Reflection Episode: Reflecting on the first 6 months of this podcast experience

SPEAKER_00 0:00

We're ready to go. How's my complexion look? Should I do glasses or no glasses?

SPEAKER_02 0:05

Glasses. It hides some of the wrinkles.

SPEAKER_00 0:10

You're listening to the Learnins and Missteps podcast, where we intend to change the image of careers in the trades. We celebrate the real men and women who have built careers in the construction industry by bringing their personal stories straight to you. I began my career as a plumber's apprentice in the late 1900s. Over the last 26 years, I've had the fortune of meeting some of the most resilient, intelligent, and inspiring people who happen to be construction workers. My career path as a plumber has provided me with experiences and opportunities I thought were inaccessible. And I want you to know that the trades are a place where dreams can come true. These stories are brought to you by three brothers who share a mother. I am Jesse, your host. Our in-house writer is Ernest, aka La Voz. Hello. And our co-host, Renee. What's up? Y'all ready? Yes, sir. Dale. What's going on, y'all? We got a little reflection episode here for y'all. It's been six months since we launched the Learnings and Missteps podcast, and Renee and myself kind of go back and forth about what the experience has been like, what it was like when we started, where we are now, and how much y'all have impacted our lives. The learning that Renee has had and the learning that I've had has been immense. It's deeper than we expected. And I hope you can feel the appreciation coming through because y'all are really the fuel that keeps this endeavor going forward. Those of you that are interested in some exclusive content, early access to our episodes, and supporting the mission, we set up a Patreon account for y'all to contribute even more than you have so far. We've got four different levels. Any level that you sign up for will get you special recognition on the video version of these podcast episodes that we're now releasing on YouTube. We got a YouTube channel, baby. Watch out. We'd love to be able to share your name and let everybody else out there know that you're behind us. So you can find each of the four levels to sign up and contribute at patreon.com/slash learnings and missteps. We love you guys, and here we go. So it's been six months since we posted our very first podcast episode, Renee, and probably an extra three weeks or so since we actually started planning it out and recording bank episodes. Um are you surprised we made it this far?

SPEAKER_02 2:49

Yeah, I'm totally surprised. I I knew I I knew we weren't gonna stop like at least for a year, but I I don't know, because I I know how you are, and you're not you're not gonna quit on anything. So I knew we weren't gonna stop. You know, we we got a schedule going and we you know we stick to that schedule no matter what, and we're just getting consistent content out. The interview backlog is great, but I didn't expect, I guess like the momentum. I didn't expect this amount of momentum. You know, I was thinking we'd get like 50 downloads the first year, 50 to 80, maybe. You know, we what did we get? We got that like the first two months or something, or the month?

SPEAKER_00 3:38

We got that the first episode for the first episode. You mentioned momentum. What do you mean by momentum?

SPEAKER_02 3:44

So what I mean by momentum in this context is that the more of a the feeling, really. Like I felt like we were gonna do it, and but we were gonna make it happen because that's what we established, like that's what we agreed to, I guess. And maybe I felt like eventually the the feeling wasn't gonna be there, and we were just doing it just because that's what's in your head, and like you're gonna you're gonna get it done. Like, whatever is in your head, you're gonna you're gonna see it through. So I felt like we were just gonna see it through and give ourselves like a year or something and be like, well, you know, uh, maybe we tried it and we saw it through, and yeah, that's it. Uh, you know, that's what I thought, to be honest. Like when we started, I really didn't see that going so far. I mean, for a for a lot of reasons, not because like our I didn't believe in the message, I definitely believed in the message. Um, I just had questions about whether people would believe in our message um and whether I would be able to I guess hang like with the big dogs. Because I feel like we we interview everybody we interview is a big dog, in my in my opinion.

SPEAKER_01 5:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:03

And I feel like a little fish in a big pond sometimes. So I I was just questioning if I would be able to hang, you know. That that's what that's what I mean by momentum, like the feeling, the feeling for me. Like my it was less your momentum I was worried about, and it was like mine. I would I was just worried I'd get kind of left behind. Not that you would leave me behind, but that I would get in my own head and kind of mess it up.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

How has doing this podcast, you know, it's over the past six months, me harassing you, selling you calendar invites, yelling at you about the teams and device settings and like all of that, the background, back of house work. How does that change the way you think?

