361 - Is It Okay to Charge a Guest for Episode Release Priority?

0:05 Good morning podcasting Morning Chats. Today is Friday, August 29th, 2025, and today we're diving into a guesting dilemma that's raising some eyebrows. Then catching up with Chris and Amanda of Song Swap Showdown on big changes in their podcasting paths and finally sharing wins from the week. 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, or YouTube for that matter. And if you're listening via podcast, please share this episode with a fellow podcaster. And now give us about 30 seconds. We'll get things rolling. Thanks for being here.

1:20 Good morning again, podcasting, Morning Chat. Thanks so much for being here. I am your host, Mark Ronik, and on stage with me. We've got a full house this morning. We have producer Ashley Feller, Nick Nalback, Dr. Faye, Jonathan Howard, Amanda Sharp, and Sid Meadows. Before we dive in, I have a big announcement I wanted to share with you. If you are thinking about the Empowered Podcasting Conference, you'd like to be there and you want to save a little bit of money, we have just announced a sale for Labor Day here in the United States. Labor Day weekend is kicking off right now, and so we figured let's do a big sale.

2:04 So 50% off. All you got to do is go to empoweredpodcasting.com, click the buy ticket button, and then you use this code EPC LD50, EPC LD50, Empowered Podcasting Conference, Labor Day, 50% off. So please take advantage of that. Now you only have about a week to take advantage of that sale and then it's going away. What date exactly is it going away? Dr. You sound very muffled, but it's Friday. I I got my new. Earbuds all changed to the old one. Yeah, I'm super muffled.

2:44 Super muffled. It sounds like you're like in a box or something. What day is it going away? It's going away Friday the 5th, one week from today. So did you say 50% off? Yeah, 5050. Yes. Just making sure we said it again. Yeah. Thank you. And glad you're here. Jonathan, we shouted you out yesterday. I don't want to get you too emotional, so I just wanted to say we are still thinking about you. And. And the loss of it was Ryder, I believe. Right. That's the dog's name. And yes, it was Ryder. Thank you. You're welcome.

3:24 You're welcome. I do relate. I've been through the loss of a pet, unfortunately, a couple times and I, it's never easy, at least in my experience. And from what I understand, I don't think it's very easy for anyone. So yeah, all of our best to you, Jonathan. And so today I've already kind of queued it up, teed it up. I actually even shared yesterday a little bit at the end of the show, this topic I want to dive into. I got an e-mail from one of my clients and I don't know if he's gave me, well, he gave me permission to share it. You'll hear it in the letter. And I don't know if he wants me to share his name or not. So I'm just not going to. And he started guesting on podcasts because of my encouragement, right?

4:10 I'm their consultant coach, whatever you want to call me. And they're looking to grow their show and finding all sorts of ways. They're doing everything from paid ads to grass roots marketing. And one of the things I said that I noticed they weren't doing was guesting on other podcasts. And we talk all about that here and how effective that can be, especially if you have a podcast to promote, which that's their mission is to grow their community and grow their podcast. So they started this journey and this was actually a few weeks ago, but being that I was away, I'm just able to get to it now. He says hey Mark, we had an odd experience today. I signed up for Pod Match and already have a few guesting opportunities and some guests for our show too all queued up. Our first guest appearance was today. Again, this was a few weeks ago.

5:02 A fine conversation. At the end we asked when the episode would release the answer April of next year. Well, he goes on, unless we were willing to sponsor his show, which would then get us scheduled much sooner. He goes on to say, have you heard of this happening to this degree? We know podcasters, ourselves included, queue up episodes, but nine months sort of defeats the purpose of guesting on someone's show. Any visibility to grow our podcast is kind of moot now. Curious about your thoughts and offering it up if that's something the PMC crew might want to discuss too?

5:44 Well, I want to discuss it and then we'll get into Chris and Amanda as well and their new chapters in the world of podcasting. We talked about it at the beginning of this week that Amanda is leaving Song Swap Showdown and we and there's no hard feelings between Amanda and Chris. And so we're actually, I think Chris is going to be joining us at some point as well. So we're going to hear a little bit more about what their plans are. But first let's talk. Let's first talk about the length here, OK? The fact that these clients of mine went on a podcast and they were told at the end of the podcast, yeah, this is going to publish in nine months from now. Why do we feel and keep in mind, we probably, I know we probably have new podcasters listening to our show. So let's start with this question. Why do some podcasters hold episodes for so long? Would somebody like to take the only person that does that is Dr. because she batches.

6:51 She batches and never releases. I mean, that's ridiculous. I see why and I know Jonathan does. Like, don't you do like a whole season all at once, then you release it? I can see that. And then to extort money from them, that makes it even worse. That's just bad business. The fact that you used the word extort. I took a little gas because that's exactly what it is. I didn't even think about it until you said the word. But that's exactly. What it is? Yeah, we'll get into the money stuff because I have a feeling that's going to be a bigger conversation and I appreciate what you both are saying. I saw that Jonathan wanted to chime in to go ahead, Jonathan.

7:31 And then we'll go to you. Dan. It's not really that crazy. I we have not recorded episodes of Coffee Social since December and we're still releasing and we've got another month and a half of releases when you record your episodes in advance. Oh, and the other thing is then we're recording all these in advance. I can decide what order I want to put them out. So if you want to pay to get to the front of the line, pay to get to the front of the line, you'll get your episode released sooner. I don't think it's that crazy. I also don't think it's that crazy to be asking for the money. Oh, interesting. So we'll have to hear from Jonathan as well. Let's check in with Dan before we get into the whole money conversation. Go ahead, Dan.

