The First Customer - Mastering the Mic Game with PodPros CEO and Founder Alex Sanfilippo

[00:00:27] Jay: Hi everyone. Welcome to The First Customer podcast. My name is Jay Aigner. Today I am lucky enough. Oh, and it's going to be a good one. I'm very excited for this. Alex Sanfilippo, a CEO and founder of PodMatch and about 50 other things. Alex, welcome to the show, buddy.

[00:00:42] Alex: Jay, I'm honored to be here. So excited to spend some time with you today.

[00:00:45] Jay: Oh, you know, you rarely get time to talk to, people who influence the field that you're in a lot. I do not consider myself a professional podcaster, but I do a lot of it. And, you know, having you on today is going to be, a real big, boost to, my, toolkit, right. Getting to hear some cool stuff from you.

I was saying before the show, I read through your biography on your website, which everybody should check out. It's alexsanfilippo.com, steal that blueprint and write your biography in that format. It is a beautiful kind of story through, your career and where you came from and selling golf balls and all the things you were doing.

It was a great, you know, just a great recap of where you came from and where you are today. So I'm not going to bore everybody with those things. You can go out and find those somewhere else. I want to start with, give me the roster. What's the current roster of things that you're working on today as far as podcast platforms go.

[00:01:37] Alex: Yeah. well, first off Jay, I think maybe, I think I sold myself short before we got on like hit record and now we hit record. I think you sold yourself short. I think you're, I've been listening to your podcast. You're a really good podcaster.

And I know that you have this episode that we're recording it today.

It's not coming out tomorrow. That's typically a red flag. When I see that happening, the fact that you have a production schedule, you have things in advance, think you're a, you're hitting that pro status. So again, honored to be here.

Um, I like to say that I'm only podcasting because I got to give that disclaimer first.

We were like, Oh my gosh, you do so much. I might do a lot in the space, but it's all podcasting. So I'm not a coach. I don't run, I don't know, a product based business. It's all software. It's all in podcasting. So we have a, I say we, the team has a few different companies that we run. the flagship of which being.

Called PodMatch, which is a service that connects guests and hosts together for interviews works actually very similar to a dating app. Instead of connecting for dates, it connects to you for interviews. If you're the guest that says, Hey, here's a host that we think want to talk to you, but wants to talk to you based on your experience and vice versa. And that's kind of the flagship. And then, the interesting thing, Jay is I've got PodPros, which is like the umbrella, if you will. Right. So PodPros are educational wing. We have our own podcasts there. And then we have two other services, one called PodLottery, which helps you get reviews on your show.

Another one called PodcastSOP, which helps you with production releases. This is my first time saying this. So, aside from to a mentor. So if I don't articulate this well to everyone listening to The First Customer, forgive me. we've decided to bring it all under the PodMatch name because when I meet new first customers or people that are no longer first customers, they're confused as to what it is that I offer because they're like, you seem to do all kinds of things. Again, it's all in podcasting. I think it makes sense. And to my first customer, it does because they're like, Oh yeah, it's just an extension of who Alex is and what he does. To the new ones. They're like, what the heck you do so many different things. So we've officially made the decision to bring it all in under the PodMatch umbrella, which means now instead of them being separate softwares, they are just add ons into the software.

They'll all be free. Everything you'll have one membership, one fee, nothing. Increases that price or anything like that. They're just going to be under one roof. So we can go back to impacting people in the very specific, narrow focused way as we did The First Customer. So that's a long way to answer your question.

Yes, I do a lot of things in podcasting, but it's getting real close to being all under one roof.

[00:03:56] Jay: That's beautiful. where did the idea for PodMatch come from?

[00:04:03] Alex: The, this was my first, it's our flagship. It's the first software, right? that I did, I actually was at a podcasting conference in Orlando, Florida. it's one of the big few conferences that are in podcasting. And, I remember I was on stage speaking. Cause that's one of the things that I like to do in the space.

