Ep 68 Podcasts: Finding Common Ground with Ryan Estes

Everyone has a story to tell!  

Ryan Estes, podcaster and co-founder of the podcast agency Kitcaster, lives, eats, and breathes podcasts! His mission is to get the stories of the world’s top startup founders on the world’s top podcasts.

Feeling isolated and lonely, Ryan began listening to podcasts during his long  commute to and from work years ago. It was a turning point for him, reminding him of times when he enjoyed playing music with his buddies. He discovered that people can find a collaborative common ground through podcasts and believes that podcasts are “a healing force for our culture.”

Ryan is an innovative entrepreneur, as well as, a husband, father, musician, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert. Don't miss this conversation!

CONNECT WITH RYAN

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/estesryan/
• https://kitcaster.com/us/ 

CONNECT WITH MANDY:

• mandysawyer.com
• insta @mandycreativevision 
• facebook @mandyscreativevision
• Mandy's Vision Gig fb group

Kitcaster Podcast Agency 
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Transcript

Mandy:

Hey friends, I have got an awesome new guest with me today. His name is Ryan Estes and he is a multi-business owner, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter, and an experienced podcast host who lives eats and breathes podcasts. Ryan co-founded Kitcaster, which is a podcast booking agency that connects top business owners, CEOs, and entrepreneurs to top podcasts. So Ryan, thank you so much for being here today.

Ryan:

Absolutely. My pleasure Mandy. Thanks for having me on.

Mandy:

You betcha. Do you want to add anything to your credits there? Do you want to, a little bit more about yourself?

Ryan: 

I'm more of a Brazilian Jui-Jitsu lover than a fighter.

Mandy:

Oh. I have questions about Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Do you know how many times I had to practice saying that? Just I wouldn't

Ryan:

 It's a mouthful for sure.

Mandy:

Are there other types of jiu-jitsu besides Brazilian?

Ryan:

Yeah, absolutely. It originated as a Japanese martial art in a kind of as a ground function of judo. So if you know, Judo is kind of like wrestling in the fact that it's all takedowns. Karate is like standing up and striking. And then jujitsu was largely what was happening on the ground. But maybe 100 years ago, there was a man who brought that style to Brazil. And the Gracie family kind of took that style and really made it their own. Which is kind of what Brazilian jiu-jitsu is today.

Mandy:

Well, yeah, I completely have no knowledge about the realm of martial arts. Not best to be discussing it. But like, yeah, I was just really curious to like other types of Jui-Jitsu, besides Brazilian. Are there?

Ryan:

There's even more it's really growing as an art form. I think for most folks that maybe don't know about this particular martial artist, it's a grappling martial art soon as opposed to, punching and kicking. This is like, kind of submissions, joint locks and strangulation. Oh, you know, fun stuff, you know?

Mandy:

Yeah. Like so matter of fact. Oh, god. Okay. So let's switch over to podcasting a little bit. How long have you been podcasting? And have you been doing it before it was popular or whatever?

Ryan:

I don't know. I've been podcasting for like, 10 years. Yeah. Which seems pretty weird. But you know, when I first started listening to podcasts, I was, literally downloading the episode from the computer to my old iPod, where it had like a little spin deal. You know, I listened to it there. And I remember I had like, kind of a, I think it was an iPhone two. And I realized that I could stream a podcast as opposed to downloading it into the phone. And it was like, That was over. Then it was all podcasts from then on out. Yeah,

Mandy:

Absolutely. So what do you like the most about it?

Ryan:

About podcasting? I think what initially got me into it was kind of like a cure for loneliness. You know, like, I, I took this job that was about, you know, an hour and 20 minutes from my house. And so I kind of ran through my playlist pretty quick. And at the time, you know, I had two small children, I had a brand new business that I had started, my first foray into entrepreneurship had failed. And so I took this job. Because I had children, I ended my music career. So I found myself pretty isolated. You know, I had kind of gone all-in on this first business, and we rented out our house and we're, I was living with my mother in law. So through a series of intentional choices, I found myself kind of isolated and alone and feeling the blues a little bit, you know. And what was great about podcasting, the first podcast I really stumbled upon, was a podcast called the field of weeds. And it was just a series of essays that were written by this ex-pat Korean Zen monk, about his time of being working in construction in LA. And it just struck the Perfect Note, you know, in like, Zen, you know, so I really liked that. And I was like, What's this podcasting stuff, and then I found some, some, like, some comedy podcasts, and it was like, it put me right back into like, band practice, you know, and like, just kind of goofing around with my buddies, which, aside from music, that's what I really missed. I missed the camaraderie of being with a group of guys and just having fun. So it was kind of transformative where I was like, Wow, this podcasting thing, I could do a podcast and get on My band buddies to do a podcast instead of playing music. Yeah. So I started doing that, you know, that was probably 10 years ago and just started this ridiculous podcast. And, you know, it's iterated into various shows over the years. So Right. You know, that's so

Mandy:

Cool. Okay, so I want to talk about the music part. I didn't know you were into music, too, or playing music, and do you write and stuff too?

