Virtual Survival with Super Joe Pardo

Hi. This is Timothy Kim O'Brien, and this is Kyle Bondo. And you're listening to Pod Rec where we help you survive your podcast and folks we've got a special guest on here today, the man who has survived a ton of things and he still keeps on podcasting. putting out great shows and great conferences, none other than super Joe Pardo.

Hi, and welcome to today's show where we have a really special guest. I'd like you to introduce you a guy I met a couple years ago at a place called the Mid Atlantic podcast conference in New Jersey. and it happened in this little tiny hotel. I didn't expect a whole lot because I was just really new to podcasting. And what I got was the equivalent to the 1 room classroom experience where half the people talked, half the people came to learn about podcasting, and everyone

participated in 1 way or another. It's probably of all the conferences I've been to, the most intimate, and the 1 where I met more long lasting friends than any of the other were other I met friends at other conference too, but this 1 really, really kind of resonated. And because of that, I keep going back. I went to the 1 the following year in Atlantic City. I've been to the virtual conferences.

This guy knows how to entertain an audience. And, of course, the guy I'm talking about is super Joe Parker. Super Joe Parker. But but but what's up, Super Kyle? What's up, Super Tim? How are we doing today? How you feeling? It's it's Tuesday. Yeah. How you doing? I'm good to have you on pod rack today, and really appreciate

the time and effort you have put into putting on these conferences. Because as a guy who put on mountain bike races and all sorts of endurance sports, I I I'm cut from the same cloth and under and the challenges of hurting cats

like you have to do when you're trying to put on an event, where you spend all your money upfront, where you spend all your time invested in something you've been doing for months. And when you finally balance the books, you find out you made a hundred bucks or or even better. You you didn't. You went broke. you actually made negative money, which is always the benefit of an event. So I really appreciate you

really taking the time and sticking with it because I imagine that at a certain time, a lot of event people just they they said, nope. Can't do it anymore, but you haven't. You stuck it out. You even stuck it out through through some of the the tougher times. And I think it's you've you've I think it's getting better every year. That's what I wanna say about that. Thank you. but it really There's a lot of tough times that that go along with it.

And there's definitely been times where, like, I've thought about, like, you know what? I I'm I'm done. I'm it's I'm good. And, you know, a lot of it's because, like, before changing the conference over to the indie indie pod, Indian podcast conference, independent podcast conference.

You know, there was a big lull after the event. Right? So you'd have, like, activity leading right up to, like, the month leading up to the event, like, about a month after the event, there'd be, like, a tapering off of of like, interactions in the Facebook group and, like, you know, people reaching out and connecting and and, you know, auxiliary money coming in from other things and sales and that kind of stuff.

And then it would just be dead. And it's like, does anybody care? Like well, for and and here's the thing. So, like, I would use that time for a lot of those years. I was using that time after the event. instead of to recoup my energy, I would take the the 3 months, like, September the end of September to, like, January and write my next book. So I would use that time to write a book, and then it was time to, like, get the, you know, get the gears going again for the next event. But then there was, like, this there's, like, this low, like, after we would pick the speaker or I would pick the speakers.

There was just a lull, and I'd just be like, okay. So there's nothing going on the the in the group, and, like, it it just it's kinda stagnant. Even though everybody's excited about the next event coming up, but it's just not the same level of and and I think a lot a of course across a lot of those years, like, we had just had our first kid going back to 2016. So, like, life was changing rapidly. I

took a part time job at a nonprofit, so I was doing that. That was a first for me because I had never worked outside of my family's business, outside of my own business. You know? So it was just a rapid amount of changes, like, coming at me over the course of the last 6 years after the first 2 years. The 1st 2 years were pretty much

the same. And then after that, it just it was just changed after change after change. Like, then the second kid and you know, going back to work with with my family at the repair shop and to to build a franchise model and still having my business and still having indie, you know, map con, and now indie podcast. Like, there's just so so many rapid changes. And now, Things like,

it's just so different now. Like, since changing the name, like, all I did was change like, literally change 1 like, 2 words, 1 word? Mid Atlantic to to independent. And all of a sudden, like, we we've gone from, like, 400 members and a pretty stagnant group on Facebook to We just crossed 1400 members today.

And already I mean, I haven't checked in a few hour. Like, I haven't checked since this morning, but what last time I checked, we were already we hit 1400, like, this morning, and then by, like, mid today or so, we were already at, like, 14:20 or 14:25. So we're already, like, on our way to 1500. Like

so it's just a a rapid amount of growth that came since the timber. Like, I was thinking about this while I was getting a shower or just a little bit ago, like, how much has changed just since, like, in 8 months time? with the group and and everything that's just it's just rapidly growing. So I I you know, I'm I'm grateful.

I'm grateful to to not only, you know, people like the 2 of you. I'm grateful to my wife who has sucking sucking out with me through all these years of of, you know, growth and give you a gold statue right now. You're like, you know, I like the the academy. Yeah. But but I'm grateful. to myself. Too quick. And and I'm even even my dad

because, like, there was time there was a time where, like, I I told you, like, I was thinking about, like, okay. There isn't a lot going on with it. Maybe maybe I'm just you know, it's not growing, like, all these all the, like, you you know, the podcast and the podcast movements of the world. Like, maybe it just doesn't matter enough. I'm not, you know, making enough money from it to, like, technically justify continuing to do it anyway.

maybe I should just kill it off. And, like, my dad was like, no. You you need to keep doing it. And I'm like, okay. Alright. I guess I will. It's it's it's hard because sometimes it's hard to see, like, the big picture when you're, like, in it and and there's nothing going on and you're, like, just kinda letting it stagnate for even though it's not starting because you're building up to the next event, you're you're doing releases, you have a schedule, and you're putting the stuff together,

it's just hard. But now it's like, there's always there's always something else to do. There's more members I gotta approve. You know, there's there's the spammy spammy post that I gotta remove. Coming up with content, I'm working on a, you know, a content release schedule. the outside of just the the weekly indie pod podcast, which both of you have been on, but not together. So we're gonna fix that in the coming coming months, I hope. There is a reason for that.

Superjail, there is a reason for that because we can't be in the same room at the same time. Yeah. There there is a legal requirement that says that we can't be in the same room. This is the only way we can converse with each other. Even at work, we can't consider. Oh, man. On the sulfur vacations, when the moon is in the right epoch, we can be in the same room. That's the only time that Just what happens to your conference. your live conference fell on those days. So

so yeah. So it's there's just so so much now and it's still and it's still tiny. Right? Like, 1400 people. Like, you look at, like, podcast movement and you you have, like, 35,000 people in that group. It's crazy. It's hard. It it's it's ridiculous. But I yeah. I don't know. I I'm just I'm just grateful to to everybody for sticking it out and and myself for sticking it out and and and we're finally seeing, like, a a you know, big turn of growth. Yeah.

