Jason: (00:04)
Broadcasting from a small mountain town high in the Colorado Rockies. My name is Jason Owens, and this is The Renewable Confidence Podcast — a show that helps you build confidence in yourself and in your business every day.

Today’s episode is called 3000 downloads: Why This is more than a podcast breakthrough.

My name is Jason Owens. Thank you so much for joining me. You know what, I love doing these shows. I love doing these episodes and I tell you what, what really excites me is that, uh, of all the shows that I do, this one I believe is incredibly important because the lesson that I’ve learned in and around this, I feel is so important that it could very well be a stage talk. I could do a Ted talk on this particular topic right here. So here we go. All right, so some of you who are following me over on my Facebook page, which is renewable confidence on Facebook, if you are following me there, you know that I went ahead and posted a image, an image here earlier in the week.

Jason: (01:14)
And this image was a screen capture where I drew this really big red arrow pointing to a number of downloads. Okay, now this download number said 3000 right? And I actually think it was 3000 on the nose, which is a little hard to catch because whenever you have people downloading all the time, it’s, it’s just kind of hard to catch it on an on an even number, especially one like that. So, and did the screen capture, drew the arrow on there and posted that on Facebook. And I even said on that post, and I said, look, this is really cool, but if you want something that’s even cooler than the picture, you got to hear the backstory behind this. And I hope to make that a future episode. Well, right here is the future episode. So why in the world is 3000 downloads so important?

Jason: (01:57)
Well, here’s the deal. I actually started this podcast quite proudly at a year and a half, almost, almost two years ago. And when I started the podcast, I, I had a sprint that I did do as, it was probably a two to three weeks sprint or I was publishing something every day, right? I was just out there, I was going for it and I wanted to get a, a an audience built up, right? I wanted to see all the numbers work and I was just ready to start building a following there. And I was recording and I was enjoying it, loving it. And I tell you what, I just, I just could not keep the pace. I, I, I kinda sorta lost interest, right? So I dialed down from the, doing it every day back to, okay, I’m going to maybe schedule some things weekly now. And I think I did that for a while and then that kind of petered out and I just really lost my steam for doing the podcast, mainly because it wasn’t working right.

Jason: (02:57)
And when I say that it wasn’t working, I, that it wasn’t [inaudible], it wasn’t bringing me any business that’s a great awareness activity, but it wasn’t really ringing the bell as far as our are ringing the cash register for me. I just couldn’t tie the metrics that I was seeing with what’s happening at the cash register. And for me, that’s a very definitive, hardcore, very sound link for everything that I look to. I’m always looking for it to, Hey, how, how does this help me grow my business? And I just, I just wasn’t seeing it at the time. Uh, I found the podcast a lot harder to promote and a lot more expensive to promote than I had ever realized. So it was, it was kinda the, Holy cow, this is really hard. What did I get myself into kind of scenario. So I had this thing and I was getting some downloads out of it and I could tell, okay, right, somebody somewhere is listening to this, but I just couldn’t, I never really had got the warm fuzzy back then that this was doing much for me.

Jason: (04:00)
So I just kind of bagged it and, and really I took a break from podcasting for G has probably, yeah, probably a year and it just kind of sat there on the shelf and I was paying for it and wasn’t using it and uh, you know, should I just, uh, stop the, the podcasting service altogether, right. So just delete the episodes and what do I do with this thing and this is, this is really where the breakthrough came in and the breakthrough probably hit me I would say about six or eight weeks ago and I published a, an introduction out there. I’m like, okay, I’m going to give this another try. I’m going to call this season two. Right? So I went out there and I recorded a season to kick off message and you know, it’s going to be a little different than season one. Okay.

Jason: (04:50)
Right. And I think it was another two, three, maybe even four weeks before I published the next episode of season two and I kinda dug into it. I’m just feeling it, man, this is, I’m really struggling still with is this going to amount to anything? Because I have a feel for what kind of work it’s going to be. Is this really going to amount to anything? Well, I decided, dang it, I’m going to go on another sprint. When I did a sprint earlier, uh, it seemed to work for me and, uh, at least I knew when I was publishing every day earlier when I tried it last time, it felt like something was happening. So I’m just, what the heck? I’m going to give it another try. So here I am right now as I record this, I’m 25, 26 days into it, right? So I’m not even the full 30 days into creating a daily show.

Jason: (05:39)
Now let me tell you where the breakthrough has come in for me. The breakthrough is, Holy cow, this is actually working. There are people listening to this. Um, I can’t say that this has gone straight back to all my word. I’ve leaned at 15 new clients out of it. Uh, I haven’t, but I’ll tell you what, it has really helped me solidify that podcasting is an amazing tool for doing that top of the funnel work that is so important in everybody’s business. My aha moment here is that I was trying to move podcasting way far down the funnel. I was trying to get people all the way through into some kind of a selling slash monetary relationship and podcasting. That is not the, the point of podcasting most of the time. There is a time when that’s useful, but what I’ve realized that that podcast podcasting sits way at the other end of the funnel and does a phenomenal job of providing scale and providing reach.

