In this episode of The One Small Change Podcast, Yvonne McCoy welcomes Michael Fritzius, an expert in podcast guesting and revenue generation, to explore the transformational power of small shifts in business mindset and strategy. Michael Fritzius shares his personal journey from a life-changing cancer diagnosis to launching his entrepreneurial path, discusses how podcasting can drive significant business results, and emphasizes the importance of clarity, authenticity, and emotional connection in both sales and client relationships. Listen in for actionable insights on prioritizing what matters, the psychology of sales, and how to turn authentic storytelling into real business growth.

Guest Bio:

Michael Fritzius is a business owner who specializes in helping entrepreneurs get booked on podcasts and leverage those opportunities into substantial business revenue. With a background in computer science and a unique blend of technical acumen and people skills, Michael Fritzius brings a deep understanding of both the logistics and emotional aspects of marketing, sales, and personal clarity. His journey into entrepreneurship began after a cancer diagnosis that prompted a major reevaluation of priorities, and he now guides others in clarifying their offers and building rewarding, sustainable businesses.

Chapters:

00:00 Podcast booking strategy discussion

04:49 Balancing family and business time

08:14 Embracing a results-focused mindset

10:44 Crafting a 30-second business pitch

15:18 Using an ice roller at home

18:19 Understanding Sales Hesitation

21:26 Overcoming perfectionism in business

24:03 Family trip to the horse farm

27:51 Stepping out of your comfort zone

Quote from the Guest:

"As business owners, your best clients are going to come to you with what they think is the problem. It's almost always a symptom. Dig deeper. Don't give them what they're asking for, give them what will actually help them and explain why it's going to help them.”

Links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/theofficialfritz

https://podcastify.me/

https://podcastify.me/huddle/

Welcome to the One Small Change. I am thrilled to embark

on this journey of exploration, transformation with you. I'm your host,

if you don't know, Yvonne McCoy, and I bring almost 30 years of

entrepreneurial experience. And I have an insane

passion for discovering growth through the power of seemingly

small change. And I try to bring people into this

podcast that I think are going to enrich your world, help you grow

your business, and just give you incredible

information. And so this week I have

a guess that I just met, but he is fascinating

in what he does. Michael Fitzhugh. And

he's going to tell us why he

is good at what he does that makes him an expert

and what it was that kind of got him started on this path.

So, Michael, do you like to be called Michael or Mike? Usually

Fritz is good. There's a lot of Michaels and Mike's out there.

Fritz, then even better. That's another way to get you found that you're

not a Michael, you're a Fritz. There aren't a lot of Fritzes around. That's right.

All right, Michael. So I just.

I went back to the Michael. Sorry. That's okay. Fritz,

tell us what you do and what happened to put

you on this path so that you are the expert at

this and not just somebody in the field.

So I get people booked on podcasts and I use that to turn it into

a hundred thousand dollars of new business revenue. And

what got me on the path actually was

cancer, believe it or not. Back in 2012. Yeah,

back in 2012, I got diagnosed with cancer. And it wasn't a real bad kind

or any, but anything but. It really was the

warning shot that I needed. That I needed to get my life

under better control. I didn't have my priorities set right. I was putting

career above family, and I was putting family above

God. And it just. Everything needed to flip. Everything needed to change.

That was the wake up call I needed. So that was back when I was

a full time employee. I was a W2 guy. And

I left that and ended up getting into contracting and then

consulting. And then I launched my first business in 2015. So

I've eased my way into entrepreneurship. I know a lot of people, they kind of

cannonball into the deep end of the pool and I'm like, well, we'll get there.

I mean, we're learning. Yeah. So. But yeah, that's really.