8:15 Hey, good morning. Glad to be here. Thank you. I agree with Jonathan probably 9000%. I'm on Pod Match and I can tell you I get 3 to 4, three to four minimally requests a day to be a guest on my podcast. So depending on the podcast, the length of time between episodes, it would not be unfair to see a recording scheduled out until mid next year easily. OK. And then the money thing. I mean, we we'll wait. Yeah. Thank you, Dan. I appreciate the restraint there. And I appreciate your answer as well. I see my Internet. I'm getting the little red bar of death.

8:56 Hopefully, I'm being heard loud and clear. I'm going to go back to Jonathan before I go to Nick because I saw Jonathan wanted to respond when Dan was sharing. So go ahead, Jonathan. Are they not going to be promoting their podcast for growth in nine months? Are they going to be set and already ready where they need to be? That's a fairpoint. Yeah. It's like I thought of that too. My eyebrow raised when I read that part of the e-mail. You're hopefully going to keep doing your podcast in April and it's still going to help your show in April. And I think the reason he was saying that is because he's doing a real push right now specifically. So this podcast is for empty nesters, and a lot of empty nesters have officially become empty nesters now that school's in session. So they were trying to do a campaign around school coming back, empty nesters becoming empty nesters. So it ruins the timing of that specifically. But like you said, there's going to be other things and they're going to they're going to always want to grow their community. So it yeah, it may be effects this promotion, but it doesn't affect the long term growth.

10:08 Let me go to Nick. Yeah, but as long as the. Content is Evergreen going that far out. It's not a terrible way to do it. The more episodes you can bank up now, the less episodes like the less work you have to do in recording, planning, doing all that kind of stuff. You can spend more time on marketing the show. I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing, but I kind of feel like with. Guests, interviews, things like that, having them scheduled out so far in advance. By the time April comes around, is the information that was discussed in that episode going to be still relevant? Is it going to be different?

10:49 I would almost chalk it up as a lessons learned, especially with this kind of campaign push that they're trying to do. Talk about the release schedule. Have your client talk to the person hosting this podcast and get a feel for when these episodes are released because they're trying to make this big push. Then they can decide if that want to spend their time with or if you want to pass and come back to it later sometime. Yep, fair points. And I think I'm going to jump the line for a second and go to Sid because I think Sid threw up the Peppers. That's how we notify that we want to say something, right, while you were speaking. So I feel like maybe it had to do something with what you're sharing too. So go ahead, Sid. Good morning everybody.

11:31 Kind of tagging on to what Nick has to say. I would like ask a lot of questions about this, but I would ask myself a lot of questions about this. We we are everybody talks about Way to Gary shows guesting on other podcasts. OK, great. But is this the right podcast for them to guest on? Is this show really going to help them expand their reach? Why did you guest on this particular show? Right. I'd really dig in and ask them these questions to determine whether or not it's OK for me to go to April. I mean, to Nick's point, if they're promoting something that's going to happen in January and the show doesn't air to April, then that's an issue, right? But I'd really dive into why this show doesn't really matter that it's in April.

12:13 Is this going to help my growth, right? Sometimes we just go on a podcast for the sake of going on a podcast and it doesn't give us any reach that we really want or that we need. So I would dig in to this before I would get too upset about it. Yeah. And I would hope, especially being that it's one of my consulting clients, I would hope that they would do their due diligence prior to even getting on the show. It's just as far as is this the right fit for me. So I want to make the the assumption that they did their homework a little bit ahead of time. But yes, that's a really strong point. Jeff, good morning. Welcome. And what did you want to add? Good morning, team.

12:54 I think the real issue is the fact that, at least from the way the letter was written, they didn't tell him until after the interview. Because if they'd been upfront about it and granted, the guy could have asked, but we've all done interviews where we have to direct the interviewer to stay on the topic that we want to make sure and highlight. If he had been told when the interview would come out, it might have changed the topics he put forth to discuss. I know being in the country music industry, there are events where we've been pulled in to do multiple interviews over a few days and they're definitely spread out. A lot of our stuff doesn't come out until months later.

13:35 But I know that and they know that because I explained it. I make sure that the topics were talking about are going to be Evergreen, still relevant. I do think it's misbehavior because he waited until he could hold the interview hostage, it sounds like, as opposed to saying, hey, this may not come out till nine months. What do we need to talk about? What's a value versus what's not? And now that your client will know to ask that question next time, I'm totally with you, Jeff. That was something I was kind of keeping in my back pocket in case somebody didn't say it. Yeah, I think the big problem here, because I might have even said this publicly before, I don't necessarily have a problem with the strategy of, hey, I've got a big backlog of shows, so your episode's not going to air for several months from now. But if you want to pay, then I can bump you up like that strategy in itself doesn't bother me that much. It's not one that I necessarily would do, at least I don't think so.

14:37 But I think it's fine as long as you're saying it upfront like Jeff is saying, have the conversation with your guest ahead of time. And if you're not doing the money strategy, then at least have the conversation that, yeah, this is going to air in nine months. And as a guest, it's your responsibility, I believe, to ask those questions upfront ahead of time. Whether or not the host offers it up is irrelevant. I think you need to ask ahead of time because I think yet there are plenty of podcasters that batch, There are plenty of podcasters that go week to week. And I think sometimes as podcasters, whichever camp you fall in, I think we sometimes just assume that's how most people do it.

