In this engaging episode of "The One Small Change Podcast," host Yvonne McCoy chats with Kyle Goodknight about his multifaceted journey from being a paramedic to becoming a successful podcast business strategist. Kyle shares his story of evolving from hands-on professions like respiratory therapy and handyman work to leveraging the digital world of podcasting. He discusses how a personal injury led him to explore less physically demanding career options and how podcasting emerged as a perfect fit. Kyle delves into the ways podcasts can be used for networking, personal growth, and collaboration rather than just audience reach and downloads. Listeners are invited to discover how they can infuse creativity and passion into their own podcasting endeavors.

Guest Bio:

Kyle Goodknight is a seasoned paramedic and first responder with nearly 30 years of healthcare experience. Transitioning from the physically demanding roles of a paramedic and handyman, Kyle ventured into the digital realm as a voice over actor and later found his calling in podcasting. With over six years of experience producing podcasts, Kyle now operates as a podcast business strategist, helping entrepreneurs and small businesses launch and grow their podcasts. He combines his extensive background in education and technical expertise to guide others in creating impactful podcast content.

Key Points Discussed:

1. [00:00:46] Kyle's Diverse Background and Transition to Podcasting

• Kyle shares his journey from working as a paramedic to becoming a podcast strategist.

2. [00:04:50] The Turning Point: Moving Away from Physical Work

• Kyle discusses how a personal injury shifted his career focus towards digital opportunities.

3. [00:07:28] The Evolution and Power of Podcasting

• The potential of podcasting for networking, visibility, and collaboration is explored.

4. [00:12:07] Overcoming Fears and Starting a Podcast

• Kyle addresses common fears and objections regarding starting a podcast and provides guidance on finding the right focus.

5. [00:20:13] The Digital Age of Podcasting

• Emphasis on the use of digital tools and platforms to enhance podcast exposure and authority.

Main Quote:

"Don't be afraid to try new things and utilize what you've learned in the past on whatever new thing is." - Kyle Goodknight

Links:

• https://kylegoodknight.com/

Welcome to the small one small change. I'm out laughing already. So

I am really thrilled to embark on this journey of exploration

transformation with you. And I'm your host, Yvonne McCoy. And I

bring almost 30 years of entrepreneurial experience and a passion

for discovering growth through the power of seemingly small

change. And I wanna thank you for joining me on this journey.

And this week, we are talking with the

amazing Kyle Goodnight, and I wanna say

that we are in the same mastermind, and so

we probably know more about each other than we should.

That's alright. Except I've I've always said I've never met a stranger, so there it

is. So, Kyle, tell us about what you

do and why you do it. Wow. Boy, that's a that's a when someone

asked me what do I do, it's like, okay. Which which one do I choose?

Because I do so much stuff, and I'm not trying to be braggadocious, but,

my full time job is I'm a paramedic and a first responder. I've come with

almost 30 years of health care experience. I'm also a respiratory therapist,

but I don't do respiratory therapy clinically now. But, so I'm a full

time paramedic. I work every 3rd day as a 24 hour paramedic on a

911 vehicle where I respond to emergencies. I'm a

part of my education department where I go out and I train, the different

things that we need to train on every month with my with my with my

division. So that's my full time gig. So I'm also

on the backside of that. I mentioned earlier that I only

I work 24 hours a day. Right? But I only do one of those every

3rd day. So I have 2 days off. And if you've noticed a lot of

first responders, they have secondary gigs. They have they have side gigs.

Right? Well, I have a couple of side gigs. 1, I I was a I

was a handyman for a while. That beat me up. I've started I've started to

pull back from being a handyman. The second gig I did was I became

a voice over actor about 8 years ago, and I started

I've always been told that I had a good voice. I can do character voices.

If you want me to talk to your kid like Elmo or Grover, please give

me a call. I can just go right into character and talk to your kid

about Grover or Elmo or many others. But, so I

became a voice over actor. I've done some video games. I've done a lot of

ebooks, a lot of elearning, for voice over. I've done a lot of

narration, some commercials. I had one national commercial that went,

that went for Yahoo Fantasy Sports that went national really early

on. Those are few and far between for the voice over world, especially the way

that I do it because I do it as a part time. Well, through that,

I got asked to do intros and outros for

someone's podcast. Well, that introduced me to the podcast world.

