Digital Social Hour - How Podcasting Can Transform Your Business | Sebastian Rusk DSH #1293

Episode Date: April 3, 2025

Discover how podcasting can transform your business and life in this electrifying episode of the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly! 🎙️🔥 Join us as we sit down with Sebastian Rusk, a podcasting pioneer and expert in personal branding, to uncover the incredible journey that took him from starting out with just $8 to building a thriving business and life-changing platform. 🚀   Sebastian shares how podcasting became his ultimate networking tool, a vehicle for growth, and a powerful way to create meaningful connections. Learn why authenticity always trumps likeability, and how to stay consistent to unlock the magic of podcasting. From inspiring stories of resilience to actionable tips for launching your own show, this episode is packed with valuable insights you don’t want to miss! 🌟   Whether you're a budding entrepreneur or a seasoned pro, Sebastian's story will inspire you to take action and harness the power of podcasting. Tune in now and hear how this transformative medium can amplify your voice, elevate your brand, and connect you with the people who matter most. 🎧   👉 Watch now and subscribe for more insider secrets on the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly! 📺 Don’t miss out—hit that subscribe button and stay tuned for more eye-opening stories and strategies to grow your business on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and beyond. 🌐   Let’s start the conversation—what’s your BIGGEST takeaway from this episode? Share your thoughts in the comments below! 💬 CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Intro 00:37 - How to Start Podcasting 04:37 - Life-Changing Turning Points 08:20 - Launching Your Business 11:42 - Reasons Podcasts Fail 16:44 - Importance of Consistency 17:45 - Benefits of Short Form Content 19:15 - In-Person vs Virtual Engagement 19:59 - Importance of Eye Contact 23:20 - Jason's Comedy Show Experience 26:20 - Why Podcasts Suck 28:04 - Friendship with Gary Vee 33:28 - Gary Vee’s Humility and Energy 34:07 - Managing Egos in Business 35:00 - Get Out of Your Head 38:34 - Miami's Unique Culture 40:24 - Sebastian’s Daughter Insights 41:20 - Importance of Recharging 42:38 - Finding Sebastian Online APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [e-mail] GUEST: Sebastian Rusk https://www.instagram.com/podcastssuck/ LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/ Digital Social Hour works with participants in sponsored media and stays compliant with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations regarding sponsored media. #ad #emailmarketing #podcastsetup #engagingcustomersthroughstorytelling #transformyourbrand #howtoeditapodcast

Because your personal brand in perpetuity is your reputation. And authenticity trumps likeability. And always make time for people, Sebastian, always. You're never too busy. They'll never be too popular. You'll never be too big. Make time for people. You never, ever forget where you came from.

OK, guys, Sebastian here today. We are going to talk podcasting, something we both do for a living. Talking about podcasts on a podcast. Yeah. One of my favorite pastimes. I love it, man. Great to be here, dude.

Yeah, thanks. Thanks for coming. When did you get into podcasting? About 15 years ago. Damn. Blog Talk Radio. Oh, geez. I don't know if you remember, yeah.

I wanted to, I had like six bucks to my name and I wanted to meet guys like Gary Vee and Maury Smith back in the day at a Facebook Queen. And I had no way of connecting with these people because I'm brand new. And I started a online radio show, Blog Talk Radio, and then figured out that it had an RSS feed that I could throw on SoundCloud.

I remember SoundCloud. Yeah, man. So I turned that into a podcast and I realized, well, if I submit that to SoundCloud, then I can get on Apple, and Spotify came on, and I was real inconsistent. I started my first company doing social media and met Gary Vee in 2011,

kind of turned me on to what was gonna be happening in this digital landscape and started Social Buzz TV, which was an on air media outlet, but also turned into boot camps and networking events where I really didn't know how I was going to make money. I just had like a burning desire to figure it out. I had lost everything in 2008 and a full-time single dad moved back to Miami from Orange County. And, um, I didn't know what I wanted to do. And in 2010, I just had an awakening moment. And, um, I said, I need to go see Tony Robbins.

He'd waken the giant within. So I called a friend of mine that worked for Tony at the time. And she shows me in all the details. She's like, it's going to be in Long Beach in July, 700 bucks. And I'm like, all right, cool. I got eight bucks to my name. I'm going to figure this out. So she calls me back about an hour later.

She goes, Hey, my best friend lives on Miami beach. I totally forgot to tell you she's part of Tony's core team of six travels the world with them. You should totally link up with her. Not this time, Sean. I'm like, what can I bring to the table for an individual like this? But she said, Hey, it's worth a drink. Hit her up, I'll make the introduction.

So she did that. And I met up with her that Friday and we met up on Miami Beach for happy hour. And about five minutes into the conversation, she said, so what's next? And I said, I don't know. And she said, that's a problem. And these are my offended days.

So I'm thinking, who is this chick telling me what I'm doing with my life is a problem. When I thought to myself, she works for Tony Robbins, dude. You might want to humble yourself and stay curious. So I said, so what do you mean? And she asked me a question and this is where everything changed. She said, I'll tell you exactly what I mean.

