Different Perspectives: How This Young Podcaster Empowers People To Succeed In Life With John Mendez Of Walk 2 Wealth

Wish you were one of those influencers with raving fans who binge on your every word, consume all your content, buy everything you have to sell, and demand even more. Then stay tuned while Authority magazine columnist and buzzfeed contributor Tracy Hazzard shares strategies, tips and tactics from top videocasters, podcasters, authors and social influencers on creating that bingeable factor. Now let's join Tracy as she explores how to rise above all the digital noise with the binge factor.

I'm really so excited to bring you this episode. I think John Mendez, who's my guest for today, is one of the most different podcasters I've brought on in a long time. He has such a different perspective and I love when I get to talk to someone young, I love because they have a different perspective on the technology pieces, on how they handle it, on how they intended to use it. They have a different viewpoint. And John points this out as we're talking because he comes from a world that it was just like social media was there from the day he put a phone in his hand and he automatically already had social media. So that's a really different viewpoint of the world where there are those of us who, gosh, I mean, I started my career and got email now pretty close to the first few years that I had been in business, but it wasn't an immediate thing. Like it started out in an older model and there are a lot of us out there and that could mean we're tech challenges. I'm not personally tech challenged. That's kind of my gift, is that I embrace it and I love tech. But John's perspective, for those who are in a different place, maybe those who are struggling to figure out what their path might be, who don't have a perspective on anything, that's where he's taking them. And he calls it walk to wealth with the number two in it. And I really am enjoying the model that he's created because I mean, when you're walking the walk, other people want to go along with you and that's exactly what John's built here. So let me tell you a little bit more about John. He is a serial entrepreneur, realtor, investor, podcast host, and social media expert. John Mendez is deeply passionate about helping other like minded individuals achieve a life of abundance through the power of the mind and social media. John Mendez is empowering others to obtain financial freedom and build the lives they've always dreamed of living. This is the thing about John that I think you're going to enjoy is this is a Man who does not stop, he is going to get where he wants to go, and then he's going to find that next goalpost and get there too. And if he can bring you along, get you running alongside him, not just walking, he's going to do it. So you're going to want to listen into this episode, listen into the energy and the passion that John brings. Walk to Wealth.

John, thanks so much for joining me today. Walk to Wealth. Wouldn't it be great if we could just really talk our way to wealth right here on our podcast? Right.

That would be amazing. But you got to put the work into Tracy, you know?

You know, that's the thing is, like, it is still a walk. You have to put some activity and action into it, right?

Yeah. And so this name kind of came to me, and it came to me out of the blue. I kind of procrastinated on starting my show for a while just because I couldn't think of anything at all but, like, Walk to Wealth. And when it hit me, it just hit like a 18 wheeler, because the whole story behind the show and the quote that kind of came from is it's a long walk to wealth. But despite that, some people may walk faster than others. But what good is sprinting to the finish line if you pass out when you cross? We have this hustle culture that's just run, run, run. We gotta get it now. We gotta start our business now. We gotta do everything now, today, yesterday. But it's like, it's a journey. You got to be okay in a process and be okay with just walking there, because at least you'll be good to go and enjoy it when you finally cross that line.

Oh, and that's the thing. I find so many aren't enjoying it. They're not doing the celebration at the end or at the milestone marker either. We're just not enjoying the process. And that's what I love about podcasting. I love the process. But what about you? What have you found to be your favorite part about podcasting?

I think my favorite, and it's kind of like, because I'm an extrovert, so it's kind of to be expected, but I just love connecting with people. Like, and it's crazy. And we were talking about this before we went live, about how small of a world it is. There's a guy whose podcast I hopped on, he's in London, a guy that I'm having on my summit in March, who I'm also on my show that I met through TikTok because his content was reported. Me for some reason was the guy who interviewed me as coach, like months ago. And I think there's still active coaching client. But like people I never met from all these different places are somehow like kind of intertwined a little bit. And just meeting all these amazing people, having these amazing conversations and like the pre and post recording conversations too. That's where the money is. That's where the gold is, right?

That's right.

That's.

We did that for like 20 minutes here, right. So. Yeah, I know. I agree with you. Like those connection points and like, they may not seem like they're logical, like you wouldn't have made that path yourself, but it's logical because there's synergy there that is just happening without you and.

