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Choose from a great selection of digital coupons and use them up to five times in one transaction. Check our app for details. Ralph's, fresh for everyone. Radical Personal Finance, episode 45. Welcome to the Radical Personal Finance podcast, episode 45 for today, Thursday, August 21, 2014. I am thrilled to be back with you today.

I'm going to be sharing with you some lessons from the Podcast Movement Conference, which I attended this last weekend, which will be beyond podcasting. I'm going to give you some information that I think you'll enjoy applying to your own life and the conferences that you attend, and also some updates on the show.

I hope you enjoy. Thrilled to be back with you today on Thursday. I was away from the mic for two days, and that's the first two days that I haven't recorded shows. I was on the road those two days, both days, and I thought about recording a show, but I decided just to go ahead and wait until I got back, just to give myself a little bit of a break.

Then I was interested to see if I would get any feedback from the audience about missing shows. I'll share that more with you at the end of today's show. Today, I'm going to share with you some information that I learned from the Podcast Movement Conference this last weekend that I attended in Austin, Texas.

Again, as I said just a moment ago, this is going to be beyond just what I learned, but also some thoughts that I think will be helpful to you when you attend conferences, I hope. I first heard about the Podcast Movement Conference only about a month or so ago.

Maybe it was a month and a half, I'm not sure. This was the first year that the conference was ever put on. What I learned about the story of the conference was really interesting. Basically, some people wanted to put together a podcasting-only conference. My understanding is that there had been some things like this in the past, but usually they're part of a new media expo or podcasting tracks, things like that.

It's not its own conference. Some people got the idea to put together a conference. They did a Kickstarter to raise funds. There was a lot of support, and it wound up being a really great conference. It looks like they're trying to do it again next year, and I'm glad I went.

I went last minute because I just figured I would learn something, I would meet some people, and the ticket prices were not all that expensive, so I figured I would go ahead and go. It was a really neat experience. I left shows all last week, so I actually drove out to Texas.

I left West Palm Beach early on Thursday morning and then arrived there Friday midday and then drove back. I spent one extra day in Texas visiting with a friend on my way back. I left shows last week for Thursday and Friday, but they were actually prerecorded. I had wanted to do that because I wanted to make sure the show went out every day.

I'm glad I did, but it was challenging to record the extra shows. But I'm glad it wound up. Friday's show was the Walmart show, was how I would become a millionaire at Walmart. Based upon the download, it's actually really interesting. It's written well received, but I haven't even gotten the show notes up.

I was wrapping up, and I didn't have time to write the show notes, so I went ahead and published it, and I still need to go back and finish the show notes. I had planned to do some shows from the road on the way back, but I chose not to do it.

I just decided to take a little break. I didn't want to just create a show for no reason, and I was actually curious to see if I would get any feedback from not doing it. I wound up getting one piece of feedback, so I was thrilled about that, and I'm going to cover that at the end of the show.

Where I'm going to go is I'm just going to walk through why our conference is valuable, what are some of the lessons that I learned from this one I went to, lessons I didn't learn, how to do a conference on the cheap, and then at the end I'm going to give you some updates on the show and where I see this going as far as over the long term.

So why go to conferences in the first place? Well, I think that all of us should be, especially as we're establishing our careers, all of us should be going to conferences. If you remember back to the 1,000% formula on the episode that I did, which was you're 100% responsible for your income, which if you're interested in that one, it was episode 10.

So radicalpersonalfinance.com/10, which is entitled "You are 100% responsible for your income." I went over Brian Tracy's 1,000% formula, his specific formula for how to increase your income by 1,000% in the next 10 years. And it was his idea, and I've seen other people do it as well, that you can multiply your income.

Whatever you're making today, every 10 years you can multiply your income by about 10 if you want to. And he gives a specific formula for how to do that. One part of the formula is to go to four conferences in your field each year. And so I've always kept that in mind, and I've tried to do that as much as possible.

I haven't always gone to four, because the challenge is just with integrating life and business and then feeling like you have a really good one to go to. But I've never always found one that I wanted to go to. But I've always gone to at least a couple per year.

And I think it's so valuable, and especially now as I embark in a new field and a new career where I really don't know much about it, I want to make sure that I'm going to various conferences in my field each year. The primary value of a conference, in my opinion, is not really what you hear at the conference.

I think the primary value of a conference is that you get a chance to meet the leaders of your field. Or if they're not the leaders, at least those who are serious about learning. I don't know, other than an industry conference, I don't know of a better way to get an opportunity to meet people that are in your specific industry, that are in your specific field, other than at a conference.

I mean, think about it. I'm not sure how many people were at this Podcast Movement conference, but there was at least several hundred. And these are the several hundred people who are the leaders in the podcasting world and very serious. They're not necessarily all the top podcasters, but there are a lot of them.

And it was a really neat opportunity just to have them all in one place and get a chance to talk and to speak with them and meet them individually. I think that kind of exposure is invaluable, especially if instead of trying to necessarily pitch something, you're just focused on building friendships and building relationships.

I think conferences are also really valuable to meet with a lot of vendors in one place. And at this Podcast Movement conference, that was the case. There were a good number of vendors showcasing some new products, some exciting products. And then I was able to get some of my questions answered, especially some technical questions with some of the vendors who were there.

I'm not a technological guy. Frankly, it drives me a little bit nuts. But I was able to get some clear answers on some questions I had. So meeting with a lot of vendors in one place is really valuable. Also super valuable just to get a kind of a general sense of the state of the industry and the current trends going on in the industry.

I don't know, other than a conference, how you can get such a wide exposure to many people, many topics in a very short amount of time. And the other nice thing about a conference is it pools people together that, frankly, you wouldn't ordinarily meet. One of the most memorable sessions that I went to at the Podcast Movement conference was they had a session with somebody who is a media buyer.

And this person has an advertising company, and they consult with large companies to place advertising. And they're doing a lot of work with podcasters now, placing advertising with podcasters, just like advertising has been placed with radio personalities. And I learned a lot from that session. It was just really valuable exposure to meet the media buyer and hear about some of the growth and some of the trends.

I think sessions--and this is at least what I've tried to do at the conference--I think sessions are valuable. But a lot of times I actually prefer just to listen to a recording of a session later. My number one goal in going to this conference was just simply to meet some other people in my industry and make some friends.

And I didn't really have anything specific that I was looking to sell or anything specific looking to buy. My primary goal was just to make some new friends, and I really feel like I accomplished that. I met some really awesome people in the niche, in the podcasting world. I met some really awesome people and really enjoyed--had a really nice time.

So I think that was the biggest thing. I actually prefer not necessarily to watch people speak in person unless it's like a motivational speech maybe. So if somebody has a specific timely message that they're trying to get across. So I watched some of the keynotes, but I prefer to listen to the speech later when I can listen at 2x speed.

I usually--when I go to a conference, I usually buy all the audio and then listen to all the audio from all the speeches. And that way I can get a better idea and I can listen to it at 2x or 3x speed. I'm not quite to 3x. Incidentally, I'll insert a suggestion for you.

