Influential Introvert: Communication Coaching for Professionals with Performance Anxiety - Ask Better Interview Questions on Your Podcast with Pod Decks

Episode Date: October 1, 2020

What do you get for the podcaster who has everything? Pod Decks!   Travis Brown is a podcast editor, host of the podcast Podcast Therapy, and creator of Pod Decks, which are decks of cards with interesting questions to use during your podcast interviews. These questions can also be found in a new app that includes podcast mini courses, royalty-free music, giveaways, and more.   A lot of people have told Travis, “Hey, I had the idea for Pod Decks years ago.” But they never did anything with it.    On Podcasting Step by Step, Travis and I not only talk about how to become better podcast interviewers, but how to take fast action even when we’re scared, rather than dream about something and then watch someone else follow through with our ideas.   sarahmikutel.com   *** Hello. I’m Sarah, your host and founder of Podcast Launch Academy. Are you ready to launch a podcast that builds your brand and business, connects you to your global community, and grows your influence? Visit sarahmikutel.com to see how we can work together. Here’s a special treat for you: Use my Buzzsprout affiliate link to sign up for their podcast media hosting and get a $20 Amazon gift certificate. I’ve gotten to know the Buzzsprout team over this last year and love their customer service so much, I moved my shows over there. sarahmikutel.com/buzzsproutDo you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free Conversation Cheat Sheet with simple formulas you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you’re in a meeting or just talking with friends.Download it at sarahmikutel.com/blanknomore and start feeling more confident in your conversations today.

What do you get for the podcaster who has everything? Well, how about a deck of poddecks? Travis Brown is a podcast editor, host of the podcast podcast, podcast therapy, and creator of poddecks, which are decks of cards with interesting questions that you can use during your podcast interviews. And these questions can also be found in an app that Travis just launched to help us all become better podcasters. So in that app, he's got mini courses, royalty-free music, giveaways, and other cool things. Now, a lot of people have said to Travis, Hey, I had the idea for Poddex years ago, but they never did anything with it. So in this episode, Travis and I are not only going to talk about how to become a better podcast interviewer,

but how to take fast action even when we're scared rather than dream about something and then watch somebody else follow through with our ideas. All right, let's dive in. Welcome to podcasting step by step, where you will learn how to create a podcast that's irresistible. I'm Sarah Mike Gatel, a podcast launch consultant, and an podcast. American who has been permanently based in Europe for more than 10 years. I especially love helping fellow expats and location independent entrepreneurs build their online brands and businesses through the magic of podcasting. Looking for one-on-one support, visit sarahmicatel.com to book a podcast launch VIP day with me or to check out one of my online courses. And while you're there,

take the quiz to discover what kind of podcast you should create based on your celebrity podcast persona. Go to sarah micotel.com slash quiz. Welcome, Travis. Thank you so much for joining me today. Thanks for having me. It's great to see you again. I haven't seen you since Podfest 2020 in real life. That was my last real life event. So it was great to meet you in Florida. And we actually had a really interesting conversation. I don't know if you want to get into this, but it really made me think. I was asking you a bunch of questions. And then later on, you said, I'm sorry if I looked a little bit strange, but people don't ask me questions generally.

Yeah. So I'm sort of an extrovert, and one of my, I think, my skills in life is that when I meet somebody, I'm actually genuinely interested in them. And I typically ask them questions to get to know them. And people don't generally ask me questions back. I don't know if they're nervous or if it's just not part of the conversation, but we were having this conversation. Then you started to ask me questions about myself. And I had to share with you that I was a little taking it back because people don't usually reciprocate that for me. So it was, I was pleased and happy to share myself, but I just, I'm so used to sort of, I don't want to say like interviewing everybody or asking people questions, but I was, it was nice to have a, a

conversation that went full circle. And later, I was thinking, I don't think people ask me questions either. And I was actually talking to, chatting to this guy. And he wasn't asking me anything about myself. He was just talking about himself and I was like, I'm kind of doing a little experiment and see how long this can roll. Like how long before, and he never asked me anything about myself. It was so odd. And then when our conversation ended, he was kind of like, wow, I feel like I was just in like therapy or like a job attribute or something. I was like, what's on you, buddy? Like, he didn't ask me anything. Yeah, that's, that's, people definitely like to talk about themselves. And you can use that to your advantage as a podcaster. And,

