26:19.800 | And you have something that's there for you every day, unique, interesting, thought-provoking.

00:26:23.800 | I make you think.

00:26:24.800 | I teach you something every day.

00:26:25.800 | And that's my competitive plan, to compete in this more and more and increasingly competitive environment.

00:26:32.800 | Another reason why I have structured the show the way that I've structured it is because I'm modeling it on things that have been successful in the past.

00:26:42.800 | One of the keys, I believe, with achieving something is to understand what others have achieved and model the things that have done well.

00:26:50.800 | So the closest parallel for podcasts is radio.

00:26:57.800 | And so I look at the radio world and I say, "What are they doing?

00:27:02.800 | How is that structured?"

00:27:04.800 | Remembering the fact that we've mostly been trained in how to consume audio content by radio programs, let me look at radio and see what I can learn.

00:27:14.800 | Most radio programs are either five days per week, Monday through Friday, or they are weekly, once per week.

00:27:23.800 | Things like news shows are every day.

00:27:26.800 | They're five days – well, five days and then there's a special weekend.

00:27:29.800 | On NPR, there's weekend edition.

00:27:31.800 | There's morning edition and then there's weekend edition.

00:27:33.800 | Now, why are radio programs primarily the most successful, most listened to?

00:27:38.800 | Why are they primarily five days per week and about three hours a day?

00:27:42.800 | Well, it's because of the normal flow and routine of our work week.

00:27:46.800 | Many people listen to radio while they commute.

00:27:50.800 | They listen to radio while they work.

00:27:52.800 | Now, of course, many people don't listen to radio at all.

00:27:55.800 | If you're an attorney who's arguing before a judge in a journey, you're not listening to radio and you're not listening to a podcast, but that's not my audience.

00:28:02.800 | It's more likely that somebody who's listening to large amounts of verbal content is listening on their commute or they're listening while they're doing something else, primarily working or working out, some other activity, walking the dog.

00:28:16.800 | When I look at the finance space, I see two well-publicized ways that financial radio programs can work.

00:28:22.800 | You've got the daily approach, things like Dave Ramsey, Clark Howard, and you've got the weekly approach, things like Rick Edelman or your local weekly broadcasters.

00:28:31.800 | And so I could choose either one of those and model my show on the radio format.

00:28:35.800 | I think there's power in the daily format because we, as media consumers, are more accustomed to the regular flow of content streaming in on our radios and on our TVs.

00:28:47.800 | Now, there's an uncomfortable transition happening right now to on-demand programming.

00:28:52.800 | So over the last few years, there has been a change where instead of focusing on getting to the TV at the right time, we now just consume content on demand.

00:29:01.800 | But even with that, what do you do when you find something that you really want to consume and you're consuming it on demand, whether you're putting it on a DVR or it's on a podcast?

00:29:10.800 | Well, when most people find something that they like, they focus in on the program and they often will consume the archives.

00:29:18.800 | So if there's some fancy HBO special that you really love and you find, "Man, I really love it," you're more likely to go back and buy all the old DVDs or pull up Netflix or in some manner find and start at the beginning.

00:29:30.800 | So that's the place that I see is functioning for podcasting.

00:29:36.800 | And what I'm trying to do is capture the advantages and the similarities of radio but also focus on the things that are different.

00:29:45.800 | And here's where the challenge is because there are some things that are very different about radio than podcasting.

00:29:51.800 | In fact, I put the show topic out today on the Patreon campaign and Norman, one of my supporters, brought this up and he asked me and he says, "The problem is that if you're modeling after radio" – his comment here.

00:30:05.800 | He says, "In other podcasts, you've said you're modeling after radio like Clark Howard and Dave Ramsey. I find that to be a huge mistake as any individual episode of those shows has almost zero new content.

00:30:16.800 | They spam episodes out knowing that most listeners will only listen to a tiny fraction of their content and won't notice or care about the repetition.

00:30:23.800 | They spam episodes out because they have to sell advertising.

00:30:26.800 | Podcasts are an entirely different beast and too much content kills podcasts as surely as too little or too irregular content does."

00:30:34.800 | And so Norman's comment here in my mind is an extremely insightful comment because there are some major differences between the podcast platform and the radio platform.

00:30:44.800 | Radio is not cumulative.

00:30:46.800 | Radio is very much a dip your toe in the water type of format.

00:30:51.800 | And what's interesting is as part of my research of learning how to become a better broadcaster, I've focused on trying to understand what do the popular radio shows do well.

00:31:02.800 | And I'll give you an example.

00:31:04.800 | I think it's the third or fourth most listened to radio show is the Glenn Beck program.

00:31:09.800 | And so the thing I like about the Glenn Beck is there's an easy podcast feed for me to access and I enjoy a lot of his content.

00:31:17.800 | His show, when you go back and listen to it, is without commercials.

00:31:21.800 | It's one hour and 42 minutes long.

00:31:23.800 | Of course, it's delivered over a three-hour period with commercials.

00:31:29.800 | But without commercials, it's about a minute 40, minute 41, minute 42.

00:31:32.800 | Dave Ramsey's show in the podcast – excuse me, in the finance space is similar.

00:31:36.800 | Now, if you actually listen to it as a podcast, it doesn't work very well as a podcast.

00:31:41.800 | It's okay.

00:31:42.800 | And Beck's show is better than Ramsey's show, is better than other – than most of them are conservative broadcasters, the big ones, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, things like that.

00:31:52.800 | But most of their – many of their shows are very repetitive.

00:31:54.800 | And when you listen to how they actually do it, they will often spend the first few minutes of each segment repeating the content for the previous segment.

00:32:01.800 | So they're acknowledging – I'm assuming these are the best broadcasters in the nation.

00:32:05.800 | They're acknowledging the fact that the audience is coming and going.

00:32:08.800 | So there's a big difference.

00:32:10.800 | I can't do that in the podcast space.

00:32:11.800 | Otherwise, people will not – they won't listen.

00:32:16.800 | And so I've got to be careful not to be repetitive, to repeat myself.

00:32:22.800 | I don't have to deal with commercial breaks in and out.

00:32:25.800 | So one of the things that I focus on is I've taken what's good from radio and I've adjusted it and said my show is cumulative.

00:32:37.800 | So I work very hard not to actually repeat topics.

00:32:42.800 | I have listeners every day who will listen to the show almost as soon as it comes out.

00:32:47.800 | And then many new listeners, when they find it, will go back and listen to the archives and start at show one and bring it forward.

00:32:53.800 | So in my mind, I'm creating a cumulative body of work and I'm trying very hard not to repeat content unless there's additional ideas or new ideas or new information.

00:33:04.800 | Work not to repeat topics.

00:33:06.800 | Now, of course, there is some overlap and probably the most notable exception to the overlap of content would be something like an interview topic.

00:33:14.800 | And I'll do multiple interviews on one topic if there are variation on a theme.

00:33:19.800 | A good example would be the topic of minimalism.

00:33:22.800 | I've had two guests on the show speaking about minimalism.

00:33:27.800 | One was Joshua Becker from Becoming Minimalist and the other was Tammy Strobel from Rowdy Kittens.

00:33:33.800 | And they've had slightly different viewpoints.

00:33:36.800 | Joshua Becker was coming from a family-oriented perspective, a more mainstream approach to living in mainstream housing.

00:33:44.800 | Tammy Strobel is a little bit more unique.

00:33:46.800 | She was a woman with – and she and her husband don't have kids.

00:33:51.800 | They were living in a tiny house, a little bit of a different process.

00:33:54.800 | But ultimately, they had similar results.

00:33:56.800 | Now, there are other aspects of minimalism that I would bring on the show.

00:34:00.800 | For example, at some point, I'll bring on one of these young men or women who travels the world living only with things in their backpack and they've gotten rid of everything else or people living in an RV or things like that.

00:34:12.800 | But I don't need to have on somebody who's similar to Joshua Becker.

00:34:16.800 | I don't plan to just because there are four other bloggers who are similar to him who have a couple of kids and live in mainstream American lifestyle with a focus on minimalism.

00:34:24.800 | Unless there's some unique twist, I don't need to hammer that again and again.

00:34:27.800 | That show is there.

00:34:28.800 | And so I don't bring those topics on.

00:34:31.800 | But if I do, it's usually going to be in the case of an interview.

00:34:35.800 | I don't plan unless there's a major change.

00:34:37.800 | I don't plan to go back and teach through a topic.

00:34:40.800 | You won't see in my feed every day a new Coverdale Q and – a Coverdale ESA show.

00:34:46.800 | Been there, done that.

00:34:47.800 | I don't need to cover it again.

00:34:49.800 | So I don't need to repeat topics in the way that radio does.

00:34:53.800 | That would be a good example of something that I need to differentiate and model what works well with radio, meaning things like focusing on the daily consistency, the larger amount of content for those who are your hardcore consumers, but not model the repetitive nature of it.

00:35:11.800 | You can't just take a radio show and put it into a podcast and expect it to be successful as a podcast.

00:35:18.800 | Now, the other thing that you'll look at is if you notice on radio, the format for radio is usually either current events or questions and answers.

00:35:28.800 | And that's great for tuning in and tuning out of radio.

00:35:31.800 | But podcasts, again, are different.