And where I am now, I actually produce podcasts. I spent 6

years producing other people's podcasts. And about 8 months ago, I decided to make my

own podcast for some other things that I was doing on the first responder

world, and I decided to start a podcast to get the

word out of what I'm doing in the first responder world. Well, that spun into,

hey. I know how to podcast. I know my workflow is nice and efficient, and

I can actually help people that don't know it but want a podcast for their

business in a better way. So now my side gig, which is becoming

more and more, you know, more and more of my time is

now spent, and I'm not I'm no longer doing handyman work anymore.

I'm able to get on with people, and I was just actually on my, an

onboarding session right before we started recording today on one of my new clients

that's coming on board. And we went over the recording software, and I

was able to coach and utilize my education background with, with

that and my my technical background that I have through learning how to

podcast the wrong way for 6 years. Up until about 8 months ago, I started

learning how to podcast in a much more efficient way, and that's what I do

now. I'm a podcast business strategist, and I help people grow their

podcast, whether it's existing or just starting. And I,

and and that's what I do as a as a side gig, and and it's

hopefully gonna be something that I do in retirement and and from now on

because I love it. It's so much fun meeting new people and, and

coming on podcasts and having people come on podcasts. Well, not only is

he really good at that, he's a fantastic cookie maker too, I've heard.

I I keep begging him to send me cookies. But With with

all due respect, I have to give those cookie props to my wife. It's her

recipe, her family's recipe. I just am the one that makes the dough

and chills it so when she comes home, we can make the cookies.

So a man a man of many, many talents. But but, Kyle,

you know, as you as you you know, I think we all do this. I

mean, I started out at at some place totally different than I am now,

but everything that you you find out from

those things help make you unique, help make you the

person that you are now. But there there was probably something that

happened that made you decide, you know, to

change the way you do business or change the business that you wanna do.

Right. Well well, I

mean, the one thing that wanted me to start doing

more in the, you know, the digital world is the

physical aspect of what handyman does. You know, of a first

responder, it can be a physical job. I have been injured as a

first responder. I fell in the back of my truck and busted up both my

shoulders about 3 years ago, So I had to go through 2 years worth of

shoulder reconstruction. Well, with that happening is I don't have full

range of motion in my shoulders anymore. So to do handyman as a side

gig don't get me wrong. I've been doing handyman stuff and and construction since I

was old enough to swing a hammer with my dad. I've done everything from

foundations to full blown roofs. I've done it all. Right? Plumbing,

electric, I can I've I've I know a little bit about all of it. Right?

And but, anymore, when I go out there to do a new

floor or hang drywall, it's all I can do to reach up and do the

drills properly over and over and over again all day for 8 hours.

And I have this digital world that I have also

learned through my downtime and through the times that I've wanted to sink

my teeth into learning stuff about digital stuff, whether it be recording

for voice over or podcasting for other people. And that's when

I I once I started realizing that I could make a business out of the

digital world that I knew, I could start pulling away from the physical world.

So that's probably when the biggest change happens. When I became a voice over

actor, I realized that there was something else there that I could do

that if I focus my time on, I could get away from the physical

side of the of the handyman work. I love doing it. I love the

the the benefits of it. I love the creativity of handyman work. I love

the the satisfaction when I'm done with a project and looking back and say, I

did that with my own bare hands. I love that part, but I can do

the same thing now with podcast. I can say, hey. Look. Look what I created

digitally. I I was gonna say, you know, what part of what I'm

taking away from what you're saying is, you

know, is that we're not guaranteed or,

you know, we're not guaranteed the the the abilities of our physical

body, And we are all living longer. And so I think, you know,

it used to be the the mantra was live longer, but I think the idea

is that you wanna live longer and stronger. And as somebody

who's significantly older than you are, you know, one of the things

that I look at a lot is what is it that I'm creating or

doing that I will be able to do 10 years from

now? And that's where I think a podcast is an

amazing thing. So

if you were talking I mean, I had done talk black

talk radio for, like, 3 years. Okay. I know about that. Yeah.

I have some other I have some older clients that used to use that. Yeah.