I don't know. I don't know where this is all going, but I I I I'm liking it. I'm loving it. And and then I'm glad to have you guys on board with it. Well, I and and, Joe, I think that's 1 of the things that we we talk about here at at PodDirect is you know, you need to have your goals kinda set. And 1 thing that I've noticed at map con and indipodcon. I like to call it Icon. It just

I like Icon too. Not everyone loves that, but I I like that. I you know, I I'm a sucker for Akron. nIMs? AcronIMs? Is that yeah. AcronIMs. Absolutely. Yeah. I don't know why. Well, because you're an honorary twin dead, I've already made you an honorary wind dead. And I'm gonna make an honorary air force guy too, because, you know, we love, like, a usual love our hearts. Another 1 that's stolen valor, please. Please. So Oh, no. No. No. It's honorary. It's totally honorary. But I we

we we talk about, you know, having that goal set and and being realistic about what you can do. And every time that I've I've gone to an event, whether it be virtual, and we're we're gonna get to that here in just a moment because that's the £800 gorilla in the room, a virtual or to the twos that I've been to, 2 napkins icons, And then even in DC Pod Fest,

DC when when I first met you, you were teaching a class, And, of course, I had the neck surgery. I had the wonderful voice for voice over at that time. You made it very personable for that beginning podcaster like I was. And at MapCon, you know, we do have you do have some big names. speaking at MapCon. I was 1 of them. Kyle was 1 of them. And, of course, we have Got it.

And and folks, Super Joe comes with his own sound sister here. Of course, he comes with their own sound Every year, own theme music. Yeah. Yeah. Of course. That's a, like, a a family guy when he wishes the with the genie. I gotta have my own theme. I wanna ban following me for my theme music. playing behind me the whole time. It's just it's just awesome to have like that. But I I I think, you know, that that is 1 of the

the the great things about MapCon. That is 1 of the great things about icon and and your online work that you're doing right now. And with the university stuff that's coming out here really quick too for everybody is that you talk at many different levels you can talk to the indie end of the the well, you talk to the indie podcaster. You talk to the beginning podcaster. You talk you you're right there on par with, you know,

Hall of Fame, hundred bucks, Dave Jackson, stuff. No. It's not. No. No way. No way. Absolutely. You you talk about that. that level. Hutterfly's dead. Hey. I gotta get my re 320 somehow. You know? I I it's gonna happen this year. 2020 is the year. that Dave's gonna buy me an RE 320, and that way I don't have to mention his name anymore.

But that's 1 of the things that I really enjoyed about coming to that conference. And a lot of our listeners are, you know, brand new people to it. They're wondering, hey. You know, what am I gonna get at a conference in folks? So you just heard all the work that Super Joe goes through just to make that event very personal for you. for you, how do you make that conference be so personal with with MapCon and with indie podcon. How how is that

how do you how do you achieve that? What's what's what's don't tell me all the secrets because, obviously, sleeve. You know? There there's some patent and trade secrets there that I would give my right pinky finger for. I want it. Take that pinky. There you go. There you go. Right there. It is it's Percy and I'm coming out right there. I can't remember what to offer, man. But but how do you how do you set that up? How how how is that for you? How do you how do you do that? you know,

a lot of it comes back to just working with what you have available. Like, the first event that we did was in a school gymnasium. You know, I got the school gymnasium for free. So And then how I did it was I got I taught a middle school podcasting course to

there's, like, 7 or 8 maybe 10 kids in that class. It was the after school thing. It was it was really their computer tech like, after school program, and I kinda took it over for for, like, 10 weeks. And out of that, I mean, I got the teacher class. Like, that was I never did that before. made some pretty boneheaded mistakes in doing in doing so. Mhmm. And

So yeah. So, like, you know, when people came to the event, like, they came to this this school gym days, and I'm on a Saturday. And, you know, I just I host it. I I've I mean, I've heard people talk about it, like, Matthew Pasi out to Matthew Pasi, the pod guest consultant, and I owe him another $100. So yeah. No. We don't mention his name. You know, he you know, he's liking it to, like, hanging out in my living room and and just talking podcasting and and you know, I

I I I don't know. I just like to, like, bring people in and have, like, entertain people and That's part of why, like, I was showing you guys my my studio here that I'm building out in the garage. Like, we've had these games. It's not just because I'm, like, a you know, a gamers. It's because I I like to, you know, set things up and have entertain people and have let people have fun and and experiment, and that's where, like, out of the I mean, like, even the the the creative podcast workshop.

competition that we did. You dating back to the first event, like, we actually, we but it's it's just me. You know, I decided to, like, you know, I I was watching the show well, part of the reason I was at that middle school gymnasium was because I was watching master chef junior and 1 of the kids that went to that middle in Westville, New Jersey, which sadly no longer no longer exists, is it's a it was a cath it's a catholic school. you know, they

they had, like, watch parties and stuff like that for him. And so I went and I interviewed him and it it got, like, connected with the with the the principal there and the marketing director who I'm still very close friends with. And you know, it just it just all kinda came together in a way that, like, I don't think it could've I don't think it could've came together any other way. Like, that was in 2000 and that must've been the end of 2014

that he was on mesh searching because he was on the 2nd season, then he can't he ended up coming in 2nd place. So first runner-up. And and yeah. So it it just it all it all just kinda came together. Like, later that year, I'd spoke at the school. We had, like, this giant, like, assembly where I did the the how to dream talk, and that went over really well. We had What do we we've made

toilet paper guns. So, like, it's a it's a leaf blower with, like, toilet paper roll on the end of it. And and, you know, we were I was running all over, and you know, spraying the kids with toilet paper. They they loved it. It was awesome.

So yeah. So just building that relationship and then bringing people to this place where you know, I I was thinking like, okay. So after we did this, I was like, alright. Well, next year, like, we gotta get, like, couches and we gotta get, like, all these things. I was like, how do I rent them? And And then it turned out that, like, the holiday inn that we were at, that that that's down the street where we've had, you know, 3 of the 5 events at so far. Wasn't really that expensive.

Yeah. I could've or I could've probably afford it. I mean, that 1st year, I you know, we had It was only, like, 30, 35 people that came. Over 10 of them stayed at our house and, like, we had So sleeping bags, and I I bought air mattresses, like, at k at the Kmart that no longer exists set our our down the street from our house anymore,

like, you know, for, like, maybe 5 months or something. Yeah. It is sad because I I I underutilized it until it was starting to look like it wasn't gonna exist anymore. And then I was like, man, this is really convenient to have a Kmart right here. because everywhere else is like an extra 10 minute drive and this you know, I just underutilized it, which, you know, probably didn't help. So So yeah. So we had we had, like, a third of the people staying at the house.

Brent Basham, was that that first event from PodIT? You know? That's that's a hundred bucks. And who who else? He didn't stay at our house. He was going to, but he wound up staying somewhere else. Dave Jackson was at that first event. Who else was there? Joey Kissimmee from Appendipity was there, that first event. Jessica Kupperman from Cheap Podcast was there. Like, there was just so there was so many Jennifer Crawford was there. Like,

Yeah. Right? Like and we didn't know what he knew. And and that's part of, you know, having you know, just having an event and then then sticking with something and seeing at, like, who ends up being somebody. Like, Jessica Gufferman wasn't really anybody back then at the time. Like, she you know, I think she had just started with she podcast not that long prior to being there. So, like,

You know what I mean? Like, she was still awesome. I you know, it's it's like a sister to me, but I she wasn't, you know, she wasn't as big as she is now for sure. And So yeah. So it's just it there's just so many things that came together. And if it wasn't for, like, my Disney connection, I wouldn't have had Kathleen Kelly. who also came,

who hooked me up with Dave Jackson. Like, that wouldn't have been a thing. He would never he I I wouldn't even really probably known who Dave Jackson was at time, if it wasn't for Kathleen Kelly. So, you know, it's like it's like all these all these little things happened, and then it just it's just rolls and rolls and rolls and rolls over.