00:35:33.800 | So I've tested the waters with current events and I did a couple of shows early on where I tried to cover some current events thinking that I would cover that.

00:35:42.800 | And for the most part, I've found it's not a major benefit.

00:35:46.800 | I want most of the content to be as timeless as possible.

00:35:50.800 | But I do need to cover some current events.

00:35:54.800 | So I think about it from time to time.

00:35:56.800 | There's current events in the development of the show.

00:35:58.800 | So I do share things that are going on with my progress and my personal life.

00:36:01.800 | That's a current event.

00:36:02.800 | And then there will be things that are happening as a reflection of the market around.

00:36:06.800 | So for example, if the stock market is making major advances or major declines, then I'll notice that.

00:36:12.800 | Or if there is major fluctuations in international currency markets, things like that, that needs to – I need to be relevant for my listeners to listen every day.

00:36:22.800 | But I don't focus just on current events because, frankly, it bores me and it's also kind of creating a body of work.

00:36:28.800 | I want somebody to go back and consume all of my past episodes.

00:36:32.800 | With Q&A, that is one of those things where it is similar.

00:36:35.800 | The reason why many radio shows feature questions and answer as their primary type of content, examples would be Dave Ramsey and Clark Howard in the financial broadcasting space and Rick Edelman.

00:36:46.800 | The reason is because those are easy.

00:36:49.800 | You can show up at the radio station and you can sit down and just simply take phone calls and you have a massive listener base.

00:36:55.800 | You never run out of phone calls.

00:36:57.800 | And the phone calls give you something to build on.

00:36:59.800 | So they're easier to do and it serves well in that format.

00:37:02.800 | So I do have some repetitive content in my Friday Q&A, but I still filter that based upon is this something that's a unique aspect of something I haven't covered.

00:37:14.800 | And so I'm very aware of those differences, but I do need to build on the strengths of radio but also acknowledging the differences.

00:37:22.800 | So it's a balance there.

00:37:23.800 | Model what works and reject what doesn't.

00:37:27.800 | And ultimately, I am creating – when I set out to do this, I didn't know, "Okay, am I going to do this forever?"

00:37:33.800 | No.

00:37:34.800 | I'm sure I'm not going to do this forever.

00:37:36.800 | But I am creating a body of work and this is a foundation for a larger business.

00:37:40.800 | And this body of work may be 1,000 episodes.

00:37:42.800 | That's what I've committed to.

00:37:44.800 | If nobody listened, I would do – if nobody listens, I will do 1,000 episodes or maybe 10,000.

00:37:50.800 | I don't know.

00:37:51.800 | Time will tell as we see what works and what doesn't.

00:37:54.800 | But it's a foundation and I need to model what's gone on before.

00:38:00.800 | One of the key problems that I see in the podcast space with podcast advice is people are heavily focused on format instead of content.

00:38:10.800 | Format is not the answer to a problem.

00:38:12.800 | Content is.

00:38:14.800 | And you should fit your format to your content and your ultimate goal of how you're looking to use your program.

00:38:22.800 | There are many popular weekly programs.

00:38:26.800 | So I've mentioned this on the show, but if you go looking for podcast advice, you will find that many people are advocates of the approach of have a weekly program that's somewhere around 30 to 50 minutes in length depending on the content.

00:38:39.800 | And I'm sure that is good advice because many shows follow that topic.

00:38:44.800 | But I don't really enjoy many of the shows and I can't really create many of the shows that are the most popular in that format.

00:38:51.800 | Think about the NPR shows or the NPR offshoots that top the podcast charts.

00:38:57.800 | And again, we're getting a little bit industry specific here, but I think you might enjoy this.

00:39:00.800 | So one of the more famous ones is a show called This American Life with Ira Glass from Chicago Public Radio, long-lived, extremely popular public radio program.

00:39:09.800 | It's massive and it's released as a podcast and it routinely tops the charts in iTunes for one of the most listened to podcasts.

00:39:18.800 | It's a great show.

00:39:20.800 | And there's no possible way that it could be a daily show.

00:39:24.800 | Ira Glass and his team, they work all week and they hustle to create a weekly show just barely finishing it right on time usually to get it shipped out the door.

00:39:34.800 | Now, it's a great show.

00:39:36.800 | But would it be a great daily show?

00:39:39.800 | It might be if they could create it as a daily show, but they can't because they focus on doing a weekly show.

00:39:45.800 | It's not the format.

00:39:48.800 | It's not the weekly show nature.

00:39:49.800 | It's the content that makes the difference and then you simply have to do what you can do.

00:39:54.800 | Other examples was – so Alex Bloomberg made the news with his – he was the one – he started a show called Startup Podcast.

00:40:02.800 | He came out of the This American Life family and he launched his show called Startup which is about the business startup of his podcast business.

00:40:11.800 | I listened to a few episodes of his show.

00:40:13.800 | I enjoyed the first few episodes, but the reason that I enjoyed it is not because it's a weekly show versus a daily show.

00:40:19.800 | The reason I enjoyed it was he has an interesting story.

00:40:22.800 | Another one was Serial.

00:40:25.800 | It was the most – one of the massive successes.

00:40:28.800 | Serial is the story of this case gone – this murder case gone wrong basically and hugely popular.

00:40:35.800 | But the problem with Serial is not necessarily popular because it's a weekly show versus a daily show.

00:40:40.800 | It's popular because of the story.

00:40:42.800 | It appeals to a lot of people.

00:40:44.800 | Now, interestingly, none of these shows actually appeal to me.

00:40:48.800 | Serial, for example, I listened to I think the first two episodes and I just haven't gone any farther with it.

00:40:54.800 | It's the kind of show that I would listen to with my wife in the car as entertainment on a long road trip.

00:40:59.800 | But it doesn't appeal to me.

00:41:01.800 | Startup doesn't appeal to me.

00:41:02.800 | This American Life doesn't appeal to me.

00:41:03.800 | I don't listen to them because they're primarily entertainment and I'm not somebody who focuses on entertainment.

00:41:10.800 | For me, if I'm going to listen to something, I want to learn something.

00:41:14.800 | I want something that's going to measurably change and affect my life.

00:41:17.800 | I want content that is going to make me smarter, more well-informed, and is going to help me to have a better future than my past.

00:41:25.800 | So I have little use for entertainment unless I am identifying it as this is a point in time in which I want to be entertained.

00:41:33.800 | Again, example, on the road with my wife in the car and long road trip.

00:41:38.800 | Usually we talk in the car, which little family tip, marriage tip, learned from my parents.

00:41:42.800 | My parents never listened to anything in the car and we always talked.

00:41:46.800 | I've repeated that for the most part in my family is generally when I'm in the car, we don't listen to anything on the radio.

00:41:53.800 | We don't listen to podcasts.

00:41:54.800 | Then what happens is there's no vacuum in nature.

00:41:58.800 | There's no empty space.

00:41:59.800 | So if you have an empty space in your car, it will be filled with conversation.

00:42:04.800 | That's one of my favorite things is having the opportunity to spend time visiting with my wife and family and friends in the car.

00:42:10.800 | So a little tip for you, one of Joshua's things that has done well for him.

00:42:13.800 | I spent hours, always had good relationships with my parents for many reasons.

00:42:17.800 | But one of those reasons, what I would spend hours in the car talking with them and sharing everything.

00:42:21.800 | There's more great life coaching that goes on between parents and kids in the car.

00:42:25.800 | So if you're accustomed – just a little tip. Try it.

00:42:27.800 | If you're accustomed to listening to things constantly and filling the car with music or even with my show,

00:42:32.800 | I only listen to podcasts when I'm alone or if I'm on a long road trip.

00:42:36.800 | My wife and I, we've talked for an hour or two and then we want a break.

00:42:39.800 | Then that's where we'll do something like an entertainment podcast.

00:42:41.800 | For us, it's a way with words.

00:42:43.800 | She likes words. I like words.

00:42:45.800 | Or serial or what's the – radio lab, things like that are really interesting.

00:42:49.800 | They're entertainment.

00:42:50.800 | So my point in – sorry for the little digression.

00:42:53.800 | Just hopefully it will help some of you.

00:42:55.800 | It's helped me.

00:42:56.800 | But my point is the entertainment podcasts are not successful or not successful because they're daily or weekly.

00:43:02.800 | They're successful because they're well-created and then you just fit the format to the content.

00:43:07.800 | I can't create an entertainment podcast or at least not one that's interesting simply because I'm not a consumer of that type of content.

00:43:15.800 | I don't care.

00:43:16.800 | The most popular shows on a broad spectrum in the US American listening audience and frankly probably the world don't appeal to me.

00:43:27.800 | I don't get past the first few episodes.

00:43:29.800 | It just doesn't really appeal to me that much.

00:43:31.800 | Or if it does, then I just – someday I'll listen to this.

00:43:35.800 | But it's not must-listen to content for me.

00:43:38.800 | It doesn't mean it can't work for you.

00:43:40.800 | Entertainment podcasts, entertainment shows, entertainment YouTube channels, this stuff is huge.

00:43:45.800 | Huge in our culture.

00:43:47.800 | But I can't create it.

00:43:49.800 | So why should I spend my time trying to focus on that?

00:43:52.800 | Don't copy what someone else is doing.

00:43:55.800 | Model what they're doing.

