Master Of Change: Advice For Strengthening Your Podcast Show Content Over Time From Alex Terranova Of The DreamMason Podcast

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.

Hey everyone. Welcome to the Binge Factor. I'm Tracy Hazzard and I am really excited to talk to a podcaster who's been doing this a while and has made a lot of shifts in his show. And we're going to talk a lot about that because it's really interesting to see someone who's finding things working and then shifting over time to get it working. So today I've got Alex Terranova on He is the host of the Dream Mason Podcast. Alex is a performance alchemist who was dubbed the Anti Excuses Coach by Yahoo Finance. He's a breaker of limiting mental beliefs, a sometimes model, wannabe yoga guru and poet. Legend has that he's fortified with strength from a plant based diet and was once a reality show villain, sometimes called the Dream Mason. He is also authored Fictional Authenticity, co author of the bestselling book Redefining Masculinity and hosts the Dream Mason Podcast, the Frequency Shifter show and co hosts the Coaching show. Whether it's time to get a reality check, evolve from your financially privileged adolescence, or emerge as a leader, he will get you grounded and present your impact and connected to what deeply matters to you. So let's talk the Dream Mason Podcast and look at all the different ways you might be able to adjust and shift your show to fit your growing authority, your growing business channel. Just like Alex Terranova. Alex, thanks for joining me. And we're going to talk the Dream Mason Podcast today. Why just start the Dream Mason Podcast?

First of all, your voice is like such a good radio voice. It's like so traditional. Why did I start the Dream Mason Podcast? I used to listen. I lived in New York City and I was on subways all the time. And you can download podcasts, right? You can't like download the radio. And I'd come from la, where while yes, at times I would listen to like CDs or things at that time in my life, right? And then we would start connecting our phones. Growing up in la, you also would listen to the radio. At times you'd listen to like the different Radio stations, and I went to New York, and you couldn't do that. It was only what you had on your phone. So I would go in the subway and I would read. I had a subway book that I would basically, I would only read in the subway. But subways can be pretty crazy, right? With noise and whatnot. And I needed some other factor to control the noise. So I started listening to podcasts, which I could do while I was reading. And it was like the subtle distraction actually really worked well for my brain, and I fell in love with them that way. So then eventually I found myself, like, I'd be in the kitchen cooking dinner, listening to podcasts, and I was sharing podcasts with people. And this all happened at a point in my life where I was trying to make improve my life, make myself better. And I noticed that a lot of these people were helping me do that. A lot of these podcasts were giving me ideas, giving me books to read, giving meditations to go find, and all these things. And when I was building my business, I kind of felt like I could not only do it, but that if I'm enjoying it so much, wouldn't I like to contribute? And I really started it for myself. Like, I didn't know if anybody was going to listen. So it was kind of like, let's have fun. If I get to interview some pretty impressive people, I'm going to get to learn from them, which will be pretty cool. Like, just the fact that you get to interview somebody that you may have never met. And that was kind of the beginning of it. And then next thing I knew, I fell in love. I would wake up excited to podcast and to me, follow your feelings, especially when they're happy. Joy, inspiration, chase that.

Yeah, you loved it. And it shows in the show because you have a really fun time with your guests. Like, you can see you're learning something from them. You're intrigued. You're a really active listener. So that's obvious in the way that the show's. And you've done over 200 episodes. So if it wasn't, you wouldn't keep doing it, right?

Totally. And I've done multiple show. Right. The Dream Mason podcast is one. I've done probably three or four shows of my own or with other people. So I've experimented with other ideas, too. And one of the things I noticed, if it's not fun, I either got to make it fun or it's not actually the right fit and it's time to work on something else. But, yeah, the Dream Mason Podcast is I don't know how many episodes, but we're definitely over 200.

Yeah. So now that you've got your business more developed, it. Does it have an integral place in sort of the marketing of the business or the way you run your business?

