This week on Podcaster Stories, I sit down with Tim Jahn of We're Only Human.
We're Only Human is a podcast celebrating the resiliency of the human spirit, through conversations with people from all walks of life.
Topics up for discussion this week include:
Settle back for an open and free-flowing chat about life changes and recognizing our inner value.
Connect with Tim:
Contact me: danny@podcasterstories.com
My equipment:
Recommended resources:
I get more out of the podcast than probably anybody
Speaker:listening. I mean, at the end of the day, I
Speaker:do it for me and I do want others to
Speaker:learn from it because part of my mission is to,
Speaker:you know, when I got divorced, I was able to
Speaker:get through it from hearing other people's stories. So I
Speaker:want other people to be able to learn from whatever
Speaker:I'm talking about in the podcast. But I mean, every
Speaker:conversation I have with every guest and we're only Human
Speaker:is generally I'm walking away like, Oh my gosh, I'm
Speaker:so glad I had that conversation. You know, it, there
Speaker:might be some moment they had in their life or
Speaker:some way of dealing with this situation that I'm now
Speaker:going to try or some tips for life. And so,
Speaker:you know, like I think about what's your motivation behind
Speaker:your podcast.
Speaker:I hope it's something that's selfishly, you know, benefiting you
Speaker:so that, because that's, what's going on,
Speaker:I keep you going hi and welcome to Podcaster. Stories
Speaker:each episode will have a conversation with podcasters from across
Speaker:the globe and share their story. What motivates them by
Speaker:the start of, to show how they grew up in
Speaker:the show and more I'll also talk about their personal
Speaker:lives and some of the things that have happened that
Speaker:made them the person you are today. And now here
Speaker:is your host Danny Brown hi, and welcome to another
Speaker:episode of Podcaster. Stories where we get to meet the
Speaker:people behind the voices of the show. As we were
Speaker:listening to this week, I've got someone I've known for,
Speaker:I think, 10 years now, I'm at the, at least
Speaker:maybe I'm from the good old L and D is
Speaker:a social media. And I believe it, he says, Tim
Speaker:John pronounced John, correct?
Speaker:Because I used to say to him, and I think
Speaker:for Tim and John and his John, yup. That is
Speaker:John. Ask him why I came here to remember that
Speaker:discussion that we may have had in someone's blog comments
Speaker:or whatever, where that, I think that you used that
Speaker:if you put me straight on the pronunciation of your,
Speaker:your surname and Tim's Lee, a host of we were
Speaker:on the Human, which is a shore celebrating the resiliency
Speaker:of the human spirit through conversations with people from all
Speaker:walks of life. So Tim, welcome to the show. How
Speaker:about you tell us about yourself on your podcast.
Speaker:Sure. I started the podcast in November of 2019. So
Speaker:as of today, a little more than a year ago,
Speaker:I'm someone who has always been a creator, all mediums,
Speaker:but around the time we met, I had a, I
Speaker:didn't call it a podcast back then because there wasn't
Speaker:really a podcast. I called it a web interview video
Speaker:series, but it was the same idea interviewing people at
Speaker:the time it was entrepreneurs. So I've always enjoyed exploring
Speaker:other people's stories. I'm very curious person. And I just
Speaker:love getting to know people and what makes them tick.
Speaker:So that was part of the inspiration for starting this
Speaker:new podcast, which, which I said has been about a
Speaker:year ago.
Speaker:So it's, it's crazy to think that 55 weeks of
Speaker:publishing a podcast just flies by
Speaker:And you do this, it's a weekly show for, so
Speaker:you mentioned that the previous one is a bit beyond
Speaker:the paired way, right? The, the video show. Yes. Yeah.
Speaker:It was a good memory and a, that'd been a
Speaker:while. And I think, you know, you'd mentioned yourself, I
Speaker:think you'd probably had over a, a, a good, a
Speaker:150 200 guests on that show Judy and its duration.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah. That ran for me. I don't remember it
Speaker:to two and a half years something around there, but
Speaker:you know, it was, yeah, like I said, it's one
Speaker:of the things about podcasting is, or just consistently publishing
Speaker:any media is once you are going for awhile, you
Speaker:sit back for a moment and look, and you're like,
Speaker:wow, that's a lot of content. Or how did I
Speaker:do that?
Speaker:And, and I think if you are certainly a proper
Speaker:as possible, so we met as well. You are one
Speaker:of the first people that I saw him doing that
Speaker:kind of a format, what it was, you know, these
Speaker:are like short video snippets of your, like a short
Speaker:video interviews with your guests. And so it was kind
Speaker:of cool. So when they saw you were doing a
Speaker:podcast, obviously I want to check that out and be
Speaker:excited to reconnect it. And, you know, you spoke about
Speaker:that now, or you mentioned the podcast is been gone
Speaker:since November of last year. So just over a one
Speaker:year on a varsity to know what's been the biggest
Speaker:challenge. And that's been a challenge for example, of a
Speaker:switch and say from a video format that you did
Speaker:beforehand to a purely an audio format and in a
Speaker:direction of the show itself, for example,
Speaker:Is a great question. And switching from video to audio,
Speaker:actually, wasn't more challenging. It was easier. I have a
Speaker:background in both audio and video production. So I'm familiar
Speaker:with the editing and in dealing with both mediums. I
Speaker:joke, I've talked to people about this at, throughout my
Speaker:journey, doing well on the Human. Now I never thought
Speaker:that in 2020, I would fall in love with a
Speaker:radio. I love doing, you know, what's basically a modern
Speaker:day of radio. Umm, so it's, it's been less challenging
Speaker:technically to do Audio as opposed to the video. I
Speaker:think the more challenging part with the show has been,
Speaker:and I'm sure it's true with any show is just
Speaker:keep going. Like I'm very much a person who wants
Speaker:to be consistent, wants to go all in and wants
Speaker:to deliver a high quality production.
