Start With A Win - Pursuing Brilliance with Jeremy Ryan Slate - Part 1

Starting point is 00:00:00 Every day is filled with choices. You're here because you're choosing to start with a win. Get ready to be inspired, learn something new, and connect with the win nation. Coming to you from Denver, Colorado, Adam Conto, CEO of Remax with Start With A Win here in the virtual studio. I got producer Mark. How you doing, buddy? Hey, I'm doing fantastic. Whoa, a little musical today, too. That's right. It's like my own version of Hot Pocket. Nothing like a little Brandon.

Starting point is 00:00:43 I want to hear him do a thing called love by the darkness. Can you do that one? Come on. Come on, Mark. Let's hear it. I believe in a thing called love. Yeah, there you go. All right. Hey, we're doing well. Hey, we got a special guest down with us today here, Mark. We have Jeremy. Good guy. Yeah. Jeremy Slate, founder of the Create Your Own Life podcast. So this is kind of like this major podcast today. So Jeremy, welcome to the show. Jeremy studies the highest performers in the world, including, I mean, don't mess with

Starting point is 00:01:22 this guy, the former CIA director, Super Bowl champions, Indy 500 winners. I mean, you know, Jeremy specializes in using podcasting and new media to create trust and opinion leader status. So Jeremy builds influencers for those of you listening here and helps magnify that. You know, Jeremy's had some challenges in his life though. At age 19, he had a near death experience as a routine surgery led him to receive his last rites from a priest. That's kind of scary, but you made it, buddy. You made it. I'm here, man. Yeah. He studied literature at Oxford University, former champion power lifter turned new media entrepreneur. You can see it in your shoulders there, bud. I mean, I don't weigh as much as I used to though. I used to be like 215 former champion power lifter turned new media entrepreneur. You can see it in your shoulders

Starting point is 00:02:05 there, bud. I mean, I don't weigh as much as I used to though. I used to be like two 15 at, at, at 10% body fat. And now I'm like one 75 at like 10% body fat. So, you know, I don't think anybody would argue with 10% body fat though. I mean, that's pretty, pretty solid, my friend. So, Hey, we're glad to have you on the show. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself that I may have missed? Yeah. So I am the world's biggest nerd. I studied Latin for 12 years. I have my master's in early Roman Empire propaganda, not a very applicable skill, like when they like go to hire you for things. So for me, I've just always been somebody that's been interested in how things function, how they work, what makes people what they are. I'm huge on travel. We've been to, you know, 20 something countries. Um,

Starting point is 00:02:50 I'm happily married with one child and another one on the way. And then we have two dogs and a pig. So I have a very interesting doctor do little power lifting type of life. Adam, let me tell you, is it one of those like indoor pigs? No. So he started as an indoor pig. And then when we had the first child, my wife was just like too concerned that she was going to get like hoofed in the pregnancy belly. So he became an outdoor pig and we built him like a little house and fenced in the backyard and everything. So he kind of just does his thing, man. And you call his name, he comes, you know, galloping, I guess is the best way to, best way to describe it. So he's a happy little guy, man. They're smart little creatures, aren't they?

Starting point is 00:03:29 Oh, he's brilliant, man. He's brilliant. He knows by 9 o'clock if he hasn't received breakfast, he's going to yell. So he's a smart guy. That's hilarious. I'd do that too if I haven't had breakfast by 9. It kind of gets a little angry around here.

Starting point is 00:03:42 I don't know about you, Adam, but I'm always, I always thought like those Snickers commercials were like about me, you know what I mean? Like when I'm, when I'm hanging, like, yeah. Yeah. I used to work California as my, my territory and we'd get stuck in traffic for like four hours and everybody in the car would be like, can you pull over please? We have to get out of this car. We can't be with you right now. So you turn into that alter ego of badness. But anyhow, hey, I want to unpack kind of the world that you live in because, you know, you have positioned yourself as kind of

Starting point is 00:04:13 the go-to in your space. And I want to talk about how people can do that. So, you know, first of all, why did you start a podcast? What led you to that? You know, I'd like to say it was some brilliant idea, man, but like literally, so in college, in grad school, actually, I had a professor that got me listening to this podcast called The No Agenda Show. Do you remember Adam Curry used to be on MTV? Yeah, yeah, totally. Okay, so Adam Curry's had this podcast for like 14 years where they play news clips and they just make fun of it and rail on it and it's great.. So like that was like my, my first, you know, jump into podcasting. So since 2009, I've been listening to that show, I think on like 1500 episodes or something like that now. And so for me, like