There's a little bit of speaking. I do, it's gotta be about podcasting. Right. So, but I knew that day I wanted to, that was gonna be my one opportunity to talk to more than just a few people, right? Like people will line up to hear, to. To say thank you for speaking, whether you're a good or bad speaker.

Right. And I knew that was coming. So I just had a notepad with me right when I got off stage. Sure enough, there was a small line that formed and my goal was to say, thank you for thanking me. Right. Oh, I appreciate you being here. Right. But also, Hey, what is it that you're struggling with? And here's why I say it because of the few things I've learned about entrepreneurship and how to have like a proper. First customer is you've got to have an area of passion, which we was podcasting. You got to get into the community. That's why I was at this conference and speaking. And then you got to find a problem that community is struggling with. And at that point, that's what I was doing. So, a lot of people talked to me that day and Jay, I heard a lot of different things.

Some very odd. some of them didn't seem to relate to podcasting. It seemed very personal. I'm like, you needed help, right? But. I did hear one trend and it's this, Alex, I'm having trouble finding the ideal guests for my show. I can find people to say yes, but it's not that ideal person that I know my listeners want. And I heard that exactly a hundred times. That's when I stopped. I had written that down and check that box a hundred times. To be an entrepreneur, going back to that little framework, right? Find the area of passion, getting into the community, finding the problem. You then have to go offer the solution to that problem. And I'll never forget it. This was the beginning of March, 2020, right? As the world was shutting down, it was probably the last conference on earth at that point. but I came home and on March 15th, 2020, I finished whiteboarding out the idea where I was like, well, how can we connect these people? Is there any industry doing that?

Well, and going back to what I shared a few minutes ago, I was like dating apps. I've been married too long to use one, but all my friends say they connect them for dates with people that they probably will have something in common with. I'm like,

what if we built something like that? And so that was March 15th, 2020.

And on, sorry, that was March 10th, 2020. And then on June 15th, 2020 is when we launched into an early beta. And that's where the whole idea came from. That's how the whole process went for PodMatch specifically.

[00:06:18] Jay: That's a, well I mean it's a, it's a beautifully simple platform which provides a lot of value. and I think that's kind of a great opportunity. Bullet point for anybody, right? Like provide a very simple solution that provides a lot of, I mean, you hit kind of both things at once, right? it's kind of hard to do that.

Some people are overcomplicated and not enough value or too simple and not enough value, but you kind of hit that sweet spot. and it's a beautiful kind of mix of both of those things. So when you kind of realized you had something, what was your initial? And I kind of, you know, again, a lot of this stuff is out there about how you kind of spun the business up, but how did you really test this out and figure out like, okay, I think this is a great idea.

I heard a bunch of people telling me, but can people can tell you anything, right? I mean, it's really, one of the things that I always say on my show is, you know, you can disprove something before it's in production and in people's hands, but you can never prove something works until it's out there in people's hands.

So how did you prove that this thing was actually going to work for you?

[00:07:19] Alex: Yeah. Jay, this is a super insightful. Question and top of the top. I hope the listeners really catch this. Did you just go into some human psychology real quick? Someone told me a long time ago that not all problems need to be solved because people just love to complain in general. People complain about how their phone is so big, right?

And they're like, Oh, I've already, I can't leave my pocket. If I go to a restaurant, I have to leave it out. And I hate that. And then you're like, let's build a smaller phone. And then everyone's like, I don't want a smaller phone. So it's like, wait a minute. What? No, I'm just going to complain about this. So not all problems are worth solving, but I love what you said.

Jay was so insightful. He talked about finding. More or less the simple problem, right? And so, I'll go back to that list of questions I had after I got off stage. Someone, a few people actually said this, I want to be the next Joe Rogan. How do I do that? I need help. That is a, an extremely complex problem. Man, I'm going to solve a simple problem for a simple person. Not someone who's like, more ambitious than anyone I've ever met, right? Like, I don't want to solve that problem. Yes, I knew, or I thought I had a problem. Right. And so the reason that we launched just three months and five days after the initial, like idea was on whiteboards and stuff like that, I say, we, I brought in a partner who was, he's a software developer.