00:43:57.800 | Understand as best you can why something is working for someone and then model that.

00:44:07.800 | Now in the podcast space, I do model some podcasts.

00:44:11.800 | Actually, I model a podcast.

00:44:13.800 | So the podcast that I have enjoyed listening to most – there are a few.

00:44:16.800 | But one of the ones that I've enjoyed listening to the most is a show called The Survival Podcast.

00:44:22.800 | And I've spent in the past probably on average consuming 50 to 60 hours a week of audio content.

00:44:31.800 | So I've listened to a lot of audio content.

00:44:33.800 | But I always enjoyed Jack Spirico's show, The Survival Podcast.

00:44:36.800 | And the reason as I thought about it that I enjoyed it was because he takes a central theme, which is a theme that I'm interested in, and talks about all aspects of it without being too focused on saying this is the way to do it and without being too cuckoo, too crazy.

00:44:54.800 | So when I thought about it, I said, "Why am I interested in the show?"

00:44:56.800 | The reason I was interested is because I was always learning something.

00:44:59.800 | I was always being challenged in what I believed and what I thought.

00:45:02.800 | And I love to be challenged.

00:45:04.800 | And I was always focused on being exposed to new ideas and new topics and new ways of piecing these things together around a central theme.

00:45:13.800 | And that's what kept me for years listening to his show every day.

00:45:16.800 | He's got 100,000 people a day that tune into his show.

00:45:19.800 | It's five days a week, an hour and a half – probably an hour, hour and a half a day.

00:45:23.800 | And he's built a massive impact on this one unique topic.

00:45:28.800 | That was a model to me that appealed to me.

00:45:30.800 | And so since I needed to model something, I said, "What's my message?"

00:45:34.800 | I'm not a survivalist of – we're focused on doom and gloom and the world is going to fall apart every day.

00:45:42.800 | Obviously, anything is a possibility, but that's not of interest to me.

00:45:46.800 | I can't talk about that every day.

00:45:47.800 | But I can talk about finance.

00:45:49.800 | And I can model the reasons why I like that show on my show.

00:45:53.800 | Now, a different example, after I launched the show, everyone started asking me if I was modeling my show on John Lee Dumas' show called Entrepreneur on Fire.

00:46:01.800 | I never listened to the show.

00:46:03.800 | I didn't know about it before I launched.

00:46:05.800 | I went and listened to it.

00:46:06.800 | It doesn't appeal to me.

00:46:07.800 | The interview format to me is I don't enjoy it very much and I especially don't enjoy really the cursory interview format.

00:46:14.800 | But the market choice says it's a very popular format.

00:46:17.800 | And so I try to understand why do people like this?

00:46:20.800 | What is it about this and how can I model it?

00:46:23.800 | So my point, I won't belabor it anymore, model what other people are doing.

00:46:27.800 | If you can understand why you think – if you can understand the reason why they're doing something, model that and then focus on doing your own thing.

00:46:35.800 | The next reason why I do my show as a daily show is that in essence I have four unique show styles.

00:46:44.800 | And I couldn't choose between them nor was I willing to choose between them.

00:46:49.800 | If you look at how my show generally runs on a weekly basis, I have a short format Q&A show on Fridays.

00:46:56.800 | Short obviously being the relative word there where some answers might be 30 or 40 minutes.

00:47:03.800 | But it's essentially a short format Q&A show.

00:47:05.800 | I also have an interview show.

00:47:08.800 | Usually I'll run two interviews a week and that's kind of that back and forth with the interviews.

00:47:12.800 | I additionally have a technical financial planning show where I dig into the formal financial planning topic of some kind.

00:47:20.800 | And I have almost a unique personal finance show where I discuss some aspect of personal finance that's more personal focused and less technical.

00:47:34.800 | Now, my vision and the reason why I've pulled them all into show is primarily because I want to keep the content so varied that you're interested always in what tomorrow's show topic is going to be.

00:47:44.800 | I don't want to listen to a show that's about bond portfolio construction tactics every single day.

00:47:50.800 | I don't want to listen to discussion of minimalism every day.

00:47:54.800 | But if you give me a single feed that has all that unique content, I'll come back day after day.

00:47:58.800 | And some days I'll skip the Tuesday show and go to the Wednesday show because that fits my mood.

00:48:02.800 | And some days I'll just go straight through.

00:48:05.800 | And so that's what I'm trying to create.

00:48:07.800 | I could create four individual unique shows, but I'd rather bring them into one because it's likely that I can accomplish my purpose in that way of helping the audience.

00:48:18.800 | I might hook somebody with a discussion with Ben Falk on how to create and build an oasis in Vermont or New Hampshire, excuse me.

00:48:29.800 | I can't remember. One of those New England states.

00:48:32.800 | And that might hook somebody in or my most popular show, my urban farming show with Curtis Stone.

00:48:37.800 | I might hook somebody with that but then discuss an idea on some technical tax planning scenario that's actually going to have the more impact on their life.

00:48:46.800 | And they thought taxes were boring until I talked about taxes and then they found out, wow, here's an idea that can actually help me.

00:48:54.800 | So I couldn't choose between those shows, so I just rolled them all up into one.

00:48:59.800 | You've got to focus on your content because I am not a niche-focused show.

00:49:04.800 | One of the biggest aspects of advice that you get is have a niche-focused show.

00:49:10.800 | I don't do a niche show on urban farming, but there's space for that.

00:49:14.800 | If somebody – I would not listen to a daily show on urban farming.

00:49:18.800 | That would be a good model for maybe a weekly or biweekly type of show that's very focused.

00:49:22.800 | Because I don't want to listen to it that much.

00:49:25.800 | But finance is something that impacts every part of our lives and then there's all these interesting, unique riffs off of the central theme of finance.

00:49:35.800 | So that's why I've created it the way that I have.

00:49:38.800 | The next reason why I did a daily show is because I have to build on the strengths that I have and create some advantages which I didn't have when I started.

00:49:49.800 | When I began the show, I didn't have an audience.

00:49:52.800 | I didn't have a platform.

00:49:54.800 | I didn't have any experience and I didn't have any other content or reputation on which I could leverage my show topic.

00:50:02.800 | If you look at some of the most successful podcasts that are out there, look at the advantages that some of these hosts have.

00:50:11.800 | So let's – I've pulled up here the top.

00:50:13.800 | Let's look at the top 20 podcasts in the investing category in iTunes.

00:50:16.800 | The number one podcast right now is the Tim Ferriss Show.

00:50:19.800 | Tim Ferriss has launched a great show.

00:50:21.800 | It's very interesting.

00:50:23.800 | But he built it after years of building a platform as an author and as a blogger.

00:50:29.800 | So he had an audience that he could leverage into a new medium.

00:50:34.800 | That's fantastic.

00:50:36.800 | I didn't have that.

00:50:37.800 | So I needed something else.

00:50:40.800 | Dave Ramsey is number two.

00:50:42.800 | Dave Ramsey has a 20-year history of a well-known, well-published radio show.

00:50:50.800 | Self-Directed Investor Radio is currently number three.

00:50:53.800 | I don't know anything about that show.

00:50:54.800 | I haven't listened to it.

00:50:55.800 | Mad Money with Jim Cramer.

00:50:56.800 | Jim Cramer has years of exposure to a mainstream audience with his television show.

00:51:03.800 | Money Girl.

00:51:05.800 | Money Girl's quick and dirty tips for a richer life.

00:51:07.800 | She has got years of experience as a podcaster.

00:51:11.800 | I think her show has been around since something like 2009 if memory is right.

00:51:14.800 | I could be mistaken about that.

00:51:16.800 | But it's been around for a long time.

00:51:18.800 | So maybe not.

00:51:19.800 | Maybe that's a new one.

00:51:21.800 | The next is Suze Orman, CNBC.

00:51:23.800 | Suze Orman has years of experience and history as a broadcaster on TV.

00:51:30.800 | James Altucher is number seven.

00:51:32.800 | His show, he's got a massively popular blog, a bunch of books, quite a reputation in the investment space.

00:51:38.800 | So he has an audience that he was able to leverage.

00:51:41.800 | Bigger Pockets is number eight.

00:51:43.800 | Bigger Pockets, they've got an amazing community that they put together on real estate investing and they've got years of hard work built on that,

00:51:50.800 | built upon the written content, built upon just the community they've created.

00:51:54.800 | They had that to leverage.

00:51:55.800 | Motley Fool Money, again, years of experience creating and putting together these different years of experience

00:52:05.800 | with their community that they've put together over the years.

00:52:09.800 | Number 11 is Listen Money Matters.

00:52:12.800 | Number 12 is Money for the Rest of Us.

00:52:14.800 | So David Stein I've had on the show, he has built a great show with his content.

00:52:20.800 | He didn't have any of those experiences.

00:52:22.800 | Same thing with Listen Money Matters.

00:52:23.800 | They've created a great show with their content.

00:52:25.800 | And I'll – well, number 12, Ask Altucher, same thing, James Altucher.

00:52:29.800 | Chat with Traders, number 13, don't know anything about it.

00:52:32.800 | Number 14, American APM's Marketplace Weekend Show, and it just goes on.

00:52:37.800 | So my point is that many people who have the leading shows had something that they could leverage.