SPEAKER_02 5:49

Oh, that's good. I feel like, ah man, that's a good one. I feel like I want to call all of that like a workload, and I guess it just changed my perspective on what I'm capable of, you know, like and how I feel like this, all these little things like like the Microsoft Teams thing. I didn't I didn't know any of this stuff like on how how to connect the webcam or like accept an invite, finding the damn invite, setting up the outlook, or like, well, you set it up, but like navigating the outlook with the the Microsoft 365, all that stuff, the back of the house stuff you just mentioned, um, I didn't know how to do any of that. But it just like now I do, and it just I guess it changed my perspective in the way like I can handle this workload. And if I can handle this workload, what other kind of workloads can I handle? Even though at the beginning of the uh when the workload is presented to me, and maybe I don't know, or maybe I'm intimidated by it at first, when I chip away at it little by little, what does it look like at the end if I just see it through?

SPEAKER_00 7:04

Badass. That's good. I mean, I can relate, you know, Micro, maybe not specific to the whole how do you use Outlook and all that stuff, but you know, when we when you and I first told when I first texted you about, hey man, I'm thinking about doing a podcast, like I knew that moment when I hit Sen that all right, my ass is out there, and I don't even know if I can do it. I don't even know if we can do it. I've never done a podcast. I knew I've been on a podcast, and feeling like, oh man, so you already know me, right? And uh our audience may not know me. I have a tendency to want to do everything right now, and and that that's overwhelming for some people. And so you, when you said, you want me to be your echo Charles? Like, I was like, yes, even better, because I knew you could help me manage that, right? Like, dude, chill out. That wasn't the plan. Like, like at the very beginning, like, no, we need more bank episodes. I'm like, but we got we got stuff, we got content. Like, no, you said we're gonna do 10 bank episodes, we're not releasing until um till we get to that number. And so, like, the overwhelm for me, or um what are the what's the the they have fancy words for it? Imposter syndrome. I'm not a podcaster, I'm not a so I don't have a social media presence, I'm not an influencer, you know, all that stuff. So I had to like work through that, but to work through that, I had to like say, screw it, man. This is this is gonna be quick and dirty Jesse style, and I'm okay with that. Not not to say I'm gonna half ass it, but I'm okay with it not being polished. We're gonna learn how to make it shinier through doing it. But I was still very um very uncomfortable, way outside of my comfort zone, and being able to do it with you totally changed that whole that dynamic that took it away from that that fear of what is like you you and I doing this together gave me a shit ton of confidence, a lot of confidence because we were doing it together, so now it's like you and me hanging out, interviewing people. Like originally I said, okay, well, my poor friends, right? Because I'm gonna harass the living hell out of them. But they still hadn't said yes, right? Like, I didn't know if if they were gonna make time for it. We do it on Saturday mornings. That's that's a little intrusive to the home life and stuff. I didn't know if they were gonna say, Jesse, you're freaking, you're a nut job. I already know you're you got issues. I don't have anything, like I don't mind knowing you, but I don't want people to to hear me talking to you, you know, like all these weird little insecurities, like that was a real thing. And then okay, you know, all I had was these four questions, and I was like, man, is that even enough? Right? Like originally I thought each episode was gonna be maybe 15-20 minutes, and chingao, like none of them are less than 45 minutes, which is awesome. How has the the feedback that you've been getting, was that what you expected?

SPEAKER_02 10:23

That's a good question. No, the quick answer is no, because it wasn't what I expected, because I just expected like no feedback. I didn't I didn't expect my friends to really respond to it or even like my co-worker. I actually I was expecting negative feedback, like like y'all don't have this, or y'all need to fix this, or you know what I'm saying? Or like y'all, I mean, you're it's not putting their whole because freaking Joe Rogan podcast. You know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, yep, yep. Uh I was expecting that, but it was like surprisingly positive. Like my superintendent was he, I mean, he wanted to jump on board right away, you know, after hearing the first couple of episodes, and he even like, and like, you know, some people they they just hop on the bandwagon just to be like supportive, you know, and which is cool, that's great. But like it seemed uh sincere because he actually talked about the episode, like what we talked about, what me and you talked about. Like he he really listened to it. He was uh talking to me about remember when we had that conversation about crew culture, yes, yeah. Um, and we were talking about that, like me and him, and I could tell like he really listened to it, which was I had no idea anybody would do that. Because I know I've been I've done that too, where I'll listen to a podcast, and uh, you know, I'll uh that like one of my buddies or somebody I know has and I'll listen to it, and you know, I'll I'll listen to like five minutes of it and then I'll get busy and I'll stop. But I I listen to it for the support, so that you know I can give them that extra view, yeah, show them some love and stuff. But uh, you know, where I've actually gotten feedback, sincere feedback, where they listened to the whole thing or the vast majority of it, and talk to me about it too. So that's I thought that was really cool. Wasn't expecting that, very pleasantly surprised.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

