Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the business growth show where we talk about all components of business and how to utilize them the exponential growth. My name is Ethan Cassio Curtis, I'm a serial entrepreneur, international speaker, Results Strategist, business coach, mentor and consultant. Today, I have an awesome guest. He is an American Buddhist entrepreneur, podcast host of talk launch, and the co founder of kick casta, a podcast booking agency, where he facilitates 1000s of extra ordinary conversations. He also previously owned a media and marketing agency for 10 years. Now. He helps busy entrepreneurs book top podcast interviews, welcome Ryan esters, and thank you for being on my show.
Athin, that was a lovely introduction. I'm really happy to be here. Thank you so much.
You're very welcome, mate. I'm sure it's going to be an amazing show for everyone watching and listening today. So you're a very successful entrepreneur. So for those people who don't know who you are, just please introduce yourself by telling us about you and your journey.
You betcha. I founded a company called kitcaster, like you mentioned, we're a podcast booking agent, agency. All we do is book entrepreneurs on other people's podcasts, we work largely in the business categories. Our clients are funded startup founders, entrepreneurs with exits in C suite level executives, and we book them on the world's top podcasts, much like the business growth show that I'm on here today.
Awesome. I love it. You know, very, very cool thing. And, yeah, very awesome to be part of this. And, yeah, the podcast world very cool. And you've got an awesome history, with obviously, doing business before and now being able to really connect people, you know, globally, which is really awesome for what you do there. So, you know, podcasts are becoming much more influential these days, you know, just not for my own. But you know, what, I'm seeing a lot more people are ingesting podcasts, you know, on a, on a daily basis. So, I guess initially, you know, how can we, if we have a podcast? Or how can podcasts in general, let's call it benefit our personal and professional brand?
That's a great question. You know, there's a lot of different ways. I mean, one, you know, our personal brand, it might be summarized in another way, just like how can we benefit as a person from podcasting. And I think the results from going on podcasts or, or hosting a podcast, are so extraordinary, it's hard to even like give them labels, bettering yourself by learning how to communicate more, or how to attract an audience to your to your stories and your the topic of conversation or even your passions, mastering that. And it is something that can be mastered, and is anything that can be mastered. It takes practice, you know, so I think that just in itself, is often worth the price of admission. Now, there's a lot of folks like, like you Athan and me maybe, that we're just talkers, we're born to do this. So this is like a native platform for us. It's a way of life, pretty much. We need to be in front of the microphone, and we need to have these conversations. So it's really exciting to be podcasting. There's a couple characteristics I find, particularly in kind of the business categories. You know, it's people that are looking for earnest conversations with new people, you know, that we just met, you know, five minutes ago, and we have this time carved out, like, hey, let's see what kind of synthesis we can come to, as a basis of just kind of talking to each other. I think that's really exciting. What I love about business podcasts as well, is that they're really used as a resource. You know, the entrepreneurial opportunities that are beholding to us in these days are extraordinary. But there's so many facets of every little thing that podcast become a really valuable resource to find different fixes in different cures for whatever is kind of kaput, causing a hitch and you giddy up and your business. So for us, you know, the business categories are fantastic. Of course, there's, you know, any number of entertainment type podcasts, which are also great to listen to, but we're really interested in the podcasts that are interested in solving problems.
Yeah, love that really powerful stuff. And I've definitely seen the benefit and, and I'm sure with you as much as you know, we are born to talk some of us I think, you know, that like with anything, right? Repetition is the mother of all skill. So the more you do something, you know, it just becomes even easier and easier. And yeah, create an awesome experience and so much personal growth as well. So, you know, a lot of people now, you know, whether you're posting or you're being interviewed on a podcast You know, it's about building this brand and, you know, public relations, you know, becoming quite big right in that. So how can podcasts sort of work in tandem with public relations so that we can, you know, get ourselves out there much more?
Yeah, it's interesting, because public relations is a relatively old, kind of medium, you know, what that used to be, you know, print, whether it was magazines and newspapers, and then it became kind of television and, and getting positioned into like different media outlets. But largely, particularly for entrepreneurs, you're kind of in the hands of journalists, or publicists, or people that are taking your story and spinning your story, which will always have an element of that I think we're podcasting is unique, particularly for the folks that we work with entrepreneurs, our clients, or founders, you know, is that they have opportunity to tell their own story, you know, I'm sure that the particularly adept ones are spinning in a certain direction that they want to go. But they're in the driver's seat, you know, and oftentimes, you know, particularly with tech, or SaaS companies, you know, there might be six, seven different competitors in your particular category. And why is one person going to choose you or over the other company, you both have flat blue logos with a nice six word URL, or a six letter URL? Me? What's the difference here? Oftentimes, it comes down to like, do people have a personal connection with the founder? And if they do, that's a tremendous advantage, for sure.