00:52:44.800 | I didn't.

00:52:46.800 | So I can either whine about that and feel sorry and have a pity party and sit around and say, "Well, I could never compete, so I'm just going to sit around and do nothing,"

00:52:54.800 | or I can focus on what I do have.

00:52:57.800 | What do I have?

00:52:59.800 | I know a lot about finance.

00:53:01.800 | I have in-depth technical knowledge that very few people have or very few people have put together.

00:53:08.800 | I have massive amounts of information that are stored up and massive amounts of ideas, of the cross-pollination of ideas that happens when you master a subject.

00:53:17.800 | So I just focus on my strengths and say, "I have the information and the ideas, so what I need to do is I need to get the information and the ideas out there to build the audience."

00:53:25.800 | It doesn't matter what anyone else is doing.

00:53:27.800 | It matters what I have.

00:53:29.800 | So I need to focus on the strengths that I have, and in our society, we often don't do this.

00:53:33.800 | We often sit around and bellyache about the strengths that other people have rather than about what we have.

00:53:38.800 | I'll never be a horse jockey.

00:53:39.800 | I'm 6'6" and I weigh over 300 pounds.

00:53:42.800 | I will never be a championship horse jockey.

00:53:45.800 | But the guy who's 5'1" and weighs 115 pounds, is it likely that he's ever going to be a professional football player?

00:53:53.800 | And we spend so much time in our society trying to equalize everybody instead of focusing on our uniqueness and bringing our unique strengths and talents to bear on a specific area and doing a little bit of thoughtful contemplation to understand what would be a good fit for me.

00:54:11.800 | So I'm playing to my strengths.

00:54:14.800 | Next, the reason I do a daily show is that I am exclusively focused – not exclusively.

00:54:21.800 | I am primarily focused on my core fans and on serving my core fans with massive value.

00:54:29.800 | When you get feedback, you need to look very carefully at who is giving you comments and feedback.

00:54:35.800 | If my wife is giving me comments and feedback, that is something I need to pay very careful attention to.

00:54:41.800 | Because there's no person in the world who knows me better than she does.

00:54:46.800 | But if some random person on the street is giving me comments and feedback, I need to pay attention.

00:54:51.800 | But I need to filter that through the source of the feedback.

00:54:55.800 | So I love online feedback.

00:54:58.800 | I read a lot of online feedback about my show and it's so helpful because people who are giving online feedback, they're unfiltered.

00:55:04.800 | They're unfiltered by the social niceties of relationship.

00:55:09.800 | So they just simply say what they think.

00:55:11.800 | And so one of the most consistent pieces of online feedback that I get is that Joshua's show has too many episodes, too much content too frequently.

00:55:19.800 | And I think about that. I factor that in.

00:55:21.800 | But just because somebody in an online forum doesn't like the format doesn't necessarily mean that I should listen to them beyond just factoring that into my decision matrix.

00:55:32.800 | After all, they're not paying me any money.

00:55:34.800 | Just because someone expresses their opinion doesn't necessarily mean that their opinion should matter to me beyond a professional, social, customary, listen to everyone because everyone is valued.

00:55:46.800 | An equivalent would be like me criticizing President Barack Obama and expecting him to listen to me.

00:55:53.800 | There's no reason in the world why Barack Obama should listen to me.

00:55:56.800 | I didn't send him any money for his election.

00:55:58.800 | I didn't vote for him.

00:56:00.800 | I'm opposed to practically everything that he does and all of his policy initiatives because they destroy my freedom and yours.

00:56:06.800 | And so he has no responsibility toward me as an individual other than some – in some kind of antiquated idealistic sense of the presidency representing all the people.

00:56:16.800 | If that ever existed, it's so far dead and gone at this point that it's a waste of time to even consider that.

00:56:21.800 | Presidents don't serve the population.

00:56:23.800 | They serve the people to get them elected.

00:56:25.800 | And it makes for good sound bites to say a president serves the general public.

00:56:30.800 | It's nonsense.

00:56:31.800 | They serve the people to get them elected.

00:56:33.800 | That's why presidents and politicians always press for compromise from their opponents rather than consensus.

00:56:39.800 | You hear this little – Joshua's little rabbit trail here.

00:56:42.800 | Never compromise on what you believe.

00:56:45.800 | Always search for consensus.

00:56:48.800 | So if somebody is actually representing a group, then what they would do is they would search for consensus of how to serve everyone in the group in the way that factors in everybody's perspectives.

00:57:01.800 | Politicians in today's age don't do that.

00:57:03.800 | They press for compromise.

00:57:04.800 | And the point behind compromise is if that – if we're trying to get to – let's say we're trying to get to five and I'm starting at ten and you're starting at one and I come down to nine and a half but I press you to come to two.

00:57:17.800 | Then I press the next one.

00:57:18.800 | I come to nine and I press you to come at three and then to eight and a half and you come to four.

00:57:22.800 | We're compromising.

00:57:24.800 | But we're not finding consensus.

00:57:26.800 | Consensus is where you step out of the me versus you and you understand the interests of all involved and you try to create a system that serves the interests of all involved.

00:57:41.800 | It's not compromise.

00:57:43.800 | I hate it when politicians compromise because if people compromise, then that means they're compromising on the beliefs.

00:57:51.800 | They're betraying the people that elected to them – excuse me, that financed their election, that voted for them.

00:57:57.800 | And this is why I'm done with large-scale national politics.

00:58:01.800 | President Obama pays attention to the people who send him money now.

00:58:06.800 | So whether that's the lobbyist, the corporate interests that he represents – and this is the same – I'm picking on Obama because he's the president.

00:58:11.800 | But whoever the next president is will be exactly the same.

00:58:14.800 | Presidents and politicians pay attention to the people who send them money and who guide their decisions.

00:58:19.800 | So for him, he has to pay attention to the corporate interests that finance him and the political parties and coalitions that give him power.

00:58:29.800 | He also at this point has to pay attention to the people who control his legacy.

00:58:34.800 | So he's focused at this stage in his presidency on how he'll be remembered.

00:58:38.800 | The elections – notice his changes in position.

00:58:40.800 | So elections are all over now.

00:58:42.800 | So instead of focusing on a centrist conciliatory positioning statement, at this point in time, he's heavily focused – this current president will be different with whoever the next one is.

00:58:51.800 | But just maybe it will be the flip side of the coin.

00:58:54.800 | But he's heavily focused at this point on focusing on all of the most progressive, most liberal ideas possible because this gets him attention.

00:59:03.800 | And it assures his high-dollar speaking engagements, his career planning post-presidency.

00:59:08.800 | It's the same for George W. Bush.

00:59:09.800 | It's the same for Bill Clinton.

00:59:11.800 | It's the same for every president.

00:59:12.800 | My point is that there's no reason in the world why Barack Obama should listen to me.

00:59:19.800 | And other than that idealistic sense, which I don't think ever existed, but if it did, it's dead and gone at this point.

00:59:25.800 | But he has to listen to the people that send him money.

00:59:27.800 | So I pay very careful attention to the names attached to feedback.

00:59:32.800 | And I listen carefully.

00:59:34.800 | I pay especially careful attention to the names of the people that send me money.

00:59:39.800 | And here's why.

00:59:42.800 | There are a few reasons.

00:59:43.800 | I listen because I want to have the money.

00:59:46.800 | After all, this is a business.

00:59:47.800 | And I want to keep them happy and I want to understand how they're thinking so that I can understand and keep them as a paying customer.

00:59:54.800 | I also especially listen because they're a very different type of listener.

01:00:01.800 | Those of you who send me money for this show, whether that's a dollar a month on Patreon or whether that's hundreds of dollars a month, you're a very different type of listener.

01:00:12.800 | And there's something I've done that has connected with you in a way that it hasn't connected with the majority of the audience.

01:00:19.800 | I need to analyze that very carefully and understand what it was and why it happened.

01:00:25.800 | Always focus on who actually buys from you and study the people that buy from you, not the ones who criticize you and don't buy.

01:00:34.800 | I'm a very bad customer for many things.

01:00:38.800 | But I'm a great customer for other things.

01:00:41.800 | And the rule of business is that your business succeeds as you serve your customers.

01:00:46.800 | Same thing on politics.

01:00:48.800 | This is another reason why I pay zero attention to national – it's not zero – why I pay little attention to national politics other than to try to judge the mood of national politics a little bit to see if it's going to impact things that are in my circle of concern.

01:01:02.800 | Notice how politicians use the strategy of paying attention to the people who are buying from them, paying them, and then voting for them.

01:01:13.800 | And so if you watch the way that politics are done in the United States of America, you have the primary cycle.

01:01:18.800 | And the politicians in the primary cycle will focus on appealing to the people that will get them through the primaries, which is usually their most hardcore camp, whether it's the hardcore conservative camp or the hardcore liberal camp.

01:01:32.800 | Then they will immediately – following the primary, they'll immediately moderate their tone and change their sales pitch.

01:01:40.800 | Just listen whenever the next election cycle – it's going now, but just listen to the next presidential election cycle to the news commentators and focus on how they say, "Well, now, candidate so-and-so needs to moderate his tone on this position to appeal to this other segment of the audience."

01:01:54.800 | So for me, that's why I'm done with politics.

01:01:59.800 | You can't fool me anymore.

