IAM2816 – Podcast Producer And Consultant Helps Individuals and Brands Promote Their Podcasts

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Transcription:

Gresham Harkless 00:00
Yeah.

Mathew Passy 00:00
I mean, I guess the one thing I would say to anybody who is thinking about starting a business or creating any new type of venture, podcast, video, again, whatever that looks like, is just get going. You can't learn anything. You can't get better. If all you're doing is strategizing, you have to do it. You have to make the mistakes in podcasting all the time. I say you have to suck at it before you can get better at it.

Gresham Harkless 00:52
Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I Am CEO Podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today at Matthew Passy of the Podcast Consultant. Matthew is awesome to have you on the show.

Mathew Passy 01:01
It is great to be here. Thanks for inviting me.

Gresham Harkless 01:02
No problem. Super excited to have you on. And what I want to do is just read a little bit more about Matthew so I can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. And he's a podcast producer and consultant at the Podcast Consultant. Com. He helps individuals and brands and small businesses develop, launch, and produce and promote their podcasts. Among his active rosters of clients, they have enjoyed over 20 million podcast downloads and growing. Podcasting wasn't a thing when he started his career, but as soon as it hit the scenes he launched, he saw its potential. He launched his first podcast for the biggest FM talk show in New Jersey. After that, he spent eight years producing, hosting and creating podcasts for the Wall Street Journal. Today, he produces podcasts for private clients across the United States. He loves this meeting because it gives content creators the ability to share their story, ask their questions, or express themselves however they see fit. He's also a longtime New Jersey resident. He currently lives in Cherry Hill, New Jersey with his wife, Brooke, and their twin children, Hailey and Hunter. Matthew, are you ready to speak to the I Am CEO community?

Mathew Passy 01:53
I am ready to talk to them.

Gresham Harkless 01:54
Let's make it happen. So I'm happy to have you on the show. I know you're the podcast guru, but I wanted to kick everything off with your CEO story and hear a little bit more about what led you to get started with your business.

Mathew Passy 02:03
So it's funny because I never really wanted to be my own business Owner. As you mentioned in the bio, I had worked for a radio station and I worked for a pretty large company for a long time, and I was okay being a company guy. I like the safety and security of having a company behind me and benefits and HR and all those different things taken care of. Vacation days, sick days, all that stuff is fantastic. And at the end of 2014, the Dow Jones, the parent company of the Wall Street Journal, decided, you know, we're going to get out of the radio business. And at the same time, they exited the podcasting business. And all of us were laid off just like that. And I was not prepared for that. And honestly, my first instinct was to start looking for a new job. I was out there submitting resumes, had some interviews, was actually in talks to join another company, and that was very slow going. But what happened was while I was looking for work, there were all these people that I used to interview at the Wall Street Journal for podcasts, and they reached out. They're like, you know, we really miss doing these interviews with you. We really miss doing the podcast. They were great marketing vehicles. Do you think you could help us with that? And I was like, sure, why not? You know, I think all I need is a computer, right? We could figure it out. Yeah, let's do it. And so I started doing it just as a small side job, you know, few clients here and there, piecing it together. Wound up getting a few part time gigs doing, you know, related marketing, digital marketing, Stu. But was still out there trying to find the full time job and fast forward, you know, about a year or so, and the podcasting piece was just growing and growing. And it actually got to a point where I was losing money when I was working part time because there were hours that I couldn't be building this business. And so I finally decided to cut everything else that I was doing, go full time in this. And so now I'm. I don't really own the title of CEO. I've always thought, you know, in this role it didn't really feel appropriate. But, you know, the buck stops here. Top dog, business owner, entrepreneur now. And, you know, while I said I was never into it, never thought I would be that kind of person, I'm. I'm glad I've gone down this road.

Gresham Harkless 03:57
Yeah, absolutely. I think it's always awesome when you get the opportunity to really kind of perfect your craft and work on your craft. And then it kind of seems like the whole industry kind of came along to what you were doing. And it seems like a Perfect match and a perfect kind of semblance of different experiences that you were able to take and leverage and also help out with the growing industry.

