Playing the Game of Google Power Podcast Content with Dr. Will Cole of the GoopFellas and Keto Talk Podcasts

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 noise with the binge factor.

Hey everyone, welcome to the center of Influence on feed. You'd brand I'm Traci Hazzard and I have a really interesting podcaster with me today. I have Dr. Will Cole. He is a leading functional medicine expert and you know, I've been hearing a lot about functional medicine, so I'm sure we'll get to that. He consults people around the world via webcam and locally in his Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania hometown. He specializes in clinically investigating underlying factors of chronic disease and customizing health programs for thyroid issues, autoimmune conditions, hormonal dysfunctions, digestive disorders, and brain problems. Dr. Cole was named one of the top 50 functional medicine and integrative doctors in the nation and is the health expert for Mind, body green and goop. Dr. Cole is the author of the book Ketotarian I Hope I'm saying that Right, in which he melds the powerful benefits of a ketogenic diet and a plant based one. So you actually have two podcasts you're sort of co hosting and hosting on?

Yeah, yeah.

So tell us about them.

Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, so I'm the host or co host for Goop Fellas, which is Goop's first spinoff podcast off of the main Goop podcast, which is for people that don't know. Goop is the wellness and lifestyle brand of Gwyneth Paltrow. And so Gwyneth and Elise, they co host the main show and they came to me and my friend Seamus and said, hey, what do you guys think of co hosting this spin off called Goopfellas, which is a playoff of Goodfellas. So we're, you know, wellness gangsters, kind of giving our perspective from a guy's perspective on wellness and life and relationships and vulnerability and shame and all this stuff that I think that we need to be talking more about as humans, but also from our perspective as guys.

So that's a nice balance to having like the Girls podcast and the guys podcast.

I like that it is the little brother to the Goop podcast that is the yin and the Yang. So I'm loving it. We're having like really cool, provocative conversations about transformation on all levels and all different manifestations of transformations in people's lives. So health transformations, financial transformations, relationship transformations. So it's really a cool conversation that we're having. And each week drops, every Wednesday there's a new episode. And then for the past two years I've been hosting KetoTalk, which is a new episode, typically drops every Thursday. And that's when we get super geeky and talk about the ketogenic diet and functional medicine and any health questions people ask us and we answer them live on the show. And that's co hosted with Jimmy Moore, who is the author of amazing ketogenic books. And I'm also the author of Ketotarian, as you had said, which is a mostly plant based ketogenic book. So again, there's a yin and yang too because Jimmy eats mainly like a carnivore ketogenic diet. And I am the author of Ketotarian.

Well, and I think that's really unusual because yeah, when you think of keto, you tend to think of carnivore diet. So that is really an unusual edge you have there. So that's a nice balance. How do you like the co hosting dynamic because you doing it on both your shows?

I love it. I like a group vibe. I don't like, love doing things by myself.

You're just talking to yourself. Yeah, it's not as much fun.

Yeah, not as much fun. So I. My day job is actually not podcasting, it's seeing patients. So like you said, I primarily do my virtual clinic where I'm consulting people and giving them a functional medicine like guidance on their care. My team is everything when it comes to that. Like I couldn't do that by myself. So I love that riffing and that brainstorming on how to provide patient like quality care and being thoughtful and due diligent. And I get that same, you know, back and forth and conversations with my friends on goopfellas and ketotalk. So it's definitely. I love it. It's very different because like goopfellows is like a personal like conversations and keto talk is more health and science y stuff but still done in a fun way. But it's very. They're both very different. So they're all kind of expanding my comfort zones in some ways to always stay sharp, whether it's on a personal level or a professional level. Both podcasts do that for me.

Yeah, you know, it's sort of like your continual learning process, too?

Totally.

Yeah.

I mean, there's research every week going on, research for GOOP Fellows, research for Keto Talk, and research for my clinic. My clinic always comes first in my mind, and I keep a good, like, balance there. But it definitely requires extra time, you know, in the evenings and weekends to prepare for the podcasts because they are intellectually and emotionally demanding in a good way.

So how did you find time for that? I mean, I can. Did you come up with this idea that you were going to podcast it with Keto Talk in the beginning? Did your team push you and. And you were like, probably. How can I find time for this?