I'm an I'm an old Not old, but old clients

that I have had in the past. That's the word I wanna use. Anyway, so

what I'm gonna state to you is there are probably people out there that are

saying to themselves, I can't do a

podcast. What would I talk about? What would I do? What you know, it's

too techie. It's too you know, especially if you are older and

you're excuse me. Sorry. Not into the

tech world. What would you say to people to think

about why you should have a podcast and how it's

much easier now than it used to be? Right. Well, you know, couple of

things that, you know, that that is kind of what podcasts

have done to the whole world, and we know that

they're they're very powerful. But the old

thought process and I call it old because I've changed my thought process on a

podcast. Podcasts were always about how

many listeners and how many downloads can I get? How many people

can subscribe to my podcast and listen on a weekly basis.

And I don't have that same philosophy at this point in time. I'm

fairly new with my own personal podcasts, and I've

switched I've flipped podcasting on its head, and I podcast

my long game is the downloads and listeners. I understand that

podcasts take time, but how do I monetize my podcast in the

front end? Well, for me, my business is

my podcast. I have actually I have 2 podcasts. One's a, like, come on kind

of a passion project with the 1st responder mental health stuff, and then the other

podcast is for entrepreneurs or people with small businesses. And what that

podcast is about is having people come on and talk about their entrepreneurial

path. How did they get to where they are as an entrepreneur? And we just

you know, we we go off of that with questions. But what I do with

that one is every single guest I have on, I meet, and now

they're in my network. I can collaborate with them. They may

need services that I can provide for them, like podcast

production. I may need they they may have services that I

need. You know, I've I've have, like, one of the things that I part

one of my very first guests, I ended up buying his program, and

it was something that changed me as a first responder and some

things that I was struggling with. And that transformed into

my business and what was struggling with my business and my personal,

you know, anxieties and my my worries and my procrastination.

I was able to utilize his program, and I bought it, and he was

my guest. But I I got to know him. I got to talk to more

about him, and I was like, you know what? Something? I wanna invest in this

man because this man has made changes in other people's lives. He's proven it to

me. He's disgusted, and I wanna take a chance on him. So I did,

and I came back from a in a completely different way, both personally and business

wise, and that's what I do podcasting for. Podcasting is to

meet new people and see how we can collaborate. Well, I just I just had

an interesting experience yesterday where, I published my

podcast on Fridays. Right? Because I feel like people will have

time to listen to them over the weekend. Right? I mean, that's

kinda my thought whether it's Okay. Or not. But but I

I had somebody that I I did a connection call with, and they

said, I listened to the podcast that you put out this week, yada

yada yada, and I really like this person. And I said, oh,

well, they're having, you know, this event this coming week. And she's like, oh, I'm

gonna go to that. So, yeah, I think, you know, podcasting

is it is for a nugget of information.

Yep. Right? But I think more than that, it's a way to

get visibility both for yourself and for the person that's

on the podcast. And as I'm telling this story, I

realized that probably what somebody that I also had on my podcast

was like, you know, your signature block should be huge. You

should have not just call me, but, you know, all, you know, all these different

links so that so people can click on. I'm thinking, I definitely need to

put my podcast link in there, you know, so that people can look at it.

They're getting ready to you know, if I send them an email and they're gonna

be talking with me, they can go to the podcast and see what it's like.

So, you know, the the phrase that we use in our world a lot is

podcasting for partners. Yep. Who are the people who

are, most likely to share the

podcast that you do together with the people that you know?

Yeah. That they know so that your world becomes a lot

bigger. So tell me, I wanna go back to

some of the objections or fears that people have. Yep. I was gonna get into

that. Yep. Yeah. You know, about starting their own podcast. Yeah.

And that's kinda the reason why I say what I said in the beginning

to to describe what I use podcast for kinda helps

in this next in this this next answer. So one thing

I feel that the the conversational and the interview

podcast is king because if, you know,

people have that fear of what would I talk about? Well, everybody has wisdom.

Everybody has a life experience. People have a passion discussion,

and they can figure out what that is. And they work with they work with

someone who you know, like, take for example, I had a gentleman that

I was walking my dogs and lived in my neighborhood, and he comes up to

me. He knows kinda what I do, and he was he kind of he kind

of, asked me if I could if I had any ideas and

to help his business out. And it's a brand new business, and it's an apparel

business for golfing. And I'm like, instantly, I thought of podcasting. And he's

like, well, how would a podcast work? How would a he got. He got

all. How would a podcast work for selling my apparel?

