In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Marc Raco, head of content at Mouth Media Network. The conversation opens with a poignant story about a guest who, after sharing her diverse background and overcoming a severe neurological disorder, reveals a recent stage‑4 cancer diagnosis, illustrating the profound impact of giving people a platform to share their stories. Raco emphasizes that storytelling is a powerful catalyst for personal and business transformation. He then discusses podcasting as an under‑utilized business‑development tool, urging creators to stay authentic and avoid mimicking perceived expectations. Raco shares his mantra that “everyone’s a schmo,” reminding listeners that industry leaders are approachable and that persistence can open doors. He offers personal advice to his younger self—don’t give up, follow your destiny, and return to your core strengths. On happiness, he advises writing your own story and aligning work with passion rather than chasing volume. Raco recommends the book The Magic of Believing by Claude M. Bristol for reshaping belief systems, and cites a favorite quote from Malcolm Forbes: “Diamonds are nothing more than chunks of coal that stuck to their jobs.” The episode concludes with Raco’s contact information (LinkedIn and mouthmedianetwork.com). The sponsor, WagsMedia, is briefly mentioned at the start.
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Welcome to the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by WagsMedia. WagsMedia provides you with everything you need to generate more customers and grow your brand. Head on over to wagsmedia.com, W-A-G-S-M-E-D-I-A dot com, to enter a contest where you can win a free, done-for-you custom website valued at $2,500 for a limited time only. Now let's jump into the episode.
All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Mark Reiko with us. He heads content for Mouth Media Network with 14 podcasts on business retail innovation behind lifestyle industries like fashion, beauty, travel, and more. And Mouth Media also produces internal podcasts for brands. So welcome to the show.
Hey, great to be here, Tyler. Thanks for the invite.
Of course, man. Grateful to have you here. We'll dive right into the first one. The first question I have for you, Mark, is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Now, I was thinking about this question and When you're my age, which is over 50, you've got a few stories from your life, it's tough to pick. But one very recently that happened that reminded me of something that I think there's a huge message about, which is people want to share their story. It's important to them. It's important in personal life, it's important in business. But all you have to do is ask and give them the opportunity to share. You never know, that may either be an amazing crossroads opportunity for them with their business, or you could offer them a very crucial moment in their life when they need to share. Example, recently, uh, I don't know if this is as much my life as somebody else's, but it happened in my life. Uh, we had a guest on one of our shows who I thought was so interesting that I thought there was more story to unpack. So we invited her on another one of our shows, uh, that was different, uh, that this show was about spirituality and its intersection with science and business. Long story short, uh, she's a comedian, uh, she's Korean and Jewish, she's performed in the White House 21 times, she's got a really interesting, very diverse life. But we found out that she had some sort of neurological disorder that's like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and MS all like rolled into one. She's been in a wheelchair most of her life, and when she be— when she had kids, she literally willed herself out of the wheelchair so that she could be a better mom for her kids. So you You know, I thought this was like the pinnacle of the story. I'm like, we've got to unpack this more. You're such an amazing person, etc., etc. So I'm sitting down and talking to the host and clarifying this woman's story to her. And she says, hey, could I add something to the story? And of course we're like, well, sure. And this is the part where the air gets sucked out of the room. She said, yesterday afternoon I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.
Wow.
And then of course, it was a very heavy moment for everybody. And she explained that the reason she decided to still do the show was that— two things. One is she thought it would be therapeutic for her to be talking about it and to be talking about her life and to be inspiring people. So, so less than 24 hours after this incredibly life-transforming moment, tough moment, here she is giving of herself to share with other people. But the second thing she said is this was a way, a mechanism, platform for her to share the news publicly. And I realized the gravity of that afterwards. And I sat down, of course nothing was happening to me, I was fine fortunately. But I realized the gravity of what you and I do, Tyler, in podcasting and what other people do through the different ways that they help people or provide opportunities to to express themselves or to meet people or whatever it is, is that people want to share their story. And if they're given the opportunity to do that, enormous impact can come from that.
