Welcome to Podcast Suck, a podcast about starting a podcast, where we dive headfirst into the wild, wacky, and sometimes frustrating world of podcasting. If you've ever sat down with a microphone, hit record, and thought, what on earth am I doing? Or if you're just curious about the magic behind your favorite shows, then you're in the right place. Get ready for laughs, insights, and a whole lot of what not to do advice as we embark on this podcasting journey together. Let's dive in. What's happening, everybody? How we doing? Happy Monday to you. Well, at least the time that we're recording this live over on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. Thanks for tuning in. I created a post last week. I don't know where I found it. I don't know that I can claim that, uh, These were all of my fine facts, if you will, but we're some eye-opening numbers about the topic of, are there already too many podcasts out there for me to start my own? Should a brand start their own podcast? Should they not? Are there too many podcasts out there? So I think this is a interesting question to number one, think about, but number two, answer. Because I always refer to podcasts like books. And when you think about how many books there are in this world and how long people have been writing books, and while it's 2024 at the time of this recording, are people going to stop writing books? Probably not. So when we think about podcasts, is there a lot of noise out there already? Sure. It's real noisy at Barnes and Noble too. It's real noisy in the airport gift shops where books are sold. But it's about what resonates with people and what people are attracted to consuming when it comes to, in this case, books. What are they interested in reading? Same applies, I believe, same theory applies with podcasts. Podcasts, in my professional opinion, are designed to help you become a better communicator, grow your business because you're able to build new relationships through the people that you're interviewing on your podcast. Then the last reason is getting your social media content game in check and consistent because of the podcast game, which allows more people to find you because you're more consistent, more consistent. You are the more people are finding you so on and so forth. So those are the three reasons I logical reasons. I think that someone should start a podcast, but also, Those are three reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with how many podcasts are already out there. You have to understand that you're creating content for your audience, people that want to consume your content, not for every single subscriber on Apple podcasts and every single subscriber on Spotify. You're doing this to speak to your specific audience. That's the goal. Now, if you've asked yourself this question before, well, this episode is for you. By the way, we record this podcast live on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube, so that the archive of the video recording of this podcast, not a video podcast, but a video recording of this podcast is available. I got a phone call last week from an individual that heard my live training and podcast builders network. community preview video, which was like 15 minutes long, said, I had no idea how I want to start a podcast. I know I want to do it. I can do it on my own. I just need someone to show me ended up turning into an opportunity for us to work together. So I'm going to get more consistent and go in. I'm also working on. uh, a roll call morning show. So a little life, little motivation, a little bit of my morning routine, seeing what that looks like. I closed the studio, moved it to my house, uh, temporarily, uh, moving, uh, in, in a couple of months. And I'm just going to bring all everything home. And my second bedroom is going to be the new studio. So that'll be studio number five that I've designed. I don't have to go anywhere anymore, but Now that I've got the studio here at the house, I can just wake up and go. So I'm thinking about doing something in the morning. And then where I was going with this before I got off on a tangent is we record this episode live like we're doing right now. And then it drops as an episode on podcast suck. So make sure you subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Maybe you're listening to the podcast right now. And that was a reason for bringing it up, giving you a shout out for tuning in, listening. Please leave us a review or rating on Spotify. And of course, everybody tuning in here. on the live of the recording of this podcast episode. I appreciate you guys tuning in. So let's go over some quick stats real quick. And these may be a little outdated because things are constantly growing, yada, yada, yada. But are there already too many podcasts out there? Well, let's talk about the stats for a second. Spotify says there's currently 4 million podcasts. Apple says there's 2.2 million. So let's just call it 3 million podcasts. Out of active podcasts, Out of those 3 million podcasts, how many podcasts are publishing once a month? My stats say 300,000. And of those 300,000, how many are publishing once a week, one episode per week? Cut that number in half, that would be 150,000. So if you're contemplating starting a podcast and you've ever been concerned that there's too many podcasts out there, know that your competition is roughly 150,000 podcasts out of all the billion people and all