How We Started Our Podcasts - Laura Fisher & Brett Shoemaker

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Transcript

Laura Fisher: 0:02

Welcome to small business insights where back office conversations give us insight to what's really going on. Is it grit, or luck? That gives a small business owner an advantage? Let's find out. I'm your host, Laura Fisher. All right. Today we have Brett Shoemaker in the studio. And he has his own podcast is called direct primary care benefits. And Brett and I are going to talk about drumroll, please. Thank you very much how to do your own podcast? Yeah. All right. So we are both young podcasters figuring out this world on our own. So I thought our listeners would like to know, how do you even do a podcast?

Brett Shoemaker: 0:49

Like where do you even start, right? Like, what even happens? Number one, step number two step all of that, right? Yeah. Like,

Laura Fisher: 0:56

why would you even want to do a podcast?

Brett Shoemaker: 0:58

Yeah, for real? So Laura, let me ask you this. What was your first step in your mind when you started this podcast journey? What was your first step?

Laura Fisher: 1:07

Well, for me, gosh, I didn't, I didn't start out thinking I wanted to be a podcaster. But what I found out when I got the studio here at the Imperial podcast studio, nobody knew how to use the equipment. And I'm a hands on person. So I started to learn how to use it, and demonstrate it. And I always asked questions, and I would interview people I'd put haven't put the headphones on so they could kind of experience it. And I'd say so tell me more about you gotta had a knack at it.

Brett Shoemaker: 1:35

So basically, you started a podcast, because you from a business perspective, realize that having a podcast studio that somebody could rent out might be a good idea. Yes. And then you started doing and you said, well, heck, why don't I just do a podcast? Well,

Laura Fisher: 1:49

how can I sell a product and I didn't know how to use it,

Brett Shoemaker: 1:52

the fact that you had a podcast, and the fact that you had a podcast studio is exactly why I'm a client of the podcast. So great job, there, you are a product of the product. It sounded amazing. And it does sound great as we're on these great mics here.

Laura Fisher: 2:09

So Brett, you come in here and you use the studio? Yes. And we have a rode caster system. Tell me how complicated is it to come in here. And record?

Brett Shoemaker: 2:19

it's pretty simple, to be honest. And that is what I love, because I'm a very plug and play systems type of guy. And so I mean, there was a little bit of learning, right? Nothing to you know, extreme, but you came in, showed me how to use it. And now every single time I just come in here, plug my SD card in there, hook up my Bluetooth, because I don't typically do interviews in person, they're mostly over the phone. And so I've got that whole process now. And when I actually have people in the studio, that's when I always need your help, because I don't do that as often. So I'll learn that too. Tell us what your podcast is about. So my podcast is about healthcare. And what we basically talk about is non insurance solutions to health care, which is essentially concierge level benefits, right? Where they have direct access to the doctor cell phone, video call, text message, all that good stuff. On the podcast, we explain essentially, the different components of what makes our direct care model special.

Laura Fisher: 3:19

Why did you think using the format of a podcast was going to work for you?

Brett Shoemaker: 3:23

you know what, I'm the type of person that I like to think big, right? And so I want to syndicate and put the message out everywhere can possibly go and I feel like podcasting. Just I mean, I've been in an involved in and around podcasting since 2013

Laura Fisher: 3:41

As a consumer just listening to podcast?

Brett Shoemaker: 3:45

As a consumer and going to different business consulting type of events that people are using podcasts as a you know, tool, just like you know, you and myself. And so I've been kind of aware of the modality from a marketing standpoint of podcasting for several years, but I just never really latched on and said, Hey, this is what I want to do. And this is what I want to do it about right because I wanted to make sure that it was going to be something that I could do long term and that I could really stick my flag in there. Right. And so healthcare would just was just it

Laura Fisher: 4:20

a podcast, if you're listening, you already know what it is on demand radio show pretty much would you say? That's about right.

Brett Shoemaker: 4:27

It's a on demand radio show. I mean, it really is it's almost like a Dave Ramsey's. That's kind of how he started. I mean, I really feel like it's a radio show. Like you can essentially start your own show from scratch and have the ability to syndicate all over the place. So you know, I'm still learning things and and whatnot, but your podcast studio makes me sound very professional, which I love. It does. How often do you do your podcast? You do it once a week, right?