Starting point is 00:04:53 when I failed at all these different careers, like, you know, the first thing I jumped into after leaving teaching was, uh, network marketing, which I know what that was. Cause I'm from a small town. So I'm like, Oh, I'm going to be a millionaire like next week. Great. So that's where I started. I went from selling there to selling life insurance to selling products online and all these things didn't really work out. So I'm like, all right, let me start a podcast. I can't really screw that up. And that was really where it started. It was just because I needed something else to do as a creative outlet. And I'd been a huge fan for a long time, but it wasn't, you know, I had this brilliant plan that I was going to start a

Starting point is 00:05:22 business and do all of that. It really was because the podcast got noticed and we had 10,000 listens in our first month that it kind of led to everything else I'm doing in my life. And your podcast is called the Create Your Own Life Podcast. What, I mean, how did you come up with a topic here? I mean, where'd you get to that? I mean, that's kind of a broad topic, right? So I was having a conversation with my dad back in 2013. This is right after I had quit my teaching job. And my dad, my dad's somebody that,

Starting point is 00:05:51 you know, like you work at a place and you stay there for 40 years and hopefully they take care of you or whatever. So I'm telling him that I, that I, I quit my job and he's like, you're kidding me. What's wrong with you? Do you have some sort of like, you know, a issue we need to talk about here? I'm like, no dad, I want to create my own life. And he's like, good luck with that buddy. And I'm like, okay. Uh, and now he's one of my biggest fans around that, but that's really where the idea for the name came from because I see life is not this static thing, right? Like not this thing that happens to you. I think so many people think it's that way, but it's what you're going to do with it and what you're going to create with it.

Starting point is 00:06:24 So I like to really talk to people that have created something big. They really see opportunities in life and create opportunities in life for them. And early on, you know, it was anybody in that space. It was a lot of online marketers and people like that. And as it's grown, it's become more about what does it mean to be world class? What does it mean to be incredible? Like our guest this past Monday was former Philadelphia Eagles safety and a hall of famer, Brian Dawkins. So I'm getting really talked to people about like what makes them

Starting point is 00:06:53 incredible about what they do. And what, what key points did you come up with in, you know, with that, that question? Cause that's, that's, I mean, that is like, yeah, this magic wand for life for a lot of people is how do you create your brilliance and how do you pursue that? What would you come up with? Well, so it's, it's interesting. I found that for, for people of that caliber, adversity is a really, really big thing in their life because it's kind of this transformative thing, right? Like it's like the, the, the, the furnace of the blacksmith or something like that. It really like once they'd been through that forge, it's made them the person they needed to be on the other side.

Starting point is 00:07:27 And that's one of the really big things is they find adversity and they even don't, they don't walk away or shy away from adversity. They're, they're willing to see it, see how they can grow from that moment and really approach it that way. They also realize that, you know, really the way that our education system and things like that are set up. It's not that you go to school for something and you come out with that ability on the other side. They realize that there's kind of this doingness or this training or this working missing. So they're really big on finding somebody that's good at what they want to do and working under that person and learning from that person. Apprenticeships, I don't know if you would agree with me on this, but I think apprenticeships are the biggest thing missing in society now because you would work for somebody

Starting point is 00:08:04 for a period of time and be paid very little or nothing at all. And you would learn that career. And it also works as a discernment. So there's like, there's so many different things like within that, that we can really unpack that makes somebody, you know, an incredible or extraordinary individual, you know, based on that. Oh, totally. I mean, it's, it's a brilliant concept because you look at, I mean, what is a, what's a mentor? It's somebody you, you can, you're an apprentice under what is a coach. It's somebody who helps you realize that what is a mastermind? It's a bunch of people doing that stuff that, you know, you're trying to pursue or trying to get better at. So, I mean,

Starting point is 00:08:39 it's really kind of interesting. You, you put yourself in that situation, though, listening to you. You quit your teaching job and said, screw it. I'm going after what I want instead of what somebody's making me do or model myself after or whatever. So you put yourself in that position when you quit your job and said, I'm going to go out and I'm going to build essentially a personal branding company and a media company and things like that. but you had to define what you stand for. How do you define what you stand for when it comes to that? Wow. That is so, this is so pertinent by the way, because I just put up a screenshot, um, on my Instagram story this morning is I actually struggled for a long time of, of talking about

Starting point is 00:09:23 the things I believe in. You know what I mean? Because it can be hard because you don't want to upset one crowd and then, you know, not really make the people that are your crowd excited. But when I looked at my stats over the last 90 days, I've really gotten more comfortable. And this is funny because we're six years in of talking about what really matters to me. And the graph is like this, like and how it's changed. It's incredible. It's it's it's 100 X of where it was 30 days ago. And the graph is like this, like, and how it's changed. It's incredible. It's, it's, it's a hundred X of where it was 30 days ago. So the biggest thing is, you know, number one, being okay with there's some people that are going to like it. And there's some people that

