Overview

How do you start a podcast that’s about making a podcast? 

For us (Jake, Ryan and Fin), we ‘start’ this podcast almost a year into a what-should-we-make-a-podcast-about? journey. This “episode 1” is actually episode 14, recorded only once we found our proverbial North Star and were able to articulate--for ourselves and listeners--what this show was going to be about. 

So what’s it about?

In the end, we found that our podcast wasn’t about making a podcast at all; this podcast became about meeting people outside of our typical ‘circle’, asking them thoughtful questions and listening intently to the answers, and finding out that everyone has a gripping story if you’re willing to hear it.

We hope you enjoy listening to our journey of learning all of this through talking to some incredibly interesting normal people. 

Who are we exactly?

Jake Smeester is a husband and father who spends his days as a content creator at AWS building out new programs for worldwide sales enablement (including gobs of podcasts). 

Ryan Findley is a husband and father who spends his days running the product team at Learn to Win. 

Ryan Holdeman is neither a husband nor a father. He spends his days helping personal growth businesses leverage technology.

Join us as we explore.

Question of the Day

What’s the itch you’ve been needing to scratch? Do you have a podcast you’ve been dying to create? If you do, please share in the comments what you’d call it and what it would be about.

Subscribe to the Interesting Lives of Normal People podcast on iTunes

Subscribe to the non-iTunes RSS Feed

Subscribe on your Podcast platform of choice

Links from the Episode

Arrested Development (tv series)

Arrested Development (music)

Books

In this first episode we didn’t touch on book recommendations, but in our interviews, we ask guests for recommendations. You’ll see those here. A favorite of Ryan Holdeman:

Life in Half a Second: A great book about making things with haste that will last beyond you

Show Highlights

[2:09] How it took us *a year* to record Episode 1

[4:02] Why Jake wanted to do this in the first place

[6:07] How it started as one thing and ended up as another

[7:46] The Secret Name of the Show 

[9:53] Why Holdeman joined Jake’s Show (and why he loves watching Fin eat tacos while recording)

[12:06] Why Fin joined Jake’s Show (beyond eating tacos)

[13:49] Why Jake joined Jake’s Show and what he’s been learning along the journey

[19:23] Why “The Interesting Lives of Normal People”?

[28:45] How we (Holdeman) made the logo

[33:16] What to expect from Season 1

Stay Connected

Click here to receive tools, ideas, and bonus episodes from us

Music

Hygge - "Quarantrap". Please follow her on SoundCloud

The Interesting Lives of Normal People

Season 01 Episode 01

Hosts: Jake Smeester, Ryan Findley, Ryan Holdeman

I think good listening is not something that comes naturally to people. Maybe some people maybe introverted people. They're probably more likely to be better listeners. I suspect Jake, you're not an introvert.

So we try

to say maybe, maybe you're a busy bee of socializing and, and externally processing and talking a lot.

Oh good. Thanks.

The first episode of our brand new podcast, the interesting lives of normal people. In this episode, I talk with my two co-hosts Ryan and Ryan, and we will introduce you to this podcast, the journey to create it and what you can expect from season one. Let's get to the conversation,

Ryan and Ryan. Episode one we're

here, here we are. We put this, this is technically like our 15th episode. Bohor accordion sowed one. Now that we know what the heck we're doing.

If you're listening to this, you might be thrown off. Yeah. You are six

months behind right now, you're going, these guys have their audio on point, and then you're going to listen to up so two and be like

quite the regression

regression.

You're going to see that our English as much improved from episode

one, practicing.

So we're talking about, this is episode one, but not really episode one, Ryan or Ryan who wants to fill us in on. This journey so far, Fin, Holdeman,

I'll fill this in I'm Ryan Holdeman. Obviously we got to Ryan's here.

I'm Ryan Holderman. The one with the deep voice that's ran holding me. And what if you think that's fine

if you think, wow, this guy sounds like Seth Rogen. That's right. Hey.

