Are you a giver or a taker?

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Welcome to Podfluence.

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As a podcast host, I see two main approaches for guests who want to

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come and be on my show, and one gets results the other, not so much so, or

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which one are you using, if any at all?

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When I first thought of doing a series of the seven deadly sins of

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podcasting, the response that I got from people like pitched it to was

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that I should definitely do this.

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So I started doing it in the newsletter and now I'm bringing

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it to you in the podcast as well.

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And continuing with this theme of the seven Deadly Sins, but not without me

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first establishing, a few caveats here.

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I'm not at all religious and I don't believe in the concept of sin.

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I just find that this is a really useful, commonly shared reference.

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Most people have heard of the seven deadly sins, even if they don't know what

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they are or, or they're supposed to be.

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I am in no way the authority in podcasting.

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So you are gonna get my take, and you're welcome to disagree or create your

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own seven deadly sins of podcasting if you would like to, especially if

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you disagree, I'd love to hear it.

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What would be your seven deadly sins of podcasting?

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I kicked off the series with gluttony self-indulgence at number

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one, and to be clear, the list is in the order that I thought of

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them, and it's really not ranked in importance or anything like that.

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So let me introduce the list so far.

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Number one was gluttony or self-indulgence, and you can go

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back and listen to my episode about Self-Indulgent podcast guests.

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Just a few episodes ago.

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Number two then, is selfishness.

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Three to seven still to be announced.

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So number two is selfishness.

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The world is full of selfish people.

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That's a fact.

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So why would podcasting be any different?

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Well, in my experience, it mostly is a little different because the vast

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majority of people I encounter in podcasting are in it to help others.

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Whether that's by educating or entertaining or a little of both.

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Because of this, it really stands out when people enter the space with their

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own personal agenda as their priority.

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I've written in my blog before now about being transactional

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rather than being service minded.

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Now, whilst there may be a level of transactionality, if that's a real word

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in most of our interactions, we also want that service piece to be there as well.

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And if we think people are really just out for their own benefit or

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for what they can get out of it, we don't really like that we tend to

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feel like we might be getting used.

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So, Like many other podcast hosts, I receive guest applications for my show

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every single week, often every single day.

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And the majority of them are the same.

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They're from a personal assistant or a podcast promotion company, and they

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want to tell me why I should have their client, their person on my show, what

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it is that they talk about, what they've achieved, and how many people follow them.

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And so on.

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There's never any mention of me on my show except for the occasional generic comment,

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which is designed to appeal to my ego.

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Something like, oh, hey, we'll listen to your show and it's really great

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and we think our guests would like to be on it, but I'm sure if you push

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them for anything specific on it, they wouldn't be able to tell you a thing.

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In the vast majority of cases, I'm not interested, but I'm also

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very English, so I reply politely.

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I'm dubious about saying yes if the person actually does look like a good

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fit, because most of the time they have no idea who I am or what my show is

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about or what I'm looking for in a guest.

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They see how podcast appearances are working to help others grow their

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personal brand and get to be known as experts and they want some of that.

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They go for quantity, over quality, and often end up appearing on shitty

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podcasts of which there are plenty.

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And, sorry, not sorry.

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My question to myself becomes, why would I want a guest on my show who

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doesn't even know who I am, has never heard of my show, and it's pretty

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much out to serve their own agenda and not that of me or my audience.

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Is that good for my show or my audience?

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Probably not.

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For me, they would have to offer something pretty spectacular

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for me to want to consider them.

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So usually I decline.

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I'm not saying that this strategy can't work, but if you're playing the

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numbers game with this, I know you are already not being very strategic because

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the only way going on loads of podcasts where many of them only

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have like 20 or 30 listeners.

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The only way that helps you is getting more experience of going on podcasts

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and may be useful for some of your early podcast appearances, but it's not a good

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use of your precious time in general.

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All that time you save paying someone else to get you on podcasts can get wasted

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by you appearing on shows that hardly anyone ever listens to and that the hosts

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don't even really know how to promote.

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Now, I fully maintain that appearing on podcast is only going to help you grow

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your business and brand if you show up well, and that does mean being discerning

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about the shows that you appear on too.

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I'm not suggesting you should never appear on shows with small audiences.

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I think everyone has to start somewhere.

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But if you're saying yes to everyone, then probably most of

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your appearances will go unnoticed.

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If you want to be a guest on shows that are likely to have a greater impact

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on growing your authority, then this approach will not get you very far.

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Established podcasters know the difference between somebody who is genuinely

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interested in being on their show and someone who is just trying to become, I

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dunno, pod famous, if that's a real term.

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Is that a term already?

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I don't know.

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Can I coin it?

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Can, did you hear it here first?

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Copyright by john Alexander Ball.

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There we go.

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It's mine.

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So with experience comes discernment.

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There are many people I would've once upon a time said yes to being

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on my show, and now I wouldn't.

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I'm selfish.

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On behalf of my audience, on behalf of you, I'm here to serve

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you and give you what you want.

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Not to let some rando come and be a guest on my podcast.

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If I'm ever on the fence, my pre-interview requirement usually

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helps me to make up my mind.

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Now it's not infallible, but it is fairly helpful.

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My advice is generally this, to drop the selfish and self-serving approach

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and genuinely look for ways to serve the shows you want to appear on.

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Be discerning and don't skip small or new shows if you like them or if you

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feel that there's a good fit there, or if it's somebody who you just want to help.

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You can keep going with the high volume approach if you like, but really what's

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the use of going on loads of podcasts if no one wants to listen to your

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episodes on any of them, much like doing high volume in sales calls, if you are

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calls suck or you aren't compelling or you are calling people who were never

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gonna be interested in what you're selling, you're not gonna sell much,

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if anything at.

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I will add that podcasting has done more for helping me to create a wonderful

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network of amazing people than any of my actual attempts at networking.

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I've even been fortunate enough to make some wonderful friends through it,

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and that has happened by looking for ways to connect and serve rather than

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seeing what I can get from everyone.

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Relationships are key and they will serve you in the long term.

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Something I was once told by a relationship coach is that one of

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the best determinants of whether a relationship will last or not is the

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flow of kindness and generosity between the people in that relationship.

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And this is something that I believe, not only to be true for my close

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intimate relationships, but for all of my relationships with people.

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Do stay tuned in for episodes three to seven on the seven deadly

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sins of podcasts Coming soon-ish.

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My next episode is gonna be with somebody who works in a very similar area to me.

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He's also helping people to become excellent podcast guests, and he really

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understands the value, the opportunity that exists in podcasting at the moment.

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His name is Jason Cercone.

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Jason has a great podcast himself.

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If you haven't already checked him out before.

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We had a really fun conversation.

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We connected very well.

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The relationship stuff was really there and I think that came through in our

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conversation, so that's something you can look forward to on next week's

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show, and then we'll be continuing with the seven deadly sins of podcasting

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with number three after that.

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Are you already subscribed to the Podfluence podcast?

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If not, hopefully you have your device in your hand right now.

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All you need to do, if you're on Apple Podcast, click that plus button and it

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so you'll get them as soon as they drop.

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And if you want more of this kind of information or you'd like to jump ahead

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and find out what some of the upcoming seven deadly sins of podcasting are, then

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do subscribe to the Podfluence Weekly New.

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You can subscribe through LinkedIn, Medium or through my own website.

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You'll find links in the show notes here as well.

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I do hope you'll join me for my next episode with Jason Cercone and wherever

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you're going, wherever you're doing, have an amazing rest of your day.