Episode 053: John Lee Dumas - Founder and Host of Entrepreneurs On Fire (EOFire)

Legacy of Monsters an Apple original series. The world is on fire. I decided to do something about it on November 17th. This place, it's not ours. Believe me. The most massive event of the year arrives. If you come with me, you'll know everything. I promise.

Oh my God.

Go, go, go. Legacy of monsters streaming November 17th only on Apple TV. Plus.

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This is the Rise of the Young podcast, bringing you insights from the most innovative entrepreneurs and influencers of this era. Hosted by 17 year old entrepreneur, author, public speaker and branding expert, Casey Adams. Now let's get right into the show.

What's going on, everyone? Casey Adams here, and welcome to the Rise of the Young podcast today. Today, episode 53, we have a special guest, John Lee Dumas. I really appreciate you coming on and I look forward to this podcast, man. Thanks so much, Casey.

I'm glad to be here, brother. Love seeing young podcasters, love your hustle, love what you have going on, and I'm just glad you're letting an old guy like me join you.

Appreciate you, man. But yeah, man, when I first really want to start this off, I know that you run a podcast that is just monumental entrepreneurs on fire. You've had thousands of podcast episodes. So my first question for you, man, is being a pioneer of the podcast industry, number one, when did you start? And really how has podcasting changed your Life?

Started in 2012. And you know, podcasting was just not that big a deal. Not many people listen to podcasts. There's only a handful of podcasts that actually interviewed entrepreneurs. So I was one of the few that was out there and I was the only one that was doing it on a daily basis. And, you know, that really allowed me to have a land grab back in 2012. Casey, how old were you in 2012?

I was 12.

You were 12 in 2012. How cool is that? So, you know, just allow me to kind of do that land grab right there and, you know, really kind of make a name for myself where I was doing this different unique thing and I kind of create some buzz around it. But the best part was, Casey, is that I was doing it every Single day. So I wasn't that good at first, but I did it every single day. So I got a little bit better every single time I did it. And I was doing 30 episodes per month, where most people are doing four every or two or one per month. I was doing 30. I was doing 365 shows a year. Day in, day out, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, you name it. Shows going live, baby. So that was critical for me. And that's kind of how they were to grow. My podcast was being early, being different, being unique, staying consistent, and just always focusing on what can I do and how can I grow my business podcast and take it to the next level.

Yeah, absolutely, man. That's because I've listened to multiple episodes of your podcast, man, and it's changed my entire outlook on multiple things when it comes to the people you've interviewed. But another question I want to ask you, man, I know that when it comes to just like, like I said, pioneering the podcast industry, I know that kind of correlates, like you said, about doing a podcast a day. That's when it comes to persistence. So when it comes to young entrepreneurs, I have thousands of young people that listen to this. What do you think for you has been like, core traits that you've attributed to your success so far in your life?

You know, I'll go back to the word consistency. I think a lot of people, and I don't want to pick on the younger generation because I think this is across every spectrum. But one thing that is interesting about the younger generation is that you guys have so many more distractions than we had when I was younger. But you still have so many more opportunities as well. And that's one thing that I really see a lot of people struggling with right now, is that they just don't go deep in one area. You know, they go what I call one mile wide and one inch deep in all these different little areas. Let me post a little bit here on Instagram and do this in Snapchat and do this in Facebook and do a podcast and a Facebook show and this and that and blah, blah, blah. And because of that, they're just kind of okay at doing all those things. Why not just become great? And not just even great, but why not become the best one thing and just focus on that? Because the reality is, after you become great and potentially the best at one thing, then you can start dabbling in other areas and doing other things and expanding your reach and your influence and your authority, but you're never going to get to that point by just going one inch deep while you're going a mile wide. Instead, just go one inch wide and a mile deep and just go way down until you can find that niche, that one area that you and you alone can just crush, dominate, and become best in show at. That's key.

That is the. Dude, that's amazing, man. And I totally agree with you. And like, coming from someone that's young, you know, it's like all the social media distractions. I totally agree with everything you said right there. So you've been doing this since 2012. When it comes to podcasting is 2018 now. So around six years, what do you think has been the most monumental shift from when you started to now in the podcasting industry?