I wish I could say it did more in the sense of I put so much of passion and love into the podcast, and I wish it did translate more. Like, more podcasting, more business. It's also great that I know that it doesn't, because I don't have to think of it like that. What I noticed that it does, along with writing a book. I tell people often when asked me about the books I've written or my podcasts, do not write a book or start a podcast because you think it's going to make you money. I mean, unless you are, like, writing a Harry Potter or you think you're John Grisham, it's probably not going to happen like that. But if you like writing or you like podcasting, you like learning about things or researching things or being creative, by all means. And what I found is the love of. It shows up with people that are, like, on the fence about hiring me or they, like, are already a yes to hiring me or working together, and they need that. Like, I just want to understand him a little more. I want to get, like, a little more credibility. A lot of the people that work with me start listening while they're working with me. It starts in the, like, opposite order. So I would love to say that it does, like, start a podcast and you'll be rich. But I think I would be lying to people. And I think most honest podcast hosts will tell you, I think Seth Rogen says that it's like, 1% of podcasts actually drive income.

Yeah. It's less than 2% make any money and less than 1% drive income. Yeah. But that doesn't mean it doesn't drive. Something like you said, might shorten the cycle for you to close a client or make sure that you retain clients longer because they're hanging on your every word so they're more successful. So that can have an effect at the business. Maybe it's just not so direct.

Yeah. And I think it does force you to do other things. Like, I've become such a better speaker because of it. Right. Practicing speaking, practicing listening. Practicing either telling really long stories or telling really short, concise answers. I think the same thing with generating. A lot of people don't realize people wake up and they're like, I'm in A bad mood, or I'm like, this or this is what's happened during my day. And then they carry those things throughout their life. I think when we're doing podcasting or interacting in this sense, you don't get to do that. You don't get to show up to be a jerk with a guest. And so it forces you, I think, to learn how to say, hey, I need to generate joy right now. I need to generate excitement or curiosity, which, if I can do that with you as a guest or as a guest. Right. What if I wasn't in the mood to do this today and we had this book, I can't show up and be a big old baby about it. I got to show up and bring who I am. And so not only do I teach people that in the work that I do with people, but it was a way for me to practice that, hey, you got to generate because you say so, not because you feel like it.

Now, you were listening to podcasts before you became a podcaster. And the ironic part is, I interview a lot of podcasters who are not listeners, and I can tell you there's a distinctive difference in the shows from people who are listeners first.

Interesting.

And there's a couple of aspects of that. But so I'm curious as to when you were starting your show and setting it up, did you set yourself some quality criteria? Did you model yourself after any other shows that you really liked? Did you think about those things as you were setting up your podcast for the first time and launching it?

Yeah, I would be lying if I didn't say that. Lewis Howes was a really big influence. He was one of the early podcasts that I found. He was one of the first that I was binging, and I felt like I identified with him as, like, a man. I felt like in a lot of ways, I connected with who he was. And this is like, five, six years ago. And at that time, there were a lot of things that I was like, I could do this, like that, like, I could be that. And I didn't know what I was doing. So I did model a lot of who I would show up as a podcast, and I would look at things like, oh, I don't like this. I want to do this a little different. Right. So you could take the things that you do like or don't like. Then as I went forward, I haven't listened to actually his podcast in a long time. I started listening to Akimbo Seth Godins, and I got really into Seth Godin's which had me want to do solo episodes where I could write something out and really think something through and present an idea.

You call them your Monday microdose.

So there are Monday microdoses, which. Those are something I made up. Those were two or three minutes, right. Those are short microdose, tiny little essentially droplets of wisdom or knowledge. There are some episodes layered in the 200 that are like 30, 40 minute episodes. Sometimes are 20 minutes, which is me talking about a topic. Right. Just sharing an opinion. It's like an editorial. Right. And I really enjoyed those. Those took a lot more energy. Right. Because I had to prep something. I might have had to do a little research with a guest. I didn't necessarily have to do as much, but I would experiment. Like the microdoses have been an experiment in 2021. It was just a new lay. Let's try this new thing. The solo episodes were like, let's try this new thing. And so I would take things from places or see things that I liked and incorporate them or take things out. And I've done that with different things. So there's probably three or four more people that I could say have inspired me and helped me. But the more I also would say that I podcast, the less I do listen to podcasts because I just get worn out.

You just get worn out? Yeah. Yeah, I know. I have so many shows that I have to listen to now. So you have to listen to them because I'm checking them out for work. So. So it makes it harder to podcast for enjoyment and listen for enjoyment anymore. Right. So you've got all these different styles of shows. So you've got some interview shows, you've got these microdose Monday microdose shows. Repurposing. Let's talk about that. So are you reusing your content on social media or what are you doing that is really helping you? And we're going to talk in a minute about doing live video, but let's put that on the table for a moment. But are you reusing this content in ways that you think is helping your business or is successful in getting new listeners?

