333 - How a Simple Yes Can Open Big Doors

0:05 Good morning podcasting morning Chat. Today is Thursday, July 3rd, 2025, and today we're unpacking the power of saying yes, even when it's scary, a little weird, unconventional, and how that one decision can shape your entire creative journey. So if you're listening live on Clubhouse, hit the share button, bottom left hand, side of the screen and share it. However Clubhouse lets you. And if you're listening via podcast, please share this episode with a fellow podcaster. And now give us about 30 seconds and we'll get things rolling. Thanks for being here.

1:21 Good morning again podcasting morning chat. Thank you for being here. I am your host, Mark Ronick, and on stage with me is a bunch of confused Co hosts. Lots of confused Co hosts because yes, yours truly forgot to plug his phone in to the soundboard this morning. I knew something was off when I started and that's why I stopped and restarted. For those of you listening live and yeah, so totally forgot and that's why. And even when you restarted, there was still something missing. Yeah, it's because I didn't. I still didn't plug it in to my phone. That's. Yeah. So there you go. A little slip here today.

2:02 So on stage with me Currently we have producer Ashley Feller, Dr. Faye and Sid Meadows. I know Amanda Sharp will be joining us shortly. I know that Nick Naulback will maybe join us in a little bit. I think he's stuck in a meeting, believe it or not, this early in the morning. And I'm hoping Jonathan Howard will be joining us as well, 'cause I know he had a thing or two to share on this topic of saying yes, and we'll get to that in a second. Let's have a moment of fun. This is something I got to make sure now that everything is working properly because I don't want the annoyance again. OK, so I don't know if anybody remembers this, but I've seen it starting to pop up again on TikTok. This is something I'm telling you, years old. But again, I guess it's kind of come back around because it's been so long since it was a thing. Does anybody don't say it, but just tell me yes or no? I guess for those of you who are on stage, do you remember the green needle brainstorm audio thing? That's all I'm going to call it for now. OK, Sid says no, Ashley says no, and Dr. says no. And so does some people in the audience as well. OK, good.

3:27 Well then it's new to you as well. First, I'm just going to play this and I'm going to play this for Sid. Sid, you can come off. Mike, good morning to you. I'm going to play this to you. And I want you to tell me if you hear. You have to hear. It's it's a little bit like a a little freaky voice, but tell me if you hear the word brainstorm. OK, Brainstorm. Here we go. I'm going to play it for you, Sid. OK, Did you hear that, Sid? And did you hear Brainstorm? I did not hear the word brainstorm. What did you hear? Anything. I heard like some almost like a Martian trying to say something, right? Like a alien trying to say something, but I could not make out what it what it was.

4:13 So I, I, that's what I heard. So that's not like a Martian or space alien. OK, OK. All right, let me go to it. Could just be the audio issue because it's not and I think it's intended not to be super crystal clear. Ashley, I'm going to play it for you. Tell me if you hear Brainstorm, OK? Did you hear that? You. There's that sound effect and then you can hear a voice. Did you hear it? Yes, the syllables towards the end. OK, It looks like your mic is cutting out on you. It looks like it's muting you. Dr. Did you hear it? I heard it. I didn't hear it the first time when you played it for Sid, but I heard a little bit of it when you played it for Ashley. And that could be kind of a mind thing that I was really listening for it and maybe I purposely subconsciously put that there.

5:11 Do you know what I'm saying? OK, tell me then. I'm going to play it for you again, Dr. And tell me this time I'm going to play it for you. Tell me if you hear the words green needle. OK? So listen for that little whoosh sound effect, and then you're going to hear the deep voice say green needle. Tell me if you do, and I'm going to explain why I'm doing this. OK? Did you hear it? I did hear it. OK, now. I did too. OK. And Sid heard it this time too. Interesting. OK. But I heard, I heard green needle. I did not hear brainstorm but it might be because I was like I turned the way up and I was intently listening for someone to say green noodle so could also. Be.

5:55 And also, I think the number of syllables makes a difference because it might take you one syllable for you to get into, just like an accent, a strong like Italian accent. I have to hear a little bit more before I can really get into the rhythm of it, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Did anyone hear Brainstorm when we played it as Brainstorm? OK, Ashley heard when I asked her if I was playing Brainstorm. Yes. A little bit when you did it for Ashley I. Did. OK. Amanda, did you have a question or were you just raising your hand saying you heard? I was saying I heard brainstorm. OK, now I'm just going to play this and I'm going to go to you, Amanda, for a second. I'm going to play this again, and this time I just wanted you to tell me what word you heard of the two. OK, here we go.