I'm like, well, let's this is why you need a coach. This is why

people that want to podcast or think they want a podcast or

they have something interesting, they get someone that has some creativity that

can hear and meet them and find out what they do and then bring some

new new out of the box ideas to the to the table. So with

that gentleman, I said I said start a podcast. He's like, well, how does that

work? And I said, think about it. You wanna sell golf apparel.

How can you make it fun, make it funny, and still

sell your golf apparel? He's like, yeah. And I'm like, let's make a podcast.

It's called swing high. It's a the the

apparel is a I mean, I don't know what your view is, and I'm not

and I have my own view on on legalization of marijuana,

but the logo is 2 golf clubs and a marijuana leaf, and it's

called swing high. And, of course, when you're swinging, the word high is

part of it's part of the catch. Right? So I said, let's have a

podcast where your people you're the host, and you invite people to come

on and tell about their funny stories of golfing when they were

under the influence of whatever. Most of it be alcohol because because

marijuana has not been legal for forever yet. You know, it's been a little it's

a lot newer than alcohol. So So let's have funny stories about talking about

intoxication and the golf game. And, you know, and we can have

guests on that way. And then I'm like, and then sprinkle in

the people that run events. Oh, you wanna talk about your event?

I'll promote it on my podcast. Come on my podcast. Talk about your event. Oh,

by the way, I have an apparel company. Can I use your can I use

my apparel at your event? Can I put up a booth at your event? And

it could start off locally, and then it could go nationally. And he was like,

oh my god, Kyle. That's so smart. So I'm gonna actually have the perfect client

come on my I my podcast. Yeah. The stories that you sprinkle in, that's

that may not be your perfect client. Maybe eventually, maybe I wanna buy your onesies

or twosies. But when it comes to putting something into someone's into

someone's, like, pro shop, it's the or have it at an

event every time. I'm like, I know at least 10 golfing events through the

1st responder world. Now swing high golf may not go

well with that, but, nonetheless, you know, it's one of those things where you could

have you could you could have your apparel be something

that through discussing the golf outing with the individual that you bring on

your podcast to help them, you're helping them. Your podcast is to help

your your your, your guest. Your podcast,

when it comes to an interview style podcast, it's all about the guest. You

sprinkle a little bit of your knowledge in, but you really promote your guest because

that's where they see value, and that's where you can give them value. And

then through that value, they see that you're a trusted partner, and

podcasting for partners is is what was born.

So with that being said, when it comes to having the courage

to step out and do a podcast, 1, you have to have a little bit

of an idea or at least have something thrown on the wall that you'd wanna

do. And then you talk to somebody that's been there before or someone that's creative

on that side of things that can see that and create,

you know, put put better ideas together about how you can utilize a

podcast and whether it be your side gig business or your personal

growth or what have you. So I always tell people if they wanna do a

podcast, let's just book a call. Let's talk about it. Show me tell me

your ideas. Give that information to me. Let me see what I can come up

with, if there's any angles or any outside of the box thinking that could work,

and then go from there. Whether I've got one person that does monologues and

interviews, and it's a great combination. I've got people that do only

interviews. Like me, I only do interviews. I don't ever get on and do a

monologue. I just don't. I I can't hold my attention that long.