And did that put some fuel in your gas tank?

SPEAKER_02 12:25

Yeah, it did. It made me feel like because like the all the content prior to any getting any feedback from the people in my circle, I was like, man, like I would listen to our our episodes like dude can't believe I said that, or like I sound freaking stupid. You know, I was comparing myself to Jonko Podcast, Joe Rogan, all that stuff, you know, the the big the big dogs of the podcast world, and I was like, I don't sound like that, you know. I'm far from that. And it was intimidating that silence where we're not we weren't, I wasn't getting feedback was scary. I was like, well, I guess they're just not saying anything because I saw it and they don't want to tell me. But then like they they they actually came to me. They're like, dude, like we really like this, like this is really cool and unique, and more people in you talked about this, and you guys gotta keep doing it. So I was like, wow, that's so cool. Yeah, man. And then and yeah, and then you said um, did it add fuel to me for sure? It was like, wow, like I felt like crap about what I put out, and they liked it. So, you know, it just kind of I guess they gave me that validation, I guess. Like I'm actually getting involved with something legit. So yeah, I mean it did add, it did add some fuel.

SPEAKER_00 13:51

Yeah, I for me, you use the perfect word, validation, right? I mean, I know I carry myself like I don't care about what people think, I'm gonna do whatever the hell I want to do. But that the the silence, right? That period of time when we posted the first episode and nobody said anything right to me directly is like, oh shit, we just we just threw a bomb out there and nobody gives a damn. Like, you know, like oh my god. Yeah, and then started getting feedback, and it's like, okay, and exactly like you said, the feedback that I was getting I started getting was not like, oh, that's cool. It was, yeah, it was good, it wasn't that type of feedback. It was like, dude, when Renee said this, or when Shannon said this, or when Diana made this comment, like it shifted the way I like I needed to hear that. It helped me, it's helping me think of things differently. Or I've heard this several times about Renee. Uh, I'm sorry, about Ernest's The Boss, episode number five, about where we share Ernest's poetry. Several people have told me, like, dude, your brother has a talent, like that's amazing. The way he read it, uh, the the words in the poem made me think about my dad, or made me call my dad, made me think about how I treat my kids. You know, like that kind of stuff was just like like you said, validation, and man, that lit me up. Then it was like, okay, we this is not gonna stop. We gotta keep doing this.

SPEAKER_02 15:35

I agree 100%. But what do you think about this? Like, what if we never got the validation? Do you need validation? You know what I'm saying? To continue.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

