892: How Podcasts are CRUSHING the Mainstream Media

Unknown Speaker  0:00  
Music. Instead of focusing on

Brian Nichols  0:06  
winning arguments, we're teaching the basic fundamentals of sales and marketing and how we can use them to win in the world of politics, teaching you how to meet people where they're at on the issues they care about. Welcome to the Brian Nichols show.

Unknown Speaker  0:17  
Well, hey

Brian Nichols  0:20  
there. Folks, Brian Nichols here on the Brian Nichols show, thank you for joining us on, of course, another fun filled episode. I am, as always, your humble host joining you from our lovely cardio miracle studio here in sunny Eastern Indiana. The Brian Nichols show is powered by our phenomenal studio sponsor, cardio miracle. Folks. Cardio miracle is, in fact, the best heart health supplement in the world, which, yes, I'm talking to today's guest from Australia. So I can say that with confidence, we have to send him some cardiomyrical. But cardiomyocle is going to help lower your resting blood pressure. It's going to help lower resting blood pressure, lower your resting heart rate, lower your blood pressure. There we go, while at the same point in time, increasing your pump at the gym, improving those restless nights of sleep, cardio miracle is the answer to your prayers. Now, I could rant and rave about cardio miracle all day long, but that's not why you tuned in. So if you want to learn more about cardio miracle, just hang out. We'll talk about that a little bit later in today's episode. Oh, and by the way, also, we are sponsored by our amazing sponsors, amp America, where you need to go get the news you need to know, without the extra corporate media bias or fluff, ampammerica.com we have news articles, opinion pieces, podcasts and more. And by the way, yes, ampammerica.com but podcasts, that's something we do here on the Brian Nichols show actually been doing that since 2018 that's kind of crazy to think we've been doing this now for just going on six years. Go on seven years, but I see the value. I know you see the value as members of the audience. We've seen the audience change a lot over those six plus years, and with that, we've seen the audience grow quite a bit over the six plus years, and I've heard a lot of feedback from you guys, both good, and some of you folks not so good, and that's to be expected. Love you even though you're trolls, but I still love you, but to a majority of you, I hear the value. I see the emails come in, thanking for particular topics, or thanking for guests, talking about issues in a way that just help make something that just didn't really make sense to you, make it click. And I really enjoy podcasting because I view it as a medium for us to explain sometimes these very confusing and hard to grasp ideas and issues. So let's talk about podcasting, because, believe it or not, I know you as a member of the Brian Nichols show audience. You know this, but for folks, maybe who are listening to us for the first time, believe it or not, there's more you can talk about on podcast than just current events, news, politics and that fun stuff. I mean, we talk about business and sales and stuff here as well, but there's a lot more to podcasting than just what you think is podcasting, and frankly, a lot of value to that as well. So let's talk about that, and to join me. Yes, from Australia down under. It's tomorrow for him, joining here on the Brian Nichols show. Darren Saul, welcome to the Brian Nichols show. How are you? And good morning, good

Darren Saul  3:10  
morning and good evening, afternoon. For you, I appreciate it, man. Thank you very much. Absolutely.

Brian Nichols  3:15  
Darren, thanks for joining the show. I'm really looking forward to our conversation, but before I go ahead and I start talking about the thing that you and I both get so much value from, and that is podcasting, do us a favor. Introduce yourself here to the Brian Nichols show audience and Darren, why do you like podcasting so much?

Darren Saul  3:33  
Oh, that's a loaded question. Basically, thank you for having me. Darren Saul here, I'm coming at you from Sydney, Australia. It's seven o'clock in the morning, Friday morning, and I'm having fun, but basically, I fell into podcasting, also about seven, eight years ago, when I was starting to want to find new channels and new ways to market my businesses. I work as a recruiter, I work as a photographer, and then I started using podcasting heavily for marketing, and I just was blown away with the results and the opportunities and the process that I never look back. And now I have two podcasts. I do lots of podcast coaching and teaching other people to use podcasts to really make a difference in their business or their life, and I just love podcasting, as you can see,