and in real life, you know. The people's favorite word in the English language is their name. So if you keep asking, and I'm generally, like, I don't really care. I'm interested in people. I like to learn people's stories and stuff. So, but it was just, it, it, it, it, I talked to so many people that week and not one person had asked me anything about myself. So it was fun. We're here to talk about pod decks. What is pod decks and where did this idea come from? Sure. So pod decks are a unique interview. questions and episode starting prompts for really any content creator, but I'm pitching them to podcasters. And they come into the form of decks of cards. So you have a deck of cards and you shuffle

it up and you pull a card. And there's a unique conversation starting question. So I've curated all these specific questions to really have deep and meaningful conversations. So podcasters don't always have maybe a broadcast background or, you know, when you're getting into interviewing, it's new, it's different. So I want to create a tool for people to be able to have like really great podcast interviews that went a little deeper than the surface level. So as a podcast editor, I've heard a lot of interviews and I've kind of heard what works and what doesn't. And the whole Poddex company was actually a complete accident. So as a podcast editor, I'm selling my time. And there's only so many clients I can take on. So, and a lot of times some clients just aren't right fit or they

don't have the budget to hire a podcast editor, which is totally fair. But my mission in life is to help as many people get their podcasts up and running and growing and live the life of their dreams. So I thought, I'll make a course on how to start a podcast. And that way, the people that can't afford a podcast editor or don't want to work with me, I could provide them with something where they can learn to do it themselves, right? So I distilled everything I had learned in the last five years and made it into this course called Shortcut to Podcasting. And I subscribe to this marketing philosophy of the lumpy envelope. Have you heard of the lumpy envelope? No. Okay, so if you get something in the mail and there's a lumpy envelope and you don't know what it is,

it's the first thing you open. Okay. It's just psychologically you have to know what's in there. So I created a deck of cards that had 50 of my favorite questions. And I'll tell you how I started with the questions at a second. But I was going to mail those to people as like a surprise gift for signing up for my premium course. So I launched my course that nobody asked me to make. And that's a lesson right there. But launched the course, and I sold like two. And nobody really wanted the course, but people kept asking me, what are these cards you keep showing? What are these cards? What are these cards? And I thought, hmm, I wonder if this is something that other podcasters would want. So I also subscribe to the minimal viable product theory. If you're ever going to start something,

don't run out and press 10 million of them. I pressed 10 decks. And I made a quick little ad on my computer and I put it on Instagram and I sold out in five minutes. And I was like, hmm, that was weird. So then I pressed a hundred decks and I ran this exact same ad and I sold out in a day and I was like, hmm, people want pod decks. So I said, you know what? I'll push the course to the side for a little bit. I'll still let people know about it, but I'm going to focus on making this tool for podcasters and try to reach even more people, right? Because there's a lot of courses and you know how the course thing is. Like you have to like the person and it's an investment. But this is something I could really.

get into people's hands very cheaply. And so here I am now with a six-figure business that was an accident simply because I pivoted from, you know, a lot of people would have said, I'm not going to do the card thing or they would have brushed it aside, but I just said, hey, this is working. So I'm going to check this out and test it and learn, and it turned out to work. So it was a lot of fun. And the first 50 questions, I used to work at Apple. And Apple has this acronym, it's Apple, for their sales process. They want to create an experience for you. So it's approach, probe, present, listen, and end with a warm welcome. That's the sales strategy they want you to use.

So when I started working at Apple, I found out very quickly, it's not very hard to sell an Apple computer. People come in and they either want that iPhone or that iPad or that. There's not a lot of convincing going on. So I started just selling computers. I was like one of the number one salespeople in the store. And I got called into the manager's office one day. and I thought they were going to like pat me on the back and they said,

hey, listen, your sales numbers are great, but you're not doing the Apple approach, ProPresent, listen, you're doing, you're going too fast. And I was like, okay. So I had this notes document on my phone that I would just, I would use on people. I called them friends questions and I would just use them at dinner parties and stuff to get to know people.