Yeah, you know, I think it's a human, I think validation is a human need. Let me answer this more specifically. For me. In my head, I was gonna do this with zero downloads for 18 months. You know what I mean? Yeah, going into it to manage my expectations and disappointment and all that bullshit. I said to myself, okay, Jess, if you're gonna do this, you gotta have a plan to do this for 18 months, regardless of what people respond to or whether they listen to it or not. If you're not willing to do that, don't bullshit around. There's other things you can be doing. But that's the way I think. Like, okay, this is the target, this is what we're gonna do, and the outcome, I'm not too concerned about the outcome. I mean, I am, but that's not what the purpose is at that point. Yeah, when I'm that's not the most important thing. That's not the most important thing. The most important thing is doing it, but yeah, you know, like for real, if I had a little bit of validation, that'd be pretty badass. If I got a few downloads, I'd really like that. Um I guess it it takes us back to purpose. Was I doing this to to get uh notoriety? Were we doing this to have our voice and our beautiful faces all over social media? No, like that's why I was doing it. I love it, like that wasn't the purpose. The purpose was to change the image of careers in the trades. That's the purpose, but yeah, you know, the affirmation absolutely helps. Knowing that it's affecting somebody absolutely helps, right? And it makes me think of you know, people because there's a lot of people out there that have a talent or an idea that they're just not comfortable putting out into the world. And hell, believe me, I wasn't comfortable about this. So there's a couple of things there, right? Put the damn thing out there, put it, you know, we put it out there the first episode zero. I I recorded freaking sound transitions of a table saw. I did, you know, it was like, okay, that's cool enough. And and Sean, my partner, co-worker, friend, dedicated listener. He's like, hey, bro, I listened to it, it's good. Sound quality, you got some issues, but you're gonna work on it. And he's like, But dude, you really need to do something about that transition. That transition, like it scared the hell out of me. Okay, and I'm like, dude, I like I I feel you, but I'm not sure. Like, I I'm I need help. I don't what do you think? And he's the guy that came up with the idea of dude, what about starting a lawnmower? I said, Oh, that's it. So that's what we did. Recorded this. Ernest recorded the sound of the lawnmower starting up, and that's our transition sound. So, my point is this for the people that are are maybe a little apprehensive about putting themselves out there, do it, just do it. It's like it's horrifying. I understand, it's paralyzing, I know, but once you do it, what you discover is that it's really nowhere anywhere near as bad as you thought it was gonna be. The second thing is all the other people out there that get to take in whatever that person's putting out, let them know what you think. And it doesn't have to be all rainbows and butterflies. Like I said, he crapped on my freaking transition sound, uh, but not in a negative way. He's he did it in he was giving me ideas of how to make it better, not like hey, that thing sucks, and he walked away. He's like, hey, it scared me. Like that sound was a little intense. What do you think about X? Right? He gave me an idea, and for people out there that want to try something new or that have been thinking about it for years and years, do it. And for all the other people that are friends or associated with that individual stepping out there, let them know what you think. Give them some real honest feedback. And that's how that's how it, I mean, for me, anyways, that's how this thing is staying alive. One, we've got the our our guests that are freaking awesome and and super generous with their time and very vulnerable with us that I absolutely did not expect, you know. We have the the audience that continues to to listen to our stories, our conversations, and then people giving us feedback. I mean, talk about like it's a community, right? Like it's a new community that I just didn't expect. So for those other, you know, for those people that are are are still wrestling with the fear of of doing something new, do it. And again, all the people around them, you owe them the truth.

SPEAKER_02 20:57

Yeah, like that quote says that uh don't let the perfect get in the way of the possible.

SPEAKER_00 21:03

Ooh, yeah, that's pretty good. Don't let perfect get in the way of possible.

SPEAKER_02 21:10

That's one of the reasons, like uh and that's one of the things that's keeping me on the 75 hard challenge is it's it's like the perfect exercise for that. Well, granted, you have to you have to kind of do it perfectly, or else you have to start over. But you get to start over and just start over and do it again, just keep on doing it, and eventually you'll chip away and it becomes easier and easier, and you learn more things, and it becomes it becomes a habit. You learn as you go, just staying on the path is what's important. You'll learn on the way, you'll get you might not ever reach perfection, but I mean, because we can all learn, but staying on the path, you'll learn as you go, and you'll you'll polish as you go as well. That's part of the reason I'm sharing it on Facebook, the 75 Hard Challenges, to show people like especially with fitness, you know, you see the the rock hard abs and the jack muscles and the vascularity.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

I even don't think there are don't describe my body to the audience.

SPEAKER_02 22:18

All right, let's keep it PG. You see that, and you think a lot of people think like, man, they're there that guy's crazy. That guy has something I don't has a quality I don't have. But the secret is nobody does. You get you get it, you earn it. I feel like that jacked person started off, however, geez, I can't think of a good example right now, but you know what? What about you? Exactly. I was gonna say that I'm not jacked right now. Shoot. When I started this, I was 203 pounds, and now I'm weighing in at 180. And I've I was I'm 46 days in. I started over 75 hard twice because I failed. On the 18th day, I forgot to read my 10 pages. And then I start over, and then the next set of 18th days, I freaking forgot again. And now I'm on day 10. If you knew me in middle school, I was chubby, and you know, I you can't, I was chubby all through grade school in high school, and I started losing weight in high school and stuff. But like, you don't sit here and tell me, like, well, you're genetically uh fit because you're genes. Like, no, man, like I it's uh I'm just staying on the path. That's it. You know, and like when I wake up at four so I can get in my workout at 4:30, but so I can uh work out before my kids wake up and my wife wakes up and you know, so I can be present with them. I do that, but like in the beginning, it sucked. I didn't have that um I guess you could call it discipline in the beginning. I woke up, the alarm went at four, and I and I pressed the snooze button the first time. I was like, dude. That's not a matter of genetics, is it? No, it's not. It's not a matter of genetics, and it it's not fun, and it it sucks. It does suck. Yeah, so like it's I feel like people think that you're you when people do things like that, they're crazy or they just have the it factor, they have it, but no, like you just you push through the suck and you get there, but now it's just a part of my daily routine, and it doesn't suck so bad anymore.