Brian Nichols  4:27  
likewise, I mean, I'm sure my wife might tell me I like Podcasting A little too much at times, because I see the value, right? And I kind of tease this in my intro Darren my show, and the other shows I'm tangential to, or I've been a part of, just across the board. I'll use the one where I can really think of and that is diverse, eclectic, whatever it may be. I've talked to folks about politics. I talk to folks about sales and marketing. I talk about business, I talk about customer. Experience and contact centers. We've I've been on shows where we're talking about relationships and gender differences. I see shows we were talking about personal development and dealing with some of the issues that candidly we all deal with, but more often than not, we don't do so with a microphone sticking in our face. So just being on these different shows I've seen the opportunity for me to talk about a variety of issues, but also, and this is something as a consumer of podcast myself, which I probably have a good 300 or so or so shows in my playlist I still have to rip through. But my podcast that I listen to all over the place, politics, sports, news, current events, relationships, business, all of that and more, much of the shows that I mentioned beforehand, that I've actually appeared on. But you see that there is just a way for us to just get this information, get this content in a very accessible manner. I listen to my shows. I'm driving, I'm working out. I'm doing some mindless spreadsheet. You're able to consume podcasts whenever you want, about whatever you want with whoever you want. And there's just, there's such a unique value there, versus what I think we all kind of grew up with Darren, and that was you turned on the evening news, and you kind of had maybe three options, four options. I grew up with prime star, which was then bought by DirecTV, so I was one of the first folks to get the advent of satellite TV in the middle of nowhere, upstate New York, which that was pretty cool. But I mean, up until then, everybody just kind of you watched what was there, or you consumed whatever content had been produced or had the budget behind it. Let's be real. So podcasting not only is giving us more access to information, but also as you know, as consumers, now we can really choose exactly what we want, when we want it, and who we want it with. So talk to us. Darren, if you would about some of the value you've seen in podcasting, right? I mean, you're using it more from a business side. I was using it more from a current events, politics side when I started, but podcasting itself, I mean, again, it transcends all those respective different verticals. Talk to us about what you're getting from value when you're talking about podcasting beyond just marketing, and maybe talk a little bit more about where you've seen the differences in podcasting. Topics really open up doors of conversation that you maybe didn't really consider joining in the past.

Darren Saul  7:26  
Yeah, love it, and my podcast is very much like yours. It's I call it my variety show. Instead of having a podcast niche that's very narrow, I love having loads of multiple guests working talking about multiple different topics, from book launches to entrepreneurship to health to finance to buyer's agents to real estate, whatever. And I love that. Not everybody likes to do that, but I love that, because one of the biggest factors is I learn. I learn so much when you're on a podcast episode with someone that has dedicated their life to a particular topic, you now get a 45 or one hour or half an hour masterclass in exactly what it is they've dedicated their life to, and you get the Summarized crib notes. And it's fantastic. So and then again, as a podcaster that helps you in further and future conversations, because you're much more knowledgeable and well rounded as well in as in life. You know, you could talk about things because you've learned things. So I love podcasting just because of the variety as a listener as well as a host. And as you mentioned, you know, these days, everybody or anybody can start a podcast. You don't have to be told, all right, I select you to be the host of this show. Because of your credentials. I can say I want to start a podcast about whatever. I'm starting it right now, and whoever wants to listen to it can listen to it. So that's one of the most amazing things about podcasting, from a general sense, but then from a marketing and a business sense, podcasting is one of the most effective tools to create marketing content and build your business or build your brand or build awareness for any initiative that you're trying To achieve, whether it be community, religious, parent, teacher, school, whatever. Podcasting is an incredible medium to start using and capturing and creating content. And let's face it, the world now and moving forward is really in a battle for marketing content and marketing attention, so without constant, fresh, varied, interesting content, you are not being seen, and your message, whatever that is, is not really landing, because you have the medium to do that. So that's why I love podcasting for so many reasons. And the content reason, the content piece, is really the most important.

Brian Nichols  9:59  
Yeah, I can't agree more, by the way, you and I are connected over on professional Facebook, LinkedIn, and if you were just to go to my LinkedIn profile, or you see my videos popping through your feed, you might not know that I have the Brian Nichols show, because I also host another podcast that is all about my day job, about customer experience, and it's called CX, without the BS. And my co hosts and I, we have on experts across across the industry, you know, from tech experts to actual customer experience experts, AI experts and more. And I share those videos all all over LinkedIn. So I've actually, I just had an event here Darren, that I was out in Nashville, Tennessee for back, what, two, three weeks ago. But it was funny, people would come up to the table and they would say, I know I know you from somewhere. Where do I know you from? Right? And I go, are we connected on LinkedIn? They go, I don't know. What are you on LinkedIn? I say, Yeah, I do some videos. There's a podcast I host. They go, that's what it is. You're on a podcast. And it's just funny because they there's this I know you moment, and then there's the other folks who go, Dude, I watch every one of your videos. I listen to your show. I feel like I know you. Yeah, Darren, that's the first time we've actually ever had a conversation, right? And that part is really cool, because we know in sales, people want to do business, say, with me, folks who they know they like and they trust. So when you're doing social media content, or you're doing podcasts on or rather social media content based on your podcast, it's giving your audience more of an avenue to know, like and trust you, because they get to see you, and that's just something. I mean my coworker, I love the expression. He calls it political signage. Like you think it's election season. I don't know how things are over in Australia, but I know here in the States, Darren like, election season hits, and every person, I mean, every block literally, is just like political sign, political sign, dog, dog catcher, Town Council, like President. It's across the board. But those signs aren't meant to get you to cast your vote for someone, but they're meant to keep that person top of mind. So when you go to the voting booth to cast the vote, you're like, Oh, I know Darren Saul. He's running for dog catcher, right? That's right. He has signs everywhere, and that right, there is what podcasting or what I'm sharing, those clips at least kind of helps do. It helps keep you Top of Mind with so much more value. Now I want to go back to something you raised up there earlier, Darren and I wrote this down. You get with podcasts, the opportunity to learn so much. And I cannot agree more, I listen to so many podcasts about personal development or sales, text techniques, marketing strategies, all that and more, right? And I probably here, you know what? Here we'll do a real live experiment. I'm going to open up my podcast app. So every time I listen to an episode and I'm like, Ooh, this is a banger, I favorite the episode. Nice. I'm going to throw up. I have 2400 episodes that I have favorited on my phone. Now I've learned a lot from listening to those episodes, but then the question comes, Darren, is there a time when we can learn almost too much? And by that, I mean I got 2400 podcasts that I've starred in my podcast catcher, that are oodles of good content that I want to go back and check out to apply. And therein is my question there, does there come a point where we are learning too much that we actually aren't in the mindset of taking what we learn and then applying that to real life? Did you hear? You hear I'm saying there? Yeah, absolutely

