On this week's episode of the Unpolished MBA, Monique speaks with Mike DiCioccio about his unique journey from corporate sales to entrepreneurial podcast innovator. Mike is the Founder, President, and Head Producer for Social Chameleon, a podcast production, distribution, and content agency that focuses on producing, distributing, and marketing best-in-class podcasts and media for a range of corporate and private clients.
In this conversation, Mike shares his passion for creativity, love of music & media, and vision for the future of the podcast industry both for entrepreneurs and small businesses. Mike also shares how his faith and inspiration from fellow content creators helped him overcome challenging times when his future was uncertain.
In addition to leading Social Chameleon, Mike is the host of MIKE’D UP!, a podcast that showcases inspiring entrepreneurs, award-winning authors, thought leaders, business & mindset coaches, peak-performers, entertainers, and other talented individuals who join the show to share their personal stories and deliver key insights to provide the ammo needed to level up and achieve your greatest dreams.
Topics Include:
Connect with Mike:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/mikedicioccio
LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikedicioccio
Mike’D Up! Podcast: https://linktr.ee/mikedicioccio
Follow Monique:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/moniquemills/
Website: https://unpolishedmba.com/
Coming up on Unpolished MBA.
Mike DiCioccio:So we know what obviously happened between '98 and
Mike DiCioccio:now 2022, it just blew up like crazy.
Mike DiCioccio:Everybody has a website, so I'm not saying everybody should or will have a podcast,
Mike DiCioccio:but the idea of it being kind of this quirky thing that you tell your friend
Mike DiCioccio:about " Hey, I'm listening to the sports podcast or this business show "and their
Mike DiCioccio:response may be, oh, I never listened to those or I don't really get it.
Mike DiCioccio:That's over with.
Monique Mills:This show is sponsored by TPM Focus, the strategy and
Monique Mills:execution consulting firm focused on generating revenue and finding
Monique Mills:product market fit for new innovation.
Monique Mills:Head over to TPMFocus.com to learn more.
Monique Mills:Hello everyone and welcome back to our most recent episode of Unpolished MBA.
Monique Mills:Today I have with me, Mike DiCioccio.
Monique Mills:Hi Mike, how are you?
Mike DiCioccio:Hey, what's going on, Monique?
Monique Mills:Thanks for joining us today.
Monique Mills:I want to start by asking you the same two questions that I ask everyone else.
Monique Mills:The first one is, are you an entrepreneur or a corporate employee?
Mike DiCioccio:Currently entrepreneur.
Mike DiCioccio:I do you have a background in corporate as well.
Monique Mills:Oh, we're going to get into that MBA or no MBA?
Mike DiCioccio:No MBA, I'm an Unpolished MBA-er.
Monique Mills:Exactly.
Monique Mills:I think we all are to a certain degree.
Mike DiCioccio:I started off very unpolished, let's just say.
Monique Mills:Well, I like that.
Monique Mills:I think regardless of education or not, I'm very down to earth.
Monique Mills:So I consider that being unpolished.
Monique Mills:So tell me a little bit, you mentioned that, you know, you
Monique Mills:have the corporate background, let's start from the beginning.
Mike DiCioccio:Yeah, so I ended up getting into the sales side of things
Mike DiCioccio:and it really kind of found me.
Mike DiCioccio:I never woke up one day and said "Hey, I want to have a sales career."
Mike DiCioccio:Right?
Mike DiCioccio:It kind of becomes a thing that you either find you're naturally gifted at and you
Mike DiCioccio:have success and you continue to pursue.
Mike DiCioccio:A lot of times it could start off as a retail sales job, and that's
Mike DiCioccio:actually kind of how I got into it.
Mike DiCioccio:To share just quickly before getting into the corporate story.
Mike DiCioccio:As a kid, I was not into that really at all.
Mike DiCioccio:I mean, I was into music.
Mike DiCioccio:I started drumming when I was 10 years old, and I was always into film.
Mike DiCioccio:I loved watching film and kind of studying it and watching like
Mike DiCioccio:the behind the scenes clips.
Mike DiCioccio:There's actually a movie magic show that used to be on TV.
Mike DiCioccio:I used to watch them create the miniatures for all the behind the scenes.
Mike DiCioccio:I remember watching the Star Wars documentary, it's
Mike DiCioccio:all that kind of cool stuff.
Mike DiCioccio:So, I have an interest in film and even screenwriting, directing,
Mike DiCioccio:acting, and I ended up going to school for media production.
Mike DiCioccio:I went to Buffalo State College and I have a degree in media
Mike DiCioccio:production, a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Mike DiCioccio:Aside from that, I ended up having the most success in my early twenties,
Mike DiCioccio:into my early thirties in sales.
Mike DiCioccio:It all started off when I worked at a music store, as you know, I'm a musician,
Mike DiCioccio:so I was working at a local guitar store.
Monique Mills:Oh, that sounds awesome.
Mike DiCioccio:It was a lot of fun.
Mike DiCioccio:I met a lot of cool people.
Mike DiCioccio:I was in a band at the time, you know, so it was just cool.
Mike DiCioccio:I was around great people, fun people, I had instruments galore around me.
Mike DiCioccio:Drum kits, I was kind of the drum manager they called me, but it was just kind of a
Mike DiCioccio:fun title it didn't really mean anything.