Speaker:And that means that, you know, I chose to do
Speaker:weekly. I've got to keep going. So, you know, when,
Speaker:when life happens or when things get busy on one
Speaker:area of life during one season, you know, how do
Speaker:I keep going? How do I continue this? And not
Speaker:because I'm being forced to, but because I want to.
Speaker:So, so I think that's been the bigger challenge. It's
Speaker:just, you know, as I said, I think with any
Speaker:creative project, how do you ensure that you continue? You
Speaker:know, especially with podcasts, like I don't remember the stats,
Speaker:but apparently most of them don't keep going beyond like
Speaker:20 episodes or something or even that.
Speaker:Yeah, I think then there's a Apple produced them a
Speaker:report last year may be a little out of this
Speaker:year. The, to your point, a lot of people drop
Speaker:off after have 20 episodes are that aren't go pass
Speaker:like a three a month part of the too, you
Speaker:know, let yourself we'll be clear or whatever. This is
Speaker:kinda weird to think this is all these dad radio
Speaker:shows that are like just flying all over the floor
Speaker:somewhere out there, you know? And it's, its interesting to
Speaker:note that podcasts is podcasts and stuff, you know, almost
Speaker:become so like mainstream now that people can, you know,
Speaker:pick up a fall in like we have an for
Speaker:example to start recording through that. So it's this kind
Speaker:of, are you cool to see, Hey, you know, how
Speaker:much more available with his to people, I guess even
Speaker:though they are dropping off, unfortunately.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah. It's like I said, you know, the, beyond
Speaker:the headway, the video series, they had a decade ago,
Speaker:like I said, calling in a podcast seems odd cause
Speaker:we didn't really have that back then. And nowadays, you
Speaker:know, you can pretty much talk to probably any generation
Speaker:and the at least may have heard of the word
Speaker:or understand that it exists. So it's definitely a much
Speaker:more mainstream concept than it ever was.
Speaker:And I know one of my previous guests, Nick Garrison,
Speaker:he'd mentioned the, the 18 month rule and he said
Speaker:he plays by where it's only after about 18 months
Speaker:of consistency now to your point about, you know, doing
Speaker:it weekly, doing at a certain time high quality and
Speaker:that you're really started to see the results come on
Speaker:in and you really start to see you there, the
Speaker:short pay-off of your life.
Speaker:Oh boy. Okay. So I've got one, another six or
Speaker:nine.
Speaker:Okay. What did you see then? That sort of how
Speaker:many gestation periods? I'm all good. Yeah,
Speaker:I would believe that. I mean, I think a lot
Speaker:of it has to do too with your motivation for
Speaker:doing the show are, you know, like, and I'm not,
Speaker:I'm not trying not to judge anybody, but I've seen
Speaker:people out there like, Hey, I want to start a
Speaker:podcast. Has anyone have any ideas? And I can totally
Speaker:see the angle of like, I want to learn something
Speaker:new. I want to just learn about podcast production and
Speaker:that's cool. But you know, if it's more of a,
Speaker:I want to hop on the bandwagon. I don't know
Speaker:if that's the best approach. Like, you know, for me
Speaker:personally, starting the podcast was part wanting to sort of
Speaker:revive the creative muscles that have been kind of dormant
Speaker:within me. Like bringing you back to creativity that I
Speaker:have not been in sort of paying attention too for
Speaker:a long time.
Speaker:And then it was also just a, what I call.
Speaker:Over not what I call, but what insurance companies call
Speaker:it, qualifying life event. I got divorced and all of
Speaker:a sudden, you know, my life shifted. It was all,
Speaker:it was all good, but all of a sudden I
Speaker:now have more time that I didn't have in my
Speaker:life. Right? Like I'm still a father, but you know,
Speaker:seeing my kids, some of them the time, not every
Speaker:day and not all day, I live by myself. So
Speaker:all of a sudden I had this space in my
Speaker:life that opened up and combining that with this kind
Speaker:of dormant yearning to be creative again, I just one
Speaker:day throughout on LinkedIn and I'm like, I'm going to
Speaker:start a podcast. And I had no plan on purpose,
Speaker:but I did know that I was going to ride
Speaker:this wherever it took me.