Hey, get your kid. We're like 10 seconds into the first episode. She's like, it's like a

minute and a half. So

we so. Our friend Jake's minister here wanted to start a podcast.

And so we decided to dive right in and we started the podcast interviewing people about like discovering passion and creating things. And so really over the sequence of our first season, the beginning episodes are all sort of as digging in because we wanted to, you know, we were having a hard time figuring out what Jake should make a podcast about.

And so we wanted to dive in and start asking people, what should Jake make a podcast about? So we started out talking passion and creativity and, you know, learning what your kind of calling in life is. And then as we moved along, we actually sort of figured it out. And decided that what we were really interested in doing and what Jake really wanted to make a podcast about was, was really interviewing and unpacking the stories of everyday folks.

And famous folks, but all the folks and how to ask good questions to dig into the interesting things that there are to learn from everybody around us. And that if you sit down with somebody for an hour, I mean, we're going to try to shorten the episodes shorter than that. And really it's more like two hours, but when we originally recorded them, but if you sit down with somebody for an hour or two with focus on them, And focused on asking them good questions.

It's really interesting. It is. And so we wanted to, we, we, that is what this evolved into. So now we're back. At the beginning here telling that story, and you're going to get to go on a journey with us, right? So

this is, this is the start of season one. And season one is really the journey of how we got to this very point where we're at.

So it's kind of like a big circle almost. Maybe you could think of like that giant circle, big circle, almost a year

long circle. I think like the eye of London giant circle,

I've never been there. Well, let's back up a little bit more though. So my let's about a year ago, I was talking to my wife, Maggie, and I said, I think that maybe a podcast would be something there's something that I wanted to do.

You know, like I'm, I'm a happily married you know, mid thirties. Dad living in the suburbs of Denver happy, but yet there is definitely like an itch that is kind of won't go away. Like, I, I love my job. So many good things are happening, but yet there's like, there's some things that are missing in terms of like, I wanted to create something that is meaningful and create something that is helpful.

And. Creating something that is just, that goes beyond just myself and just beyond just my family. Right. And so we had this idea of like, all right, well, let's create a podcast. I do want to clarify though it was about a year ago before COVID. And so I want to clarify though that while podcasts have become very popular in COVID.

This was actually a pre COVID idea that just so happened to kind of actually make sense and really feel like help us, us three, Jake, Ryan and Ryan build something and start something in the middle of COVID. So

do I need to fact check that I haven't heard that. I'm pretty sure it is pop, like the making podcasts got more

popular or I believe it is.

I haven't researched that. I've heard that a lot actually. But I, and I've also seen that a lot of things like microphones are very hard to, much more hard to come by and like prices have skyrocketed because the entire

fact checker, I think, no, I, I got it preview on the season. We have no fact

checker. It could be, it could be tore cause she loves telling us when we're.

Yep. Yep. I just, I just fact check it. It's it's checked.

Podcasts are popular.

Don't even think about second guessing that one. Yeah. So that's that? That is, and then, then we're here. So Ryan just described, that's how we kind of got back to kind of where we're at right now. And so what can we expect kind of in the next, in this coming season?

Well,

I think one thing that's important to know is that we start off, as Holdeman said, we start off on a journey of helping Jake. Find his show and it was very meta in that sense, a podcast about how to figure out what you want to make a podcast about. And it started off with really talking to people that Jake that were close to Jake that had known him well over the years.

And I think over time that actually we sort of started bringing more people in outside of the orbit of the side of Jake's orbit and also the conversations I think got bigger and more sort of. Diverse. And in a way I think Jake actually sort of felt began to fall in love with the idea of talking to people further and further outside of his previously existing sphere.

And, and with that, the, the, I think podcasts sort of took shape in the sense that the, the passion part of it. Was it wasn't just that it, Jake wanted to do a show about a passion project or that the show was a passion project. As much as Jake realized that there were the kinds of cons, there were, there was a type of conversation that Jake wanted to be having more of.