It's just, like, you wanna say, like, oh, it's being at the right place, the right time or whatever. But, like, it was 2014. Like, podcast or, you know, is when I started it, but, like, podcast movement had an event in 2015 too. Like, that was their first event. So

Jennifer Crawford's event was I think her first was also the 1st year was 2015 as well, which was right after mine. I was going I was running a race, so I couldn't go to it. I was sad. that I missed it. In fact, I think it was another 2 years before I was able to actually go to DC podcast for the first time because I think I was running a race that following year as well. But but yeah. You just you just don't know. Like and now and now I host a show with Jennifer Crawford.

You know? So -- I'll figure. -- it's yeah. It's that's the biz business geeks. The business geeks podcast. So you just you just don't know. And then,

you know, when we moved into the to the new venue, like, everybody loved it. And you know, it's our our attendance went from, like, 30 people in a gymnasium to over 70 people in a in a hotel that was nice, you know, and had people that didn't didn't just come from the East Coast because even in the 1st year, we had people that we had people drive from Georgia. you know, Dave Jackson, Steve Swanson, drove from Ohio. You know, we had Brent Basham flew from Georgia Joey Kissimmee flew from Orlando.

Like, there was all these things, like, these people. And then the 2nd year, like, we had people literally coming from California. And and we were calling at the Mid Atlantic podcast conference and people were, you know, sending me emails and like, hey. Am I allowed to come to this? and I'm like, well, yeah. Like, it's just where it's held, not where it's meant to be. And I guess I had I had been smarter, I would have changed the name sooner. to to something that

felt, like, felt more appropriate for the the people that were actually coming. I mean, Even in the 2nd year, I think Mark Asquith came in that 2nd year too. So we are already international by year too. Nice. You know? Yeah. That's a that's a $100 there there, Mark. So You can afford it. Yeah. So is it you know, it's and then the next year, it was, like, a hundred people, and then it was a little over a I think it was, like, a 100 and 10 or something, and then

a little bit, like, a little bit more. And then well, I think the 4th year we ran into a hurricane where a lot of people that were coming out of Florida and that that area weren't coming because of that hurricane. Or maybe it was the 3rd year. It might have been the 3rd year, and then the 4th year we had people come from more people come from Florida. But we have, like, it sounds like an owning company.

The Atlantic City 1 had a hurricane. That too. Yeah. Which I mean, fortunately, we, you know, knock on wood. We we were able to avoid for the most part. But there was a lot there was actually quite a few people who did didn't come because because of their because of their jobs, they weren't able to leave, like, Anthony Hayes wasn't able to make it sadly because of his job. So, you know, it's

if we didn't have this pandemic, my goal for this year was to hit, like, between 2 to 300 people. and, like, start to look at maxing out the hotel that we have because especially now now that I'm looking at, like, wow. Like, look how big the group has grown. Like, the the messages I'm getting every day, to every other day from people that are enjoying the content, enjoying the con the virtual conferences to -- Mhmm. -- you know, just learning so much.

it's it's all it's all slowly coming together to finally, you know, in year 6, finally start to show signs of like, okay. So I lost $3000 the 1st year. But we had this awesome house party after the event and, like, we watched was it Manny Pacquiao and

Floyd made weather? I think it was the first the fur first route or 1st fight with them between them. Yeah. So we, like, bought that fight, and we bought pizzas for everybody, and it was, you know, it was awesome. And the 2nd year, it was like, oh, I made my $3000 back. prey. Like, you know, yay. Made money back. So I broke even 2 years. Cool. And then I think it was made, like, 6 or $7000 the 2nd year, and then I think it was, like, 8 or 9 in the 3rd year,

4th year, something like that. about the same. And then last year, I barely broke even because we went to LAX. So you tried to go big. Mhmm. Didn't work out so well. barely barely drinking even. In fact, I still have money on my credit card because of that event because the money was already spent prior. So I had to come up with the cache at some you know, from somewhere. So not not and and, you know, I take full responsibility for that. That's it that's on me. You know, I I'm sorry?

You could blame the hurricane. But it wasn't the hurricane. It was me. because, like so that year in 20 In 2019, I spent a lot of time and effort putting getting putting together my TV show, the top of Super Joe Pardo. So, like, I way over, like, spent my time building that. And I kinda you know,

I kinda thought, you know, hey, it's the 5th year. There's gonna be a lot. Like, if we had everybody show up that came to previous years, like, this is gonna be huge. Like, this is gonna be, like, 3, 400 people. No problem. And then it didn't turn out that way. Like, because I didn't I didn't invest the time. I didn't get all the sponsors I needed. to make it work. And and the expenditures were insane. Like, you know, where where I was spending, like, 4 or 5000 doll like, more like, 3 to $5000

in previous years. I spent, like, 10. Mhmm. And I don't even know off the top of my head, I can't even remember if that's all of my expenses put together, if that was just the major ones for the hotel, not even like my room, a second room I needed to buy for somebody you know, the the the conference room, the food I had to buy, the food I mean, everything about it was it it made it really tough for somebody who who waited until almost, like,

the end of July to, like, oh, crap. I really need to, like, jump on, get this thing girl in here. Mhmm. It was a it was a mistake. You know, it was a messed up on my part. But I've I, you know, going forward, I I have a lot of my sleeve to to make it. And I and I've also refocused a lot of my time and effort. So, like, while I still wanna do my TV show, right now, I can't do that because, well, we're obviously stuck in quarantine. Right.

So it's like, okay. You know, let's let's create the content that we need to to grow it, and that can lead us right into virtual conferences. See, I can do it. I know how to story. been a story. Nice. Thanks. So super so it's that was fantastic. You know? 100 bucks, super geo part of it right there. Chick's in the mail for you there, bud. Thank you. Thank you.

So with moving from And this is why I'm glad I have both of you on here for Pod Rec because I'm I'm gonna toss some questions over here at Carl too. because I I'm in the unique position of I have, you know, spoken at napkin, spoken at Icon, But I on the virtual side, I've attended the conferences on the virtual side of the house, but I've not spoken at a virtual conference yet. And you exact I know I know Super Joe is gonna get me in. I know he is.

So For you, sup Joe, how do you take that that that that nice, warm, fuzzy feeling that we get When we when we go in that holiday and when we go to the to the hotel with the casino, because I would have never gone to Atlantic City. I have to thank you for holding in Atlantic City. I would have never gone to my entire life. No need. No reason for me to go to Atlantic City, but can't say I blame you.

I love I love Ocean. Ocean's great. They were wonderful to us. you know, they had some issues. I talked to that with them. I'm friends of 1 of the owners. Like, I love them. Love you, Casey. But, you know, it would it's you know, to to bring back that that that why is it so so special. I here's what I here's what I think it is. When most of the events that you go to, if there's 1 person that's hosting it, that's like, actually hosting it. Like, they might they're not

unless they're the and this might this is gonna sound this probably is gonna come off really bad, and I don't mean any offense to anybody. Mhmm. But they and I and I genuinely mean that. But generally, in my opinion, in my purse perception, if if I'm hosting an event, like, the super Joe Pardo

blah blah blah experience. Like, I'm there to sell you something. Like, that's the only reason I'm here. That's the only reason you're there whether you realize it or not. you're there to buy and on there to sell. Mhmm. And and that's not how I've I've run the event. Now maybe that's to a detriment in my in my case of, like, bare you know, barely breaking even last year with crazy expenses. And in my opinion and and I know in some people's opinions, a a cut down version of what

it it should have been. You know, had I had not been so focused on the TV show through 2019, I would have had more time to, like, figure out how it was going to how it was gonna translate in this giant

giantormous hotel versus like we go to the holiday inn, you walk in the door, there's the the the conference room is all right there. Like like literally as soon as you walk in the door, it's right there. check ins over here, there's tables and chairs. Everywhere the bars right over there, you could see it from the door, the bathroom's right there, you could see it from the door, There's a pool table right behind there, like, right behind the the bar, and it's this giant atrium for you to podcast it, and we pretty much take the whole thing over.

you know, I I was worried about it, and and I didn't I didn't do my job. I didn't do a good enough job. I mean, I hate to be Andy Reed, but I I I had to do a better job and go you know, make going making the decision to go back to the holiday in was a difficult decision because I'm like, man, well, we we we upped the, you know, we upped the ante. We went to a bigger space, and it didn't it didn't resonate. And and part of that was Now, I'm glad that you 2 enjoyed it.