The conversation is where it holds my attention. I'm I'm an extra

extrovert, and I like the interaction. So so I I guess

going back to what you're saying, look, the important thing is,

first of all, is to see it as a way

to stay visible consistently. And I think that's

where most people make a mistake in their business is that it's it's like

always throwing spaghetti on the wall. Let me try this. Let me try that. But

if you have something you do do consistently, and you can decide if you wanna

do a 20 minute podcast. I just went on somebody's show that does

a 15 minute podcast. If you wanna do an hour podcast

Yep. You get to decide the length of time and the topic and the

format that you want it to be in. And you own it. So it so

it it's and and that's what makes it, you know, yours is

because of the way that the the way that you do it. And you can

podcast, you know, just like, you know, I've come to the conclusion you can sell

anything. There's a buyer for anything. Right. There's a

podcast for for everybody. I mean, I I've been really,

trying to nudge my husband to do one because been saying about

that. Because one is he has this great love of

kids, and he has this great love of music. And, you

know, my kids have got the most eclectic,

you know, variety of music. I mean, they're now adults. But

because Oscar introduced them to all the kinds of musics that he

liked. And I was thinking that would be a great podcast, you

know. You know? Yeah. What about music? Would be. You know? And

kids' stories. Yeah. You know? Or And from what I hear, he's got a great

voice voice over too. Great voice. But you don't you don't have to

have a great voice to podcast. No. You don't. And so, you

know, if you're thinking about doing a podcast, I think

don't think about what the technology part of it is. Just

think about what do you what would you like to do and what's

your intention for doing it? So, you know, as Kyle said,

most podcasts, are not gonna get, you

know, immediately the high you know, we're not going for the

influencer model, you know, on social media. We're going for

The interaction model. Yep. Right. The interaction that we get to know people, we

get to expand, you know. And the ideal guest to me

is somebody that I find interesting, that has

interesting ideas, that I hope my audience will be interested

in, but also somebody who will promote their

episode to the to their audience. To their audience. Yep. So that their

audience will expand. And I always find when I talk

to somebody, I get better

at my messaging, whether it's on a podcast or something

else. I mean, I was on a summit, you know, recently, and I

realized that my message now is you don't need to be fixed, you just need

to be found. Right. Which is about client

attraction. And it was, like, it was through just a, you know, a a a

breakout room kinda conversation. It was like and it just popped

out naturally. So, I mean, you you every week you or however you

decide many times you put it out, you get a chance to talk about

your view of whatever. Yeah. And what you find is the more

people you talk to about it, the more you start to get

clarification about what it is that you that you really love.

So before we run out of time, let's

let's kind of talk about the gift that you've got for people

and Yep. 3 ways that entrepreneurs can, you know,

really think about doing it doing podcasting. Right. Right. So the

the the gift that I have that will be in the show notes, I take

it, is a it's a PDF. It's a free ebook. And, basically,

it kind of it dives a little bit deeper into the concept that I just

spoke of, but it also gives you some hints on what you would what you

it what you could need and debunks a few things. Like, a lot of people

think that you need, like, this amazing microphone to podcast. Right? You

don't. I do have it just because of my voice over background

and that I've been podcasting for 6 years. Of course, I've grown. But I've

had people podcast, and I've I've run a couple of

podcasts where all they have is the AirPods in, and they run it off of

their phone. They put their phone on a tripod. They open up Zoom or

Riverside or whatever recording app is is compatible with a phone,

and they boom. They they they do a podcast, through through

that. So, you know, that that ebook

actually will kind of talk about all of that stuff and

and talk about podcasting for partners a little bit about how that

works and how you can utilize that for whatever business that you're doing.

I've actually approached a gal who has a a brick and mortar,

and it's a very, it's all local artists in the

side of her shop that are selling their their stuff, not just paintings, a

lot of handmade stuff, everything. Well, I talked to her about doing a podcast

where her local artists come on and promote their art, and then she can

have this another thing that podcasts do is make you an authority in the

space. So she can be authority in the space of

local small small artists and promote them

to get them more seen and have something to that her clients that come

in and support her have something that they could, 1, tune into once a

week, once a month, however long many shimes she wants to do it eventually once

she decides, and they find out something new about her shop that they may not

have known. So it's you can really think outside the box when it comes to

podcasting, because remember, we are in a digital age that has

got some amazing tools. Those amazing tools

can give you exposure, and what I mean by that is we all know the

word Google. Everybody knows Google. Go in and search something on

Google. Most likely, one of the first things you'll see come up is a

video short. That video short may have that

keyword that you were looking for. More often than not, video shorts show

up before websites now. So the software that I

use, the the the the workflow that I teach

builds in automatic shorts

or reels, whatever you wanna call it. They my system calls it viral moments

because they're not allowed to use the word short or real because that's patented by

the by the YouTubes and the Facebooks of the world. But it generates

these things that are TikTok esque, real esque. They're

the vertical video that automatically splits up the 2 people, puts the

words on the screen, and boom, you can push that out on your YouTube channel

when you're doing a podcast because I highly recommend doing video podcasts

because YouTube is the number one podcasting platform now

above any other pa podcasting platform because of

the video content and because of the stuff. So

doing that, you get that exposure that brings people more

into you, and utilize the tools that are available now that are much easier than

the old way. I I will just add to this. Probably

one of the if you're still, like, on the fence about what would I what

would I do my podcast about, one of the things I would suggest

you do is make yourself a list of 10 things or 10 topics

that you could just riff on for 10 minutes without any notes because you're just,

like, into it. And and and that is a way to

take a look of, you know, start thinking about what I would do a podcast

about. And the other thing that I would suggest is if you're just

starting, and let's say you've got a full time job, you may wanna pick

one of those things that is more in your hobby field or where

you wanna go when you leave your job Yep. So that you can actually

actually start building that. Okay. Yeah. So, you will

find all of this great information in the notes.