And he wanted to be having more of those conversations with people outside of his sort of normal sphere of who he's known and who he knows in the day to day. And so I think you see that kind of rolled out over the season. We start talking to people that. We didn't know, or we don't know as well. And the conversations get different, get bigger, get more unique, I think.

And yeah, I think you see Jake sorta open up and get excited and all of us get excited really about the new conversations

we're having. You know, you even kind of hear it in the beginning of each show, we joke around about saying like, Hey, welcome to the Jake show. And I say, it's not really the name of the show and act annoyed.

Yeah. It's the secret name of the show, right? If anyone comes to our drive-up window, if you order the Jake show or the cake show, you'll get the secret, but for the rest of you, which is called the interesting lives, normal

people, I mean, wouldn't buy secret, meaning it's the same show. We just give you a little.

A little wink

because you all got all the behind the scenes

stuff. Oh right. Really special stuff. Yeah. You're not supposed to hear

Jake, your voice is extra gravelly today.

It is. I'm a little, I have had a cold. For about a week.

We were you sexifying it for this first episode. Oh

yeah. Nice. Yep. This is one.

It's going to get us some downloads.

I'm having, I'm having deep voice under you right now. Yep. I'm the only high pitched voice on this

podcast. He can't even stand your voice too high.

It's like getting feedback

on a microphone. Yep. See, I'm the deep voice Ryan Finley or Fin is the high voice. And Ryan Holdeman is the Laffer.

I'm the Laffer. Yeah. You're good to laughing. I will say that

deep voiced also. I can't, I can't be both the laughter and the deep voice. Yeah. Well,

I'm not, I'm not the Laffer, so you can be the Laffer. See, there you go. Right there. You did

it. Well, it's cause I'm the funny one, but

then you're laughing at your own jokes,

right?

Exactly. Yeah. That nobody else is laughing. Cause you guys are too serious. So.

Okay. So we've covered a little bit about how do we, what is this podcast about what can listeners expect in this next season? And of course it's a journey that kind of leads us back to where right now for each one of you, what is the drive like?

What are you hoping to get out of? Not just releasing this current season, but seasons beyond that?

Well, for me, I like seeing what type of tacos Fin eats each time chicken. I'm a big taco fan, but I don't have them as a regular recurring meal on the same night of the week. So it's good to get ideas from, from Fin's taco eating.

Yeah. He's taco guy. Yup. But that

salmon for the record,

but you know, kind of the concept we landed. I mean, I like doing things with friends. I like creating things. I like exploring where an idea can go and so that's fun. But I also have this, you know, I, a friend of mine, it was probably about two years ago, a friend of mine who travels the world a lot.

We were talking and she was telling me. Every time she comes back to the U S for the first time. It, what straightened out, comes back to the us for the first time that was set up. But when she got us, the first thing she noticed, that's where I was trying to fit the first. And the first thing she notices is that people are bad in America at follow-up questions.

So. As an example of what I'm talking about. Let's say that Jake was telling me he went to Disneyland last weekend and had a great time. Instead of going Jake, what was your favorite ride at Disneyland? I go, Oh yeah. That's like when I went to Disney world last year, And, and we do kind of a volleying of stories rather than good question asking.

And so over the last couple of years, I've been on my own journey of trying to get more intentional about good follow-up questions. And what I've discovered is the reality is asking good questions is, is a value add to the people that you're talking to, regardless of who they are. Right. If I'm talking with Oprah Winfrey, Asking her good up questions is adding value for, cause it's a it's it's prompting thoughts.

It's helping her articulate something. It's helping her maybe even discover something that she hadn't done packed before. And so I think for me, I just, I like the art and working on the art of follow-up questions.

So when, when Jake well really when Maggie asked. Me and hold them into join you Jake, on this journey, I was just doing Maggie a solid that's how I started.

There there's been several salads over the years. We appreciate that. Yeah. Yeah, no problem.