But, like, everybody had an extra hour drive. Everybody had a way more expensive hotel room. You had more options for hotel rooms, but they were all way more expensive than the 100 $120 room at the Holiday Inn. you know, so things like that that that, you know, that played a part of it, that

it just I didn't do enough to make that happen. So go you know, making that decision with my team, which I now have a team of people that I work with to help kinda push things along and do things which before it was just, you know, me and Amy Jay,

that's me owing her a $100 for all the world hard work that she's that she's funny. But no. Seriously, like, she's she's done a lot in mostly in the event, you know, at the time of the event, in the timing and and then and coordinating and and all that.

But I I also think part so going back to, like okay. So when you're in the room at an event with a per with a person who's like, I'm here to sell. You're here to buy. Like, we all know what's going on even if you don't know what the heck's going on. You're you're in that room.

That's not how I operate it. Right? Like, I I have courses and things, but, like, it's not a hard sell. This isn't what you're here for. Other people are here to speak. Everybody's bringing something to the to the table people are getting involved. I think it's a good chunk of why people feel such a connection to us because so many people are involved with doing the event. And then part of it is also the fact that, like, they see me. Right? Like, I'm, you know, talking on the mic upfront. I'm vlogging.

you can't see it, but I'm holding up a vlog and get my vlog kit right now, you know, and and I'm running the camera the for the virtual ticket and I'm running the slides and everything but the timer pretty much, and I'm and and I'm juggling all these balls in the air at once and, you know, trying to keep it all together. And everyone's like, oh, it is a great was awesome. It was great. Joe, you need more help. And I'm like, alright. Well, you know,

and I'm and I'm running the the registration table in the back of the room, like, because, like, the volunteers are now not volunteering anymore. They're they're in the seats. And and I'm, you know, making sure there's enough water in the back, and I'm running back and forth. And you know, there it's just a lot of things, and I and I think people see the work and effort that's going into it. And I think it's a it's a different level of appreciation than being at a a big event where it's like,

oh, hey. There's Joe, and he's like walking like, I'm walking by and, like, I'm busy, but, like, I'm not busy in the Saint like, you can't see it. Right? You're not you're not seeing the busy. You're just seeing me walk and walk and talk with somebody. And and it's just different. So, like, not that I don't think that I need more help because I do, and that's 1 of the reasons I've put a team together, but that doesn't mean that, like,

Like and and the other thing is is is I'm really adamant about keeping it as a 1 track conference because I want everybody to be there. I want everybody to build that live together inside jokes throughout the day when you in you know, when I throw out the the

like a like a stress ball or something for people to catch and introduce themselves to the entire room, like, of a hundred plus people. Like, that's the kinds of things that, like, now I know that person and and and, you know, Kyle, I'll always go back to, like, your your your testimonial of, like, hey. Is that, like oh, that that's, like, Emily Prokopf, and then there's Dave Jackson. It's like, oh, yeah. Now we're friends because we hung out for, like, 2 days together versus -- Absolutely.

-- like, oh, I saw them in the hallway. I talked to them for 30 seconds, and then somebody more important than me came around and they and they jetted off. You know, that's that's the thing. So it's like, even even when we talk about how how can we take this event and bring it to like a 3 or 400 person event and put it still have it in 1 room. which is gonna make him a bit more expensive

because of the fact that, like, we gotta we're probably gonna define another venue. If we wanna continue to have the desk or the classroom style set up, which I'd love, but they're only gonna be able to host, I think, like, a 130 or a 140 people. in that classroom style where we're at with the hotel. Mhmm. We can do 400 people, but that's in a, like, a theater style, which I'm not opposed to if we have to if we get there. Hey. That's awesome.

I don't I I mean, obviously, this year, I I don't know that we're gonna do that. be allowed to do that. Where I still have to talk with the hotel leader this week or next week and find out, like, or am I allowed to have my event? Or and and if people are even going to wanna come, like, I put out you guy I know you guys saw it. Did you guys responded to the Responded to adapter thing. Yep. What what was your because it was a it was a 1 out of 10. 10, I'm definitely coming.

1, you better have a virtual. And the results of that were not great. You're not great. Mine was 11. It was 1. Mine was 11 because I I I wanna come to it. For for the reason of to get together with my friends in this crazy time that we're in, the virtual is is interesting. It's nice. I can how I how I do the virtual, and I I think I told you this, but if I haven't told you this, So on Saturday mornings, I wake up with my girls at 5 in the morning

because they're like they're dead. And we sit and we watch cartoons. And, you know, twin dad, I got my twin dad shirt right here. Real men, kick it up a notch. Dad squared. So we're sitting to watching cartoons. I I got an earbud in 1 ear. I'm watching the cartoon with 1 eye, and then I'm you know, I got my phone right there, so I'm watching the screen with the other eye. And then with my third eye, I'm sleeping, which is great because I can do that.

But that's how I watch these virtual conferences, and I like it, Jill. I do like it. I can't stay for the whole 8 hours, the whole 6 hours. Oh, I just can't do it. It's hard. It it it is a commitment. it's a lot easier if and and part of the other reason is and don't tell my wife my kids this. I like to get out of the house to get out of the house.

and go and and and be around people that when, you know, when I'm talking about an ATR 21100, when I'm talking about an RE 320, when I'm talking about bit rate when I'm talking about downloads, CPM, all that good stuff.

I got people looking at me going, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I don't have my, you know, my wife going rolling a rise in the back of your head, going Tim's talking about podcasting again. Yay. 1 thing that I wanna definitely ask you about And this is this is a issue that is dear, a near and dear to Kyle, myself, and a certain Terry with the beer tent consultants from the contest that we that we had is, 1st and foremost, we still have a recount and an investigation going on why we lost

with that. I just yeah. You need to know that. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. You gotta you gotta give me some context. Yeah. I was thinking you need some context. Joe runs this contact this contact at the at his his conferences where he get an envelope. And in the envelope are a few words that you have to string together And in 25 minutes or less, you have to figure out how to put a cop podcast together. You got, like, 5 minute episode.

and you have 3 other teammates with yourself. So a team of 4 or 5, and you have to create something in the hallway and then come out and either at the first 1 we did, we did it live, where everyone had a microphone, and the second 1 we had to record it. And the first 1 we did live, is the 1 Tim is talking about where we had some strange words that turned into the beer tent consultant and it got really I mean,

This is a PG. Oh, okay. It got it got a little racy there, but it's a well, the horse and in the Amit guys and 2 people interviewing people who create beer, and it got really silly.

So there we go. For the for you you out there who did not attend that map con, that that that that's the kind of thing that happens in these conferences is and this is and this is like I was telling like I was telling Joe earlier, that the reason why you have these kind of intimate relationships is because not only are you in the classroom

for 2 days and sitting next to the same people for 2 days and watching the same things they're doing, and they get up and give a talk, and you give up and give a talk. And then you guys are now your best friends because you both knew each other or you introduced yourself, But then you have these little contests off of the side where you have to be forced to learn from 3 new people you didn't know and come up with something creative that just it it creates team cohesion immediately.