Starting point is 00:09:54 aren't, it doesn't mean you go out there trying to upset everybody. That's not the point of it, but it's really just, you have to understand that first. The second thing is how are you different from people that are out there? Because I find that there's so many people just doing what other people do. You know, you look at somebody like Gary Vaynerchuk. He's done an incredible job, but there's a million people out there trying to be Gary Vaynerchuk, and that's why they'll never stand out or get noticed. So unless you're going to differentiate or give people a reason to be interested in you, you're not going to be able to do that.

Starting point is 00:10:22 So that's really the vital thing that a lot of people are missing is they blend in and they promote other people because they're not standing out to promote themselves. So I think it's really, really key and important to do that before you create any content. I know for me, the process was kind of, I did a lot of interviews, I created a lot of content. And the more I did, the more I learned about myself and the more I learned about what I wanted to do. But you also have to, in some ways, Adam have courage to just talk about what you want to talk about and be okay with some people not liking it. I love that. It's, it's fascinating because I mean, you figured it out and you go that way knowing that people are going to throw rocks at you. And because there are a lot of people that don't want you to stand out and don't want you to become more successful because they're trying to

Starting point is 00:11:04 be less successful, uh, ultimately. And this is, you know, you could argue this point with a lot of people all day long and they just, they can't understand it. They're like, why do you need to do that? And you're like, no, I want to do that. That's, that's where it comes from. But it takes a long, long time to get there. So you're, you're going through a lot of storms to get to that rainbow that you're looking for. And it's, you're never really there. It's a, it's, it's a journey. So the question I get with the sad part about that, you know, I don't want to cut you off, but the sad part about that too, is a lot of times it's the people closest to us as well. It's our friends, it's our family, and it's because they care. So they don't want to see

Starting point is 00:11:43 us fail. So sometimes you have to understand if they're being naysayers, just understand where it's coming from. Understand it's that they care about you and they want to see you do well. So sometimes you're going to have to figure out how to handle those relationships and not invalidate what they think as well. Spot on, spot on, man. I mean, you look at that when we're raising our kids too. It's, oh, it's okay. You know, you didn't fail. It's no, you did fail. Let's learn from it. What are you going to learn from? Right. Yeah. It's, I mean, so let me ask you this. We're, we're talking about getting, you know, taking this journey and climbing these mountains and, and dealing with the adversity and things like that. Is there a way to fast track some of this

Starting point is 00:12:21 stuff to get to the right position so you can really maximize your efforts where you want to be? So really, that's why I love the podcast space as a guest, right? Because if you look at each individual podcast host, a lot of times they're an influencer in their own right. You know, whether it's in, you know, real estate investing, whether it's in health, you know, you look at like Dr. Gundry's got a podcast. Dr. Mark Hyman's got a podcast. So really what I tell people to do is list out the influencers that your perfect customer or client or whatever is interested in. And those are the influencers you wanna work with

Starting point is 00:12:56 because they're gonna help you get the right positioning. So when you're targeting those shows, that's how you can really jumpstart that. And when I tell people to look at it as well, when you're appearing on podcasts as a guest, especially at that level, a lot of those people are influencers in their own right. So the networking you're getting there is incredible too. So you really have this ability to build a network and get seen and heard in the right places because there's an incredible book that came out in the 70s called Positioning, The Battle for Your Mind.

Starting point is 00:13:25 It was by Jack Trout and Al Rees. It's an incredible book. And positioning is the idea of grabbing the space that already exists in someone else's mind and positioning yourself for that or against that. That's why people, and it annoys the heck out of me, but everybody's like, we're the Uber of blank or we're the Amazon of blank. But they're grabbing something people are familiar with and comparing them for that or against that. And that's the really valuable positioning you're getting when you're appearing on guests as the right show, because you're grabbing that spot in people's minds that they already know about.

Starting point is 00:13:56 Ah, that's fantastic. Um, all right. So you, you get to that, that place where you're, you're, you've been noticed or you're starting to get noticed. Uh, you're, you're, you've been noticed or you're starting to get noticed. Uh, you're, you're starting to have an impact, uh, with what you're doing. And a lot of people, they're like, all right, you know, I broke a hundred followers or a thousand followers, or I'm verified on Instagram and Facebook, whatever it might be. And, uh, it's fast. My daughter just went through this on Tik TOK. She was like, just started getting paid on Tik TOK. She's like, I didn't mean to do, I put up four videos. It's, it's, it's fascinating. So, but, but the question here, I guess is how do you scale that impact once you've defined yourself and, and really blow it up? Because that's where the magic is.