For shows like mine, one thing I love about podcasting, listen to them at double the speed. My highest rate that I can consume info at is about 2.7x. So depending on the app that you're listening on, if it allows you--most of the apps will allow you to go at 2x, 1.5x, or 1x.

But some of them you can get a little bit faster, and I've gotten up to about 2.7x to be able to absorb it in English. Not foreign language podcasts, but in English. And that allows me to consume a lot more content and just look for the nuggets than listening at 1x.

So a little tip for you from what Joshua does if you're interested. So, I mean, the sessions are valuable, but a lot of times I just like to listen to the recordings of the sessions, and that's what I did this time. I really just spent most of my time talking with people and trying to build friendships, and I really enjoyed that.

I learned a lot. You know, one of the things about the sessions that I did go to, it's very interesting. I'm convinced sometimes you have to really look beyond what the conference speaker says they do or says works, and look at what the conference speaker is actually doing. And I was struck by this at the podcast conference, that so many people have an idea of, "Here's what I'm doing, and here's why it works." And I listened to them carefully, and I think they might be right, but they might not know why what they're doing works.

I really feel like a lot of times it's hard for us to figure out why what we're doing works. There was a lot of comment and a lot of suggestions given about the format of a show, and how it should be formatted in this way or not formatted in this way, or how long it should be, or how frequently it should be.

And I just look at it, and maybe they're right, maybe I'm wrong. But a lot of times I just think the key thing is that in general, the people that have well-received shows are interesting people, talking about a topic that's of interest to their audience, and they're producing really targeted, well-produced content.

And frankly, if you have that, I don't think it really matters as much how great your website looks, or how awesome your audio is, or how wonderful your production quality is. Now, those things I think should be tweaked to improve excellence. And all of us should be working hard to improve excellence in every way, not to turn people off.

But it's about just having a message and having a really great message. Last reason as far as why to go to a conference in the first place, conferences can be just a great way to integrate personal life and fun and business. And at the end of the show, or in the fourth topic I have I want to go over in today's show, is just talk about how much I spent going to the conference, and then how to integrate business and personal expenses.

And going to conferences can just be a great way to mix your personal life with some fun travel and some personal enjoyment. Maybe take your family, and then also the fun and business fun. So what did I learn? Well, the first thing I learned is I had to reinforce that conferences, I just had such a great time meeting some like-minded people.

I met so many cool, inspiring podcasters. And I really felt like every conversation with another podcaster was just easy to start. We were all there for the same reason. And it was just, it was almost like a family reunion or an old reunion with friends that you've gotten along well with, even though I didn't know, let me think to make sure I'm speaking the truth, yeah, I didn't know a single person that was going to be at the conference.

And I'm actually an introvert, believe it or not, most people don't believe me. I'm an introvert, I prefer a lot of times to be by myself. And I often get nervous about meeting people. I get nervous when there's a big crowd in a big room, and it's very difficult for me.

I kind of have to force myself to be social. But it was so easy at a conference like this where everyone was there for the same reason. And I just enjoyed that. It was just so easy to feel like it could click. And because everyone there was there for a specific topic, podcasting, the conversations were easy because we were all talking about ideas that were important to us.

And for me, when I talk about, if I have to talk about myself or about some subjects, to me it's not, I don't, I guess I don't mind talking about myself, but a lot of times if I don't have a lot in common with someone it's difficult. But when I can talk about big ideas, I love to talk about big ideas.

That's why I host a podcast, and why I can come up with something to say for an hour a day. Because I love to talk about ideas. Ideas turn me on. Whether or not I agree with them or not, that doesn't matter. I just like to talk about ideas and wrestle with them and have an internal conversation and struggle.

I was also just reconvinced that I love being with entrepreneurs. I really do. Entrepreneurs are the most interesting people in the world to me. And because entrepreneurs see what's possible instead of seeing what's not possible. And whether they're successful entrepreneurs, with here defining success as having "made it," having made a lot of money, or whether they're brand new entrepreneurs that are just getting started and haven't made a dime yet, there's just something about the entrepreneurial mentality.

And because it's so important to choose who we associate with, I want to associate with people who are entrepreneurs and who have that entrepreneurial spirit. I was struck that, frankly, we're all the same. All of us are working hard to overcome our personal conditioning and the fear that's built into us.

All of us are working hard to overcome the conditioning, the way we've been conditioned with school, the way we've been conditioned by what's not possible, the way that we've been conditioned by having just ideas beat down and beaten out of us. And everybody is overcoming fear. I was struck that the exact same fears that I have are the same fears that everyone else who's at this conference with has.

And all of us are in that same journey of overcoming our personal fears. And so what an awesome group of people to be around. And it was just a really neat experience to be at a conference with that many people. I had planned to do a bunch of interviews at the show.

And I thought that I would take a mic and I would do some interviews there. And I didn't do that. I try not to just interview other podcasters. It's so easy to get this kind of almost incestuous circle of podcasters where everyone is on everyone else's show. And it's like, "Why don't you branch out a little bit?" If someone wants to hear you, go listen to their show.

If you want to hear Joe Blow, go listen to Joe Blow's show if he's a podcaster. You don't need to hear him interview to my show. So I try not to bring a ton of other podcasters on. But the reality is that it was such a cool group of people.

I met a bunch of people that I'm going to be bringing on this show to interview because you're just really genuinely cool people, genuinely interesting people who have interesting stories. And I especially tried at this conference--Philip Taylor, who runs the blog PT Money, was there. And he's the organizer of the FinCon Conference, which is the Financial Bloggers Conference, or formerly the Financial Bloggers Conference.

He changed the name to be more inclusive than Financial Bloggers. And I'll be going to that conference in New Orleans next month. And he had a table there, and that was kind of a neat congregating point to meet with some other personal finance people. And I really wanted to hang out with some other personal finance people because I didn't know--prior to this conference, I didn't know any other personal finance people that wrote personal finance blogs except the ones that I brought on this show.

And it was neat just to meet some other personal finance people. And again, I was just convinced that the personal finance community, the online personal finance community, what an exciting group of people, normal, everyday people that are just working hard to learn and to grow and to pay attention to their money.

And I was a little embarrassed that I don't listen to other personal finance podcasts. I think I need to change that. I generally try not to listen to other personal finance podcasts because I don't want to steal people's stuff. And I don't want to hear someone else do an idea that I have and then feel like if I do my idea that I don't--if I do my show, then it's the same show they've done that I'm plagiarizing off of them.

So I've tried to just avoid listening to many other personal finance shows. But I think I'm actually going to change that because there are so many other great personal finance people. And I learned about a bunch of new personal finance shows. And I think I'm going to go change that.

I think at this point I have enough of a clear idea of what I'm trying to do with my show that I don't--it won't become just like someone else's show. So I'm going to probably expand my listening horizons and try to listen to some other personal finance content. I was struck by podcasting as what an awesome medium, what an awesome medium to build a community and meet cool friends.