Yeah, definitely love that. Awesome there. And I guess, you know, one thing is having the podcast right, or, you know, whether it's your hosting or your interview, but how can we then leverage podcast interviews to then, you know, create business out of this right to generate leads, even to you know, to validate new products and create new opportunities as well?
You bet. So from a podcast host standpoint, you know, I had a business podcast that I did for 10 years and interviewed 300 Different founders. And oftentimes, you know, that was while I had immediate marketing agency, and I'd spend the hour finding what the pain points were and where their business was lacking a little bit. And at the end of that conversation, I had a pretty good lay of the land of if I could be of service. So you know, you stop recording, and I could say, hey, you know, what, in this area right here, maybe my company can help you. And that was really successful, you know, because I think one thing that's also inherent in podcasting, or just good conversation, in general, is a feeling of trust, you know, especially as a host, you know, you bring somebody on the show, people come on the show, and they're nervous, what he's going to ask me, you know, they're, they're trusting that you're going to lead them in a good direction. And if you can kind of deliver them to the finish line. And they had a good experience and felt like everything went well, then you know, that, that basic trust is something you can build on, you know, now from from the guest side, you have kind of a different kind of opportunity here. Because really, you're bringing, let's say, your your shared expertise, you have you have something unique about you, or maybe it's a product, maybe it's your story, and you're basically trading that for the podcast host audience, you know, so being respectful of that audience and understanding that like, maybe they haven't asked, and maybe there's an opportunity that you can give them an Ask that's kind of low hanging fruit. So like, how can you be a value to the audience first, is a great way to go into a podcast interview, particularly if it's kind of like a business kind of show where they're, the audience is interested in hearing solutions.
Yeah, love that really awesome stuff. So I guess, you know, some people probably aim to get on podcast, and they probably have a, you know, it's a bit challenging for them sometimes to be able to get on them. So do you want to maybe talk about the benefits of getting a podcast agents, you know, like, cast out the book, podcast interviews for us?
You bet. I mean, it's not rocket science. What we do is old school, you know, the way we scale our business is butts in seats, and people like reaching out and making relationships, you know, so, um, what's true about most podcast host producers and showrunners is that they're not necessarily communications professionals. So getting through these folks, and you know, getting something on the calendar, delivering it to the finish line can be challenging, you know, that just means it takes time. You know, so if you have a pretty sophisticated outreach that you can do personally, go ahead and do it. You know, it's, it's, it's a long play. But if you work with somebody like us, you know, like Kate caster, we're gonna save you time. We're very, very good. I would say we're the best in the world at qualifying. You know, what are your outcomes? What are you looking to get out of podcasts and matching those two to five cast in podcast hosts that speak to that audience and can help give you your outcomes. So in the end, you know, you hire a podcast booking agency, because you're curious and committed to like using podcast as a serious channel to get your message out, and you want it done by the best. So I mean, it saves you time and money at the end of the day.
Yeah, love that. Definitely Sure does. And that's a, you know, precious commodities, you know, in this world, especially time. So love that. And I guess, for people that, you know, let's talk about people that are interviewed on podcasts, right? So they're not a host, but they want to get on the podcast to get themselves out more. For those types of people, what are some tips maybe you can give, so that they do a great podcast interview as well.