Laura Fisher: 4:54

Yes, I have a new show that drops every week. But what I'll do is instead of being in the Studio once a week, I tried to record three or four within a week, get them all done, get them scheduled, and then do another week of it, you know, four or five weeks later.

Brett Shoemaker: 5:11

Yeah, absolutely. And you named your podcast, Small Business Insights, which I think is brilliant, by the way. And you you basically interview folks that are somewhat local to the area, right, for the most part. Yeah. Which is also smart. Because you're kind of positioning yourself I mean, just from a business standpoint of what you do, right. You're a co working business space, entrepreneur. And so I think that it does a great deal of things for you all at once, right? You're showing people what podcasting is you're interviewing them, giving them a little bit of heads up or giving them a little bit of marketing engine, if you will, behind them, and you're marketing your business at the same time. It's brilliant.

Laura Fisher: 5:49

You know, I think simple ideas are pretty brilliant. Usually, what I found out was I'm surrounded by entrepreneurs, and I like their stories. And I have narrowed it down that I like owner operators. That's who I like to interview. Because if I interview someone from a large corporation, they just don't have the boots on the ground like an owner operator does. Yeah, that roller coaster. That, yeah, I worked in this corporate job until I got my real dream job, you know. And then when I got my real dream jobs, like, oh, my gosh, it's a nightmare sometimes. Yeah. I like those kind of stories.

Brett Shoemaker: 6:23

Yeah, those stories are good. That mess to success stories, as I like to call them. No,

Laura Fisher: 6:26

that's a good one.

Brett Shoemaker: 6:27

Yeah, the mess to success. Yeah.

Laura Fisher: 6:29

So let's talk about how we figured out our shows. So I know for me, I live here in Houston. So my commute, I listened to podcasts in the car, and my commutes about 25 minutes. Okay, so I noticed that if I had listened to a podcast, that was like an hour, I didn't finish it. Yeah, it's listening on demand. So I have it on when I got there, on my way to work, and maybe I listened to on the way home, but maybe on the way home, I may feel like listen to music, or the local radio station to hear what's going on the news. And so I thought, well, I want my show to be about 30 minutes. Yep. How long is your show?

Brett Shoemaker: 7:04

My show is about 20 to 30 minutes as well.

Laura Fisher: 7:07

I think it's a sweet spot. So I figured out how long, you know, I wanted the show. And I thought if I want to maintain it, how can I maintain it? So it doesn't eat up your life? Eat up my life, eat up my money. If I'm not making money making a podcast, then should I be working on it? And if I am, what hours of the day? I had to figure that out, too, because I'm making money during the day. So just managing my time. Do you have the same challenges? Yeah, I

Brett Shoemaker: 7:36

think when I first started, I was wondering the exact same thing. My biggest thing was the time commitment was I going to be able to do once a week was my biggest concern.

Laura Fisher: 7:47

And the recording part. This is the easiest part. You and me talking. Yeah, talking

Brett Shoemaker: 7:51

and doing the interviews is is the easiest part. And it's honestly what keeps it fun, especially if you're talking about something that you want to talk about, which I think is key, right. So you know, being that I'm in healthcare, and I like talking about health care and doing all that. It's great, right? But I think what you said you just hit the nail on the head. And that's kind of where I'm at and where you're at is in that. How do we make this thing make money type of challenge, if

Laura Fisher: 8:12

you will, right? Yeah, I kind of look at it as a marketing expense right now. Yeah, it is a

Brett Shoemaker: 8:17

marketing expense. However, I want it to be a marketing revenue stream. Yeah, me too. I think it's also very important that you think about the S E O value Absolutely. Search Engine Optimization. Yeah,

Laura Fisher: 8:31

cuz if you call it like Buttercup, or whatever, no one's gonna be looking for that.