So I thought, okay, I'll talk to people about their computer needs. And then there would be this lull where they picked their computer, the guy brings it from the back. so I'd start asking them these questions. And people were like really into it to the point where they would ask for the question guy when they came into the store. Like it started to spread. And then I was having these like super long interactions to the point where my sales number

completely dropped. And eventually they pulled me in in the manager's office and said, hey, listen, your, your interactions are too long. You're not doing this right. We got to let you go. So I was like, okay. And it just sort of came full circle for me when I was doing the, the, the, course, I thought, what could be a fun thing? And I've remembered my friend's questions. And from there, now I have, I've curated thousands of questions. And today is actually the release of our

mobile app. It's International Podcast Day. And, you know, carrying around five decks of cards in your pocket can be a little bit concerning. So I'm like, what do people carry around in their pocket all the time? Their phone. Okay, great. Let's put poddecks on your phone. So today's been the launch. I'm having the best day ever. And I'm super excited because now I can reach people all over the world with the tap of a button instead of having to pay shipping and do all that stuff. So it's been an incredible ride with poddecks. Well, I have to say, though, I've got my pod decks right here. And these make great holiday gifts, like for any podcaster or if you know any other podcasters

and you want to give them a gift. Like, I can't think of a better stocking stopper than this because so much stuff is electronic. So I get what you're saying about how the app is cool for like day to day and things like But when it comes to gift-giving, I love the regular decks. I hope you're keeping those. Oh, for sure. No, the physical decks aren't going anywhere. And I think part of the cool thing about the physical decks is it's sort of a blue ocean idea because when you get into podcasting, you really only can buy a couple things. You're like, I'm going to buy a microphone, headphones, or like an interface or software. And then you're kind of done. But I think people like

to buy stuff and have fun things. So I think that's why Poddex works is because it's something that makes sense and it can be used in so many different ways. Like, you can use it to plan a podcast. You can use it on your podcast as a game. You can use it on social media to just go live. Like, I used to just go live every day and ask, I would interview random people and I made so many friends and got so much engagement. Wait, who are you interviewing randomly? Just people you met on the street? No, just like, I would go on to Instagram live and I would say, anybody who wants me to interview them, just join the live. And some person would do it. I would put them on and I would say, hey, who are you? And I would get to know them and I would ask them podcast questions.

and I have all these like new friends from doing it. I love that idea because so many people I think want to try going live, but they get really nervous about being solo. And what a fun idea to just interview the people who are already following you. Yeah. And then it's one of these things that it's this kind of extra piece of content. So like it's not a podcast. And if you don't like it, you can just say, I don't want that to be out anymore. It's just, it was live for when it was. Or if you think it written really well, you can share it as an Instagram TV video and it becomes a piece of content for you. And the cool thing is, is that it sharpens your skills as an interviewer because it keeps you on your feet and people get to hear your answer to the question and somebody

news answered to the question and they get to answer the question in the comments and all those things stack up to like defeat the algorithm, right? The evil algorithm is keeping everybody down. And the way to get more of your posts to the top of the feed is to get more comments and like. So if you, I literally will snap a picture of a card from Poddex and get like 25 comments. because people want the opportunity to share their view on something. And so it's just been something that's been so fun to develop. And honestly, I've been in the podcasting game for a while. And these cards have made me more connections with real people like yourself for no other reason than just getting to know each other.

And I just love it. It's been so much fun. Where, like when would we use these cards as interviewers specifically? I can see it being like a fun ice break. for someone you don't know very well. Sure. How else have you seen people use these? Yeah, so the way I see people use them is the pre-interview.

So everybody comes in in a different condition to an interview. You might be having a bad day. You might be worried about your tech. And to just start off your show without any type of pre-conversation can be, you know, you can get a stressed out guess. But if you ask them a few of these questions, they sort of loosen up. they feel lighter. So you can use them as just kind of like,

hey, I just want to ask you a couple of quick questions enlighten the mood, right? You can use them to actually plan out a podcast. So there are themes to some of these decks. So you could just use them as like some pillar questions to incite conversation. A lot of people stick directly to someone's like niche or expertise. But what I found is that when you get somebody talking about something else,

oftentimes they'll share something that they haven't shared on another podcast or they'll share something that relates to their niche in a different way, and that makes your podcast stand out. So can you give us some examples of pillar questions, or is that a specific deck we should be looking out for? No, it's actually just how I plan my podcast. So when I plan a podcast and I have a guest, I will do a little research on them,