the contents being created out of all the active podcasts that are available on Apple and Spotify. If we dumb down the numbers and look at the reality of active podcasters once a month, once a week, your competition is 150,000 other podcasts. I still don't think these numbers are relevant, If you're a business owner, entrepreneur, solopreneur, somebody who is deeply passionate about wanting to start a podcast, to become a better communicator, to grow your business because you can interview people you want to do business with and build a relationship with, and then get your social media content game in check because of the podcast. All roads lead to growing your business. All roads lead to you growing into a completely different version of yourself. All roads lead to you becoming more consistent in an area that you are not consistent in right now. I hear it all the time. I hear all the reasons why people haven't gotten started. Rarely have we talked about a game plan to just get started. Cause here's the thing we're recording this episode, uh, early December, 2024. 2025 is going to be here like tomorrow. Holidays fly by those couple of weeks go by. We don't know what day it is or what date it is. And then on or around the first, everybody starts rolling back into the office or into their jobs or work. And a brand new year is here. Same thing happens every single year. The only thing that changes is what you decide to do, what you decide to make a commitment to do. Because there's a lot of power behind saying, I'm going to do this because I said that I'm going to do it. And then you actually do it. Tells the world you're ready. What that yields is opportunity. Become an opportunity magnet because you're showing up in a specific area. I say this constantly during my talks, it's kind of become a tagline of sorts for me. And that is who's missing out. because you're not showing up. Quick story. So the past couple months as an entrepreneur, you never really know what you're going to get into on a monthly basis, daily basis, weekly basis, yearly basis. And then past couple months, both life and business, while still all good, we're just a little different. Some challenging here and there, some not so challenging. In the midst of being frustrated, with the tides of change, I dug deep and I joined another coaching program and another mastermind group, a guy named Dan Martell wrote a book called buy back your time. If you haven't read it, you need to wherever books are sold, follow him and follow him on Instagram. This guy was everywhere. And I do mean everywhere. pertaining to on stages on podcasts in demand. Have you heard of him? Have you heard about the book? When people are constantly consistently talking about you all over the world, consistently in the business world, you're doing something right. So Dan hit me up a couple months ago, about a month ago and slid into my DMS. And I'm like, there's no way that stands. Probably somebody on his team ended up being Dan. And we had a conversation for a couple of days and he enrolled me into his program all through chatting with him. on DM on Instagram. Never talked to the guy ever on the phone. Joined his group. Joined for a couple months. Decided that if I'm going to do this, there's 400 people in the group right now. Think he's slowing down? Probably not. If I'm going to do this, let's commit long-term. I'm going into year four with Apex, my boy, Ryan Suman. Masterminds work if you work masterminds, meaning if you show up and contribute or in service to your peers in that mastermind group, and you're taking what you learn and you implement it into your life and your business, you're going to win by being in the right room. Yeah, it stings a little bit. You got to reach in your pocket, got to lay out some cash, some real money. Both masterminds cost me about $18,000 a year, plus travel. So call it probably 28,000. That's just on masterminds and travel. This one I just joined with Dan is all remote unless I go to one of his offline events. But we meet every single week at Wednesdays at 2 p.m. I look forward to that call. I'm on there with 400 other winners, people who want to win, people who want to take their life to the next level. But the point of this story is that when life is the most uncertain and challenging, as it will be as an entrepreneur and as a business owner, that's what we signed up for. You've got to dig deep because if something's not working, it's your fault. And it's a call to action to start adjusting things accordingly. So I sat down and I mapped out what I'm doing every day and what I have been doing, and is that adding up to exactly where I want to be? And if there's any deficit there, why did that happen? I mean, it's very easy to figure where we're slipping. If we're honest with ourselves, we tell ourselves the truth. But in the midst of uncertainty and like, hey, this is a different season, I dug deep and made very uncomfortable moves, and they paid off almost instantly. Met a guy in the group, wants to start a podcast. We got started last week, owns a cybersecurity company. And he's serious about implementing a podcast into his brand in order to grow his business and his awareness on what he does and how he shows up. how we communicate. So if you're listening to this right now, yeah, this podcast is to answer the question. Are there too many podcasts out there already? That, that answer is as a firm. No, there are too