0092: Profiting from Guest Podcasting with Author, Speaker, & CEO of Interview Valet Tom Schwab

Ea interviews, episode 93, inspiration, transformation, success stories and the imperfect action round. Seven days a week, join Mario Ficcini for today's Expert Authority Effect interview. Have you ever wanted to profit from podcasting? Have you wanted to start your own show and get your message out there, inspire millions of people, make the world a better place? I know I have. And that's why I started the Expert Authority Effect interviews. And at the time, it was just. I knew I had so much to give and I wanted to make a bigger dent in the world. And my mission for the show is to exponentially elevate the identity of humanity.

I had no idea where to start. I had no idea where I was going to get guest. I had no idea what I was going to do. And this is a very exciting episode for me because I have Tom Schwab here, CEO of Interview Valet. And I remember knowing about his company and hearing about it and all good things. And now I can personally attest that I have had his guest on the show and now I have him on the show and he's going to be going over and in detail how to profit from podcasting and why if you don't have your own show, you should be interviewed on shows and if you have your own show, we both know that there's some booking involved and a few, maybe just a few behind the scenes things. I'm beyond excited to have him up right after we thank our sponsor. Why every business needs a book, including yours. Would you like to save five plus hours with every prospect, generate more leads and profit in your business now visit businessbookchecklist.com and learn how you can implement this in your business today. Ladies and gentlemen, Here he is, Mr. Tom Schwab. Tom, how are you doing today, Mario?

I am thrilled to be here talking from one side of Michigan to the other and seen by the entire world.

Isn't it amazing what we can do with our own shows now and getting our message out there? Yeah, we're both in Michigan. I'm on the east side, you're on the west side. But we both have clients globally. What is your take on that? Why do you think we have this opportunity now and it wasn't available years ago?

Oh, I mean, the world has changed. You know, there's a lot of problems in the world today, but there is no better time to be alive. You think about it, the technology that we have, the President of the United States didn't have two decades ago, and now any entrepreneur can do that. And I think it's really changed. We live in a world of abundance, abundant choices, abundant calories, and abundant customers. It used to be that if you didn't live within 10 miles of, of you know someone, they weren't your customers. And now it's opened up to the entire world and it's a, it's an amazing time for both the consumer and the provider. And excited to talk about how you can use podcasting and specifically podcast interviews to really leverage that.

One of the things I heard about was guest podcasting. And like I said in the intro, if you don't have a show, I personally think you should create one. It's one of the coolest things I've done. But you can still be on shows. How did, how did you first start getting on shows?

Well, it really my background is inbound marketing, using content to attract, engage and delight customers. And one of the hacks we used a dozen years ago was guest blogging, right. So instead of me writing a blog, putting it on my website and having it seen by three people, one of them probably being my mother, you know, you take that blog and you put it on an established site, Wall Street Journal, a Huffington Post, something like that, to get in front of the audience and then to get them to move back. Get that? No like and trust. And I hypothesized back in 2014 that you could use podcast interviews just like we used to use guest blogs. So I started to test it, tested on myself and a few other people and were just amazed by it. And at first I thought, oh, it's a niche, it's a personality. But the more we tested it, the more we realized that it is a provable system. And I always say that it's the same system my grandfather used before the Internet. How did he meet customers? Well, he'd go and was introduced by a respected authority, could have been at the country club. And he would get in on the conversation they were having, being introduced and tapping into the audience that way. And that's what we're doing today. You know, while he might not have understood the technology we're using, he'd be like, oh yeah, that's the strategy we've always used.

How many people would you say are doing interview style shows now where they need guest versus topic based or they already have a co host and it's just them talking like a variety hour.

Yeah, great question. Right now the studies say there's about 700,000 podcasts. Of those, about 250 have been live within the last 30 days. So with that of that you're talking about a third of them are interview based. So if you look at that and say 250,000, there's probably 80,000 that are interview based. And while people look at that and say, well, how many do you actually need? If you know what your audience is and who you need to talk to, it's more of a targeted game than a shotgun. But there was all kinds of opportunity out there. And people are looking for content, they're looking for experts, they're looking for authorities. So it's an easy way to do it. It's a fun way to do it. We've had clients before. I would tell them, would you drive across town to talk to 10 ideal customers? And they're like, yeah, like, would you drive across state to talk to 100? Would you get in on an airplane to talk to a thousand? And you can see the introverts just start. Their face goes funny. And it's like, no, I don't want to get up on stage. And I'm like, don't worry about it. You don't have to. You can sit in your office, your home and talk to these people, just like we're doing now.

What are the biggest benefits you've seen from being on other shows?