Starting point is 00:14:43 You can get to that point, but it's when you, you're like, okay, I can hit the ball out of the park. Now it's time to keep hitting home runs. How do you do that? Well, that's really by the content you're creating because I find so many times when people are getting a media placement and you've probably seen this as well, whether it's a podcast, whether it's Good Morning America, whatever it is, they think that the end product is that piece of content they're getting, like, right, like that experience, they think that's it. And honestly, what you need to really be doing is create a content production engine behind everything you're doing. 30 second video clips, 60 second video clips, don't exceed 60 seconds, because that's what they want on

Starting point is 00:15:18 Instagram. But you want to really figure out how you're going to repurpose content and use it in your marketing, use it in your funnels, use it on your website. That's where, you know, you see a lot of these different logos and stuff on a media page that show somebody you're credible. So if you're going to scale, you have to figure out how you're going to use all this stuff you've created in your own marketing, in your own branding, and in the way you're getting it out. And then in addition to that, one of the things that a lot of people miss out on is when you're appearing on a podcast as a guest, a lot of times you get to the end and you send somebody to a website, right? Like, you know, mywebsite.com slash podcast. The thing that

Starting point is 00:15:54 they're not doing is there's two different pieces of code that should be on that site. One is a getemails.com code and getemails.com is a piece of software that has a massive database of people that have opted in for different offers. And what they can do is they could take about 30% of your anonymous traffic and opted into your list. Because the thing you got to think about is how many people end up on a website, but don't opt in for anything. Well, you want to get those, those names and those identities. So that's step one. The other thing is also having a Facebook pixel on that page. So you can have a retargeting audiences. Basically you can take everybody that's been to that page for in 30, 60 or 90 days

Starting point is 00:16:30 and then run traffic at them. But if you're going to just think, okay, I was on this media place and I was on this podcast or in this article and that's the end of it. That's, you're not going anywhere, brother. It's about what are you going to do with it and how are you going to use this content? And then how are you going to plug the holes in the sieve, right? Like, you know, when you get that, I look at every landing page is a leaky bucket. How are you going to do with it and how are you going to use this content? And then how are you going to plug the holes in the sieve, right? Like, you know, when you get that, I look at every landing page is a leaky bucket. How are you going to plug the holes in that? Capture emails this way, capture emails that way, continue to communicate to people. That's what it's all about.

Starting point is 00:16:55 You said some, a few things that are really, really important there. I mean, it's, you, you built this process. One of the other things that I see people fall down on, I'd like to get your take on this, is they get to this point. They're like, okay, I've built a landing page. I've built my website, things like that. And then they just stop and hope that this is going to continue to generate audiences. Tell me about what is the importance of continuing to create content and how do you come up with ideas to do so? Does it have to be extravagant and elaborate things like that? How do you, where do you get your ideas?

Starting point is 00:17:30 There's a couple of different ways on this. You know, one, um, I'm sure this probably happens for you. I have great ideas in the shower. So I'm making sure I'm taking audio notes in the shower because you come up with some ideas, man. That's kind of just one random thing. But the, the, the other part about it is, um, I keep a note on my phone and every time I come up with an idea or have a conversation with somebody, I write that down because some of those ideas are fleeting, man. You got to grab them right away. So that's another thing. But also every single business owner should be listing every objection that they ever get. And that's what you make your content around. Um, like one of the biggest things we always get is

Starting point is 00:18:04 like, well, how are podcasts any different than radio? So I've created so many articles about radio and how they actually find their listener numbers and it's kind of scary that they have no idea who's listening. So when you're creating content around a lot of these different things that people are already having as objections,

Starting point is 00:18:20 you're handling an objection before somebody even gets into a sales cycle with your company. And I think that's a really big thing for creating trust because any sort of media is something that should be creating that no like and trust factor. And that's why I think so many people get confused between PR and marketing. PR is what creates trust and that no like and trust factor and what gives you things so that you can market them. They're not the same thing, but they work together very well when you understand that. Man, you're saying some good stuff. I want to continue this on the next episode where we really

Starting point is 00:18:49 dive into the customer, the consumer, and unpack this a little bit more with why do they stay? Why do they leave? You down with that? Yeah, let's do it, man. I would love to. I appreciate it, actually. All right. All right. Start with the wind, listeners. We'll catch you on the next episode.

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Start With A Win - Pursuing Brilliance with Jeremy Ryan Slate - Part 1

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