Next Level Pros - #53: Casey Adams: Founder of ListenerFM, Top Podcast Host, Exit at 22

Episode Date: November 20, 2023

Join us for an enlightening episode of The Founder podcast, featuring Casey Adams, a 23-year-old entrepreneur who started his podcasting journey at the age of 17. Casey's story is a true testament to the power of ambition and hard work. In our conversation, Casey explores his entrepreneurial endeavors, offering precious insights and advice for those dreaming of a similar path. He emphasizes the importance of effective listening, asking meaningful questions, and the invaluable impact of mentors in navigating the business world. Get an inside look into Casey's latest project, Listener FM, a groundbreaking platform designed to transform the podcasting landscape, making it more accessible and user-friendly than ever before. Discover how Casey's forward-thinking and innovative approach is shaping the future of digital media. Beyond business, Casey shares his personal experiences, revealing the challenges of balancing a professional career with personal life and how he maintains motivation in the face of adversity. His passion and determination are palpable throughout our discussion, offering a dose of inspiration for every listener. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur or an avid business enthusiast, Casey's insights and experiences are sure to ignite your passion and broaden your perspective. Tune in and be inspired! Highlights:  "I've never learned anything while I was talking."  "The thing that we could all do, is just bring on interesting people and ask unique questions coming from different walks of life, having different perspectives." "The biggest thing that I've learned is that you have to be willing to take the first step."  Timestamps:  00:29 - Casey's podcasting start and audience growth. 06:00 - Startup challenges and staying driven. 09:00 - Listener FM's inspiration and goals. 15:00 - Maintaining podcast consistency and guest relations. 22:54 - Casey's approach to new projects. 24:00 - Importance of market and content strategies Live Links: 🚀 Join my community - Founder Acceleration https://www.founderacceleration.com 🤯 Apply for our next Mastermind https://www.thefoundermastermind.com ⛳️ Golf with Chris https://www.golfwithchris.com 🎤 Watch my latest Podcast Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-founder-podcast/id1687030281 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1e0cL2vI1JAtQrojSOA7D2?si=dc252f8540ee4b05 YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@thefounderspodcast

Hey guys, I'm super excited to bring to you Casey Adams, the 23-year-old phenom that has built more knowledge and experience in his lifetime than most people when they're in their 80s. So stay tuned for this incredible episode on The Founder Podcast. Yo, yo, yo, yo, welcome to another episode of The Founder Podcast.

Today, I am joined by Mr. Casey Adams. He is the host of the Casey Adams Show. Casey is a young hustler entrepreneur. I love this about him. 17 years old, he started his podcast. That was six years ago. Today, at the age of 23, he's already experienced an exit, sold off a company about a year ago, and is currently building Listener FM, which is a software company, if I'm understanding this right, or a platform in the podcast space. Welcome to the show, Mr. Casey. That's right, Chris. Thank you so much for having me. Quite the intro. I love the energy. Dude, so tell us about this journey, man. 23 years old. I mean, let's rewind to my journey at 23.

Man, when I was 23 years old, I was just trying to figure out what business was. I was involved in sales. I was trying to think about, like fantasize about opening up my first business. I opened my first business at the age of 24. You're freaking 23. You've been at this thing for six years. Dude, how did you, how did, first of all, where did that entrepreneurial drive come from at the age of 17 to go and launch a podcast?

Yeah. So again, thank you so much for having me on the show today. And when it comes to my journey as, as an entrepreneur, it's, it's one of those things that if you would have told me at, you know, 13, 14 years old, that I'd be starting my first business at 16, I would have never believed you. Because what led to me starting the podcast when I was 17 was actually a very traumatic experience that I went through at the age of 15. So I grew up in a small town in Virginia. I played sports all my life, played hockey for 10 years, played lacrosse. And then sophomore year of high school, I was playing football and I ended up getting injured where it was the first day of hitting practice. I land on my neck wrong during one of these drills and go to the doctor the next

day because I can barely move my head in any direction. And after getting x-rays, the doctor says, you know, I have good news and bad news for you. The good news is you're not paralyzed, but that could have been an outcome. So grateful that that's not the case. The bad news is you can never play football again and you have to be in a neck brace for the next six months because your spine is very unstable. And, you know, as a 15-year-old kid, it just changed my entire life. And at the time it, I, you know, you can never connect the dots looking forward, only looking backwards, like the famous quote by Steve Jobs. But it was in that moment where I just became initially depressed and had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I was angry and pissed off at the world. And as time went on,

and with this new found time that I have of just sitting in my room in a neck brace, I started just by accident going down these rabbit holes on, I shouldn't say by accident, but I started going down these rabbit holes on social media, following people like, you know, Gary Vee and Tony Robbins and all these characters. And I've always had a passion and just a curiosity for business, but I don't come from an entrepreneurial background. My mom was a special ed teacher for the last 15 years and was a babysitter. My dad's worked at a tobacco company, Philip Morris, for the last 30 years. So this world of business and entrepreneurship was not in my house. But it was when I went down this rabbit hole that I came out on the other side of this injury, 16 years old, just fueled up with this newfound ambition for business and marketing and more so networking. And that's what initially led to starting the podcast was this drive to go meet other successful people, learn from them, connect with them, and to hopefully, as a 17-year-old kid kid create business opportunities through that. You know, it's interesting because as a teenager, to your point, like sports means so much to anybody that's an athlete, right? Like it is the defining moment of, of your life. And a lot of