To me, I think it's exposure brings opportunity, right? Our biggest problem we have today is obscurity, right? There's thousands of people, millions of people you could help with your current product or service. There's only one problem. They don't know you exist. So the question is, how do you break into that? And so to me, exposure brings opportunity. And we've seen people use podcast interviews to fill their funnel, to get the traffic, to get the leads, to get the customers. We've seen people use it as a virtual book tour. Instead of going to Barnes and Noble, to Barnes and Noble, just get on a podcast and talk about your book. Other ones are using it to do a product launch where they'll just record all the interviews and have them all launch right around the time of the product launch. We've got some clients that are just doing it for the SEO value. Think about it. When you're in a podcast, they're sending a backlink to your website that is a clean signal from their website to your website that this is a good, a good site. And please rank that higher. And you think about it, you know, we've got some clients that are doing it just for the SEO value. And if you said, do you want to go on Tim Ferriss podcast or do you want to go on a undergraduate podcast from Harvard University. Harvard University currently has 34 podcasts. They would look and say, I'll take the one from the undergrad at Harvard. You know, wouldn't you like a backlink that says Harvard Edu? One of the easiest ways to do that is provide value to one of their podcasts by being a guest.

That is phenomenal. I love how you were inspired to start your company with what you were already doing with the blogging. So you transitioned it into Interview Valet. When abouts did you start this?

So, you know, I wish I could say it was this great plan that I had thought out the entire way. In 2014, I started to test it. I was in a mastermind with a few friends and was helping them with their digital marketing while I was on a between companies on my sabbatical, and it was working really well. And somebody said, well, you should start an agency to do this. And I'm like, I know what it takes to get into an agency. And I'm like, I'm going to write a book. Well, I wrote the book. It still sells really well. I give more away than I sell. And then I wrote a course. And you know, Mario, I never took the course out of beta. It sold really well, but people weren't getting the results with it. And when I actually talked with them, they said, you know, I want to be the guest. You take care of all the rest. You know, I just want to perform. I think one client said, sinatra only sang. He said, that's what he did. I want to be Sinatra. You take care of everything else. So based on that feedback, in the end of 2015, we started to beta test what became Interview Valet. We beta tested it for about 2/4, and when it was working so well, in the spring of 2016, we launched it. Now it's grown to a team of 16, all geographically diverse. Not everybody wants to live in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and we serve about 100 clients.

That is fantastic. And I remember when you were telling me about some of this. It's just phenomenal to see. And we both know that podcasting is just getting started. I heard some recent stats recently that it's still in. It's a. I heard some stats recently that it's still in its infancy. Where do you see it going over the next five to 10, 15 years?

Well, last year at Harvard, they did their first ever podcast conference, which is amazing because you think about it, a few years ago, if you said podcast, most people wouldn't know what you were talking about. And the thing that came to mind for most people was Wayne's World, right? A podcast was a couple guys and in their mom's basement, and now it's gone to Harvard University, and they did a keynote there that I thought was so telling. And they call this the golden age of podcasting. And they did corollaries to what the golden age of radio looked like, what the golden age of television looked like. So I think we are definitely still at its infancy. We're still trying to figure out everything that goes with it, and the pace is going so much faster that the adoption is faster. I think what's going to be funny in five years from now when we look back on this is that we'll go, why were we calling it a podcast still? Right? Because we've got video on now. Is this a podcast or is it a video? Well, if you're watching it on video, it's a vlog, it's a show, it's tv. If you're listening to it on your radio, is it radio? If you're listening to it on your smartphone, is it a podcast? You know, my two youngest daughters, about a year ago, I asked them, what's the pod stand for in podcast? They looked at me and rolled their eyes and said, I don't know, dad, what's the pod stand for in podcast? And the thing is, Mario, they're 21 and 23. They don't remember the ipod. They never grew up with that. So the idea of calling it a podcast, I don't know, it's. It's. It's on demand content. And what I love about it is that we can create in the way that's easiest for us and then repurpose in the way that's easiest for our customer. So if you like audio, listen to us as a, you know, just a pure podcast. If you like video, then watch the video. You know, if, you know, somebody asked me one time, when do you think podcasts will get to be 100% and like radio and television, not never got to be 100%. In the US 10% of the population is hearing impaired. They will not listen to podcasts. But if you transcribe this, which Google is starting to transcribe, all of the audio out there, well, they can still read that audio. They can. So to me, the idea of podcast, I think it's going to morph and we're just going to, within five years, just call it content.

What's the new name gonna be?

If I knew what it was, I'd Be buying that website and trademark in the name.

You brought up a good point. Because ever since I started, I've always filmed every episode and.

There was a few that when I was getting started, due to technical issues, weren't able to be live. But now everything is live. So like you said, I loved it when you said it. Is it a podcast? And I even put a post out one day as like, I don't know if you're listening on audio or watching the video, but just enjoy the show.

And to think about it, it's one of the few mediums that jumps time too, right? The Studies show that 70% of podcast listeners listen sped up. So. So with that, I always joke that I listen at one and a half times speed as I run at half x speed. What other medium? I mean, video is starting to do that now where you can change the speed on it. But it's a very rare medium that I can listen to it at the speed I want, when I want. I have to say I listen to the podcast. So when I talk to you live, when we meet up at podcast movement or even now, it sounds so different because I'm used to listening to you at like 2x speed.