Yes, I agree, man. Thank you for sharing that. The next one I have for you is, what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
So podcasting, A lot of people think about podcasts, it could be your favorite comedians out of their garage, it could be a famous political person, it could be a mom that teaches how to do cupcakes, it could be people like you, Tyler Wagner, who share really interesting people and try to inspire people in business. But really, podcasts also has the opportunity to be a remarkable business development tool. The chance to utilize podcasting and share your message utilizing someone else's platform is just an opportunity you can't ignore. But part of the key in telling your story and sharing as a business development tool is to make sure that you stay true to who you are. One of the things in my many things I've done in life is I've worked a lot as an actor in film and television and stage. And one of the best pieces of advice I ever got in that was also one of my best pieces of advice in business and consequently in the way that people share their story and do business development through podcasting. It's this: never, ever, ever, ever, ever try to be what you think someone else wants you to be or act or deliver something the way that you think someone else wants you, you predict they want you to be. Just be yourself. Here's why. If you guess wrong and you screw up, you will, you will be a terrible version of what you think they want, and they won't trust you. But if you are the best, if you are yourself, even if they don't want you right now, when they do want someone like you, you'll be the first person they think of, because nobody can be a better you than you.
And, uh, it probably could tie in, but what's your best piece of overall business advice? So, um, yeah, I'll just So you go.
It's, yeah, it's a little bit related but a little different. A very common phrase that I use, Tyler, is everyone's a schmo. What I mean by that is, is we're really all just the same. One of the big mistakes we make is we see some captain of industry and we think of them as untouchable, unapproachable. They won't answer my, it's like the pretty girl at the dance. She'll never say yes to dancing with me. Why not? Why? Why is she so special and you're not? You're just people. So the captain of industry, you know, the captain of industry or the celebrity, there's just another person who, who has gas and gets hungry and gets sad and doubts themselves. And before they had the big successful audition or, or sold their company, or got an investor or made the big sale, they were just someone else trying to make it go, just another person before that thing happened. The same as you're that other person, that regular person right before that big break. There's no reason that person is bigger, better, or more important than you, and therefore they are completely approachable. And you'll find that more people than not will answer your call, be willing to sit for an interview, or give you the opportunity to tell your story.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Don't give up. Follow your destiny. Don't abandon who you know yourself to be. Took me a long time and a big detour in life to come back to what I know I'm best at and build from there.
And I'm excited for your answer on this one. In your opinion, what's the key to happiness?
Write your own story. Don't let someone else write it for you. Don't let someone else's view of who you are make you change who you are. If you know yourself and trust that you are good at something or that you should be something, life is short, man. You don't even know if you're going to get all 80, 90, 100 years. Just make sure that you're living the life you want. And that could be in a personal way, but that can also be your business. Just because, just because you can sell 100 of something and you hate it doesn't mean that's the business you should be in. Maybe you can sell 80 of something and love it.
Yeah, I so agree with that. Um, and what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Oh yeah, my favorite book is called The Magic of Believing. It's with, uh, it's by a an author named Claude M. Bristol. It's The Magic of Believing. It's one of the most important books I've ever read. It was given to me, suggested I read it by a high-end corporate trainer who deduced that I did not have a real belief system. Meaning, you know, like let's say you make a business plan for the next 5 years. Well, do I really believe that's what's going to happen in 5 years and what I want? So she recommended I read this book and it really had to do with adjusting my personal belief system.
And what is your favorite quote and why?
It's actually a quote I came across recently and I've been thinking a lot about it. Diamonds are nothing more than chunks of coal that stuck to their jobs. And that's from Malcolm Forbes.
Yeah, I like that. That's an awesome quote. Thank you so much for coming on, man. Very powerful episode. The last question I have for you I have for you before we let you go is where is the best place for people to find you online?
Thank you. Of course, people can find me on LinkedIn. I do respond to fair and reasonable messages, and my name is M-A-R-C-R-A-C-O, and I'm on LinkedIn. You can also find my company at mouthmedianetwork.com. That's mouth like the mouth on your face, mouth media network.com.
Perfect, man. Thanks again for hopping on.
Thank you very much, Tyler. Great talking with you, man.
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