And that's the kind of thing next though. They'll continue your story, Tim. But that's the that's the that's the kind of thing that that that

Every conference has something like that. A little bit different. That 1 happened, however, because I'm a creative guy. That's to me. Mhmm. Because I love the creative aspect of that. I'm coming up with something just totally off the cuff based on a couple really strange words and boom. Now you're you're sometimes, they're so good that I wonder I don't know about this for a fact, but I wonder if some of them, like, inspire

podcasts to be created because of that. I would be a betting man to say that there are probably a few that do or at least people get inspired by the idea of it. Anyway Yes. So with all of that, having, you know, items like that in the live show, is that going do you foresee something like that coming into the virtual conference. because I would I I I tell you right now, Jill. I would love if there would be a way that we could get people that register to attend.

And then you just mix this all up and go, okay. You threw you guys over here for an for 20 minutes or an hour. You guys get together. make a show. And and that I don't know the logistics and how that would work. I'm just tossing it out there for you, super Joe. 100 bucks super chill. If you actually do that, I won't charge you. Well, I I so part of the yes. The answer is yes.

I want to if we do go virtual for this for for this event in September, To make it stand out and different, I wanna incorporate the things that we were going to do live like the creative podcast the workshop or I was gonna do a pitch competition as well. So you pitch So the idea is, like, you pitch a

so you have this guest in mind. Like, they're like, I wanna get this ultimate guest that, like, what's my dream guest? And the idea is that you write a pitch, like a short pitch to have them on your show and you email it to me, And then we show it to the judges, and the judges vote out, like, the, you know, they pull out, like, the 5 best, and then we use crowd funding, like, crowd collapse -- Mhmm. -- to

figure out who's who's who wins. And then the winner, we tweet at that person collectively, like a 100 100 plus people, 200 people, 300 people, would tweet at that person and hopefully maybe get on their radar. So that that's the idea. I had some pushback from from some of my team members, but I'm just like, if somebody feels uncomfortable about doing it, just don't do it. It's fine. It's not the end of the world. There's plenty of people that are gonna feel comfortable and wanna do it.

So so there's things like that that I wanna incorporate, and I think what we might have to do is move it to a Zoom room just so that we could do, like, breakout rooms and enable people to go in for cord their podcast and stuff. I don't know how that works because I I honestly don't use Zoom. So I'm not sure how that works from, like, how would you like, How would Tim and Kyle record that podcast with 2 other people in a Zoom room

that isn't the main room? I don't well, piece piece of that is that You get squadcast. You get squadcast as a sponsor. Okay. Squadcast. and without everyone accounts, the 4 people go on the squad cast and record their podcast. And then you give a half an hour to record and, yeah, half an hour to do editing. And it is cool. And -- No. No editing. It's gotta be live and and go.

or or record a straight off squad cast, so they'll they'll pick a time, and they'll hit record, and they'll do their their show, and then they'll hit stop, and then they'll take that m p 3 file inside of it to you. They could just run off that. You just need a using a a spot a sponsor that will that'll play ball. So Exactly. So because we're off like, yes. I I say, hey. You know, give Zach and Rocky Nicole and

or is it rock? Micah, I think it's rock. Yeah. I mean, I I I I mean, I thought about that too. Like, you know, if we if we just did it in like a Facebook group rather than using Zoom, like, you could just do a Facebook meeting with those people and then record all I don't know I don't know if you you could record in Facebook. I'm not I'm not But, like, you could just, like, manually, like, hold your phone up to

this the headphones or something. I don't know. Your your audio quality is not a is not a thing for these. It's it's more about, like, the you know, using the 6 words that you get that are randomly generated, you know, the the how they're utilized creativity. Like, you're just on, like, a bunch of your intro music and out of music, So yeah. So there's a bunch of things you judged on. And and, like, so it's it's totally possible. I just need to take some time to figure out the logistics of that.

And then I just said that the the team that beat us 2 years in a row, they had they They had editing in the hallway. We saw them with their laptops. We know all their little tricks. They record in bars, so they had all their equipment in bags.

We all know what happened there. They had their own little mini studio set up in the corner when we were recording stuff on the phone. So I could say it. Like, in the virtual world, we want we want all the capabilities and we can get our hands on it. So maybe maybe the maybe the maybe a new rule where you can only use your phone to record, and that's it, whatever the file. Well, no. because No. because here's the thing. Right? So I received You would I thought I was pretty clear

with this last time that, like, hey. You record it. It's an m p 3 file. You email me that. You email me with the with the load with your artwork as well in 1 email. Well, I got quite a few teams. 1 emailed me, like, the podcast and 3 parts. And I and I I remember sitting at the bar or set the with the sportsbook bedding area, and, like, I'm tall I'm looking at Todd. I'm, like, Todd, Todd Cochrane. from Blueberry. You know, I'm like, God,

should I fix this? Should I do this for them? Should I should I clip it together? He's like, I wouldn't. I I think I think that was the same. I might be mistaken because it was it was getting close to midnight, and I might I was very tired at that point. But I'm like, you know what? Screw it. I'll I'll I'll clip it together and and if it's good, it's good. If it's good, if it's great, it's great. Right? If it's not, it's not.

But, like, going forward, like, if you don't send me 11 m p 3 file, like, I'm sorry. I spent a lot of time, like, fixing up those because some people send stuff in multiple emails,

multiple files. That goes back to your back to your team, though, views. It becomes someone's job. on your team to be the person that coordinates that. Yeah. And it's not your it's my ability. Right. Well, that's I think that's but but here's the thing though, Kyle. This goes back to you know, 1 of the reasons that people I think I think really enjoy the the the conference. It's like,

I'm literally sitting on the bar. I've been, like, talking to Todd Ochron as I am sitting there with headphone headphones in trying to fix the audio, like, clip the audio together, and then upload it using the WiFi so that I could email it to my 4 judges or 5 judges or whatever we had. Like, I did that. Like, that's and I'm not trying to, like, toot my own horn, but, like, but it just look. When the chips are down, you gotta swing the bat. Right? And and -- Mhmm.

It just is the way it is. So I I gotta do it. I I didn't do it. Why Kev wouldn't had a sponsor. I I really had to get sponsors. So I had to give the microphones away. Like, I couldn't just like, cancel the sponsor. You make your own official RSS feed, and then you you just plug it into the RSS feed. They just creates its own little mini podcast for the conference.

You already have approved and, you know, just add add the conference podcast stream, and you just add it there using whatever your your hosting sponsor is for that. Yeah. I but say it looked to me. It was just it was just easier to just email. I don't know.

I I don't know. I I sounded easy. All of it sounded, like, really, really easy. But, like I said, I got WAV files. I got multiple parts of a 5 minute podcast. I just string together multiple emails for the for the logo, and then, like, trying to, like, figure out, okay, was it this person with this 1 and, like, put them together, like, the so I could, you know, clip it all together, put them in folders, zip the whole folder up, and then send the zip file

to all all 4 of them. So, yeah, it was yeah. It wasn't great. It was not a it was not a fun time. But, you know, we did it. and or I did it. And it's me and myself and I did it. So yeah. So I to answer your question, yes. I wanna do those things virtually But here you know, here here's the thing, like, people

peep like, truth people don't. Like, people aren't buying tickets for for the conference right now. Right? And I don't I don't blame them. I mean, I've heard similar things about cheap podcasts live. Right? Like, people are like, I don't I I wanna speak, but I don't wanna, like, apply and then get chosen and then not be able to, like, not wanna attend or not be able to attend for safety reasons.