You could just tell it. It's something, I don't know, I guess intimate, for lack of a better way to just having a conversation where you can really dive into depth at length and some of these ideas and get these new perspectives. I've always been one of those guys. Even growing up before I really knew it, I was always just love being curious and loved seeing other people's perspective and figuring out why people tick. And like in middle school, we had this thing called philosophical chairs. And you would split up the room. It's like, what's the best dessert or snack? Ice cream or pizza. And everyone, of course, would choose pizza. And I love pizza myself. But I was sometimes depending on which side had more people, I would go to the ice cream side just to figure out why would someone make an argument for this. And now that I'm podcast and say, I get to just see all these different perspectives and all these different ideas and viewpoints and turn myself kind of into this melting pot of just a ton of perspective. While I live and experience my life and figure it out on my own stuff, I'm also hearing from all these people and trying to piece things together.

Yeah, you're finding out what's kind of resonating with you. And I want to dive into your binge factor right now because this is actually what I found to be the best part about your show and the reason why someone's going to listen to it and go back to the beginning and listen to all of them and subscribe. And that is that when you are talking with your guest, you're generating your ideas live. Like you're thinking about what your business model might shift to or what audience you can serve or how you can change something up. You're like, I can see your brain Working, working and thinking that through and talking about that as if you're already planning to do it. That person's energy and their ideas are like getting synthesized by you. That's beautiful and brilliant because this is what happens when we listen to a show, but it can seem more passive, and you've turned it into something that's active on your show and your audience is coming right along with you. So I want to listen because I want to hear what your idea, what your takeaway is.

It's something that it's hard to put your finger on because for me, it's almost like I grew up playing football and basketball. It's like almost that couple seconds before kickoff where you're kind of just the adrenaline just now kicking in, and you're kind of starting to enter into that flow, into that state where just you just kind of go blank and you're not thinking at all. You're just kind of just in muscle memory flow state, and it just kind of the thoughts come up. And sometimes I go back and if you were to ask me after a football game what happened during a game, I could probably recall like, maybe three or four plays out of the entire game. And same thing with podcasting. If you ask me what I said when I was talking, I can't remember what I said because I'm in just so in it, in the conversation. So, like, deeply involved in the conversation and trying to figure out where do I go next. I usually don't really prep conversation. I know where I want to go with something, and as something comes up, I just kind of dive deeper into that. And it's just that genuine curiosity that I have, I guess, express in real time while I'm having this dance with the other person.

Well, I think that's so the case because as we were talking beforehand, I was mentioning I had listened to your episode with Drew Donaldson, and you had said something about wanting to do this, and I was asking you if you did, and you were like, what did I say? And so it's that exact model of it. But you know what? I think it's so good because it's teaching your audience to be more than passive listening, to be active in their listening and sort of thinking things through. And that's a spawn for purpose and thought leadership. And that's what I want to shift to and talk with about you today, because you are going to be giving a talk before we record this at podfest, but it'll happen after this air. So chances are good my audience didn't make it there. So I want to make sure that they can hear what you were talking about. It's like four steps to finding your purpose is the title of your talk. And I think that it's this really interesting because we struggle sometimes. Some people think of their podcast as a complete experiment, and I applaud that. I think it's great experiment, but have a plan for finding its model, finding its purpose. What are your recommendations and what are you going to talk about?

Yeah, so this concept is called Ikigai. It's a Japanese concept and a little bit of context. Just so you know how I came to this. If you read my bio, I had someone on Fiverr, so it sounds super fancy, and it's like a serial entrepreneur, real estate agent, investor, podcast host, social media. And it has all these different titles. But for me, last year, 2022 is the year of the squirrel. In the Chinese New Year, it's squirrel, as in shiny object syndrome. Because I was trying to do everything at the same time. Right. I was trying to do that.

What happened to last year? I didn't think about that, but you're so right. That is the year of the rabbit. So let's hope we multiply, right?