01:02:00.800 | What does the aphorism say?

01:02:01.800 | Fool me once, shame on you.

01:02:02.800 | Fool me twice, shame on me.

01:02:03.800 | I've been fooled twice.

01:02:04.800 | I'm not a fool anymore.

01:02:07.800 | I voted in two national presidential elections before I saw through the sham and done with it.

01:02:11.800 | So let me get off politics because that's one of the things that generally doesn't serve my core audience versus focusing on things that you can actually use.

01:02:19.800 | So the key is notice who you're getting the feedback from and focus on bringing them in.

01:02:26.800 | Focus on serving them.

01:02:28.800 | Now, that doesn't mean you have to be a pushover for those people.

01:02:32.800 | So, for example, I know for a fact based upon the communication that I receive that many of the people who send me money don't agree with me on many things.

01:02:41.800 | But they send me money because they like the way that I express myself.

01:02:45.800 | Now, I've built that as positioning for myself.

01:02:48.800 | I decided when I started the show that I would never compromise on what I believed, that I will always speak in a straightforward, clearly understood manner, that I would never shade around the truth and that I would never kind of bumble around.

01:03:00.800 | That I would always be humble about this is my thoughts and my opinion and that I would always try to support it with logic and reason to equip other people.

01:03:08.800 | That was my positioning from the beginning.

01:03:10.800 | And so naturally, the people that pay me money, they appreciate that.

01:03:14.800 | They value that and they're showing their value with their financial support.

01:03:19.800 | So, when I pay attention to my core fans, one of the things that I find about my core fans who send me money is they are consistently listening to my shows on a daily basis.

01:03:33.800 | That's very different than somebody expressing themselves anonymously in a forum saying, "I like it, but it's just not enough."

01:03:41.800 | Remember this if you're starting a show or starting any type of content.

01:03:45.800 | I don't care how much entertainment news puts out there – content puts out, they put out.

01:03:52.800 | I don't care how many shows on ESPN are about sports.

01:03:55.800 | I don't care a bit about sports and I don't care a bit about the entertainment industry.

01:03:59.800 | So, whether or not they put out one show a day or whether they put out five shows a day doesn't matter to me because I don't watch any of the shows.

01:04:07.800 | The majority of the most popular podcasts, I don't listen to any of their content.

01:04:11.800 | But if I'm focused on a topic, I want as much content as I can get.

01:04:17.800 | So, that's why I've made the choice that I've made.

01:04:21.800 | Next reason is I am focused on bringing in new audiences in addition to the past audience.

01:04:29.800 | So, I've got to balance serving the core current audience with a great show and also reach out and attract new audience members.

01:04:38.800 | And so, one of the strategies of having the daily content is it allows me to cover many more interesting topics and potentially attract a broader base of potential listeners into my funnel.

01:04:51.800 | The diverse topics are first and foremost good for daily listening.

01:04:55.800 | That's the most important thing and that's what I wish I had.

01:04:58.800 | But built on that foundation of strength, they're also good for attracting new listeners to the show.

01:05:06.800 | People search Google. People search iTunes.

01:05:09.800 | And my show shows up in those depending on the relevance of my contents.

01:05:14.800 | So, each show topic has the potential to attract to me a new audience.

01:05:20.800 | The most popular show so far has little to do with finance.

01:05:24.800 | It was my Curtis Stone urban farming show.

01:05:27.800 | That show has been downloaded almost 20 – it's like 18,000 times, something like that.

01:05:31.800 | Very popular show.

01:05:33.800 | But that's not my core content.

01:05:35.800 | And very few of those people who listen to that show have stuck around.

01:05:40.800 | But some of them have.

01:05:42.800 | And so, as you're building an audience, that's the benefit of having such a diverse variety of shows.

01:05:48.800 | If I were doing a once a week show, how on earth would I have ever gotten to the point of being able to actually cover something as niche as urban farming when there's so much mainstream personal finance stuff that needs to be covered?

01:06:03.800 | But yet I've picked up listeners from that.

01:06:06.800 | So, the diverse show topics, whether it's – again, minimalism, urban farming, survivalism, tax planning, IRAs, covered LESAs, 529s, wherever someone gets an inroad, that's a potential listener.

01:06:19.800 | A download of the show is not a listener.

01:06:22.800 | That's just one time they consumed content and went on their way.

01:06:25.800 | But the key for a show like mine is having a consistent audience that knows me, likes me, trusts me, and listens to me.

01:06:32.800 | The other aspect is in addition to having the diverse show content where I have many more opportunities to provide that kind of content with a daily show, I also have the interviews.

01:06:42.800 | And so one of the advantages of interviews is that each time I do an interview, I have the potential to reach a new potential audience and attract some of my interviewees' listeners to my show.

01:06:56.800 | I get bored by – I don't listen to any interview-only shows.

01:07:00.800 | I find interviews to be difficult to be done well.

01:07:06.800 | So I don't listen to Terry Gross' show Fresh Air.

01:07:08.800 | I don't even know if it's still on.

01:07:09.800 | But for years that would be a very popular interview show.

01:07:11.800 | I listen to every now and then.

01:07:12.800 | I don't listen to many of the interview shows that are out there on podcasts.

01:07:15.800 | But I do think interviews are valuable if they're around a central theme.

01:07:20.800 | If I find a podcast with interview shows and host-only shows, I'm more likely to skip the interview shows and go straight to the host shows.

01:07:29.800 | So if I were doing a once-a-week show, I wouldn't have any interviews on the show.

01:07:34.800 | It would always be the host.

01:07:35.800 | But by doing five episodes per week, three of which are me and two of which are interviews, I have the potential to bring new and interesting people to you, the audience, which serves you, which is the reason why I bring on interviewees.

01:07:49.800 | And I also have the potential to be exposed to their audiences and there might be some synergy between their audience and me.

01:07:58.800 | So this is one of those win-win scenarios.

01:08:01.800 | It's good for you.

01:08:02.800 | It exposes you to people and I have no interest in duplicating something that someone else has already done well.

01:08:06.800 | For example, I brought recently Nick Loper on.

01:08:08.800 | Nick has the Side Hustle Nation show.

01:08:10.800 | I don't want to do a show on side hustles, side jobs that you can do and ways that you can make money on the side.

01:08:18.800 | But I know that many of you need that as a resource.

01:08:20.800 | So I go out, I find Nick, make the introduction, and I get out of the way.

01:08:24.800 | And if those of you who need that resource, now you know about the Side Hustle Nation show and you can go and listen to that.

01:08:30.800 | So two interviews per week feels like a good fit for me.

01:08:33.800 | But if I did a show less frequently, I would probably not be able to do any interviews and I do pick up listeners from that.

01:08:39.800 | Next, I'm focused on the financial productivity of the show.

01:08:44.800 | And there's a few aspects of financial productivity.

01:08:48.800 | But from the beginning, this show is – can be financially productive in a number of ways.

01:08:54.800 | And this is intended to be for me a transition to a new business that I really want to have.

01:09:01.800 | So right now I'm working with this Patreon campaign.

01:09:06.800 | And the Patreon campaign is going to be going incredibly well.

01:09:09.800 | The reality is, however, Patreon probably should not work for the support of the show.

01:09:17.800 | If you go and do research on the most popular shows and you figure out their Patreon subscriptions,

01:09:23.800 | one of the things that you find is that the conversion of a listener of an audience to a supporter of a show for most Patreon campaigns is incredibly tiny.

01:09:37.800 | It's basically – if you look at the numbers, it's probably about one patron for every 3,000 subscribers or about a 0.03% conversion rate if you go and you look at the medium.

01:09:51.800 | So YouTube subscribers – and this is the one that's easiest because you can see how many YouTube subscribers.

01:09:56.800 | And you count the number of popular YouTube channels that have a certain number of YouTube subscribers and you convert them to the number of individual Patreon supporters.

01:10:05.800 | What you find is about 0.03%.

01:10:11.800 | So for every 3,000 subscribers, you should have one patron.

01:10:14.800 | That's what most people are having.

01:10:15.800 | Now, my show is very different.

01:10:17.800 | As of today, March 13, on the Patreon page, we have $1,001 per month of revenue and there are a total of 73 patrons.

01:10:25.800 | My show has probably about 3,500 subscribers.

01:10:29.800 | It's hard to measure that number exactly but probably about 3,500 consistent daily subscribers.

01:10:35.800 | The minimum download number for any individual show right now is about 3,000 and many shows are far in excess of 4,000 and some shows are much more than that depending on the topic.

01:10:45.800 | But again, just because somebody downloads my show doesn't mean they're a regular listener of the show.

01:10:49.800 | So it would be unusual for somebody who just downloads a show to actually support the show.

01:10:54.800 | But a regular listener would choose because they have a relationship.

01:10:57.800 | Now, if you look at my Patreon supporters and you compare 73 patrons versus 3,000 regular listeners, that's about 2.5% of my audience.

01:11:10.800 | But remember that I do still have the original patron or irregulars program that operates and so there are essentially about 80 people involved in that.

01:11:19.800 | So if you add 70 to 80, what you find is 150 into 3,000.

01:11:25.800 | That comes out to 5% of my audience.