So, but I mean, the chance to get to, to regularly catch up with two friends is, and to collaborate and create with two friends is something that sounded fun. And, and given that I Kind of far away, and this time of life is not an easy time to wind those things up.

Regular catch-ups, this was a really good excuse to do that. So it was, for me, that was an obvious and obvious one. Given the, the sort of initial idea was to help Jake find a passion project. That was something that I had been doing a lot of in my past, in different ways. And so I felt like in addition to finding a lot of personal fulfillment in helping other people find that I felt like I also maybe had some tools or ways of thinking about that that could help in that pursuit.

And so that was, that was an obvious Well, you know, top up to the to the opportunity. I think what's kept me interested along the way is the, the depth of conversations and the kinds of people that we're talking to. I personally have. Benefited greatly from having a lot of diverse relationships and having really good, thoughtful, intentional conversations with people who are very different from me and have opened up my ways of thinking about the world.

And so yeah, that too is, was was a natural fit for, you know, wanting to keep doing the pod and finding cool people to talk to.

Yeah, for me, it's, it's definitely been interesting. Like I've mentioned before, I've, you know, I w I want to create something that is, is meaningful just beyond myself, and that is hopefully helpful to other people.

Right. And as I've gone along and done this, there's been several things I've recognized is that, and I've mentioned, you know, you'll hear this throughout the season too, is that there's definitely a lack of curiosity among people. Is it, especially in the United States and probably also wants to, but very much so in the United States, there's a lack of curiosity about what people do and what they're up to and what life is actually like for people.

And there's actually some insanely. Interesting conversations, insanely interesting stories among people that are just regular people like us. Right. But if you start digging in there, you can learn a lot. And so there's, there's a part of me that just wants to just kind of like Ryan Holdeman said. Be better at follow-up questions, be better at asking questions.

And for me, it's, it's part of that, but it's also just like the listening part. I mean, how often have I just, when I'm in a conversation, whether it's work or with friends, I mean, I just, I just kind of naturally just kind of tune out or I just, my, my head just goes somewhere else and that's a really frustrating and very unhelpful habit.

And so there's a part of me that really wants to learn how to zone in and make people feel heard. Because it's, and it's not just a skill that I want to actually benefit. This is I think in the first season, what I really learned is that while initially I really wanted to learn how to listen. It's turned into, I want to make people feel how to be heard too.

And I want to work on, even in the midst of an interview, even in the midst of a conversation, I want the people that we talk to, to walk away feeling. Rejuvenated by having been asked good questions. And by having three guys be really curious about their life and that's something that I want to create that I think could be meaningful.

And then of course, of course, sharing that with the rest of the world. And that's, I mean, there's several drives, but I think, you know, really learning to zone in, on, on individuals for an hour or two is, is something that I is a skill. And an experience that I want, that I want to have and be able to share.

That's a big one for me.

Google has this interesting, like workshop thing about it's kind of by multiple things, but you partner up and at one point the listener has to not do active listening, just. Be still and listen to you talk, and it's a weird experience on both sides. Like it's weird to try to battle against active listening.

And it's weird that have completely the microphone without needing to worry about interruption or anything. And just along the lines of what you're talking about, it seems like there's, there's actually probably some stuff for us to unpack around, you know, listening and, and Active listening and, and focused.

You know, I can't remember what the other terms are off to look it up, but just kind of interesting. Also done that

program and you know, I think, I think good listening is not something that comes naturally to, to people. Maybe some people maybe introverted people. They're probably more likely to be better listeners.

I suspect Jake, you're not an introvert, so maybe you're a. Busy be of socializing and, and externally processing and talking a lot. Oh, I think introverts are, are, are more, you know, they're better listeners and, and they're, they're less likely to be leading with words and, and. I mean, if they're going to share them at all, it's going to be after they've really mold them over and probably heard what you had to say or what other people had to say.

So I, but I don't think it comes naturally to, to all people, but I also think there is something to there's it's like listening is one thing, but curiosity is another. Right. And, and I can hear what you have to say, but not be particularly curious about it. And I think that that's something that Jake, I think you have been a curious person and I think you're adding the learning skills to that.