Yeah. It's funny that I really believe that God brought these to me because I didn't even willfully, like, even verbalize it to anybody. It was Jimmy Moore asking me because there was a doctor that hosted ketotalk before, like, two years ago plus, and he said that, you know, the doctor's focusing on other things, like, would you come and co host this with me? I said, sure. I'd been on a lot of podcasts as a guest, but I've never been a co host of anyone. So I'm like, okay. So that I'd done for about two years until GOOP came to me and Gwyneth and Elise and Seamus asked me to be a part of GOOP Fellow. So again, it's like a constant, like, pushing of my comfort zones. I'm like, well, okay, like your time.

Commitment and your comfort zone. Right?

Yeah, right. No, and it's making time. And I have an amazing team here at the clinic that manages my schedule very well. We keep a good doctor to patient ratio, so I can really provide quality care for patients, but still have time to do other things on the weekends. Basically, I'm recording Keto Talk on just an hour when I don't see patients during the week. And then Goop Fellas is done normally on long weekends.

Kind of batch record.

Yeah, I batch record them mainly on Fridays and the weekends because I. Friday isn't a patient day. It's just a. A writing day. I actually do a lot of writing and research that day, so that day works because I can go and knock out some episodes and we just batch record on weekends and stuff, so it really does allow me to do everything. And I have an amazing wife who's very. Holds it down at home because I've married and I have two kids too. So. Other cool thing is with Keto Talk, I can. If I'm traveling to New York or LA to record Goop, fellas. I travel to New York or LA to record. Typically I can take one of my kids with me, so I can spend some one on one time with them too.

Oh, that's nice. I like that. I was just traveling in New York with my kids, so I know how that goes. Yeah, it's very exciting there for them. Lots of new things to see. Yeah, yeah. So early on, you, you know, you're in this new media, things are happening. Were there some interesting or funny things that happened to you early on that you just thought, wow, this is different?

Yeah, it's. I mean, the conversations are really personal in Goopville. So I find that it definitely is outside of my comfort zone because I am used to talking about health and wellness and that is my jam. And it comes very EAS for me because I've done it for a long time. So it's good to challenge myself. And I just recently I talked to a marriage and family like therapist, like world renowned Terry Real. Terrence Real is his name, who does a lot of contributing. As far as articles for goop, we had him on the show and the episode as of now isn't out yet, but it's actually coming out this week. But he basically did like marriage counseling with me on the show.

Oh, so now we're really stepping over our doctor patient, like exposure, huh?

Totally. Like the roles were reversed in a major way. Like I was the one getting help and this was very, like. To share that out in public was like very uncomfortable for me, but good. I wanted to do it. I went in saying, I'm going to bring this up and I'm going to go outside of my comfort zone and get advice from one of the top therapists in the country.

You got a chance to do that, why not, right?

Exactly. So he gave me some parenting advice and marriage advice and life advice. It's a great episode. So for people that haven't listened to that episode with Terry Real, they definitely should check that out on Google.

That'll probably come out before this one will. So there'll definitely be a link in the blog post for this episode so you all will be able to link directly to that episode and hear that. Wow, that is really, you know, that is really, I think, you know, whether or not you have this business Persona or you have a. You're getting real, you know, that's a choice that a lot of podcasters have to make, but I found the ones that make it the more authentic choice for them, the one that feels the most Comfortable for them, do the best. Have you found that as well? Is it just starting to feel more and more comfortable as you go forward?

Yeah, certainly. I feel like every episode of both podcasts, everyone gets better because I get better on the vibe of it all and the balance of it all. And I've done ketotalk for two years and it's given me a lot of experience on time management and wording and the flow of the show and stuff. And I have to give Jimmy more credit on that. He really has taught me a lot and given me a lot of experience. I definitely give him a lot of credit for that, that I can take that into goop, fellas, and do both, you know.

So how is your position as a host of a podcast or co host in this case, you know, and becoming a person of high authority, which you already were in your industry as an author and as an expert, but how's it impacted your business, your marketing, your sales growth?

Yeah, well, podcasts are an interesting medium, right? We live in a time where it's really democratization of people's voices and media as a whole. Whereas growing up in the 80s and the 90s and some people earlier than that, largely it was the abc, cbs, Fox, like the radio and television, and that's where people got their media and then obviously newspapers. But with the advent of the Internet and then now in 21st century, I think the medium of podcasts is very interesting to me because people are getting so much information by so many different voices. That is a lot of it's outside of the box. It's unconventional stuff. It's different perspectives that wouldn't be, you know, mainstream in the sense of this is, you're going to see this on the 7 o' clock news or, you know, 6 o' clock news, maybe not.

Mainstream medical in your case as well.