Darren Saul  13:37  
great, great point. And I think that's just a general philosophical and strategic point, is that you can learn something from a seminar, you can learn something from a webinar, you can learn something from a conference. You can learn something from an audiobook or from a podcast. But it's really just about your executement, your executing of whatever it is you learn in general, so not just podcast, but anything like, I'm the type of person that if I hear something and I love it, I'll implement it straight away. I'm just driven to implement it straight away, because I'll dive right in. And if it doesn't work, I'll change I'll find something else, but I just have to do it right now, whereas a lot of people don't, and I think that's the key. Is when you learn something and you really love it, just jump in and implement it. Don't wait. Don't procrastinate, because that's the problem. You could, you could get caught up listening and reading and researching till the cows come home, but if you never do anything about it, what has the what is the point you've done nothing? So there's a work.

Brian Nichols  14:38  
There's another term for, oh, paralysis by analysis. I was like, I know there's an

Darren Saul  14:44  
expression. I love it, so if you don't do anything about it, you wasted all that time. And there's a great book, I think, by I forgot his name now, but it's called Ready Fire, aim. Fire. Yep, I forgot his name, but yeah, feel free to put that in the show notes. And his philosophy is exactly that, just start do whatever you got to do and then move as Michael MASTERSON. Michael Masterson, great, yep, that's a great book. And basically, that's what he's saying, is don't procrastinate. Don't analysis. Analyze too much. Start learn from the feedback, learn from your own journey, and move accordingly. Like fly the plane while it's in the air. You can't always know everything up front, and if you do, you'll end up wasting six months, a year before we even do anything, and then it's too late. So that's the key. It's really, it's really the philosophy around how you learn and execute what you learn.

Brian Nichols  15:47  
So speaking of learning, right? One of the really cool things about podcasts is that it gives you the chance to learn from some pretty awesome, important people. I mean, I remember back in the day. I say back in the day, like 10 years ago, you go into Facebook and you would see ads for master class all over the place, right? It was like, learn economics from Paul Krugman. And I was like, that's funny, but when you look at that, and now I go to the podcast world, I don't need to take a masterclass to learn economics from Paul Krugman, but I could take a master class to literally listen to on a podcast the teachings of Milton Friedman, Ludwig von Mises. I mean Milton, or I said, Milton Friedman, Murray Rothbard, Thomas Sowell, and I can listen to it from their own words and get so much more context. So not only, I mean, I think about this way, Darren, like, remember when social media came out, especially Twitter, back in the day, like, when Twitter came out, it was so just wild that you could go message any celebrity out there, like, you want to talk to Vince Vaughn, go shoot him a DM on Twitter. He might respond, I don't know. Like, and the fact that that became a thing is just kind of wild. But then you go forward, like 10 years, when podcasts are now becoming more and more of a thing, and here we are today, like everybody and their mother has a podcast, basically, and you can listen to that podcast and learn so much from literally anybody. So is there just something inherently like as technology advances that we see this constant democratization of access to information, right? Like it used to be to what we talked about, you had this very hyper produced, hyper curated content on the three letter news agency, right? And that's what everybody watched. Now we're moving forward. You go to social media. Now everybody can get their news from anywhere they want. You take it a step further to podcast. Now you can get your information in the way you want to consume it anywhere, anywhere you want. And fast forward today. Now it's literally anybody can start a podcast with the new technology, like, you know, USB microphones and just crazy powerful laptops and the chips that make those work. So, like, is it just nature that as we get more and more technology, that by and large, people are going to have more and more access to information that they never had before?