Speaker:And that's still my mission. Like I, I get more
Speaker:out of the podcast than probably anybody listening. I mean,
Speaker:at the end of the day I do it for
Speaker:me and I do want others to learn from it
Speaker:because part of my mission is to, you know, when
Speaker:I got divorced, I was able to get through it
Speaker:from hearing other people's stories. So I want other people
Speaker:to be able to learn from whatever I'm talking about
Speaker:in the podcast. But I mean, every conversation I have
Speaker:with every guest and we're only Human is generally I'm
Speaker:walking away. Oh my gosh, I'm so glad I had
Speaker:the conversation. You know, it might be some moment they
Speaker:have in their life or some way of dealing with
Speaker:this situation that I'm now going to try or some
Speaker:tips for life.
Speaker:And so, you know, like I think about what's your
Speaker:motivation behind your podcast. I hope it's something that's selfishly,
Speaker:you know, benefiting you because that's what is going to
Speaker:keep you going. As, like I said, as a lifelong
Speaker:creator, if you're not interested, if I'm not interested in
Speaker:what I'm creating, then its really hard to keep creating
Speaker:it.
Speaker:And then it's so funny. I know I'm on a
Speaker:bunch of Reddit boards for a podcast and, and that's
Speaker:one of the things that keeps popping up to your
Speaker:point to me is the bar or note on how
Speaker:to keep it going on. And when you don't really
Speaker:feel it anymore. And I think people have maybe answered
Speaker:our own question and we have that very free is
Speaker:if you don't feel it anymore, you're not going to
Speaker:work to do it. And you know, yeah,
Speaker:Yeah. I mean, there's been times where I just simply
Speaker:wanted to sort of stop, you know what, maybe I'm
Speaker:trying to think of an example, but you know, parts
Speaker:of life is just, maybe that was my day job
Speaker:or whatever it got too, too intense. And it was
Speaker:hard to, you know, fit in the podcast that night's
Speaker:or whatever. And I would, you know, I would have
Speaker:reluctantly hop on a, you know, SquadCast that we are
Speaker:now I will do the interview of my guest and
Speaker:he would just come alive again. I would have remember
Speaker:why I was doing this. I, I, you know, it
Speaker:would be an amazing conversation and then Boom, I'd be
Speaker:back. Like how did I ever doubt this? Why would
Speaker:I ever want to stop? I'm learning so much. So,
Speaker:you know, again, if I wasn't in it sort of,
Speaker:you know, from that place of like a genuine, I
Speaker:want, again, for me, it's a curiosity I want to
Speaker:learn.
Speaker:And as long as I'm going to keep learning, I'm
Speaker:gonna keep doing this and I want to keep it
Speaker:wanting to do this. And that is going to hopefully
Speaker:be what, you know, what keeps me going to be,
Speaker:I guess at least an 18 month milestone,
Speaker:We can go to show you. You mentioned, obviously you
Speaker:want to learn as much from, you know, your guests
Speaker:and for your own benefit as a listener to, and
Speaker:I know I'll looking at the Topics that you discussed
Speaker:with your guests on a show. It talks about plays
Speaker:in peripheral, obviously to the, the, the premise of the
Speaker:show about resiliency. If I'd guest talk about sexual assault,
Speaker:life change in injuries, through car accidents, a feel business's
Speaker:and how to recover from that mental health and more
Speaker:so from these conversations and, and knowing your own background
Speaker:going in to the podcast. Do you see similar characteristics
Speaker:in your guests and, and yourself that kind of instills
Speaker:that level of resiliency is, or sorry, or a defining
Speaker:characteristic, or do you think,
Speaker:Yeah, there's been so many themes that have sort of
Speaker:a woven through all of the conversations. One of the
Speaker:big ones is one that I'm a fan of. And
Speaker:it's this reminder that we constantly need to remind ourselves
Speaker:of is that we're all just making this up. As
Speaker:we go along, it sort of lends itself sort of
Speaker:pairs itself for the imposter syndrome and this idea that
Speaker:I can never be good enough. I'm not good enough.
Speaker:What I'm doing. Everyone else is better. That comes up
Speaker:every time. And I, I deal with that all the
Speaker:time and it, we always just kind of end up
Speaker:talking about this idea that like, it turns out that
Speaker:person that you think has that all figured out, they
Speaker:probably don't.
Speaker:And they're trying to figure it out just like you
Speaker:are. So it's sort of his comfort in this idea
Speaker:that like you're not alone. Like we are not alone
Speaker:in this. A recent guest I had was Marie, the
Speaker:one gram Orrick. And she, she was part of what
Speaker:got me through my divorce and the sense that she
Speaker:had gotten divorced. She had remarried and the, her and
Speaker:her partner had blended their family's. They both had children
Speaker:when they became one blended family and she's not working
Speaker:on a idea to sort of help other blended families.
Speaker:But we were talking about this idea that you know,
Speaker:of all the marriages out there at 50% ended up
Speaker:getting divorced. That's 50% of the population that no one
Speaker:really talks about, like its kind of a taboo conversation
Speaker:and its again, going back to that idea of like,
Speaker:once you start learning more about it, like again, it's
Speaker:50%, we're not alone out there.
