7 Lessons I Learned Making 500 Podcasts

 500. We've done 500 podcasts and I'm actually here in Costa Rica. I'm just reflecting on the journey. I'm getting a little emotional thinking about all the highs and lows of just podcasting the relationships, the ugly emails and comments, and the overwhelmingly positive and encouraging comments, and thinking about some of the conversations, thinking about the million plus words that have been spoken via the Better Wealth Podcast and those emails of people that have said, hey, this episode or this guest or this short episode that you did made me live more intentionally, like got me to change jobs, got me to get out of a toxic relationship, and it's just, it's insane. Number one, the purpose of this video is I'm going to give you seven lessons that I've learned, but I sure could give you more than seven, but I want this to be as actionable, shareable, and valuable for you, and so that's why I'm keeping it to seven. So first one is relationship over listeners. I think a lot of people start podcast or social media or YouTube channels for the wrong reason. I think a lot of people think, I'm going to make this content and it's just going to blow up and people are going to listen to it and there's like everyone wants to know what I have to say and while that may be true for some of you, I would say the vast majority of people, especially that start a podcast, might get into it for the idea of people listening to them, and a lot of times people just get discouraged because creating anything, putting yourself on camera or having audio, it's hard. And here's what I would say is people will follow. I mean people will literally follow value. That's not 100% true across the board, but what I would say is I would push back and say, how could you use your podcast and platform to build relationships? And this is one thing that I knew early on and this is ultimately the thesis of the podcast was it wasn't going to be about my credibility and smartness, it was going to be about my guess. And if I could build relationships with my guess, I would not only learn more, but I would ultimately increase my level just by having them be a part of me. I mean it's whether you want to call it the law of attraction, if you just want to call it the credibility circles, like when you bring on other smart people or important people and you're interviewing them, people are just going to associate you with that person. One thing I got right from the very beginning was podcasts all about relationships. Now it's easy to lose the focus on that, it's easy to get discouraged. I'm just so grateful I didn't know how to read analytics when I first started, but it's funny because when nobody was listening to me, I got to interview Nelson Nash, who has now passed away and could be one of the most valuable thought leaders, especially as it relates to the life insurance space and wrote Becoming Your Own Banker. I've interviewed multiple mentors, got introduced to Garrett Gunnerson, my first podcast ever was with the Cashflow Ninja, who has an amazing podcast, and I've had him on a second time now, and just so many other people, so many other authors and people that have made a difference in my life. And so while no one was really listening to them early on, I gained so much through those relationships, and those relationships opened up doors and gave me enough time to be a better communicator. And as a result, it's been quite a journey. And so what I would say is if your intention to do anything, especially when it creates content, is just for listeners, and you're just going to view your success off of listeners, I would say unless you really got something that people need to hear, you may want to take a step back and say, is there any other value, is there any other relationship capital that can be gained by having this platform? And so that's what I'll say there, is listeners come second, and the relationship comes first, and if something funny happens with that, because more listeners will come when you gain greater relationships, and it's one of those things where you're also adding value to people that without a platform, I really don't have anything to give a lot of these people, but with a platform, I can help promote, be a promoter of them, and as a result, it makes their time a little bit worthwhile. I'll say there's quite a few people that didn't get their ROI potentially in the form of dollars coming on my show early on, but my hope is being connected to me throughout my life will be a net positive for them. So number two is just ask. So many of you need to hear this, is like a lot of times we're not getting the relationships and the success because we're not willing to ask. And there's so many people that I thought were quote unquote off limit. I thought they would never respond to my email. I thought they would never respond to my DM. And this is across the board and business in general, but if I'm just looking at the podcast, there are multiple people that I've had on that I thought were impossible and shocker. If you just ask, not everyone responded. Some people even said no. I was shocked on just putting yourself out there, the amount of people that said, yeah, I'll do it. It might take me a couple months to get on the podcast, but I'll come on your podcast. And I think asking without like expectation is really key and staying humble about it. But I just think a lot of people don't have what they want because they're not willing to ask for it. You guys don't know all the people that said no. I literally could have asked a million people, which I didn't, but I could have asked a million people to come on the show and only, you know, so many said yes, but you guys don't know. The moral of the story is put yourself out there, ask, and you'll be shocked on those