SPEAKER_00 24:35

So, how does that relate to this journey, the learnings and missteps podcast?

SPEAKER_02 24:41

In the beginning, you know, I wanted to be the echo Charles to your Jocko. So if you're a Jocko willink, I would be the echo Charles, right? And it kind of was like I I said it and I was like, yeah, I'm down, but I didn't really know what I was getting into. I had no idea it would be like an 18-month thing where we're gonna we're going on this path. I had heard the podcast, other podcasts, and I was like, Yeah, I can do that. Let's see, let's see, you know, I didn't know. And then like we got into it like three, four, five episodes deep, and I felt that momentum starting to fade. Like it was really fun and new and exciting the first two, three episodes, but then like I felt the insecurity start to seep in, and like you know, all these outside things starting to put a I don't know, a damper on my motivation, quote unquote motivation. And it wasn't as fun and exciting anymore. And I did feel like I wanted to quit and stuff. So, how does the 75 Hard relate to this through the podcast? Like your commitment to the podcast, even when we're not getting the feedback and getting buttered up and getting that hype train that everybody loves about podcasts, we didn't have that, and still going through with it, I feel like that translated to the 75 hard challenge. It was like training in a way, preparing me. It was like an exercise in commitment, and I'm taking that exercise, that lesson in commitment, even though when things aren't going the best, I'm taking that lesson and putting it in the 75 hard. And I I don't think I would have been able to do it uh without that lesson.

SPEAKER_00 26:26

Before the podcast, I don't remember you being very active on social media, like posting videos and stories and updates. And now I see you doing that a lot.

SPEAKER_02 26:36

Is there a relationship? Yeah, totally. Prior to the podcast, I was one of those guilty of letting the perfect get in the way of the possible. My my life has been uh you know a roller coaster, and I feel like I'm I'm in the up part of the roller coaster right now, these past couple of years. And I feel like some of my experience, if I can share it with some people that are struggling, that I see that's of things that I struggled with too. If they could just see somebody that went through that, show them like wow, like because like all my friends on my Facebook, they they know they they know they've been with me through the ups and downs of my life. I want them to see I knew him back then when he was not okay, and like he's he's okay now, and you know, he's not only is he okay, he's like thriving too, and like maybe I can thrive. That's kind of the the go. But I've always felt like when I was in the ups and downs and I was getting through it, I've I've always been the kind of dude that like listens to people when they're coming at me with my with their problems. I've had an interest in that stuff, like being that guy, because some people they just need somebody to listen to them, right? And I I've always enjoyed doing that, and you know, and I give some feedback and I felt it's helped a lot of people. They've told me that I've helped them. I've always wanted to share those. I didn't know how I was gonna do it. Social media would have been uh would be a great platform to do that, even though I'm not entirely sure how yet. And doing the podcast kind of gave me a little that click, I guess, in the head, like, well, why don't you start posting stuff and being a little bit more active on Facebook? It's cool, it's okay if you don't have all the fancy high-tech gear to make super fancy videos and stuff. Just get out there and when you're in a position where you can get that, get it. But start now.

SPEAKER_00 28:41

Start now, start where you're at, start with what you got, just start. You brought up downloads a little while ago. How do you feel about downloads now compared to where we started?

SPEAKER_02 28:54

In the beginning, I was like, just like you, like, I we're gonna do this whether we get zero or a hundred downloads. If we get zero, it's all good. And I was expecting zero to be honest. I was expecting like less than 25.

SPEAKER_00 29:08

I remember.