Ryan:

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it was kind of a former life. But I released three records and did kind of the college radio thing. And we play around, you know, we're in Denver. So it's kind of a land island. So you're kind of eight hours from anywhere. But we were really fortunate that Denver's got a really strong music community. So we played a bunch. I did that probably for, I don't know, seven, eight years and, and loved it. It was my whole life. You know, and now my daughter's she's, she's gonna be a freshman in high school. So now I'm teaching her how to play guitar. So cool. That kindling of music is, yeah. Back. I was like, sweetheart, come on, hurry up and do this. So you can play bass. I'll play guitar. We hit the road. Let's go. I'm only half-joking.

Mandy:

Yeah, no, my dad was a musician. And growing up, I just remember being in a band practice in the garage and neighbors coming out looking down the street, like what's going on down there. You know, because it's so loud and you're just enjoying the music and enjoying the live music and he always sings. So he really dug that he really got excited about that. But I was always so I don't know, intimidated and shy and stuff. When it came to singing in front of people, I ended up singing at church and leading praise and worship and doing things like that, too. So I don't know. It's kind of a crazy, crazy time to think about that a long time ago. But yeah, my dad, I can tell that you probably Yeah. Would be a lot like my dad was with me, you know, wanting to Yeah, let's take the show on the road.

Ryan:

One for fathers to do this. Yeah, it's great. I know Bobby McFerrin; he plays with his daughter. There's a great blues musician up in Boulder named Otis Taylor. He plays with his daughter. So one day, you know?

Mandy:

Yeah, on a family tradition. That's super cool. I love that. Yeah. We'll see if we get there. I hope you do. I Oh, so that's it. Okay, so before you co-founded Kitcaster. You owned a media and marketing business, right? 

Ryan:

That's correct. Yeah. 

Mandy:

And what made you pivot? Or is that the one that didn't go? So? Well? I'm not sure.

Ryan:

No, that was a great business, a 10-year business, kind of, after this period, you know, that I just described having a job. And that wasn't working for me. So I wanted to go pro on the internet in some capacity. And so I started a Social Media Marketing Agency. This was before that was so commonplace. So there was no Facebook business manager, Instagram didn't exist. You know, I was building websites on the side for musician, friends and helping them at the time with MySpace pages and promoting shows and stuff. And I was like, you know, I think there's a business in this. So I started doing that. That was a business called Talk launch. And I did that business for 10 years. My wife has a master's in education. And at some point, we brought her over into the agency. And she and I ran the agency, you know, we had, I don't know, dozens of clients. You know, pretty small, lean staff. You know, we probably swelled up to five or six, and we use some contractors to get stuff done. And then, you know, soon enough, you know, my wife, Heidi shoot kind of took over the reins of the agency, and I began validating different products, to kind of diversify revenue and kind of follow my weird ideas. So she kind of ran the agency, and I started doing that. So maybe, let's say two and a half years ago, a colleague of mine, Brandy Whalen, we were having breakfast, and she was like, Let's do a project together. And I was like, Yeah, let's do it. We wanted to do and we'd met through podcasting, and like, let's do some with podcasting. So we kind of were chewing through some different ideas and podcasting, and the idea of a podcast booking agency kind of came up and it's like, well, this is interesting, you know, this is a way that we would like, you know, build a culture and, and have staff and, you know, in kind of scale in old school, kind of handshakes and phone calls kind of agency. So we set to work on it. We put a pilot program together that went really well, wrapped a brand around it that became Kitt caster and officially launched September 6, 2019. So we just turned 2 Yeah. And at that point, I was like, wow, this is going really well. I had kind of a bookmark. You know, March 2020, is kind of my exit from our agency. My wife was kind of changing careers as well. So I was basically going to, you know, seal up the talk launch and send it down the river. Yeah. Well, January, February comes around, and talk launch is making some nice money. It's a little harder to do that. I mean, my heart wasn't into it. But you know, it's, it's kind of hard to, like, say no to when it's grain, you know? Yeah,

Mandy:

Absolutely.