6:47 OK, so brainstorm Green needle, which one did you hear? I'm still hearing brainstorm throughout the whole thing. Me too. OK, now I'm going to play it once more and I want to Oh, wait, Sid, you have a thumbs down. What did you hear? I. Heard green needle. Yeah, OK, That was what I'm getting, what I was going for. That's the big build up. I am playing the same exact sound bite for all of you. I am not changing from a brainstorm sound to a green needle sound. It is the exact same sound bite. And for whatever reason, when you hear, when you're told or read the word, then you hear it.

7:31 OK, so again, if I say you're going to hear brainstorm, brainstorm, everybody think brainstorm. Did anyone hear? Did you hear Brainstorm? I did that time. Yeah, that's so freaky. Amanda, what were you going to say? I saw you came off, Mike. I was going to say I just hear brainstorm in every version. OK, Amanda. I've never heard brain needle. Stay, stay. Keep your mic open. Think green needle. I want you to think the words green needle, green needle, green needle. OK. It is still brainstormed. OK, and that happens to some people sometimes. Did anyone else hear green needle when I? I heard green needle.

8:16 Yeah, Oh my God. So if you remember back in the day, there was the whole blue, blue dress and white and gold dress. This is the audio version of that. There's an and I asked ChatGPT to explain why. What is this doing? Let's see here if I can give you some kind of answer. Well, it basically just says it's explaining it here. It's saying depending on what your mind expects or focus on, that's the word that you hear. Your brain influences what you hear. If you read or think brainstorm, that's likely what you'll perceive. Likewise for green needle. So yeah, I just, you know, I felt like let's play a little audio bite today and have a little fun leading into the holiday.

9:02 And yeah, the, it's, I'm so surprised to see this come back around 'cause I did, we had a whole thing about this on my podcast, I want to say probably 7 years ago or something like that about this very thing, 'cause it was driving us all crazy. And I can't really explain to you why it does that. It's just it's it's a thing. So with that, thank you for playing along. Just wanted to play that little game with you and I will share with you a link to that. I'll put that here in the chat. Although it's telling me something went wrong, so I'm not sure why. I will share it in the show notes today. If you want to try this and play along, play along with your friends and family.

9:49 It's a fun game and it does drive some people absolutely crazy because they don't understand, like Amanda. Some people just hear that same word over and over and over again no matter what you tell them. But then there are other people that all you have to do is focus on one or the other and that's what you hear. It's really mind blowing. So I have a question, OK, In your analysis of this, when you were doing your podcast years ago, have you ever done this without telling people what word to hear so that they can then tell you what word they hear? Yes, I have done that before and you should have done that today too. But no, I I didn't do that. Great idea. Maybe if we have someone new to the room that joins us, we'll play for them during the show today. So with that, now let's shift gears, shall we? This is the back story of today's topic. Last week we talked about Steve from Blue's Clues launching a podcast, all the buzz around it, his social media explosion that he had a few years ago, and still killing it today with his listening back videos.

10:56 But Amanda messaged me after that show on Thursday, last Thursday, and she was pointing out to me how imagine the guts that it took to become the Blue's Clues guy as an adult. And at the time he was my age. He is my age. So at the time, you know, he was the age of probably a lot of the dads that were watching these shit these shows with their kids, right? So he was even a little older is the point. And I remember Amanda pointing out that she thought maybe he was a little older too, so that he could have gotten maybe gotten a little slack from his friends and family about being the Blues Clues guys guy.

11:38 Even though sure, we all now look at back at that as that was a pretty nice gig. But he was the first, first host of that show and no one knew whether it was going to be a thing, right? So that was a risk that he took. She was saying how she bets that his peers probably poked a lot of fun at him too. But saying yes to that show and sticking with it and sticking with what he had gone through after Blue's Clues 'cause he had a time after Blue's Clues. It really set him up for some cool stuff. Now that he's doing the social media now, a podcast coming this fall that looks like it's going to be very well received based on the feedback that he's received on social media and YouTube. He's now getting to call the shots right on the content that he's making on the career he wants to have and he's getting to connect with his community in his own way. So I'd like for us today to look back. What did you say yes to that led you, ideally LED you to podcasting, content creation, or maybe even changed your whole career?

12:53 If you hadn't said yes, where do you think you'd be now? That's where I want to go today. And if you want, well, does anyone want? I'm happy to share. I have several examples, and we might even play around with what you've said no to as well. But OK. Yeah, this seems appropriate since Amanda kind of inspired the conversation. Let's go to Amanda first. What's 1 Yes from your past that completely changed your path, Amanda? So I've went round and round and back and forth and all the things about this topic, and I think it's going to be evolving. But if I go back to 1 anchor one star of of me as an adult, it was saying yes to being Marcus's girlfriend, which led to so much.

