My Plan to Get on Steven Bartlett's Podcast
At the gym on Tuesday, I discovered a new podcast. It's called The Diary of a CEO."
I gave it a shot, and I loved it.
The host is Steven Bartlett. He's incredible.
He's thoughtful, calm, methodical, and a natural interviewer. He challenges his guests without being confrontational, while also allowing his guests space to think, process, and speak.
I'm thrilled to have found a new favorite podcast.
I don't know why, but when I was at the gym, I decided that I wanted to meet Steven and speak to him. His demeaner is very attractive and inviting, and I think I would benefit from having him in my life.
I decided that I am going to figure out how to become a guest on his show. Here's my plan.
#1 - Become a Great Speaker
Yesterday, I was listening to an episode with Julian Treasure.
Julian is a voice coach and a voice coach, an orator, a speaker and a sound engineer.
In the episode, Julian was talking about improving your voice through breathe control. "Your voice is your breathe" he says.
In response, Steven said that the biggest criteria he has for accepting guests on his show is their speaking ability. He doesn't invite guests on his show who are bad speakers.
It made me think of how apparent speaking ability is. When you meet someone, or when you have a conversation with a person, you instantly notice their speaking habits. These habits have an emotional effect on you.
Do you feel nervous? calm? excited to hear more?
After hearing this line, I knew right away that I need to improve my speaking ability.
I've always wanted to be a better speaker
I still find myself stuttering with my words, I take many long pauses because I can't think and talk at the same time, I constantly find myself getting out of breathe when I speak, and the "ums", "likes" and "you knows?" still come through way too often.
I want to be a good podcaster and give good presentations. It's important I learn to use my voice as a communication tool. It's not about what I say, but how I say it.
I'm on sales calls for 3 hours every day, but I've never taken the time to stop and think about my voice, my inflection points, the speed at which I talk, and the emotional response that my voice is creating.
That changes now. I'm very serious about this.
If I want to be on Steven's podcast, I need to build a library of video content and speaking content that properly reflects my ability to speak.
#2 - Double Down on my Story
I have a captivating story.
The two sides of my story have always been at odds with each other. It wasn't until recently that I have been able to blend the two sides of my digital persona.
At first, there was Sober Nation Tim. Everything I published had to do recovery, addiction, and sharing my message to others who may have needed to hear it.
In my journey of building Sober Nation, I started sharing my process of brand building and entrepreneurship.
But these two sides of myself were separate. Sober Tim and entrepreneur Tim rarely spoke to each other, especially not in public.
My sobriety is the catalyst of my entrepreneurship, and my entrepreneurship is a tool I use to stay sober
Without my writing, I couldn't have stayed sober. Without my sobriety, I couldn't have become a writer.
I've always kept these two sides of myself separate. As I've been building my companies, I would rarely talk about Sober Nation, and the work I've done to create community and resources to help those in need.
Why not?
I suppose it was because I was afraid to be judged. I didn't want to pigeon hole myself as being "the sober guy."
In time, I've learned to fully embrace my story, because it is was makes me uniquely me. It's the part of me that can't be duplicated or replaced or copied. Only I can share these experiences with the world.
My story will be what gets my message across.
Furthermore, my story has been the reason for my entrepreneurial journey.
My whole life, I felt like a loser and like a dummy. I never would have had the confidence to be an entrepreneur if I didn't get this gift of sobriety. The lessons I've learned in recovery gave me the courage to keep getting up and keep moving forward when everything was crashing down around me.
All of that to say, that if I want to get on Steven's podcast, I need to fully embrace this message.
Because everyone has something that haunts them. All of us have a demon that we are fighting. I know that feeling, I know how to fight demons, and my message can be the connective tissue that holds my brands in place.
#3 - Publish My Book
Speaking of my story, I'm about 1/4 of the way through writing my book.
I'm ready to articulate my message more clearly and go deeper into what these concepts mean.
Publishing your work is transformational. The book I'm writing will speak to people and help the younger generation understand why they are feeling so disconnected.