And then you you, like, put Jess and Elsie in a difficult spot where they're not gonna have a speaker. So, I mean, that's a thing. Like, I I I don't I don't know. I don't know. I I I have a ton of speaker submissions. I I haven't even gone through them, honestly. because we only that's the other thing is is having a team has pushed me to to have less spots available for speaking going forward in the live events, which I'm not a huge fan of But but with virtual conferences,

I'm willing to go up to 8 hours if we have enough speakers and and appropriate, you know, appropriate topics and things to do. So I don't feel bad. Like, I I like, Yeah. It's an opportunity for somebody to speak and to get to know and and get more involved with the the community and all that. So so

you know, I don't I I just I don't I don't know. I I I do feel bad about the limiting of things because truth be told, that's probably been 1 of the hardest things for me to do is to say no to people. Not that I haven't ever turned people down for speaking at at any of the map con icon events, but It's 1 of the things where it's like, I want people to be included. I want people to go and and be, you know, become a huge fan of the of the conference and the event and and be more vault and and all that. So, like, by me just turning people away, that's not very helpful for doing that. I think dabbing these virtual conferences allows me to do that. And these you know, the speakers are speaking for 20 minutes. So it's like it's not you know, if they really suck, which we haven't had any that that really sought. They've all even the ones that I felt weren't as strong,

still delivered a lot as far as, like, the the the content in which they're talking about. So I I don't know. I I don't I don't feel I don't feel I mean, there's a lot of different ways to look at it. People some people are like, well, how can I spend 2 or 3 or $400 on a ticket to a conference? But, like, you know, even a quarter of the people there are all speaking in the same room. And maybe because it's more apparent, about the fact that you're all in 1 room versus, like, if we were all split up in multiple rooms, it wouldn't maybe seem

like so many of the people they are speaking. But it's also 1 of the reasons we always go over time. It's because we're I'm just like, yes. I'm gonna cram as many people in as I can because I want people to to to, you know, feel ownership in it. And I wanna give people the stage, the platform, and that's Though it's from day 1, that's been that's been the thing. I'll also say speaking of giving the platform, I remember quite, you know, quite vividly.

After after the first event, I think it was Jessica Kaufman was like, Hey, Joe. You know you know what you were missing in your featured speakers? I was like, what? She's like, a female. And I was like, you're right. I did not I I was just looking for people to say yes, and they and these people these 4 people all said yes. right in the beginning. They they hesitated or anything, and I just I ran with it. But the goal was the

And and and that's 1 of the things I think is kinda kinda changed with Icon was the goal was to say, okay. So if you come to the event this year and you're like, oh, I wanna speak. So next year you come, you're a spotlight speaker, you're speaking for 8 or 10 minutes, you know, so you're you're involved, and then you come the following here, and now you're you can be a featured speaker. You're qualified to be a a featured speaker.

So yeah. So it it was 1 of the things I was like, okay. Cool. Like, this allows me to build people up over the 3 years. And then on top of that, like, you're watching them grow. Right? Like, how, like, how far have you guys come in 3 years? How far have I come in 3 years? 4 years? 5 years? Like,

you're watching them make these incremental changes and steps, like I mean, look at, like, Tayo Roczen. Like, do you guys are you guys familiar with Tayo? Yeah. Right? Like, TEDx, multiple times TEDx speaker. Dude was, like, legit nervous attack. You know, speaking in front of, like, 30 people in a school gym day season without podcasting. back in 2015. I'm on I've I've hit 4 now. So I did the spotlight and the feature. I've done the 2 virtuals. Yeah.

Next, I like I said, the I got I told Chris Carmissos this too is is, like, the the more I speak is, like, by 2025, I'm a key note and every single podcast conference down the East Coast. Yeah. You you absolutely will. And, like, it I I yeah. It it's the opportunity like, to be able to give that to other people when not every place

offers that. You know? There's plenty I mean, I've been turned out for stuffing them. I always go back to Eric Conley, and I'm like, see, I can't even get a seat at the table. And it's like, that's that you know, that's how how it feels sometimes. You know, I'm about to be altered or anything like that. But, you know, but but seriously, like, there's always

somebody else too and and and, you know, Larry Roberts. Right? Like, his prepared way of thing. Like, it's a very real thing that as podcasters and and -- Mhmm. -- as people we we deal with because we create these situations in our mind and I I think, you know, 1 thing I I I mean, I've struggled with a lot over the last 5, 6 years, probably longer than that. Just it's it's really very, you know,

veered its ugly little head over the last, say, 4, 5 years is you know, why why am I doing all this? And I think I've justified it to myself with a lot of excuses of, like, trying to fill that that question with a bunch of answers of, like, sticking it to other people or, like, looking at, like, oh, like, look, like, look what I've done, but it's to other peep like, to show to other people. Right? And there's nobody in the community or anything like not it's not like that.

I believe maybe a lot easier. Maybe a lot easier because I just like, boop. I'm not not gonna talk to that person anymore. Just do that guy. But it's for Bob Smith in the 3rd grade. I told you I can Yeah. Right? Like, he told me I was gonna be nobody, and, like, here I am today. I'm, like, sort of maybe somebody on somebody's radar on only on 3rd every 3rd Tuesday.

in my when you're you've been talking about the the conferences and the building conferences and the struggle of building the conferences. And the same with your podcast. Your podcast you have now, is that the same podcast you started with? No. You've podcast and changed and done all these things. And you don't quit.

You've changed. You've like, okay. That didn't work. This didn't work. You've experimented. You've found it's almost like a Thomas Edison kind of thing. because you found, like, 200 ways not to do something. and now you're finding some way to actually do something. So that's a explore that a little bit more. Where does that tenacity come from? Where other people in this industry and in other industries taken the kind of struggles that you've had

would have given up by now. They would have said enough. They know the podcast is not working. I got 10 downloads. I go with the conference, 30 people showed up. That's not enough. forget it. I'm out. Why why did Super Joe Pardo keep go keep hitting the face Keep going forward. Get the punch, getting back up. Yeah. They can't do anything like that.

Oh, you're like Steve Rogers. They're Captain America in a sense where, you know, it's like, you know, I can do this all day long. You're the the kid from Brooklyn in a way. that you've you've done a lot of things that other people would have said, I don't know why he keeps doing that. And then

the next thing happens and you go, oh my gosh. Look at that. Look at Super Joe just did. Look at that. He a TV show. What Yeah. Right. a TV show. This guy this guy. What? It looks like so you were it's like you you have persevered in your consistency in keeping keeping going without quitting has caused you to to get a lot of success. What is where does that come from? Where what's your what's your secret sauce and the the fire that's burning your belly to keep doing this?