Right. So for me, I was chasing everything kind of like a squirrel. I was trying to do the real estate. I had a podcast on the side, and so my real estate, I was getting leads and I wasn't following up. I wasn't closing any deals. I closed a couple of rentals. And around September, I read this book called the Purpose factor. Now that's a story for another day. But it got me thinking as to what is this idea of purpose. And I always, like, love the philosophical way of just kind of, like getting into deep thought of the world and figuring out why it is that we're here and stuff like that. I never really dove into it that much. And then after that, I was like, okay, maybe real estate is not my calling. Maybe I just have to do this. At that time, I was teaching social media class, so already I was like, maybe I have to turn the social media thing into an actual agency and run with that. And then my first client, I was creating content for him, and I was like, I already create content for myself. I don't want to do this for anyone else. Right. So I was like, it's a lot more work. A lot more work. And so then around that time in December, I found this concept called ikigai, and it stands for your reason for being. And now if you have a pen and Paper nearby. This is definitely an easy exercise anyone can go through. Kind of start getting a little more clarity as to where it is that they should pivot and focus on. And this really helped me gain a lot of clarity and shed a lot of light as to opportunity calls. And sometimes there's multiple phones ringing and trying to figure up which phone to call, meaning to pick up and have that conversation is very difficult. So instead of trying to gain clarity, I was trying to pick up every phone at the same time. And that did not work. I highly do not recommend. Right. Do not be mean. And so what I did was the four steps are pretty much start off by listing out what do you love to do, everything that you would do, that you would do for the rest of your life if no one ever paid you a single penny from it. Like, list it out, Is it writing? Is it reading a book? Is it maybe creating courses like we mentioned? Maybe it's speaking at conventions? Whatever it may be, list that out. And then from there, once you finish that, go on to the next step, which is what does the world need? What are all the problems that you see need fixing, that you feel compelled to fix, but make sure you feel compelled to fix them. For example, I chose financial literacy and like that abundance mindset, mainly because I grew up in the projects and didn't grow up around money. Fortunately, I had friends that lived in the Hamptons. And so I was one time I went to a trip in my 8th grade year and I got to see what real wealth like and prosperity looks like. But then also I grew up in the projects and I got to see the opposite side of the fence and what things to turn into if you lead a life of poverty and scarcity and go down that path to the extreme. So write down all the problems you feel compelled to solve. Once you finish that step, you go on to what can you be rewarded for? A lot of times we get a lot of fulfillment and joy from some of these things. Like maybe it's volunteering at the soup kitchen, might be building houses in South America for people in third world countries, and maybe just volunteering at the local shelter for cats and dogs, whatever it may be. But we still have to keep the lights on, we still have to put food on the table, and especially if you have a family, you still have to take care of yours. Once you start listing that out, the final step is what are you good at? Or I like to say, what do you have the aptitude to be good at? So as you can tell, I'm very extroverted to talking is kind of my thing. But if you were someone that's shy and someone is very introverted, maybe public speaking isn't your wheelhouse, or maybe it could be. But no, you'll be treading against the grain. So what are you good at? And if you're someone whose skills haven't really developed yet, what do you have the aptitude to be good at? And then once you kind of finish those four lists, hopefully you have something that intersects across all four. But if not, just start with what's on the list and start crossing things out until you find a one, you find the one.

I love that. And I think this is really important. Sometimes we don't always know, especially the younger audience that you talk about, maybe they haven't found something that's rewarding for them yet. That trying the other three on the list and then coming up with something that has a commonality, you might find that is the most rewarding thing.

And one thing I've realized too is sometimes, especially for that last circle, what are we good at? Sometimes things that come second nature to us, that we think are just regular or easy are extremely valuable to someone else. For example, for me, the story of how I taught my first social media class, I kid you not, I was in a gym. I'm on this Mastermind call on clubhouse. It's like 6:30 to 7am Monday through Friday. And I'm always on there, at least I used to be when I was focused on real estate. But I was always on there and I was listening to them and they were talking on social media. At that time, I wasn't making reels. I wasn't using social media strategically at all. I just knew it from growing up socially with it, Right? And so I made a quick Facebook post on five simple, easy tips, or at least what I thought were simple and easy. And then one of the hosts of the Mastermind was like, hey, John, do you mind teaching a class on this? And instead of saying yes, of course, I said no. I never taught a class before. I panicked. I never taught a class. But right after that, she responded with, john, just let us know when you want it scheduled. And after that, I couldn't say no again. But something that I didn't realize was a skill. Yeah, right. Something I didn't realize was a skill, she seen in me. And I was able to cultivate that and kind of grow from there. So sometimes it's like things that we might think are second nature, that we don't really value. But someone else may be willing to take an hour or two out of their day to hear you talk and hear you teach and present on a certain subject. So don't overlook the things that you naturally find easy.

That's so important. I think we do overlook it and we overlook the value of it, for sure. And I think this is interesting. So I've been having some discussions with some other podcasters and community managers who have, like, large youth audiences, and they're seeing kind of a different, I'm going to say, attitude, but also a difference in learning styles. So what do you find there in as being a really, I'm going to say a way that you are working hard to make sure that you're engaging your community. Because I think that that's the hardest piece for each of us is to engage our community. And because you're dealing with that youth, hopefully it'll help all of us understand that.