You know, really to stick on the same theme? Because it's so true. The people that are winning now are ones that are willing to niche down and just really serve a very specific audience. And I'm talking, like, really getting specific, like the equestrian show, and it's just about horses and being an equestrian and riding and jumping. Like, that's the show. And that show is never going to get a massive listenership, but they don't need a massive listenership. They just need a really good, loyal following that loves the show for what it is, that listens to the show. That's what they need. That's all they need. And then they're off to the races and they have those hundred, two hundred maybe thousand true fans. So you know the podcast where they just launch and they just interview entrepreneurs, like, that's been done. Like, that's just a broad, vague, screaming in the wind type of mentality. You're going to get drowned out. Your voice is going to get drowned out. You've got to pick a topic, niche down in that topic and just crush it there. And then once you do, then your options open up, then opportunities will come your way. But not till then.

Okay, I like that for sure. Because, I mean, even for me, I started. I started my podcast early late December last 2017. So I'm kind of new to this new game. But even for me, like, when it comes to getting guests on, like, yourself or other people, I would say it's definitely critical to even starting. You know, I listen to a lot of what Gary Vee says. You know, it's like you could either think about starting a podcast or you could just start it. Right? And I feel like that goes for anything. But my next question to you, when it comes to not just podcasting, but the business strategy, that you've built. I know I've been on entrepreneursonfire.com and I've really gotten a lot of tangible value from that entire platform that you've created. So when it comes to just team building, I always. I always like to ask people about this because obviously, in any organization, you build a team. What for you has been the most critical aspects of building a team or building a company that is really, number one, automated, but number two, allows you to really not work inside the business, but just have yourself as the guy that's owning and managing it.

Well, listen, you brought up Gary Vaynerchuk. He's somebody that I follow as well. You know, he's even older than me, if you can imagine that. Like, I know it's hard to believe he's significantly older than me as well. So I do look up to him and I admire him. And he definitely says a lot of good things. And one thing that I completely agree with him on is his comment that he makes over and over again. He's only good at a few things. Like, he repeats himself every single show and just says the same things. But guess what? I listen to him almost every single show. And he has a couple things that he's great at. He's a great public speaker. You know, he's great on the top of his head. He has a couple strong beliefs that he just keeps repeating over and over and over again. But they're great and they're right, in my opinion, and so they're valuable for me to continue to listen to. So find out your three. Like, what are your three things that you just believe in with every heart, with every part of your soul, what are the three things you're just great at? And then you figure out how to spend all of your time doing those things, just like Gary is spending all of his time on stages and talking and, you know, interviewing and being interviewed. That's his thing. The gift for gab. So what is your thing? Like, what is that thing? And then hire people. Build the team of people who are great at doing things that you don't want to do or you shouldn't be doing because you're not good at those things. So whatever is distracting you from your core three things, whatever is distracting that you've got to find people, bring them in for them to do those things so you can focus on the content. I don't do my own Facebook ads. I don't do my own Instagram ads. I don't do my funnel optimization. I don't do My website optimization, I don't do that stuff. I have a few things that I do really, really well and that's it. No mas.

Okay. So pretty much focusing on your strengths is pretty much the overall sum of.

Really first identifying your strength. A lot. You don't even know what they're really good at. So sit down and realize if you have a list of like 10 things you're good at, order them and cross out numbers 4 through 10. Because you're not really that good at those things. Like you're just okay at them. One of those top three things, that's where you want to triple down on okay.

For sure. For sure. So with that, I know, like obviously identifying your strengths is super important. Do you think it's equally as important to identify obviously like what you're not good at and then like you said, hire the people that are like that. Because I feel like even for me from like a young generation standpoint, a lot of people are confused or don't really know how to build a team or how to structure properly. So with that, another topic I want to bring up is outsourcing. Are you someone that outsources or are you someone that has like an in office, like localized point for your company?

No, I outsource. You know, I have virtual assistants that are different places around the world. I have independent contractors that work for me. You know, it's just myself in my spare bedroom that I turn into an office. Kate's in the next spare bedroom converted into an office. You know, we just work from home and we do our thing. We keep expenses low. We have a really good idea about what we want our life to be and our lifestyle to be. And I don't want to be a Gary Vaynerchuk running an 800 person agency, you know, then five different locations around the world. I want to run a very small team with a very high net profit where I make a lot of money, but even more importantly, I keep a lot of money. And you know, I have the freedom to do what I want when I want. If I want to stop doing something I can. If I want to start doing something I can. This is my business, this is my goal, this is what I want to build. That's me. So having that self awareness I think is really key.

Yeah, for sure. And I think that's definitely something a lot of people struggle with because like they'll see all the other people doing their thing and they don't understand what their personal thing is. So they try to like leech on and be other people or not truly be themselves, you know?

Agreed.

