Podcasting for Passion, Not Profit with John C. Morely

Ever wondered why some podcasts thrive while others fizzle out after just a few episodes? Serial entrepreneur John C. Morley pulls back the curtain on what truly drives podcasting success—and it's not what most beginners expect.

With refreshing candor, John shares how he transformed his frustration with inadequate marketing agencies into a media empire that now produces over 20 pieces of content daily. His journey from engineering to podcasting reveals a crucial truth: sustainable podcasting requires genuine passion, not just profit motivation. "People think getting into podcasting is a get-rich-quick scheme," he explains, "but that's not the reason you start a podcast."

Through colorful anecdotes—from negotiating his first printing press to encountering aspiring podcasters who think they can "just click a button"—John illuminates the technical, creative, and psychological dimensions of podcasting that newcomers often underestimate. His approach of "arousing curiosity" rather than selling has built him a loyal audience across multiple platforms, proving that value-driven content beats sales-focused messaging every time.

Perhaps most valuable is John's practical wisdom about consistency, branding, and audience connection. His insistence that weekly podcasting is the minimum commitment required demonstrates why so many shows fail—their creators simply aren't prepared for the dedication successful podcasting demands. His insights on "sonic branding" and creating show names with creative potential offer immediately applicable strategies for podcast differentiation.

Whether you're considering starting a podcast or looking to take your existing show to new heights, John's blend of business acumen and creative insight provides a roadmap for authentic content creation that resonates with audiences. Check out his free resources at believemeachieve.com and discover why, in John's words, "If you don't believe in yourself, you're never going to achieve your dreams."

Chapters

• 0:04 Welcome to Communication Connection Community
• 1:03 John's Journey: Engineering to Media
• 4:07 Breaking Free from Marketing Constraints
• 10:03 Launching a Podcasting Career
• 17:20 Common Podcasting Misconceptions and Challenges
• 28:12 The Importance of Creativity in Branding
• 36:16 Final Thoughts and Free Consultation Offer
• 43:05 Closing Credits and Call to Action

Transcript

Carl: 0:04

Welcome to Communication Connection Community the podcaster's podcast. This podcast takes a deep dive into modern day communication strategies in the podcasting space. We chat with interesting people who make the podcasting and speaking spaces exciting and vibrant. We also dive into the podcasting community with news updates, latest trends and topics from this ever-evolving space. So strap in, it's going to be one amazing ride. Let's dive into today's episode. John, welcome to the podcast. It's a privilege and pleasure not to be with you, Carl.

John: 0:41

Welcome to the podcast. It's a privilege and pleasure not to be with you, Carl.

Carl: 0:45

Somebody else that eats, speaks, breathes, media talk show. I'm so excited for where this conversation is going to take us. John, let's start at the beginning, not maybe the very beginning of your life. But how did you get to where you are today? Give me the Coles Notes version of that.

John: 1:02

Just a quick run through that. So I'm an engineer, I started a tech company. This year it's going to be celebrating 30 years. We're working on what we're going to do for our 30-year celebration because we're pretty excited.

John: 1:13

It's December, about 15, 16 years ago roughly, I had become fed up with the marketing and advertising agency that I hired just as I was graduating from college and I, you know, for many years believed that I couldn't do any better because I wasn't a marketing expert. You know, I was a writer, but I wasn't anything like you know, known. So everybody kept taking that hammer and just keep basically pounding me down Like you'll never do this, you'll never do this. And one day I decided, after I got my engineering degree, I said you know what I said. I need to stop listening to people and I need to learn the language of the mind, which I don't know yet. I need to learn hypnosis. So I went and got certified in that clinical hypnosis. I need to get certified in neuro-linguistic programming so I can learn how the body language works. And I decided I needed to learn a little bit about Silva. So I took the Silva method six, seven times. But in doing all this I realized that people around me were actually shaping my reality, whether I wanted it or I didn't want it.

John: 2:23

So about 16, 17 years ago, I said you know what? How do I get rid of these people? These people that I fired can't even print their way through a paper bag, they can't proof, they can't do anything right, and I'm like, how do I get rid of them? I'm like so attached to them. I remember one time when we had to send a proof in and I said to the lady I said, oh, the deadline is today. She said, oh, no, no, no, she says our deadline's tomorrow. Well, you said today. Then I talked to the salesman oh yeah, that's right, if you want your deadline to be tomorrow, then our deadline has to be the next day and we'll have to charge you the $500 for that. I'm like huh.

John: 3:03

Then I found out they don't do any work in-house, they send it out, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then what I figured out is that I need to get rid of these people. Carl, how do I get rid of somebody that I'm so connected at the hip with? So I went to Xerox, who we have been a client of for many years, at JMOR our very first black and white copier color scanner. I still remember to this day. It was a lease, but I think it was probably around 45,000. Now, back then that was a lot of money for a black and white machine. The color was over 100,000, so we weren't even looking there and I still remember what it was today it was the Xerox 230ST, which was a beast. It was like a four-tray machine fax copier scanner.