01:11:28.800 | So if the normal Patreon subscription audience is 0.03% and I have 5% of the audience that is supporting my show financially, that's a much bigger difference.

01:11:39.800 | And I'm convinced it's because there's a much closer bond between me and you because of the format of the show, because of the fact that I'm here for you every day.

01:11:51.800 | If I were only doing a weekly show, I would be one among many.

01:11:55.800 | But for some of you, I'm the only show that you listen to and that's one of my goals.

01:11:59.800 | Because then because I'm the only show that you listen to and you consume on average say 20 plus hours of content per month, then that utilizes a sense of reciprocity and you feel like, "You know what? Joshua has given me a lot.

01:12:15.800 | I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to send him some money in exchange and say thank you for that."

01:12:20.800 | Now these Patreon numbers might change in the future as people get used to supporting content creators directly.

01:12:27.800 | But at the moment, the metrics of my show as compared to other shows is very different and I'm convinced one of the big reasons for that is the format.

01:12:36.800 | So that's super valuable.

01:12:39.800 | 5% is a high and from my research is a high number.

01:12:44.800 | Now it's not as high as we need it to be in order to avoid advertising.

01:12:48.800 | I think we can get there. I really do.

01:12:50.800 | We've made great progress on the show so far and I would ask you if you benefit from the content, go to RadicalPersonalFinance.com/patron.

01:12:56.800 | If we can get the show to $6,000 a month of contributions on Patreon, by June 1, 2015, I will keep the show ad-free.

01:13:04.800 | Now if we can't, then I'll have to bring ads on which brings me to the second aspect of financial productivity of the show.

01:13:10.800 | That's advertising.

01:13:11.800 | So here is how essentially advertising rates work if we're focused on what they call a CPM model, cost per thousand model.

01:13:20.800 | This is how rates, advertising rates are generally figured out if you're advertising in print or on radio or on podcasting.

01:13:26.800 | Let's use the most successful and widely heard person here is John Lee Dumas who has basically taken on the mantle of the leader of the podcast industry with regard to financial productivity of the show.

01:13:38.800 | So John talks about his advertising rates and what he says – what he has declared to be the industry standard is $43 per show per 1,000 listeners.

01:13:50.800 | And he splits that out into $13 for what they call the pre-roll and the little 15-second thing that you'll hear someone do at the beginning of a show and then $30 for the mid-roll where you do a one-minute spot in the middle of the show.

01:14:02.800 | So that's his number.

01:14:03.800 | Is that the industry standard?

01:14:04.800 | I don't know.

01:14:05.800 | It could be negotiated substantially higher and substantially lower depending on whatever it is.

01:14:09.800 | But let's just use that as a publicized rate that he has publicized that he says should be focused on.

01:14:14.800 | So right now, each episode of the show gets a minimum of 3,000 downloads and some episodes are many, many more.

01:14:20.800 | But let's use the math on that.

01:14:21.800 | If I did one show per week, it comes out to four shows per month.

01:14:26.800 | And if I take $43 and multiply $43 times three because that's $43 per 1,000 listeners and I've got 3,000 guaranteed – well, not guaranteed but about 3,000, at least 3,000 listeners, that comes – 43 times three is $129 times four per month is a total of $516 per month.

01:14:47.800 | Now, if I were to accept two advertisers per show, that would bring me to a total of $1,032 per month.

01:14:54.800 | Now, if you flip that around and you go with my model, which is 20 shows per month, well, now take 20 shows, multiply it times $43.

01:15:05.800 | So 20 times 43 is $860.

01:15:09.800 | Multiply that times – hold on.

01:15:14.800 | I'm messing up my math.

01:15:15.800 | Let's do it the other way.

01:15:16.800 | So we've got $43 per show times three for 3,000 listeners.

01:15:21.800 | That's $129 per show times 20 shows per month is $2,580 times two advertisers per show comes out to be $5,160 of monthly revenue for advertising.

01:15:35.800 | So at this point in time, if I chose to take sponsors, I could guarantee – and since most of the shows are higher than 3,000, I could probably go higher than that.

01:15:45.800 | I could pretty much just by taking on any random advertiser on the show, I could create $5,160 per month of gross revenue on my 20 shows per month,

01:15:56.800 | which incidentally is why our target for the Patreon campaign is $6,000 per month because the actual rate is a little bit higher.

01:16:03.800 | If I can do it with Patreon, I would prefer to do that.

01:16:06.800 | But there is a financial reality of how do I actually structure this in a way that I can continue doing it.

01:16:12.800 | So advertising is a time-tested model.

01:16:15.800 | That's the reason why even though everyone hates it on their TV and they flip past the ads and everyone hates it on the radio,

01:16:21.800 | advertising is the time-tested model and everyone is trying to figure out other ways to do it.

01:16:25.800 | But it's a model.

01:16:27.800 | So just by having 20 shows per month instead of four shows per month, I go from $1,000 a month of revenue to $5,000 a month of revenue.

01:16:35.800 | That's a big deal from a business perspective.

01:16:38.800 | That's a big deal.

01:16:40.800 | And so again, I do this because it's the goal of building a long-term business that I love and it's a lifestyle business that I want to do and that I want to have.

01:16:49.800 | If I use other forms of monetizing a show like this, if I sold anything based upon affiliate commissions, as an example, recommending to you products and services that I use – I haven't done that.

01:16:58.800 | Not that I won't, but I haven't.

01:17:00.800 | Then if I'm reminding you every day about an affiliate product, something that I'm using and selling, there's a massive additional reach with that daily content.

01:17:10.800 | Or if even in my own products, if I create my own products and courses and sell you those and I'm here reminding you about those every day, that's much, much more powerful.

01:17:19.800 | And one of the rules in sales is for most sales, you have to have many, many, many contacts with a customer before they actually choose to buy.

01:17:27.800 | And so simply by increasing the frequency from weekly to daily, I'm taking advantage of that benefit.

01:17:33.800 | When you start to stack these benefits together, you can see why I made the decision that I made.

01:17:38.800 | It's powerful when you start stacking it together.

01:17:42.800 | Now, last couple ones here.

01:17:45.800 | The show is longer than I intended, but I think these are important and I hope it helps you because you can take these and apply it to your business.

01:17:53.800 | I'm simply creating the job that I want to have even if the podcast fails and I'm testing it.

01:17:58.800 | I always liked listening to talk radio and I always thought that would be fun to do.

01:18:02.800 | For some reason, I was one of those.

01:18:03.800 | When I listened to radio, I would identify with the host and I would think I could do that.

01:18:08.800 | I also have always enjoyed finance.

01:18:10.800 | So I'd enjoy talking about many things, but I do have a unique skill set and background in finance that qualifies me for talking about this.

01:18:17.800 | So I'm basically creating the job that I want to have.

01:18:20.800 | I love James Altucher's turn of phrase that he coined in his book Choose Yourself, and I'm simply doing that.

01:18:27.800 | I'm choosing and creating what I want to see exist.

01:18:30.800 | Now, I do see that radio is on the decline and the competition there is fierce, and because it's a much more professional market, it's much more difficult for someone in that market to compete.

01:18:40.800 | But today I feel confident that I could if I want to or if I need to.

01:18:45.800 | I could go and I could create a radio show.

01:18:47.800 | And so if nothing else, then this show is basically a resume for a radio job, if not a proving ground.

01:18:58.800 | It's a way for me to have tested the career without committing myself big time.

01:19:03.800 | And I have a core operating principle, which is test quickly and fail quickly.

01:19:07.800 | Try something.

01:19:08.800 | If you have an idea, try it.

01:19:09.800 | Test it as quickly as possible and give it the opportunity to either succeed or to fail in the marketplace.

01:19:15.800 | And so for me, I've been testing the potential of a financial broadcasting career with this podcast.

01:19:23.800 | And if nothing else, I've created a massive resume.

01:19:27.800 | So even if I can never make the show work and I have to give up my independence and autonomy, I could approach – on this basis, I could approach a media empire.

01:19:37.800 | And I'm not applying – the advice I give on jobs, I'm not applying for a job that's been created.

01:19:41.800 | I'm creating a job and saying, "Look, here are my qualifications for it.

01:19:46.800 | Now, based upon these qualifications, here's the job I want."

01:19:51.800 | And I'm building the job for myself.

01:19:54.800 | And I've built all kinds of fallback plans even with this project.

01:19:58.800 | Now, time will tell if it works or not.

01:20:00.800 | But I've built a much greater degree, almost – it's not absolute, but it's almost an absolute employment security if I want it.

01:20:07.800 | Job security is a thing of the past.

01:20:10.800 | Employment security, on the other hand, is something that you can still control by being highly sought after and well-publicized.

01:20:19.800 | You can't control job security, but you can control employment security.

01:20:23.800 | And so if nothing else, in this program, if it died today, it's been a year-long project of me creating a resume of a transition plan.

01:20:32.800 | Last reason – excuse me, two more reasons that I am focused on this.

01:20:39.800 | I'm enjoying new approaches and experimenting with the format of the show and with basically everything is we're in a very new phase of a different type of media.

01:20:52.800 | And so I'm experimenting with that, and I want to try different things and see what works and what doesn't.

01:20:57.800 | I'm about done with iTunes and doing things the way that other people do it.

01:21:01.800 | iTunes is still a massive player, and the majority of any podcast's downloads usually will come from iTunes.