many books out there. People are going to stop writing books. How about we not worry what everybody else is doing? Why don't we do that? Cause when we just stay in our own lane, put the blinders on, stay focused on what we're doing. And it doesn't matter what mom says, or dad says, or wife says, or spouse says, or friend says, or neighbor says, or we worse yet stranger on the internet. smarty pants, 52, 52 at AOL, commenting with no profile picture from his mom's basement. Those opinions don't matter. What matters is what we're committed to doing. And what matters is saying, this is what we're going to do because we said we're going to do it and keeping our word on it. I'm telling you right now, I'm living proof that when you show up and you get wildly uncomfortable and you lean in, you tell the world I'm ready. And the world says, all right, cool, you're ready. Let's ride. And opportunities just start showing up. You ever been in flow before with life? Matthew McConaughey calls them green lights, green lights. Sometimes it's all the way green lights wherever you're going. Sometimes travel's just easy breezy. Sometimes the business just comes in. Sometimes it just, it just happens. That's called being in the flow of life. That happens when we, when we align ourselves and if we're not aligned with where we're at, with what we're doing and what we should be doing and what we're called to do and we need to realign, reset, assess, remember it's all our fault. Something's off. It's on us. It's not, The government, it's not. The temperature, it's not. The location, time, it's not. Tony Robbins says there's never a lack of resources. Resources are abundant and everywhere. It's typically a lack of resourcefulness. There's a big difference there. Big difference. So don't mean to go on a tangent, but I kind of do because that's what we do here on podcast suck. It's my show. Do what I want. I do want to make sense of the topic at hand, which is, are there too many podcasts out there? Hey, no, they're not. No, there is not. Focus on you. Focus on what you want to do. What do you really want to do? Go do that. Sean Wayland said that to me about six months ago. Never forgot it. What do you want to do? No, like, no, man. Like, what do you really want to do? Go do that. That's what you're being called to. That gut feeling is God's whisper. I think that's Winona Ryder's, Winona Judd, maybe. That's her quote. I hope this episode speaks to you, wakes you up in an area you didn't know you need to be woken up in. 2025 is right around the corner. You've got questions, thoughts, ideas, concerns, an idea, you've gotten a nudge, somebody told you, saw a billboard, you saw a sign that you should start a podcast. That, my friend, is reason in and of itself. to take a closer look and just be with that for a minute and see what's possible. Cause I guarantee as living proof that starting a podcast will radically change your life and your business. If you let it, how do I know why am I qualified to speak on that topic? Cause I'm currently living it, have lived it, and God willing, we'll continue to live it. And you can too. We're entering into a completely different, we had AI on the onset here. We got crypto, Blowing up, we got content being the first thing we do online, the news feed, the Instagram feed, the LinkedIn feed. It's the first place we're going. Are you showing up there to talk about what you do? And if you're not, who's missing out because you're not showing up? Who's missing out because you're not sharing your expertise? and your gifts with the world. Someone is. I know that's a tough pill to swallow. It should be. This is what I'm talking about when I say waking you up in areas that you didn't know you even needed to be woken up in. That's why we do what we do here at Podcast Suck. Thanks for tuning into this episode, questions, thoughts, ideas, concerns about this episode, wherever you're tuning in. Maybe you're watching the replay of the live, uh, the live video recording of this podcast on LinkedIn or YouTube or on Twitter or Facebook comment below. I do respond to each and every one of you lovely people. Send me a DM over on Instagram at podcast suck. That's podcast, plural two S's. Let's have a conversation. There's a link in this post. If you are watching the replay, the live video, you can book a call with me. If you're listening to the podcast episode, then I'm all up in your earbuds right now. Use the link in the podcast description. As long as you're not driving is there for you to book a call. I want to chat about what's possible. Tell you right now, what's possible. Anything only a hundred percent of the time. Isn't that the truth? So I hope you're leaving this episode knowing at least one or two things you didn't know about, is there too many podcasts out there already? The answer to that, no. Let this be a call to action for you to get started. Get started now. This time next year, you will be so glad you started a podcast. Until next time, friends. Thanks so much for tuning into this episode. We sure do appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show wherever you consume podcasts. That's the way we get updates as new episodes become available. If you feel so inclined, please leave us a review and share the show with someone you know should start a podcast or may already have one. And remember, podcasts suck if you don't have one. Until next time, friends.

Sebastian Rusk