opportunities that will come when you increase your luck surface of you're getting lucky because you're just going out there and asking. Number three is authenticity is greater than credibility. And this is what I mean. I think a lot of people that holds them back is they're like, hey, I don't really know everything as it relates to X, Y, or Z. You want to start a tax podcast, you might not be an expert on taxes, you might want to start a life insurance podcast, you might not be an expert on life insurance, you might want to start a business coaching podcast, but you're not an expert. And I will say this, number one, there's always a person that's smarter than you, and there's, especially if you're watching or listening to this, there's definitely people that are less intelligent than you are. I understand nothing. But what I think is greater is authenticity, when you can really be authentic and with arms and hands wide open and just say, I'm here to learn, I'm here to be a promoter of you and really the people that are listening to this podcast. And if you don't know something, don't have to pretend and you don't have to try to impress the audience or the guests, you're just being authentic you, people will be drawn to that. Some of the episodes that I felt like I was the least qualified for or performed the worst in have been some of the best podcast feedback that we've gotten. I don't know if it just made me more human. I don't know if people just could resonate with the, oh, like, yeah, like Caleb has no idea what he's talking about and yet he's willing to ask the dumb question. And I don't, I mean, sometimes I'll straight up ask, like, share with people about, you know, shortcomings or something. And as a result, I think people that creates a more human element and effect and I think that's more attractive. And so I would say that authenticity will trump credibility and especially if you can be credible and authentic, it can be great. And there's a lot of things I want to say here because if you have zero credibility, then people may not hire you, but they still may be more attractive to listening to you, which might open up a future door and someone that's super, super credible, but not authentic, because it's people might not even get to the meat of the podcast because there's no human connection there. So number four is consistency matters. When I first started this podcast, I was challenged to make it 100 episodes because the majority of podcasts don't last 100 episodes because it's hard and nobody listens to you at first. And I think I was, I don't know, episode 15 or something. We might have to go back and look. And I just, I just lost steam. I just, I felt like an imposter, even though I was interviewing people and I just felt like it was a lot of work. And I just didn't post, didn't post, didn't post. And my good friend Russ Morgan sent me a text and it was a frank text that he said, Caleb, I haven't seen a podcast drop for the last couple weeks. What's up? And that one text just kind of was a kick in the pants that I needed. And I was like, I committed that I was going to do this, whether people listened or not. Even though literally like 15 people have listened, like I got to be consistent. And there was something magical that happened when you just start hitting your stride. We started gaining momentum and people started listening. And, and, and, but more importantly, going back to relationships, the, what the relationships that I've made from now to then with the podcast is not even on the same planet. And so it just, it just anything in life, you have to be consistent. And I think a lot of people are just, are just starting and stopping, starting and stopping. And as a result, aren't getting any momentum and in their favor because, because they're just not going for it. And so that's what I would say is consistency matters. And if you're going to commit to something, obviously be self aware, be willing to pivot. But, but sometimes many of you just need to hit that wall and continue to go, even if you don't have that external validation. Because there's just, there's something true about the consistent. Number five is tone is greater than your actual question. People listen to the tone of your voice far more than the words that are actually coming out of your mouth. I think a lot of times people like prepare questions, which I'm a fan of, I think it's good to be prepared. But they just are like a robot and they're like, they just, they're, they're asking a question. And as a guest, it's just kind of rough. It's like, man, like, yeah, you're giving me something this way at some times. And I think one thing that I've been perfecting and I can always improve is to really make sure my tone has curiosity, gratitude. But, but I also have a tone of someone that is like, hey, I want to, I want to save you guys time. I want this to be valuable. And I value your time of the listener, but also the guest on there. And I think the tone, especially for the guest means a lot because a lot of times when you're interviewing people, it's, it's, it's the comfortability. Do people feel comfortable? Do they feel like you're engaging? And I think if you do that, they'll, people will just be way more generous with their time, will be generous with their knowledge. And that you might be able to get something else out of them that just asking the question alone wasn't going to do. And so I think whether it's a podcast, whether it's video, whether it's just communication in general, look at your tone. And that's the question. Okay. If I couldn't hear the words, but I could hear the tone, what feeling would I have? Number five is the follow up campaign. One thing that I would always do is I would always follow up with some type of email text or whatnot and just thank people for taking their