Speaker:Like we're half the population. So I mean its just
Speaker:kind of highlighted as example of whatever you think you
Speaker:are going through and you think your alone in doing
Speaker:it, every conversation I've ever had and more on the
Speaker:Human has taught me that you are not alone. Like
Speaker:it really, I can't think of any examples of a
Speaker:you're the only one going through you're going through. So
Speaker:that kind of why I mentioned earlier of like wanting
Speaker:to share stories so that other people can learn from
Speaker:it. That's one of my main missions is just like
Speaker:literally to tell people you're not alone.
Speaker:You mentioned Murray who has her name came up. It
Speaker:was as I was catching up with some of the
Speaker:episode's and you'd made sure that yourself, that she was
Speaker:a key part of when you're going for your divorce
Speaker:thing and get over it and her experiences and how
Speaker:that helped you. So, so we have such a varied,
Speaker:you know, list of your Lake of gas that you've
Speaker:been speaking to other than the episodes, LEEP Marty's episode
Speaker:kind of stood out for you for any reason. And
Speaker:if so, why that particular episode, not that it was
Speaker:bad or whatever, not to put, you know, your guests
Speaker:get a favorite guests or anything, but is there any
Speaker:episodes lead models that kind of stood out for you
Speaker:So many? There was this one with this woman, her
Speaker:name is Dr. Rita fields. This was probably back in
Speaker:the spring of 2020 that it came out, but she
Speaker:has this amazing story of just resiliency and just starting
Speaker:from nothing and working her way up to define what
Speaker:she wanted her life to be. But the one thing
Speaker:she shared along the way completely changed my outlook. I'm
Speaker:someone who's sort of always feels like I'm trying to
Speaker:work towards some big thing in life. Like there was
Speaker:some big end game, you know, this is, you know,
Speaker:I'm trying to be famous and successful or you know,
Speaker:making a lot of money or whatever. And this conference,
Speaker:this theme by the way has come up with so
Speaker:many other guests, but Rita, she told me about this
Speaker:sort of idea of that life can be a series
Speaker:of trains that you're on.
Speaker:And so they could at any given moment you were
Speaker:on a train and that train's purpose has just to
Speaker:take you from point a to point B life as
Speaker:a series of these. And so at some point you're
Speaker:going to get off that train and hop on the
Speaker:next one. And there's no real destination in mind is
Speaker:just a series of switching from these journeys on these
Speaker:trains. And that really resonated with me because that's kind
Speaker:of, I think such a much healthier way of looking
Speaker:at life. Like its not this one long train ride
Speaker:or you're hoping to get to the end. Are you
Speaker:hoping that when you get to the end, its whatever
Speaker:your, your working for it, but its more of these
Speaker:little journeys along the way or whatever you're doing at
Speaker:the time, whoever you're, you know you're with. But I
Speaker:think about a friend of mine that we don't really
Speaker:talk much anymore and it's not like we had a
Speaker:falling out.
Speaker:We were just kind of like naturally started communicating less.
Speaker:And I think about a decade ago, you know, we
Speaker:were very close and doing a lot together. And to
Speaker:me its like an example of like, you know, maybe
Speaker:that trains Over right. Like we were just on that
Speaker:train together and it's not good or bad. It just
Speaker:is. And now I'm on the next one and he
Speaker:might be on a totally separate one. But when she,
Speaker:when she kind of brought up that idea, I was
Speaker:just like blown away. And I thought about it ever
Speaker:since. And I bring it up all the time with
Speaker:people. Like I just, I love this idea that like
Speaker:a life is a series of trains
Speaker:And it's almost like that. That's a really cool, like
Speaker:a, an analogy kind of reminds me of a little
Speaker:bit of the, the movie Slade in doors and where
Speaker:I think is going to Paul tra and I can
Speaker:remember who else was on. That was a few people
Speaker:like that. And basically a, it was showing the parallel
Speaker:story of the lives of people had made a different
Speaker:decision. So we would have, you know, when couples have
Speaker:stuck together with a job and our views have gone
Speaker:good and bad, et cetera, and it just shows you
Speaker:how are these lives? You know, I took two different
Speaker:paths based on one tiny split decision, you know, like
Speaker:a change on a train. For example,
Speaker:I have never seen the movie, but it sounds interesting.
Speaker:I know that's not something I would have thought I
Speaker:would enjoy it. I'm not a fan of a good
Speaker:thing because it puts me off of them. But you
Speaker:know, it's I watched it because of the male lead,
Speaker:who I think is John, I mean, is that Scott
Speaker:shocked at John someone? And that shows my level of
Speaker:moving knowledge, but now there was a real interest in
Speaker:a store and I thought it was really well done.
Speaker:How they put it altogether. I've check that out. Yeah,
Speaker:no, that's a worthwhile movie for sitting down and may
Speaker:not be as good as re as an example, but
Speaker:it's, it's that, it's, it's a good thing. Good enough
Speaker:at a movie. And obviously, you know, you're, you're sure
Speaker:clearly pools from your own experience and the changes made
Speaker:to your life. As you mentioned, you had what insurance
Speaker:is called, you know that at that event M when
Speaker:you got divorced, it was last year, you got divorced
Speaker:at 2019.
Speaker:Yeah. It was summer beginning of summer of 2019.