01:21:07.800 | But the iTunes marketplace is crowded and it's manipulated.

01:21:11.800 | So people have cracked the code on iTunes, and now we teach people how to crack the code.

01:21:17.800 | And so every new show is following the same format along the way, and it's very crowded.

01:21:21.800 | And by the way, business tip.

01:21:23.800 | When a channel is crowded, either be the best in that channel so that you stand out or go where there's not a crowd.

01:21:28.800 | And so I'm focused right now on both.

01:21:31.800 | I'm trying and working to be the best in the iTunes channel, but I'm going elsewhere too, and I'm working on other channels.

01:21:38.800 | I don't like the manipulation of iTunes, and I'm not saying that it's wrong, but that's not how I want to do business.

01:21:44.800 | You can't trust any longer the number of reviews that are on a show or the quality of those reviews.

01:21:49.800 | You can't trust it because today reviews can be bought, listeners can be bought,

01:21:55.800 | and you have no way to actually assess the core quality of a show based upon that content.

01:22:01.800 | So I don't trust them anymore.

01:22:02.800 | Now, I haven't bought any of them, which is why my show is compared to the listener base of other shows

01:22:06.800 | and compared to the number of reviews and subscribers and things like that, has much less.

01:22:09.800 | Because for me, I don't care about the marketplace.

01:22:13.800 | I care about the audience.

01:22:16.800 | And this is, again, where it's more important for me to pay attention to the people that are sending me money if I'm going to do business differently.

01:22:24.800 | I despise much of the way that business is done, and so I've got to be an example of doing it differently.

01:22:29.800 | So I trust the reviews that you, the audience, leave me because it's feedback.

01:22:33.800 | I also trust my email.

01:22:35.800 | Almost every improvement that I've made in the show has come from listener email.

01:22:38.800 | People said, "Joshua, too long, too rambling." Improved it.

01:22:41.800 | "Too much talk about the show and not enough content."

01:22:43.800 | It was a great email that I got specifically.

01:22:45.800 | I don't remember the name of the listener, but he said, "Joshua, love the show.

01:22:48.800 | Too much talk about making the sausage and not enough sausage."

01:22:51.800 | Thank you for whoever that was of you that said that.

01:22:54.800 | I said, "Yeah, you're right. You're right."

01:22:55.800 | Doing these 10-minute monologues at the beginning of the show, that needs to change.

01:22:58.800 | Even ideas on monetization have come from listeners saying, "Write a book. Create this product. Do Patreon.

01:23:03.800 | They send me ideas. You guys send me ideas all the time and keep them coming. They're so helpful."

01:23:06.800 | Because based upon you, the audience, that's what I actually need.

01:23:11.800 | And so what happens is people often have this short-term focus with the podcast about gaming iTunes.

01:23:16.800 | And instead of creating an audience, you're creating a sensation.

01:23:19.800 | And then when the sensation becomes too much work and you don't have something that lasts, what are you left with?

01:23:26.800 | Not much.

01:23:27.800 | Build an audience and focus on the long-term.

01:23:30.800 | Then you won't worry about the sensation and you'll be the one who endures.

01:23:34.800 | It's not hard to find great starters.

01:23:38.800 | It's hard to find great finishers.

01:23:41.800 | Look at any industry.

01:23:43.800 | Look at the broadcast industry.

01:23:45.800 | Look at the podcast industry.

01:23:47.800 | There are many people with more talent than the leaders in the field.

01:23:51.800 | There are many people with more natural ability, with more things going for them than the leaders in any field.

01:23:56.800 | And yet the leaders of the field, they have some talent.

01:24:00.800 | They have some things going for them.

01:24:01.800 | But generally, they just simply have the ability to outlast.

01:24:06.800 | But in our microwave culture, we don't focus on that.

01:24:10.800 | We don't talk about that and we don't respect that.

01:24:13.800 | We focus on quick wins, short things, and this is a disaster.

01:24:18.800 | Focus on being durable and outlasting.

01:24:23.800 | When I started, I was too focused on the numbers, and that's normal.

01:24:30.800 | There was the joke.

01:24:31.800 | It was the joke of the Financial Bloggers Conference last year, FinCon.

01:24:33.800 | It was like, "I check my stats like every day," and I started on that.

01:24:35.800 | I checked my stats every day, and that's normal, right?

01:24:38.800 | We're all going to do that.

01:24:39.800 | I'm not saying that's wrong.

01:24:40.800 | But at this point, I'm done.

01:24:41.800 | I don't care.

01:24:43.800 | I'm listening to the audience and letting the audience guide me where to go.

01:24:46.800 | And there's a transition that happens.

01:24:49.800 | At the beginning, you've got to gather an audience.

01:24:51.800 | But then once you gather an audience, listen and focus on where they want you to go.

01:24:55.800 | So now I'm spending far more time in my email and in our Facebook group,

01:24:58.800 | our private irregulars Facebook group, listening and responding.

01:25:02.800 | And the emails I'm getting from you guys are incredibly humbling, and that's what matters to me.

01:25:06.800 | That's what matters.

01:25:08.800 | So I'll experiment with the format in the future.

01:25:10.800 | And so the key is nothing is set in stone.

01:25:13.800 | At this stage, I'm focused on creating a broad and deep body of content.

01:25:18.800 | But I might change that in the future.

01:25:20.800 | I might need to or want to change from the five-day-a-week format I'm doing to a different format.

01:25:25.800 | And if I change, will I lose listeners?

01:25:27.800 | Probably.

01:25:29.800 | But that's okay.

01:25:30.800 | I'll have to experiment with things.

01:25:31.800 | We're still in just such the beginning stages that don't commit to something that is long--that is saying,

01:25:37.800 | "This is where you're always where you're going to be."

01:25:40.800 | I understand where I am in the phase of my business, and I'm enjoying the startup process.

01:25:45.800 | This is fun.

01:25:46.800 | I'm out there in the marketplace, and it's fun.

01:25:49.800 | It's fun to compete.

01:25:50.800 | Business is fun.

01:25:51.800 | Entrepreneurship is fun because it brings those juices of competition that so many people have,

01:26:00.800 | and it brings a meaningful impact for them.

01:26:04.800 | I'm not a sports guy.

01:26:05.800 | I have little interest in sports.

01:26:09.800 | But I notice that many people have a competitive nature around sports.

01:26:13.800 | Well, what happens?

01:26:14.800 | People take this competitive nature.

01:26:15.800 | They think the only way that it can be expressed is in sports.

01:26:18.800 | We have a culture that is this unique mixture of applauding business and entrepreneurship and thrift and creating things.

01:26:28.800 | That's a historical artifact.

01:26:30.800 | But yet everything in our culture seems pressed against that.

01:26:33.800 | It's very unusual for somebody in our current day to matriculate through the government school system

01:26:40.800 | and have a deep love and inspiration of entrepreneurship.

01:26:45.800 | People generally view business as bad, money as evil.

01:26:48.800 | I need to get a good job.

01:26:49.800 | I need to get a safe job.

01:26:50.800 | Now the market is responding and illustrating that that's not the case, and so people are forced to do something different.

01:26:56.800 | But for me, this is fun.

01:26:57.800 | Business is fun.

01:26:58.800 | And even just the joy and the pain of the startup, of the bootlegging everything and bartering here and too much to do, it's a challenge.

01:27:09.800 | I don't need more pleasure.

01:27:10.800 | I enjoy the challenge, and that's what I think all of us do.

01:27:13.800 | I've had more fun doing this than most other things, and it's certainly challenging.

01:27:19.800 | It's certainly tiring, but it's fun.

01:27:21.800 | I'm painting a picture as I see it.

01:27:23.800 | I'm creating a cumulative body of work that I know is helping people.

01:27:27.800 | I'm building a legacy, something that matters, something that I care about.

01:27:31.800 | Now, am I the best in the world at it?

01:27:33.800 | No, I'm not.

01:27:34.800 | Do I care?

01:27:35.800 | I don't.

01:27:36.800 | I can't control whether I'm the best in the world at it.

01:27:39.800 | I can only control how good I am based upon my skill and my hard work and my capacity, and it's the same for you.

01:27:48.800 | Competing with somebody else who has different advantages is a waste of time, but competing with yourself is thrilling.

01:27:58.800 | So my encouragement to you as I wrap up here is take these things and apply them to your own business and to your own endeavors in your own life.

01:28:08.800 | Paint a vision of what you're trying to do.

01:28:10.800 | Figure out best as you can what skills you have.

01:28:14.800 | Figure out what your unique selling proposition is.

01:28:18.800 | Figure out what you might be able to do that can stand out from the competition.

01:28:22.800 | Figure out who are your customers, the people that you actually need to be listening to.

01:28:27.800 | Figure out how can you serve them, how can you learn from others and study others but not necessarily copy them.

01:28:33.800 | Remember, model, don't copy.

01:28:35.800 | And how can you focus on your strengths rather than your weaknesses?

01:28:39.800 | And probably the last one, how can you choose yourself and choose your career?

01:28:44.800 | We live in a world of opportunity that has never existed in the history of mankind.

01:28:49.800 | If you've not read Alterer's book, read it.

01:28:51.800 | It's called Choose Yourself, something like the Guide to the New Economy or something like that, but choose yourself.