Who's missing out? Because you're not showing up. And I thought, wow. So spending 2008, 2010, sucking my thumb, poor woe is me, I lost everything. And then her asking me that question immediately changed my thought process. I go, wait a second, wait a second, I have a gift. I don't know what, my gift is a communicator, but I don't know what's next for me. But I've been on social media since MySpace. I gotta figure this out. And by that Monday, I had the Social Buzz TV logo and I started running around town with a bus passing my skateboard, evangelizing the biggest, baddest social media company,

creating content, going to your events, doing boot camps. And then eventually people would say, hey, can you help out with your social media or my social media? And I said, sure. And I would, you know, if you had a budget and a checkbook, you were my client. So I launched the agency a year later and we grew into a five figure a month business and it was cool and everything, but it was very labor intensive.

No, but at that same time I developed my craft as a speaker and wrote my first book and met Gary and became friends with him and was an incredible mentor and I had honed in a lot of stuff, you know and But podcasting was not my main go-to. It was my vehicle Little did I know it would become my life's work, but not before I would do some deep, deep, deep work on Sebastian to find out who I really am and what my purpose was and what my gift really was about.

I knew I had a gift, but what is it all about and what is it gonna do for other people? So in the beginning of 2016, I what is it all about and what is it gonna do for other people? So in, um, the beginning of 2016, I was, I was over it. I was over it. I didn't want to, I didn't care about your Facebook page and your content. I was emceeing a lot of events. I had been, um, afforded an opportunity to, to MC, uh, traffic and conversions with digital marketer and I was a big one.

And that, that opened up a lot of doors for me. And I saw it as their book and the Sebastian Rusk, with his bow tie and the whole deal. And I quickly learned that you're just a hired gun, dude. And you're the hardest working guy in the building because you're the first one there. You're the last one to leave. You're not allowed to leave the stage

and you're not the star of the show. And that was a humbling experience. And I am so grateful for that experience that Ryan Dice gave me. Hit him up on Twitter on DM and he booked me that day. Cold DM. Yeah dude, cold DM in like 2016. Those still work by the way guys. Yeah, yeah they totally do. So I went to a gig in Boise, Idaho. I've never been to Boise before, but don't ever go there. And it didn't work out. Well, I wasn't aligned with the guy. I was filling in for a buddy of mine

and I wasn't aligned with the client. And on the long journey back from Boise to Miami, I had a sobering conversation with myself. I said, Sebastian, what do you want to do? Like really, what do you want to do? Really? What do you want to do? Do someone do three things? Or do keynotes or do comedy? I want to launch podcasts. If it's not those three things, I'm just not leaving the house. And so as I started to phase the stuff that I knew my non negotiables out, there was

still a lot going on in here. So there's a lot going on in here. So if there's a lot going on in here, it's gonna affect what's going on out there. But I didn't get that yet. So I decided it was time for a girlfriend. So I hopped on Tinder, when Tinder was still a dating site, so don't hat me. And I met a girl on March 1st, 2016. Met her for a drink in Four Lauderdale.

And she said, I'm in a personal development course right now and it's incredible. And I said, huh, let me tell you about personal development. Tony Robbins walked on fire twice. What I didn't tell her is I didn't do anything with the training after I went to them. I was just quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, ego, ego, ego, ego. When she got me through the doors of this training.

Thank God, I'm so grateful for her. Broke up with me in the middle of the training. As if personal development's not hard enough, right? And I went through this eight day training. It was one long weekend and then a five day training. First long weekend is let's just figure out what's going on. And the five days is let's get in there and let's just rip it out of you

And let's set you on a new path so you can start living the life that you were designed to live So when I got done with that training, I came out of it Real clear thought I hated what I was doing with social buzz and the mc work. I didn't hate the work I was doing I hated myself And when you hate yourself you hate everything around you and in your path. So I learned how to love myself. And in addition to that, I learned how to be fully accountable for my life,

past, present, and future. Whatever's happened in my life, whatever is happening in my life, whatever will happen in my life is my fault. So I forgave my parents. I stepped into my power. I stepped into my gift. And I got explicitly clear on my non-negationable boundaries

on all I'm doing is speaking, comedy, and launching podcasts. And I, after I got done with that year, I took unplanned six months off to repair Sebastian. Thank God I did. And I said, let's get back in the game. We gotta figure out what's next. Let's phase out social buzz. Let's let clients know hearts no longer in it.

Let's not renew any contracts. Let's figure out what's next. So I went and rented a coworking desk for a couple hundred bucks a month around the corner from my house. And I was leaving that first day I rented the desk and I ran to an old friend and she had an Internet radio show. And I'm like, what the hell is that? She's like, well, we like, you know, we got these channels. I'm like, I'm already confused, but is it working?

She's like, well, I go, yeah, I'm not convinced. You know, you can just start a podcast, right? She goes, I'm headed out. Why don't you walk me to my car? And I go, all right, cool. So I walk her to her car and I said, you know, start a podcast. I've done it before.