Carl: 3:46

It was almost the size of a refrigerator.

John: 3:48

Pretty much it was um, not quite that tall, but maybe like, uh, the size of the bottom, not the freezer.

Carl: 3:56

Yeah, yeah.

John: 3:57

And so it had the facts built in, you know cause? You could fax and receive, which was pretty high tech. And so I called Xerox up and I said, guys, I said, how do I become a mom pop print shop? Like, I'm technical but I don't know printing? Oh, oh, we'll set up a lunch, we'll set up a breakfast. So I came out to their place, saw their great big showroom.

John: 4:20

After I fell in love with all the machines. They said, John, it's real simple. I said, really, it's so simple you wouldn't even believe it. So how do we get started? $150,000. So I reached into my pocket very humbly, and I peeled out $150,000. He looks at me and he says, no, John, when we talk we mean thousands. $150,000. Oh well, I got gotta talk to my bank, talk my bank. Yada, yada, yada, yada. Uh, long story short, I I did get the deal, but I actually wound up getting the full amount of money. However, when I went back to Xerox, I said, guys, I hate to be the bearer of bad news I got approved, but it's not for the full amount of the $150,000.

John: 5:07

Oh well, how much did you get approved for? Well, that's the thing. What do I owe you for the dinner. I just want to pay you because obviously I'm not even in your ballpark to somebody you probably want to sell to. How much was the dinner or the lunch? I mean, I'll just pay you right now.

John: 5:20

How much did you get? I said I got 130. Oh, 20,000 short. You know, have a seat. Do you want coffee, fruit, tea? And they always will ask you. Every time you come, they always ask you. So I'm like no, I'm good, I'll have some water. Great, there's some water in the fridge. Help yourself. He goes you are in luck. How am I in luck? I'm 20,000 short. Well, what I didn't know is that next week they're actually running a promotion on this model or anything larger, and they're giving a $20,000 rebate, with all taxes, all in. So you're great, 130, you're all good to go.

John: 6:05

So I wasn't expecting this, but I knew there was going to be a deal. I said you know what? It's been a long day. I said I'm just going to go home, I'm going to sleep on this. He said well, tomorrow's Saturday. I said I know. So I'm going to sleep a couple of days. I'll get back to you on Monday afternoon, or so Don't call me. I'll call you.

John: 6:20

So Monday afternoon around 1.30,. I walk into the place, four people flanked me. Can we help you? I said I'm Jeffrey's client. Oh, Jeffrey, who are you, Mr Morely? Oh, Jeffrey, there's a guy here. Oh, he comes running up. Can I get your water? Can I get your coffee? Can I get you something? You want a bagel? You want donuts? I don't want anything, I'm good. How about some pizza? I don't want anything, I'm good, okay. So yeah, I just realized something. I appreciate the deal and 130, but I realized I can't afford this machine. What do you mean? Well, you see, I realized that the training is going to be up another, I don't know 30, 40, $50,000. I can't afford that right now. Dollars, I can't afford that right now. So until I can budget that kind of money, I'm gonna have to say thank you and but no, thank you right now, right, right.

John: 7:13

So he tells me to sit down. Oh, geez, do I want coffee bagel. That whole nonsense again. Oh, and, by the way, Tina baked you know the muffins you like. She baked those muffin stages. You want one? They're just out of the oven.

Carl: 7:26

Oh man.

John: 7:27

So, okay, I had one. She goes into the car dealership office, does the whole thing, comes out again. He's happy as can be. He goes. Today's your lucky day. Why is it my lucky day? I forgot the best part. What's the best part? The best part is not only do you get the $20,000 instant rebate and all that great stuff with the tax on, but I forgot there was like a $45,000 credit for training all in. Oh yeah, I completely forgot to mention that. So now we're very close.

John: 8:00

Now I decide to do my final negotiating. Okay, well, so you know, it's actually October and I really want to have this delivery. Actually, I want it to hit my books like next year. So I really don't want to take delivery until January because it's just not a good time for me right now. So I said, if I could take delivery second week of January when I get back on vacation, let it hit my books in 90 days for the first payment, do training within a week of that. I think I'd be ready to go for it.

John: 8:31

Oh, and he said is that it? I said no, I actually want to pay, point something, something less per copy on this and I also want an additional 500 color included per month and I want an additional thousand black and white included in my lease with no extra prices. He goes that's a hard bargain. I said you know what and I don't expect you to do it. So why don't we shake hands? It was nice to know you and I'm sure you'll find you know a bigger fish Probably there's one. We're going to walk in very soon. He says he goes. So if I do this, this and this, I said yes, but I know you can't do it, so I don't want you to lose your job. Three seconds later he goes done. I said done, you have a deal and I bought my first Xerox production press and the rest, as they say, is history.