That is what he does. I am not that. And so we just partnered up and decided, Hey, let's give this thing a shot. People always tell me, they don't ask what you ask Jay. They just asked me like. You all launched so quick. How did you do it? What people fail to realize is when we launched, we didn't even have a logo. I had typos everywhere. It took 10 seconds to load a page. Right? Like all the, all these things. It was not ready by software standards in today's world. Right? But what it was ready for was the people, that 100 people who told me this is what they were looking for, to go on and tell me, does this actually solve your problem?

Is this problem actually valid? And does it work? And so, The one little detail I left out on that notepad is I got all their contact information. That hundred people I met at that conference who said that's what they're struggling with, they were the first hundred people to join. And all I said was, try this.

Does this work?

And I heard back, Alex, you really need a logo, Alex. Why is it so slow? And I kept on going back to that was not my question. Does this solve the problem? And is that valuable? And everybody said, well, yeah, of course. Can you make it faster? Can you make it do this? Can you fix your freaking typos?

Right? But the point is I validated. Yes, this problem is real enough that somebody says I'm here because. This actually solves what I'm looking for and I need this. So that's how we validate was just a very quick MVP, minimal viable product started ugly is the way I like to put it.

And then we just focus on continuous improvement from them on.

[00:09:47] Jay: Beautiful. And how have you kept that feedback loop tight enough that you kind of fuel the platform with the changes that are going to drive growth, right? Because it's, it's easy to kind of, like you said, everybody complains. So it's very easy just to fix stuff for the people who are kind of complaining, bitching, complaining on your own platform that are using it.

How are you kind of taking that feedback and, and, and congealing it into features and ideas that you think are going to help you grow going forward?

[00:10:15] Alex: Yeah. So this is like a really, again, super insightful jam. I'm loving this. you can edit that out if you need to, loving 

[00:10:23] Jay: not going to edit that out, but I may play it three times in a 

[00:10:25] Alex: this, 

[00:10:25] Jay: Right.

[00:10:27] Alex: the beauty of podcasting. you know, there's a lot of bad advice that comes from very well meaning people, including. We call our, I don't use the word customer. So like members, it's our community, right?

We think of it as these are other humans that we're just doing business together with them, and sometimes they'll mislead you without meaning to. And all the time I get pitched these ideas, I'm like, I know right away. I'm like, this is not a good idea, but when I started, I didn't know that. Some of the things people were like, Ooh, you should do this.

I'm like, Oh my gosh, what a cool idea. We should do it. It goes back through the validation process. Now, thankfully it doesn't always mean I have to get on a hundred phone calls. Right.

We can look at data now and see, okay, this person said, if this was here, it would be helpful. Can we buy data check to see if that's valid or not? Now, sometimes you can't, sometimes it actually takes getting on calls and it doesn't take 100. If I can get on 10 calls and 10 people tell me the same thing that are actually using the software in the way it's designed to be used, right again, we can see that by data that can validate it for me, but sometimes we can see by the data.

This is an interesting, here's an example. We actually added a feature that I was really excited to add. We added something called match strength. So you go to the profile and I tell you your percentage of match with that person. Now, here's where I made a mistake. It would never hit a hundred percent because it would mean you'd have to be absolutely identical.

As a matter of fact, we tested it, Alex Sanfilippo going on my own podcast. I scored like 83 percent because let's face it. Me and my podcast were not the same thing,

Right.

And new people come to the platform and they said, I'd went through 10 of my matches and none of them were above 80%. This platform sucks. And they'd leave the same day they showed up. And so we made the decision to actually remove it. Because someone originally, maybe it was even me, someone may, I'll just say somebody, I don't know who it was said, we need this feature. Right. And I was so nervous to remove this. I'm like, man, we're going to get hundreds.

Cause at this point there's probably about 10, 000 people using platform. We're getting hundreds of people complaining, angry. You got rid of it. We removed it. Jay, guess how many people reached out to us. Zero. Not one person said a word.

And I was like, are you kidding me? We were losing, we estimated we were losing like eight people a week.