I haven't been as consistent, but I have a podcast. She goes, I don't know how to do that. Why don't you create a solution that helps people start a podcast? Immediate antennas up. And it was like this just like total, just God moment. And it was like, hold on a second here. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

This is everything that I've been asking for all wrapped up into one. So I said, hey, it was great seeing you, I'll be in touch, we're gonna get your podcast started. I ran back upstairs to my rented desk, took out two sheets of paper and a pencil, and I mapped out what will become the Podcast Launch Lab, which is a turnkey podcast launch solution

to take you from idea to iTunes in 90 days or less with our proven podcast launch solution. And that was what I started to evangelize everywhere. So we phased out, like, how do you leave the digital world and stay in it? Bingo, podcasting. So I started to dig a little deeper and I told the story to a buddy on the golf course

right around that time. And I said, I grew up in a radio station. My dad was a DJ for 30 years. I've never had any intention of following in his footsteps. But here I am in the world of podcasting. And he said, man, our genes sure are powerful, aren't they? And I said, I don't know anything about genes. But my grandfather's name was Gene. Maybe that has something to do with it. So it's kind of funny how it all started to culminate together. But I contribute 90% of it to my own personal healing journey

and really being able to step in to who I've was designed to be. I always ask people, are you willing to give up who you've become to be who you are? And that is a very puzzling question for some, but also very sobering for others to go, yeah, because I think that when we are walking around with a mask on, we are so desperate to take that mask off, but we don't know it until we realize that there's an opportunity to go and do so. And never in a million years, Sean,

did I think that podcasting would become my life's work, not because it's a great profitable business. It is, and I'm grateful for that. But I get to see people experience what I experienced. I get to see people step into a completely different version of themselves because they started a podcast. I get them to see them grow their business through a conversation on their podcast.

I see them get to start having a presence on social media because of their podcast. But more importantly, I get to hear the stories of transformation of man. There's so many wins. I could have never forgot. I could have never predicted this, Sebastian. And that's my real joy.

That's what fills my cup. Yeah, podcasting has changed my life. It's changed yours. I mean, yeah, let alone the money, just the information you learn from the guests, the networking access. I mean, we got billionaires coming on both of our shows. What kind of access could you get without a podcast? It's really hard. KickStore is the ultimate networking tool. Ultimate. Yeah.

Nothing comes close to it because I paid a lot of money to go to events and I've met some good people at these events, but compared to podcasting where there's little cost, it's game changer. Yeah. But launching one's hard. So what you're providing is a good solution. And the crazy part is that everybody in the space

and you know you're in the space, none of my peers wanna do what I do. Yeah. I mean, it's, you're putting yourself out there, man. It's not a comfortable position at first. I was really nervous at first, exposing a lot of my history, went through some trauma and stuff,

but now it feels really liberating. Well, like I told, I met a girl yesterday at lunch at a conference here and she's a widow and she's now a grief counselor. And she used to run marathons around the world with her husband. And now she continues to do that to keep his legacy alive. She says, I'm writing a book and what do you do? I said, I help people start a podcast so they can radically change their life in their business.

She goes, wow, kind of thought about that. So we exchanged information. She texted me this morning and said, I can't stop thinking about our conversation yesterday. And I need a little bit more selling on the idea of starting a podcast. I said, I don't think you do. She said, what do you mean?

I said, I think that your story is going to be someone's survival guide and your mechanism to be able to get that survival guide to people that you don't even know yet are through your message and your book and your talks and your podcast and your ability to network and connect with people. You're not starting a podcast, just start a podcast.

We have plenty of podcasts out there. And it's interesting to see where these conversations go because I'm not here to sell anybody on anything. I'm here to remind you who you are and help you step into the version that you were designed to be and experience some of the incredible things that I've been able to experience,

realizing these things and realizing that, in fact, she said this quote to me yesterday and I live my life by it. The only way out is through. Now we live in a world full of vices and escaping and trying to get away from it all. But if we go in, we find a way out. And it's so unique for people to find that path. And it seems so normal to me now, because I know when life gets hectic, it's time for me to jump on my yoga mat, light some sage, put some meditation music on,

and just go in for a minute and just go, everything we need is inside us. Every single thing that we are desperate to wanna know and have the answers, and I'm a man of faith. I believe God, our gut feeling is God's whisper and allows us to navigate through our lives and lives and be able to figure out what those answers are. And that's still a small voice is there. If we can silence our noise enough to be able to go and hear it.

Yeah, I love that. Why do you think so many podcasts fail? Cause you see these stats on like what percentage make it to episode 10 episode 100, it's super low, right? Yeah. I people give up. We live in an instantaneous instant gratification world. We want everything yesterday. When it right now, I got to why, why, why go to internet?

Now we can Uber eats it. Well, I don't think they Uber eats, but bad example. I wish they did actually. I, and I think that people's level of commitment isn't where they think that it is when they first get started. And I am adamant about making sure people stick to what they said they're gonna do.

Because the shows that have the biggest success happen to be my most successful and wealthiest clients. And that's not because they have money and because they're successful, so they have sustainability. It's no wonder they're successful. It's no wonder that they're in business and they're doing the things that they're doing

because they stay the course and they're willing to get in there and they know that it just takes one conversation to change it all. And with that consistency and sustainability, that's where the magic happens. But people get in and they're like, hey, it doesn't work. And I that consistency and sustainability, that's where the magic happens. But people get in and they're like, hey, you know, it doesn't work.