15:22 But Mark, isn't that. I know we always talk about being a good podcast guest and you want to be respectful to the host. And I understand what Jonathan's saying and I appreciate it. It does make sense if you're going to batch and do that. But I just think that it's it's a little shady that you would say it after the interview. It just comes down to basic, if this person is a podcaster or they're not and they don't know the deal of your podcast, now maybe that's on them, but you don't know what the back end of anybody's podcast really is. And if you had just told them and they had just said something, oh, I got something going on next week, well, that's kind of bait and switch. That's all I'm saying. I understand about the whole coming to the front line and everything else that you were saying about sponsorships, but it just seems like.

16:09 Either you were. Not informed enough, but also it has to do with the host too. They need to lay out the, you know, we talked about as a as a host, we should be sending something out, laying everything out. And I think that's just poor management on that, that host. Now, again, we're only getting one side of it. So they could have saw something and they didn't, or they could have gotten something and they just didn't know it. Although I got to say, they're pretty on top of things like e-mail and stuff. So I would imagine they would. Yeah. I mean, you know, but if that's the case, it's kind of a little shifty. But I do see what you're saying, Jonathan. I know there is a value to batching. I just don't think that we need to batch like Dr. wants to.

16:54 Yeah, well, we have. Do we have Janaid here in the audience? I'm looking to see. Yeah, Janaid's here. Janaid has an insane backlog of content that he's waiting to release. So yeah, it happens. And I do agree with you. That's what I mean. I was saying pretty much I think the same thing as you, Alex. I think it is up to the the host as well to let the guest know. But I think as a guest, if you have priorities, if you want your show to air within a certain period of time, I think asking when will this air is completely acceptable and appropriate. Hey, Mark, I do have a question for Jonathan and and Janae. In this sense, let's say you do have a guest and it just seems like it's timely. Would you bump them up yourself or like, how does that, how do you, how do you do your business in that sense? Jonathan, if there was like something that just came up like, you know, in Amanda's case, like the chicken, there was a chicken disease or something and she's always talking about her chickens, like kind of fact. So I mean, it's my show, so I can move it up if I want to. But I also, you know, if somebody paid to have theirs moved up, I wouldn't move it up before that one. That's what I would do is if somebody paid their going first. But I also threw my pepper because Dan wanted to go and he didn't have a pepper to go.

18:18 Thanks, Jonathan. By the way, I'm going to come to Dan here next. And I just appreciate what I'm seeing from Dave Campbell in the chat. He says I have an author interview podcast I released three times a week, and I have episodes set to go live until into November. I released the episode early for my guests within a few days of recording on YouTube so that they don't have to wait. So that's an interesting strategy. He's picking platforms as far as when to release, so he'll release right away to YouTube. But as far as the audio version, and I'm going to guess, Dave, you can correct me, I'm going to guess maybe the audio version is edited a little differently, might have a little different feel to it, which I think is an effective strategy if that's what you're doing. Yes, that is what he's doing.

19:05 So there you go. Appreciate that insight, Dave. And I see Janae loves the strategy and is adopting it. So thank you for that. Hopefully this was helpful to some other people too. Dan, what did you want to add? I did want to add that. The question becomes, is it is, are they in it for the long game? And then as far as money goes, what's wrong with asking people to sponsor their episode if they want priority? I see no issues with it. Neither do I Yeah. It's just a matter of I think it's important that the guest knows that coming in as opposed to springing everything on them at the end once the show is done. Sure. Well, and I think there's a host responsibility here that we touched on a little bit and I think Jonathan touched on it actually, but and you did, but there is a responsibility from the host.

19:53 That's why I do pre interviews. What's the goal of appearing on this podcast is one of the questions I ask every one of my potential guests. And This is why, again, at the very least, A1 Sheeter needs to be sent to a guest prior so that they are fully prepared and fully understand what's going on. Right. At the very least you need that and in my opinion, I think having a pre interview to discuss those things ahead of time on top of just building some rapport and some chemistry, I think that is an important strategy. Dr. What would you like to add 100? Percent on the pre interview. And y'all stole my Thunder. My chili went up long before this and I was going to say the timing is is what is off putting but my.

20:40 Question to Jonathan is how much? Do you charge? Oh, Jonathan, are you comfortable revealing that you need a couple 100 bucks? I think that's fair. Go ahead, I have a couple. I have a couple questions though. Are you even guaranteed that your episode will go live when you show up for a podcast interview? That was going to be my question. Like what if people keep paying to jump the line in your episode? Instead of an April release, it now is December 2020. Sixth year this and just kicked down the. Road or. What if you're so terrible we don't air it? You're not guaranteed that you'll actually end up on the podcast when you record the interview? Yeah, Yeah. I mean, these are actually really fair questions. So Jonathan, remind me again, just say the the first question you had, he already forgot.

21:26 Are you guaranteed? Are you guaranteed on podcast just by booking it? Yeah. So that certainly could create a dilemma, a challenge for the for the host And my I think the way I would do it if I was doing that would be OK. So let's say I have a list of 10 people now that have paid to be on there. I've got to think that, let's say if I'm talking to the 10th person now, basically I've got to tell them that, yes, you can pay and the soonest it's going to go up is 10 weeks from now. You just have to be upfront about the release. And then that's up to the guests to decide whether or not that's of interest to them. And to your second question, what if they're not good? Yeah, I think that creates a little bit of a challenge if you're sharing upfront how you do things, right. Because now if I've talked to you, Jonathan, and before an interview with you and I've said it's going to cost you 200 bucks and you're going to be 10th in line. I actually totally forgot where I was going with this, but. And I'm terrible and you're.