13:40 I mean, I've spent more of my life with him than without him at this point. And he's just been such a great sounding board for me at with. He seldomly tells me no, but if he tells me no, like I know there's a really good reason for it, but he's so like supportive of my yeses. And so there can be some like more surface level ones that I can say if I wouldn't have did this or that, you know, I wouldn't have got this door open. But if I really go back to the core, he is my core when it comes to being able to have said yes to so many things in life. And so I think that's just where I got to start.

14:21 Of course I have others, but that by far I think is the most important here for me. I hope Marcus gets to hear that. By the way, he won't. He's he. He'll think that's stupid. I hope not is I would love that if my wife says that about me. Like stop being stupid, Amanda. Wow. I exaggerate because that's what I do. But yeah, he's, he's not going to, he won't. He wouldn't receive that as well as probably what you would mark. But yeah, I truly, I think he, the Lord gave me as him as my anchor, because God only knows where I'd be if he wasn't like my, my, my grounding point in this world. So that's my answer.

15:07 OK, that's cool. And I'm going to ask you to now play along again when it comes to podcasting. I know some of your story and I don't know like a lot of the intricate details because your pod, you started podcasting before we connected. And I know that you were on Clubhouse 1st and made a connection with Chris and then you guys started podcasting. So was there a moment like that here, a yes moment that maybe you hesitated on, you know, before you, you know, started podcasting? I wouldn't. So I knew Clubhouse was where I needed to go. I desperately wanted to get that invitation so I could get on here.

15:50 Because back in the day, you know, you need that invite and you could only invite so many people a day. I mean, it's so smart on their part. And so once I got an invite, I was like, now what do I do with this app? And so I just dove into it trying to figure it out, and I landed in Pedro's room podcasting morning chat way back in the day. Started coming on stage and doing a little talking here and there. And then I guess my guess would be he asked me to become one of the moderators and I said yes to that, which then I feel like open the door to so many things. I would have no idea that I would have been leading rooms for like 2 1/2 hours a day Monday through Friday for a year or so straight. So much fun.

16:35 But it was during COVID so we could get away with that a little more. We were all at home and thank God that something like this existed. And just because I said yes to that, it kept me in that space to me so many amazing individuals like you all, I mean everyone of you. So I would say saying yes to Pedro to be a moderator when I had no idea what I was doing in in Clubhouse, but also podcasting really changed the trajectory for me as at least a podcaster. Yeah, I'm guessing you wouldn't have started a podcast with Chris if it hadn't been for saying yes to Clubhouse. We would. I would have been shocked if our lives would have crossed paths otherwise.

17:17 I mean we why would they have? We've only met in person one time. Right. And we've been podcasting together for almost five years. So it's something that I think it's safe to say that had I not said that, yes, I mean, Chris and I's podcast and friendship just would never have existed. I think it's funny that I've actually spent more time with Chris in person than we do. I think a lot of people on stage have. Yeah, I think I've spent the most since I knew him before all this, which is really kind of ironic because I remember when he started the podcast with you, it was so funny, even when you look back at it now. I saw him at a network because he used to network a lot in person a lot.

18:03 And he was talking about this podcast and then all the things like, yeah, I podcast with this person from Michigan, and I'm like, OK, that sounds really random. And he didn't bring up Clubhouse. I'm just so happy that I actually got to be part of that. Looking back at it now, it's just kind of funny. Thank you, Alex. Yeah, it is cool when you look back and see just like you had no idea what was happening in that moment. And then looking back at it, it's like, wow, OK. And then here Alex is in the room here on Clubhouse. And I guess, Alex, that's how you found us, right? It was it through Chris. Absolutely not. So I was similar to Amanda where I want to get an invitation to clubhouse just because it was the new cool thing and I got an invitation from somebody that I don't, you know, speak with. And The funny thing was I started going on the reason even I didn't go on the clubhouse at all for like months and months and months.

19:02 And then there was a keto convention in Orlando and well, that ran it were a clubhouse group. That's how I really started going on a clubhouse. And I only went to that. And then I started seeing other things, and then I found you guys and the rest of history. That's funny. Yeah. There you go. Interesting. All right, so how about anybody else? Let's dig into your journeys. What's 1? Yes. From your past. That changed your path. Sid, I'm going to come to you. Go for it. Good morning again. Good morning, everybody. So I have a little bit of a, what's called a domino impact with this, right?

19:43 OK. So I said yes to in 2017 to quitting my corporate job after 10 years with the same company. Then I said yes to starting my own business. Then I got told no in 2020 to I didn't say no, but I was told no to receiving the PPP money right, Which then led me to say yes to podcasting. Which led me to say yes to writing for an industry magazine. I can't imagine if those moments in my life had not happened, that I had not said yes to doing something, that I was terrified. I was terrified to write for industry magazine. Like terrified. I was terrified to hit record right the first time for my podcast.