SPEAKER_02 29:10

Now I'm like, I don't know, it's like looking in a bank account with interest, and we have like a high interest rate, you know, we're growing like a lot faster than I thought we were. Granted, we we don't have 2,000, you know, subscribers in the hundred thousands, but like we we just blew away my expectations big time, and it's like the downloads we get now, it's each one is like one more little coin of validation and a little drop of gas on my fire, each one. Before it was like I'm not expecting any gas, you know.

SPEAKER_00 29:50

Yeah, man. I I'm with you. Like when I look at at the stats and and what all is going on, it's it blows my mind. Like, wow, okay, this is this is fantastic. It the feedback, like I said, we talked about feedback a little while ago, but man, super meaningful, right? Like, I had no idea this could happen. You know, my brain, and we were gonna start this thing, and mom and maybe a few of my coworkers would listen to it and then it would die. And now we got listeners in the Philippines, we got listeners in Russia, New Zealand, in Turkey, all over the United States. Even Texas, in my head, was like a little bit of a stretch goal. Like, all right, we're gonna have some people from Texas for sure. But dude, like, there's cities in here that that I've never even heard of. Canada, we got a ton of listeners in Canada. Never would I have expected that. The Philippines, Russia, like, I don't know anybody over there.

SPEAKER_02 30:52

Yeah, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 30:54

There's a bunch of downloads from those areas, and I know that I wanted to affect people. I know that I wanted to impact the way people think, right? You and I agree. Like, why are we gonna do this? Let's let's get that straight first. So I knew that. I just didn't know that it would resonate with so many people in such a broad area. I mean, freaking global, dude. You know, little skinny boy. Not who's that skinny anymore. From the south side of San Antonio, little Southsider, little Nescio, his voice and his baby brother's voice is being listened to in multiple continents of the world. And so, you know, I you know, on one hand, that's the power of social media, right? Or the digital age that we live in, but these aren't one-time listens. They're coming back to listen to another episode. That wasn't even on my stretch goal, right? You know, my stretch goal was 18 months, don't quit. That was my stretch goal. To be where we're at now, you know, we've got over 1,100 downloads, which again, I know is not enormous, but for me, it exceeds anything I could have expected. Right? We're 15 conversations in. It would have been so easy to quit. It would have been so easy. Ah, let's skip this week, right? And well, you know, there's not, we're not getting a great response. Like, let's just wait. Maybe we need to redo this. But we just kept trucking ahead, and it's amazing, man. I mean, we drop a new episode and boom, 60 downloads out of the gate. It's like, whoa, look, mom, I'm doing something good.

SPEAKER_02 32:37

I feel like the Learnins and Missteps podcast is like when I started growing bell peppers in my apartment balcony. Yeah. Remember I told you about that? Yeah. So for our listeners, check this out. So I freaking planted these dang bell pepper seeds in uh these little individualized planters, right? And I and I was watering them every day. I watered them for like seven days straight and nothing, man. And the the YouTube video told me I should see a sprout on the fourth day, right? So it was approaching the 10th day, and I didn't see nothing. I was like, well, I guess they're dead. I guess it's not working. So I stopped watering it. But I leave it, I leave them out on the porch on the damn balcony, and another week goes by, and I go out there to get something out of the closet, and I see sprouts. I'm like, whoa, like what's going on here? I asked my wife, I was like, have you been watering the bell peppers? And she was like, no, Zach was. So my son was watering it while I when I quit. And they get they sprouted, and and then I then I got back on it and I started watering it, and they they grew, man. Unfortunately, that store doesn't have a happy inning because for whatever reason I stopped watering them and they died. But my point is like, dude, you plant the seeds and we're watering it together, and then when I start to feel like, yeah, it's like whatever, you keep watering it. And look, it's growing and it's growing and it keeps keeps on growing, and then it kind of brings you back, it brings me back. And then, like, now that commitment to the growth, I feel like I it clicked in my head, and I can freaking it translates to everything in my life. Just committing, even though I don't see the growth right now or I don't get it, just stay committed and see what happens, you know? And you'll you'll eventually see that growth and that sprout.

SPEAKER_00 34:39

You're my little sprout. So, what do you think the future looks like for us?