Well, I'm not going to say who, but there's some people I've done the same thing with listening at different speeds. And sometimes you want to go slower because they're talking so fast. But some people, they should just record everything at one and a half times speed because they could use a little energy boost. So we're not going to say anything about that. But it's so amazing what you're saying, because we really can consume the information. We can apply it to our businesses. And so many people, I think, don't realize what's really at our fingertips. So speaking to your ideal clients, who are you finding is being attracted to Interview Valet and why do you think that is?

With podcasts and expanding, we get a lot of people that come to us and we work with authors, coaches, speakers, and brands or we bring any of them on. We want to make sure that they get great results, right? And one of the things that we have seen is that the results from this come from three things and they all multiply on each other. It's message, market, and machine. If one of those is weak, the entire result will be weak. And we, and we do an audit with everybody to tell them what we expect the results to be. And so the message is, do you have stories to tell and not just a product to sell? You know, are you interested in being interesting? Podcasts are an awful place to sell, but they are a great way, great place to tell a story, a great place to get that know, like, and trust. So that's the first thing we look at. The next one is the message. You know, you're. I'm sorry. So that's the message. The next one is the market. The market is, do you know who you want to talk to and do you have something that can help them? The final one is the machine. The machine is when I hear you on a podcast, I am going to go to your website and I am going to check out on social media. I don't care how great the interview was. If your website looks like it was built in Y2K, it's going to kill the transactions, right? If. If your social media looks like you're in the witness protection plan, it's not going to work out. And I always say, as we're talking to people, those are the things we're listening for. And I'll tell you, the people that get the best results, Mario, from both podcast interviews, and I think podcast hosts are those people that are focused on relationship selling, people that are focused on the lifetime value of a customer. I think today it's never been easier to sell something online. All you have to be is a penny cheaper on Amazon and you'll sell it. The problem is, is that the next day somebody else is going to be a penny cheaper. So don't kid yourself that you're building a business that's chasing the transaction. And I think it's never been harder to build a business online because there is so much noise. And for that, people have to know, like, and trust you. And for those people that are willing to put in the effort to be a podcast guest, to be a podcast host, to put the videos out there, to stand out, to build that relationship, I think, you know, there's no better time to be Alive. You know, 10, 20 years ago, you could have done what you're doing now right around eastern Michigan. Now you can do it around the world.

That's huge. How many people do you think see their business as globally nowadays when the opportunity is there?

I Wish it was 100%. No, because that's. I honestly believe it's 100%.

But I fear that a lot of people don't. You know, even if you've got a local regional business.

Like today, I was talking with a consultant that does business consulting, and he focuses in southeastern England. And as we were talking with him about podcasts, I'm like, well, why couldn't you come to the States and do that? I guess I could if I could find customers there. I would love to come over there. Okay, how come you couldn't do an online program and do that? So I think we need to really change our. Our view of what our market is, who our market is. You know, one of the things that we have found on podcast interviews is that people with accents seem to convert better. So if you come on with an Australian accent on an American podcast, people slow down and listen to it because it's different, and vice versa. If I go on an Australian podcast, it's an accent, it's different, and people slow down to listen to that. So sometimes your best markets are overseas, especially with currency fluctuations. You know, right now, people in Australia would be much rather be paid in American dollars than they would in local currency. And I'm sure at some point that's going to switch. And all of a sudden Americans are going to try getting Australian dollars. Why wouldn't you? We've got the access to it. It's so easy to connect with clients anywhere. So right now, what percentage think of themselves as global? Less than 100%. And that's a shame, because it should be 100.

Well, you're sharing some great insights there. And you got piqued my interest because I've had people on the show from Australia and I'm thinking, have I been on any Australian podcast? And now I want to be on a couple. So thank you for that for me. But it is so true, because you can access anyone around the world. When people say, how do I get more clients? I go, we have. These are not websites anymore. They're not just websites. We have online databases the government didn't even have 20 years ago. And we're volunteering the information.

LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, you can find anything on anyone if you have have the patience for about a minute and a half to just run a search and use a little common sense.

And I would argue if somebody says, how can I find more clients? That's the wrong question to ask. The question to ask today is, how can I find better clients? Right? Because, you know, how many clients can we all take care of? How many can we serve? We are not Google, right? We've got a finite amount. So the thing is not buying or finding more clients, it's finding better clients. Because those clients that love you and that you have the ideal product for, they'll pay more for it because it's better value. They'll stay with you longer. So there'll be less churn, more lifetime value. They'll become your advocates, they'll find other people for you. So I think in this day and age, it's really not more, it's better.

I love that you brought that up because I want to talk about your clients and what you were talking about on Harvard with the SEO, because I was actually going to ask you about that with the EDU extension. For anyone who doesn't know, it's great to have authority links and universities, edus, government, those are all from an SEO standpoint, ranked higher than just.com or just John Q. Public access emails. How many people, how many of your clients come on and say, I want to get on those type of things versus you educating them?