As soon as they signed up because they'd see this and not understand how it worked. And they'd leave immediately because there was no one on the platform for them. Even though, if they just looked beyond that, they would notice, Oh wow, this is actually going to be a really great interview, right?

 but we removed it and not one person complained.

So again, it's like, that was like my moment of realizing, Oh shoot, we really need to validate this stuff before we just start building it in or removing it. Right? anyway, that to kind of answer your question a long way, it takes also a little bit of, there's the last thing I'll share on this, a little bit of discernment on your end to really know what it is that you're trying to deliver upon because again, well meaning people. We'll turn you into a company that is all things to all people. And if there's one thing we've learned, no one wants that business. People want you to solve the one thing that they signed up for you to solve for them.

[00:13:11] Jay: What is the biggest? What's the flip side of that? What's the biggest surprise success feature that you guys have added along the way? That's really added a lot of value that people have enjoyed her. And then you've seen growth because you, you added it.

[00:13:24] Alex: Yeah, the, I guess maybe I didn't expect this, but we built in a way for people just to add their scheduling calendar.

It's literally an external link. You hit confirm match. So just for anyone listening, who doesn't know what this is, whoever starts, it's works like a dating app. Again, whoever starts the conversation. Waits on the person who receives the initial message to either confirm or reject the match or have the conversation. But as soon as it is confirmed, the guest automatically gets access to the host booking calendar that they have scheduled and said, Hey, if someone accepts match, you can use this. And I thought that feature was cool because I'm like, Oh, it'll save a lot of time. Podcast hosts, especially being like this, like saves me 20 minutes of the back and forth of them

asking for my calendar of getting the link wrong or me not being able to find my link. It's just there.

That was like a really big thing. And we didn't go build out our custom calendar. You can use any integration.

Like I use Calendly and I just use my Calendly link there. Other people use, I don't know. There's tons of these platforms at this point that do the scheduling.

But the point is anybody can use any platform they want. It was a very simple thing. I think it took Jesse, my co founder, the developer. I think it took him an hour to build into the software and People raved about it, like lost their minds over it.

So that was, one of the things that really made a big difference.

[00:14:29] Jay: I love that. What, what are your growth goals for PodMatch? Like where are you trying, you mentioned you have, you know, whenever 10, 000 users, whenever, what are your kind of your milestones along the way? And then what are your, you know, is there an end goal or is it just to kind of build the biggest thing and let it rip,

[00:14:46] Alex: Yeah. I'm like counter culture when it comes to being a software founder, because most would answer biggest, most MRR monthly reoccurring revenues, what that means,

right?

Like that's what I'm after. most users, Moses. And again, we call it a member of community. what the only metrics that I track or I track two things. number one, how many interviews are happening? On PodMatch and, that's actually on our homepage. If anyone goes to PodMatch. com, it'll show you the total number of interviews that have happened under. It'll show you how many have happened in the last 24 hours as well. So as long as that number is climbing at a healthy pace, which I do track it, as long as I see that number climbing at a healthy pace or even growing faster, that to me is a win because in the day I'm here to help support podcasters on their mission to release content, right?

And because I think that's what serves the world. In my mind, podcasting is like the most powerful form of media right now, and I believe it really impacts the lives of listeners. So I'm excited to see those interviews get released and the way I do my personal goals. again, a little counterculture here.

 maybe not the best practice. I don't know as I go quarter by quarter. So by, Every three months I set a new goal. So right now it's to help that number reach, like at this time of recording is to reach 75, 000 interviews have happened through PodMatch

a certain date, and that's about two and a half months from time of recording.

So like, that's what I'm watching is, okay, are we there? How many need to happen per day? Okay. It needs to be 150 per day. We're only getting 109 per day, right? If that was, I'm just making up these numbers. Then I know, okay, I need to get out there more and bring more people to the platform to reach that goal. And the next time I'll shoot for something else. that's one thing. The other thing they look at is we actually, this was another big feature actually that again, little counterculture when it comes to software development, but we actually do a rev share with podcast hosts. Yeah,

[00:16:25] Jay: I saw some money in my account and I was surprised that I didn't even know that I had that. Yes. I love this. Tell me more about it.