Brett Shoemaker: 8:35

Nobody's gonna be looking for Buttercup. And so so I could have named my podcast, a lot of things. It could have been healthcare consulting podcast, it could have been a bunch of different things. But what I know people are searching right now is direct primary care. That is the business that I'm in. And so you know, as people are searching that, and that's the foundational component of our health plans, right as direct primary care. So you know, that's kind of why I named it that right. There's

Laura Fisher: 9:05

a lot you didn't name it. Brett Shoemaker. Yeah, I

Brett Shoemaker: 9:07

didn't name it Brett Shoemaker. Because I mean, even if people are searching me up, they're not thinking of me yet. You know, a lot of people are now knowing that I do healthcare and been in healthcare now for, you know, 1218 months, but people that don't know me are not looking for me doing healthcare, they're looking for direct primary care. And

Laura Fisher: 9:25

if somebody does a Google search for direct primary care, they're gonna have websites, and hopefully your podcast will show up and

Brett Shoemaker: 9:35

they'll have Buzzsprout, they'll have the website, they'll have my Instagram, they'll have all types of things. And that's exactly the goal. Let's talk

Laura Fisher: 9:42

That's how we got started. So we both had a similar journey where we had an idea. We knew we had the personalities to do it. Yeah, the resources to find content, because that's important. You know, I knew I knew for me, I wanted to interview people. I didn't feel like I wanted to spend half an hour each week telling you my thoughts and opinions and all that stuff. So I'd, so I wanted to do an interview. Well, yeah, yeah. And I knew that I was around a bunch of entrepreneurs every day, and I meet them regularly. So I thought I could do that. And you know, your content. But let's talk about how we got started.

Brett Shoemaker: 10:20

My biggest thing was, for me, I'm a very reverse engineer, like see the finished picture before I paint it type of a person. And so my biggest thing was just understanding technology, understanding SEO and understanding all these things, which you don't need to know to start a podcast. But I understood the value of it. So I already knew going into it, what the importance of what to name it, right, because of the search engine optimization and titling that in your show notes and all that jazz. But I think where my biggest challenge was in the beginning was what syndication hosting platform do I use write because I know that there's Buzzsprout, I know that there's RSS feed, I know that there was

Laura Fisher: 11:01

let's talk about that. So we you have an audio file, and you've got to post it somewhere in the world wide web. Yeah. So that search engines can pick it up. And all the listening platforms can pick it up, and they pick it up with an RSS feed file. Yeah. So Brett and I both had to find a host for our audio files that you're talking about. You and I both used Buzzsprout. Okay, great. It's not a commercial for bed sprout. It just it seems like a good deal. It works. It's like 12

Brett Shoemaker: 11:35

Buzzsprout, you can pay business, small business insights and direct primary care benefits if you want to do some advertising.

Laura Fisher: 11:42

Absolutely. If you don't have a whole lot of volume, it's like $12 a month. Yeah. So that's nice.

Brett Shoemaker: 11:48

But even and I think initially, it's free. And I think you can even think initially it's free. And then you have like a certain amount that's free or something maybe I don't remember, but I know I'm paying. I think I'm paying like 12 or 15 bucks a month, something like

Laura Fisher: 12:01

that. Yeah, I think it's based on how many hours you plan you plan to upload. Yeah. I know the hardest thing for me to get started was just doing it, you know, you have an idea. There's not a perfect time, you just gotta jump in.

Brett Shoemaker: 12:14

The next thing that a lot of people think about is, well, the microphone and the editing and this and that. And so I looked into that. And that's why when you said you had a podcast studio, and frankly, that was a, I guess a hurdle for me. But I mean, I call it a God thing. Because like, legitimately, as I was looking for and figuring out what the next steps were before I wouldn't bought another snowball, which I sold it on Facebook, the one that I did have, which that's a whole nother story. But I met you at a networking event. Yeah. And what bend chamber event Forbin chamber event, and you brilliantly had your podcast card. Yeah, which I emulated and copied that and podcast card now as well. And it does work.

Laura Fisher: 12:59

Actually, I have it on my desk, I'm gonna hang it up in the studio, for sure. I

Brett Shoemaker: 13:03

saw that. And so that became another step that I needed to do is create some graphics and create some artwork. But that's not important for people. I think I think the most important thing is figuring out if you can rent a studio, like for the price that you guys charge here is pretty fair might think that if you can have a studio, you have a studio that you can leverage. I mean, that makes it so much easier. Because that's one less thing that you have to worry about, right? You You just have to worry about doing the show.

Laura Fisher: 13:28

I like this studio, not because you know, I get to sit in it. But I like I like it sounds so nice, because I've heard other people's podcast. And I'm like they have so many more years experience, but they don't sound as good.