Darren Saul  18:11  
Yeah, absolutely. And I think, you know, over the years, a lot of people would have wanted to share their story, their knowledge, they wanted, to get their message out there, but they weren't chosen to be that spokesperson, whereas now, because of technology, and the technology is incredible, now you can start your podcast at home, very, very professionally for 300 bucks, $300 in American speak. So that's crazy, and now that gives everybody the opportunity to be that person, to share their message with the world doesn't have to always be a business message. It could be a personal message. And if there's something that you want to share, you can start your own podcast, and it's just like anything. As you say, everything is on demand. We want to listen to what we want to listen to when we want. We want to watch what we want to when we want. We want to read when we want. There's no more telling us when and what to do and when to consume content. We are now the selectors of whatever it is we want when we want it. It's the new way of the world, and podcasting is no different. So that's why podcasting is exploding all around the world. I think there's some ridiculous stats that said there are more podcasts than listeners or something every day, something ridiculous. So it's crazy. And again, the thing with podcasting is a lot of people start, but they might not get past episode five or 10. So if you gotta start a podcast, you gotta be in it for the long haul, and you gotta really dedicate yourself to do it well and be patient. But it's a great medium if you just want to consume information, and if you want to share information as

Brian Nichols  19:48  
well. Episode 900 is right around the corner for the Brian Nichols show. Where are you at? Darren?

Darren Saul  19:55  
I've got two podcasts. You bet you're killing me. I've got about, I'm close to three. 100 episodes on both shows.

Brian Nichols  20:01  
But when you're in the hundreds, though, in general, I mean that right there is, is pretty darn cool, and you got to be in it for the long haul. I've seen way too many folks are like, I'm going to start a podcast. And I'm like, awesome. What do you need? And we'll set everything up. And then it's like, three shows later, they're like, I'm tired. I'm like, Okay, well,

Darren Saul  20:21  
six months, and then one more episode will drop. Like, that's not I

Brian Nichols  20:25  
have to go write my thesis. Like, okay, okay, I'll talk to you in seven months. Great, great chat. Um, but how about this? You kind of, you've been teasing at this, Darren, and I know you do this, so let's ask you this for folks who they're listening to the show today, and they are the one person who has not yet started a podcast on any particular topic that is passionate or something they want to really raise up as a cause issue. Um, where do you start? What? What's What does that look like?

Darren Saul  20:49  
Oh, look, I mean, these days it's so easy. You can do it yourself at home, really, really easily. You just buy a really cheap microphone that's good quality. You buy make sure you've got a good camera, a couple of lights in front of you, and you're up and running. The podcast apps and platforms are free, pretty much the technology out there now, with AI makes it even easier for your workflow. They chop up videos for you. They put captions on them for you. There is you can get the show notes all done for you using AI timestamps. Mean there's no end to what technology has provided us now, and anybody can start a podcast in no time. Really. It's that easy and just with a little bit of tech, not tech basic, no to how to do it's not hard. And I mean, I teach basic courses, I have pre recorded courses, but there's lots of local community colleges that will teach how to podcast. There's podcasts that teach how to podcast, there's books that teach how to podcast, or you can just fumble your way through it. It's really not hard google it. There's so much information out there, and it's really, really easy to do, and it's a lot of fun. The journey is a lot of fun.

Brian Nichols  22:01  
So, Darren, tell us about your podcast journey.

Darren Saul  22:05  
Yeah. So I mean, look, when I started, if I go back to Episode One, I would cringe. My God, I sat, I interviewed someone in a library. I was in the local library, and the person was a real estate agent, just nearly to the industry. And that was my first episode. We I had a videographer, and that's the other thing. In those days, the technology wasn't as easy. So you had to hire a videographer, you had to make sure you had your your sound right, and you had to record physically. Now, it's all zoom. Look at this. We're talking from across the world. On

Unknown Speaker  22:40  
tomorrow where you are? Yeah,

Darren Saul  22:43  
streamyard, so that was my first episode, and you know, it was fun, and I fumbled through it. And then over the years, you get better, and you get better, and you streamline and your process, you learn, you automate your process as well. And so it's fun to kind of go back to the beginning and say, Well, look how far I've come and again. You know you're never going to be perfect, straight off the bat, but that's part of the fun. That's part of the journey. And thank God that people listened and watched your podcast in reverse chronological order, not from the beginning.