A hundred percent, Without a doubt. It's also one of the things I tell newer people to do all the time. If the coaches not go right, if anybody's in the world of social media or creating content like, how can you not repurpose? It seems it's so wasteful to not because the same people that listen to your podcast necessarily don't look at your Instagram or your LinkedIn. The people that read your book, don't listen to your podcast. Right? All these things. So I repurpose a lot. And the way that I do it is the Monday microdoses are actually repurposed. They're social media content that I really like. That then I can take add my voice to add tone, inflection, like, add that part of my personality and then give it to people who are not going to read the comments on a social media post. They just look at the photos or whatever, and now I can actually give them the content, the thing that really matters, not the silly photo that you attach to it. This is cool. I took this from Tim Ferriss, and we're doing it our own way. But I hired an editor recently and a publisher to take all of my podcasts. So we're going through all the episodes and taking the highlights of all the different people and creating sections and using those sections in different ways to organize basically the greatest moments of the guests. And then I'm going to go back and say what I learned from each person. We're going to ask the guests if they want to write, like, an additional 100 or 200 words about whatever they want really to include. And I'll have another book that it has some new content in it. But it's also in a great way to repurpose all this old content and.

A great way to promote the podcast as a whole, because people are going to want to find out, these are the older guests, who's the newest one? Right? Who's next?

Absolutely. It's also fun, too, right? To have that, like, to be able to have that on my shelf. And I can't put a podcast on my shelf.

No, you can't. You know, it's so funny, though, because I'm a real reader, so I was probably a reader first before I became a podcast listener. And I still listen, but I won't listen to books on audio. Like, I draw the line there. Like, I'll listen to a podcast, but I'll listen to books on audio. And that's just me. But I have three books sitting in my credenza that have not been published yet. My listeners are like, yes, Tracy, we know you still have a book there that has not been published yet. Because the podcast has gotten to the point where the podcast is so current and relevant that every time I get to go editing the book, I go, oh, but that's old. We need to now include this one so it never gets out there. I'd have to stop podcasting in order to Put the book out. I think that's where I'd have to live anyway. So, yeah, kind of funny. But I love that idea that you're putting out a book from your podcast. I love that you're working on the repurposing of things and also using some of your social media successes as inspiration for your show so that you're kind of cross filtering this content that you're producing. So that's fantastic. Now, one of my favorite parts of your show is that you have this, I'm going to call it longish, because it's not super long. We're talking about like two to three to five minutes maybe on a show where you're talking and sort of setting up kind of a topic, but kind of why you inviting this guest on? But you haven't really even mentioned the guest at the beginning of your show. And then you go, yeah, let's introduce this guest. And then you tie the two things together. And I really love that because not enough people do that. They jump right into the bio and the intro and the guests, they're so anxious to get there that there's that little place of context that you give. It's one of my favorite parts of your show. And it's really what I actually think your binge factor is because it leads people into that episode and wanting to understand that tie in. It's kind of what we call open looping, right? You're setting that turn up and now I'm going to have to listen to make sure that that happens in there, right? What's going to happen in there? And that's really great. And it's just a really interesting thing. Is that something you learned from someone? Is that something you sort of developed over time, or is this naturally you?

Thank you for the compliment. It's one of my favorite parts of the show. Something that's really important to me is simply being authentic and living like in the moment and today, not worrying about two weeks from now or what happened last week. And I think we would all love to do that, right? It's a thing that we practice, but it makes it really easier to connect with someone. When we connect in the present, we can all go back to the past and complain and whatnot, but we really can connect with somebody in the present. I think it's a much more powerful connection. And it is just me, because I don't plan it. Like, if we were about to podcast, I don't sit down with, like, I'm going to sit down with Tracy. And here's my preamble. And this is how we're going to tie it together. I believe that I. On the day of a podcast, if I were interviewing you, I would look at your website, I'd look at your Instagram, I'd read over your kind of like, questionnaire and what my team has gotten for me. And I do that either the night before, depending on the time of the morning, or I do it the day of, and I simply, like, read it over, look it over and let it go. So I know who you are, I know what you do. But I'm not like obsessed with any one thing that I have to hold on to. Because I noticed from listening to other people, if 50 people are interviewing you and they've all dug in on this stuff, then they all ask you similar things and it's kind of boring.