Yeah. So for me, still being technically in my target demographics age, I knew that people my age have a tendency to not want to listen or be receptive of information coming from someone that's older than them for the simple fact that they believe that they can't understand or can't resonate with that person because they're much older than. And so for me, I knew that's why that's going to be my angle into the podcasting space, because a lot of people are talking about personal finance and wealth building and all that jazz, but a lot of people are. So either one, they're so successful that they feel like there's too far away to even reach, or B, they're just a lot older. So the younger generation just feel like, hey, they don't know what they're talking about. Yeah, they have money, but they don't know what I'm going through. And it's like for me, I'm still growing up, right? Yeah, it's like all my friends are still in college right now. All my friends are still my age. Although I stopped spending a lot of time with a lot of people my age just because as you get into this entrepreneurial world and you start going to conferences and you start self improving, the gap kind of starts to expand a bit in terms of mentality and mindset and trajectories of where we're headed. But for me, it's just still being at this age. It wasn't until I really got clarity, though, to who my ideal avatar is and really going in depth. And people say, you know, create your avatar. No, you want to talk to marketing purposes, blah, blah, blah. Like, no, actually know who you want to reach, know what they like to do, what's their pastimes, what do they enjoy doing when they're free, when do they listen to your stuff or check in with your stuff? For me, I was very fortunate because I drew out my ideal avatar and I just so happened to have a guy named Darren shout to Darren. I played football with him, grew up, went to the same schools growing up. And for me, he, you know, someone that didn't want to finish college, he wanted to go to entrepreneur route, he wanted to make his own business and take life into his own hands. He kind of fit out my ideal avatar perfectly. And then one day it kind of just clicked. It's like, oh, this person that I drew out is just Darren. So let me just ask Darren for everything. Hey, Darren, is this a good idea? Darren, you like this? Hey, Darren, what do you think about this episode? What do you like about my titles? And this could be applied to anything. But having that idea avatar, for me, being Darren, he's a year younger than me, he's 20. It's like I asked him and run all my DS by him. You would have thought he was my executive assistant or something. The amount of times I called him up and asked for his opinion and feedback, I love it.

That's actually a really big success strategy of big companies. I mean, Amazon does that when they start a project team on a project that's going to be coming out two years from now. They assign a profile of the ideal buyer of it, or consumer of it, or user of it, and they actually outline all kinds of things, like what are their buying habits, what kinds of things do they do on Amazon already? And like all of these things and they give them a name. So why not do with what you know? When we started our very first podcast on 3D printing, we would do that. We would, like, give shout outs to members of the audience who asked us a question, both to reward them from asking it, but because it helped put a picture in our mind of who we were really talking to and who we were serving best. So pretty quickly we were able to actually put real names and faces to that.

The amount of clarity that kind of comes from that exercise is insane. Because now that I just so happen to be fortunate that I actually know Darren as a person, like I know him personally, I could have an idea. It's like, yeah, this episode wouldn't be a good fit. Or, yeah, this, whatever may not be a good fit. Insert Whatever it is that you're selling or serving. And when you know your ideal avatar, the more you get to know that person, hopefully it's someone that actually exists. Because the more you get to know them, the more clarity you have in terms of the direction you go with whatever you want to do. And for me, as I said, having that shiny object syndrome and then finally getting clarity, now I have a clear direction, like if it doesn't meet Darren, then it doesn't get put out.

That is so good. I'm glad you're curating that in that model of it because I think it serves you well in the long run. I think it's too easy for us to make our show, in a sense, generic as we go forward and we lose our purpose in that model.

And for me, it's. I was almost lost myself. So this is kind of what I've been thinking about very recently, like in real time. And I've been thinking. So the show's called Walk to Wealth and it was supposed to be like a medium where I share my story. And I've had on my episodes I probably have like five or six episodes where I really go the first six and then maybe like a couple, two or three after where I talk about my story and what I'm doing. But it mainly been interview, interview, interview. It gets easy to get carried away with interviews because it's a lot easier on the editing side and things like that. But as of late, I was just like my girlfriend told me a while ago, but I read a book and it was like, you just have to show up. You have to be more consistent. Like instead of doing one a week, you should do one a day. I can't do that yet.

You have increased your pace though. I noticed.

I have, yes, A ton. I went from one a week and now I'm doing close to two or three a week almost. And for me, and that's just interviews because I was so backed up with so many interviews, I have to get them out. So it's still like relevant to the time otherwise.