You bet. There's a couple of things that we kind of go over. And we have additional kind of, I don't want to say coaching or training, it's more about like an exploration of your past and a certain way, because the most important thing you can do is use stories, especially the first five, six minutes, they're gonna say, hey, you know, Athan, tell us a little bit about yourself, you know, you should have three or four stories teed up, that attract the audience to you, so they can relate to you and understand you. You know, stories are huge, we've been doing that as long as we've been humans, we've been communicating with each other through story. So that's really important. The other is to, like, have a very clear call to action, and next steps that people can take to get to know you, you know, at the end of that conversation, if there's a place where they can take, take it step further, or maybe explore a little bit more, that's really important as well, you know, so so we'll go into a little bit of that kind of work. But really, I think if people are prepared for stories, and I suppose the last thing would be just command presence. You know, my grandfather was a major general in the Marine Corps. And he was the most amazing speaker I've ever met. And he was also a kind of person that walked into a room and everyone paid attention just because he had command presence. Not because he commanded men, because most certainly did is because he just emanated, like, a certain thing. I don't know what to call it. But if you go to a podcast, and you go to every podcast, and feel like, Hey, someone is paying me to speak on this, everybody who's sitting and listening at home is paying $10,000 To listen to me speak, I think that might bring your out your best. And it puts you on your A game, you know. So if you've got command presence, you've got great next steps, and you're using stories in in the way you're communicating, I think it's the best bet for people to actually be able to, to listen to you to hear you and to kind of be in a position to receive what you have to offer.
Yeah, love that amazing points there. And if we talk a little bit more about just deeper on your thoughts about monetization of a podcast, because you talked about, like generating leads and things through that, which is amazing, and how you talked about it, but I guess, I guess there's a misconception or, you know, there's a, there's different viewpoints on like, do we just put the podcasts out there as it is? Do we put ads in a podcast or or, you know, sponsorships, you know, these types of things in between to sort of break things up, and you know, be able to do that type of stuff. So, because you're obviously around, you've had your own podcast a long time, you're around a lot of other podcasts and how they do it. So what are you seeing as sort of what's working? What's not working in terms of potential other monetization strategies?
You bet. I mean, leads are hard to come by with podcasts, largely because it's hard to show attribution. You know, somebody is listening to a podcast on the treadmill, you know, and then a little bit later, they're like, oh, yeah, I heard this thing. And they click over. I mean, it's hard to show that that lead came from podcasting, unless they tell you directly, which, then that's fantastic. But you know, there, it's a, particularly if you have a long sales cycle. And if you have high ticket value, you know, then you understand that, like, your, your sale is going to take a long time, you know, so So podcasts, giving people an opportunity to get to know who you are, I think and help drive them to the position that you want. So, so leads I mean, if people come to me and like, hey, all we want to do is leads I'm like, Hey, man, we use Google ads for leads, you know, the best way to monetize your podcast is to create a large audience and advertise with brands that are interested in dominating a very competitive category. You know, because they're not interested in leads. They just want to be omnipresent, you know, and they have big budgets to do that. So, you know, how do you grow a podcast to get a very large audience? It's pretty difficult. So you know, there's that route. A good way to do it is to have very insightful Guess that can like deliver a lot of value. Another one is just to have celebrities on the podcast, you know. But the other side of that, which is what I think is really interesting is have a very niche podcast that covers a very specific thing for one specific person. You know, and it's kind of like, you know, I would rather go to war with 300 Spartans than a million people in the Persian army, you know, what I'm saying, because they're battle honed. So if you can create an audience, that is like, very trusting in what you have to say, because you're addressing a very specific problem that they have, and share with a very few amount of people, these are people that you can sell to all day long. You know, and this is kind of the beauty I think of the podcast community, particularly in tech, SAS business categories is you'll find everyone kind of finds their lane, and finds those people that you can speak to that, that address all of the challenges that they're going through.
Yeah, love that awesome stuff there. So, so many powerful points. And, you know, obviously, this is the Business Growth show, and I like to talk about business things too. Among that, you know, podcast is definitely an amazing time of that, and you've got some awesome business experience, you know, with your business for the hemming it over 10 years previously, as well as cute castle as well, of what you do now. So, you know, a big thing about people is ideas, like, there's the shiny object syndrome, there's like, ah, you know, I've got all these things, what's coming on, you know, what's coming through my head? What am I focusing on? You know? And what are the priorities really in a business? Because otherwise, if we go in too many directions, we don't really go anywhere. So maybe from your point of view of having a successful business for a while, and then continuing that. Now, keep costs that is? How do you, you know, manage your ideas and how you prioritize them, I guess, so that, you know, the business is moving forward at a good growth rate at the same time.