and then I'll figure out three main pillars of topics or things I want to ask them, and that I write those on a piece of paper so I can always reference them. and then what I do is I generally weave the conversation around those. But I always know that if I'm getting too far off, I can just ask that next pillar question and get back on track. So that's kind of what I mean by pillars of just like, I use the rule of threes and everything I do. The rule of threes is people like threes,

people like lists of threes, every TV show you've ever seen. The story arc is in threes. So I just tend to stick to that and it works for me. That doesn't mean that everybody has to do that. But I'll pick out cards from the, these decks and leave them on my desk so I can just grab them at any point if I need to change the conversation or if the conversation starts to go towards one of the questions, then I can

ask that question. So, I mean, I don't, I don't necessarily recommend as an interviewer that you only ask these questions unless you're making it like, hey, at the end of every show, I want to do five quick questions with you and then you pull them randomly, right? You should do the due diligence of giving your guest at least the minimum Google search to see, you know, if you don't know them very well, like who they are, what they're about, and find out a little bit more about them to play in your episode. One of the podcasts I edit is for the Girl Scouts. And at the end of every episode, they play this game called Would You Rather? Yeah. Which is so fun and everyone looks forward to it. And there's some sort of, there's some would you rather type questions in your deck. So we actually have an entire deck of would you rather questions. Do you? Well, maybe that's actually where she's getting them. But it's such a such a fun. game and I love listening to that.

Yeah. And the would you rather are great because when you ask somebody that question, the easiest way to keep the conversation going is why. So if I asked you like, would you rather have your, would you rather fall down and have a video go viral or have all your most embarrassing pictures posted on Facebook? And let's just say the guest is like, I'll pick Facebook. Then you can just say like, well, why? Why would you not want the viral video? And then you can elicit a conversation. And the fun thing is that you never really know where it's going to go. because some people have some crazy answers to questions. I mean, like, I've heard some amazing stories on a question about, like, you know,

something that you would never guess would incite that conversation. And you can get off on these tangents. And a lot of times people try to use pod decks on me. And they go, I'm going to ask you 20 questions. Well, I've got some crazy stories. They typically only get through like five or six. And then we've done an hour-long podcast, right? So you can really spark a conversation with the right question.

Going back to what you said, about doing the pre-interview. I especially love this idea because as anyone who's interviewed anyone knows, people do warm up as you go along. And typically, the best part of the interview is toward the very end or even after it's over

and you're just relaxed and chatting and how great would it be if you could start your interviews with that vibe where you're already on that friendship basis. Absolutely, yeah. And people like to, you know, imagine you're an author and you're doing a circuit about your book, right?

You're going to get asked all the same questions all the time. It gets boring. So if you come in and you start asking different questions, they're already going to be like, oh, this is going to be fun. This is going to be different than every other podcast. Now, I'm not saying every single podcaster asked the same questions, but I think for guests, and if you're starting to reach out to bigger guests that are maybe authors or, you know, you want to stand out from all the other interviews because that's the one they're going to share with people. And so learning how to have the right questions, like the way I describe a question is an iceberg, right? There's the tip of the iceberg, which is small talk, which is like, so where you from? You know, how's the weather,

which I hear a lot on podcasts. And I recommend doing that in the pre-interview because it's not something that serves your audience. Then there's the icebreaker, which is sort of like somewhat getting to know you, just like maybe a would you rather or just something that's generally going to dip your, it's where the iceberg comes out of the water. But then there's the deep questions. And the deep questions are the ones that create an emotional response. So if I was going to have an author on my podcast, or let's back up, everybody's going to ask an author the same question. Congratulations on your book.

Why did you decide to write a book, right? That's not a good question because everybody thinks that they can write a book. So that is not going to create an emotional response. But if I say, hey, congratulations on your book, tell me about a time when you felt like giving up. Did anything during the process of you writing this book make you want to quit or give up or just not do it? Right? And they may have some insane story about how they deleted their whole hard drive

and they gave up and they pulled out their hair out and it's going to create this sort of emotional response that's going to be super magnetic. And you might get information that they're not sharing on other podcasts. Like a podcaster might not ask them what their biggest failure was in the book. And that might be the best story. So when you start to look for these emotional opportunities,

you can make really great content. And I was just listening, do you listen to Dax Shepard show Armchair, Armchair expert? I don't, but I did hear about his recent, like, breaking of sobriety and then talking about it and just feeling that is, I think his podcast was a great comfort to him that he could have that release and just be honest and vulnerable with people. Vulnerability, I'm glad you used that word. And that's actually something that I think a lot of people are afraid to do is show their vulnerabilities. But when you show your guests, your vulnerabilities, they're going to start to trust you and they're going to share theirs with you. use that episode as an example right now because I listened to it and I got goosebumps and I felt everything that he was saying. And he shared a super vulnerable moment in his life and was super

transparent. And that makes for an amazing episode that I trust what he's going to tell me is going to be true. And I implore you to, you know, pull back the curtain a little bit. Don't try, like everyone I think at some point, and I'm being guilty of this too, we try to look bigger than we are, right? We try to look like, you know, I'm a number one best-selling author on Amazon. I'm a this, I'm a that. We put all these, like, we stack all these lists about ourselves to make ourselves look more important than we are. We're all humans in 2020 on planet Earth, just trying to keep it together. And if you share what you're struggling with, with your audience, it's more relatable than, like, I wrote a best-selling book because most people aren't going to do that.

And it's great. I'm happy for you, like, that you have a best-selling book. But I'd rather know, like what the struggles were or what makes you tick or how you can make me feel like you are more like me. So, and that's just, again, this is all subjective. This is my opinion. But I think it can really be an easy thing to do to get closer to your audience virtually. I would say what's the phrase. It's easy, but it's not simple. It's simple, but it's not easy. I agree with everything that you're saying. And yeah, we do want to be more open. But I think that's the scariest part of podcasting for a lot of people, at least at first, actually putting yourself out there and really putting your neck on the line publicly for all to see.

I've got a good answer for that, though. I've got a good answer for that. So if you're scared about putting yourself out there, I want you to ask yourself one question, which is, so what, right? So somebody hears you share a story. Is anyone going to die? As long as you're not a murderer or something, like what's the worst possible thing? it's going to happen. Is somebody going to, you know, not want to listen to your podcast? Well, great, because I only want the people that like my podcast to listen to my podcast. And I would much rather have 20 people listen to my podcast that love it than a million that kind of like it, right? So just, so what? Put yourself out there. And I know that sounds a little abrasive, but you don't have to be a

great podcaster immediately, but you have to start and you have to do something in order to become great. Yeah, I agree. And one of the things that I love to do, say, which is in a similar vein, but a little bit softer, you know, what's the worst that can happen? And you're not going to wake up one day feeling more courageous than you did yesterday by doing nothing. You become more courageous by taking brave actions. That's great. That's a much more eloquent way than I just said. You know, we've got a book that we read, me and my wife, it's called 777 or something like that. But I'll distill the entire book for you in one sentence. If anything comes up, you just have to ask yourself, will this matter in

seven minutes? Will this matter in seven days? Will this matter in seven months? Will this matter in seven years? And if it's not going to matter in seven years, then it's not worth worrying about, right? So, in seven years, will you worry about the podcast where you shared something? And I can, I can give you specific examples here. Like, I am 14 months sober. Okay. So I've been a, I was in a touring band. I partied my whole life, and I decided on my 40th birthday, I'm done drinking, okay? Because I know that it's going to hold me back. And I'm a father, and I want to set a good example. And I would post beautiful stakes and vacations and all these things. And I posted on there about what I was struggling with with sobriety one day, and I got more comments and outreach and connections through

sharing something that I was struggling with. And I can use Andrea as an example, our friend Andrea, right? You know, she's putting herself out there with the alopecia, right? And she's making people aware, um, I had no idea, right? And I, and I, and I, when I saw her do this, I said, this is so brave of you to do. And, you know, it's magnetic. And I think that it's just, I'm not saying you have to run out and tell everybody like all your problems. But, you know, I think that it, it, it, it, it, it, your character and the person that you are comes from the trials and tribulations of real life. So don't try to like Photoshop it and make it seem like everything's great. You know, like don't curate your life for your podcast audience because your podcast audience is also going through the trials and tribulations.

Yeah. Well, thank you for sharing that story, Travis. I thought that was a great example. And yeah, I appreciate you being real. Yeah, no problem. Going back to the app really quick. Yeah. So tell us a little bit more about the feature.

that are in there. Yeah, so we initially wanted to launch the app as just poddecks. So you'd go into the app and there would be decks of cards that you could swipe through digitally. And we built the entire app and it was done in May. And then I sort of had this revelation of like, how could I do all the things I'm doing with my businesses and stick it into this app? Meaning, how could I give people more like tools? So I built a toolbox that has all my favorite podcasting tools, microphones, headphones, thing that you would need a podcast so people could easily figure out, like, which, which thing do I need for me? What's good for me? I partnered with all of the experts that I could find to create mini courses that are sharing different strategies and podcasting. So I do a vocal warmup. I've got

Gordon Firemark shares legal tips. I've got Andrea doing social media. I have a guy who does live streaming stuff. So these are like super quick mini courses that can help you take your podcast to the next level that are completely included in the app. We have a private Facebook group. We're giving away a Roadcaster Pro. We're giving away something every single month for our members. I've got a royalty-free music library, my own personal royalty-free music library, either music I've created or curated over time that nobody else has.

And then we've got a bunch of member discounts. So all my favorite software, hosting, courses, everything is in there where you get a discount on it as a member. And in addition to that, we've got decks that are curated by other podcasters. not just all pod decks, decks. We have fitness decks and musician decks that are curated by experts in those fields. And then you can make your own custom deck. So if you like a card out of one of those decks, you can add it to a custom deck and create your very own custom deck in the app. So it took five more months to finish it, but I'm super proud of

what we did. And I'm glad we waited and made it like the absolute most beautiful podcasting app or tool for podcasters out there. And I think that goes into everything I do personally. Like I'll share my personal philosophy on making things. Whether you're making an app or a hat or a podcast or a video, ask yourself, is this what I want to see in the world? What I watch this video? And that's all I do all day long. I made this hat because I wanted this hat.

And now I sell them. I just have to comment on your hat. So you're wearing an army-looking hat with a red podcaster sign. I actually thought you were wearing a Budweiser hat this whole time. Oh, no. This is a camo snapback that says podcaster on it. And do you know the brand Supreme? I don't.

Okay. Well, Supreme is like a very popular urban brand. And I mocked the Supreme logo that says podcaster. And I don't have any hair anymore. So I like to wear hats sometimes because when you're on camera and you have no hair, you look like a glowing orb just sitting out there in the, in the ecosphere. So Travis, how can we get our hands on your app? Yeah, so you can go to the iOS App Store, so the Apple App Store, and just type in Poddex,

download the app. It comes with a seven-day free trial that unlocks absolutely everything in the app. After that, there is a membership fee. We're going to be adding stuff to it all the time. Or if you're on a computer, you can go to app.poddex.com to just check out all the features, and you can even sign up there. And are you iOS-only right now? We're iOS-only right now. Android is on the roadmap.

But we wanted to perfect one platform first just to make sure you can't ride two horses at once, you know, so we decided, okay, we're both Apple guys. Let's make it on Apple first, perfect it, and then we can translate the code over to Android. Final question for you. So I love your decks, and I know that you were mailing these to people, but I'm just interested in your follow-through because so many people might have an idea for something like Poddex, but it just remains an idea and very few people actually follow through on things, especially for physical products these days. So I guess what kept you going? Well, you know, the Enneagram achiever, right? So ideas to me are absolutely worthless. So without execution. So I've actually

had a lot of people tell me that was my idea. Poddex was my idea. And I was like, well, it could have been your idea too, but you didn't do anything, right? I did it. So execution is everything. So really, this is my first physical product ever. And I've been, as a sober person, learning how to be uncomfortable, learning how to live in uncomfortability. Part of my addictive personality in escaping is escaping like the hard stuff, escaping my feelings, escaping. So I decided to try to do stuff that is difficult. So, you know, when I created the first decks for the course, I had to find a manufacturer and do all the things that are difficult. That's That's what really stops people, I think, at the beginning.

And they overwhelm themselves. Like, I made a logo in like five seconds on Canva. And I was just like, this is the logo. And I didn't overwhelm myself with like too many details. I didn't run out and make a business card. I'm just like, I'm just test this. I'll print 10 decks, right? And it cost me a fortune to make them.

But it allowed me to just test it before I ran out and pressed, you know, a thousand T-shirts or something, right? Do people want this? That's what you have to do. And then I think once people actually, actually put in their credit card and bought it, that excited me so much because I knew it was something that people really wanted. It's one thing to go like, hey, do you want some free pod decks? But it's another thing when someone's like, I want that. And then to hear that it helps people,

that just poured just fire on the flames. Like once I heard that like people understood how to use them and it was actually making a difference in their lives, then I was like, I'm all in on this. I'm just going to go crazy and try to help as many people as I can. And, you know, you can run into a lot of roadblocks, but as an entrepreneur, if you're going to be an entrepreneur, you just have to figure out how to keep overcoming roadblocks. I deal with three to five headaches a day, and I'm getting really good at not getting upset about it, just saying, okay, what's the work around here, right? What can we do? We can either do this or this, and that's it. And every day there's a new challenge, and if you face those challenges, and you'll inevitably become successful

at whatever you do, whether that's fitness or podcasting, like, you have to, you have to to break through those. So, you know, Poddex, again, was a complete fluke accident, and it's been one of the best things that's ever happened to me. And I'm super glad that I followed through on it because it's been so much fun. I would love to end with the question here. So let me look through my pod decks. All right, first one. Would you rather give up all drinks except for water or give up eating anything that was cooked in an oven? Ooh. So this one's tough because I have an air friar. So I think I could go without the oven. Oh, wait, that's a cheat because I was thinking you couldn't have any cooked food ever again. No, I think that one's more alluding to like you have to cook food in a microwave. Or even on the stove top. Or on the stove top. So I'm going to go without the oven because I think that I could do a lot without an oven. There's only a few things I put in the oven and like a pizza and I could like order a pizza. So that's my final answer. There's a lot of cheating in here, Travis. I was thinking you could never eat anything warm again. I had to be raw food. And that would have been a

tougher one. But now that I know you can still eat warm food and order pizza, maybe I'll say that one as well. Although I could live with just water. I'm currently on a vegan detox cleanse. It's been three days. Oh, wow. I haven't had coffee in three days. And I'm feeling pretty good. Good for you. Yeah. I have a very bad coffee problem. And I'm scared of trying to reduce that. So vegan detox, so no coffee, no sugar. There's a lot of fruits and smoothies and we're still eating like food. I rope some of my friends into it so we could have accountability and check in with each other every day. That's the best.

So how long does it go for? 21 days. Okay. Well, every habit is created within 21 days. So maybe you can come out on the other side without coffee. I'm looking forward to getting back on track. I just got back to England after quite a few weeks in the U.S. and very much feeling the need to detox.

Yes. Oh, yeah. Well, God, aren't we all? Like, you got out of here. You're safe. Best to fuck to you guys. Yes, I know. Let me ask one more. Sure. If you could look through one person's email without them knowing whose email would you look through. This is one of my favorite questions. Probably Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk. So if I had to like, I guess I'd probably say, I'm going to say Elon Mosque. just because he's a genius and he's on another level. And I would love to just see, like, how does he write an email? Does he just say, like, one word?

Or, you know, or does he write diatribes that are, like, super long? I would love to just see what that's about. And just see what he's up to because he's somebody who's pushing the boundaries for everything, for humanity, for electric cars, for space travel, for tubes underground. Like, there's got to be more stuff we don't know about, right? How about you? Well, had you not made that comment about me getting out of the U.S., I think I would have thought about something more positive. But right now, I'm thinking, hmm, it would be interesting to look at Vladimir Putin's emails.

Yes. Yeah, because he's, I don't want to say too much. I don't want anybody storming in here and taking me down. A lot of people say Donald Trump, and then I just say, well, just read his Twitter because I think that's just kind of what it's all about right there. And I've actually had somebody answer that question. I wouldn't look through anybody's email because I wouldn't betray them like that. And I was like, wow, that's a pretty good answer to the question. No one said their wife or girlfriend, which surprised me.

Most people say like somebody cool. All right, Travis. Well, happy international podcasters day. Congrats on the app. And thank you again for joining me today. Thanks for having me. I can't think of a better way than doing an international podcast with you on happy international podcast day.

All right. Thanks again, Travis. That's all for now. To learn how you can sign up for a one-on-one podcast launch BAP day with me or to learn more about one of my online podcast courses, visit sarah micotel.com. And while you're there, take the quiz to discover what kind of podcast you should create based on your celebrity podcast persona. Go to sarah megatel.com slash quiz. Do you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free conversation. sheet sheet with simple formulas that you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you're in a meeting or just talking with friends. Download it at sarahmicatel.com slash blank no more.