Well, like, I was I was kinda alluding to, you know, I I I I realized now that I'm I'm doing this for myself. Mhmm. Like, that's like I said, there was a lot of like, there was a lot of times over the last 6 years where I was like, I'm doing this to stick it to somebody else. I'm doing it because I I wanna be away from other certain people in my life. I I'm doing it like

Like, it it's taken 6 years to figure it out, though, except for but but really, because I haven't looked too deep in it. either. Right? Like, I've just kind of just accepted the answers that I've given myself of, like Mhmm. Yeah. I'm doing this because, like, I, you know, I don't what I don't want in life versus, like, what do I want in life? I want this for myself. Like, I wanna this is, like, a really really selfish thing. But it's a good selfish thing in the sense that I

I'm do like, it I want it to help other people. Right? That like, the whole super Joe Pardo moniker came from, you know, my 1 of my best friend's brother to me. He gave it to me back in 2006. You know, it's my my positivity and just wanting to to bring other people up and bring other people along. I mean, when I got started DJing, 1 of my my thought process is, like, straight up. I'm like, you know how, like

and and just to kinda is really stupid. I'm really thinking about now. But, like, the idea was, like, that could be my equivalent of the Bill Clinton Saxophone is my DJ turntables. Like, that's that's, like, my thing. And I'm going to use it to open up doors for so many people that have, you know, have helped me along the way and been there for me when I needed it the most.

And it and it to a certain extent, it really has. Like, I've I've like, so many things have happened in my life because of other things that, like, it's the chain reaction. I mean, even, like, going back to, like, the the, like, in high school. Right? Like, I was big into gaming. Right? Always going computer gaming. Like, I was in a clan where we were doing great. We were, like, coming in 1st and second place in competitions.

it was nowhere near the Fortnite of what it is today. It's like, people are winning, you know, 100 of $1000 prizes that there was none of that I mean, very little, far and few between back and, like, 0 20304. And and I remember, like, I got kicked out of my my plan. Like,

I gotta kick that out because I because there was a tournament that was supposed to happen at, like, 8 o'clock at night or something, but it didn't actually start until, like, 1 o'clock in the morning because that's how things go because they run so far behind, and now I literally fell asleep. was like, fell asleep. So somebody else took my place, and and they they were so mad that they they kicked me out. And I was 1 of the founders of the It's a darn thing. So

I gave it the name. It was us too it's us too high. Shoot to ill. It's that's that's my name. So so yeah. So and now I'm I'm, like, friends with most of them, like, to this day, but here's the thing. by me getting kicked out. I stopped. I didn't stop going to land price, but I went to Les. I just and and progressively

went to Les. and and as I got a little bit older, DJing started to come into my life more and more and took me in a direction that I never would have never, like, if I had just kept gaming, like, I never would have went that direction, which DJH opened up to me to, like, going to parties and being involved and getting more out of my shell and ultimately, like, down this whole audio path and and eventually led me into podcasting and you know, all this happened because I fell asleep

because because things didn't happen the way they were supposed to happen. You know? So it's like, these little tiny things could just, like, change everything. And so for me, like, I I just I've I wanna, you know, always wanna raise people up. I wanna do the best I can and and be the the shining example of what, you know, people are supposed to be, and and I'm not perfect. Like, not by a long shot. But but I but I I've I've really I've really tried because I

I don't know. It it I mean, to me, like, it's the memories. Like, that's all we really have here. Right? The memories that we get to give other people and it that's that's all it's really ours. Right? It's our word and and being able to make other people happy is is something that just has always stood out to me is something that I enjoy. So, you know, why can I keep getting the the punches in the face and keep moving? I I I

because, you know, I I don't I don't want my life to be any other way. Like, Like, I know what I want it to look like, and I know I'm not there yet. Like, I'm fully aware that I am still many, many steps away from that. And I like, I don't give I don't wanna say 4 letter word, but I really don't give enough about, like,

money and and all that. Like, it like, I would still live in this house. Like, I don't I don't care. Like, this is this is this is enough for me. Like, I you know, I mean, this is a lot for some people compared to, you know, how some people live. I I get it. It's so but, like, my only thought when I left my family's $100,000,000 company was was,

how do I how am I gonna keep what I got? Like, I don't I don't wanna lose the house I grew in. I don't wanna lose my car. I don't wanna lose my wife. I don't wanna lose the things that we have Even if I gotta change some of the things that I do to make that happen, you know, And and for me, it's it's a also, it's a quest of, like,

how do I how do I do it? You know? because, like, so many people, like, wanna say, like, they're they're self made or whatever, but, like, they like, the fact that matter is is, like, the moment that they were able to hire a bunch of people to, like, offload everything. Like -- Yeah. -- they did. Right? And I'm I just I don't know. I'm just I'm I'm I'm just billed for this, I guess. I don't know.

What would you say to somebody who was struggling right now. That took a bunch. Why would you why would you keep them from stopping the podcast altogether? So I always say and and you could take the same way that you want. The universe provides -- Mhmm. -- that it it it effing does. It really does.

Every time that it looked like I wasn't gonna have enough money to to, you know, make the the mortgage or the car payments or or, like, I didn't know where the money was gonna come from. The universe provided way or another another client would happen to walk in. Somebody would recommend somebody's to me when, you know, when things were done really tight and down to the wire because so when we had our first when we had our daughter back in 2016,

like, there was a there was a lot of not doing work around here. Mhmm. You know, there was a I mean, there was an awful lot of, like, 6 months of just not a whole lot of work being done on my part. And then some some opportunities opened up. I I went out to California, you know, shout out to to Samantha Riley for helping me do that. And and when I was out there, I, you know, I got an email from somebody because because of my podcast, like, I met somebody who was looking for a web designer

and and I was able to, like, take on a a part time position at the at a at a nonprofit. Right? So, like, And and I didn't even wanna take it at the time at the time. I remember I was like, Dan, I was like, I'll get back to you on this.

Like, I wasn't really sure if I really, really wanted to or not. because I was like, oh, you know, I'm doing the dreamers podcast. It doesn't make sense to be like going and get like a job and all this stuff. And then I gotta, like, drive into Camden, and then, like, I don't I don't I mean, I love the organization. We just raised I don't know, what? $200 or 200 I think it was close to $200 with at the last virtual event, but for them. But

But yeah. I didn't and I'll be in there for, like, a year and a half, and it was it was great. I learned I learned a ton. I learned

I met a ton of awesome people, some really powerfully connected people that I'm still friends with to this day. Like -- Mhmm. -- it's you know, every like, everything happens for a reason and the universe will provide. Sometimes you just gotta, like, really listen. So, like okay. So here's here's the here's the thing. The universe works in some crazy ways. Here's here's the exact I'm I'm not even sure why I'm telling you this. Okay. I had a dream about a certain person in my life.

too nights ago. Mhmm. That person is from Maryland. Little I saw today, I I told you guys I was like, Moe and Lauren Well, I the first mower I bought was from Maraiobee, which totally didn't work. It it didn't it didn't start 4 times on me. So I was like, you know what? Screw it. I'm gonna go get the more expensive 1 from Yigo instead.

I you know, the reviews are great. Let's I'm just gonna do it. It's it's a $100 more. It's not the end of the world. I'll go I'm gonna go right now and go do it. So I finished long because it literally died in the middle of the lawn, and it's still at half a battery and just would not start again. I'm like, you know what screw it. It's not. I get about halfway to Home Depot and a car with Maryland plates. I I catch up to a car Maryland plates. I'm like, That's really weird.

That's really weird. Right? Right? That's weird. I got the Home Depot. I pull off to the side of the Home Depot. because I wanted to get a car to unload the the the thing. So I didn't park in a parking spot. I'd probably I pulled in front of a car that a different car that has Maryland plates. Mhmm. Am I supposed to reach out to this person? I don't I don't really wanna reach out to this person, but, like

so you're saying you're not just saying that there's some weird The universe is talking to you. If you're willing to listen this case yes. Yes. I ain't listening. A light blowing out on the way home. That's usually Right? So, Zach, you know, universe will provide keep taking the hits and and and just look at, like, where you, you know, think about where you are. Right? Think about just just like a year ago where you were.