You bet you're right. I mean, entrepreneurs, what they have is they got lots of ideas. I had in a previous life, a career in music. And one thing that I made very important to me is that there's no bad ideas, you know, there's no bad ideas, we're going to try out everything. And because bad ideas lead to good ideas. And largely, I was clearing the way so I could do whatever I wanted, which at one point was having them seeing very well. It was around for like, an hour and a half, because I really wanted to get the harmony, right, and they're just ready to murder me. But I'm like, Hey, I know bad ideas. Let's go, let's do it. Um, but it's important base, you know, because ideas are ethereal. You know, nobody knows where they come from. And if to get to a good idea, you got to go through a lot of bad ideas. A lot of times, if you're lucky, I think one of the most dangerous thing is for an entrepreneur to have some early success and one of their first ideas, and then they maybe they they grow to trust themselves a little bit too much. So allowing you to have space for bad ideas is incredibly important. And then having a home to put down, you know, what am I gonna do with all these ideas, especially if some of them are bad, but if the bad idea is just to die idea that needs to grow into a good one. So it needs a home to take root, so to speak. So I like to use Trello, I like to create a Trello board, because I can put the idea for the product up top. And then I can make notes as they pop into my head. A hard thing for me with kind of chasing shiny things, is always feeling like I need to hold on to the idea or I'm going to forget it. Like I have to put it somewhere and I can put it on this Trello board, and I can let it go, you know, I can review my Trello board. And as ideas come, I start to organize them. So let's say I've got 12 ideas I'm working on, I have 12 columns in Trello with a different cards and different ideas for each of those ideas. And what I'll do is I'll start to qualify them to the idea that's most important that I'm gonna spend the most time on is the one that's furthest to the left. So the idea that I really want to spend time on is gonna be furthest to the left, and so on. So the 12th one down the list is probably not going to get a lot of attention. Until it you have some breakthrough in the middle of night. And then you pour it over and you you start working on that one. So you know, what gets the attention. For me, there's three qualifying factors that I put through an idea to see if it deserves my time, because I don't have that much. You know, so for me, it has to be fun. If if the project isn't fun, I'm just not going to want to do it. And so I'll kind of lollygag you know, it has to be of service, because I believe I was put here to make things a little bit better if I can, you know, I want it to be of service to, you know, fellow humans and the planet. And the third it has to make money, you know, and if it doesn't have an opportunity to make money Unfortunately, I'm just not in a position that I can give it that much time. Otherwise, I would still be writing songs in my closet, and not releasing them or whatever I'd be doing. So basically, as things move left on my Trello board, it's largely because of those three factors. It's fun, it's a service, and it's making money.
Yeah, awesome stuff. I love that unpacking. And I know how it is, it's like, you get ideas. And a lot of the time, it's sometimes it's in the shower or somewhere else, and you're like, far out, I gotta get these things out, you know, and it's a, it's a fun little dance is that to get them down? In bed? Absolutely. Love it. So there's a term that goes around called emotional attraction. Right? And it's probably a newer term, a lot of people probably don't know what this is, it's been discussed. So you want to maybe explain a little bit about what emotional attraction is?
Yeah, you know, I don't know, I'm trying to grab a grab a handle of it. Really, you know, it's interesting. And I particularly now, I mean, mental health is really important to me. And my team, you know, like I said, you know, we're, we're people heavy. In our company, I've had startups where, you know, you're lean and mean, 90% margins, but that's not what we're doing. You know, we're creating a culture. And we're employing people, you know, and people need security, and people need predictability. And people need growth opportunities. And particularly the last year and a half, man, people need to find some kind of calm and peace, because the world is a shit show right now. I don't know how else to put it. Um, so you know, emotional traction is often kind of talked about from a product standpoint, but the way I've been kind of internalizing, is really kind of keeping it at home. And in thinking about it in terms of my team, and how can I support them, you know, as a leader, as a person who's committed to profit in you know, I want to make great money, and I want to get the most out of my team, I want to develop them as professionals, and help them as best I can, during you know, our workspace. And for me, a lot of that has been to really take a deep breath, and understand how I can support them in off hours, you know, when they're not at work. And largely that comes down to I'm not tapping into their time off work for one for sure. You know, what I'm saying? I'm not, no texts, no calls, no emails, like your weekends are yours. Your evenings are yours. That's given. But then after that, you know, how can I actually alleviate, you know, the pressures of work that goes into particularly the kind of work we do, we're in front of glowing rectangles all day, and have a million different alerts going off at all times. And booking podcast is never really done, we don't have the satisfaction of building a house, looking at it and being like, well, job well done, it just never ends, you know. So creating opportunities for wins. And a lot of that is really comes down to like, you know, being mindful of your calendar, figuring out ways in this digital world, that you can have some wins, whether it's inbox zero, or it's knowing that everything that needs to be done is scheduled on your computer, or on your calendar, rather, and time blocked out. So teaching the team and teaching, I mean, this is all stuff I've learned really is putting into practice, like making it a practice during our week of how we're doing scheduling, how we're doing time blocking, how we're being accountability, for accountable for our tasks, how we can ensure that when we're ready to turn off our machines at five o'clock every day, you don't have to think about work. So for me, that's kind of the emotional traction that's really been on the tip of my tongue lately. It's like, How can I develop, you know, a great business culture with extraordinary professionals? And really, for me, I think it's about nurturing their mental landscape outside of work.