Jason: (06:42)
Okay. So anyways, the, the big deal is I’ve convinced myself that I really do like podcasting and I’ve convinced myself that yes, this is working. Now here’s the big deal when something isn’t working right. So in your mind, here you are, you have, whether it’s Facebook ads or networking meetings or trade shows, right? Whatever that is for you. When you’re doing some kind of outreach and it doesn’t feel like it’s working, do you have any excitement or energy for going to try to do that thing again the next day or the next week or next month? You know, whenever it’s going to be. What kind of energy do you have for that? Well, if you’re normal, the answer is not much. Right? Why? Why would you do something that does not feel like it’s working in your brain is telling you that it is not working well? On previous episodes, I’ve talked a lot about, or talked a bit about mindfulness and how that has helped me stop playing and traffic.

Jason: (07:51)
Stop getting really wrapped into the emotion of, gosh, um, this is not working right? Th this, this doesn’t work. It’s not gonna work now. It didn’t work yesterday is not going to work tomorrow. Right. I was able to not get into that emotional, a whirlwind and just kind of distance myself from that and really asked myself the question, do I enjoy making these episodes? Yeah. I really enjoy doing this. The crazy thing is the more of these episodes I do, the more I’m starting to hear back from people, Hey Jason, I really like your podcast. Hey Jason, this, this is pretty cool. How long have you been doing this? Okay, this is an awareness activity that I just hadn’t given enough time to. The very first time that I tried this, the last time that I tried going on a sprint, doing some daily stuff, right, felt a little burned out, felt like it wasn’t working.

Jason: (08:49)
Holy cow. When I was able to kind of hit that mental pause button and, all right, do I just enjoy this for the sake of doing it? Hoping, yeah, that’s somehow some way I will figure out how to promote this podcast to a larger audience that I will figure out how to use this in my business to eventually end up making some money based upon all the time I’m spending on this. Right? Will it be worth it? And the early days, I don’t know that I was able to really apply mindfulness to this. I don’t know that I was really able to back up from the forest to see the trees, so to speak. And what I’ve been able to do now is just hang with it, not out of a sense of desperation or you know, clinging onto something, have on my nails, dug in somewhere and barely holding on.

Jason: (09:38)
No, I enjoy doing this just for the sake of doing it. [inaudible] and when I’m doing this for the joy, it’s actually given me the time, given the podcast, the time to go ahead and do the work that it does, right? It goes out there and it, it, these episodes are, are syndicated over about five, seven, maybe even eight different channels at this point. I’ve got it on Spotify and I’ve got it on iTunes and I have it on, on Pandora for goodness sakes. Uh, so it’s, it’s out there, right. And it’s just taking the time to do the thing that it needs to do. People stumbling across the people, finding it, people sharing it, people seeing it on social media, and then I start to feel those returns. Then I started getting the comments. Then I start getting the feedback and that is what is making this so worthwhile and has become the aha moment is that I wasn’t so wrapped up in, Oh my gosh, this has to produce fruit right now or I’ve got to dump it because I’ve got to spend my time on stuff that makes money.

Jason: (10:41)
No, I’m really enjoying doing this for the sake of doing it. And yes, I do need to see a return on it just like anybody out there and needs to see a return on what they’re doing. But I’ll tell you what, that has been the massive breakthrough for me here. And I just wanted to share this with you because this can get really tricky, right? Why would you keep throwing good money after bad or what seems to be good money after bad if something isn’t working right? So I will invite you to just hit that pause button on on the emotional a turn babe turn turntable in your head and say, okay, if I were to stop playing in traffic here and just to kind of back up for a minute and just ask myself some questions, how long have I really been at this? Am I really giving it my best try?

Jason: (11:33)
Am I doing what I can to promote myself? Am I doing what I can realistically to promote my business? Okay. Whatever that may be for you. Again, trade shows. Okay, I’m here at the trade show. I have my booth, I have bought the fish bowl. You know we’re doing the card giveaway thing. Is that really going to engage people? So whenever I pack up my booth for the third time in a row and I’m torque because you know all I’m getting are people who want to win my free thing. Right? No one wants to develop a relationship with me. Okay. That doesn’t mean that trade shows are all bad because the people to boots down from you are knocking it out of the park. Huh? What are they doing differently? Right? So it might just lead you on a path of, of being inquisitive and might be lead you on a path of discovery rather than riding off trade shows all in general or whatever the quote unquote trade show is for you.

Jason: (12:32)
It could be networking groups, right? A networking groups are awful. I shouldn’t come to them. They never work out. Okay. That’s strange. It seems to be working out from the realtors seems to be working out for the people who do, uh, mortgages. Uh, so why not? Why is it not working out for you? Right? So anyway, I just wanted to offer that to you today. Huge, huge, huge breakthrough here for me. And I hope that this has in some way, shape or form given you a bit of a taste for the breakthrough that it’s been. And I hope that it can likewise lead to a breakthrough for you. So if you feel like you’re on a turntable on the spin cycle and you’re in your business and it’s not growing quite the way you want, well there’s a whole bunch of good stuff on the other side of this wall, this brick wall that you feel like you’re in. So just keep working at it. If there’s anything that I can do for you personally, drop me an email@supportatrenewableconfidence.com. Again, that email is support@renewableconfidence.com and I will do everything I can to help you out. Take care of you. One. Can’t wait to see on the next show. See ya. Bye. Bye.