01:28:56.800 | More than any time in history, you can create something unique, but you got to have an idea of how to approach it.

01:29:08.800 | And focus on what you can do, not on what I can do.

01:29:11.800 | There are many, many other things that I would love to do more than what I'm doing now, like things in addition to what I'm doing now.

01:29:17.800 | I'd like to do TV. I'd like to do radio. I'd like to do YouTube. I'd like to do print.

01:29:20.800 | I'd like to create more products. I'd like to create seminars and courses.

01:29:22.800 | I'm not there yet.

01:29:24.800 | I haven't developed the resources or the capacity or the staff, but I'm focused on what I can do.

01:29:30.800 | And as I continue, I'll build and expand my resources and expand my capacity to do all that other stuff.

01:29:37.800 | So the reason I created this show is I want you to understand that my format is not my magic.

01:29:45.800 | My format is just simply a way of me working through all of these difficult business questions of saying, "I think this has of anything.

01:29:54.800 | I think this has the best probability of success."

01:29:56.800 | There's no certainty of success, but I think this has the best probability of success, and this is something that I can do.

01:30:03.800 | But you may not be able to, and you might have different goals.

01:30:07.800 | You might have a different positioning to take.

01:30:10.800 | So learn from what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. Apply it personally.

01:30:14.800 | My format will change in the future.

01:30:16.800 | This week I've been working on a new website all week, and that has just been exhausting to try to figure out, something I've never done, not good at it at all.

01:30:23.800 | So I needed to clear my schedule. So I cleared the schedule, played reruns of other interviews.

01:30:27.800 | In the future, I'll have other projects that I need to pursue, and I'm sure at that point I will change and reduce the number of shows because I'm not married to the format.

01:30:36.800 | I have reasons why I'm doing the format, but then the reason of saying, "I've got to get the website updated because it's embarrassing," or, "I've got to get this other thing updated," that takes priority.

01:30:45.800 | At some point, I'll probably take a vacation.

01:30:47.800 | I probably won't leave you with shows behind because that's hard to do.

01:30:50.800 | And I'll do my best to keep bringing you shows every day, but I miss it.

01:30:54.800 | I won't always be able to. I miss days, and that's okay because the key is not the format.

01:30:59.800 | The key is me having a goal of why I'm doing it and then working on putting it through.

01:31:05.800 | And here's the bit most important thing. Here's my commitment.

01:31:08.800 | If I don't have something worth saying, I'm not going to say it.

01:31:14.800 | I'm not going to waste your time.

01:31:16.800 | If I don't have something that's worth your time, that's it. No show.

01:31:21.800 | And if I'm not prepared to deliver a show to at least a level that I believe is acceptable, I'm not committed to perfection.

01:31:27.800 | I can't do what – I'm amazed at what Alex Bloomberg with his style, this – I'll call it this American lifestyle of storytelling.

01:31:37.800 | Those guys are incredible, incredible at their craft.

01:31:41.800 | I spent some time on their – what's the site? I can't remember the name of it, but there's a site that's dedicated to that type of storytelling.

01:31:49.800 | And I am amazed at their ability. It is fascinating.

01:31:54.800 | They've taken decades to hone that. It's incredible.

01:31:58.800 | But I can't do that. So I'm not saying I've got to create everything in that narrative storytelling format.

01:32:04.800 | They are world-class craftsmen. It's incredible what they do.

01:32:09.800 | But it's not a good fit for my format.

01:32:11.800 | But if I'm at least not prepared to deliver something that I believe is going to be impactful and useful and actionable,

01:32:17.800 | I'm not going to waste your time with it.

01:32:20.800 | Thankfully, I don't have advertisers that I've made a contract with that have got to do with something done.

01:32:27.800 | I'm not sure if I've ever actually committed to doing a show every day or not.

01:32:30.800 | I've said it as a general expectation, but I'm not – in my mind, I'm not committed to releasing a show every day.

01:32:36.800 | Rather, I'm committed to creating a high-quality show that benefits you.

01:32:41.800 | And I'm committed to working towards that on a weekly schedule of Monday through Friday.

01:32:47.800 | My commitment is to you, the audience, to bring you ideas worth hearing in a manner that's prepared well and presented well such that you can assimilate it and learn from it.

01:32:59.800 | That's my brand. That's the brand. That's the niche. That's the positioning that I want to hold.

01:33:08.800 | I'm not doing a show every day. If I don't have a topic or idea worth presenting, I'm not doing a show.

01:33:12.800 | If I don't have a quality presentation prepared, I'm not doing a show because that would be the violation of my brand and my positioning, and I won't do it.

01:33:20.800 | Don't violate the trust of your audience with bad content, bad advertisers, bad affiliates, any of that stuff if you want your business to last.

01:33:29.800 | Trust is – it's quickly broken and it's slowly built, so be careful.

01:33:35.800 | Don't let that keep you from going out and making mistakes. I've made mistakes and I'm sure I'll make more.

01:33:40.800 | I can't stand it when somebody listens to some of the early shows, but that's okay.

01:33:44.800 | I'm leaving them there because I'm doing two things. I'm teaching with words and I'm leading by example.

01:33:53.800 | We all make mistakes. I regret some of the shows that have gotten out of hand.

01:33:57.800 | I regret the length of some of the shows. It's embarrassing to me.

01:34:00.800 | But you know what? That's life and it's more important to me to be transparent and consistent than it is to appear perfect.

01:34:08.800 | I can learn and grow. I can focus on keeping your trust.

01:34:13.800 | I hope this has been helpful to you and even today's show is longer than I intended, but I feel strongly about the content.

01:34:21.800 | I feel really passionate about the content because I guess this world of new media advice, there's so much out there.

01:34:30.800 | It's not that it's wrong. It's just that we don't have the filtering mechanisms developed, many of us.

01:34:37.800 | Who knows? You judge for yourself. Maybe I'm completely wrong.

01:34:39.800 | But we don't have the filtering mechanisms or the critical thinking methods to be able to actually understand why somebody is giving the advice.

01:34:48.800 | Advice might be useful, but it's far more useful to understand why somebody is giving the advice.

01:34:54.800 | And even just recently, I've had various connections with people.

01:34:58.800 | A short story, it's got to be short because I've got a minute and 30 seconds left, but a short story.

01:35:04.800 | I was with a prospective podcaster and this podcaster said, "I'm not releasing my show because I've got all these pre-recorded episodes,

01:35:11.800 | but I'm not releasing my show because I know that I can't commit to having it out weekly."

01:35:15.800 | Who cares about having it out weekly if you're not doing anything?

01:35:19.800 | Yes, consistency and regularity is important, but the most important thing is to have a show out there.

01:35:24.800 | And frankly, I have no idea when the majority of the shows that I listen to release their content

01:35:28.800 | because I don't consume content in the way that some people do.

01:35:32.800 | I consume content based upon my mood.

01:35:34.800 | So I might search out a learning show and I might search out an entertainment show

01:35:38.800 | and I might search out just a fluff show that's background noise.

01:35:41.800 | So the key I think is sketch out your own business plan.

01:35:45.800 | I've shared with you every detail that I can think of with mine in hopes of teaching you and helping you

01:35:51.800 | and helping some new podcasters.

01:35:53.800 | I wish – same thing like I'm creating the show that I wish existed when I was 15 years old.

01:35:57.800 | I wish this show had existed two years ago when I was considering starting a podcast because it would have helped me a lot.

01:36:04.800 | So it's a brand new world.

01:36:06.800 | There is a world of opportunity sitting out there waiting for us.

01:36:09.800 | Don't sit around and miss it.

01:36:11.800 | Whatever this is, take these ideas, take this way of thinking, apply it to your own business, and I hope that's helpful.

01:36:16.800 | Thank you to each and every one of you who is making this possible for me to continue doing

01:36:20.800 | on a long-term basis with the Patreon campaign.

01:36:22.800 | If you would consider supporting the show, I would really appreciate it.

01:36:27.800 | Go to RadicalPersonalFinance.com/patron and you'll see all those details there, and I can't thank you enough.

01:36:34.800 | Have an awesome weekend, everybody. I'll be back with you next week.

01:36:37.800 | Thank you for listening to today's show.

01:36:39.800 | If you'd like to contact me personally, my email address is Joshua@RadicalPersonalFinance.com.

01:36:46.800 | You can also connect with the show on Twitter @RadicalPF and at Facebook.com/RadicalPersonalFinance.

01:36:53.800 | This show is intended to provide entertainment, education, and financial enlightenment.

01:37:01.800 | But your situation is unique, and I cannot deliver any actionable advice without knowing anything about you.

01:37:09.800 | Please, develop a team of professional advisors who you find to be caring, competent, and trustworthy,

01:37:18.800 | and consult them because they are the ones who can understand your specific needs, your specific goals,

01:37:26.800 | and provide specific answers to your questions.

01:37:30.800 | I've done my absolute best to be clear and accurate in today's show, but I'm one person and I make mistakes.

01:37:37.800 | If you spot a mistake in something I've said, please help me by coming to the show page and commenting,

01:37:43.800 | so we can all learn together.

01:37:45.800 | Until tomorrow, thanks for being here.

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01:38:14.800 | [MUSIC PLAYING]

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