I had an opportunity to meet--there's a podcast I really enjoy listening to. It's called The Family Adventure Podcast. And I would encourage you to check it out. It's awesome. The host, his name is Eric Hemingway, and he does this show. It's an interview show where he interviews families who are traveling.

And usually these are families who are traveling for a long period of time, but they're traveling with their kids. And I love to travel and I like kids. So I enjoy his show and they're really great. Well, I was at this one event at the conference, and I hear his voice in front of me.

He turns around and says hi to me. And I had that weird moment where I felt like I know who you are because he has this very distinctive voice, great deep voice for radio. It's very good. And I was like, "Who are you? Who are you?" And then I made the connection, shook his hand, and he's like, "I'm Eric Hemingway." And I said, "Ah, Family Adventure Podcast." And it was awesome.

We had a good chance to hang out together. And it was like meeting an old friend. And I thought, "What an awesome connection to make, like meeting an old friend," because I felt like I knew him and I knew his story. And we had so many things in common.

We really had a great time talking. I'm going to have him on the show to tell you his story because he and his wife have an awesome story. One of the things I learned, and I think this goes against what was actually presented by some of the speakers, I learned that the format of a show is not the key indicator of what success is.

And I was struck by this because I think in many ways podcasting currently is almost a little bit formulaic. It seems like a lot of broadcasters or podcasters, they look to see what are the shows that are doing well and then try to copy that. And that may be a good place to start, but I was just struck in how I really believe that's the wrong message.

Rather, I think the format should fit the content. And that's why I love podcasting is that if I've got a topic--now, this has gotten out of hand for me in a couple of the shows that I've done-- but if I've got a topic where I need four hours to cover the point, I should take four hours and cover the point.

And if I have a topic that in 15 minutes, that's it, then I'm going to make a 15-minute show. I'm not going to waste your time with a one-hour show just because that's the format. And the opening keynote, Chris Brogan, I think was the opening keynote, he made that comment.

I've never listened to his show, but he made that comment very much and said that don't stick to your formats, stick to your content. And then probably one of the favorite sessions I attended was a session with a man named Justin. I don't remember his last name, but Justin runs something called the Brewing Network.

And he's got a show that his entire show is about--it's for home brewers and craft brewers. It's all about beer. His topic was how I get paid--or his title of his talk was "How I Get Paid to Drink Beer for a Living." And he presented this show, and it was such an awesome, an awesome presentation.

But I was struck--his podcast is four hours long, and he does a weekly show. It's four hours long. He always does it live. He always does that. And the reason he chose a four-hour format was he says, "Well, broadcast radio, they do a four-hour format, so it must work for a reason.

Every morning show that you listen to is a four-hour format." So that's what he does. And his show has been very successful for him. It makes a full-time living for him and a number of other people and a very niche topic. But he made a good point that everybody knows what good radio sounds like.

And I've been working hard--which I'm going to come to in just a moment with more on this--but I've been working hard to try to amp up my game a little bit and be a better broadcaster. But I haven't known where to go to learn, other than just to listen to myself and say, "Well, do I like that or not?" And I haven't known where to go to learn.

And I thought his point about just listening to good broadcasters--and everyone knows what good radio sounds like, and that's the primary way to learn--would be that listening to radio-- listening to what works there--is probably a better idea than I had ever given credit to. In his show, his four-hour show, he does it exactly like commercial radio does it.

He does pauses for advertising breaks, does a four-minute break block of advertising and commercials right in the middle of the show. So I was just struck that everyone's trying to say, "This is what works." And the reality is that there are so many different things that can work. The format should just fit the content, so I'm really going to pay attention to that, trying to tighten up my content and keep my format exactly to what's appropriate.

I learned--and I hadn't realized--but iOS, the Apple devices, are not king in podcasting. And one of the talks--I think it was Jamie Tardy from The Eventual Millionaire--her podcast, she was talking, and she put up a chart on the screen that showed the growth of Android versus iOS. And I had never realized how dramatically iOS was losing market share compared to Android.

I knew it big picture, but I'd never looked at a chart. And so I've made so much of a to-do about getting good iTunes reviews and getting you all to leave me iTunes reviews, and thank you. Those are super helpful. We're listed in New and Noteworthy still, and I actually found out last night we're New and Noteworthy #6 for health right now.

Because that was one of the categories I submitted my show under. I submitted it under business, investing, general business, and then health, because I think financial health is a big influence on personal health. But I recognize that in some ways I'm kind of spending all this time on iTunes, and there's so many other platforms.

So I went and I looked, and I just want to say personally thank you to those of you who left me reviews on Stitcher. I found three reviews on Stitcher that I hadn't seen previously. And I want to thank you just because I didn't have a way to kind of see those, and I hadn't looked for them.

And I found three awesome reviews sitting there on Stitcher. And so I want to thank you for those of you who are listening on Stitcher and who left me reviews on Stitcher. And I would ask you if you do listen on Stitcher, please take a moment and do that.

I've got three five-star reviews there, and that means the world to me. So if you listen on Stitcher, I'd appreciate your leaving me a Stitcher review as well. I just don't know why. I just was discounting people who weren't listening to iOS. I learned that interviews are probably tough to do at an event.

I had planned to take my mic with me and do a bunch of interviews, and it just didn't feel right to me. I didn't do any interviews there. I may do some at FinCon, but I feel like better, though, just the people that I met and that I'll be able to bring on the show now is going to be better.

It felt like there were many people doing interviews there, and I thought, "It all just seems a little bit forced to me." So I felt it was better to meet people and then do a Skype interview later. I was reminded that as adults, we care about who people are at the core, not what their external appearance is or whether they're cool or not.

And maybe it's because I'm young and I'm still slightly recovering from all of the conditioning that was done to me in the school system. But some of the most unlikely-looking people at the show were the most interesting for me to talk to. I'm not much of a techno nerd.

I come from the business world. I remember the first day I met--I'll skip the names. This isn't insulting. There was a podcaster who was there who I found out has a fairly successful show. He's wearing shorts, jean shorts and a t-shirt and tennis shoes. Now I'm from South Florida where fashion matters.

I've never in my life--well, maybe since I was nine years old, I've never gone out of the house in jean shorts, tennis shoes and a t-shirt. We wouldn't dream of doing that in South Florida. I don't even live in Miami where it's worse than where I live. But here he was and he's talking to me and he's super helpful and just an awesome guy.

I was struck just by how casual some of the people were at this event. Some of the people that make a lot of money on their shows and who are much loved by other podcasters. And here they are. There was one guy who's wearing khakis and tennis shoes and that's a complete no-no in my world.

I would never in my life dream of leaving the house dressed like that. But here was a group of people who didn't really seem to care. A lot of techno geeks and whatever, I'll wear what I want to wear. Looking at what people wore on stage and again, the jeans and tennis shoes thing is hard for me to take.

It's just such a big no-no where I'm from. But it was refreshing to be at a place where adults care about who people are on the core. Not what they look like, not these external things. Now I was just reminded though that appearance does matter. It's not to say that appearance doesn't matter.