Mike DiCioccio:I was the drummer in the store that if someone came in and had a drum question,
Mike DiCioccio:they would throw everyone in my direction.
Mike DiCioccio:I ended up leaving there after a year and knowing more about guitars than
Mike DiCioccio:anything, cause it was Guitar Factory.
Mike DiCioccio:Not to be confused with the corporate Guitar Center, that's a different company.
Mike DiCioccio:So yeah, I was working at The Guitar Factory early twenties saving up
Mike DiCioccio:for an engagement ring at that time to put it kind of on a timeline.
Mike DiCioccio:By the time I was 25, we got married.
Mike DiCioccio:I was probably 23 or so working at this music store, saving up for the ring, get
Mike DiCioccio:married when I'm 25 years old, I ended up leaving the music store and working for
Mike DiCioccio:Sleep Number, which is a great company.
Mike DiCioccio:They're the sleep number bed you've probably heard of, you
Mike DiCioccio:see a ton of commercials now.
Monique Mills:You mean that expensive bed?
Mike DiCioccio:My average sale when I left the company was $4,700 a sale,
Mike DiCioccio:and I did very well with the company.
Mike DiCioccio:When I started with them in, I want to say it was 2011 originally
Mike DiCioccio:because I had two stints with them.
Mike DiCioccio:First, I did two years in sales and then I came back for a third
Mike DiCioccio:year and I was a store manager.
Mike DiCioccio:The company was more in magazines and on TV channels that were more
Mike DiCioccio:home-based, you know, that kind of stuff.
Mike DiCioccio:Home improvement channels and stuff like that.
Mike DiCioccio:Now they have a partnership with the NFL.
Mike DiCioccio:Everybody knows them, they're all over the place.
Mike DiCioccio:So, it's cool to see that company actually grow and I sleep on a Sleep Number bed.
Mike DiCioccio:That's actually the company that I want to give a lot of credit to turning
Mike DiCioccio:me into a professional sales person.
Mike DiCioccio:At the music store, I was fun, I was Mike people came in, they got to meet me.
Mike DiCioccio:I didn't really have a professional presentation, you know, as far as
Mike DiCioccio:when someone comes in, I'm going to use this framework to close the deal.
Mike DiCioccio:It was kind of, it happened and it was a little bit loosey goosey, but at Sleep
Mike DiCioccio:Number, I learned how to have a process.
Mike DiCioccio:You know, you don't want to be a robot and do it robotically like as the script
Mike DiCioccio:says to do it, but there was a rhyme and reason to let's get to know somebody.
Mike DiCioccio:We called it discovery, and then from there we would show them what's called
Mike DiCioccio:the "wow bed" , it's kind of the first experience they have with the product
Mike DiCioccio:and then listen to their hot buttons, take them to the proper places in the
Mike DiCioccio:store to showcase what we can do to provide a solution to what they need.
Mike DiCioccio:Then I got great at presenting the proposal, everyone else called it a quote.
Mike DiCioccio:I called it a proposal because to me, quote, is I want a price and I want to
Mike DiCioccio:run, and I was like, no, we don't do that.
Mike DiCioccio:I'm going to put together everything we talked about as a solution to why you're
Mike DiCioccio:here, and then that's the proposal.
Mike DiCioccio:Every single person who came and talked to me got one.
Mike DiCioccio:I told my sales team, a hundred percent of the times you don't
Mike DiCioccio:present a proposal, you do not sell anything, a hundred percent.
Mike DiCioccio:Probably 75% of the times I did print it, I sold it.
Mike DiCioccio:So, you know, I'm giving myself three out of four chance here to close a deal.
Mike DiCioccio:So that's when I really learned how to become a professional.
Mike DiCioccio:Then LinkedIn came out in 2012 or so, and I was probably one of the first
Mike DiCioccio:people in my own network of friends at that time that was on LinkedIn.
Mike DiCioccio:And the only thing I ever heard about it was I'd get an email once
Mike DiCioccio:in a while that someone inboxed me.
Mike DiCioccio:At that point it was recruiters, and they're typically trying to
Mike DiCioccio:bring me over to their organization.
Mike DiCioccio:Every once in a while I would get something that caught my attention,
Mike DiCioccio:kind of another side story, my wife at that time, her uncle was probably
Mike DiCioccio:the most financially successful person I've ever met in my life.
Mike DiCioccio:He had an insurance agency for 30 plus years in Indiana.
Mike DiCioccio:We're from Buffalo, New York.
Mike DiCioccio:He moved from Buffalo to Indiana, has a huge insurance agency there.
Mike DiCioccio:When Liberty Mutual reached out to me to bring me on board, I thought,
Mike DiCioccio:this may be a sales opportunity where there's some money in the game.
Mike DiCioccio:That kind of got my attention.
Mike DiCioccio:At Sleep Number, as much as I like working there, I was in
Mike DiCioccio:a storefront that people came to me and I was kind of limited in
Mike DiCioccio:exposure of who I could sell to.
Mike DiCioccio:I always thought I'd be really good at being on the road, going
Mike DiCioccio:to networking meetings and kind of the door to door sales of let me
Mike DiCioccio:meet with you at your kitchen table.
Mike DiCioccio:I meet you, your husband, your wife.
Mike DiCioccio:I can put the presentation in front of you here.
Mike DiCioccio:It doesn't have to happen at the store, and I can kind of
Mike DiCioccio:dictate how I scale my success.
Monique Mills:Like a real sales process.
Mike DiCioccio:Right, and I'm in control of that, right?
Mike DiCioccio:The funnel and the prospecting and sourcing.
Mike DiCioccio:So I actually took them up on the offer and eventually, it was kind
Mike DiCioccio:of a process as you know, bigger corporations to kind of have you
Mike DiCioccio:go through the steps and all that.
Mike DiCioccio:But really what sold me, you're going to laugh.
Mike DiCioccio:Imagine this 26 year old kid, newly married, you know, planning on having a
Mike DiCioccio:kid on the way I get presented a company laptop and two weeks in Florida for
Mike DiCioccio:training and I'm coming from Buffalo.
Mike DiCioccio:It was winter, it was snowing sideways, and they're like, we'll
Mike DiCioccio:get you to Florida for two weeks and we'll get you a company laptop.
Mike DiCioccio:I'm like, "sign me up."
Mike DiCioccio:So I know nothing about insurance, can I just disclaim that upfront?
Mike DiCioccio:I don't know what this is.
Mike DiCioccio:They said, don't worry about it.
Mike DiCioccio:If you're good at sales, and if you're good at doing the process we
Mike DiCioccio:will teach you what you don't know.
Mike DiCioccio:I said, that's fair, let's do it.
Mike DiCioccio:So I did that for about three and a half years at a high level, you know,
Mike DiCioccio:provided for the family did really well.
Mike DiCioccio:Then I got that heart tug, like, man, you know what happened to the little 10 year
Mike DiCioccio:old, running around with the camcorder and creating and writing and experiencing
Mike DiCioccio:and doing all this cool stuff.
Monique Mills:Yeah.
Mike DiCioccio:I kind of felt like I was dying inside a little bit.
Mike DiCioccio:It wasn't like my wife was telling me not to be creative.
Mike DiCioccio:I was supporting our family.
Mike DiCioccio:You know, I still felt like I was me when people met me, I was happy and I was
Mike DiCioccio:always happy to help people and sell and know that I was doing the right thing and
Mike DiCioccio:providing the right solution every time.
Mike DiCioccio:At the same time, I felt like my creativity was really starving.
Mike DiCioccio:So, I eventually did go back to Sleep Number when the store management
Mike DiCioccio:opportunity came about because it was something I always wanted.
Mike DiCioccio:I felt like, now that it's available, let's go back and do that.
Mike DiCioccio:I did really well for that year, you know, broke some records, all that fun stuff.
Mike DiCioccio:I ended up going through a divorce, which is where the next
Mike DiCioccio:part of my story happens in 2017.
Mike DiCioccio:I was 31, it's like a super early midlife crisis where once I got
Mike DiCioccio:divorced, it was an opportunity to reevaluate who I wanted to be as a
Mike DiCioccio:person and what I wanted to be doing.
Mike DiCioccio:Even though I was successful in corporate America, up to that point, I knew it was
Mike DiCioccio:my opportunity to become an entrepreneur.
Mike DiCioccio:There was nobody that can answer to that, except for the man I
Mike DiCioccio:looked at in the mirror that said, what are you waiting for?
Monique Mills:That's a lot of changes at one time though, that
Monique Mills:had to take a lot of courage.
Mike DiCioccio:I would say yeah, it took courage, but it was almost like, it was
Mike DiCioccio:definitely a dark place, but I felt like, that's where you can really build up now.
Mike DiCioccio:When you knock something down, you can start to build something new
Mike DiCioccio:with the right processes in place.
Mike DiCioccio:So I'm talking about me personally.
Mike DiCioccio:I did not get married thinking I would ever get divorced.
Mike DiCioccio:I thought we were going to be together forever, but once that became not the
Mike DiCioccio:reality, I just realized and thanks to podcasts and the people I was
Mike DiCioccio:listening to, I was really putting a lot of positivity into my think tank.
Monique Mills:Who were are you listening to?
Mike DiCioccio:Ed Mylett, Lewis Howes, some Grant Cardone, Tony Robbins.
Monique Mills:Ok, no wonder they lifted you up.
Mike DiCioccio:They were lifting me up and it was very much like the
Mike DiCioccio:message in my head was why not me?
Mike DiCioccio:Why not me?
Mike DiCioccio:Because most of the guys I'm listening to started from either nothing or
Mike DiCioccio:at some point in their life had literally a few bucks in their
Mike DiCioccio:pocket and have become who they are.
Mike DiCioccio:So why not me?
Mike DiCioccio:And I wasn't only after money.
Mike DiCioccio:I was actually after being the best version of myself, number
Mike DiCioccio:one, and serving the world.
Mike DiCioccio:I do believe in God, and so I felt I was in service number one to God, but
Mike DiCioccio:the best version of Mike is someone that's serving and everybody else is
Mike DiCioccio:going to benefit from it in some way.
Mike DiCioccio:So I knew that I was limited in being able to do that at a company, because I
Mike DiCioccio:had to be kind of employee XYZ, opposed to someone who can create a movement,
Mike DiCioccio:which is what Social Chameleon has become.
Mike DiCioccio:To something that's much larger than me.
Mike DiCioccio:When eventually it can operate without me, you know?
Mike DiCioccio:It's like, I plant the seed and it becomes this thing that's
Mike DiCioccio:much larger than me over time.
Mike DiCioccio:I had that vision for it from day one.
Mike DiCioccio:I'm someone who is probably the creative background, the little kid
Mike DiCioccio:with the dream is always in my heart.
Mike DiCioccio:When I thought to start a company, I wasn't thinking about it like,
Mike DiCioccio:oh, you know, how much money do I need to make rent this month?
Mike DiCioccio:I was thinking about how do I build the next largest company.
Mike DiCioccio:A vision for what it's going to look like in 20 years.
Mike DiCioccio:I was already having that dream from day one.
Monique Mills:I can just say that you're a special person, because most people
Monique Mills:wouldn't think that way, especially at that time, even if things are going great,
Monique Mills:they're not going to think that way.
Monique Mills:They usually would go into self survival mode where you're like, shoot the
Monique Mills:sky's the limit, what is there to lose?
Monique Mills:I know that there is something to gain and I know I can personally do it.
Monique Mills:That's a special person.
Monique Mills:So you definitely got to give yourself credit for that.
Mike DiCioccio:I appreciate that.
Mike DiCioccio:I give, first of all, God, the credit, because you he created me and put
Mike DiCioccio:me in position to do these things.
Mike DiCioccio:But also I have to give credit really Ed Mylett, listening to
Mike DiCioccio:his show, which is the Ed Mylett Show or people know it as Max Out.
Mike DiCioccio:One of the lessons I learned from him that changed my perspective when I
Mike DiCioccio:was going through those hard times in 2017, is that when you flip the lens
Mike DiCioccio:to everything happens for us, not to us, you change the victim mentality.
Mike DiCioccio:Obviously going through a divorce is a difficult time.
Mike DiCioccio:It's maybe not the best time, you know, it's laughable now to think
Mike DiCioccio:about it financially changing consistent good income to, "Hey,
Mike DiCioccio:I'm going to be an entrepreneur and basically eat what I kill."
Mike DiCioccio:The whole hunting mentality.
Mike DiCioccio:Right.
Mike DiCioccio:It's a different lifestyle.
Mike DiCioccio:I definitely had to take a lot of steps back to go forward, like a Slingshot.
Mike DiCioccio:When I heard Ed say "everything happens for you, not to you."
Mike DiCioccio:he was explaining the very difficult things he went through in life.
Mike DiCioccio:Now with a different lens, I realized, you know what?
Mike DiCioccio:I didn't want to go through a divorce.
Mike DiCioccio:I didn't think that was in the cards for us, but once it happened, I realized I
Mike DiCioccio:could either lay there in my apartment and sulk and just be miserable and
Mike DiCioccio:feel bad for myself, or I can pick myself up and be a new version of me.
Mike DiCioccio:It's chapter two now lets go.
Mike DiCioccio:So I'd say I probably was down in the dumps for, you know, maybe a few days.
Mike DiCioccio:Then all of a sudden I kind of sprung up and was like, I get to write the blank
Mike DiCioccio:pages and I'll tell you , picture this.
Mike DiCioccio:I'm in a brand new apartment my entire life is boxed up at this
Mike DiCioccio:point because I'm just moving.
Mike DiCioccio:So all my belongings, I have everything, you know, it's like I
Mike DiCioccio:found yearbooks from when I was in like fifth grade that I didn't even
Mike DiCioccio:know I still had in these boxes.
Mike DiCioccio:Basically anything that was mine in our house that I had together with my ex-wife
Mike DiCioccio:was in these boxes and the apartment was empty because it was day one.
Mike DiCioccio:I remember looking around thinking the walls in these rooms, all
Mike DiCioccio:this empty space, that's my future and all these boxes are my past.
Mike DiCioccio:I want to create new memories, new things, and appreciate the
Mike DiCioccio:past, but not be defined by it.
Mike DiCioccio:That's really how I put my best foot forward.
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Monique Mills:So once you made that transition into business, what was it like
Monique Mills:when you first got started?
Monique Mills:Did you know what to do?
Monique Mills:You know, you mentioned your ex's uncle was pretty successful
Monique Mills:or from your experience in sales and in corporate America.
Monique Mills:How did you know what to do?
Mike DiCioccio:The most naive thing I ever thought and actually experienced
Mike DiCioccio:was because I was good in sales and I was great at networking and loved
Mike DiCioccio:meeting new people and helping them out.
Mike DiCioccio:I assumed, which is obviously a key word you want to kind of stay
Mike DiCioccio:away from everyone says don't make an ass out of you and me.
Mike DiCioccio:I assumed that because I was good in sales and I thought
Mike DiCioccio:that was a strong sales manager.
Mike DiCioccio:Oh, yeah, I can run my own company too.
Mike DiCioccio:I can sell XYZ, pick a product, I'll sell it.
Mike DiCioccio:That was definitely a mistake on my part, because being an entrepreneur, you
Mike DiCioccio:have to be much more than a salesperson.
Mike DiCioccio:That's a huge skill and trade that you do need, but organization, execution,
Mike DiCioccio:business planning, understanding taxes, understanding corporation,
Mike DiCioccio:I'm an S-Corp but I didn't even know what that meant at the beginning.
Mike DiCioccio:So having all the legalities of it taken care of, there's a lot to learn.
Mike DiCioccio:So, to answer your question, the best thing I did or could do,
Mike DiCioccio:really, the only thing I could do is my best in meeting new people.
Mike DiCioccio:You know, new opportunities, that's the lifeblood of business.
Mike DiCioccio:I was going literally door to door, business to business,
Mike DiCioccio:trying to help them out.
Mike DiCioccio:Day one of Social Chameleon we were not what we are today.
Mike DiCioccio:Today, we're a podcast agency.
Mike DiCioccio:2017 we were a media and marketing company doing a lot of social
Mike DiCioccio:media advertising, videos, we were doing Facebook ads, AB
Mike DiCioccio:testing, all that good stuff.
Mike DiCioccio:We also were website designing and we were doing SEO and SEM, which is
Mike DiCioccio:just a boring way of saying, helping get traffic to somebody's website.
Mike DiCioccio:That's what we did in the early days.
Mike DiCioccio:Then I started to realize I wasn't even loving it, and it's like, wait, I walked
Mike DiCioccio:away from corporate because I really wanted to rediscover myself and invigorate
Mike DiCioccio:some of that energy of that child like excitement and I started to lose it.
Mike DiCioccio:Then really where the story takes a big turn, a positive
Mike DiCioccio:turn is in 2019, November 4th.
Mike DiCioccio:My first podcast episode comes out with my friend, Jackie Roach, who
Mike DiCioccio:encouraged me to start the podcast.
Mike DiCioccio:I said, "Hey, you know what, I'm going to have you on as my first guest."
Mike DiCioccio:I've done over 130 episodes of Miked Up, and that show actually, after a month
Mike DiCioccio:in December, then of that year, one of our clients who I did a testimonial
Mike DiCioccio:video for, they actually came to me.
Mike DiCioccio:They emailed me and said, our board of directors is looking to start a podcast
Mike DiCioccio:and we have no idea how to do it.
Mike DiCioccio:We know that you just did yours, we see it, we like, it looks good.
Mike DiCioccio:Can you help us?
Mike DiCioccio:I thought they meant coach them a little bit or give them
Mike DiCioccio:some insights on how to do it.
Mike DiCioccio:Eventually I realized the conversation was not just help them, it was to take
Mike DiCioccio:the project on and do it all, edit, distribution artwork, the whole deal.
Mike DiCioccio:I was like, oh my God, of course yes.
Mike DiCioccio:I realized, this is what I love to do.
Mike DiCioccio:It lit me up, I was excited.
Mike DiCioccio:So then all of a sudden I added it to Social Chameleons ammo, right?
Mike DiCioccio:Our repertoire of what we could do.
Mike DiCioccio:A lot of business coaches and mentors that were meeting with me for coffee
Mike DiCioccio:and helping me out said, you are doing too many different things.
Mike DiCioccio:What are you the best at?
Mike DiCioccio:I said, you know what?
Mike DiCioccio:I know every aspect of podcasts because I taught myself how
Mike DiCioccio:to do it from the ground up.
Mike DiCioccio:I have a media production degree, so I understand audio engineering, I
Mike DiCioccio:understand what goes into a good video, I understand how to market something.
Mike DiCioccio:I had all these different skills that kind of came together and they said, well, you
Mike DiCioccio:know, it seems like that's your thing.
Mike DiCioccio:You're the guy people are now knowing as kind of the podcast dude.
Mike DiCioccio:I was like, you know what?
Mike DiCioccio:I do have to get organized and pick one thing I want to run.
Mike DiCioccio:So before the pandemic I decided, and I put out some new marketing
Mike DiCioccio:content and I rebranded us as Social Chameleon, podcasting done for you.
Mike DiCioccio:It was the best decision I ever made because not only did the company
Mike DiCioccio:grow, my fulfillment grew and surprise, surprise profit grew because I was
Mike DiCioccio:happier, I was a better business person.
Mike DiCioccio:When people met me, they could feel that energy.
Mike DiCioccio:It was more electric than before, when I kind of was doing things, I was not
Mike DiCioccio:even really enjoying at that point.
Mike DiCioccio:It made a big difference, and obviously that's how you and I met and the
Mike DiCioccio:rest is kind of history, right?
Monique Mills:Absolutely.
Monique Mills:I know so many people that want to do a podcast, you know, they don't have the
Monique Mills:time to go and try to learn everything.
Monique Mills:Then what about distribution?
Monique Mills:And what about artwork?
Monique Mills:They've got to learn Canva.
Monique Mills:I mean, it's a lot of moving pieces and not many people would want to
Monique Mills:do that and take the time to do it, but they do want a podcast.
Monique Mills:So your service is do it for you.
Monique Mills:Is that literally from beginning to end or describe a little bit more
Monique Mills:about what you do for those who either have a podcast or want to start one.
Mike DiCioccio:Yeah, it literally is done for you.
Mike DiCioccio:That's the concept.
Mike DiCioccio:What I realized is a lot of people, they have the energy and
Mike DiCioccio:excitement to start a podcast.
Mike DiCioccio:They have a great idea.
Mike DiCioccio:Maybe they're great at a microphone.
Mike DiCioccio:They have a huge network.
Mike DiCioccio:People are like, oh yeah, I want to be on your show.
Mike DiCioccio:Awesome.
Mike DiCioccio:They're great at hosting the show, they're passionate about delivering a great show.
Mike DiCioccio:Typically, most people do not love the tedious editing, and I'm going to
Mike DiCioccio:give a shout out to our editor, one of our editors, Todd, who I know is that.
Mike DiCioccio:Working with us on your show.
Mike DiCioccio:So shout out to Todd and everyone at Social Chameleon, Randall,
Mike DiCioccio:Samantha, and Nate as well.
Mike DiCioccio:I have a beautiful team that grew over time, but I realized that most people
Mike DiCioccio:that start a podcast, they start to get burned out and you see there's a drop-off
Mike DiCioccio:around episode 15, because it started as a passion project becomes a part-time job.
Mike DiCioccio:5 to 20 hours of work a week if you're doing it all and you're doing it
Mike DiCioccio:the right way and not just throwing it together and spitting it out.
Mike DiCioccio:You're actually putting together a nicely produced show.
Mike DiCioccio:So then what happens is someone usually hires like, all right,
Mike DiCioccio:I'll get an audio editor at minimum I need it to sound good.
Mike DiCioccio:Then they do that, but they like don't have great artwork.
Mike DiCioccio:Now I'm going to hire Stew to do the artwork and Sam to do, you know,
Mike DiCioccio:the audio and then they realize well, how do I get it on my website?
Mike DiCioccio:Or do they even know how to do the distribution, they end up
Mike DiCioccio:hiring a third or fourth person.
Mike DiCioccio:I realized, instead of just coaching people, we will do
Mike DiCioccio:all of that stuff for you.
Mike DiCioccio:You know?
Mike DiCioccio:And that's really the best feeling is knowing that someone gets to
Mike DiCioccio:be the best host of their show.
Mike DiCioccio:They're kind of the face of it, but there's a supporting team behind the
Mike DiCioccio:scenes that's making it all happen.
Mike DiCioccio:It's very similar to Late night with Jimmy Fallon.
Mike DiCioccio:He comes out, he walks out of that curtain, he's his best self.
Mike DiCioccio:He tells the jokes, he's reading the monologue and he's great with his
Mike DiCioccio:guests, he does his funny segments.
Mike DiCioccio:Imagine if Jimmy then after that had to go and edit everything and turn
Mike DiCioccio:it into the social media content.
Mike DiCioccio:Nobody would assume any of that.
Mike DiCioccio:So what we're looking to do is provide that professional quality, that studio
Mike DiCioccio:quality for somebody, and we do it.
Mike DiCioccio:It really is when you figure out the cost of it, very affordable to work
Mike DiCioccio:with us, considering if you hired everybody out per hour, tried to
Mike DiCioccio:nickel and dime your way through it.
Mike DiCioccio:You end up spending just as much, if not more.
Monique Mills:Absolutely, and then the project management of it all,
Monique Mills:it's just, it's too much going on.
Monique Mills:So, you know, podcasting is very popular now.
Monique Mills:What do you see as far as the future of it though?
Mike DiCioccio:Yeah, here's the thing it's been up for a while, but it's like
Mike DiCioccio:websites, like in 1998, the last time I heard stats on this, the amount of
Mike DiCioccio:podcasts today, which are about two and a half million podcasts that are active.
Mike DiCioccio:That same amount was the amount of websites that existed in 1998.
Mike DiCioccio:So we know what obviously happened between 98 and now
Mike DiCioccio:2022, it just blew up like crazy.
Mike DiCioccio:Everybody has a website, so I'm not saying everybody should or will have
Mike DiCioccio:a podcast, but the idea of it being kind of this quirky thing that you
Mike DiCioccio:tell your friend about like, "Hey, I'm listening to the sports podcast or this
Mike DiCioccio:business show" and their response may be, oh, I never listened to those or I
Mike DiCioccio:don't really get it, that's over with.
Mike DiCioccio:Everybody, like my mom understands podcasts and the guy down the street
Mike DiCioccio:knows that if you follow a sports team, that sports team has their own podcasts.
Mike DiCioccio:If you follow a TV show, there's usually a podcast.
Mike DiCioccio:Either the network has one, the show might have one, fans of the show have one.
Mike DiCioccio:My point is they're not going away anytime soon, they're being utilized so
Mike DiCioccio:much more in branding and marketing for small, medium and big organizations.
Mike DiCioccio:What's exciting is there are all different spaces.
Mike DiCioccio:There's entertainment, there's business, there's everything in between.
Mike DiCioccio:So it's exciting to be in this.
Mike DiCioccio:That was part of the reason that I was excited to pivot because I knew I'm
Mike DiCioccio:not pivoting to a dying thing, like website design, as much as it is, it's
Mike DiCioccio:in necessity at this point, really.
Mike DiCioccio:I mean, there's pro designers who are going to make these really
Mike DiCioccio:expansive sites and they're beautiful, and their functionality
Mike DiCioccio:is, you know, the UI is amazing.
Mike DiCioccio:User experience also is amazing.
Mike DiCioccio:At the end of the day, it's kind of just serving what it needs to be.
Mike DiCioccio:It wasn't that exciting for me and the clients just kind of
Mike DiCioccio:wanted it to work and provide ROI.
Mike DiCioccio:When I talked to someone about their podcasts, we're all excited about
Mike DiCioccio:the creativity that goes into it.
Mike DiCioccio:So it's just a better space.
Mike DiCioccio:I feel I'm actually being utilized as a person more in this space
Mike DiCioccio:because I get to be me a lot more.
Mike DiCioccio:Then I'm the best version to help and serve.
Mike DiCioccio:I love doing my show, every day I look at my calendar and I see there's a Mike'd
Mike DiCioccio:Up episode in there, it just has more energy than just a day of, you know,
Mike DiCioccio:meeting new people, which I love to do.
Mike DiCioccio:When I know that there's going to be, this show created that day,
Mike DiCioccio:it always amps me up even more.
Monique Mills:Absolutely.
Monique Mills:I can certainly feel that energy just with us working together too.
Monique Mills:The great thing about it is you come with ideas, right?
Monique Mills:A lot of times when people are trying to piece together, different individual
Monique Mills:people who don't know each other who have no communication throughout
Monique Mills:each other, it's very hard to kind of have this collaborative effect.
Monique Mills:So working with a dump for you and then someone that this is what they thrive
Monique Mills:on, this is what they enjoy doing.
Monique Mills:It makes a huge, huge difference.
Monique Mills:When you mentioned podcasting kind of being like, you know, the websites of
Monique Mills:1998, I really had to laugh at that.
Monique Mills:You know, right now sometimes people, cause I know with us, we
Monique Mills:don't update our website often.
Monique Mills:Maybe like once a year we'll change it, literally change the
Monique Mills:design every year and a half.
Monique Mills:When someone needs to know more information, I send them there.
Monique Mills:I also see that people with podcasts, don't say, oh, even if
Monique Mills:it's not their own, people will reach out to them for information,
Monique Mills:or what's your thoughts on this?
Monique Mills:Can I pick your brain?
Monique Mills:They'll send them a podcast episode they did with someone, you know?
Mike DiCioccio:Well, here's the thing.
Mike DiCioccio:What's exciting about it is there's no shortage of information
Mike DiCioccio:in the world we live in today.
Mike DiCioccio:There's obviously Google, which is the primary source of people are going to
Mike DiCioccio:Google something and get information.
Mike DiCioccio:Now podcasting is also becoming that, that extra tier, because it's not only the
Mike DiCioccio:Google process of getting the information.
Mike DiCioccio:Now it's active information.
Mike DiCioccio:There's people explaining it.
Mike DiCioccio:There's people talking about it on a higher level.
Mike DiCioccio:You can dive into conversations, you can be a fly on the wall.
Mike DiCioccio:What I love about podcasts is you're getting to be a fly on the wall for people
Mike DiCioccio:in conversation that you normally wouldn't get to meet or talk to like Ed Mylett
Mike DiCioccio:interviewing at the time he interviewed and was also interviewed by Tony Robbins.
Mike DiCioccio:These two guys, it felt like you're sitting at coffee, hanging
Mike DiCioccio:out with these guys and they're sharing their life stories and how
Mike DiCioccio:they did these incredible things.
Mike DiCioccio:I feel like I'm hanging out with these guys.
Mike DiCioccio:So that's the whole cool thing with podcasts is it's more
Mike DiCioccio:active as a university on wheels.
Mike DiCioccio:Whenever I'm driving, either to go get my daughter, take
Mike DiCioccio:her somewhere, go to church.
Mike DiCioccio:You know, and do some volunteer work, anytime I'm in my car and I'm
Mike DiCioccio:driving, I'm using that is podcast time, so I can learn something new.
Mike DiCioccio:Then you got to apply what you learn, you know, that's the action behind it.
Mike DiCioccio:But, it's, it's a beautiful thing.
Mike DiCioccio:You know, I'm not trying to shoot down school, but I will say in the seven
Mike DiCioccio:years or eight years that I've been listening to podcasts, I learned more
Mike DiCioccio:than the 20 years I was in school.
Mike DiCioccio:You know?
Monique Mills:Yeah, a lot of people say that and it's definitely much
Monique Mills:more informative and entertaining and all of that than the radio.
Monique Mills:I never turned the radio on in my car, never.
Mike DiCioccio:Well it's on demand and you know, you turn the radio on,
Mike DiCioccio:you have to hope it's a song you care about or the DJ you want to hear from.
Mike DiCioccio:If it's a business show, where are you gonna find that on the
Mike DiCioccio:radio, like 2:30 in the afternoon.
Mike DiCioccio:With podcast, we're in an on demand society right now.
Mike DiCioccio:Everybody knows Netflix and Hulu your way through it, and the DVR mentality
Mike DiCioccio:of watch it when you want skip through.
Mike DiCioccio:So essentially podcasts provide that.
Mike DiCioccio:Now what I kind of teased earlier is, do I think that everyone will have one?
Mike DiCioccio:I don't, I don't think that's necessarily right, because not
Mike DiCioccio:everybody is the right fit for it.
Mike DiCioccio:Not everyone is comfortable doing it, wants to do it, or has a
Mike DiCioccio:personal brand or business that could be connected to it in some way.
Mike DiCioccio:So it's not like everybody, necessarily needs it.
Mike DiCioccio:I do feel there's going to be a high, high percentage, there already is, of
Mike DiCioccio:active listeners where it's whatever the numbers are of people watching TV
Mike DiCioccio:in 1980, to basically everybody, like before the internet is the thing everyone
Mike DiCioccio:did was came home from work and watch TV.
