Today was one of those beautiful, quiet, stormy days in central Oklahoma. There is chaos all around the world, but here in my little corner of Oklahoma our biggest worry was whether or not it would finally rain after the sky threatened us all morning, and mid-afternoon she gave us a nice shower. Calm, relaxing, reflection, and business (always business)… those are the words to describe this Thursday.
While the rain was pouring down and bouncing off the street, Chris and I recorded out 24th episode of the Paid Search Podcast.
The rain, the political season… it’s all got me in a soulful, reflecting mood. So let’s talk about what I’ve learned about podcasting 24 episodes in.
Sometimes You Get Lucky
Chris and I launched the Paid Search Podcast in March of 2016, and I believe we got a little bit lucky after our launch. We didn’t do any promotion for the podcast, but just a few days after launching the first episode we started getting downloads and feedback from our listeners. And it keeps growing and growing organically. Sometimes in business when you try things they work out instantly and start picking up their own momentum. And sometimes it doesn’t work that way. But this time it did. We got a little bit lucky in the sense that we instantly attracted an audience, which encouraged us to keep improving and be consistent, which in turn has led to more growth. So I’m happy to report that right off the bat we started getting downloads and attracting an audience. I can only wish this good fortune lasts the rest of my career.
Learning With Chris
One of the best things about the PSP is that I get to talk with Chris on a weekly basis and learn with him. We learn a lot from each other, and this collaboration helps us with both of our own businesses. Getting to talk with, learn from, and bounce ideas around with a peer your respect is one of the most rewarding and beneficial things any young businessman can do.
Connecting With People
The PSP audience is engaged, friendly, and interesting. I like getting to know people who listen to the show and see what’s going on in their careers and lives. I’m out here everyday trying my best to stay in the game and not go broke, and making relationships and finding allies helps ensure that I’ll never go broke. No man is an island, and making friendships and building alliances with like-minded people is crucial for long-term mutual success. I’ll be up, I’ll be down, but if I have enough people who care about me and who I care about then I’ll never go broke and be out of the game. And vice versa. As long as we like each other and as long as we always try to add value for each other, our allies will always be there to pick us up and keep us in the game.
Have To Have A Little Fun
People love the PSP because we have a lot of beef in our show… we get right to the point and share useful and actionable information about Google AdWords that helps people better-manage their own AdWords campaigns. But you have to have a little dessert too! People like that we provide useful and technical advice, but they also like that we’re entertaining. So we mix it up and have fun with running jokes, innuendos, and characters we break into. And that’s just like life. Work work work, but you always have to make sure you’re having fun.
Exercising That Creative Muscle
I don’t care how much money I make, I’m always going to be worried about the next shoe falling and everything coming to an end and going broke. I’m a paranoid entrepreneur. It’s in my DNA. Success doesn’t temper the paranoia. Success makes it worse. Now I have something to lose. So the drive and paranoia will be there until I die. And at the current stage of my life and career, that drive and paranoia manifests itself in the form of relentless self-promotion, which is a truer way of saying exercising my creative muscle. No matter how you spin it (shameless self-promotion or being creative), I’m always coming up with ideas on how to get noticed, get seen, be someone, and have a never-ending stream of new opportunities and options coming my way. Books, podcasts, blogging, logos, social media, YouTube, and on and on it goes. I’m always coming up with ways to be creative and get noticed by prospective customers. And the PSP is one of those outlets. And it feels really good to grow the PSP and exercise that creative muscle.
Consistency
Everyone knows what they need to do to meet their goals. It’s 2016 and the internet is in our pockets. All the answers are out there. Success in the internet era is defined by one word, consistency. If you can be consistent, you can achieve your goals. I never want to go broke and out of business. If I’m consistent with my work tasks day to day and my life-long learning habits then I’ll never go broke, and I’ll get to stay in the game. And being consistent with the PSP has been a great way to practice and strengthen my consistency muscle. We consistently work on improving the PSP, and we consistently post a new episode every week. And then we get to see the consistency payoff by watching the podcast grow and have success. Seeing this consistency payoff has been a great reinforcement for me regarding the power and necessity of being consistent in business and in life.
I hope you’ve been enjoying the Paid Search Podcast. It’s been great so far, and it’ll be fun to see where we’re at after 50 and 100 episodes!