Brian Nichols  23:14  
So YouTube music, yeah, be careful with YouTube music, because I think when you go to the podcast feed, the default, I'm pretty sure is it starts you at episode one. So just, just know, folks, if you're listening to Episode One of Darren's show, or episode one of my show, give us some grace. Go to episode 300 plus for Darren, or episode 900 ish for the Brian Nichols show, you're gonna hear much different podcasting quality. Um, I can almost guarantee that, but, but Darren, like, one of the things that that bothers me is this, this, really, I don't know how to put this into words, like, there is this almost disgust, maybe that I get from some folks about pod podcast bros, and it's it, I don't know. It just feels very kind of like a brush off, like, Oh, these guys, they're, they're, you know, talking about things they care about, or they think they're experts on a certain topic. Where are their credentials, right? So there very much is this kind of cultural knee jerk reaction to podcasting, and then podcasters talk to me about how you've dealt with that, and is it, is it an American thing, or do you see that in Australia as well? Like, give me some context there.

Darren Saul  24:27  
Yeah, I haven't really seen a lot of it, but I don't go crazy. And, you know, get into all the forums and really get, you know, read every bit of negative comment. But my philosophy is, really, when you have a podcast, in particular when you have a guest on your show, and I love having guests on the show because they make things more fun and more varied. But when you do have a guest, it's about trying to find all that gold that that guest has to share. So it's not so much about me giving. My opinion, it's more about what can I drag out of the guest, and they are an expert in whatever it is they do, because that's why I've chosen them. They've been dedicated their lives to doing whatever. So they are an official expert. So it's What can I extrapolate and get out of my guest and put them on a stage to share that with my audience so they can learn. And of course, I'm going to comment and I'm going to add my little nuances in there, but I really look at it from the point of we are giving you very, very curated, high quality content, because I am drawing from the expertise over a lifetime of my guest. And so that's how I kind of spin it in my head, if you're doing a solo podcast, then, of course, if I'm, if you're doing a solo podcast, obviously you want to have some kind of grounding in whatever it is you're talking about and you're sharing your expertise. So yeah, that's how I kind of look at it, through that lens and

Brian Nichols  25:59  
more of my, I guess the kind of perspective I was bringing there was, like, think of Joe Rogan, for example, right there is, like, this, this weird reaction, especially in American culture, where it's like, Oh, you got your news from Joe Rogan. And I mean that, I think that therein is kind of where. And by the way, this isn't just podcasting. This is something we're seeing across the board. Whereas what you'd consider more that that corporate media as they've lost more and more market share, um, obviously they've gotten a little bit more, uh, knee jerk in their their reactions to their competition. And I mean, we saw during covid especially, any alternative news source was just completely nuked, especially here in the States. I'm not sure how it was over in Australia, but like, I know, from a Joe Rogan standpoint, he was one of the folks who was challenging narratives, and they hated him for that. So I'm wondering if there's like, something about during covid Like this, the trust the expert class versus like, let me do some my own research. Class of folks like, who are like, let me. Let me do more critical thinking. Is that more in line with just, like, your general podcasting audience and like, there's more of a, I hate to break it down to like, just like, like a trust the expert, but like, that type of mentality more so gravitating towards the traditional news sources, right, like CBS, ABC, CNN, here in the States, or, I don't know what your version is in Australia. But like, is there something that there's more of a trust in those institutions versus the more? Like, again, critical thinkers who want to get different sources of information, and that you can get that from podcasting? Yeah,

Darren Saul  27:35  
I think, I think that's the that's the point. I think you've hit that on the head. It's you can get multiple sources and multiple opinions through podcasting, whereas you don't have to just rely on the status quo, because that's the one news channel that you know is on the air and you can and you get your stuff from there, and you have to believe them, because you don't have a choice. So I think that you have that multiple channel of and you can start doing your own research, and you can listen to other people's opinions, and, you know, sometimes people are absolutely they're talking absolute nonsense, and sometimes people are really, really relevant. So it's up to you to make that decision. And I suppose when you, if you think about it, when the first news reader came on, they probably said the same thing, you know, before you got your news in a different way. So just every generation you want to read it in the paper, come on, Darren, we used to have an encyclopedia. I used to have the Encyclopedia Britannica. That was where we got our information, you know, and then someone's telling me on the news what, what and how. Okay, fine. So it's really just about an evolution of technology and an evolution of how we consume because of technology and freedom, but we still have to be the curators of our own information. You know, you can't believe everything you hear. You have to do your own research, and you have to, but having more opinions is great.