times, even as a 39 year old, you know, veteran entrepreneur, I'd call myself, I still draw upon experiences that I had in the sports world as a teenager playing high school football, those types of things. And so I can only imagine the, just the drasticness of this experience because, you know, I had a, I had a similar experience. It wasn't an injury an injury but it was it was a very life-defining moment in sports uh growing up when when my coach you know I was the backup quarterback as a sophomore and as a junior I was you know slotted to be the starting quarterback and everything and then I ended up getting beat out by a sophomore and to for the starting position and and like it wasn't because I wasn't capable it wasn't because

i wasn't talented enough and i worked my butt off i had done everything up until that moment to work for and like and it was taken from me and uh you know and and i and i felt that i had controlled everything i possibly could at that point and so like injury takes that to a whole another level from a standpoint it was taken from you and you had no choice and uh and so like yeah like i i i can see why that was such a defining because i look back at that moment so often in my life as like you know i'm not going to allow somebody else to control my own destiny it may not uh if I have a goal to go and win a state championship or whatever it may be, uh, go and put a billion dollars in the bank. Yeah. The route may not be the route that I chose or thought was going to happen. And because different people are involved in it.

And so I, you know, I love, I love that that was such a defining moment for you. So how does, how does it go from, you study all these different people and you, you start like going down this rabbit hole of entrepreneurship, like you launched this podcast and then eventually you started landing some big guests. Like what was, what was it like initially out of the, out of the, out of the gate with this podcast? Did you immediately have success? Was it, was it just slow compounding? How did that work? Yeah, man. And, and real quick, even for going down there, I guess in terms of injuries and appreciate you sharing that, right? Like over the years of having the podcast, which I'll get into in a second, just, you realize that so many people, if not everyone that is successful

has had not only hardship, but, um, a moment that defines the trajectory that they're unaware of at the time. And maybe if maybe it hasn't happened yet for them and it's going to be the defining moment in the future. But for me, after that injury, you know, being 16 years old, having no entrepreneurial background, when I started going down these rabbit holes of just soaking up information, how I landed on podcasting was I was reading Gary V's book, Crushing It. And the last chapter was just all about podcasting. And I think sometimes as either young entrepreneurs or just people overall, you start to ignore as you grow up. And I've felt this over the years, like what's right in front of you because you're so used

to how you spend your time. And I remember just the last chapter of the book, you're about to wrap it up. And I'm just staring at this word podcasting. And I was someone that didn't listen to podcasts, wasn't too familiar with it. It was 2017. So looking back like quite early in terms of like this podcasting wave that has occurred the past six years. And I remember just saying, all right, yeah, I'm going to start a podcast. There was no, quite early in terms of like this podcasting wave that has occurred the past six years. And I remember just saying, Oh, yeah, I'm gonna start a podcast. There was no, you know, overthinking, there was no like true strategy or plan. And I think that was one of the biggest blessings at the time. I remember going on my, you know, my phone with a pair of wired Apple headphones and just walking in circles. The first episode, it's still out there. It's like

three and a half minutes long. I'm like, welcome to, it used to be called Rise the Young. I welcome to the Rise the Young podcast. The goal is to interview successful founders and entrepreneurs, and hopefully I learned something. And then, you know, I'm figuring out, oh, like, how do I upload a podcast, do it within a day or two? And my podcast is live. And I say that, and before getting into all the guests and all the opportunities that have come that have came from it, because so many people, especially today in 2023, this idea of starting a podcast, which I think is so valuable for so many different businesses and individuals, so many people just overthink it. And it takes them a year or six months even to conceptualize like how they could go about

it. And granted, sometimes that might make sense. But for me at the time, and I think in a lot of cases, just getting started is the best thing to do. And how it quickly ramped up was I ended up getting a meeting with Gary Vee when I was 17, like a five minute thing in New York City, just from a cold DM on Instagram, like, Hey, Gary, just love that. Would love to, you know, what does it take to get five minutes of your time? And he ended up getting back to me.

And I remember I skipped like three days of school, go up to New York, meet him for a day. And excuse me, before I get there, there was like a 90 day period before I had this meeting with Gary. And I set a goal. I wanted to do 60 interviews in 90 days, which is a lot. And I just started being diligent about reaching out to people that I wanted to have on the show. Initially, friends of mine that I was just meeting that were similar to my age and then starting to really shoot my shot with bigger names that I didn't think would ever reach out and get back to me.

But it quickly became this thing where I landed like Andy Priscilla and Ed Millett and Grant Cardone. And there's lots of stories within all of those. But 60 days later, I'm doing, you know, 40, 50 interviews, I meet with Gary, and I tell him, hey, I just interviewed all these people. And he gave me such confirmation of like, keep doing that. And you will be surprised about how much opportunity comes from just these micro occurrences as they compound. And just for context to the viewers, I've now had the show be six years in December, so a month from today. And I've done 450 interviews from Larry King to Rick Ross to Elon Musk's mom and sister to the founders of Twitch and Netflix. And throughout all those

opportunities, which we'll get into, like my last company, we raised a round of funding from 37 angel investors. And I always like to mention about 90% of those investors were previous guests on the podcast, right? So when I think about the long tail of not only creating content, but the compound effect of relationships, but intentional relationships, right? Like prior to today, we've never spent time on the phone. Now we're going to spend an hour and a half today here on the podcast or an hour or so. You get to expedite relationship building, which I think creates trust, respect, and just more openness to opportunities to work