[00:16:31] Alex: the whole idea was can we, here's the thing. The creator economy is interesting because you got all these platforms that just want to take all the money they can from creators so they can create, but if creators stop creating, then there's nothing there. Right? So I was like, man, why don't we just give these people part of the money that we're making to keep them involved, right?

Like to offset some of their production costs. we have people who make up to, it's not a ton, but seven or 800 a month. Some people were making just using PodMatch doing what they would be doing anyway. And simplifying the process, that's the other number. I track is how much money are we sending back to them?

Not so I can make sure we're okay. Like we built in some safety features there to make sure I'm not gonna be like, Oh, we have to shut down the platform because we gave it all away. Right? Like we tried to be fair and also make sure that we can keep the whole operation running so we can do this consistently.

But I look at that number as well. Is that number climbing? And if it is again, Those two things kind of go together. The number of interviews being released and the number of, or the amounts I should say of commissions getting sent to podcasts, those that are using the platform. those are the two things I really track and I'm very passionate to put money back in the hands of creators.

Like I really wish more companies would do that.

[00:17:34] Jay: You mentioned something interesting there when you said, you know, if you notice the numbers are dipping, or if you notice, you know, you're, you're tracking towards a quarterly goal and you're not, you're not heading in the right direction. What is your course of action? How do you get out there and beat the streets a little bit and try to connect more people and make more interviews happen, get more people on the platform?

What, what are your kind of main ways of doing that? Right.

[00:17:57] Alex: any paid advertising in any way, no paid media, and I'm not against it, we just haven't needed to. I'll get out there and just hustle a little bit more. and when I say hustle, get out there and use social media. email people that are using our software. And because I've built such a personal brand, that's connected to podcasting and to our company, people have grown to expect. And I really appreciate this, but they've grown to understand my ask really well. And so some of those say, Hey, I'm off my goal a little bit. Do you know any other podcasters that'd be interested in using this platform?

Can you use your affiliate link and bring them or can you introduce me? Can I come lead a webinar with your community? Or the other thing I do that works really well is I actually, me and the team will go search social media for people saying, having trouble finding guests, which I do, you'd be shocked at how many people actually post that every single day. And then it's just simple as, Hey, it's not like check out PodMatch, right? Like we don't do that. It's straight up like, Hey, so sorry. That was my struggle when I got started to what are you doing right now? That's working or not working. And the thing is, most of them click the profile. The profile is like, who the heck is this?

And I'm very strategic with my profile. So immediately says PodMatch. You're like, Oh, nevermind. Found a solution. You know, like, so the conversation kind of just is like, Hey, nevermind. I found what you do. That's what I needed.

Um, but regardless, I show up as human as I possibly can. And then I just bring the community together saying, Hey, listen, We got a goal.

We're trying to do this together. Does anyone have any ideas, solutions, or who they can tell? And there's been times where people have literally emailed, like, they'll send out an email that'll go to 100, 000 people and be like, yo, you all need to check this out. Which again, I appreciate so much, and yes, they're using an affiliate link and they're earning something because of that, which I love.

I would prefer it to be that way. But at the same time, I just do my best to engage the community more. And at the end of the day, I consider that just, I'm a, I follow Jesus. That's just what I do. And there's a scripture that says, no, the condition of your flock. And for me, that's my way of reconnecting with the flock, if you will.

Right. Our community to find out, okay, what's the pulse here? is a logins down or wire interviews down? And it's able to help me realize, okay, there's been a shift. we need to identify this, do some education on this, to get out there and help. That's a big answer. It's a lot of work, but it's the type of founder that I like to show up to be.

Cause I find it's the way to actually lead with value.