Brian Nichols  28:51  
Well, you know, it's funny. You were kind of painting the history of as as technologies evolved, and that's we talked about that earlier, right? Like, as technology evolved, it opened up more avenues. I'm wondering, though, like, I wonder if this, this chasm has existed, and again, just for the the conversation we'll go towards, like, the trust the expert versus critical think group like, I wonder if that, that kind of binary has existed like forever, and it just, it's, manifested in different ways. Because, I mean, you think back to, like, the in over on our side of the pond, the American Revolution, right? You had the red the Tories, and you had the folks who support the American Revolution. And, like, there was, there was a large group of folks who were like, Nah, we want to stay with the United Kingdom or not. But Britain, at that time, like, we want to stay with them. So you go do your thing, like you're going to lose and then the guys who are supposed to lose one, and then they're like, Oh, guess we're a new country. And you see this across the board, right? I mean, that's, I think, why you have political parties and you have, like, different religions, like, there just seems to be something where there are just two different brains, I don't know. Of thinking, and it manifests in the way that we are. We really we vote with our our dollars, or in this case, where we listen to our content. So I say all that when you look at shows like Joe Rogan, for example, I mean he, I think he's the number one or number two podcast in the world. Like, what does that say about where podcasting is going. Do you see that painting a picture of where podcasts will find success? Or do you see podcasting metamorphosizing? Is that a word into something different that we haven't even maybe, like talked about during the episode today?

Darren Saul  30:35  
Yeah, I think that's a really good point. Is that people want to follow and connect with other human beings. And when you had your five or six news channels, it was very corporate in there. It was very, very stiff, and you couldn't access those people, you know, they were just, they were just on the stage, and you got your information from them. Now that it's much more democratic, as you said, and everybody, there's no gatekeepers. Everybody can do everything, and we can all connect with people like this really easily. We can really start to follow and become a tribe and a follower of any person that we like to listen to and even collaborate with them. So I think that's where things are moving. It's we're moving away from that we can't access you to. Let's collaborate, and now you're one of you're me, you're you're one of us. And then that's going to make you make that's going to metamorphosize into, who knows what, like it's already starting to move into live podcast shows. You know, where people come to a an episode, which is recorded on the stage, and then there's Q and A, and it's become like Oprah Winfrey, you know, but with more collaboration. So I think that's where it's happening. It's almost like a podcast, and a podcaster is becoming the person that you follow and you connect with, and you become like a groupie in a way, not in a in a negative sense. And it's great. It becomes your community and your tribe, which, whereas in the old days, you could never do that,

Brian Nichols  32:06  
right? So I think, yeah, your tribe was geographically based. Yeah, that's right. And you're kind of making the wheels turn here, Darren, I'm actually taking the lean back here in my chair. You got me thinking, like there is something very humanizing about podcasts, because get to see the person's authentic self. I mean, you can, you can create a character in a six minute soundbite on the evening news, but that's a lot harder for a character to maintain during a three hour Joe Rogan podcast, right? So, like I know Donald Trump here in the United States, he's been going on the podcast lately, and I've actually heard from people who I know in my circle are overtly non political, and they listen to these different podcasts, and they're like, there was just something humanizing about listening to Donald Trump on the podcast, because I heard with I got to hear him without the filter, and by that filter, there was no corporate media talk of saying, Here's what he actually said. It's like, I just got to hear him, and you got to hear the human side of him. And I know there's a lot of folks who probably hate that that happens, but like the fact that it does give a more authentic view at the people on the actual podcast themselves, because, like, you no longer can just rely on this media creation of you. You now actually have to stand there and present to the audience in your authentic self the things that the media has been saying you are and by the way, like, elephant in the room were in the political season here in America, and like, Kamala Harris has refused to do any interviews, and a lot of folks here in the states are actually seeing that and being like, but I want to see what you say when you're not scripted. I want to see how you're going to have that conversation when you don't have the teleprompter. Like, can we at least see that? And can I hear you on a podcast? Can I hear you go on a show that's maybe not like a glowing audience, but just like an audience that can ask you questions that a voter would want to ask. And not having that right like not having that right now has created a lot of, I want to say a lot, let me rephrase that, not a lot of lack of trust, but definitely some skepticism. And you look at the political world, and this is across the board. I'm sure you guys see this as well in Australia, but like, there has been this, this political nature to almost do the same thing, where you use the media to create, like, the personification of a great like, you're doing great things. It's like, you know, we just passed the or not here, this is not real, but like, we just passed the puppy dog, the puppy dog kisses for All Act, right? And it's like, the media, oh, the puppy dog kisses for All Act and everybody gets all excited. And you read in the fine print, it's like, we're gonna tax you 300% of your income. Them every year to help pay for this, right? Like that. That's, that's a minor part. We're going to talk about the puppy dogs. Now, politicians actually have to, like, go and have real conversations and talk about the fine print, because people are reading the fine print now they're talking about the fine print because now the media is not controlling the fine print. I mean, have you, have you seen that, by the way, in Australia, like, and I know during covid, you guys went through some weird stuff, but like, did you have you noticed that podcasts had become more of a true like, what's the word, like a grassroots, almost media to try to get alternative information out there, versus, like, the narrative?