together in the future. And I think that podcast has done that so well. It's amazing. That's amazing. Yeah, man, like the compound effects, like you're learning at a very young age how real the compound effect is and just like that consistent effort over and over and over again. And I know you realize this, but that failure or that injury that took place,

that is just a precursor of things that will take place throughout your career. Because like, you know, the reason why I drew upon me and my football experience be that led to it, that I had to somehow figure out a different path. Right. Somehow go and find that that level of success. And and, you know, life is life is funny, man. Like you get so many ups and downs and people think that you're this great success when in reality, you're just dealing with so much other crap that you got going on. And, and, uh, you know, but as that consistent behavior takes place of whether it's reaching out to and doing 60 interviews in 90 days and doing that consistently, you said 500 shows or guests or whatnot, like that, that, that is the key consistency and determination, regardless of,

you know, whatever the result is. And so like, how, how have you stayed strong? Because podcasting for six years, that takes a lot, right? Like that, that is, I've been doing this, this podcast since June. I just, I think we just hit 50 episodes or whatnot. We've had a lot of success and it's had some incredible guests, but like it is exhausting. There is a lot of effort that goes into it. Like how have you stayed strong over the last six years in accomplishing that? Yeah, no, I absolutely. And I love to just even the context of starting another show today. And I think there's great context here. Like I'm in the process of launching a new show

with two co-hosts that should be coming out in about a month. And even the thought process of starting a podcast is so different today than it was six years ago for me. I remember just when it comes to, I don't even want to say competition, but just the amount of podcasts, how to think about, you know, the go-to-market, how to think about the content strategy and what

makes it unique and, you know, the opportunities that come within that. I think what's led to the consistency of the show is number one, just it's hard to describe the feeling where, you know, I can say all these different names of people I've had on the show, but I can remember so vividly for a handful of guests where it's like that day and the, and how I feel before and after the minutes before the minutes after an interview with someone like Rick Ross and leading up to that, like that feeling to me is so exhilarating and it doesn't have to always be the most famous person, but just, I might have someone on that. They tell stories impact me. And I just feel so great when I do it. So when it comes to the, I don't want the baggage that comes along with podcasting, you know, it's one of those mediums that it's

long form. So it takes a lot of time and the reward of being able to having to package it up, create the clips, put it out there with, you know, the discoverability isn't great always like it's a hard medium to master and to be consistent with because you know there's people out there where you can just put out 10 tiktoks and get tens of millions of views if you hit it right and therefore like that's it could what's more valuable for me what i've always loved about podcasting is three things one the ability to meet people and actually network with people to expedite and build depth and relationships. Obviously that could be looked at as a selfish thing, but I think it's the same thing on the flip side of with the audience. You know, if I, um, if I'm listening to

this podcast, someone is going to be able to get to know me more just by listening to this one episode than if they, you know, watched all the short form content that I probably have out there in terms of the depth in terms of the knowledge. So that the long tail of long form is so worth it. But then that's in terms of meeting people. Secondly is learning from people, you know, I think it's one of those things that we all have different ways of learning. Sometimes it's, you know, it's street smarts, it's book smarts, but I am such an avid believer in just the lifelong learner. You know, I didn't go to college. A month after I graduated high school, I moved out to Arizona. I was running a media company.

So just embracing this lifelong learner mentality. I think, you know, I learned the most from stories and through others' experiences. And I think it's allowed me to cut my learning curve down and do the things that I've done at an early age by just asking questions and being curious and being willing to learn and to listen. And then lastly, is the opportunities of the podcast. Every story that I tell in life where I say, oh, we raised 1.5 million for my last company and 90% of the people came from being guests on the podcast. It's one of those things that as time has went on and as compounding has happened, I have seen firsthand how valuable

the podcasts and interviews and the content has been where I'm like, okay, if that's happened in those short six years, like I've always told myself this podcast is going to be something I do forever. And looking at, you know, the greats in the space, the Joe Rogans or the people that have these massive audiences to think like, okay, how, how do things compound in 20 years? Like that's what really gets me excited and allows me to just stay on top of it, you know? And I will say just a caveat, you know, I've gone through times where I don't put out an episode for a month, for a month and a half or two weeks. And I've never let that lack of momentum stop me from continuing. And I think you have to really ask yourself, like, why are you doing it?

Because it's not that the podcast is something that, oh, like, it's my only business and the only way I make money, it's, it's the backbone of everything that creates so many opportunities and conversations and, um, just again, opportunities within the businesses that I operate in. And I know that, you know, this well, so that's, what's led to me not only loving the medium, but staying consistent with it over the years. For sure. For sure. Consistency in the compound effect are like just such incredible. I, I, you know, it's been referred to as like the eighth wonder of the world, right? Is, is the, the compound, right? It compound interest. And when you look at it, like for growth and podcasts, you know, say you have 10 listeners and you compound by 10%, right? You go from 10 to 11 listeners, not, not anything exciting. And,

and the reality is what I've seen in the social media platforms or podcasts is you really can compound about 10% a month. And, and so, you know, going from 10 to 11, not exciting going from a hundred to 110. Okay. Going from 10,000 to 11,000 better going from a million to 1.1 million best, right? Like, I mean, you know, and, and it was really just the same level of compounding happening over and over again. But the only way that you ever get that hundred thousand growth there of the million to one point one million is you have to start. Right. You have to be consistent when you're going from 10 to 11, 11 to 12, 12 to 13 and so on and so forth. And and I think that's the hardest. And the fact that you've gotten through that. Right? Like you've done it, done it for six years. You've had these incredible guests, you've had these incredible experiences. You've seen ROI on the podcast with fundraising and