That's really what kicked it off, was a cancer scare. And what it led

me to do is operate

at the highest possible level as much as I can

bring my whole self into everything I do. And so what I

do with the podcast booking work is I talk

with people about their offer first. When people come

to me and they say, hey, I want to get booked on shows, tell me

about your offer. What I find most of the time is that

deep down, they're kind of afraid to sell their brains, don't really

believe what it is that they're trying to sell. And that's why they're trying to

guest on podcasts and get in front of as many people as possible, because they're

hoping, hey, if 1% of 100,000 people come buy my thing,

then I won't have to do all that scary ooky selling stuff

I can just enjoy. Right? And it's like, let's solve that problem, and then

let's get you booked on podcast. It'll work a whole lot better. All right, I

need to stop you. Okay. Because the thing that

you said at the very beginning

is so important. And then the cancer thing.

Well, I need to get my priorities right. Oh, yeah. And.

And. And that is one of the things. I mean, I think we all go

through that cycle where at some point, you know, we're.

We're in our late 20s, 30s, you know,

we're trying to get our careers off the ground. We're doing whatever it is,

right. And in that process, we lose ourselves.

Yes, Lose ourselves. And our family becomes secondary. I mean, I.

One of the things that I say is, you know, I was tired of

splitting my personality. You know, outside my house, I was

a businesswoman. You know, I was the. The mba.

And inside my house, I was mom. Right?

And it got confusing. I mean, sometimes I talk to my kids like

my staff, and sometimes I talk to my staff like they were kids.

So I think as an entrepreneur, you don't get

24 hours to be an entrepreneur and 24 hours to be a person.

You only get 24. And so you need to prioritize

that. And it may. In within that prioritization, it

may shift a little bit. You know, if you're doing a launch,

you know, you may be like, really focus. You know, your

religion or your higher values are always going to be first. You know,

you may put more. You know, like this month, you may put a little bit

more time into the business because something special is going on. But next month,

you do put more time into the family. So it, you know, it doesn't

have to be a static thing, but it's got

to have. I mean, you can't just

leave your family Behind, I guess, is what I'm saying. And what I did

for. For many years. So I just wanted to point that out because I think

that is something that we do not spend enough time with.

Right. Second thing is when you are clear about what

you're doing, you are not scattered.

You are not doing 50 million things and not doing any of them

well. Right. So that's one of the things

that you and I both have in common, is that we get people to

clarify what they do before they start, you

know, doing other things. Okay. So please keep going on about,

you know, I'm excited about the idea of possibly making money for my

podcast. A lot of people are. A lot

of people are. And what life has

taught me. And I'm kind of. I kind of have a cool

background. I say weird, but it's really cool, because

if I was just a purebred, what I went to school for, I went. And

I got a computer science degree. I should be developing software right

now. Just put them in a closet, put some Hot Pockets under the door every

once in a while, keep them fed, Just keep pumping coffee, and you're good.

And somewhere along the line, I guess I hung around enough

public speakers, it kind of rubbed off on me. I can talk to people. I'm

a huge nerd, but I can also talk to people. And.

Yeah, it is. And. And it's. It's really weird because when

I look at my history and my upbringing

and just the growth and the path, it's almost like I. I've got, like,

my feet. You know, I get two feet in two different areas where a lot

of people will be like, dude, just pick a lane. Can you just pick a

thing? No, I don't want to pick a thing. That's boring. Isn't it boring?

I mean, that is the thing that makes you unique.

Yeah. Is that you can. And I always called that when I was trying,

when I was in that situation where I was kind of

in the business world and the educational world, I considered myself a

translator that I could translate the

needs of both. When I went into a company and I had a grant,

I wouldn't say, I can bring your reading level up of the

staff, because they didn't care. But if I said, I can cut

your rework, your redos down, because people

can read the instructions that they were

interested in. Yeah. And so my guess is that

that's one of the things you do really well, is you

understand the logistics behind the scene, but you

can talk to somebody like me who it's Like, I'm never going

to get this. Just tell me what I need to do. Yeah.

To get the results that I want, you know? Exactly. And you said it. You

said it. Results. That's what people care about. They don't. They

don't care as much. They'll pay lip service to,

oh, this is how you can improve my life. Oh, this is how you can

get. You know, you can do this. Okay, that's awesome. But. But what's the actual

result? And if you can get it down to those, just the brass tacks.

Hey, you're going to pay me this much. I'm going to get you this much.