And I often think this, even just on the way there, I was thinking about my own appearance. I was just thinking appearance does matter. It would be nice if nobody judged us by how we look. But the fact of the matter is, they do. People do. So there's probably a balancing act there between those two things that I haven't figured out.

I haven't figured out exactly how it's supposed to work. But it was neat to me to see. It's just amazing to see someone come up for a keynote wearing tennis shoes on stage. Again, maybe it's just a Florida thing, but that is a little startling to me. Really bothered by some of the advice that I heard people give and some of the business models.

For example, one of the themes I heard from some people, not necessarily from the stage, was position yourself as an expert even if you're not. I just thought, what a load of crap. Say you're not an expert, but don't position yourself as an expert. Don't just try to do this thing of, "I'm an expert at a podcast." There are many things I'm an expert at and there are many things that I'm not.

But I feel like podcasting is a medium where you get to know the person intimately. And you're going to be able to smell a rat in an instant if somebody's not an expert. Now, become an expert and then share your journey. But focus on that. I was bothered by some of the focus on money.

I think money is very important that podcasters learn how to make a profit at. But I was just bothered. I heard one guy talk about how he does it on his show. He doesn't have any formal advertisers. What he does is he recommends--he sells advertising, but he doesn't do it with the point of, "Okay, here, our sponsor of the day is blah, blah, blah." He uses it as product placement.

I thought, "Well, man, but are you disclosing that?" I just think let's raise our game as far as making sure that we have a clear business model that's going to work and that is fully ethical and has a high degree of integrity. I learned a lot, and I just was struck that I love learning.

Really, to me, what's fun is learning. And so much--not fun. What is fun is learning, not just doing things that are fun things to do. And it seems like in our lives we're just constantly distracted by fun. Learning is so cheap, and learning is fun in and of itself, so I really enjoyed that.

Probably the biggest takeaway that I really appreciated was the closing keynote by Cliff Ravenscraft. He runs a show called "The Podcast Answer Man." It's really an excellent podcast. He does a good job with it. He talked a little bit about something called "impostor syndrome." And the idea was basically that everyone is really--that there's this idea of imposter syndrome, which is I'm telling people something, but I feel like an imposter because I'm still scared and I don't really know what to do about it.

And his takeaway was that just simply share where you are in the journey. And it was a good reminder for me because my tendency, my personal tendency, is to want to be the expert, to want to sound like I know what I'm talking about. I remember when I first started as a financial advisor, this was a big problem for me, that I didn't want to sound stupid.

And I always had this chip on my shoulder about my age when I started because I was 23 years old, and here I am in a meeting with somebody who was twice my age and had 80 times more money than I was. And I just--I think I would try to be more expert than I was.

And just the freedom to simply be who you are, which is what I think podcasting can be and should be, is really--it's totally freeing. And I was reminded of just about how much of our life we spend trying to impress other people when in the reality is the way to impress other people is not to sound impressive, but to be impressed by them.

And the way to get other people to like you is not to necessarily focus too much about how to be likable, but more to simply like other people. And I thought, "What a great reminder to me just to be genuine." And I really work hard on this show to be genuine, and yet I recognize that it's so easy for me to get out of whack and try to be more expert than I am, try to come from a higher place of, "I'm the teacher.

I'm here to tell you how to do things," that I really don't mean to be. There are some things that I'm an expert about, and it does nobody any good if I-- I feel this--believe this strongly. If you are very good at something, false modesty, the idea of, "Well, I'm not very good at it," false modesty doesn't help anybody.

If you are an expert at something, you should share that you're an expert at something, and you should help people benefit by your expertise. But you can still do that in a humble way, and do it in a humble way without trying to necessarily sound too impressive. So I really appreciated that.

I really appreciated that takeaway from the conference. Things I didn't learn from the conference--I didn't learn how to create better content. These things are not insults. It's just I didn't learn it. I asked other people, but I'm very conscious and aware of the type of content I'm creating, and I feel like it's good, but I feel like it could be great, and I want to make it great, and I need to learn the skills to make it great.

I didn't learn how to create better content. I think there were a couple of talks on this topic, but I didn't go to them, so maybe when I listen to the audio from those sessions, I'll learn something from them. But I was struck by how the technical side of podcasting-- excuse me--or frankly, most industries is probably pretty simple and straightforward.

And it may take you some time to master, but it doesn't take that long to get the basics. But the talent side of things, the ability to create really great content and to make it smooth and to make it flow and to make it coherent, that's challenging. I didn't learn how to be a better interviewer.

I've been thinking about and just listening to some of my shows, and I've recognized that I have a lot to learn when it comes to interviewing. I don't think I'm a very skilled interviewer, and I don't know how necessarily to become a better interviewer. I asked several people that had interviewed shows that seemed to be fairly well received just how to become a better interviewer, and I didn't get much help other than listen to great interviewers.

And that's good advice. I've taken it to heart. But I was struck how is it so difficult to teach something, and it's one of those things--maybe that's a niche that somebody who's really great could do, or if you know of any resources for how to be a better interviewer, I would love to know.

And it's one of those things where I'm kind of just having to listen to myself and learn to trust myself. For example, I really--I was listening to--which TV show? I listened to some of the 60 Minutes things, for example, and the people who are interviewers on 60 Minutes, or I was listening to--who was it?--a Fresh Air--Terry Gross on Fresh Air, the NPR show.

She's renowned as being this great interviewer. And I was thinking, "How does she do it? How does she draw people out of their-- how does she draw people out?" Now, and their approach is very much to draw the person that they're interviewing out and not say much themselves, not to express much of their own opinions.

But when I listen to podcasts, I don't listen to those shows. I don't listen to 60 Minutes. I don't listen to Terry Gross. I find it really boring to me. So I listen to podcasts, and one of the things--if I find a podcast that I really like and I find a host that I like, I'm interested in that host's opinions.

So I don't care just to hear the guest. I'd like to hear a conversation between the guest and the host. Now, it seems that I'm wrong in that. All the research I've done, all of the people who give advice about how to be a better interviewer simply say, "Insert less of yourself, put less of yourself into the show, and let your guest shine." But that's not my experience.

So it's one of those things where it's kind of unknown, so I'm testing it out. I feel like--I was listening to some of my interviews--I feel like sometimes I put too much of myself in and I should have pulled back, but then sometimes I feel like it really adds to the show.

So I'm learning. I was also struck--I was trying to listen to--on the trip, even, while I was in the car, I was listening to some commercial broadcasters, and I learned something. I never--before I started this show, I didn't recognize how challenging it would be to put forth really compelling content every day.

And I knew it would be challenging, but I feel like it comes more easily to me than writing does. But I knew it would be challenging, but I didn't quite appreciate how challenging it was. So I started listening to some of the big shows. I was listening to--I found that Glenn Beck, the talk show host, puts his show on SoundCloud, and that enables me to listen to it on the phone without having to listen to any of his commercials.

And that was interesting because what I learned is that it helped me feel a little bit better as a broadcaster that he does--his show is three hours long. He has two co-hosts, two producers--I don't know what their names are--that help him with the show, and he's got a massive team of people doing research.