Yeah, amazing stuff. They're really powerful. And I guess, you know, following on from that, you know, COVID obviously changed the world a lot, right. And, you know, a lot of people are working virtually and other things there. And there's a sort of, you know, discussion around having an office having people to, you know, to build culture more were around versus, you know, having the virtual setting, and be able to get people there. So, how that sort of impacted what you do and how you sort of, you know, managing that that virtual world now with your team because obviously, you said you've got a lot of people in there to make sure that their culture is being well, yeah. defined and and growing over time. You bet. It's funny because
I built this company to be remote because I love working from home. So everything was was designed to be remote. And then we started thinking about it, you know, it's probably you, I don't know, January, February 2020. Like you know what, maybe we should get a an office space, and we get an office space and immediately It's quarantine. Oh, man, dang, is read as expensive for not using it. Um, so. But from there, I think it was based on sound principles. You know, I've been working virtually in remote for more than 10 years, you know, but in the beginning, it was pretty challenging to me to escape the gravity of the refrigerator. You know that too, like, every time I walk past, it's like, I got to grab something, and then my, it's hard to like, get going and work. Working from home is not easy for everybody. And it's not easy for everybody all the time. You know, so we saw the value of like having HQ where people could just come work, and then figuring out ways that like, we could kind of introduces work from home to folks in kind of a measured experience, you know, so it's like, hey, one day a week, and after 60 days, two days a week after that three days a week, if you want and then float, you know, come and go, we had kind of like an extraordinary situation where we were in a co op workspace, that got kind of folded because of COVID. And so we just took over like 5000 square feet, with about 20 of us. So there's a lot of place to stretch out. Now that's coming to an end the first of the year, and we're moving into a new smaller office, the office we chose is going to be considerably smaller than the place we have but also intentionally smaller based on the fact that we're going to have kind of a flex schedule, you know, where we'll have people work from home two to three days a week, and they'll rotate. So how we're going to kind of work that out in the office space itself, is yet to be determined, you know, I kind of put that on the team, like, Hey, how are we going to do this, I don't want like, there to be like two staff, you know, and there's cliques and stuff. I want to make sure that everybody's working with everybody, and everybody who wants to work in the office can because that's the other thing is that some people don't want to work from home, you know. And when my kids were, were home, I quarantine, it was me, it's like, I can't be here, these kids drive me insane. I had to go somewhere else. I only like working from home when I was alone. So giving priority to the people that want to work in the office having a place for them, for the people that want to split the time. Okay, how are we going to do that? How we're going to incorporate that. So it's inclusive of everybody, and everybody gets the benefit of everybody's expertise without creating tribes within the organization? I mean, I don't really know the answer here. But I think what we're doing is just approaching it openly and like, and just kind of looking at maybe some of the traps that are out there for us. And if we fall into a model we're gonna do, you know, so we'll see come January 1, how it's gonna work out.
Awesome, mate, well, all the best with the move, and I can see your strategic brain working, right? Because you're thinking all these moves ahead. It's like, well, what if this happens? And how do we have the discussion now, so that, you know, we can mitigate the risk or you know, strategize on better solutions before we get there. So that's awesome. I love that, that way of thinking shows testament to you, and, you know, working with your team, as a leader in that way, too. I love that. So, I guess, there's been a bit of a change happening, especially in the US in Silicon Valley, but now expanding around being in a, like a psychedelic renascence. Let's call it now, which is an interesting thing now about, okay, what's the sort of difference that that people are doing with their lives and in business, especially? So I'm interested to hear your thoughts on this topic, what you're seeing, and, you know, where sort of you see it heading as well?