It is.

And if somebody is popular, they've been interviewed a billion times, they answered the same questions. So what I want to know is I don't want to come in blind and not respect the person and have any. But I want to come in with just enough and not too much that I can still be very, very curious. And so the intro, I think part of the intro is like, what's happening for me, it's like my part of the show before they get to be the guest. What my hope is that if I were sharing with you what was going on with my life or what was going on in my space, that you would be able to see something for you as the guest, that you could bounce that back to me. That's the hope, right? It doesn't always happen.

No, but I think it does for most of the shows. At least most of the episodes that I listen to is that it's sort of setting a tone for how this conversation is going to go without it being so restricting and guiding. And I think that that's what you really do there, that that's kind of setting the tone. Nice. And especially. Cause we're going to talk about this right now, is that especially now in these live episodes, you have to do that with the person there. See, I don't record. You didn't hear the intro to you, you didn't hear that. So I didn't set that up here. But you're doing it live with them there, and you're setting that up and setting the tone. And so it makes me want to make sure to participate in that place that you're at as a guest on your show. And I think that's really good because you now have already built in this cooperation between you and your guest that is leading through the rest of the conversation.

You say it really well. I don't know that I thought it through to the degree. I would agree that one of the things I love about podcasting is that I think when you do it well, we create a relationship in an hour or a half an hour, whatever it is. And that you told me where you live, I'm not going to say it. I don't know that you share that with the audience. But if I was in your area, like, I often travel and I text people that have been on my show and I tell them, hey, if you're ever in San Diego, where I live, like, hit me up, like, I want to grab a drink, let's grab coffee, let's take a walk, whatever. And I've noticed that because. Which just blows my mind, that, like that one hour interview, the only time we've ever talked to most of these people, we can create a real connection. I think what you're speaking to is how that's established is through that share. I get vulnerable often. And maybe that vulnerability allows them to be vulnerable. Because my hope, I don't want to say that I want everyone on my show to cry, but I don't mind when they do. I love when somebody comes and they're like a business leader and all of a sudden they're sharing about, like a miscarriage or something that happened in their life that they had to overcome, that they never would have expected to share. That we get to see their humanness and we get to see their fortitude and their resilience and their heart. Because again, I think so many of us go on these things and we're doing our, like, greatest hits.

Yeah, right. It's either we're doing that as a guest or because the show structure is so set in that way, it forces it. It makes you feel like, oh, I got to be my pro self. So then I pull out my sound bites instead of the conversation. So I love it. And I think now this model that you're working on with doing live on LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube, so you're live streaming the actual show itself, and you're going from that and then, of course, creating the podcast in reverse, essentially, right? The podcast happens after, but you're recording it live. Everybody's on at that moment, Right. They're all like, I'm out there sharing this. And so it's a lot more likely that your guests would be more guarded in that live situation. More nervous. And your beginning has got to be helping that. But tell me about why you decided to do the live version of your show, the live stream.

I think that live really ties into how I do try to do everything in my life. I think we should experiment with life more often. And you're right. Tim Ferriss is kind of our leader, our president of experimenting with life. And I didn't necessarily get it from him. I got it from my own personal development and my own personal growth of, like, hey, we operate 90% right? We all know this, that our subconscious mind controls 90% of the way we behave and act and show up. And when I started to work on myself and became a coach, I really realized the only way that we can really experience the fullness of life is to get outside of that 90% or shift that percentage. So I do things like, for 2020, I went vegan for the entire year on a whim. Just like, let's see how this feels. One of the best decisions I've ever made. I'm now mostly, I'm about 90% vegan. Like, the experiment ended as you. As we talked before we recorded, I just did this crazy dating Tulum experiment where I, like, kind of threw myself out online and said, who wants to go to Tulum with me? And I let my friends choose who the winner would be. Right? So I put myself at the mercy of a new dating experiment this year. I started recording videos on the beach every day on my phone and posting them as just a different way to create content and see what would happen. So I'm constantly trying to mix up things in my life to break up the monotony. And anything new then becomes monotonous, right? Those videos on the beach become just the new normal. So then I gotta change it. So I think that all of this ties into how I do my podcast. Even now we're having this conversation and I've been in a deep conversation with myself about we're 200 plus episodes in. I think I'm a very different person than the guy who started this almost four years ago. And I want to keep the Dream Mason podcast, but I want to shift the show a little bit. Like, I want to kind of change it and send it in a new direction. I'm not totally sure how. So I think a lot of the things I've been doing are experimentation. The Monday microdoses were experimentation. I did a whole series on diversity, equality, inclusion. I do the solo episodes. Right? I'm doing the live is what you asked me about. Which is like, hey, what if we just use streamyard and went live and saw what happened.