22:35 Terrible. Thank you. Thank you. Then I'm stuck now, right? Especially if I paid you. 200 bucks or you're refunding my 200 bucks or I have. To refund your money. And just that's The thing is I think honesty, being honest about it with the guest, you know what, what didn't go in the direction I thought it would. I don't think that this would connect well with my audience. I don't think we talked about the things that my audience would be interested in. I think if you let them down that way, it's still a hard conversation, but better than just saying sorry you sucked, here's your money back. All right, listen, we have almost we have about 30 minutes and I do want to try to get to wins as well. So I'm just putting that out there. But we also I really want to talk to Amanda and Chris. So I am I'm going to go to you, Janae, since we've called you out, we've talked about your you and your backlog. So what did you want to add to this conversation? Good morning, everyone.

23:30 This is my favorite topic casting dilemmas. Oh my God do I go through these So based on. What I'm hearing, I love what Dave Campbell saying. This is something that I also heard yesterday. On a Discovery call with some gentleman, he's like, dude, I have, I post my episode recordings right away and then I'll tell him, hey, I'm going to promote your episode that we just recorded on YouTube. And then three months later we're going to promote you again on the podcast. So now the guest is like, Oh my God, that's so amazing. So that's another way that Dave Campbell, what Dave Campbell is doing is exactly what this guy's mentioning. And like, dude, I want to do this because I have so many episodes I can just push on the YouTube and be like, hey, here's your stuff. And they can start promoting that. So it's, it's a great idea.

24:18 Yeah, agreed. And another gentleman that I spoke with yesterday interviewed him. He's like, I don't do pre interviews. Like what? Like yeah, I don't do pre interviews because if I have to do a pre interview and then I have to record them again, that's they're taking two spots in my calendar and he's publishing 4 podcasts. So I was like, wow. So he's like, I schedule a 90 minute. To 60 minute time and then I'll spend the 1st 10 minutes get. To know them and then record the episode so that there's enough time. And like that's not a bad strategy because you're taking, you know, less time away from your calendar because think about it, right, Time is not coming back. So might as. Well do a good job and pre vetting if they were even a good guest to come on the show and then. Take the one time and record it.

25:08 And if you want to record another episode with them to schedule another time. And that, that's something that I've been doing as well, yeah. Janae, I understand that philosophy. I'm not sure that I agree with that philosophy. But what if you discover in the 1st 10 minutes that this is not really, they're the right guests for you, their energy level is off. You don't like what they're going to talk about? Like do you just abruptly say, sorry, I don't think this is a good fit and hang up? I mean, that sounds really rude to me to do that. So I mean, I just like it's risky to schedule 90 minutes in the 1st 10 minutes be let's just discuss. And then if you decide it is or it isn't, I don't know, Dave Campbell say he's done that.

25:51 So Yep. Yeah, we could. Totally do that I've turned people away to say hey we could record but I would recommend that you get a microphone a better lighting because I can't really see you so until you come back we. Can't really record an episode. So there, there that is something that we can do. Yeah, I'm with Sid. I mean, yes, you can. Absolutely. It's your show. So I hear that strategy. It makes sense to me and I agree with Sid. For me, I personally find there's something different about the chemistry on the show. If I meet with this person prior to the show, not 10 minutes prior, but actually a day, days before the show, or maybe even a week or two or three depending on my schedule.

26:41 But there's something different about having that moment with them initially, getting to know them. You're, you're building up that rapport and then the next time you sit down with them, there is a different level of comfort both on both sides that I experience. That's why I don't prefer to do the 10 minutes prior. I'm not saying it's a bad strategy and I have done it before just because of scheduling conflicts and such and we needed to meet prior. So we just decide, OK, we'll do it 1015 minutes before. But in most cases, that's not the strategy I prefer. OK, I think we're in a good place to stop here. I will say, listen, I respect those podcasters who backlog. I respect what Janae does.

27:33 I respect what Dave does. I think I have clients that work that way and it's a breath of fresh air, The consistency, it is a piece of cake at that point. You can constantly publish episodes. You don't have to worry about racing the clock. There is a that is a excellent strategy. And if you're going to charge people to jump the line, in my opinion, please tell them upfront that there's just something icky about waiting till the end. In my opinion, it would hit me wrong as a guest, I would have a bad taste in my mouth. But if you told me ahead of time and you're giving me that option, I'm going to actually appreciate that. And as a guest, I encourage you to ask these questions ahead of time.

28:21 And if you don't have a pre interview scheduled with that host, have your basic list of questions to ask a host. And as a matter of fact, since this is last minute, e-mail me, Mark, Marc at Ironic Media, IRONICK, media.com and in the subject line, put guest questions. I will send you my list of questions that I encourage podcasters to ask guests. I'm sorry, guests to ask podcasters ahead of time. Yeah, let's do that. So with that, we're going to shift gears and check in with Chris and Amanda now. Chris, you're in the audience, so please come on up and join us if you'd like.