And I think in addition to that, even more important than that, Sean, it's when you try to do it all on your own. Let's record some episodes. Let's see what AI tools are out there. I got a cousin that used to edit stuff. I think he can help me out. I think it's taking it all on your own.

If you don't hire a professional, at least have a freelancer, a VA, somebody to come in and take the content, edit it. That doesn't happen a lot either. Just record something and throw it on the internet. But I think those are the two main things, consistency, they give up, and then trying to do it on your own.

Yeah, yeah, people ask me every day, and I'm sure you get asked this things, consistency, they give up, and then trying to do it on your own. Yeah. Yeah, people ask me every day, and I'm sure you get asked this too, how to grow the show. And it's like, they expect some magic answer. But I'm posting 20 times a day on my Instagram. Like I'm posting every single day on YouTube. It's just consistency.

And I've done that for two years straight. That's how we're pulling numbers. But they expect me to give them some magic formula. It's crazy. Right, exactly. There is no magic number. It's time and patience and consistency. Yeah. I'm being able to go and do it and, you know, and not trying to do everything yourself and realizing,

I don't know what's on the other side of this, but I know there's something there for me. So I'm willing to stay consistent with it. Yeah. I like what you said about hiring because the editors for me, absolute game changer. If I tried doing the clips myself, there's no way. I would rather wake up in the morning punch myself in the face and eat my pillow than edit a podcast episode. But I have a whole team that loves their work and I'm grateful for that and we have an entire assembly line and we do incredible work the client records

their stuff uploads their content moves on with their day. Yeah they get clips in their inbox the next day right right? That's it. Yeah, the clips are important these days. I see attention spans drop. I think the short form is gonna be more and more important. It is, and we're always gonna, I get that question a lot. Aren't there already too many podcasts out there?

And I immediately respond, are there too many books out there? People gonna stop writing them? Probably not. People will always start writing books, stop writing books, some finish them, some don't. Same thing's gonna happen with podcasting. I think that with the onset of AI,

it's cute and everything that you can have an AI co-host. That's adorable. But I don't think that we are trying to expedite the process of lacking or shortening the opportunity for human connection. I don't think that that's that we're not going to try and diminish that. I think we are going to crave that at a level that we don't even understand right now because the robots are entering have entered the room and are here to make life easier, to make life better.

I think it's going to be one of the most exciting times in our entire life since the dot com era, since the onset of the internet. But I don't think that it's going, we're already seeing that with what happened with COVID. We were locked up in our house for a year. We just couldn't wait to hug somebody again. We couldn't wait to have a meal.

We couldn't wait to be back in person. I mean, as a speaker and a communicator to like do gigs on Zoom, it wasn't the same. No. That's why I don't do pods on Zoom. Yeah. It doesn't hit the same. No. Like unless they can't do it in person. For some reason, I've only done one virtual, but in person just hits. One only, huh? And he was banned from the U.S. So that's why I did it. Yeah. Shout out to that guy. Santos Bonacci. Oh yeah. Banned from the U. So that's why I did it. Yeah. Shout out to that guy Santos Banachi Oh, yeah banned from the US and I didn't feel like going to Mexico. So I was like, all right You're the one guy I'll do it for Other than that you're coming to Vegas or I'm coming to you. Yeah, you know, it just doesn't feel the same

No, that's why with events too. I only go to events in person. I don't really like the virtual ones. Yeah No, I don't either I mean I'll do them. There's nothing better than being able to be in shorts and flip-flops and deliver a talk. And it was cool for a little while, but I like to look people in the eye, not the Zoom screen eye. Make that connection. And when I'm landing a point,

that ability, that eye contact is so vital from the platform to the audience and being able to make sure that you're resonating because people come up to you after and go, I feel like you were talking to me. I was, what's the biggest stage you've spoken up? I would say that traffic and conversions, even though I wasn't necessarily a keynote being on stage for three days in front of, you know, five to 7,000 people.

And those are high level people too. And that's where comedy started to come into play was because I could go hit a large stage, deliver a talk, whatever it may be, and no problem. But when it came to comedy, I'm like, I'm not gonna go to a bar, make 50 drunk people laugh, I'm out. So I had my buddy Manny Garav, who started the Miami comedy scene on my show

a couple of years ago, 2021, I think, on a couple of years ago, several years ago. And I shared that story and he's like, dude, you're like that social buzz guy, right? He's like, I've been following you. Like, there's no way that you're scared of comedy. I go, oh, no, I am. And he goes, well, listen, we're doing a show in Doral next week. It's an open mic. You should come out. Five minutes. You bring your notes. Very informal. I'm like, All right, cool. What the time I had been

writing, I've been writing for like two years, and a buddy of mine that I went to high school with is a brilliant writer, would never do comedy was a brilliant writer. So we had been writing like crazy. I seem to be unleashed. I need to get out of my own way. And I needed to, you know, just the guts to actually go and do it. So I'm like, all right, we're doing this. It's five minutes. I got this. And I ended up writing a whole bit about dating a Venezuelan girl that fed me and panadas.