You had mentioned to me before that you thought about producing more videos because they're doing really well. I'm sure. I'm sure it's because you're finding out that video is doing really well out on social media, right? So you were thinking, I need to do more video, but then that seemed like a lot more work, so why not do them together, right?

And I don't know if you noticed this. Like sometimes we think about what we like and put it projected onto other people.

Yeah, it does happen.

I'm never going to watch a 30 minute, I'm never even going to watch a 15 minute thing on YouTube or Facebook. If I want to watch something, I watch Netflix or Hulu, right? I watch a produced show. I also know that that's not the whole world, right? There's millions and millions of people watching YouTube and TikTok and long stream videos that are very like unproduced online. And so for me, I'm like, oh, I don't want to do that because it's not what I like. And I think that's a big thing in the business world or podcast world is sometimes it's like, who cares what you like, right? Sometimes what you like is the opposite of what would get you where you want to go. And health is a good example, right? I might not like broccoli, but if I want to be healthier, maybe it's a good idea that I eat broccoli. I don't know, right?

You're so funny that you say that because I say this to my clients all the time. I was like, if you want me to tell you what the actual hidden secret to podcasting is, it's not your podcast, it's your blog. But you don't want to hear that. 90% of my clients out there don't like blogs, don't like writing, don't like anything about that that scares them. And so they don't want to hear that. But it's the truth. And the numbers are there, it says that it's there and why does it work and all of that I can explain to them, but they don't want to hear that because it's not where they are. They like to speak, they're speakers, they're out there, they're doing those things. So sometimes we have to like almost get ourselves into, like you said, an experiment, get ourselves into this mode so that those things come and they happen, right? And then we go, oh, I guess that wasn't so bad. Right.

And nothing happens often as fast as we would like it to. Right. I think we would all love to make five episodes and be like, oh my God, we're going viral. And it could happen. It happens. People make a video and it goes viral and then they find out that all their videos don't go viral. But for most of us, most of the time, the things we want take a little time. They take consistency, some sort of discipline. Then it requires creativity. And I think when you start doing videos, it's not like all of a sudden my podcast completely, like, shot up because there's videos. You have to market that new thing and you have to nurture that new baby and see what happens. And I think also you have to notice, like, maybe everybody's show isn't for every medium. Yeah, I personally, again, I don't want to watch an interview. Why do I need to look at us? But other people really like that. People clearly watch Joe Rogan and Russell Brand. And some of these people, they watch for two hours.

I know it's not me. Right again. So we do sometimes resist the things that are not us. Well, I want to touch on our three things that we usually do on the show every time, because these become, and I'm explaining this so that our listeners out understand why I ask you, these are because these are valuable tidbits of information and advice that you're going to give to them. But we repurpose these and we reuse them in other ways so they become an article in Authority magazine. They become little stories on Instagram and Facebook and in other places like that. So we're reusing all these and sometimes they become little short videos because sometimes the short videos as we know, like on TikTok and other places do better. So that's what this is and that's why we never miss this segment of the show. Although I'm not a fan of segmenting and, you know, I've shifted it from five things to three things because that's what's working for us now. So, Alex, some tips out there for our audience listening who are aspiring or existing podcasters who want to understand what it takes to increase and engage listeners.

You have to generate the love and the excitement for it, because if you're not in love with what you're doing, then the audience is going to know and they're going to feel it.

I think that's such good advice, Alex. I think that that just putting that into the content to beginning, it's like baking with love, right? You know, it comes out in the cake at the end, so you've got that going for you too. So one other thing. When we are really doing this podcast and we're all in on it and everything, we really want to get to a place where we're getting great guests because we feel like that's our show is amping up and you've got some good guests on your show. How do you go about getting those great guests?