20:28 And I think what that did is it gave me a voice that I didn't know I had. He gave me a voice that I didn't know people wanted to listen to and it allowed me to be known in an industry that I love, doing things that I love, which is helping and supporting people. So for me, the yeses have had a compound affected impact. Thank you, Sid. And OK, so one thing you said there I really want to dig into for a second, if you don't mind. You know, you, you, you pointed out that you were terrified to write for the magazine. You were terrified to press record. What made you say yes to to an anyway to any of this?

21:12 So when I got asked to write for the industry magazine, it was during an interview when he was interviewing me to do a feature article on me for the magazine. When he asked me the question, I was like, what? I I don't write. I've never written anything. But I knew that I couldn't say no to it, right? Because that big industry icon slash influencer slash voice in the industry just asked me to write for most popular magazine in the industry, right? So, but I was terrified because I'd never written. I'd never written an article before right now it just is second nature to me and I'd never put my thoughts like that on paper. So I was, yes, I was terrified to actually step out of that comfort zone of hiding behind my computer screen and putting my voice out there.

21:58 And that's the same thing with the podcasting, right? Hey, I didn't know what I was doing. Whatever I learned, I learned from YouTube, right? And this was before I found this community, right? I didn't really know, other than listening to podcasting, I didn't really know what I needed to do to be a podcaster. But imagine, had I not said yes to that, I wouldn't be getting ready for season 7. I wouldn't have found my voice. I wouldn't have been able to share. We think so, yeah. I was absolutely terrified. And I think the fear of things sometimes is what pushes us to say yes to something that feels really daunting or intimidating at the time. And both writing and podcasting felt that way at the time. Yeah.

22:43 Thank you for digging into that more. And it's interesting to me because, yeah, there are times that fear will absolutely push us into saying yes. And there are times that fear holds his back. And probably I'm going to go out on a limb and say for a lot of us, it holds us back when we're scared, you know, and I know we've shared, and Stacy has shared it many times here on this show, that she was terrified to even take the equipment out-of-the-box and get started. And I think she said it sat there for probably a year. And I've shared, I've had a client do almost the same thing, hired me in whatever, hired me in November.

23:26 And it took her nine months to actually return my calls, return my texts. She literally paid me to launch her podcast and then ghosted me for nine months because she was terrified. And that's why I think it's important for us to have this conversation today to, to talk about those times that, yeah, maybe we were still, we were scared, but we still said yes anyway. And then focus on what did that lead to? And I see we have more people on stage perhaps interested in sharing. And I will go to you in a second. But this like this makes me, inspires me to share a little bit of one of my yeses. It's my yes to podcasting 20 plus years ago.

24:12 And at that time, my obsession obviously wasn't podcasting. It was fantasy football. And I know I've shared some of this before with you. So if you've heard it before, bear with me because we've got a lot of new listeners and some people may have forgotten the story. You know, back in the day, I was thinking about this when I was thinking of my answer back in the day, being on message boards in the early days of the Internet, you were kind of laughed at. You know, we were talking about Amanda's inspiration, thinking about how Steve from Blue's Clues was probably made fun of by his friends initially when he was doing Blue's Clues, being on message boards, geeking out on message boards. That's just it is people would think you were a geek, loser, a nerd, whatever, but people would kind of tease about that. Or you're at least you would.

24:58 I would keep it to myself. And I was on a lot of those fantasy football message boards trying to get the edge, trying to win my fantasy league. And much like Clubhouse, I started meeting people and connecting with people. And one of the people that I really connected with, his name was Keith Hoffman. And I, I'm thinking in my head here, I'm pausing because I'm thinking he's kind of like the Nick equivalent, right? Like Nick and I went on, have gone on since meeting here and done projects together, collaborated on things. And that's kind of the same with this guy Keith. We met on a message board, and I think that message board still exists today.

25:38 Believe it or not. FF Today is the website he started telling me about podcasting. Among all the advice back and forth we were giving each other about fantasy football, he was telling me about podcasting in that he would gather a lot of his information, his fantasy football advice from podcasts, which I had no clue about at the time. And so he started recommending podcasts to me talking about fantasy football and I was getting really into them. And he suggested that we do a podcast. And I loved the idea of it. I've shared with you, I've had this passion for talk radio in since I was a teenager. I love the idea, but I had no idea what to do, no idea how to do it.

26:23 And it was a lot different back then. I couldn't go to YouTube and get a video on how to start a podcast. I didn't have Chat GPTI, didn't have podcast coaches and producers like myself that were available to me. But he insisted that he knew how we could do it. He knew. He said he knew what hardware to get, what software to get, how to do it remotely because he was not local at the time. And we did not have Riverside. We did not have Zoom. All we actually had at the time was Skype, and even Skype had its own challenges, not forget connection because that was its own thing, but even Skype had its challenges to make it work.