And he's also doing a TV show, so I'll give him credit for that. But out of his three hours, when you take the commercials out, it's about an hour and 44 minutes of actual content that's actually him producing content. And then it's in the segments, and what's interesting is when you listen to the talk show and you take out the advertising segments, then what you find is that they're repeating themselves multiple times.

And that makes a lot of sense to me. I never noticed it with talk radio. I never noticed that they would repeat themselves throughout the segments. But now it makes sense because people tune in, they tune out, they tune in, they tune out, and when you have a four-, five-, or six-minute commercial break, you don't notice the person coming back and covering the same subject.

But when you listen to it without the commercial break, it's really obvious, and you think, "Wow, I never knew that before." So I was feeling a little bit--not exonerated--I was feeling a little bit justified at how challenging I found it to create really compelling content every day. And I'm going to keep going with it, but I felt a little bit better that, "Hey, if these guys can learn it, I can learn it." And I hope in the future to have more resources, to have help, to have to do fewer of the technical things so I can just focus purely on creating really great content.

So those are some things I didn't learn that I look for. Incidentally, I've been doing some reading, trying to do some reading on how to communicate better. If there are any people that you really enjoy listening to them, their interviewing style, or anybody that you really like, please send me an email--Joshua@radicalpersonalfinance.com-- or comment on today's show.

And today is Episode 45, so it's radicalpersonalfinance.com/45. And I would love to know who some great interviewers are, because I'm trying to improve my own skills in that area, and I need some good examples of people that you like listening to. I would love that if you would help me with that information.

Two last quick topics, and I'm done. So first of all, how to do a conference on the cheap, and then I'm going to give you some updates on the show as far as my personal plans. So how to do a conference on the cheap. This was kind of a fun experiment for me.

I wanted to go to this conference, but I didn't really want to spend much money, so I thought, "Let me listen, let me practice what I preach and see how cheaply I can do this." So first, some integration of finance tips. It's really nice to be able to have fun and let it be a deductible expense.

So this was purely a business conference for me, and the entire thing was a deductible expense for me. And I had a really great time, because my business is in an industry that I'm interested in, and I met some really fun people and had a really awesome time working on all business-related issues.

And so learn this lesson, because I feel this is a major lesson that we can learn that really will help to understand how to do a more holistic view of financial planning. A business is a way better tax deduction than is an IRA, each and every time. Now, they're different, of course, but the business is better, because you can have personal fun now and do it without any tax.

Now, I went alone, so I didn't have to worry about the integration of my spouse or my son into my expenses. My expenses were fully deductible, and deductible under the rules. I've kept good records, keeping good records of the show. I did some interesting things. I've done all these shows on--or I did, I think, two shows on living in your car, and I read a couple books on it recently.

So I thought, "Let me try this out and see what it was." So I actually borrowed a Prius from a family member to drive out there. Instead of driving my minivan, I borrowed a Prius to get better gas mileage. And I had read online about this lady who camps in her Prius, and I found this very interesting.

I think it was on the Cheap RV Living website, I think, where I originally found it. And this is a middle-aged lady, and she didn't have much money, but she had a Prius. And so she set her Prius up where she goes on extended, several-month camping trips and spends the entire time in her Prius.

And the cool thing about the Prius is a couple of things. You can put the back seat down, and the back seat is flat between the cargo area behind the back seat and the back seat. And then you can lean the front seat, the passenger seat--you could do both seats, but I just did the passenger seat--you can lean that completely flat as well.

So you can have a completely flat bed, basically, which is maybe 8 to 10 feet long-- probably 8 feet long--and that gives you a really nice place to sleep. And the cool thing about it is that you can put a mattress down, and you can have a nice, pretty, flat place--a very flat place to sleep.

Full length, stretch out full length. And the nice thing about the Prius is, based upon the way the Prius works, you can leave the air conditioning on all night, and it will run on the battery. It will run the battery down, and then whenever the battery is run down, it will start the car automatically.

It will charge the battery up, and then once the battery is charged, it will stop the car, and the car will cycle on and off all night long. And this is really great because it allows you to have an air-conditioned or a heated car without having to run the engine full time, and so it doesn't use much gas.

So obviously you need to be careful with carbon monoxide. It would probably be a good idea if you're going to do this on an ongoing basis to have a carbon monoxide detector. But it was just a cool thing, so I decided to try it out. And so I slept in the car on the way there and on the way back, and it worked awesome.

It was really, really cool. It worked for a single person or maybe even for a couple. That is the way to go--go in the Prius, and you can just camp out in the Prius. And I stayed at a truck stop one night and then a rest stop the next night, and it worked awesome.

It was cool just to be able to stay there. And, you know, I hate those roadside hotels. I've stayed at plenty of them where you stop and you spend $40 for a night, and the room is disgusting, and you don't really want to spend much time in the room, and you're basically just paying for a bed.

Hey, if you've got a Prius, that's the way to go. And the AC thing worked so well. I was in Florida and Texas and Louisiana where it was still pretty warm, and that worked really well to have a tiny amount of gas used. I mean, it may have been, what, half a gallon?

It was just this tiny amount of gas to be able to have a nice, comfortable place to sleep and just pull in off the road. So I went alone. It would be different, I guess, if you had multiple people. I think a couple would be fine, but it wouldn't be--if you had kids to integrate into that, I don't know, put them on the roof or something because it would probably get tight in there.

But I commend that to you. It was an awesome thing. I really enjoyed that. I tried to--how I did it on the cheap, I didn't spend much money. I mean, I spent--the show ticket cost about $200, I think, or the conference ticket. And I drove, and I spent something like $250 on gas, getting there and back.

It was about 3,000 miles. And I spent maybe $100 on other expenses. I brought my own food. That was nice. I brought my own food for the way there. I ate out a little bit on the way back. I didn't have to do anything. I ate out a little on the way back.

And it just made me--man, I am sympathetic to truck drivers. I think I--it's tough to eat healthy when you're trying to stay on the road. And it's also tough to eat cheap if you don't have the food with you. And if I were a truck driver, I would need to do a lot of planning and make sure that I had a refrigerator and make sure that I had good options.

Because what happens is I think, especially if you're driving alone like I was, you get in off the road and you just want--you crave some company. And you crave just being off the road. So even though I had healthy food with me and I didn't necessarily need to stop and eat, I still found that I wanted to stop and eat.

So my hat goes off to truck drivers. And I would just encourage you, if you're a truck driver--hopefully you're listening to this-- cut those expenses but plan ahead because it's tough to eat anything healthy at truck stops. And it's tough to eat anything inexpensive. Convenience food on the side of the road costs money and is not good for your waistline.

I did stay with friends. And so I was struck by how a theme that we explored on a recent show--that there are many kinds of capital. And so I was able to stay with a friend that lives in Arlington, which is right out-- a suburb of Dallas, I guess, but basically very connected, very close to the conference site.