John: 9:27

The rest is history. And I decided that I needed to become the best service to one of my clients, which is JMOR, because I really built it for JMOR, because JMOR was getting shafted, all these things. So I decided I needed to be able to do things like if I want to do a mailing the next morning, I could send something to the office at 2 am on that same day, walk it into the mail place and it would be out the next morning. I could send something to the office at 2 am on that same day, walk it into the mail place and it would be out the next day in the mail without any middlemen.

Carl: 9:49

And it's there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

John: 9:51

And it's there.

Carl: 9:52

Right, right man. What a phenomenal story and a journey too. Here endeth the TED Talk. What was it that led you to the podcasting space, then, of all the media? Good question, so about three, four years ago.

John: 10:07

So I've always loved video producing Okay, I've always loved video editing, but I was one of these people that was too cheap to pay for Adobe Premiere. Now we have Adobe for all of our graphic and our design team to do, like you know, all kinds of like brochures and digital stuff. We have that. Yeah, by the way, all these software packages are supposed to be the best, but they all crash. None of them work 100% of the time. It blows my mind, but that's all of the story.

John: 10:30

So I was cheap and I didn't want to spend money, especially while I was learning on production software. So I talked to my friends who were interns and they said oh, you want to go try blah, blah, blah. You want to go try DaVinci. I said who's he? Oh, great software, it's free. You can try DaVinci and then, when you're ready, you can buy the pro.

John: 10:49

So I was on DaVinci standard for a long time and I realized you know what I want? To make an impact. I live for two reasons every day To become a better version of myself and help other people become a better version of themselves. That's right. So I should probably tell the world that I probably should create a podcast. Well, first thing I did was I started the tech podcast, which went in and out. It was on the radio and stuff. But then I realized that I needed something more than J MOR. Thus, inspirations for your Life was born, starting having guests and things like that, and I started telling people we're the show that you probably don't want to listen to, because we're going to tell you the things you don't want to hear.

Carl: 11:29

But they could be the things you need to hear.

John: 11:31

That's the next part. Yes, they are the things you need to hear, but the things you don't want to hear. So for me, carl, I love to create content. I think my team and I, we put over 20 different pieces of content up a day. Wow, now, here's the best part. I put all this stuff out. Now. You know, there's a lot of people that post social media. We were just talking about this before the show. I never get banned, not good. Now, how can you post 20, 25 pieces of content a day and not get banned? Right, that's a lot of content, isn't it?

Carl: 12:04

Yep, yep.

John: 12:05

But I don't get banned. Why do you think I don't get banned? There's a reason.

Carl: 12:10

Is this a quiz? Is there? So I'm thinking you're not getting banned because you're positioning your content and your posts and using the right hashtags and all those things, so you don't get banned, so you're using the right.

John: 12:24

I'm doing that. But I'm doing one other thing, carl, that a lot of people in this space you and I both know we were talking about this before they make the mistake that this is a selling platform.

John: 12:35

We're not here to sell, right, I don't sell in any of my content. Right, I solve challenges and I educate people with how they can solve that problem in their life with just some advice. So I have a motivational track that runs on Friday. I have a JC Academy business track. Like last week, one of the things we talked about was what's a credit line? What's a personal guarantee? What are all these things? What's a serial entrepreneur? What's an entrepreneur? They're wanted, but not badly in any wrong reason. So for me and then I also do science I will say it's about creating this message that aligns with people so they become curious enough to want to watch it. So the reason I don't get banned is because all my content arouses curiosity.

Carl: 13:35

From a sales perspective, though, your show shouldn't be about sales. Anyhow, I always share with people in ways it's an extension of your business card and what you do and how you're helping people. And and the calls to action yeah, they might lead to your website, they might lead to a product, they might lead to a service, but the actual show itself isn't about selling.

John: 13:58

Our call to action when we direct them there goes to a link tree and it has all the businesses I own but also has all the free content that you can watch 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. And every show I start, people are like you know. I'm so grateful that you guys are here. I'm John C Morely, serial entrepreneur. It's a privilege, pleasure and honor to be with you today. I do want to thank you for being with me. Whether you're here at XAM or XPM and I name a few other times, it's so great to have you with me here live on the show or if you're watching on the replay, even better. Don't forget to grab that snack or maybe that delicious beverage so we can sit together and you can soak up some good knowledge from me.

Carl: 14:38

I love it. I love it. What are some of the challenges that you're seeing along the way as folks are checking out this industry, this podcasting game, for the first time? What are some of the things you've been at a while? You've been at the inspiration, you're a speaker. You've had great success in business. What are some of the challenges when people come to the podcasting space that you're seeing?