27:06 For a podcast to be able to record it was great as as a two way conversation, but recording the conversation was really challenging. The tech really wasn't there yet to do that, although we eventually did find he did find that software to make that work. So I went through all of the emotions from excitement, wow, I can finally do my own talk show to fear. What are people going to think about me? What are people going to? Are people going to accept me as somebody to give them advice on fantasy football? How are they going to know me? And that actually inspired me to get a third Co host because I wanted us to be more credible, creditable, credible.

27:54 I so I got a local sports radio DJ to join us and he joined us every week. So I felt like, OK, now I got to do this now. So the fact that I had someone who was confident in making this happen, I had I was confident because I had somebody who really knew what they were talking about in the world of sports I was in. I decided to dive in. And had I let the fear win, I would venture to say we may not be sitting here together right now. I don't know if I would have. Maybe down the road if I was introduced to podcasting, maybe, But who knows? Because at the time the passion was fantasy football. I loved talking about it.

28:36 But maybe down the road maybe that wouldn't have even clicked as being something I would want to talk about. Who knows where I'd be. So saying yes to doing that first podcast 2020 some years ago has led me to where we are today, has led me to this, this community, all the things that we do together. It's pretty amazing when I stop and look back at that. OK, I'd love to hear from somebody else, something that you've said yes to. Also, looking back, is there something that you wish you had said yes to sooner or maybe said yes to at all that you didn't? So start thinking about that too.

29:16 It doesn't always your your answer doesn't have to be what you said yes to that leads you to today. It could be maybe yoga. Regretful yes. Ashley, did you want to share what you said yes to that led you to where you are today? Sure. Thank you and and happy birthday to Mike Dad in the audience. Oh, happy birthday, Mike. Yeah. So something that I said yes to that has changed my life is accepting that I could do something else in my career other than music. I know I've shared this before, but I had so much of my identity wrapped up in being a musician, being a songwriter, being in that grind that I really thought like, this is it. This is all I'm ever going to do is just, you know, play these little shows and maybe progress to bigger shows someday, which is really hard.

30:08 And then COVID happened and another yes, that was really important was I said yes to Apple because up until COVID, I was an Android user and I heard about Clubhouse through TikTok and I heard about all the great rooms that were happening here. And I had an invite, but at the time you had to have an iPhone to use that invite. So it was very frustrating. Had the invite, but I couldn't get in. So I bought an iPhone so that I could get into Clubhouse, which landed me here. And, you know, just the things that I've learned from this room have deeply fed into, you know, all the different things that I do now. Marketing, podcast production, managing private communities for songwriters on Patreon. I'm forever grateful for saying yes to Apple and this room and Clubhouse and of course, music.

31:00 So that's all I got. Thank you. Wow, so you're telling me Dr. might have gotten an iPhone if she would have discovered Clubhouse earlier? Oh hell no. Oh, you Android people. No, I'm just kidding. I know. Droid Noids to the to the end, I'm telling you. Droid noids unite. Yes, and I know us Apple people are just as annoying. Trust me, I get it. That's awesome, Ashley, Thank you. I appreciate you sharing that and and being creative with your answer too, right. It's like, yeah, even saying yes to a new device can lead us to crazy new opportunities, new things and ones that we wouldn't expect. Who knew that the iPhone would lead you to all of the success that you've had in podcasting, the being able to create a business out of it just by buying an iPhone all five years ago. It's pretty awesome.

31:54 Let's keep it going. And again, I'm very curious. Oh, Alexandra wants to to check. And I'm curious also with those of you that may have the answer of something you wish you had said yes to sooner. But Alexandra, I'm curious for your answer too. What's something that you said yes to that led you to where you are today? Good morning. Morning. So we're taking a slightly different direction, especially since Dominic is on the stage. And last month I believe was maybe it was May was women's mental health month and then I know that June I believe was men's mental health awareness month. But one thing I said yes to that that definitely changed my life was back in 2018, I was at rock bottom mentally and emotionally. But my doctor simply said, you need someone or something that is entirely focused on you.

32:52 And I said, well, good luck finding that thing. And he said, well, why don't you get a dog? And I said, have you met my mother? She's already said no more animals. And since it's her roof and her mortgage, I have to listen to her. And he said, well, I can write you a prescription for an emotional support animal, and then your mom can't say no. And I said, again, have you met my mother? So he then called her and he said, I think that Noel needs a dog or she needs a pet, someone that loves her, whose whole world revolves around her. You could hear the resignation in my mom's voice.

33:34 But she was like, fine. So I went to young Williams and I found Samson. He was like the 8th or not. Because the thing was we went, we were just supposed to look, we were supposed to actually get a dog that day. But Samson said Nope, I'm coming home with you because I went to he was, I guess he was like the 8th or 9th dog we'd seen that day and I had to use the bathroom. So I left and my mom said he stood at the door and cried until I came back. Wow. So my sister has always joked since I brought him home, she's like, you would be the one person who goes to get an emotional support dog that needs emotional support.