I've been blown away by how far social media can get you, right? Like direct messaging people, commenting in people's comments inside of the post. Because sometimes we DM people and they get lost in that other folder. But mostly I think it's those things. It's actually trying to go get them in social media world. But if you can connect with them again, it comes back to like, love. Some of my favorite guests were because I was able to share the difference they made in my life, right. I can't say that about every single guest, right. But the biggest ones that I was the most excited about were the ones that they had an impact on me personally or someone. I knew that I was able to go share a real message, a real personal like, this is why I would love to talk to you and this is why it's important. It wasn't some nonsense made up thing. And I think a lot of those people did it because they could see the human connection and this kind of goes along with it. If you don't feel that way, maybe you shouldn't be on your show.

We talked a little earlier and the third thing that we like to ask questions about is monetization of the show. And you said that you really aren't monetizing your show. You don't have that direct path and message. But you've listened to a lot of podcasts. What do you think are some of the more successful monetization strategies?

You know, it's funny, I know what's not or what feels like it's not.

Tell us what's not then. I love that Alex, go there.

If you're not the 1 percenter, right? If you're not a Russell Brand, Joe Rogan, Brene Brown, whoever, Whoever these top 1 percenters are, you don't get to put commercials for five minutes. No one cares. I don't think anybody. We like it when any of the famous people do it, but it's even more obnoxious when you're not there and we have to listen to this stuff and especially if it just doesn't make sense. Like you're a personal development spiritual guide, a Reiki healer, and you're hawking mattresses. Like, it makes me feel like you're in it for the wrong reasons. So, like, on my show, I think I have two commercials. One is for the personal development program that I went through that I wanted. They don't pay me for it. I wanted to do it because of the difference it made for me. And I think one is for my book because I want people to know I have a book and I don't want to talk about it on every single episode. And I've had people ask me, hey, would you advertise for this thing? And I'm like, I just don't know. It doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel like honest and true. It just feels like I'm trying to make a quick buck.

I feel that way about email sometimes. Some people are really. They've got their whole email affiliate programs and strategies, and it's just not me. I worked really hard to get my client list, to get my subscribers to my show, and I don't know that I really want to just hawk anything. And so unless I feel really strongly like this is the best tool, the best thing I've ever used and want to share that with you, I really don't know that I want to do it. I feel like podcast listeners, our audience is more intimate. We feel like we owe them more than they've been grateful to us in return because they've referred us and shared us and rated it and reviewed us.

Yeah. And it's like such not a right. Wrong. Right. If you go into a Home Depot, you're not judging them for the random things they sell that are maybe feel cheap and they're trying to get that extra dollar at the checkout line. But if I come into your.

Mom and pop boutique store on Main street, usa, and everything is homemade and beautiful and nice, and then right up by the register, you have a bunch of cheap stuff that you ordered from online from overseas, and it's just to get a couple bucks out of everyone. It's going to leave me with a like, wait, that store was kind of like cheesy and tacky. And I think that's the thing is, at the end of the day, I guess people have to decide what they want to be. Right. Are you in it for the money? Because there's nothing wrong with that too. Right. Home Depot, Lowe's, these are big stores. They're giving people jobs. They're making Money, they provide things. And there's people that really like their local hardware store, that everybody knows you and it's really personal and they don't try to upsell you on anything. They're just there when you need them. But I think you have to kind of decide who you want to be. And it's like, what is monetization to. Is it about actual money or is it about something else? Could you be monetizing through credibility? Could you be monetizing through notoriety? Like, maybe people know who you are and respect you, but you actually don't make money from it. Maybe that's the currency that you trade in.

Right? Alternative monetization, that's what I call it here. And you were talking about your speaking has improved. So maybe another alternative monetization is that you're trading in speaking opportunities that you're going to get because you have your podcast so. Well, wonderful. Well, I want to talk a little Dream Mason, though. So the name of the show kind of resonated with me because my father was actually a brick mason. So like my grandfather, my great grandfather, they all built chimneys and fireplaces and brick walls. And today I can go back home to Connecticut and people will be like, your grandfather built that wall for me and stuff like that. So there's something so solid about Mason. So tell me how you came up with the Dream Mason name.