29:06 Chris announced at the beginning of this week here on the show and elsewhere. He announced that Amanda is stepping down from Song Swap Showdown and he's got a new Co host. Chris, do you want to share who your Co host is for those who haven't heard it yet? Yeah, sure. I didn't have to look very far from my Co host. It's my wife Rachel, which, you know, none of that was planned. We were already talking about trying to do a project together because we do so much separate stuff and we just said it'd be nice to have something to do together. And so we're trying to think of things that we might be able to do together with the time that we have. And then just through these events that happened, the timing worked out.

29:49 And I said, would you want to be Co host song swap showdown with me? And she was like absolutely be so much fun. So that's what we decided to do when we did they debut episode with her on Tuesday night. Monday nights are going to be the new time, Mondays at 7 instead of Mondays at 8:00 AM. But we had Internet problems on Monday, so we did it on Tuesday night and it was a lot of fun. It was great. I mean, I told Amanda it was really, really weird. I mean not, I was just going to ask how. Was it because it's your wife? And so there's got to be a level of comfort, but at the same time, it's got to be so weird. It's, it's weird. I mean, we've done a show together before. We did like an American Horror Story show where we followed the season 1984 together and we would come right on and do a recap of that. We did that and it was a lot of fun, but we haven't done anything since then.

30:38 It's just different, you know, I mean, Amanda and I have been doing a show together for five years. We have a, we have an instinct chemistry and there's an energy. Amanda brings it all that stuff. I mean, anybody who's watched her listen to show knows my wife brings something completely different and she's not trying to beat Amanda. She doesn't want it like none of that stuff. She's just being 100% her and, you know, and she was really nervous too. So I think as we do more together, we'll settle into it and get into a rhythm in a groove. But yeah, it was definitely weird. I told the man it was like, it was fun, but it was super weird and different. But hey, I'm glad we're we're keeping it going and and keeping everything that Amanda and I built together for five years because it's been a lot of hard work to get the show to where it is today. I think this will work out.

31:23 I feel good about it. And so, yeah, that's the bits. And I guess we'll be on again another Tuesday because it's Labor Day next week. That's right. So I guess we'll do another two. We're going to be on Mondays, but the first two shows are going to be on Tuesdays. Congratulations, I'm sure that is weird. And let's go to your this is weird to say. Let's go to your former Co host Amanda Sharp. Good morning Amanda. Now how weird I'm going to guess, and maybe I'm wrong, that you at least peaked at the show with with the new Co host. So was that a weird experience for you? Of course. I did one because I want to support it, but two, yeah, I wanted to see how they fit into the flow with each other, even though they're married to each other for many, many years.

32:05 And they did a great job and it gave me, I did it more to get peace, if I'm being completely honest, like, OK, this is good. This is good. Like I could closure. Yes. Yes. Like I didn't feel like Chris was just left hanging, which was one of my fears. And so the fact that I just feel like I was maybe a placeholder for Rachel all this time. And I really think that this. Show. I just feel like Chris and Rachel being logistically seriously like living together just has this opportunity to grow it into something even bigger that because Chris and I are literally in several states away from each other, we just never could. So I'm just really excited to see where it goes. I'm so happy.

32:50 I like, it's sad though. Like I'll be honest, it's really sad because it's not like Chris and I had any issue with each other. There was no blow up. There was no issues. It was just, life is good really for both of us, even though there's a lot happening and and sometimes you have to make decisions to even leave the good things and that was hard. I'm sure it was and I was that I was going to be. My next question is what was behind the decision. But I guess that's you've shared it, but is there anything else? I'll let me pry a little bit further. It was anything else behind that decision to walk away? And is this walking away from everything regarding podcasting, including this show?

33:31 Great question. Well, so I, I put this in the same category as when I first opened the store. I was very in this community, showed up every single day, was leading the rooms. And then when I went to open the store 4 years ago, I really had to step back because I had to put my full attention into getting that up and running. And when I got that down, I was able to kind of come back into the space and, and do some of the, the rooms. And I put that in the same category. I can't, although this time it does feel a little different, if I'm being honest, because I feel like I can like I'm continuing to grow in just such different ways so fast that to have time to do certain things that I used to love, you got to go through like choosing which is the next path, which is the bigger impact item now, because it's not just about the making the money and making the sales. Now I'm on this like entire mission of going, where is my impact?

34:32 Where is my time going? Putting an hour of my time here. How will that help a community versus putting an hour over here? And how will it help that community? So it's, it's kind of I'm in a, in a point in my life where I'm, I only have so many hours on a day and I have to really choose hard where those hours go. And creatively doing the show with Chris was such therapy for me. And we are so close. He is one of my bestest of friends and I love him so much. And so to take away like that weekly coffee date with my best friend, that was hard too. It wasn't just I was giving up the podcast. It was I was giving up this dedicated time that I had with one of my best friends each week. So it's just been a whirlwind of decisions. All for good reasons, though.

35:20 Well, that's exciting, it sounds. Exciting and I appreciate you elaborating. And if you know if this is a matter of not having enough time, stop going to bed at 5:00 PM in the evening. It is. Like 830. Thank you very much. Okay, well, and to be fair though, like I also have to have reset time. Yeah, because I grind and work and think so hard during the hours that I'm on that I really have to respect that. I have to allow myself to reset and have hours that I'm off and spend time with my family still. So having those boundaries are very, very important because I'm good to know one if I'm down and out and sick. Yeah.