And, and now you're seeing fruits in really interesting ways. I think these conversations, it might, from my perspective have kind of opened you up and have shown you some things that that you maybe didn't see or perspectives you didn't see before, which is great. And, and, you know, similar for me, I've, I've heard things that I, I hadn't heard before.

And, and hopefully one takeaway from this conversation for anybody who's listening is that there's really some cool stuff on the other side of, of good questions. And. Mindful present listening.

So yeah, along those same lines, there's many, many, many times when I'm in a conversation and I hear somebody says something and then just like, hold them and mentioned a second ago.

Oh, you went to Disneyland. Well, I went to here and then it just like how many times have I turned the conversation back to myself? Like, and, and, and not just being, learning how to not do that, but actually wanting to. To dive in, to go deeper with other people's stories.

Real quick. Chop is called search inside yourself of

search inside yourself.

The man

inside of me, I was going to say a rested development. Ryan Holdeman.

I haven't seen it. The rap group for the rap group. Yep. Yeah. I've really

been our description or at least our name. How did we come upon the description? I mean, it's funny because we actually spent a lot of time talking about the name, interesting lives of normal people.

The

way I remember it is the first idea that came out and what it was the first one. I haven't had a single second

doubt. Yeah, no, we had it. I mean, I feel like there's, it's funny because another interesting thing about this is that we are learning a lot about just how do you brand something and how do you come up with the right logo that describes what you're trying to get at and how do you create a mission statement?

There's all these things that come along with creating a podcast that, that, you know, I mean, you don't have to do, but it's probably. It's probably a good idea. Your benefit actually think through some of this stuff. And this has forced us to do that for sure. Well, I think

what's interesting about it is that it isn't neutral of us.

Right? So like we, you know, we really did. I think Fin and I kind of genuinely wanted to call Jake show and JK did that as you'll get to witness, we cut out most of the times when Jay went on rants about it and really threw a hissy fits you on here, all cursed at a banter. But when he left the room and said he wouldn't continue to the interview, but I think that, I think that what's interesting is the medium of a podcast has so much to do with the podcasters, but it also has, you know, here, here, we just, we just went on this whole intro about how it's about the interviewee.

And so it's an interesting balance to try to strike, cause like you're going to hear the three of us every time. Really good to hear an interviewee one time. So how do you balance the through-line of the, of the interview of the interviewers and how do you make it focused on the interviewees? Obviously, you're gonna want to know who the heck we are while also we want to make the pie each episode more about the interviewee.

I think about guy Roz on how I built this as a great example is it's like, you love guy Roz. He's so good. At not making the interview at all about what he knows and focusing it on what the interviewee knows yet. You also know him and like him and you, you know, you got an image of what he looks like and all that stuff.

So, so I think branding a podcast was particularly a, an endeavor,

you know, th there's a, I kind of thought that, Oh, we'll just throw a. The logo out there and, you know, something will work, but then you see something that you don't like, Oh yeah, that's terrible. I definitely don't want my name to be paired with that logo.

And then you start actually start being a little bit more picky and then yeah,

like a happy family walking down the street garbage don't associate me with that crap.

Very good family insurance just struck me as,

What he's mentioning is that I paid a company. I will not mention which one to give us some mock-ups and there were some very bad examples and I was very disappointed, but we, I will say it did start again.

It's kind of started that conversation. It started making us think like, what do we care about? And I was more of the, at first, I'll be honest. I don't think I shared this with you guys yet, but I didn't really like the idea of having our faces on it. Like our actual faces. But I'm actually starting to really understand why that is important because when you are listening to somebody, you want to know what kind of, what they look like.

And when you don't make them, when you don't make listeners go through the hoops of going to find out, sometimes that's helpful. That's not necessarily it has to be there, but that's kind of a nice, a nice thing to have. Do you think it's

good? Do you think it's good when you make your. Fellow pod hosts were things that they would never wear in real life.

So, Oh, like sunglasses, a very normal thing to wear and headphones. Yeah. Yeah, I think it's time to grow up pal.

I don't have them and I won't get them

internally trying to come up with something easy forever. Fin's a freak thing. It was like, can I just hold a taco? Cause I got a Julian taco. I got no sunglasses.

I think, I think in this branding process, part of what's been interesting to me, Jake is it feels like you're on a journey of trying to figure out how to be the host of a show and be humble. So I just found that fascinating, like you really hated Jake's show AKA cake show. And I think it was like this weird sort of, you felt like it's too braggadocious.

I have a show named after. Well,

okay. So first of all, my nickname is not cake, so,

Oh,

Nope, Nope, Nope, Nope. So that obviously doesn't make any sense, even though let them eat cake. Was it good? Good name, but I hate that nickname cake.

Your name options for this podcast was let them meet cake from the honorable Ryan Finley.

Yeah. I liked the nickname cake. I would have taken it, but no, if

all 1 million people that listen to this first episode, right. In saying, we need to change it to that. We will do

it. I'll do it. I'll swallow my pride and go with stupid cake anyway. Th the reason, the reason I don't like the name Jake show is that it doesn't.

I mean, first of all, how many Jakes are out there a lot? And it doesn't really

top five, most common names for like a hundred straight years, at least

interesting lives of normal people. It tells you exactly what it's about. Can be a good acronym. I think, I don't know. It's, it's an approachable name that I think is intriguing, you know?

And, you know, there's other podcasts out there that I, one I really like is stuff you should know. And so a little bit longer, but it's, that's an intriguing name to me. And I think the interesting lab of the normal people is, is also unique. And so we, you know, that was the first name that was thrown out there and we're like, all right, let's go with it.

And then we all kind of decided, do a little bit more due diligence and look at some other options, but yet we came back to it and that was, it is the one that we chose.

No. We actually sent a survey out to a bunch of friends. We ran some ads to try to figure out what people like. So we did a bunch of stuff to try to try to zero in on it.

But I think when it comes down to it, like what I love about, you know, it was an early name that we said as we were kind of talking about the essence of the show. And I think really where we were coming from when we said it kind of casually at first, was that everyone we had interviewed. Had not only been so interesting, but it was almost like they had surprised themselves, you know, with unpacking what was interesting about them.

And it felt like this, this really, you know, wonderful unpacking of the average person's insight and intention and advice for others, but also. It doesn't promise a whole lot, which I like, and I don't mean cause cause listeners, this is going to be the greatest podcast you've ever encountered. So I'm willing to promise that, but I like the humans of the New York stuff you should know.

I mean, I think there's a lot of intrigue in that and I liked that the interesting lives of normal people allows us to go a lot of places. And I think it even, you know, when we say normal people, it's not supposed to be. On honoring, like it's it's. And I know, and honoring is not really a word, but it's what I mean.

And it's, it's really, everybody's normal. Even that the people with the interesting stories that we already know, you know, the, the SU celebrities, the movie stars, the athletes and the, and the people that we don't, you know, we see every day and don't spend time talking to all of them actually have pretty interesting stories.

And all of them ultimately are really baked in. A lot of normalcy they may have different attention on them in different categories, but I think it it's, it's an honoring, you know, it's an honoring concept, but also I think it allows for us to explore a lot of places. Let's talk about how we got to the logo.

Yeah, let's do it. First. Jake submitted some to that design place,

design place, unnamed design plan place waiting. I'm still waiting back for back. Some, some mock-ups and maybe, maybe we'll get some, you know, swipe some, a little bit of improvements or tweaks. I'm not holding my breath, but Ryan Holdman did tackle that.

Even though I said I was going to do it, Ryan Holdeman jumped in, saved the day by creating some really cool stuff. And we all have beards. All three of us, we all are currently wearing hats. I mean, as soon as COVID has hit, I just am always wearing a hat. And so the logo really encapsulate, encapsulates all three of us pretty well.

You know, three guys with beards who are listening. And also the monocle idea is really just demonstrating like a curiosity and a desire to learn and listen to other people. So it really that logo, the logo kind of represents all three of us, I think And picks us really well, even though it looks mostly like Ryan Holdman, I will say

Holdeman, do you, can you speak to your creative process?

Yeah. You're on a bunch of ideas.

Yeah. So I sort of thinking about the essence of the show. Right. And, and we've unpacked that quite a bit, but questions and, and being listeners and stuff. And so I started thinking about like, What are some, what are some concepts? What are some images that, that brings to mind for me?

Right. And I was thinking curiosity and questions, and I started with a question Mark, and, you know, That's not that interesting, especially, you know, Oh, cool. You're asking questions. That's what all podcasts do. Redler Riddler. There's. I started with a question Mark and I moved on actually to like a painter's palette because I felt like there's a lot there.

You know, there's, there's so much that can come out of a painter's palette with just some blobs of paint and something to put it on in a orderly fashion. And then moved on to, you know, started thinking about the monocle con the monocle idea, and let's see, what else did I have going on there? Mendel a backpack.

I was thinking of a Bendel. Like I think some of what I was thinking about it, what's the stuff that when I see it, it conjures up intrigue gray. Like I'm going, what's the story there. Right. And it's like, I was thinking of a bundle. And for those who. The board Bendel isn't familiar for. That's the iconic, you know, kind of knapsack where it's a stick with a bandana tied around it with just a few belongings inside, you know, the kid who runs away back in the day type backpack, pre backpacks.

It's the backpack before backpack. Yeah. And so it felt, it felt like that's interesting and backpacks are interesting cause it's kind of. You know, it's normal, but it's also so much could be inside of there. And so it was really just playing through all of that. And at the same time I was asking this question of, of like, what, how much should the image represent us?

Because you're going to be with all three of us every week. And there's an amount of, if we're going to be in kind of digging into and learning the stories of others, there's going to be. You know, at least some sort of thread of who, who are these voices asking these questions. And so you know, that, that collision of, of, you know, literal images of us, it's like, it's pretty busy for a podcast graphic.

If it's three people. We looked at a couple of examples of that and it just felt too, like too much. So that what's a, what's a graphic. It could kind of represent all three of us could represent this sort of intrigue thing and could represent listening. And so, you know, pulled together this sort of neutral beardy guy with a backward hat, with a monocle and some headphones and thinking that that's sort of.

As I worked through all these ideas, some of when you're working through creatively, a bunch of ideas, well, part of what's stressful is you've got all these different angles you could go and it's hard to pick and it felt like it all kind of collided into that one idea. And it felt like it captured kind of a bit of every direction that I had thought.

Yeah,

it was good. To be honest, though, none of us actually were monocles.

I'm considering starting though.

You'd really be owning the look and really carrying this brand really far. If you did,

would you guys be impressed if I didn't have sunglasses, but I did have a monocle.

We'd let us, we'd let it go.

We'd forgive you. I wish

I could. I wish I could say that. I, I got you, but I don't. I can break one of my old pair of glasses in half, and then I'd have

Like what, what are you learning? What are you enthusiastic about? What do you want to get better at? And, and I think we've also in that process. And I think as the podcast takes form in a more long-term way, you know, we may move away from this a bit, but. Particularly this first season. I think we want to also have this kind of meta storyline going on of like, if you're trying to find your thing if you're trying to start your own podcast, if you're trying to start your own passion project, we want to, you know, provide some thought around that.

Right. And some of these episodes are really directly that, and your, you know, this first season is the path of kind of zeroing in on that for Jake. And so I just think that's one of the, one of the themes of the year or the season I should say.

Yeah. And so in the season what, what people can really expect is, you know, a lot of different things is that first of all, it is a journey like we've said.

So we talked to all sorts of, we talked to psychiatrists, art directors and. A copywriter. We talked to entrepreneurs, we talked to intrepreneurs. We talked to just to stay at home moms. Like we have talked to a lot of different people about, on several different topics. And pastors, we, you know, and so we've really covered the gambit and we want to continue to do that.

And we want to continue this podcast to be a journey and to be something that is a learning experience for us, a learning experience for the listener and our audience. Like we, we want that. And so we're continuing to search for those, those interesting lives, those interesting stories from, you know, the normal people and that's really what you can expect from this.

And what I like about. The partnership that we have between us three is that we all have some different angles that sometimes obviously kind of rub up against each other. And it's, we're trying to figure out how to actually make them work together. But I love that Ryan Holdeman, you're the one who wants to learn how to I love, I love that you have the perspective of, I want to, you want to learn how to make a podcast successful from.

A marketing perspective from a downloads perspective and how to build a true brand out of it. Like, I love that and I love that Fin is interested in, you know, really the, the relationship part of us and, you know, working together and just being part of us, building something and contributing in his. And I will say Fin has like, is really, really good at asking followup questions.

So I've learned a lot from him. I mean, both of you, but it's, it's been so fun to actually partner with you guys in the actual interviews and having these different perspectives where we want to get out of it. But what I really am really excited about is that. I want to build something that is an encouragement to the people that we are talking to that breathed his life into the people that we're talking to.

And, and also to create something that I feel like is meaningful just beyond jobs and just beyond everyday life in the suburbs. Like I want, I want to build something that is significant and lasting and impactful,

greatest podcast of all

time, greatest podcast of all time. Maybe it was just changing the name to that greatest podcast of all time.

Yeah, the G Pote.

What about, Oh, I get it. I get it

Capote. Is

Holdeman: [00:35:55]

like the goat. You missed one thing on fan that I want to throw in there is you make some mean taco. Oh, yeah.

Star goes,

I don't know that I ever made the tacos. I just eat the

tacos, then eats a mean taco and Thursday.

I talk about that. So

that's what this podcast is about. And. I must also say, I am very thankful that you to kind of answer the call from my wife. Literally. I think she texted you that we should do something like this. So I, I'm very grateful and I'm very excited. And just thank you both of you for participating in this and going on this journey with me.

And, you know, obviously we're just the beginning, but this could be really, really fun. It has been really fun. And thank you both. This is going to be cool. Something that

I for any, all, all of you millions out there listening to keep in mind is that this was a, this was a nights and weekend project that we were just exploring with.

And I think what you see over the season is something really cool. Unfurled. And yet I think you'll see that this line is not a straight one and that we do some twists and turns we sometimes double back, but in the end we do end up in some place really exciting. So we hope you'll stick with us through the whole process and understand by the end, how we landed at back at this conversation.

So. Yeah. I just want to add to that, that we dove right in. You know, I think, I think something, we found ourselves kind of waffling a lot in the early days and we'd be like, Oh, what should we make a podcast about? Why should we make podcasts about, and we thought, you know what? Let's dive in. Let's make a podcast about figuring out what we're going to make a podcast about.

So unfortunately also we were learning how to do a podcast. So, you know, some weeks, some weeks, one of our mics isn't great. And stuff like that. So sorry about that. And now we're pros, so yeah. You know, with millions of viewers. Yeah. Yeah. So both millions out there. I want you to know.

Both sets, both sets.

All right, hit that out to our music.

This is the interesting lies of normal people in the coming episodes. You'll hear about a guy who left his successful job in banking to work at a pot belly right next to his old bank. We talked with a mom who slowly going blind and how she's using her condition to encourage others. We talked to a black female serial entrepreneur, and you'll hear the story about a pastor who moved his family and six kids across the country to start new job.

And he's helping his wife start an art studio in the process. There's a lot to look forward to and we hope you join us and special. Thanks to our good friend Hugo. Who's allowed us to use her music available on SoundCloud.