Yeah, that's so true.

Also just dropping like a. Maybe like a five minute episode where I just go and kind of like slowly but surely like share different parts of my story. Cause it's a little more entrepreneurial and little more entrepreneurly focused. But there's parts where, for example, attachment styles, learning about psychology that played a big role in my personal development in high school and figuring that stuff out. So sharing like the nitty gritty, like of how I got to where I'm at mentally what kind of influenced me, what factors played a big role into my life and really getting even more in depth as to my walk, because I want people to kind of feel as if they're kind of. Not only are they living out this journey with me, but hopefully that me sharing mine, like, and being a lot more raw with it will then inspire them to also be vulnerable with me and share with me so I can then know who to serve and how to better serve them as well.

You don't mind a little on air coaching?

Yeah.

Multiple times right here. And you may not realize you're doing it. You're extremely well read. I figured that out from listening to your show and from just our conversation right now and five minutes on what book you're reading. I would be fascinated by it. And I think your audience might be, too. And it doesn't have to be like a big promo about the book or anything like that. It's just like, I picked up this book and this is something that fascinates me about it. That's it. You don't have to say more than that. But what's on your reading list, I think would be really valuable to your audience. They want to grow, too.

It's funny, I actually made an episode about my top three books, and that episode actually did really well. That was like episode number six, I think, way back when, before I got into interviews, but definitely spread it out a little.

1.

I'm planning on getting back into it because the little quick solo episodes, that gives people a feel for who's John most of the time, as I said, like, yeah. I'm also in real time gathering thoughts together while I'm interviewing. But for the most part, I like to consider myself like the conversation guide. But I don't ever get to, like, really put in my perspective as much or go into depth on my thoughts just because, like, if I'm interviewing someone, I'm there to kind of see what I can learn from them. And how could I challenge them in a way to get even better thoughts? Like, some of the times we're having this conversation, I come up with, like, different metaphors that I've never even thought of before kind of on the spot. And it's like, okay, I got to save that. I got to add that to my repertoire.

Well, it's a good thing you have it documented on your podcast.

Exactly.

You can clip that and save it for later. Well, I want to touch on the. One of the things that I noticed was that in a sense, we think that the youth is only interested in the 5 minute in the 30 second in the short run. But your show is an hour long in the interviews, so you definitely are covering that as well. And I think that defies the odds and really helps you stand out.

Yeah, and it's pretty much people are heavily oversaturated with content and starving for wisdom. Is a quote that I heard. I forget where I heard it from. I think it's Alex Hermosi. But people want to learn, people want to grow and not just be fed info. They want things that are actually going to change them. You can't do it in a 30 second reel. I'm sorry. No matter.

Soundbite, right?

Yeah, you can't do it. And so it's like you have to get in depth in some of these things. If you really want to spark a change and ignite a flame in someone, you have to get in depth on some of these ideas. And also you have to stay ahead of the trend. And one thing Moment's talking about is sooner or later, and I don't know when because I don't have a magic ball, but people are going to get short term video fatigue eventually they're going to start wanting to consume longer forms of content. And, and because us podcasters have been kind of doing this for a while, we just kind of been not as appreciated in the marketing world. We kind of like the middle child. I kind of just people forget about. But once people kind of get that short form video fatigue, all the podcaster, that's when they're it's going to raise all the boats because we've been putting out long form content for so long and once the short form wave is over, everyone's going to come swarming to get that depth that people are searching for.

Well, and I think people don't really understand that with our long form content, we have so much short form we can create from it. So like we have endless amounts of short form. My team was like, tracy, could we get you to go on TikTok? And I was like, why you create a 30 second clip of all these things that I've said over time. I mean you've probably got thousands of them. Do you need me to take the time to like actually go on? If it's a benefit, I'll do it, but I don't know why. And so that's the question. At the end of the day we have to ask is like, we've got all we need. It doesn't matter what the format's going to come out of we built that with. And I think this is a real big thing for you is that you cannot do an hour long show and not bring some thought leadership to it. And whether it is your thought process in the ongoing of it or you're grouping together ideas referring to another guest, you had to help the audience sort of see the synergies that are happening. You're doing that. That's thought leadership in its formation. No. And I know you've had a conversation about this. No. AI, none of those things in the future are going to actually be able to do that in the way that you can.