I think the vast majority of them is an education issue. And you're right, because the power of a backlink at times can be tied to either the popularity of the website, the the authority, which is called a moz score typically, or also the domain so.org,com.net. those are all lower ranking ones. But if you got one that's like.edu or.gov, that is so powerful, so it doesn't even have to be Harvard Edu. You know, if I was on Kalamazoo Valley Community Colleges podcast and they don't have one yet, you know, that backlink there at KVCC Edu would probably be more valuable than one from, you know, you name the biggest podcaster out there.

And those are the things when you're talking about leverage, it's not just do you want to do 100 interviews, it's about what you're saying, doing those 10 interviews that are the right ones. Now, I would suggest, and I think you would too, correct me if I'm wrong, but do 100 interviews of the right one. But make sure they are the right ones.

I have done over 1200 podcast interviews and people are amazed by that. They're amazed and I'm a little bit embarrassed. When we first started on this, we were learning the system, what worked, what didn't. And I would say of those 1200, half of them, maybe less than half, really move the needle. And that's, you know, when right now there's 700,000 podcasts. You don't have the time to go on all of those. You just need to find the ones that are going to make a difference. And our algorithm really looks at four things. As we pick podcasts, we'll look at the podcast itself, we'll look at the website. For those backlinks. We'll look for the reach, which is, you know, their social media and their email. And then we'll look at experience with previous guests. And now that's not something that everybody has exposure to, but I'll give you a hint or an insight that we've seen podcasts like this where it's a. It's a true discussion, right? It's an engaging conversation. Those always convert better than the podcasts that ask the same five or six questions, because those are really hard to. For really, for people to get to know, like, and trust you.

Well, I appreciate you for telling me that because it's a good reminder for me. And also just the questions before I was designing it, like I said early on, I had no idea what I was doing. I just know I want to impact millions of lives. And you just kind of figured out that's kind of my style. But it's so much more fun if you just break this down like, we're in person and talking to someone you want to actually build a relationship with and be friends with and know for the next 10, 20 years. What would you be asking them versus oh, this is someone I have to talk to. How much longer before it's over? Those are two different mindsets. Let me ask you, how do you train your guest to be?

I would, I would venture to say a lot of them already are, but I know you're doing extra stuff because I've noticed it. I've noticed it, and it's phenomenal. Love what you're doing. How do you train them in, even if they're already good, to make them great when they come on the show?

Well, all of our clients come to us already, you know, great. They know their content, but they don't know this medium. And so the way I explain it, it's. It's a good podcast is like going to a Denny's. And, you know, I gave that example one time and somebody from Australia stopped me and goes, what's a Denny's? I'm like, oh, that's right. Never mind. Go to a coffee shop. You know, good podcast is like going to a coffee shop and there's two interesting people sitting behind you and they're having a discussion. And it would be rude to turn around and just jump into the conversation and be rude to. To turn around and start looking at them. So you just sit there and you listen, right? And so that's what a podcast should be. You know, some podcasts at coffee shop is at 8am Other times the podcast could be 2am after the bars close, depending on what the podcast is. But it should be a lively conversation, a back and forth. Don't just stick to your talking points. The other thing is that it is discussion, it is longer form. You know, we've had some clients that are on national television. I can think of one who's a cybersecurity expert. And you know, if you turned on, if you turned on Fox News probably most nights you'd see Morgan Wright and he'd be on there for two or three minutes talking about cybersecurity. Well, when he started first started to go on podcasts, we had to work with him on that because he was so used to television where he would give short answers and it was perfect. That's really, really hard to do and he has mastered it. But if you get on a 30 or 45 minute podcast, you can't give a 30 second answer. Right. And he loved the medium because it allowed him to go deeper and to really have a conversation with it. And he loved it too because, you know, most of the time it's an hour to the studio, an hour in the green room, three minutes on stage on the set. And of that, you know, you may get two minutes where you get to talk the other one. The other minute is when the reporter is talking and then it's another hour home. So all of a sudden it's four hours to get two minutes of airtime. Whereas he loved it. He could do the podcast interviews from anywhere and you know, 30 or 45 minutes, get it done. But really it's educating them on the medium, what works best. And the other thing we do is we always listen to our clients first few podcasts just to give them feedback on it. You know, the good, the bad, the ugly. I remember one time being asked, what was the last podcast you listened to? And I had to laugh and I said it was Adoption Now. And there was dead silence. And I said, you know, it's like, what's a 53 year old man? Are you looking to adopt? I'm like, no. One of our clients was on this podcast. Adoption Now. It was amazing, you know, can learn all kinds of new things.

I would have never thought about that. That's a great story and I love the process you take them through. Thank you for sharing the behind the scenes with it. Tell me about the biggest transformation one of your clients has had from using Interview Valet.