You know, podcasting is definitely a marathon. When I thought when I started, I really thought I was going to get, like, a big sack of money through my computer screen. I like, I was just dead set on this, like, okay. So, like, I'm you know,

if anyone doesn't know, like, I was on a plane to Disney World. I had just released my DJ album, and I was talking to my friend who we were going to run a race with down there. And I was like, hey. Is there any other Disney podcast I'd be on this? It was a Disney based mix tape album that I did called the Venturium. And he's like, oh, well, you should listen to a show called an entrepreneur on fire. And I was like, oh, why? What is it? And he's like, oh, they interview interview entrepreneurs. I was like, wait. There's a show just interviewing people. And he's like, yeah. And I was like, oh, I never I to me, it was just roundtable discussions about Disney World. Like, that's all I listened to. So yeah. So I was like, oh, well, I mean, I I know a ton of people in business. Like, I could do a show like that because I was having a lot of fun doing these these podcast interviews for the promote the album.

And I was like, but I know a lot more people in their dreams. So I was like, I could do this whole show and figure out and and ultimately, it was helping me figure out what I wanted to do and how, you know, how I was gonna get there. And so the plane landed, I'm really sure the main name, the Twitter handle Facebook page before we got to the rental car. And then 2 weeks later, I had a show. Now I already been blogging since 96 and, you know, audio background from DJing and everything. So I already knew how to do all that. My my boy Al Kessel. He

he helped me get started. And, you know, we talked for, like, 20 minutes. He showed me, like, okay. Just get this word press plug in. You you can upload blah blah blah. I was like, oh, okay. Cool. Yeah. I totally know what I'm doing now. So I did it, and And I didn't even listen to an episode of Entrepreneur on Fire for, like, over a year because I I wasn't interested in listening to it. I just the idea was there.

So, you know, getting the reps in, you know, I I I also feel like that if that's something that you're

if you're if you're struggling, you feel like you're not getting enough traction out of it, get more reps in. you know, get more comfortable with it. because like I like like the Dave Jackson says, ask how you can get good, not how you can make money, And and I quickly realized, like, within a month or 2 that, like, even though I was getting crazy downloads because I was on new and noteworthy and all that stuff, it didn't equate to money.

It wasn't you know, I made more money because of my podcast than from my podcast. And and For better, for worse, it's worked out. Like, it's not, like, you know, jolly doo miss money or anything like that. But I also have a saying that I like, which is more money, more problems because I've flipped it, and it's not. So, you know, just Keep that in mind at all times. But yeah. Just just get more reps in. Get just keep just keep recording. Record more often. Just keep pushing. Don't don't stop.

It's it's not because, you know, a year from now, you're gonna be a year into it, and you're gonna have so many more connections. You're gonna have so many more friends. You're gonna have so many more people that get what the heck you're doing that have heard what a podcast is. Tim, asking what the podcast is before we even got started.

Yeah. So you're you're gonna you're gonna get there. Mhmm. But it it definitely doesn't happen overnight. And and, you you know, if you want money from it, you gotta create products. You have to create people raving fans. You have to be willing to help people. Keep helping people. Keep doing those calls, you know, where you're helping people on the phone for free. and just keep keep digging at it. You know, it's it's gotta it's it's all about relationships.

They're real like, that's been the the the the richest part about all this has been the relationships for sure that I've been able to make. I know we've we've gone, like, way over time, but that's okay. That's the magic of editing. Yeah. And it all damn it. Sure. Just leave it at all. It's good enough words and -- Leave it all in. Leave it all in. Absolutely, man. I sure show owning. Gonna be maxed out my hosting. Oh, it dropped this file to be a monster. Boom.

In fact, we'll even call it we'll call it the Joe super Joe Pardo drops names. Yeah. Yeah. Right? That's just chitch. Chitch. Chitch. Chitch. Chitch. Chitch. Everybody gets an r e 320 today. Yeah.

Hey, Joe. It's been super awesome having you on automatically really appreciate you with the with not only getting to know you because you're super nice guy. You give your shirt off your back. Oh, boy. And and the the fact that you you gave me the opportunity to come speak at your conference when you didn't even know who I was way back when. And now I've I've done this 4 times and I'm I'm I think I'm a I'm an acolyte now of the of the independent podcast conference. Our family.

Tim and I have have really really enjoyed getting to know you and appreciate you being on the show. Well, thank you. Thanks so much for having me. I I I'm glad I was able to invite myself on to your show. I think what is this? I've been on your show, and Tim's been on your show, and now you've been on our show. I mean, I this well, just like this this circular

branding and marketing type of thing right here. We'll just keep we'll just keep putting each other on each other shows, and eventually, we'll all be in there. Yeah. No. I I I love it. And, you know, thank you so much for for not only, you know, obviously having me on the show and But, you know, being a part of the the Icon community, it's it's it's great to have both of you, you know, people that are are genuine

it it that's that's I couldn't ask for anything more out of people who wanna be a part of it. So that's I hope to continue to bring people like that into the group and and and be doing this for a long time to come and where can people find you? where where do they go to find more information about what you're what you got going on? Well, it's pretty pretty easy. It's superjopardo.com, p a r d0. But if you type in part0.com, it'll work too. Either way, I I register both. pard0.

And you you can go check out the podcast, the the Super Joe Parda show. You can check out business geeks podcast.com for me, Sam and Jen. We we meet every Monday at 8 o'clock, 8 PM EST, time or Tuesdays at 10 AM, Australian EST. I try to remember I try to remember that. For Australian listeners, And yeah. And then there's the indie pod podcast, so you can check out all the indie pod stuff at indie pod conc0n.com.

And, yeah, we you know, every seems like every 2 weeks we're doing these events, and my goal is to do some more super entrepreneur conferences or super small business conferences and just you know, bringing great people together and and learning together and and keep it keep it going. Like, I I learned so much from them myself, man. It's It's such a it's so awesome to be able to get such a great education

and be able to host it and and bring awesome people together. Again, it's about the relationships. Cool. Thank you, guys, very much for being on the show, Joe. Yeah.

And we just wanna thank you for listening into Pod Rec, the show that helps you survive your podcast. And, of course, We wanna thank Supergio Pardo for showing us how to survive his podcast as well. And everything that he's been through, he gave us a ton of great lessons here this week, folks. And if you would like more lessons into check out our old episodes, go to padrec.com, where we have all the show notes and we've got all the episodes there at your perusal.

And if you'd like to contact us, by all means, podrick@gmail.com. You can give us your show ideas. You can give us your issues that you're having with your podcast. We'd be happy to help you out. And speaking about helping out, We've got a wonderful, wonderful, very exclusive team on our Patreon page, and that team is known as the Pod Rec Salvage team. Very exclusive. Coming out with t shirts soon. You wanna get on the bandwagon before everybody else does. So podwreck.com.

Hit our Patreon page, and we will see you next episode. Alright. So we do wanna thank you for listening to Pod Rec. You know, where we help you survive your podcast. We had super super Joe Parda 1 with us here too. Sorry. I can't help it. You go. I go. You go. Ready? Oh, woah. Woah. Woah. Do we already did that part. We're doing the in part. No. I didn't turn the report off for any of it. Oh, dude. I'm gonna punch in the dead. I told you I lost Paul. Yeah. Okay. I thought you

just lost my part of it. Nope. I lost all of this. Okay. Well, hey, if you're gonna lose any of it, lose all of it. At the end? That's the end. That's the end. Okay. This podcast is part of the Gagapod network. Find more podcasts like this at gagapod.com.