They try to say that they could just train it and program it, but it's something that we have in us that you can connect to someone in a way. And I like to say that I'm not the most successful 21 year old in terms of monetary wise, but I just so happen to find my voice a lot sooner than most. And the way I've been able to grow up kind of not having a role model, it's allowed me to gain an open mind, a natural curiosity and just kind of just been searching for all these different perspectives that's kind of just put my perspective. A very unique seasoning to it. And so when I start whipping up the pot, having these conversations, it's a nice, exquisite cuisine that you get fed when you hop onto the show, to use a cooking metaphor.

Yeah. It's all your own flavors and I think that's really what's so beautiful. And I love how you just said that, that you found your voice sooner than others. And I think that it's not only that you found your voice, but you found the power of using that voice and the impact that it has is lending that purpose to your life, that reward. And that all ties together in a really wonderful way.

Yeah. And there's this question I love asking people, especially when they're kind of trying to figure out what it is that they want to do. But if you get just won the Powerball, you just got a billion dollars, you never have to work a thing in your life. No. What is it that you would want to do? There's a couple questions I asked to go a little bit deeper. I'm not going to go all in depth, but just ask yourself, what would you do? And for me, I think what I would do if I won a billion dollars is I would probably hire out people to help me create the greatest message that I can and then from there put literally the entire rest of it into marketing costs and ads so that everyone can hear the message. It's like, spend like a good chunk of time just putting everything that I had put together.

So essentially, and I think this is the point, like, we used to. We're now at a billion dollars is like the lottery limit. But it used to be like, if I had a million dollars, what would I do? Right.

Yeah.

Millions. Too small now. But the idea is that you would do the same thing. You just do it in a bigger magnitude.

Yeah. Amplify it to the max.

Yeah, that's beautiful. Because it really says that you're sitting in your purpose. And I agree. Like, I wouldn't retire. I was like, what would I do with that? It came up in conversation. My brother in law and sister in law, they. They have an opportunity because they're teachers to like have this retirement program. I was like, I thought about it, I was like, that never even occurred to me. And I'm older than they are, like, why would I retire? And so it's just not something that I want to look at. So. Great. I would be totally remiss and my audience would be mad at me if I didn't take the time to tap your expertise and your brain on the three things that I go over every podcaster with. But your perspective on them is going to be very, very different. And what I would love to know is how you find great guests, because you're finding someone that's interesting to you. So what's that path for you?

So what it looks like for me is I've used podmatch for a while and then it got to the point where I found out about PodMatch and Matchmaker FM and Guestio. Guestio I really didn't get. I got a couple people from there, but mainly Pod Match and Matchmaker and then there's this website called Podcast Guest. And then from there, anyone, I always ask them, I send them an initial question is, what is the one problem that you could solve if you were to make an appearance? And then is that applicable to young adults age 18 to 22? And I always ask that because, as I said, wealth building people. Come on. It's like, here's the five steps to use a syndication deal to make a million dollar investment. It's like, cool, but we're in college, or at least a lot of the listeners are in college. It's like, I always ask that kind of. And that's like also the first round of elimination. Some people never even respond back, which is insane to me. But some people just don't respond back. The second round is I always do a pre show call with any guests unless I know them personally or I just follow their content. So I already have a feel for who they are and what they can speak on. I always do a pre show call to break the ice. And some people, and to kind of use you as an example, we just hopped on a call even before we hit record and just started talking. Yeah. And some people, you could just have that. And it's just, you can just tell it. It's like there's synergy. It's gonna be a good one. Yeah, there's synergy. And then we're in alignment. So that's step number two. And then assuming we're still in alignment after the pre show call, I tell them to schedule a podcast interview. And then from there, as I said, I know what they're on in my like onboarding form that I have, I have asked like a couple questions in terms of just to kind of guide the conversation. And I look into them a little bit and then from there it's. I try to ask them questions in their kind of zone of genius. Cause I feel like people are more passionate about talking things that are in their zone of genius, but also then kind of maybe seeing things that I may be more interested in, like kind of pivoting in mid conversation.

That's what I think is really fascinating about the way that you ask questions. And I think it really works well is that you may be asking me something no one's ever asked me before, or you're going into that sort of perspective that I haven't heard. I have heard it on a couple of the shows that I listen to and I only spot listened like to three episodes. So I didn't get to listen to the whole catalog. But when I listened to it, what I heard was you asking for that kind of more nitty gritty view of things, like how can I get stuff started in this? And I think that's so important because so often a lot of these experts that come in talk at a level that's just above where you might be and that's not good. So you bring them back down to where you need them to start. And that I think is powerful.