I would have to say there's a lot of them, but to me, the ones that are most impactful Are. Are the ones where you meet this person. It's like, how come I didn't know about them before? You know, they're so insightful. And then for them to come back afterwards. And, you know, I. I can think of. Of one who's a consultant, right? A professional consultant. And he came back and he's just telling us how it's changed his business that he wasn't able to keep up with the demand. I can remember he was doing a couple interviews a month, and then he ramped it up. And then he called me up and he says, we gotta. We gotta stop this for a while. And I was, like, heartbroken. He's like, no, I have sold out of all of my inventory. I've got to hire some more people. So we put it on pause for a couple of months. And then he called back, he goes, we gotta get going again, because, you know, I've ramped up and we're gonna do this, and the exposure brings opportunity. And, you know, I. I don't have permission to share his story, so I'm not going to put the name with it. But, you know, all of a sudden, he started speaking on. On different events because people heard him speaking here with that, his. His business grew, his notoriety grew on that, and he was happier. You know, all of a sudden he went from having just local clients. And that was one of his concerns always, because he. In 2008, when the economy tanked, it hit his region really hard, and he wanted to diversify from there. So he's got clients now about the United States, and he's loving it. And I cross paths with them.

Probably two or three times a year at different conferences. And to me.

That'S where I get the most enjoyment from, is seeing the impact we're having on other people's business. You know.

Our mission is to personally inspire. To personally introduce inspiring thought leaders to millions of ideal customers they could serve for the betterment of all. And when I hear stories like that, it's like, yeah, that's what we do. It's got nothing to do about podcast or podcast interviews, but it's about personally introducing people for the betterment of all. You know, I mentioned my book before, and it's not a tease. I'll give. I'll give anybody that's listening to this a copy of the book. But when I first wrote it, my mom wanted a copy, so I gave her a copy of it, and she gave it back to me, and she said, you didn't sign it? So I signed it And I gave it to her. And she came back and she said, honey, I don't understand it, but I'm proud of you. And I said, mom. Well, what we do is we introduce people that should know each other. And to me, seeing those impacts, that's, that's the huge thing in the lives of the podcast hosts, our guests, and the people that listened.

Well, I'm glad you're doing what you're doing. And we met because I know we're going to be doing this the next 10 years, helping each other out. And.

It just resonates with me so much. It's. It's about making that impact. Speaking of the impact, if someone wants to get booked on interviews on guest podcasting, obviously use interview valet, but how many episodes would you say? How many shows would you say they should realistically expect to have to go on to start seeing the needle moved? Is it one episode? 10? 20? 100?

You know, people say, how many interviews does it take? Just one, right? How many, how many TV shows do you have to be on to make it big? Well, if it's just Oprah, and I know she's not on anymore, if Oprah's the only one you're ever on, then the answer is one. Chances are, though, you're going to have to do more than that, right? And one of the things that we have found with our clients is that if you try doing just one or two of anything, it'll never work, right? If you tried one or two episodes of your podcast, it never would have gotten the traction it has. You never would have gotten as proficient as you have. So from that standpoint, I look at that and say, give it a good test, right? Get good with it, get comfortable with it. Even, you know, a Broadway play works its way up to Broadway. And if you're just starting out, look at doing that. We, when we work with clients, our typical minimum engagement is a dozen interviews. Because that's what we find that it really takes for them to get comfortable with it. Sometimes it's just testing markets, right? This is a very targeted, focused.

Industry, right? And I can think of one client we had, Craig Cody. He talked about this from the stage at PodFest last year. So I can repeat this one openly. You know, he was on various podcasts and he's a fractional cfo, so part time cfo. And after, I don't know, about a dozen podcasts, we went back and looked at the data and said, you know, you do really well on dental podcasts. And he's like, I love dentists. And for like the next six months, he was just on dental podcasts. And you know, it was like, for him, they were smaller podcasts, but it was like fish in a barrel. So from that standpoint, I always say, continue to do it, get comfortable with it. For some people, that means doing a couple interviews a month. For other people, they want to, you know, really ramp it up and they'll might be doing, you know, an interview a week. Other people that if they've got like a launch, they may say, hey, I want to do, you know, 24 or 30 interviews. I'm going to get them done now. And when my book launches in five or four or five months, I want them all to go right there. We call it a lightning strike so that everybody hears about it at the same time and, you know, buys the book and gets them on a chart.

That's a great way to do it. And I wanted to ask you, do you tell, do you tell the host of the show, hey, we're going to have them on your show, but don't release it until, let's say, 90 days out.

The host is, is serving us, right? The host, Is this their platform? I never tell the host anything. Because I honor you and your platform. This is your platform. We do ask, right. So before we even do that, we could say, hey, this is, this is launching on this date. Could you launch that right around that time? And if you plan out enough in head, they can do that. If you start.

Too far, if you don't start in time, you're going to have problems. You know, I often say that podcasts are like restaurants and doctor's offices. Right? Right. If there's not a waiting list, there's probably a reason and a reason you don't want to be there. So like with authors, we're telling them, start three, four, five months ahead of time. And really it's wonderful because they can time shift. Then when that book launches, there's a lot of things to do. But if you already recorded the interview two months before that or three months before that, man, that's one less thing on your plate. But we always ask the host and we work with really well together with the host. But I pushed back on that to.