I wish it was more exciting. I wish I could tell you. I was like on peyote in the middle of the desert and this thing hit me. That's not what happened, unfortunately. And fortunately, when I started my own personal development journey and I started training as a coach and I went through a super rigorous training. This was not like I left the restaurant hospitality world, put on a new hat and said, I'm a coach, let's go. I went through a year long, very intensive training, personal development program. And in the beginning of that program, first couple months in, people were calling themselves life coaches or business coaches. I didn't like either one. And I thought that it's too much explaining. People don't know what these things are. They're confusing business coaches and consultants. Life coaches is like so woo woo. And like, who is someone to coach, right? And I'm not saying that's what either one of those are. It just didn't sit right. And I kept trying to think like, what do I want to call myself? Who do I want to work with? What do I want to call myself? And I kept coming back to this place. I remember I was sitting at my Parents house in Los Angeles. I was living in New York at the time, and I was visiting, like, for the holidays. And I think I had, like a month left as I was quitting my job and going full time into coaching. And I was playing with a thesaurus, and I was, like, looking up words for, like, visioning and dreams and all these things. And then I was looking up words for building, constructing, because I really had a clear vision that what I'm helping people do is craft whatever their dream is, right? This, we're not talking about has to be like your lifelong dream. It could be like a dream for this year, a dream for this month, but what their dreams are, what they really want said it's simpler. And that if whatever it is that you want, you're going to have to build it, right? It's not going to just land at your doorstep and you're just like, oh, well, yes, this is everything I wanted.

It's not like there's no heavy lifting, right? You never have to lift a brick and it happens to you.

And I think even I've been talking a lot about this recently. There's a misnomer in manifestation even that people are like, oh, I have to manifest that thing that I want. No, you also have to manifest the human that you're going to become to get that thing that you want, which no one really talks about. Like, hey, if I want to be a millionaire, I need to manifest me as a millionaire. And a millionaire would behave a certain way to go get that thing, right? If I want to be a podcaster, I have to start manifesting myself to show up in a certain way. And to me, that was that combination. It kind of hit really clear. When it hit was like, oh, a dream Mason. Someone who builds dreams. And it seems so obvious, right? I was actually like, why am I stumbling on this? But it kind of seemed like I did, and it became a thing. Now I don't walk around and tell people I'm a Dream Mason. It kind of started to feel like a little obnoxious.

But this is the thing I want everybody out there to listen to. You know, sometimes I don't criticize anyone's show name on the show. Like, while you're here, you're my guest, so I wouldn't criticize it. Yours is great. So, like, there's no criticism necessary. But I want to point out why it's good, because I think that people can learn from that. Because I do hear a lot of really bad show names and some really, really bad ones. But when you have a name like the Dream Mason is that it's great for attracting guests because the guests can maybe believe in themselves as, like, I'm a dream builder. So, yeah, I belong on this show. That sounds like a really great attraction point. And then from that standpoint. But it can also be used to refer to you, like if you were being announced as the keynote speaker at an event. Right. So it applies in both ways. And that's a really great place to be when you have a name that has that and then your audience is sitting back going, yeah, that's what I want to build the dream, Right. And I need a guide. I need the Dream Mason to guide me. And it might be you and your guests doing that for me. So that's where it has this universal appeal in its name, and it becomes a perfect name to utilize for a show.

Thanks. I love that.

Yeah. Well, before we go, I want to make sure that we get some last minute advice to those aspiring podcasters. And you were just talking about something that I totally love. A lot of times people come to me because they want my help launching or setting up and doing their show. And there's a to do list. Right. They want to know what the to do list is. But I love the idea of the to be list. So could you give our audience some advice? If you're aspiring to be a podcaster, you haven't pulled the trigger yet. You haven't built that podcast dream yet. What do you need to be, Alex, to be a good podcast host?

I love how you said it. I think you could apply this to anything, not just podcasting, but I would say you need to start with the thing you want to create. Hey, what do I want? We're talking about podcasting. So what's the show that I want? And is the show that I want like a show that I talk a lot in terms. When I talk about podcasting, I use TV shows because people know them more. Do you want to show like the Wire? Do you want to show like Seinfeld? Do you want to show like Curb youb Enthusiasm? Or do you want like a cartoon like the Simpsons? What's the energy of the thing that you want? What's the way the audience that would watch that kind of show but really have a clear vision of I want a podcast that would be like this? And then who do you have to be to create that show? Right. You can't. The same person, in theory. Right. It's not to say that they can't. The same person who does the Simpsons probably isn't doing the Wire or like a Godfather kind of movie, right? It could be. It's possible, but likely. They're different audiences, they're different people, they're different age ranges. And we could get even more specific, right? Like we could say, like the Godfather and Oprah.