ideas and, and building businesses. And now you're building within the space from a, you know, with the listener.fm, like that's just phenomenal. So, so tell us, tell us a little bit more about listener.fm, like, uh, what, what kind of software is, I don't know any of the background there. Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, so listener.fm is, it's a company that I launched about four months ago. Um, and just for the context of my, my last company, mediacits.com, um, that's a business that was the easiest way for creators to aggregate all of their cross-platform data in one place to then easily share with a brand and it updates in real time. So we launched that back in 2020. The business, we got acquired in 2022, last September.

So I worked at the acquiring company for six months and now bringing us to today, the last four to six months coming out of working at the company Viral Nation has just been really thinking about not only what problems am I dealing with, but where do I want to go spend my time? And, you know, one thing for me that has always been so consistent has been this podcast. And I've obviously have learned a lot. I've experienced all the different platforms and the pain points and the struggling elements of maintaining a show. And the one thing that just kept coming up in my mind is just all things post-production, right? Like we're talking about

what does it take to run a podcast, all the things that go within it. It's not just a short form video, you put it out. So what Listener FM is, is the easiest way for podcasters to manage the post-production workflow using AI, where our simple product that we started with is just the ability to take an audio file, video file, upload it to our platform, and it will create ready-to-use SEO optimized titles, descriptions, show notes, blog posts, newsletters, all of the text-based written content for podcasters. And that's just scratching the surface of where we are going and how we view it. But as someone that's been in the space for a while, I more so built something that now

I use every single time I do a podcast, which is very frequently. And we're just building on top of that. And I think as someone that's so in the space to think about, you know, how can I create what I like to call a vertically integrated podcast network with, you know, own IP and different unique shows, bringing in the network to provide service to podcasters and a lot of companies that are moving into the space. I think it's, you know, a very, I don't want to say early ending because podcasting has been around for a while, but how the medium is shifting and evolving to a more trusted and respected and prominent medium. You look at all the short-form content on social media, and it's

a lot of times just podcast clips, right? And those are the most viral moments, the conversations, the interactions with two different people. So that's what Listener FM is. And again, I just love all things podcasting. And I asked myself as a founder, like, what am I dealing with? What is something that's just simple? And I think that was also what led to the success of Media Kits. We started by asking ourselves, what are problems that creators deal with? And one of my best friends, Jeff, he's this big automotive YouTuber that had about a million subscribers at the time. And he was coming to myself and my co-founder and saying, Hey guys, like this brand wants immediate get from me.

I got to organize all my data. Like, how do I do this? I have screenshots of my Instagram and my TikTok and my YouTube. And there was no way to just easily aggregate all of your data that stays updated in real time. And it was just a problem that easily aggregate all of your data that stays updated in real time. And it was just a problem that, again, we were dealing with that we saw through a friend. And we just started with the first step. And I think that has really been my approach to everything of starting a podcast is just, okay, I'm going to take the first step and record an episode. Oh, you need a media kit? Let's build one on Canva and understand what the pain points are.

And now that obviously the same question has led to me. Excuse me. I love that. You know, the fact that you're focusing on the just real problems, right? Like that is where great innovation ideas come from is when you understand like, hey, put myself in their shoes. And all right. What issues do I deal with for your first business? Now for your second business, these ideas are coming from pain points that your friends or whatnot that are launching in the podcast space.

And really just, I mean, sticking in the space that you really know and understand and can become innovative from. I love that. So you spoke about being a lifelong learner. Like what are, what are some best practices that you have as far as like education outside of the podcast? Cause obviously when you get on with guests that have incredible experience, you're like, you're learning, you're growing. That's a, that's a phenomenal, I've, I've learned that myself in, in hosting a podcast. Like there's so many experiences that I can draw on. This is like literally being at the best college ever and learning from real experiences.

What are some additional resources or best practices that you utilize to improve your education? Yeah, that's a great question. I'd be so curious to reverse it and hear from you as well. And we'll do that another time on my show for sure. But, you know, for me as someone that, again, and I just, I want to reference this again, just I didn't go to college and what is a lifelong learning? I think that's someone that's willing to learn anything from anybody, good or bad, right?

Where for me, you know, and hence why I even called my company Listener FM, like this idea of being a listener, I think is just the bedrock of how I view the world where, you know, in a relationship, like I just got engaged this, this July, I've been in a relationship for the last three years. And I think from relationships to business relationships, founder dynamics, thank you. It's just how can you listen to the other person's perspective, but also just have the willingness to not just talk and let your thoughts out, but to soak in knowledge. And I remember, you know, when I was 17, 18, and we have lots of mutual friends like Dan Fleischman, he was always doing these networking events.