SPEAKER_02 34:45

That's a good question. I'm thinking future for us is like we get uh some a sponsorship. Shoot long term, I say we get sponsors from like Home Depot or like DeWalt or Melwalk, you know, the tool companies. I see subscribers, I see comments, like people commenting on our stuff, conversations happening within those comments, more interviews and people asking to be interviewed. We're seeing that already. Yes, and like just people we don't like a way outside of our circle that we don't even know. See, I don't know when, but I feel it getting there.

SPEAKER_00 35:29

My favorite thing that I that's starting to happen, and absolutely love it, is the conversations in the comments. Because I mean, for real, like the our audience to for them to take the time to listen to our crap to begin with. Yeah, I understand, you know, when we have a guest, of course you want to listen to the guests, but you really want to listen to me and Renee again? You know, like that blows my mind a little bit. So not only do they give us their time and share a portion of their day with us by listening to the episodes, but then they go on social media and give us a thumbs up or a little heart. Right? That's awesome. Thank you, right? I love that. And then they'll make a comment. And then somebody else will make a comment. And then, of course, I gotta make a comment, like, hey, I see you, I love you. And to see that happen, like that right there. I wish I could hug everybody that listens to one episode, everybody that downloads an episode and listens to it. I wish I could shake their hand and just smile and say, Man, thank you. That means so much to me. And when they make comments on our social media post, like that's as close as I can get to that. Personal friends, like my my coworkers and so forth, Patrick Burns, he's uh he's a regular listener, and he always gives me feedback all the time. And it's it's it's pointed, it's it's actionable feedback. It's the greatest gift that I could ask for ever. And then to see the other folks that I don't see, like you know, that are in different cities, different states, different countries, because we global, baby. To see their comments and be able to interact with them, that is really special to me. So, anyways, my point is it's starting to pick up. And I would love for it to just continue growing. You know what I would really love? What I would really love is for there to be so many comments and questions and dialogue through email, through social media, right? All the stuff that I had to lose sleep so that I could respond to everybody. That would be a fantastic problem to have. You know, I can't if it when it gets to that point, I gotta tell the audience out there that I can't promise you that I'm gonna be dressed appropriately when I'm responding. But I will respond. I promise that.

SPEAKER_02 37:54

Um I want to see, I want to see people asking questions like sending an email of like, hey, what do you guys think about this? Or can you talk about that? Or my son has a question about about trades, or you know, or I'm worried, you know, maybe saying something about their concern. Like my uh I'm concerned that he won't make enough money or something. Yeah. Can you guys talk about that? Or like you know, whatever, that's just an example, but yeah, just somebody asking a direct question that we can talk about.

SPEAKER_00 38:26

Yeah, for sure. So, what do you think about doing live?

SPEAKER_02 38:31

I'm not opposed to it.

SPEAKER_00 38:32

That's a little scary for me. I have to take a shower and shave and shave. The LMers, the LM fam out there are very supportive. And so one of our listeners, Brian, Brian Winningham, actually brought that idea to the table just yesterday, the day before. He's like, dude, I've worked with this organization in St. Louis, I think it's in St. Louis. They got this event coming up in May. What do you think about doing like a live podcast, the Learnins and Missteps podcast for that group? I'm like, right? Mine exploded. Like, dude, I haven't even thought that far ahead. Like, I'm just trying to figure out how to finish editing the last damn episode. I'm not thinking about that. But but boom, like you, you know, you I think you talked about it. Like, all of a sudden, it's this click in my brain that says, Oh, yeah, I could do that too. I don't know how to do it, but let's figure that shit out. You know, never in my life would I have thought live, right? Like a live podcast, fancy pants, and just the possibilities, the opportunities, the ideas, they just keep coming. And and it's hard. You already know this, Renee. Like, I want to like let's do an episode every week. And you and Ernest are like, hey, bro, pump the brakes, like, chill out. We got a life. Yeah, yeah, but I don't has the podcast affected you in your personal life with that Ellie, the babies.

SPEAKER_02 39:58

Uh, I feel like it really hasn't in home at home, other than you know, I I guess no, I take it back. I take it back. I worry that doing these little extracurricular things outside of what I need to do, like work and being present with my family, things like that. Um things that I have to do every day without question, right?