Mathew Passy 04:14
Yeah, I mean, I would say that I was very lucky in my timing. I mean, I thought when Dow Jones said they wanted to get out of radio, I was like, okay, makes a little bit of sense. You know, the radio industry has been struggling for a lot of different reasons, and, you know, I understood that. But when they decided to let us go, podcasting had just sort of blown up for whatever recurrence you want to call it. It was at the end of 2014, and right at that time was when Serial had really blown up on the scene and podcasting was all the rage. People were talking about it and SNL was parodying it. And so it was very fortuitous that they decided to exit podcasting at that time. They wound up getting back into it and that others wanted to do it.

Gresham Harkless 04:52
And.

Mathew Passy 04:52
Yeah, it's just been. It's been this exciting roller coaster of seeing the space really just continue to grow and more and more clients coming and saying not just that we want a podcast, but we feel like we need a podcast for part of our marketing.

Gresham Harkless 05:04
That makes perfect sense. Yeah, it kind of seems like you have to have a podcast, like, just as you said, because it's not even a want to have, it's kind of like a need to have, just because it's a way for you to use it, especially from a marketing and platform standpoint. So I know you mentioned some of those clients that are coming to you. Can you take me through a little bit more so we can hear a little bit more about what you're doing to help work with the clients?

Mathew Passy 05:21
Sure. So clients come to me and they say they want to start a podcast, and we try and do everything for them, basically everything but talk into the mic for them. So we start by setting up their podcast. Title, format, description, artwork, music, the equipment that they're going to use on air, training, performance training. You know, give them the confidence to sound like a podcast or sound like someone who's been doing this for a long time. Help them with their hosting, you know, choosing the right platform, getting them all the distribution that they need, giving them advice and coaching on how to announce and launch and market this podcast once they're ready to go. And then we do episode production. So most of my clients, they record their interviews or their monologues or whatever it is that they're going to do, upload it to Dropbox, Google Drive, whatever. Some Sort of cloud storage. We take that down, we clean up their files, we make any content edits that are requested, clean up the audio. As far as not just the ums and the ahs and the belching and the coughs and all that stuff, but also, you know, processing, leveling it. All that good stuff that goes into good audio production. Add in their music and intros and outros and commercials if they have them, and then we actually help them schedule and publish the episodes. I've even got some clients that we do show notes and transcripts and even offer marketing packages. So literally all they have to do

Gresham Harkless 06:30
is talk into a mic and there you go. And a lot of times it helps out so much because I think a lot of times when, you know, people get in business, they have their zone of genius or thing that they work on and then they want to, of course, promote themselves and talk about what it is that they do, but they think about all those things that you just described about having to do all those things themselves, and it kind of pushes people away from even starting it. But, you know, being able to kind of have, you know, the expertise that you have for one and then also be able to lean on that and work with you helps them to probably be even better at what they do because they know everything's taken care of.

Mathew Passy 06:56
Well, and for so many of them, it comes down to a few of my clients have described it as like the lawnmower, the mowing your lawn, you know, thing like, yeah, I could mow my lawn, I could launch a podcast. But my time is more valuable to me either spending with the kids doing this, doing that. And when it comes to their business, like, yeah, they are not audio producers, podcast producers, media producers, they are really good at what they do on a daily basis. And so the time it would take them, even if they didn't want highly detailed editing, just all the time it takes to put out a good podcast, that time to them is way more valuable doing what they do best, talking to clients, marketing themselves, working on whatever projects it is. And so, yeah, it makes sense that I, you know, I didn't create a small business and this the client, not me, but right, like they didn't create a small business so they could also have a job podcasting. Right? Like good podcasts are a full time job in and of itself. They have a business doing something else. And so their focus, their time is more valuable and, and better suited doing what they do best and focusing on that. So, you know, are services like mine useful for every person that wants to start a podcast. No, absolutely not. There are plenty of people who don't need this, who, you know, it's valuable for them to learn to be part of it, to own the whole piece of it, or the podcast itself will be their full time job. And so why share that revenue with somebody else? But for others who see this as a part of their marketing or a part of their advertising, then yeah, bring on somebody who can not only do this, but can do it more. You know, like I can get it done in half the time that most people can do it. And just because this is all we focus on.