Darren Saul  35:38  
Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, I don't follow politics that much, but in general, in every sense, absolutely, there are so many podcasters doing all sorts of things, trying to share totally different perspectives with their audience. And it is. It's a very authentic, raw window into who you are. And it's not about creating something for optics. It's about showing people who you really are. And I think that's that's the beauty of it, and that's why it builds trust, credibility and awareness and like likability, because we're being real. You know, as you can't fake three hours of conversation, you know, you're going to slip up.

Brian Nichols  36:17  
You could try, but man, that'd be exhausting.

Darren Saul  36:20  
It'd be pretty hard and do that day in, day out, or once a week, or whatever it is. So, you know, people get to know you as as a person. And then, as you say, like people come up just, Oh, I know you. I listen to you all the time, even though you've never met them, because they already know you and how you think, because they listen to you every day.

Brian Nichols  36:38  
It's funny. I I'll enter in. I know we're over time. I'm sorry, Darren, if you gotta run, let me know. Um, like I I'll see people from my life I haven't seen in, like, six, 912, months, even longer at times. And they listen to my show, and they start talking to me like we haven't skipped a beat. They know everything I've talked about in the show. They know if I've mentioned any personal anecdotes that are happening in my life, like they talk to me about it, like one of my buddies, he's one of my old groomsmen. He listens to the show. And whenever he's an econ guy, whenever he hears an econ show, he always texts me. He usually text me, like, four in the morning because that's when he's up and he has a little boy, so like, he's listening to this podcast as he's helping get the day started and and that for me, like, is so cool, because I I know I do the same thing. Like, I listen to podcasts, and I hear the the guest or the the hosts, and I feel like I know them. And if I went and talked to them, I could probably, you know, tell them, like, oh my god, that one segment you did, like, that was so great. And they're probably like, oh, man, is a little weird, because I I've had that happen. There was a conference I was speaking at and I had, like, a bunch of 20 year old kids come up to me, and they were like, oh my god, Brian, how are you like, we love your show. Like, Oh, I love the episode about blah, blah, blah. They start talking about my personal life, and I'm just like, you, but you know so much

Darren Saul  37:59  
about me so funny, like the other day. So the other day, I was in my local supermarket, and I was at the calendar buying some fruit and veg, and this other girl next to me comes up, and the checkout person said, Oh my god, I love your show. Thank you so much. Blah, blah. She's Wow. Just I said I didn't even know who she was, but obviously she's got a very successful show, and she's got her audience, so that's really cool.

Brian Nichols  38:22  
You see that with a lot with tiktokers Nowadays, too. Now, granted, I don't know about you, I'm not really much on the tiktoks. I am an old, yeah, I'm an old, funny daddy. I guess I'd really hop on board when that all became a thing. But I do know that, like, there are Tiktok celebrities, like I see them at the White House being courted by our politicians. And I'm just like, wow, there's an audience there for for that. And it's, it kind of catches you off guard. Yep, you bet. Well, okay, Darren, we're getting towards the end of the show. I know we're, we're over time here, so I apologize in advance. I know you're trying to get your date, your Friday started, and I'm, I'm holding you back.

Darren Saul  39:00  
Boys, got time to talk about podcast. Awesome. Well,

Brian Nichols  39:03  
well, here, let's, let's do the rest of the show here with a laser focus on podcast, just, you know, moving forward for the audience. Like, how can they support your show? How can they find you get to know you better? I mean, obviously we learned that today, that podcasting is the great way to get to know folks that you've never met before. So Darren, tell us more about the show. Tell us more about what people can expect to learn when they subscribe. Tell us about LinkedIn, all that fun stuff,

Darren Saul  39:30  
awesome. I mean, you can just go to my website, which is suspended animation.com.au, and you can jump on all my social handles. From there, you can find my audio podcast, my video podcast, jump on my newsletter, and there'll be lots of weekly content about podcasting, as well as courses and other things. A lot of it's free and free PDFs to download to help you set up and all that kind of stuff. And if you like, I'll give you just a one page landing page where you. Access a lot of that stuff as well. But basically it's all just about learning about podcasting, collaborating about podcasting. And my show is as yours, very much a variety show. So there's all sorts of different episodes, from mindset to health to book launches to music to real estate, to business, to entrepreneurship, to whatever it is, to marketing. And I just love that. So you can even tackle some of the playlists that you might be interested in and try and learn and get as much information from all the great guests that I've had on as well. So I'll put all that stuff for you, and hopefully everybody can join you.