Tell the host, well, I appreciate the.

Well, I appreciate the sincerity because you're right, it is the other person's show and everything. I was curious how you do coordinate it because it is a great thing to do. I've told my clients, when we're helping them publish books, when you have your launch team. When you have other people helping you promote it, you just coordinate it. All it is is a question. And I, again, this is, I guess, new to me, even though I'm pushing 100 plus episodes. However, it's some of the common sense stuff, like you just said. Just ask them and you can coordinate. And I literally asked you that because I was like, oh, my gosh, I should do that for one of my next books. I wonder how he's doing this.

Common sense people want to help you. That's. You know, one of the things I love about the podcasting industry right now is that we're all in this together. We're working together. Cliff Ravenscraft, who was known as the podcast answer man, he's one of the godfathers of podcasting. I remember what he said a few years ago. He said, this industry, we're all working together. The competition are those people that don't know what a podcast is. He said, when we get as saturated as radio and television, then we can put the guns on each other. But until that, we're all on the same team. We're all in this together. And that's one of the things I love about podcasting, is it's a very friendly, helpful industry where everybody wants everybody else to win.

I agree, and I've noticed it's one of the most generous communities that I've been a part of, and. And it's been a lot of fun. So if you haven't thought about starting a show, I will personally tell you you should. And if you have and you're not using Internet Interview Valet, you definitely should, because they have their stuff together. And this is a true blessing for me to even have Tom on the show. And like I said, I've had his clients on the show in the past also, and I can't wait to have more. So you've mentioned a lot about books and authors and coaches, and I want to ask you, how has your book helped your business?

Oh, to me, even if I never sold a copy of the book or printed the book, it was so beneficial for me to think through it and write it out. So it made it clear in my head. So, you know, if it would have stopped right there, it was worth every painful minute it did to take it to that place. That being said, to be able to have a book and to reference it, to give it to people, it's one of the best referral tools. You know, I can't be there every time to tell people what I do, but I'll Give friends the book and say, you know, if you can bless anybody with this, share it with them. And it's amazing how they get circulated around, how it gets quoted. You know, there's a study out there that says a published author is more respected than a PhD. Well, as. As tough as it was to write the book, because I'm not a natural writer. You know, I'm an engineer by heart. I always say, you know, English is my second language. I'm not sure what my first one is, but it has such an impact. And it was much easier than going back and getting a PhD. And the thing is, is that nobody reach your PhD dissertation, people will read your book. I was just speaking at an author's convention down in Nashville, and it was wonderful. In order to speak about doing a virtual book tour and then be able to give them my book. At the end of the day, I'm not really as excited or as concerned about how many books I sell. It's about how many books I get out there, how many ideas I spread. And some people told me when I first put the book out that I was an idiot. Now, I don't disagree with them, right? But they're like, why would you. Why would you take your entire system that you use and put it in a book and give it to somebody? And I'm like, well, you look at the best chefs out there. They've got cookbooks, right? They've got videos that show you exactly how to do it. But at the end of the day, I don't want to be a chef. You know, I'll go to that chef because I know who they are. It looks good in the book, and I understand the work that goes into that. And I think that's been a blessing for us, that where a lot of people come and we'll read the book and they'll understand, wow, there's a lot of parts to this. And some people will come back and say, do I have to do all those parts? And I'm like, you're a grown person, right? You're a grown man. You're a grown woman. You don't have to do anything. But I tell you what, it's a recipe, and I know if you follow the recipe that you'll get the results. You know, it's like baking a cake. If you left, leave out the baking soda or baking powder, whatever it is, it's not going to turn out right. So a lot of times people will read that book. They'll appreciate what we do. And all that goes into it, and then they'll come back and say, you know, I want to be the guest. You take care of all the rest. So the book has been huge, and we're just coming out with the second version of that because I wanted to keep it fresh, I wanted to keep it updated, and more than anything, I wanted to add not my story, but customer stories to it so that every time we talk about a principle, we can talk about somebody that used that principle and the impact it had on them.

Well, I would. When's that coming out? Because I want to check that one out.

It will. Well, we're talking right now in 2019. It will be out by 2020. We're shooting for a December release on that.

That is fantastic. I've gone through your materials, and if you got something new coming out, I definitely want to get a copy of that. Speaking of different materials, we've talked a lot about the podcast and publishing, but why are you not afraid of video? Why not just hide behind the camera? We don't need to be on camera. We can just be talking to this little doodad right here and just keep it simple and no big deal. Why do you choose to do video with almost everything I've seen of yours?

You said, why aren't I afraid of it? I was afraid of it at the beginning. And I also didn't like my voice on podcast interviews at the beginning. And somebody pointed out, you know, you just need to get over yourself. Right. No one likes the sound of their own voice. It sounds different when you first hear it. It's just the way we're built. But you get used to it after a while. With video, too. I just look at it, and it's a great way to share emotion. It's a great way to capture something with someone and to share it with them. And for me, I've written a lot of blogs in my life, Mario. Each one of them was like a homework assignment for me. It's really easy to jump on a quick video and to capture an idea or a thought, to get on a podcast, interview here and have a discussion and talk about things there. So to me, you know, it's rich. It's easy.