And the area of Miami and Doral is very much populated with Venezuelans. And the place was packed with Venezuelan girls. So I get there and he says, are you third up? And I said, well, on the open mic, he goes, no, no, you're in the showcase. Like with the five comics. Oh, wow. So don't bomb. And I think a competition. Not really. It's a comedy show. So there's like like five comics. And then? Not really, it's a comedy show. So there's like five comics,

and then the open mic starts after the show. So I was third up in the show. Packed brewery, people everywhere. My knees are like knocking, like nerves. And I got up there and did seven and a half minutes, and the place was just rolling. Damn. And I'm like, I got it this.

Well done. Yeah. And I'm like, I got it this. Well done. Yeah. And then I started doing other open mics with them, but Miami is like an up and coming scene. So Manny does comedy shows at like unconventional spaces, like bars. Yeah. So like, right a passage with comedies that laughs.

In Miami, it's getting people to shut up so you can make them laugh. Because they're so drunk. Right, and it's loud. They just don't care. So I was like, okay, we, we gotta continue to like unravel this comedy thing. So, um, I'm part of Ryan's students, Apex in Dallas, and he bought a building a couple of years ago where the headquarters is at and gutted the first floor and it's the theater where we do all of our meetups

quarterly. So I hit them up like last year and said, hey man, after the night one of our meetup, I want to turn the theater into a studio, into a comedy theater. And I want to invite like all my Dallas friends and of course everybody's already in Apex as well. He dabbles in some comedy. I want you to do it.

My daughter lives in Dallas. She's going to the theater out and did a 45 minutes. So that was like, it was like this proven to Sebastian, can I really do it? But so my daughter opened up for me, Steumann did 10 minutes. Steumann did some comedy? Yeah, like off the cuff, like he doesn't write anything. He's just like a, oh, I'm gonna do a comedy.

I'm gonna do a comedy. I'm gonna do a comedy. I'm gonna do a comedy. I'm gonna do a comedy. I'm gonna do a comedy. I'm gonna do a comedy. I daughter opened up for me, Steumann did 10 minutes. Steumann did some comedy? Yeah, dude, yeah, like off the cuff, like he doesn't write anything. He's just like a loose cannon, but he's funny.

So I was like, I mean, I'm like, you own the joint. What do I tell you? No? But yeah, so after that, like after being able to do like 45 minutes, I was like, all right, we got this. And comedy's not, I'm not pursuing this for a Netflix special and to pursue a comedy career.

I'm doing it to bring it back to the keynote stage. I'm doing it to bring it back to the podcasting world because if I have an event booker looking at a speaker and a speaker and a comedian, I'm getting the gig every time. Two in one. Right, because also it's like, hey, deliver a keynote during the day, roast our attendees before the cocktail party. Like I did a gig in Cancun.

They were taking us to Cirque du Soleil that night. I did the gig on the tour bus on the 45 minute ride there. So I got a tour bus full of all the attendees. If you've ever been in Cancun before, those tour buses, those guys drive like lunatics. So it's just those unique experiences of being able to, plus adding comedian to your resume. It just is, what do you do?

I'm a speaker, comedian, and a podcaster. All terrible career choices, but I got lucky. Statistically, yeah. Right, exactly. And I just love the world of comedy. Being able to, if you can impact someone's life through your message and what you have to do in your life and how you show up and you can make them laugh,

I mean, come on. Some of my favorite pods are comedy podcasts. Yeah, dude. Theo Vonn. He's brilliant. It's hard to make me laugh, I'm not gonna lie, but his show is just so funny. He doesn't even try.

Yeah. That's the best part about Theo. It's my favorite one right now. Him and Schultz. Schultz is pretty funny. He has a lot of yes men on the show just laughing at all his jokes. Other than that, it's a pretty good show. Theo will just come out of nowhere.

He's like, you know, you do cocaine one night and you'll start giving your email address to a dolphin. You said that to Trump too. Yeah. It don't matter who the guest is. Yeah, it gets you feeling like a mechanic. Yeah.

That's why I love it though, because he's the same on every guest. He was on Road Rules back in the day on MTV. I didn't know that. Yeah, I didn't either. Somebody had mentioned it, I was like, I knew I had seen him somewhere. Wow.

And it was Road Rules where they would go in an RV. It was kind of like the real world back in the day, but in an RV called Road Rules. And that was his Rules where they would go in an RV. It was kind of like the real world back in the day, but in an RV called Road Rules. And that was his first TV experience. But he's definitely, people ask me a lot, who's your favorite comic? I'm like, right now, Theo. Yeah. Yeah.

He could be the goat if he continues this career trajectory. Yeah, he's killing it. He's pulling serious numbers. Yeah, he is. What's the idea behind Podcast Suck? So my first book was Social Media Sucks. If you don't know what you're doing and I want to call it like, how do you use social media? And I was working, I was working with my branding.

My friend, Michelle Villalobos, brilliant branding expert. And I was having a meeting with her. I was telling her about the book idea. I told her about the name and she goes, it's not going to work for your personality. You have this like in your face, like over the top personality and you're gonna write a book called, how do you use social media? Not gonna work.

So I'm like sitting face at the wall as we're having this conversation because I'm thinking and I spun my chair around. I go, how about social media sucks? She goes, that's it. So when I had the opportunity, the idea for the second book, it had been seven years since I wrote a book,

about the first one in 2013, podcast suck in 2020. I was like, let's keep the whole sucks thing going because it's a tongue in cheek, it gets attention, it fits my personality. So that's kind of where it came to fruition was, let's follow the trend of sucks, but it doesn't. And this one has caught a little bit more traction because people are like podcasts suck, but you're a poll if you don't have one.