Yeah, right, exactly. I mean, I think mainstream health advice has really never been as vociferous. Unconventional healthcare or functional medicine or these integrative thoughts or just thinking outside of the box has never been so vociferous in human history, which. And such a big mainstream way, in a way. And I think podcasts are making really great ideas more mainstream. So I think it's a very cool thing. And for me, being a functional medicine practitioner and this is what I love and my passion is helping people with health issues to give these thoughts of, you know, it's radical, but to use food as medicine is still radical for some people. But people are looking for different options because you can look at the statistics of health problems and the rate of autoimmune conditions and diabetes and cancer and anxiety, depression, brain fog, fatigue, mental health crisis that we have as a society. You look at that rates that are growing by leaps and bounds. And then you look at the amount of money we spend as a society. We spend more as a nation than the next 10 top spending countries combined. Yet despite all that spending, we have the most disease, the most.

We're not getting healthier.

Yeah, we're not getting healthier. So we have to do something different to see something different. And, you know, a definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly, yet expecting a different result. And I think that podcasts are really, from a healthcare perspective, which is what my heart is, are really getting this information out there and people are loving it because they know the insanity. People are not stupid. They can really look at me like, look, we've done this for X amount of years spending all this money, and look what we have to show for it. And I think these voices that we're bringing to ketotalk and the voices we're bringing on Guptell is about doing things differently, not just with health, but mental health and what it means, like, to be a man in the 21st century, all this stuff, let's buck the system and say, what's a new paradigm to being. Because how we're acting in our relationships, how we're acting with our healthcare, how we're acting as fathers and as moms, like, let's be the best we can be and we can't do the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Yeah. Oh, wow. And, you know, I was just thinking that, you know, it's. So if you just had a very traditional practice, which was only in your local neighborhood. Right. You wouldn't have the perspectives that you have of the influence of what's going on on the coast. And, you know, and you wouldn't get to hear all of that. So you having a virtual practice as well, has probably greatly benefited from that sort of viewpoint exposure, certainly.

That's a fantastic point, because of what I do is largely, even before the podcast is normally standing here and, and talking to people via webcam. And I talk to all different walks of life in all different parts of the planet. And middle America, in the middle of, you know, Central America or Eastern Europe or all these sort of out of the ordinary places that are looking to get healthy and looking for someone that understands what they're going through. And I have been able to bring that experience over the past 10 plus years into these podcasts and say, look, I've seen a lot of stuff, and not just healthcare, which is obviously number one for me, and, and wellness and getting to the root cause of why people are going through what they're going through, but it's human behavior. It's what people are looking for. It's the conversations. Because I'm spending at least six months with somebody, if not a year and a half, two years, working on their autoimmune issue or the hormonal problem or whatever health issue they're going through. You get to know a person on a really deep level, and these are people that you would never necessarily get to meet if it wasn't for the power of the Internet. So it's really cool that I have been able to get those experiences and that wisdom in a way to these podcasts. And I didn't even think about it. It's just when you live a life.

Like this, it just happens.

It's your life. And I live and breathe this stuff, so I have this unique advantage in that way.

So you didn't set up the shows yourself, but you probably been, you know, you have to help grow it, right? So what we like to do is hit on some lessons that might help other podcasters as well as just, you know, kind of hear your different way on how you do that. So how do you book great guests? Are they just handed to you? Like, does your team find them? Who finds. How do you get great guests?

Well, on ketotalk, we normally don't have a guest, and I. It's normally just Jimmy asking me health questions and me answering them. But I have had a few guests on the show, like researchers and different physicians. We've had Carrie Diolis, who's an amazing orthopedic spine surgeon, pediatric orthopedic spine surgeon, one of the few in the country, women surgeons in the country into that field. Amazing, brilliant mind, colleague of mine, friend of mine, and I said, jimmy, I want to have Kerri Dioulus. She's a vegan keto eater, right? And this is like outside of the box. Like, keto talk was so me dominant in that way. I'm like, we need to bring other people into the fold here and realize the ketogenic umbrella is way bigger than that. And this was when I had already written Keto Terrian, but Keto Terrian wasn't out yet, and I knew it was coming out, and I thought, I'm going to start this conversation to see what kind of buzz we get or pushback we got. But it was a really great conversation. And she's so smart. One of the smartest people that I know. That was fun, like getting her on the show and going outside of Ketotuck's normal formula, which had always been Jimmy asks the doctor a question and the doctor answers the question. And this was like a conversation. So we did that a couple times. We did that with his researcher as well later on.