Today. It's so easy to do all these things that we really don't have any excuse anymore. You can do a lot of technical things with it. I'm always amazed when I see what you're doing. You inspire me. But even for the people that don't want to do that, you know, if you've got. If you've got a Internet connection and a microphone. You can do a podcast. You know, if you've got a built in camera, you can do a webcam with it. You know, the camera we've got on smartphones today is just amazing. That was like, you know, thousand dollar camera just 10 years ago. So to me, it's just so much easier to do it and.

It'S so much more impactful. And I think also we're seeing how people are creating and how they're consuming. And when I see the engagement on a post in social media where it's 50 words compared to a two minute video, it's like those 50 words are going to take me longer to do than the two minute video. So why wouldn't I do that? And the other thing too is I have never had a spelling error or a typing error in any one of my videos. I cannot say that about any of my other content.

I love that. I failed English seven times and it's a miracle I got my first book out, let alone other ones. And I agree. All right, no spelling errors here.

No video has ever been. Did people make fun of your video because you use the wrong there, there or there.

One of my favorite things to share with those type of people are it's going to be okay there, there, there, and then have different variations of all three of them. Pick one.

With all the resources and abundance we have at our fingertips. And this is kind of what I'm alluding to with the people who nitpick the different things. I mean, you admitted we can go on camera, we can go on video, we can do a book, we can do a blog, we can do all these different things. Why do you think most people don't?

I think I want to be honest and real on this one because it's not like I just turned on the video and was comfortable. The, the very first time, the first time I got on a podcast interview, I was not comfortable. You know, first time I got on stage, all of those first times, you almost want to get sick beforehand. You're worried and it's going to be the worst one you ever do. But you know what, you got to get over that. You've got to learn, you've got to put it out there. And so I think for a lot of people, it's that, that initial uncomfortableness and then I think a lot of people get over that initial uncomfortableness and then they don't see the results right away. You know, the sad fact is that most podcasts that die die within the first 10 episodes. It's called Pod Fate, right? And we've got such a culture today that says it should be instantaneous and that. What do you mean? I did two podcast interviews. How come I'm not famous? Or I. I've done two podcasts. You know, I actually put a one Facebook video up and I'm not famous yet. And I, I think there's, you know, there's something about planting, right. If you look at nature here, there's, you know, you plant a seed at one time and you've got to, you know, keep till killing it and taking care of it with the faith that you're doing the right things and the right things will come from it. And when that starts to.

Starts to come to harvest, you'll just be amazed how much fruit and how much comes out of that. So I think that's why a lot of people either don't get started or don't continue with it. And the funny part is that.

A lot of times people will look and say, wow, I wish I was an overnight success like Mario, right? But there's a hundred podcast interviews that went in there. It's almost like wishing that you could play football.

On Sunday afternoon. Well, I'd like to play for two hours and get played. Millions of dollars. You don't appreciate all the work that went into that. And so I think with that, it's one of the reasons that, you know, I tell people you should have a podcast, but that's a big commitment. You know, maybe starting with podcast interviews is the first step. And then doing your own podcast, I don't think it's an either or. I really think it works out best as an. And the, the encouragement that I always give to people, though, is what, you know, could help people, right? No matter where you are in life, you have learned lessons. You know, what's ordinary to you is amazing to other people. It's never been easier to share what you've learned. And, you know, maybe that's to build a business. Maybe that's to become, you know, an authority. Maybe it's just to help other people. But to me, you know, 20 years, we all had an excuse, right? I can't help the world because I live in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I can't help the world because I'm not a good writer or at a well writer. I don't know either way. But now it's so, so easy. Video, audio, blogs, whatever it is, what you know, could help other people. And that's why I always encourage people share what you know.

That is some deep wisdom and you are so right with it because the. The limit nowadays I personally believe is us. It's not the tech. It's not can we. It's do I want to and if so how.

I will personally say and it's on the intro. Whatever. 000 episode. I'm basically just sitting there crying because I had no idea what I was doing. But I had the vision and I just knew the end result. I wanted to produce and help millions of people in the. You're right. Straight up. There's a commitment to this. You need to know you're going to be doing it. It's not going to do one or two episodes. I was fascinating with the people fade off at. Is it really only 10 episodes?

Yes. The. The majority of podcasts that die die within the first 10 episodes. It's right around the average podcast does like seven.

Seven decimal something episodes.

Shoot. I cranked that out the first week. I'm glad I'm still here. I didn't think it was that low. Do you have any stats on the like 50, 100, 500,000?

I've never seen it broken up in there. And even you know that the people that say wow. They've done you know 100 or 200. That's great. And I mean that's to hit 100. That. That is like amazing. But there's people out there. JB Glossinger from Morning Coach. Great podcaster. He's right now up to about. I think it's 4,000 daily episodes. And you know he's a legend in his community. And to think about. They've been listening to him every day. Some people have been listening to every day for you know over 10 years. That's the kind of raving fan base that you can get from this.