So the next question I want to bring up, man, when it comes to just social media in general, I know obviously social media plays a good aspect into a lot of things. Now, what is, number one, your most favorite social media? I'm just interested in this question because I know everyone has different outlooks. So what's like, the most that you spend most of your time on?

Instagram's my favorite. I love, you know, posting one cool picture a day of something that I'm doing or something that I've done. And then I also love the story aspect of it. Like, being able to bring people in. Like, if you follow my stories, I went on a hike in the jungle here in Puerto Rico yesterday. You got to join me on that. If you follow my stories and you get to watch that. So I think that's pretty cool. So I like that platform the best. You know, Facebook's there. Like, you know, I get good response on my private Facebook, on my personal Facebook page. So I just, like, posted a video there today. You know, it's doing really well. I can probably go there right now and check it out. But I posted a little video, and it gets good interaction and a lot of views, and it kind of helps me stay top of mind.

Yeah.

You know, like, I have, like 35 comments on it and 70 likes and I just posted it. So, you know, it's like one of those things where, you know, I get getting really good interaction there. So those are really the two platforms I focus on the most. But I'd say Instagram is my clear favorite.

Okay. Yeah, for sure.

What about you?

Instagram, man, I would say. I mean, I've been kind of growing up in this entire social media space, but I would say Instagram is, like, dominant in my young.

What about Snapchat? Isn't your generation kind of into Snapchat or is that. Did you used to be in.

Yeah, for sure.

Gone out of it.

Yeah. So, like, for me, man, like, I like this entire, like, like, space. Affiliate marketing, social media marketing. I started, like, core on Snapchat. Like, yeah, like a big Snapchat following.

I was like. I was big on Snapchat for a while too. Like, I really focused. I was up to 2000 views per story. Like, really good, good platform there.

Yeah, me too, man. And then, like, for me, it's like, was doing a lot of affiliate marketing on Snapchat. Crushing it. But, like, when Instagram stories came out, I was doing both. But, like, for me, like, how it kind of played out was, like, I put all my attention in Instagram stories. Now I'm like, my Snapchat's kind of just, like, for, like, personal use if I want to contact one of my local buddies or something like that, you know?

Yeah.

And that's. But that's for me, though.

I know I use WhatsApp for that, by the way. WhatsApp is how I communicate with all my buddies from my college friends here in the community, stuff like that. But. So, dude, I got a call in two minutes, so let's wrap this up and have fun.

Yeah, absolutely, man. So, last question to you, man. I always talk about, number one, leadership. So, like, for you, number one, what does being a leader mean to you? And what would you want someone young listening to know about leadership and the importance of it?

You know, leader to me is somebody that sets the example by actually doing. By taking action. You know, I was an officer in the U.S. army for eight years. Trying to do the math real quick, but I think I was an officer probably, like, the year that you were born. I was in Iraq serving this country, like, around that time. Doing that thing. Yeah, just about that time, actually. And, you know, I'm very proud of that and the leadership skills that I developed from that. So leading from the front is very important to me, and I think that really defines the leader. So, you know, don't do. Don't. Don't ask, like, your team to do anything that you're not willing to do.

Okay.

You know, accept, you know, except for the fact that you've hired them because you're bad at doing those things. You just tell them, hey, I'm crappy at this. This is why I hired you. You do this. You're awesome. What was the last question?

It pretty much is, like, the importance of leadership in, like, the marketplace today.

Yeah. Because you want people to look up to you, to admire you, to want, you know, to emulate you in certain areas. So you want to just set the good example, add value, you know, be a person of value, and really just continue to add that on a consistent basis. I think that's key. And, you know, if anybody that's listening wants to hear an old fogey, that's myself, interview some cool entrepreneurs. Head over to eofire.com youm can subscribe to the podcast. I have some really cool free courses, Casey. Like a free course on how to podcast, do webinars, productivity goals, funnels. Just five really good free courses. Eofire.com Go check it out. And I gotta run, brother.

Yeah, absolutely, man. I appreciate your time. Time, everyone. All his links will be down below. So everyone listening. Thanks so much for listening. And I will see you guys in the next episode.

Thanks, brother.

Yep. Absolutely, man.

Monarch Legacy of Monsters An Apple Original Series the world is on fire. I decided to do something about it. On November 17, this place, it's not ours. Believe me. The most massive event of the year arrives. If you come with me, you'll know everything. I promise.

Oh, my God.

Go, go, Go. Monarch Legacy of Monsters streaming November 17th only on Apple TV.