Speaker:So clearly it, as you mentioned, the changes you made
Speaker:to your life and continue to meet. Now, you mentioned
Speaker:no that you are still a father or are you
Speaker:still have to juggle to get our kids between yourself
Speaker:and your wife. And I'm guessing that can be a
Speaker:bit more difficult now, the COVID and all those sorts
Speaker:of, you know, how you are not allowed to go
Speaker:on to your household's let your numbers, et cetera. So
Speaker:what, what are some of the things that you've taken
Speaker:from your guess and implemented it in your own life
Speaker:over this period of transition for you?
Speaker:So the biggest thing for me personally has been this
Speaker:idea, and this is why I keep going is every
Speaker:conversation is a reminder, an inspiration of this idea that
Speaker:we can define our own lives. Like this isn't something
Speaker:I don't know if you've figured this out and that
Speaker:anyone listening has, I did not figure this out. That
Speaker:like I am the one who can define my life.
Speaker:I think for a long time, I was just kind
Speaker:of asleep at the wheel and, you know, sort of
Speaker:going through motions that, you know, whether someone else decided
Speaker:this was a good path for me, or I believe
Speaker:this was a good path for me, or, you know,
Speaker:it was Recommended or whatever. But you know, this idea
Speaker:now that what I do for a living, what I
Speaker:do with my time everyday, what I want to do
Speaker:next year, like this is all going to happen based
Speaker:on the intention I put forth.
Speaker:And this is a, you know, whatever happens and whatever
Speaker:definition my life takes is up to me. And that
Speaker:is again, just something I never thought about. And now
Speaker:every week I talk to people and that's all I
Speaker:think about. And again, it's, that's really kinda what I'm
Speaker:doing. I don't literally have a notebook anymore. I did
Speaker:it the beginning, but like, it's sort of like this
Speaker:mental note book of like, Tim define your life and
Speaker:heres all these tips for people that are learning every
Speaker:week. So maybe a one day I should hold them
Speaker:together and put it into a notebook. Thank you. I'm
Speaker:the one in one place. Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah. So obviously, you know, as you mentioned, we're now
Speaker:at 12 months then, or like a year for your
Speaker:shot and you put another six to get through this
Speaker:whole 18 months rule, but excited about this, that it's
Speaker:cool right now that doesn't happen. I'm gonna go back
Speaker:to me and ask him what the hell man. Well,
Speaker:you know, really, so what would your goal for the
Speaker:show as you look to continue it, to, to grow
Speaker:and to get up and update them, but not update
Speaker:the former, but to continue to define what the show
Speaker:is about and, and who it's for? What are your
Speaker:goals, you know, for the show and moving forward?
Speaker:That's a great question. Cause I have iterated at my
Speaker:goal so many times in the past a year, for
Speaker:sure. But even in the past six months, I struggled
Speaker:for a long time trying to understand what the show
Speaker:was about and who it was for. I struggled with
Speaker:a long time with trying to understand what was my
Speaker:goal in doing this show. Was I trying to do
Speaker:this full time? Was I trying to get more downloads
Speaker:a month over a month? Like, what was the goal
Speaker:where I've kind of arrived is that the goal is
Speaker:a way for me to keep learning and be for,
Speaker:for my listeners to, to keep learning in order to
Speaker:do that, I do want the show to grow in
Speaker:terms of like exposure.
Speaker:I want the people who are listening, you know, today
Speaker:to my show to continue listing and to learn. But
Speaker:I also want to continue spreading that the more people
Speaker:I can hopefully help them better. And so it's, it's
Speaker:sort of been in battle internally with myself, have like,
Speaker:how do I know how to go about doing that?
Speaker:You know, like I said, I intentionally started the show
Speaker:with no plan. I'm the type of person as a
Speaker:creator who, as soon as I come up with an
Speaker:idea, I'll start figuring out, you know, the best way
Speaker:to go about it and make plans as necessary. I
Speaker:didn't want to do that with this podcast because I
Speaker:didn't want that to a hamper or whatever this thing
Speaker:was going to do or lead me toward. And so
Speaker:the only thing I did was I did that initial
Speaker:post and LinkedIn, just to say, Hey, I'm starting a
Speaker:podcast about resiliency.
Speaker:I think I had an email sign up for them
Speaker:just to see if there is any interest. And I
Speaker:hadn't brought a Microphone and I hadn't done anything I'm
Speaker:it was just more of a way of saying, Hey
Speaker:world, I'm going to do this and now I have
Speaker:to do it. And let's see what happens. Like I
Speaker:said, it's kinda gotten to the point now or where
Speaker:I'm at right now is that I want to continue
Speaker:growing it. I do set myself like download goals every
Speaker:month just to make sure that I'm trying to achieve
Speaker:some sort of momentum. And I've also learned a lot
Speaker:about the, the unique value I can provide. You know,
Speaker:I think as soon as COVID hit and in the
Speaker:spring of 2020, and everyone was grounded and at home,
Speaker:I immediately started to chase after, you know, famous people.
Speaker:I'm, I'm a such a curious person, but I love
Speaker:the Hollywood and the movies and behind the scenes things.