time. I'm like a, I'm a lover of time and I really respect people's time because I know that we're all going to die. And the fact that you're spending time watching this or listening to this or spending time talking to me, like you're not going to get that time back. And I'm just insanely grateful for that, that you choose to use some of your greatest resource and most valuable resource with me. And so like that needs to be translated across the board. And even if people, if people know that you're grateful for that, it just, it, it across the board, it's, it's helpful. And I don't think there's anyone that I've had a negative experience because I've really thought about valuing their time. But one thing that we've gone, I think above and beyond is we say thank you in a really creative, funny way. I mean, whether it's, you know, sending socks or someone's face on it and say, hey, thanks for knocking our socks off. Whether it's, you know, a video follow up, whether it's me connecting someone to another podcast that they have to be on or just like going above and beyond and saying, okay, how can I be a giving human being to this person? And I say the socks with their face on it because that's something that we've done for a lot of the people that have been on our podcast. And the amount of people that have just responded to say, Caleb, I've never, ever received something like this. You know, it, you know, it cost us $25, $30 to say thank you in and yet that memory lasts for a while. And especially when I'm bringing on guests that are, you know, have other bigger podcasts or have potential business relationships that I want to be a part of or are like super credible to be able to leave an impression after the podcast. A lot of people just don't follow up. Like you have a great conversation at a networking event. You do some amazing things and you just don't freaking follow up. And this is something that I'm speaking to myself because I've, I've not followed up on so many opportunities. And it goes back to the you're going to miss the shots that you've never taken 100%. And so it just, just follow up and really see if you can add something to your follow up, whether it's podcasts, whether it's business follow up that, that elevates the impression and makes it more memorable. And finally, this is kind of like a tactic, but this is something that we've learned a lot is use YouTube. When we first started the podcast, I just posted on the podcast and I know that there's hundreds and sometimes thousands of people that listen to those. The episodes and I'm grateful for every single one of you that have listened to that. And I've realized that podcast is, is me articulating. And a lot of times I could have a camera with an audio with a microphone and I could create a video on top of a audio. And every single person that's watching this on YouTube or watch any of the videos on YouTube, it's literally because Al on our team was just like, hey Caleb, I think we should start posting our podcast on YouTube. And if you think about it, every, every view is a view that we weren't going to get. And, and from there YouTube has been a huge reason why we've continued to grow, continued to meet people, continue to win stages because people have just, you know, found us on YouTube and they, YouTube's connected to the greatest search engine called Google. And so when people are typing in things about so and so guest or life insurance strategy or whatnot, my videos may pop up. And, you know, I think I've had a couple videos get a lot of views compared to my, you know, somewhat modest views on YouTube. And, and it's just kind of the network effect. And it really matters. Any form of video or, or audio or like of creation or ways to push this content out. And if the content is at all valuable, which I hope it is, why aren't we trying to do more creative ways to pushing this out? And I think YouTube like reposting on YouTube was one of the smartest things we did. And it was one of the easiest things to do because it was one of those things where like, okay, instead of just me recording an audio, why don't I record using video? And now there's so much other stuff that we can do. And so I would say YouTube, but really the idea of repurposing is something that I think we can all do. We're all doing work, but how can you do those little shifts in your life that can amplify or multiply the results that you're giving to the world? So much more I could say, but those were some of the lessons that I've learned from a standpoint of starting a podcast, not giving up. I look forward to the future relationships, the future listeners, the future ideas and things that I've learned. Because I bet you the next 500 episodes that we do, the kind of momentum that we're going to experience is going to continue because something funny happens when you just do something and continue to add value and continue to be relentlessly pursue just serving people at a higher level. And so we are going to continue to do our very best to provide content, to continue to bring amazing guests on, and it's all made possible because of you and because of the incredible team that's behind me. I get all the praise and some of the criticism, but I can only do this because I'm a part of an insanely amazing team that puts their blood, sweat and tears into making this a reality. And so from the bottom of my heart, thank you to the people that have edited. Thank you to all the guests that have literally co-created content with me. Thank you to the people that promote. Thank you to the people that leave comments on YouTube. Thank you to the people that share this content. I'm just insanely grateful for all of you, and I hope there was a lesson that I shared that was valuable and can apply to your life and what you're up to in the world. Take care.