Feb 2, 2015
Welcome to the SuccessLab Podcast, Episode #35! I'm in the lab with Evo Terra, self-proclaimed Digital Nomad. Evo is one of the early adopters of podcasting and co-authored Expert Podcasting Practices for Dummies in 2007 and Podcasting for Dummies in 2008. He’s also gone on to author other books and is the co-founder of Podiobooks.com, as well as a business consultation company for startups and entrepreneurs called Big Bounce. Currently, he and his wife are traveling around the world and tracking it all at ShEvo.wtf.
1. You were one of the first podcasters. What was your first podcast?
My very first podcast came out on October 14, 2004. (Yes, I can recall the exact date.) It was a science-fiction interview show with authors that my partner and I had been doing as an internet radio show that got picked up by terrestrial and satellite broadcast radio stations, even before there was a thing called podcasting. When podcasting technology finally hit the scene and hit our radar, it took me all of about 15 minutes to get podcasting as part of our repetoire. So not only were we heard on radio stations, but suddenly, people walking around with digital, portable media players in their pockets could listen to us as well.
2. Where do you think podcasting is headed?
Podcasting has had ups and downs. We're currently on an up, which is awesome and one of the reasons I've gotten back into it, with ten years of experience doing this. It's quite interesting to see how things are going. Back when we first started, it was filled with people who did one of two things. There were the "Record & Release" variety of podcasters, who were individual solo people who would just record what they were thinking about or talking about and throw it up on the internet for people to hear. That was one style. The other style was what I like to call "Two Dorks and a Microphone," and that's what me and my partner were doing: Two guys or gals (and of course the number could be two or twelve, doesn't really matter) talking about stuff, pretending we were talk radio guys.
Where it's going right now is that people will get more professional. People will start doing more, I think, because the audience is demanding better quality stuff.
3. You've talked about entrepreneurs building businesses with "Free" at their core. Do you have any advice on how an entrepreneur can take that approach?
"Free" is an interesting way of doing things, and a lot of people balk at the idea of giving something away for free, and then turning around and trying to find a way to make money from that. But it works quite a lot. The "freemium" model didn't exist a few years, and now it's kind of rampant. There are all sorts of places that will let you have the base core of the services for free. Think about Spotify.
Many people are afraid of giving things away because they're afraid it's going to be stolen or be pirated away from them, and that's moronically thought. You have a lot more to fear, as an independent artist, from obscurity than you do from piracy. And I think that same thing holds true for a lot of businesses. Holding everything back and making everybody pay for everything along the way can work for you, but it's kind of a novel approach at times to be the first one to offer a good or service for free and put something better on top of it. You'll find that some people (not all, not even most, but enough, if you plan it right) will be willing to actually pay you and will help keep the service alive and line your pockets with some cash eventually.
4. You talk about the idea of disruption. How do you think companies can create disruption?
A lot of people toss out the word "disruption," especially when it comes to being a startup. It's had several different meanings over time, and of course things can be disruptive for a lot of different reasons. Specifically, the way I think about it for startups is this. A disruptive startup is a company, product, or service that's doing these three things:
- Going after a stable, extant marketplace.
- Appealing to the under-served minority.
- Ensuring their product or service scales.
5. What mistakes do you see most entrepreneurs or startups making?
Typically, the mistake happens in not truly fitting an under-served minority, and then not understanding what it takes to scale. If, every time you scale up, you have to pay an additional dollar to support an additional dollar of revenue, it's not going to happen.
6. Are there any tips or tools you can recommend for entrepreneurs? Anything you're loving right now?
Two websites to read if you're an entrepreneur, and you want to figure out what you're doing, and you want to get your startup game up: Brad Feld and Steve Blank.
Podcasts you should listen to if you want to up your game: Radio Utopia and Gimlet Media.
7. How can people get in touch with you?
The best way to reach me these days is at ShEvo.wtf.
This Week's Biz Hack: Scheduling Tools That Help You Take Control Of Your Time
I absolutely hate trying to schedule meetings. For me, it ranks up there with painting or moving. Let me amend that—I don’t mind it when it’s a quick one-and-done, but most of the time, there’s so much back-and-forth involved simply trying to coordinate schedules. Add multiple people into the fold, and it’s just coconuts. My good pal and fellow SuccessLabr, Vince Baarson, recently started using the free version of YouCanBook.Me for scheduling, so I checked it out…
Quote of the Week
“Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.” ~ Dale Carnegie
Next week, I’m in The Lab with Todd Tresidder from FinancialMentor.com and the Financial Mentor Podcast. We dive into some pretty interesting wealth building strategies and common mistakes that can throw even the most savvy entrepreneurs off their road to financial independence.
A special thank you to Evo Terra for sharing his insights and allowing us all to live vicariously through him and his travels, if only for 20 minutes. Until next time, have a prosperous week!
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