Gresham Harkless 08:25
Right. That makes perfect sense. And on the flip side, you know, as a business owner, if you're a lawyer or dentist, whatever it is that you might be, you want to focus on what's your zone of genius on and not have to worry about all those things. But I wanted to ask you. So it kind of sounds like, and definitely correct me if I'm wrong, it sounds like the best fit of those people that maybe have like a business or have some way that they want to generate revenue, but in just kind of how, as you said, they have the ability to use this as a marketing advertising opportunity to kind of complement what they're doing.

Mathew Passy 08:50
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think if your goal in life is to build out a podcast that is going to be your sole revenue provider, then we can work with you, certainly. And I can consult and coach and give you some advice as far as things you could do. But it's best for you to either own that or have a team that's dedicated to doing it 24 7. But, right, if you are using this as a way to raise your reputation, get your name out there, build out your brand, use this as a sales funnel to drive more people to it. Well, you don't want to be spending time editing audio. You want to spend time responding to that sales funnel, responding to those emails, you know, putting together your presentations. If you're the lawyer. Right. Like those billable hours, you're not making any billable hours editing a podcast, but you are making them talking to clients and doing research and all that stuff. Same thing. You can't have a patient sitting in the dentist chair waiting for you to check it out. If you're in the back room, you know, clipping out your. So, right. Like it's, it's, it's more for the folks whose time is better spent doing what they do best and knowing that they can still put out a product that is high quality. And is going to give them and their brand. Right. It's going to reflect on their brand as well as they would want it to.

Gresham Harkless 09:52
Yeah, absolutely. And definitely going back to what you said, you know, nobody likes to cut in the grass unless you have a lawn company, then maybe that's your thing. So don't know that's where you do that.

Mathew Passy 10:00
Or you want to get away from the family for an hour. You need that time outside to mow the water. For most people, you know, I'd much rather be with my kids than, you know, stand out there and mowing the lawn for an hour or two.

Gresham Harkless 10:10
There you go. That makes perfect sense. So now I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And it could be for you personally. Personally or for your organization. What do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Mathew Passy 10:19
I think the one thing that I have focused on with this business, and it started from day one, and I've always tried to maintain it as a priority, is customer service. You know, I don't think I am the absolute greatest 100% best podcast editor ever on the planet. I'm good. I know I'm really good at what I do, but I think what sets me apart is that I care so much about every single one of my clients and making sure that they put out a good product. It means putting in the extra time to listen and do a good job with the work that we have to do for them. It means that when there's a problem, they reach out. And as long as I can, like, immediately jumping on that call, answering that email, going in and fixing the problem and being there for them, I mean, most of my business has come from word of mouth referral. And so what has led to that is because when somebody goes on one of my clients podcasts and they say, wow, this is a lot of fun, or this sounds really good, or better yet, I mean, I had a scenario where literally they're in the middle of recording and something's not working, and the guy calls, he's like, hey, we're having a problem with this. I answered the phone, walked him through it on the phone. They got into, you know what? They wound up getting the recording going. And the person that they were interviewing also wanted to start a podcast. And he was like, well, yeah, that's the guy. I want. The guy who, you know, was there, friendly, helpful, and got it done and did so in a professional way.

