IAM1824 – CEO Helps Entrepreneurs Get Their Message Out by Appearing as Guests on Podcasts

Transcription:

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Jeremy Slate Teaser 00:00

We've really drilled down on how to make people not just find the right audience to speak in front of, but what to actually do with it.

Because I think one of the biggest disconnects, whether it's a podcast or whether it's press or PR, a lot of people don't know what to do with it. They think the actual interview or the press feature is the end result.

Intro 00:17

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of.

This is the I AM CEO podcast.

Gresham Harkless 00:42

Hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I appreciate you listening to this episode. If you've been listening this year, you know that we've hit 1600 episodes at the beginning of this year. We're doing something a little bit different where we're repurposing our favorite episodes around certain categories, topics, or as I like to call them, business pillars that we think are going to be extremely impactful for CEOs, entrepreneurs, and business owners just like you, what I like to call the CB nation architects who are looking to level up their organizations.

This month, we are focusing on CEO Hacks and CEO Nuggets. This is by far one of my favorite questions I asked on the show. In other words, I asked, what are the apps, books, and habits that makes you more effective and efficient. Those were the CEO Hacks. Then I asked for a word of wisdom or a piece of advice or something that you might tell your younger business self, if you were to hop into a time machine. Those were the CEO nuggets. That's what we'll focus on this month and some of the top ones that can instantly impact your business.

I love all the questions, but with every episode, I thought I would walk away with something I could look at and implement right there to save precious resources, time, and money. Or I would also learn about the advice, tips, and tidbits or tools of the trade on how to level up our organization. So you'll hear some of these this month. So sit back and enjoy this special episode of the I AM CEO podcast.

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Jeremy Slate of the Create Your Own Life Podcast. Jeremy, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Jeremy Slate 02:17

Hey Gresh, I'm stoked to be hanging out with you here, man. I know I've actually followed your blog for a bit. So it's awesome to finally get a chance to chat man.

Gresham Harkless 02:23

Yeah, I definitely agree. We feature on the blog. So I'm super excited to introduce Jeremy so you can learn a little bit more about him. I wanted to read his bio so that you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing and been able to accomplish.

So Jeremy Slate is the founder of Create Your Own Life Podcast which helps entrepreneurs live the lives they know they were meant to. He studied literature at Oxford University, specializing in and using podcasts and new media to create celebrity, and was ranked number one in iTunes, new and noteworthy, and number 26 in the business category.

After his success in podcasting, Jeremy and his wife, Brielle Slate, founded Command Your Brand to help entrepreneurs get their message out by appearing as guests on podcasts.

Jeremy, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

Jeremy Slate 03:06

Dude, let's do it. I'm stoked to chat with all the CEOs out there, man.

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Gresham Harkless 03:10

Awesome. Awesome. I apologize for butchering your wife's name. So hopefully I didn't do that too bad.

Jeremy Slate 03:14

It's not a common name, man. So that's fine. It's actually a town down by the Jersey shore that she's named after.

Gresham Harkless 03:19

Oh, cool. Cool. Cool. I wish I had that. There is a Gresham, Oregon. I've heard though. So maybe we have that in common. So.

Jeremy Slate 03:24

Maybe man.

Gresham Harkless 03:25

There you go. There you go. So the first question I had is I wanted to hear a little bit more about your CEO story and what led you to start your business.

Jeremy Slate 03:31

Absolutely. So I'm 31. So things actually started a little bit late for me. My masters is in ancient history. Go figure. Not that's something you can make money with. So I went through a bunch of different businesses before I actually ended up in digital marketing and started this podcast from that. It wasn't like the, I get upset, I think, with the current narrative and online marketing. I was on my sister's couch and I had this great idea and then I built a business and now I'm making millions of dollars.

It wasn't this, straight-line thing. I had a network marketing business that didn't really go well. I sold life insurance. Like I said, the digital marketing and I also sold products on Amazon, but here's the thing, man, something I learned from each one of those things, like I can make cold calls like nobody's business and many of those different things. So I got established in the podcast space and Create Your Own Life podcast blew up. We're actually almost at a million downloads now closing in on 500 episodes that actually allowed me to create some celebrity in my space, which led to Forbes, and Ink magazine a couple of times.

I was like, all right, this is awesome. But how do you monetize this? Because one of the biggest things people are complaining about in the podcast spaces, we have a podcast, but how do we make money? And unless you get those advertisers, it's not happening. So we have advertisers now, interestingly enough, but when I started this in 2016, we actually started a business where we were doing full-service podcasts for people, we were doing production, building their website, doing their social media. It was a bear, man.

But one of the things we were doing was to launch it. Is we got people on shows because my wife's background is actually in PR. So we looked at that 20% of what we were doing, and that's what people actually really wanted, got rid of the other 80%. We haven't looked back since. Just every year. we've been trying to upgrade what we've been doing. It started with show booking and it went to adding storytelling, adding teaching content, marketing, and everything else to that.