Yeah, I'm glad you asked me about that. Um, a lot of different places. I think one thing that's interesting about kind of the the psychedelics in these psychedelic drugs as they're moving back into our culture, it's something that's been with humanity since the very beginning. And it's been an incredible teacher in a lot of ways. And one thing that's really exciting and there's it seems like there's new studies being published all the time is that the the treatment options for treatment resistant depression, with psychedelics are extraordinary. And that's, that's kind of the tip of the iceberg. You know, I know folks are struggling with with that PTSD, and we want those people to get better for sure. And in this seems like it's actually it doesn't seem like it. This is a demonstrable, scientifically proven application that helps people better than placebo, you know, and that's, it's the only one as far as treatment resistant depression goes aside from exercise. So I think that's really interesting. And where that trickles down to me and maybe to the rest of us is like, treatment for the for flourishing for human flourishing, like how, let's say we don't have some kind of pathology What our treatment options to make us better. And I think that psychedelics and maybe this kind of category of drugs fall into this, this kind of realm of like, it benefits you as a person, which is hard to qualify, you know, maybe the reason they treat in the measured against depression is because they can ask people, you know, how do you feel one to 10? You know, but like, if you're talking with you, if you walk in, like, Hey, man, I'm eight and a half or nine pretty much all the time, like, how do you gauge somebody from benefiting their life. And I think psychedelics have an opportunity here now, that it also comes with kind of like price as everything else does, is not a feel good pill. And oftentimes, I think psychedelics can be confused for that. And people might go into it and have a very challenging or even horrific time. So I think it's not something to be taken lightly. But I think what's happening now is you're seeing experiments with micro dosing and kind of anecdotal reports of people having benefits. With micro doses, you're seeing anecdotal experiences retold about macro doses and taking large amounts of psychedelics and having kind of life changing experiences. And those are important. And then we're also seeing kind of originated from Pacific Northwest here in the States. Just kind of like a slow march to the decriminalization of all drugs, which I think is also important, because as a part of psychedelic culture, I feel like there's a little bit of snobbishness about that category of drugs, where it's like, well, these are okay. But those are bad. And these are for therapeutic use. And those are street drugs, and increase kind of this us or them, kind of thing. But I think what we've seen is that a lot of time, these therapeutic drugs, when they're available on the streets, it's just for people that are looking, they're basically the same scientifically, on a kind of molecular level. So I think there's a leniency towards drugs and there's like a curiosity of one, how can we help people that are hopelessly addicted to hard substances? And oftentimes, it's other drugs that treat those drugs? How can we decriminalize this so that we're not filling up to prisons with people that are only interested in experiencing their consciousness and even different ways, even if that means escapism, or whatever? So I think there's a lot going on right now, as far as kind of consciousness expanding drugs, and kind of the end of the war on drugs. And what does that mean? You know, Americans don't like to take losses, but drugs won in the war on drugs. So how do we, and maybe that's what raises the next question is how do we enter responsible, respectful, humble relationship with illicit substances and bring them into our culture in a responsible way?
Yeah, what an answer. So deep, so amazing there and, excuse me, my, what I you know, just to add on that, is that you're seeing it now with with cannabis oil and CBD oil, especially right where, you know, there, there's these natural, you know, plant that is actually helping for pain relief and other things, right. And it's like, okay, it's been decriminalized massive in the US and Canada and Australia, it's starting to build up among other countries around the world. So I see that probably is the first step, even though it's not necessarily going deep into the psychedelic realm, but it's like it's a good start. And now I think that's likely hopefully in my eyes, opening up to those other ones where it's like, Okay, what's the next step? How do we, you know, control this in a in a great way to benefit everybody at the same time? So, thank you for that. That was a very deep answer. I love that.
No problem. You know, the cannabis is a big one for sure. But also ketamine is really interesting. Because ketamine is used as a anesthetic for children because it's so safe, you know, you they can't give opiates to kids for pain and things, pain management, stuff like that, but they can give them ketamine. And so, you know, in the States, you've seen a lot of ketamine therapy centers where, you know, therapists are blasting their clients off with with ketamine because it's so safe, you know, psychologically, it can be obviously very challenging, but there's, there's hundreds if not 1000s of years of text about experiencing these things as being a net positive. Now often they're talked about as ego death, or they're talking to us like dying before you die and getting a chance to rebirth so, you know, if people are uninitiated I'm sure hearing about all this stuff. You're like, wow, this is gonna be great. It's just not necessarily. That's true, in the great way that is like an ice cream cone. Rather, it's like more if you break your foot. And then when it heals, you realize how happy you are to be able to walk again. It's kind of more along those lines, you know. So if we're talking about psychedelics and drugs, and generally, you know, I think it's just responsible to, to put a caveat on there that it's not for everybody, and it's obviously can be dangerous.