And then I launched the show a couple of years ago because I'm a firm believer that if you know something that someone else doesn't know, it's your responsibility to share it. So if you can't afford to hire me, read my book, go to my YouTube channel, watch my YouTube, watch my watch my YouTube channel, listen to my podcast, read my book. You can do it. Like I give you all my secrets. And I think that there's nothing that this day and age age of transparency is so important. And making sure that we get our message out to as many people as possible. Yeah, that's where Gary V crushed it. He made everything free.

You know, I used to watch all his videos when I was first starting on my journey. Shout out to him Yeah, you built a relationship with him. He's amazing, dude. That's one of the most humble human beings I've ever met He's in town, right? He was speaking of something. He was yeah, I haven't seen him in like Five years now. We should just run into each other because we first met in 20 We can't write when I write why so the story was my buddy called me in 2010 and said, Hey, you gotta meet this guy, Gary Vaynerchuk. I'm like, who? He was gonna read his book, crush it,

but get the audio version. I'm like, dude, I don't have any money. He's like, you're logging into my account, download it, put it on your iPod. I just dated myself. So I did that and I started reading it and I immediately resonate with him. So I reached out via email, started asking some questions

and I think one of the first things I ever emailed him when I was starting Social Buzz was like, hey man, I'm starting to do this, but like, I just wanna give up and he replied, do it. Like give up. And I'm like, I'm not giving up. Little reverse psychology. So like, I think two years later,

his second book came out, Thank You Economy. And I connected with his right hand at the time. The team was small, it was like two or three. Guy named Phil Toronto was his right hand at the time. Phil went on to run his venture capital firm, present his venture capital firm now. So shout out to Phil, but Phil got the interview on the calendar for,

I found out that his bookshop was gonna be around the corner from my house in Miami, had a local bookstore. So I reached out like, hey Phil, I'd love to do like an interview, like hallway, you know, quick little before the book signing. And he's like, yeah, Gary said he's down to do it. So just meet him there at book signings at seven,

meet him at six and we can make it happen. I go, cool. Well, a day later, I get a phone call from a video production company. They're like, hey man, we've seen your work and we want to work with you. And I'm like, like year, like two social buzz. My work? Oh, yeah, my work. Absolutely. I'm like, like, we'd love to work with you. I go, cool.

What are you guys doing Tuesday night? Next Tuesday? They go, we're wide open. Actually, I go, cool. I have a book signing for my buddy, Gary Vaynerchuk. You don't know him yet, but you will. Book is called Thank You Economy. He goes, oh, this is perfect. We just did Russell Simmons book signing last month there. I was like, done.

So Gary Vryk rolls up, I meet him, but walks up street, first time we met in person. Film crew rolls in. D-Rock? Yeah, no, this was right before D-Rock. Okay. No, D-Rock had just started with him, but D-Rock wasn't with him.

Got it. So my film crew that had called me was like, hey, wanna work? They showed up, full blown set up, lights, cameras, mics, whole line. So Gary and I spent like an hour sitting down. I thought it was gonna be like a hallway interview. We spent like an hour, full blown conversation,

my story like full circle, I executed on the Crush It blueprint. And we kept everybody waiting for the book signing like way longer than I had expected. And after that, I became an MC and his speaking career was really, I mean, crushing from the get. And every time we'd see each other again,

I'd be MC in the event, he'd be keynote. I love it. And now he charges quarter million to speak. Yeah, he's up to like 350 now. Damn. Yeah, it's nuts. So it was like, and he'd always be on million to speak. Yeah, he's up to like 350 now. Damn. Yeah, it's nuts. So it was like, and he'd always be on his way back to Miami because he's good friends with Coach Spoh for the Heat.

Yeah. So it'd be like Philly or New York or Trafficking Conversions was one of them. It was funny that I had, he did Trafficking Conversions and he got there that afternoon. And part of the whole deal is like, you know, book Gary, like you get FaceTime with the guy that books you. Yeah.

Guy who's throwing the event. So him and Ryan Dice are chatting in the green rooms, like only two of them. And I just walked into like gravel water and Gary's like, give me a second. And like gets up from the conversation. Ryan's like, what's going on here? And I didn't mean to disrupt the conversation.

I know how the whole program works, but we got a chance to have a conversation and hey, how you doing, man? How's everything? And Ryan's like, are you done yet? Are you done with my MC yet? Can we get back to the conversation as well? And I told Ryan, hey man, I didn't mean to like,

he's like, no, I didn't know you knew him, knew him. I'm like, yeah, I'm not a clout chaser here. When you provide value, people notice. People come up to you. Yeah, that's been a beautiful part of the journey, even though I don't see Gary a lot. He did an event in Miami in 2018 called Agent 2021 at Dolphin Stadium,

and I hit him up, I'm like, hey, man, I'd love to be there. And once he's like, hey, this is my boy, wants to cover the event. So it was in the media room, there wasn't a bunch of media there. So we spent the whole day together. Damn, I love that. And his mom was there.