Gresham Harkless 11:37
Yeah, that makes so much sense. And it goes so far, especially when people like we were talking about before, you know, you're focusing on your business, you're focusing on the day to day. If you're having an issue with the podcast, you don't want to have to, you know, spend time going through figuring out all those things. And to have somebody kind of on call or have somebody that you can reach out to for that expertise, you can definitely lean on that. That speaks wonders to what you're doing and also to help out. So many other people appreciate you for sharing that with us. And I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be an Apple book or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Mathew Passy 12:06
I think one thing that I do that I don't know if it makes me more effective, but I think it makes me happier with what I do is I work from home, I set my own schedule, I'm my own boss. And it took me a long time to adjust to that lifestyle. And I'm still working on it. But the one thing I do, as you mentioned in the intro, I have now two and a half year old twin kids and I set hours. They go to daycare, school in the morning and when they go, you know, I dropped them off, I come home, eat breakfast and I start working. And at 4 o' clock every day, I punch out. I don't take calls, maybe I'll answer an email or two at a time, but from four until they go to bed, it's family time.

Gresham Harkless 12:45
Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And so now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or a piece of advice or if you can hop into a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Mathew Passy 12:54
God, oh man. If I could do this all over again, I would probably have learned in the beginning to a couple of things. One, outsource more. The other thing is about pricing yourself. When I first got started, I definitely underpriced myself considerably because my thinking was, well, I don't have a lot of experience, I don't have a lot of reputation. And in fact, at the time that I was doing this was still kind of a new field and venture. So I didn't even know how to price it. And I thought the only way I was going to win clients was by undercutting what I thought was my real value. And what it turned out was I was charging for what the time was worth in my mind. Like, oh, I want to make, making up these numbers. But if I want to make $20 an hour, okay, I'll charge whatever it takes to $20 an hour. But what you don't realize when you're working at a company is that $20 an hour that you're getting, your company is charging 50, 60, $70 an hour for that same time. Because, right, they've got to cover things like medical expenses, paid time off, sick leave. And so one, if you don't charge enough, you'll make enough money to cover what you're doing, but not enough to grow and expand. And two, by undercutting yourself at the beginning people, you are basically saying, this is my value. And yeah, there's always going to be people that want to pay as little as possible, but the better clients, the more serious clients, the better customers, they want to pay for higher value. And so if you want to provide a higher value product and service, you've got to charge, you've got to set your pricing to reflect that. And I noticed once I raised my prices a few times, once I got to a certain level, all of a sudden I actually saw my business increase.

Gresham Harkless 14:27
Awesome, awesome, awesome. So now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question. I know you touched on this a little bit, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different, quote, unquote CEOs on this show. So, Matthew, what does being a CEO means?

Mathew Passy 14:38
Well, I mean, I think when you're talking about the actual CEO, right, if somebody's going to put those three initials on their title, what you are really talking about is more than just the head of a company. You're talking about the head of a large governing board. Right. It's someone who not only manages, who leads, but manages the leaders. Right. CEOs are answered to by CMOs and CFOs and CTOs and all these different people, you know, and if you're, if you're just managing people, I don't think you're a CEO. But if you were managing the managers and the leaders, I think that's when you really earn the title of CEO.

Gresham Harkless 15:14
Very well said. And Matthew, I truly appreciate that definition. I appreciate your time even more. And what I wanted to do was pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and listeners know and then, of course, how best they can get a hold of you, subscribe to your podcast and hear all the awesome things you're doing.

Mathew Passy 15:28
Yeah, I mean, I Guess the one thing I would say to anybody who is thinking about starting a business or creating any new type of venture, podcast, video, again, whatever that looks like, is just get going. You can't learn anything. You can't get better. If all you're doing is strategizing, you have to do it. You have to make the mistakes in podcasting all the time. I say you have to suck at it before you can get better at it. And if you want to reach out to me Matthew Passy M A T H W P A S S Y Podcast Consultant My name on all the social media channels should be easy enough to find even if you misspell my name. I think I've got all the domains that would, yeah, account for how you would misspell my name.

Gresham Harkless 16:08
There you go. That's a beautiful thing. And just to make it even easier, we'll make sure to have the links and information as well in the show notes. But thank you for that reminder as well too. You know, so busy, so, so often we get, you know, so caught up in the ready, aim. Aim, aim, aim, aim, aim. We never actually take any action. So thank you for that reminder on us taking action and understanding that sometimes mistakes and failure is part of the process and that's being successful. So thank you so much again, Matthew and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.