Brett Shoemaker: 13:40

I personally have gotten several compliments. I will say several compliments. And when I say several, I'm thinking of at least three people that were like, bro, your podcast sounds so professional. And I'm just like, Thank you. Thank you very much. That's because Laura Fisher's podcast platform. Actually, I don't say that I just say, Well, I tell them that I actually tell my buddies that I have a friend but everybody else is like, my podcast studio, right?

Laura Fisher: 14:04

Like it's yours when you're here. Absolutely.

Brett Shoemaker: 14:08

I'm paying for right? That's right. I'm renting this space.

Laura Fisher: 14:11

We're gonna take a quick break. And when we come back, we're going to talk about what it costs to actually maintain and take care of your podcast so we'll be right back.

Sponsor: 14:22

Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Today's episode is brought to you by Imperial podcast studio. interested in being a podcaster the Imperial podcast studio will help you get started. Your host Laura Fisher records her show weekly at the state of the art studio located in Sugarland Bogut and sound like a pro. Now back to Laura, and thanks again for listening to small business insights.

Laura Fisher: 14:45

So let's talk about how much it costs. So you can do it on a shoestring budget, you can actually record something in your closet with pillows all around, right? You could

Brett Shoemaker: 14:55

do that right? You definitely could do that. I had a snowball for the long It's time and I'm pretty sure snowballs are pretty reasonably simple to use. I just never what

Laura Fisher: 15:05

is a snowball? What are you talking about? Okay, so

Brett Shoemaker: 15:07

a snowball, a yeti snowball, you can buy a yeti snowball, at Best Buy at Office Max Office Depot. And it's literally just a mic, right that cost 50 bucks. And you can USB connected to pretty much any laptop or computer. And that would be your microphone. And it sounds pretty good. To be honest, it's not, it doesn't have this nice professional little echo. You know, it doesn't sound quite as good as this. But I mean, it works for 50 bucks, you can get started. Yeah, you can get started for 50 bucks, and it sounds good. So the pillows in the closet for everybody that's wondering is because in a closet, the sound is absorbed. And it's not like echoing off of the walls and things like that. So it doesn't sound like you're in like a room with wooden floor with no carpet that doesn't have any furniture and it sounds like your pets in the background, or whatever. Exactly are a bunch of background noise. Exactly. So but yeah, so 50 bucks, you'd get a snowball, but I just like the fact that I can just come to the studio and plug in the stuff and then also have a place if I do have other people and I don't have to I don't have to unwind the chords wine, the chords, place it put it somewhere. I mean, yeah, it's just way easier for me. I don't know, I mean, but it is an extra expense, right? Because it's 65 bucks every time you want to come in and do that. So if you're doing it once a week, you know you got 65 bucks expense every time. For me, I have a gentleman who worked out a really good deal. And whether I do a video or whether I do an in person interview. In other words, where's my interviewing person is here or not, he will edit down the audio and actually videoed as well for 75 bucks, which is super cheap. That is

Laura Fisher: 16:48

good deal. Yeah, I figure for me, it's about $100 An episode. Yeah, when it comes down to all this stuff. So 420

Brett Shoemaker: 16:56

Yeah, I started doing an episode. So it's not not not too bad.

Laura Fisher: 17:01

I mean, I don't have to rent the studio. But I know I'm busy. And I didn't want to learn how to edit. I mean, I know I could figure it out. Yeah, but you don't want to do it. It's brutal. It is. So I hired somebody, I went on Fiverr. And I found Ed bishop, and he's in Dallas, we just hit it off on the phone, because I thought this is my product. I want to make sure somebody's gonna care about it as much as I do. And I don't know that he cares about as much as I do. But he makes me feel like he's listening. And he's gonna make me sound good. Yeah.

Brett Shoemaker: 17:29

And he does. I mean, he's definitely done a great job with the way you sound. So I think it's definitely worth it. And at the end of the day, I think like, I don't get caught up. Like right now. Like, there's a couple things like on some of the episodes that I could change or fix, and maybe the audio could be a little louder, be a little quieter, because maybe the person calling in maybe it's my phone, right? I don't know what it is, but but the reality is, is that I just don't care at this point. Like, as long as i The biggest thing is like the consistency keeping on creating episodes, making sure that the shows are good, making sure that the questions that I have are good, and which is a challenge sometimes, right? Because you're trying to figure out my biggest thing is like mixing it up, right? Keeping the shows kind of fun, and making sure that we have something cool to talk about. And so I just find like, if I'm out there in the trenches, and doing like, if you're doing what you're doing as a living, or for a living, you're gonna find content to put out there. I feel like I mean, look, when you had your card, right, you had your card, who I felt like I was in real estate, you know, back in the day, when I had my real estate cards, my pretty little mug on there. And when I saw your card, it was super professional had your face on there. And that's why when you said you want to take your face, I'm like, I wouldn't do that. But I like I like Laura's Fisher face on the car.