His family was there. It was, it was super dope. And I was doing a lot of MC stuff and we walked down to the stage together and I didn't even think to ask him who's introducing you. And sure enough, it was the AV guy. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage chairman of VaynerMedia. Had I asked him, he was the AV guy. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage, Chairman of VaynerMedia.

Had I asked him, he would have done it. But I'm sitting there and he's doing his talk and I was walking, I just got up and I was like walking across, I made eye contact with him real quick and he's like, for all the Sebastians and Carloses and Jessicas that are out there, like doubling down on content, And I got the clip. I love it.

So that was the last time we got a chance to spend some time together. But he's gone on to be a worldwide phenomenon. Literally, with the book too. That was a good book. I read that one. Yeah. Yeah. His philosophy on content changed my life. How you repurpose to every single platform. Now I'm posting everywhere. Yeah. I mean, that was just a game changer. Yeah. And it's such a cost effective method of gaining attention.

Yeah, his humility is, I think people mistake it based on his energy level and how he shows up. He's highly engaged when you're talking to him. I can see that. You feel like you're the only person in the room. That's cool. One of the first things I ever learned from him was

your personal brand in perpetuity is your reputation. And authenticity trumps likability. And always make time for people, Sebastian. Always. You're never too busy. You'll never be too popular. You'll never be too big.

You make time for people. You never ever forget where you came from. And I've never forgot that. You can't get too big time, time for people. You never ever forget where you came from. And I've never forgot that. Can't get too big time, man. Cause they'll come back to bite you. I'm sure you experienced this a lot with the level that you've been able to grow the show

and the people you have conversations with, the people that probably hit you up too. I mean, egos are on like high alert. And I think that there's a shift happening right now where when you show up with your ego through the roof, it's less attractive and less appealing to people to go, you know what? I want to be around that guy. But when someone shows up and goes, dude, I, I put my pants on just like you do

every day, one leg at a time, you know? I think that's what resonates with people. And that's who I'm trying to be. I'm trying to be someone where, you know what, I'm a better person because I know Sebastian Ross. Yeah, yeah, I'm constantly checking my ego. I'm evaluating conversations I had throughout the day, reflecting on them, how I could have, you know,

talked better, if anything, it's important. It really is, how we show up and check on ourselves, because it does matter. It's like, I was talking to the Uber driver on the way over here. It's here. It's here at the studio on Wednesday. And he's like, man, you know, I work over at Caesar's. I do this part time work over at Caesar's and work in the mechanical

department and these guys mindset is just terrible. You know, they're always talking about, you know, must be nice to do this. And must be nice to that. I said, yeah, man, scarcity mindset will get you. You know, said, you know, I woke up this morning in my head. I said, oh man, you got to get out of your head. I go, the great Mel Robbins says, if you're in your head, you're behind enemy lines. I said, the only way to get out of your head is to get into your heart. You got to ask yourself, you know, when you're in your head, somebody's missing out on you.

He said, man, I gotta tell ya, I've been looking for some answers all day and I didn't know I was gonna get it on an Uber fare on the way over here. I love that. Thank you. And I said, I didn't know I was gonna be able to bless you on the way over here, you know, but I'm just trying to shine my light

as bright as possible everywhere I go. I don't care, sometimes it's the stage, sometimes it's the podcast, sometimes it's at a grocery store in the back of an Uber. I don't care where it is, I just wanna leave people different. Shout out to Mel, I'm reading her new book right now. Let Them.

Let Them, yeah, that's pretty good. It's important to have that mindset as you get more and more attention too. Very much so. Humility goes a long, long way. And I'm so, it's been 15 years since Gary and I met and that's like what's your one takeaway I was like humility well because life will humble you constantly real quick and constantly yeah so why not keep it in

check and realize that you know we're all fighting a battle some bigger than others but gratitude and humility will combat a majority of life's paddles if we're willing to just take a deep breath, take a step back and realize the power between reacting versus responding. Mm. I love that. Lately, I've been telling myself, you have a choice, Sebastian. I know that you absolutely want to light this guy up right now, but you have a choice, Sebastian. Like I know that you absolutely want to light this guy up right now.

But you have a choice. He's got a battle that he's fighting that you don't know nothing about. If you respond with grace, you may be able to help him through that battle. I mean, you're seeing that with Breco versus Cardone right now. These guys just want to light each other up. But it's like, it's kind of making them both look bad in a way, you know? I thought about that. I thought about that when I saw the post last week.

Yeah. I thought just the best way. Public beef is like it. I've done it before and I'll never do it again. I'll say that because even though I got scammed basically and I blasted the guy, nothing good came out of that. I lost friendships. I never got the money back.

It wasn't even worth it. So I'm never gonna do public beef again. I think that learned a long time ago that if we can wave our desire to be right, we can open up so much freedom for ourselves because we live in a world and we just wanna be right. Just to be right, because it's that quick hit. I wanna be right. It's's that quick hit. I want to be right.

Kind of like getting pissed. You snap. It only feels good why you're snapping. After that, you got to go clean up mode. Yeah, you regret it. Yeah, that's so true. Yeah, a lot of people want to prove themselves right. I don't need to be right.