Kyle, you know, I love what you've done with podcasting. I love

what you've done. And and and and I guess what I would say to you

is you don't have to get stuck on, you know, the

technology of it because there's lots of help for that. So alright. So before

we run out of time, I wanna ask you, when was the

last time you did something new for the first time?

An ice cream moment. That's why we call it an EMS. Because when your

first time you do something that is like, oh, the first time you deliver a

baby, you have to provide ice cream to the whole crew. 1st time you do

like, when you're a brand new EMS person, 1st time you do an IV stick,

you I you know, ice cream. So we call those the ice cream moments. Man,

the first time I've done something for the first the last time I did something

for the first time oh, boy. That's a

boy, you put me on the spot on that one. We may

have to we may have to think a little bit. You have to splice this.

I don't know because I do I I am so busy. We don't splice and

dice. We don't splice. I oh my gosh. Because I do so many

different things. It's a lot of stuff is not the first time,

but, gosh.

When was the last time you met somebody when was the last time you met

somebody new and exciting? That would be something new for you. Well, you know what?

Let me let me do this. So I'll tell you what. The last time I

did something for the first time is

deal with me.

It's deep. I've never put myself first

ever. Maybe when I was a kid.

Kids put themselves first all the time. They're selfish. Right? When you become

an adult, you become a first responder, and everything is about what you do and

the community you serve, you tend to get into this pattern of not doing

something for yourself, and then it's a problem 20 years down the road.

Like, for me for me, I had a blind side at 26 years in. I

came home from work one day, and I was lost. I had no clue what

was going on. I wasn't suicidal, but I had a problem. I don't know what

the problem was, and I raised my hand.

And through that process and through the years of coming through that

because I needed to unpack a lot of stuff, I realized that we

need to do, it's a buzzword right now, self care.

There's a lot of stuff on self care. Everybody feels like they don't need

it. I don't need self care. 100%, you do.

So the last time I did something for myself was actually

do and and this goes back to the program that I one of my guests

came on, and he had a self care program, if you will, the a generic

that's a generic umbrella of what his program is at, way deeper than that. And

through that process and through learning what he taught me, I am

I can literally know for a fact that

I can put the time into myself that makes me a better

person for anyone watching me, for anybody tuning

in, for my family, for my wife, for my dogs, for my

community. I am a better person because I was able

to really go ahead and understand what self care

meant and do it. So I guess that's that's that's pretty deep,

but that's that's a big one, though. That's a that's a big one. It is

a huge one. It is a huge one. Alright. So before we

probably run out of time, I need to put in the the the commercial.

And so for all of you that are that are watching, I hope you will

subscribe and share and encourage other people to share share this on

social media. And what I the reason that I do this

is I wanna help supercharge your business through connections. And

it's my way of giving back to the community and fueling your quest for growth

and impact. So I hope that you will join me for the One Small Change

and continue coming in as we embark on this this journey

of tiny shifts that yield monumental transformation.

And if you haven't done it yet, you should listen to the first episode that

I'm on and get a sense of what it's about and,

you know, how it can help you. So, Kyle, you got, like,

one minute to give us your quote, your words of wisdom before we

leave. Don't be afraid to try new things

and utilize what you've learned in the past on whatever new thing is.

And if that new thing doesn't fit you, that's okay because you learned something

in the process of doing that new thing. Absolutely.

Absolutely. And so I always say, remember,

change is simple, but it's not always easy. And it requires courage,

resilience, and a willingness to step out of your comfort zone. And if

you're feeling comfortable, then you need to push a little bit

more. So join me next week for the one small change, and

until the next time, stay curious. Thank you, Kyle.

Thank you.