Ryan:

So I was kind of like, you know, Kitcaster was growing. And I was like, yeah, maybe I can do both for a little while longer. Well, you know, March 2020. We get hit with COVID. Right. And the agency was really leveraged in like hospitality, and food and beverage heavily. So we lost just about our entire book of business. Wow, in a week. Which is pretty scary. Yeah. Yeah, no. So I was like, Well, I guess I will be doing Kitcaster full time now. So kind of just dove into that. Both brandy and I really sunk our 10 to 2, and it took off. So you know, since then, I think we've hired maybe 1213 people since March 2020. And that's kind of what brings us here today.

Mandy:

Yeah, absolutely. That's the reason why I like that we got connected through Kitcaster. Through your business. Yeah. So tell my listeners about how this podcast book booking agency works? How is that all? pan out? How does that work? You bet.

Ryan:

So we work almost exclusively with funded startup founders, entrepreneurs with exits, and C suite executives. And we booked them on the world's top podcasts. Probably what they all have in common are these Type A insanely busy people. So our job is to kind of weave these podcast interviews into their work schedule. So kind of to do that we have kind of a three-step process. You know, one, we take a real deep dive into the audience that they want to speak to and what they want to talk about. And ultimately, what are the outcomes you want to get from podcasting? Everybody wants more prospects. Some folks want help recruiting, and they're using podcasts for that. Some folks are looking for a runway, so they're looking for relationships with Angel investors, and venture capitalists, things like that. So we drill that down, we build their media kit, it's kind of the second step. And then the third step is just what we do every day. You know, is qualifying great podcasts, pitching them working on the pre-production, and putting them essentially on podcast tour. So if our job is done really well, which it is, because I believe we're the best in the world at this. Yeah. Then our clients, all they need to do is open their calendar, click the link and have a great conversation. Awesome. That's kinda how it works.

Mandy:

Yeah. So then what, what sets you apart from you because you said you're the best. So what sets you apart from the other booking agencies,

Ryan:

and no disrespect to any of my competitors. I'm glad they're out there because it helps normalize this weird job we have, you know, and this is, this is going to be a career for my staff for many of them, or perhaps a step onto a great direction, but we take it really seriously. I think where we're kind of we found our lane is really in the startup community. Both my co-founder and I, that's where we come from, is, you know, building brands, helping them find traction in scaling them, particularly, you know, b2b SaaS companies and tech of all kinds, I suppose. Yeah. So that's really our focus. And we take it to heart to be really, really good at it. So it's, it's gonna be impossible for somebody to beat us. I want someone to try because I'm competitive. And I

Mandy:

like Yeah. And then it just, it just makes you level up even more. Exactly. Competition. Exactly. You mentioned earlier, something about validating products. What does that entail?

Ryan:

A thick skin, and tears. You know, you get better at it as you go, but one thing I do with the agency a lot is would help them on crowdfunding campaigns. Crowdfunding, I think maybe there's a little fatigue of it now. But you know, seven, eight years ago, Kitcaster, before Indiegogo, these were like really big communities and a great way to finance projects, particularly art projects or goods. And I launched, I don't know, more than a dozen campaigns for folks raised. You know, I think For million-plus, do these campaigns and the successful ones and also turn away a lot of business. And working with the kind of early-stage entrepreneurs, people that have an idea. And they're trying to figure out if they're going to bring it to market? Well, let's just say it this way, if they're trying to figure out if they're going to bring it to market, they're in a good place. Yeah. But what happens a lot of times, particularly with first-time entrepreneurs, is they become obsessed with the idea and kind of bury their head in the sand, and just start working on this thing, sometimes dump dumping tons of money down this hole, and even more importantly, dump dumping tons of time down this hole, and they have no idea if people want it. So they'd come to me and be like, Hey, I got this idea, I spent a quarter-million dollars, I want to put on Kitcaster, I'm like, yo, does anybody want this, they're like, I don't know, I'm like, oh, man, that's, that's a huge investment, to not find it out. So I had the benefit, before I kind of started Validating my own products is seeing success and failure with other entrepreneurs and seeing people fail in a good way, was really advantageous to me. So when I, when I kind of set out on a project, you know, I have a certain amount of diligence I'm going to do on something, it's got to meet kind of tight criteria for me to even consider it that is it has to be fun to do, otherwise, I won't do it. It's got to be of service because I want my life to mean something. And it has to make money. You know, so we'll get through those three things. First, you know, does this have an opportunity to make money now? The way I figure that out, is I'm going to have 100 phone calls with people to sell something that doesn't exist yet. And see if I can get them to buy. If, if it doesn't happen, you gotta kill the idea.