36:05 And so you'll continue, I am assuming based on what I'm seeing, you're going to continued your tik toking is that you say yeah and and. I'm tripling down on that, yeah. OK. That's what I was curious about. You're going to. So I guess it's not it's time consuming, but in a different way. And I'm already doing this stuff anyway, so I'm just consciously really looking at every single thing I'm doing and pausing to capture a moment of that. So it's really not a lot of extra time. It's just setting my brain to see the opportunity to actually hit the record button because I have content all day long. It's just a matter of reminding myself pause, record it real quick, post it because a video only might take me 5 minutes tops.

36:51 It's not very time consuming. And finally, my last question for you, and then I'll let Sid chime in. Any advice for a podcaster listening right now who's on the fence about continuing their, their journey? And you know, let's let's say they're in similar shoes to where you were. You know, it's, it's not just that they're burnt out on podcasting specifically, but what what's your advice to somebody in similar shoes as yours? You know, it's hard because I never got burnt out on podcasting. I just had to make a decision. So I can't come at it from a a point of, oh, I'm just tired of doing this and it's time my season for this is done for that reason.

37:35 And I'll have to say Chris being one of my bestest friends, I feel like knew he needed to say the words for me. He just kind of flat out said like, are you done like lovingly, like I, I, I feel like you're there and you just can't say it. And he was 100% right. So he kind of threw me the ball to be able to say the words that I just wasn't brave enough at the time to be able to say that I knew in my heart of hearts that I need to do. So Chris helped me make that decision, if I'm being honest. So if you have a Co host that might be struggling in that way or a friend who's struggling in that way, maybe throwing that lifeline that really can help them be brave enough to make the decision that they know that they're struggling with Amanda.

38:23 And I always, from day one, always said to each other that, you know, we need to be 100% honest with each other all the time. And if and when the time comes that it's time for both of us or one of us to step away because the show's not fun anymore, it's too much work or just, you know, you're just simply can't do it. Like we just, we have to be honest about it. We do the show because we love it and it's fun. And the minute it starts feeling like work or oh God, I got to do the show again, it's definitely time. Because the point of the show is that her and I get together and have a really good time. She needed to make space in her life for things that are a bigger priority than the show. I totally understand that.

39:03 It's, you know, it comes down to like a time personal decision, but also a bit of a business decision. A lot of the time Amanda spends is helping drive her mission, which helps drive business and all that. So it's, yeah, I mean, I just, I felt it was coming and I just said, you know what? Let me just let me just ask her because I felt it. And I know because I think if it was me, I would have a hard time saying the words too. And I know that if I had a hard time, Amanda would 1000% be like, are you done with the show? I know that she would do the same thing. So it was just, I feel like somebody had to say it and help and it was more of a helping thing than like, you know, me trying to get my wife and her because at that time I wasn't even Rachel and I even talking about her even being on it.

39:48 That wasn't even a thing yet. This was going back into July. Even Rachel becoming a host on the show is very fast. It wasn't something we were planning on doing for months on end and all that stuff that didn't go down like that at all. Thank you, Chris. Appreciate that. Amanda, did you have anything you wanted to add before I go to Sid? OK, I know she doesn't. OK, so let's go to Sid. Sid, did you have a question? Couple of comments. First off, Chris and. Amanda, congratulations to you guys for a successful run of Song Swap Showdown. You guys have done a great job with that. So congratulations to you both and congratulations to you both on the next chapter. It's really exciting for both of you.

40:29 I want to say to Amanda boss, what would my life be if I hadn't showed up in a clubhouse room almost five years ago and met Amanda? Having watched your journey, you know, Amanda, it's super impressive. Or you'd, I mean, it's an example of grit, determination, perseverance, like I'm going to do this come hell or high water commitment. And I think it's the lessons that you're sharing are good for all of us to be able to see what it means to be committed to something. I mean, it was just a few months ago. You're talking about closing the store now?

41:10 Look, you're crossing it. With this store, right? And you've really leaned into your community and uplifting your community. And by doing that and all these amazing events that you're putting on and starting a farmers market and a reverse craft show that I have no idea what that is. And all these things that you're doing is uplifting your community. It's bringing people in. And not only is it helping you and your store and your vision, it's helping all of the other small businesses around you, which is absolutely amazing, leaning into the power of community. So I'm super proud of you. I'm super proud that I had the opportunity to meet you, become friends with you, and I'm so excited for the next chapter with you.

41:52 I just hope they will come back and join us occasionally because I'm sure going to miss you being here on a regular basis. So with that Mark, I'll pass it back to you. I'll. Just pass it on to Amanda, let her respond and Chris if he wants to as well. Thank. You, Sid, for all of that and you all have been equally as inspiring and kept me going and said, when you say truly, I was at the point where I was going to have to close my store. I just did not see a path. And I will give Marcus full credit. He said, let's change your date a little bit. And I just went for it. And I, I just feel like this year has finally like the cloud has been lifted and life is not easier and by any means, it's just different.

42:41 But to see how far I've come over well since clubhouse even became a thing is exciting. And I just, I was just telling Chris yesterday, I feel like I can almost like reach what's next in my season. I just can't see what it is yet. I just know everything that I'm doing today is like catapulting me into this forward motion that like has my hair blowing back. Like it's just so exciting to see. And so I'm very open minded to, you know, what's next in my, my life, but I'm really having a good time living on my community and advocating for my community. And like many of you said, making Ida, which is a tiny little town, a destination because it doesn't just help me, it helps the entire community.

43:31 And that feels so good, Love. That Amanda and I echo what everything Sid said and especially the part about coming and joining us at some point. We we want you here as much as you're able to give us. Amanda, you always have great contributions to the conversations and there's just something about your presence in this room that's calming and I would hate to lose that. So anytime feel free to come in and join us. You are always a Co host of the podcasting morning chat and we are going to miss you and your presence a great deal. But of course you're not going far. We can always reach out to you. We can always connect with you in other ways, yes.

44:14 And I say please, I welcome that. I mean, if you want myself, if anyone wants my phone number, they can have it, please send me DMSI mean I'm not. I'm not going away. I just am not able to do podcasting at this time, and that's OK. Yep. It is, it is and we love your TikTok journey and we will be following that as well. All right, so with that, it's time to share wins from the week. I'm inviting our live audience to come up on stage and join us. Bring one win from your week that you'd like to celebrate. We want to celebrate it with you. I will kick it off today and say I'll give two quick ones and then slightly longer win to share with you. First, it was confirmed as of yesterday around close of business that the 20 high school students in the Charlotte, NC area are attending the Empowered Podcasting Conference. Which is awesome for so many reasons, but I'm going to. I said this would be short, so I'm just going to keep going. I also saved myself about 3 to $4000 on photography and videography for the Empowered Podcasting event. Gil Dormius, who was a speaker last year, is coming back this year, not as a speaker, but he's actually coming back to take photos, take video, and he is a professional photographer. And then a couple of days ago, I got an e-mail from Yvonne Marchesi offering to also do the

45:46 photography and videography. And as I said, you're saving me 3 to 4 grand because that's what I had to pay the people that I had been talking to. And what's the biggest win about it too? Well, I guess it's equally as big of a win is the photographer I was working with, I was talking with, pulled their proposal last minute, literally on Monday. It went from in the morning, can you do it? And I said, yes, can you do? And I negotiated a little bit. They agreed on the negotiated terms and then a few hours later said, you know what, I have another client that that's asked and I'm going to go that in that direction. So I had no photographer, no videographer until all of a sudden I heard from Yvonne, I heard from Gil. So thank you very much for saving me the money and the aggravation and to have two people that I truly and genuinely trust and I know get me and get a lot of my vision. It's really comforting to have you there and my last win to share with you today.

46:50 I'm pushing through a ton of discomfort, a ton of challenges and a lot more fears than I expected around this year's Empowered Podcasting conference. The event itself is probably, it's been one of my biggest tests, I think in my professional career. And I know I said, I know I've done this before and you might be thinking, but Mark, this should be old hat, right? You did it last year. It went really well. Well, yes. And it's different this year. I have a somewhat different leadership team. I don't have my partner. Last year I had Lloyd George, who was an equal partner in this. Lloyd will be back to the conference this year actually for the first time cuz he had COVID right when the conference started, so he couldn't join.

47:35 But he'll be back and he'll be speaking this year, but he's no longer a partner in this. So this all was on my shoulders and I've had a lot of challenges along the way and yet here we are. It's still come together and we're less than four weeks away. So my win is that I'm pushing through what's really be it been a very challenging thing for me personally and professionally. So with that, I know I took three wins and being that we are short on time, I'm going to ask everybody to share one win with us if possible. So I'd like to start first with our guests on the stage and I'm going to encourage those of you who are listening come up and share. Let's celebrate a win.

48:17 It's important to stop and smell the roses. If we're just grinding every day, day in and day out, that's exactly what it's going to end up feeling like. It's going to feel like a grind. But it's those moments where we stop, even if they're what you consider small, It's those moments that we stop and recognize it and celebrate it. That we can diminish that feel of the grind where we can start to recognize that we are enjoying the process and that there are challenges, but that we're still enjoying the process along the way. So with that, I'm going to start with you, Jeff, if you are open to it, would you share a win with us from your week? The big win for the week is song swap showdown is still alive and kicking.

49:00 And I made it through an entire episode with my wife and we didn't kill each other. No, we had a it was it was actually a really fun time. I wasn't sure how she was going to be after that, but she was like, that was so much fun. I can't wait to do it again. So that's a huge win. That's bringing harmony into my house is a is always a huge win. I love. It I love it. Thank you, Chris, and congratulations to you as well. Let's go to Janae. Janae, please share a win with us today. Hanging out with my kiddos and woke up early, but really understanding and getting to know that I get to publish these podcast episodes ahead of time and need to go make some smoothie. All right, thanks guys. Congratulations, Janae.

49:41 Yvonne, welcome to the stage. Please share a win with us. I was. Trying to go to. Put an emoji on Janae and he's. Like oh, oh oh. So I survived my first week as an empty nester. Congratulations. Thank you very. Much And I put together a plan for growing my YouTube channel, started putting together file folders to manage all the videos and all the things. So I got a lot of organizational and planning work done this week and I have been practicing spins on my roller skates and I got around 1 1/2 times on a spin yesterday. So major win.

50:26 Congratulations, I was waiting for Sid to react. He just threw you the the death emoji. Sid very concerned about our roller skaters in the community. I know. I'm all padded up, Sid. I'm all padded up. Well, congratulations and thank you Yvonne for offering to do photography and videography for the Empowered Podcasting Conference. I am so excited that you offered. I am. Very excited and yeah, we should talk more. Talk to you soon, yes? We will. And by the way, again, EPC LD50 gets you, meaning all of you listening right now, 50% off just this week only for a Labor Day sale, 50% off of the Empowered Podcasting Conference ticket.

51:09 And that ticket doesn't just include all the value, all the talks, all the information you're going to learn. We're going to feed you as well. We, we're, we do a free catered lunch on Saturday. And we also have some parties with lots of giveaway stuff as well. So come join us and maybe most importantly, be a part of a community. And this community, I promise you, is welcoming, is open, is inclusive and excited to have you. So please consider coming and use that coupon code between now and a week from now. That's the only time we'll do the 50% off. Sambaza, welcome to the stage. What?

51:51 What can you share with us? Give us a win from your week. Hey Mark, I am so sorry. I know I made a promise to you and we already talked about it, but I am grateful and honored to be here and hang out with you guys all the time. I wish I'd be there for the Empowered Podcasting, but. We'll have to pin on that for next year. My apologies. That's OK. Somebody and I know and I, I don't know details and I know this, there's a family thing that you can't make it to Empowered Podcasting. And as I told you, family first, I get it. Don't feel guilty and I know there will be plenty of other opportunities. Thank you. Thank you so much. Now my win for the week. This past weekend we hosted an event that I was helping out. I say helping out because we had a team. So I have to say the team that I worked with, we managed to host an event well for the Kenyans living in our community and this is a picnic that we started.

52:46 What we revived it last year and this year we actually got up to 500 people. Last year it was about 200. This year it went up to plus over 500 people and everybody had great fun. And they enjoyed it. Now, I was at another function yesterday evening and I mentioned it to somebody and they were like, yeah, yeah, you guys are doing so many so, so good things. And they mentioned it in terms of the pictures that were sent out in different groups on their WhatsApp groups. And I was like, oh, wow, this is great. So that was my win for the week. And thank you so much for allowing me to speak. You all have a great weekend.

53:26 You too. Congratulation on congratulations on your wins. I appreciate it. And Jonathan, I got you want to share a win before we let you go because I know you got to get out of here. Yeah, just running out of here, but sure, my win is I'm here today. But I want to thank everybody for all the kind words of support and everything this week. It was. A rough week. But I appreciate everybody being here for me. You got it. You're welcome. And we will continue to be here for you, Jonathan. And I know you got to go over across the street, as you say to the other app. I don't know why we we dance around it, the chatter app. And I'll have some updates on chatter for you for you all next week. And with that, I'm looking at the time here. I'm going to ask our moderators if you've got a win to share, come off mic and share it.

54:16 And if if, well, I don't want to say if you don't have a win, because I really hope you do have a win. So I'll just say I'm not going to force every all of our Co hosts to share if they don't want to, but come off Mike, if you'd like to share my. Wind is just that the Sun Swap showdown went on with Chris and his beautiful wife and that just puts my heart at such peace. So I hope they have many more years of success with the podcast. There you go. Congratulations, Amanda, and congratulations on your decision and your future moves here on in the Internet space, right? Not podcasting, but we know you're going to still be around on TikTok and Instagram and all of the rest. And we will miss you.

54:57 And we are excited to continue to follow you and cheer you on. And of course, looking forward to having you back whenever you're able to join us. I'm going to keep you on all of our behind the scenes texts and groups unless you ask to be removed just so that you can still feel like you're a part of it if you'd like to be. All right. So anyone else want to share before I wrap us up? Yeah, go ahead, Sid. I think all of. You that. Own. Your own business and run your own business realized that it can be a lonely road, right? And so last week actually really implemented this week, I think this intention to connect with people for no reason whatsoever other than to just chat.

55:39 And because most people I'm connecting with also own their own businesses. And so I set that intention and I had four really amazing calls this week with just people to just catch up and talk. And it's really interesting. It's not what our goal was, but every one of them is asked if we could get on a regular cadence of doing this maybe like once a quarter or something. And it just underscores for me that, you know, being being kind, reaching out, connecting with people, talking with people just for the sake of connecting with them and not trying to sell them anything or, you know, be do ask them to do anything just to catch up. He's got a lot of power behind it. So my win is I set that intention, I implemented it and it's going really well. And I'm really glad I did it.

56:25 Congratulations, Sid, and thank you for sharing that with us. I think there's that, that's something encouraging that I think we could all learn from even as podcasters. Maybe if you're not an entrepreneur, but you do have a podcast. I know I have some regularly scheduled calls with some people in this industry and it is always a pleasure and I always end up walking away, not just feeling more connected, but usually walking away with some great insights along the way too. I think that's such a great idea. And what a coincidence did where I just reached out to you this morning and said it's been a minute since we've talked off air and I wanted to have a just a call to shoot the S with you. And here we go. You're already doing that. So I'm, I'm glad and you will be getting the call from me very soon. So with that, thank you all for a great week of shows, a week back of shows after we took the week off. Appreciate it and really enjoyed all these conversations today in particular and yesterday, the whole Taylor Swift thing. It's been a fun week.

57:21 Thank you. And we're back again next week, not doing the Monday thing yet. We're still going to do the Tuesday through Friday thing. And I think I might keep that going through the rest of September until the conference is over because I need that time. Did somebody have their hand up or want to say something? OK, just making sure. I thought I saw something flash a moment ago. So with that, join us Tuesday, 7:00 AM Eastern Time. We will be live here on Clubhouse, live on YouTube. And of course, if you can't make it live, you can catch us just a few hours later on your favorite podcast platform. And until Tuesday, make it a great Labor Day weekend. Everybody take care.