[00:19:59] Jay: I love to hear the specifics because, A lot of the time you just get fluff on answers like that. Right? Like people don't want to hear, you know, I up my marketing budget or I try to do these different things. Like, I love those concrete steps about what you actually do. I mean, it's not gonna be the same for everybody, but it's, there are some similarities that other people can kind of, well, I mean, just some of the things you said there, I mean, I was thinking like, oh, I should be reaching out to a couple of people in my space, you know, so love the answer.

how do people. If people aren't on PodMatch, which you should be, if you're, if you're on PodMatch or you're just joining PodMatch, how do you get the most out of the platform? Like, what's the best way to like really drive high ticket people to you. And if you want to be a guest to really book high ticket interviews with other, whether the podcast, how do you do that on PodMatch?

match? 

[00:20:50] Alex: Yeah. Don't take shortcuts. It's the first thing I'll show this on both sides. Don't take shortcuts. What I mean by that is, I had somebody recently sign up and, left three days later and she was really unhappy, but when she filled out again, the whole thing is run by like an AI matching core again, similar to a dating app.

I keep on going back to that, but it like works kind of like that. Right. And she was complaining. She's like, my matches were terrible. Like people weren't reaching out. And then I went to her profile before she deleted it and challenged her. And she got really offended and just end up rage quitting, which is fine, but it's her bio literally said, I'll fill this out later. Her question says, just ask me anything her bio that's like literally the bio is like what you want to host to read about. You just said, I'll tell you during the call. And it's like, first off, and I was like, okay, I don't know what to do with you. Right? Like, on specific goals yield on specific results.

And our goals are often based on how we're acting, what our verbiage looks like. Right? And this individual, I'm not trying to pick on somebody. They just weren't doing that. So I always tell people. Okay. Put in the work. I mean, a well done profile, which basically serves as a media one sheet. Like if you're a guest, you can use this on or off of PodMatch.

And there are many people that are speakers, guests, and what they send out to people is their public facing PodMatch profile, because they've done such a good job with it. You're going to get booked more or get more guests. If you've done a good job, done the time filled out in a way that someone's like, wow, this is good.

Right? Like Jay, you've done a good job with this show. The First Customer, like. When I listen to episodes, when I look at any bio for the show, any of that stuff, it's like all super high quality. It's like, there's no doubt what this is going to be about. Right. And I like that. So the first thing I say is put in the time, do the work. And the other thing is also be willing to be the one to reach out first. Cause I actually had, we had an A list person, which I was thankful for. He joined the platform and we've developed a friendship, joined the platform, called me a month later and goes, man, I was trashing your name at dinner with my family the other night.

I was like, really? And he's just like one of those guys. He's super honest. I was like, why? He goes, man, this PodMatch thing just doesn't work. I was like, okay, well explain to me why. And his profile was really well done. He's like, man, I've only gotten like X number of interviews, which was more than most of us would get.

And I was like, well, have you reached out to anyone? He's like, no, why should I reach out? I'm like, don't you get out of life what you put into it. And he's just like, he goes, all right, I'll have my team try that. He called me a week later. He's like, I publicly apologized to my family about trash talking you at dinner last night.

I was like, okay, why? He goes, because I just got booked on like 200 shows in the last two weeks. I was like. What did you do? He's like, I started reaching out. And so I share that story just to say, first off, put in the time, make the profile really good, and then be willing to do the outreach. Like don't sit back and wait for the world to deliver to you. Be proactive, get out there. We get out of it. We put into it. I think that those two things are how you get the most out of any platform, but PodMatch specifically

works really well.

[00:23:34] Jay: no, I think those are dead on, switching veins a little bit here. How, how do you, kind of split your day just as a serial entrepreneur at this point, which I feel like we need to come up with a better word. That sounds very close to serial killer. 

[00:23:52] Alex: I feel the same way, Jay, by the way, I've always been like, I

don't know if I want to be

that. 

[00:23:56] Jay: it's not a great term, right?

There just needs to be like a one word. Maybe we'll come up with it together and we'll trademark it. But, how do you split your day? Right? I mean, you've got PodLottery, pod, SOP, PodMatch, got your own podcast. You've got, you know, family, you've got, your church stuff, you've got like a bunch of stuff you have going on.