And I was struck by how if you have social capital--friendships and the willingness of friends to let you crash on their couch--if you have social capital, then you don't need financial capital. I didn't need to spend the $180 a night at the fancy hotel. I just stayed with friends.

And I think in so many areas of life we could do that. So I substituted on this trip--I didn't stay at any hotels. I substituted social capital--staying with friends--and skills, I guess. I don't know what this would fall under--skills and the personal willingness to stay in a car-- and saved, what, $600 I would have spent on hotels?

Maybe more. So there are always ways to get around the need for money if you're willing to think of other more creative ways. And I was so thrilled to spend the time driving. I like driving. I like driving, especially if alone. I would prefer to drive with somebody else.

But the nice thing about driving alone is I find it just a really good time for me to learn. I learn so much on the car. Time for me in the car is so valuable. I work from home now, and I don't get to spend much time in the car, which is good.

I wouldn't trade that to go for a commute just for that. But it means there's a lot of things I want to listen to--a lot of podcasts, a lot of seminars, a lot of CDs, a lot of books-- that I want to listen to that I don't often get a chance to listen to.

So on this trip I had an opportunity on the way there. I listened to a couple of seminars that I've been wanting to listen to. I listened to a couple of books that I've been wanting to read. And on the way back I listened to a series of podcasts on the history of education--basically the history of the world.

I'll point you to it if you're interested. There's an awesome thing that's called "The Ultimate History Lesson," which is an interview with John Taylor Gatto about basically the history of the world. I think it's at theultimatehistorylesson.com. And I listened to that plus commentary on the Peace Revolution. Peace Revolution is an excellent podcast.

If you want to be challenged with everything you've ever believed about life, go listen to the Peace Revolution. So I listened to episodes 41 through 45 on the way back, and each of those episodes is about four hours long. So it wound up being about 20 hours of audio that I wanted to listen to, and it was perfect.

It fit perfectly, and the time driving from Texas to Florida, it was really great. So I learned so much. And I was just struck by how in the adult world it seems like we never have time to learn. It's unusual sometimes to be able to unplug a little bit and spend time learning.

Our society seems to think that the only time you should learn is when you're in high school or college, and then your learning is done. And we don't often schedule a day at home--I don't often-- where I'm not going to do any of the things that need to be done because there's an endless list.

So one thing I like about going away on a trip to a conference or something like that is it gives me time where I'm away from the house, so I can't do the normal things that are on my list, and I can learn. It was a really great experience.

I really enjoyed it. So let's wrap up with a couple of updates on the show, and then I'm done for the day. And I just wanted to share with you what I was learning, and tomorrow we'll get back to the primary financial topics. I was struck by how, at this conference, I was struck by how, in many ways, I'm kind of traveling down a lonely path with this show.

I don't know anyone else doing really what I'm doing, and I think I'm okay with that. But it's kind of challenging because I've got a vision of what I think would be helpful, but it's a unique vision, and we'll see if it works. I think there's a desire for it, and like I've said many times, I'm basically just trying to create the kind of show that I would want to listen to.

And so that's really my only guiding point, and I figure there's probably at least a few other people out there that are doing that. And on the one hand, I was struck by being at this conference, how the majority of the feedback that I received was, "Well, it's not going to work.

What I'm doing is not going to work," or, "Ben, you're crazy, Joshua, for doing it," which is fine. I may be, and I may have to change something. But I also just am careful about who I was listening to the feedback from because the reality is that the medium of podcasting is very, very young.

And so I thought about--I intentionally didn't record shows on Tuesday and Wednesday, and I was curious if anyone would miss the show. Now, the number one piece of feedback that I hear on this show, when I kind of look at the things that are written about the show, or the number one piece of feedback that I hear is that it's too much and it's too often.

So my shows are too long and that they come out too frequently. I read a comment recently in a forum thread, and the comment was, "Who told this guy that he should do a daily show?" And I kind of chuckled because, well, no one told me, but that's the number one feedback that I hear on the show.

And I always question, "Well, why is that?" And I want to be very transparent with you all and just kind of tell you what I'm thinking and what I'm hoping to do with the show. But I want to respond to that and just tell you that I hear the feedback, and I'm listening to it, I'm aware of it, but yet I'm also trying to accomplish something.

So as far as the show being too long, I admit it is too long. And some of the shows have gotten out of hand. I was speaking with someone at the Podcast Movement Conference, and they referenced one episode I did, which was a very long episode. And they said, "Man, how did you do such a long episode?" And I said, "Well, I didn't know how to tighten it up." And I intentionally released some of the episodes that I'm not too proud of because I think, A, I do have a message.

If I'm going to record a show, it's because I do have a message for that show that I want to get out. And I may not yet be expert at getting that message across, but I still want to do it, if for nothing else than to encourage people that-- and hopefully--I foresee this show being extremely successful and extremely popular in the long run, and I want to have my mistakes here at the beginning so that somebody can come back and be encouraged.

I like to go--anytime I find a show or anytime I find a blog that I really like, I like to go back to the beginning and hear all of the beginning episodes. And it always encourages me when I hear somebody release something that is smooth and is polished and is beautiful, and I go back and listen to their first episodes and they stuttered and they said "um" and it was too short and it was too long and they screwed everything up.

I get encouraged by that. Maybe it's just me. I don't think it's just me, but maybe it's just me. But that encourages me because I say, "Well, if that person can learn that, then I can learn this." And I think in our world--so I'm doing it intentionally. I'm releasing content that--frankly, some of it I wish it were better, I'm learning to make it better, but I'm releasing it intentionally because I want to encourage you and other listeners that anything worth doing is worth doing poorly at first.

I can't remember who I attribute that quote to. I don't know who to attribute that quote to. I've heard a few people say it. So I apologize if I'm stealing your quote. I just can't remember who to attribute it to. But anything worth doing is worth doing poorly at first.

And what happens is that in our world we have this idea that if I do something, I have to do it well. Now, I want to do things well, so don't mishear me. I want to do an excellent job. But if something is worth doing, it's worth doing poorly at first.

Think about whether it's learning to walk. How long would you expect--how long if you were a mother or father, and hopefully if you are or if you were, how long would you spend--how long would you be willing to give your one-year-old child to learn how to walk? You'd give them as much time as it takes, right?

You wouldn't sit back and say, "Well, Johnny's only going to get two months, and if Johnny can't get perfect in two months, he's done for." No, you'd give it as long as it takes. And anything that people are good at, they started--they weren't good at it. And we've got this idea, I think, in our culture that somehow there's this natural talent and skill that explains all of somebody's success.

Now, natural talent and skill, they do exist. And those things, as far as I can tell, it's not that natural talent and skill are not unimportant. However, persistency and tenacity and continuing is also very important. And we oftentimes, if we could go back and we could see the famous comic, if we could see--I guess Robin Williams--if we could go back and we could see his first times he tried to do stand-up comedy or tried to be funny, I guarantee you it was nowhere near as good as it was at the end of his life.