Mandy:

That's hard, isn't it, it's really

Ryan:

hard, that's really hard, you really get your identity wrapped around these kinds of things. You know, especially if you get to those 100 calls, and like you, you have a tight pitch and you see the end product, and it's just like you have to step back and say, wow, people don't want this, you know? So now what do we do? And now you know the clock is ticking, you know, is it going to take you six months, 18 months to kill this thing. I've done that, you know, I've gone 18 months into the idea past the point I knew it wasn't gonna win. Um, and so on so you get better at being faster, it kind of kills your babies, so to speak. Yeah, you know, and then the final validation is like that you get through the 100 it sells. It's working. There's a little traction here, there's an opportunity, and then you just ask yourself, you know, am I the right person, right now to do this? And again, it's like, if you're not, then you gotta kill it entirely. And get out of there. Get out and move on to the next I try something else. Yeah. So it's, it's tough. And it's, it's a merciless process. But nonetheless, I have to be pretty rigid with my tension, because man Life is short.

Mandy:

It is short and absolute. When you talk about making those 100 calls, how do you? Who do you target? Who do you decide who to call?

Ryan:

You know, I'll start with kind of what I would do is start with clients. You know, I start with friends and family. These are people who know me like me, they KNOW Him always got some weird idea. And they like to hear about it, you know? And if there was like, Okay, what do you think they're like, Oh, it's a great idea. Like, cool. Would you buy it? And they're like, Sure. And then you like, here's a link, and then are they gonna buy or not? Right? Let's say they do buy, it's like, okay, cool friends and family clients, they're gonna buy it, you know, so then it's about validating it with people who don't know me, you know, but who kind of fall within like kind of a targeted demographic and ask them the same question. Hey, what do you think about this idea? You know, can you save me a lot of time right now? You're saving me money, for sure. But you're gonna save me a lot of time. If you're really honest with me. What do you think? Do you like it? Sure. Okay, cool. Can I send you a demo? Can I send you, you know, a free one shot? I love that, that'd be great. And then you follow up with me, like, do you want to buy it? And they're like, Yeah. And they like, well, here's a link to buy it. And they doubt you know, so kind of having that double-blind PLACEBO prospect test to see if you really got something that's the big one, you know, and that was when I knew you know, with kick caster, we kind of had idea of this. This product as a booking service. I called five clients in signed up three in an hour. Oh, wow. So I was like, Oh, well, that was fast. Yeah, that was a fast, fast validation, but of course, it had to go to the next step. Yeah. So I use Early on this app called shaper, which is like LinkedIn meets Tinder, I suppose so Wow, swipe left swipe right for, like, entrepreneurial kind of connections. Yeah. And was just there. Just a pitch, kick caster, you know, and so I pitched it pitch to pitch probably after about four or five days, you know, it was probably a conversation 20 or 30. I'm like, cool, we're getting towards my 100 things. And I'm not going to try and make a judgment call or, or have any affinity to that 100 Call only because I, I fall in love with everything. And yeah, I don't, I don't want to kill it, if I love it. So yeah, after three or four days, I had sold one to somebody I just met on an app, that I got them into a call and sold it. And then a couple of days later, I sold another one. And I was like, okay, okay, I can build systems and processes around this. Let's see if we can deliver. And we did. So we got through those validation points of like, does it work? Yes, it does. And then it gets to the point of like, okay, well, am I the right person, right now to do this? And that was an easy one for me with Kitcaster because this is a dream job for me. Yeah, I bet I love podcasting. So we have this really cool opportunity to kind of put magic into the world, you know, which is like these conversations, you know, our, our mission is simple. We celebrate good conversation. And that's it. And so to be a facilitator, particularly with people that we work with, who are incredibly passionate about their, their, their work, and allow them to connect with people that are incredibly curious about their work, is super meaningful, and really fun.

Mandy:

Yeah, it absolutely is. And it's not being jacked up with algorithms and crap like that, like, if you are a podcast person, you want to go to listen to podcasts, you're going to find it, and you're going to be able to listen without having to worry about other things getting in your way. So, yeah, it's been really, it's been really fun for me, I like I've only been doing this a year. And the conversations that I've been able to have with people are just so, so meaningful to me, and so important to me that, especially, you know, early on, I just got, you know, friends, family, you know, former co-workers, former students, things like that, and was able to connect with them. And I'm like, you have a story to tell. And so many of them were like, I don't have anything to talk about. I'm like, You gotta be kidding me right now. I know you and I know what you've been through. And I know what you've overcome, you know, and trying to convince people and making them recognize that you do have something to share with the world. That is beneficial. And so yeah, this has been a really, really neat, neat adventure, for sure. Oh,

Ryan:

wow. I mean, it's, it's incredible, you know, and plus, I mean, as our attention becomes ever more fragmented, like podcasting gives us a chance to like, sit down, phones away, tabs are closed, like, let's have a conversation and see what happens. I mean, how often does that happen? Not so rare.

Mandy:

It's rare, even in your own home. It's rare to have a conversation like that.

Ryan:

Yeah, totally. They got an Apple Watch on their watch. It's like you got a text or something? I thought we were talking here. What are you doing, looking at your watch? Never Ends, you know, so it's, it's, it's fun, you know, to have to do these podcasts interviews. And there's something innately human, I think that makes it just unbelievably sticky, you know, as a platform.

Mandy:

Yeah, absolutely. So, um, how can entrepreneurs or use podcasts to benefit their personal and professional brands?

Ryan:

Well, you know, if they, you know, we'll kind of start with a three-month term, and we'll put them on 10 podcasts. If you own 10 podcasts, and you in this prop, maybe 10 hours, you know, it's been eight or 9 hours of conversation, and you see no benefit. professionally or personally. Well, there's something wrong with the product. I mean, if you're the founder, and nothing happens to you, or your business. Yeah, you might want to have that validation Converse right. Yeah, truly, because, because it will work. You know, if there's, there's kind of three areas I like to kind of think about returning, one just being professional development. You know, with podcasts, you get to come on and tell your story from a different angle each time depending on what's the context of the conversation. That in itself is incredibly useful because like you said, actually, if you ask anybody, you know, what's your story? I mean, you guys To me, it's like, oh, I go blank. And suddenly, I don't know my middle name, I don't know where I'm from. I was like, I don't know anything. I'm bored. I mean, I was talking to a client, and he's like, oh, man, I, I don't have a store. I'm just one of those, you know, guys who show up in California with a briefcase and 20 bucks, and 10 years later, he's got a $10 million company, I was like,

Mandy

Oh, just one of those guys.

Ryan:

You've been in San Francisco too long, man, that is not common. You know, so. So getting your personal narrative sharpened is really important. Plus, when you go on a podcast, they all publish to like an RSS feed, which gets picked up everywhere. So you're going to get a ton of traffic on the link, not only that, that link will have great SEO juice. So from just a pure traffic, top of funnel marketing kind of play, podcasting is incredibly beneficial, then you have all this content, you know, so if you're feeding the top of funnel, with just the published and maybe the audience of that podcast, you'll have all this bulk of content that you can repurpose in different ways for different people, or different for people who are in different portions of your sales cycle. And spoon feed them exactly what they want, when they need to hear it, which increases your conversion rates and just fills up your sales pipeline. So you know, podcasts don't fit conveniently into spreadsheets, obviously, like a, you know, a pay per click campaign does. But I think the benefits often are more dramatic, and much more personal. And also gives, you know, CEOs and founders an opportunity to lead, you know, you're at a certain level, and you've raised a couple of million bucks to launch your product, you got your marketing people, you got your salespeople, you have your fulfillment people, you got your QC people, that's like, well, what am I doing, you know, what's left for me, aside from working 80 hours a week doing everything, you know, but here's an opportunity for me to lead. And, and maybe some of the staff who don't really know the story of the company, they don't know my story to be able to, to put that into the world and get really good at telling that story. So you know, all of those are fantastic outcomes that come to everybody we work with no matter what the product is..

Mandy:

Awesome. So the big questions that I always get are like, are you making money on that podcast? And like, into the number of listeners and number of downloads and things like that? So is there any easy answer to those big questions of how do you get more listeners? And how do you monetize your podcast?

Ryan:

How do you monetize a podcast? Well, funny, you should ask. You can have affiliate sponsorship. So Kitcaster has I think, probably 70 or 80 podcasts that we sponsor, our affiliate sponsorship works basically by lead. So every podcast that we sponsor has their own landing page, that if they share that a lead comes through, you know, we pay them a certain amount, if that lead becomes business for us, we pay them a much greater amount. So affiliate sponsorships, which are performance-based sponsorships, are fantastic for podcasts that are on their way up, you know, podcasts that are finding their niche speaking to their people. Because you know, like the Spartans, it's like, you only need 300 people to fight that army. But if you're really finding your people, then there are opportunities to sell to them, you know, and if a podcast can make a, you know, a commission off that sale, it's a great way to monetize podcasting. Yeah. Now, once you get into the 10,000, monthly download area, now you're opened up for all kinds of advertising opportunities, you get to 20,000 downloads, now you're looking at big brands that will want to sponsor your podcast, right? So going from zero to 10,000 downloads is tough. Yeah. And if you can find a surefire way to do it, the boy put that together. And I'll let you know, a package and sell that. But yeah, so there's, there are different ways to monetize podcasts. But if you're starting out, and you're considering, you know, do five of them if, if you're in it just for the money, you should probably get out, right. It's not gonna happen. Yeah, do something else. It's just so much work. You know, it is a lot of work. And then there are ways that I made money off my podcast indirectly. So, my podcast, the kind of flagship show that became a talk launch, was called the Denver business podcast. And I would go and get conversations with founders of brands I'd hired from Denver, and then figure out you know, hey, where are the holes in your business? You know, and if they tell me and then after the podcast is over, I'm like, awesome. Do you know it would be a great Fix for those holes in your business? Yeah, me, it turns out, it turns out, and so I made, you know, I attribute like a million bucks of revenue to that to just podcast guests and on even better than that is like lifelong friendships now, you know, because you do get the opportunity to connect with people on a podcast and get to know them really quickly, at least enough to know like, I think this is a pretty cool person like, I want to keep them around. Yeah, you know. So that's a great way to and that's just really a networking thing. So, you know, what, what can I do with this network that I'm building based around the show? Yeah, yeah. So monetizing podcasts, there are a million creative ways to do it. You know, and getting listeners, that's, that's also challenging. Yeah, the best way I've seen it done is to have a very niche show for a very specific person and then advertise to them. And if you can get a listener for a Bulk Bulk listener, you know, it's probably money well spent. Yeah. Okay.

Mandy:

Good to know. Keeping it all up right here. You've probably touched on this a little bit earlier, but what role do you feel podcasts play in our culture?

Ryan:

You know, I think they're, they're a healing force. For our culture. Our culture has so many terrible flaws, inequities, inequalities. And then we have these new tools, online tools that seem to make it worse. Yeah, you know, social media seems to like, give people the opportunity to find the extremity of their opinions. And experiment with them. It's kind of dangerous to be at some polar end of what you might think and just act like you are just to, like, you know, get engagement and find cliques and interviews and stuff. I don't think that necessarily brings out our best qualities and characteristics as people, right? I think what you find if you're at a cocktail party is like, you, you end up talking to somebody that you had no business talking to, you had nothing in common with them. You know, but you'll have this awkward dance in the conversation to find common ground. You know, it's like shoelaces like, Oh, my daughter gave me the shoelaces you're like, Oh, cool. I have a daughter too, ma'am. There you go. You know, it's there's a gravity to find common ground. But yeah, people I mean, it's, it's in our biology. That's why the Neanderthals are gone. That's why, you know, we've evolved to this point. Well, if that's true, maybe we just killed all the Neanderthals. But the reason we're still around is that we are social creatures, you know, it is in us to connect with each other. Regardless of, you know, language barriers, religious barriers, I mean, you know, what, I'm kind of going out on a limb there, actually, there, it's both. I think we've evolved because we've been able to collaborate. And we've also evolved because we can dominate. You know, I think both of those spirits are alive in us. And I think maybe the social media aspect plays to that domineering type characteristic that we have, like, I want to not only be the best, but I want to eradicate my opponents from the face of the earth. Whereas podcasting represents this collaborative thing, which is like, hey, you know what, maybe we don't agree on the extremities of our opinions, but I want you to exist. Yeah, yeah. So what can we do now? How can we exist now? So I think podcasting naturally feeds that collaborative, empathetic kind of qualities that we have as human beings. Yeah.

Mandy:

I like that. I like that. So tell me who are/ what motivates you and inspires you?

Ryan:

Who motivates me? Oh, boy. You know, the real answer is just I had this, like, horrible drill coach, jerk inside my head. That is the one who really motivates me. I'm trying to figure out a new motivation. But just as a horrible voice I have inside of my head, telling him to call me unspeakable things all the time is the one that really gets things done.

Mandy:

Well, I mean, you know, if it makes it happen, I guess it's all right.

Ryan:

I don't think it is. I don't think it's okay to be yourself. Even if you get the outcomes you want. You know, and that's just what it is. It's like the alarm goes off. Am I gonna go to the gym? It's like, like, there's a voice of sight. You know, Ryan, you've been working really hard. Maybe she's sleeping a little bit. Yeah, we'll make waffles later, it'd be cool. And then there's another one like, oh, you again? Oh, you'd know what you're gonna get up to, you know. And then I'm like, alright, that's a good point, I am going to get up. So yeah, I'm trying to figure out, you know how to get the results that I like, without that voice. So what I've been doing recently is, is really mapping out everything I want, in life in different kinds of domains, figuring out how I can pair those things together to get multiple outcomes. And then everything that I want to do has a place on the calendar, where it's going to happen. I'm a fairly regimented systems process guy. Sounds like discipline is a big thing for me. So you know, through creating, you know, what I just call an experiment. That's what really is motivating me right now.

Mandy:

Okay, so can you talk about any big obstacles that you've overcome in your life and how you did that?

Ryan:

Big obstacles, you know, I think probably the biggest obstacle for me was, you know, talking about this voice in my head. Maybe, that being oblivious to that negative self-talk, maybe not knowing that the tail was wagging the dog a little bit. I feel like when I discovered that there was an alternative to just basically being reactive, not only to my environment but also to my thoughts. That was a big turnaround for me, that provided me some space, I think in some, some comfort for myself, you know, maybe a little love and kindness for myself and in a pathway to be able to bring that into the world in kind of a systematized kind of way, you know, so the obstacle for me, unfortunately, you know, I'm just a cis-gendered white dude. You know, I think a lot of obstacles, not to say that I haven't suffered, you know, right. So, you know, actually kind of working through that suffering and dealing with the pain, it's probably been the best tool for me.

Mandy:

Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting. Sometimes, I talked to a lot of women obviously that deal with the whole talking, harsh talk toward themselves, and like beating themselves up about things or whatever. So it's interesting to hear a man's perspective to see to know that that's not just a woman thing that we don't just, we're not the only ones that beat ourselves up or that you know, or mean to ourselves or whatever, to try to get ourselves to do things. So.

Ryan:

No, it's a human thing. I found out recently that either sex either gender, some people don't have an inner narrator. Like, there are the lights not on upstairs. I don't know what that means. I don't understand why there's narration going on. Oh, all the time. What am I gonna say next? What should I say? Yeah. Why did I do that? Why am I still mad at that guy from third grade for cutting in line from them?

Why did I punch that kid in Phaser? Kindergarten? Yeah. Apparently, some people don't have that. Like, what is that? I

Mandy:

don't get that. I don't know. I wonder if it's kind of like ignorance is a bliss kind of thing. Maybe they're a lot more at peace than we are. I don't know.

Ryan:

You know, and not to be disrespectful. Maybe it is actually true. That is true. But maybe they just haven't noticed that voice yet. You know, which is also like, what a blessing. You know, it's, it's cool. Don't fish around in there. Like, just if you're enjoying that hot dog and drinking a beer and watching the game. Do that for the rest of your life. Keep at it. Yeah, do that. I don't know.

Mandy:

So tell us about a mistake that you made or about a time when you had no idea what you're doing and how it pan out? What did you learn from it? Oh, boy,

Ryan:

I do that all the time. She has run in. Figured out on the fly. Yeah. A mistake. Okay. One of the products I was validating was actually to begin a line of cosmetics that my wife was interested in. She saw an opening in the market for a kind of natural deodorant product. That didn't suck. That actually worked. Right. That actually worked. Yeah. So she started kind of compounding different things, to see what worked, experimented with it, and found a pretty great formula. And I was like, awesome, you know, like, like, this is my thing. Let me help you. And so by helping her I can completely take the whole thing over, rebranded it, and started selling it, and then she kind of drifted away from it. I was like, oh, cool, I think this is gonna be great. Bah, bah, bah, bah, bah. And went way far. And we were doing some demo, and kind of had a big blowout fight. Oh, and, you know, I realized that like, it's like, oh, this wasn't about creating a business.

Mandy

This is your thing, not

Ryan:

your thing. You're having fun doing it. And I sucked the joy out of this project and destroyed it. So that was another validation for me to shelve the project. And, and let it go, you know, even though we had some success there. So that's a pretty big mistake and blind spot for me because I am relatively, I suppose, manic I guess not in a pathological way. But, but like, I'm a doer. So if I want to get something done, I'm gonna do it. Right. You know, there's a lot of folks that throw ideas around, but like, I, I make it stick, you know, right.

Mandy
Let's do it.

Ryan:

Let's do it in those hours we can right now. So, that kind of movement, and that speed can get you into trouble in all kinds of different ways. But in many different ways. I'm comfortable dealing with ramifications. But like, you know, if there's a problem over the dinner table, I don't want that. I want peace in my home no matter what, you know. So that was a pretty major mistake. But fortunately, we worked that out. That's good.

Mandy:

That's a good day. Yeah. So talk about your family a little bit. What do you guys like to do for a vacation or just hanging out or whatever?

Ryan:

You bet. We're big sportsmen people, you know, like hunting and fishing, is what I just That's all I want to do. Really? You know, I'm my wife that you're

Mandy:

podcasting studio there on the lake while you're fishing. But that work? 

Ryan:

Oh, I've done it. I've done hunting and fishing podcasts in the field. It's so fun. Spring you whispering the podcast? Yeah. Pretty exciting. So we like to do that. We martial arts family. You know, I train in jiu-jitsu and I do capital letters with my daughter. She's really really good at it. Okay, what's that? So kappa what is another Brazilian martial art? Okay, this one's from a different vein, as opposed for coming over from Japan. This one has its origins in Africa. Okay, a lot of the movement is from Africa through Brazil. So kind of, you know, unfortunately, during slavery days, you know, they were trained this kind of musical dance and a fighting technique called the capital letter that was basically made illegal kept what a few different times because they didn't want, you know, slaves, unfortunately, you know, fighting, learn how to fight and revolt. And so it carries with it this tradition of music of movement of striking, and a deep kind of cultural Brazilian art form. Yeah, that's incredible. And it's, it's possibly the most fun thing that I do. And in my opinion, it's, it's a complete art. So so we do that my daughter's I mean, she's amazing. She's really good at it. And it's something that we can do together. So we'd like to do that. And, you know, we're, we're Colorado people. I should be wearing a flannel shirt here. I got a I got a truck. Um, you know, whatever. Yeah.

Mandy:

I'm from Oklahoma. I've only been to Colorado a couple of times. But I definitely want to go on vacation. And

Ryan:

we're just Passing sunflowers just passed those. Were like 400 miles.

Mandy:

Good. Is there anything else that you like, give one thing that you would want to leave with my listeners? That is something that keeps you going or you know, some kind of valuable lesson or word or a quote or joke or something like that?

Ryan:

Oh, man, I'm always busting out these quotes. I'm so annoyed like that. Love I love quotes. Yeah, you know, the one I've been thinking about a lot is you know, if I had if I had 10 hours to cut down a tree, I'd spend nine sharpening the blade. I like that one. Because as a person who I'm addicted to, I like to move and I like to move quickly. This is one way to make sure that that effort is in the right direction. You know what's gonna do the most right now. It's not always the most dramatic thing but like, you know, how do we make sure that in the beginning, like we're setting ourselves up to be successful as opposed to going too far biting off More than we can chew, and now, you know, we didn't get a win. So yeah, that was my I don't know who said that. Was that like, George Washington or something? I don't know. I have to look it up Abraham Lincoln, one of those

Mandy:

guys. It's like the print, the planning, the preparation, the thinking things through that kind of thing before you jump into the action. Yeah,

Ryan:

exactly how to put the effort in the right place. Yeah, to get the desired result.

Mandy:

Yeah. Awesome. Well, Ryan, how can everybody get a hold of you? How can they connect with you?

Ryan:

You know, they can reach out through the website, which is https://kitcaster.com/. There's an application there. If you think you'd be great, have great qualifications for our service. I'd love to speak to you there. If you want to talk to me about podcasting or anything else. You can just email me directly. Ryan@ kitcaster.com is my email address. If you if you want to chat podcasting stuff or anything else, product produce! Was it Abraham Lincoln that quote? Okay,

Mandy

good. Credit.

Ryan:

That's a good place to find me. And aside from that, I really enjoy talking to you Mandy, I appreciate your time.

Mandy:

I appreciate you and I appreciate your caster because that's how I found her, how we found each other and how we got connected. So it's obviously doing a good job. And a shout out to Riley. I think she's who yes. Yes, she's the one I've corresponded with. So yeah, Riley, thank you. So, okay, well, I appreciate you being here. Thank you so much, Ryan. And I hope to talk to you again at some point in time.

Ryan:

Yeah, let's do it. Absolutely. Yeah. I really enjoyed it. Thanks, Mandy.

Mandy

You're welcome.