Episode 276: Alex Sanfilippo: Amplify Your Voice By Mastering Podcast Growth

The fun thing about going live is there's no way to test it. You're either live or you're not. There's no warmup to it. It's just like, okay, here we are. Now we got to figure all this out.

I know. And it's so funny because the times that I know it's not working is when I'm hearing all the messages from people saying, like, waiting for you. You're not live yet. And let's see. It's so weird. It's not even live on YouTube, but that's fine. All right, we're good. So we're good in the challenge group. I'm just gonna let every know, where are we? Our.

If you want to take a minute. I don't know how fast it connects people, but if people are already here, Hi, everybody. But if you want to take a minute to connect YouTube, go for it.

Yeah. Okay, cool.

I'm not in any rush. I'm just here hanging out. Like I said. I'm scrolling through, getting caught up.

You're so good. I really appreciate that. You're so awesome. Yeah. I'm so excited to do this with you. It's so funny. When we. When I reached out to you, I didn't even realize it had been a year since you came into the last time. I thought that was so funny.

It felt like yesterday. I'll be real. I didn't either. When you said that, I was like, no, it hadn't been that long. I looked. I'm like, it has been that long. It's crazy. I'm glad to be back. And you've had some really cool. I mean, I'm honored to be here because you do an amazing job, first and foremost, and your group is really, well engaged, really. People that are looking to do things. I love that. And also, you've had some incredible people on, so Kedra Sheehan is somebody who I like, I really, really respect. You had her on just 10 days ago or something like that? I think so, yeah.

Yeah. So it's so cool because everything's driven by the community, and I think that's why I connect so much to you, because you have a very similar passion for what you do, and you're so community driven. And so I think it's just we find each other. Right?

Right. Yeah, I agree with that. Absolutely.

Yeah. Again, I find.

I don't mean to, but I find I accidentally repel people that don't really like community collaboration, that are more just. I don't know what to call it. Other than just all about the money. I don't know how else to describe it. And those people typically get really short tempered with me fast. It's not, I'm not. I never say anything rude or mean. For some reason, sometimes people just, I rub them the wrong way and I really don't know why, but I think it's just because I'm like, does this actually serve somebody? And shout about serving people, let's make money. I'm like, okay, well, I don't know if I really want to do that. You know, like.

Yeah, it's so important because what you're saying is exactly what people. Oh, good, it's working. Yay on YouTube. Okay, good. Sorry, I didn't realize that YouTube was working. That's exciting.

I see the chat now. It all just populated at the same time.

Yeah. So cool. So we won't see the Facebook comments. I'll have to go into the challenge group there, but it's great. So. Hey, Wendy, Wendy actually gave you a, a huge testimonial yesterday, Alex, for Pod Match.

Cool. Thank you, Wendy. I appreciate it.

Yeah, Wendy.

Oh, I see. Wendy Gunn. Oh, okay. Hi, Wendy, glad you're here. Thank you for that. It means a lot. Thank you. I appreciate that.

Yeah, it's really cool. She's been saying how it was her first time guesting on podcasts and in the podcast world, and your podcast helped her kind of come out. Right. And be able to share her message. And it's incredible when you're able to make it, I want to say, easier for people to be able to actually reach out to people and connect with them too.

Yeah. And Wendy, thank you. And I'm so glad to hear that. That really is the goal is to remove the friction that's involved. The reason for that, real quick, I just, I just got to share this is because at the end of the day, we want to get into this to share our message, whether you're the host or the guest. Right. So it can impact a listener. And all the time spending a minute on the administrative side of things, that doesn't actually really help anything. So it's like, let's do as as much of that automatically and make the connection as fast as possible so that all that can just be streamlined. Because I, I was, it was a couple years ago, I was talking to somebody. He's like, it's sad that I only get to do what I like to do in podcasts about 10% of the time. Maybe they're 90% of all the other things I'M like, man, we gotta. And since then we've really been big on can we Somehow take that 10% and make it 20 or 30 or 40% and automate as much of it as we can? So, anyway, thank you for acknowledging that Wendy really means a lot. Made my day. I could leave now and be happy, but I won't. Do we not do that?

Oh, my gosh, I love that. So, yeah, why don't you just share? For anyone that's new to you, new to Pod Match and all the things you're doing, just share what you're doing just in the world. Right. With. With everything that's happening.

Sure, yeah. And Stacy, thank you again for having me. Seriously, an honor. I can't believe it's been a year. It blows my mind, but I feel like it was yesterday. We just have a really great connection. So thankful to be here. My name is Alex Hample. If I've not had the opportunity to meet you and I run a company called PodMatch. And Stacy said I do a few other things as well, but if you look at any of my social media channels. Two days ago, I believe at time of recording this, I posted how we're bringing merging everything into Pod Match. So we've got. Over the years, since 2018, there's been about 10 different or 11 different projects, including Pod Match. And Pod Match is really. And thankfully they've all done really well. And I'm so thankful. Of course, we've had some. A ton of failures along the way. Right. But these are the ones that have done well and have stood the test of time. But we're bringing them all into Pod Match to make it more valuable for the guests and hosts that use it. So over the next bit of time, that will be the only thing we have in Pod Match. To simply put it, it's a way to automatically connect podcast guests and hosts together for interviews while automating all the administration and all the tasks along the way. Just make it really simple and give you a great place to be able to. To manage all that. And the simplest way to put it is it works kind of like a dating app, but it doesn't connect you for dates, connects you for podcast interviews as a guest or as a host. And it's been an absolute blast. And we just work really hard to make sure that we're serving the people that are using podmatch. I don't do a ton of outreach. My goal is just the people that are here with us. Let's work together as a community to make this better and better for everybody. And so aside from that, I have a podcast about podcasting because I'm 100% podcasting. That's all I do.

Isn't that great? And I want to go back to what we were saying in the beginning too, because I think so many people are asking how to grow their audience, how to get their message to land and all of these things. And you started it off. Exactly. What the answer is, and I'd love to just talk about that for a minute, is we talked about community and how we're both aligned, right? Because we're community driven people. And then you even mentioned sometimes you'll repel the people that aren't. Right. And that's how, that's how it works, right. It's being so strong in conviction in what you're wanting to say and do and who you are, that that's where everybody comes in. Whether it's someone that wants to join Pod Match or someone that wants to collaborate with you. Those people will end up finding you, right?

Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah. And like the whole community thing like that, that's the way I wanted to build the business. And I come from a big corporate background. I did 15 years in the aerospace industry. And before anyone thinks I did something fun, I wasn't an astronaut, wasn't a skydiver, it wasn't a fighter pilot. And I always give that disclaimer. I work behind a computer, really love the job, but it wasn't community driven. It was very like production and output, output, output, higher profits. Right. And that's what the company set out to do and it was great. So I'm not dogging that or anything like that, but I knew that when I was getting into business for myself, I wanted to be something that had a community element, where it wasn't just all about me, it wasn't just all about profits, it wasn't just all about an end result. Instead, it was about a group of people going on a journey together. And there's many different ways to build a business, but that's what I want. I want it to be a journey where we're going together. And maybe we're not all together always, right? But at least we're a segment of everyone's journey. We're together in serving people. And that's what I've fallen in love with in the podcasting space is I find that there's so many people that just have this abundance mindset, that really have a message I'm gonna give to the World. Yes. They wanna bring in profits, they wanna grow, all that. Right. But the other day, their primary objective is to somehow serve the person that they know their voice can reach and help and serve and make their life better. Even if it's through comedy. Right. We have comedy podcasts on there like crazy. And they're like, my job is just to help someone laugh and have a better day. I love that. I think that's great. Right. And there's obviously total opposite sides of the spectrum where it's like, I'm helping someone through trauma and stuff. But at the end of the day, I think that if you're looking to grow an audience to build something, it's to draw the line, the sand, with who you are and what your convictions are. And don't deviate from that to amuse or get more people that are might be interested. Right. And to cast a wider net. I find there's so many people in the world today. If you can just say, this is what I stand for. This is how I want to do it, it'll attract the people that are like that.

Wow. I mean, it's so huge because that's when it's also not exhausting. Right. Because you're just being yourself and then you're. You're just aligning with people who want to play in this space of. Of who we are. And it's so interesting timing. Cause I just did a post on my personal page yesterday talking about why I started that new do the Thing group, which. I apologize, you guys, we are not streaming there. We're apologizing.

We're.

We're doing it in the challenge group, which is still great. You guys are great. But it was like I didn't even realize why I started that group. I originally started it because I was helping my audience accelerator members promote their stuff. I thought I could do these hot seats and it was going to be a great way to kind of have a space for them. But what I realized as I was starting this group is it was what you said it was in my past company. It was cutthroat and competitive, and there was no collaboration. And so that was kind of like the inner kind of workings that I didn't even realize that were behind it was this desire and this need to just be in the space with other people that want to also achieve great things in the same kind of way.

Yeah. So, I mean, we're both in the creator economy is what I would call it. And I just find that this is a place where people that are Very positive. Have an abundance mindset. This is where they hang out. Not everyone's like that, of course, but the general culture of it is like, there's enough to go around and let's all help each other because we're all trying to help somebody at the end of the day. And I think that's what probably both you and I, that's what attracted us to it, is the fact that it's so polar opposite of what we were used to. And it's just, it's a great space to be. I find I sleep a lot better knowing I actually made a real impact on somebody's life. And I'll be real. There was more money to be had in the aerospace industry by a long shot. But one of my friends who's a sales expert, she's like, you probably didn't sleep well, did you? I'm like, no. And honestly, I never spent money either because I didn't have time to. I was working 24 7. Think about the guy sitting next to me who might not sell me this coming month. Right. It's just totally different. So it's. It's definitely more impact driven than financially driven. And I think from my experience, that's a happier way to run a business, but also it seems to actually run better that way.

Yeah. And it's just more. You're more in this flow state. Right. Because you're driven by what you want. So it's so good. All right, let's say hi to people. So, hey, Wendy, thanks for all your cold nuggets this morning. And Vicki's here. And Danielle, let's see here. And Alan, good morning. So good. And let's check in with you guys on the challenge group and just see because I've got some questions from Everybody for you. Dr. Minnie's in the house. Hey, Randy, Good to see you. Madeline's here. Madeline, you probably remember Alex from the. We had him on the celebration for the startup podcast a year ago. That's what's so crazy. And Fern and Sarah and Julie and Katya. Good morning. And let's see, Jackie and Kimmy and so good. Okay, you guys, I'm so glad to see you guys here. Feel free to. Any questions you have. Feel free to ask because we are going to. If we don't get to all the questions today because we have a hard stop at 8:40 Pacific Time. So we don't get to everything today, then Alex and I will come back and do something another time.

I'm just. Today, though, we're going to Go forward. I'm going to do my best here.

Yeah. So I picked out a few of the key messages that I felt like were the recurring themes. And so if anything else comes up, we can add those. Sue's question was specifically on your platform, which I thought was really cool because she hasn't used it yet. And she actually runs the community called Entrepreneurs Gone Wild. Isn't that, like, the coolest thing?

Oh, I love that. Sorry, that was sue, you said? Who runs that? Sue. Great name. Good job. That's cool.

Yeah. She helps entrepreneurs get back into nature and basically get the freedom. Yeah, it's so cool. So she asked, just like, matching the hosts with the guests, what was the best way to present on Pod Match? What would be the best way to present her podcast so that your algorithm can recognize it as a good match?

Yeah, great question. Be less general, be more specific. And some people, they want to use every tag they can because one of the ways we do this is through tags. A lot of people, we've learned, don't really enjoy reading, especially in podcasting. So we have tags. It kind of identifies, okay, is this you? And a lot of people want to go really general there so they can catch more people that are viewing the profile. So to me, it's about being really, really specific with what you do. And don't be afraid if you're not using everything right. Just if you've only got one or two things that you say, okay, this is perfect, then just do that. And at any point, you can adjust and tweak on top of that. Alicia, who's my business partner and wife, she is so good at the profile optimization, I don't even try to help there anymore. So, sue, if you email in and say, hey, here's my profile, I'm done. I think it's pretty good. Alicia can go through and she can run some magic and just basically say, okay, yeah, it looks like it's pretty narrow specific, but at any point, you can change it. I changed mine just a few months ago because I found I wasn't quite getting who I wanted as guests. It's funny, because at one point it was, but who I wanted is a guest changed, which happens over time. Right. And so I went and tweaked it, and now it's extremely accurate, and I'm needing guests right now, let's put it that way. So I'm very happy that it's working well for me. But, yeah, so to simply put it, make sure you just really be specific on the actual profile creation. Itself. And that should work pretty well.

Yeah. Incredible. And for anyone listening, I also suggest that if you haven't started podcasting yet, is just be open to just flexing the muscle and going on podcasts too, because. And I'm imagining they could do that also, right? So they could, if they're looking for specific podcasts, and they could nail it down. And they could also, for people that are brand new, just sort of do your circuit through your. Through the matching, right?

