Welcome To Podcast Duck

Sebastian Rusk 0:02

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 laps, 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? Welcome back to another episode, or maybe it's your first episode, so welcome to the show. Either way, I'm glad you're here. I'm glad you took some time to spend just a few minutes with me to better understand what you don't know that you don't know about the world of podcasting.

Why Antiviral Beats Viral

Sebastian Rusk 0:51

On this episode, I'm bringing to you fresh off the press my most recent keynote that I delivered at Podcast Movement 2026 in New York City last week. The time I'm recording this episode, it's mid-September 2026. The talk is titled The Antiviral Podcast Strategy. How small podcasts can build big businesses. And I break down what that strategy looks like. It's not a long, drawn-out talk. It's short, sweet, to the point. It's about 20 minutes long, but I wanted to bring it to you in the form of a podcast episode because there's a lot of good information in there for you to really help paint a picture of what's possible for you to start a podcast and not have to worry about being the next best, biggest zillion download podcasts. No. Podcasts are not just about downloads and sponsorships. Podcasts are about the relationships and the opportunities that you get to create. Are downloads important? Some would argue yes and no, but they're not the entire picture. They're not the whole thing. So let's jump into it. If this episode uh does something for you, you got questions, thoughts, concerns, share it with somebody. Hit me up over on Instagram if you got any feedback or questions about this talk. It is my privilege to serve you guys. Here we go. Good morning. How's everybody doing? We got a little uh podcast silent disco action going here. All right, we're gonna have some fun this morning. Everybody go with that. Cool. My name is Sebastian Rusk. I'm a speaker, obviously, uh, and comedian and podcaster, all terrible career choices, but uh I got lucky and it's working out so far. I run an agency down in Miami. We help folks launch a podcast so they can radically change their life and their business by growing it through interviews. So today I want to talk to you guys about the antiviral podcast strategy. Antiviral? Isn't the goal to go viral? I don't think so. I don't think this day and age with podcasting viral is our goal right out of the gates. I think that there's so much more and available, and I'd like to unpack that with you guys today and help you better understand what you don't know that you don't know about going anti-viral with a podcast. Everybody go with that, say yes or yes. All right, cool. So, how does small podcasts slowly build big businesses? Is the question we want to ponder today and ask. I firmly believe, after doing this for the past 15 years, that podcasting is so much more about quality versus quantity. We always want to measure the numbers and the metrics and who's listening and who's subscribing and who's smashing that subscribe button. But what's actually happening through the conversations that we're having on our podcast? You don't need everybody listening. You need the right people listening. If your mom and your cousin and your dog, I don't know if dogs listen to podcasts or not, but everyone is so wound up on getting 100,000 downloads and going viral and doing all the things. Everyone wants 100,000 downloads on their podcast, but most of us can't even get 100 people to our birthday party. So I think our priorities need to be realigned a little bit so we can focus on keeping the main thing, the main thing, and that is who can I invite on to my podcast and have a conversation with that would inevitably impact my life and my business indefinitely. We got the right people leaning in, and we're not focused on the wrong things, a lot of incredible things can happen. So we've been focusing on downloads and followers and subscribers and all the stuff that all the vanity metrics that really stroke our ego and give us that shot of dopamine to go, I am awesome. But in reality, it's not sustainable because if those subscribers and followers and downloads are not converting into both impacting your life and your business for the better, what's really the point of it? Attention matters, but it's not the primary focus of your return on investment. I firmly believe that if you focus on the return on the relationships that are being created from your podcast, it changes everything in so many different areas that we don't even know about. But it's about showing up and saying, I'm willing to have conversations and meet people and lead with. I'd love to have you on my podcast and have a conversation with you and chat about how we may be able to help each other. Not a sales pitch. I'm gonna get into why that is absolutely important when you're sitting down with people to make sure you're not pitching them on your podcast. And there is a creative way to be able to do it. So

The Four-Step Antiviral Framework

Sebastian Rusk 5:40

the antiviral framework, okay? What we're looking at here is the right guest, a real conversation, a relationship, and an opportunity. So it goes a little something like this. Christine, it was a pleasure to meet you at Podcast Movement 2026 in New York City. Let's connect further. But for starters, let's get you on my podcast. I want to tell your story. I want to better understand what you're doing, who you serve, why you do what you do. And then after the interview, if it's okay with you, we'll chat for a few minutes on how we may be able to support each other. How's that sound? Very rarely is someone gonna say no to that. And if they do, they're not your people anyway. Stay away from those people. People you ask to be on your podcast and they're like, I'm not sure, I'll get back to you. No, please don't. Start treating it like a relationship strategy, not a download strategy, not a podcast strategy. Start treating it like the relationships that you're creating through these interviews are actually going to take you where you want to go because they are. Now, if you combine, now let's say you have a successful show and the show's continuing to grow and you have all the things, you got the downloads and the followers, and all the things that one would hope for when they're starting, I would double down with this strategy. Because if you've already got the following and the subscribers and you're monetizing and you're doing all the things, great. What does it look like to create a relationship strategy within the one you've already got that works? Most people are like, well, I'll focus on one or the other. I really don't need the other. I think we need both. Because as we know, nothing lasts forever. But relationships, when treated correctly and nurtured correctly and appropriately, um, continue to serve us for years and years to come, not just in our business, but also our personal lives as well.