Yeah, love that. Do your research everyone. And, yeah, awesome points there, to bring it to our awareness of where our society is changing. And a lot of people, you know, where we get a lot to a success, it's not necessarily happening by ourselves, right? We need other people around us. And a lot of the time throughout our journey, we have, like, you know, coaches, or mentors and things to help us along the way. So I really want to hear from your point of view, have you had some coaches and mentors along your journey? And how have they helped you to get to where you are?
I haven't, you know, I think a mentor is something I always wanted, and just never did. I think that that space was filled by podcasts, you know, podcasts and audio books, became my mentors, you know, and there's something wonderful about that. I mean, obviously, in real life, there's a tangible emotional connection that you might have with a mentor that you can go to and your your and your kind of your dark spot, you can vent or something like that. So it's a very one way conversation with podcasts, and audiobooks. But, boy, you sure get the condensed wisdom of like, a one way conversation, you know, so being able to, you know, use podcasts as kind of a tool to go out and, like, solve my own problems, to me was extraordinary. In such a gift. It's such a blessing. I mean, for me, it started probably when I is probably 99. Okay, and I was into esoteric stuff, you know, and Alan Watts is my guy that way of Zen. I read that book on my wife's great, and it was very fledgling website, Alan watts.com, or whatever, that.org I don't know. But you went there, and you could order CDs, and I was like, Wow, all Alan Watts CDs, and so I paid a couple 100 bucks for like, seven or eight, Alan Watts, CDs man, and I'll tell you what I ran, I played those out, you know, it was incredible, you know, I could put them in my car. And it was just like, it was what I was looking for, you know, as I mentioned, you know, as a musician, for a long time, music actually wasn't a an escape from me, or like a creative exercise, analyzing the, the, the reverb of snare drums, like as just, I wasn't able to really enjoy music, but I really enjoy this, this Alan Watts seven CD set, you know, and just get into, like, what he was saying, and maybe the, the laughter of the crowds. And, you know, as, as that kind of paved the way to, to what podcasting is now you know, I'm just really so grateful that it's there. And I remember I had this aha moment where I have a iPhone two in my hand, and I'm playing around with the podcast app, you know. And I realized this is when you could search for podcasts, and you didn't have to now plug it into your your computer to download the episode like it could streamed your episode, people may not remember a time. But it wasn't that long ago that you would actually have to plug it into a computer and download it anyway. And you just start going through categories. You're like, oh, my gosh, there's podcasts about painting your house, there's podcasts about collecting dolls, there's podcasts about everything. So it started, you can take that internally, like, well, what am I interested in, and I started finding all these podcasts about all these different things and then connecting them on Twitter, it kind of a magical time at the beginning of whatever web 2.0 became to be now. Maybe it's a little malignant now. But in those times, it was great. So, you know, for me, my mentors were a one way conversation. Listen, I'm talking to other people.
Yeah, love that. And it's really powerful, right? Because a lot of people don't realize the power of like audio books and podcasts now that there's such great information there. And that's, you know, a great initial step, right? You don't have to go straight into that. It's like, how are you helping your mindset? How are you getting the knowledge, the skills on what you're interested in, or where you want to be? And, you know, from a podcast host perspective, if I was to add something as well is, you know, a lot of the time, what makes a great podcast interview is asking questions that I'm interested in at the same time, because, you know, there might be some certain general topics that we can talk about, but it's like, Hey, there's this particular question that I'm interested in. And that's gonna serve me but it also likely serve other people, right? It's like, it's like group coaching. mentoring, you know, when someone asks a question, everybody benefits, right? And I think whether you're in that just that smaller bubble or the bigger bubble like a podcast, it's massive on the effect of that. And you know, obviously caster's doing an amazing job of connecting people there to, yeah, help that, that knowledge get out there, which is amazing. And I guess as we're wrapping up there, Ryan, you're writing some amazing information about, you know, podcasting, as well as some other awesome topics that we've done, I guess, what one key final piece of advice would you give to all of the entrepreneurs watching and listening today?