Publishing your art online is a gateway to creativity, connection, and commerce. It is the greatest advantage you can give yourself in the modern age.
I'll greatly increase my chances of getting on Steven's podcast if I have a book to promote. A book will give me a neatly wrapped product that I can point to and say "this is how I can help you."
I hope to be able to talk about my story with Steven, and show people that writing online, and creating your art, is much more powerful than gaining followers and taking selfies.
It solves a problem innate to the human condition. It helps us be a better version of ourselves.
It's not just about creating, it's about publishing. Because it doesn't count if you don't publish it.
#4 - More Self Promotion
As I've embraced this journey of personal branding, I've committed to publishing everything, regardless of how "polished" it is.
This freedom has made it much easier for me to promote myself on social media without worrying about what other people would think.
It's been liberating.
Most of all, it's been effective.
My social media marketing is taking off.
Most of my growth is coming from Twitter, but I'm seeing rapid growth on Instagram and YouTube as well.
It's exciting from a personal standpoint, but it's also exciting from a business standpoint. My personal brand is becoming the foundation of all my businesses and it has been providing me with new exposure and new opportunities that I never imagined.
In the last week alone, I've been invited to speak at two conferences.
Here's the reality ...
You have a much higher likelihood of being invited on podcasts if you have an audience. I know from first hand experience, that when I had a podcast, I was always excited to bring on a guest who had a large social following, because I knew that person could share the episode to their followers which would obviously generate more downloads.
A social media following gives you social currency. It's not fair but it's true.
The more social currency I collect for myself, the more leverage I will have to convince Steven to let me come on his show.
#5 - Close the Deal
Eventually, I will have to make my move.
Steven probably gets dozens of podcast guest requests a day. I get anywhere from 2 - 5 emails a day from people asking to be a guest on my podcast, and I don't even have guests on my podcast.
If I want to be taken seriously, I'll have to find a way to stand out.
Let me start by saying, I have absolutely no idea what I will do, but here are two ideas.
Third Web
Steven recently founded a company that designs web 3 applications and programming for other businesses.
He helps companies create smart contracts, build on chain analytics and dashboards, and even decentralized authorizations for app logins through (what I assume) are digital wallets.
There could be an in here.
Maybe I can do a write up on his company or maybe I can talk about it on the podcast. At the very least, that might put me on his radar.
Flight Story
Best I can tell, Steven has left his previous agency and transitioned to what looks like more of a consulting company.
If this is the case, I'm sure I can find a way to book a meeting with him through a mutual client or even through a random connection.
I'm sure I know someone who knows him.
Manifesting my Reality
If you're reading this, and you're thinking to yourself that I can't do it, I want you to truly pay attention to what I'm about to tell you.
"There's always a way."
I can do anything. So can you.
It may not happen today, and it may not happen in the next few months, but I have decided that I am going to be a guest on The Diary of a CEO podcast, and so now I have show up and fulfil what has already been written into reality.
To those of you still reading, I want you to know that this is the most important part of my plan.
Yes, I can create action steps and line items to accomplish, and all of that is important because it will lead to steady progress. However, what's more important than the steps I take, is the mindset I am in.
All reality is first created through thought, and my thoughts are what will be the true catalyst that will manifest this dream into a reality.
To some of you, this may sound ridiculous, but this is how I've gotten everything in my life.
This is how I ...
Met Seth Godin
Became business partners with Brian Clark
Had Ramit Sethi on my podcast
Landed in Nashville
Got sober
Healed and recovered from a terrible back injury
Met and married my wife
Built Stodzy
Built Sober Nation
Had a family (a son and then a daughter named Willow, exactly the way I planned it when I first dreamt of having a family when I was 15 years old)
You can decide what it is that you will have, and then God / The Universe / Infinite Intelligence / Whatever the fuck you want to call it, will get out of your way. I create the reality in which I have achieved the goal I have set, because I live as though the reality is already here.
I've already been invited on Steven's show. The only thing left to do is to let reality meet me at a mutually beneficial time and location.