Oh, yeah. I always tell people that before you start a podcast, be a guest on one. If it's a friend's podcast, or even if it's not a podcast, maybe it's a YouTube channel. Anything you can be a guest on just to see if you even like it. If you don't like being behind a microphone and sometimes behind a camera, depending on the podcast, then I tell people, don't start one. Then if it's not a medium that you enjoy, don't. Don't do it. It's certainly not for everybody. But if you jump on one or two and you're like, I love this. I definitely have confirmed I want to have a show, then get out there and launch. And the simplest way to launch at this point is just do it now. And the best way to do that is create a trailer for what you plan on creating and get it out there. And from there just start building. You can sign up for Pod Match. Once you even just have a trailer, you can be on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, all these places. Once you just have a trailer for your podcast, which should just be you talking, no matter what the format's going to be, set the standard, the example, and get out there as fast as possible. Because I find it sets. Someone's seen it, so now it sets some accountability. So I know you didn't ask for that, but anyway, keep moving around and we got a lot to answer, so.

Yeah, I love it. I love it. I know. Dr. Minnie's question. Question just pushed it up because it. I love this. She said she's changing her podcast name to Second Act Entrepreneurs. Is that specific enough for reaching and creating matches?

Oh, yeah, for sure. I actually love that. I'm guessing it's the second time entrepreneurship, Right. Maybe exited or decided to start something else. Is. Is that what that would be about or no?

I think it's probably over 40, over 50. Like it's your second act in life, I'm imagining. Yeah.

So something you can do in Pod Match is if it is age specific, you can also adjust your ideal guest's age. We have some podcasts that are strictly for retirees. And so it says 65 plus, so that the algorithm will not match you with anyone younger than 65, because it's looking for people that are in those ages. So it makes it really easy to be able to do that. So, yeah, you basically say, I don't want, I don't want a 22 year old guy give me his story about exiting and starting new companies, right? No, you want someone who's further along, that's been there, done that. Right. You can do that type of thing. So, yeah.

And Wendy's asking a specific pod match question, so we'll ask this one too. She said, should she add another profile or just add tags if she has another thing she wants to talk about on podcasts?

Another great question here. My suggestion is actually to create some sort of document on your computer, even put it in your calendar, and do a couple months of one topic and then shift it to the other topic. So go in there and edit the same profile and just change it. That way you can kind of say, okay, I think I've done enough on this one. Now I'm ready to move on to this. I've done that myself for a little bit. I wanted to talk about podcast guesting and then want to talk about being a podcast host, which there was some overlap in mind for sure, but basically I went all in on one side for a few months and then I went in and changed everything to be that new focus. But I kept the same profile. I like having the history of all those things. So that was my suggestion on that.

And then Darcy asks, what's the best way to get in front of other people's audiences?

Yeah, so podcasting is one medium for sure. So the best way to do that is to be a guest on podcasts. Right. I will say it helps these days if you have a podcast yourself. Not that you need to do swaps, but a lot of people that have podcasts, they're looking for people that have some experience behind a microphone. And one thing we know is if you're a host, you typically have a little bit more experience than someone who doesn't. Right. So podcasting is a great way to do that, but beyond that, it's just being able to find ways to collaborate with other people's audiences. And that can be through social media. It can be through something like this that we're doing. This is live today, right? This is a great way to be able to get in front of other audiences at the End of the day, I say, what's on my shirt right now? I just look and I can see on my shirt. To lead with value, to make sure that if you want to be in front of somebody's audience, it can't just be to get your numbers up. And I think in many ways, the days of that being the case are behind us. Creators that have the platform are getting very smart, and they can tell when somebody just wants to get a piece of that platform and then run to the next one. Right? And that's why we're even seeing a decrease amount of people doing very aggressive guesting tours. A hundred podcasts in a hundred days. The host doesn't want you to do that because they know you're not going to promote it. You don't even know who they are. You're just looking for another rep. And so if you really do want to leverage someone else's audience, you want to build something, you have to find a way to do it in a way that really serves and add value. That adds value. And the last thing I'll share on this is that you want to think longevity. So whenever someone's doing, like, I'm going to release a thousand episodes this year, my podcast, I'm like, okay, can you do that for five years straight? Everyone's like, no way. It's just not possible. I'm like, okay, then slow down and commit to something for five years in every way. Audience building these days is about longevity and consistency versus sprinting. It's a marathon. It's not a sprint. It's like taking the stairs, not the elevator. And some of us want that quick fix, that viral fix of let's get this thing as big as possible as fast as possible. The reality is that doesn't work. A great example of this, and I think everyone uses example now. But Mr. Beast, the most popular YouTuber of all time, he credits his success to the thousand videos he did before anyone watched a single one. And he just did it consistently. And he still doesn't do anything. I mean, now he does wild, crazy stuff in every video, but it's because he's been doing consistently for so long. He didn't start off like this. And any great YouTuber or podcast say the same thing. I didn't get traction until 800 episodes, and it's not because I sprinted to 100 episodes. It's saying one a week. I got two years before I'm really going to get anything. And most people are like, I don't want to do it for Two years. It's like, well, yeah, that's why you're not, not ever going to build an audience. So we have to get out of this mindset of I'm going to go viral, I'm going to hit something that's basically like winning the lottery. That's just not how it works. It's about what you can do consistently. And I always say, think five years. If you tell me you can be on one podcast a week for five years straight, then do it. That's your cadence. If it's one a month for five years straight, then do it. That's your cadence. And you'll build a much bigger audience that way than by trying to sprint and do anything. That's. That goes for podcasting, social media, video. Any way you're doing this. It's all about what you can do for a long period of time when you're leading with value along the way. Yeah.

And it actually even ties back to what we said in the beginning where it was like drawing the line in the sand with who you are because you're getting to know yourself through those thousands or hundreds of episodes right before people are even listening to you. Because sometimes, I don't know, I found this in my experience. I'm not sure what this was like for you, but podcasting really helped me tap into who I am. Because you're getting your voice, you're connecting with people, you're seeing what you're excited about, what comes alive for you. And I feel like by you being able to do that and you being able to be consistent and get your voice out there, connect with people that are wanting the same thing. It's like you're really getting to know who you are. Right. And what gets you excited.

For sure. And I'm glad you brought that up, Stacey. That's one of the non tangible benefits of, of being a guest or host. It's. It's discovering your voice. And this happens to me a lot. And I say this very humbly. I've just been doing this for years. I started podcasting and I don't remember what year it was at this point, so very long time ago. I've been consistent, but if I end up randomly somewhere and someone says, alex, can you share something real quick? Which happened recently? And I was like, okay, what? And they told me what to share and I shared on it for five minutes. And people were like, did you practice that? You were so articulate, like, how did you say it like that. And the reality is I didn't think Much of it. Of course, I still get nervous when I jump on a stage just like anybody. But I was able to do it because I've put in the time, I've put in the reps. It wasn't a quick sprint. It's been my life for 10 plus years at this point. And so I'm able to jump on something and do that. And that's a very non tangible benefit to being in podcasting in front of video, in front of audio. Right. Is just the fact that you're able to really work out the kinks and get good at articulating what it is that you do.

Yeah. And that's kind of my secret to why I even like helping people start podcasts and. And in this world is it just helps us all get to know ourselves on such a much deeper, deeper level. So. Yeah. And Danielle's making her account right now.

Thank you, Danielle. That's cool.

And congratulations to Vicki with her hundred episodes. It's amazing in a year. That's. She started it with the start of podcast.

That's amazing.

Can you believe that? That's so incredible.

The data. I might get this number a little bit wrong, but I think it's just over 6% of people who start a podcast make it to a hundred episodes and the other 94% don't make it that far. And really a hundred episodes for me and the data we looked at, that's typically where results begin, not where you reach the goal. That's where it starts taking off. My show was about 120 episodes before it did well. And I did a lot of things really wrong. There's better education out there now. But yeah, that's just kind of how it goes.

Yeah. And I think and Vicki actually her group just got rebranded and it's stand up and stand out. And it's part of this evolution that happened as she started her podcast and then realized that her whole thing is about a billboard. Like realized her billboard wasn't out. Right. And so then she's been slowly getting it out. Now she's helping other people do that.

Which is so cool.

Yeah.

Yeah. And Vicki, if you want to reach out to me, just however you'd like to reach out, I have some ideas, like if you have a hundred episodes, I have some ideas on how to start causing it to grow a little bit more or very organically. Just I call them unconventional ideas around that. We won't get into it here today, but I'd happily just share that with you. I've got nothing to sell Just if it can help you. It's some things I did that worked really well for me. So reach out if you'd be interested in that at all. Yay.

That's exciting. Okay, so we asked, answered Darcy. Thanks you guys for asking these questions. It helped me get an idea of what you wanted. Okay, so Sarah said, grow your audience and subscribers. How to invite big names with big ideas.

It's all about catching people at the right time, big names or non big names. And so, but it's all about the timing of what they have going on and are you able to cover what it is that they want to talk about at that point. And I'm going to share how I recommend doing that before I do that real quick here. Big names are great. Big names really been proven to not grow podcasts. Whether you go on really big shows or you're have guests that are really have a big audience, it doesn't actually really grow shows. And there I won't dive into all the reasons for that. You can look around. I've done some content around that and a lot of research on it, but the reality is it doesn't really move the needle. The best thing you can do is have the best guest or be on the perfect show for you, regardless of the size. The only example I'll give real quick is I was on a podcast that has two, I don't know, 2.5 million people listen to it every month a while back, and I did really well on it. I went back and listened to it because I'm like, man, that was a big audience. Let me make sure I delivered. And I was telling my wife, and I say this again humbly, I didn't mean anything by this, but I'm like, if I've ever done perfect at something, it was that the guy said, you didn't edit a single word out. I had no filler words the whole time. I delivered it like you think it was AI. It was. It was done perfectly. And I'm like, man, I'm so thankful. The return on investment on it was very small. It was relevant, it was right. It just didn't work. And that two weeks later, I was on a podcast that had, I think a hundred total listens. And I converted almost every single person who listened to that podcast. And I didn't do nearly as well, but it was the same concept I shared. And the reason for that is the big show. I'm just the filler. People care about the talent. They're there because they love the person who's speaking. And they're like, he did such a good job interviewing that random guy. I don't remember his name where he talked about, but he did such a good job. And we have a big guest on their fans might follow, so it might give you this organic spike in your numbers, but they don't. No offense, they don't care about you. They're there for that person. And they're like, yeah, some dummy interviewed my favorite actor, right? It was so good. He cheered so well. Was the podcast. I don't know what it was. It doesn't matter. They're gone the next week. I'm not trying to be rude or mean, but the reality is it's proven that. So getting big guests, though, if you do want them or you want to be on big podcast, you got to find out what it is that they're looking for in that moment. Best way to do that is to go see, are they releasing a book? Do they have a new product coming out? Do they just start trying to promote on a new social platform? A great example of this is I had Seth Godin in my show at one point, which really hard to get on. And I'll tell you, that show did. It's actually considered his best interview he's ever done. And I'm super humbled and thankful he was just on that day. Had nothing to do with Alex. Had to do with him. That episode is top 100 of my show. And the top 10 or top 20 are all people that you've never heard of, let's put it that way. And so just to show you how that works, Right? But the way I got on my show, because people, I mean, I must have gotten hundreds of emails the next day. How did you get set up and how'd you do it? How'd you do it? He was releasing a book, and what I did is I found a galley, which means a unedited proof of his book, and I had his publisher send it to me. I read the book. I sent him an email of me holding the book. It was his first time he saw the COVID of his own book.

Oh, my gosh.

I got his attention really easily because he's like, oh, that's my. I haven't even seen that yet. And I told him some of the key points I really liked on it and said, hey, I know you're about to be promoting it. I'd love to release the episode the same day the book comes out. Would you be willing to give me 30 minutes of your time to be a Guest. He didn't really have an option. He said yes, of course. Right. There's no way you can say no to that when someone does that much work in it. And so that was a book example. But same thing if someone's just getting started on TikTok, let's say. And it's a creator that has millions of followers other places. But you see, oh, they've only got 300 people following them here, but they're definitely building content. Reach out to them on the platform through a video. Just be like, hey, here's a so and so on the platform. Everyone go follow them. They're new here. Hey, let's do a live together so we can get you some more exposure on the new platform you're trying to be on. Find what it is that they're looking for, what they're trying to do, what they're trying to promote, and reach out to them that way. And it tends to, for me, convert very easily and very well.

Oh my gosh. That's amazing. Yeah. I reached out to Seth before also and did not get him yet. But it was. I think I was. What I was doing was I was using one of his books as a raffle prize and one of my challenges because it was all about trying to remember the name, but it was all about just putting yourself out there. Right. And your voice. Do you remember the book? Trying to remember that book name.

Have like 30 books.

I. Yeah, I know. It's so good. It's like this big book. But anyway, it just brings back that memory.

Oh, was it practice? The practice. Okay, I'm gonna have to.

I'm gonna have to.

That's my favorite of his books, by the way. I'm a big Seth Godin fan.

Yeah.

I'm hoping you get him on. You're gonna make it happen.

Yeah. Oh, Meline got it. You got it in the raffle. Will you say what it is? Cuz I love that book. Is for any person that's doing podcasting has to get that book. Cause it's all about what we're talking about. Yeah.

Just so we know, putting Madeline on the spot. Yeah, it was my shelf. What is was cool though.

Cause he did email me back, which I thought was great too. So. Okay, so here we go. We got Jeannie said how to best connect with podcasters right now with all of the noise out there.

Yeah. And so disclaimer. Pod Match is my product. I always suggest something like Pod Match. Go do your own research and see if that's the best fit for you podmatch.com is my site. You could probably go to Google and type in Pod Match alternatives and see what other options there are. And seriously, do your due diligence. I'm not just saying this. Find the platform that works for you, because nothing is for everybody, including my product, so. But the reason I like something like Pod Match is because whether you're connecting with guests or hosts, if people are on these platforms, they are telling all of us, I am looking for these connections. If you're just reaching out through social media, which can work, and that is totally fine as well, it's a bit of a shot in the dark because you don't know if they're actively looking because they're not voicing that. Now, again, if they're there, you know that be like going to a networking event. You don't have to worry about approaching anybody at a networking event because you know that they're all there to network, right? If you go to a random restaurant, though, and you start walking up the tables, you might have people be like, dude, please go away. Right? Which probably would usually happen. But that's kind of the same concept is you need to go where people are opting in saying, hey, I'm here actively seeking this type of connection, and then obviously make sure it's a fit. You can't just spray and pray and reach out to everybody just because they're on these platforms, Right? You still want to see is there actually a true connection here. So my suggestion is buying some sort of matching service directory somewhere where people are opting and saying, hey, I'm actively looking. And of course, like I said, you can use things like social media. Cold email outreach is fine as well. Just know they haven't told you that they're actively looking for this type of thing, so you have less of a chance of it working out. Not because of you, just because they may not be looking right now.

Yeah, and you're making me think, too, because I. I have this thing I do in my program, which is Money Grows on Trees, where I show people how when you reach out to a hundred people, whether it's someone to come on your podcast or someone to collaborate with, literally, money Grows on Trees. Like, it's abundant for you. But what you're. You're making me realize is it's not just like reaching out to a hundred of anybody, right? It's reaching out to a hundred people that you're wanting to either give value for. Give value to your community, help contribute, and really have this exchange, right? Of being able to serve each other. And we were talking about this yesterday with one of my community members came on and we talked about getting your ideal collaboration partner. Cause he's been just naturally connecting me with just authors. He's reading books and he's like, oh, let me connect you with this author and things like that. And it's a win win. Right? It's me. How can you make it a win win for both the people?

Yeah. I mean, a hundred of the right connections are better than a million of the wrong ones.

Yeah.

It's really about finding the right connections. This year I've been very much focused on going on less podcasts as a guest. But I'm going on the right shows. And I've already proven this year that the impact is far further. But I also show up better because I'm really able to give it all. If it's my only podcast in a given month, I'm going to listen to most of the episodes of that show. I'm going to show up really ready because I know the value I'm able to add. And it's so well aligned. Again, that's better than me getting on a hundred random more or less shows and not trying to be rude, just none of them are for everybody. Right. But finding those right partners, just less is more in that situation. Also, it gets you out of the grind a little bit. And I'm. I don't know if it's my age or what it is, but, uh, I really have enjoyed being less connected directly to the grind and having to go 247 and work every single connection. I'm just like, this one's right. And it seems very natural, organic, and there's no stress involved and no pressure. It's just like, it works because we're going the same direction.

Yeah. So true. And, oh, Madeline found the book. Thanks, Madeline. It was what to Do when it's yous Turn. And It's Always yous Turn. So good. And it's a good coffee table book, too. And Vicki asked the book that you recommended, it was called the Practice. Right?

Yeah, I, I. The Practice Shipping Creative Work.

Okay.

Is the tagline. Yeah, the Practice Shipping Creative Work. It's my favorite that he's done.

Okay, so great, Wendy. I'm loving all your pod match nuggets. So that's so cool. So, yeah, when she emails your wife later for her, everyone email her if.

You want to talk to her team podmatch.com that's also my email address. Just so y' all know. So that's her. That's our only email address we use. The whole. The whole team uses it. We just have a really fancy inbox. Went with a company called Front, so it separates it. That's pretty fun.

Okay, so we're running out of time, so I want to make sure I get to this question because this is what everyone wants to know, right? It's like, how do you make money with podcasting? What are your best suggestions for that?

Yeah, I've got a bunch of them and I do have a few. I got a little bit extra time, so I want to make sure we can try to get to as many questions as possible. Sorry if I've been long winded. I don't. I don't.

No, it's been amazing. I could shirk everyone say that.

Regarding monetization, there's two sides. This, right? Being the guest and being the host. In my mind, I'll go from the host perspective. The best option is selling something that you already have, selling your own product and service. I do very little bit of coaching in podcasting. I handpicked two people at any given time. And one of them, she has a really big business and a really big podcast as well. And she was talking about monetization. She's like, I want to run, get a few sponsors because my podcast Production cost is 300 grand a year. And that's just where she's at. She's like, and I wanted to cover my $300,000 cost, which is crazy amount of money. And I helped her with that a little bit as well. And so I'm not saying that's your cost, but maybe they're like, oh, 300 grand a year would be crazy. I'll make that. Can I find those sponsors? And I just asked her, I'm like, hey, what is one client pay you that hires you? And it's anywhere between half A million and $3 million is what one client to her is worth. And again, we're talking big business. I'm just giving you this very high level perspective. And so I told her, I'm like, why would you waste time muddying the water on your podcast by talking about all these other people's products and services versus just talking about your own and potentially converting one more client per year. And that's going to do better than what all five or six of these other companies would do for you? And so I challenge everybody with that. If you have your own product or service, don't start thinking about running advertisements. Talk about what you do instead and the best way to do it is not even having an advertisement for what you do in your podcast. Let it come up naturally, right? I've not told Stacy. Hey, Stacey, hold on a minute. All right, everybody, I want to talk to you about podmatch.com, pod matches, right? It's come up in the conversation. And so for many of us, if we're. If it's what we do and it comes up naturally, then someone who's listening might be like, oh, what? Well, what Stacy just said, you're talking about these challenges she's doing. People. They had a book giveaway. What is that? Right? You can now bring people in through just the interest in the way that you're. That you're sharing, so that the best way to monetize is through your own product or service. And if you don't have a product or service, my second favorite way is to create something specifically in line with what it is that your listeners tell you that they're struggling with. And so this requires that you actually talk to listeners. And my favorite way is this face to face, have a conversation and document it. And my last question, if I ever talk to a listener, my last question is, hey, thanks for the time today. Real quick, is there anything in particular that you're struggling with? And again, my audience is podcast guests and hosts. And so many of them are like, yeah, I'm having trouble more recently. I'm having trouble keeping up with the research required to show up and do really well. And because of that, we're building something inside of podmatch right now that's going to help people really simplify the research process and know exactly what sources to check and where to go. And it's not automatically doing your research for you. It's telling you, here's how to do your research based off what we know about this person. And that simply has come from me having that. That simple conversation and asking, what is it that you're struggling with right now? Something we can do to be helpful. And so whatever your podcast is about, you might hear the same thing. If you talk to 20 people and you're like, wow, 15 of them all said they're struggling with this. That might be your product or service you can offer. And sometimes it's as simple as creating a group training program. They already trust your voice. You already have everything you need. Group coaching can be an extremely powerful way to serve people in a group setting. Those are some ways that I really enjoy monetizing. Beyond that, there's a bunch of Little things you can do. I call them little, but they add up. You can do five or six of all kinds of little things. And Stacy, I'd happily give your community. I have my 16 favorite unconventional monetization ideas. I'd happily send them a. Send you a free link to pass out to everybody here. I'm not. No paywall, no email list. They can just have that if they're interested because they don't have time to go into all those. But the thing is, if you can figure out how to do two or three of these things, it can add up. And at the end of the day, I always tell people that are podcasting on either side of the mic, we really need to figure out how to offset our production cost more for a host than a guest. Right. But offsetting your production cost, if it's a hobby, something you're loving to do, it's so important to offset it because that allows it to be a long term part of your life. And it helps if you have a partner understand what you're doing, whether they don't really. If they don't really understand. If it's a hundred dollar hit every month, they know that a hundred dollar hit. If it's bringing you $5 a month, then they say, oh, this person can do this hobby as long as they want. Right. It's not costing our family anything. And so I always, I'm a big proponent at the very least, even if your monetization isn't your dream to break even. And I definitely have some ideas I could share around that. And I'd happily give that to you another time because we can't go into all 16 things right now.

I love that. Thank you so much. Yeah, I'm seeing the. I want it in the.

Happy to share it. Happy to share it.

Yeah, I just started doing something new where I get the end of the episode. I did that domain redirect for my Facebook group. And so I'm saying, oh, have you joined the do the Thing community yet? Go to do the thingcommunity. Com. And then it immediately puts them on my email list. And then also in my world, which has been really good too, in terms of the beginning part of it.

Yeah, I always like to think of podcasting on either side of the mic as not even top of the funnel, but pre funnel. So like a sales funnel. Right. You kind of will get email addresses and work its way down to who could potentially become a customer. So it just is built like a funnel for anyone who doesn't recognize that term. But I always think of it as, like, pre funnel, where it's just bringing them to where they can see it. It's not even trying to bring them into it. It's just they can see it. And so with Stacy is a perfect example. She's not like, go here and enter email address. She's like, go here and you can join the community. And people are like, oh, cool, I want to see what this means now they can see it. They can see what it is, and then they can decide, do I want to go into this? And so the more we can do that and think of it as, hey, this is just how I'm developing that know, like, and trust. And once I have that, they can go see everything else I do. It's a great way to be able to convert.

Yeah. Wendy asks, what's the best way to combine my established YouTube channel with a new podcast? Great question.

Good question. Yeah. Something I'm really big at. And by the way, Stacey, my next meeting got moved, so I. I don't. I don't have to be anywhere till 12, but I'd like five minutes before that. Just so you know. I know the whole time if you want to behave, if everyone's ready, we can go whenever you want. Yeah.

Thank you so much. That's amazing.

This is an important question. I'm so big on audience migration. That's been one of the things I've been really focused on. One of my buddies, JR has really helped me understand that. And the idea is getting your audience what they want as fast as possible with as little friction as possible. For me, I don't really watch YouTube too much, but I like to listen to podcasts. And so I'll typically find a YouTube channel, and then I go to podcast. See, Is there any way I can find this? My favorite thing is when somebody links to it. Right. An easy way to turn a YouTube channel to a podcast is you can download your videos. You can download them, you can go to a hosting provider. I use buzzsprout.com, not affiliated, but I use buzzsprout.com for my hosting. And you can basically upload every single one of those, and they become podcast episodes. It's the same exact content. And you can link to your YouTube channel from your YouTube channel. You can link back to your podcast as well. And that way people can just go to both of them. And I find that works really well because, again, I might not be able. I might not want to hear or watch your YouTube channel, but I might want to listen to it if it's a podcast. And so for me, the first thing I do is open my, my Apple podcast or Spotify app and I go look for it. And so that's something really easy that you can do. Buzzsprout.com is a hosting provider that again that I like, that I use, I pay for. And it's just a great way to be able to again have the content available different places. Now if your YouTube channel is highly visual, I don't suggest it. I know somebody who did this and his videos are him writing on a whiteboard and he's like. And he doesn't explain it. So he's like, all right, you see this here? Okay, so now we're gonna draw a line to here. And when you listen to it, it makes no sense. You know, if you're good at having a descriptive conversation while you're doing a video. What I just drew was a triangle and now I'm drawing an arrow to this here. If you can do it like that, then it makes for a great podcast as well as a YouTube channel.

Yeah, it took me like a year. Cause I, I would. I couldn't even be on video for a year. I was all audio. And then.

You've done so good by the way. Stacey, I'm super proud of you. It's been great watching your journey. Seriously inspiring stuff.

Thank you.

And then.

Yeah, and then I uploaded everything all at the same time. Even though it's not supposedly good for the YouTube algorithm, I'm like, I just have to get it. I just have to get it in this YouTube because otherwise it was going to take forever to catch up. And so now it's full. Cuz it's like anytime I do an episode it's going on YouTube. But the thing I'm learning now is when I do these lives is I could also upload that to my podcast. And then I'm getting a little messier actually where I'm not even doing an intro for it. I'm just putting it in the podcast because people love it with their I'm hearing stuff and they don't care if that I have the intro or not. And I think that's a probably a lesson for people too, right? It's not being so stuck on everything being perfect because people technically if you don't sponsors, no one cares. You know what I mean?

Yeah, I love that you said that. People are. Our attention spans are consistently shrinking. Let's be real. And I found that I had a. Listeners would drop off sometimes before my intro was done. My intro is now, I think, three and a half seconds on my podcast. And if I can get right into the content, people are typically staying around for the whole episode now. And so I just cut my intro to be three seconds long or three and a half seconds long, whatever it is. And I'm not telling everybody to do that if you have something very valuable in the intro. Mine was repetitive, and so I. To me, that's worked really well. I've been seeing More and more YouTube channels and podcasts with no intro. It's just straight into the meat, straight into the content. And I think it's doing really well. And really, that's what we're there for. I was listening to a podcast episode someone the other day, and it was eight minutes before it got into what I showed up for. And I was. I only had 30 minutes to work out that day. It was an hour episode. I'm like, so I wasted one third of my workout listening to ads and stuff. That wasn't what this is actually about. I should have. If I'd known, I would have just fast forwarded to eight minutes. So get people what they want faster, I think, is, again, a great way to serve people.

Yeah, I just really love that. And I think what it is, it's. It's making it easier for people to be able to do it, because that's what stops everyone is being able to. To do that. And Vicki, she talked about her podcast. Doesn't. She doesn't do any editing. She really inspires me because I did an episode on her podcast. It was so cool, Alex, because during the podcast challenge, I did this thing where I'm like, once you get to 20 episodes, I'll come on your podcast. And I forgot that I even said that, because that just feels so weird to even say there's a goal. And so she reached out to me. I don't remember how long ago it was afterwards, but she was like, I'm almost at my 20, and I'm like, great job. And she was like, when are you coming on? And so anyway, the point is, is when I was on her podcast, literally the next day, she had it live. And I was like, what in the world? How did you do that? And it's because she doesn't do editing. So she just has this really simple process. And I think that's really good lesson for everyone. And what's also cool, she says it in the intro, which is what makes it even cooler, because it's the reason why she doesn't Edit. And I just thought that was really, really neat.

Yeah, I love that. That's really cool. Good job. I respect that.

And then Madeline said, that's what I'm doing, editing my video podcast episodes and grouping them to publish them to YouTube. This summer, I saw another question from Madeline. I wanted to. Oh, here it is. She said, nope, where'd it go? Oh, is there an SEO aspect to intros?

Not really. What you name your podcast and your description and the links that you include is where all the SEO will be at. Granted, you do want to mention your show name and maybe the focus somewhere along the way in it, which typically, hey, even. Even when we started here, Stacy's like, hey, Alex, welcome to do the Thing Live. Right? And so anything that's going to scrape that here is do the Thing Live is what this is about. That's also what it says it is. So it seems to resonate. And at the end of the day, the. All the algorithms and the AI's running stuff are getting very smart. So it's able to tell. And really, that's not new tech, but it's able to tell if what you're sharing is what it's actually about very easily. So, yeah, the SEO juice is from the title description and links that you're using for the podcast itself, which is really great on either side of the mic. I mean, if you're getting links as a guest too, it's a great way to build some authority through search engines.

And then I want to just check with Facebook.

Yeah, let's see what else we got.

Yeah, let's.

We got a little bit more time, so love that.

Let's just see if you guys have.

I love this. It's such an active community. That's my favorite thing ever. So thank you for being here. Everybody makes it a lot of fun.

It really does. I know. You guys are awesome. Okay. Madeline said, love the idea of focusing on topics. I've been considering moving some of my episodes to YouTube and we'll probably roll them out that way. And then Julie said, my podcast is only on Spotify. Does it have to be on Apple to register on Pod Match? Because when it says it can't. When I try, it says I can't find my podcast.

Yeah. So right now we tie to Apple podcasts, and the reason we won't always do that, but we started off doing that because Apple actually has a human vet each podcast that goes on there. And we learned really quick that there's some podcasts that shouldn't. Not getting into politics, not getting into that. But straight up are like anti humanity, let's put it that way. That should not be allowed to be what they are. And they're terrible. But we're like, well if Apple's vetting with a human and they have standards, we'll tie to that at first. So. And also I do always tell people you should have your podcast available everywhere because an example, not everyone has access to Spotify and same not everyone has access to Apple. So if you're doing that you might be cutting your audience into smaller segments. Right. And your hosting provider, whoever they are, it should just be the click of a button to get it on Apple. You might need to log in or something like that. But again I use Buzzsprout. Not affiliated like I said. But they automatically syndicate, syndicate. Syndicate, syndicate. I can't think of the word. Something along those lines. That's the word. They automatically push it everywhere. So all I do is post and schedule on Buzzsprout and they automatically send it everywhere. But yes, registering on PodMatch requires it to be on Apple right now. But I do also think it should be on Apple because like 40% of people who listen to podcasts use Apple. So it's like it could grow your audience by an additional 40%.

And Julie's podcast is Hidden Gifts of Loss. It's. It's amazing. It's been born out of. After her mother passed away she started to see all these hidden gifts right. That come out of life. And so she's been interviewing people that have had a significant loss in their life and life altering loss and then kind of seeing the hidden gifts and what we realized is through talking about her podcast is I actually it's not anyone close to me but it was one of the managers of my old company is actually her death was the reason why I'm even doing what I'm doing what came out of my as I was doing this new program and I realized my whole mission is on helping people create a legacy. And so it's all. That's all a hidden gift, right? Is just that when something deep impacts you and it's amazing to see her just come out and interview.

What was the name of the show again? I want to write that one down.

It's Hidden Gifts of Loss.

I don't know if this is the case but even if it's not on Apple, Alicia. So if you email teamodmatch.com Alicia might be able to work some magic. Again out of my jurisdiction over my expertise. But she's Brilliant. So hidden. Gives a loss. I like that. And yeah, just email and see if Alicia can help you with that. So. But really cool. Love purpose driven podcasting. That's so cool.

And then Sarah asked, I asked part one of her question, but I'll repeat it so you know what part two means. She said, how do we attract high profile guests? We answered that one. But then she just said, I invited one. And their first question was about how many viewers I have. I am new.

Yeah. So that's becoming less common. But yeah, a lot of bigger names. They want to know, do you have an audience to basically stand up to my name. Right. And you can tell them, and I always recommend doing that. Honestly, what really matters is the niche. Again, right. The oaks, it's in. So if you have a hundred people listening or 50 people listening, if it's the. With the right 50 people and you can quantify that with them, they probably always say yes to entering a room with 50 people. And that's really the way I like to view podcasting. It's. Imagine it being people sitting in seats. You're on stage, you're sitting in seats. And some people are like, I'm thinking about quitting my podcast. Only 80 people are listening to it. I'm like, if I told you there's a room right here with 80 people in it that wanted to hear you talk and they're waiting for you, would you ever say, no, thank you, you're always gonna be like, yep, please. But we just connect and disassociate that because we just say listeners, downloads. But the reality is that's a human being listening to it, and it's just as powerful as someone sitting in a seat. And I'm not telling you to give that education to somebody who wants to know about your download numbers and stuff. Right. But when you explain, be like, hey, there's a hundred people listening, I do want you to know each and every one of them. I've had conversations with a lot of them and they are very ambitious entrepreneurs or they're. They're marketing experts focused on this and they're people looking to. To grow this craft. And just explaining that can typically quantify why you believe it'd be a good fit. But yeah, be honest with the numbers. If people do ask, I find we're getting less and less of that being asked because people see the value in the niche versus just the number. And to me seems a little. I don't know, I've never asked anybody that question at all. And not saying I'm better than other people. It just seems a little maybe wrong focus that immediately tells me, okay, they really only care about the number. They don't care about the person as much. And maybe they don't mean it that way, but it seems a little icky to me. Right? So be like, Stacey. Be like, hey, Alex, I want to work with you. Cool. How much money do you make? How about, are we aligned? Stacy, what is it that you believe in? What are you trying to accomplish that makes seems better? Stacey, if I asked that question to you, I know you'd be like, hey, dude, not a right fit. I can already tell that's the first question. We got a real problem here.

It's so funny you say that, because I showed this during my. That When I launched the Startup Podcast Challenge last year, kind of just. I did have one person. Out of all the podcasts I've done, one person asked me that question. And I was kind of excited because I had this immediate reaction of, okay, it's not the right fit. If you really just care about my number of listeners. It's kind of what we were saying earlier with the line in the sand about who you are and what your message is, and because if you align, you're going to want to have that conversation no matter what, as long as there's you have time in your schedule to do it.

Yeah, and I get that some people are going to get real picky with their time, and there are people that are at a level where, face it, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, these guys are not coming on my podcast unless it's the biggest podcast on the planet, because they can only say yes to one. And so I. I do want to be sensitive and understand that they're at a place where they have to do it. I think Steve Jobs is one who said this really well. He said every yes has to be protected by a thousand no's.

Oh, wow.

I have real. I think that was Steve Jobs. Maybe. Maybe we should look that up. In fact, Jack, who said it? Somebody really wise said it.

Wow, that's a great quote.

It's really always spoke to me because there's things that starting a business, starting a podcast that you now have to. I said yes to this. Therefore, there's a lot of things I'm going to have to say no to. And if it makes me feel like a jerk sometimes, I have to know that if I really am showing up to serve who I say I'm serving, I have to say no these things or I'm doing the people I say I care most about, and I'm mostly here for that. They're not as important as all these other little things. I'm a naturally a people pleaser. I don't really like confrontation. It's not been easy for me. I'll be real, but I always have to go back. That quote has helped me stay grounded, knowing that sometimes it just has to be a no. And so if we're working with people that are asking those type of questions again, let's not look poorly upon them. Maybe they just have to say no to everything except for just those few things.

Such a good point. Great quote. Okay, so we have see here. Oh, you guys are amazing. They're connecting over Julie's podcast. That's so good.

Oh, I love that. How cool.

And then Leia said, always love say I got it, Leah. Leia always love Stacy's questions. And Alex has so many great insights. Thank you so much.

Means a lot. Thank you.

And then Kimmy said, that does get my attention. Monetization of podcasts. Let's see. Oh, Jamie said, look forward to joining your platform. She's just starting her podcast.

Cool. Love it.

And then find out what they're trying to grow right now. She really likes that too. And then, oh, Madeline, she's almost at 100 also. That's amazing.

Congrats. How cool.

That's so good. We should have a reunion of the podcast that we started.

I mean, it's again, 90. I said earlier, I think it's around 94% of people don't make it that far. So it's just amazing to hear. That's an achievement in and of itself.

Yeah. Oh my gosh. Well, you guys are amazing. I am so glad that you were all here and oh my gosh, Alex, this was so incredible. Thank you so much for, for doing this with me. It was burned over. I'm starting that new community, which is the do the Thing collaboration network, which is literally what this is right now. And it's just a bummer it wasn't able to stream in there. But you guys are on YouTube, so that's good. But we'll be launching that community soon and the collaborations are already starting without it even having started yet. So that's been also really, really exciting. So I appreciate you just being a part of this pre launching of this group and what this community is going to be for people.

Yeah. So cool. Yeah. If I can. I know we're about to get off here, but if anyone has any questions and get an Answer. If you ask them in the group, any of the groups, just make sure to tag me in it so I actually see it. I might miss it if you just say, hey, Alex. Right. Tag Alex Sanfilippo in it. And beyond that, if I can. If it's okay. Stacy, just to kind of share a final thought here.

Yeah.

The last thing I want to share with everybody is to remember that each of us have greatness and creativity within ourselves. I think a lot of us, we look at groups like this and we look at someone like Stacey who's just absolutely a powerhouse. Incredible. And we look at ourselves and say, how can I do that? And maybe, Stacy, I'm not going to put you as an example because you've been a huge support to everyone here, but you might look at somebody and put them on this pedestal of, like, how can I ever do that? And the reality is you do have greatness and creativity within yourself in your own unique way. And your voice is a voice that can impact somebody then in a way that none other can. And what I mean by that is we've all been in this situation, I think, where you're giving your friend or family this piece of advice and they never hear it. And then one day they're next gonna be like, oh, Alex, someone told me this. It was just so brilliant. And I'm doing it. It's having huge results. And you're sitting there like, I've told you this a thousand times, right? Like, and you're just like, red, like, I can't believe it. And the reality is that's not a. Stacy, you really love that.

I really, really love it. So annoying.

The thing is, that's nothing, not a poor reflection on your voice. It's just because it didn't actually fully resonate and connect. And that's why I said we have greatness and creativity within ourselves is because our voice is unique and we might be. The voice makes someone finally say, oh, I get it now. Now it makes sense. And our job is just to put that into the world. And you never know who that one person is that you might serve with it. So that's kind of my final thought here. Get out there and do for one what you wish you could do for all. Serve them. You've got greatness and creativity within yourself. Your voice matters. And thank you for what you do.

Wow. That is a way to end this episode.

Really good.

Do you mind just sharing also how they could get involved with Pod Match and your community and all the things doing too?

Yeah. I shared at the beginning. And I'll keep this really brief because I literally have another meeting in less than a minute. But everything I do is@podmatch.com so check out podmatch.com we're merging everything we do into that. And if there's anything you want to talk about directly, message me anywhere. I don't have executive assistance. I don't have virtual assistants. It's me checking it or Alicia, if I'm really busy. Or you can email team@podmatch.com but pod match.com has everything that I do. And again, thank you for having me here.

Thank you. And thank you, guys. Do the thing. Don't wait for opportunity. Create it.

Love it. Thanks, everybody. Take care.