Laura Fisher: 18:44

I think I'm gonna keep it, maybe change it. Get a new picture on there.

Brett Shoemaker: 18:47

I actually think you're a pretty good networkers who you are really, I would know that you weren't as solid networking, like you've told me because you yourself had a strong presence the day that I met you. That's why I was like, Man, this lady. I haven't told you I said, this lady either definitely knows what she's doing or she's a really good faker.

Laura Fisher: 19:06

Let me tell our listeners, there's something called pod fade. So a pod fade. So what you'll do is you'll notice that if you're a new podcaster, it's about podcast number seven, that they get doubt. They go like nobody's listening. I'm not sure it's worth it. And so people will start off strong, but about episode number seven or eight, they drop off, you know, when the next drop off is 100? No, it's 50. Really? Yes. So I'm about at 50, which is about a year and I went to that podcast that that momentum doesn't happen as fast as you want it to happen ever. And so you're like, gee, if I don't have the show, would anybody notice? Well, I hope so. Right? But it really it's about then that you get the doubt. And then somebody told me, don't stop. And I'm like, Okay, I'll do another year, you know?

Brett Shoemaker: 20:04

Oh, stop. Yeah, sorry. I'm not a singer, clearly, but I sounded better than Mike, though,

Laura Fisher: 20:12

it sounded pretty good.

Brett Shoemaker: 20:13

I just want to hurry up and get more so that I can start charging for advertising. And it's really just to obviously pay for itself. If I can make a little bit of money doing it, that'd be great. But

Laura Fisher: 20:23

what kind of advertisers will you look for?

Brett Shoemaker: 20:25

I mean, I'm going to look for advertisers that want to speak to my audience, right? Like, the type of audience that I have is brokers and other business owners. And so that's the audience that I want to be listening to the podcast. And so like going to different folks that would traditional insurance. Yeah, maybe traditional insurance companies, maybe whoever would do like commercial lines, like maybe Alliant, Alliant, or like Gallagher, or the big insurance companies the problem that I have those like, I would almost rather have nobody give me money and me be able to control what's going on. And not even that they control what's going on, because they don't right. But I'm really particular about giving people access to my audience. I know

Laura Fisher: 21:10

we got our own little, little thing going. So we're called independent podcasters case, you didn't know that. Like the folks like Dave Ramsey, and the big people. They're like, sponsored, you have Spotify that has their podcasters that they promote. Ted Cruz used to be a independent podcaster you can hear the production difference. But recently, I Heart Radio picked them up. So now they have that whole network that's going to promote

Brett Shoemaker: 21:35

if somebody wants to sponsor or advertise, that's one thing, but if they want to put it in their network, and then I mean, basically, it's like owning a website. Right? I think having a website is important. Because I mean, you don't need to do it initially. But you need to start thinking about

Laura Fisher: 21:48

that. Right? Yeah, for a lot for long term. It depends on what your what your goals are.

Brett Shoemaker: 21:52

I think the biggest thing is you need to know, I mean, when you're looking at it, right, so what else do you need? You need you the equipment, right? Which you have the studio for that, right? You really got to have the structure. I mean, let's just talk about that. Right, like the intros and outros, like, you gotta have an intro like, welcome to the podcast done it.