Mike DiCioccio:Well now podcasts are already that form of entertainment
Mike DiCioccio:that everybody's tuning into.
Mike DiCioccio:It's a household thing that's known.
Mike DiCioccio:It's not this uncomfortable thing to talk about.
Mike DiCioccio:It's here, it's being utilized and what's really the reason
Mike DiCioccio:I don't see it going away.
Mike DiCioccio:People can do it while they're driving their car, working out in between
Mike DiCioccio:meetings, you could watch a podcast on YouTube if you want to be more engaged
Mike DiCioccio:and physically watch the guests and the host or whatever the show might look like.
Mike DiCioccio:So you can do it while staying busy.
Mike DiCioccio:While I'm cutting the grass, I actually look forward to cutting the grass
Mike DiCioccio:because that's an hour and a half of podcast time for me, you can obviously,
Mike DiCioccio:I don't want to say multitask because I learned that that's not even a good thing
Mike DiCioccio:because you're not giving to everything.
Mike DiCioccio:The point is, if you're doing something that's just mundane, you're cleaning
Mike DiCioccio:the kitchen, you can learn at the same time by listening to a podcast.
Mike DiCioccio:So I think that's why A.
Mike DiCioccio:it's so popular and B.
Mike DiCioccio:I don't see it going away anytime soon.
Mike DiCioccio:I know video is, you know, I'm all into video, and video is great
Mike DiCioccio:and YouTube channels continue to grow and provide a lot of value.
Mike DiCioccio:The thing is with video, if that's the only form of your content, then people
Mike DiCioccio:have to choose when they're going to watch it, where with audio, they can
Mike DiCioccio:actually tune in and you're giving them more of a window when they can do that.
Monique Mills:That's a great point and a great way to really promote
Monique Mills:where podcasts is now and where it will continue to be because we're
Monique Mills:not slowing down in his world.
Monique Mills:I want to be able to drive and not have to look at a video
Monique Mills:to hear what you're saying.
Monique Mills:Right?
Monique Mills:So I really believe that it's not going anywhere and if
Monique Mills:anything, it'll be enhanced.
Monique Mills:Now, how it is enhanced, is still yet to be seen but Mike, I really want to
Monique Mills:thank you for joining the show today and sharing your journey with us, but
Monique Mills:also talking more about podcasts because everyone just said, oh, this is a fad.
Monique Mills:It's another one of those things.
Monique Mills:As you explained, that's not so.
Monique Mills:Thank you so much for spending some time with us today and sharing your journey.
Mike DiCioccio:Yeah, absolutely.
Mike DiCioccio:I enjoyed being on and I just want to say thank you for all the
Mike DiCioccio:great content that you provide.
Mike DiCioccio:You're doing it yourself.
Mike DiCioccio:You know, everything we've talked about, you're doing at a high level.
Monique Mills:Let's be transparent, with your help.
Monique Mills:So yes, for those who are interested in working with you and your company,
Monique Mills:what's the best way they can find you?
Mike DiCioccio:Yeah.
Mike DiCioccio:If you're looking to tune into Miked Up and kind of get more of
Mike DiCioccio:the personal brand, you can go to MikedUpPodcast.com and we'll make that
Mike DiCioccio:clickable in the show notes for you.
Mike DiCioccio:If you're interested in Social Chameleon and what we can do to
Mike DiCioccio:launch your podcast and create the content and publish that for you, then
Mike DiCioccio:you would go to SocialChameleon.us also in the show notes for you.
Mike DiCioccio:I'd love you guys tuning in to connect with me on LinkedIn, shoot me a DM
Mike DiCioccio:and let me know that you tuned in.
Mike DiCioccio:If you got value from this, I would love to hear that.
Mike DiCioccio:Obviously Monique, when she posts that the show is out, that's a great opportunity
Mike DiCioccio:for you to show some love to her and let me know what you think of the show.
Mike DiCioccio:We want to be active and engaged with the audience.
Mike DiCioccio:So I just want to say thank you again for the opportunity to be here and do that.
Mike DiCioccio:I love anyone to reach out, if you mention that you have tuned into this episode
Mike DiCioccio:and you're interested in launching a podcast, let me know directly, and I
Mike DiCioccio:will definitely get you a discount on Social Chameleon services for tuning in.
Monique Mills:Wow.
Monique Mills:That's nice, that's really nice.
Monique Mills:You're much nicer than I am.
Mike DiCioccio:So, the reason I didn't put an exact dollar amount
Mike DiCioccio:or percentage is because I'd need to work with someone and see what they're
Mike DiCioccio:interested in and then basically give them the hookup, the Monique hookup.
Monique Mills:Right.
Monique Mills:Well, thanks again, Mike.
Monique Mills:Unpolished MBA, make sure you take Mike up on his offer.
Monique Mills:They do an excellent job, as you can see, many of you guys have listened to
Monique Mills:the past couple of seasons and Social Chameleon has been behind that for us.
Monique Mills:We appreciate all of your help and your partnership.
Monique Mills:Mike, thank you so much for being on today.
Mike DiCioccio:Thank you for having me.
Monique Mills:Thank you for listening to the Unpolished MBA podcast.
Monique Mills:To hear more episodes or to request to become a guest,