I was always there. And it's not like when I was 18 or 17, I had too much to provide besides like a youthful spirit and a hardworking, ambitious mindset. But just being in rooms and again, listening has been so valuable to not only education, but it's just scratching the surface. And when I interviewed Larry King back in 2019, and just that was an interview for me. I was 19 years old. He was 87 years old. And thinking about all the interviews that he's done over the years, I think it was like 50,000. He had a quote that stuck with me. It's a famous quote by him. But when I was talking to him, he says, I've never learned anything while I was talking and just to embrace

this idea of being a listener. And that really stuck with me. And it's carried into not only embracing it in terms of my learning approach, but, you know, naming the company and all the things that I'm doing today. But outside of that, I think it's as, as you know, just surrounding yourself with people that have done it before that have experienced what you want to experience. And this could mean, for example, last year, I ran my first marathon in Hawaii. And prior to running my first marathon, I like six months before that, or maybe 12 months before that, the longest I'd ever ran was three miles. And it was just sort of these things where I started interviewing through the podcast, people that have done these ultra marathons or James Lawrence, the Iron Cowboy that sent 101 Ironmans back to back, which is just mind-bending.

It's the craziest story, right? in a place to learn from people that have been there before, whether that's through listening to a podcast, through reading a book, or by just simply, you know, doing the research to think five, 10 steps ahead, right? I think nowadays in this world of the abundance of content, it's easier than ever to learn things, but you also have differing of opinions and lack of quality a lot of times. So it's also, I think a superpower is learning to identify who you want to learn from and really having a, you know, a guard there because especially all things health and nutrition, there's so many contradicting opinions. And I think that's a great example of like who to learn from. There is no one size fits all. And I think that's very a blanket statement across everything of like, what's

the best business advice you could ask a hundred different entrepreneurs. And it's probably a little bit different and you can't take everything with just like one size fits all. And I think that's a lesson that I've learned through all the interviews as well, in terms of, again, to your question, like my learning approach is just be curious, but, you know, put yourself in a position where you can take in different information and, you know, just be around people that have been there before. So I love, I love the focus of listening. But along with that, I think in order to listen, a lot of times you have to ask the questions. And, you know, early in my career, it was hard for me to ask questions. It was difficult for me to be around people that knew more than me and me not trying to act like I had it all figured out.

That was one of the mistakes that I made as a young entrepreneur. I wanted to know the answers without going and seeking them or without showing weakness of not knowing all right not and so and that hurt me it hurt me a lot earlier in my career you know i ended up uh filing bankruptcy and losing everything and and whatnot and it was really because i was unwilling to ask the question and because i didn't ask the, I wasn't put in a position to listen and to learn. And so like what this podcast is teaching you at such a young age is like wise way beyond your years. Like, you know, most people don't figure this out until their 40s or 50s that, hey, I got to ask the questions and I got to be willing to listen. I got to be willing to listen to the answers because there are so many people, everybody that has gone through life, they have something to teach, right?

Regardless of what their experience is, there is something that is unique to them that they can teach you. And, you know, that's one of the things that I've learned through podcasting or running businesses or whatnot is like every perspective is, is amazing and there's opportunity to learn from all. And so I appreciate the fact that at the age of 23, you're getting this stuff figured out. I appreciate that. And you hit her on the nail as well, just asking the right questions. And it's funny because, um, we were talking before this about all things, just like

domains. And I I've had the question, the domain on Instagram at questions for a while. And it's actually a funny story that I think, um, there's a lot that we could speak about within it, but I got this domain at questions and one of my good friends, Jordan Young, he goes by the name DJ Swivel. He's like Grammy winning, uh, producer and musician. One day I posted that i like hey i just got at questions i had no clue what i wanted to do with it but i was just someone that's like been in the podcasting world i've asked more questions to different people over the years and i'm like

great i got this handle i don't know what i'm gonna do with it um and i posted that i had it and my friend jordan calls me up um and this is it'll all make sense and come full circle he calls me up he's like dude are you serious right now you have at questions and i this is insane so i'm like what do you mean he's like okay last night i was at dinner with a good friend of mine brandon jenner um who's like stepbrother half brother kylie kendall and that whole family i was at dinner with brandon and we were just joking like oh let's start a podcast like what would we call it questions and then brandon's wife was like oh my god like brandon used to be called questions growing up uh like that would be hilarious and then dinner

ends and they just move on and they probably would have never thought about starting it um and then the following morning is when jordan sees my story and i'm like his friend that's had this podcast for the longest time and i post at questions and we just start brainstorming I'm like oh my god like what are you going to do with that and we're like oh what if we started a podcast together and then we just got on this rabbit hole and long story short now we're eight to ten episodes in and the podcast is called questions and it's exactly to your point Chris of what you just said of just we all have different we all come from extremely different backgrounds. We all have different people in our network. And, you know, the biggest thing that we could all do is just bring on

interesting people and ask unique questions coming from different walks of life, having different perspectives, like a conversation that you have with someone, let's say we both interviewed Larry King, the questions you would ask and the questions I would ask would dictate the entire conversation and where it goes. And I'm so happy that you said that because I think if you're someone that doesn't really make a focused intention to ask,

I don't wanna say the right questions, but just quality questions with just your best you know, just your best foot forward. You, you're not putting yourself in the best place to be a better listener, right? So I just wanted to go full circle there and share that story because I think it's so important to obviously ask the right questions to be able to be a better listener. It's awesome. It's awesome. So, uh, Casey, so you recently got engaged.