So it was. Because it was really relevant that it was working for him.

Exactly right. And I wanted to break it up. So the only guests on Keto Talk to this point have suddenly been. Because I just said, let's have them on. And he's always so gracious and yeah, whatever you want with Coop, fellas. It's a collaborative thing. So normally it's me suggesting some people on my wish list and Seamus doing the same and then Goop kind of talking from their perspective. It's normally collaborative thing. And then some of it were friends of mine in the industry. So I would just text them or call them up and ask them. And sometimes I didn't have any connections with them. And so Goop had some connections. So between me, Seamus and Gwyneth Paltrow and Elise worked it all out with.

You can find someone who knows someone. Yeah. But you're always looking for relevant is what it sounds like you're relevant or new viewpoints or doing something that you know, certainly with the audience in mind.

Yeah. And Goopfellas, we wanted to be well rounded too. So we wanted to make sure that obviously this is called Goop, fellas. It's coming from Goop two Guys perspective. Yes. We wanted to have a lot of guys on the show to open up and allow guys to talk about wellness and relationships and all this stuff from a guy's perspective. But we also realize this is not a guy show in the sense of this is only for guys. A lot of our listeners on goopfellows are women and we want them to be part of the conversation too. And just it's not. Shouldn't be super gender obsessed anyways. So I think that it's really just coming from a guy perspective. We have a lot of amazing women guests on and it's just people that have an amazing story to tell. Really. It's no matter who you are.

Yeah. Interesting. So do you work hard to increase your listeners? Do you, you know, mention it to patients? Like, how do you increase your listeners?

Yeah, I mean, I never shut up about it. So.

I'm like every day I'm saying it to somebody. So I'm talking about it to our patients. We talk about it on our email list. We talk about about it on social media.

You're talking to the press about it, so.

Yeah, talking to the press about it. Yeah. So I never stopped talking about the podcasts because they, you know, they're my little babies that I'm trying to, like, expand their reach. And I realized, if I'm not going to talk about it, who's going to talk about it? So that's.

Right. I love that. That's. You're the first person who said that. And it's one of the most obvious answers, and I love it. So that's so good. So now do you produce it? You know, you have a team, I'm assuming, that is producing it. Are you producing it internally or how are you using an agent? How are you producing it? Professional.

Yeah. So Goodfellas is produced by Cadence. So they do a lot of different Pod Save America, they do the main Goop podcast. They do Melissa Hartwig Urban, a friend of mine, Whole30 creators, they do her. They do the do the Thing podcast. They do amazing podcasts. So that's Cadence. They produce Goodfellas. And then Keto Talk is just produced in house. He has a little freelance producer that he works with. Jimmy does a lot of the editing, and his team does a lot of the editing too.

So. But you think it's important to produce professionally?

I think so, yeah. I think that you. You are gonna want somebody that knows what they're doing. I mean, you could. I'm assuming. I've never done it myself, but I think you could figure it out and YouTube it and tinker it around and, like, figure out yourself. You probably be wasting a lot of time. So I see a lot of people that are even doing it solo, like, by themselves. They know, like, they're gonna get somebody to do this. So just being a guest on so many podcasts, I get to see, like, how people do things over the past years. And most people have a producer, even if it's like, on their team, they normally have somebody that's really a pro at doing this.

Yeah. So in full disclosure here, I am a producer, so I own and operate a production company. So in full disclosure here, that's why we asked this question. So it's on there to understand what other people do, what they're looking for.

Yeah.

So now you've got listeners. You're out there telling them about it, but how do you encourage them to talk back to you? How do you Encourage them to ask questions.

You know, my love and my passion with my patients has really, I love asking questions. And I. Because I want to get to the root cause. I want to get past the perfunctory. I want to get past the fluffy talking points. I want to, like, get to the heart and the meat and the root of why somebody is going through what they're going through, and what is life like going through what they're going through. Because when you are consulting, which is, again, my main focus with patients, it's hard to encapsulate 10 years or 15 years or 20 years of going through a health problem when you're first meeting somebody. So I want to, like, I know the avenues over the years of doing this. I'm just like, let's get past this stuff to get to, like, the core, most important, like, root of why they're going through what they're going through and asking these questions. So it is my consultations for over the years in functional medicine that has, I believe, really helped me be a better podcaster, because I'm asking questions and getting past the perfunctory on goop, fellas. So that's the main thing. And just being curious. It's just really being inquisitive and wanting to know more about them. And I think that I try to think of it as what would the listeners like? So even if I maybe even know the answer to it, because I've done research on the guest, I will ask the question because I think that's what people would be thinking about.