How do you kind of structure your day? And is it structured or is it just like life's coming at you and you figure it out as you go?

[00:24:22] Alex: Listen, the Monday before we recorded this, so just days ago, I had a day that was, we're getting, Alicia and I, my wife and I are getting ready to leave town and we had like all these random like chores that need to be done. And we actually have, I just call it like a house manager, somebody who actually helps us with all the things. But her kids were going back to school. It just didn't work out, right? So I was like, okay, she's taking off. We got to get this done because we're leaving in a few days. And I had my first hectic day in years. Jay, I don't know how anyone does it. I mean, I am so structured, but the whole day, I'm like, okay, now I got to run here.

Oh, this person's late. Okay, we'll come back here. We'll go here. And by the end of the day, I'm like... I feel like I just woke up, you know, like, but I'm exhausted, like what happened?

And so I don't know how people live in that. And I get if you have, like, we don't have kids or anything like that. I always just say I'm not responsible for any living thing.

So we don't even have a plant. All right. So, and I like it that way because typically my day is perfectly structured. And I say perfectly, that's not the right term, but I have a flow that I follow every day and I'm very Protective of that. I don't allow it to be disrupted. And that's how I get so much done in a day.

And people regularly like, how do you do it, man? And I just tell them the opposite. I'm like, how do you do it? Like, it's chaotic. Like, how do you live? Right.

So for me, I just have everything really set in stone. And again, the different products and services we have, they all really flow together. As a matter of fact, The First Customer for each of these, I think, is the same customer, right?

Like, it all works really similar. If you have a podcast, you probably want more reviews. If you have a podcast, you probably want to be more organized. If you have a podcast, you probably want to learn more about it. On the flip side, if you're the guest, you probably want to learn how to be a better guest, right?

So all these things really flow together. And I just do a really good job building systems around it. And, like a very small team. Like we, there's... At time of recording, there's just four of us total, including three co founders and then one part time person who's helping us out. We've just built good systems and automations in so that my time can be focused on this type of thing, or having an interview or doing a webinar or getting out there on social media, having conversation, being in the community, chatting with people, jumping on the occasional call just to help someone who is really in need, building in that margin and automating the rest works really well. I never touched development. That's Jesse. Alicia handles all of our inboxes and anything that's inbound. She handles all that. I handle more of the front facing outside of it, right? And then our virtual assistant we have is doing the bookkeeping, the simple stuff. And then again, Alicia, I personally have what I call as a house manager, takes out the trash, gets the mail, puts gas in the car, right?

Like all the things that need to be done. So that again, my day doesn't get disrupted at all. if there's anything that I am Jay it's, Probably if I can say I'm an expert anything, it's productivity, like understanding how to do what's most important. That's probably what I'm actually best at.

[00:26:52] Jay: A house manager. I need one of those. I've, I've, five kids. One on the way and a dog. And, My wife would probably shoot me if I called her the house manager, so I'm not gonna, I'm 

[00:27:04] Alex: that.

does not go up. This is a professional house manager. This is what she

does for a living, not just for me, by the way. So 

[00:27:10] Jay: Sure. yeah, I like the structure you kind of talk about there.

there, you know, What do you do if something, you know, a bomb explodes in the middle of your day and being a very, I think we're, we're opposite in that sense, right? I would love to be like you are, I would love to have everything tied down and, you know, tidied up and nice and neat in the schedule 99 percent of the time, even at the start of this episode, I was five minutes, you know, five minutes late.

what do you do? How do you recover from. A big disruption in a normal day that you've planned out very meticulously.

[00:27:48] Alex: therapy and coaching is probably the right answer. I'll give you a little more than that. so I naturally, sometimes I actually envy the fact that you can thrive in what you're in, which is a great thing. Like, it's cool to see, like, I mean, you're a family man, clearly congrats on the one the way.

 wish I could thrive better than that. I have a bit of, I have some control issues. It's not like control of like, no, you're going to do this because you said you would. But like my own time, like when I feel like I'm out of control, I feel out of control. And I don't respond well to that, right? So, for me, I kind of envy the opposite at times.