Or Jerry Seinfeld. I guarantee you Jerry Seinfeld was booed off the stage at a comedy club at some point. But he learned. Every actor. You go back and you look at every great actor, you look at their earlier works and you find they probably weren't very good. They took acting classes at some time.

Every great musician had to learn. And so I intentionally released some content that I wish were better. If for nothing else, then just to have it here as an encouragement to those who come along behind me that can say, "Look, here, Joshua learned." And I do that intentionally. So I'm working on the link.

I don't want anything to be longer than it needs to be. And last week I read several of my reviews and a couple of the reviews on iTunes say "rambling." And that was true. Those are accurate reviews. And so today, one of the things I'm really working on is trying to have a much tighter outline and go straight down my outline and not get distracted by rambling.

Hopefully today was better and I intend to continue that because I really want to tighten up the show. So too long. But here's the flip side. One of the problems with our society, with certain topics, one of the problems with how we communicate is we try to communicate sometimes in too short of a format.

And I'm tired of it. You cannot communicate an in-depth, important financial topic, or frankly on many things, in a four-minute sound bite. Now, a great master may be able to communicate a simple truth. And I think in many ways the mark of mastery is to be able to make the complex simple and short.

So maybe I just need to learn to be a better teacher. But this is one of the things that just pisses me off about a lot of the radio content is that you cannot solve complicated financial topics in four minutes. Call-in radio is not the right format for financial advice.

And what happens is a lot of times you think a subject is simple. And the only reason you think it's simple, and the only reason you think the short answer is appropriate, is because you don't know what the actual facts could be. And that's why I can't really listen to call-in financial shows anymore because I used to think, "Wow, this is right.

Look, I can just put the whole answer in this three-minute thing and finish it up by the commercial break." But I'm telling you, you can't do it. It's not possible because what happens is it's sloppy. It's incredibly sloppy. And sometimes the answer is short and simple, and sometimes you need a couple hours to really dig into the details.

And if we want to change this, we've got to enhance our attention spans. If we want to improve our society, we've got to enhance our attention spans. And we've got to be willing to go deeper. One thing I so appreciate about the Peace Revolution podcast I've been listening to is that they don't pay any attention to length restrictions.

They go as long as the show needs to be in order to get the point across. The longest show I've listened to them was one show was 19 hours, and that was how long the show needed to be to get the point across. And we've got to enhance our attention span.

And this idea that our entire society is run by 30-second sound bites is absurd. So part of this is my--I didn't mean to get that into it, but part of this is my issue with that is that finance is complicated sometimes, and I need to communicate clearly, but I'm not going to do this stuff a disservice.

If something is worth knowing, it's worth understanding fully, and I can't explain something in depth in a short period of time. So I don't make any--so there's that--yeah, I apologize. I'm kind of bumbling with my point. My point is--to sum up this point--is that the show needs to be long enough to get the point across and not one minute longer, and I need to develop and maintain those skills to get the point across in the minimum amount of time, but then also to be confident enough to get the point across in a long enough time.

As far as the daily format, let me tell you why I'm doing the daily format, just so that you know. I mean, if you're listening at this point, then I want you to know why I think this format is a really good format. There's a reason why most of the major radio shows are on every day.

Now, I don't claim to be the next Rush Limbaugh-- I think he still has the most popular show-- or the next Dave Ramsey or the next Glenn Beck. But there's a reason those shows are on every day, and I just figure there is a value for this, and I think the value of podcasting with a greater integration into cars, into houses with Bluetooth, and with mobile connectivity and everything--the value of podcasting is that there's no reason why we can't transition from broadcast radio to things distributed over the Internet.

For example, like I said, I was listening to Glenn Beck's show over the Internet. I don't listen to anything on the radio unless I don't have an Internet connection because a lot of times I want to listen to something that's not offered in my local area. And it just makes sense to me--I can't prove it--but it makes sense to me that if the radio guys can have a couple hours a day every day and have a large audience, then there's got to be an audience for podcasts.

So I think we're committed in our content with podcasting-- people expect, "Well, my podcaster's only going to produce one show a day," but if it's good, if you like it, wouldn't you like more content? So I don't know if I'm right about that or wrong. I may change and go to once a week or four times a week or two times a week.

I don't know. But I was curious if anyone would miss the show, and it warmed my heart. Thank you, Nick, for shooting me a note this morning and saying, "Hey, where's the show?" And I was wondering if anyone listening--because the challenge of being a podcaster is you don't get a ton of feedback.

You've kind of got to go on faith and trust yourself. But I wrote him back, and I said, "Nick, thanks so much for writing me a note. I wondered if anyone would miss the show." So thank you so much. I appreciate that. It really means a lot to me.

And I really would like this show to be a daily show, and I really would like to provide the content for someone to tune into every day on their morning commute and get something thought-provoking. Now, I don't want to just repeat myself every day. I want each show to be different and unique.

And hopefully the format that I've chosen--and that's why I chose the format that I have-- hopefully the format that I've chosen is conducive to good content. Hopefully the--for example, I could easily start five podcasts. One could be a Q&A. One could be talking about in-depth financial planning, the technical side.

One could be about the non-technical sides of financial planning, the behavioral stuff, the PF stuff, personal finance stuff, that kind of thing. One could be listener questions. One could be current events. But my thought is that you just pick and choose. I expect some people to tune in because they're interested in the CFP curriculum, which is kind of my general guiding line for the financial planning topic.

Some people may tune in because they're interested in the listener Q&A. So I hope that there's enough variety that you can pick and choose what you are-- what you're interested in doing. And the other thing--the other reason why I'm doing daily-- I really want to be able to do this show as my primary source of income.

And I don't know exactly what the path to that is going to be, but it just seems to make sense to me that if other people can make-- if other people can make money on broadcasting and make enough to support themselves, I feel like my greatest skill in life is the ability to assimilate complex information and convey it to other people in an interesting way that is actionable.

Now, I recognize that skill may be immature, but I feel like that's my greatest skill, is to be able--again, to be able to absorb complex information and focus on what actually matters and weed out the junk. And so my hope is that people who value that can find it.

And so it just seems to me that if a daily show-- if I'm committed to doing a daily show that has a much higher degree of stickiness and a much higher degree of the ability to give a lot of information, and I can give a lot of value to the marketplace, I can give a lot of value to you, and then at some point in time I'll be able to gain some financial compensation for that, which will allow me to not have to spend so much time on some of the other activities that take up most of my day.

And this is just very much a test of the market. This show--it's a hobby for me, and I think there's a place for me to continue doing it as a hobby, but I certainly couldn't do it on an everyday basis if it were just a hobby. Profits and losses is how-- Profits and loss is how, in a capitalistic system, we find out what the market values.

And so I have to be able to create profits off of this show for me to continue to dedicate the five hours a day that I spend working on it. And I've got some plans for it, but more than anything, I was just struck coming away from this show by the value of the Podcast Movement Conference, by the value of community.

And I've struggled to clearly say what this show is about because I want it to be about so many things. And I've spent a lot of time kind of writing ideas down, and I think I'm gaining a much greater sense of clarity about my goals for the show. And the key is to help people free themselves.