34:20 But all my darkest days that I've had since I've had him, I have to remember this dog needs me because I have other aspects of my world, but I am his world because when I leave, even if my mom is home, she's not me. And I didn't realize how much I needed something or someone who I was the one that made their day better just simply by existing. And that's I like just as you finished, I heard a little a little wine in the background by the dog. That's beautiful. Thank you, Alexandra. Thank you for sharing that. And I'm glad that you you found something that has helped you through some some of those dark times that you mentioned. I see Amanda wants to chime in as well. Go ahead, Amanda.

35:08 This is very off topic, Alexandra, but have you watched Mama Duke on America's Got Talent? Have you seen clips of her? I have not. Oh my gosh, you have every time I see a clip, I'm like, that is you. So I say that with she's amazing and you can tell she's a story writer and the way she presented her song was just so fabulous. So look up Mama Duke and you will be blown away. And just know that's how I see your spirit. Like it's I mean it to be the best compliment ever. OK. Nice. All right. Well, now I don't know about everyone else, but I'm curious and all right, well, thank you again. Alexandra and Dominic, did you want to?

35:50 Did you want to chime in as well? I was going to go next. Oh good. Well then, yeah, please take it away. Definitely appreciate it your share, Alexandra. I was working on the car really quick as I couldn't hard it. So I just want to let you know you were seeing in that moment. Honestly, there's two and I'll make them brief. It's December of 2019 and I reach out to the Co founder of Netflix to have him on the start of life, my business show. And so reach out to him. He says yes, no problem, let's do it. But I had to go through his handlers, right? It's like whoa, wait a minute, you know, what's your numbers? What's that looking like what's your reach, blah blah blah. And I'll share them with him to say, OK, well, you're not really there yet, but once you get there, let us know. And I was like, wow, man, how can I can I, you know, boost this really quickly because I don't want to, you know, lose the no or lose the not right now or something like that. And so I was like, you know what, let's put the podcast on radio, but where would I go?

36:51 Like how I keep the show on radio? And there was a local AM station here that had a slot open. And The thing is that it was pay to play. Like you had to pay for the air time to get on air. And it was not cheap at all, like at all. Me and Kendall had to have a long conversation about what that was going to look like, pay for it, all the things right. And so we also decided, you know what, let's do it. So you know, put down the deposit, book the airtime and it was a really good slot because the show would be the local lead in to Dave Ramsey. So you can really ask for a better time slot if you ask me. So got on there, booked the Co founder of Netflix. And from there things just really kind of took off honestly.

37:45 But remember, this leads me to the second one. Remember this was December of 2019. So three months later COVID happens and you know, everybody and their mom and their cat and the dog got in the podcasting. And so after a while, at least to me, I was like, well, everybody's kind of sound of the same little bit, not in the sound of the same sense of the same, you know, whatever. Just more like talking points, right? And so it's like, if I'm going to stand out in this industry, by this time, I have been in the game, what, 3 1/2 years now? I got to do something different. And then I heard a podcast, Pin Kings from ESPN. It was, it was narrative, right?

38:28 I was like, this is interesting. I wonder if I could do something like that. So I took a business concept, I would think I talked about Nike, and I just made it a completely narrative show as opposed to an interview show. And from there I switched my complete style from interview style to narrative style, and the rest is, as they say, history. Thank you, Dominic. So the first story you shared, I say this half kiddingly, the yes that was spoken, the yes that was said, was Kendas saying yes to you spending the money on the radio. Correct. It wasn't even my yes. Yeah, I love it. And by the way, when you were just sharing about the Nike aspect of it, it just clicked in my head. I don't know if you've seen this yet, Dominic. I feel like you'd enjoy it based on what I know about you and what you just shared.

39:24 Have you seen on Netflix that Shaquille O'Neal has a series of basically how he he is going to revive Reebok? Have you seen that? I have not. I would definitely be interested in that. Yeah, basically he became, I guess he's president of the company now and. Allen, I know he has a position there. For sure, yeah. He and him and Albert, Him and Iverson. Yeah, Allen Iverson. It bought the interests in Reebok from Adidas and they're trying to recreate the brand and it's like a 5 or 6 part series how they get their athletes.

40:05 It's very neat. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to jump. And it's just, no, that's great. It's a really interesting way of he's interesting because he shows how he does his business and his whole model is he finds the best people and attaches his name to it and he doesn't want to. Not that he doesn't want to do the work, it's just that he wants to have the best people do the work with him. And whatever. But what's very interesting about it is that, you know, he's a big name. He he does what he does. But now that he's starting over with the shoe company, he's back on the bottom in terms of trying to get the the players and everything else. Because it's definitely brand awareness. Yeah, lot, lot, lot to learn.

40:50 Yeah, he kind of spoke about that a little bit where he, you know, kind of goes into this whole thing thinking, well, I'm Shaquille O'Neal and everyone's going to listen to me. I got, I got, you know, I got clout. I got a name. And he found that it was almost as challenging for him to land these player deals and doing the business that he does, the networking that he does. He found it. It's very challenging. Still, regardless of his name. It's a great show. I enjoyed the first episode. Go ahead, Dominic. No, I was just going to say I, I appreciate that and I'll definitely check it out. But I think that also shares a lesson. I'll say it really quickly and move on. But they're like, I, I think sometimes we think in podcasting that celebrities have like an upper hand, which they do. Let me be very clear.

41:37 But I think stuff like that and Tracee Ellis Ross, you know, trying to get patterns off the ground. Her, she's an actress. For those who don't know who she is, she has a hair care line, right? That definitely caters to women, but she makes some products for men as well. Anyway, she talked about 10 years trying to get it off the ground and she thought her name was guy get her through doors and she's actually had to do the work. So I think that's a great lesson for podcasters. Like, listen, even though celebrities do have an upper hand, there's still some work to be involved, so it's not exactly just this swinging open door for them as well. Yep, absolutely. They still got to do the work to get their show on the map. And yet there may be some elements that are easier for them, but overall they're starting from scratch just like we are. 100% Sharon, welcome to the stage again.

42:26 Good to have you back. Did you want to play along and share something you said yes to that led you to where you are today? Hello Mark, hello everyone. This is an easy answer for me and I often tell this story. And 2013 I kept well before that but 2013 was the pivotal year. But I kept procrastinating on showing up online because I was afraid of people getting to know me and being so visible. So I started things and stopped. And one day I was somewhere, maybe in an airport, I don't know.

43:06 It was a random person and we were talking about life and having small talk, which I'm not crazy about sometimes, but nevertheless this person said why don't you start a blog? I said, I've heard of blogs, but I don't know too much about it, too much about them. And we started talking about it, talking about blogs and, and I started my original blog in 2013. And I was even inconsistent with that. And I remember being at church one day, I was serving in the back. And one person said she would often tell me about my blog because she would read it. And she said to me one day, she said, I read your blog. And she said, you're not, you're not that consistent, are you? And it was such an innocent question. It was hilarious the way she said it. And I just busted out laughing.

43:57 And I was like, you know what? You're, you're, you're so right. I am not that consistent. From then on, I was blogging every day, even if it was a few lines of text. And that was a change for me because they got me in the mindset of how to show up online. And if I if I did not take on that little Blogspot blog, I would not be here today at all. And Mark, I want to expand on this a little bit more because your next question was what is that? Yes, you wish you would have done. Yes, yeah. You wish you would have said said yes to, right.

44:40 OK. I'm a teacher by trade and I was at this teachers conference that I was presenting and presenting at. It was about 2004 somewhere around there. And I would look at the teachers who were presenting. I would look at their materials and I would say to myself this, and no offense to anybody personally, they did. They were not great. They weren't even good. They were poor quality. And I said to myself, I could do better than this. I can create things that I can sell much better than this. And I did not do it. And I know if I would have done it, I just know it in my Noah, it would have been a game changer. So that was one of the things I wish I would have said yes to. Thanks, Mark.

45:27 Yeah, thank you for sharing both stories, both powerful and I really appreciate hearing them and that second story too. The question I kind of want to ask and I feel like I I somewhat know the answer, but to that one that you wish you had said yes to. I mean, is that something that you feel like now you are doing or some or is it something that you feel like you could be doing, you could still do something like that? Great question. I am doing all of the above. When I say all of the above, what that original service and product led to. So I'm doing all of it. The only thing that's different is my audience. OK.

46:09 That makes sense. Cool. Thank you, Sharon, I appreciate you sharing. I think that's, and thank you for heating the call there and, and answering one of the questions that you wish you had said yes to. I've yeah, I appreciate that. I was going to share one that I said no to. And I don't believe I've ever shared this part of my story with you before. And this goes back to the old show that I used to work for that I've referenced a few times. Actually, I think I even referenced them this week, the Mike O'Mara show. And I'll preface and say no hard feelings. No shade here. Sometimes things come to an end, right? And this was one of those instances. So I had been working for their show for over three years and helped build it into a big financial success. They brought me in there.

47:02 Sure, I was part of the on air team, but they really brought me in there for the behind the scenes stuff from both building the business and helping with producing. There were they made me. They didn't just hire me or contract me out, they actually made me a fifth partner. There were 4-4 players in this and all of them were both both on the mic and all working behind the scenes too. But they brought me in after a few months of being there with them as a full full time partner. So it was five of us and Fast forward three years or so later, one of the partners decided to leave.