Speaker:And I just started chasing after, you know, those people,
Speaker:because I thought they were all home now. They can't
Speaker:say no, which to some extent was true, but it
Speaker:also, you know, when I started to have conversations with
Speaker:those people, I didn't necessarily, I didn't always have curiosity,
Speaker:curiosity pointing me toward them. Sometimes it was just, Oh,
Speaker:if I get a big name on the show, then
Speaker:you know, a million people will listen and this will
Speaker:be, you know, more popular than it ever was. And
Speaker:that's not really the case, right? Like people are not
Speaker:coming to my podcasts to listen to a big name
Speaker:guests.
Speaker:They are coming to my podcasts to listen to my
Speaker:unique take on this theme that I've created. And they
Speaker:chew, they trust me to, you know, to bring people
Speaker:to the table that we'll add value. And it's not
Speaker:always a famous person. Right. I've had some pretty well
Speaker:known people on the show or at least well known
Speaker:to me. And they've been fantastic conversations. Not all of
Speaker:them though. So when I think that you asked earlier,
Speaker:like what were some conversations that really resonated with me?
Speaker:And I remembered some lessons from, you know, those are
Speaker:almost a majority of those are going to be from
Speaker:people that I was drawn to from curiosity and who
Speaker:have an amazing story to tell whether they're famous or
Speaker:not fame and a big social media following has nothing
Speaker:to do with that.
Speaker:And that's a lesson I had just finally learned like
Speaker:in the past six months, because its so easy as
Speaker:a creator to chase after those, you know, big name
Speaker:partners or guests that you think can help grow and
Speaker:they can, if you're a strategic about it. But I
Speaker:think I lost sight of what I was trying to
Speaker:do and what my listeners for tuning in four. And
Speaker:it is interesting.
Speaker:And as someone, so I, as someone who has been
Speaker:around that, that sounded really bad says that the old
Speaker:one, it does that enter the Mic here. It is
Speaker:someone who has been around with they're beyond the paid,
Speaker:we show up like 10 years back or eight, 10
Speaker:years back. I know obviously we have the, the new
Speaker:podcast. If there was one piece of advice that you
Speaker:can give a new podcast.
Speaker:Okay. And what would that be? Oh, that's a great
Speaker:question. I think my piece of advice would be again,
Speaker:to understand what your motivation is for creating the podcast
Speaker:and also to understand what your motivation will be to
Speaker:continue doing the podcast. Right? So we, we, we said,
Speaker:you know, there's so many podcasts stopped after a while
Speaker:and its difficult to consistently publish any type of media.
Speaker:They all have their challenges, a podcast specifically, you're going
Speaker:to have to edit it, right. You're going to have
Speaker:to produce it. You know, whether you're doing a spoken
Speaker:word podcast for an interview podcast or you are putting
Speaker:together a narrative, Stories like this American life, you are
Speaker:going to have to put it together and like record
Speaker:it and then you will have to edit it.
Speaker:So there's a, there's the overhead on that. Right. And
Speaker:you have to do it consistently, even if you're doing
Speaker:just a season at a time. So my advice is
Speaker:truly understand the motivation you have for doing this. Like
Speaker:at your core, you know, if someone comes up and
Speaker:says, why are you doing this podcast? You should be
Speaker:able to confidently say, this is why. And hopefully that
Speaker:Y is something that you are truly believe in. It's
Speaker:not, Oh, Y you know, I heard sports podcasts are
Speaker:big, so I'm going to do a sports podcast, even
Speaker:though I don't watch sports and I have no interest
Speaker:in sports really understand what that motivation is. And hopefully
Speaker:it's something that you truly believe in.
Speaker:No, that's good advice. I know there was like one
Speaker:of the Facebook groups that someone had posted, what is
Speaker:your podcast? Elevator pitch? And there was a boat maybe,
Speaker:I don't know, a, a a hundred responses and maybe
Speaker:half jumped in and plunk down an elevator pitch in
Speaker:there. And then, and about another 20, 30%, what's an
Speaker:elevator pitch for why would I need one or two
Speaker:to your point? You know, if you can't, there was
Speaker:like that golden rule in business. I think if you
Speaker:can describe your product and 30 seconds for get it,
Speaker:you know, because if you can't succinctly describe it, why
Speaker:should others check that out? Right.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly. And it's ironic that I'm giving this as,
Speaker:by one piece of advice because you should see how
Speaker:often I text my friends, asking them, what do you
Speaker:think we're only humans about? Like, I'm constantly questioning if
Speaker:anyone else understands and not even understands what I think
Speaker:the show is about, but like, if they get anything
Speaker:out of it, like I'm constantly texting. My friends are
Speaker:like, what do you, well, you know, I asked them
Speaker:what you just asked me. I'm like, what would it
Speaker:be your elevator pitch for where on the human? Like,
Speaker:and I'm just kind of like checking in, like, I
Speaker:think getting anything out of this and it's amazing, you
Speaker:know, responses I get. And so it reassures me that,
Speaker:you know, people are resonating with a show, but yeah,
Speaker:and also, you know, that's ironic, but it's also like
Speaker:I have, as I said over the past year, I've
Speaker:really gone up and down around, under, over in terms
Speaker:of like trying to figure out in trying to continue
Speaker:to hone in with myself with what is my motivation
Speaker:behind this and what am I confident in, right?
Speaker:Like it's sort of like the, the, the age old,
Speaker:the, you know, advice of like find your niche and
Speaker:like understand who it is that your community is and
Speaker:who you're speaking to. That took me a while because
Speaker:I mean, honestly, because my Topics is so broad, but
Speaker:then I realized it's not that broad, right? Like I
Speaker:was having the conversation with a friend we were texting
Speaker:in. They were like, yeah, I think I said something
Speaker:about, you know, figuring out what category my, when you
Speaker:publish a podcast, you've got to choose what category and
Speaker:all of the podcast directories. It goes in and I
Speaker:forgot what category they had it in. But they had
Speaker:said, you know, I think you're should be in self-improvement
Speaker:or a self help. You know, I think its self-improvement
Speaker:on Apple podcasts, but that whole idea of like self
Speaker:help, self improvement.
Speaker:And I was like, Oh, that's so funny. Cause I
Speaker:think that too, and I've been reluctant to put it
Speaker:in there. 'cause like everyone, you know, self help books
Speaker:sort of has this negative connotation. And he was like,
Speaker:no, like you should be proud. And I'm like, you're
Speaker:right. Like I should just redefine self help is, you
Speaker:know, we'd be proud of that. My podcast is about
Speaker:that. And who cares if anyone, you know, thinks self
Speaker:help books or shitty, like this is what I'm going
Speaker:to redefine it and put a good name on it.
Speaker:And so it's again, like I had to reconnect with
Speaker:like, what is my motivation? Well, my motivation is self
Speaker:help. Like I literally started this podcast because I needed
Speaker:to help myself. And I ran out to get others,
Speaker:to help me to And, you know, from their career
Speaker:and to like lets help others, you know, from me
Speaker:helping me or others helping me.
Speaker:And so yeah, why wouldn't I put it in the
Speaker:self-help, you know, podcast category, but the fact that I
Speaker:was even questioning that, that sort of, you know, like
Speaker:it was a truly understanding my motivation
Speaker:And it goes back at that ties back to your
Speaker:point out a bit about the whole imposter syndrome, you
Speaker:know what it is, just making it up as we
Speaker:go along or not, you know, w we don't all
Speaker:have a lot going on or whatever. And I think
Speaker:to your point now, so that's, that's such a big
Speaker:stumbling block for a lot of people to get over.
Speaker:You know, that, that whole imposter, I'm not good enough.
Speaker:I've I shouldn't be in this category of all these
Speaker:other people or whatever. They listen to her or look
Speaker:up to you, et cetera.
Speaker:Oh my gosh. Yeah. I mean, and I'm sure we
Speaker:all have different levels of it. I'm very susceptible to
Speaker:it and all the mediums that I create on it.
Speaker:So with this podcast, I mean, I mean, let's be
Speaker:honest when I first heard of your podcast and he,
Speaker:I ran over right away. I'm like, how many reviews
Speaker:does he have? How many episodes does he have? What,
Speaker:what are the reviews say? How many stars is he
Speaker:at? You know, because I'm constantly like, you know, this
Speaker:as someone who I respect and who creates good things.
Speaker:And like, as he is, he, you know, hit and
Speaker:out of the park and he is, how do, how
Speaker:do I do at like, Danny's doing it, you know?
Speaker:And again, like, it's that idea of focusing on link?
Speaker:What are you good at? What's the motivation behind your
Speaker:ears? Who are you creating this for? And that may
Speaker:not align, or, you know, you might have a totally
Speaker:different audience than I do.
Speaker:You know, that, that people may be listening to both
Speaker:their podcasts for different reasons. And that is awesome. And
Speaker:so, yeah, impostor syndrome, there's a whole episode of war
Speaker:on the Human with Amber Naslund. When we talk about
Speaker:that at a ton, because she, you know, is a
Speaker:big struggler with that too. And I really think we
Speaker:all are, but she has kind of really focused on
Speaker:it in the past. A couple of years wrote a
Speaker:lot of articles about it and just sort of explore
Speaker:the idea more. So we talk about it a lot,
Speaker:but it's honestly, it's come up in a majority of
Speaker:the conversations that I have with people. And that's the
Speaker:funny part, right? Is it like I intentionally, as I
Speaker:mentioned earlier, I'm a very curious person. I love to
Speaker:talk to people of all walks of life.
Speaker:And so we're on the Human futures, people from, you
Speaker:know, stunt women to musicians, to entrepreneurs, to, you know,
Speaker:people who quit their corporate jobs to, you know, fathers
Speaker:and mothers and it's, you know, people of all walks
Speaker:of life there's value in understanding what it is you're
Speaker:creating and who it is you're creating for. Like, even
Speaker:though I'm, I have this broad topic of resiliency and,
Speaker:and really as my friend, always, when I asked him,
Speaker:what do you think more on the Human is he
Speaker:says its about the human struggle. And I'm like, Oh,
Speaker:you know, kinda is even though that's kind of broad.
Speaker:And even though I talk to people intentionally, cause I'm
Speaker:curious from all walks of life, I think today, you
Speaker:know, everyday now I finally have a better picture of
Speaker:what it is I'm creating, you know, who it is
Speaker:I'm speaking to and who it is I'm interested at
Speaker:and what their hopefully getting out of that.
Speaker:But I still, you know, from imposter syndrome, I know
Speaker:I'm better today, but I still, there are moments where
Speaker:I still am always comparing myself to other podcasters. You
Speaker:know, I'm looking at it like, you know, where are
Speaker:they doing? Well, I mean, yeah, it's, I don't know
Speaker:if its something you ever completely solved
Speaker:Now, obviously you just show up, you just mentioned that
Speaker:you have, you've got the one overarching topic, but you
Speaker:have people from all walks of life coming up and
Speaker:sharing our stories and all of a sudden they are
Speaker:stories of helping inspired others. When you mentioned a little
Speaker:and Marie that helped you know, your yourself or your
Speaker:situation, what was that in mind and people that are,
Speaker:that you've looked up too over the years and learned
Speaker:from who you see your biggest hero is and why
Speaker:that person, I don't mean to be more than one
Speaker:person.
Speaker:Oh, that's a fun question. I don't know if I
Speaker:have one hero. I mean, as cliche as it sounds
Speaker:like every person I've interviewed for Only, Human honestly, as
Speaker:my heroes, like, you know, going back to like, what
Speaker:was my motivation? My motivation was I just got divorced.
Speaker:I'm going through a giant life change. It's hard. I
Speaker:think I'm doing it well, but its hard. And you
Speaker:know, I basically started finding these people and I'm like,
Speaker:Hey, you went through a big life change. How did
Speaker:you get through it? How are you strong enough? How
Speaker:can I be strong? And that's just became like, that's
Speaker:what I'm going to do every week. I'm just going
Speaker:to find people who I'm very curious about and understand
Speaker:like how did you get through what you got through
Speaker:or you know, just daily life.
Speaker:How do you survive daily life, life, life is hard
Speaker:this month. How are you surviving it? And yeah, I
Speaker:mean that to me, like they're all heroes in my
Speaker:eyes because they've taught me something about how to, you
Speaker:know, continue being resilience and the continued being strong for,
Speaker:you know, the next challenge that life throws at us.
Speaker:You know, we are recording this and in fall 2020,
Speaker:the big COVID pandemic, you know, which is oddly United
Speaker:us across the world. Like there's no human on this
Speaker:planet that isn't an by it. So, you know, I,
Speaker:I think resiliency is something that, you know, we all
Speaker:at this moment are probably thinking about like how do
Speaker:we continue to be strong to make it through or
Speaker:whenever this thing ends. But yeah, I think that's a
Speaker:great question.
Speaker:But I basically say is that sounds, I really do
Speaker:think every guest I've ever had in the show and
Speaker:will continue to have, you know, we are going to
Speaker:be heroes of mine now,
Speaker:And then that makes perfect sense is not cliched whatsoever.
Speaker:So this is a Tim, this has been an absolute
Speaker:blast. I've really enjoyed chatting with you today for people
Speaker:that want to find out more about the show and
Speaker:learned a boat in our land, our stories are the
Speaker:people we have spoken to and And catch up in.
Speaker:And really, I mean, I've been enjoying catch up on
Speaker:the different tails from the episodes I have listened to
Speaker:so far. I think I've got about another six batched
Speaker:up, ready to go up. So for us, for anybody
Speaker:that wants to listen to your show, find out more
Speaker:about the, you know, the, we were on the Human
Speaker:podcast in that project and what that entails, where is
Speaker:the best PR people, where is the best place that
Speaker:they can find you online to Connect with?
Speaker:You can hit up, but we're only human podcast.com and
Speaker:that will lead you to all of the podcast directories.
Speaker:But of course you can just find we're only human.
Speaker:It's a big, bright orange, a cover on Apple podcast,
Speaker:Spotify, Google, all of those on Instagram. We are only
Speaker:human podcasts also on Twitter, the w O H podcasts.
Speaker:But yeah, we're on the Human podcast.com was probably the
Speaker:easiest place to find out.
Speaker:Yeah. Ask them and I'll make sure you have to
Speaker:drop the AU the links through that in the show
Speaker:notes of your listening on your favorite app and makes
Speaker:sure you check the show notes or it was usual.
Speaker:So you can link through to a Tim site and
Speaker:check out more about the podcast. So as an adult
Speaker:size, Tim we really appreciate you going on today and
Speaker:I have a real enjoy to chat with you too.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Yeah. Thank you for having me. I love it. Keep
Speaker:up with the good stories. Its fun to hear about
Speaker:other people creating out there.
Speaker:Have a solid try. So this has been another episode
Speaker:of Podcaster Stories if you enjoyed this week's episode, be
Speaker:sure to share it with someone and if you might
Speaker:get value from it as well, and you can catch
Speaker:up on any of these episodes you've missed over@podcasterstories.com or
Speaker:on your favorite app like Google podcasts or Apple podcasts,
Speaker:Spotify more until the next time take care and stay