A Client Case Study In Revenue

Sebastian Rusk 7:24

So this is a uh my client and uh golf buddy of mine, he's become a dear friend as well, uh, Kevin Spencer, owns a retail uh point of sale company in South Florida. He came here from uh Trinidad about five years ago and uh opened up a business and has done extremely well in the South Florida market. And he came to me, he's in my local networking chapter, uh BI chapter, and said, uh, Sebastian, I want to start a podcast. And I said, I think you should, because you would be able to create relationships with people that you want to do business with. He literally took that strategy, went out in the streets, and went crazy inviting retail business owners to be a guest on his podcast. He's been with me about two and a half years now, and he's made approximately $225,000 by just interviewing people on his podcast. He doesn't post the clips, he doesn't share the episodes, he doesn't do any of that at all. He plays golf, he runs his business, he records podcast episodes, and he does very, very well with it. So this is a real life case study. I use one of my clients because I don't want to sit and talk about my own success on what I've done. But when I started, very humble beginnings 15 years ago, I didn't have a dollar to my name, but I could talk to the cows come home. So if I meet you and I want to get to know you, I can do something for you. I can interview you and I can build a relationship for you. And the way that life works, when we align ourselves with the right people and the right company, people come alongside us and want to support that. They saw the grind early on. I met Gary Vaynerchuk in 2010, became an incredible friend and mentor of mine when he was reviewing wine on YouTube. Now he's obviously a worldwide phenomenon, but back in the day, before people could even pronounce his name, I had the opportunity to interview him multiple times. And along with that came some mentorship and the ability to really help show show me the way and pave my way on what I've done over the past 15 years with helping folks radically change their life and their business because they decided to start a podcast. But Kevin is just one example of uh what we've done here, but that's what I teach. When someone comes to me and says, Sebastian, I want to start a podcast, my first question is why? Well, I mean Joe Rogan. Terrible answer. Joe's a great interviewer, great podcaster, wild success. It speaks for itself. But most of us are never going to get there. I hate to rain on anybody's parade, but the average person getting started is probably not going to be the next Joe Rogan. But you'll be the next John or Samantha or Jenny or whatever it is that you're building in your own little world. But it's all done through these relationships. Kevin likes to play golf, enjoy time with his family, run his business, and the guy's never had a bad day. I don't know if you met anybody from Trinidad. They've never had a bad day in their life. Guy just smiles ear to ear every day and is extremely fired up about uh his podcast and continues to be. Um, I don't know where he took that photo. It looks like it's somewhere out of like, you know, Trinidad Luxury Cruising magazine, but uh here we are. I got it from Google.

The Dream 10 And The Invite

Sebastian Rusk 10:30

So here's what I want you to execute on, and this can start immediately. This is your strategy right here. Your dream 10 is what you what I want you to start with. I want you to identify 10 people that you know or or that somebody that you know knows that you want to meet. Who 10 people that would meaningfully impact your business if you sat down and you had a conversation with them on your podcast and you built a relationship with them. Not just anybody, but how can you but also start thinking if if I met that person, how could they help me, but also how could I help them? Because it's not always about what we can get from something, it's about what we can give. And when we can and when when we can get both of those things to work in unison, it becomes a beautiful process. Next, you invite them, you create a genuine conversation, not a disguised sales call. We're not looking to get a little chicka chica chicka slim shady up in here. We're looking to say, hey, I really want to have a conversation because I want to get to know you and I want to build a relationship with you. Most importantly, I want to find out how I can show up for you. Because what happens when we extend the olive branch and say, hey, I just want to show up for you and see how I can help you. Our natural instinct, if you're a good person, if you're a decent human being, is to say, We here, here's what I'm looking for. But also, how can I help you? See how that works? If I can help you and you help me, it's kind of like uh Bubba and Forrest Comp. Remember, hey, Bubba, you lean up against my back and I'll lean up against yours that way. We don't have to sleep in the mud. Remember that? And it was raining that day. Sideways rain. Up okay.