Congratulations. You said, uh, what, what's her name? Jacqu you recently got engaged. Congratulations. You said, what's her name? Jacqueline. Jacqueline. Congratulations. So at the age of 23, most of the world isn't looking at getting engaged, right? Like I'm a family man. I got married at the age of 21. I have five kids, you know, and so heavy, heavy, heavy focus on, on the family for me. But what I, the trends that I've seen is like more and more people are going away from traditional marriage or, you know, building a family. They choose to, you know, have dogs and careers and, you know, all, all these different things. Why for you is, is it a focus to,

to be engaged and to move forward in creating a family unit? Yeah. Well, I'm grateful you, you asked that. And that's super inspiring from your perspective to made it 21. That's, that's awesome. You know, if it's, it's one of those things, like looking back on these last six years, if you would have told me like, Hey, you'd be engaged at 23 when I was 18, like literally, I wouldn't have believed it. Right. And I remember. So just for context, Jacqueline and I, we were dating for a little over three years. We got engaged this July. And, you know, looking back on when we started dating, it's she would always I'll mention this and sometimes she hates it so i was 19 years old she was 26 so there's an age gap and it's something that is unique and it's like it's but i i embrace that and it's something that i think a lot of people can learn from is like who i was

then in the maturity and then how i viewed the world like i graduated high school when i was 17 moved across the country to a Arizona, running a media company. And I just always did things sort of like earlier in my life, right? I was this youngest brother. I have two older brothers. They were still living at home. I moved across the country and I was learning so much. So like thinking back on it, it's not that I was seeking a relationship.

I wanted to go get engaged young, get married but it just it felt so right and I think this idea of commitment committing to the podcast and just when I started it I knew like this deep conviction that like I'm gonna do this isn't something that I'm just starting and I'll move on to the next thing like that same level of conviction and depth of commitment was very apparent to me from the start. And I think, again, to our last point, just asking those questions of, you know, do I want to go on this journey? Is this something that, you know, this idea of planting a seed and growing together was very not only exciting to me, but I value that. And it's funny how we met. David Meltzer, are you familiar with David?

You know, David? Yeah. So that's that's Jacqueline's cousin. So how we initially sort of met was Dave was a mentor of mine from afar. I followed his content on social. I started going to some events and he was there and we met and had on the podcast. And Jacqueline was initially working for David Meltzer and then was working as the executive assistant to Dan Fleischman. So we were just sort of in these same circles as I was really getting immersed in this whole world of business and entrepreneurship. And it just was one of those things, again, not to just speak on being engaged for so long, but we were best friends for about a year, year and a half before we started dating. And we just had a lot of substance that led to, um, the decision to then start dating and now being engaged. And quite frankly, as, as a young man, it's been the best

thing that's ever happened to me. Right. And I don't have the context to, um, you know, like to draw back on like, Oh oh past relationships and all these different things but i ask myself a lot like oh like what do i think led to this um commitment and you know like oh wow like my my parents have been happily married for 31 years oh got it oh my grandparents oh they've been married for 54 55 years so just So just, I, I've analyzed that over the years and I'm like, okay, I, this is all I know in terms of just commitment, right. For, for, you know, without kind of drawing the whole bigger picture there. So again, it's, it's something that I'm excited about. I think it is the foundation of how I view business and to have a partner

that is so strong and supportive is just, you know, again, one of the best things that's ever happened to me. Well, you know, and, and I think, I mean, you didn't bring this up, but I would assume with all the different interviews and the different people that you've interviewed and met and all the different things you've seen, all the different angles of relationships of family, right? And you see those that have had successful relationships and those that haven't and what it took, you know, you bring up the example of your parents, your grandparents and everything else. And, you know, I'm a big believer that many of the issues that we have today in our society are due to the deterioration of the family,

of the lack of commitment of, you know, the, these things where there's just no, no faithfulness, any, any more towards, towards people and each other. And so like, for me, like, if I want to, if I want to change society, if I want to change the world, I got to first by start by changing my family and being, being that example. And, and so I think it's cool that, that you're realizing this, like I said, at a young age and, and you're, and you're doing things that are contrary to the rest of the world, contrary to the deterioration that's, that's happening out there. So I applaud you, um, dude. So what's your, I mean, dude, you got the rest of your life ahead of you.

What are, what are some goals? What are some things that you are chasing? Obviously this listener thing is going to be awesome and you're going to, you're going to rock it and you're going to make millions of dollars. It's going to be phenomenal. What are, what are some other things that drive you outside of making millions through listener and running marathons in Hawaii. I love it. You know, it's when I think about life, I think it's, it's been a unique thought process the last six years, right? Where I'm 23 and I feel like I've lived like five lives in terms of like different locations or different friends, different businesses, and now being engaged where it's just the constant battle of like life is long, but life is short, right? Like Jesse Itzler, who I love his content. I've had him on the podcast a while and he,

this is something that I haven't thought about a lot, but it just came to mind where he sent me, his team sent me this calendar that he has. It's called the big ass calendar. And it's like your entire year that you can put. I get ads on Instagram for that thing. And I've thought about buying it three or four times. And then I always forget. So I just got one about a week ago and I was putting things on it for next year. And I think to your question of like, what excites me, right? I think this idea of kind of what Jesse talked about is, you know, again, life is long, but life is short, right? If I'm 23 years old, and if I want to have like 50 strong years, you know,

granted, I want to live to over 100 years old. But this idea of really mapping out like what, how can you create year defining moments, right? Whether that's writing a book, starting a new company, having an exit, going on a trip that you've always wanted to do, doing something with a group of friends. I think I've never been more aligned with just the pillars in my life of, you know, the podcast and zoning in on all things listener to really build not only the podcast but services in the podcasting space this whole vertically integrated podcast network that i've been working

on and excited to really launch into later this year in 2024 so it's the business element it's the foundational relationship element but also the health element like i'm someone that again i'm training for a marathon right now it's in in about 25 days in Palm Beach, Florida. And running for me, I think running culture is so interesting because if someone's not in it, it's like, why are people running marathons? And for me, it's the mental aspect that comes from whether that's running or some people that might be lifting. For some people, that might be walking, right?

It doesn't matter to what extent that it is. It's just having that outlet of health has never been more important to me. And I think that zoning in on how you can prioritize that as not only a young age at any age, granted, but, you know, filling these buckets up and really making a wholesome life is very important to me. And by no means, and you talked about this earlier, I don't have it all figured out. I'm putting brick by brick every single day. And outside of that, and the fourth thing is just quality relationships, right? I think in this world where, you know, the quote

by Warren Buffett, right? Like reputation takes 20 years to build, but two seconds to ruin, right? Like this idea of embracing longevity in every area of life, of being engaged young, starting a podcast, doing that forever and building businesses, health and making that a part of your life, but also quality relationships that fuel your purpose of doing things from traveling to events to dinners. I think those four buckets are just very apparent to me of what makes a successful life. And by no means was this my original thinking. I think it's one of those things where over the 400, 500 interviews, you get to really experience like some people, they have it all you would think, but then you hear them share their stories. And it always comes back to just, they could have all the money in the world, but bad relationships or no health and this ability to really, uh, you know, identify what's important to make it all exciting and fulfill. And I think is, uh, something that I'm excited about just to keep pursuing, to get, keep getting better every day. Once again, wise among, uh, you know, beyond your years, clearly you've been, clearly you've been paying attention to the guests that you've interviewed, uh, because, uh,

these things that you've figured out at a young age, like fitness, right? Like I, I was a big fitness guy in high school, but then after sports, it was like, why bother? And, you know, and it wasn't until, uh, the age of what was in 2015, age of 31, that I like finally was like, oh, I really only get one shot at this body. I better get this thing back into shape. And like at that point, I was, you know, 30, 40 pounds overweight and, you know, all these different things. And it wasn't until I started focusing on it. And it's been a big focus of mine for the last eight years. But it took me many years to figure that out the fact that like you're you understand this at a younger age like

phenomenal and i and i think society is starting to push more towards that which is great just a focus on like the way that we experience life is through the physical body and you know and it and and it's funny because i'm a i'm i'm just like a big, thick guy. I'm not fat, but I was made to hit things and tackle things. I'm not naturally skinny, and I'm not naturally a runner. And you speak about the running culture and all these things, and I'm trying to train my mind. I am a runner.

It's funny because right now we're in our community uh one of our challenges that we're doing is a 5k every day for the month of of november wow and so that's epic so i yeah so i push that but i like this is me pushing it and i'm just like i am not a runner but then i gotta remind myself i'm a runner i'm a runner a runner. Like, and I'm out there and my knees are hurting. And, you know, every like I've got like knee braces on to like because I just like carry so much. I carry more muscle dude, I wish I would have embraced the running culture at age of 23. And like, cause like these are, these are regrets that I have, right. That I, that I wish I would have just, you know, spent less time in the weight room and more, more time on the running path and, you know, all the, all these things, but man, you, yeah, you, you've got a lot of things figured out. I love that that drives you. That's the, the fitness, the relationships, the, you know, being free, like there, there's so much more to money. And I, you know, uh, do you know who Naval is?

Yeah, of course. Yeah. So one of my favorite quotes from Naval is, is the best thing that can ever happen to you is that you get rich as fast as possible for then you'll realize that that's what life is not about. And so, you know, it's sad that so much, so much of our society is built around finances and this chase for the ever dollar. And don't get me wrong. I love money. I love creating value. Money is simply a derivative of creating value, but people put so much focus on it and they lose sight of everything else, their relationships, their fitness, their relationship with God or whatever, whatever it may be. And they're just chasing this thing. And then, you know, finally, maybe they achieve it in their sixties or their seventies only to realize that,

man, this is just an empty promise that I've been given my whole life. Right. Like, and so I, that quote always inspires me, right. That is just like, I'm so glad and blessed that I got rich at a, at a young age because it allows me to focus on the real purposes of life. And the fact that you're learning that at a young dude once again yeah thank you man it's i've never met nival but i i've interviewed his brother kamal ravikant who has now been like turned into a good friend and he has a book love yourself um love yourself like your life depends on it and i think these are a lot of things right especially like being embraced in these, not only quotes, but just the way humans live. And Naval is a very smart guy.

So is Kamal. But just to be around his energy and to understand like, got it, like how they live, how they show up and being in the presence of people that again, like some people would say, have it all. You quickly, I feel that learn like what's really important. Um, and I love the shared, not only understanding there, but, um, that quote is beyond powerful. And I think just embracing that as, as early as possible is really, uh, important. And also to like something that, um, it just has been on my mind a lot the past week and I won't go too much into the details but

someone I know um that I had the opportunity to work with uh committed suicide about a week ago and just I was on a run I remember I was like 10 miles into a run and I get this text and it just, everything else becomes simply irrelevant, right? Like you, you get these reminders in life of, you know, whether that's through moments of loss or tragedy or injuries, but this moment in particular, it's just like a bus hits you. And, you know, we all have these goals and aspirations and we're driven to whether that's in a financial way or in a family way. And, you know, something that you said earlier in this podcast that I always have like a special thought around, you said, you know, you're 23, you have all the time in the world in front of you. I remember being 15 years old, going to this event in Richmond, Virginia, where I'm from.

It was a real estate conference and I just ended up going. I had no clue what I was getting myself into. And the speaker on stage went around the room and he asked a question. He says, who thinks they're the youngest person in this room? And they all was like probably like mid 30 year olds are like, Oh, me. Like this, cause it was like an old, kind of an older crowd. And I'm in like the front row i'm 15 at the time i'm by far the youngest person in this room i would assume so

my hand's going up it's super strong and everyone you know he's like oh if you're younger than 30 if you're older than 30 put your hand down it's going 18 16 oh 15 last one standing that's me he has me stand up and you know he, he goes on to say, just, we could all have these goals, you know, acquire X units of real estate. And you can say, oh, he's 15, has a whole world in front of you. But the reality is like another day is not guaranteed. And just to fully understand that. And, and to bring you back to, you know, something that I found out recently from a friend. It's just, it's so easy to forget that, right? This idea of like deferring your own mortality. An interview that I love with someone

that is again now a friend, Robert Green, 48 Laws of Power. He has just this whole idea of embracing your mortality and like really thinking through of like death. And some people might think it's morbid, but I think about death probably every day in like a very powerful way. Um, and I think too, just not to go on too much of a tangent. I just think that it's something that we would all maybe treat others better. We would have less, you know, like envy or, you know, just these negative emotions that can bring out negative parts of a human and

have more empathy for people and what they're going through, because you never know what people are dealing with. And I think if someone's listening and they've made it this far in the podcast, I think I just want it to be a reminder to just check in on your people. Like it's so easy to be a reminder to just check in on your people. Like it's so easy to be, uh, you know, like, I don't want to say surface level, but just like, I'm a very positive person all the time. I try to lift others up, but just to get real and to ask people like, how are you dealing? Like, what are you dealing with? And like, how can we work

through it? Because you never, it's hard to fully get a grasp on how people feel unless you've given that opportunity to share. Amen. And, you know, one of my favorite best practices that I try to use in my life is I ask myself, would I be okay with the way I'm treating this person if they were to die tomorrow? Right? Or would I be okay if I were to tomorrow, if this is how they remembered me. Right. And so that always puts life into perspective really quick and changes my behavior in the moment. And and it also changes the way that I take advantage of every single day. I think it's very powerful, like your recommendation to to actually ponder on your mortality, because there is nothing like we are driven by fear. Fear is one of the main drivers in our life. And the greatest fear that each one of us have is to die. And so, you know, you put a gun to somebody's head and ask and make a request. They're compliant, right? Because the fear of death is so great.

And so if you can somehow manipulate that fear, that fear of death or whatnot, and use it for a positive force in your actions, the way you treat people or whatnot, like that's, that's where life really starts becoming powerful. Amen. So anyways, Casey, dude, I appreciate you taking the time. I know your time is valuable. Before we part ways, obviously you've spent a lot of time reading, writing, developing, you know, you got quotes right from the tip of your mind. What are some of your top educational sources, maybe masterminds or mentors or books that you could recommend to the audience for those that have listened thus far?

Yeah, no, I appreciate the opportunity to come on today. I've had the best time. And there's a book that I always go back to, and it's simply how to win friends and influence people because the way I live, I try to read that book once a year just to go back and like refresh on the concepts. And I, every time I go back to it, I'm like, wow, like this book really like bled into me.

It's just subconsciously just the simple things that are in that book of like, you know, whether that's remembering someone's name and it's the best sound in someone's in someone's brain is their own name. But that book has just been foundational. I think that's one in terms of book. I think secondly, in the world of all things, podcasting personally, again, I love the medium and I have lots of podcasts that I listen to. One that I love from just all things business in the world

and the perspectives are very unique are the all-in podcasts. So that's one that if you haven't checked it out, obviously you do. And if you're someone that's listened to podcasts, you've probably heard it before. But outside of just that podcast, I think just finding a podcast

or one, two, three of them that you listen to is so good to add to your day. Whether you listen for 15 minutes when you're like doing the dishes or you're in the car and the Uber on a walk. I think this idea of just finding consistent podcasts where you want to learn something new or hear perspectives of others is something that I would always recommend people to add into their routines. And then lastly is just find something that makes you feel inspired. For me, I think that's journaling. I try to every day, but just things that make you feel inspired. That could be seeing the sunrise, seeing the sunset,

journaling or things that just make you feel good, you know, outside of going to the gym and, you know, spending time with quality people. Like, what is just something that you should add to your life that can, uh, again, make you feel inspired. And, you know, that's not necessarily something that's learning related, but I think it coincides a lot with just how I, um, you know, what I want to leave the conversation with. Absolutely love that. Awesome. Casey, appreciate that advice and your time. Where can my listeners get in contact with you, follow you? What's your Instagram handle? What's the best spot to find you? Yeah. So best place. My Instagram is just at Casey, C-A-S-E-Y, super simple there. And then the podcast is the Casey Adams show.

And then for everything, all the projects I'm working on, if you want to email me, it's just Casey Adams.com. You can get in touch with me there. And outside of that, looking forward to connecting with all the, all the listeners. And once again, Chris, thank you so much for the incredible opportunity. This is something very special and I'm very grateful for you today. Yeah. Thank you for your time until next time.