Laura Fisher: 22:11

Right, the easy part is coming in here and recording it. So after this, I'll take the SD card out, I'll listen to the show, I'll write down timestamps of what I want to keep, what I want to take out where the break is, I need to decide who my sponsor is, who the ad is. And then I take the file, I upload it to a Dropbox account. And then I send an email to the editor, and I say, here are all my notes. And then he keeps it for about three to five days. I get it back. The next part is I took a picture of you while you're here, you know and do some kind of show graphics. So you know when when your shows up. It'll be Brett Shoemaker. And we talked about this headline, and that's for my social media. And then I have to upload it on Buzzsprout. And then I want to do a transcript. So now I have I send it off to a thing called otter.ai. Oh, that's how you have to get the transcript. Yeah, I still have to listen to it and verify it, it gets most of it, right. But there's still a lot of editing. And then the day of when it's live, I get on my computer and I and I or my texts, and I say Hey, Bret, here's the show, make sure you share with all your friends and family. I also link it to LinkedIn, Facebook, yeah, it's a lot. But I have to pick the right time because I don't want to eat up my working hours. So yeah, to do it at a slow time, maybe during the day or in the evening,

Brett Shoemaker: 23:42

I post every week on Wednesday. So that's kind of like my algorithm, if you will. But mine's on Wednesday, too. I'm having fun with it. It keeps me on purpose with like figuring out new innovative things in healthcare, right. So I feel like it's it's definitely helping on that front. But I'm really going to be excited when it gets to be more listeners and more views out there. Because there's so many people looking and searching for what we're doing and what we're saying. And now that I have the podcast, which is the worldwide podcast syndication Epicenter right now, I need the world wide web portion to be out.

Laura Fisher: 24:18

I like it. I have a good time. And you're right, as far as it keeps you bright and smart. Because when I meet people, I'm always listening. Would they be a good guest? Yeah, what is the tone of their voice? You know, what can I have them talk about having a show makes you I don't know for me, like like you to keeps you aware alert of your community.

Brett Shoemaker: 24:38

I just think it keeps you going down. Whatever vein you're in, right? Like if you're in health care, you're gonna keep going after health care. If you're in small business insights, you're gonna constantly be looking for small business owners that you can interview. I haven't

Laura Fisher: 24:49

bought some equipment. I haven't done it yet. So I could go out in the field and interview. So like I was thinking I would go to Well, there was some kind of big fair in Fort Bend. And I thought oh, All those little booths are small businesses and to talk to him about the challenges because a lot of those that's their hobby, or that's their weekend, weekend gig. Yeah, can be art or something.

Brett Shoemaker: 25:12

I think we should totally start helping people podcast. Like, I think that's I think there's a need out there. I think people really want to know what to do how to do it. And I don't know about you, but I'm all about systems and you I'm all about systems because copying is fine. You know, if you want to be a copycat, just make sure you're copying the Right cat, copy, copy the best Yeah, copy the best cat. And so I think we should definitely have some type of resource out there that says, hey, you know, if you want to learn podcasting, you know, pay, I don't know, a few $100. I did hire somebody. And you know, I won't say that I didn't get the value that I paid, and the service, but at the end of the day, like there was some simple things that I needed. And I think that those resources aren't out there for people. But of course, you can always go and look online and get, you know,

Laura Fisher: 26:05

sometimes you need your handheld, just just for just for

Brett Shoemaker: 26:09

a minute, right? Like, just hold my hand for a minute. If you're not an entrepreneur to some degree, I don't think he should be doing a podcast. That's my opinion. But I know people would say otherwise. But like, what's the point of doing it? Right? Like, you got to have a point to do it. You got to get your message out there. That's why

Laura Fisher: 26:23

I bought Fisher podcast.com. Yeah, because I thought I may do more than one. I'd like to get my husband to do one. And that way they could all lead there. And

Brett Shoemaker: 26:34

create your own podcast network.

Laura Fisher: 26:35

There you go. Yeah. You never know. Right? sign you up. Right.

Brett Shoemaker: 26:38

I'd be a part of the show. Well, I

Laura Fisher: 26:40

think your voice sounds great. I'm sure my listeners are gonna agree. Get a natural voice for it. Yeah, you know, people have said that, like I said about me too. And like I listen to it every night.

Brett Shoemaker: 26:51

I think it's good to you do have a good voice. You're like, you're like whole intro that I love your intro. Your intro is like the bomb.com. And you're like, you know, and so what are you up to? You better be able to re up to something that is so cute.

Laura Fisher: 27:05

Well, you have picked that song at the beginning was it is like one of my favorite Stevie Ray Vaughan songs, which is very obscure song that they have. It's like Martians and something. It's just it's a total instrumental during doing that. Yeah. But you can't use somebody else's music. You had to buy it. So a made up song. Yeah. And that reflected the most because I thought that I liked the way it kind of has a swagger to it. Yeah, no,

Brett Shoemaker: 27:31

it does. I love it. I love I love your intro. But you know, I like the whole like, until next time, you better be up to something like I think that's super cool.