Very different.

And so the type of person you'd have to be to create an Oprah like show or to create a Godfather like show or, you know, whatever, you'd have to generate yourself as a different type of human being, which means your behavior, your tone, your energy, the way you're creative. And then I would say, what are the actions that have to be taken from that way of being?

Well, and do you want that? Because sometimes you might not want that, right?

Totally. And that's why I think where it starts is, what, what do we want? And then who would we have to be? Because we can apply this to anything. If you tell me that you want to be married or you want to be president, the way you'd have to be is very, very different. It's not to say that they don't have some overlapping characteristics. Right. You'd want people to like you in theory, but there is very overlapping characteristics. And then the way that you would take action would be so different. Right. If I say to you, I need to be a person who's fun and adventurous, or I need to be a person who's logistical, well, the actions I would take from those two different places are completely different actions.

Right. Well, Alex, you've built a great show. Your dream of podcasting certainly turned into a great 200 plus reality here. And I really enjoy hearing all of the experiments that you're going through, both online, as I'm watching you on social and on your show. And I look forward to really seeing what that experiment is going to be for you next. I can't wait to hear what that is. And we might have to have you back and let you know and tell us all about what that next experiment did for us.

Thanks. Appreciate you. Thanks for having me on.

I'm really glad that I got a chance to talk to Alex Terranova. The Dream Mason, right, The Dream Mason podcast. He was so open and sharing and just really gave us really great insights and answered all my questions in great detail, which I really appreciate because I have, like, a giant page of notes that I took because I was really trying to dive into why he was doing some things. And his show has been such an experiment. I mean, really, it's the Dream Mason experiment. Which is what I think it really is. So it's so nice to see that experimentation going around and in the way that he tries out the microdoses and he tries out doing different things, he tries out different types of guests, he tries out different types of openings. He's just constantly experimenting with his show, pulling through and coming to things and keeping the things that are working and then revamping and revitalizing the things that aren't. That's just such the makings of a great show in the long run. And who doesn't want to be along as a listener for the ride of that? Because you see him working so hard on his show, right? You see that as things change, you're like, yeah, that wasn't so good. And, you know, as the listener. But we put up with a lot when we really enjoy our hosts or we're really getting a lot out of what they do well. And there's a lot that he does really well, right? And has done very well from the beginning. And so you take that, but then you see him improve, and that just gives you more impetus to be around for the next episode. To give him credit for all that work that he's doing for you, the listener, it really shows that he's focused on that listener. And that's so absolutely important at the end of the day is that when I'm listening to a show, I feel like it's about me and not about you, the host, right? At the end of the day, Alex Terranova is making the Dream Mason podcast. He's building it brick by brick, building it up piece by piece. But he is not afraid to tear down a little section if needed and rebuild it to make it right for the listener. So some great lessons from Alex. I so appreciate him coming on the show. You're going to want to check out the Dream Mason podcast. Dream Mason is one word. Make sure you search for it that way and subscribe. Check it out. If you enjoy it, share it with other people. Share it with someone who might get a benefit out of that kind of inspiration and that kind of vision for how you might build your dreams, just like Alex has done for himself. So I, of course, always put everything@the Bingefactor.com. there's some interesting things going on at the Binge Factor that I want to make you aware of. There's the Binge Factor media page, because we're doing sort of more of a media oversight group, more of a network model. So there's bingfactormedia.com that can take you to the homepage and I have both the Next Little Thing and the Binge Factor running together. They're all running together in the blog there and in the episodes, so you'd be able to see both of them combined side by side. So we're really looking at people and products at the same time, or lots of cool little things at the same time. So there's some fun things going on there. But don't forget that you can find every podcaster, including Alex Terranova. You can find links to them straight from the blog post. So if you can't remember, but you remember what we were talking about and you can't remember the person's name, that's the place to go. All you got to do is remember the bingefactor.com or binge factor Media and you can go right there. Thanks everyone for listening. Really appreciate you and make sure to suggest some questions, some other shows that you would like me to feature here on the Binge Factor. I appreciate you and look forward to bringing you even more great podcasters as we hit the end of the year. Here.

You've been listening to the Binge Factor Podcast for more information for information on podcasting and video casting 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.

Sam.