SPEAKER_01 40:23

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 40:24

I feel like when I start doing extra stuff and I spend more time away from those duties, I feel like it's gotten me in in trouble. I worry that my wife would, you know, start to feel like I'm putting priority over her and my family, my kids. Right. But during this, it was refreshing. I learned more about her in the sense that she does want that quality time and you know, for her to be a priority and all that stuff. This on the other side is, but she does believe in our message too. Oh she does see that it's important. I g I wanna say she's giving me a longer leash, but she's giving me a longer leash. I don't know how else to say it. Yeah, yeah, you know, like she's it's it's nice, it's refreshing to know that she's not getting pissed off if I'm recording, right? And the babies wake woke up and uh I was away for an hour, you know, because she believes in it. And it's really, really cool like to see that she supports me in in this. I I hope I'm trying to paint that in the best way possible. Yeah, I I feel like that sounds a little bad.

SPEAKER_00 41:43

Well, no, I I don't think it sounds bad. Maybe without context, it it might sound bad because Adeli's super awesome. Yes, and Renee has had a lot of ideas. This new thing he's gonna do, bell pepper, perfect example, that he starts and then he lets them die.

SPEAKER_02 42:04

Thank you. That is 100% accurate, and she I I think that she's exactly she's seen my hare-brained ideas before, and I go all in, all right, and I start spending all this time on it for a month, and and then it doesn't go anywhere. So it's like, of course, she's gonna have a little bit of like reservations and stuff about a new idea that I think is fantastic, and I'm not even gonna see it through. So, like, you're spending all this time away from us, and then you're not even gonna see it through. Like, what's the point? You know what I mean? But this she she sees that she it's it's this podcast, she sees the commitment, she sees the the feedback we're getting, and like she hears the message and how it's important, and she's she's all about it. And like, I feel like our relationship has grown in that regard. Like, the the trust and the faith in me and my commitment to things that I feel are important, I feel like she's she has that now.

SPEAKER_00 43:04

The reason I wanted to do this reflection was to give our audience a peek into what we're actually feeling and thinking, you know, what what this experience has been like, some of the outcomes, right? How amazing it's been. I mean, I didn't expect the doing the podcast to bring me, you, and Ernest closer together to the depth that it has. For me, it has. Right? Like y'all know that I struggle making time to just spend time with y'all. This has helped me spend more time with y'all. Not just from the record, not just like podcast related stuff, but in general. I mean, I imagine probably for y'all, it doesn't seem like it's much different, but for me, I know it is because there's times where I'll just call you or text you or go to mom's or because I think like, hey, I want to go spend more time. Like, I can. spend more time with with my bros. I wanted to share some some more of myself with them because I appreciate that. They're making a like the fact that they're listening is making an impact on my life. And I wanted to be able to tell them that. And I also want you know our listeners that are kicking around that idea and and sitting on it or letting it bake even longer. I wanted them to and and and you know assuming that they think that what we're putting out is valuable and meaningful. I wanted them to get some the behind the scenes reality of it's not that comfortable. And it's okay. Just do it. Just just get out there. That's why I wanted to do this reflection.

SPEAKER_02 44:48

Ditto exactly just don't let the perfect get in the way of the possible I've seen I've witnessed people start to to take off and start to like jump in the deep pen and take a leap of faith into whatever their idea was and I've seen the people around them just poo-poo on their ideas and their effort and they stop. They just throw it away like man I got I got some bad feedback and you know what I can't do it. They were right right yes and and then like one of the most damaging in my opinion of those negative feedbacks is that like you're you don't know what you're doing so stop. You're looking stupid you look dumb you're making a fool of yourself stop. And like I feel like they think that they're not aware that they're they're not perfect right now. So let me make them aware that they're looking silly. So hey bro you look dumb stop you know I've seen that a couple of times so I just want to say like I am aware I I'm not the perfect speaker and I don't you know I'm saying I'm not the most polished speaker. I I know I ramble I'm aware of my warts and pimple but I'm pushing through it and I'm learning as I go and that's okay. And look it's working you know what I mean like it's working we're getting followers just commit and see where it takes you just stay just stay on the path and see where it goes you know see it through man you are one dedicated listener sticking with us all the way through to the very very end please know that this podcast dies without you and we invite you to share how the episode's impacting you along with your thoughts questions and suggestions.

SPEAKER_00 46:46

You've been gracious with your time so we added social media links in the show notes to make it super easy for you to connect with us. Be kind to yourself stay cool and we'll talk at you next time