from the crossroads of America in the hooer state of Indiana this is get in the podcast focused on the unfolding stories and extraordinary Innovations happening in the Heartland today I'm Nate spangle head of community at powdercake and I'll will be one of your hosts for today's conversation I'm joined as always by Matt hunkler CEO of powderkeg and we have a special episode for you today a live recording from rally the largest global cross sector Innovation conference that was held right here in Indianapolis and on the show today is world-renowned podcast host guy [Music] Raz guy is the founder and CEO of built-in Productions the company
behind some of the most well-known podcasts like how I built this and the great creators guy has profiled and interviewed more than 10,000 people including Bill Gates cond Lisa Rice Jimmy Carter Al Gore Mark Zuckerberg Eminem T Swift and many many others please enjoy this live episode of get in from rally I'm really excited to talk to you just a little bit about your experience talking to so many great entrepreneurs some based here in Indianapolis like Angie Hicks yep but then also all the great creators that you've talked to you yourself are a Creator and so I wanted to ask you what are some of
the common themes that you've seen other creators have that you've tried to adopt yourself in your own Creations I think that the most important and the key thing that I focus on as somebody who makes creates content is to make content that brings value to people right so we all have like roughly 14 waking hours of the day let's say 16 depending on the person right and so most of that time is spent working or getting ready for work or commuting or eating or spending time with family and we have like maybe two if we're lucky three hours of time for ourselves and so me
as a Creator or any Creator is asking you to give me one of those hours of your time and so that's a lot for me to ask you for that time is asking you for a lot and so my job is to make sure that I'm not taking advantage of you that I bringing value to your day and so everything we do whether it's how I built this or the great creators or my kids show kids show wow in the world or the other shows we do it's always is this value add for somebody or is it not a good use of their time and
and if if our answer is this is not a good use of our time we kill the episode we don't run it or we go back to the drawing board and we start we re-edit it because we need you to walk away from that episode whether it's w in the world you're going to learn something new about science if it's how I built this you're going to feel inspired or energized you're going to learn about how an entrepreneur built their business the mistakes they made and what you can avoid if it's a great creators it's how actors and musicians think about creativity where they find
it and how you can as well and so that is really it's like first second third and last princi principle it's all there it's are we wasting your time if the answer is yes we don't make it that's a great answer and you've talked to so many people probably thousands of interviews at this point what makes a good interview if someone here is appearing on their first podcast or going on TV for the first time what are some of the things that people should keep in mind I think it's really important to to be vulnerable I think it's really important to open up about challenges
and struggles I think in in we're programmed in our in in in media in the media world to to think about promoting and promotion and to talk about all of our accomplishments and achievements and that's fine but Success is Not success alone is not that interesting and and it actually doesn't help if you if you are there to serve the viewer or The Listener your job is to actually talk about in addition to to your successes to talk about your failures and mistakes because that's actually serving that's serving the audience that's helping them to understand a what to avoid and also B to relate what
especially if you are if you're a successful person if you're an entrepreneur or if you're running a business people who are starting out are they want to learn from you and it's very helpful when they can hear the challenges and the failures and the setbacks and the challenges and the struggles and the lying on the bathroom floor crying at 3 in the morning stories like that's really valuable for people and so I think what makes a great interview and what I always recommend to people who come on to the show is to just open up don't be so guarded and and think about that experience
as serving the the person watching or listening trying to learn from the master here what are some of the biggest failures or challenges that you have faced in your own career I have faced many and continue to face them so I I think that failure is like here's the first thing I would say if you are not failing semi-regularly you're not innovating enough okay all great companies all you know anybody who makes content anybody who does this if you don't have a if you're not trying something that's just a dog once in a while um you're not challenging yourself so I'll give you an example
um I have been really reluctant to like do do video stuff because you know a lot of people said why aren't you doing more YouTube and my answer is well I make six hours of content audio content a week I don't have time and you know my audience we have a very big audio audience and I have a very good friend who has a massive YouTube audience and he's really encouraged me to try and create more video content we're starting we're I'm it's very humbling because we have 20 million people who listen to our podcasts every month and we might get a few thousand views
on on a video uh but it's exciting too it's exciting to experiment and to see how people respond to it and so that is that's and if it fails that's okay and look throughout my career many of my most important like the reason why I do what I do now is in a lot of ways because of failures like my dream was to be the weekday anchor of a national news broadcast like that's what I wanted to be in my life that's what I thought I would be doing but I didn't I was n picked for the job I was not the person that they
wanted I was on television I was a CNN reporter I was not going to be the person in the studio anchoring the news that was not the the vision that the powers that be had for me and in my case I felt like I H a wall and a limit with what I could do in radio and that really forced me to Pivot into podcasting and to start my business and to eventually start how I built this at the time was that failure hard it was very hard I remember the night when I was told I wouldn't get the job very clearly 2010 I was
really sad but if that happened my life would have been very different and so failure it's hard to it's hard to remember at the moment but it it's often a hidden blessing that leads to opportunities that you just didn't anticipate do you remember what you did to pick yourself up off the floor after that big rejection I do I was really sad I was really down and what I did did almost immediately was to start to think about how can I recapture this narrative how can I take control over my my story because at that moment my story felt like it was in the hands