Then they'd be mad if you didn't ask the question. Right. And then reach out to you and engage with you because they're not happy with.

Yeah, exactly.

Somehow they'll engage with you. I love that. So now, you know, you're not directly monetizing your shows, but I think this is a big question for someone who wants to start a podcast. What is the best way to monetize it? Are you seeing money sort of flow back? What mean? GOOP is obviously selling a lot of products, so podcasts have to be useful for them. But are you finding it useful for you? Are you monetizing your show in terms of making money in your business?

Well, I think it's making people more aware of what I do. So I think that, you know, we have a lot of content on the website. We have video classes on the website. We have different natural medicines that I formulated on the website for certain people. I formulated an Adaptogen with Agent Natur, which is a natural Wellness brand out of LA that we have on the website. So that's sort of some things that I'm passionate about and I love them and they're high quality things.

But do you advertise for them on your show?

No, no, I don't. I just think it's through, you know, me focusing on the conversation. People are more aware of what I do. And then I'm assuming that some of people go to the website and not really check it out. I'm assuming that people go and look for it. So in that way it's good. But I'm doing the podcast because I feel it's providing good quality content. As I said, it's not my day job.

It's your service, right?

Yeah. To me it's like I love just talking with people. So it's like, okay, I'm doing my job, but I get to talk to people via the podcast in different ways. And I have another book coming out in October, it's called the Inflammation Spectrum. And I realized the more conversation we're having in the podcast can help the book and the books are great because they are not necessarily people that want a functional medicine doctor, but it's still so much good, like wellness, functional medicine stuff in the book that it can help more people. So I think that both shows, ketotalk, fellas, the books, what I'm doing with my clinic, it's all about helping people and elevating people and being a better version of themselves.

And in the end, it's monetizing through building your brand and building who you are and getting you to reach more clients eventually and more.

Exactly. So I see part of a bigger infrastructural building. I'm not getting, you know, paid directly on these things. Yeah.

Do you have a wish list? Someone on your guest list that you'd really like? You haven't been able to get yet, but you'd really like to.

Yeah. So if you're listening, Barack Obama, I want him on goopfellows because I think it would be really cool to talk about, like he's into wellness. So I think that talking about his transformation in his life, going from White House to being a private citizen again would be really cool. I know it's far fetched.

And a former smoker. That's also really interesting from a health perspective. Right? Yeah.

Yeah, I think it'd be really cool. We get amazing downloads.

You should come on. Okay, well, we'll tag them. Maybe it will happen. Who knows? I love that. Is there anything else you would like, you know, someone out there who's maybe considering starting a podcast, considering, you know, going out there and lending their voice to the world. Is there any advice you have for them?

Yeah, I would say you have to be, and I don't mean this in, like, an Instagram, like, fluffy, like, sound bite. I just really feel like people need to be authentic to what their calling is. So stay in your lane and stay focused on what you're doing and be relentless in the pursuit of that and show up even when you don't feel like it, you know, because hard work is not always easy, and you kind of just have to stay diligent and stay consistent. So I think consistency is, like, huge because you're consistent and loyal to your craft and loyal to your passion. The next thing you know, when you look up for a moment, things will start manifesting in major ways. So I think that that's the best thing you can do. It's not sexy. It doesn't like. It's not like, a quick fix, but it could take years to manifest it. But I really feel like that's the best advice I give somebody, whether they want to do a podcast or really build on anything they're trying to build. Because what is a brand? A brand should just be a manifestation of what you're trying to do. It should be an authentic representation of yourself. Or if you have a company, it should be representation of core values that are meaningful and positive. So that's what I try to do, and I think that hopefully it comes across that way.

Well, Dr. Wilkol, thank you so much for being on the show. I really appreciate it. Ketotalk Goop Fellows. I'll be linked in the blog post for this episode, so you guys have to check it out. Listen. It's a great listen. Lots of fun insights and a great format, too. So you guys want to try it out and check out the difference from different shows. That's what we're always trying to expose here at center of influence. So, Dr. Wilkol, thank you so much for joining me. I really appreciate it.

Thanks so much for having me.

This has been Tracy Hazard on Center of Influence. Feed your brand. And I'll be back next time with another great influencer.

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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