To me, I see, in some ways, every aspect of life as fully integrated. And I see--I've done a lot of research on the schooling system-- I won't even say education system--on the schooling system. And it helped me so much to listen to that seminar that I listened to at the Ultimate History Lesson with John Gatto because it helps things to come into clarity for me.

And our lives are conditioned in so many ways toward a sense of slavery, but it's a very gentle slavery, a wage slavery. And I'm going to do some shows on this because-- I plan a separate show on this. I won't go into it in detail. But many of us are trapped in a system that we didn't design.

We're trapped in a system that we kind of accepted without knowing the terms of the system. And I see ways to get free of it. And money involves--every single goal that any of us has involves money to some degree. And if we can solve this money problem, we can gain a degree of freedom for ourselves.

And my show is dedicated to helping-- is dedicated to my learning and being able to clearly articulate the path to freedom and taking as many people as possible with me. And this antiquated financial system of put 10% of your money into an IRA, buy a bunch of mutual funds, and life is going to be great is a bunch of crap.

It doesn't work. I did it for six years, and I'm just frustrated. I was frustrated by how it simply doesn't work. And again, not that it can't work, but that it doesn't work. And all the stuff that we read and all the stuff that we learn and all the stuff that we learn about, it's nuts because it sounds good, but the reality is that there's many people-- not all, but many people--who are just miserable in that system.

And we can get out of the system, but we have to see various ways out of it. And I see dozens and dozens and dozens of ways out of it. But there is a full integration between the technical side of financial planning, the behavioral side of financial planning, and every other aspect of life.

And that's what this show is about. If you want to show--and by the way, I'm not angry about anything. I'm just trying to--and maybe I shouldn't say "you" because if you're listening to this point still and this show, we're an hour in--I thought it was going to be shorter.

If we're an hour in and you're listening to the show, then maybe you get it. But if you want a show that just simply says, "Hey, here's how you allocate a retirement portfolio, and I'll give you five options, and you can do 60/40 or 40/60 or 80/20 or 20/80," there's plenty of that out there.

Just go--shoot--turn on MS or CNBC or whatever, and you get plenty of that. But I'm telling you, it doesn't matter. It does matter in a sense, and I'll teach you through all of that. But I'm so uninterested in that because the difference in your life between a 60/40 stocks and bonds allocation and a 40/60 allocation, the difference in your life between that decision is incredibly minute.

Now, over the course of a 30-year period of time, does it make a difference? Absolutely it does. But over the course of the next three days, it makes no difference. And the point is that the next three days, this is the only life that you have. This is the only life that I have.

I'm not getting any younger, and I'm not going to sit around and spend the best 30 years of my life, the best 40 years of my life, in order to support a tax system I disagree with, fund a bunch of crap all around the world that I don't want to fund, spend a bunch of time making a bunch of other people rich, and in the meantime, not be present with my family, not live the life that I want to live.

I'm sorry. I may die tomorrow. And I'm not willing to get all emotional on you. I'm not going to my grave with my music still in me. What a waste. And the financial stuff is not the limiting factor on it. The limiting factor is our conditioning, is our brain, is how we think, is how we view the world.

And I'm going to figure out the paths that work, and I'm going to take people with me. And even if it's--again, if it's--how exciting. I had some conversations with a couple people at the Podcast Movement Conference, and I just came away thinking, how exciting to just spend time with these few people who are setting themselves free to live the life that they want to live.

And everything matters. So in one way, I care about the numbers, but in the other way, I don't. I just care about you. And I'd rather have 10 people, a community of 10 people, going on this path and actually taking action than have a massive podcast of 300,000 listeners that I can pimp a bunch of stuff for people who save me money and make $100,000 a month.

Who cares about that if my show is not actually accomplishing something? So I guess that's the message. That's the message that this show is about. It's about discovering ways for you to free--for me to free myself and for you to free yourself to live the life that you want to live.

And not in the stupid, you know, buy a million-dollar house. If you want to buy a million-dollar house, go buy one. You know, that's fine. But live the life that you really want to live and see through the materialism and see through the consumerism and see through the crap that people have told you is supposed to be your goals.

I'm sure Mercedes-Benz are great cars, but I'm not going to buy one just because they put a bow on it and put a Christmas commercial. It's a bunch of nonsense. We only get one life. And there ain't no U-Haul trucks driving behind the hearse, as they say. We only get one life.

And I'm a day older than I was yesterday. And I'm older now than I've ever been before. And guess what? You're older now than you've ever been before. And I'm not going to sit around and wait on this financial system that expects me to sell my soul into slavery for decades.

Now, that doesn't necessarily mean I'm not willing to work for somebody. I am. It doesn't necessarily mean that everybody needs to be entrepreneurs. They don't. It doesn't necessarily mean that everybody needs to be financially independent and sit on the beach. We don't. But we do need to make sure that what we're doing every day is in line with our values and the life that we've designed for ourselves.

And that's what this show's about. So I hope that it can continue to be a useful resource for you. I am inspired. And in many ways, it doesn't have much to do with necessarily any one specific thing that I heard at the conference or any one specific thing. It just--probably more than anything, I was inspired by some of the people that I met.

When you see people living life on their own terms and choosing to live life on their terms, that's exciting. Don't waste your life. We only got one of them, and it's so easy. We hear that so much in today's world. We hear that so much with the motivational speaker.

It's almost become a cliche. But the reality is you get one life, and I ain't wasting mine. So that's my show for today. I hope that you found something useful. You found some useful nugget. I want to thank you for listening. It's so thrilling. Every piece of feedback I get, every email that I get, it's so thrilling.

And I want to be direct. I do not have all the answers. Have a few, and I'm going to give you everything I got, and then together we can find out some of the other answers. Had a listener email me last week and say, "Joshua, you're doing an awesome show, and I want to be on it because I think I got something to contribute." And it was awesome.

I'm going to be interviewing him soon. I'll bring him to you soon. If that's you, if you've got something to contribute, if you're listening to this topic, if you're thinking about this stuff, email me. I'll have you on the show. We're not going to create the same old, same old, where I go out and interview the people that are the podcast circuit people where you can hear everywhere else.

Let's figure out together the stuff that works. And if you've got ideas about ways that you've become more free, bring them on. Bring them to the audience. So I appreciate you listening. That's it for today's show. I hope that you've enjoyed it. Again, thank you for those of you who have been leaving reviews in iTunes, and thank you for those of you who have left reviews on Stitcher.

No matter where you listen, if you could take a moment, the number one way that would be helpful to me, please leave a review on the show. That is super, super useful. Shoot me a note. If you're enjoying the show, great. If you've got feedback for the show, awesome.

I would love to connect with us on Twitter @radicalpf. Shoot me an email, Joshua@radicalpersonalfinance.com. And I think that's it. Go out and live your life. When you download the Ralphs app, you have easy access to savings every day. Get the most out of weekly sales and receive personalized coupons to save on your favorite items, all while earning one fuel point for every dollar spent.

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