of others who had decision-making power and I thought what are small things I can do to start to think about my career where I have a little bit of control over it it might not be the biggest job it might not be the biggest thing but what are ways that I can start to explore and I started to have conversations with people started to meet people I started to talk about my dreams and desires and failures and ask for advice and it's hard when you make yourself vulnerable and you go to people and you say can I just get advice and that was really helpful
I just started to talk to people and ask them for their opinions and pick their brain and that was really helpful you do it for a career now too which is great uh tell me a little bit about how people can support you and what you're doing right now as you dip your toe in the waters of YouTube and video for by listening to how I built this and the great creators it's hugely helpful for us and and hopefully it's helpful to you and if you want to see some of the videos we're putting out you can check out my Instagram account so that would
be great I think we're also I say I think we are I am on other social media channels too I just don't pay as much attention so Instagram's the one huh but look I I only want people to listen to my shows if if I'm bringing you value and that's my job that the burden is on me and if I can do do that and it I I hope it I you know I hope it does um then it's we both benefit from it you you get something out of it and and you're a listener and that that also helps me so well you have
so many fans all over the world so many fans here uh how does it feel to hear that sting is a big fan who knew right who knew it's it's it's just it's crazy I think for me the most gratifying thing is to is to meet people at conferences like this and to come to places like this and to meet Founders and and early stage entrepreneurs who are like I just met one backstage who was like I'm starting a business I've been listening to your show for the last seven years and it has helped me so much it's helped me it inspired me to start
my business it helped me think about how to build it it helped me in times when I want to give up and that's just such an amazing feeling absolutely I I I can tell you guy I've talked to a lot of entrepreneurs and I always ask them what are your favorite podcasts and how I built this is always in the top three almost always in the top three so I have been a big studier of the show you have helped me indirectly and as a result everyone who listens to our shows get in and the unv valy podcast in some way shape or form is
benefiting from your work thank you so much for the time today we're at our favorite part of the show this is a two three minute rapid fire section I'm going to introduce Nate spangle here to the stage to ask a couple rapid fire questions are you ready to transform your brand with award-winning video content that captures your vision and connects with your audience check out Alchemy the experts at building your brand using video from story-driven social media Snippets that leave a lasting impression to compelling fulllength documentaries they have got the expertise to take your brand to the next level Alchemy is actually our video partner
here on get in they do amazing work all the videos across social across YouTube all that is done by Alchemy and and they're an amazing partner to work with reach out to me Nate powderkeg or check out Alchemy film cod.com to get connected with Alden and his team they will take care of all of your video needs guys it's pleasure pleasure this is my favorite part of the show rapid fire lightning round quick questions first ready what was your first impression of rally energetic energetic yeah I love that there's tons of fun stuff going on in 2016 you had Hometown hero Angie Hicks on how
I built this right what have you learned about creating content and podcasts since 2016 when you had Ang on now almost seven years later so much so rapid fire one quick tip one quick tip I have learned to connect with people emotionally through the storytelling people when people connect to the guest emotionally that helps them learn and develop on their own and that has been a really important lesson I love it final question guy yes every almost every day someone says Hey I want to start a podcast but I'm scared so to the person that has the podcast microphone in their Amazon app but hasn't
checked out yet what would you say to them I would say start it don't stress about it just get it out there put something out there even if you have five 10 or 15 listeners ask yourself this question if you went out on a street corner and five people gathered around you and listen to you for an hour would you talk on a street corner and probably you would if you have 10 listeners even better if you have 15 eventually 100 those are all Force multipliers those are people who will talk about the book you write or talk about an event you appear at just
don't make excuses just start and don't worry if it's just your grandma and the dog listening at the beginning it's okay that's okay it's going to take some time to grow But ultimately if you have even a small captive audience listening it's incredible to have to build that and so I wouldn't I would encourage you or whoever's doing that to just to just do it I think it's like company with that slogan I think there is guy thank you so much you're an inspiration the stories that you capture are inspiration to entrepreneurs everywhere I would be remissed if I didn't tell you my best friend
is a farmer in Northern Indiana and every harvest season he listens to all the how I built this in the combine while he's harvesting I love it that's uh I don't know if you've ever got that one before but farmers in Northern Indiana are listening to your show awesome appreciate it thank you so much for coming on hope you have a great time in Indianapolis thank you thank you everybody this has been get in a powder kick production in Partnership with Elevate Ventures and we want to hear from you if you have suggestions for a guest or segment reach out to Matt or Nate on
LinkedIn or on email to discover top tier tech companies outside of Silicon Valley in hubs like Indiana check out our newsletter at powder.com newsletter and to apply for membership to the powdercake executive Community Check out powder.com premium we'll catch you next time and next week as we continue to to help the world get in since you just listen to this podcast you might be thinking about starting one for your company lucky for you our partners over at casted have you covered casted is the first and only podcast in video marketing platform made specifically for B2B Brands I love this about them the platform makes it
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