You know, I would say, record the conversations with your friends. You know, podcasting is awesome, because it's probably the only time during my week that I have somebody's undivided attention. And then I give another person my undivided attention. I mean, you know, the people I love the most I'm talking to my children. I'm like, scrolling through Reddit on my phone, like, yeah, baby, that sounds like a great day. You know, it's terrible. But it's true. So, so if you record the conversations with your friend with the intention to do that, something magical happens, you know, that was the beginning of my podcast careers, sitting down with my buddies, when my music career fizzled out, for the last time is like, Hey, man, let's get together and do podcasting. i What is that? I'm like, I don't know. But I think we can still drink beers and just talk. And they're like, Oh, cool. That's what I like. Anyway. So I'd really encourage that for for folks, you know, particularly, you know, our elders, you know, if you gotta if you if you're lucky enough to have grandma, grandpa, you know, if you your parents, you know, do this here, get on a phone call, get on a zoom, call, and record the conversation, and ask them about the love of their life and ask them to explain the story to you. It's incredibly powerful. And I'll just kind of close with this one story. I was on my Trello board was an idea for a company that did just that, that went in and and got our Nana's and Papas love story, because I'm a romantic and I thought it'd be a beautiful thing to do. And I was going to validate it with my own Nana's and Papas. So I spoke to my mother in law, and I said, Hey, you know, Mimi, I'd love to interview her. And she's like, Yeah, maybe you'd love to have you do it. And I was like, okay, cool. You know, just never planned it out. Well, that that was probably in September, that the day after Christmas that year, we passed away, you know, tragically wonderful woman. But, you know, she passed because she was older. And at the funeral, we're sitting around after the service, and we're, it's next to the pool suns going down beautiful moment. And I kind of went to my mother in law was like, hey, you know, I'm, I'm really sorry. You know, I, I wanted to interview me and get that conversation. I just never did. I'm so sorry. And she's like, No, Ryan. I did. She was like, when you told me that I sat down with her. And I had her tell us the tell me her story of, you know, when she met Oprah. So she, she pulls out her phone and hits play. And we could hear Mimi's voice, you know, ringing out that that night of her funeral. And it was so incredible. I mean, I'm getting chills thinking of it right now. But like you could hear like the Philadelphia inner voice, you know, I can I can hear all these details. And like her voice because it was so magnified by just the moment. It's incredible. It's something I'll have forever, you know, so that was impactful for me. You know, some of these stories are great for business, great for entrepreneurship, but also, like, there's some things you can't get back, you know, so if you have the opportunity to record some conversation with your friends, especially now, we're having some great conversations every once in a while. It's like, it's good for you. We can't wallow in our sorrows forever, man, we got to turn the corner on this. You know, um, do that, you know, reach out to your parents record conversations, I guarantee something magical is gonna happen.
Yeah. So powerful. And I got chills as well when you said that. So thank you for for sharing that. Ryan. I'm sure that's Yeah, I'm definitely my mind's already thinking of starting that. And I'm sure if everybody I recommend definitely doing that. Because, yeah, you never know where you can play it like in those moments really powerful. So yeah, we connected through our networks where I learned about your awesome journey from having owned a Media Marketing Agency for 10 years to being the podcast host of talk launch to now the co founder of cute caster, our podcast booking agency, or you facilitate 1000s of extra ordinary conversations. You're helping more people be heard, so they can make a difference in this world. You're an awesome guy. So open, so knowledgeable, and it's been amazing today, and I'm sure you continue helping entrepreneurs book top podcast interviews through Kip. Casta. I'm very grateful that we connected and I look forward to working with you in the future as well. So Ryan, how can people find you and get in contact with you?
Best Places LinkedIn I deleted all my social media except LinkedIn. So hit me there I love to talk about anything podcast related and and happy to speak to your audience for sure. And Ethan has been an absolute pleasure man I appreciate you having me on these shows and such great questions this is awesome
yeah awesome made it's been so awesome having you here as well. So definitely check out Ron only thing guys. He's just a master of podcasting and connecting people to get your voice out there. So thank you, everyone for watching. Listen to this show where we talk about everything on business growth. Please like subscribe and leave us a five star review. You can find me on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube is even Casio or visit my website. I think seo.com I completely agree with you or do I? The only way Who knows if you tune in next time. So until next time, remember that our business grows when we learn skills and take action using them in spite of fear. So remember to design your growth and results