Gresham Harkless 05:09

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. I appreciate you for drilling down and telling your full story because a lot of people think that success is the straight line path, but often it goes from left to side to side, up and down, all around all those different things. So it's great to hear how and how you came to this path.

Now I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper and I know you touched on it a little bit, but how are you actually helping serve these clients that you work with?

Jeremy Slate 05:28

Absolutely. So the big thing that we had started doing is getting people booked on podcasts, but there are quite a few firms that are doing that. So what we looked at is how can we serve people better? How can we do it as a high-end business? Because we really want to work with the best of the best. So what we actually added to what we were doing is we added a storytelling element because we found out a lot of people weren't great at telling their story, or at least in a way that's going to impact and lead to things.

So we broke it down and we found out that every interview has three main components, a story, a message, and a call to action. A lot of people are actually really, really strong at that message. What is my brand doing? What am I doing? They're not as great at personal story because they tell you about everything they've ever done in their entire life. Not that lines up with what they're doing. Then a lot of people stink at the call to action. You say, Hey, where can you find me? And they say this website, that website, I'm on Instagram here, Facebook here, Twitter here. So we actually help people to narrow down that single place to send people and what to give away.

So that actually helps people apply what you just taught and then an email sequence and things like that. So we've really drilled down on how to make people not just find the right audience to speak in front of, but what to actually do with it. Because I think one of the biggest disconnects, whether it's a podcast or whether it's press or PR, a lot of people don't know what to do with it. They think the actual interview or the press feature is the end result.

Gresham Harkless 06:41

Yeah, and that makes perfect sense. It's like the old adage build it and they will come, especially in marketing that doesn't necessarily happen. So you get the opportunity and then you got to figure out what to do with this. It sounds like you guys help people out with that.

Jeremy Slate 06:52

Absolutely. Because that's the biggest thing, man. It's not the end result. Like you have the feature. Then you have what you do with it. And as a podcast host, you love it just as much as I do, we want people to tell our story, getting our message out there. So that's what we help people to do.

Gresham Harkless 07:03

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. You might already touched on this, but I wanted to know if there's anything else you can speak to that is like your quote and quote, I call it your secret sauce or what do you feel distinguishes you or sets you apart?

Jeremy Slate 07:12

There are two different ways we can go about this. Because the one thing is in what we do in our business, which is setting people apart, but then there's what I've done with my personal brand that's set me apart. So which way you want to go with that?

Gresham Harkless 07:20

Let's go with your personal brand.

Jeremy Slate 07:22

Cool. So I think one of the biggest things that people screw up with is getting press because they all want the Forbes, the Ink, the entrepreneur, but you can't start there. They think that getting pressed to build their business as an elevator. It's not, it's stairs, man. There are different levels. So what I actually teach people is something called a small pond strategy, meaning that everybody has a small pond that cares about them. For me, I got my university, which is Seton Hall University here in New Jersey, and also a small local newspaper called Strauss News to cover a lot of what we were doing.

What happens is you can actually use a lot of your local notoriety to then build up. We use that to get TV features. We use that to get online features and as we built up more and more of those, the Forbes, the Ink, everything else came. So what people really need to understand is where's their power center because you have a couple of them. It's your local community. Now, mine's a lot more local than a lot of people because I grew up in a town that's five-eighths of a mile in size.

You also have your business organization. Let's say that you are a marketer, right? I'm sure there are organizations out there for marketers that care about what you're doing and how you're doing it differently. And also maybe your university, your rotary club, whatever it may be, find someplace to start small, hammer it hard then use that to get your next level, whether it be podcasts, whether it be press, whatever it may be. That's, what's going to land you those bigger features and that credibility.

Gresham Harkless 08:40

Yeah. That makes perfect sense. It's like adopting that understanding that it's a long game and that you can start small and start to leverage those and continue to grow and grow and grow.

Jeremy Slate 08:48

I took a breath in there somewhere too. I'll just let you know. That's the thing, man, is like people think it's the idea of the overnight success and it's not. It takes a lot of time and effort to figure this thing out because I know like recently now I've started getting noticed a lot more.

But dude, I've been doing this for 5 years. I think that's what people don't understand is the amount of time that it's going to take for you to get noticed. I think you have to be willing to as Grant Cardone talks about, take more time and more effort because those are the two things that are going to do it.

Gresham Harkless 09:19

Exactly. That makes perfect sense. Now I wanted to switch gears and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. This might be an app or a book or a couple of habits that you have, but something that makes you more effective and efficient as a CEO.

Jeremy Slate 09:31

The biggest thing is batching my time because this was something I really got nailed with when I first started my business because I'm good at a lot of things. So I tried to do too many things. So what I had to do first of all, is figure out what I'm best at then we hire either staff or virtual assistants or whatever it may be to handle those things. So that was part 1.