And I'm learning and growing to be able to just say, You know what today didn't go as I had planned, but that's okay. Tomorrow's another day. And I've honestly had coaching around that. Being able to just say, bring myself to a calm. It's okay. We'll start over fresh tomorrow. And I'm, I've not fully learned this, but I have embraced it.

And I think I'm further along than I've ever been. I'll continue on that journey, but we've all got flaws. And I'd say is an entrepreneur is a. As a founder of a company, that's probably my biggest struggle is being able to say the power went out for four hours. Like I'm totally out of control.

What do I do now? Right to saying, you know what? This is a great opportunity for me, my wife to go ride our bikes at the beach.

And that last time that happened, that's what we went and did. And then, the other, the best advice ever gotten this though, Jay, that I'll share for guys like me that are listening, right.

That are more like the type a, like we got to, everything's got to be perfect and scheduled out. Right. That the best advice I ever got was to be where your feet are,

be where your feet are, which simply means wherever your feet are, be there. So instead of me right now, I'm not thinking about the rest of the work I got to do today.

Jay, what I'm thinking about is being here with you when I'm out riding bikes with my wife, if the internet's down, I'm not like, I hope the internet comes back on. I'm there living in that moment, enjoying it fully. And that's been, what's helped me let go of a lot of that control, over time.

[00:29:28] Jay: I love that. I love that. I'm a big fan of that phrase. I meditate and do mindfulness kind of practice as well. And, you know, as a dad, especially, it's easy to be like, God, just give me a few, you know, but You see all the numbers and the stats that are like, you only have X number of time, you know, with your kids until they're not really going to want your attention or time anymore.

And I've got a, an 18 year old that, you know, he's often doesn't want anything to do with us. So like, you know, I know how that kind of transition goes. So being where your feet are, just in every area of life. It's super important. All right. I can talk to you forever. I have so many more questions, but maybe we'll like, let's just stay friends.

I'll help you be more chaotic. You help me be more structured. And 

[00:30:13] Alex: I love it. 

[00:30:14] Jay: we could just be, be best buddies forever. All 

[00:30:16] Alex: I think it's a great idea.

[00:30:17] Jay: I got one more question for you. Non business related. Maybe I even throw one at you even extra non podcast related. Since your business is podcasts. If you could do anything on earth, one thing, and you knew you couldn't fail, what would it be?

[00:30:33] Alex: I'd love to get into formula racing.

[00:30:36] Jay: Ooh, 

[00:30:36] Alex: And I've said that before. Apparently I've never seen it. Apparently there's like some TV show that made formula famous. but since I've been a kid, my mom can attest this. You won't be able to get her on a podcast. She's not into that. But, she would tell you that I always had a fascination with racing cars, specifically formula, even as a child.

So that's the thing that I'd like to do when you say fail. I don't care if I win, just not die would be ideal. So

that. 

[00:30:57] Jay: in the sport, I think, is a win. 

[00:30:59] Alex: Yeah. Yeah. I agree. Yeah.

Okay. Well, very good. That movie just came out. See, I don't know. I don't even know. I have no

idea. 

[00:31:05] Jay: Turismo, the one about the video game. The kid, like, played video. He played, like, Formula 1 video games. And, like, he actually became a Formula 1 driver based on his experience. He didn't grow up doing it.

He just, like, played. It's, yeah. It's got a couple...

[00:31:17] Alex: That's not my vision. My vision is just to like, work really hard one day, be like, I'm a formula racer. Right? So that, that

would be

[00:31:23] Jay: maybe check out the movie then maybe that's better for you. All right, alex. This was fantastic brother I can't thank you enough for being on I can't thank you enough for what you do for the podcast community Which I didn't even know existed until I you know found PodMatch and found you guys So, thank you for all you do brother and stay in touch and we'll talk again soon.

All right.

[00:31:41] Alex: Thanks again, Jay. Really an honor to be here today. Thank you.

[00:31:43] Jay: Thank you, buddy 

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