Follow Up Without Being Salesy

Sebastian Rusk 12:05

Uh and then you follow up after the conversation with these people. So you invite them, get them on the podcast. Sometimes you got the opportunity to chop it up with them while you're doing the interview. Fantastic. I always allow time for that. My interviews are short and sweet, 20, 25 minutes max. And then we're gonna spend a few minutes saying, hey, help me better understand what you got going on, what you're all about, what's your biggest pain point right now? What's your biggest bottleneck? Is there anything I can do to serve you from my side of the fence? And naturally you're gonna go, yeah, actually there is. And by the way, how can I help you? So, what I do on my show is I get done with Christine and I say, Hey, Christine, it's great to meet you in New York. Thanks so much for your time today. I really enjoyed our conversation. Listen, I'd be remiss to not ask you when do you start a podcast? You know what? I've been thinking about that for a while, and I and I know that's what you do. You guys have like a done-for-you solution to get us launched and you support us ongoing. Oh, yeah, you record, upload the content, my team takes care of all the rest of the heavy lifting. Amazing. We're either gonna continue that conversation because Christine said, All right, tell me all about it, or she's gonna say, I gotta run. Can we book a call for another time? Either way, we're creating that opportunity, but it's kind of tongue in cheek. So, uh, when do you start a podcast? I'm not disguising that sales call. I'm it's my responsibility to say, hey, when are you starting a podcast? If you don't have one, or if you've got one, what can I do to help you support that? And time and time again, back in the day when I first started, I didn't have any money, so I could just interview people to meet them and figure out where it's gonna go. Now I'm very, very clear about who I want to meet and who my ideal avatar is. If you own a seven to nine-figure business, you don't have a podcast, you're out shaking hands, kissing babies, networking, sponsoring, speaking, books, doing all the things, you need a podcast. So I want to be able to create the opportunity for that to happen for you. That's not my sales pitch, that's how I approach things, and it seems to be very, very organic. Not one person has said, you know what? I knew it. Guy with the podcast suck hat on. He got me, interviewed me, and then he pitched me. No. Because guess what? When we're ready to buy, we welcome the pitch. Let's go. Sales is, you know, integrity sales says that we sell someone something because it's in their best interest, not ours. If we do that, we always get what we want. Funny how that works out, right? Nobody wants to be sold. They want their problem solved, they want the pain point relieved. And more times than not, I firmly believe a podcast relieves several pain points in a business. Number one, networking. Number two, relationship building, tied into networking as well. Sales tool. You ever thought about going back to your pipeline? People that were on the fence, people that were almost at the finish line, but didn't quite get there, and going back through that pipeline and saying, hey man, I know we chatted about six months ago. Love to have you on my new podcast and tell your story, talk about your business, and if you're up for it, we can revisit the conversation we had. And if not, we'll have a great time inter uh great time on the podcast interview. How's that sound? Very rarely is someone gonna say, I don't know about that. And if they do, they're not your people. Stay away from those people. Uh the interview creates the relationship, the follow-up creates the opportunity. They always say the there's fortune in the follow-up. You know why? Because no one follows up, and we always forget. And it's always, I think we've all we we're all we all fall short with the follow-up on there, but that gentle nudge. You ever follow by show of hands? Who's followed up with somebody? And when you followed up with them, they said, you know, your ears must have been ringing. Because I was just thinking about this. Wow. I said it was. I woke up in the middle of the night and I'm like, you know what? Nancy, I'm calling her in the morning. I had that great conversation with her, and I called, we got it. Next thing you know, you got a sales opportunity on the calendar on her. Follow up, follow up, follow up. But remember, you've already done something for them out of the gates. You got them on the podcast. You guys are like besties now. You had them on the podcast, you interviewed them, you chopped it up with them. Tell me about your life, your family, your business, how can I support you? We were actual, like real human beings, not like transactional. What can I get from you? And if you can't do anything for me, I'm not interested in talking to you. That strategy is a lose-lose scenario. Whoops, I know how to work a clicker.

Return On Interviews And Human Moments

Sebastian Rusk 16:35

ROI. I've redefined what ROI is for this talk, and that's return on interviews. Return on interviews. Who did I meet because I invited somebody onto my podcast and I interviewed them? What relationship did I deepen following up with existing pipeline, old relationships and conversations that we've already had, and for one reason or another, we're not able to do business together at that point in time, but because you invited them back on your podcast, you were able to reignite that conversation and it turned into a sales and revenue opportunity for you. What opportunity did it create? Did it kick open a door for you? Did you get that introduction you were looking for? Was that the person you wanted to do business with? Was it just an incredible conversation and you got some really good uh clips to share on socials to both promote your guest and yourself where you both win? That's definitely a great opportunity. It's not always that I close a deal. Everyone wants to close a deal. We all want to make money, but I think it's very important to not overlook the other opportunities that are there that are actual seeds and that are actual dots that are being connected that we didn't know needed to be connected. What happened because we had that conversation? Just realized I had my iPods in. Can we ever take these things out? It can't be good to keep these things in all the time. Um what happened because we had the conversation? Really sit down. If you execute on this strategy, I encourage you to stop and write down what actually happens from that conversation. From the second you guys jump on Zoom or Riverside or in person or whatever, what happened? Did somebody tell you about their weekend, their life? Maybe they're going through a storm right now, and you, you know, your infectious energy showed up and just kind of was a was a was a ray of sunshine in their day because of that podcast interview, was a healthy distraction, if you will. Maybe that was you. Maybe you're just having a case of woke up on the wrong side of the bed, and you're like, I don't think this day is gonna turn around. And then you invite John on the podcast, and John's got jokes. And he cracks you up and completely shifts your focus, and and and and and all of a sudden, you know what? What you were worrying about before the interview, not really a problem. These are the things we go through in this little thing called life and this human experience that we're at. That's why I bring these things up. It's not always business and transactional. I've experienced this stuff, you know? People being real, people sharing stories. The worst is getting choked up. I'm an emotional guy, getting choked up is somebody shares a story. Somebody gets vulnerable. Vulnerability is a bridge to communication and relationships, I believe. It's also a superpower. And when people get vulnerable on podcasts, they trust you. And that allows you to be vulnerable as well. And what's that do for the listener? Wow, that was a really good conversation. Because we're not sitting here going, hey, I'll sell you my BS and you sell me yours and we'll call it a deal. We're actually able to be human and real about it. Downloads matter, they're just not the entire scoreboard. So, the million dollar question. Literally, could be a million dollar question. Who is one person your podcast could give you a reason to talk to? Go invite that person today. Thank you. Is that time? Any questions? I got a couple minutes.

Reaching Hard Guests Through Gatekeepers

Speaker 1 20:46

How do you get to the person who is talking about?

Sebastian Rusk 20:51

Who do they know? Who's around them? Who's their camp? That's how I got. So if if somebody's very hard to reach and there's a couple layers there, and a gate, what do we used to call them? The gatekeeper was there. So what I did even back in the day, it was gosh, 15 years ago, trying to get a hold of Gary, I got a hold of his personal assistant. He had a team of like three at the time, but I made friends or became friendly with his personal assistant. And his personal assistant was the one to kick the door open and actually set up the interview. He happened to have a book signing in Miami the following week. The bookstore was around the corner from my house. Everything just kind of lined up on there. But had I not known Phil, um I probably would have never gotten in. So it's like who knows? Who's there a couple layers around? Who's their camp around there that may know and that you can have conversations with and figure out how to navigate getting to that individual?

Speaker 1 21:35

So I was like, oh, I didn't have some pretty good security.

Sebastian Rusk 21:39

Correct. Correct. But you got socials as well, too. You know, you got LinkedIn, you got Instagram, you got Facebook. I mean, I know those those channels are really noisy these days, but you can definitely wiggle your way in there and get creative with getting in front of that individual and getting their attention. Yeah, absolutely. Any more questions? Thank you guys for being an attendant. I appreciate it. Thank you.

Speaker 1 22:04

Honestly, it's because every episode is not messed. I mean, it's messy.

Speaker 2 22:08

Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 22:09

It's health, but it's not mess. You know what I mean?

Speaker 2 22:13

I want to introduce myself. I'm Jeremy. I followed you on social media for like three or four years. Jeremy, what's up, brother? I used to do radio.

Sebastian Rusk 22:21

Oh, yes, absolutely. Thank you so much.

Speaker 2 22:24

I jumped 100% in the podcast a year ago. Cool, man. I love reading your stuff and very insightful.

Sebastian Rusk 22:30

Cool, dude. I appreciate that. Where are you based?

Speaker 2 22:32

Raleigh, North Carolina. Cool, man. Yeah. Very cool. Very cool. I appreciate that, too.

Sebastian Rusk 22:36

Thanks, man. I appreciate that, dude.

Speaker 2 22:38

I booked this whole trip last minute. And I was walking back from I didn't look at today aside from what I quote, and I was walking back from breakfast. I'm like, oh, we gotta get there now. I gotta catch this guy before he's done. I appreciate that. Thanks for saying hello, man. I really appreciate it. Let me know if I can do anything to help you, all right? I appreciate that. So hold on two seconds.

Sebastian Rusk 22:53

Follow me over here real quick. Great job, man. Thank you, my brother. I appreciate that.

Closing Thanks And Subscribe Ask

Sebastian Rusk 23:00

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. We'll get updates as new episodes become available. If you feel so inclined, please leave us to review and share the show with someone you know should start a podcast or may already have one. And remember, podcasts up if you don't have one. Until next time, friends.