Brian Nichols  40:40  
Thank you. And by the way, we're gonna make that really easy for folks. We're just gonna include all those links in the show notes. Super easy to find. I was kind of laughing you were going through saying we're a variety show. My show is in the political news category, technically. And the funniest reviews I ever got was a one star review from someone who was like, this guy never knows what he's going to talk about. He said they're talking about something in politics, something about weight loss, something about I lost. I thought was the funniest thing ever, but I was like, hey, it's my show, so I can talk about what I want. Yeah, I'm going to talk about whatever I want. It's the Brian Nichols show, not the one star review Guy Show, no. But with that being said, Darren, I can't agree more. Podcasting, there is so much value to it. That's why we've been doing this show for 900 plus episodes. That's why I have two shows I do myself, this one and then the other podcast, CX, without the BS. I'm a producer for another podcast that's about relationships called the talking phase. Like, I love podcasts. And by the way, all three podcasts super different. Like the this show is obviously me talking about whatever I want, but usually in the world of politics, econ, current events, stuff like that, the CX without the BS. Again, my day job talking about contact center, customer experience, all that fun stuff in the business world, and then the talking phase is literally talking. It's a man and a woman. Pam and Tom on a Why call them a man and a woman? Because that should be self explanatory, because they're the couple of hosts in the show. Anyways, Pam and Tom host the show I work with Tom. Pam and him had met on Tiktok. They had both gotten a divorce, they had started their own Tiktok channels, and then they somehow found each other and were like, Hey, we should start a show talking about what life is like after divorce, and they're in their late 50s. I I'm not in my late 50s, so it's funny for me to be the producer in the show and be able to, like, chime in every now and then with commentary as like, a guy 2030, years younger than them, but, like, at the same point in time, I'm not 30 years younger than them. I said the math. And I was like, that doesn't math anyways, like, but to have that be an entire different show on relationships and stuff, and just to see that for me, being someone who is helping produce content, and seeing how I can impact people from a cultural way in so many different areas versus and by the way, this is just the reality from a political standpoint. Politics is downstream from culture. And if you want to really change the way people think about politics, you have to change the way that they think about other stuff, and usually that starts with the stuff they're consuming, and that starts with the content. So helping produce content that's I consider more valuable, and I hope it's giving people more value when they're listening. And the numbers, I mean, they don't lie, people are getting value. I just hope that it makes a real change down the road, both and this is me being selfish here, politically speaking, because I want to see a world of people that do think more critically, that are willing to ask tough questions and sometimes require tough answers, right? And that is a world that I think that podcasting encourages and helps build that type of environment. So podcasting onward and upwards, I look forward to learning more about the audience and your reactions to today's episode by emailing me at Brian, at Brian Nichols show.com Please share your thoughts and don't go be the one star review saying this show was about podcasting. I came here looking for current events. I see you don't do that. No. But with that being said, Darren, I will make sure we include all those links that you had mentioned there in the show notes. So folks, if you want to go ahead and learn more about Darren, the awesome stuff that he is doing, yes, even though he is a day ahead, links are going to be there in the show notes. Darren. Any final words for the audience as you wrap things

Darren Saul  44:32  
up today? Ah, well, I think kind of in the faint of what we've been talking about is just explore podcasting, explore learning, explore getting your information from different sources and in your own time, in your own way, when it's convenient for you, and it's amazing what you learn

Brian Nichols  44:50  
here here. Darren Saul, we really appreciate you joining us here on the show. And folks again, please do me a favor. Go ahead and give today's episode a share when you do tag yours truly at. B Nichols liberty, you can find me on x.com Twitter, and that is Twitter x.com thanks, Elon, confusing me Facebook and Instagram as well. You can go ahead and find the show on your favorite podcasting apps, YouTube, music, Apple, podcast, Spotify. I prefer podcast attic, wherever it is. Hit that subscribe button, hit that little download button, and of course, hit that little notification bell. We have episodes dropping three times a week. Sorry, we've been off our schedule a little bit here. The past week or so, I've been traveling a lot. Peek behind the curtain. Darren was supposed to be on the show back in August, and I was traveling a lot. So thank you for sticking with me. We are still getting three episodes out per week, though, just the days might vary. So just heads up there. Oh, by the way, you can watch the Brian Nichols show on your favorite video platform, whether that's YouTube, Rumble and yes, Twitter and Facebook, we are uploading the video content of the show in its entirety on all of those platforms. Please hit that subscribe button, hit that little notification bell as well, and head down below into the comments. We want to hear your thoughts. Do you like podcasts? What are your favorite podcasts? What genre of podcasts Do you listen to? How many podcasts Do you listen to per week? Answer those questions down below. Keep the conversation going. And one final plug, please, folks, if you like the show and you enjoy the Brian Nichols experience here with all the guests we have in the show, support the folks who support us, and that is our amazing sponsors, like amp America, cardio, Miracle evils, CBD, liquid, freedom, energy, T and more. All those amazing sponsors can be found at our homepage. Brian Nichols show.com that's all we have for you. With that being said, Brian Nichols, signing off here on the Brian Nichols show for Darren Saul, we'll see you next time you.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai