572 – Be a successful Podcast Guest: Tom interviews Jason Cercone

Episode 572 – Jason Cercone
[00:00:09] Welcome to Screw the Commute. The entrepreneurial podcast dedicated to getting you out of the car and into the money, with your host, lifelong entrepreneur and multimillionaire, Tom Antion.

[00:00:24] Hey everybody, it's Tom here with Episode 572 of Screw the Commute podcast. I'm here with Jason Cercone and you know, he's supposed to be a homeboy from the Pittsburgh area, but I listened to some of his other podcasts, and I didn't hear him say Younes once. I don't know. I'm think he's an imposter, so I have to tell him and I want I can't wait to tell him about my Iron City Lite story and I'm going to sing part of it to him a little later. So hang in there for that. Now he's going to teach you how to be great on podcasts and you know, I'm all about that. Even I was having trouble with guests, so I did an episode to 11 on how to be a great podcast guest, and he's already proven to be one and it didn't even start yet, so. Oc I hope you didn't miss Episode 571 That was Steve Friedland. This guy was a 30 year corporate guy, which of course is blasphemous around here. Screw the commute place. Yet he still had time to start a business. Do every hobby known to man. He had two Ted Ted talks and he volunteered all over Africa and he even had a story about his friend got attacked by a baboon. So you don't want to miss that one? Of course, when you read I want to read you back episode you go screwthecommute.com, slash, and then the episode number.

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[00:03:35] All right. Let's get to the main event. Jason Cercone is the creative, professional strategist and podcaster, making his residence near my hometown, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is the founder of Cercone Consulting, where he helps brands and professionals get optimized for successful podcast guest marketing initiatives with hands on training and coaching and maybe voice on training, I guess you call it. He's also the host of Evolution of Brand, a podcast featuring self defined entrepreneurs and professionals sharing inspirational stories and tactical brand building strategies. And when he isn't glued to that microphone producing words to live by, you'll find him consuming good bourbon and cigars and obsessing over his fantasy football lineups and doing everything in his power to break 80 on the golf course. Jason, are you ready to screw? The commute?

[00:04:33] Tom I have never been more ready for anything in my life. Let's make it happen, my friend.

[00:04:38] All right. Oh, man. So, yeah, I've got a long history. I come from a little town called Clarksville, Pennsylvania. I know you've said you've been there, I think, about 20 years in Pittsburgh area, but Clarksville is the population is still 500. That's what it was when I.

[00:04:55] Lived, when everybody's.

[00:04:56] Home, right? Yeah. Yeah. And a couple more people, we get a zip, zip code, I think. But it was named after the great statesman, Henry Clay. I don't. I don't think he actually slept there. I think his horse took a dump there on the way through and that was good enough for us. So tell us about what you're up to and then I'll tell you a little later about my Iron City Lite story.

[00:05:19] I'm definitely excited to hear that I used to work in the beer industry.

[00:05:22] I know that's because you had a beer. This guy had a beer podcast, folks, so you know he's into it.

[00:05:30] Yeah. So, I mean, these days I'm more focused on podcasting as a whole. I help entrepreneurs and professionals be better podcast guests. And the reason that I got into this was as my evolution in podcasting has come to be, I was, of course, doing my own podcast, and that started that morphed into me helping others build their shows, and that led to a lot of production work and just helping with behind the scenes activities. And what I started to notice is I was connecting with guests that would be coming on to my client's shows. They were being offered to us or I should offer. That's probably the wrong word. They were being presented to us via agencies. So I started talking to them about working with these agencies and what was their experience and how did the whole process work. And it got me thinking maybe this is what I want to do as well. So I started dabbling in that and immediately I discovered guests don't necessarily have the fundamentals to do guest marketing properly. There is a strategy and a method to the madness to really help you maximize what you get from a podcast interview. And it's not just with the interview itself, it's with the communication that you have leading up to that interview.

[00:06:45] It's what you do after the interview. It's what you do once that interview goes live. There are a lot of working pieces and you can present yourself in a very valuable way because the guest spot is equally as important to the production of a good podcast. So if you come on and do your job and provide value and you really resonate with the audience because you have a message that's related to what they showed up for you, you can stand to gain a ton of visibility and results for your brand, but I was discovering that a lot of people had very skewed expectations about what podcast guesting would give them and they wanted to get the biggest show possible because that's the be all end. All right. Or give me a show with 40,000 downloads. That's going to show them right now. That's not what it's all about. And I feel that helping people understand the basics and the fundamentals of how to do this well is going to carry them for a much longer period of time.

[00:07:46] So and that's.

[00:07:47] Is what I'm in these.

[00:07:48] Days, and that's for sure, because I mean, as of today. You know, I, I was on Entrepreneur on Fire, which, you know, I don't think I don't know how many downloads they have, but it was on the twice and it's arguably, arguably one of the top entrepreneur podcasts in the world. And I was on there twice. And by doing the stuff that Jason's talking about. So you're hardly ever on that show? Twice. I mean, it's there's very few people.

[00:08:12] Yeah, that's tremendous.

[00:08:13] And they just came back out with a classics, so they pulled one of my episodes is one of the best ever. And I got 50 new subscribers today and they just released it, you know, to my mailing list say so this can really pay off in the last in each episode that I was on I got loads of subscribers and and people that bought my stuff. So and by the way, we give a commission to the host if somebody buys from their show, you know. So that also puts you up at the top of the heap that they want to have you on doing it.

[00:08:47] All right. That's that is the way to make it roll.

[00:08:50] Now, why did you quit the The Beer podcast? Because I think beer is still popular. I'm not sure.

[00:08:59] Yeah, there's still a market for it, no doubt about it. There is this little thing that happened back in 2020 called the COVID 19 pandemic. Oh, sure. If you heard about.

[00:09:10] That, I think people would be drinking more beer.

[00:09:12] While they absolutely were. But the problem was they weren't drinking it out and about because they weren't allowed because everything was closed. So really what I was working in that business, I had the beer podcast and I was doing sales marketing, brand building for some of the local breweries here in Pittsburgh. So I had the podcast as a complement to that where I would connect with some of the people I worked with, but also people across the globe. I ended up having an interview with someone in Ireland about the beer industry and things that she's done both over there and in the States. And it was really a great way for me to connect with people and put an educational product out there because I looked at it like beer. Podcasts are ultimately guys sitting around, girls sitting around drinking beer and talking about the flavor profiles and how this one's different from that one. And that's all well and good because there's an audience for that. But I wanted to do something different, so I decided to talk to the beer industry that I was a part of. So as time went on, I was developing season three and then COVID hit and everything shifted because everybody I was working with came to me and said, Well, I don't know if we're going to keep you on. And I got creative with how I continued to work with them and it worked. It got me through COVID, but it was funny how timing came into play because I came into 2020 and every year I do this, I evaluate how the past year was. I look at what's upcoming for the next year, but I ask myself some serious questions and the question that I ask myself coming into 2020, for whatever reason, I just turned 40 and I had asked myself, Is this something I can seriously be doing when I'm in my sixties? And the answer that kept ringing out my head was, No, you can't be hauling kegs around when you're in your sixties.

[00:11:00] I mean, I'm doing these things by myself in my car that's not going to work. So in my mind, I was already thinking about what's the next step? How can I take what I'm doing to the next level and get beyond that point? Well, when COVID hit. Everything changed and my mind immediately went to Och. The universe is forcing my hand and I have to make some changes. Now. I'm not going to have all of 2020 to figure this out. I've got to do this as we speak right now. And for me, what I was loving about what I was doing within my business at that point was podcasting, not just my own beer podcast, but at that point I had started working with a couple other people to develop their podcasts, and I realized right there that that was the direction for me. I love the podcast platform. I've been in it since 2015. I've grown a ton in regards to my ability to be a good host, to be a good guest, and to help others do the same. I felt like this was the direction that I needed to go as I was shifting my business. And if the universe is telling me I have to do it now, so be it. And that's what I did. So towards the middle of it, I made that shift and went full on into podcasting, shifted away from the beer podcast and went more into just helping others and then building my own show, which is about brand building.

[00:12:18] All right, now you've got an interesting past of work and and a lot of a lot of people love to hear the stories of how you actually transitioned. So that was you were forced into transitioning. But did you have money saved up? Did you just cold turkey quit one and start the next? How did you make that transition, especially coming from an interesting past of car rentals and the Hair Club for men?

[00:12:45] Oh, yeah, man. It was it's you look at the past resume, it's a little bit of a tapestry of a mad man because there was not a lot of clarity in the direction. And now I will say, I mean, the last full time job was the Hair Club deal and they let me go unexpectedly.

[00:13:05] Too much hair. You weren't.

[00:13:07] Yeah, well, that's one of the funny things that they said when I came in, like, well, we won't have to do anything for you. You still got all your hair? That was one of the.

[00:13:15] Things I.

[00:13:16] Believe in. And I get it. If you're going to sell that solution to somebody that's losing their hair, you better have your hair, too. I get it. And I was like, I completely understand this, but fortunately I was in a good jeans. We're kicking in for the top of my head. So once I lost that job, I really it took me. So it was it was so unexpected. I've told this story in full detail in other podcasts. And really just what had happened was a month prior, I was I had had an interview for a regional management position to be on the unemployment line a month later. It was not something I had in the cards. So I remember I spent that night at the bar down the street from my house just drowning my sorrows, walked home, woke up the next day and looked in the mirror and said, There's two choices here. I was already developing my side hustle, which at that time was breaking brews. I can go all in on that and really start going and betting on myself and putting myself in this position to make a go at my own, with my own skill set, with all the experience that I've gained from all of my past jobs. And I've been doing my own thing on the side since I was 13 years old.

[00:14:24] Let's do this. Or the other option is update the résumé, put it out there, find another job that could potentially. What? Me? Go without warning, just like the last one just did. There was nothing appealing about the ladder. And I said, I'm going with the former. It's time to go all in. And I just started every day putting effort into building my own brand. And of course, there have been pivots, there have been major changes, there have been shifts that I wanted to do and the universe forced me into. But ultimately it's all come together and it all has worked out and I've been able to make the transitions. When the time was right, I didn't just abandon the beer business. I made sure I left on a good note with the breweries I was working with gave them ample notice of Here's what I'm planning. And they knew. They knew when things changed in 2020 that I was going to have to change, too. They didn't fight me at all. They were proud. So we're so happy to see that you're able to chase your passion and really go at something that you're good at because they knew I like podcasting so.

[00:15:26] Well, then.

[00:15:27] It all makes sense.

[00:15:27] I don't know if you know this either. I've sold lots of beer in my day. I had I had the second biggest nightclub in the state. All right. On of West Virginia for I know there are drinkers there, too, but.

[00:15:41] Yeah, a little bit.

[00:15:42] No, no, we didn't sell moonshine or anything, but we sold plenty of beer and and I kind of left the same way that I was on my way to be a millionaire by the time I was 30. And then the drinking age went from 18 to 21 and wiped me out. And you talked about leaving in good stead while I went to all the creditors and I refused to go bankrupt. I said, You give me time, I'll pay you off everything I owe you. And I did so, you know, so I could go back to that town. This day, they're probably all dead by so old. But that's how you. You don't burn your bridges, that's for sure. And and speaking of bars, so here's the here's the Iron City Lite story. And I don't know if they still have this tent. Hey, give me. And I see light and I see light. So that was the jingle at the time. And I was doing modeling and TV commercials in and around Pittsburgh in the late seventies, kind of fell into it. My girlfriend had done a Hanes pantyhose commercial and I and I took her to a job one time and somebody didn't show up and they said, Hey, you got dark hair and blue eyes, don't you? And I said, Yeah, why is it come here. They put me in some commercial or something and then I started doing it. But I was, I was at Froggy Bar. I don't know if it's still there anymore, but it was in Station Square and we were in the middle of the night. We're doing Iron City Lite Beer commercial, and I'm the bartender, which is again, kind of ironic since I'm allergic to alcohol, I don't drink one drop of anything or I light up like a Christmas tree. Wow. And so I'm supposed to pour this draught beer with the foam just coming up to the edge and going over the side of the glass and a close up of this. And they have a camera guy mounted in the ceiling above me and three or four of them around me. 163 takes later. Oh.

[00:17:44] I was going to guess like around a dozen or so.

[00:17:46] Oh, am I?

[00:17:47] That's a long.

[00:17:48] Night. And the produce says, forget it. We had to do 200 takes last week somewhere, you know. So apparently there's there's experts at this now in Hollywood that can draft beer perfectly. So that was my Iron City Lite story at Station Square.

[00:18:06] Froggy, isn't there? There are really aren't a lot of bars down there anymore. I know that I, I can't remember if it was Froggy is when I moved here, but I remember coming here when I was a kid because my godfather was my dad's best friend lived here. So we'd come down to Pittsburgh a couple of times a year just to hang out and we go down to Station Square for dinner and whatnot.

[00:18:25] Yeah, there's no Station Square in Pittsburgh was an old train station that they remodeled into beautiful shops and everything and it's right underneath. What's that thing called the that goes up the mountain? What's that called?

[00:18:40] The Duquesne Incline.

[00:18:41] The incline. Yeah, the incline. Yes. That goes this car. You ride straight up the mountain and it gives you this beautiful picture. Were you there? Were you there when they had the The Bridge to Nowhere?

[00:18:54] No.

[00:18:54] Yeah, that was before you got there, too. They they had a bridge, and they they couldn't they didn't have the money to finish it. And so they'd people would be drunk from drinking downtown and run right off the end.

[00:19:06] God, I wonder if that's the one. There's still supports for a bridge that are coming out, but there's nothing on top of it.

[00:19:12] No, it could ask. Ask around people. The older people, they remember the bridge to nowhere. And then I was a charter pilot around Rostrevor out of. Yeah, Rostrevor had a little airport there and I would be flying Rocky Bleier all the time and Andy Russell and and then John Cole used to come down to our high school and he worked out with me when I was a heavyweight wrestler. So. So I got a lot of connections there that, that fond memories. It was funny with, you know, Rocky Bleier, right?

[00:19:43] Yeah, of course. Yeah, absolutely.

[00:19:44] Well, I would fly him on a Saturday and land at Washington County Airport and he could barely, after sitting in the plane for 3 hours, walk into the to get his rental car. I mean, his feet, you know, from Vietnam were all shot up and everything. And then Sunday, he's running, making touchdowns.

[00:20:05] Yeah, he saved it all for the field.

[00:20:07] Yeah, yeah, no doubt. Yeah. So. So how do you work with people? What? What are kind of things you do? Well, we're not a booking. Booking agency, right? You're teaching people how to book themselves.

[00:20:19] Yeah, that's. I think I'm sorry. I think where I'm going now with because I did some booking and I'm still working with a couple people in that respect. But I'm looking to shift more to the training side and partner with agencies so I can help their guests that sign up on with them to be clients do better at the guesting part. To me, there's value in having a better understanding of how this process works. So you'll stay invested in that agency longer because you're going to know how to get results. It's just like anything else. If you come into any type of platform that you pay money for, if it doesn't deliver immediate results, it didn't work right. That's how a lot of people feel about things and they walk away. Podcasters especially experienced this. They don't have thousands of downloads on their first five episodes. Well, this this isn't working. I'm not going to podcast anymore. And you know, Tom, you have to be invested in putting a production together that people want to hear. Being a guest is the same thing. You have to understand how to make it work and how to be a valuable guest.

[00:21:23] And having those fundamentals of how a guest marketing campaign works is going to keep you more invested in the process to where you'll want to stay with that agency longer and be a podcast guest on a more frequent basis. Because we know this medium is continuing to grow and evolve. And as more people start bringing new shows out, the demand for quality guests is going to continue to grow. In my opinion, having those fundamentals in place and having a better understanding of how to set realistic expectations and then actually execute a campaign, whether you're doing it yourself or working with an agency, the value in that cannot be overlooked or overshadowed because this platform can deliver so much. And Tom, you gave a great example. Being an entrepreneur is on fire. We know that to be one of the biggest podcasts out there. And you got immediate results when that show went live. You don't have to be on the biggest show to get positive results. You just have to show up and provide value. Be an.

[00:22:26] Impactful guest. Was right in my lane, too.

[00:22:29] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:22:30] People want to be on some big general show. Yeah. And I mean, I've got I've got at least three or four friends that have been on Oprah didn't make a nickel. Right. Because it was just a big general show. They got the bragging rights, of course. And that's of course, know, I wouldn't turn it down. Right. But the thing is, is shooting for those super biggies is not always in your best interest.

[00:22:53] Not at all. I mean, it's ego stroke versus results. What do you really want? And I can give you a perfect example. Tom Schwab, the founder of Interview Valet, which is a booking agency. I met Tom at Podcast Movement in August, out in August of 2021 in Nashville. And part of his presentation he asked the group, What would you rather have an appearance on Oprah or access to Oprah's audience? I'm sorry, I take that back. He asked if you would rather have $1,000,000 or access to Oprah's audience for 24 hours. And when you think about it, most people, oh, my gosh, I'm just getting $1,000,000 handed to me. But if you actually had 24 hours to communicate with that audience, you could do so in a way that you'd make way more than $1,000,000. And what it really comes down to is the targeting. And if you go on something that's more broad, I know probably the most popular in regards to the well known ness, to coin a phrase, is the Joe Rogan experience. And everyone thinks, well, if I just get on Joe Rogan, then everybody's going to hear me, and that'll solve the puzzle. No, it won't. For starters, getting on Joe Rogan show is not easy because he's bringing on well-known celebrities and people that are they have some clout.

[00:24:06] So if you don't have that clout, you can't expect to get on that show. Second of all, you get on that show, you get to hang with him for how many hours? Because he's doing epic productions in regards to the time. And third, the audience that's consuming that content is not defined. It's very broad. So you're not going to have as much appeal to that broad audience as you would to go on an audience that has a fraction of the size. But every listener is dialed into that show because of a specific reason. It's geared towards a specific niche. Niche, however you want to say it. The host took time to define who their target listener was, and now they're finding or they're finding guests that can come on and help them create content that's going to speak to that target audience. When you do that and make appearances on shows like that, the opportunities to get results from your guest appearance far outweigh going on. Some show that has a very large audience, which again, good for the ego, but not necessarily good for the results that you want to obtain.

[00:25:12] Yeah, you could probably be on I mean, for the average person will never get on right now. Rogan But they could be on 500 or 1000 other shows by the time they they killed themselves to get on Joe Rogan once and yeah. And reach more targeted people make more money if they play their cards right. You know, I'm my own sponsor on my podcast. So if they have a pot and I was going to tell you that the agencies kind of love me, hate me, kind of because I kind of developed this idea that I've been hitting up. I've been teaching people in podcast masterminds that, you know, as soon as you have your own podcast, all these agencies swarm on you and try to get their guests on. So I have like a boilerplate thing that says, Och yeah, I'd love to if it makes sense, but I'm only booking reciprocal interviews. So if they have a podcast, I'll be on theirs and they can be on mine. And then so I get the podcast, the agency working for me for free.

[00:26:12] Because that's that's an amazing strategy. Yeah. Smart as hell. Yeah, I like that.

[00:26:17] And then some of them say, well, this guest doesn't have one, but we have this other guest that does. I don't care. Let me I'll go on his show. You bring this guest on. It's okay with me. Yeah. Yeah. I got a lot of interesting strategies if you have your own podcast, this is different than guesting, but beautiful. And the reason I got into it is in the early days, everybody was just a big ego trip, wanted to hear themselves talk. But yeah, I don't know, four or five years. Go. I got I think mine started in 18, maybe something like that. I started because people were starting to make money and. The new cars could play podcasts from the dashboard now and in the listenership exceeded XM radio and it's free and then so that's 100 million or a couple of hundred million new potential listeners right there. And then all the in-home devices like the Amazon Echo and the Google assistant, that's a billion more of those out in the world. So that's when I got into it. And and yeah, it's the listenership has been just crazy great. And it's growing all the time.

[00:27:32] Yeah. I think that when people start looking at doing a podcast and this is I think this goes hand in hand with guesting, but it's when people start a podcast, they have these grand visions of growth and dollar signs and they think it's all just going to fall in their lap, not realizing the commitment that they have to put into it. And in order to stay loyal to that commitment, I think you have to have the expectations that allow you to do so. The millions of dollars falling in your lap, not realistic, but start looking at your podcast for a for a networking platform, the opportunity to connect with like minded individuals who share your passions. Every time you bring someone onto your show and you get to have that type of conversation, you're getting to embellish on your passionate projects. And if it's part of your brand in your business, even better because you're having experts join you to create content that your listeners who you want to be come your customers can relate to, and they can be entertained by or informed by. When you start thinking of the other things that podcasts can deliver you, you start. Thinking on a different level and you don't walk away after seven episodes that had minimal downloads.

[00:28:52] And that's probably about average.

[00:28:54] That's the average seven. It's people get seven episodes deep before they cease to make any more podcast episodes. That's that's it's frustrating to me. It's a little disappointing that people actually think that they're going to see results. I'll give you an example. People ask, Well, how many downloads do you have on Evolution of Brand? I'm about five and a half months into was. I haven't looked yet. You haven't looked yet? How do you do that? Why? Those statistics aren't going to tell me anything that I need to know right now. I didn't start this show for that reason. I'm focused on building valuable content every single episode I produce, and I'm finding guests to help me do that. I believe in having content in place for when you get discovered, not the other way around. I know it works the other way around, but when people do find you because they got someone says You've got to go listen to this show, it's phenomenal. I'd rather them show up and say, Wow. That referral was dead on because there's 50 some episodes here and they all kick ass. If someone shows up on your channel or on your podcast or on your website and you don't have any content there for them, a person is going to wonder, What the hell am I doing here? And they leave. That's no good. So you have to reverse engineer the thinking in a lot of aspects in this area.

[00:30:10] And those seven average episodes for people poop out is, you know, like I like everybody else that's up there kind of say, oh yeah, listen, it says I'm in the top 1% of of 2,500,000 podcast and there's only it happens. Only three of them are left.

[00:30:30] Yeah. Yeah. And that's, I mean, good God. I mean I can go on and on about the download number vanity metric and people get so hung up on that number because they feel that that's I mean, again, so you're going to try to get a sponsor, you're going to try to get advertisers. That's typically the question that they ask. Fine. If that's what you have to tell them in order to obtain a sponsor or an advertiser, so be it, however. A download does not equate to a listen. If you're subscribed to a podcast, anytime you upload new content, subscribers have that content filtered to their device, ready and waiting for them to listen to. That means they could listen right away. That means they won't get to it for six months or ever. Aren't you guilty of this? I know I am. Content funnels in there and I'm like, Oh, well, I don't have time right now. I'll get to it next week or Oh man, I'm running out of space. I'm going to have to delete a few episodes. So they got you got credit for that download doesn't mean that I was impacted by the content because I didn't listen. So it's hard to hang your hat on that statistic and say it's the be all, end all.

[00:31:36] Well, here's what I teach people is, is that, first of all, the last statistics that I saw, that the average sponsor will pay anywhere from 12 to $18. And if it's super show $25 per 1000 downloads per episode, it's hard to get $1,000. You could be tripping over your beard before you get $1,000 per episode. Right. And so I teach him be your own darn sponsor. I've never had a sponsor, never won a sponsor. I got my own product mix from $17 to 58,000. And so I don't want I waste my time trying to get a sponsor for $2, you know, and and if you chase them, they don't want you if you don't can't prove these metrics and you could be six months, a year or more before you ever get a nickel. So if you're create an e-book or create your own product or your own coaching program, you can have money coming in the first episode. So, so that's.

[00:32:38] Absolutely.

[00:32:39] People.

[00:32:39] Know you're dead on. I think people need to start realizing I'm going back to what I was saying about looking at your production differently and it will keep you more invested. This is another way to do it. Being your own sponsor is a great way promoting your own products. And if you're putting value out there for your consumers and they're in your space and want to do business with someone like you, you're giving them another avenue to find you, another avenue to provide them value. And on top of that, what you can do is form some affiliate sponsorship partnerships with different brands that are also related to what you do.

[00:33:12] That's fine, too. I mean, I love affiliate stuff because the commissions are much bigger and, you know, they're just interested in results. They're not pencil pushers in some office somewhere looking at numbers, you know. So yeah. So now I hope I hope you're teaching this. I'm I'm almost sure you would be. Can they please get a decent microphone? Can they please not use the stupid apple thing hanging from their head and scratching on their shoulder the whole time and or $10 noise canceling headsets? So you get into all that stuff 100%.

[00:33:49] I can't remember what day it falls on in my 30 day training program, but it's an entire lesson about setting up a professional background, having a quiet space to where you don't get interrupted, to where environmental noises aren't going to bug you, where you're not up against a brightly lit window that makes you look like an apparition. And then taking time to invest in a microphone, not a yeti, not something for $10 off of eBay. I provide some suggestions that are sound like I use a sure v seven. It was the best $250 that I've ever spent in this space. Mike Hooks right up to my USB. It's clear I didn't have to fiddle with knobs. If you're going to be a podcast guest and be serious about the message that you're projecting. Yes, get a microphone before you ever go on an interview. It just makes you sound more professional. And the instant thought that people have is this person's taking this seriously. If it's not the audience, it's the host. Because hosts can get incredibly frustrated when you show up without the right equipment.

[00:34:57] Yeah. And it.

[00:34:58] Makes for a poor.

[00:34:58] Production, causes editing trouble for them and they're never going to invite you back. You know, I was on one show 13 times, you know, because all this stuff is taken care of. And then I give great content and I've been trying to talk people out of these stupid electric electronic backgrounds with Zoom. Oh, my.

[00:35:18] God.

[00:35:19] Set up a nice background. I'll show you how.

[00:35:24] I know I'm with you there.

[00:35:26] Yeah.

[00:35:26] Jason, it looks like you're in the. It looks like you're in the matrix. I actually, I, I did it as part of the video training. I switched it on and I was doing the demonstration of, look at me. I feel like I'm up against a dirty window and I can't get out. I'm like a mime in a box. And that was really what it looked like. But when you have those backgrounds, if you move even in the slightest, you get this trail.

[00:35:50] And you disappear sometimes.

[00:35:52] Yeah, I'm like.

[00:35:53] Oh, I see stuff. I mean, I was taught, I studied in Hollywood lighting and, and green screen and and I talk I'm out of green screens, too. I mean, the to do green screen really professionally takes enormous amounts of skill with lighting you differently than the subject. And you need to be far enough away that the green isn't bouncing off your. Yeah. It's just, just set up a bookcase. I mean that's better than it.

[00:36:21] I mean, in the world world we live in these days, you're going to be using this background for far more than just podcast interviews. Exactly. At your conference calls, you've got interviews that you do with people for your for recruiting into your company. There's going to be a number of uses that'll serve.

[00:36:36] Hey, did you see that lawyer that was talking to the judge and he had a cat filter on his face?

[00:36:44] I did not.

[00:36:45] You got to look that up. Yeah. Obstetrical lawyers in a in a, I don't know, deposition or something. And he's turned off the cat filter computer.

[00:36:58] Crazy.

[00:36:59] Oh, man. Well, we got to take a brief sponsor break. When we come back, we're going to ask Jason what a typical day looks like for him. And then he's got a very great course coming up to give you. So so we'll be right back with that. So, folks, about 20, 45 years ago now, I kind of turned the Internet marketing guru world on its head, and the guys at my level were charging 50 or 100,000 bucks. There was very few women at the time in the in the field. And and I knew a lot of these people a lot of them were rip offs. You gave them that money upfront, they'd be hiding out and you never get any service from them. So I said, that's too risky. I'm going to turn this on its head. So I charged about a 10% of that as an entry fee. And then for me to get my 50,000, you had to net 200,000. Well, people love this. And 1700 students later, it's still going strong. It's the longest running, most successful, most unique Internet and digital marketing mentor program ever. It's unique in many different ways. It's all one on one training with myself and my staff. You have an immersion weekend at the retreat center here in Virginia Beach. It's the only facility of its kind in the world.

[00:38:14] And we have a TV studio where you shoot videos and we edit them and and send them to you when you get home. You also get a scholarship to the school that were the one that I was talking about that's given the scholarships to persons with disabilities. You get a scholarship. To that school that you can either use for extra training or gift to someone. It would be one of the best gifts you could ever give to a young person, because all they're doing is is getting in debt, going to four year colleges that are just teaching them how to protest. You know, they're getting out and competing for jobs at Starbucks. So this is a skill that's in high demand. So lots of other unique features to it. So check it out at greatInternetmarketingtraining.com and we'll get you going online.

[00:39:02] Now let's get back to the main event. We've got Jason Cercone here. Jason drinks a lot of bourbon and smokes a lot of cigars. And in the midst of helping people be great on podcast and he also loves fantasy football and and golf and everything else. So he's built a beautiful lifestyle business for himself. So, Jason, what's the typical day look like for you?

[00:39:28] Well, I wake up, I pour a glass of bourbon, light a cigar, head to the golf course. I'm just kidding. That's that's the dream lifestyle that I'm building towards. But now typically, I mean, I have a morning routine that I also call it my pre interview routine because having that routine in place allows you to be more productive, to think more clearly and ultimately serve the people that you're looking to serve that day in a much better capacity. So. Get up, drink some water, do some jumping jacks, do some air boxing, have a protein shake, go to the gym, come home and meditate, read a little bit of a book. Just get myself in a good mental place for the day and a good physical place.

[00:40:09] You get up early or what time you get out?

[00:40:11] Yeah, I typically try to get up between six and 630. Okay. Just and some days I might push it to seven, but anymore I'm pretty much got myself trained to get out of bed by seven. Just feels better to get started. And I know I've talked to other entrepreneurs, they do 4:00 and I haven't got myself into that place yet, but 7:00 works for me and that's what I tell anybody with these routines. Yes. You want to make sure that you're doing something that's centered on self care and taking care of your body and your mind, but do what works for you. Those items that I just listed off may not be what works for you. Find some other things that work in your world. If if you're doing what I do, great. But ultimately, what serves you and what puts you in the best place to be productive that day? And then, depending on what day it is, I'm either connecting with other like minded folks in the brand, building space to record episodes for my podcast or on looking to be a guest on other shows. Or I'm connecting with clients to see what's going on in their space in regards to shows they're being on. Are they prepared? Is there anything they want to work on in regards to getting ready? Have they prepared? Have they listened to some of those podcasts? Just the basic formats and basic fundamentals that we cover in just general conversations, which I know you had mentioned this before, the break time.

[00:41:34] That makes me very excited that I'm I'm putting this training program out there because it's going to give everybody the foundation. And putting it all together was something that really culminated from a lot of the conversations that I've had with people, some of the struggles that they've experienced in the guesting space and some of the conversations I've had with people that have those unrealistic expectations can knock all of that down and build a very solid foundation before the first interview ever takes place. That's typically my day, and of course, I try to spend as much time with my daughter as I can and be a good part of her world. And her her and I should meet in her mom or divorced. But we have a very great relationship in regards to our daughter and make sure we get to spend equal time with her. And that's a big motivational force in my world, as well as doing good. So she sees the work ethic and if she ever wants to take over and give me more time to smoke a cigar and have a glass of bourbon, the business is hers.

[00:42:31] Well, but when do you have time for this unnatural fixation you have on Sara Blakely? What I saw on your LinkedIn profile, you're your main person you're interested in is the founder of Spanx.

[00:42:50] I, I don't that's news to me. I think I might have.

[00:42:54] Yeah. It's on your LinkedIn profile. It's your it's your main interest.

[00:42:58] Really. Well, thank you for bringing that to my attention. I mean, I have nothing but respect for Sarah Blakely and what she's accomplished. I did not realize I did not really.

[00:43:08] Know mine before the interview.

[00:43:09] So that's a little tight for my liking. But I did not realize I was number one fanboy on LinkedIn. I'm going to have to go check that out.

[00:43:18] Oh, man. So tell them how they find this course.

[00:43:22] The best thing to do now is as we sit and talk and this is coming, I know very soon and of course, podcast being evergreen and being able to be discovered at any time. This may already be live, but the best place to start go to Jasoncercone.com/screwthecommute.

[00:43:52] That's correct.

[00:43:52] All right. Yeah.

[00:43:53] And when you when you land on that page, I will have an opt in form for a free guide called Ten Tips to Becoming a valuable, fully optimized podcast guest. And that's really the primer.

[00:44:07] For training downloaded that folks it's really excellent yeah. It's very very nice yeah.

[00:44:12] There are some good tips in there for especially if you're in the DIY space and even if you are working with an agency on your guest bookings, it's good to have that knowledge. It's typically how I feel about outsourcing as a whole. If you want to outsource things in your business, have an understanding of how it works before you do it. That way, you'll know that you're getting a quality product in return, and you can actually set up some expectations for those folks when they do the work for you. So you're not constantly looking for revisions. It works the same way here. Having the foundation in place by checking out these ten tips is going to give you a true snapshot of what you can accomplish as a value driven podcast guest. And it's a great way for you and I to connect. And once we do, we can take things to the next level. I'm always open to having a conversation on Zoom to talk about your goals and expectations and when Mike Drop University is ready to go. Looking forward to having you as a student.

[00:45:10] Beautiful. Beautiful. Thanks so much for coming on, man. It's been a lot of fun talking to a homeboy. You didn't even say Younes once.

[00:45:16] That's. That was lower than me. Up north in Bradford, PA, that wasn't a saying. However, my grandmother was from Minnesota and Younes was big there. And Yin's in Pittsburgh.

[00:45:27] Yeah, yeah, one here.

[00:45:28] So I guess the lower you get the vowel changes and go from Younes the yens.

[00:45:34] Well then I went to West Virginia University so it turned into y'all.

[00:45:38] Y'all.

[00:45:39] Yeah, it's in the plural is all y'all.

[00:45:43] I am not big on slang, at least. I mean, to that degree I try to avoid anything like that. So and I hear yens and things like that. It's just nails on a chalkboard.

[00:45:52] It didn't really make it to Clarksville, I'll tell you.

[00:45:56] Well, there were other things that made it to plays.

[00:45:59] Well, thanks so much for coming on, man.

[00:46:01] Thanks, Tom. It was a blast. I appreciate it.

[00:46:03] Go to JasonCercone.com/screwthecommute and you know how to spell that. All right. We'll catch you on the next episode. See you later.