Here's how I'm going to go about that. But we're going to get there. Just

stay with me. Let me help you. And. And focus more on results. And it

takes bravery to do that, though, because we live in a world where

there are a lot of coaches where it's kind of high level

song and dance and you kind of can't.

If you can't stop and take a look and say, okay, how do I get

this result for this person? And it causes a lot of hesitation. And that's

why when I look at how I

used to think about sales, how I used to think about my offer, I

used to hate sales. I love it now because finally my brain

believes in what I'm selling because it's like, oh, I get it now. I see

how we're going to go about doing this. Yeah, let's giggity go. And it's like,

why weren't you like that five years ago, man? Well, because it wasn't clear. Yeah.

So here's what I want people to put a pin in because this, again,

is so important. The first thing is when you have clarity about what

you do and why you're different than everybody

else, you automatically

become energetic and confident. Yes. Because

you know that nobody else does it. I mean, I find it

so amazing when I talk to people about their strengths

that they don't value because they figure everybody's got them.

Right. And I say, this is what you do that nobody

else does. And they're like, what do you mean nobody else

does that? Right. And then it's like,

oh, my God, I can talk about this because this is who I

am. I don't have to be anybody else. I can be myself.

And it just. You know, one of the things that, for me that I found

amazing is when I started saying one of my words for

business is energetic.

And. But I never said that in anything

Right. And so when I, you know, talk about that and

I tell people that, and I go, everybody's got an energy level

that's right for you. Your energy level doesn't have to be my energy level.

Right. But when people call me, they go, I love your energy. And

it's like a filter. The people who hate my energy don't call

me. Yeah. You know, so

that is understanding. That is amazing. And

that will get your confidence, which will then convert to get your

consistent clients. You will attract the people that

are a good match for you. I'm sorry. Exactly. No, it's good.

I'm loving this conversation. Me too. I'm telling you, it's like we're just,

you know, we're getting going. But, you know, one of the things. And I was

just talking about this with a buddy yesterday, talking about, like,

how to pitch, you know, how do you get your pitch down to 30 seconds

and do the work of attracting people? But it's just as important

to repel the wrong people as well.

We unfortunately live in a society where a lot of us are feeling

like we're made. We're made to feel like we need to be all things to

all people. Oh, you gotta work for everybody. You gotta get. And it's like, no,

you don't. And the first few times that you find somebody that you're like

that person was an absolute blessing. Just a

godsend. I would love to work with more people like that. Surely there's got to

be some. It's like, what is it that put them close to

you and attracted them to you to where they wanted to work with you? Like,

I cannot wait to work with you. And I'm excited to work with you as

well. You know, reciprocal white. What is it about that

person? Really analyze that and then make the

wild assumption that. And there's got to be thousands more people like

that. And I bet they run around together. They probably know each other.

So, you know, it. It's a huge mental lift off

as well. You save lots of energy. There's just. Yeah. You

ever. Have you ever had that happen? You ever work with somebody? Oh, yeah. And

person's an absolute drain. So. And here's the flip side to that.

Right. So the first thing is, as entrepreneurs

were squirrels,

right? Yes. And so I know when I started my

workshop, and also probably the podcast,

but more the workshop, it was like, you mean you want me to do the

same workshop every month? How

boring is that? Yeah. What I found out,

thank God, was by doing the same workshop,

I go Deeper, not wider.

The message is clear. It connects

more strongly with the people that it should connect with.

The other thing is the workshop is always different

because the people that come are different. The

interaction and that kind of thing. And, and, and to my surprise, I

have people that come multiple times. I mean, each workshop

is different. I find different things that interest me. The, the skeleton

is the same. Do you know I have the same

13 slides? Yep, that's it. Right.

But sometimes the stories are different, sometimes the things

somebody says. Because my, mine is really a workshop. It's not a

webinar. It's interaction. We do an activity, you know,

that kind of thing. So it just, you know,

anyway. Yeah. About me, because this is about you. So this

is, this is, it's key. It's good stuff, though.

You're. You're hitting on some good stuff and you're adding value. You are.

I think that sometimes the most important

thing seems like it's just a ripple. Do you know? But

that ripple can become a tsunami if you can get people to

focus on it. Yes. And imagine how easy that makes business

too, though. Because if it's not up to us to be like, I gotta do

all the heavy lifting, oh my goodness, I gotta make fresh content. Every single time.

People like you just said, people come to your workshop again and again.

They're hearing the exact same thing again and again. Not everybody gets it the first

time. Maybe it takes three or four or seven touches and eventually they're like, oh

my goodness. Why didn't you say this at the beginning, bruh? I was.

It's just, it took every little bit. Right. I say it every time. I've got

seven zoom recordings showing you. I said it every time. You want to watch them.

You're like, you're in different places, you're open to different things.

Yes. Right. And when you find a client

that, that you love to work with, you can

surpass their expectations. Yes. Because

one is excites you. And just like

your client learns from you, you learn from your client.

And the thing that, that happened recently that you talked about

is what I call the refrigerator question, which is so strange,

but the idea is the piece that's missing so much

when you're just pitching or you start out. I'm so and so I have a

five step process. Right. The potential

client cannot see themselves working with you.

Right. And the refrigerator question has to do with, with

a gift that I gave my friends. None of them used it. It was a,

an ice roller for your face that you put, you know,

Cosmetics into, you know, make you glow,

right? And none of them use it. And it was like,

how is that possible? Because I'm like, I think it's fabulous, right?

But my refrigerator, I have a small refrigerator on my second

floor, so I can come out of my bathroom, go take my medicine, do my

face, you know, and then go get dressed. But if you have to go

downstairs to find your reef, you know, to do

this, you're not going to do it. And if I had said, where's your

refrigerator? I could have said, all right, let's see how

this would work best for you. Maybe you won't use

it in the morning. Maybe you would use it in the afternoon. You know, at

night when you come home and you just want to have some energy to do

something or you want to put a, you know, a toner in or something before

bed. Maybe you only use it on the weekend as a beauty routine.

Right, right. And that was the question that we. We dealt

with during my summit that, you know, we took people from, why am I

special? And then, what is my refrigerator question?

You know, so the people were actually getting. Getting value

people. You know, your. Your potential clients can see themselves working

with them. So I'm going to put you on the spot. I've never asked this

question of a guest before. Okay, but what is your

refrigerator question? What would you say to me?

That I could see myself working with you.

I knew that was coming. You telegraphed that punch. I'm like, I bet she's

going to ask me that question. I bet she asked that. Of all the guests

in your life, I've never asked this because this is a brand new thing for

me. I mean, this just happened this month. So. Yeah,

so what's my refrigerator question? The thing. So if I

were to use the analogy that you had, because I'm in

the podcasting space and I understand things about the space

that. Because I've been on the business end of it for a bit, for me,

I have a refrigerator right outside my bathroom. Kind of like you.

For the other people, their fridge is in the

kitchen like normal people have. And so they'd have to walk

a little bit. For those people,

when they come to me and they ask, can you get me booked on shows?

My refrigerator question for them is, I'll

say, yeah, definitely, I can do that. How do you feel about

sales right now? Like, let's get

emotional. You're talking tactical. You want to know how to get on shows, how to

get booked on shows. Awesome. That's tactical, strategic. I want to talk about your

emotions. The thought of sales, does that bother you?

Does it make you feel ooky, make you feel insecure? Let's talk

about that. And the reason why that's such a

powerful refrigerator question is because it's a pattern interrupt. First

they're thinking, how can I get to the Joe Rogan podcast? How can I get

on the top 1% Apple podcast? And then what do I. And it's like, are

you afraid to sell your product? What is your service? What do

you. What do you want to do? What impact do you want to have? Do

you feel like you can sell it? A lot of people say, no, they don't

want to. And then when I start talking about why their brains

make them not want to sell, they start to open up, and they're

like, I have felt that way for a long time. Then we're getting into, like,

psychographics. You know, we're not even talking about podcasting anymore. Like, we got to fix

the foundation first before we try to build a third floor on this house. Put

a refrigerator on the third floor. You got one on every floor

now. But they're like, wow, that is really

insightful. It's like you've been reading my mind. That is. That is

amazing. And the other part to that is

that buried in everything that you said is

that we move from the tactical into the emotional.

And I think that is a big piece that people miss in the selling. Oh,

my God, I hate to do this, but, oh, we have a time

limit. Okay, so what. What's your free

gift? And what are three things that people can do right away?

Yeah, free gift is come to my huddle. So I host a

huddle every week, Mondays at 11am Central. And what

we do is for business owners that want to guest on podcasts and

actually make money doing it. And the way it works is, first,

I'll talk about some tactics and strategies that would work.

And then afterwards, we pair everybody off into breakout rooms

of two. They each interview each other, and they send their interviews up to our

system. And then we can get you booked on some shows for free. It's a

lot of fun. You get to meet some cool people. Every single time people come

to this huddle, they're like, I can't believe that I was put in

a room with such and such person. It's random. And they're like,

turns out they might be my best kind of client. Or it turns out that

they went through the exact same kind of trauma I went through. Or,

turns out they know Some people that would be a great fit for my business.

Like, that happens all the time and people just keep coming back and it's growing.

We usually have about 30 people in every week. So definitely come

three things that I would say to start doing. Get good at

telling a story. Like, really engage people. Connect with them emotionally, but connect

with them at their senses. If you can tell a story and make

people feel and see and smell and hear and touch and taste

the exact same experience that you had, you're going to be doing really well.

It's going to help you. Yes, in podcasting, but also public speaking,

sales, communication. You know, instead of just rattling off

a bunch of facts, it's like, make people feel a certain way. That's really

cool. Second thing that I can think of is start

hanging around some podcast hosts. I mean, they're really cool people. There's a few yahoos

out there, but the vast majority of them are really cool. Start making friends with

them, they network like crazy. And as soon as you want to start hitting the

circuit, ask a couple and say, hey, who do you know that has a

podcast about, blah, blah, can you help me get on there? They're like, yeah, or

just come to my huddle. That's a, that's much easier way.

Third thing, don't try to get things right

the first time. You are not going to get it right the first time. Yeah,

I should have led with that. I have spent, I, I

spent a large portion of my time in life and business

being a perfectionist. And I think that's because I used to be a software tester

where if you miss a big fat bug, then

people are like, hey, our clients are losing millions of dollars a second.

Like, can you fix this? Yeah. So, you know, try

to turn that into, hey, we're going to be a business owner where we just

have to make like tactical decisions and move quickly and you don't have to have

all of the information in front of you. You don't have to be

perfect. But the fact that you're moving forward means you're on the right track.

So keep doing it. I should have led with that. I always say I'm

glad people didn't see my first. You know, the people that are following

me now that I, that I didn't start videoing now

because they would be like, you know, I mean, I look at some of the

first videos I did and it, they're just like cringe worthy. So I'm

glad I did them when nobody was following me. Yeah,

it's Good. It's good. And you know, and I find too, like, the speed of

improvement is going to decrease that amount of time. Like, if you think about,

well, this is what life was like for me, you know, a year ago. And

then if you think, well, this is what life was like for me a month

ago. And it's like, oh, man, it's just as cringe worthy and it's only

been like three business days. That means you're really growing, like

a lot. So, yeah. So if you feel cringeworthy about

the beginning of the day versus now, girl, you are making

it. I was a walking dumpster fire. I had a buddy tell me that years

ago, six years ago, when I joined his community. He's like, man, this Fritz guy,

he comes walking in and none of us knew what the heck he did.

Like, oh, he does podcast stuff. He does podcasts in the back seat of his

truck and I think he produces them. He's like, he is so clear now.

It is without a doubt he knows what he's doing. I'm like, yeah, man, it

took me six years. So, yeah, my husband and I

first got married and we're talking like 50 years ago.

A friend of his said, you know, I actually like Yvonne, but talking to

her is like talking to a computer. Because I would be like,

oh, I am so different now. Hey, I would have taken that as a compliment

back in the old days. I'd be like, thanks, mister. I was like, how much

time is this going to take? How much does it cost? Where is it? You

know, where are we doing this? How are we doing this? You know, what? How,

you know? And I was like, I was

brutal. Numbers. Just give me a spreadsheet. Yeah,

yeah, exactly. All right, so

for fun, when was the last time you did something new for the first time?

Goodness, I try to do something new all the time.

First time I ever went to there's a horse farm this past Saturday

and we went there and we and my wife and my wife Charlotte and I,

we haven't been married 50 years, but we've got four daughters ages 10, 12,

14 and 16. And so we do things organically here as much as we can.

We got a garden and they've been to this horse farm where they

have lots and lots of compost. And it's like, it's free. Just bring a truck

and load it up. So for the first time, I went to that horse

farm and we filled that truck bed up. Our

younger two girls were like on top of the cab and they're like,

Jumping off into poop, basically. I mean,

they're having fun. They have old shoes on. But I'm like, man, this is.

This is wealth. Like, I'm really having fun, literally shoveling poop with

my family. I've never done that before. I'm a city boy. Second

person this week that has told me that they are getting

free horse manure. Yeah. Do I have to pay? Well? Do I have to pick

something else? Like, do I need to pick something? No, no. I'm just. I'm like,

you already had a poop story. Come on, try again, Fritz. Yeah, no, no, that

was out on a podcast, you know, and I'm in the middle of an

urban city, so, you know. Yeah, that's not. That's, like,

not a thing for me. Right. All right. I

gotta give the commercial. All right. And so for

those of you that are here, the first thing I want to make sure you

do is that you subscribe and that you share and you engage this

podcast on social media. And one of the

reasons that I did it is I designed it to help supercharge your

business through true connections. And it's our way of giving back to

this vibrant community and fueling your quest for growth and impact.

So I hope you will continue to. To join me for the one small change,

and let's see how the tiniest shifts can yield monumental

transformations. And there are some. If you listen to the

first episode, that'll tell you why, you know, where I started. And there's

some individual episodes that are coming up

that. That I do, because I. I like to talk, and

I have to try to. Not to talk over my guests. So I do some

on my own as well. So, Fritz,

what are the last. Some last words that you can give people? Some

words of wisdom or quote, you know, a quote that you like or something like

that that people can. Can use. Oh, here's some

wisdom. As business owners, your best clients are going to

come to you with what they think is the problem. It's almost

always a symptom. Go to the doctor. I'm hurting.

Oh, well, I've got a headache. Awesome. Well, if a doctor

prescribes a painkiller for you, that doesn't actually solve

the problem. The pain is an indicator of something else. Maybe you've got a brain

tumor and that's causing the issue. Ibuprofen is not

going to solve it. So you can assume that people are going to respond to

the pain. They're going to come to you, and they'll say, I need help getting

this. Okay, well, here's the actual problem. Dig

deeper. Don't give them what they're asking for. Give them what

will actually help them and explain why it's going to help them.

You will set yourself apart as a provider of an actual

holistic solution and not just another drug dealer.

So, boom, Mic drop.

Dig deeper.

We are so in sync. I just did a

post this week. Are you solving the right problem? Yeah. Or are you solving

the wrong problem? Something like that. All right, guys, we

could go on and on. And after we're finished, this, we might.

So I got a whole hour booked.

I mean, we only get in together for 30 minutes. We got time today. Yeah.

So, everybody, I. I just want to remind you that

change can be simple, but it's not always easy. And it

requires courage and resilience and a willingness to step out of your comfort

zone. For me, if I'm not filling the willies

or feeling a little bit uncomfortable when I'm doing something, it means I'm

either complacent, I'm stagnant, or I'm just doing. You know,

I'm just being robotic. So step out of your comfort zone.

Take a chance. It's worth it. It will pay off. Do a small

change. Right, Because a small change,

if done correctly and over time, will lead to

transformation. So keep

joining us for the one small change, and until then,

stay very, very curious. I'll see you soon.

Thanks, Fritz, so much. Thank you.