Then part 2 was I actually take blocks of time in my schedule. And let's say from 10 a. m. until noon, I'm only going to be writing blogs or on Tuesdays or Thursdays, I'm only going to do interviews and other people's podcasts. The biggest thing that really helped me because when I first started my podcast, I was doing shows whenever anybody was available, I took a tip out of John Lee Dumas's book. And every other Friday, I do interviews from 9 a. m. Eastern until 5 p. m. Eastern. What I'm able to do then is in two days, knock out three episodes a week worth of content for an entire month.

And that saves me a ton of time. So what I'm always looking to do is find tasks that are the same and do them at the same time. Because too often we're not doing what we should be doing while we're doing it. We're thinking about other things and doing other things.

Gresham Harkless 10:31

Exactly. Exactly. And it sounds like, correct me if I'm wrong, you start to gain momentum once you start doing that first podcast, that first blog post, then all of a sudden you start banging out more and more and more.

Jeremy Slate 10:39

And I'll tell you what, man, like I find the interviews are just better like they actually are because I find that I don't know if you've done back-to-backs before, but I find that the insight that I get in the first one carries to the second one to the third one.

And then it's beautiful because the interviews are better, but it also helps the audience because now that these conversations I had are interconnected and they can see those reality points.

Gresham Harkless 10:58

Exactly, exactly. No, that makes perfect sense. Now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. This might be a word of wisdom or piece of advice, but something that you might tell your younger business self.

Jeremy Slate 11:07

Oh, that's rough, man, because I probably would have told my younger self not to go to college because it just didn't go the way I was hoping for. But, you get a master's in ancient history, it's what do you do other than feel smart? No, but the thing I would say is it's going to take more time and more effort, and I would recommend two books for that. One's the 10 X rule by Grant Cardone. The other is called So Good They Can't Ignore You by Cal Newport.

Cal talks about finding what you're good at and getting so good at it that you become passionate. The whole idea of, I know my generation gets nailed for this. I'm a millennial of, I'm not passionate about it. I'm going to follow my passion. Like following your passion doesn't make you money. Find out what you're good at and you actually get passionate. It follows.

Gresham Harkless 11:45

Yeah, that makes perfect sense and you're absolutely right. As a millennial, I definitely get nailed for it as well. So yeah, I appreciate you for giving it a shout-out for the millennials.

Now I wanted to ask you for what is my favorite question, which is the definition of being a CEO. We're hoping to have different CEOs on this podcast. But I wanted to ask you specifically, what does being a CEO means to you?

Jeremy Slate 12:05

So it's a couple, it's two different things here. It's number one, being the chief vision officer. Understanding what the vision for your company is and putting it there. But number two, it's also building a team and a community because I think that's the biggest thing that a lot of businesses mess up on is they don't build something around this vision.

You have to put the vision there, but you also have to keep people interested in this vision and creating something awesome. So, for me, it's chief vision officer. And then I guess chief vision alignment container or something like that. The person that's continuing to keep that vision in alignment. I think that's the biggest thing.

Gresham Harkless 12:35

Yeah, it makes perfect sense because a lot of times when you start a business organization, you have this vision, but to be able to put that in vision, make sure everybody understands it and to continue on with it is definitely a great definition. So I appreciate that.

I appreciate you Jeremy for taking some time out of your schedule. What I want to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, to see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and our listeners know, and then how best people can get ahold of you.

Jeremy Slate 12:56

Absolutely. So the thing I would say, Gresh is how you start your day is one of the most important things to how you're going to finish your day.

So for me, I'm not a super early riser, but I get up and do the same thing every day. Workout, five-minute cold shower because it puts your body in the right place, low-carb breakfast and then I write my major targets for the day. If you get those things in alignment, you're going to be able to roll through your day a lot faster.

How you start the day is how you're going to finish the day. So that's the biggest piece of advice I would give to the audience. Get your fitness right, get your head right and then you can have an awesome day.

Gresham Harkless 13:27

Absolutely. And anybody that wants to follow up with you, Jeremy, what's the best way for them to hear about all the awesome things that you're doing?

Jeremy Slate 13:32

Absolutely. I actually put together an awesome worksheet for your audience. It's going to help them locate the right Podcast for them, what to say, and then how to approach them. That's over at commandyourbrand.media/checklist. That's going to be the ultimate worksheet to finding the right shows and rock and roll it, man.

Gresham Harkless 13:47

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. I appreciate you so much again for all the awesome things that you're doing, the impact that you're making. We'll have those links in the show notes just in case anybody wants to follow up. But again, my friend, I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Jeremy Slate 13:57

Absolutely, brother, thank you so much for having me. This has been awesome.

Outro 14:01

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO podcast, powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community.

Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and everywhere you listen to podcasts. Subscribe and leave us a five-star rating.

Grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.Co. This has been the I AM CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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