John: 15:01

I think the biggest thing I'm gonna share with you. So I had somebody that I met several weeks ago and he got my business card. So I had somebody that I met several weeks ago and he got my business card. So when I go to an event, I don't give out a business card. So I have mobile businesses but I don't give out a business card to a business. I give out an all card. An all card has my name, my phone number, no email address, a QR code to my link tree and other ways they can reach out to us.

John: 15:29

So this one gentleman reached out to me and I'll never forget this. He said you know, he says I want to pick your brain. I want to know what do you charge to like? Do that? He's like what, if I took you out to like to lunch or to dinner and you could, like you know, tell me, and I said well, I'm happy to come out to lunch or dinner and I'm happy to give you some advice on some ways you could go or not go. But I don't want you to think that buying dinner or lunch for me is going to give you anything. You're going to be able to walk away and do.

John: 15:57

I'm going to explain to you the kinds of things you're going to do, but I'm not going to physically tell you how to do the trick. So I'll tell you that, like if you're a painter, I'm going to tell you that you need paint, you need a brush and you need to dip the brush, you need to clean it and that's it. But if you hire me, I'm going to tell you what kind of paint to get. I'm going to tell you how to mix the paint. I know nothing about paint, I'm just picking this up. I'm going to tell you how you're going to deal with the client. I'm going to tell you how to price. I'm going to tell you all those things and then I'm going to tell you how you make sure that the person is satisfied with the color.

John: 16:33

They said that wasn't the color we picked. I'm going to tell you how to handle that if you hire me, right? So this person that reached out to me said to me they want to take me out to lunch or dinner, and I was very upfront with him. I said look. He said I want to start a podcast. I'm a doctor. So I said, ok, fine. I said decide whether you want me to do the podcast. He said well, I know, you just click a few buttons and it does everything for you. I said, well, not quite.

Carl: 17:01

If it was that easy.

John: 17:01

Everyone would be doing it, right, he said you just click a button, he says, and everything just happens. Well, there's some automated processes, yes, but you don't just click a button and everything happens. Well, what do you do? Come up with your content. What is your content? Oh, I know what it is. Okay. Well, do you need us to produce this show? No, I can figure it out myself. Are you going to edit this show? That's something I might need help with, but I'm told you really don't have to edit too much. You just have to, like you know, fix the sound a little bit. Okay, we can do a live show. Yeah, maybe I'll do that. Fine, so I said. He said what do you charge an hour for consulting? This is what I charge per hour. I said, but if you do a package with me, this is what it's going to cost. Oh, he says, I might be interested in that. I said I want to make sure you're understanding that you're not just going to do this and go make money. I want you to be very clear about that.

John: 17:50

See, people think that getting into podcasting you probably know this that it's a get rich quick scheme. Oh, my gosh, they're on this podcast show. Podcasting you have to do for the love of it, for the passion of it, and money comes from it great, but that's not the reason why you and I and so many other people get into podcasting. It's because we have a message that we want to share with the world. Yeah, and you know, one of the things I was explaining to people today when we were talking about our health and things like that and friendships and how we feel well, is our dopamine or serotonin, our endorphins and things like that. So when we do this, we feel good inside and that propels us forward, kind of like. You know, when you take a walk, you take a hike, right, you start to feel better about yourself. You actually notice I know, I noticed when I did it that I'm more productive than x. I'm like gee, I got 10 things done this morning. That's's more than I usually get done All from just taking a hike every day. Yeah, yeah, so our brain has the ability to do these things.

John: 18:59

But to answer your question about you know what do I see? I see a lot of people that think they can just pop a podcast on, you know, get behind a mic, talk, talk about something, but they really don't even have content. Now. You and I always do ad hoc stuff as well, but I always come up with the content, like what I'm going to be talking about, so it has a theme right. Because if I just gonna say, well, you know, today I'm going to talk about airplanes, about, but the point is, I want at least know what it is, so that when I queue everything up like, oh and, by the way, our next topic is how drones are causing challenges in Texas. Why? Because Amazon is unfortunately come to the recollection that they're not noisy, but many people around the area are complaining that they're too noisy so they have to relocate. So I do things like that and I think getting people curious. A lot of people that get on a podcast think they're going to get on a podcast and they're going to get millions of subscribers Not happening.

Carl: 19:58

You mean that doesn't happen? No, no, no.

John: 20:02

People need to like your content. You know we get people subscribe, some people unsubscribe. You get that. Some people also don't like the fact that you tell them what they don't want to hear, and then they unsubscribe.

John: 20:13

So, I think what's going on in the industry right now is everyone thinks they can start a podcast because they think they're going to make so much money with it. And although that's true, they can make money from it but that's true, they can make money from it but that's not the reason you start a podcast. A podcast we talk about could be an extension of your business, can be extension of your personality. It can have people connect. So you know what's really going on, and I think the biggest mistake people out there are making is they go to start a podcast but they don't do it because they're passionate about it. This guy I was talking to a few weeks ago is not starting this podcast because he likes podcasts. And so you're interested about podcasts. I'm interested. I said so you're really excited about getting on the air? He said not really.

John: 20:57

So why are you podcasting? Well, you know I want to get the word out. It'll be good advertising. I'm sure I'll make a lot of money from it, but I hate podcasting. Oh well, maybe you should think about that a little more before you dive into it. Well, I'm not going to get as heavy as you are. I mean, I'm not going to go as crazy as you do every day. I'm just going to do like once every two weeks or once a month, like, okay, let me stop you right here. If you're going to do a weekly podcast, you can do that. This is not a bi-monthly. This is not what that is. This is not a monthly. If you can't commit to once a week, don't do a podcast 100% and the other piece of that equation too.

Carl: 21:34

John, just to jump in there because I know we're covering so much ground, we can probably talk for the next six hours and not even move the needle that far.

Carl: 21:41

But one of the things that you've hit on is, firstly, it's a long game, not a short game. For most people, unless you've been there, done that, you're not an instant. You know 11 billion listeners and downloads. It doesn't happen that way unless you're Oprah or Joe Rogan. But keep in mind they've done stuff that allows them and they have the credibility of the celebrity status or whatever you want to call it, or the thought leadership for people like Tony Robbins. They have that already built in because they've already done that.

Carl: 22:12

For somebody who's at the starting gate, it takes a little longer, but it has to be that commitment and dedication. And if you're looking at it just with dollar signs in your eyes, you're going to be sorely disappointed because it's not a get rich quick scheme. It doesn't lead to a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It's just. I mean, yes, is there money to be made? Yeah, I have conversations with people on discovery calls that say so. Yeah, I want to start a podcast. It's going to be about this and we'll do this, and eventually I'd like to monetize. And when I say, okay, let's not even talk about monetization. Yet we don't even have a show yet, let alone anything that we can put a dollar sign on.

John: 22:50

So I'm with you there. We just started. So one of my companies does all kinds of printing, as I told you paper, plastic, metal, glass, wood so we just decided and we've been in the industry for a while that we're starting to make our own swag come the end of this year. Now, we've done this before and we're starting with a t-shirt. We're still playing with some different concepts and some ideas. We call it more Carl the movement. Yes, you can buy a t-shirt, but hey, if you answer one of our questions on the air and you get it right, oh, we might send you a free t-shirt. So for us, we want to create that movement, like, hey, I listen to this, I do that. And when that happens like, for example, a big thing we're working on right now is getting our senators and assemblymen perfect time before the election. We have a senator in New Jersey, we have assemblymen and we're going to go around to other states as well. One of the things we want to do next year we've been doing the remotes for a while like this we want to build our own studio where people can come in, and what we're going to do is we're going to entice them, because if they come to our studio, well, we'll get you on the show within the month. If you can't come to the studio, well, we'll get to you within three or four months, yeah, yeah. So that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to build that, but I think the biggest thing right now we never had was we never had swag. So I think when you come up with the idea this is a psychologist that wants to start a show and his brand is the fact that he wants to get on the air, I said, well, do you have any music? You need music as an intro for your podcast? Yeah, I'll probably just download something like what you can't do that, yeah.

John: 24:29

So I remember having a student of ours, because we have about 27 interns. We connect with about eight or 10 colleges and one of the things we do internships on is media, and what I do now to make sure they're serious about it is we have one free interview. Then we have a second interview. By the way, if you miss an interview, you're out. On the second interview, we're now thinking you might be a good match. Now we're going to talk about what you should do to impress us like a project, a mini project, on the third interview. That's when you're actually going to come back and present what you've done and then our team will decide are you somebody that should be on our team or maybe somebody that we should take a pass on? And I think a lot of people don't realize that you've got to get the creative out there. So, with these students and all the things they're doing, we talk about podcasting.

John: 25:23

This one student I have to laugh. He was online. He did this video production. It was great. I'll call Mike, that's not his name. I said Mike, this is great. I said the music was great. He says I got it from one of our libraries, our free library. Yeah, yeah, one of our free libraries About I don't know.

John: 25:40

A month later, a week later, I talked to her about copywriting. You can't use things, you can't use this and that and all before all that. I did the talk and then I got this thing from him. So about a month later, I get a call back from such and such productions which is the division of Sony, by the way and they call me and I said I'm such and such. I'm John C Morely. How can I be? Are you the one that runs such? I said yes, I am Okay. So you're the organization responsible for this video? I said yes, we are Okay. You know you're using a copyrighted music in that video. I said we are. Well, actually it was produced by one of our interns.

John: 26:16

Let me bring him in, michael, this is Paul from Sony licensing corporate legal department. He's reaching out to us because he claims that the video you produced remember the one about the traffic light? He says the song isn't ours or it's not public domain, it's not licensed. Oh, sure it is, we have it on our server. Well, what does your server connect to? Oh, it connects to such and such media group. He says yes, he says that's one of our partners. Yeah, yeah, so we have rights to that. You have rights to that. Who has rights to it? Our college, right, you have rights to use that music to produce things for your college that are in a non-corporate environment. Well, my professor said it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter where you take it home, you're still not producing for a company. So now he obviously understands that this was a big mistake.

John: 27:09

Trying to do the right thing with these people. I said look. I said you've got some good music. We have music we use, we write music. I said we'll talk to you about a licensing agreement. But a licensing agreement, long story short. We talked about a license agreement lets us keep our music the way it is Right and we go from there.

John: 27:28

But now I'm very strict about understanding. Where did that music come from? Yeah, did it come from this library, that library? No, I just grabbed it online. And I tell people, in all our productions, our content is copyrighted, as well as our music, which means you cannot remix it, which means you cannot push it out somewhere without our permission. And I think, when you do all these kinds of things, even when we do our guests and our hosts, we have forms they have to sign. They're like you guys are nuts. I'm like, yeah, but we're also producing a radio show and we don't want to destroy our brand nor have something that could be a legal issue. And a lot of people don't understand that there is a certain ethics. Yes, there's freedom of the press and freedom of speech, but there's a certain ethics that you have to comply with and I think a lot of students that we get don't understand that.

Carl: 28:16

Yeah, yeah for sure. And as far as the music goes, you're absolutely right, and even stuff that is listed as royalty-free isn't necessarily royalty-free. It might be royalty-free for certain uses, but not for commercial or podcast. I run up against this, and also one of the things that I like about original music, as in and you've said you're doing this, we do this as well. We have two music engineers on our team and they do nothing. But well, they do other things, but they write original music. Why? Because it's sonic branding. Right, we talk about visual branding logos, fonts, colors but there isn't a sonic brand if you're using or it's not your sonic brand if you're using somebody else's music, even if it is in the public domain.

John: 29:02

We wrote our first jingle, orbital. We didn't write a jingle for Orbital We'll have to do that one of these days but we wrote a jingle for JMOR, one of my other companies, and it's pretty straightforward, but basically it goes for IT services and data destruction. The JMOR connection should be your direction. For over 20 plus years, we're engineering technology to grow your business. Our custom solutions are at your service, jayandmorecom. So that was a custom thing we wrote yes, it has some branding. Does it bring us a lot of business? No, but that thing we have in that, we call it that little chime. You know, like Intel has their little chime. Well, we made a JMOR chime. That's like our little tune. That like means our name, right, and so I think a visual note brand is very important because it sticks into the, into the memoirs of our brain.

John: 29:54

But a lot of people, you know, they just don't want to do the work. I think a lot of people are jumping on the podcast bandwagon because of, oh well, this person did it and this person did it and that person did it. I'm like, yeah, that's fine, but do you have content? Like, if you're not creative, where are you getting content? Oh, I don't know, I'll just grab it somewhere. You can't do that. Like what is your inspiration? Are you going to get guests? Oh, I don't know how to get guests.

Carl: 30:28

Well, do you want us to get guests?

John: 30:28

for you. Yeah, you could do that for us?

Carl: 30:29

Well, we're going to charge you for guests.

John: 30:32

You charge us? Yes, yeah, that's what a business does typically. And he's like yeah, but I was told you just go online, the guests are free. Yes, if you want to go online and you want to do the work, that's fine, you could do it, it's free. But you're asking us to vet your guests for you. Well, how do I do that? You can pay us to train you how to do that.

John: 30:49

And I think what they realize is that they don't have the skills. It's like the guy who tries to build a house and he has no clue that he has to start with a foundation before he puts the roof on. Oh, I had to close the walls up before I put the windows in. Well, that's why they're not holding.

John: 31:06

And it sounds stupid, but what you don't know can hurt you in this industry. So I think the biggest thing I have to tell you is that you have to stay at the top of your game. You have to keep learning, regardless of what industry you're in, and I think, if you understand that podcasts are here for education and to inspire other people and your brand aligns with your passion, people are going to follow you, people are going to watch your show, but I don't want you to think that you're going to get 10,000. For us to get 150,000, 170,000, that didn't happen overnight. It takes time. And I think these people that are trying to come out of the brand of starting a podcast, they're doing this because they hear oh, my friend started a podcast and then they don't realize that they need an audio engineer. Oh well, you just download this, you don't? Well, what do you do when the sound doesn't work? So one of the things we've worked a lot with is like we have people record and they're on ships. That's always fun, right?

John: 32:08

So if somebody is on a ship, okay and even though the stream could be a little messed up, well, how do I make sure that your copy and my copy are good, because the internet's bad? So what we do is we record your show locally and our show locally and at the end of the show we download all the files and we work with those Because the internet can be messed up. So I think it's a technology piece, but I think in starting a podcast you have to realize that it's also a responsibility. Are you up to that responsibility? And if you're not, are you going to hire somebody to do that? Or are you just going to kind of start something and then not follow through, because then that would be a waste?

John: 32:52

But a lot of people out there, they just think they're going to start one show, they're going to get an Apple thing. Like one guy said to me oh well, can you get me an Apple? Can you get me to the? Yeah, we can get you in a hundred different networks. Oh well, can you get me to Apple? Can you get me to the? Yeah, we can get you in hundreds of different networks. Oh well, what do you charge for that? It's a fee per each network. We get you to Right and then I'm all set right. No, no, no, no, no. Then we have to submit to them. How do you do that? Well, there's a charge to be on a platform. Oh well, but I could learn. Well, we can teach you, but then you're going to pay us. So is that learning curve worth it? Or how long are you going to be a podcaster for?

Carl: 33:29

Yeah, and that's where we started. We started in the training space showing people how to do their own podcasts, and we found out very early on that we still love to train people for those who are very ambitious and have even some technical skills, but we found out early on that most people they don't have the time or the technical skills to do that because their time is consumed doing their business and that's what they should be doing. So the backend stuff, all the things that you just mentioned, that's what we do, that's what you do, that's what we do. We help people in that space to do that.

John: 34:03

But do they want to pay the money to do that? I know there's one network that I was on a show with an author for a book and I showed up to this show and there was an audio engineer there and the lady was not technical. She pays a fee every month to the network so they can run and produce her show. And the thing is, are you going to do it or are you going to hire somebody? Because if you don't know how to do it, it's just going to be a mess. I mean, do you even know what kind of equipment you need? Your laptop microphone's not going to quite hack it. I mean. The other thing too is I travel and I go through the airports and a lot of times I joke with the security people. I said, look. I said you know you break it, you buy it. Well, you know a $50 microphone, that's not a big. I said, no, try a $3,000 microphone, what? That's why I said be careful with the cartoony, be careful with that, yeah, yeah. And so I think people don't understand what's needed to produce a podcast. They don't even understand that you've got to come up with an agenda. And is your agenda going to be relevant with people. And the other thing is are you going to do a podcast? Are you going to do a streamcast? Yeah, but what got me into where I've gone with Orbital is I realized that I'm very good at creating brands, I'm very good at creating concepts, and I figured that if I could do this for JMOR, well I could do this for other companies, which is where we actually changed our name many years ago to Orbital Media.

John: 35:40

Now you might say, gee, what does that mean? Well, we were brainstorming at lunch one day and we were just knocking around terms space orbit, it's like, that's it Orbital media? And this was like yeah, yeah, let's do that. Is that name taken? No, let's go check online. It's not, let's register it. Is the domain free? No, let's get it.

John: 35:58

So that's kind of how it happens and what I tell people. Whether it's in podcasting or it's in business, you've got to be creative. If you're not creative, you know it's not your brand and you can't copy somebody else who's a good caster. You have to have your personality, you have to have your brand. But having a company name. So what we're able to do is be very playful with that. So one of the things we tell people is look, you know, we'll always be insured to blast you off safely in front of your next client. When people hold on our phone, we say to people well, you know, while on board here Orbital Media, we value your safety and your business. We invite you to please take a moment and make sure your seatbelt is fastened through the duration of our call. Incidentally, one of our marketing agents will be with you shortly. In the meantime, feel free to get your own snacks and we'll be back with you to create a message that we know will arouse your potential clients. To create a message that we know will arouse your potential clients.

John: 37:03

So you have to get creative like that, and I think that's the problem with a lot of people's name. They pick a name that's a one-way name, like I don't know, black Dog or some service name, sprinkler. You can't do anything with it, you can't be creative with it. And I think what I realized is that I love the tech industry, but in the tech industry I can't bring all my creativity there. So that's why I love the engineering company, but I also have a passion for arousing curiosity with media, and whether that's print, whether it's paper, whether it's plastic, arousing curiosity with media and whether that's print, whether it's paper, whether it's plastic, whether it's a story, I think people out there always want to be entertained and if we can entertain people in a way that gets them curious about something, they're going to be hooked to your brand. They're going to be hooked to your book, whatever it is.

John: 38:02

But I can tell you that you know, going to a company that just has a name like you know, printer or town printer there's not too much you can do with that, like you can't when you have a name that has a flare. I remember we were doing a valet parking for an event and we said in our sign you know, you might just be here thinking we're parking your car, but Orbital Media will always make sure that not only will your car be parked correctly but we'll choose the right vehicle to get you in front of that next prospect. So it was a little play on and it was a great big sign and all we did was park the car and like, oh yeah, you're media people, you're the people part where we didn't park your car. We paid to have valets park your car. Like that was really cool. So I love to come up with these things, whether it be lumpy mail, whether it be because I think everything is relevant if you can get creative behind it.