Say his name one more time. I want to make sure I get it right for the show notes.

Sure. J.B. glossinger from the Morning Coach.

I have not heard of him and I'm definitely going to look him up because that is you know our mutual friend John Lee Dumas. I know he's done 2000 probably 2500 plus by now but you're saying 4000 plus.

4000 plus.

Wow. That's inspiring to say the least.

Well I think this is a good part to thank our sponsor. We're going to come back with the imperfect action round and I sincerely cannot wait to hear more. Why every business needs a book including yours. Would you like to save five plus hours with every prospect? Generate more leads and Profit in your business. Now Visit Business Book check checklist.com and learn how you can implement this in your business today. All right, Tom, we are back with the imperfect action round. Are you ready to take imperfect action?

I am.

First question, what is the fastest path to the cash.

Action? Right. You've got to go towards it. So from that, like I said before, your biggest problem is obscurity. So find a way to get your message out there, whatever it is, if it's telling your friends, telling your family, getting on a podcast, being on a podcast, you don't want to be the best kept secret. And the product you have right now, no matter what it is, product, service, it could help someone. It might not help everybody. It may not be perfect, but there's someone tonight praying that your product exists or service.

Excellent. Number two, what is the biggest problem you see your prospects making and the fastest way they can fix it with that?

The biggest problem is thinking. They need to talk to everyone. You know, not everyone needs to know about you, right? There's billions of people right now. You cannot serve billions of people. What we talked about before, don't look at getting more clients, looking at getting better clients that will grow your business.

Number three, what is the best way to maximize customer lifetime value?

Well, you know what I'm going to say on this, right? Get them to know like and trust you with that. They, they have to know the heart and soul behind the company. What's your mission? Why do you do it? What's your vision? People will buy into that. If you don't do that, you're going to be selling a commodity. And like I said before, commodities is a race to the bottom. You want people that buy, buy into your mission, your vision, where you're going, that are there with you for the long term, that will get you lifetime value.

Leaders are readers. What is a good book you could recommend?

You know the one that I just finished that blew my mind was when by Daniel Pink. He talks about time and what an impact it has on how we work, how we perform. And really as I looked at that, it's such an artificial thing that we've just created, but yet it controls our entire life. So if you have time and none of us have any time, we've all got the same amount of time. Check out when by Daniel Pink.

Excellent. Well, I'm enjoying this. I would love to do a half day training with you and help tens of thousands and millions of people. I know we did great though. It was a pleasure having you on here. Where can we learn more at So.

I always make this as easy as possible. Our testing has already shown this the easiest place to go is just interviewvallet.com.

Expertauthority so everything that Mario and I talk about will be there. I've mentioned the book. The free copy of the book is right there. Podcast Guest profits How to grow your business with a targeted interview strategy. I'll put the checklist that I use for every podcast interview.

Checklists are written in blood. Make sure it's somebody else's blood. Don't learn from your own mistakes. It's painful. Learn from somebody else's mistakes. And then finally, Marielle. I'll put all my social media, my email there and a calendar scheduling link. So if I can be of any service to anybody, please just go to interview ballet.com.

Expert authority I gotta say.

For anyone that's listening this, watching this, if you ever want to be on my show or any others, you need to follow what Tom's doing. I'm smiling ear to ear because you nailed it. And thank you for making it easier for me and my team. I will make sure it is on the show. Notes. I can't wait to get more of your guests because you guys are awesome.

Like Sincerely Mario the only way this could have been better is if we were both sitting in the same studio doing it live. And I hope that will happen very soon, that our paths will cross and anything that we can do to support you. Love what you're doing and can I just give a quick shout out for you? Anybody that says doing a podcast is easy has never done it or never done it well, now throw in video on there too. And that's even tougher, right? So if you're listening to this, if you're watching this, show your love, show your appreciation, leave a rating and review. And the reason for that is not just to show Mario, hey, I like it, but it's to let other people know the search engines work where that's a big signal and what you say matters and that's going to help other people be blessed by this. So, you know, take a few minutes, leave a rating and review.

I sincerely appreciate that. It means a lot. And as far as the in studio, you just alluded to my phase five for the show. I definitely plan on having the top guest back in studio and we'll make it happen. I definitely would love to have you there.

Thank you.

All right, Expert Authority world. We have another great episode. I look forward to seeing you on tomorrow's. Have a great day. And God bless. Why Every Business Needs a book, including yours. Would you like to save five plus hours with every prospect? Generate more leads and profit in your business? Now visit businessbookchecklist.com and learn how you can implement this in your business today. Hey, thanks for listening to today's episode. I hope you got a lot out of it. I know I sure did. If you haven't done so already, I invite you to subscribe to the show and also be sure to to check out eainterviews.com for complete show notes, the full interview video experience, links to the resources we mentioned, and more. Have a blessed day and I'll see you tomorrow.