Laura Fisher: 27:38

Let me get back to saying that I couldn't name the show. You better be up to something. But that would not be good. It's not

Brett Shoemaker: 27:45

SEO friendly. Number one, and it doesn't tell about I mean, you better be up to something. I mean, it tells about something. Right. But I mean, like what small business insights? I love that Small Business Insights is like the perfect title. Right? Because it's, it's you're not focused on big corporations. But I mean, small business can be like a super small onesie, you know, one off onesie. twosie. Right shop or, you know, 50 to 100 employees. Yeah, still considered a small business. What is the cut off? That's considered small business. I can

Laura Fisher: 28:15

be numbers of people or revenue. Yeah, that's interesting. How do you like, be me calling you a podcaster? People react? Like, oh, yeah, yeah. I don't know what it is.

Brett Shoemaker: 28:25

Yeah, it's funny, because some people are like, Oh, wow, you have your own. Wow, you have your own podcast. And it's like, I guess that's the biggest thing I got started in podcasting, because I wanted to syndicate my message. I wanted to broadcast the message out to as many people as possible with the largest listening listener base as possible. So what I have learned is that when you have a podcast, people think you're really important, which I really didn't think about. I mean, I knew, I guess, in the back of my mind that that would be relevant. But it's kind of funny, because I really didn't do it for that I could care less but if it builds to my overall influence and value than Hey, so

Laura Fisher: 29:04

bottom line, bottom line, that's what's you know, yeah, nothing wrong with that. Yeah. Excellent. Exactly. Yeah. I think it leads a little credibility, like because you're doing something you're doing something about it. Yeah. And you're actually indicating

Brett Shoemaker: 29:17

you're actually and you actually meet so just podcasting. Another thing is I've met some people that have some pretty cool passion projects of their own and so you're meeting meet people like I went to that event that they just had here in pod Houston or whatever it was for pod fest. Oh, and by the way, I found out that the pod fest unlike pod movement, right? Pod fest is more focused on the podcaster and growing your podcast and fundamentally what to do that's the one you really wanted to go to Yeah, cuz that a positive that was that was an industry so that one's apparently like an industry pod movement is like an industry event, but this is more about the people and relationships are you I think you're probably I'm going you are going, I'm going. Just because like, it's in Florida. It's just Yeah, it's in Florida. And it's going to be in Orlando and it's in, I don't know, just be a good reason to go. Yeah, I'm gonna go just because I actually kind of got sucked into the whole, like, podcaster networking aspect of it. Plus, I think like, when people know you and whatever, they're gonna go visit your podcast more, you know? Well, I

Laura Fisher: 30:24

think it'd be a great guest on a lot of people's podcast, healthcare. Oh, and

Brett Shoemaker: 30:27

that's the other thing that they had. So they were talking about the heavy industry. So they have segments of industries, whether they're, and so you can go and meet other people in healthcare and blah, blah, blah, blah,

Laura Fisher: 30:35

blah, making they have that pod match that you can Yeah, I think a lot of people try to grow their show by being guests. I wish I

Brett Shoemaker: 30:42

had a little more time to read. So there's a you have a business, you're growing and you're doing a great job, I just want to say you have she has a great business. Some employees, like, I don't know how many, but I mean, she has people that are helping her run her business. So that is hugely important for you to be able to work on your business, not in your business every day. So what sucks for me is I'm like in it and constantly moving all the time. So it kind of sucks for me right now. I'm a little add. So I kind of like to be moving around all the time. But I really would like to spend more time just working on it. Not in it so much.

Laura Fisher: 31:15

We'll get there. We'll get there. All right, Brett, do you want to close out the show with my line? Okay, until next time,

Brett Shoemaker: 31:21

you better be up to something right. Here you go.

Laura Fisher: 31:25

Thanks for joining us this week on Small Business Insights, make sure you visit our website at Fisher podcast.com where you can follow the podcast on iTunes or your favorite podcast platform so you'll never miss a show. If you enjoyed and found value in today's episode, we'd appreciate a rating and review on iTunes or simply share it with a friend that would help us out to make sure you tune in next week for our next episode. Until then, you better be up to something