Carl: 38:59

Yeah, you do need that creativity and we're seeing for those folks who get it, for those podcasters or business owners or whoever it is that get it. They're the ones they trigger memories in people because it's like, oh, I remember seeing that thing and it was even something as simple as I can't believe I'm drawing an example of this but even something as simple as you go to the washroom if it just says, ladies and gents, well, okay, you know which one is which right, but the ones that get a little creative, that you know it's either a picture of something or you have been a hand carved piece of wood or whatever. That it's creative and you remember that.

John: 39:35

I remember going to one and now with the thing with the restroom, is now trying to be gender neutral and all that stuff. So now they have either. They used to say men's room, ladies room they don't do that anymore but they'll say both genders, any gender. But then I went to one restaurant, figured it was going to say something like men's room, ladies room, or something like men's and ladies room, or both genders. It's not what I got. I looked at the door, all the four doors.

Carl: 40:06

It just says whatever.

John: 40:10

I love it. So I think you have to be creative, but you have to do it in a way that is not going to disrespect people's race, religion, sexual orientation, creed, color, political party. That's not an easy feat, believe it or not. To be able to get creative to get people curious but then not to offend them. Right, like take the Olympics, for example, without diving into that too thick, that was a challenge, right? And everyone tried to admit to oh no, they didn't mean that. I'm sorry. When you're in charge of the International Olympics, you should know that your name is on the line. When a multi-billion dollar company like the C company pulled out, I mean hello. You got to be brand conscious and you've also got to be people conscious, and I think that when you're not people conscious, you're just saying I'm going to do whatever I want and I don't care. And so if you don't care, then that means people shouldn't care about what you do. Wow.

Carl: 41:19

Wow, John, I would love to keep chatting with you. This has been an amazing conversation, though I think it's worthy of a second one down the line to pop the cork off and see where the genie takes us next time. But before I turn you loose, we'll make sure that our listeners have your contact information and your gift as well, your links and all of that. Before I turn you loose, though, I'll give you the final thought.

John: 41:41

My friend and all of that Before I turn you loose, though, I'll give you the final thought, my friend, yeah. So the thing I want to leave you with is just a quick story and then a link. I will tell you that I'm also president of a 501c3. About, I'm going to say, maybe 10 or 12 years ago there was an elected official, a mayor, who didn't quite like that I was doing this First. He nominated me in because he didn't realize how powerful I was doing this. First. He nominated me in because he didn't realize how powerful I was going to be.

John: 42:06

And then one day he called me down to his office and he said John, when are you going to give up? Sat in his chair. And I said to him you know what Closed my eyes. What are you doing? I said, sir, I don't want to lie to you. I want to give you the exact year, the exact month, the exact day, hour, minute, second, I'm officially going to give up. Oh, okay, take your time.

John: 42:32

I said, demare, I'm going to give up when a little baby boy or a little baby girl tells their parents they don't want to walk anymore. And so I say to him I said may I ask you a question? He says yes, so you have two children, right? A boy and a girl, I think. A boy that just going as a freshman and a girl that's just graduating as a senior this year, right? Yes, do both of them walk? Yeah, when did either one of them ever tell you that they didn't want to walk anymore? He scratched his head for a long time.

John: 42:59

Never, I said you know, sir, I knew you were a bright, intelligent young man the moment I met you several years ago, and that's exactly what I'm going to give up. Never, I said you know he goes. You're arrogant. I get out of my office, I said you know, sir, I never really needed you. I said I just came here with an olive branch and I leave you with that thought, because you've always got to bring your A game to the table. Carl or someone else will Check out all my great free content at Believe, that's B-E-L-I-E-V-E, me M-E, achieve A-C-H-I-E-V-Ecom, and I'm giving anyone that reaches out within the next 90 days a complimentary 30-minute session with me, whether that's for goal setting, hypnosis or technology or marketing, I'm giving you a free 30-minute consultation with me to gain some knowledge and to improve your life. And remember, ladies and gentlemen, if you don't believe in yourself, you're never going to achieve your dreams.

Carl: 43:56

Great place to leave it. John Morely, thank you so much for being my guest today, my privilege and pleasure. Carl, thank you so much and thank you for joining us today. Special thanks to our producer and production lead, Dom Carillo, our music guru, Nathan Simon, and the person who works the arms all of our arms, actually my trusty assistant, Stephanie Gafoor. If you like what you heard today, leave us a comment and a review and be sure to share it with your friends. If you don't like what you heard, please share it with your enemies. Thank you in the show notes. And if you're ready to take the plunge and join the over 3 million people who have said yes to podcasting, let's have a conversation. We'll show you the simplest way to get into the podcasting space because, after all, we're podcast solutions made simple. We'll catch you next time.