Yeah, it's hard. But especially I had a couple people that I interviewed like literally a couple weeks ago that were talking about like trading stocks and that can get easily get so lost in like in the weeds in terms of like jargon and terminology that most people don't understand. And they understand because they're experts. But I try to, if I know I'm not understanding it and I just say, hey, like, what does that mean? Like mid interview? Because if I can't understand it, I know for sure most people listening definitely can't understand it. So knowing and then not trying to come off as the professional that you just understand what everything that says, like, no, if I don't understand something, you need to tone down a little bit because I'm not going to stay here and act like I do understand it just to keep this conversation going because I know people out there. You might have just lost them as well. And I can't have my listeners getting lost because I'm lost and I didn't have the courage to say something and kind of pivot the conversation.

Yeah, no. And that does take courage to interrupt someone who's an expert. And it does take that. So I think you do that really well and it does serve your show well. Now, I want to talk about increasing listeners because this is the hardest part for every podcaster, it's the always the one. I ask them and they'll be like, I don't know, what do you suggest? Like, it's like they need more help.

But.

But you've been using Instagram pretty successfully to help build more audience, build more interest in your episodes. So I'd love for you to touch on that. But what do you think that you do that is really working for you in growing that listener base and listener engagement?

Yeah. So for me, I was doing a bunch of reels. It got to a point where I was almost doing three reels a day and I was getting tons of views, but it wasn't leading to downloads. So I did a little bit of an experiment. Mind you, this is also during the time when I was still doing real estate and social media and all this other jazz on the side. So what really helped me get my listenership up was getting crystal clear clarity on what my ideal avatar is and who that is. Up until that point, everything I did up to that was for pretty much almost no reason. And then I stopped for a little bit in terms of posting and it didn't have any effect on my downloads. So then I spent a lot more time figuring out who it was. And then once I did, one ideal avatar person pretty much represents about 100 listeners. So if you know that you can have everything you do be good for that person, you can estimate about a hundred other people will also love what you got going on and they'll refer.

Them to other people like them. So it is probably directly over time happens.

So even before you hop onto the Instagram, get clarity. Because I was just shotgun spraying and praying and getting views and getting likes but not getting anything. So if I had to restart everything, my first answer is always I wouldn't because I don't know where that would lead to. But everything happens for a reason. But if I could actually change something, I would say I would have spent more time getting crystal clear clarity on who my ideal avatar is before I started doing the reels. Because I did would have then I would have known which reels I should have posted and should have not posted and how I could have best engaged them instead of just posting random clips that I thought were interesting and not what did maybe my ideal avatar think is interesting.

It's so funny you say that as I just heard so my sister in law has a podcast on weekend crafting adventures and it's for women who are crafting on the weekends outside of their job and it's kind of the perfect thing. And she's been doing more and more Instagram and more and more YouTube shorts and some other things. And she had gotten advice from my daughter about adding music to it as she shares some of these videos. And she was like agonizing over the music and my daughter gave her great advice. She said pick the music that you're interested in because of your audience profile similar to you. And when she did that, so she happened to pick a song. I think it was a kind of an older song. It was Upside down and Donna Summer and it's like kind of. I think there's a bunch of commercials and stuff with it out. And it took off and she had 200,000 views of that reel and it was all because the song boosted it.

That's amazing. And I want to add one more point too, that a mistake that I made. You are not your own ideal avatar.

Not normally. Right.

And the same reason you're making your show isn't the same reason why someone will tune in and you have to distinguish that and separate that. Because that's what I thought. Because as I said, I'm in my own target audience demographic in terms of age and things like that. But the same reason I'm making my show isn't the reason why people will tune in. So making that distinction definitely will help.

Yes, that's so, so important. So glad you're saying that. So let's talk about the future. You're coming up on a hundred episodes I hope you're going to celebrate, but you have to start thinking about maybe, is this working for you? Are you getting the high return on investment? What. What is that? And I use monetization loosely here because it could simply be a return on investment for you personally. But what is that return on investment from your show? And are you going to shift things up going forward?

Yeah. So for me, right now, my main goal is to really grow my audience and grow my authority. This year, I was so distracted last year, so I didn't really give my all. But just recently we hit top 5% on listen notes, so we're starting to get some numbers growing. We're starting to get some increase, which is running with distraction. My main marketing strategy for this year is podcast guesting. I've so far this year have speaking at PodFest Expo next week. I've got close to 90 podcast interviews booked so far this year, some of which I've already recorded. Yeah, the goal is to get to 400. I'm applying to speak at PodFest podcast movement in August. And so really just building my audience, my authority. I have a virtual summit that I'm doing in March to kind of do some things and like, just really focusing on building my authority, building my audience, providing that value. Because if you have attention, attention is the most valuable currency. And so after pouring in so much, so much, so much, by the time I figure out my offer and what my angle is, I'll still teach the social media stuff on the side just to kind of get some income to keep me afloat. Fortunately, I still live with my grandparents. If you have to stick it out living with your parents or grandparents or whoever to just save some money, definitely do so in the entrepreneur space when you're starting off. That's been keeping me afloat. And so I plan on making this podcast for more than just a weekly episode. I want to turn it into a movement. I want it to be something that people can stand behind. The whole name itself just tells a story. Walk to wealth. I want people like, hey, I'm walking. I'm walking to wealth. I'm a wealth builder, something like that, where it's just. It's a movement. Because the ROI is infinite in terms of fulfillment, in terms of monetarily, it definitely could use some boost. But for right now, it's mainly just growing my audience, growing my listenership. And as I figure out where it is that I really want to, I think I could best serve and best help people transform. That'll come eventually, but I'm in no rush because as I said, I'm still afloat for now. And it's just more so about that Zig Ziglar code. You help enough people get what they want, eventually you'll get what you want. So just providing that value, keeping it going. But definitely the virtual summit is definitely going to be a big audience booster. Probably doing a couple more of that. I might do a couple more throughout the rest of the year. So really just focusing on growing, growing, growing. Because then once I have that list, that audience of people that genuinely support what I have going on, then people will want me because I have the platform. And so I'll figure it out as it comes. But my main focus this year is just growing the show because I spent so much time last year just being distracted. So just growing my short term.

Good. I love that. And let's see, it is the year of the rabbit, so that multiplier is going to apply this year.

Right?

And so we're going to have a multiplying of listeners. I love that. John, John, thank you for doing more than talking the talk and walking the walk here for people, because your show is fantastic and it's really necessary in this space.

Thank you so much, Tracy, for the opportunity. You know, I just, we mentioned it in the conversation, but I genuinely love just hopping on conversation having with people like you that just can connect with you. Can kind of see it in my face. For people that are watching the audio, go watch the video as well. But it's like you could tell in my face how much I genuinely enjoyed this conversation. I mean, suck at hiding my poker face. I suck at it. My cheeks just start puckering up and I smile just starts creeping in. But I had a genuinely good time having this conversation today.

Oh, me too, John.

Me too.

I got to take some classes from John. Instagram authority value on Instagram. How can you build that? I mean, defying the odds of all kinds of things he's doing with his podcast, he's got length, which doesn't exist. All these longer shows that don't exist in his generation. There isn't anything entitled about the way John approaches the world, but yet that's what we think of that. Gen Z and millennial generations who are podcasting, and that's not what he's about at all. So everything about the way that he's created the show has just been truly him. And that's what's beautiful and brilliant. He said, here's how these other people are doing it. I see the success factor, but I'm going to harness that and turn it into something that's my own. I'm going to learn from that, but I'm going to do my own thing with it. That's where the true power and finding your binge factor and the resonance with your community and your audience, that's when you go deeper, when you don't just follow what everybody else is doing. And that's what I really hope you're going to do here on the Binge Factor. When I bring you some of these podcasters, I bring them on so that they can inspire you. They can tell their story, they can give you their twist, how they change something up, what they did differently to make it their own so that you're inspired to make it your own. I really hope you're going to take a listen to Walk to Wealth. It's a great show. I really hope you're going to follow John Mendez on social media. So if you'd like to find links to all of that, you're going to need to go to the bingefactor.com to the blog post for that episode and link up. Check out John, check out the shows, check out all of his social channels, check out how he's doing things. I think you're going to really be surprised and enjoy the model that he's created and find some things that you might want to add to your model as well. I'm Tracy Hazard and I cannot wait to bring you another Binge Factor guest who's inspiring me just as much as John has today. So thanks everyone for listening. I'll be back next time on the Binge Factor.

You've been listening to the Binge Factor Podcast. For more information on podcasting and videocasting success tips and tactics, please go to thebingefactor.com and be sure to listen to our other show for podcasters called Feed you'd brand. If you'd like to be interviewed on this show as well as featured in Tracy's column, please go to thebingefactor.com guest and apply.

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