47:45 They'd had enough, they wanted to move on. He actually had been with their team when they were a radio team for years prior. So he it was just his time. But that created a potential opportunity for me to make more money as a fourth partner instead of 1/5 right. We are now splitting the pot four ways. So I thought I was told shortly after he left that I was no longer going to be an equal partner, that they wanted to make me still. I could still be a partner, but not equal. I would be getting less of the pot, even though there was more to share, by the way.

48:26 But that's OK, no shade. And that didn't sit well with me, especially because I really believed that I made a a huge impact on the success of that show, not as the talent. Yes, I did some stuff that contributed to the content, but I'm no fool. I mean, these guys were the were the talent of that particular show. And I still felt like I was a big piece of that puzzle. Regardless, this was a really my dream gig at the time while I was doing it. It was an amazing experience. I even had my own podcast, the one I've referenced before, the Mark and Lowell show, as part of their network that I built for them. But my show is part of that network. I had a really good thing going from the outside looking in. And by the way, it was also good money with the potential to be even better.

49:26 We were still growing and we were able to all make a living out of it. I can't say we we would have been ready or close to ready to, to retire. It wasn't that kind of money, but we were all able to make a living out of it. So I had that decision to make. Do I take less of a percentage, which could still end up being a little bit more money because it wasn't because the five people weren't sharing the pot? But do I do what I'm doing, get this amazing, continue to get this amazing experience out of it, but take less money? And by the way, also, it felt a little degrading, right? It's like here I was just as much of A contributor to the success as any one of the other people were, but I was now told I'm going to take less.

50:17 This was a, this was a real challenge for me. I didn't know what I wanted to do. I didn't want to walk away. And ultimately, I decided, you know, what, I value who I am. I value what I've done here. If they aren't valuing me the way that I think that I should be valued, then it's time for me to go. And that was really scary because, you know, this, there was there was this huge audience. And by the way, a lot of that audience was following my show too. Like I said, we built a network around this big show. And I was worried, you know, what was that going to mean for our show?

50:57 Could I continue on? Would I continue podcasting? And ultimately I did say no and decided, yeah, you know what, I am going to keep podcasting and decided I'm going to start a network, a podcast network, making my show kind of the anchor of that network. And I'm going to bring on other podcasts and help those podcasts grow. And we can all help each other grow as a network. And that really looking back was it was really the beginning of me making a business out of podcasting and specifically helping other podcasters because now I was giving a platform to newer podcasters that wanted help growing.

51:40 And I even created what I had called, I think I called something like podcasting university or something like that. Within the network. We would bring on shows that I believed had potential and needed some help. And so we'd bring them into the network, put them on the network, and I would kind of coach and help produce their shows. And I think had I not said no to that revised contract, I don't know if I would have been on that path to helping other podcasters and ultimately in 2020 starting my business or 2019, late 2019 starting my business, producing podcasts and consulting podcasters. And that wouldn't have led me to here and to this show and to this amazing community.

52:27 So sometimes saying no is just as powerful as saying yes to something and can make a huge impact, a positive impact on your journey. All right, well, thank you for letting me share. Anyone else want to share anything? Before we wrap up today, I have one more thing I want to say about today. Well, here's what today's conversation really reminds me of, and it's kind of speaking a little more to what I was, what I was just saying here. The biggest opportunities don't always look like it at 1st and that they might feel a little uncomfortable, maybe even a little scary.

53:08 But with every, yes, especially the ones that pull us out of our comfort zones, I think those are the ones that can change the direction of our story. And clearly we've proven that today because it's those small, sometimes big, brave decisions that open the doors what we never even knew were there. So whether you're thinking about starting a podcast or just trying something new, something creatively, remember that one simple yes, that could lead you somewhere that you can't even imagine yet. There is no way I would have imagined being here on Clubhouse, being on YouTube Live, talking about podcasting five days a week, building up a show that as of this week has hit the Top 40 in how to Podcast, has been nominated for two awards, has a big conference coming up in September that is exists because of this community. That next chapter of your journey might just be waiting for you to say yes.

54:12 So take a minute when you have those new opportunities and really think about where some of your other yeses or Nos have led you when you're making that new decision for that new opportunity. Okay gang, listen, tomorrow is the 4th of July and here in the United States that's a holiday. We will be celebrating Independence Day tomorrow. So we are off tomorrow and being that we are in the summer schedule, we're also off on Monday. So we are back Tuesday through Friday next week, 7:00 AM Eastern Time. Please join us live on Clubhouse, live on YouTube, whatever works best for you, or do both. Watch me and listen to Clubhouse while you're watching. So until Tuesday, make it a great day. Everybody.

55:02 Take care.