I just don't. At all. You can be right. You got it. You won the argument. Ha ha ha. You can be right. You got it. You won the argument. You'd be surprised how many times you could defuse a conversation by saying, you know what? Most conversations probably.

Yeah. You still out there in Miami? Yeah. It's gotten crazy. It's not the same Miami I grew up in. What's changed? Everyone moved there. New York ruined it.

Shout out to New York. Wow, I thought you were gonna say Cali ruined it. Yeah, both of them did. Yeah. It's just become like a Vegas, you know? Just party central. It's the OnlyFans capital. Yeah, OnlyFans and crypto.

Yeah, that's how I started my OnlyFans Toes account. Yeah, it was crazy. That's a whole nother conversation. You're on foot finder? Yeah. Yeah, Miami is nuts, man. Dating must be tough out there these days. Yeah. It's comparable to, um, walking cats. Yeah. It is a, uh,

less than pleasurable experience. I write a lot, a lot of majority of my comedy materials written around my dating life. Yeah. I bet you got stories for days on that. It's just, yeah, I told a story of meeting a girl and asking her what her love language was and she said Spanish. I was like, you had to learn Spanish out there, didn't you? I still have and I grew up there.

You still don't know it? No. That's like half the woman out there. You gotta be able to pick them up in multiple languages. Yeah. I was talking, I wrote a bit about, I was watching the World Cup a couple of years ago and one of the bartenders went up to go get a beer.

She's like, she looked like that actor. People tell me I look like Michael Keaton a lot. A younger Michael Keaton, don't at me. And so I go, she goes, you look like that actor. And I go, wait, don't tell me. Michael Keaton. She goes, no, Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice.

What? Isn't that the girl? Boy, he was Michael Keaton. She goes, no, Beetlejuice. What? Isn't that the girl? Well, he was Michael Keaton back in the day. But I was like, can I get Batman? Come on. So yeah, it's definitely a challenge to communicate down there if they're not bilingual. But I'm in a different space in life. I'm 46 years old. I feel 26. I'm an bilingual, but I'm in a different space in life. I'm 46 years old.

I feel 26. I'm an empty nester. I spent 20 years raising my daughter on my own. I sent her off to college out here in Phoenix. She graduated with a psych major. I moved to Dallas with her boyfriend, finishing the master's program right now. Completely self-sufficient, so check plus on raising a-

Well done. Contributing, thank you, man. Contributing member to society. She is my greatest accomplishment. She is a great human being. We have an incredible father-daughter adult relationship. Now I'm in, thanks to Stumans Group, Apex, for allowing me to be in Dallas almost quarterly.

Sometimes more than that. My daughter lives about 30 minutes from students office. That worked out well. Yeah, it worked out real well. So I fly in a day earlier, we do a little daughter daddy day and then I go do my thing with my Apex fam and it just, Dallas has become my second home.

So I really just enjoy the freedom. Like I've been like people mode all week here, conferences, even whether I'm speaking or I'm attending or whatever it may be, it's still, I'm an, I'm an extrovert, but I recharge by being an introvert. So I am, I changed my flight to go home in an earlier flight today. I've done that before too. Yeah.

Just to get home to complete silence for the next two days and not think, not talk. I feel more drained from conferences than playing sports. Like I'd rather play sports at the sauna and I'd feel better than a conference sometimes. Cause people are just yapping at you all day. I did back to back talks last week at a gig in Miami and by four o'clock, I couldn't keep my eyes open. And I was stoked that that happened, Sean.

I went home literally, took a shower, ate dinner, like went to bed at five o'clock, I don't keep my eyes open. And I was stoked that that happened, Sean. I went home literally, took a shower, ate dinner, like went to bed at five o'clock. I don't care, shut all the shades down, blackout shades and just time to recharge. And that let me know that I left everything on the field on those stages. And that's what it's all about. If I'm not doing that, then I'm doing my job wrong.

I'm in the wrong place or on the wrong stage on there. But I was like, why, dude, it's 4.30, like I can't even keep my eyes open. But yeah, there's highs and lows of the speaking game, but I'm grateful for it all. Yeah, I think it's more of a net positive in the long run. You'll always have those weirdos, but you get some great people at events like that.

Yeah, you really do. Yeah. I mean, it's more of the impact, it's that ripple effect. Ripples become waves. And you never know. You just never know whose life is going to be radically changed and who needs to hear that word. And sometimes like, I didn't even mean to say what I said and someone took that and took the ball

and ran with it and changed their life. Like what? I love that. Sebastian, where can people find you? Where can people become a client and keep up to date with you? Yeah. Podcast suck. It suck podcast plural on Instagram at podcast suck. Sebastian Ross on Facebook, on LinkedIn. You've been thinking about starting a podcast to change your life in your business. All my links are in my Instagram profile. You can book a call with me.

Not somebody on my team. Me. Not AI. No, I want to talk to you. I want to get to know you. I want to find out if you're fit. Not everyone's a fit but all I usually know in the first 32 seconds Whether or not you're serious about changing your life in your business by being able to do it. So We're looking forward to see what's possible. Awesome. I really appreciate this opportunity Sean. Yeah, thanks for coming on man I'll see you in Miami. Yeah, do let's do it. All right, check him out guys. See you next time. See you next time. See you next time. See you next time.

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